During the last couple of laps at Phoenix, it was déjà vu for Dale Jarrett. A car sitting crossways on the track, stalled out, and cars heading straight at it with no caution being called. It was Dale Jarrett being in that same position in 2003 at the Loudon 300 that forced NA$CAR to eliminate racing back to the flag. And as it was one of NA$CAR’s cash cows sitting there, in the middle of the track at Phoenix, you’d have thought a caution would’ve immediately come out. Instead, cars raced on driving through various fluids dumped on the track and they continued on racing increasing the potential for even more wrecks.
So once again, we see that safety is merely a lip service deal from NA$CAR. And I couldn’t find many folks writing about the blown call by NA$CAR either. The lamestream media folks were all locked in on the action between Bow Wow Bowyer and Jeffy Boy. Business as usual for the media.
Charges Dropped?
According to the court dockets for Iredell County, there are no hearings slated for Jeremy Mayfield and others who allegedly stole various property. Could it be Iredell has dropped charges? Currently only Catawba & Caldwell Counties still show any sort of court hearings pending. Besides moving around or postponing court dates (prosecution delay tactics) it would look like the case against Mayfield is beginning to unravel since the death of the supposed star witness John Franklin who died in a motorcycle wreck trying to outrun police while in possession of illegal narcotics.
Queen of Hype Stats
Here are the Queen of Hype’s combined NNS and Cup record in NASCAR for 2012. An average of 20.3 starting position and 20.9 finishing record. She wrecked 15 times in 44 races (34%) and finished on the lead lap only17 times (39%). Those are definitely numbers that earn her a Cup ride - NOT!!!
| Race | Finish | Wreck | AVG. Finish | % of Wrecks | Start | Avg. Start | % of Finishes on the Lead lap | Finishes on Lead Lap |
| Daytona Qualifier | 16 | 1 | 100% | 17 | ||||
| Daytona NNS | 38 | 1 | 100% | 1 | 8.5 | 0% | ||
| Daytona 500 | 38 | 1 | 30.7 | 100% | 29 | 15.7 | 0% | |
| Phoenix NNS | 21 | 28.3 | 75% | 30 | 19.3 | 0% | ||
| Las Vegas | 12 | 25.0 | 60% | 12 | 17.8 | 20% | 1 | |
| Bristol | 19 | 24.0 | 50% | 27 | 19.3 | 17% | ||
| Fontana | 35 | 25.6 | 43% | 21 | 19.6 | 14% | ||
| Texas | 8 | 23.4 | 25% | 17 | 19.3 | 25% | 1 | |
| Richmond | 21 | 23.1 | 33% | 16 | 18.9 | 22% | ||
| Talladega | 13 | 22.1 | 30% | 17 | 18.7 | 30% | 1 | |
| Darlington NNS | 12 | 21.2 | 27% | 15 | 18.4 | 36% | 1 | |
| Darlington Cup | 31 | 22.0 | 25% | 38 | 20.0 | 33% | ||
| Iowa | 30 | 1 | 22.6 | 31% | 9 | 19.2 | 31% | |
| Charlotte | 13 | 21.9 | 29% | 3 | 18.0 | 36% | 1 | |
| Charlotte 600 | 30 | 22.5 | 27% | 40 | 19.5 | 33% | ||
| Dover | 30 | 1 | 22.9 | 31% | 17 | 19.3 | 31% | |
| Michigan | 18 | 1 | 22.6 | 35% | 5 | 18.5 | 35% | 1 |
| Road America | 12 | 22.1 | 33% | 10 | 18.0 | 39% | 1 | |
| Kentucky | 14 | 21.6 | 32% | 11 | 17.6 | 37% | ||
| Daytona | 31 | 1 | 22.1 | 35% | 3 | 16.9 | 35% | |
| New Hampshire | 14 | 21.7 | 33% | 18 | 17.0 | 38% | 1 | |
