1.
Birmingham, Alabama
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Birmingham is the most populous city in the U. S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Jefferson County. The citys population was 212,237 in the 2010 United States Census, the Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of about 1,128,047 according to the 2010 Census, which is approximately one quarter of Alabamas population. Birmingham was founded in 1871, during the post-Civil War Reconstruction period and it was named for Birmingham, England, one of the UKs major industrial cities. The Alabama city annexed smaller neighbors and developed as an industrial and railroad center, based on mining, the new iron and steel industry. Most of the settlers who founded Birmingham were of English ancestry. From its founding through the end of the 1960s, Birmingham was an industrial center of the southern United States. Its growth from 1881 through 1920 earned its nicknames as The Magic City and its major industries were iron and steel production, plus a major component of the railroading industry. Rails and railroad cars were manufactured in Birmingham. The two primary hubs of railroading in the Deep South have been nearby Atlanta and Birmingham, since the 1860s, the economy has diversified since industrial restructuring in the latter half of the 20th century. Banking, telecommunications, transportation, electrical transmission, medical care, college education. Except for coal mining, the industry has declined in the Birmingham area, Birmingham ranks as one of the most important business centers in the Southeastern United States and as one of the largest banking centers in the nation. In higher education, Birmingham has been the location of the University of Alabama School of Medicine, since that time it has also gained the University of Alabama at Birmingham, one of three main campuses of the University of Alabama System. It is also home to three institutions, Samford University, Birmingham-Southern College, and Miles College. In total, the Birmingham area has major colleges of medicine, dentistry, optometry, physical therapy, pharmacy, law, engineering, the city has three of the states five law schools, Cumberland School of Law, Birmingham School of Law, and Miles Law School. Birmingham is also the headquarters of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, and Southeastern Conference, Birmingham was founded on June 1,1871, by the Elyton Land Company, whose investors included cotton planters, bankers and railroad entrepreneurs. It sold lots near the crossing of the Alabama & Chattanooga and South & North Alabama railroads. The first business at that crossroads was the trading post and country store operated by Marre, the site of the railroad crossing was notable for its proximity to nearby deposits of iron ore, coal, and limestone – the three main raw materials used in making steel. Birmingham is the only place worldwide where significant amounts of all three minerals can be found in close proximity, from the start the new city was planned as a center of industry
2.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
3.
NASCAR
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The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is an American family-owned and operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto-racing sports events. Bill France Sr. founded the company in 1948 and his grandson Brian France became its CEO in 2003, NASCAR is motorsports preeminent stock-car racing organization. The three largest racing-series sanctioned by this company are the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, the Xfinity Series, the company also oversees NASCAR Local Racing, the Whelen Modified Tour, the Whelen All-American Series, and the NASCAR iRacing. com Series. NASCAR sanctions over 1,500 races at over 100 tracks in 39 of the 50 US states as well as in Canada. NASCAR has presented exhibition races at the Suzuka and Motegi circuits in Japan, the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico, NASCAR has its official headquarters in Daytona Beach, Florida, and also maintains offices in the North Carolina cities of Charlotte, Concord, and Conover. Regional offices are located in New York City and Los Angeles, with offices in Mexico City. Owing to NASCARs Southern roots, all but a handful of NASCAR teams are based in North Carolina. NASCAR is second to the National Football League among professional sports franchises in terms of television viewers, internationally, its races are broadcast on television in over 150 countries. In 2004, NASCARs Director of Security stated that the company holds 17 of the Top 20 regularly attended single-day sporting events in the world, fortune 500 companies sponsor NASCAR more than any other motor sport, although this sponsorship has declined since the early-2000s. By the time the Bonneville Salt Flats became the location for pursuit of land speed records. Drivers raced on a 4. 1-mile course, consisting of a 1. 5–2. 0-mile stretch of beach as one straightaway, the two straights were connected by two tight, deeply rutted and sand covered turns at each end. Stock car racing in the United States has its origins in bootlegging during Prohibition, bootleggers needed to distribute their illicit products, and they typically used small, fast vehicles to better evade the police. Many of the drivers would modify their cars for speed and handling, as well as increased cargo capacity, the cars continued to improve, and by the late 1940s, races featuring these cars were being run for pride and profit. These races were popular entertainment in the rural Southern United States, most races in those days were of modified cars. Street vehicles were lightened and reinforced, mechanic William France Sr. moved to Daytona Beach, Florida, from Washington, D. C. in 1935 to escape the Great Depression. He was familiar with the history of the area from the speed record attempts. France entered the 1936 Daytona event, finishing fifth and he took over running the course in 1938. He promoted a few races before World War II, France had the notion that people would enjoy watching stock cars race
4.
