Harmony at the Nascar Memphis race this Saturday?

[johnfowles]

Although to my mind racing around a plain circular track in cars that are mere pastiches of the real everyday cars you can buy is a peculiarly American abberation of motor racing I was intrigued this morning to read in a google alert that "Graham's return to the #72 for Memphis in "Harmony" with Gordon Lightfoot. . . "
I eventually found http://www.motorsport.com/news/artic...Other%20series and http://www.bgnracing.com/news/2004/3.../101504_72.htm
the former holds interesting news

Highpoint, NC -- John Graham returns to the number 72 MacDonald Motorsport Team at Memphis for the Sam's Town 250. It will b
his first opportunity to race at the ¾ mile Memphis Motorsports Park track on Saturday, October 23rd. And in keeping with the event's salute to Elvis Presley, "He Dared to Rock", Canadian singer songwriter Gordon Lightfoot will promote his latest album Harmony on the #72 car.......... John Grahanm also said aparently "Gordon had helped me very early on in my career and it's great to be involved in the promotion of his new album Harmony"

Gordon Lightfoot has five Grammy nominations

I noted no indication of the model of car involved but I did see a reference to www.jsgmotorsports.ca but both Internet Explorer and google declined to find that site. see my later reply below.
Anybody care to ask EMP about this and can somebody try to get a picture of the suitably adorned psuedo-racing car
I also found
"Graham, who lives just north of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is one of the very few Canadians to have ever competed at any
level of the NASCAR "
and
"John Graham, a winner just four years ago at LeMans in his Porsche 675,"
also
"His most recent accomplishments include 7 starts at the 24 Hours of LeMans - including a 675 class win in 2000 - and third
place in the 2001 American LeMans Series (ALMS) 675 Driver Championship. In addition he has also competed in the Paris-Dakar
Rally."
John Fowles
If all is not lost,where is it??

[johnfowles]

quote:Originally posted by johnfowles:

www.jsgmotorsports.ca but both Internet Explorer and google whren I tried earlier declined to find that site.

And now a topic for the boy-racers out there
Ok since nobody else seems to be bothered
Not even TheWatchman he must be AWOL I'll reply myself:-

Interesting several hours later not a single reply here which usually is wide awake yet on the Newsgroup auto-racing and Gord fan Ed Mullen completed my research and found that John Graham's site http://www.jgmotorsports.ca/
will now open albeit noisily be warned anyone who has their speakers turned
up!! And moreover Ed found a pic of the car


It is a British-built March 811 #RM05 with a British engine (a Ford Cosworth DFV V8)

picture and details found on this web page:- http://www.racingsportscars.com/phot...-12-photo.html
and it is possibly entered by "Gordon Lightfoot Racing (CDN)"
who seem to have been behind it when
it finished fifth at:-
Can-Am Mosport II 1982
I am working on my artists impression made easier now I know what the possible car looks like
I note that the March is a reasonably sports car like machine whereas I thought all Nascar cars weere nominally based on cooking saloons/sedans right Al??
I rather liked the way that Ed signed off:-
Ed Mullen http://edmullen.net
Impotence: Nature's way of saying "No hard feelings

[johnfowles]

quote:Originally posted by johnfowles:
[B] [QUOTE]Originally posted by johnfowles:

www.jsgmotorsports.ca Eed had found that John Graham's site http://www.jgmotorsports.ca/

I see now that the "jsg" version was a typo in the original arricle not me for a change
I should also have quoted:-
"Graham will also drive the #72 at Phoenix, Darlington and Homestead (Miami)."
So Mr Stoneborder you'd better go and submit a report!




