By David G. Firestone

Born in Torrance, California, Bobby East hit the scene in 2001, becoming the sixth youngest driver to win a USAC race, and won the championship and driver of the year in 2004. The next year, he made his Truck Series debut, and would race in NASCAR’s National series until 2008, picking up two top 10’s. He is currently working to develop young drivers.

In 2006, East started 23 of the 25 races in the Truck Series for the Wood Brothers #31 Ford. He was sponsored by State Fair Corn Dogs, and Edy’s Dibs. He didn’t score a top 10, or led a lap. During that season, he wore this driver suit. The suit shows light use.The blue collar is a standard collar, and is unadorned.The right chest features a STATE FAIR CORN DOGS logo embroidered. Oddly, there is not a series logo anywhere on this suit.The left chest features a FORD RACING logo, and a GOODYEAR logo embroidered.The front torso features a large DIBS logo embroidered in white on the red background.Inside the front torso is an IMPACT warranty label.The front half of the suit has a belt with BOBBY EAST in white on the blue belt. The belt is outlined in white.The blue shoulder epaulets are outlined in white, and have IMPACT tags present, but are otherwise unadorned.The right sleeve features IMPACT! RACING, FORD RACING, SUNOCO, and DUCK HEAD FOOTWEAR logos embroidered on the upper sleeve, and nothing in television position.The left sleeve features IMPACT! RACING, FORD RACING, SUNOCO, and DUCK HEAD FOOTWEAR logos embroidered on the upper sleeve, and nothing in television position.The back of the suit doesn’t show any use.The back of the neck is unadorned.The back of the torso features a DIBS logo embroidered.Bobby East was one of those drivers who raced his way to the National series, but once he got there, didn’t go anywhere. Not every driver is going to find success, but that doesn’t mean that their career is meaningless. It takes a lot of gumption and grit to make it to the big leagues.

Next week, a suit from 1998.

By David G. Firestone

With the Southern 500 behind us, I decidied that it would be fun to rank all of the throwback schemes run in 2018. This will also serve as the 2018 Paint Schemie for Best Throwback Scheme. Without further ado:

1. Austin Dillon #3 American Ethanol Throwback Chevy Camaro-Well, this is my favorite throwback of 2018! I loved the Silver Wrench back in 1995, and I love this faithful throwback. This is the 2018 Paint Schemie for Best Throwback Scheme winner. A.

2. Brad Keselowski #2 Miller Genuine Draft Throwback Ford Fusion-Miller Genuine Draft had some great schemes back in the day, and this is a great example. The dark gold works very well, and the scheme as a whole is faithful. I can’t say anything wrong about this scheme. A

3. William Byron #24 Axalta Throwback Chevy Camaro-This was a great scheme back in the day, and it looks good today. I can’t say anything bad here, so I won’t. A

4. Landon Cassill #00 StarCom Fiber Throwback Chevy Camaro-The metallic gold Miller High Life scheme is a great scheme, and this very faithful representation is a great look! I can’t say anything bad about this scheme. A

5. Matt Kenseth #6 Roush Ford Fusion-I loved the Eagle One scheme back in the day, and I love this faithful replica today. It has a great look, and a great design, and earns an A.

6. Paul Menard #21 Motorcraft Throwback Ford Fusion-You could pretty much put all of the pre 1997 Wood Brothers schemes in a hat, and be guaranteed to pick a good one, and this Cale Yarborough example is one. It’s an amazing look, and it gets an A.

7. Ryan Newman #31 CAT Throwback Chevy Camaro-Another underrated scheme that got a great throwback. This is an amazing look, and it gets the A it deserves.

8. Chase Elliott #9 NAPA Throwback Chevy Camaro-This is a great looking throwback, with a great design, and color scheme. Nothing wrong here! A

9. Clint Bowyer #14 Carolina Dodge Dealers Ford Fusion-Another great throwback, with a great look. Ned Jarrett had some great schemes back in the day, and this is a faithful representation of one of these. A

10. Jeffery Earnhardt #96 Nine Line Apparel Throwback Toyota Camry-This is one of the best throwback schemes this year! It looks amazing, and is faithful to the original. I can’t say anything bad about this, so I won’t. A

11. Darrell Wallace Jr. #43 STP Throwback Chevy Camaro-I’m still not sure as to why the last minute change was made, but this is a great looking scheme! Anything Petty ran is a good look, and this is a great look. A

12. Tomy Drissi #00 GoShare Chevy Camaro-That is a beautiful looking throwback! I really can’t say anything more than that! A

