Richard Childress

Vietnamese and U.S. delegates concluded two days of talks in Hanoi on ways to determine the fate of more than 2,400 Americans still listed as missing in action in Southeast Asia. Richard Childress, head of the U.S. delegation, called the talks "very productive and substantive." He said additional meetings will be held later this year. Possible measures are believed to include joint investigation of sites where U.S. planes crashed.

Kevin Harvick won Saturday night's race at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway by plowing through traffic on a two-lap sprint to the finish. Juan Pablo Montoya was trying to hold off Harvick for his first win since 2010 when the caution came out with four laps remaining. It sent the race into two laps of overtime, and most of the field gave up track position to pit for tires. Montoya came off pit road in sixth and Harvick was seventh for the restart. But Harvick rocketed through the field to snatch away the win. Clint Bowyer was second, Joey Logano third, and Montoya settled for fourth.

Mike Skinner, let go from his Winston Cup ride with Richard Childress Racing earlier this week, won the pole Thursday for the Busch series Food City 250 in another RCR car. Skinner ran a lap around Bristol Speedway at 124.460 mph to earn the top starting spot for tonight's race. He held off Kevin Harvick, who ran a lap at 124.371 mph to put two RCR cars on the front row.

Jimmie Johnson told Kurt Busch to man up. Boris Said tried charging at Greg Biffle, then called Biffle a "scaredy-cat. " Kevin Harvick and his boss, Richard Childress, took swings at Kyle Busch, Kurt's younger brother. The NASCAR boys are having at it, all right. Even in a sport that has feuds woven into its history, spats in stock-car racing's premier NASCAR Sprint Cup Series seem to be occurring almost weekly lately and now are culling drivers such as Johnson — and a team owner in Childress' case — who usually stay above such bickering, at least in public.

The relationship between Ron Hornaday Jr. and Kevin Harvick, NASCAR Busch Series Grand National Division rookie of the year contenders, extends well beyond touching fenders at 180 mph. Palmdale native Hornaday, who is one week shy of his 42nd birthday, and Bakersfield native Harvick, 24, have been fast friends since Harvick was a 16-year-old regular in the super late model class at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield and Hornaday was a regular in the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest series.

Richard Childress drove in 285 Winston Cup races between 1969 and 1981 and didn't win a single one. He rarely finished among the top five. On Aug. 2, 1981, he dropped out of the Talladega 500 with a broken engine and has not driven a race car since. Childress turned from race car driver to race car owner and team manager that day. He hired Dale Earnhardt, the reigning Grand National champion who was inexplicably without a ride, to drive for him.

A Senate committee has unanimously agreed to ask the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into allegations that the Reagan White House ran a covert operation, using POW-MIA activist groups as fronts, to funnel aid to anti-Communist Laotian rebels in the mid-1980s, The Times has learned. "What we basically want the Justice Department to do is to tell us if what we are dealing with here is the 'Son of Ollie North,' " said Sen. Charles E.

Jimmie Johnson told Kurt Busch to man up. Boris Said tried charging at Greg Biffle, then called Biffle a "scaredy-cat. " Kevin Harvick and his boss, Richard Childress, took swings at Kyle Busch, Kurt's younger brother. The NASCAR boys are having at it, all right. Even in a sport that has feuds woven into its history, spats in stock-car racing's premier NASCAR Sprint Cup Series seem to be occurring almost weekly lately and now are culling drivers such as Johnson — and a team owner in Childress' case — who usually stay above such bickering, at least in public.

When the news broke in early June, the public vitriol aimed at NASCAR driver Kyle Busch burst into view. Reports had surfaced that NASCAR team owner Richard Childress, fed up with Busch running into his drivers in recent races, grabbed Busch in the Kansas Speedway garage and punched him. NASCAR then levied a $150,000 fine on Childress. But in the court of public opinion, it was Childress, 65, who was presumed innocent and the temperamental Busch, 26, who had it coming. "NASCAR should pay Childress $150,000, not fine him," was one typical reader comment on latimes.com, a view echoed on other websites as well.

