Mad Mikie's Laidback Lounge

Fuel Injection, Milwaukee Mile, Tiger Tom, Heat Races, Money, & Other Things

2012-02-15T13:02:00.002-05:00

Fuel Injection & Other Engine Developments
　
Fuel injection has been around for over a century. It was developed by Herbert Akroyd-Stuart. His fuel injected engine first sold commercially on 8 July 1892. The first use of direct gasoline injection was on the Hesselman engine invented by Swedish engineer Jonas Hesselman in 1925. In 1940, the first electronic fuel injection was used on an Alfa Romeo in the Mille Miglia. With the advent of World War II and high performance aircraft, direct fuel injection was employed in a number of aircraft.
　
Mechanical fuel injection was being offered to racers back in 1940 but the war sort of brought a stop to that. In 1952, Bosch offered the first commercially produced mechanical fuel injection system. This system was also a direct injection system. Chevrolet offered mechanical fuel injection as an optional item on their 1957 model 283 V-8 engine that came in the Corvette. Bendix developed the first commercial electronic fuel injection system and it was offered by American Motors Corporation (Rambler. Remember them?) in 1957.
　
The first functional supercharger for a two stroke engine was developed in 1878. The first car equipped with a supercharger supposedly reached speeds of 100 mph back in 1908. The first production model cars with superchargers came from Mercedes in 1921.
　
By 1957, fuel injection and superchargers were being offered on production model cars here in the USA as an optional item. Bill France Sr on the other hand had a different idea. Instead of helping the automotive industry further develop this technology, he banned them from being used in NASCAR.
　
Now, here we are in 2012, with the Daytona 500 not too far off. For years we’ve heard how NASCAR has helped advance racing & street technology. And yet, the France family has hindered the development of innovations which could’ve led the auto industry into a fuel injected, turbocharged, or supercharged era many years earlier. NASCAR finally joined the later part of the 20^th century by instituting the use on an obsolete fuel injection system that has yet to be fully run or tested under actual racing conditions from a manufacturer who has no experience with high powered, purpose-built V-8‘s like is used in NA$CAR, much less run under full race conditions with a restrictor plate. I hope the brain trust in the Ivory Towers has been finding Jesus because if this fuel injection system fails and cars lunch engines left and right, it’s going to be a PR disaster of nearly biblical proportions from which even the best PR, media, and spin doctors will have a tough time trying to put a good face on.

Numbers
　
This should put a little more perspective on the size of the NA$CAR fan base. I realize not everybody has a Facebook account. As of when I gathered these numbers:
　
Top Gear (UK-version): 10,337,303 Facebook Likes
NA$CAR: 2,504,183 Facebook Likes
WWE: 7,753,565 Facebook Likes
John Cena: 10,403,001 Facebook Likes
The Walking Dead: 6,011,882 Facebook Likes
ARCA: 6,167 Facebook Likes
NHRA: 314,963 Facebook Likes
Survivor: 2,591,134 Facebook Likes
Top Gear America: 109,176 Facebook Likes
SCCA: 6,706 Facebook Likes
Dale Jr: 1,240,400 Facebook Likes
Ferrari: 137,499 Facebook Likes
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: 439,555 Facebook Likes
Roush Fenway Racing: 32,161 Facebook Likes
Carl Edwards: 201,149 Facebook Likes
Lotus F-1 Team: 14,934 Facebook Likes
Speed TV Channel: 291,197 Facebook Likes
Jeff Gordon: 418,032 Facebook Likes
US Air Force: 699,976 Facebook Likes
USMC: 2,105,440 Facebook Likes
　
Twitter Followers:
　
WWE 859,322
NASCAR 386,657
NASCAR TRUCKS 24,429
NASCAR NNS 33.464
NASCAR Hometown Tracks 14,533
NASCAR on Focks 76,667
Jabber Jaws 71,897
Brad Keselowski 59,330
Jimmie Johnson 126,204
Matt Kenseth 39,678
Daytona International Speedway 24,304
Front Row Motorsports 3,686
Robby Gordon 33,400
Wendy Venturini 38,912
John Daly (The Daly Planet) 7,829
Bristol Motor Speedway 15,891
Orange Cone 9,745
The Catch Fence 1,047
Jet Dryer 1,044
Not Bruton Smith 375
Not Brian France 1,108
Wood Brothers 7,984
Dale Jr 42,024 * Hasn’t sent out a single Twitter
Ken Schrader 7,667
IndyCar 45,540
Tony Kanaan 438,476
Pippa Mann 9,870
Indy Motor Speedway 24,677
Simona de Silvestro 15,142
Penske Racing 19,764
Formula 1 208,029
Lotus F-1 Team 72,873
NHRA 18,116
ARCA 5,131
Scuderia Ferrari (F-1 team) 189,447
　
So what does this say? Everything and nothing. NA$CAR, which has live shows from February through November, has far fewer fans or followers than some canned TV shows which do not run any live shows and only a limited number of new shows per season. Other racing series don’t fair as well on Facebook and Twitter as others. Not all racing series have an official Facebook or Twitter account. Not all drivers have a Facebook account. Not all race teams have a Facebook or Twitter account. And that some networks & TV shows really know how to use social media and capitalize on it to get the word out to fans, followers, sponsors, potential sponsors, and maybe even lure in new folks.

Milwaukee Mile Back
　
After dropping the Milwaukee Mile from the earlier IndyCar schedules, they’re back and will be hosting races on June 15-16 thanks in part to Andretti Sports Marketing Wisconsin. Tickets go on sale March 1.
　
Tiger Tom Pistone

A short statement from Tom regarding his induction to the Illinois Stock Car Hall of Fame:
　
Thank you for voting for me. I’m honored to be going in Illinois Hall of Fame with so many great friends its humbling. Thank you art and Mike with hall of fame. Thank you my friends, my fans, my family, my friends no longer with us, this is for them to.

Your friend,
Tiger
　
A great quote from Tom when he was asked what he thought when he saw the track at Daytona for the first time. “ ‘Wow’ big very big like a kid in candy store. Couldn't wait to get on the track”.
　
　
Mo’ Money　

The cost of racing is even higher this year than last. Jack Roush estimates it’ll cost him $4-$5 million dollars to have his cars run the new fuel injections system. It’s not simply a matter of bolting on the new injection set up. The cars have to be re-wired to accommodate the new system. Fuel lines have to be replaced to accommodate the higher fuel pressures being used. New fuel cells installed in each and every car. Plus, there’s the matter of the fuel pumps to provide fuel to the new injection system. We’re talking about fuel pumps that crank out about 2,000 psi.
　
Entry fees went up from $2400 a car to $4500 a car. Hard cards are now $3400 a piece. The at-track inspection fee is $1500 a car. If it fails inspection, it’s another $1500 to get the car re-inspected. If you have to roll out a back-up car, it’s another $1500.
　
So let’s see if I’ve got this right. The teams have to buy a car kit that doesn’t come with all the parts for $250,000 a kit. Then they have to pay $22,500 to have the assembled kit certified. Then they have to add in another $275,000 for everything that’s not in the kit including the new fuel injection system whereas the old cars cost $150,000 each with everything in them. The entry fees have been jacked up. The cost of hard cards have been jacked up. The teams have to pay for certification of the electronic chip for the fuel injection system. Now tell me again just how NA$CAR is saving the teams money?
　
IndyCar to Use Heat Races at Iowa
　
When IndyCar shows up in Iowa for their June 22 event, they’ll be using heat races rather than single car qualifying to set the field. There will be three heat races of 30 laps each would follow practice earlier in the day. Three groups would be determined by practice times. One group for the top 10 that would set starting positions 1-10, another for odd-numbered practice positions that would set starting positions 11, 13, 15, etc., & a third for even-numbered practice positions that would set starting positions 12, 14, 16, etc.

Since the implementation of the Top 35 Rule and the Chase for the Chumps, I have had a lot of racing fans say that NA$CAR needs to use heat races to set the field. It would definitely make for a more exciting race weekend. The field would really be set by their competitiveness and speeds. And even high dollar sponsors whose cars didn’t make the field would still be getting exposure. But then I keep forgetting. If it makes sense and/or would improve the actual races, NA$CAR won’t do it. They prefer gimmicks.
　
　
　

Get Well, Congrats, Blurry Lines, Old Tracks, & Other Stuff

2012-02-09T19:16:00.003-05:00

Get Well Soon
　
Donnie Allison was unable to make the Legends Helping Legends event due to having the flu because he didn’t want to get fans and other legends sick. And Bobby Allison called from an emergency room where he had taken his wife to let folks know he wouldn’t be attending. I hope everyone is well.
　
Congratulations To Tiger Tom Pistone & Fred Lorenzen
　
Tiger Tom Pistone, former stock car racer and inventive genius behind a lot of racing parts and safety innovations still being used today, will be inducted into the Illinois Stock Car Hall of Fame as part of their inaugural induction class. The induction ceremony will take place on April 14^th. Also included in the induction group will be the original Golden Boy, Fred Lorenzen and Andy Granatelli of STP Indy car fame. They’ve included 15 folks in their inaugural induction class. Something the NA$CAR Hall of Fame should’ve done.
　
Winning Hearts & Minds…NOT!
　
It seems that at the fall Richmond race, a young driver was on his way to the media center while walking in the Cup garage when he was suddenly shoved from behind not once but twice. And who did the shoving? Why none other than NA$CAR’s celebrity spokesmodel having one of her petulant frenzies and her accompanying bag, I mean PR lady.
　
Despite the lamestream media refusing to show the darker side of NA$CAR’s latest messiah, reports of her misbehavior and poor interactions with fans and other drivers still are making their way out of the garage area. As are reports that the lamestream media is receiving “suggestions” to spend lots of time singing her praises from the mountain tops. Or atop the scoring towers at the tracks. You don’t win people over by being rude or uncouth. Especially when you’ve already got a bull’s eye painted on you for being rude to fans and having a potty mouth. You do realize who the fans are? You know, the ones who buy or use your sponsors products & services. The ones who directly or indirectly pay your paycheck.
　
The Lines Grow Blurrier
　
“I guess NASCAR thinks ’Hey, wrestling worked, and it was for the most part staged, so I guess it’s going to work in racing, too’. I can’t understand how long the fans are going to let NASCAR treat them like they’re stupid before the fans finally turn on NASCAR”. “I don’t know that they’ve run a fair race all year.” - Tony Stewart, 2007.　
　
On WWE’s “Monday Night Raw” show, it was announced that WWE wrestler John Cena would be the starter for the Daytona 500. Obviously somebody down in the Ivory Towers hasn’t been paying attention to what the fans have been saying regarding how the races are manipulated and NA$CAR’s taking on the appearance of pro wrestling. Don’t get me wrong here. I like John Cena because of his support for the troops. I watch the WWE from time to time. It’s like a soap opera for men & boys. But when you’ve already got lots of fans suspecting the sanctioning body of using the same sort of behind the scenes manipulation that’s used in pro wrestling to affect the outcome of races, the last thing you want to do is add fuel to the fire. Add this to last week’s points buying so that NA$CAR’s celebrity spokesmodel can make an appearance at the Daytona 500 and it really goes from racin‘ to motorasslin‘.
　
What can we expect next? Good ole JR (John Ross) and Jerry “The King” Lawler to bump Jabber Jaws and his parrot from the announcing booth? Cousin Carl & John Cena to administer some pre-race body slams to the Busch brothers? The Big Show giving Mafia Mike Helton a choke slam in Race Control? Maybe a TLC match between Vince McMahon and Faux King Brian? How about a post-race Diva’s Lumberjack Match with NA$CAR’s celebrity spokesmodel versus The Glamazon? Or will an announcement be made that Vince McMahon purchased NA$CAR back in 2004 and Faux King Brian has been merely a puppet running things? Maybe a change to what NA$CAR actually means? Instead of the National Association for Stock Car Automobile Racing, it will stand for National Association for Spec Cars and Rasslin’? Or maybe they’ll adopt the rasslin’ moniker of NWO? NA$CAR World Order with Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash replacing Faux King Brian and Mafia Mike?
　
Maybe at this point Vince McMahon should furnish some real writers to develop more believable storylines than what’s been coming out of the Ivory Towers week after week since 2004.
　
I did see one suggestion that makes sense. Have John Cena wave the yellow flag for the mystery debris cautions. It’s a “perfect marriage” of both sports entertainment organizations.
　
Historic Cleveland County Speedway Re-Opening
　
I don’t know how many folks have visited this historic old track in Shelby NC but thanks to renown racing artist Michael W. Smith, the track is getting new life breathed into it. On April 20-21, the First Annual NC Vintage Championship Exhibition and RacersReunion will be held at the track. Plans currently call for a vintage racing exhibition, a racing celebrity autograph session, family fun, food, & vendors. As soon as I find out who all will be signing autographs and other plans, I’ll let folks know.
　
Southern National Motorsports Park Added to Rolling Thunder Modified Schedule
　
Southern National Motorsports Park has been added to the Rolling Thunder Modified 2012 schedule and is slated for SNMP's final weekend of their 2012 season on September 29, 2012.
　
IndyCar Testing

IndyCar will be having an open test at Texas Motor Speedway on March 13^th and March 8-9 at Sebring along with a private test session on March 5-6 at Sebring International Raceway.
　
　
Some Worried About Ugly F-1 Cars
　
There seems to be a growing concern about the new front end design on the F-1 cars by manufacturers and other companies involved with F-1 because, quite honestly, they’re so damned ugly. Even if you understand the reasons behind it, it's like a face that only a mother could love. Obviously F-1 didn’t bother checking out the fan reaction to the Camry of Today (COT) and how fans have reacted to that. Fan reaction to the new DW-12 for IndyCar seems to be getting a more positive response. Maybe the leadership at F-1 should’ve looked at what IndyCar was doing before coming up with their new design for the 2012 season?
　
　
Nissan Returning to Australian Touring Car Championship
　
Nissan, which has been absent from the Australian Touring Car Championship for 20 years, will return in 2013. Kelly Racing will be fielding 4 cars under the name Nissan Motorsports and will be a factory team.
　
I haven’t quite figured out how they’ll be competing in the V-8 Supercar Series as Nissan doesn’t have a V-8 in any of their street models. It’s supposed to be a part of their Car of the Future (COTF) program (sound familiar?) which is supposed to help reduce the cost of racing (also sound familiar?).
　
Unlike NA$CAR’s failed and highly disliked Camry of Today, the COTF will maintain the manufacturer’s bodylines and identification, 4 doors, rear wheel drive, and V-8 engines. Which leads me to ask again, where will Nissan get their V-8 from for their cars?
　
Interesting Stats
　
Based on stats used during an interview by Neil Cavuto with Faux King Brian, NA$CAR estimates 30% of the US population is a NA$CAR fan. That means approximately 90 million people as the US population is about 300 million. This is up from the previous estimates of 75 million. And yet with the poor TV ratings and attendance, I don’t see how there can be more than maybe 15 million and that’s being overly generous.
　
Kyle Lockrow Live
　
Seems like young Kyle Lockrow is becoming popular. Kyle will be a guest on MotorWeek show with Patrick Reynolds on Feb 27th @ 7:15 PM. I expect you’ll be seeing more of and about Kyle over the next few weeks and months.

Bet You Didn’t Hear About This
　
(AFNS) Air National Guardsmen from the 129th Rescue Wing here performed a rescue mission 200 miles off the coast of California on Feb. 4.

Responding to a call from the Eleventh District Coast Guard at Alameda, Calif., pararescuemen, two HH-60G Pave Hawk rescue helicopters and one MC-130P Combat Shadow aircraft departed here mid-morning and were on scene by noon.

The team provided medical assistance to a 54-year-old male who had suffered stroke-like symptoms aboard the cargo ship MSC Beijing. Guardsmen performed a medical evacuation, taking the patient to the San Jose Regional Medical Center in San Jose, Calif.

"This is a prime example of how the 129th and California National Guard is ready to support civilian authorities at a moment's notice," said Col. Steven J. Butow, the 129th RQW commander. "The Coast Guard knew they could depend on our specialized capability as one of the premier rescue units in the nation."

Great job folks. From one old war horse to our citizen soldiers.

　

Up & Comer Kyle Lockrow

2012-02-07T00:00:00.002-05:00

When I was at the Legends Helping Legends Fundraiser, I met Kyle Lockrow. He’s a young up & comer from Maryland. I know some folks will be saying “Who’s that?”. Well, you’re about to find out.

What’s unusual about Kyle is that he’s one of the few up & comers that I’ve met at the Legends Helping Legends Fundraisers over the past 6 years. He also has a different attitude than some of the “pretty young faces” we’ve been “blessed” with in Brian’s Big Top. He’s polite, well-spoken, honest, and unlike the crop of brats we have suffered through, Kyle actually takes time to talk with folks, shake their hands, and looks them square in the eye. You don’t have to count your fingers or rings to make sure you got them all back.

Kyle’s taking the time to get the experience he needs to move up through the ranks. He’s also got a summer internship lined up with a NASCAR team which also runs a sports car team. This should benefit him as he moves up. He’s choosing the right path to advance rather than suddenly being thrust into a series where he doesn’t have the skills to compete. He’s got a good head on his shoulders.

So, without further ado, 20 Questions:

1.) How did you become interested in racing?

My interest in racing started back in 1997 because of two factors: a family friend and being a Scooby Doo fan as a kid. The family friend was Andrew Montag and his Dad, Denny. They introduced me to the old NASCAR ’98 game and I fell in love with playing it. The Scooby Doo connection was because of Robert Pressley racing the number 29 Cartoon Network car back during the 1997 season. After that, the rest has become history and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

2.) When we chatted, you mentioned you were going to school. What are you majoring in?

Currently, I am attending Towson University in Towson, Maryland majoring in Mass Communications with a minor in Communications Studies. My main track is Public Relations and if the driving does not work out, I hope to still work in NASCAR as a Public Relations person for a team or driver.

3.) Who were your heroes growing up?

My heroes growing up were my father, Jeff Gordon, Brian Vickers, Michael J. Fox. All of these people were hardworking, determined and passionate individuals in their respective professions; they are also great role models that anyone could model themselves after which is what I have done.

4.) You were at the Legends Helping Legends Fundraiser this past Saturday signing autographs and rubbing elbows with some of the greatest names in stock car racing. What was it like?

Saturday was a once in a lifetime experience because I was able to be in the same room with the heroes who were responsible for making NASCAR the success it has become today. I only wish that there had been more time for me to sit down with each one and pick their brain about different aspects of racing, as well as life.

5.) Was the fan turnout what you expected and how were the fans?

The turnout on Saturday was much bigger than I expected, only because that was only my fourth or fifth autograph signing and it was the biggest one I have even been a part of. The fans were awesome because they were so friendly and welcoming of me especially for being a “young gun” that was among the real heroes of racing.

6.) What sets you apart from other young racers working their way up through the ranks?

I feel that my loyalty, determination, and passion separate me from other drivers because racing is not just a job with me, but is a way of life that has helped make me who I have become today. I understand the importance of representing your professionally on and off the race track, being a responsible individual because you are a spokesperson for multi-million dollar entities, and the fact that I study racing by watching many races from seasons past and this has helped me take the learning to a whole new level.

7.) Where does loyalty rank with you?

Loyalty is one of the top three qualities that a person should have because loyalty is what makes friends and shows dedication to something or someone. I always try to make sure that when I am involved with a team or significant other that I am serious about the situations at hand because it leaves a lasting impression, whether it be good or bad.