13. Kyle Busch #18 Skittles Throwback Toyota Camry-The best Skittles NASCAR scheme EVER gets a second chance at Darlington. Ernie Irvan’s Skittles scheme was leaps and bounds above the rest of the Skittles schemes. I’m glad to see this scheme get a second chance. A

14. Joey Logano #22 Pennzoil Throwback Ford Fusion-Steve Park had a great Pennzoil scheme. This amazing scheme faithfully replicates that scheme, and it looks amazing! A

15. Jamie McMurray #1 McDonald’s Big Mac 50th Anniversary Throwback Chevy Camaro-Metallic gold is a great look, and while this isn’t really a throwback, it still works very well. A

16. Denny Hamlin #11 FedEx Throwback Toyota Camry-This is a very well executed throwback, and the scheme looks great. I also like the fact that Denny went with a scheme he raced as a kid, which hasn’t really been done yet. All in all, this gets an A.

17. Joey Gase #23 AgriSupply/Carolina Cooker Toyota Camry-This is a great looking throwback, it’s quite accurate, and it has a great look. I can’t give this less than an A.

18. Kevin Harvick #4 Busch Throwback Ford Fusion-The vintage can design worked for Brad Keselowski last year, and it works for Kevin Harvick this year. The car has a great look with a great color scheme, and earns an A as a result.

19. Corey LaJoie #72 BCT The Blockchain Terminal Toyota Camry-I liked the Fina Oil Chevy back in the day, and I like this now. This is a great look, and I hope it makes another appearance in 2019. A

20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. #17 John Deere Ford Fusion-Yellow and green can be a very difficult scheme to work with on a race car. This scheme worked well in 1997, and this throwback knocks it out of the park. It looks great, and I give it an A.

21. David Ragan #38 DiGard Throwback Ford Fusion-The Citgo throwback works well, though I do think the door numbers should be a tad thinner. It’s still a great scheme that earns an A.

22. Erik Jones #20 SportClips Throwback Toyota Camry-The RE/MAX look from 1997 is a great scheme. It has a great color scheme and design scheme. I also love the 1990’s Upper Deck based logo on the hood. All things considered, this gets an A

23. Michael McDowell #34 Love’s Truck Stops Throwback Ford Same scheme as last year, same A grade.

24. Ryan Blaney #12 Menard’s/Duracel Throwback Ford Fusion-The scheme is faithful to the original, but the numbers don’t work well here. Still, it works well, and is worth an A-.

25. Kurt Busch #41 Haas Throwback Ford Fusion-I liked this scheme back in 2003, and I like this throwback scheme. It’s faithful, and it looks good. A

26. Chris Buescher #37 Bush’s Best Beans Throwback Chevy Camaro-While I don’t always like white as a base color for race cars, but this is well-executed, and I like the door numbers and the lettering here. this looks great, and I give it an A.

27. Darrell Wallace Jr. #43 Petty’s Garage Chevy Camaro-STP had some great schemes back in the day, and this is no exception. I love this scheme. A

28. Derrike Cope #99 Bojangles Chevy Camaro-Another great throwback, and this one is very well executed. The color scheme and design scheme work well, and this car has a great look. A

29. Darrell Wallace Jr. #43 STP Throwback Chevy Camaro-Richard Petty’s STP scheme with no red is a great look, and this scheme is faithful to the original. It’s a great throwback, and it earns an A.

30. A.J. Allmendinger #47 Kroger Throwback Chevy Camaro-My only complaint here is that the back logos are too cluttered, but it’s not terrible, so I’ll give it an A-

31. Jimmie Johnson #48 Kobalt Throwback Chevy Camaro-A great scheme is a great scheme. This scheme from 2012 was great then, and is great now. A

32. Kasey Kahne #95 Drumont Jets Chevy Camaro-Another great throwback scheme. Kasey’s Budweiser scheme has always been good, and this faithful replica is no exception. A

33. Kasey Kahne #95 Drumont Jets Throwback Chevy Camaro-The Dodge scheme was a great scheme, and this is a faithful replica of that scheme. This scheme looks great. A

34. JJ Yeley #52 Trading View Throwback Chevy Camaro-It’s a smooth look, with a great design. A

35. Kyle Larson #42 DC Solar Throwback Chevy Camaro-Don’t get me wrong, I love Davey’s white to black Havoline scheme. The color changes are jarring, and really don’t work with the design scheme. Still, it’s a decent scheme, so I’ll give it an A-.

36. Ty Dillon #13 Geico Throwback Chevy Camaro-This is a throwback that is from 2008. While I liked the Jimmie Johnson’s throwback, I didn’t really like this when it first debuted, but I’ve decided that this is worth a B+.

