Fantasy: IT'S HERE....SPORTZTAWK FANTASY STOCK CAR RACING II

Originally posted by Ben
i get a nice prediction of 3rd place for this one, its about time.

any time Ben, you make all of this possible with Sportztawk and all.

Originally posted by TRD
How many teams do we have now? 17? whoah pretty good!

That is good. I hope everyone sticks with it, we had quite a few drop-outs in the fantasy football.

Daytona Countdown: '94
Marlins out-gases competition; Friends begins network run
By Mark Aumann, NASCAR.COM
February 8, 2005
08:18 AM EST (13:18 GMT)


Sterling Marlin broke the family's 0-for-443 winless streak in a big way in the 36th Daytona 500 on Feb. 20, 1994. Running 59 laps on his final tank of fuel, Marlin had just enough left to outlast the competition for his first win.

A 1994 Chevrolet Beretta Z26 two-door coupe cost $15,310. With his winnings of $258,275, Marlin could have purchased 16 Berettas.

The United States population was estimated to be 260 million on July 1, with 4,877,000 of those living in Tennessee. Marlin could have given nearly 1 in every 10 Americans a penny from his first-place prize money, or about five cents to each Tennessee resident.

The orange and white checkerboard end zones returned to Tennessee's Neyland Stadium when it was converted back to natural grass in 1994. Tennessee beat Virginia Tech 45-23 in the 1994 Gator Bowl.

If Marlin had wanted to drive from his hometown of Columbia, Tenn., to Jacksonville, Fla., to watch the Vols win, the 609-mile trip would have taken about 10 hours in the Beretta -- or three hours and 53 minutes at Marlin's race-winning speed of 156.931 mph.

Unusual trials were the order of the day in 1994.

The biggest was the result of the June 12 murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman in Los Angeles. Five days later, a White Ford Bronco driven by Al Cowlings, with former NFL star O.J. Simpson as a passenger, led police on a low-speed chase to Simpson's Brentwood mansion, where Simpson surrendered.

The jury to hear the Simpson case was selected on Nov. 3, two months after prosecutors announced they would seek a sentence of life without parole rather than the death penalty. Despite a mountain of evidence which pointed to his involvement in the murders, the jury of eight blacks, one Hispanic, one white and two people of mixed race found Simpson not guilty on Oct. 3, 1995.

A 1994 Ford Bronco XLT two-door sport utility retailed for $23,965. The 1994 Ford Bronco was included in a 884,400-vehicle recall to repair faulty emergency parking brakes.

On Jan. 6, Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed in the right leg with a crowbar during the U.S. National skating championships in Detroit. One month later, Jeff Gillooly -- ex-husband of Kerrigan's rival, Tonya Harding -- accepted a plea bargain in exchange for testifying against Harding. In March, Harding pleaded guilty to conspiracy to hinder prosecution for trying to cover up the attack. She was fined $100,000 and banned from the sport.

Convicted serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was clubbed to death by a deranged inmate in a Wisconsin prison gymnasium on Nov. 28.

On Jan. 10, Lorena Bobbitt went on trial for cutting off the private parts of her husband John during a family dispute. Eleven days later, she was found not guilty by reason of insanity. John Bobbitt, who had surgery to reattach what had been cut off, starred in two pornographic films to help pay for the operation, became a minister in Las Vegas and was arrested by Las Vegas police seven times between 1994 and 2002.

After winning a lawsuit against The Citadel, Shannon Faulkner enrolled as the school's first female cadet on Jan. 20. She lasted a week, citing exhaustion and allegations of abuse.

On Feb. 22, Aldrich Ames and his wife were charged with spying for the Soviet Union. Ames was convicted to life imprisonment, while his wife received a five-year sentence.

Francisco Martin Duran was convicted of trying to kill President Bill Clinton when he fired more than two dozen bullets at the White House in October.

Friends debuted on network television in 1994.

On Jan. 17, the 6.7 magnitude Northridge Earthquake crunched apartments and homes in California's San Fernando Valley. Edvard Munch's painting, "The Scream", was stolen from Oslo, Norway, on Feb. 12. It was recovered May 7. It takes 2,633,000 pounds of peanuts and 3,478,000 pounds of popcorn to make a year's supply of Crunch 'N Munch.

&

Originally posted by aegis fang
what are your predictions?

