Last American Titanic Survivor Dies at 99

Last American Titanic Survivor Dies at 99

By ANDREW RYAN, Associated Press Writer
2 hours ago

BOSTON - Lillian Gertrud Asplund, the last American survivor of the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, has died, a funeral home said Sunday. She was 99.

Asplund, who was just 5 years old, lost her father and three brothers _ including a fraternal twin _ when the "practically unsinkable" ship went down in the North Atlantic after hitting an iceberg.

She died Saturday at her home in Shrewsbury, said Ronald E. Johnson, vice president of the Nordgren Memorial Chapel in Worcester, Mass.

"She went to sleep peacefully," he said.

Asplund's mother, Selma, and another brother, Felix, who was 3, also survived the Titanic sinking in the early morning of April 15, 1912.

Asplund was the last Titanic survivor with actual memories of the sinking, but she shunned publicity and rarely spoke about the events.

At least two other survivors are living, but they were too young to have memories of the disaster. Barbara Joyce West Dainton of Truro, England, was 10 months old and Elizabeth Gladys "Millvina" Dean of Southampton, England, was 2 months old.

The Asplund family had boarded the ship in Southampton, England, as third-class passengers on their way back to Worcester from their ancestral homeland, Sweden, where they had spent several years.

Asplund's mother described the sinking in an interview with the Worcester Telegram & Gazette newspaper shortly after she and her two children arrived in the city.

Selma Asplund said the family went to the Titanic's upper deck after the ship struck the iceberg.

"I could see the icebergs for a great distance around ... It was cold and the little ones were cuddling close to one another and trying to keep from under the feet of the many excited people ... My little girl, Lillie, accompanied me, and my husband said 'Go ahead, we will get into one of the other boats.' He smiled as he said it."

Because they lost all of their possessions and money, the city of Worcester held a fundraiser and a benefit concert that together brought in about $2,000 for the surviving Asplunds.

Lillian Asplund never married and worked at secretarial jobs in the Worcester area most of her life. She retired early to care for her mother, who was described as having never gotten over the tragedy.

Selma Asplund died on the 52nd anniversary of the sinking in 1964 at age 91. Felix Asplund died on March 1, 1983, at age 73.

A memorial service will be held Wednesday, Johnson said.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Petty, sponsors to help camp if voted into all-star

Petty, sponsors to help camp if voted into all-star

Coca-Cola, others to donate minimum $250,000 if Petty voted in
From Press Release
May 5, 2006
06:49 PM EDT (22:49 GMT)

CHARLOTTE, N.C -- Behind the wheel of a special MyCokeRewards racecar, Kyle Petty will continue his hard-driving campaign for the health and well-being of chronically ill youth.

Set to launch Monday in downtown Charlotte, the "Vote Kyle, Reward Victory Junction" campaign is a grassroots effort fueled by Coca-Cola and other Petty Enterprises sponsors to reward the man who has given so much of his time and effort to charity with a spot in the Nextel All-Star Challenge on May 20, 2006, at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

For the upcoming Coca-Cola 600, the No. 45 Petty Enterprises Dodge will feature a special MyCokeRewards primary sponsorship paint scheme. Petty also will carry the scheme in the Nextel All-Star Challenge on May 20 if voted into the race or if he wins the Nextel Open qualifying race.

With the support of Petty's friends, family, sponsors, NASCAR fans and members of the NASCAR community, the "Vote Kyle, Reward Victory Junction" campaign is geared toward creating a unique opportunity to continue Petty's tireless efforts to give back to kids.

Should Petty make the race through the fan vote, Coca-Cola -- along with Petty Enterprises sponsors Wells Fargo, Schwan's and Tire Kingdom -- are donating a minimum of $250,000 to support the ongoing efforts of the Victory Junction Gang Camp. Additionally, Petty and his Petty Enterprises team also will donate any purse money won in the Nextel All-Star Challenge to Victory Junction. If Petty wins the race, that's an additional $1,000,000 to Victory Junction.

Fellow NASCAR driver and Victory Junction supporter Michael Waltrip will be announced as Petty's campaign manager at Monday's rally launching the "Vote Kyle, Reward Victory Junction" initiative. Speakers at the event will include seven-time Cup champion Richard Petty, business executives and Charlotte mayor Pat McCrory. Also present at the rally, where race fans will get a sneak peek at the MyCokeRewards racecar Petty will drive in the Coca-Cola 600 and the Nextel Open, will be families and campers from Victory Junction.