8.) Having followed the sport since the early 1960’s, I’ve seen a lot of different sponsors come and go. Sometimes because the sponsors decided to go in a different direction or because they weren’t getting the Return On Investment (ROI) they were expecting. What can you do for a sponsor that would benefit them the most and give them the ROI they’re looking for?

Well, with being a young driver in racing and growing up in the technology era, there are many new options that are available to offer a potential sponsor or investor with social media and website space. I can offer sponsors website space, constant plugs through Facebook and Twitter, and press releases about certain upcoming events or races to inform fans and media. Outside of social media, my personality is a big plus for a potential company because I enjoy meeting with the fans every day, I am a well spoken individual, and my loyalty to success and the people who are providing those tools for that are the number one priority.

9.) What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever seen a driver do?

The craziest thing I have seen a driver do is really hard to pick out or narrow down to one because I have seen some real interesting events. The craziest good thing was when Kyle Busch passed 5-wide on the apron during a Truck race at Atlanta back in 2006 or 2007. The craziest bad thing I have seen would have to be again with Kyle Busch at Texas last year in the Truck race when he turned Hornaday into the fence head on.

10.) What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever seen a fan do?

The craziest thing that I witnessed from a fan occurred at the Watkins Glen Sprint Cup event multiple years ago during a red flag. This fan jumped the fence and guard rail, and then ran over to a driver’s car to ask for an autograph. That is dedication ha-ha!

11.) What’s the nicest thing you’ve seen a driver do?

The nicest thing I have seen a few drivers do would be their constant involvement with charities and causes, as well as making sure fans feel welcome at the track or an event.

12.) What’s the nicest thing you’ve seen a fan do?

There really is not one thing that I have noticed a from a fan, but what I enjoy seeing from fans is the bond they form in camp grounds and how they are willing to help each other in any situations.

13.) I know you’re single. Are you dating or in any sort of relationship? I’ve got to ask because I know there are female fans out there that will be curious.

Actually, at this point and time I am currently single. I am not dating anyone or involved seriously with anyone. If something happens to arise in the future that would be awesome, but till I get some serious interest, all of my focus will be on the task of getting to Sprint Cup.Actually, at this point and time I am currently single. I am not dating anyone or involved seriously with anyone. If something happens to arise in the future that would be awesome, but till I get some serious interest, all of my focus will be on the task of getting to Sprint Cup.

14.) Do you have a favorite spot you go to or have a place you’d like to visit someday?

My favorite spot to go hang out at is the beach and my goal is to actually go to the Bahamas one day and learn to wake board.

15.) What’s your favorite food?

I love to eat ha-ha! Favorite types of food are Mexican, Italian, Chinese, and most recently have acquired a taste for some Sushi. My all time favorite dish has to be ziti.

16.) What type of vehicle do you own?

Currently, I drive a black 2009 Honda Civic Si, 6-speed (I hate automatics!), with V-Tech.

17.) What’s your favorite movie(s)?

My favorite movies would have to be the Back to the Future Trilogy, Dale, Rudy, The Hangover, Dodgeball, Christmas Vacation, Ironman (1&2), Captain America, Green Lantern, Batman, Forest Gump, and Sherlock Holmes (1&2).My favorite movies would have to be the Back to the Future Trilogy, Dale, Rudy, The Hangover, Dodgeball, Christmas Vacation, Ironman (1&2), Captain America, Green Lantern, Batman, Forest Gump, and Sherlock Holmes (1&2).

18.) Who has been the biggest influence in your life?

The biggest influences in my life have probably been my Dad and my Grammi. I have modeled myself after my Dad because of the good qualities he demonstrates on a daily basis. My Grammi, I unfortunately lost her this past August, was my biggest supporter for anything I had an interest in and her opinion was a very important aspect of my life.The biggest influences in my life have probably been my Dad and my Grammi. I have modeled myself after my Dad because of the good qualities he demonstrates on a daily basis. My Grammi, I unfortunately lost her this past August, was my biggest supporter for anything I had an interest in and her opinion was a very important aspect of my life.

19.) Do you have any siblings?

I have a 16 year old brother who is a junior in High School and is currently a volunteer Fireman and EMT. Also, I have a baby brother named Reagan, which is our family beagle ha-ha!

20.) Anything you’d like to say in closing?

I would like to thank everyone who has supported me and followed me since I started chasing this dream in 2007. I also want to make sure that fans and potential sponsors know that I am very serious about making a career out of driving a race car, plus I will do whatever it takes to make sure the fans get back to being the main focus because they are a big reason that drivers are able to get out of bed every day and “play” for a living. I promise to be the same person no matter what success happens to come my way and the potential money will not change where I came from because that is what made me who I am. I would like to thank everyone who has supported me and followed me since I started chasing this dream in 2007. I also want to make sure that fans and potential sponsors know that I am very serious about making a career out of driving a race car, plus I will do whatever it takes to make sure the fans get back to being the main focus because they are a big reason that drivers are able to get out of bed every day and “play” for a living. I promise to be the same person no matter what success happens to come my way and the potential money will not change where I came from because that is what made me who I am.

I want to thank Kyle for taking time out of his schedule to do the 20 question thing. I hope this will give race fans out there a little better idea of who Kyle Lockrow is and what we as fans have to look forward to as he advances through the racing ranks. I like his sense of humor about his “baby brother”. It reminds me of myself talking about our cats being our “kids”. He’s chosen some good role models and from talking with him he’s doing right by them. I like his choices in food. A man after my own heart.

If you want to follow Kyle on Twitter, you can follow him at @KLockrow , check out his web site at http://www.kylelockrow.com/ , or follow him on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Kyle-Lockrow-Racing/109360867384

6th Annual Legends Helping Legends Fundraiser

2012-02-05T20:26:00.000-05:00

If you didn’t make it to the 6^th Annual Legends Helping Legends Fundraiser, you missed out on a great event. Despite the bad weather which kept some of the bike riders like Don Tilley away and caused a delay in Buddy Parrott showing up, the number of drivers, media people, and former crew chiefs was amazing.
　
The crowd of autograph seeking fans was backed up when I arrived, so I did a quick pass-through to see who all was there signing autographs. Perennials Ned Jarrett, my good friend Rex White, Rex’s former crew chief Slick Owens, writer/author Tom Higgins, Li’l Bud Moore, Jim Vandiver, Brownie King, my “neighbor” and friend Peanut Turman, Paul Lewis, Bill Mangum, along with a few others that slip my mind were there along with some returning folks like championship crew chief Waddell Wilson, Neil “Soapy” Castles, Mitzi Moody, and others.
　
For the first time, America’s winningest driver (with over 1,000 wins) & former Cup and Busch Series driver, Dick Trickle was there. Lynn Evans (widow of Richie Evans) and Richie’s crew chief were there along with the HOF ring. That’s the first time I’ve seen any sort of ring like that. The blue stone in the center definitely caught my eye.
　
I ran into a few friends I hadn’t seen recently. Don Good, who first told me about the Legends Helping Legends events 6 years ago, and race fan extraordinaire Harlow Reynolds. Don was joking with me saying I needed to write more because everything I’d been writing lately he’d agreed with. Harlow asked me how I snuck in without him noticing me. Maybe it’s good to be incognito sometimes.
　
I decided to join the line of fellow fans and make my way through the autograph tables. Waddell had the “seat of honor” I guess you’d call it being first up. My favorite Wisconsin driver, Dick Trickle, sat next to him. Dick noticed the t-shirt I was wearing. It’s my sole surviving Dick Trickle Fan Club shirt. It just so happens that the cards Dick was signing were of the artwork that were used on the shirt. I still had one of the old Schneider National Cards from when Dick drove for Jimmy Spencer, which he was surprised to see, and a die-cast of the Junie Donlavey #90 Taurus he drove. I asked Dick about the “White Knight” car that was behind him. He said it was a replica built by some fans in Chicago. I thought that was an awesome tribute to Dick.
　
As I made my way around the tables, a number of folks mistook my Dick Trickle shirt for a Carl Edwards shirt because of the #99. Francis Flock, Tim Flock’s widow, was being interviewed as I worked my way around. When I got near where my buddy Rex White had been sitting, he spotted me and rushed back over to his seat to autograph a couple of photos I had taken at a previous Legends Helping Legends event. Rex was looking pretty dapper in his turtle neck shirt and sports coat. He asked me if I had dropped off some crackers for him. Of course, I had. It’s sort of a tradition between the two of us. As we’re both diabetic, I know Rex always keeps a pack or two of crackers with him in case his blood sugar drops. He said “I was busy signing autographs, looked up, and there were all these crackers there”. I asked Rex when he’d be back home so I could call him and we could do some talking. So now that I know when, I’ll be giving him a call. He said the last time he visited his family for a week, his answering machine was so full of messages he knows he missed a bunch of calls.
　
Margaret Sue Wright, Curtis Turner’s daughter, was busy doing an interview so I didn’t get a chance to talk with her but Harlow filled me in that she’s planning on putting together an event on the first Martinsville race weekend involving the old bootleggers’ roads and routes. That should be interesting considering I’ve driven a few of them locally. One of the more famous ones around here is actually named after the bootlegger who used it. Daniel’s Run. So as soon as I get some info on it I’ll be putting it out there.
　
Lynn Evans told me an interesting story. Lynn had always been interested in meeting a NASCAR driver from Wisconsin. So Richie called her up and told her she needed to get down to Daytona so she could meet one. Sure enough, Lynn made the trip to meet the driver. He had been a competitor of Richie’s in some races and she’d never paid attention to him back then. The driver? None other than Dick Trickle.
　
Barry Dodson had a funny story about Dick. Barry was Dick’s crew chief and at one track Dick was driving around the circuit during the parade laps. He got on the radio and said “Barry, I think we have a problem”. Barry radioed back asking Dick what the problem was. Dick said, “I can’t find my goggles”. This was before the full-face helmet was mandated and most drivers still used the open face helmet. Barry got back on the radio telling Dick to look around. Dick got back on the radio a little bit later and said, “Barry, find me some goggles, I’ll stop in the pits next time by and grab them”. Barry had one of the guys on the crew find some goggles. Dick gets back on the radio and tells Barry, “Never mind. I found them” (meaning the goggles). Barry radios back, “Where were they?”. Dick replies, “On top of my helmet”. You’d have to know Dick to understand how hilarious that was. During his career he made some of the funniest comments on the radio and in interviews and did them all with a straight face.
　
A gaggle of old timers were discussing Jeremy Mayfield and his situation. I’m not mentioning their names in order to protect their identities. One had said he’d seen Jeremy a number of times at his home and outside while Jeremy was working. He said that most drug users he’d seen showed a definite loss of muscle and muscle definition. Jeremy didn’t show any signs of that. It seems Jeremy has some “guns” on him that the driver’s suits didn’t reveal. He also said Jeremy didn’t show any of the sores or other signs of meth use. One of the other old timers said “Jeremy messed with the powers that be and you know what happens when you do that”. Considering who stated that, I found that to be very interesting based on his years of Cup experience.
　
As things wound down, I had a chance to talk with Dick Trickle a little more. He isn’t racing now. He said he’s doing the “grandfather thing”. I know how that goes being a grandfather myself. When Dick moved to North Carolina, he bought a nice sized chunk of land and built himself his country home on it. Then his daughter decided to move down and he gave her an acre. Then his son decided to move down and he gave his son an acre. It seems that Dick’s kids all wanted to be near their dad and left Wisconsin to join him. He still makes a few public appearances as Grand Marshal for some races like the Slinger Nationals. On the weekends, he might watch a race or two during the season just to keep up with things but doesn’t spend every weekend glued to the TV keeping up on what‘s going on. Dick still has two of his old race cars. One of them was the one he built to run in the 1989 season but got called to race in the Cup Series. He’s thinking about finishing it up and maybe restoring the other one. When Dick decided to hang up his helmet, he didn’t think it was fair to his fans to keep his fan club going so he dissolved it. His daughter put a lot of work into that fan club. I had some dealings with her during the years it was active and she was a great lady to talk with. One call from her sort of changed the way my life went when she told me I had won pit and garage team credentials for the April 1999 race at TMS. It sort of lead me to where I am today. Dick said he plans to continue to appear at the Legends Helping Legends events. So for all you Dick Trickle fans who are going through withdrawals, you might want to make your plans to see him at the 7^th Annual Legends Helping Legends Fundraiser next year.
　
I’ve got to thank Alex Beam and his family for hosting this annual event and allowing fans to meet some of the racing greats of yesterday and some up & comers of tomorrow and all for a great cause. Helping out those who have medical needs who gave everything for NASCAR that NASCAR won’t help.
　
　
　
　

Z-Line Gone?, Ward Returning, Awesome Bill, & Some Other Things

2012-02-03T01:10:00.016-05:00

Z-Line Gone?
　
It appears that Shrubbery’s attempted homicide of Ron Hornaday at Texas Motor Speedway angered Z-Line Designs to the point that they’ve pulled the racing sponsorship across the board. Not just in NA$CAR but also IndyCar. I guess this is sponsorship “black eye” goes rather well with the sunglasses sponsorship.
　
Magical Media Tour　
Once again, the Magical Media Tour took place and we had pretty much a rehash of last season all the way down to Faux King Brian’s “State of Racer-tainment” speech. The lamestream media was quick to take the team and NA$CAR PR sheets, reword them, and sing the praises of the infinite wisdom of Faux King Brian. Same thing as last year.
　
One of the things that came out during His Majesty’s speech was that there won’t be any more secret fines. Gee, do you think that maybe this is an effort to try to remove the 50 feet of tarnish on NA$CAR’s reputation? Faux King Brian said that you can’t denigrate NA$CAR but you can express your opinions about other things. So I guess it’s now OK to call Faux King Brian a bungling incompetent, Helton a over-bearing bully, & the rest of NA$CAR’s leadership & officials whatever you feel like just so long as you don’t denigrate NA$CAR itself.
　
"Now, having said that, you can be critical of things you don't think we're doing well, in particular a race call. You can say, 'I don't think I was speeding; I disagree with that.' We understand that. It's when you go after the integrity of the sport is where we will step in, and they will be public."　

So I guess when a driver complains about the numerous on-track appearances of Ms Terry DeBris, they’re getting into a gray area. They can say they think the appearances by Ms Terry DeBris are a major inconvenience but they can’t say the timing on them sure is funny because they always seem to come out when one of the Chosen Ones is about to get lapped.
　
Much Ado About Nothing
　
NA$CAR and the Kool Aid drinking media all seem to be going gaga over the 2013 NA$CAR model Fusion that Ford’s rolling out. While the nose looks a little more like the car it’s based off of, you can still see the Camry of Today (COT) bodylines in it. Of course, the one issue that wasn’t addressed by the media is a major problem of the Camry of Today. The mechanical issues. Things like all the mandated, sole-sourced parts and the inability of the vehicle itself to turn. Whatever happened the test results from the different tire, suspension, and steering set-ups that were done? Are we going to see a vehicle which will actually be able to turn or will it still be the same non-turning piece of junk we’ve seen before that drivers have complained about til they‘re blue in the face?
　
Happy With TV Contracts
　
It seems that Faux King Brian is oblivious to the complaints of the fans and the networks regarding the race coverage:
　
"We really like our current partners," he said. "My expectation is they want to renew their involvement with NASCAR, and my hope is at the right time we'll figure that out together. If it happens early, it's possible, or it might not. We're having conversations."　

The networks have been complaining for years that they’re losing money because they’re unable to sell on-air advertising time. Privately, some TV & media people are tired of NA$CAR dictating what will and won’t be covered and actually want to give the fans at home a better product. The fans have been complaining about the poor coverage and commentary that the networks provide along with interrupting the commercials for a lap or two of racing before having more commercials rammed down their throats. Just so long as Faux King Brian’s piggy bank is getting full, everything is OK.
　
I’ve got a feeling the Ivory Tower Gang in Daytona is going to be in for a real surprise when the networks are only willing to pony up 20-25% of what they did last time around using the same excuse Faux King Brian has been using as to why the grandstands aren‘t full and the TV ratings are scraping the bottom of the barrel. The poor economy.
　
Ward Burton Returning
　
Fellow Virginian Ward Burton is returning to the track and bringing his son Jeb with him. While the primary emphasis will be on Jeb racing in the Truck Series, if I read Ward correctly, if the sponsorship is there, we could see both him and Jeb racing against each other. I think the last father-son team to race against each other were the Earnhardts on the Cup side of things. So it could be interesting to see how well Ward & Jeb get along on the track racing each other.
　
Of course, with Ward’s return, Faux King Brian will have to get his translator out of retirement so he can understand what Ward is saying. The last time Ward said something that Faux King Brian took any interest in, it took over two weeks for him to figure out just what Ward had said. And Ward was 100% right. “That dog don’t hunt”.
　
Awesome Bill’s Return Raises Questions
　
Even though Bill Elliott appears to have a one shot deal for a July race, folks are raising questions about Slick Rick owning or fielding the car. Slick Rick has given an official explanation. He doesn’t own the car. So, it’s not a 5^th Hendrick car. It’s another satellite team like SHR.
　
But if you delve a little further into the rules, a team could theoretically field a 5^th car for a limited number of races. Such as putting a development driver behind the wheel for less than 7 races which wouldn’t jeopardize the driver’s rookie status. Or, for the non-points events, like when a driver leaves a team but is eligible to drive in the non-points events. The owner of the team the driver left from could field a car for that driver. For example, Mark Martin could drive in a non-points event for HMS providing he meets the eligibility requirements and Slick Rick is willing to field a car for him. Actually, field a car for Kasey Kahne so Mark could drive the #5 car again for the non-points event since Mark would‘ve theoretically been eligible as the driver of the #5 car.
　
Odds of this actually happening? Slim to none and Slim done left town.
　

VW Shooting for #1 Globally?
　
According to VW’s VP for Racing, VW has applied to be an engine supplier in F-1. If this is approved, it will have a global impact on VW’s sales as F-1 is a global racing entity, unlike NA$CAR which is confined to North America. Considering all the bad PR and recalls that have come from Japan the last few years, VW stands a very good chance of becoming the #1 manufacturer in the world. One question that remains unanswered is which VW entity will carry the VW on the engines? Will it be VW itself, Audi, or Porsche?
　
Austin Dillon in the #3 Cup Car?
　
Apparently there’s a rumor going around about Austin Dillon driving a car with the #3 on it in a Cup race and it has some folks foaming at the mouth. They seem to be under the misguided notion that Richard Childress owns the #3. He doesn’t own the #3. NASCAR owns the #3. Along with all the other numbers used by every single competitor. What Childress owns is the stylized #3 that was used on Dale Sr.‘s car. He holds the copyrights on it. So if he should field a car with the #3 on it, that’s his prerogative as the team owner as long as it‘s “blessed” by the Ivory Tower Gang. He could also use the stylized #3 that he has the copyrights on or he could use another font style for the #3 if he wants to.
　
Get Rid of the Top 35
　
Folks have been saying since its’ implementation that they Top 35 needs to go and we have even more proof of it this year than ever. It seems that Tony Stewart has bought the points for the #36 car of Tommy Baldwin Racing to make sure that the Queen of Hype is in the Daytona 500. And he’s also doing a deal similar to what was done at JR Motorsports to keep the QoH’s car in the Top 35 by having Roto-Reutimann filling the seats while she’s busy having temper tantrums and hissy fits because drivers are racing her too hard in the Busch Series.
　
By eliminating the Top 35, it would mean drivers would have top qualify each and every week except for a rain out during qualifying. If you make it great, if not, better luck next week. This would actually create competition, which is supposedly what Faux King Brian says is needed to get fans interest. We wouldn’t have teams sandbagging during qualifying and practice. They’d actually have to find the right set ups for qualifying and racing. Then they’d have to drive WFO during qualifying to make sure they got into the race.
　
But I keep forgetting. This actually makes sense and since it does make sense, it would immediately be disapproved by Faux King Brian and the Ivory Tower Gang in Daytona.
　

