Jeff Gordon

By RON SOMERS Staff Writer The co-pilot stepped off Jeff Gordon's private Lear jet Thursday at Washington County Regional Airport, looked at the group of a dozen people waiting on the ramp and said, "Good afternoon. Are you waiting for somebody?" Everyone chuckled. Just then, Gordon stepped off the plane, followed by his wife, Brooke. Gordon, the 1995 NASCAR Winston Cup points champion and current points leader, looked the same as he looks on TV in victory lane after winning a race - cool and confident.

TRI-STATE julieg@herald-mail.com marlob@herald-mail.com No. 8, No. 24 and No. 20. Tri-State area residents were making their picks on Saturday, not for bingo but for who will win today's Daytona 500 - an entirely different kind of gamble. Asked which driver they favored, residents often answered Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon or Tony Stewart. No one mentioned pole sitter Dale Jarrett and one person picked a driver who isn't racing today - because he's retired.

By STEVEN T. DENNIS Staff Writer NASCAR fans lined up for a high-octane test drive in a show car simulating Jeff Gordon's No. 24 at Hoffman Chevrolet Monday afternoon. Engines roared, tires screeched and cars crashed, but no one was hurt. The "drivers," young and old, were playing a video game, Daytona USA, inside a former Chevrolet NASCAR race car detailed to look like Gordon's Dupont Chevrolet. "You get to sit in Jeff Gordon's car...It's cool," said Jeff Jones, who had his picture taken with fellow NASCAR fan Lori Shoemaker outside the car. Tammy Whisner wore her Jeff Gordon T-shirt and brought her children Cody, 6, and Amanda, 9. "It's really neat," Whisner.

By BRENDAN KIRBY / Staff Writer photo: KEVIN G. GILBERT / staff photographer Ray Grimm is a die-hard Dale Earnhardt fan. His wife loves Jeff Gordon, the NASCAR driver who has supplanted Earnhardt atop the auto racing world. [cont. from front page ] It could be a recipe for a minor civil war, but when the green flag flies at next month's Daytona 500, Grimm will unabashedly, enthusiastically root for Gordon. The reason's simple: He's got $1 million riding on it, thanks to a tobacco company's contest.

"We're very tired if hearing about Sue Tuckwell. You are definitely showing a bias towards her. There are other excellent candidates in the race. " "Hey Redskins fans - where are ya?" "This is to the Cleveland Browns fan who busted on Trav Ruppert for hanging up on Donald Schaefer. I can't imagine why Trav Ruppert wouldn't hang up on Donald Schaefer and I certainly hope that Cleveland's expansion team is just as good as the last one they sold to us. " "Good evening Mail Call.

Ray Grimm returned home Monday thrilled at winning the "Winston No Bull 5" auto racing contest, but not quite a millionaire. [cont. from front page ] Grimm said he and the other four contestants in the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. contest agreed before Sunday's Daytona 500 to share some of the winnings if one of the contestants won the $1 million pot. Five fans, who were randomly selected from entry blanks, were paired with the top five NASCAR drivers from last year's race at Talladega, Ala., for a chance to win $1 million.

Peggy Kelly Fox, 59, of Hagerstown, Md., passed away on Friday, April 5, 2013, at Meritus Medical Center, Hagerstown. Born Jan. 8, 1954, in Hagerstown, to the late Martin “Bruzz” Jr. and Bettie Jane Jones Kelly. She was preceded in death by her husband, James Allen Fox, in 2010. She was a 1972 graduate of South Hagerstown High School. She was employed by Berwick Offray Hagerstown for the last 39 years and an independent contractor for The Herald-Mail. She enjoyed sewing blankets for friends and also bake and decorate cakes.

"Driving fast and turning left are all that's left because, Realistically that's all one ever does. " - The Austin Lounge Lizards I am sitting here wearing my No. 88 UPS Dale Jarrett hat, smoking a Winston and drawing up plans to have my headphones hardwired to pit row. In his honor, I'm thinking about having Old Copper's engine re-bored to 4.125 with a 3.340-inch stroke - trouble on a six-cylinder maybe, so I might just have to drop...

