Martinsville

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Jimmie Johnson got help holding off Jeff Gordon yesterday in a rematch of teammates from a source roaring out of the blue: Ryan Newman, who hasn't won a Nextel Cup race in more than two years. Then it was all Johnson could do to hold off Newman in a green-white-checkered overtime finish of the Subway 500 at Martinsville Speedway, while Gordon finished third. Johnson, with his seventh win this season, shaved Gordon's lead in NASCAR's Chase for the Nextel Cup by 15 points to 53, with four races remaining.

David and Judy Garland, of Martinsville, Va., announce the engagement of their daughter, Ruth Palmer Garland, of Martinsville, to Timothy Brian Neary of Baldwin. He is the son of Patrick and Patricia Neary, of Baldwin. The bride to be is a 2004 graduate of Carlisle School in Martinsville, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry with minors in genetics and medical ethics from North Carolina State University in 2008. She is a 2012 candidate for a doctor of medicine degree fromEastern Virginia Medical School.

MARTINSVILLE, Va. - Some people climb mountains. Margaret Blankenship has sewn one - out of sweat pants, 21,565,440 pairs of them, to be exact. Every workday for the past 36 years, the bundles of fuzzy cotton kept coming and Blankenship kept stitching, making more sweat pants along the line at the VF Imagewear factory than anybody in company history. But recently she got laid off. VF is ceasing operations here, the latest in a long list of Southern textile mills to succumb to the pull of globalization.

I have a feeling about this. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is going to make some noise this season. Not the usual "if he didn't have his daddy's last name he'd be working at Pep Boys" rumble that he has heard for years. This is more like a quiet thunder, all pointing to the likelihood of Earnhardt becoming relevant in more than just a personality contest. A second-place finish at Martinsville solidified Earnhardt's push toward that relevancy. He has three top-10 finishes this season and is eighth in the points standings.

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Jimmie Johnson came storming back yesterday from last week's stumble out of the Nextel Cup points lead. And he made it look breezy. Johnson was clocked at 96.736 mph around flat, narrow, half-mile Martinsville Speedway to win the pole for tomorrow's DirecTV 500 in a Chevrolet. But he said his team put no special effort into it, even after they finished 30th, 13 laps down, last week at Bristol, Tenn., in a tough return for crew chief Chad Knaus from a four-race suspension.

MARTINSVILLE, Va. - There was but one word that Rusty Wallace would, could or should say yesterday as he climbed from his Dodge in victory lane at the Advance Auto Parts 500 at Martinsville Speedway: "Finally!" At age 47, three years and 105 races removed from his last win, Wallace caught his breath, sighed with enormous relief, and gathered words for what he had just washed away with his 55th career victory: "Man, it's been so long and we've been so close!" His 54th win was a distant memory from April 29, 2001, at California Speedway.

On January 4, 2004 CARROLL "WILL" ROTH, Age 81, passed away at Memorial Hospital Martinsville in Martinsville, VA. Born October 16, 1922 in Baltimore, MD. He was the son of the late Charles and Florence Roth. He served during WWII in the US Army Air Corps as a crew chief of the B17 Bomber and later overseas in the Occupation Forces. He retired in 1981 from the Army Chemical Center in Edgewood, MD with 31 years service. He and his wife relocated to Collinsville, VA in 1991. He was a member of First United Methodist Church of Martinsville, VA. His hobby was gardening and he loved working outdoors in his yard.

David and Judy Garland, of Martinsville, Va., announce the engagement of their daughter, Ruth Palmer Garland, of Martinsville, to Timothy Brian Neary of Baldwin. He is the son of Patrick and Patricia Neary, of Baldwin. The bride to be is a 2004 graduate of Carlisle School in Martinsville, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry with minors in genetics and medical ethics from North Carolina State University in 2008. She is a 2012 candidate for a doctor of medicine degree fromEastern Virginia Medical School.

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Lost amid all the crashing and controversy at North Wilkesboro Speedway last Sunday was an interesting NASCAR Winston Cup Series record:In becoming the seventh winner in as many races this year, Darrell Waltrip helped improve the "varying victor" mark for the sport's modern era, which began in 1972. The 1984 and '86 tours had six-for-six starts in which different competitors got the checkered flag.And Waltrip's win tied the all-time record for disparate drivers visiting Victory Lane at the opening of a season.

1 NCAA men's ...: Louisville takes on Michigan State in the Midwest (2 p.m., chs. 13, 9). Judging by its 39-point win Friday, a national championship might be in the Cards. 2 ... regional finals: North Carolina faces Oklahoma in the South (4:30 p.m., chs. 13, 9). Since UNC is the Heels, guess that makes the Sooners the babyfaces. 3 Don't party: like it's 1969: The Orioles meet the Mets in an exhibition. It's been 40 years since the '69 Series, but Baltimore fans have been known to hold a grudge.