------------------
My Gordon Lightfoot webring
starts at
http://www.johnfowles.org.uk/lightfoot

[johnfowles]

I originally posted this topic then in trying to reply myself I screwed the original up by editing instead of "replying with a quote so I had to delete the original and start again unfortunately in the meanwhile Violet asparently replied as
I received a note from the webmaster telling me so with a link to my original topic number
so her reply is now missing. Sorry about that VBH perhaps you could reply again (if you recall what you said before of course)

------------------
My Gordon Lightfoot webring
starts at
http://www.johnfowles.org.uk/lightfoot

[This message has been edited by johnfowles (edited October 19, 2004).]

[Borderstone]

I read the article and first of all,it's great to see someone taking an intrest in Gordon's CD! Love to believe it'll give it a boost in sales too.

It doesn't say where in Phoenix that Graham is racing. Is it going to be on TV? I could watch it that way but I have no idea where any race tracks are here.

I never follow the sport,no offense to anyone,but I find car racing to be kind of boring. For Gord's sake I'll tune in but I'd have no way of attending personally. Good thing I read the article fully,I thought GL was going to sing at the event!

More details if you can. Been me. Later!

------------------
"A knight of the road,going back to a place where he might get warm." - Borderstone

[johnfowles]

quote:Originally posted by Borderstone:
It doesn't say where in Phoenix that Graham is racing. Is it going to be on TV? I could watch it that way but I have no idea where any race tracks are here.

Nice to see your reply Walter basically I'm with you as although I used to enjoy Formula 1 Grands Prix (where at least the driver has to be able to steer and use his feet and his brain I suspect Nacscar is just plain dumb and as you opined boring
from http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2005/data/schedule.html
it looks like the Phoenix race will be on 11.13/2005 at the
Phoenix International Raceway

meanwhile it was my intention to find a suitable pic of John Graham's car (a Chevrolet Monte Carlo lookalike I understand) then try to superimpose on its hood (UK bonnet) a stretched and perspective-corrected pic of the Harmony CD cover plus the corfid masthead "gordon Lightfoot" somewhere suitable. But wiser counsel cautioned about playing around with the various copyrighted images so I'll content myself with displaying the actual car number 72 as shown in the gallery on John's site

I do hope somebody from somewhere eventually uploads a pic of the decorated harmony car to John's gallery
John Fowles
How is it possible to have a civil war??

[charlene]

John - I sent you clippings (scanned) from 1982 if you wish to post them here.
Char

[jj]

11.13/2005 ? wont' he be promoing a new album by then? i hope

too bad about copyrights (geez, we weren't exactily ready to print T shirts, eh? lol), was looking forward to your work, John

[Borderstone]

To bad he can't get an endorsement for the CD with MLB or the NBA or football!

------------------
"A knight of the road,going back to a place where he might get warm." - Borderstone

Eh, I wouldn't say that too loudly John. NASCAR fans get a little pissy when you call their sport dumb. NASCAR is a world unto it's own, and while I don't pretend to know much about it, I know millions of people are addicted to it. The cars are also pretty sophisticated beasts from what little I've seen of them.

quote:
Nice to see your reply Walter basically I'm with you as although I used to enjoy Formula 1 Grands Prix (where at least the driver has to be able to steer and use his feet and his brain I suspect Nacscar is just plain dumb and as you opined boring
from [/B]

[Borderstone]

I think cars in general are really boring.

Big metal shell with wheels and a buch of hardware.....

i am sooooooo excited......not!

------------------
"A knight of the road,going back to a place where he might get warm." - Borderstone

[stationmaster]

Well I have to disagree on this one. A couple of years ago I thought that oval track racing was boring as well. Over the past few years I have been associating with some co-workers who are serious NASCAR fans. They introduced me to some of their favourite drivers (on TV of course) and somehow I started watching races. It didn't take long for me to get hooked on the competiveness of the race. Now I watch the NEXTEL CUP race every Sunday. I cheer for the #48 car of Jimmie Johnson. He is like the Gordon Lightfoot of racing!

This is from Jimmie's Saturday win at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, NC

[charlene]

[This message has been edited by charlene (edited October 22, 2004).]

[Auburn Annie]

What neat articles, and typical Gord. Thanks!

