Nemechek Brings Attention to Search for Missing Children

In trying to shine some light on the darkness of missing children, Joe Nemechek’s Pontiac will have a decal picture of 7-year-old Karla Rodriguez on its hood when he takes the green flag in today’s Auto Club 300 Busch Grand National series race at California Speedway.

Rodriguez was last seen by her family Oct. 20, while she walked to school in Las Vegas.

“Hopefully we’ll gain some valuable national attention for Karla and something good will come from it,” said Nemechek, who will start on the outside of the second row after qualifying at 177.519 mph, a bit slower than the 178.258 mph that won Jeff Green the pole position.

No one talks about the value of the advertisement, which is part of a Nevada Missing Children Clearinghouse project, but a member of Nemechek’s crew said an ad on the hood of the car for an earlier race gleaned the team $10,000.

Nemechek could gain some additional attention for the missing girl by duplicating his finish in the most recent Busch Grand National race, at Talladega, Ala., where he won April 15 by only 0.224 seconds over Buckshot Jones.

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Ken Schrader will drive anything you can put four wheels on, so it’s no surprise that he’s on the pole for today’s Pontiac Wide Track Grand Prix 200, a Winston West series event in which the purse ($220,691) is almost as long as the name.

But, while he’s trying to win in his Pontiac, he’s more concerned about its value as a laboratory.

“The Winston West car is closer to the Winston Cup car than a Busch car is, so we learn things with it,” said Schrader, who drives the M&M;’s Pontiac on Sunday after piloting his own Pontiac today. “A Busch car [which uses an engine with a lower compression ratio] is about 150 horsepower less than a Winston Cup car. Maybe 200.

“When we take the Winston West car out for an hour of practice [Friday] afternoon, it’s like we’re getting practice with the Winston Cup car.”

Schrader has won six times in 14 Winston West races, twice at California Speedway.

There’s a bit of pressure in driving both series, as though a major league ballplayer was moonlighting in double A.

“Guys tell us, ‘We just want to be able to run with you,’ ” Schrader said of his status as a Winston West target.

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Jerry Glanville is another Winston West driver, and if the name is familiar, it might be because you watch a bit of Sunday football.

Glanville, former coach of the Atlanta Falcons, is a network commentator for NFL games on Sunday and for HBO during the week.

He has never won a Winston West race, nor did he win with the NASCAR truck series, though he has won races in modifieds.

“And I’ll bet you I’m the only one here who takes a turn in the truck too,” Glanville said Friday. “When the race is over, I’ll take the first 10 hours [driving] in the hauler back home.”

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California Speedway

California Speedway is one of two NASCAR Winston Cup Series tracks on the West Coast. Built by racing legend Roger Penske, it opened in 1997 on a site previously owned by Kaiser Steel Mill Corp. A look at the track: