Morning Briefing

They look primed for swap meets

Want to buy an old NASCAR speedway, cheap?

The small-town South has lost its hold on stock car racing, with NASCAR leaving behind tracks in the North Carolina towns of Rockingham and North Wilkesboro in recent years for fancier neighborhoods -- including ours.

There hasn’t been a NASCAR race since 1996 in North Wilkesboro, where the abandoned track has deteriorated and trees have grown around the speedway.

Now North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham -- which last staged a NASCAR race in 2004 -- will be sold at auction Oct. 2, the (Raleigh) News & Observer reported.

One potential bidder owns a driving school and would like to stage lower-tier racing there. Another is interested in the scrap metal from the massive grandstands.

“It’s a mystery to us what will happen,” Rick Sago, director of development for Richmond County, told the News & Observer.

“I’m not sure what else you can do with a racetrack besides race. It’s not like you can turn it into a giant swimming pool.”

Trivia time

What does the term “stickers” refer to in NASCAR slang?

JoePa by the numbers

It isn’t the two national championships, 363 victories, five undefeated seasons or 33 bowl games that blow us away as much as numbers like this:

Since Joe Paterno became coach at Penn State in 1966, there have been 798 coaching changes in Division I-A football programs, with multiple changes at every school except one.

His.

Good deed

Here’s a football player to take your mind off Michael Vick.

Baylor linebacker Joe Pawelek organized a volunteer effort in June for Baylor players to help build homes for Habitat for Humanity and NeighborWorks Waco.

Let’s go, Bears.

Blah-ging

Yes, almost everybody has a blog. Among the commentators on the Vick situation is Wayne Pacelle, president and chief executive of the Humane Society.

“I also was very pleased that Michael Vick noted how he failed America’s young people,” Pacelle wrote. “Michael Vick can now tell a powerful, personal story and show young people that you must take responsibility for your actions and that dogfighting is not a benign hobby, but a sickening, barbaric and criminal action.”

Yes, Vick can give his personal story -- if they allow blogging from prison.

Society fighting

Is it just us, or are the Humane Society and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals going toe to toe over who can get the most publicity out of the Vick episode?

This headline on a news release from the ASPCA: “As Michael Vick Pleads Guilty to Federal Indictment, ASPCA Reveals Its Role In Federal Investigation.”

Trivia answer

New tires. According to NASCAR.com, the name comes from the manufacturer’s stickers attached to new tires.

And finally

Andy Roddick didn’t want to talk much about Roger Federer before the U.S. Open, but he raved over the new weight room and locker rooms, saying the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center “might have gone from worst to first.”

“The locker rooms are huge now,” Roddick said. “We went through and counted, and I think there’s like 18 flat screens in the locker room now. We’re very spoiled in there.”

Should be good for late nights and rain delays.

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