17 poeple? Thats going to be tough and it might be very close. It's going to be real hard to call a winner. Out of 17 i would be happy to finish in the top 8....

just 10 days left till DAYTONA :party-smiley-018:

Daytona Countdown: '96
Jarrett beats Earnhardt; Nicklaus, Palmer, Woods paired at Augusta
By Mark Aumann, NASCAR.COM
February 10, 2005
04:36 PM EST (21:36 GMT)


For the third time in four years -- and in a repeat of the 1993 race -- Dale Earnhardt wound up second at the checkered flag. Dale Jarrett was able to block Earnhardt's passing attempts on the final lap of the 38th Daytona 500 on Feb. 18, 1996.

Earnhardt was the fastest qualifier and continued his streak of seven consecutive qualifying race wins but couldn't find a way to get his Chevrolet past Jarrett's Ford.

A 1996 Ford Mustang Cobra two-door coupe retailed for $24,810. With his check for $360,775, Jarrett could have purchased 14 Mustang Cobras.

Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods were paired for the 1996 Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Ga. If Jarrett had wanted to make it a foursome at Augusta National, the 218-mile trip from his hometown of Hickory, N.C. would have taken a little under four hours in the Mustang -- or one hour and 25 minutes at Jarrett's race-winning speed of 154.308 mph.

President Bill Clinton had a busy year. In addition to opening the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, he signed into law the Telecom Reform Act, committed $100 million to an anti-terrorism agreement with Israel and defeated Republican challenger Bob Dole in the November election. He also testified as a defense witness in the Whitewater hearings.

On July 23, Raleigh's WRAL-TV transmitted the first digital television signal. By the end of the year, Zenith introduced the first HDTV-compatible front projection television in the United States. In 1996, over a billion households worldwide owned television sets.

Midwesterners had little alternative than to watch television during the Blizzard of 1996. On Feb. 4, Milwaukee tied its all-time low temperature at minus-26 degrees.

In August, NASA announced that a meteorite thought to have originated from Mars contained evidence of primitive life-forms. Also that month, data sent back from the Galileo space probe indicated there may be water on Europa, one of Jupiter's moons.

The highest temperature recorded by Viking landers on Mars was 1 degree, with a low of minus-178. Europa's high temperature is estimated at minus-170.

Westside Connections, featuring Ice Cube, Mack 10 and W.C., released the multi-platinum album "Bow Down" in 1996. Rapper Tupac Shakur was iced by an assassin's bullet following the Mike Tyson fight in Las Vegas on Sept. 7. He died six days later. Tupac Shakur's song "Last Wordz" featured Ice Cube and Ice-T and mentioned Pat Sajak and Dan Quayle.

The relationship for England's royal couple turned decidedly icy, as the Prince and Princess of Wales were formally divorced on Aug. 28.

The term "refrigerator" was used for the first patented ice box in 1830.

On May 23, Goran Kropp reached the summit of Mount Everest alone and without oxygen after having pedaled his bicycle from Sweden.

On July 5, Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be successfully cloned from an adult cell, was born. In 1996, Barbie and Ken dolls were packaged in a 30th anniversary Star Trek set, dressed in the original Star Trek uniforms. Scientists believe that if a real "transporter" could be built, it would in essence create a clone of the person at one end and destroy the original at the other.

IBM's Deep Blue chess computer made history on Feb. 10, defeating chess master Garry Kasparov for the first time. Kasparov, however, won three of the six matches, with two ending in draws. The Broadway musical "Chess" debuted on April 28, 1988, and ran for 68 performances.

Originally posted by aegis fang
what are your predictions?

I'm thinking that the Central Pennsylvania connection (Gibbs, Rico, Egg) will have at least one resident amongst the top 5 at the end of the season.

ONLY 9 DAYS LEFT TILL THE GREAT AMERICAN RACE, still time left to get in on the fun...sign up now

Daytona Countdown: '97
Gordon wins first 500; d'oh -- Simpsons eclipses Flintstones
By Mark Aumann, NASCAR.COM
February 11, 2005
10:02 AM EST (15:02 GMT)


While Dale Earnhardt was rolling his mangled Chevrolet toward the garage area, 25-year-old Jeff Gordon was celebrating in Victory Lane as the youngest winner of the Daytona 500.

With 10 laps to go, Earnhardt and Gordon touched while racing for the lead. Earnhardt's car hit the wall, was struck by Dale Jarrett's Ford and flipped over Ernie Irvan and into the infield. Gordon went on to win the 39th Daytona 500 on Feb. 16, 1997, spearheading a 1-2-3 sweep for Hendrick.

A 1997 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 two-door coupe retailed for $20,115, so Gordon could have purchased 18 Camaro Z28s with his first-place check for $377,410.

