Welcome, gay NASCAR fans! It was a big, big weekend of racing here in my hometown of Atlanta, with DeVine 91/2 fantasy team member Jeff Gordon pulling off his fourth victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Congratulations Jeff! I have not spoken with Mother DeVine about this, but I'm certain she's loving this big victory by her Jeffy!

The weekend got off to a great start Friday with the first-ever nighttime Winston Cup qualifying at AMS. This great track definitely held onto its crown as the fastest speedway when Ryan Newman turned the fastest lap anyone has run at a NASCAR track this year -- over 194! Go Rocket Ryan! The other dudes were totally impressed -- but word was that Ryan thought he'd been even faster!

After a glorious day Saturday, when Greg Biffle won the Busch race from the pole, Sunday's weather went way bad. The race was able to go green but was red-flagged for rain, with Kevin Harvick up front, after just 39 laps.

During the extended delay, the announcers kept busy interviewing the drivers about stuff like "what CD do you have in your car right now?" (Elliott Sadler's answer was "Eminem" -- Is he a fan of Detroit's most famous rapper, or was he just trying to say his sponsor's name again?).

Dale Jr. allowed that he hates to exercise, and so had bought a boxing ring off of the Internet in which he and his buddies knock each other around. Jr. said it can get "pretty wild" after some beers. Now, since Jr. was just recently complaining about his concussions, how come he is knocking his head around like that, in the first place? (Note to race pals Janet and Sue: Jr. has been sporting some Seminoles gear, and he responded to a question about FSU by saying, "You can't find a better place to party, I'll tell you that!")

I totally tip my wig to all of y'all who toughed out that Sunday soaker while NASCAR decided whether to call the race (which didn't happen until 6 p.m, after nearly five hours under the red flag). Even though the speedway is 40 minutes south of town, it's still in the Atlanta region, where our weather can be very "mountain-like." When that big, slow rain moved in on Sunday, we all figured there was no way they were going to get the race going again. This is especially ironic, since you'll remember that AMS switched its fall race from November to October after 2001, hoping for better weather: Then qualifying got rained out last year, and the Sunday race this year!

Monday in the race's conclusion, Brian Vickers, who's come to work for Jeff Gordon, got into the #9 of Bill Elliott. Then Mikey and Todd Bodine got together. It looked like Jamie got mixed up with a couple of guys when he dropped down to pit.

Kurt Busch gave more ammo to his critics when he sped around under a caution, supposedly oblivious to the yellow (wonder how all the drivers he passed managed to find out about the yellow?). The penalty sent him back to 17th. Mark Martin lost his engine; Dave Blaney's car tore up.

Tony Stewart was running strong but was derailed by not one but two pit road incidents involving mistakes with lug nuts. Gotta keep up with those nuts, boys! Late in the event, there was some great racing between Jeff Gordon and the #18 car of six-time Atlanta winner Bobby Labonte. In the end, it came down to Jeff and Tony, and Jeff held on when the race ended on a caution.

This week, our guys grabbed spots 1, 2, 6 and 8 in the top 10. In the points, Dale Jr. took 2nd away from Kevin. Jimmie Johnson moved up to 4th; bossman Jeff moved up to 5th; Ryan slid two spots to 6th; and Bill Elliott knocked Terry Labonte out of 9th.

ROCKIN THE TRAILER WITH AMY AND AJ!

A lady I know in business (thanks, Lisa!) helped me to some VIP suite tickets to the Busch race this weekend -- and what a grand time we had with our pals Bud and Kathryn! As we made our way through the carnival of advertising trailers, we walked right past that gorgeous, skinny Winston Girl, who's always in the winner's circle -- she's just a beautiful in real life! The suite level certainly is a different way to watch the race -- the sound is reduced to a low hum, and they have TVs with the satellite picture (no commercials), so it's much easier to keep up with the action. And thanks to the heroic efforts of the really helpful waitresses, we seldom had to step away from our seats at the the giant tinted window to get more beer! When it was all over, they beered us extra for the trip back to the car! Thanks ladies! Atlanta Motor Speedway rocks!

