plus 3, Johnson catches major break at Auto Club 500 - Asbury Park Press

Johnson catches major break at Auto Club 500 - Asbury Park Press
Business File: Will Cat play rough with UAW? - Peoria Journal Star
Blown engines noteworthy because they're rare - ESPN.com
Today's Feature - Stockhouse

Johnson catches major break at Auto Club 500 - Asbury Park Press

Posted: 21 Feb 2010 08:17 PM PST

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it.

FONTANA, CALIF. — Jimmie Johnson got a huge break on his last stop, getting on pit road only seconds before the caution flag came out, and held off a charging Kevin Harvick in the closing laps to win at California on Sunday.

After winning his unprecedented fourth consecutive Sprint Cup championship last season, Johnson started this season by finishing 35th at the Daytona 500.

Consider the drive for five under way.

With Harvick trying to get around him with just more than three laps to go, Johnson moved to block. Harvick scrapped the outside wall out of Turn 4 and lost his momentum, allowing Johnson to go on to his 48th career victory, and fifth in 15 races at his home track.

"There's no way of getting around how lucky they are," Harvick said.

Johnson pulled onto pit road for his final stop with 26 laps left, while behind him Brad Keselowski spun out in Turn 4. When everybody else finally got to pit under caution, that made Johnson the leader and he stayed there the rest of the way.

"Fortunate came our way," Johnson said. "I'm not going to lie. The fact that we were on pit row gave us track position and I drove my butt off. "

Jeff Burton, who finished third, was on Johnson's bumper on the restart but never could get around him. He was eventually passed by his Richard Childress teammate Harvick.

Harvick cut the margin by more than six-tenths of a second in a matter of laps — from .983 to .311. He was making his move at the end of lap 247 of 250 when he brushed against the wall.

Johnson had won the last three fall races at California, but Roush Fenway drivers had won the last five February races on the slick two-mile superspeedway before Sunday.

Johnson led eight times for 101 laps and won with an average speed of 141.911 mph. It was his fifth victory in the last 11 Sprint Cup races.

Despite not winning, it was another strong showing for the Richard Childress Racing trio, with Clint Bowyer's eight-place finish backing Harvick and Burton.

Richard Childress didn't win any races — or even have a top-five finish — last season with four full-time cars. All three drivers finished in the top 11 at the Daytona 500 last week before another strong showing in Southern California.

Mark Martin, Johnson's Hendrick teammate, finished fourth, followed by Joey Logano and Kurt Busch. Matt Kenseth started 20th and finished seventh with new crew chief Todd Parrott on his pit box, the best result for Roush Fenway.

Juan Pablo Montoya started in the front row beside polesitter and Earnhardt Ganassi teammate Jamie McMurray. Montoya had the lead by the end of the first lap and stayed there until Johnson went under him on the 30th lap.

Montoya was running 15th on lap 140 when the engine on his No. 42 Chevrolet blew up along the frontstretch.

Daytona 500 winner McMurray finished 17th.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Business File: Will Cat play rough with UAW? - Peoria Journal Star

Posted: 21 Feb 2010 08:53 PM PST

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it.

In the early 1990s, Caterpillar Inc. survived a record-long walkout by its hourly employees mostly because it put salaried, management and office workers in the factories, supplemented by retirees the company asked to cross picket lines and work.

Doing that worked so well Caterpillar started making record profits while the United Auto Workers were on strike. Of course, the fact there was record demand for the company's product helped, too.

That strike in 1994-95 ended after 17 months without a contract, and a new pact eventually was signed in 1998.

In 2004 there was no work stoppage by the union, but the company was ready if there was one, with retirees lined up to come in and work on the shop floors alongside managers and salaried and office personnel.

The UAW knew this and warned its members before they ratified the contract - on the third try, by the way, and after more than a year of negotiations - that the company was prepared to replace strikers.

Is it any wonder, then, that Caterpillar - with only a year left in its current contract with the UAW - has started contacting retirees and laid-off workers as well as assessing the manufacturing skills of its salaried and office employees so they can be put on the shop floor in case of a strike next year?

I was not surprised to hear that retirees and laid-off workers started getting calls from Caterpillar this week, apparently to ascertain their willingness to work in the event of a union work stoppage and to assess their skills. Manufacturing skills of management, salaried and office workers also are being assessed.

The company issued a statement that said, "As part of the normal process preceding upcoming contract negotiations for certain operations based in the United States, Caterpillar has begun preparations that will ensure our ability to provide products and services to our customers. As a responsible company, it is appropriate for Caterpillar to take steps to maintain business continuity for customers, shareholders and the nearly 100,000 Caterpillar employees around the world.

"As part of this process, the company is currently documenting the manufacturing skills of our support and management employees," the statement said.

"Team Caterpillar is comprised of highly skilled and motivated employees who consistently go the extra mile for their customers. We will bargain in good faith and hope for no future work interruptions. We believe our employees' proven commitment and talents, along with appropriate preparations, will enable Caterpillar to run our business should an interruption occur. This commitment to serve our customers is critical for our continued success and long-term competitiveness," it concluded.

Rick Doty, president of UAW Local 974, which represents Caterpillar's Peoria-area union workers and is the

largest of the Caterpillar locals, said the move surprised him on two levels.

First, because the company has started making such calls more than a year before the existing contract expires in March 2011. "The company doesn't usually start doing that until after talks have started," he said. "In 2004 they didn't do it until after we'd already voted on and rejected one contract offer (in April 2004)."

Doty said he is also surprised by the company's "boldness" (others might say cheekiness) in calling retirees and laid-off workers.

"I can't believe this company, with everything they have taken away from the retirees the last several years, including their health care benefits or making them pay for it out of their pensions, would then call them and ask them to do this. Ask them to come in and hurt us if we believe we have no choice but to strike. And now to start calling laid-off workers? That's telling them they're not needed any more unless there's a strike. I can't believe they would get enough people to do it," Doty said.

He does believe the company's actions this far out from contract expiration shows "they are preparing to come after us hard if they don't get what they want from us. My guess is they will make an offer that is so bizarre or ridiculous we may not really be able to respond any other way. It probably won't be pretty."

I would like to hear from some of you Caterpillar retirees for your thoughts on this, including what, if anything, the company said you would receive.

Drop me a line at the e-mail address below or to 1 News Plaza, Peoria, IL 61643.

PAUL GORDON is Journal Star business editor. Business File appears here each Sunday. Gordon's e-mail address is pgordon@pjstar.com.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Blown engines noteworthy because they're rare - ESPN.com

Posted: 21 Feb 2010 06:30 PM PST

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it.

It was somewhat surprising to see engines blowing during Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway. It used to be a common thing to see smoke erupt from a car and have four or five cars sitting in the garage with blown engines.

But engine builders today in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series have gotten so good that you seldom see a "smoker" on the track.

Engines from top-notch teams, including those of Juan Pablo Montoya and Ryan Newman, went up in smoke today. Both drivers retired from the race. It's just not a common thing anymore.

If your street car hits 3,500 RPMs, you are really pushing it. But a Cup car today runs more than 9,000 RPMs. Engine builders have become so adept at building the Cup engines and the parts and pieces they use have improved so much that it's just a rarity to see a blown engine.

Although the problems with the two engines appeared to be different, it makes you wonder if the teams had either run into a bad batch of parts or if the two teams were experimenting with parts under the hood. Both are running Chevys. Montoya had qualified second for Sunday's race and is a teammate of Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray. Newman is a teammate of Tony Stewart.

Sort comments by: Most Recent | First Posted

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.