"The 'Vote Kyle, Reward Victory Junction' campaign is the ideal way to salute Kyle for his devotion to Victory Junction and the many kids the camp serves," said Bea Perez, vice president of media, sports and entertainment for Coca-Cola North America. "Kyle has been a friend of Coca-Cola for a number of years, and we know he never thinks of himself first.

"By campaigning for Kyle to run the No. 45 MyCokeRewards Dodge in the Nextel All-Star Challenge, we can both honor Kyle and support Victory Junction's mission of providing care, comfort and opportunities to chronically ill children."

Voting for the Nextel All-Star Challenge is currently open, and fans are invited to cast a vote to help get their favorite driver into the event by text messaging a vote on Nextel/Sprint phones or voting online at NASCAR.COM. Voting will run through May 20 with the winner announced the day of the race.

Race fans interested in more information about the "Vote Kyle, Reward Victory Junction" campaign have been asked to go to a special Web site, votekylepetty.com.

"What Coca-Cola, Wells Fargo, Schwan's and Tire Kingdom are doing to honor me and reward Victory Junction at the same time is really special, but also very humbling," Petty said. "The response from fans to what we have created through the camp been overwhelming, and I'll look to them to help get the MyCokeRewards car into the race and raise even more money for the ones who matter most -- the campers.

"If I make the race, you can be sure I'll do my best to bring home $1,000,000 to the kids."

The Nextel All-Star Challenge showcases race winners from the previous and current Nextel Cup seasons, plus the winner of the Nextel Open, a preliminary event for teams not qualified for the all-star event, and another Open driver who wins a fan vote into the all-star event. Both races will air on FX on May 20 at 7 p.m. ET
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bill's Comment: Again, the website is www.votekylepetty.com.

Source: Harvick, RCR agree to extension

Source: Harvick, RCR agree to extension

News conference scheduled for Friday at RIR to announce deal
By David Newton, NASCAR.COM
May 2, 2006
07:11 PM EDT (23:11 GMT)

CONCORD, N.C. -- Kevin Harvick's long-term future at Richard Childress Racing appears secure.

RCR owner Richard Childress and Harvick have scheduled a news conference for Friday at Richmond International Raceway to announce a contract extension for the driver of the No. 29 Chevrolet, a source close to the situation said on Tuesday.

The news conference is scheduled for 2:45 p.m. ET.

Harvick, who spent Tuesday testing at Lowe's Motor Speedway, had been a target to drive for Toyota when the Japanese-based manufacturer enters the Nextel Cup Series in 2007.

He said two weeks ago he wanted to remain at RCR, with which he has a seven-year relationship driving in the Busch and Cup series, and that he'd like to have a deal by Richmond.

Owner Richard Childress said Friday that he hoped to have a deal within two weeks, possibly within a week. Childress was not available for comment on Tuesday.

Harvick, 30, leads the Busch Series and is seventh in Cup points heading into Saturday's Crown Royal 400. He has six Cup victories since replacing Dale Earnhardt after the seven-time Cup champion was killed on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.

One of those victories came two races ago at Phoenix International Raceway while Childress was on a safari in Africa.

U.S. 2006 Energy Options for Solution

Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-car29apr29,0,4790158.story?coll=la-news-comment-editorials

From the Los Angeles Times
ENERGETIC DEBATE

From 0 to 60 in 40 watts

April 29, 2006

GAS PRICES MAY BE GOING through the roof, but it hasn't fazed car buyers yet. Sales figures from the first three months of 2006 show that Americans are still buying just as many gas guzzlers as they were last year. It's not a question of whether that will change but when — for both economic and environmental reasons.

Competition between the United States and developing nations for reserves is likely to keep pushing up oil prices, and the destructive effects of global warming will only become more evident with time.


The question, then, is this: How will the car of the future be powered? It's more than an academic issue because the answer should guide investments now by both the public and private sectors.

