While it was professionally challenging and rewarding to work the Mark Martin story last weekend at Phoenix International Raceway -- see my Sunday Arizona Republic/AzCentral.com story based on an exclusive 35-minute interview with Mark in his motorcoach last Friday morning and my Monday notebook follow-up -- my best memory of the PIR weekend came courtesy of Carl Edwards. In an era where many athletes would have put on a big physical and verbal show of frustration, Edwards handled himself with great class after running out of fuel coming to the white flag in the lead. Edwards was more than calm and polite in talking with me and other media people. A few times, he even smiled. See my story on him in Monday's paper and on the site. Well done, Carl. I sure wish the Powers-That-Be in all of sports would put together a video of Edwards in this situation and make it required viewing in locker rooms around the country.
[ more next Monday . . . ]