Robinson-Blakeney Racing, HOF Tape Delay, Congrats Jerry Bonkowski, & Other Stuff

2012-01-29T14:14:00.000-05:00

Robinson-Blakeney Racing
　
Jay Robinson has partnered with Troy Blakeney to form Robinson-Blakeney Racing, LLC. There are currently 4 cars in their stable. 3 of the 4 are being converted from Ford, Dodge, & Chevy to the make they’ll be running once the season starts. There’s no mention of any support from the car manufacturer or their racing division. Based on the cutbacks and shift of engine support to JGR, you have to wonder who will be supplying their engines.
　
HOF Ceremony on Tape Delay
　
Knowing full well in advance when the Bondo-Jackson show was going to be on and scheduling around it, NA$CAR decided to go with a tape delay of the official induction ceremonies to the France Hall of Fantasies, that wonderful place that‘s caused a nation-wide shortage of red ink.
　
By going with a tape delay, it gave the NA$CAR Media Group a chance to edit out such things as Faux King Brian mumbling, stumbling, and bumbling through his speeches and not showing Cale trying to shut Jabber Jaws up once and for all with some 200 MPH Tape for the benefit of the fans at home.
　
Monster Pulls the Plug on Ricky Carmichael
　
It seems that after a long-time relationship with Ricky Carmichael, Monster Energy Drink pulled the plug on him in favor of the most disliked drivers in NA$CAR. Neither Robby Gordon nor Carmichael really fit the image of the demographics that Monster is going after. Foul-mouthed, disrespectful, whiny, spoiled punks. Looks like Monster finally got a match made in hell, I mean heaven for their sponsorship. Or is it a personal services contract such as they had with Robby Gordon? Guess we’ll find out when they start whining about not getting sponsorship money from Monster.
　
New Manufacturer Joining NA$CAR in 2013?
　
The word I’m hearing from my open wheel and road racing sources are saying that either VW or Hyundai will be joining Brian’s Big Top Circus in 2013, thus part of the reason for running the obsolete throttle body injection (TBI) system. VW has previously stated that they weren’t interested in NA$CAR because they wanted to be able to show off their technology. This means we might see yet another change to the fuel injection system being run if VW shows up. Hyundai, the owner of Kia, is a Korean owned company and as far as I can find out doesn’t make a V-8 of any sort for their cars. This would put them in the same boat as the foreign owned manufacturer currently competing under Brian’s Big Top. Special, purpose-designed engines that they don‘t make for their street cars. But then, all the manufacturers are doing that now for NA$CAR. Maybe the manufacturers need to push for production-based engines while they’re pushing for identifiable bodylines?
　
Either manufacturer would be showing up at the perfect time when the TV contract talks would be under way (2013) and could use the same tactics used by the current foreign-owned manufacturer to buy their way in to help clinch the TV contracts by coughing up a ton of commercial & advertising money like their predecessor did. This would put the Motormouth Brothers in a pickle as they are already “owned” and would be forced to shill for a brand that doesn’t own them. Such a dilemma.
　
Lotus to Use Internet to Introduce New F-1 Car
　
In sort of a first, Lotus will be using the internet to roll out their new F-1 car on February 5^th at 6 PM Eastern Time. After a 2 year hiatus from F-1, Kimi Raikkonen will be joining Lotus and doing the 2 days of testing at Jerez on February 7^th. You can see the new car roll out at
　
Peugeot Pulls the Plug on Racing
　
Because of the decline in worldwide sales, Peugeot is pulling the plug on their racing efforts. They will not be competing in Le Mans, WEC Championship, or other events. In the case of the WEC, it leaves Audi to run unmolested in that series. And with no LMP1 cars being run, that leaves the field wide open there. Originally, they had announced they would furnish cars for “privateers” but even that seems to have gone to the wayside.
　
Austin Track to be Completed in August
　
It looks like the Course of the Americas (COTA) will be finished in August which should allow it to be on the FIA's World Motor Sport Council 2012 calendar. Right now, Current cost estimates put the cost of the track at $350 million and a capacity of 120,000. So it looks like F-1 will be racing there this season.
　
FIA Bans Reactive Suspension
　
Even though the FIA originally approved the reactive suspension that Lotus developed, they now have done an ASO and disapproved it after Ferrari couldn’t figure out how to make theirs work and complained to current FIA President Todt (German word for dead) and former Ferrari Team Leader. Doesn’t take an Einstein to figure this one out.

More Changes Coming for Daytona 500
　
One of the changes in place is a lowering of the rear bumper and there will probably a change to the pressure on the radiator and the grill opening yet again making it even smaller than it currently is all in an effort to force teams to pack race again and not race Brokeback style.
　
Bristol Green Promotion
　
Honestly? It smacks of desperation as they try to ride the coat tails of NA$CAR’s Celebrity Spokesmodel in the hopes that some folks will be gullible enough to buy tickets to help fill the ever emptier grandstands at the track which has been experiencing declining ticket sales ever since the introduction of NA$CAR’s generic race car and the reconfiguration of the track. Before the introduction of the generic race vehicles and the reconfiguration of the track, Bristol had a waiting list for tickets for the Cup race and never really sold out for any of the lower tier races. Since the reconfiguration and use of generic race vehicles, fans has disappeared in droves for all the races there. So is NA$CAR’s celebrity spokesmodel really going to put butts in the seats? I don’t think so.
　
Congrats to Jerry Bonkowski
　
Jerry has been voted onto the Board of Directors of the National Motorsports Press Association. When I congratulated Jerry on Twitter he wrote back: “Thanks, Mike. I have some big shoes to fill ... but I have big feet already, so that helps LOL”. Glad Jerry still has his sense of humor. I’m sure he’ll do a great job.
　
　

　
　
　
　
　
　

www.lotusf1team.com

Hype, Lotus, Dakar,Bill Lester, & Other Things

2012-01-22T23:33:00.008-05:00

Let the Hype Begin
　
If you’ve seen the commercials for the Daytona 500 on Focks during the football play-offs, you’ll have noticed that it’s not the race that’s being hyped but NA$CAR’s celebrity spokesmodel that’s being hyped. She has yet to turn one competitive lap in a Cup car at Daytona and yet the hype is overwhelming. So when the race isn’t in the “All Waltrip All the Time” mode, it’ll be in the “All Danican’t All the Time” mode.
　
Cruel & Unusual Punishment?
　
For those fans who may have missed the announcement, Focks will have both of the Motormouth brothers on Focks during the race broadcast. As usual, Jabber Jaws will be in the booth with Motormouth Mikey being in the Hollyweird Motel bumping Hollyweird Hambone to the position of roving reporter. With both Motormouth brothers flapping their gums fast enough to break the sound barrier while they‘re cheerleading & shilling, don’t expect to hear anyone else get a word in edge-wise. Not even Larry Mac with his new Larry Mac to English Dictionary.
　
Could this be a deliberate attempt by Focks to drive their ratings down to rock bottom so when the TV contract renewal comes up they can go cheap? Something to think about.
　
Daytona Testing
　
When the Cup teams went to Daytona to test, Robin Pemberton stated that the teams would race in packs. That was a statement, not a suggestion, which means that once again NA$CAR is trying to mandate driver actions and help manipulate the race similar to what Bill France Sr did at Talladega back in the 60’s when the well-known drivers of the time went on strike because they felt the speeds were too high and that the tires couldn’t handle it leaving a bunch of relative unknowns to compete. Bill France Sr dictated how fast the cars would be driven. What we’re seeing now is the same sort of manipulation to make the race artificially exciting rather than let the drivers actually race, even if it is the two car Brokeback racing we’ve seen the last couple of years.
　
Missing from the pack racing practice on the last day was SHR which packed up and went home. Considering that NA$CAR’s Celebrity Spokesmodel didn’t have the opportunity to participate in the pack practice, odds are you can expect to see her involved in “The Big One”.
　
Lotus News
　
Simona Di Silvestro took the new Lotus Indy car through its paces at Palm Beach International Raceway and Sebring International Raceway. From what I’ve read, Lotus will be running both of their famous livery colors. The BRG & yellow and the black & gold. So for whichever era of Lotus racing you enjoyed, you’ll see a reminder of it.
　
Dragon Racing, owned by Jay Penske, will be fielding the new Lotus car with Sebastien Bourdais and Katherine Legge behind the wheel. That now makes 2 female drivers behind the wheels of Lotus cars in IndyCar. It’ll be interesting to see Katherine and Simona compare notes of their cars and set-ups while the new car is going through testing. Lotus plans to put 1,000 miles on the current test engine before the testing at Homestead on Jan 23-24. That’s about what Lotus figures to be about half the life cycle of the engine.
　
On the F-1 side of the Lotus effort, they pioneered an adjustable suspension system which works off of the braking system. Since the driver cannot make the adjustments from the cockpit, FIA has ruled it’s legal despite numerous complaints from other F-1 teams. Once again, we’re seeing racing innovation being made. Hello? NA$CAR?
　
Dakar Rally
　
While Robby Gordon didn’t win the rally, he did win a stage or two of it. However, despite having been passed, the sanctioning body said that Robby ran an illegal engine then changed it to illegal duct work doing their best imitation of NA$CAR changing rules in mid-race. Apparently politics came into play after Robby won the final stage of the Rally. It seems that Peterhansel (no, that’s not a German bedroom toy) was supposed to win the last stage but Robby rocked the boat on that one. In an earlier stage of the rally, Robby was trying to pass Peterhansel using the rally’s equivalent to a horn (called a sentinel) however Peterhansel refused to move over and allow the faster Gordon to pass him. Peterhansel should’ve been penalized but wasn’t. Robby had some “kind words” for the Dakar Rally sanctioning body, ASO. One was he might be back next year. The second was “They can kiss my a$$”. While it was a learning experience for Robby, he’s also found another sanctioning body that likes to change rules in mid-race.　

RPM & Busch
　
In one of those “No Duh” statements, RPM stated that the reason they didn’t sign Busch the Elder was that he was poison to sponsors. And it took The King how long to figure that out? I guess he’s getting a little bit slower with age.
　
Then there’s also the Roush Factor. Considering what Busch the Elder did and said about Roush when he drove for Roush racing, there’s still a lot of animosity there and since Roush builds the engines and cars for RPM, it’s a sure bet that The King wouldn’t have had any new cars or engines had he signed Busch the Elder.
　
Busch the Elder must be anticipating getting a number of black eyes this season as he’s signed with an eyewear company for sponsorship on the Phoenix Racing car. Last black eye I seem to remember Busch the Elder had came at the hands of Mr Excitement, Jimmy Spencer. However, Busch the Elder has given a number of black eyes to team owners & sponsors. So being able to hide a black eye is important and I’m sure those sunglasses will do a good job.
　
As to the length of Busch the Elder’s tenure at Phoenix Racing, I’d say it’ll last as long as his past chump provisionals are needed. Then he’ll get the boot the same way Bill Elliott did.
　
200 MPH Mustang Coming in 2014
　
When Ford revamps the Mustang for its 60^th anniversary celebration, the GT-500 and Mustang Cobra will be equipped with turbo V-8’s that will allow this street car to reach 200 MPH. And as it will be a production model and meets the basic eligibility requirements of a production car, will NA$CAR allow this car to be raced? After all, it is a stock car and isn’t racing stock cars what NA$CAR is supposed to be about?
　
Bill Lester Rides Again
　
After being unceremoniously dumped by Autohaus despite a 2^nd place season finish, Bill will be back on track in the #18 Muehlner Motorsports Porsche GT 3 for the 24 Hours of Daytona. As it currently stands, this is a one race deal however, I’m sure it will go beyond that based on Bill’s skills and previous experience.
　
Old Dog, Same Old Tricks
　
Johnny Benson was planning to make a comeback in 2012 in the Truck Series right up until his sponsor was stolen by NA$CAR’s conjoined incestuous twin I$C to sponsor a race at Michigan. NA$CAR and I$C stealing sponsors is nothing new. They’ve been doing it for decades. However, in these tough economic times, you’d think that with TV contract money coming in and having plenty of sponsors of their own, that they’d leave the sponsor of a popular and well-liked driver like Johnny Benson alone so he could help put butts in the grandstands. But greed trumps common sense once again in the Ivory Towers of Daytona.
　
Stolen Laptop
　
In case you missed it, there was a laptop containing drivers’ and NA$CAR officials names and other information that belonged to Aegis Labs that was stolen a while back. Naturally, NA$CAR & Aegis Labs said there was nothing important on the computer and that the laptop was probably in a pawn shop. Wouldn’t it be funny if it turned up on E-Bay with all that supposedly unimportant information on it going to the highest bidder? Or if somebody’s, like Faux King Brian’s, ID was stolen. I can just hear it now. His Royal Highness on the phone talking to Mister Card about a charge on his card. “What do you mean I sent Jeremy Mayfield two dozen roses, a box of chocolates, and a note saying ‘Come back. All is forgiven XOXOXO’?”. Or John Darby talking to American Excuse, “What do you mean I bought a lifetime membership in the Hair Club for Men?”. Or Shrubbery talking to Whiner’s Club, “What do you mean I sent a ton of M&M’s to a diabetic ward? Oh wait, I did. Never mind”.

Will Danica Save NASCAR?

2012-01-17T01:22:00.000-05:00

First off, does NASCAR, really need to be saved? Short answer, no.....
but it damn sure can use some help. In the short run, I'm sure Danica's
presence will help.

Jimmy Johnson has won 55 Cup races. As well as 5 Championships, in a row
in what is arguably the most competitive form of motorsports in the world.
Just think for a minute about how many times you see Jimmy on TV in non
racing related situations. Versus Danica who's all over the TV, seemingly
all the time.

Surprisingly, the driver next to Danica, that I see the most on TV outside
of the races is Casey Mears, in his GEICO commercials. Personally I liked
the ones with Mike, & Lauren, Wallace, "story with me is, put him in the
wall." See, if I still remember it. It was an effective commercial, but that
ship has sailed.

The jury's still out on whether she's better known as Danica, the racer, or
Danica, the Go Daddy Girl. The real point here is that she IS, known.
The combination of her talent, looks, & a deep pocket sponsor,
( I'll let you sort these into any order you like, ) have all come together
into the 'perfect marketing storm'.

Until she is able to balance this marketing blitz, (or hype,) with on track
performance, many long time NASCAR fans are going to continue to be turned
off. Regardless of how they feel about this, they're not going to abandon
the sport.

On the other hand, she does have the ability to attract new fans.
In this respect, her presence can't help but be good for the sport.

We've all read the stories about how Dale Jr. winning, will give NASCAR
a big lift. No argument here. Every fan wants to see his, or her, driver
winning. As Dale Jr. has the most fans, then it stands to reason that his
winning would be very good for the sport.

That having been said, this sport is bigger than any of it's stars.
It's bigger than the sum of it's parts, but some of it's parts aren't
doing so well.

My opinion is that overall NASCAR's not nearly as healthy as they
would have us believe. The France family, on the other hand, are
doing extremely well, but are they slowly killing their golden goose?

The economy is getting the lion's share of the blame, & there's no doubt
that it's a big factor, but the decline started before the economic
downturn.

NASCAR has a number of things that need to be addressed to help reverse,
or at least stabilize, it's slide. I'll just focus on a couple of them.

They need exciting on track action. Fights, feuds, & wrecks, serve as
distractions. But until they can come up with a way to make the week, to
week, racing on the so called, 'Cookie Cutter', tracks something that
fans look forward to. Then they've still got a lot of work to do.
Running cars that fans can identify with would be a very good start.

The second thing they need, & this is absolutely critical, is financially
stable owners.

As things stand, being a NASCAR owner, in either Cup, or Nationwide
is absolutely the worst job in the sport. You don't see the drivers going
broke, & leaving the sport, but it's common for owners. Kevin Buckler,
& Rusty Wallace were just the last in a long line, & they won't be the last
for long.

While Rusty, didn't technically go broke. He shuttered his team to avoid it.
Thus proving that his eyesight is still plenty good enough to read the
writing on the wall.

Much has been written about the age of the owners, so I won't plow that
ground again. But I will say this, the sport needs is new owners that will
carry on the traditions laid down by people like the Wood Bros.,
Richard Petty, Rick Hendrick, (regardless of your personal feelings about
him) Roger Penske, Richard Childress, Jack Roush, Joe Gibbs, & yes,
Robby Gordon. It was guys like Robby, that built the sport, & the fact that
he's the only one left, & hanging by a thread is part of the problem.

Instead, we've gotten Bobby Ginn, George Gillett, & Dietrich Mateschitz.
I'm sure that these guys came into the sport, with all the best of intentions.
But the money pit that NASCAR has become, caused them all to flame out
quickly leaving havoc in their wake.

It shouldn't take a business empire to fund a team. A well run team should
pay it's own way. That isn't the case currently. Some of the blame has to
rest with the owners themselves. But a big part of this is on NASCAR.

Two ways this could happen. One would be to franchise the teams, but given the
NASCAR mind set I doubt this will ever happen.

The other way would be for NASCAR to quit sucking up every dollar they can lay
hands on for their own bank account, & see that sponsorship money goes on
cars. Rather than going be the Official whatever, of NASCAR. In the Go Go
days when sponsorship was plentiful this didn't really hurt so much, now it
does.

With the current leadership, (?) a quote from The Man From Snowy River,
comes to mind. "Not Bloody Likely."

The first two Frances, were into racing. Think back to how many times in the
TV era that we saw Bill France. When Cup raced, he was there.
Currently, Brian seems much more into marketing, & leaving the racing to
others. Second thought, that might not be such a bad thing.

I think that if I were called to the NASCAR trailer, by Mike Helton I'd be all
" yes sir, no sir, whatever you say sir". On the other hand, if I were called in by
Brian France, I'd probably have a really hard time not giggling. Helton, seems
like a guy that would have a blackjack in his back pocket. Brian, on the other hand, reminds me more of a guy with a condom in his wallet, & he's carried the same one
for like 5 years.

Bottom line, both Danica, & Dale Jr. have the star power to help NASCAR. But only NASCAR, can solve it's underlying problems.

No Truth To The Rumor That...

2012-01-13T08:08:00.000-05:00

No truth to the rumor that….

