Countdown: Colorado

The Centennial State is truly a Rocky Mountain high, as John Denver sang. More than 50 peaks within Colorado's borders break the 14,000-foot barrier, and places like Vail and Aspen are winter resort havens. The 15th step of the state capitol building in Denver is exactly 5,280 feet above sea level, which validates it as the Mile High City. At the same time, much of the eastern portion of the state is high plains.

Colorado hasn't played a major role in the development of NASCAR, but there have been interesting highlights.

Best behind the wheel

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• John Rostek, Fort Collins

Rostek was a contractor and weekend racer who exceled on the tracks of the Mountain West, particularly Speedway Park in Fort Collins, Cheyenne's Intermountain Speedway and the Denver speedways of Lakeside and Englewood.

Rostek made his NASCAR debut in one of the 1960 Daytona 500 qualifying races. He started 10th but crashed on Lap 5, eliminating him from the big race later in the month. However, he bounced back with his only NASCAR victory -- winning the 100-lap Copper Cup Championship at the one-mile Arizona State Fairgrounds in a race-record 71.899 mph. According to the Phoenix Gazette's story, Rostek collected a check for $500.

He went on to run four more events in 1960, earning two more top-10 finishes and a pole at Montgomery. His final NASCAR race came at Riverside in 1963, when he started 27th and finished 16th.

Rostek, who also owned the Charco Broiler steakhouse in Fort Collins and a number of Lamplighter Motels, competed in the Pikes Peak hill climb on several occasions, winning the sports car class while driving a Mercedes 300SL gull wing in 1959.

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His daughter, according to a Web site about the history of Colorado racing, said a crew would drive the car to the track each week and Rostek would fly his family in his plane to the race. She remembered trips to Riverside, Trenton, Charlotte, Phoenix and Daytona -- and meeting such racing personalities as Andy Granatelli and Ford's Lee Iacocca.

Tragically, Rostek was killed when the plane he was piloting crashed upon takeoff from the airport in Vermillion, S.D., on Dec. 29, 1969. He was 44.

Other noteworthy drivers from Colorado

• Rick Carelli, Arvada: Former Winston West, Southwest Tour champ has four Craftsman Truck Series wins

• Wally Dallenbach Jr., Basalt: Five of his six top-five finishes have come on road courses

• Clark Dwyer, Littleton: Wound up 10th at Dover in 1983, his best finish in 59 career starts

• Scott Gaylord, Lakewood: Four career Cup starts, currently campaigning on the West Series

• Jerry Robertson, Arvada: Made his 2005 Nextel Cup debut at Phoenix, finishing 41st

• Fritz Wilson, Denver: Runner-up in the 1959 Daytona 500 qualifier; wound up 56th when his T-Bird blew a piston

We wish ...

Heavyweight boxing champ Jack Dempsey had become a NASCAR driver.

With 62 victories and 50 knockouts in an 83-bout career between 1914 and 1928, the Manassa Mauler might not have had the ability to finesse a car around a road course, but there wouldn't be one man in the NASCAR garage looking forward to the prospect of a post-race confrontation with Dempsey, who knocked champion Jess Willard to the canvas seven times in the first round of their 1919 championship bout.

Keeping it on track

• Colorado National Speedway

The only Dodge Weekly Series track in Colorado, Erie's paved three-eighths mile also hosts the NASCAR Midwest and Southwest Elite Series. Greeley's Bruce Yackey was the 2005 Late Model track champion.

Gone but not forgotten

• Pikes Peak International Raceway

The one-mile, D-shaped oval in Fountain, just south of Colorado Springs, was built in 1997 on the site of a horse track. It hosted eight Busch Series and five Craftsman Truck Series races, with Greg Biffle being the only driver to win a race in each series there. The International Speedway Corporation purchased the track in 2005, with the intent of shutting it down and moving its Busch Series date to Martinsville for the 2006 season.

A word from our sponsor

• Centrix Financial, Denver

The official auto finance company of NASCAR has partnered with more than 300 credit unions, more than 30 credit union leagues and more than 7,000 auto dealers throughout the country to underwrite 250,000 loans totaling $4 billion since 1998.