Ripken's trip to Dover Downs hinges on game time
By Marty Smith, Turner Sports Interactive
August 29, 2001
11:34 AM EDT (1534 GMT)
CONCORD, N.C. -- One major obstacle lies in the path of Dover Downs’ quest to rename the Sept. 23 MBNA 400 after one of major league baseball’s all-time greatest players.
 | |
Cal Ripken Jr.
|
|
|
According to track publicist John Dunlap, if the New York Yankees agree to allow the Baltimore Orioles to push back the start of their game at Camden Yards from its currently scheduled 1:35 p.m. start to “somewhere between 5 and 7,” Cal Ripken Jr. will serve as grand marshal of the MBNA Cal Ripken Jr. 400 at Dover Downs International Speedway.
Dunlap also said a press conference is “supposedly” scheduled for Thursday at Camden Yards regarding this announcement, but didn’t name a time.
The Orioles’ Sept. 23 game with the Yankees will be the last home game of Ripken’s storied 20-year career, making Ripken’s choice to attend the race all the more impressive.
“We’re just tickled pink,” Dunlap said. “MBNA is still working out the details with Major League Baseball, but we’re really hoping it will happen. I sure hope it happens. I’ve already been working on souvenirs. MBNA seems quite confident it will happen.”
If it does go down as planned, Ripken will attend the driver’s meeting, start the race with the waving of the green flag and take the race-winner to the game with the Yankees that night, according to Dunlap.
| 