Peggy Kelly Fox, 59, of Hagerstown, Md., passed away on Friday, April 5, 2013, at Meritus Medical Center, Hagerstown. Born Jan. 8, 1954, in Hagerstown, to the late Martin “Bruzz” Jr. and Bettie Jane Jones Kelly. She was preceded in death by her husband, James Allen Fox, in 2010. She was a 1972 graduate of South Hagerstown High School. She was employed by Berwick Offray Hagerstown for the last 39 years and an independent contractor for The Herald-Mail. She enjoyed sewing blankets for friends and also bake and decorate cakes.

“Hagerstown caller, concerning NASCAR, if Jeff Gordon's so washed up, why is he in the top 10, and in the chase every year? If he keeps finishing in the top five to 10 drivers, that must mean the other 30-plus drivers are really washed up. So Jeff Gordon can drive until he says he can't. Also, to all you callers saying the stadium can be renovated: It cannot be. Municipal Stadium does not have enough room to come up to minor league standards, so you cannot renovate it.” - Hagerstown “One person caused all these problems and made them worse.

Some of the brightest young talents in auto racing from across the country converged on the “little track” at Hagerstown Speedway last weekend, with several local drivers walking away with new hardware. The United States Auto Club “Generation Next” quarter midget tour brought in 167 entries from across the country for the inaugural Mason Dixon Shootout. Numerous drivers from the Hagerstown Quarter Midget Association participated, and they won eight of 16 features in the two-day event.

Here are some of the calls we have received lately: "I'm calling concerning the NASCAR races that Jeff Gordon won Sunday. I am a Jeff Gordon fan, but as of Sunday, the way he won the race, I will no longer be one. He acted like a spoiled rich kid. That is no way to race. " - Hagerstown "This is to the people who think we need new people in office. You hear everyone talking about their taxes and the new hike on the property taxes. Well, did you ever care to think where's the money going?

Look past the wrinkles that have begun to spread and deepen around the edges of his blue eyes, and you can still find that 27-year-old rookie who lit the world on fire after lighting so many tires. Has Rusty Wallace really aged two decades since that first year on stock-car racing's most prestigious circuit? Is he really into his last season with the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR)? Is it really "Rusty's Last Call" farewell tour? Farewell?

TRI-STATE julieg@herald-mail.com marlob@herald-mail.com No. 8, No. 24 and No. 20. Tri-State area residents were making their picks on Saturday, not for bingo but for who will win today's Daytona 500 - an entirely different kind of gamble. Asked which driver they favored, residents often answered Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon or Tony Stewart. No one mentioned pole sitter Dale Jarrett and one person picked a driver who isn't racing today - because he's retired.

To me, NASCAR is half way there. They got my attention when they started mounting little cameras in the cars that allow you to see what it's like to go pinwheeling out of control at 200 mph. That helps. But to ice my support, they still need something else, something to fill in all the dead time between crashes. In the past, I've argued for turning a deer loose on the track every 50 laps, but it appears this proposal is going nowhere. A NASCAR race in 6 inches of snow or a heavy fog would be good, as would a series of sand traps and water hazards.

If I ever questioned that my interest in baseball might be waning these days, all I have to do is thank fantasy baseball for keeping it at the level it is right now.In our Herald-Mail league, we have 20 teams split into two conferences, each with two five-team divisions, and we've started the year with non-division play. While my team, Golden Dome, rolled in its first two games, I was having a tough one last week and really worried about the outcome against Julie Greene's Greene Machine.

"Driving fast and turning left are all that's left because, Realistically that's all one ever does. " - The Austin Lounge Lizards I am sitting here wearing my No. 88 UPS Dale Jarrett hat, smoking a Winston and drawing up plans to have my headphones hardwired to pit row. In his honor, I'm thinking about having Old Copper's engine re-bored to 4.125 with a 3.340-inch stroke - trouble on a six-cylinder maybe, so I might just have to drop...