On Oct. 15, Richard Noble drove Thrust SSC to a world land speed record of 763.035 mph in Nevada's Black Rock Desert. If Gordon had wanted to witness the record run, the 2,080-mile trip from Pittsboro, Ind., to Gerlach, Nev., would have taken about 35 hours in a Camaro Z28 at freeway speeds, 14 hours and two minutes in Gordon's No. 24 Chevrolet -- or 2 hours and 43 minutes in Thrust SSC.

It took Gordon 3 hours, 22 minutes and 18 seconds to run 500 miles at Daytona. Noble could have completed the same distance in 39 minutes and 19 seconds.

Milestones were the order of the day in 1997.

On Feb. 9, The Simpsons surpassed The Flintstones as the longest-running prime-time animated series. On May 25, Strom Thurmond became the longest serving member in the history of the U.S. Senate, at 41 years and 10 months. At 14 years, 10 months, Tara Lipinski became the youngest women's world figure skating champion on March 22.

People's Republic of China leader Deng Xiaoping died at 92 on Feb. 19. The F.W. Woolworth Company closed on July 17 after 117 years in business. The 200-year-old warship U.S.S. Constitution set sail for the first time in 116 years on July 21. After 290 years of union with England, Scotland voted to form its own Parliament on Sept. 11.

Scientists in London find DNA from a Neanderthal skeleton that supported the theory that human evolution may have begun with a single female in Africa 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.

Bill Clinton started his second term as U.S. President on Jan. 20. Athens, Greece started preparations for the 2004 Summer Olympics after being picked as host city on Sept. 5. On Nov. 19, Bobbi McCaughey's septuplets began life in Carlisle, Iowa.

On Jan. 3, Bryant Gumbel hosted The Today Show for the final time. On Sept. 4, the final Ford Thunderbird rolled off the assembly line in Lorain, Ohio. On Sept. 6, millions of Britons paid their respects to Diana, Princess of Wales, who died following a car accident in Paris six days earlier.

Diana was buried in Althorp Park on the Spencer estate in Northamptonshire, England. In July, the body of Che Guevara was returned to Cuba for burial. In April, the remains of 24 people went sent into earth orbit on board a Pegasus rocket.

In February, Morgan Stanley and Dean Witter announced a $10 billion merger. In August, Boeing and McDonnell Douglas completed their merger. In November, WorldCom and MCI announced a $37 billion merger.

Morgan Stanley stock is currently valued at approximately $58 a share. Boeing stock is currently valued at approximately $53 a share. In 2002, WorldCom filed the largest bankruptcy in accounting history, admitting to fraudulently misstating $11 billion in earnings, causing its stock prices to tumble and to evaporate $175 billion in shareholder wealth.

On Aug. 6, Microsoft purchased 100,000 non-voting shares of struggling Apple stock for $150 million. The deal included a five-year patent cross-license, Office '98 would be available for the Mac by the end of the year and most important, that Apple would drop its court case against Microsoft over the look and feel of the Windows operating system

just want to check...have all the new players this year read the rules and understand how the game works? if you have any questions now is the time to ask?????

I think i got it, use one racer form each group 10 times at the most.

Is it about the same as last time?

the rules are the same as last year,

gibbs, what you do is before qualifying you pick 2 drivers from list A, 4 from list B, and 2 from list C....after they qualify (on friday or saturday this year) yahoo will post the startin positions for each driver you have selected for your team that week...out of the 2 drivers from list A that you have chosen you then pick 1 of them for your driver whose points will count for you that week, from your 4 drivers in list B you pick 2, and you get 1 from list C...each driver can only be used 9 times in the season,,,,hope this makes sense, it really works easier than it sounds

So we have to pick again after they qualifty, I didn't know that.

that's right, if you want to pick drivers early you don't HAVE to change after they qualify, you can pick drivers early and stick with them, but when the qualify you get to choose which drivers you want to race for you out of the 8 you have chosen for the week

Yeah you pick your team and then can shuffle it after the qualifing with the drivers you have selected..

Its real simple..

Daytona Countdown: '98
After his 20th try, Earnhardt finally celebrates in Victory Lane
By Mark Aumann, NASCAR.COM
February 12, 2005
11:38 AM EST (16:38 GMT)


After two decades of near-misses, Dale Earnhardt finally visited Daytona's Victory Lane as Daytona 500 champion in the 40th Daytona 500 on Feb. 15, 1998.

Earnhardt led the final 61 laps but was chased all the way by Bobby Labonte, Jeremy Mayfield, Ken Schrader and Rusty Wallace. As the laps dwindled, Labonte tried low and he tried high, but couldn't find the key to passing the No. 3 Chevrolet.

