Matt Yocum's Mailbag

Q: During the New Hampshire race, you showed a new helmet that a bunch of the drivers are wearing, can you explain again why it's so much better than having the air conditioning hose entering the left side of the helmet?
-- Peter from Syracuse, N.Y.

Yocum: The folks at Simpson provided the cool cutaway helmet shown during Sunday's TNT race. Designed by Gary Peters who is a Senior Product Development Engineer for Simpson, the Air Inforcer Shark is a pretty interesting piece.

Gary told me that when he started designing this helmet, he put a lot of emphasis on the helmet being low profile, so the top of the helmet did not hit the roof/roll cage in the car, yet get maximum air flow to as many places as possible to the top of the head without taking away any of the safety factor in the helmet.

Simpson is the only helmet maker with six holes inside the plenum. Four of the holes transfer air to the top of the head in different locations which are spread out to get more surface area, thus cooling more of the head.

The two remaining holes transfer air to the drivers' face via channels that come down and exit at the top of the eye port. On this helmet, a chin flap seals off the bottom of the helmet, creating a positive pressure inside the helmet, blocking out hot air and carbon monoxide. Kevin Harvick told me that it works so well, he had them close off two of the six vents.

KH wears the helmet in only the Car of Tomorrow races due to more intense heat inside the car. The heat factor has gotten better with the continued development on the COT, but at New Hampshire, a 29 crew member put a couple heat strips inside the car on the floorboard for me. After the race, the number even surprised him ... reaching 327 degrees.

Q: I watched the tribute to Benny Parsons on TNT just now. My one and only memory of Benny was meeting him at Chicagoland in 2005. Walking back to the safety team tent after the Sunday race, I saw this gentleman in a shirt and tie with Nike running shoes walking next to me. I knew who he was and not wanting to have a lot of people bother him as he was winding down from a long day of work, I quietly asked him how we was? And how was his stay in Chicago (Where the greatest NASCAR fans are) was? We talked until we arrived at the team's tent. We shook hands ands parted ways. Having followed NASCAR since 1973 in Chicago where news on races was thin to non-existent this was a moment I will never forget. Benny loved NASCAR and the fans that support NASCAR. I just wanted to say what a great job you guys did on the tribute to Benny. Stop by the Turn 1 fire truck this year and say hi.
-- Lt. Scott Mensing, Wheaton FD/Chicagoland Safety Team

Yocum: Thanks Lt. Scott for your e-mail about BP. He was one in a million! He was more like a father to me than a co-worker. My trips to and from the races have had a empty feeling this year without my traveling buddy.

BP had many interests, but one passion was his new vineyard. His wife, Terri, hasn't let up for a second. She has worked tirelessly keeping alive his dream.

Quick history lesson on the Vineyard: it's located on Benny Parsons Road in Purlear, N.C. in the town of Parsonsville. It surrounds BP and Terri's new home that is located on top of Rendezvous Ridge. Thus Benny Parsons Rendezvous Ridge Vineyards.

There are no tours of the vineyard currently. However you can visit the The Benny Parsons Wine Tasting Room and Racing Museum located at 4187 Hwy. 421 in Wilkesboro, N.C.

Inside a 7,300 square-foot building, you'll find a wine tasting room, a gift shop and a museum broken down into three rooms and themes. One is dedicated to memorabilia collectibles from Benny's personal collections, another is BP's media room dedicated to TV, radio ... and let's not forget a few of the movies BP took part in. The largest room, of course, is dedicated to NASCAR trophies, photos, uniforms, helmets, etc. Terri will be changing exhibits in the museum every three months shifting to different themes.

The museum is free and open to the public. The wine tasting is exactly like all other tasting rooms. You pay $6, get a wine glass with an etched logo, then you sample all of BP and Terri's five different wines:

• a Rose named BP's Blush
• a Barrel Fermented Chardonnay
• a Riesling
• a Merlot
• a Cab Franc

So if you are in the area, please stop by BP's wine tasting room and museum.

One other thing, we are always on the look out for BP's racing items (helmets, driving suits, shoes etc), if you come across anything please e-mail me at BPMUSEUM@AOL.COM.

