The Gulf of Carpentaria is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea. The northern boundary is defined as a line from Slade Point, Queensland in the northeast, to Cape Arnhem, Northern Territory in the west. At its mouth, the Gulf is 590 km wide, further south, 675 km; the north-south length exceeds 700 km. It covers a water area of about 300,000 km²; the general depth does not exceed 82 metres. The tidal range in the Gulf of Carpentaria is between three metres; the Gulf and adjacent Sahul Shelf were dry land at the peak of the last ice age 18,000 years ago when global sea level was around 120 m below its present position. At that time a large, shallow lake occupied the centre of; the Gulf hosts a submerged coral reef province, only recognised in 2004. Yulluna is an Australian Aboriginal language; the Yulluna language region includes the local government boundaries of the Shire of Cloncurry. Kayardild is a language of the Gulf of Carpentaria.

The Kayardild language region includes the landscape within the local government boundaries of the Mornington Shire Council. The first European explorer to visit the region was the Dutch Willem Janszoon in his 1605–6 voyage, his fellow countryman, Jan Carstenszoon, visited in 1623 and named the gulf in honour of Pieter de Carpentier, at that time the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. Abel Tasman explored the coast in 1644; the region was explored and charted by Matthew Flinders in 1802 and 1803. The first overland expedition to reach the Gulf was the Burke and Wills expedition, led by Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills which left Melbourne, Victoria in August 1860 and reached the mouth of the Bynoe River in February 1861; the land bordering the Gulf is flat and low-lying. To the west is Arnhem Land, the Top End of the Northern Territory, Groote Eylandt, the largest island in the Gulf. To the east is the Cape York Peninsula and Torres Strait which joins the Gulf to the Coral Sea.

The area to the south is known as the Gulf Country. The Gulf country supports the worlds largest intact savanna woodlands as well as native grasslands; the woodlands extend up the west and east coast of the Gulf. They are dominated by Melaleuca species from the family Myrtaceae; the climate is humid with two seasons per year. The dry season lasts from about April until November and is characterized by dry southeast to east winds, generated by migratory winter high pressure systems to the south; the wet season lasts from December to March. Most of the year's rainfall is compressed into these months, during this period, many low-lying areas are flooded; the Gulf is prone to tropical cyclones during the period between April. The gulf experiences an average of three cyclones each year that are thought to transport sediments in a clockwise direction along the Gulf's coast. In many other parts of Australia, there are dramatic climatic transitions over short distances; the Great Dividing Range, which parallels the entire east and south-east coast, is responsible for the typical pattern of a well-watered coastal strip, a narrow band of mountains, a vast, inward-draining plain that receives little rainfall.

In the Gulf Country, there are no mountains to restrict rainfall to the coastal band and the transition from the profuse tropical growth of the seaside areas to the arid scrubs of central Australia is gradual. In September and October the Morning Glory cloud appears in the Southern Gulf; the best vantage point to see this phenomenon is in the Burketown area shortly after dawn. It has been hypothesized that the Gulf experienced a major asteroid impact event in 536 A. D; the Gulf of Carpentaria is known to contain fringing reefs and isolated coral colonies, but no near-surface patch or barrier reefs exist in the Gulf at the present time. However, this has not always been the case. Expeditions carried out by Geoscience Australia in 2003 and in 2005 aboard the RV Southern Surveyor revealed the presence of a submerged coral reef province covering at least 300 km2 in the southern Gulf; the patch reefs have their upper surfaces at a mean water depth of 28.6 ± 0.5 m, were undetected by satellites or aerial photographs, were only recognised using multibeam swath sonar surveys supplemented with seabed sampling and video.