Mike Helton and Jacque Debris are the same person
　
Faux King Brian declares Johnny Walker as a dependent on his income taxes
　
Santa delivered a tanker truck full of Scotch to a certain condo in Daytona Beach
　
KyBu and KuBu will be having a whine-fest at KyBu’s place on New Year’s Eve 2012
　
Santa was subpoenaed regarding a paternity test to prove he wasn’t the father of Faux King Brian’s off-spring
　
Larry Mac’s head will be sponsored by Turtle Wax for the 2012 race season
　
Motormouth Mikey received a pink tutu to wear on South Beach after the 2012 Homestead race.
　
NA$CAR will follow the WWE by having their own network.
　
The Motormouth Brothers signed a contract with ESPN-8, The Ocho, to cover tiddly winks with manhole cover tournaments instead of covering NA$CAR in 2012.
　
Zippy will be the crew chief to NA$CAR’s celebrity spokesmodel Danican’t 6 times in the same season after being fired by her 6 times.
　
John Darby bought stock in the Hair Club for Men
　
KyBu was blocked in his room Christmas morning because Santa overfilled his stocking with coal
　
JPM finally got the computer print out of his speeding penalty from John Darby for Christmas
　
Ron Hornaday dressed up in a Santa suit and filled all of KyBu’s vehicles with bull manure
　
Santa will padlock the Motormouth Brothers mouths shut during the 2012 race season
　
MWR got caught trying to boost their horsepower using gerbils on a treadmill
　
Badyear actually produced a NA$CAR racing tire that will actually last an entire race
　
Faux King Brian was caught supplementing his “sodas” with ethanol from the pump
　
All 43 cars that start the race will actually be shown by Focks & BSPN during all their broadcast
　
BSPN will hold its own against NBC Sports
　
Matt McLaughlin & I are the same person
　
Midget cars raced a 500 lapper inside the waistband of a pair of Mike Helton’s old 1990 pants
　
KuBu said to KyBu, “Mom always liked you best”
　
Cheech & Chong will enter a hemp powered car driven by Ashley Roachclip in the Daytona 500
　
NA$CAR’s celebrity spokesmodel Danican’t will be doing endorsement ads for the step ladder company that provides the step ladders used for her to get into her car
　
The person who stole the Aegis Labs laptop refused to steal Jimmie Johnson’s identity because he’s so boring
　
Faux King Brian was found spiking his “soda” with actual soda
　
Chad Knaus’ New Years Resolution was not to cheat, I mean exploit the gray area in 2012
　
JC France was caught trying to snort the white lines around DIS
　
Bruton Smith had a special buffer installed in his office to keep his head shiny
　
Mike Helton keeps Faux King Brian’s brain in a mason jar full of moonshine
　
NA$CAR’s celebrity spokesmodel Danican’t is teaching sailors how to swear
　
Somebody might find this humorous
　
I’m actually am sane and know what I’m doing
　
Faux King Brian knows what’s best for the sport
　

　

Will Phoenix Allow Kurt Busch to Rise From the Ashes?‏

2012-01-09T07:46:00.001-05:00

By John "Dawg" Chapman

OK, by now if you were interested, you've probably read several
different takes on what the immediate future might hold for Kurt.

Being as this is kind of a 'slow news' time. I figured I might as well weigh
in, stick my neck (not too far) out, & give you my thoughts on this.

I've read numerous speculations about next season. Everything from his
winning, to even making the Chase.

Can he win? Sure he can, anyone can. Trevor Bayne, & Bad Brad have
proven that. Brad in James Finch's car, no less. Kind of ironic that this
was the first step, leading to his hiring by Penske. that lead to his
breakout season, that in all probability, lead to Kurt's "mutual" parting
with Team Penske & his ending up with Finch.

Kind of reminds me of the cat, that killed the rat, that ate the malt,
that lay in the house, that Jack built. As he'd previously also been
fired from the house that Jack built. It does sort of tie together, doesn't
it? But I digress.

My unequivocal, 100% iron clad answer to both of these scenarios is
definitely.... maybe, on the winning. But I doubt it. As for the second
part, no way Jose. Just look at the cars that couldn't even give that a
good shot in '11, with a lot more going for them.

Seriously, here's what I do see happening, & needing to happen. If this is
going to be the season that he repairs his image, & starts his move back
up the ladder.

To this point in his career, he's been in Championship, or at least
consistent, winning cars. He's been used to teams that had full time
pit crews. Crews who's only job is to hone their over the wall skills,
& pit the car.

With Crew Chef's that had worked their way up through the ranks
to become CCs on top cars. Engineers, shock specialists, etc,etc, etc.
With his current team he doesn't have that luxury.

Much has been made of the fact that the team gets it's equipment from
Hendrick, just like Stewart-Haas. While the first part is true, I seriously
doubt the just like Tony, part. As Hillary's book pointed out. In Africa,
It takes a village, to raise a child. Well in Cup, It takes a team, to field
a car. I do have to wonder about the current strength of the team that
surrounds Kurt.

I'll have to admit that I don't know very much about Nick Harrison, his
current CC. His Cup record is not very impressive,( nor are his meager
Nationwide stats.) Actually, it's about what you'd expect for a car that
up to this time has been basically a field filler operation. Nick wasn't
CC, when Brad won with this team. He's has had 47 starts, over 2
years.
　
With 0 top 5, 0 T-10, finishes, 0 poles, & only 11 lead lap finishes.
With an average finishing position of 29th, last year. While finishing
30th in owners points. This could very well not be as much a reflection
on his abilities, as much as the circumstances he's found himself in.
They had 26 finishes of 25th or worse. This is for sure going to
improve. Just how much improvement we see depends on more than
just Kurt.

James has already made a big change, by putting Kurt in the car. I think
now, & I do mean NOW, he needs to look at every one in the organization,
top, to bottom. With the shrinkage going on in the Cup, & Nationwide
garages, some very good people are available. With fewer people, each, &
every one needs to be the best he can get. He very well might already have
them, that's for him to decide.

Kurt has repeatedly stated that he wants' to have fun racing. While I've
obviously never been exposed to racing at this level, I doubt that it's
meant to be fun. While I'm sure it can be fun at times. It's also pressure
packed, & the way he's dealt with that pressure, is in large part what got
him where he is. Anyone who thinks that he won't be under much pressure
with this team, isn't looking at the big picture. He really can't afford any
cracks in his composure next season, & it's a very long season.

Marty Robbins, used to do it for fun, but that was another time,
& he had a pretty good day job to fall back on.
If he really wants to have fun, then perhaps he needs to buy a dirt late
model, & go be the big duck, in some little puddle.

Let's hope his work with a sports psychologist, wasn't just damage control.
But, a serious attempt to get at the root causes that brought on his
problems. Because he's going to have a lot of new frustrations to
deal with. How he's able to deal with them, will be the difference between
this being his first step back to where he wants to be, or his current
situation becoming the new reality. So far in both their NASCAR
careers, the Busch Brats, have made 'Busch self control'. into
one of my favorite oxymoron's. Right behind NASCAR credibility.

He's going to need to deal successfully with his issues in public, & treat
the media with respect. Keep his radio conversations, professional.
Then if he wants' to go back to the motor home, & take 'em out on the
crockery, so be it. Pull this off, & I believe he can climb the ladder again,
but it will take some time.

One thing that can be a blessing, or a curse, will be the scrutiny that
Kurt will be under. Handle it correctly, & I believe that the team will
start to pick up some sponsorship. Probably not national companies,
maybe, but small, & mid-sized companies that need the TV exposure
that Kurt, in the 51 car is sure to garner for them. More money, well
spent, should equate to better performance. Once this starts, it should
feed itself.

As far as winning races, this team has proven that it could do it, against
long odds.

If I were in James's shoes, here's what I'd try. I'd enter a second car for
the plate tracks. David Ragan is a very solid plate driver. I'd hire him for
all 4 plate races. That way Kurt would have a good, experienced, team
mate to work with. As Daytona's the best paying race of the season, if the
second car made the field. That would go a long way to funding it for the
rest of the plate races. A good finish for it would just be icing on the
cake. This should give the best shot at a win. Maybe a long shot,
but not as long as winning the first one was.

I expect that if Kurt, & James were to stay together for say, 3 years.
Then we might see them in the Chase, or at least giving it a good run.
But it's just too big a leap for 1 season.

I'm looking more for steady progress, of the baby steps variety next year.
A move from 30, to 20, in points, with 4-5, T-10 finishes, & maybe a T-5
or 2 would be a very good season, & it's doable.

I wouldn't be surprised if this deal has an escape clause, so that if Kurt
were to get a better offer, he could take it. Who knows, with the pressures
on teams now, that could come before the season's out. Personally, I'd
love to see them stay together. They could be good for each other, but
that's asking a lot.

This whole deal is going to be a real test, for both Kurt, & The team, but
it can be done. One thing I can absolutely guarantee.

It's not all going be fun.

What Does NASCAR Get For $15,231,323.00?‏

2011-12-25T22:51:00.000-05:00

By John "Dawg" Chapman

What does NASCAR get for 15 million, 231 thousand, 323 dollars?
Not much as it turns out. That's how much prize money the Start & Park
teams took home in 2011 for showing up so that the starting formation
would look the same on TV for the parade lap.

I've heard it said that a part of the TV deal, was that NASCAR would
start 43 cars. I doubt this is accurate, but for some reason NASCAR
seems willing to reward the teams that show up, with no intention
of adding anything to the show.

My question is, do you think NASCAR's getting their money's worth?
Remember we're talking $15 million, 231 thousand, & change. What's
the difference if 43 cars start, & we're down to 37, or so, after 30
laps. Or if only that number started the race?

I've heard all the excuses for allowing this to go on.

First thing people throw out is that these teams are going the S & P
route to keep their teams together, until they can come up with the
money to race. Fair enough, I can understand that, but at what point do
they have to say it's not working? Over the last three seasons, Phoenix
Racing, Phil Parsons, have started 88 races, not counting the ones they
were unable to qualify for, & been running at the end in 5 of them.

Over this same stretch Joe Nemechek (a driver who's skill I admire)
has started 102 races, been running at the end in 7, 5 of them in '09.
Joe was the most successful S & P owner this season. Qualifying for all
36 races, plus running Kevin Conway in 3 more. Joe was able to finish
just one race out of the 36. In these 3 races, Kevin ran a total of 4,
count 'em 4 laps, while winning $234,238. or an average of $58,559.5 per lap.
It would have been $78,079 if he hadn't gotten a little crazy, & run that second lap.
Good work if you can get it.

Another excuse I've heard is that these teams provide employment
in a tough economic environment. OK, things are tough all over. Suppose
that people were hired to build roads that no one was ever going to drive on.
That would provide employment also, but would you consider it money well spent?

I do have to kind of admire Joe Ruttman for showing up at The Rock
in '04 without a pit crew in James Finch's car. I mean at least he was
honest about it. Why would he need a crew? He was allowed to start.
Ka Ching, then was parked by NASCAR on the first lap. Mission
accomplished.

As I said I can understand the strategy, of hanging in, while trying
to put things in place to be able to compete. I just have to wonder,
at what point does it become a business plan?

Both Front Row Racing, & Tommy Baldwin have used the S & P
at times due to economic necessity, but are now racing full time.
More power to them, the only problem is that due to funding, &
the mega-teams. Both programs are mired mostly in the 30's.
Dave Blaney was in line for a good finish at Daytona, until
he was wrecked by Kurt Busch. He steered clear of Kurt at
Talladega, & was able to pull off a third. Got interviewed on
TV afterward. Had to have been a real boost for the team,
as well as Golden Corral, whose Kids Eat Free, promotion
kicked in.

Front Row has both of their cars, the 34, & 38 locked in for the
first 5 races on the new season.

Tommy Baldwin also has the 36 locked in, & is trying to get
the 35 up to speed. I do find Geoffrey Bodine a curious choice
but sounds like he's bringing a little money, & for these teams
money not only talks, it screams.

Kevin Buckler's TRG Racing has come up short, finishing
the season 36th in owners points. Any time teams that really
show up to race, fall out of the top 35, as the 71 did. They
are then subject to being out qualified by the S & P cars.
Thus making it likely that they stay mired below the magic
35th place. Making it that much harder to come up with even
a one race sponsor, much less landing a full season deal.

I'm not meaning to imply that the cars that come to race are in any
better than the S & P teams, quality wise. In fact Joe Nemechek, if he
were to get a little backing, could easily be a solid mid 20's place car.
He regularly qualified well, up among cars with much better backing.
He didn't get the nick name Front Row Joe, for nothing.

For the 71 team next season, finishing 46th shouldn't really be a problem
because of 4 qualified teams going away. At least 2, the 33, & 6, probably
will keep their points & run Daytona. The 33, probably with Austin Dillon,
& the 6, maybe with Ricky Stenhouse. That would leave the slots from the
2 Red Bull cars. So the 71 & 7 should move up based on their finishes.
But this being NA$CAR, & NA$CAR being all about $$$. These spots will
go to the highest bidder, rather than to the next in line. Kevin & Robby
could well end up with them, but they're going to have to pay.

With the shrinkage next year, there will be more opportunities for S & P
teams. Cars are available at bargain rates. Plenty of drivers, with Cup experience,
& skills to get them in the field, & who can blame them?

That begs the question, how many S & P teams are too many?
Next year, instead of 6, we could see 9 or 10.

Here's what I'd really like to see happen. NASCAR could cut the field to 40,
& the 3 less cars would never be missed. Then make the same payout that they
had when the field was at 43. The last thing I'm trying to do is to allow
NASCAR, or Bruton to put more money in their pockets.

In a season when we've lost 4 quality cars, do we really need 4 more field
fillers running around, even if they could get them all to race?
As the field gets weaker, the top 35 rule makes less, & less sense.
The timing is perfect to dump this turkey.

If another of the cuts were to be the past champions provisional,
well I could live with that too.

For an average race this should give them around $200K to work with.
Graduate the money to raise the purse on the bottom third, to help the
teams that need help the most.

Even better would be a pay structure with a straight graduation from
1st, to last, but I'm we'll probably never see that.

For example, at Talladega, Michael Waltrip finished 9th. His payout was
$83,500. Carl finished 11th, his was $128.866. Some of this pay structure
is a holdover from the days when NASCAR promoted 60-70 races a year, & was to induce the top cars to show up. How long ago did that ship sail?

To make sure the money goes where it does the most good, ANY car that falls
out before half way, without a verifiable reason would have their payout cut
by half. In other words, it would no longer be cost effective to S & P.

I want to see the payouts raised, I just hate to see someone like Kevin
Conway who in 3 races, ran 4 laps total, & in each, collected within
500. of what someone got for running the entire race. That's just wrong.
In a perfect world, I'd love to see all cars start that be capable of
winning.

Racing is not a perfect world. Never was, never will be. I'd just like see
NASCAR help the teams that are really trying & stop subsidizing the ones
that just show up to take the money & run. Run for home that is.

Random Ramblings

2011-12-18T17:05:00.001-05:00

By John "Dawg" Chapman

Overall I think this season ranks as one of the more interesting in recent
years.

Week to week, the actual racing wasn't always spectacular, but the variety
of winners was quite refreshing.

Starting with Daytona, just like last year, we were treated to another
"feel good" surprise winner. While most everyone else was focusing on
Trevor Bayne. I must confess, I was focusing on the Wood Brothers.
This is a team that I greatly admire, for a variety of reasons.

Their history, the fact that they haven't resorted to starting, &
parking, & they haven't given up. What's not to like? The same goes for
Trevor Bayne. I've said that the racing wasn't always exciting, & that goes
in spades for the plate tracks, Daytona included.

If not for a rule infraction, David Ragan probably would have been the
winner. It was like Trevor just ran out of anyone to push, & sort of had
the win thrust upon him. David's ill advised move, is right up there with

Marcos Ambrose's fuel conservation move at Infineon. If David hadn't

changed lanes early & had won. He & UPS would have both basked in

the glow of a big win. He'd probably still have UPS, his ride, & a lot of

hardworking people at Roush, would still have their jobs. Funny how

things work out.

From The Department Of Meaningless Statistics
(I think modeled after Monty Pythons Department of Silly Walks.)

After every plate race, the talking heads are quick to point out how many
lead changes there were. This is usually followed up with articles from

outlets with a vested interest. Such as nascar.com, & NASCAR's TV partners.
All this really tells us is with this tango style racing, anyone can be pushed

to the lead. That is, if they're not scared to be up front. Come on guys, give us

a little credit here. We're not as gullible as you think we are. If you're going to tout something, make sure it has some relevance.

Thinking of rather meaningless things, brings my next topic to mind.

Andy Lally wins Rookie of the Year!

Last years winner was Kevin Conway. No slight on Andy intended.

He's a strong driver with a great resume in sports cars. Kevin managed

to log laps, & bring his cars home in one piece, though usually 4-5 laps down.
I do have one question. Who'd they beat out to win?

Thirty seven year old Dale Junior has a girlfriend & it's considered news.
I don't know about you, but I find this just a tad on the strange side.

Way to go, Furniture Row.

I really don't care what NASCAR says, or how much they hype it.
The Daytona 500 will never be the biggest race, as far as I'm concerned.
it will always be the Southern 500. This is the granddaddy of them all.
At the track too tough to die. Despite NASCAR's best efforts to kill it.
They took it's date. They took it's race, (at least they got the name back.)
This track is about as far from Cookie Cutter, as you can get.
This was my feel good story of the year. Well done guys.

We had a number of races decided on fuel mileage. Put me down as one
of the fans who think these fuel mileage races SUCK! NASCAR, (& they're

not the only ones) have been known to resort to a caution when they feel

that a race needs help. I'd dearly love to see them be honest,& up front about it.

Why not just throw a competition caution with 25 laps to go if it looks like fuel is going to be an issue.

Make it a timed stop. Give them 25 seconds, for final adjustments, fuel,
& tires. Then line them back up in the order they were running. Anyone

exceeding the time limit would go tailback. This would take out the fuel

& tire strategy. Then the race could be decided the way all races ought to

be decided. They could just race, & may the best car, & driver win. Sure

it's contrived, but with phantom debris cautions, the Chase, & the Top 35 Rule.

We're pretty much conditioned to contrived by now.

For the second year, we had a driver, out with a mysterious medical
condition. Last year Brian Vickers, this year Trevor Bayne.
Thankfully, both were resolved satisfactorily.

Speaking of Brian Vickers, Usually when a driver knows in advance that
he's losing his ride. The remaining time becomes an audition.
Brian appeared to have been auditioning for a ride in a demolition derby.

I expect that the Busch Brats, have been at this sibling rivalry for a very
long time. This season they seemed to be in a "can you top this"
competition. Back in the day, when the "Battling Bodines” were going at it.

They kept it in the family. If the Busch Brats were on that program, I think

the TV ratings would go up enough that sponsors would be coming out of the

woodwork, everyone would still have rides, & jobs. Instead they took their

frustrations out on everyone around them. How'd that work out guys?

Personally, I think Sprout won, but Baby Face is out of his ride. By mutual

agreement, he hastens to add, go figure.

One thing that struck me is that Dr. Jerry is a much more tolerant person
than I am. Was it just me, or did anyone else sense just the slightest note
of insincerity in Richard's apology? As a watch collector, I did admire his
attention to detail.

Note to NASCAR collectors, items from teams the Busch Brats have
been fired from could make an interesting collection. For as talented as

they are, they sure get around. Baby Face's Shell 22 stuff is probably on

super close out. Your chance for a good buy, from the good bye.

I seem to remember a song lyric, about "One being the loneliest number." If
Earnhardt- Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (what a mouthful, somebody's
not pulling their weight in that outfit) doesn't get their act together. They & Jamie

might find out how lonely it really is. They've made some changes, I just hope

they're enough. Next year could be very important for them.