| Chicagoland | 14 | 21.4 | 32% | 13 | 16.8 | 41% | 1 | |
| Indianapolis | 35 | 1 | 22.0 | 35% | 20 | 16.9 | 39% | |
| Iowa | 11 | 21.5 | 33% | 18 | 17.0 | 42% | 1 | |
| Watkins Glen | 43 | 1 | 22.4 | 36% | 23 | 17.2 | 40% | |
| Montreal | 27 | 1 | 22.5 | 38% | 4 | 16.7 | 38% | |
| Bristol NNS | 9 | 22.0 | 37% | 34 | 17.3 | 41% | 1 | |
| Bristol Cup | 29 | 1 | 22.3 | 39% | 43 | 18.3 | 39% | |
| Atlanta NNS | 13 | 22.0 | 38% | 17 | 18.2 | 38% | ||
| Atlanta Cup | 29 | 22.2 | 37% | 23 | 18.4 | 37% | ||
| Richmond | 29 | 1 | 22.4 | 39% | 24 | 18.5 | 35% | |
| Chicagoland NNS | 12 | 22.1 | 38% | 12 | 18.3 | 38% | 1 | |
| Chicagoland Cup | 25 | 22.2 | 36% | 41 | 19.0 | 36% | ||
| Kentucky | 14 | 21.9 | 35% | 11 | 18.8 | 35% | ||
| Dover NNS | 16 | 1 | 21.8 | 37% | 25 | 19.0 | 34% | |
| Dover Cup | 28 | 21.9 | 36% | 38 | 19.5 | 33% | ||
| Charlotte NNS | 11 | 21.6 | 35% | 11 | 19.3 | 32% | ||
| Kansas NNS | 10 | 21.3 | 34% | 13 | 19.1 | 34% | 1 | |
| Kansas Cup | 32 | 1 | 21.6 | 36% | 40 | 19.6 | 33% | |
| Texas NNS | 14 | 21.4 | 35% | 8 | 19.4 | 35% | 1 | |
| Texas Cup | 24 | 21.5 | 34% | 32 | 19.7 | 37% | 1 | |
| Phoenix NNS | 10 | 21.2 | 33% | 14 | 19.5 | 38% | 1 | |
| Phoenix Cup | 17 | 1 | 21.1 | 35% | 37 | 19.9 | 37% | |
| Homestead NNS | 13 | 20.9 | 34% | 14 | 20.3 | 39% | 1 | |
Where is it?
At the Magical Media Tour earlier this year, His Royal Highness, Faux King Brian, announced that a new manufacturer would be joining NA$CAR for the 2013 season. Well Your Highness, what manufacturer is it? The 2013 season isn’t that far away and no announcements have been made. We know it’s not Volkswagen. They want to run in a series that they can feature their technology and not use obsolete technology as NA$CAR currently does. Is it Kia? Hyundai? Renault? Fiat? Peugeot? Nissan? Honda? Maserati? Studebaker? Metro? Yugo? Avanti? Or was this an announcement like some previous ones that everyone conveniently forgets about and was just a publicity stunt? Fans want to know so they can make their plans or protests accordingly.
Desperation?
With every new season since the reign of Faux King Brian, there’s some sort of change that doesn’t work in an attempt to get fans back in the stands or watching on TV. The WWE-like atmosphere right now with the race manipulation has turned off a lot of folks and sent them onto greener pastures. Putting places like Myrtle Beach, Rockingham, and Eldora on the lower series schedules are an attempt to bring back the grass roots fans that left a long time ago. Back when the Truck & Busch Series did stand alone races at places like South Boston, Mansfield, and Myrtle Beach, lots of folks showed up for those. Back in the Golden Days, a lot of dirt tracks were on the schedule. Once Winston & the networks came on board, the dirt tracks were dropped from the schedule. ARCA on the other hand kept dirt races on their schedule and get rave reviews from the fans who attend them. At this point, it’s like NA$CAR is trying to find some sort of magic bullet to get fans back to the track and it plain and simply isn’t there.
Who’s Tending House?