Their existence points to an earlier, late Quaternary phase of framework reef growth under cooler-climate and lower sea level conditions than today. In the Top End the Roper River, Walker River and Wilton River flow into the Gulf; the Cox River, Calvert River, Leichhardt River, McArthur River, Flinders River, Norman River and the Gilbert River drain the Gulf Country. A number of rivers flow from the Cape York Peninsula into the Gulf, including Smithburne River, Mitchell River, Alice River, Staaten River, Mission River, Wenlock River and Archer River. Extensive areas of seagrass beds have allowed commercial shrimp operations in the Gulf. Zinc and silver is mined from the McArthur River zinc mine and exported via the Gulf. Another zinc mine, Century Zinc is in the gulf on the Queensland side of the border, it exports its product through the port facility at Karumba. The cattle industry is a important part of the regional economy in the gulf. According t

The Historic Stock Car Racing Series is an auto racing organization based on the west coast of the United States founded by San Jose, California businessmen John Davis in 1994 with a mandate to register, preserve and continue showcasing authentic NASCAR Winston Cup Series stock cars in friendly competition. The cars that are raced by HSCRS members are retired and now-privately owned Winston Cup stock cars, with a few Busch Grand National stock cars grandfathered into the group; the newest a HSCRS car can be is 1995. Owners/drivers who wish to join the HSCRS are required to demonstrate that their car is a verifiable NASCAR stock car that, with a few exceptions allowed on behalf of driver safety, has been restored to its original racing condition. One of the foremost reasons for maintaining 1995 and older vehicles for the Historic Stock Car Racing Series is the continuing evolution in modern stock car technology since then; these improvements make the contemporary cars able to go faster, stop quicker and turn better than the traditional, historic stock cars and leave the older cars far less competitive than their newer counterparts.

Another concern is that allowing the last year of eligibility to grow with each passing year of NASCAR competition would further water-down the "historic" nature of the HSCRS, the principle of is origin. The feeling at the HSCRS is that it takes time to acquire historic or vintage significance and that if one wants to own and race a contemporary car that the venue for one is not the vintage circles or the Historic Stock Car Racing Series but in the pro ranks; when we bring our rolling pieces of NASCAR history out to the track we believe the car should be the show and not the current owner's individual driving talent or experience and that it doesn't matter who finishes first. The only winners are the fans in the stands who are out of their seats and cheering when these cars take to the track; the primary focus of the group are NASCAR stock cars built and raced 1995 and earlier, but they are further broken down into classes for reference: 1989 - 1995: Historic cars 1981 - 1987: Chrome Bumper Classics 1980 and earlier: Vintage cars In the interest of cost containment, cars may use either roller camshafts, or flat tappet camshafts.

All cars using a roller camshaft must run a 10.0:1 compression ratio higher than the former 9.5:1 ratio mandated by NASCAR for those series. All cars using a flat-tappet camshaft must run with current NASCAR regulations mandating a 12.0:1 compression ratio, adopted in the late 1990s. Cars must run bias-ply tires, despite Goodyear's four-season transition to radial tires; the first race with radials was the 1989 First Union 400 at North Wilkesboro, NC. The last bias-ply race was the 1992 Food City 500 at Bristol, TN. NASCAR has used radial tires since and with Bristol being the late track to go radial, with the August 1992 Bud 500) where later-model Historic cars all raced with radial tires, Contemporary cars have only used radial tires. Prior to the formation of the HSCRS, the few existing owners/drivers of these historic race cars were limited to participating in Vintage Racing events, were relegated to sub-groups that paired the 3400-lb. Machines with much smaller vintage race cars that ranged from diminutive European compacts to Shelby Mustangs and Cobras.

While this was done because there were not enough of the former NASCAR race cars to be treated as their own group, it revealed vast differences in speed and performance between the various types of cars. Although car-to-car contact is considered a grave offense in Vintage Racing, racing accidents are inevitable. There began a growing concern that minor contact between a massive purpose-built NASCAR racer and its smaller and lighter street-based counterpart could be devastating to the smaller car, to the driver. While the cars were raced in NASCAR-sanctioned events, the group is not associated with NASCAR; the businesses and corporations that once sponsored these cars do not provide any compensation to the current owners, nor do they assume any liability for the continued competition of these race cars. Still, the cars are maintained in their original livery for accurate historical representation; as such the group has wowed race fans at a number of venues including the San Jose Grand Prix, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Portland International and Infineon Raceway where they have run as a support race group for Champ Car, The Daytona Prototypes, Camping World West Series and the SCCA Trans Am Series.