President Bush is a big believer in ethanol and in hydrogen fuel cells. There's a chance he's right about ethanol, but the money being spent on hydrogen — Bush pledged $1.2 billion for research into fuel cells in 2003, and car makers are investing billions more — is out of proportion to its near-term potential. Besides the vast challenge of producing hydrogen fuel in a cost-effective way, there's the even bigger problem of building an infrastructure for selling and transporting it. Then there's safety; efforts to install hydrogen filling stations are consistently opposed by people who know all too well what happened with the last major commercial transit experiment involving hydrogen — the Hindenburg. Affordable fuel-cell cars are highly unlikely to appear before about 2030. That's much too long to wait.

Ethanol is more promising, although it has its own hurdles. Under current methods, ethanol takes more energy to produce than it puts out, but that could change if scientists perfect "cellulosic" ethanol derived from agricultural waste.

Other interesting ideas include bio-diesel and cars built from very light materials that go much farther on a gallon of gas.

But the most compelling arguments suggest that the car of the future will use a technology that already exists and doesn't require a new retail infrastructure: the plug-in hybrid. These cars use an additional battery that can be plugged into a home outlet. In city driving, they can easily run 25 to 35 miles on electricity alone, making them zero-emission, zero-gasoline vehicles for most daily commuters, and they get in excess of 80 miles per gallon. If ethanol becomes a viable fuel, they could even be engineered to run on E85, a blend of 85% ethanol and gasoline.

The plug-in hybrid has its own environmental issues. Producing electricity, especially from coal-fired power plants, can cause pollution. But there are solutions for that as well; technology exists to make even coal-fired power plants cleaner.

Automakers have been unwilling to pursue plug-in hybrids because of the cost of the extra battery, but that could change with a few elegant (and not too expensive) incentives from Washington and much tougher fuel-economy regulations. With all its promise, it's clear that the technology should be getting at least as much attention as hydrogen fuel cells — or a good deal more.

Thank Utah For Making U.S. Oil Prices Drop in May 2006

Wildcatter strikes it rich in central Utah oil field
Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY - A tiny oil company has snapped up leasing rights to a half-million acres in central Utah that it says could yield a billion barrels or more of oil.

Geologists are calling it a spectacular find - the largest onshore discovery in at least 30 years, located in a region of complex geology long abandoned for exploration by major oil companies. It's turning out to contain high-quality oil already commanding a premium at Salt Lake refineries.

With the secret out, industry players expect a bidding war to break out at the next Utah leasing auction, set for May 17 in Salt Lake City.


At today's prices the oil reserve could bring Utah $5.6 billion in royalties, state auditors conservatively estimate. Although the discovery is still playing out, the oil will take years to recover and some skeptics question the company's projections for a region yet to be fully surveyed.

"It's just very highly unlikely because the U.S. onshore has been picked clean, if you will," said Fadel Gheit, senior oil analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. in New York.

"That's like finding a wallet in the subway after all the cleaners went through it. It's possible, but very highly unlikely," he said.

Gov. Jon Huntsman said he was aware of the discovery "and we are tracking the progress with great interest. If the prospects prove to be true, it will be important that the resources are developed responsibly."

The discovery is playing out just outside Sigurd, Utah, more than 100 miles from any of Utah's other major oil fields and 45 miles from the nearest operating well.

The find, 130 miles south of Salt Lake City, was made by Wolverine Gas & Oil Corp., a privately held company with just 25 employees improbably located in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Wolverine's test well hit "pay" in late 2003, and by May 2004 it started producing from a single deposit estimated to contain 100-200 million barrels of oil.

Wolverine and government geologists said the company is looking at a total of 25 deposits that could contain 1 billion barrels of oil.

Those underground deposits are widely scattered over a crescent-shaped belt 100 miles long and up to 50 miles wide that contains all the geologic "right stuff" for oil pockets in folds of Jurassic Navajo sandstone, said Tom Chidsey, petroleum section chief for the Utah Geological Survey.

If Wolverine could produce 1 billion barrels at once, it could satisfy the nation's demand for about 45 days - less than the reserve that Congress may open at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which by equally speculative estimates may contain 10 billion barrels of oil.

Oil companies began exploring central Utah more than 50 years ago without success, even though it's part of an oil-producing belt thrust ranging from Mexico to Alaska. The complex geology of central Utah produced only dry wells - 58 of them in the past 25 years.