Earnhardt's win was worth $1,059,805 -- the first million-dollar payday in Daytona 500 history. Alabama's marching band is known as the "Million Dollar Band." The television show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? premiered in the United Kingdom.

Matchbox 20's 3 A.M. was the No. 3 song on the ARC Weekly Top 40 chart for Feb. 14. K-Ci & JoJo's All My Life was No. 14.

The 1998 Chevrolet Lumina LTZ four-door sedan was the last model year for the Lumina. At a sticker price of $19,745, Earnhardt could have purchased one for every driver in the 1998 Daytona 500 and still have enough left to buy the average new home -- which was $181,900 in 1998.

On Sept. 8, St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Mark McGwire broke baseball's single-season home run record with his 62nd homer, a fourth-inning shot off Chicago's Steve Trachsel at Busch Stadium. If Earnhardt had wanted to try and catch home run No. 62, the 740-mile trip would have taken 11 hours and 56 minutes at 62 mph -- or four hours and 17 minutes at Earnhardt's race-winning average of 172.712 mph.

Charles Lindbergh's "Spirit of St. Louis" airplane is at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Jimmy Stewart played Charles Lindbergh in the 1957 movie, The Spirit of St. Louis.

Stewart acted with Ronald Reagan in World War II training films and starred with John Wayne in 1976's The Shootist.

Washington National Airport was renamed Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Feb. 6. The airport in Orange County, Calif is John Wayne Airport. The airport in Indiana, Pa. is Jimmy Stewart Airport.

Charlton Heston, who starred in Airport, was named president of the National Rifle Association on June 8.

If Earnhardt had wanted to fly one-way between Ronald Reagan National and John Wayne Airport, a Delta flight that connects in Atlanta would have added 2,466 miles to Earnhardt's frequent flier program.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 9,000 for the first time on April 6. The population of the United States was estimated at more than 270 million in July.

Big companies swallowed up other big companies in 1998. In January, Ford bought Volvo. In April, Citicorp and Travelers Group became Citigroup. In May, Mercedes-Benz bought Chrysler. In November, America Online acquired Netscape. In December, Exxon paid $73 billion to buy Mobil.

In January, smoking was banned in all California bars and restaurants. In November, the tobacco industry and attorneys general from 46 states reached a $206 billion legal settlement.

In January, President Bill Clinton denied having "sexual relations" with Monica Lewinsky. On Aug. 17, Clinton admitted that he had an "improper physical relationship with Lewinsky.

On March 27, the Food and Drug Administration approved Viagra for use as a treatment for male impotence. On Oct. 29, 77-year-old John Glenn blasted off from Cape Canaveral for the second time, making him the oldest person ever in space. At 46, Earnhardt was the second-oldest winner of the Daytona 500. Bobby Allison was 50 in 1988

How long before we start? did someone say the end of this month?

the daytona 500 is next sunday feb 20, that is the first race of the season

7 days left till the DAYTON 500 :party-smiley-018:
still time to sign up and get in on the fun


With 11 laps remaining, Jeff Gordon drove onto the apron heading into Turn 1 to pass Rusty Wallace and win the 41st Daytona 500 on Feb. 14, 1999.

Rather than be part of what was shaping up to become a huge accident, Wallace gave Gordon enough room to make the pass and eventually wound up eighth as Chevrolets snagged five of the first six spots.

The Chrysler 300M was Motor Trend's Car of the Year for 1999. At a retail price of $28,300, Gordon could have purchased 41 Chrysler 300Ms with his first-place check for $1,172,246.

Prince released "1999" in 1983. "Space: 1999" debuted on television in 1975. "Office Space" was released in 1999.

If Gordon had wanted to "party like it's 1999" with Prince, the 613-mile trip from Gordon's hometown of Pittsboro, Ind. to Prince's hometown of Minneapolis, Minn. would have taken 19.99 hours at 30.67 mph -- or three hours and 48 minutes at Gordon's race-winning average of 161.551 mph.

The big concern in 1999 was Y2K.

Because early computers only used a two-digit designator for the year, catastrophe was predicted when the clock struck midnight on Dec. 31, 1999.

In 1979, COBOL pioneer Robert Bemer, writing in the journal "Interface Age," warned that the Year 2000 bug would cause major problems. In 1993, Canadian Peter de Jager wrote a Doomsday 2000 article for "Computerworld."

Some speculated that airplanes might fall from the sky, electricity generating power stations would go off line and there would be worldwide shortages of food, water and gasoline. Russia even asked the United States for help reprogramming its nuclear weapons computers in order for them to be Y2K compatible.