Shortly after it was announced that the Queen of Hype (QoH) was getting a divorce from Mr QoH, I heard that Ricky Stenhouse Jr would be tending to her house during the Vegas award week. Could this be why the two have been seen talking together post-race? There was something going on back before QoH signed with Andretti about her wanting to talk with the Jack Roush but it seems her “people” have managed to get it removed. So, could she be trying to get her foot in the door at Roush by using Ricky Stenhouse Jr to open the way for her? I guess we’ll have to watch & see.
Moving the Awards Dinner
Tom Higgins wrote a piece about moving the awards dinner back to New York City or maybe even move them to Charlotte. NYC wasn’t too fond of the awards dinner being there and seemed to be relieved when NA$CAR left. Mayor Bloomberg made some remarks to that effect. With Charlotte being close to where the majority of teams from the Top 3 traveling series, it would make a lot of sense for them to have their awards dinners there. It would save the teams a small fortune in travel expenses. The Charlotte media is pretty much geared towards NA$CAR anyways so more favorable reporting would be done. And folks wouldn’t get upset there as much as they do in other cities when the streets are blocked off. Just ask a New Yorker what they think about the streets being blocked off when the President comes to town for a visit. They aren’t happy at all. So maybe, with NA$CAR’s big offices being in Charlotte, they should move the awards dinners to Charlotte and save themselves as well as the teams some money and not have nearly as many people irate with them when they block off traffic.
Glad to see a new column with your trademark humor, Mike.
ReplyDeleteI'm another fan that was turned off from NASCAR this season. I've never been this uninterested in the sport. There are so many issues from credibility to competition that have manifested after years of poor leadership by NASCAR officials with their heads burried deep in the Daytona Beach sand. The conversation has shifted from the potential decay of the sport to its actual decay. Hopefully 2013 will be a better year.
Thanks Matt. I've been a race fan since 1963 and this has to be the absolute worst year of NASCAR I have ever seen. I'd say 99% of what's wrong with NASCAR can be attributed to the poor leadership in Daytona.
DeleteWith all of the hype about the 2013 cars looking more like their street counterparts, I'm feeling a bit disappointed in what I'm seeing in photographs. It's looking more like updated decals versus actual bodywork changes. Not that I'm surprised but it's very misleading. Hopefully I can hit some of the shops during the off-season so I can actually get an up-close look at the cars without the decals or paint jobs on them.
Looking at the emptiness of the grandstands and the poor ratings are a real indicator of the decay that's happening. It's time for the France family to step outside their level of nepotistic comfort and bring in some folks who actually know the insides & outsides of racing and put them in charge. Maybe then we could get back to racing instead of making sponsors & drivers the main focus. Hope you have a Merry Christmas Matt.
So true Mike. The fact that even Chase races had loads of empty seats should have raised red flags. Yet the Chase and tracks within the Chase remain unchanged.
DeleteThere are just so many tangents to rant about, it's frustrating when it appears that little is being done in response. Thank God we have some great writers like yourself in the NASCAR community that can make gold out of this manure.
Keep up the good work. Hope you have a great Christmas too Mike!
HI Mikie,Yes, I think that OLBZ should let the before programs, where we can see our favorite drivers... and the racing go back the way it was......OLBZ could still come on and talk to us.....I don't know WHY he hasn't figured that out yst...OLBZ would be getting more money in the till for soda's and the Friends of racing around here where I live say if it stays the same way,and doesn't go back to the way it was.....they won't be going to any races...OLBZ please listen.....or you won't be getting many seats filled...so don't wonder why if it happens....that fans stay home and there is no more money for soda's to refresh with.
ReplyDeleteAs we've seen since 2003, BZF isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer and doesn't really care what the owners, drivers, or fans think and that's why NASCAR is in the poor shape it's in.
DeleteIt also seems that the rest of his family doesn't care either. They seem to be more interested in building casinos now rather than trying to regain the stature that NASCAR once had.
There's a saying about how the first generation builds it, the second generation maintains it and the third generation destroys it. That's definitely what we're seeing happening to NASCAR under the uncaring watch of the current generation of the France family.