In 1999, Wolverine bought Chevron's leasing rights and seismic data and started poking around itself, bouncing seismic waves more than 5,000 feet deep. With just two wells operating at full capacity now, Wolverine is pumping 1,500 barrels of oil a day from the ground and trucking it to Salt Lake refineries.

"The secret's out and we will face competition" at the next BLM auction, said Doug Strickland, a geologist for Wolverine. "We had a year and three months to ourselves."


Source: http://www.billingsgazette.com/newdex.php?display=rednews/2005/05/06/build/business/35-utah-oil.inc

Laura's Spring E-Blast! (Self-Help for W)

Laura's Spring E-Blast!
http://www.LauraIngraham.com
March 21, 2006


Self-Help for W

Doesn't it seems like it was a lot longer than two years ago when President Bush, fresh off his 2004 victory, said to a roaring crowd of supporters: "I have earned political capital and I intend to spend it"?
Now it's the same story every day--The president's popularity "reaches another all time low" according to a survey by ZogbyGallupRasmussenFieldWSJMSNBCFoxABC. Then, at the next press briefing, the White House spokesman dismisses it as irrelevant.

Polls aren't everything but obviously the Bush Administration has to stop the bleeding. The left is energized, the "mainstream" press smells blood in the water, and the base is restless. So what to do?

1. Emphasize why the Iraqi war has been good for America. The Administration spends too much time trying to convince Americans that the war has improved the lives of Iraqis, and that we should be proud that we overthrew Saddam Hussein. As delighted as many of us are about both those facts, the truth is that now most U.S. voters just aren't that interested in the welfare of the Iraqi people. What Americans want to hear is why the Iraq war was/is ultimately worth the treasure and blood we continue to spend there. The President needs to consistently remind America that long-term, we will be better off leaving behind a stable, non-threatening Iraq. How will success in Iraq help us avoid other terror-related problems in the future? The Administration should tone down the touchy-feely talk about democracy around the world, and talk more about all of the terrorists who have been captured or killed. Each killed or captured is one less killer we'll have to fight in the future. And while he's at it challenge the MSM to spend as much time covering the heroes of Iraq and Afghanistan as they do the latest twist in Brad and Angelina's relationship.

2. Get serious about border enforcement. The border wars are hurting President Bush on two levels. First, the untrammeled flow of immigrants is significantly increasing the supply of low-income labor, making it much harder for some Americans to find well-paying jobs. As a result, these Americans have become much less optimistic about their economic prospects-- a result that can be seen in repeated polling data showing that Americans still do not feel confident about the economy. Second, the failure to enforce the law makes the GOP look weak on what is, after all, a security issue. The President has a lot of interesting ideas about immigrants, what to do with the illegals already here, but the voters are not going to listen to him until he shows that he will actually enforce existing law.

3. Get serious about spending cuts. The complete and utter inability of the GOP to control spending is having a devastating impact on the credibility of all Republicans. After spending decades calling for smaller government, the GOP is now presiding over one of the largest explosions of government spending the country has ever seen. How can Republicans criticize Democratic plans for new government programs when they have to raise the government's debt ceiling every other week? Furthermore, how can the voters trust Republicans to keep taxes low when it is obvious that the U.S. government will have to raise taxes in order to pay for all the new spending that is taking place? Bush needs to pick a high-profile fight on spending to show that he is serious about this issue.

4. Keep fighting the war for judicial confirmations. President Bush's two biggest success stories over the last year were his two Supreme Court appointments. Justices Roberts and Alito were popular with the country, and their confirmations confounded liberals who did not like having to debate the merits of judicial activism in public. There are a number of other highly qualified judicial nominees -- Brett Kavanaugh, nominee for a seat on the D.C. Circuit, for example -- still being strangled in the Senate. Tell their stories and force the Democrats to defend their blocking strategy. By forcing a showdown with the Democrats over this issue, President Bush will once again rally his base and remind conservatives why it is important that the GOP maintains control of Congress.

None of the above will encourage inside-the-beltway reporters to give the President a fair shake, but those who showed up to vote for him in 2004 will certainly take notice. If the base becomes any more wobbly or dispirited, then the President will not be able to escape the lame duck label. And last time I checked, lame ducks didn't have any pockets to hold their "political capital."

Copyright (C) 2004-2006 LauraIngraham.com. All rights reserved.

