plus 3, Ex-felon charged with Roseville auto-repair fraud - Detroit Free Press

Ex-felon charged with Roseville auto-repair fraud - Detroit Free Press
Daytona pothole still topic of discussion at Fontana - NASCAR
Crime Watch: A tale of 2 friends and betrayal - Hanford Sentinel
Toyota dealer, local owners unfazed by negative reports - Hanford Sentinel

Ex-felon charged with Roseville auto-repair fraud - Detroit Free Press

Posted: 19 Feb 2010 02:43 PM PST

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An ex-felon who owns an auto repair shop in Roseville faces up to 10 years in prison on charges of bilking customers out of tens of thousands of dollars by charging for repairs he never did and billing for new parts when he installed used ones.

The owner of Pearson's Automotive, David Michael Pearson, 45, was charged today with a felony count of fraud in Roseville District Court.

The charges are part of an ongoing investigation that began when customers complained that the Chesterfield Township man was billing for repairs he hadn't done. He also was accused of charging for new parts when he had installed used, substandard ones.

In 2007, Pearson was convicted of selling bogus auto insurance out of his business to more than 50 people, and he was fined and placed on probation, records show.

Pearson is scheduled back in court for a preliminary hearing March 3.

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Daytona pothole still topic of discussion at Fontana - NASCAR

Posted: 19 Feb 2010 02:50 PM PST

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FONTANA, Calif. -- It's nearly a week later and the Sprint Cup Series is roughly 2,469 miles removed from the pothole that threatened to swallow the season-opening Daytona 500.

But the pothole at Daytona International Speedway remained a hot topic of discussion amongst drivers and the media Friday at Auto Club Speedway, following news that DIS has opted -- at least for the time being -- to repair the hole with a reinforced concrete patch. The Daytona track surface has not been repaved since 1977 and some drivers, but apparently not the majority of them, have said they would like to now see it completely repaved.

Among those in favor of repaving is Dale Earnhardt Jr. Among those against it is Jimmie Johnson, Earnhardt's Hendrick Motorsports teammate and the four-time defending Cup champion.

Then there are those who have mixed feelings about the news that for now DIS plans to get by only with a 6 feet by 18 feet patch of reinforced concrete over the troubled area of the track.

"I don't want them to repave the race track," Jeff Burton said. "I want them to keep the race track like is."

But then, without a moment's pause, Burton was second-guessing that very thought.

"It is rough," he admitted. "It's not that I want them to pave it; I'm really mixed about it. It needs work done to it. It is too rough. It needs to be smoothed out.

"It would be awesome to pave it and do it in a way that it has the grip level that it has today. I think that's impossible to do, but it would be great if we could do that."

Kevin Harvick, Burton's Richard Childress Racing teammate, was more emphatic in his endorsement of the concrete patch over the repaving option. He is vehemently against repaving the Daytona track.

"If they put a patch down then I think that's the right thing to do to try to preserve the race track as much as they can," Harvick said. "I don't think it would be the right thing to do to repave it just because -- unless it's just the absolute last resort. I think a patch is OK because the track has so much character. I don't think there are too many people in the garage that would like to see it paved.

"I don't think it will be a problem. Fixing it right is the main thing, so it won't keep spreading."

Of course, there are no guarantees that won't happen when the asphalt is 32 years old. But Bill Braniff -- lead engineer for the North American Testing Co., a subsidiary of the International Speedway Corp. that owns DIS -- told the Orlando Sentinel on Thursday that he is completely confident the patch will "perform fine for the rest of the duration of the track until it is repaved."

Track officials have said the facility was scheduled for a $20 million repaving in 2012 even before the problems surfaced last Sunday. They have not said whether they intend to move up the repaving project, in light of what happened.

Sound Off

Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick give their thoughts on repaving Daytona's venerable track.

The patch will be in place for AMA Pro Racing motorcycle events that will be held at DIS beginning Feb. 25. The next scheduled NASCAR events are a Nationwide Series test in May and the Coke Zero 400 race weekend in July.

"I'm excited that we're not going to change the surface," Johnson said. "I guess the fans maybe want it resurfaced so we run three-wide for all the laps -- but Daytona has separated itself because it's rough and because the asphalt is so porous and wears the tires out.

"So I'm happy to hear that they're just fixing that area. It was impossible for them to know it was going to come apart and we were going to have all the issues that we had. I'm on the track's side and I'm on NASCAR's side. I think they handled things very well -- and I'm hopeful that the patch gives us a few more years to keep using the track as is."

Burton said the concern about repaving is that the track immediately will become less racy. He said that is what happened at Talladega Superspeedway when it was repaved in 2005.

"The quality of racing [at Daytona] is different than Talladega," Burton pointed out. "I think it's better. I think it produces better passing, different than Talladega. The handling really comes into play and I just hate to see them pave it. But I think ultimately they are going to have to.

"It would be cool if they could find a way to raise up the areas that have sunk to smooth the race track out, but keep the grip like it is. By the same token, the track probably needs to be paved. I know that also would be good for a lot of people as far as jobs and stuff, too."

Then Burton grinned.

"That wouldn't be a bad thing. Maybe they could get some stimulus money to do that," he joked.

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