Dale Earnhardt
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Ralph Dale Earnhardt Sr. known professionally as Dale Earnhardt, was an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner, best known for his involvement in stock car racing for NASCAR. The third child of racing driver Ralph Earnhardt and first of two to Martha Coleman, he began his career in 1975 in the World 600 as part of the Winston Cup Series. Regarded as one of the most significant drivers in NASCAR history, Earnhardt won a total of 76 Winston Cup races over the course of his career and he also earned seven NASCAR Winston Cup championships, tying for the most all-time with Richard Petty. This feat, accomplished in 1994, would not be equaled again for 22 years until Jimmie Johnson in 2016 and his aggressive driving style earned him the nickname The Intimidator. Earnhardt has been inducted into halls of fame, including the NASCAR Hall of Fame inaugural class in 2010. He was born on April 29,1951 in Kannapolis, North Carolina, as the child of Martha. Although Ralph did not want his son to pursue a career as a car driver. Ralph was a teacher for Dale and after Ralph died of a heart attack at his home in 1973 at age 45. Earnhardt had four siblings, two brothers, Danny and Randy, and two sisters, Cathy and Kaye, in 1968, at the age of 17, Earnhardt married his first wife Latane Brown. With her, Earnhardt fathered his first son Kerry a year later, Dale and Latane divorced in 1970. In 1971, Earnhardt married his second wife Brenda Gee, the daughter of NASCAR car builder Robert Gee, in his marriage with Gee, Earnhardt had two more children, a daughter Kelley King Earnhardt in 1972 and a son Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 1974. Not long after Dale Jr. was born, Earnhardt and Gee divorced, Earnhardt then married his third and final wife, Teresa Houston in 1982. She gave birth to their daughter Taylor Nicole Earnhardt in 1988, Taylor and her husband, Brandon Putnam, are professional rodeo performers. Earnhardt began his career in the Winston Cup in 1975. He drove the No.8 Ed Niegre Dodge Charger and finished 22nd in that race, just one ahead of his future car owner. Earnhardt competed in eight more races until 1979, during his sophomore season, Earnhardt, now with 20-year-old Doug Richert as his crew chief, began the season winning the Busch Clash. With wins at Atlanta, Bristol, Nashville, Martinsville, and Charlotte, to this day, Earnhardt had been the first driver in all of NASCAR Winston Cup history to follow a Rookie of the Year title with a NASCAR Winston Cup Championship the next season. He was also the driver in NASCAR history to win both the Rookie of the Year and Cup Series championship, following David Pearson and Richard Petty
5.