I really admire the teams on limited budgets that show each week, to
actually race. Usually for not much more prize money than the S & P
teams take home for their 20 laps or so. I'd love to see these teams form
some kind of alliance along the lines of the old RAD, (Richard Childress,
Andy Petree, & Dale Earnhardt.) To share information, test results, etc.
This would allow all of them to do more with less. The big drawback to
anything like this actually happening, is the top 35 rule. As long as this is in

place they'd have a tough time working together. With such an alliance in

place, it should give them a better shot to out qualifying the S & P teams.

Junior wins most popular driver award. The Sun came up in the east,
this morning. Neither was much of a surprise.

Well, the Crew Chief Silly Season chips have mostly all fallen.
Still hearing rumbles about Zippy. Seems a little late for this to happen,
but as we saw with Darien Grubb, anything's possible. Be interesting to see how things shake out for all the new combinations.

As of this writing, the hot rumor is that Baby Face maybe picked up by
RPM. Haven't read too much about this from the King himself.
After what he's been through with his last partner, I'd hate to see
anyone thrust on him that he doesn't want. Richard's so straight laced
that he didn't even run the Busch Beer contingency sticker on his car,
& was thus ineligible for the Busch Clash for pole winners.
He & the elder brat would seem an odd mix. One other thing to be
considered is Ford. He dropped the brand like a bad habit when he
was the their defending Champion. Sometimes something that didn't
seem all that important at the time could come back to haunt him.

Well, I've done it. Missed another Snowball Derby. After I promised myself
this was the year. Guess I'll have to fall back on the Cub fans annual
refrain, "wait 'till next year". Bummer.

The Hot Seat

2011-12-11T12:00:00.000-05:00

By Dawg Chapman

Unless you're like the guy in the insurance commercial, & live under a rock.
Just why this guy would need insurance always puzzled me, but you get
the idea.

Then you know that as of this writing, a winning Cup seat just become
available, on very short notice. This came about because of a mutual
agreement between Penske, Shell, & Kurt Busch. This strikes me as pretty
significant, because it's probably the only time Bush has been agreeable the
entire season. In a few short months, I'm going to agree to pay my taxes.
It's pretty much the same deal, I expect.

This has to be considers a real serendipitous stroke of luck. Just when some
name drivers had pretty much given up hope of landing a quality ride for 2012,
& were sifting through the available rides. Looking, I'm sure for something
that offered a glimmer of turning into something more than another year of
just hanging on in Cup.

The names most often mentioned are David Reagan, Brian Vickers, David
Reutimann, & Sam Hornish Jr. It's a shame that Clint Bowyer had settled for a seat owned by in his words, "the worst driver in NASCAR." Hmmm, I wonder if there's anything like the "10 second rule" applying to NASCAR contracts? Maybe it could be annulled like a marriage that was never consummated. I really like Clint, but I'll
be unable to pull for him as long as he's driving for Super Shill, but I digress.

One thing that I noticed, was that Elliott Sadler's name was never
mentioned.

I do have a few fantasy picks, & I'm sure you probably do too.

I'd love to see Bobby Labonte, in a good car again. This isn't a put down
of the 47, but as a single car team, they have lots of room for improvement.
Getting out from under Super Shill's umbrella is a good first step, but there's
a lot more steps to be taken before they get to where they want to be. I doubt
Bobby's got time to make the trip. Terry got a similar chance with Hendrick,
late in his career & picked up a second Championship, as a result. Who knows,
maybe lightning could strike twice?

Another good choice, & my personal favorite, would be Robby Gordon.
After 6 Busch years, (sort of like dog years) having Robby on board,
would seem a lot less difficult. Robby's been plowing pretty rocky ground
the last couple of years, & might have a different outlook on being a
little more of an organization man now.

One spot that's empty in Robby's crowded trophy case is for the Indy 500.
If an Indy seat were part of the deal. This could be the perfect win, win
situation for all involved. Another plus that Robby could bring, would be
a ton of very loyal, hard core fans. Way more than any of the other drivers
being considered.

It's no secret, that I think Dave Blaney has been on the short end of
the stick, his NASCAR entire career. I'd dearly love to see what he
could do in a top ride. Again, no disrespect to the 36. I'm happy that
Dave's got a full time ride, that is actually able to race, but...well, you
know.

At this time, it looks like David Ragan his the inside track on the ride,
& of the drivers most mentioned, he's probably the best choice.
One thing is certain, he'll never embarrass the organization, or the
sponsor the way Kurt did.

Whoever ends up in the seat next season, is going to find it a
"hot seat." They're not going to measure up to the criteria that
Shell wants in a driver, so it's sounding like they will be on a one
year contract.

When you consider the alternatives, any driver that's offered the ride,
will jump at the deal. But they need to consider it a year long try out,
& a year like they had this year won't cut it.

Another driver who's in a pretty hot seat, would be Kyle.
I really think both of the Busch Brats should be looking for work
now, but neither his sponsor, or owner was willing to take that
step.....Yet.

I've said several times that "I don't see Kyle as a candy salesman."
One more embarrassing temper tantrum, & Mars/M & M may well
come to the same conclusion.

You can conact Dawg HERE

Yes Virginia, There Is A Consequence

2011-12-05T21:52:00.000-05:00

By John "Dawg" Chapman

Well, the already long NASCAR unemployment queue just got longer by one
person.

While my heart goes out to the hundreds of crew, or more correctly, former crew members, & their families who are looking at not only a bleak holiday season. But most probably a pretty bleak future in their chosen field as well. We've all heard the phrase, "you'll never work in this town again", for many this could be true.

These are people who have worked incredibly long, & hard to put the very best car, or truck, on the track each & every week, & have done it for pride, rather than just for a paycheck. While some of these skills are transferrable to other jobs. It will never be the same. These folks are unemployed, through no fault of their own.

The same can't be said of the latest person to join that sad line. Kurt pretty much volunteered, to join. I'm going to have a really hard time working too much sympathy for him. He does have something few others in line possess. He's got talent, but that's not it. Everyone in line has talent, or they wouldn't have been there in the first place. What he has is a very fat wallet to soften the blow.He's not going to have to worry about the house, & car, payments. The kids orthodontist, or all those other things that most of his neighbors in line have to deal with.

This whole deal reminds me of the Billy Joel song, Somewhere Along the Line.

"I knew that there'd be hell to pay,
when the fun falls through,
& the rent comes due.
Somewhere along the line"

The difference between Kurt, & the guy in the song, was that the song Dude, (& no, I'm not talking about Mr. Penske) knew that the day of reckoning was coming. I seriously doubt that Kurt had figured that out. When you've always gotten a pass, why would you expect anything else? He will have his own unique worries to deal with.

Do I think that Kurt will never have another steady Cup ride? No I don't think that at all. Of all the words that have been written about the brothers Busch. No one has ever questioned their talent. Do I think that he's just left his last really competitive ride? Obviously, the jury's still out on that, & it's way too soon to tell, but I do know this.When "A" company signs on as sponsor, the driver becomes the face of the company.Without a solid sponsor, all that is available to any driver is the "shirt tail" rides. I'd say at this point, it's pretty much a coin flip.

The net, is like print books. Once it's out there, it's pretty much always out there. If anyone cares to look, it can be found.You can bet that when Kurt, or an owner approaches any corporation for sponsorship. That corporation is going to look at everything they can find on him, as they would, & should for any driver.What they'll find on the social networks, is not some bleeped out network footage. Sanitized for the kiddies, but exactly what he said, & what he said,was way beyond what most corporations want to be associated with. I expect these things are far from done, biting him in the butt.

As of now, Kyle has a distinct advantage, with his deal because his current sponsor, Mars/M&M is not a public company, so the family can make a decision & not have to worry about blowback from stockholders. Kurt's not so lucky.

Either way, I think we can safely say, for Kurt. "The fun's fallen through and the rent's come due."

We tend to focus on the drivers, & Crew Chiefs, because we have names & faces, but don't forget about all the other NASCAR folks in line ahead of Kurt.

The off season might indeed be short, but for these families, there's no new season coming up. With highly specialized job skills, in a very weak job market, it could be a long cold winter.

You can contact Dawg HERE

Tony Bought Zippy A Corvette by John "Dawg" Chapman

2011-12-01T14:11:00.001-05:00

As a thank you, after his second NASCAR Championship in '05. Tony bought
then Crew Chief, Greg Zipadelli a Corvette. A nice gesture indeed.

For his third, & perhaps his finest he gives Darien a pink slip. I'm not talking about a pink slip, as in car title. This pink slip as in the kind every worker dreads finding in his pay envelope. Oops, kind of dated myself, in this day of direct deposit didn't I? Trust me, you didn't want to find one. The more I learn about this deal, the less I understand. There has to be more to this than meets the eye, & we may never know the whole story.

Earlier this season Bobby Hutchens was let go from his job as director of
competition. With the season that Stewart-Haas had to that point, I can kind of
understand this move. We all know that Steve Addington has come on board as Tony's new Crew Chief. As of now, no announcement has been made about the director of competition.

Normally in sports, when someone gets fired. The next person brought in has some time & latitude to turn things around. The St. Louis Cardinals won the world series about the same way Tony won his Championship. Pretty average to below average season. Killer post season. Tony La Russa elected, (as opposed to being fired) to retire on top. Both La Russa's retirement, & Darien Grubb's firing, are fairly unprecedented.

As neither of these teams need turning around. Both Mike Matheny, the Cards new manager, & Steve Addington are stepping into Championship spots. They better hit the ground running.

Speaking of thank you gifts, kind of makes me wonder what Tony's going to give to Jeff Burton. In the closing laps at Phoenix, as Carl was trying in vain, to run Kasey Kahne down for the win. Tony was also trying to catch Jeff Burton for 3rd. The announcers made reference to this, but it wasn't shown on screen. On the crawl at the conclusion we could see that Tony was able to move into 3rd, thus maintaining the 3 point separation he had going in.

From writers who were there, we later found out that Jeff, loyal Chevy team member that he is. Had allowed Tony to get by, thus gaining what ultimately proved to be the Championship winning point.

I'm not going to rag on this, it's up to each fan to decide how they feel about it. Ford kind of opened this door at Talladega, so I suppose it was tit for tat. I must admit to being a little uncomfortable with the way things came down at Talladega, as well as Phoenix.

The manufactures have their own Championship. Chevy won again, this time clinching at Kansas. I do wish they'd stick to their own Championship, & leave the drivers Championship, to the drivers, but I suppose that's too much to ask in the $$$ charged world of NA$CAR. Oh well, I can always dream.

At Talladega, the maneuvering certainly didn't help Jeff Gordon, but it didn't cost him the Championship either. At Phoenix Jeff Burton's help, or interference, depending on your outlook. Most definitely cost Carl the Championship. Tony still needed to win, & to his, & Darien's credit he did. But given Carl's finish, without that all important point, winning wouldn't have been enough.

Either way, it was by far the best Chase that we've seen. As good as it was, it still wasn't enough to win me over.

You can contact Dawg HERE.

Sanity?, RGM 2nd Hummer, Lotus, Cotton Owens, & More

2011-12-01T12:16:00.000-05:00

RGM Fielding 2^nd Hummer for Dakar Rally

　
Robby Gordon is fielding a second Hummer for the Dakar Rally with 2011 Dakar Champion Nasser Al-Attiyah as the driver.

Sanity?
　
You have to wonder what Stewart is thinking by firing his championship crew chief Darian Grubb. When was the last time a Super Bowl winning football team dumped their coach? When was the last time a race team owner fired a championship winning crew chief? It really makes you wonder if maybe Tony needs to be taking some medication.
　
Of course, by hiring Addington, he’s hiring a crew chief who is use to being abused and berated by the likes of the Busch brothers. So that is one plus in his favor.
　
Maybe Darian should go have a chat with another Floyd VA native Jeff Agnew about being his crew chief on Jeff’s Truck Series team? It may not have the glory of being a Cup team but they’d get the support of a lot of the county’s 14,000 residents.
　

Jimmy Clark's 1965 Lotus Type 38
Lotus Advantage for DW12 Car
　
It seems that with the rear weight problems that seem to be occurring with the DW12 car that IndyCar is testing, Lotus may have a decided advantage. They produced an engine that is lighter than both the Honda and GM engines. This could give the returning Lotus a handling advantage on both the ovals and road courses. As it stands right now, the GM and Honda powered cars don’t seem to do that well on the oval tracks because of the weight issues and lack of thrust. So this could make Lotus the king of the oval tracks.
　
Speaking of Lotus, it was announced that Simona Di Silvestro will be sporting the traditional Lotus colors next season. That should bring back a few memories for those of us who remember the glory days of Lotus with Jimmy Clark at the wheel.
　

DROP AND GIVE ME 20 MAGGOT!
Perfect Crew Chief for Busch Brothers
　
Considering the amount of abuse the crew chiefs for the Busch brothers have taken, I think I’ve figured out who would be the perfect crew chief for them. Retired Marine Gunnery Sergeant R. Lee Ermey. He wouldn’t take any lip off of either of them and would break them down into nice, polite, civilized human adults instead of their current status of spoiled brats. I can just hear him telling Schrubbery, ”Drop and give me 20 maggot!”. He might not win a race as a crew chief but he’d win some hearts and minds in the garage and the grandstands.
　
The Hype Has Already Faded
　
The championship hasn’t even been decided a week and already the hype is fading from not only the lamestream media but also NA$CAR’s controlled, Kool Aid drinking media. What does that really say about the significance of not just Stewart’s win but of NA$CAR overall?
　
Interesting Coincidence
　
We had 5 championships in a row won by a convicted felon team owner. This season, the championship was won by a convicted felon team co-owner who bought cars from the convicted felon team owner.
　
And while the convicted felon co-owner was serving his time, who was given stewardship of his team and made some major mistakes in paying personnel and their federal income taxes? The same convicted felon team owner that he buys generic race vehicles from.
　

Another Coincidence?
　
With the comparisons of NA$CAR being like the WWE on the rise since 2003 and having WWE Hall of Famer Sgt Slaughter as the Grand Marshal for the Busch Series race at Homestead, you really have to wonder. By having Sgt Slaughter as the Grand Marshal, it confirms to some folks that NA$CAR is “in bed” so to speak with the WWE. The scripts for the races being too close to the scripts being used by the WWE.
　
If you look at Tony Stewart’s wins in the Chase for the Chumps, it’s much too close to the classic Hulk Hogan script. And the Homestead race was even more like the classic Hulk Hogan script. Tony started good then went back to 40^th after some repairs were made. And like Hogan after being beat down by his opponent, Tony makes the miraculous recovery and goes on to win the race in much the same way Hogan would suddenly finds a reserve of strength to come back and beat his opponent in the ring.
　
So you have to wonder. Will Vince McMahon be the Grand Marshal for the 2012 WWE, I mean 2012 Daytona 500?

Good Luck Dustin Long
　
I don’t know how many folks have read Dustin’s work over the years but the paper he works for just decided to downsize and eliminated his position just like a lot of other newspapers have done. While he still has his job writing an occasional article for Sports Illustrated, he won’t be going back to his normal newspaper reporting. I may not have always agreed with what Dustin wrote, just like folks don’t always agree with me, but he did a good job of reporting and was innovative with his own fan council, Backseat Drivers Fan Council, in using their ideas and opinions to show what the fans truly thought about what was happening on the track unlike the NA$CAR fan council which is nothing more than a marketing research operation. Hopefully a major news operation will snap Dustin up so he can continue with his reporting of NA$CAR and use his ideas to really get a true feel of what race fans think.
　
A Little Bit of History
　
I don’t know how many folks have watched the movie “The Last American Hero” with Jeff Bridges, a movie based loosely on the life of Junior Johnson, but go back and have another look at it. You’ll see Jeff “driving” the #00 car. The car is actually Busch Series Champion Sam Ard’s car.
　
And speaking of Sam Ard, he and his wife are still in need of help. If you can help them out with donations or can do some repairs on their house, it would be greatly appreciated.
　

Going Bananas
　
I hope the Charlotte tourism folks aren’t thinking that Chiquita moving into the office building next to the NA$CAR Hall of Fantasies is going to get them off the hook financially with the Charlotte taxpayers. Do they really think the Chiquita folks will go bananas over being next to the HOF and spend all their free time visiting it? Plus the tax breaks that Chiquita will get, rumored to be between 50%-90%, isn’t really going to endear them to the Charlotte taxpayers either although it will result in some jobs with the company. Know matter how you slice it, the HOF is a financial disaster for the taxpayers of Charlotte and will never see any black ink.
　
RCR Auctioning Off #33 Team Equipment
　
With the #33 team officially shut down, RCR is using Iron Horse Auction Company to sell off the equipment from the #33 team. This is also the same company used by Jeremy Mayfield to sell off his race team gear and equipment along with some personal property. I hope RCR isn’t planning to get a lot of money off of the Camry’s Of Today they’ll be selling. No other racing series uses them and Mayfield was only able to get about $8500 for one of the generic race vehicles he had for sale. That’s less than what teams get for the old “Twisted Sister” cars which usually pull in at between $10,000-$30,000.
　

Racing Great Battling Cancer
　
Both Cotton Owens, legendary owner & driver, and his wife are both battling cancer right now. So if you can add them to your prayers or keep them in your thoughts it would be appreciated.
　
IndyCar Viewership & Attendance Up 2 Years in a Row
　
While NASCAR has been beating their chest over the fact that their races TV ratings were up but nowhere what they were in 2008, IndyCar’s viewership was up 28% overall. Race attendance was up 22%. Compare this to what we’ve seen NA$CAR do this past season with attendance being off at the majority of its tracks and ratings. Up 3% for BSPN/ABC, 16% for TNT, and 9% on Focks.
　
The attendance figures for NA$CAR that have been released can’t be trusted as we’ve seen races claimed to be sell-outs had ¼-½ their seats empty plus tracks removing seating or changing their seating to give fans more room. Bruton reports an 8.8% decrease in attendance through September 2011 when compared to the same time in 2010 according to the SEC filings. I$C has an 8.7% decrease in attendance in comparison to the same time in 2010.
　
“INDYCAR had one of its strongest years in growth on TV and in live audience in 15 years on the last year of our current car. We believe that the new car along with Honda, Chevy and Lotus coming into the IZOD INDYCAR Series will help the sport show positive momentum for 2012” said Randy Bernard, IndyCar’s head honcho. I predicted that IndyCar’s new car, the DW12, would increase their TV ratings several months back and it seems to be reflected in Bernard’s opinion. I guess we’ll see what happens next season.
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　

Silly Season by John "Dawg" Chapman

2011-11-24T11:34:00.000-05:00

When I hear the term Silly Season, I tend to think of Adam Sandler, or
Jim Carrey movies. Maybe Happy Gilmore, or Liar, Liar, now that's what I think of as silly.

This years so called Silly Season on the other hand, reminds me more of
Nightmare on Elm Street, any of the Halloween movies, of maybe The
Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Particularly for anyone unfortunate enough to be involved, with the exception of Cousin Carl, it's been much more scary, than silly.

After Carl re-signed with Roush. That left Clint Bowyer as the top prospect. I have to admit that I was surprised when he didn't re-sign with RCR. After flirtations with several teams, I again have to admit to being shocked, when it came out that he was going to Michael Waltrip Racing. The top free agent going to a third tier team. What's up with that? Either he’s completely sold out, for money. Giving up on contending for wins, & making the Chase, or this was absolutely the only thing out there. I expect it was the latter. Joining this team, puts a driver on the fast track to mediocrity. Just ask Martin Truex. The scary thing about this is that his departure won't leave a vacant seat to fill.