37. Matt Kenseth #6 Oscar Meyer Throwback Ford Fusion-First off, this is a fauxback, not a throwback, the second part about this is that is that this looks too modern to be a decent throwback. If this was raced during any other race, I would give it a higher grade. As a throwback, this gets a B+.

38. Timmy Hill #66 Rewards.com Throwback Toyota Camry-Full disclosure, I never liked this scheme. I didn’t like it in 2000, and I don’t really like it now. It’s not terrible, I’ve certainly seen worse. All things considered, this gets a B-.

Next week, I discuss a Truck Series suit.

By David G. Firestone

There was a time when Red Bull Racing was relevant in auto racing. It seems so long ago. Red Bull Racing had just been founded. It was going so well that Red Bull founders Dietrich Mateschitz and Chaleo Yoovidhya founded their own NASCAR team in 2006. It was an investment that went nowhere. The team plugged along until 2011, winning 2 races, one with Brian Vickers at Michigan in 2009, and the other with Kasey Kahne in 2011 at Phoenix. After that, the founders of Red Bull saw the light, and sold the team.

After the 2011 season, the remains of Red Bull Racing were sold to Ron Devine and Wayne Press. The new team, now known as BK Racing, started racing in 2011. The team has gone through a number of drivers, and, as of this writing, is in bankruptcy court.

In 2014, BK Racing fielded 3 cars in the Cup Series. Tracy Duncan was the jackman for the #83. The #83 didn’t have any real success, failing to score even a top 10. During that season, Duncan wore this Oakley/Simpson mismatched two-piece suit. The suit shows decent use.

The jacket shows decent use.The standard red collar has a tear in it, and is otherwise unadorned.The cowl doesn’t have a tag of any kind.The right chest features NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES, GOODYEAR, and LIPMAN REFRESHINGLY DEPENDABLE logos embroidered.The left chest features TOYOTA, BURGER KING, and DR. PEPPER logos embroidered.The front torso features a large BK RACING logo embroidered.Inside the front zipper is the Oakley Warranty Label.The hems don’t have comfort straps. The shoulder epaulets have Oakley logos on the bottom, and are otherwise unadorned. The right sleeve has a NASCAR logo, a SUNOCO logo, and a BK RACING logo, and nothing in television position. The left sleeve has a NASCAR logo, a TOYOTA logo, and a BK RACING logo, and nothing in television position. The back of the jacket shows some light use.The back of the neck is unadorned, and there is an Oakley logo below the collar.The back torso features DUNCAN,BKRACING.COM,@BKRACING_2383, and a BK RACING logo embroidered.The pants show decent use, especially on the cuffs.The right leg features some wear on the red and blue stripe, and some wear on the cuff. The left leg doesn’t have as much wear as the right leg does. For some reason, even though this is an Oakley-made pair of pants, there is a team Simpson sticker on the Oakley warranty label in the back.The back of the pants don’t show much wear.The back of the waist has the SFI certification.BK Racing was another one of those teams that has raced in the Cup series for many years, and hasn’t had the success that they hoped they would. They are also one of those teams that goes out, not with a bang, but with a whimper. They are going through bankruptcy court as of this writing, and I’m willing to bet they get sold, or go under.

Next week, the rankings of all the Throwback scheme from 2018!

By David G. Firestone

Hailing from St. Louis, Robby McGehee raced in IndyCar from 1999 to 2004. He raced for a number of teams, including Team Cheever, and Panther Racing. He raced in 38 races, including 5 Indianapolis 500’s. He scored a podium at Texas with a second place finish at the 2000 Casino Magic Texas 500.

His best finish in the Indianapolis 500 was a 5th place finish in the 1999 event. He started 27th and worked his way up to 5th in his first Indy Racing League start. One of his pit crew members wore this uncertified, single-layer suit. The suit was worn for 7 of the 10 1999 races, and may have been recycled in 2000. It shows light wear.The Velcro collar is unadorned.The standard Simpson warranty label is in the cowl. There is a small flag tag with the XL size indication. There is a tag pinned to the warranty label that reads “38847.”The right chest features an INDY RACING LEAGUE logo, and a SIMPSON logo present.The left chest features a PPG logo and an OLDSMOBILE logo embroidered.The front torso features a large ENERGIZER ADVANCED FORMULA logo embroidered.There is a black belt underneath the red and yellow stripe below the front logo. The belt is unadorned.The legs have standard cuffs, and are unadorned.The shoulders feature red epaulets with FIRESTONE logos embroidered. The right sleeve features an Energizer Bunny logos embroidered, with nothing in television position. The left sleeve features an Energizer Bunny logo and a SIMPSON embroidered, with nothing in television position. The back of the suit doesn’t show any wear.The back of the neck is unadorned.The back torso features an ENERGIZER ADVANCED FORMULA logo embroidered.With that, I present another edition of…

Tailgating time!