Country Music Star Buck Owens Dies at 76

Country Music Star Buck Owens Dies at 76

By GREG RISLING, Associated Press Writer
3 hours ago

LOS ANGELES - Singer Buck Owens, the flashy rhinestone cowboy who shaped the sound of country music with hits like "Act Naturally" and brought the genre to TV on the long-running "Hee Haw," died Saturday. He was 76.

Owens died at his home in Bakersfield, said family spokesman Jim Shaw. The cause of death was not immediately known. Owens had undergone throat cancer surgery in 1993 and was hospitalized with pneumonia in 1997.

His career was one of the most phenomenal in country music, with a string of more than 20 No. 1 records, most released from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s.

They were recorded with a honky-tonk twang that came to be known throughout California as the "Bakersfield Sound," named for the town 100 miles north of Los Angeles that Owens called home.

"I think the reason he was so well known and respected by a younger generation of country musicians was because he was an innovator and rebel," said Shaw, who played keyboards in Owens' band, the Buckaroos. "He did it out of the Nashville establishment. He had a raw edge."

Owens, elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996, was modest when describing his aspirations.

"I'd like to be remembered as a guy that came along and did his music, did his best and showed up on time, clean and ready to do the job, wrote a few songs and had a hell of a time," he said in 1992.

An indefatigable performer, Owens played a red, white and blue guitar with fireball fervor. He and the Buckaroos wore flashy rhinestone suits in an era when flash was as important to country music as fiddles.

Among his biggest hits were "Together Again" (also recorded by Emmylou Harris), "I've Got a Tiger by the Tail," "Love's Gonna Live Here," "My Heart Skips a Beat" and "Waitin' in Your Welfare Line."

And he was the answer to this music trivia question: What country star had a hit record that was later done by the Beatles?

"Those guys were phenomenal," Owens once said.

Ringo Starr recorded "Act Naturally" twice, singing lead on the Beatles' 1965 version and recording it as a duet with Owens in 1989. The song, by Johnny Russell and Voni Morrison, tells of a poor soul who foresees a movie career playing "a man who's sad and lonely, and all I gotta do is act naturally. ... Might win an Oscar, you can never tell."

In addition to music, Owens had a highly visible TV career as co-host of "Hee Haw" from 1969 to 1986. With guitarist Roy Clark, he led viewers through a potpourri of country music and hayseed humor.

"It's an honest show," Owens told The Associated Press in 1995. "There's no social message _ no crusade. It's fun and simple."

Owens himself could be rebellious, choosing among other things to label what he did "American music" rather than country.

"I took a little heat," he once said. "People asked me, `Isn't country music good enough for you?' "

He also criticized the syrupy arrangements of some country singers, saying "assembly-line, robot music turns me off."

After his string of hits, Owens stayed away from the recording scene for a decade, returning in 1988 to record another No. 1 record, "Streets of Bakersfield," with Dwight Yoakam.

He spent much of his time away concentrating on his business interests, which included a Bakersfield TV station and radio stations in Bakersfield and Phoenix.

"I never wanted to hang around like the punch-drunk fighter," he told The Associated Press in 1992.

He had moved to Bakersfield in 1951, hoping to find work in the thriving juke joints of what in the years before suburban sprawl was a truck-stop town on Highway 99, between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area.

"We played rhumbas and tangos and sambas, and we played Bob Wills music, lots of Bob Wills music," he said, referring to the bandleader who was the king of Western swing.

"And lots of rock 'n' roll," he added.

Owens started recording in the mid-1950s, but gained little success until 1963 with "Act Naturally," his first No. 1 single.

Alvis Edgar Owens Jr. was born in 1929 outside Sherman, Texas, the son of a sharecropper. With opportunities scarce during the Depression, the family moved to Arizona when he was 8.

He dropped out of school at age 13 to haul produce and harvest crops, and by 16 he was playing music in taverns.

He once told an audience, "When I was a little bitty kid, I used to dream about playing the guitar and singing like some of those great people that we had the old, thick records of."

Owens' first wife, Bonnie Owens, sometimes performed with him and went on to become a leading backup singer after their divorce in 1955. She had occasional solo hits in the '60s, as well as successful duets with her second husband, Merle Haggard.

One of her two sons with Owens also became a singer, using the name Buddy Alan. He had a Top 10 hit in 1968, "Let the World Keep on a-Turnin'," and recorded a number of duets with his father.