Q: Matt, I have been trying to find out whether any of you think that NASCAR will give the Chicagoland Speedway another race at some point in time, either a earlier spring race or later fall race before it get's to cool around here. I have written to Marty Snider, Darrell Waltrip, Jeff Hammond and was going to call in on Benny Parsons' show before he died to ask him his thoughts on this? Maybe you can shed some light on this.
-- Tom from Illinois

Yocum: Tom, I think the folks at Chicagoland Speedway do a fantastic job. They take care of the fans, more importantly, they get the fans in and out of the track quickly. If any track with a single date deserves a second date, Chicagoland has to be on the short list. The problem? You've got Michigan International Speedway and Indy in the same region. I think that makes it a long shot for adding a second date. That said, you never say never in this sport.

• Send Matt your questions

Q: Several of the ladies chatting on one of our sites (www.wireclub.com/Clubs/Club+Tony) have decided to do their own "shaving strike" until Tony wins. None are going to shave their legs until he wins, so please, please encourage him to win. We were thinking we'd help donate more to get him shaved, any suggestions on how we can tie the two together?
-- Julie

Yocum: Hmmm, Julie, I don't know what to tell you about your strike. I probably would have looked at his stats before jumping into that challenge. You do realize that only four times in his career, Tony's won before mid-June? I just hope for your sake the 20 guys don't wait until September to win like in 1999. In all seriousness, I think it's great that you guys have passion for the sport.

As far as the bet between Kevin Harvick and Stewart, I hear rumors that more will be coming soon about the waxing/shaving date.

P.S.: I bet your boyfriends are hoping you switch to one of the Gillette Young guns.

Q: I'm a big fan of yours and a fellow FSU alumnus. I seem to remember you mentioning the FSU weather casting class a time or two during race broadcasts, particularly during rain delays, and I have always been curious to know if you actually took the class. I'd love to hear from you and if you did take the weather casting class, hear some stories on your experience with it. I've been to every Atlanta race since 1985, and have seen you a couple of times in the garage there, but didn't want to bother you while you were working. I came across this e-mail address, and if you get a chance, I'd love to hear back from you. And, if we're ever caught in one of those storms at AMS, you've got a meteorologist to turn to in the Turn 3 infield!
-- Mike Fuori, weekend meteorologist from Savannah, Ga.

Yocum: Yep, I took weather casting for a semester in probably the Spring '91. My roommate in the Sig-Ep house, Joe Benson, was a major weather junkie. So we took it together. The biggest thing I remember about the class was the fun. We had some great times.

Especially this year, weather has played a major factor with the Nextel Cup Series with two Saturday night races moved to Sunday, and one Sunday postponed until Monday. What do we do to pass the time? We usually end up having a movie night. FYI ... we watched that Leonardo DiCaprio movie, The Departed, in Dover.

A couple of weeks ago, I received some serious grief for reading a new book on weather. They just don't know what they are missing ... storms can be cool! Check out a close friend of mine's storm chaser Web site -- www.coloradostormchaser.com

And if you make it back to another race at Atlanta. Stop me to say hi. You are Garnet and Gold my man. We all have to stick together.

Q: I couldn't believe it. I went to the NASCAR.COM site this morning, reading the latest news and your "mailbag," and there was the Ryerson in that picture of you. (read more) Amazing. I have been a boatnerd since the 1960s when I was a little girl. I knew you and Capt. Treece are friends and you ride the boat with him when you can. When you take that ride and go past De Tour Village, Mich., have Eric give an extra blow. He knows who I am. I just hope I can get down to the shore in time.
-- Jill Lucy from De Tour Village

Yocum: Hi Jill. Yep, I'm counting the days until I get back on the Queen of the Lakes. At this point, it's looking like some time in early August to mid-August. It's five days of total decompression. Some guys go hunting, to the islands, golfing on their vacation. I go for a boat ride. It's great to hang with Roger from Know Your Ships (www.knowyourships.com).

I'll post a little blog of my five days on her for those who care. FYI ... my second favorite web site is www.boatnerd.com .

P.S: I'll tell E.T. to blow you a great salute when we get to De Tour.

Q: I'm a big NASCAR fan and love your work. Just wondering how you got involved with the lake freighters. Are you a fan of the boats or just the Ryerson? Capt. Treece gave us a three long and two short ... and whew, I was hooked! Smooth sailin' to you!
-- Linda Seabold (Seadog on boatnerd.com) on the Black River in Lorain, Ohio

Yocum: Linda, when I was 6, my mom took me on a trip to the U.P. [Upper Peninsula of Michigan], visiting Mackinac Island and the Sault Ste. Marie locks. I've been a fan of the big boats ever since watching a few lock through the Soo. I love all the boats, but the Ryerson is my favorite. Three long and two short ... for your e-mail.