Pit stop
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Not all of these are allowed in all forms of racing. While the term is used in motorsports, it also gained popularity with driving in general when embarking on long road trips, suggesting a brief break from driving. These pit stops grant the travelers a bathroom break, a breakfast/lunch/dinner break, the pits usually comprise a pit lane which runs parallel to the start/finish straight and is connected at each end to the main track, and a row of garages outside which the work is done. Pit stop work is carried out by anywhere from two to twenty mechanics, depending on the regulations, while the driver often waits in the vehicle. Depending on the circuit, the garage may be located on pit lane or in a separate area. Most North American circuits feature a pit lane with a number of pit stalls, in races where there are different series racing together, each series has its own separate garage or are parked in their own area. Circuits in other parts of the world typically have the individual garages open directly onto the pit lane through the teams assigned pit box. In American English, it is common to drop the article and just refer to pit road. A further difference is that in British English, the pit box is universally used, whereas in American English. It is important to note that in NASCAR, a pit box is a tool, where it is permitted, refuelling is often an important purpose of a pit stop. Carrying fuel slows down a vehicle and there is often a limit on the size of the fuel tank, so many races require multiple stops for fuel to complete the race distance in the minimum time. Changing tyres is also common to permit the use of softer tyres that wear faster but provide more grip, to use tyres suitable for wet conditions, choosing the optimum pit strategy of how many stops to make and when to make them is crucial in having a successful race. It is also important for teams to take competitors strategies into account when planning pit stops, in most series the order of the teams pit boxes is assigned by points standings, race results, or previous qualifying results before the start of the race. In NASCAR and in INDYCARs Indianapolis 500, typically pit assignments are made after qualifying, during a ten-second pit stop, a cars competitors will gain approximately one-quarter mile over the stopped car. Because of this, race teams plan a pit strategy prior to the start of every race. However, a pit strategy is not a fixed, immutable thing. During a scheduled pit stop, the pit crew services the vehicle as quickly as possible. The most common services performed are refuelling and changing tyres, in endurance racing, scheduled driver changes and brake pad replacements are also considered routine service when done as part of a scheduled pit stop
6.
Ricky Rudd
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Richard L. Ricky Rudd, nicknamed The Rooster, is an American former racing driver. He is the uncle of actor Skeet Ulrich and former NASCAR Busch Series driver Jason Rudd and he retired in 2007 with 23 career wins. He was named the 2006 Virginian of the Year and was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2007, in October 2010, he was selected to the Hampton Roads Sports Hall of Fame, which honors those who have contributed to sports in southeastern Virginia. Ricky Rudd was born in Norfolk County, Virginia, now Chesapeake,10 Ford for family friend Bill Champion. Qualifying twenty-sixth, he finished in place despite running fifty-six laps down. He ran a three races for Champion, his best finish being a tenth at Bristol Motor Speedway. He drove another four races in 1976 for his father, posting another tenth finish at the Firecracker 400 and he went full-time in 1977, again driving the No.22 for his father. He had ten top-ten finishes and was named Rookie of the Year. Rudd was forced to run part-time the following season after picking up only limited funding from 1st National City Travelers Checks, despite the abbreviated schedule, he earned four top-tens and finished 31st in points. In 1979, he signed with Junie Donlavey to pilot the No.90 Truxmore car, garnering four top-fives and he did not return to Donlavey in 1980, and started out in a part-time run for his dad and D K Ulrich. He would end the season in the No.7 Sanyo car for Nelson Malloch, in 1981, Rudd signed with DiGard Motorsports to drive the No.88 car. Although he had no victories, he won his first three positions, and began his lengthy streak of consecutive race starts. In 1982 Rudd stepped into the No.3 Pontiac for Richard Childress Racing, Rudd had six Top 5s but dropped down to 9th in the points standings. He was able to get his first 2 career wins in 1983 at Riverside and Martinsville respectively and he also ran the only 3 Busch Series races of his career that season, winning in his debut event at Dover Downs. In 1984, Rudd and Dale Earnhardt swapped rides, with Rudd moving over to the No.15 Ford for Bud Moore, Rudd was involved in a horrific crash in the Busch Clash at Daytona, in which his car went airborne before suffering a concussion. His eyes were swollen so badly he taped his eyes open to be able to race in the Daytona 500. After learning of this long after the fact, NASCAR instituted the policy of examining all drivers involved in wrecks to ensure that they will be able to race safely the next week. He won his first race for team in only his second start at Richmond. He moved up one spot in points in the following season, despite an additional 2 victories in 1987, Rudd left Moore Engineering at the end of the season
7.
