Welcome, gay NASCAR fans! In one of those sentimental touches that NASCAR just loves, Terry Labonte took the checkers in the final edition of the Labor Day classic, the Southern 500. (Darlington's main attraction, of course, has been moved to November for 2004 and beyond, while Labor Day racing moves to Fontana, Calif.).

The victory for Terry, who snatched the lead coming off pit road under caution at lap 335 of 367, was a sweet treat for the driver and his fans. Terry made his first Winston Cup start at this race in 1978. Two years later, he got his first of 22 career victories from the Lady in Black. Quite a place to break a 156-race losing streak! And before I switched from cold cereal to oatmeal, I really enjoyed those Sugar Frosted Flakes. They are GRREAT!

In Sunday's pre-race show, we got to meet Roger White, the electrician for the #77 team of Dave Blaney. Like Bootie Barker, Dave's crew chief, Roger is a wheelchair user. It's great to see these guys excelling in their chosen field in spite of their challenges -- right on guys!

NBC also treated us to another look into Jeff Gordon's private life and how happy it is now that Brooke is gone. This time, they visited Jeff's yacht, the 24 Karat, which he keeps up in Newport, R.I. On the little tour of this hulking party boat, Jeff climbed up to the rooftop deck and said, "And this is my favorite part of the boat, because this is where Amanda is!"The gorgeous blonde uncoiled from her recliner, raised her Cosmo and purred, "Close to the bar!" Spoken like a true Atlanta party girl! (Miss Amanda Church is a former resident our ATL.)

The Busch/Spencer feud continued to simmer this week. Kurt was loudly booed at his introduction, while Jimmy was mostly applauded but also booed some. Going into the weekend, Kurt had to deliver a humbling apology mandated by his sponsor Rubbermaid Sharpie. But some writers were taking a cue from Kurt's black hat to say it was about time for somebody to unapologetically don the mantle of NASCAR bad boy that Earnhardt Sr. worked successfully for many years. You know we'll be following this story for you, gay NASCAR fans!

Track minister the Rev. Harold King made a quite a show of praying for Bush to continue the excellent job he's doing for the country -- guess the good reverend didn't notice all the boarded-up factories and unemployed tragedies he passed on the way to the speedway -- a facility that was saying good-bye to its signature event because the folk around there can't buy race tickets when they are not working! What is it going to take to make South Crazyland realize what a screw-job it's getting from the Republicans? Wake up and smell the poorhouse, y'all! And I'm speaking as a native!

It was not the best week for our DeVine 91/2, truth be told. Ryan Newman started on the pole and had led 120 laps when he experienced a problem with his suck jug. After they switched it out on a pit stop, he couldn't get his car to fire! The crew pushed him and pushed him, finally getting the car to fire with ether. By that time he was about two laps down, though. Turned out Ryan's suck jug had probably hit his kill switch. Tough, tough break, dude. Going into the weekend, Ryan had won five races, including three of the last six.

Dale Jr. also had a tough day; he was racing really well when his car tore up way off out the track. He got back out but was 10 laps down.

Two of our boys tangled on a restart when somebody in front of Jeff Gordon checked up, then Mark Martin rammed that Viagra-fueled #6 right up the #24's rear -- eee-ow!

There was some great Battle of the Rookies action, with Greg Biffle in 1st and Jamie McMurray in 3rd. (In the middle was Kevin Harvick, with a big ole grin on his face, no doubt!) For a while it looked like Greg might win -- that upset everyone because it would mean the #16 was a sure thing for Raybestos Rookie of the Year. But Greg struggled with a shifting problem and didn't lead any more after 312.

Then OUR choice for Raybestos Rookie of the Year, darling Jamie, who had been running up front since moving up from his starting spot (17th), took over and led for 20 terrific laps! At one point, the announcer said McMurray was "out front by a chunk."Oh, yeah! Jamie, you so totally rule!

This week, we had two boys in the top 10, with Jamie in 4th and Kevin in 2nd. In the points race, we've now got eight of the top 10 with Tony Stewart moving into the 10th spot after the Southern 500. Go, DeVine 9/1/2!

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

*It's always fun to tune into Dan Hughes on QVC's "For Race Fans Only,"even when he doesn't have a Winston Cup driver on as a guest. We hooted this week we a caller admitted, "My live-in girlfriend thinks I'm crazy."He was talking, of course, about his die-cast collection -- dude said he had 1,800 cars in floor to ceiling acrylic cases. All we got to say to her is: "Hold on, there Tiffany! I'll bet Jason already had most all of those cars the first day you plugged in your hot rollers into his doublewide -- don't go getting all critical about them now!

*Friday night as we watched the replay of Busch qualifying, it was fun to see Kevin Harvick tell the Speed reporter about the new Honey Roasted PayDay candy bar sponsoring his car. "Can I have one?"the reporter asked. "You can get one at the grocery store,"Kevin responded happily.

* And finally, this jewel from announcer on Sunday: "How about our Little Debbie Lap Leaders?"Yeah, how about 'em? Somehow, I cannot image Little Debbie, with her huge 19th century sun hat and "gee, Pa"Ellie Mae expression, at the NASCAR track. But the sport is growing, for sure, so who knows?

That's it for this week, race buds 'n' babes. Let's all get together under the lights Saturday at Richmond! Y'all save me a good seat at the track bar!