DECEMBER
11, 2006 --
NASCAR
does not yet have a race in the New York City, but its Nextel Cup
Victory Lap has become another New York November tradition, added
to the marathon at the beginning of the month, and the Macy's Parade
on Thanksgiving Day to New York's November traditions.
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Jimmie
Johnson -- Nextel Cup Champ
|
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Jimmie's
car -- No. 48
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The Nextel Cup champion
for 2006 is Jimmie Johnson and he was joined in the Victory Lap, November
29, in mid-town Manhattan, by the other drivers in the chase for the
Nextel Cup -- Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt
Jr., Jeff Gordon, Jeff Burton,
Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin and Kyle Busch.
|
Dale
Earnhardt, Jr.
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On hand for the Victory
Lap were thousands of people, including a few low-key union demonstrators
questioning the hiring of replacement workers by Goodyear.
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Some
quiet labor demonstrators
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That evening, LPR,
heading to the lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree spotted
a cluster of photographers outside Tiffany's and learned that this was
another NASCAR photo op, before the drivers and
their wives had dinner at the famed Fifth Avenue jewelry establishment.
LPR got photos of NASCAR celebrities, including Jimmie and Chandra Johnson, and
Ingrid Vandebosch, wife of Jeff Gordon, No. 6 in the Nextel Cup Chase, and then
continued south on Fifth
for the tree lighting.