tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1898207420189925101.post5713685430122819211..comments2021-03-16T03:52:10.987-04:00Comments on Mad Mikie's Laidback Lounge: Z-Line Gone?, Ward Returning, Awesome Bill, & Some Other ThingsMad Mikiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11868324896107896906noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1898207420189925101.post-88512921541695076392012-02-07T09:23:41.620-05:002012-02-07T09:23:41.620-05:00I think that TBR will just be another branch of th...I think that TBR will just be another branch of the HMS tree. Name only in fairly short order.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1898207420189925101.post-71130192459144804752012-02-03T18:05:54.639-05:002012-02-03T18:05:54.639-05:00One thing that makes me wonder about Penske's ...One thing that makes me wonder about Penske's move to Chevy in IndyCar is will it affect what happens with his NASCAR operation at the end of this season as Penske's contract with Dodge expires? If Penske does go to Chevy for his Cup & NNS operations, will he field his owns cars and engines or will he be a satellite of another operation? This could really shift the balance of power. I know Penske has had some of his Dodge cars built by another team that he has a technical support agreement with. Newman's last win for Penske was in one of those cars.<br /><br /><br />There use to be a certain amount of integrity and sportsmanship involved in NASCAR. You had to earn your ride and pay your dues in order to get a ride with a good team. Now? You don't need talent to land a top quality ride. All you need is sponsorship money. Cale Yarbotough drove some of the biggest pieces of junk on the track until he paid his dues and the Wood Brothers hired him. Then he got a top flight ride. What has Danica done? She sure didn't work her way up through the ranks. Neither have a bunch of her male counterparts. They come in with sponsorship money and a team owner hands them a car. There's no paying their dues. And the lack of common sense and maturity shows. <br /><br /><br />Back in the 60's, Holman-Moody reworked just about every Ford on the track and had numerous drivers in their stables. They were sort of a precursor to the current satellite team situation we have today. Sure, the Holman-Moody cars had various car owners on the cars, like Bondy Long for example, but it's no different than how the teams get around the rules today. You want to run more than 4 cars? You set up a satellite team with a front man who's agreeable and you take whatever info you can get from them and give them, if you're nice, info in return. Front Row Motorsports is using old Roush cars but outside of some engine support don't get much else from Roush. RPM gets their cars and engines from Roush but outside of the engines there's not much support there. They can't really be called satellite teams. Robby Gordon gets technical support from Penske but can't really be called a satellite team. Robby builds his owns cars, gets engines and other things from Penske, but that's pretty much it. If he were truly a satellite team, his cars would be in the Top 10-20 every week. <br /><br /><br />I had thought that we'd end up with 11 mega-teams, but with the way things are going with satellite teams, we'll have the Hendrick mega-team with it's satellite operations on the top tier and Roush for Ford. RCR will stay a middle tier team along with RPM. MWR and Front Row Motosports will occupy a middle to bottom tier spot. Every other team will be satellite teams of somebody else with the odd exception here and there. So we'll end up having what is basically a franchise operation. I seem to recall DW being against franchising at one point. I guess he goes whichever way the wind is blowing.<br /><br /><br />I'll be very curious to see what happens when SHR thinks Danica is ready for a full season in Cup and severs its ties with Baldwin. It'll truly be a sink or swim situation for Danica & Baldwin.Mad Mikiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11868324896107896906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1898207420189925101.post-29787311628672673902012-02-03T12:37:40.208-05:002012-02-03T12:37:40.208-05:00I never looked into the #50 Wal Mart deal like tha...I never looked into the #50 Wal Mart deal like that, good eye! It just doesn't make sense Wal Mart would make their long-anticipated enterance into the sport with a team that has 0 Cup starts, Turner Motorsports. It's just a different cover to the same organization that already controls 25% of the sport.<br /><br />Mike, remember the rant you posted a few years ago when you noticed the balance of teams shifting and the move torwards franchising? It really seems to be coming true today. DW praised the Danica points deal as a form of franchising and good for all parties. I just have to rant...<br /><br />The sport has been centralizing rapidly for a decade. There are really 4 major teams running the sport today: Hendrick, Roush, Childress, & Gibbs. You could call Penske a fifth major team, but they just moved to Chevy in Indy Car and took on Mr. Keselowski as a loan from Hendrick a few years ago. Once Dodge gives up, the Hendrick connections are already set. The COT 'kit car' helped speed this along. The five kit cars available match the five engines: Earnhardt-Childress, Roush-Yates, Hendrick, TRD, & Penske.<br /><br />Every other team in the sport is in satellite mode or hand-me-down mode except Earnhardt-Ganassi & Michael Waltrip, the last middle tier teams in the sport.<br /><br />With this structure it's impossible for someone that is not an investor to come in independent and run competitively. Furniture Row Racing was a big struggle for multiple years running on the owner's business $, hurt by the top 35 rule until their RCR 'technical support' started. The RCR umbrella package kit car, engine & top-35 points position deal in 2010 bought Furniture Row the success they could not find racing under those rules in that environment. Furniture Row's profits keep the RCR technology coming. All they need to do is add the stickers. The Danica deal is the similar. $ > racing. She didn't earn the points, and Tommy Baldwin is now under an umbrella. The system is still broken, I can't blame Robby Gordon for pretty much giving up.Buschseries61noreply@blogger.com