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BLOWING THE WHEELS OFF BUBBA

WHEN NORTH CAROLINA'S CHARlotte Motor Speedway built condominium apartments along its noisy track and decided to sell them for $90,000 and up, it looked like someone had come up with another Edsel. The acoustically overendowed condos--mere feet away from high-performance cars screaming by at 170 m.p.h.--were even the butt of a David Letterman routine. But the gags are dying away as the trackside units are being resold to wealthy fans of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing and interested corporations for up to $575,000. Says speedway president H.A. ("Humpy") Wheeler: "Our only mistake was that we sold them too...

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President BARACK OBAMA, at NATO talks involving over 50 world leaders, describing the withdrawal of 130,000 combat troops from Afghanistan, planned for the end of 2014
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