Of special significance is the HSCRS Ride of your Life program which, in the last 10 years, has raised over $400,000 for a variety of charities including the Canary Fund, Susan B. Komen Cancer Relief Foundation, 11-99 Foundation, The Boost Foundation of Sonoma County, The SPCA of Monterey County and the Cerebral Palsy Foundation of the North Bay. With the ROYL, winning bidders are given an E ticket ride at speed around a real race track in the passenger seat of one of the historic stock cars, it is the group's way of giving something back as they pay homage to the cars and drivers who helped make NASCAR what it is today. Organization website

Merrill Boyd Jenson is an American composer and arranger who has composed film scores for over thirty films including Emma Smith: My Story, Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration, The Testaments of One Fold and One Shepherd, Harry's War, Windwalker. Many of the films Jenson composed music for were directed by Academy Award-winning director Kieth Merrill. Jenson has composed several concert productions including a symphony that premiered at Carnegie Hall. Additionally, he has composed music for many television commercials including the acclaimed Homefront ads, music for three outdoor pageants, several albums. Jenson lives in Utah with his wife Betsy Lee Jenson. Jenson was born in Richfield, Utah on January 20, 1947, he was introduced to music at an early age with his mother teaching him how to conduct music in front of a mirror while listening to recordings of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. She taught him to play the piano while his father taught him the trumpet, he attended Brigham Young University where he directed the BYU Cougar Marching Band and graduated with a degree in Music Composition.

Soon after graduating, Jenson took on odd jobs at the film studios in Los Angeles in order to be near the industry. While there he was able to meet and associate with some of the great film composers of the day. Jenson landed a few tiny composing projects at the LDS Motion Picture Studios, his big break came. Merrill hired Jenson to compose the score to the sequel of his Academy Award-winning documentary The Great American Cowboy. Jenson’s score to The Great American Indian was recorded with him conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra; this was the first of many collaborations between Jenson and Merrill including Windwalker Harry's War, Take Down. Jenson worked for many years with Bonneville Communications writing music for films and commercials for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints including The Phone Call. During this time Jenson composed music for the award-winning Homefront commercials and films such as How Rare a Possession: The Book of Mormon, he wrote the music for the three films that have played in the Legacy Theater in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah: Legacy, The Testaments of One Fold and One Shepherd, Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration.

Jenson collaborated with award-winning composer Sam Cardon to compose the music for three PBS documentaries by producer and director Lee Groberg: Trail of Hope: The Story of the Mormon Trail, American Prophet: The Story of Joseph Smith, Sacred Stone: Temple on the Mississippi. A career highlight for him was composing the score for the critically acclaimed film Emma Smith: My Story which played in many theaters across the country. Jenson has taught music composition at Brigham Young University since 2008, at Snow College since 2012. Ogden, Shantell, "Blog", ShantellOgden.com, Hip Farm Chic Records "Everyday Lives, Everyday Values Interview with Merrill Jenson about High on a Mountain Top: Hymns of the Restoration", DeseretBook.com, Deseret Book, 25 May 2003, archived from the original on 2004-02-22 — Transcript of 2003 KSL NewsRadio interview "Everyday Lives, Everyday Values Interview with Merrill Jenson, composer of'Come Unto Christ.'", DeseretBook.com, Deseret Book, 15 August 1999, archived from the original on 2004-02-22 — Transcript of 1999 KSL NewsRadio interview Merrill Jenson on IMDb Merrill Jenson's Official Website