Mammoth Blog

Rick Sprague spent a year working on his Martin Truex Jr. collage. It had pictures of Truex from the Internet, articles and headlines from newspapers and a blank space in the bottom left-hand corner.

Since 2005, after Truex won his first NASCAR Busch Series championship, Sprague has had the poster-size collage hanging on one of the walls of his Tuckerton home. On Friday, the 54-year-old finally completed it when Truex signed the empty space at the Motorsports 2008 show at the Atlantic City Convention Center.

"I grew up with his father in Mayetta," Sprague said. "I have this room where I keep NASCAR stuff and I saw the poster and thought today would be the day."

Truex signed for nearly 500 fans at the motorsports convention. Some fans lined up as early as two hours before his 5 p.m. scheduled start to ensure an autograph from the Stafford Township native who drives in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series, previously known as Nextel Cup.

Some fans who made their way to the convention wound up only a few streets away later in the night at the Atlantic City Indoor Races at Boardwalk Hall, watching NASCAR driver Ken Schrader qualify for today's three-quarter midget-car races.

But Truex, who was among the 12 drivers who qualified to compete for the Cup championship in 2007, was the star of the day as his adoring fans clamored for autographs and pictures with the 27-year-old. He signed model cars, photos, jackets, pretty much anything that was thrust in front of him.

"I knew two weeks ago and there was no way I was going to miss seeing him," said Linda Lynch, from the Dorothy section of Weymouth Township, who wore an official NASCAR jacket featuring Truex's primary sponsor, Bass Pro Shops. "He's the one person I would sit there for two hours and wait. I wouldn't do that for anyone else."

Truex had been to Motorsports when it was held in Pennsylvania in years past. First, he was there as a spectator. He remembered the day's biggest racing stars signing autographs just as he was now doing. Then, he came back in 2002 to show off a car he was going to race in the Busch series.

Never once did he think he would be sitting behind the long, white table while admiring women screamed his name.

"This is different than normal, or a place I have never been before. These fans are great. I have already seen a couple of people I used to race with," Truex said between signatures. "It doesn't really faze me. Sometimes I feel I'm watching someone else do it, like I am not really here."

Then there are those who hope to be in Truex's position one day. It all starts in places such as the Atlantic City Indoor Races.

Three different racecars are competing this weekend: three-quarter midgets, Slingshots and Champ Karts. The highlight of the show are the TQ midgets, a class in which some of the best drivers, including NASCAR's Schrader, competed. The qualifiers were held Friday while the championship for each category will start at 7:30 tonight. (Schrader was only scheduled to compete Friday night.)

Kyle Newcomb was in his first TQ midget race on concrete. The 16-year-old Hammonton High School sophomore competes on dirt but decided to take a shot on the Hall's concrete oval after watching the event for the past several years.

Newcomb just had to wait to turn 16, the minimum age requirement. Newcomb came in 56th during the time trials Friday, which was perfect for him because the top 60 cars made it to the qualifiers. Jonny Mannis of Galloway Township also qualified. Chris Prychka of Mays Landing missed a top-60 time. Non-qualifers such as Prychka are eligible to come back this afternoon and race again for a chance to make tonight's finals.

"It's amazing that he was able to do it because his car isn't built for asphalt," said Ed Newcomb, Kyle's father, who relayed the news that the teenager had qualified.

Kyle was too nervous to wait for the official results and couldn't watch as the results were being posted on a magnetic board. When his dad finally told him, Kyle pumped his fist and couldn't stop smiling.

"That was like 20 pounds taken off my shoulders," he said. "I didn't know what to expect because I've never raced on this kind of track before. I just wanted to qualify. I didn't expect it to be so close."

The Newcombs got a quick lesson on what to do at Boardwalk Hall from Lou Cicconi Jr., a popular driver and former champion at the Boardwalk Hall races. Cicconi helped Kyle with his car before the race and offered any help, even parts from his trailer, to the young driver.

However, Cicconi couldn't prepare Kyle for what he was going to experience on the track. He is not used to going sideways around the short track, which is what it can look and feel like going around the sharp turns.

But he did it and accomplished his goal of making the Roaring 20s, the TQ qualifiers.

The moment he got off the track, he told his father the first thing that came to mind: "That was a fun run." source