Race days should help, but they don't. The reminders are everywhere. Enough No. 3s and pictures and posters of Dale Earnhardt to start a political convention, inside the race track and out. Parking lots are a sea of 3s--painted on cars, flapping from mini flagpoles, T-shirts stenciled with Earnhardt's name and number. It never stops. It will be the same this weekend at California Speedway when NASCAR brings its Winston Cup show to Fontana.

When the news broke in early June, the public vitriol aimed at NASCAR driver Kyle Busch burst into view. Reports had surfaced that NASCAR team owner Richard Childress, fed up with Busch running into his drivers in recent races, grabbed Busch in the Kansas Speedway garage and punched him. NASCAR then levied a $150,000 fine on Childress. But in the court of public opinion, it was Childress, 65, who was presumed innocent and the temperamental Busch, 26, who had it coming. "NASCAR should pay Childress $150,000, not fine him," was one typical reader comment on latimes.com, a view echoed on other websites as well.

Thirty years ago, Richard Childress was campaigning a year-old Chevrolet in NASCAR. He and one mechanic and one helper worked on it in a tiny garage in Winston-Salem during the week, then Childress raced it on Sundays. Today, the man who masterminded Dale Earnhardt's career sits in a luxurious wood-paneled office in the heart of a racing complex of 12 buildings with nearly 400,000 square feet of shop space. They occupy about 35 acres.

Mike Skinner, let go from his Winston Cup ride with Richard Childress Racing earlier this week, won the pole Thursday for the Busch series Food City 250 in another RCR car. Skinner ran a lap around Bristol Speedway at 124.460 mph to earn the top starting spot for tonight's race. He held off Kevin Harvick, who ran a lap at 124.371 mph to put two RCR cars on the front row.

Race days should help, but they don't. The reminders are everywhere. Enough No. 3s and pictures and posters of Dale Earnhardt to start a political convention, inside the race track and out. Parking lots are a sea of 3s--painted on cars, flapping from mini flagpoles, T-shirts stenciled with Earnhardt's name and number. It never stops. It will be the same this weekend at California Speedway when NASCAR brings its Winston Cup show to Fontana.

The relationship between Ron Hornaday Jr. and Kevin Harvick, NASCAR Busch Series Grand National Division rookie of the year contenders, extends well beyond touching fenders at 180 mph. Palmdale native Hornaday, who is one week shy of his 42nd birthday, and Bakersfield native Harvick, 24, have been fast friends since Harvick was a 16-year-old regular in the super late model class at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield and Hornaday was a regular in the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest series.

A Senate committee has unanimously agreed to ask the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into allegations that the Reagan White House ran a covert operation, using POW-MIA activist groups as fronts, to funnel aid to anti-Communist Laotian rebels in the mid-1980s, The Times has learned. "What we basically want the Justice Department to do is to tell us if what we are dealing with here is the 'Son of Ollie North,' " said Sen. Charles E.

Thirty years ago, Richard Childress was campaigning a year-old Chevrolet in NASCAR. He and one mechanic and one helper worked on it in a tiny garage in Winston-Salem during the week, then Childress raced it on Sundays. Today, the man who masterminded Dale Earnhardt's career sits in a luxurious wood-paneled office in the heart of a racing complex of 12 buildings with nearly 400,000 square feet of shop space. They occupy about 35 acres.

Richard Childress drove in 285 Winston Cup races between 1969 and 1981 and didn't win a single one. He rarely finished among the top five. On Aug. 2, 1981, he dropped out of the Talladega 500 with a broken engine and has not driven a race car since. Childress turned from race car driver to race car owner and team manager that day. He hired Dale Earnhardt, the reigning Grand National champion who was inexplicably without a ride, to drive for him.