In addition to Buddy, he is survived by two other sons, Michael and John.

___

On the Net:

http://www.buckowens.com

http://www.countrymusichalloffame.com/

Donald Trump's Wife Gives Birth to a Boy

Donald Trump's Wife Gives Birth to a Boy

By Associated Press
Mon Mar 20, 1:01 PM

NEW YORK - Donald Trump has a new apprentice. The billionaire developer announced Monday on national television that his wife, Melania Knauss Trump, had given birth 20 minutes earlier to a boy.

"Everyone's perfect," Trump said in a telephone interview on MSNBC's "Imus in the Morning."

The boy has been named Barron William Trump, said Knauss Trump's spokeswoman, Courtney Houghton.

In a statement on her Web site, the new mom said the youngest Trump weighed in at 8 1/2 pounds and was 21 inches long.

"I continue to stay young, right? I produce children, I stay young," said the 59-year-old Trump. The baby is Trump's fifth child and his wife's first.

Knauss Trump, 35, was in labor for eight hours, said Trump.

Trump also called in to "Live with Regis and Kelly" on Monday. Regis Philbin and his wife, Joy, were Trump's guests at Florida club Mar-a-Lago on Saturday evening. They parted without realizing what was in store for Trump, who soon flew back to Melania in New York.

"When I left you, I had no news of this at all," Trump said, explaining the baby was over a week early.

The tycoon's first wife, Ivana Trump, is the mother of Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric, who are all in their 20s. Preteen Tiffany is the daughter of Trump's second wife, Marla Maples.

Calls to a Trump spokeswoman went unanswered Monday morning.

Knauss Trump is a Slovenian-born model who has appeared in numerous print ads and on the covers of Vogue and British GQ magazines. Trump's reality show "The Apprentice," is in its fifth cycle.

The couple married in January 2005.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Hamilton: I have cancer

Hamilton: I have cancer

Former Truck Series champ out of truck after Friday's race at AMS
By Ryan Smithson, NASCAR.COM
March 17, 2006
04:57 PM EST (21:57 GMT)

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Bobby Hamilton has never been one to wear his emotions on his sleeve, but even he had a hard time holding back tears when he announced on Friday that he has been diagnosed with neck cancer.

But Hamilton retained the tears -- and his humor.

"It's called head-and-neck cancer. I don't have anything wrong with my head, but [Ken] Schrader said a lot of people would doubt that," said Hamilton.

Hamilton, 48, will begin radiation and chemotherapy treatment on Monday at Vanderbilt Medical Center in his hometown of Nashville, Tenn. He had a tumor removed from his neck on Feb. 8, and said Friday his blood count is normal.

"I have always been sort of a survivor," said Hamilton, who emerged from a difficult Nashville upbringing to become a four-time winner in NASCAR's top division. "I was on the street when I was 13, 14 years old, ending up doing what I did and got a chance to race with the best racecar drivers in the world."

Hamilton considered racing while undergoing treatment, but when he starting studying the side effects, he changed his mind. He will instead focus on treatment and promoting cancer awareness.

"I want to use what little bit of celebrity status I have left and try to promote the awareness of this disease," Hamilton said. "Out of respect for everyone I race against, I didn't think it was fair for my competitors to even think there was a problem."

His son, Bobby Hamilton Jr., will drive the No. 18 Dodge for the remainder of the season, but the elder Hamilton said that he is aiming to return to racing by November. He will continue to attend races as a truck owner.

"I am going to have to be in bad shape not to be there," said Hamilton. "I feel out of place if I am not around it. It is going to have to be about death for me not to be there, and I don't foresee that happening."

Hamilton Jr. will step into the truck next month at Martinsville.

"The situation to come back home and race is exciting, but the way the situation turned out just sucks," said Hamilton Jr. "It is not what we want to experience, but it is what we are dealt with."

Ironically, Hamilton went to his dentist with wisdom tooth pain last fall, but even after the tooth was removed, the swelling in his neck didn't recede. As a result, Hamilton credits the tooth pain with saving his life.

Despite the grim diagnosis, Hamilton was defiant, labeling himself as a "survivor, not a victim," and he said that he will do everything possible to show up at the track as a truck owner.

"I will be back. I am not quitting. I am not that damn weak," he said