Sometimes you go to an event and you bring an entree. Sometimes you bring a side dish. This is for when you bring a

Cherry Pie Supreme

8 Servings

Ingredients:

9 inch unbaked pie shell

1 1 pound 5 ounce can of cherry pie filling.

4 3 ounce packages of soft cream cheese

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup dairy sour cream

Instructions:

1-Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2 Prepare pie shell by spreading half of cherry pie filling in bottom, and set rest aside.

3-Bake shell 15 minutes or just until crust is golden. Remove from oven.

4-In small bowl, beat together cheese, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until smooth, and pour over hot cherry pie filling.

5-Bake 25 minutes, filling will be slightly soft in center.

6-To serve, spoon sour cherry around edge of pie.

7-Fill center with remaining cherry pie filling.

Next week, another pit crew suit from a little team that could.

By David G. Firestone

James Finch started his career in construction, eventually founding Phoenix Construction in 1983, which specializes in Airport construction. In 1989, he founded Phoenix Racing, which fielded cars in The Cup Series, the Xfinity Series, and the Truck Series. They won a single race in the Cup Series, The 2009 Aaron’s 499 with Brad Keselowski, and 13 races in the Xfinity Series.

The team lasted from 1989 to 2013, during which time, Phoenix Racing raced a total of 795 races, 251 in the Cup Series, 543 races in the Xfinity Series, and one in the Truck Series. Phoenix Racing also raced 64 races in ARCA, and amazingly has 10 wins. In 2013, faced with rising costs, Finch decided that he would sell his race team. The team was bought by Harry Scott Jr., who renamed the team HScott Motorsports.

In 2011, Phoenix Racing raced in a total of 4 races, with two different drivers. Landon Cassill Started 2^nd, and finished 3^rd in the 2011 DRIVE4COPD 300, and Jamie McMurray raced 3 races, but failed to score a top 10. During that season, one of their crew member in the Nationwide Series wore this black Phoenix Racing vest. The vest shows light use, not surprising for a vest that was only used for 4 races at most.The vest has a standard red collar, which is unadorned.The cowl doesn’t have a tag, but does have the word MILEY written in Sharpie.The right chest features a NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES logo embroidered.The left chest features a GOODYEAR logo and a Chevy bow tie logo embroidered.The front torso has a large PHOENIX RACING logo embroidered.Inside the zipper is the Impact warranty label, and identification tag, which is unadorned, but shows wear from Velcro.The hems have comfort straps at the bottom, under the arm holes. The shoulder epaulets have PHOENIX logos embroidered into the red material, and IMPACT tags underneath, and the vest has standard arm holes. The back of the vest doesn’t show much wear.The back of the neck features a Chevy bow tie logo embroidered.The back torso features a PHOENIX RACING logo embroidered.Next week, an IndyCar pit crew suit.

By David G. Firestone

I don’t know where my fixation on lottery memorabilia came from I don’t know why I find this stuff interesting. I guess it had to do with the way I grew up. Up until my grandfather came to live with us at age 10, we only had free television. In the Chicago suburbs, that meant we had WBBM Channel 2, WMAQ Channel 5, WLS Channel 7, WGN Channel 9, WTTW Channel 11, and WFLD Fox 32. There were others, if you were lucky with your rabbit ears, but those were the ones we got. As such, we would watch the news on WGN, which was what my family liked.

A part of those newscasts were the Lottery drawings, which fascinated me, but I can never remember our family playing the lottery. Again, it goes back to what I said during my first Lottery column, when I said that “Human beings all have hope, but human beings need something to hope for, and something to inspire hope. For many, religion is that outlet. For others, it is their sports teams. For many, the hope that they could win millions in the lottery is that beacon of hope.”

The history of the lottery in the United States dates back to the 1600’s, while Europe was colonizing North America. Many colonies saw gambling as harmless fun, but as English investors waned to profit from the New World, this changed quickly. As time went on, each of the 13 original colonies had a lottery system in place to help fund the colonies. It became a civic duty to play the lottery. Recessions, scandals, and corruption had almost eliminated the lottery in the United States by 1868.

In 1934, Puerto Rico, then a US colony, started a legal lottery. It would take 30 years, but in 1964, New Hampshire started a lottery. Since then, 44 of 50 states, as well as Puerto Rico, Washington DC, and the US Virgin Islands have lotteries. Alabama, Mississippi, and Utah don’t have lotteries due to religious objections. Nevada has the gambling industry, and they don’t want competition, and Alaska and Hawaii, not being mainland states, aren’t worried about losing tickets out of state.