While I'm thinking of Super Shill Racing, right on the heels of getting all their crew chiefs, & car chiefs tossed for the rest of the season. For yet another cheating incident, (I wonder when this is going to become too much of an embarrassment for the Japanese?)

They drop a bomb on the only driver to ever win for them.
Letting David Reutiman know by phone, (what a classy move) that he was
being kicked to the curb. This was apparently sponsor related. If Mikey is having sponsor issues that's really scary for everyone else. I think he even sleeps in the chicken suit. With only 3 races left, David's got about as much chance landing another Cup ride for next year, as I do. This is about like your prom date calling & telling you she's going with someone else. Just as you're starting the car to pick her up.

While he's in no danger of losing his ride, Matt Kenseth is losing his
sponsor, & as yet doesn't have anything else nailed down. This is about as scary as seeing someone in a hockey mask come up behind you as you wait for a bus on a dark corner. Matt not only made the Chase, but was in the thick of it, until Martinsville. Former Champion, multiple winner this season, great driver, all around nice guy. This just shouldn't be happening.

David Ragan isn't so lucky. UPS has decided to cut back from being a
full-time sponsor, & is switching to Carl. He's probably looking at dropping down to the Nationwide series at best. He says he "want's a competitive ride, wherever it is." Sorry David, these are all pretty much nailed down even in Nationwide.

Red Bull announced that they were going to use those wings, to fly out
of NASCAR. That's two cars gone, one of them would have had an open seat. Jay Fry has been trying to put something together to save the team, but if it hasn't happened by now. I don't expect it to. I'm not privy to any inside information, but I haven't even heard a whisper of anything working for Brian Vickers. If he did have any nibbles, Martinsville can't have helped his case.

Another scary aspect to this is that deserving Nationwide drivers like
Justin Allgaier, Brian Scott, Ricky Stenhouse, as well as Trevor Bayne,
have no place to go.

It wasn't long ago that Roush had to cut a team, because of the 4 care
rule. Now they will be down to 3. One of them unsponsored, as of now.
Childress from 4 to 3. Red Bull from 2 to gone.

Look out NASCAR, check out that guy behind you. He has real long fingernails, is wearing a hockey mask, & carrying a chainsaw.

This can't bode too well for you long term.

Dawg

You can contact Dawg HERE jj905@centurytel.net

　

Homestead Press Conference Transcript

2011-11-20T15:24:00.002-05:00

For those of you who missed Faux King Brian’s Homestead press conference, here are the official transcripts regarding the press conference. You’ll notice that instead of getting to pat himself on the back for the poor job he’s done this season, he spends a good chunk of his time being questioned about the Double Secret Probation Fines that have been issued and does a poor job of defending the the Double Secret Probation Fines. One little fib. he states there has been nothing in place to punish people saying bad things about NA$CAR. There has been something in place since the days of his grandfather Bill France Sr. It's called "blackballing" somebody. More recently, when KuBu made some comments about the officials when he was driving the #97 car, his hard card was pulled which meant KuBu had to sign in every time he went to a track. A member of the television media questioned some decisions of NA$CAR and was KuBu's sign-in buddy as his hard card was also pulled.

So put on your hipwaders and have your air sickness bags at the ready.

BRIAN FRANCE: Good afternoon, everyone. I would say a couple of things that I've said before in previous get-togethers with the media. That obviously we think the season has gone very well. TV ratings, attendance, still some issues, depending on what market you're talking about.

Obviously, the economy continues to weigh heavily on the sponsorship component of our sport. We rely more on sponsorships than anybody in sports, so that obviously has an effect on us.

But the quality of racing throughout the year, the emphasis on winning that we keep adjusting to, I think is undeniably it is paying dividends. I would also say one thing about that. There was some wisdom or conventional wisdom some time ago that if you put more on the line, you put more emphasis on winning in Motorsports, that that wouldn't make a big difference because they're all out racing as hard as they can every lap, and it wouldn't make that big of a difference. And that's not true. We now know that's just not true.

When there is more on the line, you're seeing every weekend Tony Stewart and Carl, and everybody elevate and their entire teams are elevating their performance and the competition gets better when that happens. You saw that last year with Denny and Jimmie.

So naturally we're going to continue to look at the point system in a way that -- and the other portions of how we regulate and conduct the events, with an emphasis on just that.

But one more thing as this weekend unfolds, and naturally we're all excited because we're fans too, to watch and see what happens on Sunday. But the other thing that is happening in the marketplace is some really, really good things.

We held a Green Summit for the first time in Miami Beach yesterday. Had a number of companies that are doing some really, really great things in our industry - they're environmentally smart and productive - share their experiences. And we had a lot of new companies that were interested in what NASCAR was up to in the space where their technologies and their emphasis is. So they joined us as well.

My hope is that we'll continue to march down that road and get better and smarter and we'll attract more companies as a result of that.

Then just this morning, we awarded a $250,000 check to the Homestead Hospital in the Neonatal Care Center, trying to invest in the hospital as part of our NASCAR Foundation, and my mother and so on was there to present that.

In addition to an exciting weekend, the industry is really celebrating the fact that they're here in South Florida and doing some great things. So, with that, I'll be happy to take some questions.

Q. Brian, in particular light to your comments about the winning. Eight years ago Matt Kenseth won the championship before the Chase, had one win for the season which seemed to cause an uproar, and thus the Chase format was developed. Carl has an opportunity on Sunday to again win a championship with only one race week win in the entire season. Why should that be looked on any different as what Matt Kenseth did in 203?

BRIAN FRANCE: Because we didn't change the point system because somebody had one win or a few wins. That was never the emphasis. The emphasis was that we could create bigger moments if we had a more playoff style atmosphere as opposed to a complete consistency model in the years past. And we've achieved that goal, not all the time because it's obviously out of our control.

I would tell you the one win that Carl had might make the difference though. He only leads by three points. The one win in Las Vegas may well make the difference tomorrow. I don't know.

Clearly we cannot make winning the only thing. There are 43 teams racing at every weekend. So this is not -- however, we can make sure that we emphasize that. We can make sure that we reward that. And we're pretty happy that that translates into better racing.

Q:Not taking anything away from Jimmie's great accomplishments of five straight there. How much do you think an uptick of interest that there's been to have a new face fighting out for the championship this year?

BRIAN FRANCE: I don't know. But I do know that this will mark the end of one of the historic runs in all of sports with five consecutive championships. I would have never thought I would witness that.

Jimmie it's just a marvelous achievement, and Carl and Tony both are very popular, so they're creating new moments and we'll have to see how it all plays out.

Q. There's been an uptick in the television ratings. I'm wondering is that what you expected? Is that a slow surge to what you think will be more? Is it less than you thought it would be? What are you working on in the off-season that would be your main goals for next year?

BRIAN FRANCE: We've always said that ratings go up and down because of many, many things. The things we can control are showcasing the racing, telling our story, and giving the drivers some big moments to race for. That will help us. You never know how it all percentage- wise what really matters the most.

But we know that that's the NASCAR we want. We want to see these elevated performances, and they're just fun to watch. We want to see what's happened. I'm confident if we do that, and do a lot of other things, we will have better ratings and better attendance.

Q. NASCAR has fined, at least four times that we know of, drivers for disparaging remarks they've made, and NASCAR did not go public with those fines. Other leagues do. They do publicly say you can't talk about the officials. You can't talk about this or the league. Why does NASCAR take the position that these matters should be private and not public? Are there others that we don't know about?

BRIAN FRANCE: There could be. That's why they're private, right? Well, let me tell you what we've done in the last couple of years. In the last couple of years we've taken a position that drivers are going to be able to speak their mind and criticize the sport way more than any other sport would allow. So let's start with that.

However, there have to be some limits. We thought those limits were being exceeded in the last couple of years because you can't denigrate the sport. You just can't do that. We're not going to accept that.

You know what is interesting, almost every driver has come up to me at one time or another and said I'm glad you did that, because I don't like it when somebody just says something that is irresponsible about the sport.

Let me say one other portion of this. They are perfectly fine to criticize anything we do, any call we make. They can say they don't like it, they disagree with it. We didn't make the right call. That's fine. But we're not going to let anyone denigrate the sport, and that's going to continue.

Whether we make the fines public or private, we didn't see a benefit to making them public. If there is some benefit to that, we'll take a look at it. But that is the reasoning behind the penalties.

Q. But don't you think there is harm when it comes out after and fans take the stance of why did they do this in secret? What else are they doing in secret? In fact we're talking about secret fines today instead of your big game seven moment?

BRIAN FRANCE: That's up to you to what to write and be interested about. I can only tell you that I take every question. I never say no comment. I've explained it. If there's a better way -- sort of this idea that there are a bunch of things going on behind the curtain. We've never been more transparent. We've never had more of anything, and that is the way it should be.

If there's a benefit to announcing them to the public and the media, we'll take a look at them. We just didn't see a benefit at the time. Maybe there is a benefit.

Q. How much did the Kyle Busch situation at Texas concern you? How do you balance boys-have-at-it in retaliation with what appears to be a non-definitive line?

BRIAN FRANCE: That's not accurate. It was very concerning to all of us. There was a swift and very is he penalty on that as you know. There is a line and the drivers, and they may walk around and say sometimes that they're not clear about it, but they know the line.

We have these conversations with them all the time. What you've got to remember is this is a contact sport. So you're going to -- we thought a couple years ago that we were overregulating the events. We wanted to give more authority back in the drivers' hands, and that's been good for NASCAR.

But there is always a limit. You can't do anything you want. We will look at it. We talked to the drivers. If they're close to the line, we have a conversation that day. If they go over the line, we'll deal with that too.

So this idea that there is no -- nobody knows where the line is, not true. Not accurate.

Q. Brian, corporations all across the United States have been raising funds for the last years or so while you guys are looking for sponsorships. What is NASCAR doing to get corporate treasurers to open up the purse strings and become sponsors at a time when NASCAR really needs the employment?

BRIAN FRANCE: If the President of the United States is not getting them to do that, I'm not sure what we're going to be able to do to figure that out. But having said that, obviously we just held a green summit. We were doing things that attract new companies, new technology to validate in our sport. We're renewing a lot of companies, and some companies -- and it happens all the time, every year for us, will pull back their sponsorship or commitments or leave all together.

That is just the reality of having hundreds of companies involved in this sport. But we're working harder than ever with the teams and their business groups to tell the NASCAR story and the value that it brings to sponsors. We're having success with that.

I think if you ask the individual team owners, we've never had a more offensive strategy doing it together to bring in as many new companies as possible.

Q. After the test you ran this week in Daytona, what are the goals you're looking for for Daytona in February, and is one of them a virtual complete elimination of the tandem drafting? Is that one of the things you're after?

BRIAN FRANCE: It is one of the things we are after. We would prefer to eliminate tandem racing in the manner it exists today. There is no question about that. We are working on rolling back the clock to traditional Daytona, Talladega races. We'll have to see how that goes. I think the majority of fans would like to see that and so would we.

Q. You mentioned that you answer every question and you don't duck anything. There was a time when your grandfather and your father attended every race. They did these press conferences almost every Saturday or Sunday behind the hauler or whatever. We don't see you very often. We wonder why is it that you think the sport that you're not needed at every weekend or just why are you not around more often for these press deals?

BRIAN FRANCE: I frequently say, and I've said this before, if I thought that I was the last one out of every event and I turn the light off on the way out that that would grow the sport in some way, I would do it.

What we have is a different sport than it was 10, 15 years ago, and that's real clear. I don't publish my schedule, but it's pretty busy. We feel like we're managing the sport. We know we're managing the sport the best way that we need to to grow the sport.

Q. Could there come a time in the future where all the penalties are transparent? That they're all black and white so it can be reported as normal rather than just finding things out on the internet secondhand? Secondly, Bob earlier mentioned the Kyle Busch incident. Can you explain to me other than Brian Vickers' situation last week where he was not under caution as Kyle Busch was with Ron Hornaday at Texas, why Brian Vickers, something wasn't done about him when he, in fact, just came out of nowhere and plowed into Matt Kenseth for no apparent reason other than retaliation?

BRIAN FRANCE: Well, there is something being done about that. We're having a conversation about that, and they are very different circumstances. One was on a mile and a half track, a lot faster. One was under caution, which is very significant different.

Racing accidents under green are always subjective. Even though you may say this one wasn't, but typically there is always a debate about who went where. Ron Hornaday was racing for a championship, and you know we value that greatly.

So there are lots of differences. It doesn't mean though that we didn't think the line was almost met or somewhat close, whereby, we would have a conversation to explain that. We will be having a conversation with both Brian and Matt regarding really what happened in Martinsville the week before, which is a short track.

A lot of contact happened in that particular race. Like I said earlier, there is a line. The drivers know where the line is. If we should be guessing about that for some reason, we're happy to sit down and walk them through it.

Q. Ricky Stenhouse is probably going to win the Nationwide championship tomorrow. The decision NASCAR made to limit drivers to one championship run, has NASCAR gotten what they want out of that or is that policy going to be reviewed at any point?

BRIAN FRANCE: All policies are reviewed, but I think it's worked the way we want it to. We want to showcase the young drivers in their own series and still have the participation with drivers with a lot of experience. That's exactly what we've gotten.

I think it's been good for the young drivers to get some different notoriety. The honor and prestige of winning a championship and the money that comes with that and all the rest has been a good thing.

Q. Going back to the driver fines things. When you say you don't see a benefit to that, can you explain why there is no benefit to that? It would seem like if you're punishing somebody for disparaging the sport, you would want to let people know we're punishing this guy because we don't like what he said. In this room, you're monitoring social media, all the fans want to know more about it and want to understand why. It just feeds to the perception that you're an autocratic regime that doles out punishment in a capricious manner. Why would you not want to tell people here's why we're doing it?

BRIAN FRANCE: Sure. I'll explain it. We went for 50-something years and never had a system to fine anybody for disparaging remarks in the sport. We're the only sport on the planet that had that. So we simply really in the last couple of years changed that policy because we thought we needed to.

. So it's a new policy. It's not something that's been around for a long time. But like I said, we're happy to look at that in the off-season. See what benefit there would be. When it comes to social media, nobody is investing more, doing more, encouraging the drivers and everybody in the industry to participate on social media. Say what you want and all the rest.

So, you know, we ought not look at one policy and try to define how NASCAR approaches things.

Q. What's the primary benefit to not telling people? BRIAN FRANCE: The way we looked at it, what would be the benefit? The drivers know exactly what we're after. We have these annual meetings with them, right? And then we have semi-annual meetings with them, and we meet with them every weekend at the track. We have formal meetings in the off-season.

So they know exactly what we expect out of them. When they don't handle that, the only way we can control that is obviously a fining system. But look, don't panic over this. We'll look at it in the off-season, if we need to change it, we'll change it. Not a big deal.

Q. You mentioned earlier about the Chase format and that you're always adjusting. Is there a good chance that the Chase format will be tweaked yet again for the following season?

BRIAN FRANCE: It's possible. I don't know. We take those ideas throughout the year. We really look at them as carefully as we can. Then what we do is we run them past the team owners and drivers and other -- everybody else in the industry in the off-season before we would do anything, and that's exactly what we did last year going into this year.

We looked at all kinds of things and settled on this as a nice step forward to simplifying the point system. Hopefully getting what we have, which is a more competitive Chase, and we'll look at it again. I don't know where we'll end up.

Q. As far as the Chase goes, it's been a really exciting Chase. As far as when you came up with the idea of the chase and then you tweaked it. Did you expect that kind of result what do you feel about the future?

BRIAN FRANCE: I actually expected more years like this, frankly. I couldn't imagine somebody as incredibly dominating as Jimmie has been in a five-year run, so you have to give him an enormous amount of credit.

But our expectation is that given the balance of things that we have 43 cars at every event and given the nature of auto racing and how it unfolds and some of the traditions that you have to obviously respect, I think the current system and more tweaks will always come and we'll just have to see what they are.

Q. We're here for the first time actually, so we're growing interesting in NASCAR covering, and I would like you to talk about the growing of NASCAR in other countries than the USA, like Brazil with Nelson Piquet and Miguel Paludo?

BRIAN FRANCE: I think it's great. I was in Mexico City Wednesday and Thursday working on that very issue. We've got an Hispanic driver from Mexico running in the truck race this weekend. Our diversity program focusing on that.

So any time we are able to attract a talented driver, Juan Pablo being an example or anyone else, I think that broadens up the sport. Makes us more relevant to whatever home country that they're from, and we view that as a very good thing.

Q. Specifically in terms of what Brad said as far as EFI goes, what was it about that that NASCAR thought crossed the line? It wasn't a case of what Denny did in impugning the integrity of the sanctioning body, but more or less expressing opinion on the technological direction of the sport at that particular point. Could you at least elaborate on that?

BRIAN FRANCE: I can't elaborate on that because we didn't issue a public fine on that. You can read into what people say just like I can. When you cross a line that denigrates the direction of the sport or the quality of the racing, we're not going to accept that. Not going to accept it.

Happy to have any other criticism, any other complaint, happy to hear them all. If I own a restaurant and I say you know what, the food in my restaurant is not very good, we're not going to accept it. It's as simple as that.

Q. In light of that, will you be issuing a secret fine to Jaime Allison of Ford Motor Company for saying almost the exact same thing as Brad Keselowski did this week?

BRIAN FRANCE: Jaime Allison doesn't participate in NASCAR. I mean, he does in his corporate role, but come on.

Q. Sort of following up on that. One of the problems with the EFI, the electronic fuel injection topic, I think is the economy's bad and it's going to be expensive or be another expense. I think that's what Brad was talking about and we've been talking about in here and engine builders have been talking about. It is an extra expense at a bad time. Is it something that could be postponed for another year or so? Does it have to be right now?

BRIAN FRANCE: Well, we announced it several years ago. These are not the things that you can just pull off the shelf and put them back on and off. We have agreements with suppliers that have to be met.

You've got to remember why are we doing that? Because we want to be more relevant to the car manufacturers and other green technologies as well. We always said that we will do that in a balanced way. We're not going to be like some other divisions around the world that are heavily emphasized on that on technology.

But we're going to have to do more than we did in the past. It's not because we feel like doing it or want to put additional costs on anyone, but because they're accepting a lot of money from the car manufacturers, and that's what's under the hood on cars today, and we have to be mindful of that as we make policy.