But we didn't head back to the car, not just yet. Two Gaytona fans, Amy and AJ, had written in to invite us to their trailer in the infield, and we were determined to find it. On and on we staggered in the bright heat (we'd been in the suite all day -- who knew it was hot?) until at last we found their deluxe encampment.

Amy and AJ have this incredible spot in the second row off Turn 2. When you're on the ground, there's not much of a view -- but climb the ladder to the roof, and that steeply banked track just looms in front of you, like when you park on the front row of the drive-in! I saw immediately why these gals are so hooked on their place at the track. I was a little unsteady on the ladder, but Amy encouraged me, "Betty Jack, you come down here for a few races with us, and you'll be scampering up and down that laddder with a beer in both hands!" Amy said the best thing is to be up on the roof when the jet dryer comes by in the morning, because it heats up the whole campground.

Amy and AJ have great neighbors too, this lady and gentleman from Tennessee. They had forgotten their propane, though, and were cooking at Amy and AJ's, and in return were sharing their really tasty food with us all (spicy boiled shrimp and corn on the cob, yum!). You couldn't ask to meet any nicer folks!

Amy kept me laughing the whole time -- she calls Jamie McMurray, Jamie McMARY, and she gave me the devil for wearing a shirt with the 97 of Kurt Busch on it (That paled, though, in comparison to the reaction the shirt got later when we were on the way back to the car, and a rowdy tippler lurched up from his lawnchair to shout after me, "Rubberhead! Rubberhead!").

As the warm sun slid down toward the tall edge of Turn 2, we most reluctantly said our goodbyes. The gals really, really wanted us to spend the night and wake up to the race on Sunday, but we all had dogs at home, and as generous as our hosts were with their beer, they could not possibly have anticipated the alcohol needs precipitated by the unexpected arrival of such enthusiastic imbibers as ourselves.

With many. many thanks, we said good-bye to Amy, AJ, Robert and the couple from Tennessee and struck out for the Buick, which now seemed impossibly far away. On the way we passed so many interesting campsights, marveling at tributes like giant cardboard driver cutouts and inflatable racecars strapped across the bow of gargantuan land yachts. Kids played ball in golden light of the warm evening, and laughter was all around. What a super day at the speedway!

MIKE'S LIVE REPORT FROM MONDAY'S RACE!

Thanks so my racing bud Mike, who sent in the following report just hours after the Atlanta 500 --

Hey Betty Jack --

What an interesting weekend. I'm glad I have friends that live in McDonough. I went by their house on the way to the race on Sunday, went to the track, back to the house, almost back to the track and then back to the house. Spent the night and went racing today.

I can't wait to see what the NASCAR shows have to say and watch the replay on Wed. I hoped Tony and Bobby would finish 1-2. I think they had the fastest cars.

I also must say that I like Dale Jr. even less, if that's possible. There was no reason to spin Ryan out other than to play "Dad". Can you say "rich, bratty red-neck"?

Enough ranting. I have attached a couple of pictures so you'll know who you're chatting with.

Can't wait to read your thoughts!
See ya,
Mike

Hey thanks, Mike! Right after I read your letter, I tuned in to "Inside Winston Cup" on Speed. Looked like nobody there thought Jr. had done anything out of the ordinary -- but then, the driver/commentators were his teammates Mikey and John Andretti, so what were they going to say!

Thanks for writing, Mike -- at Gaytona.com, we love to get our readers' trackside reports!

DUDE, WHERE'S YOUR BOOTIE?

We learned during qualifying that Dave Blaney's crew chief on the #77 car, the very foxy Bootie Barker, has left the team on "a leave of absence." On Saturday, Bootie was consulting for one of the Busch teams. I haven't had time to sleuth this out yet -- if anybody has inside dirt on this Bootie/Blaney split, let me know!

That's it for this week, y'all. Thanks for stopping by the trailer -- and a big special thank you to Lisa, Amy, AJ, Robert and Mike! Let's get together for the Phoenix race next weekend -- I'll see y'all at the Track Bar!