Yates Racing
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Yates Racing was an American stock car racing team that competed in NASCAR until the 2009 season when it merged with Richard Petty Motorsports. Previously known as Robert Yates Racing, the team was owned by Doug Yates, the Yates family owned the team since purchasing it from Harry Ranier and J. T. Lundy in October 1988. The team was noted for its engine program and its success on superspeedways. Throughout most of its history, the team fielded Ford cars numbered 28,38 and 88, in 1994, Ernie Irvan continued to drive the No. 28, winning 3 times before being injured in a crash at Michigan in August, kenny Wallace took over the driving duties for the remainder of the season. While Irvan was still recovering from his injuries, Dale Jarrett replaced him in 1995, Jarrett won one race at Pocono Raceway and eventually finished the season 16th in the points standings. Ernie Irvan, who had returned for 3 races in 1995 in the No,88, switched places with Jarrett in 1996, that meant Jarrett moved to the No.88 and Irvan was back in the No.28. Irvan won at New Hampshire in July, his first win since returning from his injuries, Irvan won at Michigan in June 1997, the same track he almost died on three years earlier. Irvan left at the end of the 1997 season to drive for MB2 Motorsports, kenny Irwin, Jr. drove the No.28 car for Robert Yates in 1998 and 1999. Despite winning Rookie of the Year honors in 1998, Irwin failed to find victory lane in his two seasons, the next season, Ricky Rudd joined the team after his own Rudd Performance Motorsports team was sold. He would go on to drive 3 seasons in the Havoline-sponsored Ford, from 2000-2002, Robert Yates would resurrect the 28 for the 2008 season, however. Yates made the switch after giving the right to the No.88 to Hendrick Motorsports for Dale Earnhardt, before the season started, he, along with his teammate, David Gilliland, did not have full-time sponsorship on either of their Yates Racing Fords. However, for the Daytona 500, K&N Filters sponsored his team, two weeks later, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, during the UAW-Dodge 400, Kvapil scored an eighth-place finish, giving him his third top-10 of his career, in an unsponsored ride. Later that week, Zaxbys decided to sponsor the No.28 team for the next race, just a few weeks after his career best run, Kvapil picked-up another top-10 finish, this time at Darlington Raceway, during the Dodge Challenger 500. Despite the lack of a sponsorship, Travis Kvapil and the No.28 had a very respectable season, finishing 23rd in the points standings. For 2009, Kvapils owner points from 2008 were transferred to the No,98, given that Paul Menard had signed the team, therefore bringing with him a full-time Menards sponsorship. The future of the No.28 team was uncertain without a sponsor, despite failing to qualify for the Shelby 427, Kvapil had two 18th-place finishes in five races, with race by race sponsorship from Golden Corral and Farmers Insurance. Unfortunately, the team lacked a committed full-time sponsor
8.
