Crash Takes On New Meaning for Race Fans

With NASCAR at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend, it’s as good a time as any to take note of a planned mutual fund offering for racing fans.

The StockCar Stocks Mutual Fund, expected to open to investors later this year, will invest in such companies as Ford Motor Co., General Motors and the parent companies of Charlotte Motor Speedway and Daytona International Speedway, according to Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal.

So who says racing fans are always hoping to see a crash?

A back test of stocks that could be a part of the fund indicated an 18% return this year through early June, and a 251% return over the last five years, compared to a 242% return for the Standard & Poor’s 500, the magazine said.

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Trivia time: What was NASCAR founder Bill France’s role at the 1938 Indianapolis 500?

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Tea time: At Marsh Harbour Golf Links in Calabash, N.C., you don’t want to leave the clubhouse without a supply of your favorite beverage.

It seems Marsh Harbour-- ranked one of America’s best 50 public courses by Golf Digest-- straddles the border between the Carolinas, with the pro shop and the front nine in North Carolina.

But the back nine, the snack shop--and the liquor license--are in South Carolina.

So if you knock your ball into the aforementioned marsh on No. 7 and want to drown your sorrow in a beer, the beverage cart can’t help you. You’ll be high and dry until you get to South Carolina on No. 10.

“People understand. They kind of like the idea of playing in two states,” assistant pro Randy Davis said. “But you get a couple of guys with too many beers in them already, and they’ll be irritated about anything.”

Local knowledge helps. There are spots where you can zip over to the back nine for a quick refreshment.

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Ear this: From the New York Post, in a story on Mike Tyson’s tantrum at the New Jersey boxing license hearing: “Chomping champ Mike Tyson gave New Jersey boxing regulators an angry earful. . . .”

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Trivia answer: France was a mechanic for car owner Joel Thorne.

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And finally: As soon as former New York Ranger coach Colin Campbell replaced Brian Burke as the NHL’s senior vice president and director of hockey operations--making him the league’s chief disciplinarian--his popularity probably started slipping.

His job is to hand down the rather arbitrary suspensions to players who run violently afoul of the rules, particularly when they cause injury to other players.

It’s not only impossible to please everyone, it’s tough to please anyone.

“Like Burke before him,” wrote Nancy Marrapese of the Boston Globe, “Campbell will be viewed as the traffic cop who stops someone for speeding only to have the violator bark, ‘Yeah, I was speeding, but so was everybody else. Why didn’t you stop them?’ ”