In between the "Sure!" and that history-making walk, there were a number of training sessions at the Speedway with doped and un-doped tires on hot afternoons and cool nights, all with Edmonds completely unaware of which tires were treated. During these extensive tests, Sinbad was 100 percent spot-on in sorting out the good from the bad.
At his Irwindale debut, Sinbad sniffed at hundreds of tires right on the cars as they came out of the weighing station and lined up for qualifying. Sinbad sat down and stared at the tires on four cars, which is his way of indicating a "hit" or a questionable tire.
All four of those drivers and their crew chiefs were privately told that Sinbad had detected possible tire-soaking on their cars. They were also told that no official action would be taken because this was just a test for Sinbad to see how he worked in public.
But here's the kicker. In each closed trailer meeting, each of these four competitors had a reaction that was so incredulous (as in: "How could a dog know I was doing that?") that they gave themselves away.
And so, Irwindale Speedway inaugurated its sixth year of top-drawer NASCAR competition with yet another NASCAR first-by a nose. -Doug Stokes,Irwindale Speedway
CaptionsDog-1. Irwindale SpeedwayThis is handler Scott Edmunds with Sinbad, a retired bomb-sniffing Belgian Malinois.
Dog-2. Irwindale SpeedwayThis is Sinbad at work in the pits at Irwindale Speedway. This particular car passed Sinbad's sniff test.
(Photo on server - "MSD Ignition")Ignition NewsAt the NHRA Gatornationals held March 19-21, the MSD Digital Programmable Ignition (PN 7530T) became the mandatory ignition control for Pro Stock competition. This unit has also been approved by the NHRA Technical Department for use in applicable Sportsman and E.T. bracket categories.
Due to the growing discussions of illegal traction control systems, and the difficulties associated with policing such controls, MSD developed a technology called Traction Control Detection (TCD). This proprietary circuitry carefully monitors all of the ignition's signals, and if the TCD determines that there has been any external modification to a signal, the ignition will be put into a low-rpm rev limit mode and set a trouble code. This will assist the tech department officials in their inspections. There were no reported TCD events at the Gatornationals. Also, use of an illegal traction control device has never been confirmed in professional NHRA racing.
Fact: According to a survey by Nissan, Finding Nemo is the best DVD to view while on a road trip. It sure beats looking at the road.
Fact: According to Consumer Reports, the average American-made new car is now more reliable than the average European-made new car. However, Japanese cars are still the most reliable.
Fact: Ramon Martinez, 21, was sentenced to a two-year prison sentence in March after being convicted of vehicular manslaughter in a Sacramento, California, court. Martinez was racing his Mustang against another car when he lost control and hit a tree at about 70 mph in May of 2002. Marisol Torres, 16, who was riding in Martinez's car, died a day after the accident.
Fact: Paul Newman will lend his voice to the upcoming animated feature Cars, which is being produced by Pixar, the company that has produced Toy Story and Finding Nemo. The computer-animated film, which takes place in a world of cars, should appear around Christmas of 2005.
Chevrolet Sells a Chevy[Photos 116-0804.SCUP 10 on disc.]In Mexico, Chevrolet is selling this micro car as the "Chevy." As far as we can tell, this is the first time the word "Chevy" has been used in a formal model name since the '71 and '72 "Heavy Chevy" Chevelle.
This is just more useless trivia for your bursting knowledge bank.