Darrell Waltrip
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Darrell Lee Waltrip is an American motorsports analyst, author, national television broadcaster, and former racing driver. He is also a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and a three-time NASCAR Cup Series runner-up and those victories tie him with Bobby Allison for fourth on the NASCARs all-time wins list in the Cup Series and place him second to Jeff Gordon for the most wins in NASCARs modern era. He is ranked second for all-time pole positions with 59, including all-time highs with 35 on short tracks, competing in 809 Cup starts over four decades and 29 years, he has scored 271 Top 5s and 390 Top 10s. Winning $19,886,666.00 in posted earnings, he became the first NASCAR driver to be awarded over $10 million in race winnings, more than $26 million in todays currency. Waltrip also holds the track record 67 wins the Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville, Tennessee, including NASCAR, USAC, ASA. He still holds many NASCAR records, more than a decade after his retirement as an active driver and he competed in the 24 Hours of Daytona. He has also won awards in NASCAR. He has been inducted in numorous halls of fame, including the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America for 2003 the International Motorsports Hall of Fame for 2005, after being nominated for the inaugural 2010 and 2011 classes, he was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fames 2012 class. Waltrip currently serves as a color analyst for Fox Sports alongside Mike Joy, and Jeff Gordon, a columnist at Foxsports. com, and he is the older brother of NASCAR driver and MWR team owner Michael Waltrip. Waltrip was born in Owensboro, Kentucky, February 5,1947, starting his driving career in Go-karts at age 12, Waltrip entered his first stock car race just four years later. Waltrip and his father built a 1936 Chevrolet coupe and headed to a dirt track near their Owensboro home. The first night out was far from a success as the youngster, barely old enough to drive on the street, Waltrip slammed the wall and heavily damaged the coupe. Waltrip soon left the dirt and found his niche on asphalt where the smoothness he learned in the karts proved a valuable asset. C and his success gained the attention of Nashville owner/driver P. B. Crowell, who urged Waltrip to move to the area to race at the Fairgrounds Speedway, at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds in Nashville, Waltrip drove the #48 P. B. Some of the notorious on air trash-talking included making fun of some of the local drivers such as Coo Coo Marlin and James Flookie Buford. It pleased track management that he was helping sell tickets, leading to packed grandstands and he became a Christian in 1983 but it was years later before God came first in his life. One of the charities he supports is the Motor Racing Outreach providing spiritual support to racers, Waltrip finished 38th in his first NASCAR Winston Cup race after retiring on lap 69 due to engine failure. Waltrip paid $12,500 for the car, an engine and some spare parts
9.
Xfinity Series
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The NASCAR Xfinity Series is a stock car racing series owned and operated by The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. It is promoted as NASCARs minor league circuit, and is considered a ground for drivers who wish to step up to the organizations top level circuit. Xfinity Series races are held in the same venue as, and a day prior to. The series emerged from NASCARs Sportsman division, which had formed in 1950 as NASCARs short track race division. The sportsman cars were not current model cars and could be modified more and it became the Late Model Sportsman Series in 1968, and soon featured races on larger tracks such as Daytona International Speedway. Drivers used obsolete Grand National cars on larger tracks but by the inception of the format in 1982. Short track cars with relatively small 300 cubic inch V-8 motors were used, drivers used smaller current year models featuring V6 motors. The modern-day Xfinity Series was formed in 1982, when Anheuser-Busch sponsored a newly reformed late-model sportsman series with its Budweiser brand, the series switched sponsorship to Busch in 1984. It was renamed in 1986 to the Busch Grand National Series, Grand National was dropped from the series title in 2003 as part of NASCARs brand identity. Anheuser-Busch dropped the sponsorship in 2007, Nationwide Insurance took over the sponsorship for the 2008 season, the Nationwide sponsorship was a seven-year contract, and did not include the banking and mortgage departments of Nationwide. The sponsorship reportedly carried a $10 million commitment for 2008, with 6% annual escalations thereafter, on September 3,2014, it was announced that Comcast would become the new title sponsor of the series via its cable television and internet brand Xfinity, renaming it the Xfinity Series. In 2016, NASCAR implemented a seven-race Chase system similar to the one used in the NASCAR Cup Series, on March 6,2005, the series held its first race outside the United States, the Telcel-Motorola 200. The race was held in Mexico City, Mexico at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and it was won by Martin Truex Jr. On August 4,2007, the series held its second race outside of the United States, at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec and it was won by Kevin Harvick, while Quebec native Patrick Carpentier finished second. In July 2008, NASCAR announced that the Nationwide Series would not return to Mexico City in 2009, in 2016, the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the Camping World Truck Series adopted a playoff format similar to the NASCAR Cup Series Chase for the Championship. Unlike the NASCAR Cup Series, whose Chase consists of four rounds, after each of the first two rounds, the four Chase grid drivers with the fewest season points are eliminated from the grid and Chase contention. The best-placed driver overall from the four Dash 4 Cash races advances to the Chase, until 2000, the Busch Grand National Series was carried on a number of both cable and broadcast networks that had deals with the series tracks. Most standalone races were aired on TNN, while races that were companion races with Winston Cup dates aired on the airing the Cup race
10.