The Cost of Progress, Follow the Money, & Assorted Odds & Ends

2011-11-16T18:35:00.000-05:00

NA$CAR EFI Versus Carburetor: The Cost of Progress

Just to give folks an idea on what the costs are of a team converting from a Holley 850 cfm carb to NA$CAR’s obsolete EFI (actually TBI) system, I went to my sources on the cost of the antiquated fuel injection system being passed off as new technology and checked the Holley web site. The carb which is currently being used cost the teams about $600 a piece. The mandated obsolete fuel injection system that NA$CAR is forcing down the teams throats, and only available from NA$CAR, will cost the teams $25,200 each. That’s 42 times what the carb cost. Don’t get me wrong here. NA$CAR “technology” does need to advance to the 21^st century. And fuel injection is one of those items. But not obsolete 1980’s technology. Manufacturers are moving towards direct fuel injection systems and turbo charging their engines. And as to the cost, I’m using Holley as an example once again, there are competitive systems built by Holley that come in well under $25,200. They come in well under the $15,000 range. Why aren’t teams given the option to use these systems? If it’s going to save them a buck in these hard economic times, I’m all for it. But then I keep forgetting. If they bought from Holley or another manufacturer, the wallets of NA$CAR wouldn’t be lined with team money like they are from the model car kit they currently sell to the teams (batteries not included). Based on Rick Hendrick’s figure on what the Kit Car cost him and add in the cost of the fuel injection system, the cars cost over $500,000 a piece. A half million dollars. That’s more than a lot of drivers from the 40’s, 50’s, & 60’s made in their entire career. That’s more than what most folks pay for a fully furnished house and two cars and still have lots of money in the bank.
　
And along these same lines, when was the last time you were able to buy a car or truck with something other than a 5 speed transmission in it? Some manufacturers have 6 speed manual transmissions available in their vehicles. So if NA$CAR really wants to keep up with the times and be technologically savvy, shouldn’t they also make the move to at least a 5 speed transmission?
　
And why all of the sudden the move to this obsolete fuel injection system anyways? Was it because NA$CAR wanted to be current with their technology? Or is there another reason? In a recent interview, Bad Brad Keselowski stated that the move to the antiquated fuel injection system was little more than a PR move by NA$CAR as a part of their veneer of “going green”. The system doesn’t give the cars better gas mileage. As a matter of fact it’s about the same as the current carburetor that’s being used. Folks were worried that we’d end up having a whole new type of fuel mileage races because of fuel injection. Based on what Brad said it doesn’t appear so. The system that’s being used will give better gas mileage IF you’re driving at 65 mph. It wasn’t really designed for racing. It was designed for street use. So don’t worry about the dreaded gas mileage races because of fuel injection.. I’m sure Brad will get a Double Secret Probation fine for his comments and has probably received several rather nasty phone calls from Mafia Mike about speaking the truth.
　
And what will the teams be doing with all these carbs they’re going to have to remove? Make paperweights out of them? Sell them as scrap metal? Maybe they can get $25 a pop selling them to another racing series that’s still using carbs. Or you might find them on E-Bay. Or maybe in the classifieds. “Free to a good home. One Holley 850 cfm carb with only 600 miles on it. Treated with kid gloves. Send an SASE to Fred Fumducker PO Box 850 Podunk Center Iowa”. And what about all the test equipment that’s used with the carbs? This whole move is, once again, going to cost the teams a fortune. And it comes at a time when even the mega-teams are hard pressed to find sponsorship much less the back markers. At the rate things are going, NA$CAR might need to change their name to better reflect the cost of ownership to the title of a movie. The Billionaire Boys Club.
　
Follow the Money　
With the 2012 election season moving closer and closer, the Beach Boy Bubbas are doing there usual with political donations. Here’s what they’ve managed to dole out so far to try to curry favor with some politicians:
　
FRANCE, BRIAN
DAYTONA BEACH,FL 32120 NASCAR/MOTORSPORTS 6/6/2011 $10,000 Republican Party of Florida
　
FRANCE, BRIAN Z
DAYTONA BEACH,FL 32120 NASCAR/CEO 6/30/2011 $5,000 Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte
　
FRANCE, BRIAN Z MR
DAYTONA BEACH,FL 32120 N A S C A R/CHAIRMAN & C E O 6/10/2011 $2,500 National Republican Congressional Cmte
　
FRANCE, BRIAN Z
DAYTONA BEACH,FL 32120 NASCAR/C.E.O. 6/30/2011 $1,000 Adams, Sandy
　
FRANCE, JAMES C MR
DAYTONA BEACH,FL 32114 INTERNATINAL SPEEDWAY CORP/CHAIRMAN 3/16/2011 $5,000 National Republican Congressional Cmte
　
FRANCE, JAMES
DAYTONA BEACH,FL 32120 INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY CORP/CHAIRMA 7/6/2011 $2,500 Buchanan, Vernon
　
FRANCE, JAMES C
DAYTONA BEACH,FL 32120 DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY/C.E. 6/30/2011 $2,500 Adams, Sandy
　
FRANCE, JAMES C MR
DAYTONA BEACH,FL 32114 INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY CORPORATION/ 7/8/2011 $2,500 Gingrich, Newt
　
FRANCE, JAMES C
DAYTONA BEACH,FL 32120 INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY CORP./AUTO R 3/31/2011 $2,400 Haridopolos, Mike
　
FRANCE, BETTY JANE
DAYTONA BEACH,FL 32118 NASCAR/EXECUTIVE SECRETARY 6/30/2011 $1,000 Adams, Sandy
　
HELTON, MICHAEL G
ORMOND BEACH,FL 32176 NASCAR/PRESIDENT 7/5/2011 $5,000 Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte
　
HELTON, MICHAEL G
ORMOND BEACH,FL 32176 NASCAR/C.O.O. 6/30/2011 $1,000 Adams, Sandy
　
HELTON, MICHAEL
ORMOND BEACH,FL 32176 NASCAR/EXECUTIVE 6/6/2011 $500 Republican Party of Florida
　
KENNEDY, LESA
DAYTONA BEACH,FL 32114 INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY/EXECUTIVE 6/6/2011 $10,000 Republican Party of Florida
　
KENNEDY, LESA D
DAYTONA BEACH,FL 32114 INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY CORPORATION/ 8/31/2011 $5,000 Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte
　
KENNEDY, LESA
DAYTONA BEACH,FL 32114 INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY CORP/VICE-CH 7/6/2011 $2,500 Buchanan, Vernon
　
KENNEDY, LESA D
DAYTONA BEACH,FL 32114 INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY CORPORATION/ 6/30/2011 $2,500 Adams, Sandy
　
KENNEDY, LESA D MS
DAYTONA BEACH,FL 32118 INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY CORP./PRESID 3/23/2011 $2,500 National Republican Congressional Cmte
　
These are the ones I’ve been able to find so far. I’m sure there are probably others that the Federal Election Committee haven’t published yet.
　
BTW, Faux King Brian’s donations were made from Florida where he is a registered voter and not North Carolina where he is supposedly a resident. Funny, in order to vote in Florida you have to be a resident. I guess Judge Mullen was wrong. So far this year, NA$CAR has spent $70,000 in lobbying money as a part of the Recreation/Live Entertainment Industry. Jordan Jiloty is their lobbyist.
　
Phoenix Race Coverage　
If you can call it that. The lamestream media is touting the 3.3 rating for what was supposed to be the Cup race at Phoenix. That doesn’t even come close to the 4.7 rating back in 2006. And it sure is awfully strange how Red Bull Racing got so much coverage throughout the race. About the only time we’ve really seen them this season has been when Vickers has managed to wreck or Kahne was able to get into the Top 10. It’s just a coincidence that the team still hasn’t been sold and NA$CAR would be down 2 more full time cars on the track if the team completely folds up because no buyer is found. NA$CAR would never act as an agent to help get that team sold because their owners in Japan want it to happen (sarcasm).
　
And BSPN didn’t go out of there way to avoid showing the aluminum in the grandstands. Despite having removed a section of grandstand, they still couldn’t pack them in even though PIR touted the race as being a sell out.
　
GM Confusion
　When NA$CAR asked GM about running the Camaro in the Busch series, GM said no because they didn’t want their car associated with the generic design of the current race vehicle. And yet GM has introduced a generic bodied Corvette for racing in the NA$CAR Grand Am Series. So could GM please explain why they aren’t running the Camaro in the Busch Series again, please?
　
Don’t Drink the Kool Aid　
It’s taken at least 3 changes to the Chase for the Chumps, numerous “tweaks”, race manipulation, and a new points system in order to create something akin to excitement with the 10 race play-off system. Alan Kulwicki and Bill Elliott on the other hand created real excitement during a 36 race season coming down to the final race where leading the most laps in the very last race of the season created a championship win. So the 5 lb spider monkey in the room that is NA$CAR and it’s controlled media will be beating their chests long and hard before, during, and after the Homestead race about how exciting the season has been while ignoring the 300 lb gorilla in the room that is the fans’ dissatisfaction with the whole mess that Faux King Brian has created.
　
　
　

Loose Lugnuts by Mike Sanders

2011-11-11T11:05:00.001-05:00

***Race Mama should be back from the old country and back running the normal articles at Laidbackracing.com next week. I want to thank Dawg Chapman and Mike Sanders for allowing me to post their articles here at the Laidback Lounge***

Wrecktacular!
Short track racing is supposed to be about bumpin' and beatin' and bangin', trying to squeeze your car into a tight spot to gain that next position on the track. But I do believe that The Sheriff took that to a new level at Martinsville a couple of weeks ago. He sure didn't act like a driver who is supposed to be out of a job at the end of the year, and should be using the last few races as an audition for a ride in 2012. He acted like a graduate of the Steven Wallace School of Driving, as he managed to take out about half of the field by himself. Maybe he has a relative that owns a sheet metal manufacturing plant, and wanted to drum up a little business.

Transcript Of The Secret Moustache/Cheating Weasel Tapes
Apparently, Nixon wasn't the only one who secretly recorded conversations in his office. I guess that Moustache Helton does it, too. The following is a transcript of the conversation he had with Cheating Weasel after C.W.'s pre-race orders to Bent Sh!tcan at Talladega, where he told him to intentionally smash in the rear of the car if he won the race, thereby removing any evidence of the cheating...err, extra preparations C.W. had made to the 48 car:

C.W.: Good morning, Mr. Helton.
M.H.: Good morning, Chad. Now about your conversation with Jimmie before the race at Talladega...
C.W.: Excuse me please, Mr. Helton, but before we get started I'd like to present to you a gift from Mr. Hendrick. It is a donation to Mr. France's liquor fund...err, favorite charity. And I also have a gift for you, too. Mr. Hendrick doesn't forget his friends.
M.H.: My goodness, that's very generous of Rick. Very generous, indeed. Umm...what were we talking about?
C.W.: About my talk with Jimmie before the Talladega race.
M.H.: Oh yes. You do realize that we cannot allow the integrity of the sport to be questioned or doubted. I'll have to ask you some very
tough questions to make sure everything is on the up and up.
C.W.: Of course.
M.H.: Okay then...what's your favorite color?
C.W.: Green
M.H.: Good answer. Well then, I think we're done here. I hope you've learned your lesson.
C.W.: Why yes, I have.
M.H.: Alright then. Have a good day and tell your boss thanks for the generous gifts.
C.W.: I will, sir.

Shrub: NASCAR's T.O.?
Terrell Owens is a very talented NFL wide receiver, probably a future Hall of Famer. But he has bounced around from team to team because for all of his talent on the field, he is a cancer in the locker room. Teams put up with his crap for just so long, and then figure they have to cut ties with him. Shrub may be NASCAR's version of Terrell Owens. He undoubtedly has talent, but along with his million dollar talent he has a two dollar brain. Sometimes he really comes across as someone whose emotional development stopped at the age of eight. He still thinks he's playing with toys, except these toys are bigger, faster, more expensive, and a lot more dangerous then the ones he played with as a child. Eventually, his negatives override his positives, and it becomes time for his boss to let him go. The Felon probably could have kept him in his stable of drivers, but chose to let him go. You wonder how long it will be before The Coach, feeling a lot of heat from the 18 car's primary sponsor, cuts him loose as well. If that happens, then what? Maybe instead of starting his own Danica Series team, he'd be better off starting his own Cup team, because he might be the only owner who would want him as a driver. Sponsors are calling the shots more and more in NASCAR these days, and Shrub might be looking for a ride next year.

Weapons-Grade Stupidity
A certain writer for a certain web site that is associated with a certain four-letter sports network, who has a D.W.-sized man crush on Shrub, while writing about the incident that precipitated Shrub sitting out the Danica and Cup races at Texas last week, described Ron Hornaday, Jr. as a "journeyman" driver. Journeyman? JOURNEYMAN?!? To me, the term is used to describe an athlete who either has a minimum of talent, enough to barely keep a job, or someone who bounces from team to team. Well, that's about the LAST term I'd use to describe Ron Hornaday. Let's see: the all-time leader in Truck Series wins with 51 (including 4 this year), a four-time Truck Series Champion, and in the top five in points in 9 of his 14 years. Nope, talent isn't a question. Maybe he hops around from team to team, like some drivers. Let's see: 122 races with DEI and 174 for Kevin Harvick. 296 of his 299 races split between two teams, one of which is already defunct, and the other one that is about to become defunct. Nope, he's not a hopper. Damn "fatman", if you had bothered to do five minutes of research, you wouldn't be calling Hornaday a journeyman.

You can contact Mike Sanders here

Sensationalism, North Wilkesboro Rumor, Shrubbery Pruned, and Other Things

2011-11-10T00:09:00.000-05:00

Sensationalism versus Competent Journalism
　
With the recent arrest and indictment of Jeremy Mayfield, a number of supposed news sites and racing web sites have been making some rather phenomenal claims regarding the arrest, implying things that aren‘t true, or just plain misreporting or misrepresenting what has happened.
　
One example is a couple of news sites said that Mayfield was arrested for having illegal designer bath salts. Nowhere on the arrest record, search warrant inventory, or indictment is there any mention of illegal bath salts. Another example was that Mayfield was arrested for sales and possession of marijuana. Unlike these supposed accredited reporters, I did some investigating on the marijuana charge that was reported. It seems that a James Bryant showed up at the Mayfield property well after the search warrant was executed and Mayfield was being booked at the jail. The police searched Mr. Bryant’s vehicle and found a small amount of marijuana, which falls into the category of personal possession not intent to sell, and a marijuana pipe. Mr. Bryant’s marijuana and pipe were confiscated, he was issued a citation, and allowed to leave. Nowhere on the search warrant or inventory is there an amount of marijuana connected to Mayfield which would be considered enough for sales and possession. The only mention of marijuana is connected to Mr. Bryant. But rather than issue a retraction or correction, these sites just let it hang out there.
　
Some so-called journalist have tried implying that Mayfield is a drug dealer because of his gun collection or that he’s getting ready to incite an armed insurrection or arm a militia group. Mayfield is a gun collector and enjoys doing some plinking and target practice from time to time. While 69 guns might seem like a lot to some folks, it’s nothing compared to some gun collectors I’ve read about who own guns numbering into the hundreds to include fully automatic weapons such as the old Thompson sub-machine gun, the venerable M-2 Browning .50 cal. heavy machine gun, M-3 “grease guns”, Uzi’s, and others. And the guns in Mayfield’s range from antique firearms to current modern day rifles and pistols. Nowhere is there a fully automatic weapon. One site tried implying that the fact that Mayfield has pistols in his gun collection to him being a drug dealer. This is plain and simply an example of yellow journalism at its finest.
　
Until Mayfield actually goes through the judicial process on this latest debacle, I would suggest that these “wonderful accredited” journalist go back, look at what’s been actually turned up, look at what they’ve written, and either issue retractions or corrections to their mis-statements. I’m not sticking up for Mayfield here, I’m just saying that there’s a lot of sensationalism going on that’s being passed off as competent reporting and it’s bad reporting in an attempt to generate a lot of hits for those web sites.
　
Shrubbery Penalized　
In what I view as being little more than a slap on the wrist for pushing Ron Hornaday into the outside retaining wall under caution at Texas Motor Speedway last Friday night, NA$CAR fined Shrubbery $50,000 and placed him on probation until Dec. 31. Big whoop. I would’ve went directly with the back-up threat of indefinite suspension. Carl Long's crew chief got fined $200,000 and Long gets docked 200 owner's and driver's points, and both Long and his crew chief were suspended for 12 races (later educed to 8) for a worn out engine in a non-points event. Shrubbery gets fined $50,000, parked one Cup & Busch race, and probation for what amounts to 2 race weekends for what some view as attempted vehicular homicide. Makes perfect sense what NA$CAR did. NOT!
　
Shrubbery has given his sponsors a big black eye as well as JGR. I won’t say he’s hurt NA$CAR because they’ve tolerated his past antics and relied on Shrubbery to generate headlines for them in an attempt to fill the grandstands and raise TV ratings. Which BTW, hasn’t been very successful.
　
Fan reaction, as a whole, has been negative. With M&M’s being the most visible sponsor, numerous fans have written and said they’re boycotting their products because of Shrubbery’s continued on-track hijinks. M&M’s pulled Shrubbery’s picture off their web site and issued what I consider to be about a terse a statement as one can expect in these days of political correctness.
　
Should M&M’s pull their sponsorship on the JGR car, you can rest assured that Shrubbery won’t be driving for JGR. And if they pull their sponsorship on the KBM vehicles, you can bet some of the other sponsors might follow suit.
　
Back when Tony Stewart pulled some of his acts in the Home Depot car, Home Depot insisted that he attend anger management classes. I think this is the minimum M&M’s should do should they not pull their sponsorship. Whatever actions JGR takes above and beyond that is up to the team owners.
　
Manufacturer’s Championship　
Chevy won the Cup & Truck Series manufacturer’s championships and Ford just wrapped up the manufacturer’s championship for the Busch Series. Shut out is the big T from Japan. However, as a consolation prize, since everyone‘s a winner in NA$CAR, they get to be the pace car for the Daytona 500.
　
North Wilkesboro Speedway　
I’ve been asked several questions about North Wilkesboro and here’s what I know. The company that was running the track folded up its tents and went home. There’s no sign of them to be found anywhere. Apparently, Steve O’Donnell, NA$CAR’s VP for Racing Operations and the man who swore NA$CAR was sports entertainment, has been talking to someone about the track and the possibilities of it maybe returning to the schedule after certain repairs and renovations are made. Whether or not O’Donnell will confirm this remains to be seen and I doubt you’ll get Bruton to fess up either. My take is that IF North Wilkesboro does come back, it’ll be for one of the lower tier NA$CAR series like the Whelen Modified Series and at best, maybe a Truck or Busch Series race despite fans demands for more short track races on the Cup schedule.
　
Here’s some trivia about North Wilkesboro Speedway. When NA$CAR was first looking into the SAFER walls, some of the test were conducted at North Wilkesboro Speedway and proof of it can still be found on one of the front stretch retaining walls.
　
Phoenix Rain-Out?　
Based on some current weather forecasts, there’s a possibility that the Phoenix race could get rained out. Should the rain continue until Thursday, the race would have to be rescheduled and run after the Homestead race making it, rather than Homestead, the season finale. Wouldn’t that just rain on Faux King Brian’s parade?
　
Veteran’s Day　
On Friday, November 11^th, a number of companies are offering a variety of discounts and free meals to our active duty, retired, and military veterans as a way of showing their appreciation for those who are serving or have served our country. Here’s a link to a web site showing a lot of these offers:
　
http://themilitarywallet.com/veterans-day-free-meals-and-discounts/

Shrub & His Bush League Move‏ - by Dawg Chapman

2011-11-08T20:19:00.000-05:00

By now everyone knows all about Shrub having stepped in it once again.
Maybe stepped in it is a little mild. It's more like dived in head first, &
wallowed in it.

After reflecting on it, he issued a very sincere, & contrite sounding statement. Of course he did, after all, practice makes perfect, & we know he's had plenty of practice at being sincere, & contrite. After the fact.