1 NCAA men's ...: Louisville takes on Michigan State in the Midwest (2 p.m., chs. 13, 9). Judging by its 39-point win Friday, a national championship might be in the Cards. 2 ... regional finals: North Carolina faces Oklahoma in the South (4:30 p.m., chs. 13, 9). Since UNC is the Heels, guess that makes the Sooners the babyfaces. 3 Don't party: like it's 1969: The Orioles meet the Mets in an exhibition. It's been 40 years since the '69 Series, but Baltimore fans have been known to hold a grudge.

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Jimmie Johnson got help holding off Jeff Gordon yesterday in a rematch of teammates from a source roaring out of the blue: Ryan Newman, who hasn't won a Nextel Cup race in more than two years. Then it was all Johnson could do to hold off Newman in a green-white-checkered overtime finish of the Subway 500 at Martinsville Speedway, while Gordon finished third. Johnson, with his seventh win this season, shaved Gordon's lead in NASCAR's Chase for the Nextel Cup by 15 points to 53, with four races remaining.

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Jimmie Johnson came storming back yesterday from last week's stumble out of the Nextel Cup points lead. And he made it look breezy. Johnson was clocked at 96.736 mph around flat, narrow, half-mile Martinsville Speedway to win the pole for tomorrow's DirecTV 500 in a Chevrolet. But he said his team put no special effort into it, even after they finished 30th, 13 laps down, last week at Bristol, Tenn., in a tough return for crew chief Chad Knaus from a four-race suspension.

MARTINSVILLE, Va. - There was but one word that Rusty Wallace would, could or should say yesterday as he climbed from his Dodge in victory lane at the Advance Auto Parts 500 at Martinsville Speedway: "Finally!" At age 47, three years and 105 races removed from his last win, Wallace caught his breath, sighed with enormous relief, and gathered words for what he had just washed away with his 55th career victory: "Man, it's been so long and we've been so close!" His 54th win was a distant memory from April 29, 2001, at California Speedway.

"In the old days, drivers trained on booze and women," the late driver Tim Flock once said, while recalling the earliest days of professional stock car racing. "I remember so many Saturday nights before the races when ... [drivers] partied all night and came to the race on Sunday morning with eyes that looked like two big red cherries." They'd knock each other around on and off the racetrack. They'd seemingly do and say whatever they wanted. Flock, in fact, raced for a time with a monkey - Jocko Flocko - in the seat beside him. But in the late 1970s, as major sponsors started coming into NASCAR's top racing series, the sport began to seriously change.

On January 4, 2004 CARROLL "WILL" ROTH, Age 81, passed away at Memorial Hospital Martinsville in Martinsville, VA. Born October 16, 1922 in Baltimore, MD. He was the son of the late Charles and Florence Roth. He served during WWII in the US Army Air Corps as a crew chief of the B17 Bomber and later overseas in the Occupation Forces. He retired in 1981 from the Army Chemical Center in Edgewood, MD with 31 years service. He and his wife relocated to Collinsville, VA in 1991. He was a member of First United Methodist Church of Martinsville, VA. His hobby was gardening and he loved working outdoors in his yard.

"In the old days, drivers trained on booze and women," the late driver Tim Flock once said, while recalling the earliest days of professional stock car racing. "I remember so many Saturday nights before the races when ... [drivers] partied all night and came to the race on Sunday morning with eyes that looked like two big red cherries." They'd knock each other around on and off the racetrack. They'd seemingly do and say whatever they wanted. Flock, in fact, raced for a time with a monkey - Jocko Flocko - in the seat beside him. But in the late 1970s, as major sponsors started coming into NASCAR's top racing series, the sport began to seriously change.

JUSTICE DELAYED is better than justice denied. And when the pursuit of justice is integral to healing wounds that linger from racial transgressions, that axiom's truth becomes even more self-evident. That's why police are investigating a 34-year-old racially motivated murder that still inspires bitter feelings in a small Indiana town. And that's why they're holding a trial in Alabama to determine whether a former Klansman had anything to do with a 1963 church bombing that killed four little black girls.

JUSTICE DELAYED is better than justice denied. And when the pursuit of justice is integral to healing wounds that linger from racial transgressions, that axiom's truth becomes even more self-evident. That's why police are investigating a 34-year-old racially motivated murder that still inspires bitter feelings in a small Indiana town. And that's why they're holding a trial in Alabama to determine whether a former Klansman had anything to do with a 1963 church bombing that killed four little black girls.

Former Winston Cup champion-turned-television commentator Darrell Waltrip always could spin a good yarn. So when he recently decided to get back on a track and actually race, he didn't mention anything about the longing he feels for competition when he comes to the track each week for a telecast. He told wife Stevie, NASCAR chairman Bill France and Fox executives it was for the good of his broadcasting career. "I don't ever want to get to the point to where people say I'm stale or don't know what I'm talking about," he said.