Commentary: Local racing legend, Shelton, dead

There is also some sad news in the local racing community. Tom Shelton, who has been dealing with severe health problems for the past year, lost his battle last week. Tom was a local legend, racing at the old T-Car Speedway in a variety of stock cars, and also tried his hand at NASCAR. I remember him telling the story of his outing at Ontario Motor Speedway where he had his doors blown off by the likes of Buddy Baker, Darrell Waltrip, and other Cup regulars. In later years, Tom was Competition Director at Champion Speedway, and owned a race prep and hot rod shop with his son Robby. He will be missed. Services will be held on Monday at St. Teresa's of Avila at 10 a.m.

•••

Dallas Colodny, local NASCAR Late Model stock car racer and broadcast journalism major at UNR, scored his second consecutive runner-up finish last Saturday night at Toyota Speedway in Irwindale, Calif. Colodny, starting fourth, actually took the lead at one point, but a caution flag put him back one spot for the green-white-checker restart, and that's where he finished. Colodny is in fifth place in points with five races remaining in the season, only two points out of fourth. He leads the rookie of the year standings at in his division.

Another local racer, Bobby Hodges, also took a second place the Late Model division at All American Speedway in Roseville, Calif., the same night. Hodges backed that up with a sixth in the second race of a twin program after exhaust system problems dropped him out of the top five, and moved into 16th place in the NASCAR Whelen Late Model point standings for California and 125th in the nation.

•••

Last week's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Watkins Glen proved that Tony Stewart has lost none of his road-racing skills. Additionally, Marcos Ambrose put on a marvelous show to finish second. However, a huge crash put Jeff Gordon's back problems on the front burner again. The speculation among those in the know is that Gordon's retirement isn't too far in the future. It's not as if he has anything to prove or needs the money. A few more hits like the one last Monday, and he'll be spending his golden years in a wheelchair.

After two Monday races in a row, I wonder if Mother Nature is going to go for the trifecta at Michigan? Weather has been a significant story this season for all three of the major NASCAR series, with qualifying rained out fairly often and races shortened, as well as the two postponements. I had a call from a race fan last week with a novel idea about that. He suggested that rather than setting the field on points in the event of a qualifying rainout, that NASCAR line the cars up according to the order they were to qualify in. It's an interesting idea, but it wouldn't really be fair to the go-or-go-homers, who qualify last. NASCAR does listen to fans occasionally (the double-file restart being a case in point), but I don't think that Brian France or Mike Helton would give this one much consideration.

•••

Next weekend the Indycar Series will make its closest visit to Reno, racing at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma. The points battle tightened up at Mid-Ohio last weekend, with Scott Dixon taking over the lead. Ryan Briscoe and Dario Franchitti are nipping at his heels, with Helio Castroneves mathematically within striking distance and Danica Patrick in fifth with not much chance of advancing from there. Speaking of the Patrick, I saw a headline on Jayski's Web site that trumpeted "Danica Patrick NASCAR Rumors Are True." I checked it out, expecting a team to be named, but it turns out it's not quite that certain. The headline came from a quote buried deeply in an article by Derek Wilson in the Vallejo Herald, to wit: "The NASCAR rumors are true," Patrick confirmed. "We're definitely exploring all the opportunities that are out there for me as a driver and as a business and a brand." Well, exploring opportunities and landing a NASCAR ride are two very different kettles of fish.