Tony Stewart, Danica Patrick suffer motor failures in Daytona practice

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Snap, crackle, pop.

That was not the sound Tony Stewart heard when he sat down for breakfast Saturday morning.

Instead, Stewart was coming out of Turn 1 at Daytona International Speedway when the Hendrick Motorsports motor in his No. 14 Stewart Haas Chevrolet broke, sending Stewart limping to the pits and in search of a new motor for Sunday’s qualifying for the Daytona 500.

“It wasn’t anything we knew was a warning, it just happened all at once,” Stewart said. “The motor they put in tomorrow will be just as good as this one.”

But Stewart’s engine issue was not an isolated incident. Also suffering almost identical engine failure were Stewart’s teammate, Danica Patrick, and Bobby Labonte – again, all driving Chevrolets with Hendrick Motorsports motors under the hood.

HMS leases motors to a number of teams, including Stewart Haas Racing, as well as HScott Motorsports, for whom Labonte drives for. In addition, Labonte’s teammate, Justin Allgaier, also had issues – although not as serious as Labonte – when the motor in his car started leaking oil.

While Stewart and Patrick will compete in Saturday night’s Sprint Unlimited in cars with different motors, they will have yet other engines under the hood during Sunday’s qualifying for the 500, which begins at 1 pm ET.

And even if they wind up on the front row Sunday – qualifying that day will only determine the front row for the 56th annual running of the Great American Race – any of the drivers that have had to go to backup engines for qualifying will have to start at the rear of the field for Thursday’s Budweiser Twin 150 Duels, which will flesh out the remainder of the 43-car Daytona 500 starting grid.

Ironically, none of the four regular Hendrick Motorsports drivers – six-time and defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, four-time champ Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. or Kasey Kahne – suffered motor problems during Saturday morning’s practice.

However, it was apparent that HMS motors, even if they didn’t break or blow up, were significantly down on power. Gordon was the fastest HMS driver during the session, but had only the 21st-fastest showing on the speed chart.

Patrick had been running as fast as 19th before her motor let go, about 10 minutes after Stewart’s motor failed heading onto the backstretch.

“It was a concern when Tony blew up, and then we did,” Patrick said. “It’s something we’re doing in our family, I guess, and we need to figure it out. I’m sure the Hendrick teams are wondering what is going on.”

Indeed they are wondering and immediately went to work on the issue.

“At this point, from the driver comments and the data we’ve been able to look at, it is something in the bottom end of the engine,” HMS director of track support Scott Maxim said.

When asked if the motor failures were identical or similar, Maxim added, “Until we get the engines further apart to be able to more closely analyze, I really couldn’t say anything more than that.”

Although the failures impacted the teams and how they’ll start in the Twin 150s, Maxim was cautiously optimistic that the problem will be diagnosed and rectified.

“We’ll be all right,” Maxim said. “We’ll make the changes needed and I think that we’ll be able to make corrective action. We’ll be able to look the engines over closely and make sure we’re not going into tomorrow with an issue and then after that, we’ll be all good.”

HMS’s loss was most definitely Richard Childress Racing’s gain, as its three drivers shined in both practice sessions. Paul Menard was fastest in the first session and new teammate Ryan Newman, who spent the previous four years racing HMS motors while at Stewart Haas Racing, was fastest in the second session.

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Vicki Golden and 805 Beer tell a unique story from an Inverted Perspective

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Vicki Golden has earned a career worthy of a thousand stories and 805 Beer tells at least one of them, as “Inverted Perspective” premiered March 30 on the company’s website and YouTube channel.

Golden did more to break the glass ceiling in SuperMotocross than she ever thought possible. She knows this because riders have never felt the need to explain any of her accomplishments with the disclaimer, “for a girl”. 

At this point in Golden’s career, she’s been the first woman to finish top 10 in AMA Arenacross Lites, the first woman to qualify in the Fast 40 in Monster Energy AMA Supercross and the first woman to compete in freestyle Moto X competition, earning a bronze medal by doing so.

Her love for moto came from childhood while she watched her dad and brother ride. By seven she was on her bike and making waves throughout Southern California. 

Golden, 30, is still madly in love with the sport and has no plans on moving away but her career is already one to talk about. 805 Beer’s film series wanted to do exactly that.

“I’m taken aback by it all,” Golden told NBC Sports about the documentary. “It’s just crazy to see your story, it’s one thing to live your life and battle everything that comes about but it’s another to just sit there and talk about it.”

805 approached Golden about the feature by asking, “Do you even realize that what you do, and your story is special?”

Golden took the question as a blank canvas to map out the highs and lows of her career and life. 

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The title “Inverted Perspective” came from a brainstorming session with Dominick Russo and it highlights Golden’s outlook on the sport of SuperMotocross and her life in general. 

“My whole life, my whole career was thinking differently and looking at things that shouldn’t be done and aren’t there, while being able to make a place for myself, where no one thought there should be a place,” Golden said.  “It’s inspiring someone to think in different ways. It sums up my life.”

Vicki Golden is not “fast for a girl”; she’s just fast. – 805 Beer

While Golden is no stranger to the spotlight, this was the first time she’s been fully involved with the storytelling and creation of a feature about herself. 

“It’s not like a full new experience,” Golden said. “Obviously, you get your standard questions about your upbringing and accomplishments, but I’ve never really put into perspective things that happened in my past with my dad and putting that to light. Also, certain other things that maybe got overlooked in previous interviews or films. I wanted to touch on these and Dom wanted to create a story. It’s just cool to see it come to light, it’s a nearly impossible thing to tell somebody’s life story in 40 minutes.”

Golden’s father was left paralyzed after an ATV accident, robbing him the opportunity to ride again. This happened a few months before the father-daughter duo was set to compete in the Loretta Lynn’s Amateur Nationals when Vicki was 12. While she might have been unable to grasp the severity at the time, it’s something she carries with her. Golden continues to ride in his honor.

Years later, an accident in 2018 nearly sidelined the then 25-year-old Vicki when a freestyle accident almost resulted in the amputation of her lower leg. 

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Golden 805 Beer
Vicki Golden has ridden a variety of disciplines in SuperMotocross, which gives her a unique perspective. – 805 Beer

“Inverted Perspective” highlights her father’s diligence in helping Vicki continue with her career and the kindness and strength he carried while fighting his own battle. 

“My dad was the entire reason that I started riding in the first place,” Golden said. “So, to honor his memory and to honor what we went through and how hard he pushed to keep our dream alive and keep everything going – in that sense then, it was really special to be able to honor him and talk about him.”

The 40-minute feature was filmed entirely in black and white, a stark contrast from the oversaturated world of motocross where the brighter the suit the easier it is for fans to find their rider and follow him in the race. By filming in monochrome Russo and Golden had the chance to focus on the race and track from a different perspective. 

“It was cool to be able to film it differently,” Golden said. “It created a challenge in the sense of what was going to be more visually impactful for the film.

“I couldn’t be here without the companies that back me but at the same time, it’s not like the logos or colors disappeared, it’s just different lights shed on different spots. It’s just a cool way to do it and to take color away and still be impactful. When you think of black and white, you think of old school, the OG way of doing things.”