"I'll tell you that I will not be in an airplane or in a large metropolitan area on New Year's Eve," said Harry S. White Jr., who held several key governmental positions in the 1960s and '70s.

A video featuring Jerry Falwell urged viewers to stockpile food, water, gasoling and ammunition.

After up to $600 billion was spent worldwide -- and an estimated $30 billion was spent by the U.S. government -- there were no widespread computer problems.

The stock market had few concerns in 1999. The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit the 10,000 mark on March 29 and reached 11,000 on July 16. The world's population reached six billion on Oct. 12, according to the United Nations Population Fund.

Switzerland's Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones of the United Kingdom flew a hot air balloon around the world in 370 hours and 24 minutes from March 3-20, completing a trip of 25,360 miles. At approximately 68.466 mph, the balloon would have completed the Daytona 500 in seven hours and 18 minutes.

On Dec. 3, Tori Murden became the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean alone in a rowboat. It took her 81 days to complete the 2,962-mile journey, an average speed of 1.523 mph. Murden could have rowed the Daytona 500 in 328 hours and 18 minutes.

President Bill Clinton was acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial in February. In March, U.S. Marine Captain Richard Ashby was acquitted of the charge of reckless flying which resulted in the deaths of 20 skiers in the Italian Alps when his low-flying jet hit a gondola cable.

On Dec. 31, Boris Yeltsin resigned as president of Russia, to be replaced by Vladimir Putin. The New York Yankees signed Kevin Brown to a $105 million contract in 1999, the largest deal in baseball history to that point.

Daytona Countdown: '00
Jarrett re-emerges in Victory Lane; Hunley comes up in Charleston
By Mark Aumann, NASCAR.COM
February 14, 2005
08:51 AM EST (13:51 GMT)


Johnny Benson appeared to be ready to pull perhaps the greatest upset in Daytona 500 history on Feb. 20, 2000.

Instead, his Cinderella story turned to ashes when Dale Jarrett was able to pass him on a restart with four laps to go in the 42nd Daytona 500, giving Jarrett his third Daytona 500 victory.

The Lincoln LS was Motor Trend's Car of the Year in 2000. A 2000 Lincoln LS V8 four-door sedan retailed for $34,690, so Jarrett could have purchased 36 Lincoln LS V8s with his first-place check for $1,277,975.

In April, federal agents swooped into a Miami neighborhood, seized 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez from his relatives' home and flew him to Washington, D.C., to be with his Cuban father, ending one of the most publicized custody battles in American history.

In November, high-priced lawyers swooped into South Florida to count hanging and dimpled chads as disputed votes held up the 2000 presidential election for nearly a month before the U.S. Supreme Court handed the victory to Republican challenger George W. Bush.

If Jarrett had driven one of his Lincoln LS V8s from Hickory, N.C., to Tallahassee, Fla., to help count Florida's ballots, he could have made the 524-mile drive in almost 9 hours -- or 3 hours and 22 minutes at his race-winning average of 155.669 mph.

Finland's Tarja Halonen, Russia's Vladimir Putin, Canada's Jean Chretien and Mexico's Vicente Fox were clear-cut winners in those countries' elections in 2000.

In 1864, the Confederate submarine H.L.Hunley sank in Charleston harbor after ramming the union blockade ship Housatanic. On Aug. 8, the Hunley was raised to the surface after 136 years.

In 1872, Aaron Montgomery Ward, a traveling salesman who felt rural Americans needed greater access to quality products, founded Montgomery Ward. On Dec. 28, Montgomery Ward went out of business.

On Feb. 17, Microsoft launched Windows 2000 and Windows ME. On April 3, Microsoft was ruled to have violated United States antitrust laws.

In March, AMD and Intel each released one gigahertz chips. The last new Peanuts comic strip was published on Feb. 13, one day after creator Charles Schulz passed away at 77. Charles Chips were once delivered in one gallon cans.

On Jan. 10, America Online agreed to buy Time-Warner for $162 billion, the largest corporate merger in history. If Jarrett had used the winnings to buy AOL shares on Feb. 22 at $51.13 a share, his $1,277,975 would be worth about $448,400 today.

Survivor and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire were the two highest-rated shows on television in 2000. One required feats of skill and endurance, the other required feats of memorization, but in each case, the goal was $1 million.

A coal sludge spill of more than 250 million gallons gushed into streams and rivers in Martin County, Ky., on Oct. 11. Massey Energy, the parent company of Martin County Coal, reportedly spent at least $46 million in cleanup and another $3.25 million in damages and penalties to the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Feb. 29 was a leap day, the last in a turn of the century year until Feb. 29, 2400. There will be 146,096 days between the two dates