The lottery takes several forms. Scratch off tickets, first introduced in the 1970’s, are a very popular method of playing the lottery. There are many different kinds of games, with different rules. Pick 3, pick 4, main drawing, and Powerball have their origin in “numbers games.” Numbers games were popular in poorer areas of the country, especially urban areas. The game works by drawing balls that had numbers to pick the winner. A similar game was popular in South Florida and Cuba called “Bolita” or “little ball” was where betters would bet on which number would be pulled out of a bag containing 100 numbered balls.

All the pre 1934 lotteries had one major drawback that kept them from being as accepted as it is today. They were easily rigged, and people lost money on the racketeering that took place around them. Today, the equipment, the drawing, the tickets, and every other aspect is heavily supervised and regulated so that this kind of cheating is not possible. The level of security for a drawing is high, due to the amount of money involved.

One thing that I learned about lottery security is that most of the people directly involved don’t know what equipment is going to be used. 90 minutes before the drawing, the equipment is determined, tested, the host rehearsed, and by the time that is all done, the broadcast is almost ready to start. Though security is high, and equipment is tested, there is always the case that something can go wrong. Do a quick search for “lottery blooper” on YouTube, and you get several examples, including this one:

Security is also high because the amount of money can entice people to cheat, even those inside the system. The chance for cheating can’t be avoided either, as the Pennsylvania Lottery discovered on April 24, 1980, when the winning number for the Daily Number was 666, which tipped off the lottery officials that something was off. It turned out that Nick Perry, the announcer for the lottery drawing, and a group of people replaced the standard lottery balls with latex paint. Of the 10 lottery balls, 8 were replaced with these new balls, so there would reduce the number of possible combinations to eight: 444, 446, 464, 466, 644, 646, 664, and 666. The 666 combination seemed odd, so an investigation was conducted, the guilty parties were caught, and to this day, the number 666 in the Pennsylvania Lottery is referred to as a “Nick Perry.”

To say that Florida has a major connection to NASCAR is a masterpiece of understatement. NASCAR itself was founded at The Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach, and the Cup Series’ second race was held at The Daytona Beach and Road Course. NASCAR’s most important race, the Daytona 500, takes place every February.

The Florida Lottery was started on January 12, 1988 by order of a constitutional amendment approved by Florida voters by a 2-to-1 margin in the general election of November 4, 1986. It was meant to generate income for schools. As the popularity of the lottery increased, the Florida Lottery began sponsoring southern-based races for individual race teams, including James Buescher in The Xfinity Series in July, 2013. One of the crew members wore this Impact vest. The vest shows light use.The orange collar is a standard collar, and is unadorned.There is no tag present in the cowl.The right chest features a NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES logo, and a GOODYEAR logo embroidered into it.The left chest features a Chevy bow tie logo, and a SUNOCO logo embroidered.The front torso features a FLORIDA LOTTERY logo embroidered into the white material.Inside the front zipper is the Impact warranty label and identification tag, which has 7-3-2013 written in Sharpie on the tag. The hems have Velcro comfort straps on the sides, under the arm holes. The orange shoulder epaulets are unadorned, and the vest has standard arm holes. The back of the vest doesn’t have much wear to speak of.The back of the neck has an Impact Racing logo.The back torso features a FLORIDA LOTTERY logo, with JUST IMAGINE underneath. Next Week the last vest project…for a while.

By David G. Firestone

I think I speak for students everywhere when I say that I hated doing the “How I spent my vacation” paper for class at the beginning of the school year. I should not have to disclose how I spent my off-duty time to a teacher. I get that they do this because they want to figure out our writing skills, but that doesn’t mean I enjoy writing them. Oh, and by the way, many students lie on these papers. Sorry old teachers of mine, I lied about my vacation on your paper.

In this situation, I am doing this willingly, and I can relax. Relaxing is also what I did during my vacation. I really didn’t do as much this year, but I was able to work on a lot of side projects. I do soda, beer, and fast food reviews on my YouTube channel, and I shot quite a few of them. Most of them will air according to schedules. I did do a few which I can post…so I will.

My friend Josh came over from California, and with Van, we tried the North Shore Cider Company, which was really good…though the video turned out awful.

My buddies and I spent a lot of time hanging out and catching up. We ate a lot of great food, drank some great beer, and had some good times. I really was sad to see it end. I can only hope that next year will be just as fun.

Next week, The Vest Project resumes.