Kyle Petty
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Kyle Eugene Petty is an American stock car racing driver. Now retired, he competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. He formerly was a commentator for TNTs NASCAR coverage from 2006 through 2014. He is the son of racer Richard Petty, grandson of racer Lee Petty and he and his ex—wife Pattie have two other children, Austin and Montgomery Lee. He last drove the No.45 Dodge Charger for Petty Enterprises and he appeared in the 1983 Burt Reynolds movie Stroker Ace. Petty was born in Randleman, North Carolina, Petty began racing at a young age and made his major-league stock car debut at the age of 18. Later in the season, he made his Winston Cup Series debut and he ran five races and had a ninth-place finish in his first series race at Talladega. In 1980, he made a total of fifteen starts in the No.42 and had six top-ten finishes and he began the 1981 season driving his fathers No.43 for one race, before running a full schedule in his regular No. 42, finishing in the ten times and finishing twelfth in points. He began the 1982 season with two finishes, but later began splitting time between his No.42 and the No.1 UNO/STP car owned by Hoss Ellington. In 1983, he picked up funding from 7-Eleven and switched his number to No.7 accordingly and he had only two top-ten finishes but improved to thirteenth in the standings. He followed that season up with six top-tens the following year, Petty took his number and sponsorship to Wood Brothers Racing in 1985, where he had a then career-high seven top-fives and his first top-ten points finish. The next season, he won his first career race at Richmond, in 1987, he switched to the #21 and received new sponsorship from Citgo, as well as picking up a win at Charlotte. He failed to pick up a win in 1988, and fell to thirteenth in points and he signed on to a part-time schedule in 1989 for the new SABCO Racing team. Petty and the #42 Pontiac team competed in nineteen races that season, peak became the teams full-time sponsor in 1990, and Petty finished eleventh in points after winning the spring race at North Carolina Speedway with a 26-second margin of victory. His abbreviated schedule combined with only one top-ten in the half of the season caused him to finish the season 30th in points. In 1992, Petty rebounded to a career-best fifth-place finish in points and he duplicated his points finish in 1993 as well as picking up a win at Pocono Raceway. He dropped ten spots in points in 1994 after he failed to finish higher than fourth, coors Light became his new sponsor beginning in 1995, and he won his most recent race at Dover
11.
Fox News
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Fox News, officially known as the Fox News Channel, is an American basic cable and satellite news television channel that is owned by the Fox Entertainment Group subsidiary of 21st Century Fox. As of February 2015, approximately 94,700,000 American households receive the Fox News Channel, the channel broadcasts primarily from studios at 1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York City, New York. The channel was created by Australian-American media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who hired former Republican Party media consultant and it launched on October 7,1996, to 17 million cable subscribers. It grew during the late 1990s and 2000s to become a dominant cable news network in the United States, Rupert Murdoch is the current chairman and acting CEO of Fox News. Fox News Channel has been accused of biased reporting and promoting the Republican Party, critics have cited the channel as detrimental to the integrity of news overall. Fox News Channel employees have responded that news reporting operates independently of its opinion and commentary programming, in July 1985, 20th Century Fox announced that Murdoch had completed his purchase of 50 percent of Fox Filmed Entertainment, the parent company of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation. A year later, 20th Century Fox earned $5.6 million in its third period ended May 31,1986. Prior to founding FNC, Murdoch had gained experience in the 24-hour news business when News Corporations BSkyB subsidiary began Europes first 24-hour news channel in the United Kingdom in 1989, in February 1996, after former U. S. Republican Party political strategist and NBC executive Roger Ailes left cable television channel Americas Talking, Ailes demanded five months of 14-hour workdays and several weeks of rehearsal shows before its launch on October 7,1996. At its debut 17 million households were able to watch FNC, however, it was absent