Notebook: Watkins Glen

Two champion athletes took part in NASCAR Winston Cup events at Watkins Glen International.

Jim Kelly, former quarterback for the Buffalo Bills and recent Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, dropped the green flag for the Sirius Satellite Radio at The Glen. Ernie Irvan, winner of 15 Winston Cup Series races, served as the Grand Marshall and gave the command to start engines.

This was the second time Kelly has started a race, with the first occurring at the Daytona 500 in 1995. Irvan won at Watkins Glen in 1991 while driving for Morgan McClure Motorsports.

Kelly, a frequent attendee of NASCAR events, has shown interest in team ownership, but isn't ready to make the move quite yet. If he does, it would be to benefit the Hunter's Hope Charity that he formed after his son, Hunter, was born with Krabbe's Disease.

"I have a lot of respect for the team owners of racing and if we could get them involved it would be great," Kelly said. "I also know that a lot of these driver's fathers were drivers and where would they be without their sons.

"That's where I find myself right now because he (Hunter) won't be able to fulfill his dreams like I have. If I can somehow someway help other kids out there fulfill their dreams, that's what I'll do."

Kelly has had a high-profile schedule, of late.

"It just doesn't get any better than this," he said with a big grin.

After starting the race, he and wife Jill watched from the starter's stand for the first 12 laps of the race.

Hot time at Watkins Glen

Although temperatures for the race weekend were ideal, there were some hot spots throughout the track.

On Friday, the press tower and garage was left without power during the afternoon when a transformer shut down because of overload. The electric company brought in a new transformer and all power was restored by 7 p.m.

Then, on Sunday, a pyrotechnic display on the Inner Loop that accompanied the national anthem caused the grass nearby to catch fire. Crews quickly put it out. But they were called to duty again when another patch of grass caught fire along the race track from debris that fell off a car.

Robby Gordon bills NBC

Robby Gordon was leading last year's race at Watkins Glen when a telemetry box used by NBC caught fire in his No. 31 Chevy. That forced him out of the car and out of the race, as the box kept burning before the crew could put it out.

Since Gordon and the team felt that NBC owed them one, they issued an invoice to the network.

The costs were listed for a total of $1,782,173. Winnings for Jeff Gordon last year were $173,402, the Richard Childress Racing team listed $500,000 in bonuses and filed $1 million more for punitive damages and pain and suffering the team went through. And because the race was a year ago, the RCR team issued a loss $108,771 at a rate of 6.5 percent that NBC owed them.

In addition to the invoice, the team presented the network with a burned up die-cast of the No. 31 Chevrolet.

Bonus keeps growing

The leader bonus that R. J. Reynolds posts for each race has grown to $180,000. If the driver who wins the race is also the top-point earner, he gets to pocket the sum.

The bonus has been paid twice this year, both times to Sterling Marlin. Once after the Las Vegas race in March, and again after his victory at Darlington.

With Marlin headed to Michigan for this weekend's race, it could get paid a third time as he won the event last year.

Childress' grandson in Little League World Series

Austin Dillon, eldest grandson of team owner Richard Childress and son of Mike Dillon, who drove for RCR in the Busch Series, and his baseball team are advancing to the 2002 Little League World Series in Williamsport, Penn.

Austin plays second base for the Southwest Forsyth team from Clemmons, N.C., that is the North Carolina State champion. They defeated the team from Bridgewater, Va. 4-2 in the Southeast Regional championship game in St. Petersburg, Fla. on Saturday.

"I know how hard all of those kids have worked and how dedicated they are," Childress said. "It's almost like NASCAR racing. You have to be dedicated and never give up, and last night showed that.

"It's big for them to make it to Williamsport after coming back at the end of the game last night -- that showed a lot of heart."