[charlene]

i have TONS of articles from the 70's,80's,90's...- i'll scan a few a week and post them now that Sir Johns tutorial seems to have clicked in.. that website sure helps!
how proud are you of me Sir John?????...gonna buy me a drink to celebrate in a few weeks when I see you???
lol

[bjb]

Hi Charlene,
THANK YOU for the information! If John doesn't (or even if he does), I'll buy you a drink!!!

bjb

[charlene]

okey dokey!
sounds like a plan to me!

[Cathy]

Graham spent more time going around in circles, smashing into other cars and into walls (God bless safter barriers) than he did actually racing. At one time he was told by Nascar officials to pick a lane and stay in it. Gord's image on the hood of the car was pretty crumpled up by the time the race was over. I don't remember where Graham finished, but it was somewhere near the end of the pack.
I recorded the race at work and will try to get a good still shot of the car for everyone, that is, before it got all smashed up.

Cathy http://www.cathycowette.com

[stationmaster]

Well John Graham finished 28th out of 43 drivers yesterday! Not bad! http://www.nascar.com/races/bg/2004/...tml/index.html

[Auburn Annie]

Most of the rest of the pack were out of the race due to accidents, car problems (brakes, tires, etc.) - just finishing in that race is an accomplishment. They had a record 13 cautions. He made a little over $17K US in this his 3rd NASCAR start. He started in 41st position and ended up 28th.

[This message has been edited by Auburn Annie (edited October 24, 2004).]

[jj]

maybe Truex Jr. was promoting the Waiting For You album

ok, so where's a pick of the car w/ GL image?

[jj]

oops, just read Cathy's post about a still
...sounds good, thx!

[Auburn Annie]

From Motorsports.com:

Memphis: John Graham race notes
Racing series NASCAR-BUSCH
Date 2004-10-24

Canadian driver John Graham improved 13 positions from his starting place on the grid to finish 28th in the Sams Town 250 NASCAR Busch Series race held Saturday, October 23 in Memphis, Tennessee.


The Gordon Lightfoot/Aurora Inventive sponsored Chevrolet Monte Carlo was running even higher at mid point in the race but was spun out by another competitor and lost time and track position while in the pits making repairs. Excellent work by the MacDonald Motorsport Team kept him on the same lap but the car's handling suffered and Graham struggled with it for the remaining laps. Graham still managed to finish ahead of some of the NASCAR stars such as Michael Waltrip and Derek Cope and also maintained his record of taking the checkered flag in all three of his first ever NASCAR Busch Series races.


During the race Graham also supported the event's salute to Elvis Presley by promoting the new album Harmony by Canadian Songwriter Gordon Lightfoot on the hood of his #72 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. "Gordon Lightfoot helped me very early on in my racing career" Graham said, "and it is great to be involved in the promotion of his new album Harmony." Lightfoot, who has 5 Grammy nominations and 17 Juno awards in his native Canada, can look to many artists who have recorded his songs including Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Sarah McLaughlin, Barbra Streisand, Peter Paul & Mary, Harry Belafonte, Richie Havens, Glen Campbell, Anne Murray and George Hamilton lV to name a few.


Graham continued "NASCAR Busch is where we want to be in 2005 and our current plan is to run 6 races this year. We are looking forward to building on that next year." John Graham is one of the few Canadians to have ever competed at any level in NASCAR and was the only Canadian driver racing in a NASCAR event this weekend.


John Graham, although new to the NASCAR Busch Series, has raced in many forms of international motorsport that includes 7 starts at the 24 Hours Of LeMans race in France, podium finishes in the American LeMans Series (ALMS), and 2 finishes in the gruelling Paris-Dakar Rally.

[charlene]

I knew there was more to the John Graham story - I just found this:

[charlene]

looks like this site might have some pics posted soon: http://www.motorsport.com/photos/ser...SCAR-BUSCH&Y=0