Race Car

It is fitting, perhaps, that George Rice "Joie" Chitwood would be remembered as the first driver to have ever snapped a seat belt together during a trip around the famed Indianapolis 500 Speedway. A seat belt and Joie Chitwood? For anyone who knows about Chitwood - the wild adventures, the hurtling machinery and the thrill show chills - it almost doesn't add up. "But, if you knew my grandfather, you knew he was always ahead of his time," said Joie Chitwood III, his hands firmly on the wheel of a Chevrolet Corvette pace car as it wound its way around the Indianapolis track during a pre-Indy 500 media event.

gregs@herald-mail.com HALFWAY - Garrett Wiseley was in awe of the dirt-track race cars that were crammed into the hallways of Valley Mall Friday, heralding the start of a new season at Hagerstown Speedway. "I like the black one - because it has the numbers on it ... they're shiny," said Garrett, 4. After his mother asked him about it, Garrett grinned and said, "I want to drive one of them when I get big. " His parents, Ken and Holly Wiseley, of Fairplay, brought Garrett and his twin sisters, Rachael and Victoria, both 8, to the mall to see the cars.

katec@herald-mail.com "Racing and country music ... what's not to love?" That question is asked on the Web site of J.R. Booker, a country band slated to play at Hagerstown Speedway at 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 13. Country music and racing will be happening Saturday, Sept. 13, at Hagerstown Speedway. The racetrack's first Country Music Festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. - rain or shine. Races, including the last point race of the season, will begin at 7 p.m. Rain - not shine - has had a huge effect on the 2003 racing season.

There are dreamers and there are racers. The one thing that history - and the Corvette SS - has taught us, is that mixing the two can be an exhilarating, awe-inspiring . . . and downright frustrating experience. On looks alone, the stunningly beautiful Corvette "Spyder Sport" should have been a huge success on the race track. However, its designers discovered that dream-car styling was no substitute for careful execution of the mechanical details. It was a time when Chevrolet was not only interested in going fast, but looking good doing it, an idea that was intended to boost sales.

DOVER, Del. - Victory eased the pain Ryan Newman felt after muscling a 3,400-pound stock car around the track for half the afternoon. Newman lost his power steering, but not his determination, and held off Jeff Gordon to win Sunday at Dover International Speedway. "I'm definitely tired," Newman said. "My arms hurt, my back hurts, my neck hurts, and I'll be really sore tomorrow and probably Tuesday. "But we had a fast race car, and I wasn't about to pull into the garage and say, 'That's it, guys.

Thirty-two race cars gleamed in the parking lot of Jim's Tavern and Sports Lounge on U.S. 11 on Saturday. Checking out the cars at the 12th annual event were racing fans from around the area. Frank Sagi of Hagerstown, coordinator for the show, pointed out the go-karts, a dwarf car, the late models with 358-cubic inch engines, the pure stocks with 350 Chevy engines, the mini-stocks with four cylinders, and the winged microsprints with motorcycle engines. All are raced locally on speedways in Hagerstown, Shippensburg and Path Valley.

GM workers - Earnhardt was part of family By BOB PARTLOW / Staff Writer, Martinsburg Above : The flag flying outside the General Motors plant in Martinsburg, W.Va., that bears Dale Earnhardt's No. 3 flew at half-staff Wednesday. photo: JOE CROCETTA staff photographer Below : Janet Stotler, left, of Williamsport, waits in line while Catherine Simons, of Hagerstown, signs a book for Dale Earnhardt Sr. Wednesday at Osborne Funeral Home in Williamsport.

Driver cruises out of retirement By ANDREA BROWN-HURLEY / Staff Writer photo: RICHARD T. MEAGHER/ staff photographer BOONSBORO - At 58, Doug Mills hasn't lost his drive. "You don't put an age limit on your dreams," said Mills, of near Boonsboro. "But you might put a speed limit on them. " After cruising out of an eight-year retirement in 1999, the veteran race car driver this August captured the Grand American AGT (American Grand Touring) driver's title in the inaugural season of NASCAR's Grand American Road Racing Series.

Winning the best medicine Davis overcomes injuries from two accidents to claim victory at Speedway By NICOLE MILLER / Staff Correspondent As far as Will Davis has come in the last month, the final step - his winning the Progressive Insurance Grand National feature at the Hagerstown Speedway on Saturday - must have seemed awfully small. About a month ago, Davis was playing with his church softball team when he collided with another player and fractured his skull.

A Hagerstown man was given a five-year suspended prison sentence Tuesday for his part in the theft of more than $5,000 in car parts last November. A Washington County Circuit Court jury in June found Robert Lee Warrenfeltz III, 22, of 913 Guilford Ave., guilty of one count of felony theft. Circuit Judge Frederick C. Wright III ordered Warrenfeltz to pay $4,000 in restitution during the first two years of his three-year probation. Wright noted that a different panel of jurors in June found Warrenfeltz's co-defendant not guilty.