from the markets of New York City. Rolling news coverage during the day consisted of 20-minute single-topic shows such as Fox on Crime or Fox on Politics, interviews featured facts at the bottom of the screen about the topic or the guest. The flagship newscast at the time was The Schneider Report, with Mike Schneiders fast-paced delivery of the news, during the evening, Fox featured opinion shows, The OReilly Report, The Crier Report and Hannity & Colmes. From the beginning, FNC has placed emphasis on visual presentation. Graphics were designed to be colorful and attention-getting, this helped the viewer to grasp the main points of what was being said, Fox News also created the Fox News Alert, which interrupted its regular programming when a breaking news story occurred. To accelerate its adoption by cable providers, Fox News paid systems up to $11 per subscriber to distribute the channel and this contrasted with the normal practice, in which cable operators paid stations carriage fees for programming. Time Warner selected MSNBC as the news channel, not Fox News. Fox News claimed that this violated an agreement, citing its agreement to keep its U. S. City officials threatened to take action affecting Time Warners cable franchises in the city, during the September 11,2001 attacks, Fox News was the first news organization to run a news ticker on the bottom of the screen to keep up with the flow of information that day
12.
Michael Waltrip
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Michael Curtis Waltrip is a retired American professional stock car racing driver, racing commentator, and published author. He is the brother of three-time NASCAR champion and racing commentator Darrell Waltrip. Waltrip is a winner of the Daytona 500, having won the race in 2001 and 2003. He is also a pre-race analyst for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and he last raced in the 2017 Daytona 500, driving the No.15 Toyota Camry for Premium Motorsports. According to his autobiography In the Blink of An Eye, Waltrips career started at age 15, when he was 15 he phoned his older brother Darrell Waltrip, who was out racing in the 1978 Daytona 500 and asked Darrell to help him build a career in NASCAR. Darrell, however, claimed he had no time to help him, when Michael asked his dad for help, his dad ignored his requests. With none of his parental figures helping him, Michael built his career all by himself with influence & help from his older brother Bobby Waltrip. He began building a career by racing go-karts at carnivals and various racing clubs around his hometown and he won many races and thanks to Bobbys help was noticed by rising hotshot star Dale Earnhardt. When Waltrip moved out of his house, he moved in with Kyle Petty, Waltrips stock-car career got off the ground in 1981, when he captured the Mini-Modified division track championship at Kentucky Motor Speedway. A year later, Waltrip entered the Goodys Dash Series, where he won the championship in 1983 and was voted the circuits most popular driver in 1983 and 1984. Waltrip made his Cup debut in 1985 in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte driving for Dick Bahre and he finished 28th in that race and finished 57th in the series standings after just 5 starts. His brother Darrell won the race, at the same time, Waltrip got confronted by Earnhardt, who questioned a previous move early in the race in which Waltrip nudged him out of the way and Dale responded by flipping the bird. Despite this incident, Earnhardt and Waltrip agreed to disagree over the move, the following season, he posted his first career Top 10 finish when he ended up 10th in Martinsvilles spring race. In 1988, Waltrip began running Busch Series events, making 5 starts for his brothers team and he took the checkered flag for the first time at Dover in his 4th start. In 1989, he had his first top-five finish in the No.30 Country Time Lemonade/Kool Aid-sponsored Pontiac, for Waltrip,1990 was memorable for a horrific crash at Bristol in the spring, where he destroyed his Busch Series Pontiac. After making contact with Robert Pressley in the No,59, he hit a gate that was in the outside wall at the exit of turn two. The gate was used to allow vehicles in and out of the infield because the track did not have a tunnel, the impact broke the gate, and Michael went head-on into the end of the wall, disintegrating the car on impact and collapsing the car into itself. Onlookers were sure that Waltrip was severely injured, perhaps fatally, because of how massive the impact was, amazingly, Waltrip survived the accident and he only suffered cuts, soreness, and bruises in the wreck
American