The statement he gave after the mugging was way closer to the real Kyle
Bush. "I brushed the wall, but my truck was hurt where I don't think we could have
won." Kyle went on to say that Hornaday could see that they were going to be
three wide, & should have backed off. It would seem to me that Kyle could
also have seen the same thing, & as the truck behind as well as the one on
the outside. He was the one more in position to back off.

What I heard from this defiant self-serving statement was Me, Me, Me, It's
All About Me. He then went on to ask, Who's going to fix my truck, after it wrecked the first time? I found this pretty laughable, as neither truck sustained much
damage before he wantonly, & willfully destroyed both trucks.

So much for the so called, "new" Busch. He's once again shown us the real person, hiding behind the attempt to polish his image.
He again proved to be petulant, egotistical, & totally self-centered, with a huge sense of entitlement.This is not the first instance of him going down to another series, & wrecking someone on purpose who's running for points.

The first statement that Kyle gave with no hint of apology, & trying to
shift the blame to Ron Hornaday was Kyle trying to justify something that
was, & is totally unjustifiable.

The second one with apologies all around, was most probably written by some
PR guy, trying to do damage control. After everyone from NASCAR, to his
sponsor had weighed in.

I now see that NASCAR has levied a fine, on top of the suspension.
Nice to see them finally grow a set, & do what they were supposed to
have been doing all along.

Joe Gibbs issued a statement saying in essence, that they were weighing
their options. Coach really doesn't have a very enviable record of dealing with problem behavior within the organization. I would guess what that really means is
that he's got his finger in the wind.

There's no doubt that this whole sorry deal has been a huge embarrassment
for NASCAR, Gibbs, Toyota, & Mars. It would seem to be primarily up to Mars what happens now.

Some have suggested that Kyle should be parked for the rest of the season.
I think we all know that's not going to happen.

What I think really needs to happen is for Shrub to grow up.
He seems to be way behind the maturity curve, & quite frankly,
I don't have a clue what it's going to take, for him to catch up.

But, I've said this before, & I'll say it again.
Shrub just doesn't seem to me to be the ideal candy salesman.

Matt Kenseth on the other hand, could still get them their TV
time. Without the controversy, Hmmm.

You can contact Dawg here

Marketing, Poor Taste & Other Stuff

2011-11-07T14:32:00.000-05:00

Who’s the Marketable Chump Going to Be?
　
Looking at the current points standings and who’s actually got a shot at being this year’s chumpion, who is the most marketable? Cousin/Crazy Carl with his big toothy grin, his “aw shucks” demeanor, and his time with the BSPN Booth Buffoons definitely makes him marketable. His Roush teammate, Matt Kenseth on the other hand isn’t that marketable as Faux King Brian and his band of mental midgets found out when Matt won the last real Cup championship. Bad Brad is an articulate kid with an expensive smile but he doesn’t have the name recognition that Cousin/Crazy Carl does outside of his supposedly continuing bad blood with Cousin/Crazy Carl. That’s a key point in marketing. Name recognition. Tony Stewart’s got name recognition but between the changes in his expanding and contracting girth, some whining the last couple of seasons, and not being marketed the way he was when he was at JGR, he might be a little more difficult to market. Mr Happy isn’t so happy this season despite KHI performing well. The commercials he was in for his previous sponsor showed he can do commercials but was it enough to get more folks to buy their product? Not that I can find. He does have some name recognition but not enough to really make him a highly marketable chump. Neither Busch brother is that marketable. Despite both being in commercials, their on-track antics and comments don’t exactly endear them to many folks outside of their fan base. Some race fans have written their sponsors to let them know they will no longer use/buy their products because of their attitude, antics, and comments. And after the elder Busch became the first chump in the Chase for the Chumps, Faux King Brian and company found out that the elder Busch wasn’t very marketable at all. Normally NA$CAR cranks out a lot of PR, pounds their chest, and does more than the usual late night show appearances. With the elder Busch, it was like he didn’t exist. Folks are tired of Jimmie Johnson. And his chances of being a 6 time chump have all but evaporated. And as Faux King Brian has found out, JJ has become less and less marketable after each chumpionship he’s won even though he’s got name recognition. It’s like the Head-On commercial. Folks get tired of the repetition. Plus it doesn’t help to have the likes of the Focks Sports and BSPN Booth Buffoons yammering on and on time and again about “ole 5 time”. That’s probably been a big detriment to him despite being on the cover of Sports Illustrated. As the rest of the drivers in the points standing don’t have a snowballs chance of winning, I’m not going to address them.
　
I’m not slamming these guys. Just pointing out their marketability. So it comes down to Cousin/Crazy Carl being the most marketable of the bunch should he be this years chumpion. I know some folks won’t be happy about that. And should his Roush teammate be this years chump, the folks in NA$CAR’s marketing conglomerate will be sweating bullets and having nightmares on how they can market him. For me, from a marketing standpoint, the perfect 2011 chump would be Matt simply because of the headaches it’s going to cause the Ivory Tower gang.
　
Poor Taste Department　
DuPont has been running some commercials on radio recently with two supposedly fictional characters named “Fireball” and “Hardhead”. In the background, you can hear Indy cars running. The first time these ads were heard, from what I can find out, was the day after Dan Wheldon’s fiery crash and death. Not to mention Fireball Roberts, who’s death was caused by a fiery crash at Charlotte Motor Speedway back in 1964, and Iron Head, aka Dale Sr, whose death I don’t need to go into.
　
You’ve Got to Wonder　
IndyCar, F-1, and the FIA world sanctioning body are all looking at what could’ve cause Dan Wheldon’s death and what can be done to prevent something like that happening again. And yet outside of some Cup drivers making some donations to the Wheldon fundraising auction and some comments about his loss, we see absolutely nothing out of NA$CAR saying there are things that could be learned or offering up any sort of assistance in analyzing the wreck data or helping to improve the design of the DW 12 car which is currently undergoing testing. While the rest of the world’s racing community has come together to prevent something like Wheldon’s wreck from happening again, NA$CAR remains aloof.
　
Point To Ponder　
By now most folks are aware that OOPS, currently on David Regan’s car, is going to be an “official sponsor” of NA$CAR and an associate sponsor on Cousin/Crazy Carl’s car. What happens when somebody becomes an “official sponsor/product/service provider” of NA$CAR, like with Badyear, Splint, or Sumoco? It means there’s usually an “exclusivity deal” that goes along with it. And what happens when there’s an exclusivity deal? It means that businesses in that same field cannot sponsor a car unless they’re “grandfathered”, the way AT&T & Alltel were in the past. So, if OOPS is the official delivery provider of NA$CAR, that means that Fed-Up isn’t, which means that Fed-Up will be grandfathered until their contract with JGR runs out, which means once their contract runs out there will be one less team sponsor which in turn will mean one less team if what’s happening to Roush and what happened to Robby Gordon with Motorola is an indication.
　
From Deep in the Heart of Texas　
This is from my old racing buddy Dave from down in the Dallas area:
　
TMS is touting a "4 Pack" for this week's race. For one price you get all 4 events. What's that you say? There's only 3 races? As far as they are concerned, Thursday's practice and Truck Qualifying is an official "event". Ignore the fact that there are coupons in the paper for free admission to Thursday's "event". Anyway, the "4 Pack" is $121.00. This gets you a row 1 - 10 seat for the events. Oh. You don't want to sit behind the concrete wall and see nothing? Then the "4 Pack" is $176.00 for rows 11 - 20. They have plenty of them, they said. (No kidding.) And one more thing. This package is considered a "mini season ticket" (that's what they said on the phone - with a straight face too), so........there is a $15 fee added. The fee is added whether you buy the ticket on the phone or at the box office. Nice, eh?
　
Oh, and one more thing. All the ticket prices were raised this week. The cheap seats went up $5.00 (for the Truck and Nationwide races) and more (they wouldn't say how much for the Cup tickets) for the rest. Hey, if you can't sell them at regular price - raise it the week of the event, right? There are $10 off coupons for the Truck race, which are buried in the Metro section of the Sunday Dallas Morning News with no heading, no nothing. Just two coupons on the bottom of the page. The speedway couldn't tell me if there were coupons as no one there had actually seen one, and no one knew anything about them.
　
And they wonder why the place isn't full??????
　
Tell me again why the media keeps telling me Eddie Gossage is a marketing genius?
　
Real Stock Car Racing Coming to Sears Point　
In 2012, the FIA World Touring Championship will be racing at Sears Point. The series involves real cars with real bodies and real fenders and bodies that are easily identifiable to a specific make. They’ll be running 2 thirty minute races which means you’ll be seeing short track action on a road course. Bumping, banging, and fenders rubbing. Whether or not it’ll be shown here is a different matter. It’s going to be carried on Eurovision. I know in the past Speed TV has carried some Eurovision broadcasts related to racing so maybe we’ll get lucky and be able to see some stock looking cars racing each other just like the Aussie V-8 Series. What a concept. Stock cars racing each other. Oh wait. Isn’t that what the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is supposed to be? Stock car racing?
　
Don’t Be Fooled　
Despite all the “happy happy joy joy” things being written about the ratings being up, they’re still down by 5+ million viewers since 2008. Step back from the Kool Aid boys & girls and quit using the “1984” Doublespeak Dictionary to make things look better than they truly are.
　
Around the Web　
After the Martinsville race, I went to a number of web sites and read comments regarding the race at Martinsville. Overall fan feel for the race was, “Why aren’t there more races like Martinsville?”. They enjoyed the beating and banging that went on. Well, it comes down to a very simple reason. Faux King Brian has all but eliminated the short tracks and the unique designed tracks which gave us a lot of exciting racing in favor of his much ballyhooed and beloved 1.5 mile cookie cutter tracks. Darlington got cut back to one race. Rockingham was dropped off the schedule altogether. The formerly much beloved Bristol was turned into a shadow of it’s former self when it was reconfigured because the drivers, not racers, complained that they couldn’t race there because they had to beat and bang on each other to actually get ahead a position. In other words do some bare knuckle racing.
But not all the blame should be levied against Faux King Brian. A lot of the blame can also be placed on his dad and his grandfather when Winston and the networks showed up. Tracks like Columbia, Occoneechee, Hickory, Nashville Fairgrounds, and Bowman-Gray were dropped from the schedule. Short tracks with a lot of action. But because they were either dirt or didn’t have the amenities that Winston and the networks wanted, they got dropped.
　
Where Are Your Tax Dollars Going?　
If this isn’t enough to make you want to call or write your congressmen I don’t know what will:

　
　http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/cerabino-politicians-ought-to-put-brakes-on-nascar-1936006.html

NASCAR Took A Wrong Turn‏ by John "Dawg" Chapman

2011-11-01T09:53:00.000-04:00

*As Race Mama is currently visiting the old country, I'm running the normal Laidbackracing.com articles here on my blog - Mad Mikie*

If you read my last article on Talladega, then you know I thought the racing sucked.

Well Martinsville was another story. Depending on who you root for, & how things turned out for them. I'm sure that a lot of fans were disappointed with the outcome. That having been said, I really don't see how anyone didn't enjoy the race itself.

Guys, & Gals, this was the kind of racing that NASCAR was built on.

Last week, when I was ragging on Talladega, & the kind of racing that the Chase has produced so far. I said that the Chase needed tracks that had the potential to produce barn burners. Well call the Fire Department, this race was a five alarm Burn Burner.

Martinsville, coupled with the intensity of the Chase, produced a race that was a throwback to the days that we all say we want to see again. This thing kind of turned into Brian Vickers, vs. the field.

We had Junior looking racy as hell. He didn't win, or even really threaten to, but he was in there digging, & we haven't seen that for a while. We saw Matt lose his temper, lots of fans didn't even know he had one. Some good runs, turned out badly, some gambles paid off, some didn't.

I consider myself a fairly sophisticated race fan. I don't watch to see wrecks, but I do enjoy good hard nosed, take no prisoners racing. I didn't see any of this "after you, no after you, want to lead a lap, come on," type racing.

But, & as Pee Wee Herman (not to be confused with Kyle Busch, who just looks like him) says, "everyone's got a big but." but I digress.

My but, is that the rare race like this, only makes what we normally see on the cookie cutter heavy schedule look worse. If this one was meat, & potatoes, then most of what NASCAR is serving up is cold oatmeal, without cream, sugar, or blueberries.

It's fashionable to blame all of NASCAR's troubles on Brian, & I've been known to lay a little on him, from time to time myself. This one's primarily on his Dad.

It's kind of hard for a Sport that only turns left, (with two notable exceptions) to take a wrong turn, but they did. In short NASCAR, in the '90s under Bill France's leadership, took a wrong turn by deciding that Short Tracks, the tracks that built NASCAR, for the most part. Had outlived their usefulness. NASCAR had outgrown them. This is when it stopped being about the racing, & became about the money. In other words it's when NASCAR, became NA$CAR.

In those days people were still building tracks, in hopes of getting a NASCAR Cup date. Once Bill let it be known that NASCAR, at least at the Cup level, didn't want Short Tracks, no more were built.

Someone could have built another Bristol, but once the word was out, the Cookie Cutter came out, & we got Texas, Chicago, Kansas, Kentucky, Las Vegas.

With Bills blessing, in '96 North Wilkesboro, a 5/8 mile track that had hosted NASCAR races since 1949 was sold off, & pulled apart like a Thanksgiving Turkey. Bruton Smith, & Bob Bahre, picked the bones. Sending one race to Texas, the other to New Hampshire.

In 2003 when Brian took the helm, he continued full speed ahead in the direction that NASCAR was headed. NASCAR tried to shovel dirt on their very first Super Speedway. Darlington had been holding races since 1950. With it's peculiar egg shape it was, & is, one of a kind. It's Labor Day Southern 500 was second only to the Daytona 500. The Southern 500 date was sent to California to give them a second date.

They then saddled Darlington with the Mothers Day date. A date previously open, & considered a date doomed to fail. It's a credit to the fans that this date has been successful, & we've been spared another boring Cookie Cutter race.

In 2004 NASCAR kicked Rockingham Motor Speedway to the curb. They sent one of it's dates to Fontana. Then sold the track to Bruton, to give him a second date for Texas.

Andy Hillenburg currently owns The Rock, & is putting in soft walls. The track should be ready once again to host a Cup date, but I seriously doubt that pride would ever allow this to happen.

To my knowledge, California has never held a decent race, & when NASCAR needed a second date for Kansas, California was elected. So a date that came from either The Rock, or Darlington, went from one boring track to another boring track. But a boring track with a Casino, this move might help the bottom line but the racing still sucks.

The Rock is still without a Cup date. Darlington still doesn't have it's Labor Day date back. After a brave, but underfunded effort, weeds are once again growing in North Wilkesboro. The racing still mostly sucks. Except for that rare shining example like we just witnessed.

I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

You can contact Dawg at: jj905@centurytel.net

Miscellaneous Miscellany

2011-09-21T08:27:00.000-04:00

Richmond Ratings
　
Nowhere close to the all-time highs of a 4.2 in 2002 & 2007. Just remember, that while the ratings were up, they’re not even close to the all-time highs for the fall Richmond race ratings. And the 2002 fall Richmond race was before the TV contracts were negotiated and was shown on TNT. So just how is going to the internet going to affect the TV ratings for next season? I guess we’ll find out next season.
　
Not the Fastest Growing Sport
　
With the number of teams that have folded since Faux King Brian took over, the large number of sponsors that have left or seriously cut back on sponsorship, and the recent announcement of KHI folding and Germain Racing facing some serious financial issues, you have to wonder just how much longer things will continue to go downhill? The only thing that seems to be growing right now in NA$CAR is the number of teams folding, and the number of start & park teams. You know it’s bad when both the Busch & Truck Series show up with short fields or 1/3 of the field is start & parks. Robby Gordon, who had been running full-time, has now switched to start & park in the Cup Series. And the grandstands aren’t getting any fuller either despite the announcement of that NA$CAR’s celebrity spokesmodel will be driving full-time next season in the Busch Series and part-time in the Cup Series. By the time next season rolls around, we may be at least 3 teams short in the Truck series, 2 teams short in the Busch Series, and 1 team short in the Cup Series.
　
De Silvestro to Penske?
　
Simone De Silvestro has been in talks with Roger Penske regarding a possible move to Team Penske. And she would be a good choice as Simone brings Entergy, Nuclear, and Areva sponsor dollars with her and they’re three year sponsorship deals plus options. Helio Castroneves may be able to scrape up a little sponsorship from Brazil but not nearly enough to fund a car for a full season. Briscoe has nothing for sponsorship, so if Simone does make the move to Penske, Briscoe will probably be the driver that Penske drops.

More Red Ink for HOF
　
This is from the Charlotte Business Journal regarding the France Hall of Fantasies:
　
Attendance at the NASCAR Hall of Fame fell by 35% in July from a year earlier, continuing a trend of declining results. The Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority, operator of the $200 million publicly funded stock-car museum, reported the figures at its board meeting Wednesday. In July 2010, 33,452 people visited the hall of fame. Attendance declined to 21,910 in July 2011, the first month of the new fiscal year. July marked the third month of attendance slips of 30 percent or more in year-over-year comparisons. Those figures offer a barometer of interest in the hall of fame, which opened in May 2010. For May 2011, attendance was 30 percent below the previous year (25,034 visitors compared with 35,090 in May 2010). In June 2011, crowds dropped by 39 percent to 17,604 visitors for the month. Visitors authority board members didn't discuss the hall of fame results during their meeting. A recent update to City Council included questions and discussion of whether ticket prices could be hurting attendance. 　
One thing that’s hurting the HOF is its location. Another thing that’s hurting it is the fact that instead of all drivers, owners, mechanics, crew chiefs, etc. that should be eligible for induction aren’t. Faux King Brian has dictated that the selection process be done by star power and name recognition instead of on the merits and records of those who should be nominated and inducted. If there was a category for advancing racing through inventions or improving existing parts, guys like Tiger Tom Pistone, Rex White, and Banjo Matthews would be at the forefront of the nominees. Geoff Bodine might get in for the use of power steering on race cars. Holman-Moody might get in for developing the standard spindle, hubs, and other parts that have become the standard in stock car racing. So by going after star power rather than actual achievements, Faux King Brian is shooting himself in the foot.
　
Act of Desperation 2
　
In an attempt to staunch the flow of the rivers of red ink coming from the HOF bookkeeper’s page, NA$CAR is having one of the Chase for the Chumps drivers at the HOF once a week from now through the end of the season. Once again, Faux King Brian is either drinking his own Kool Aid or has had one too many “sodas” again.
　
Races Going Online
　
For those folks who have their computers hooked into their big flat screens or have their computer in the same room as their TV will be able top watch the races online for 9 out of 10 of the play-off races. Now, the up side is that it will give more folks access to the races. Folks who don’t have access through cable or satellite TV will be able to watch the races via the internet. The down side is that it will have an impact on the TV ratings. With the large number of complaints about the quality of the broadcasts on TV and the constant interruption with commercials, sponsor plugs, mention money plugs, idiotic graphics that take up anywhere from a third to three quarters of the TV screen, this could very well be the direction that NA$CAR is headed as they’ve been extremely reluctant to use the side by side format for commercials like Versus uses for IndyCar races because it doesn’t allow NA$CAR’s sponsors, not the team sponsors, but NA$CAR’s sponsor to have their type of “branding”. So don’t be surprised if and when you get just as many commercials online as you do during a TV broadcast.
　
Give Bobby Allison His Due
　
For decades, Bobby Allison has been trying to get credit for his win at Bowman-Gray on Aug. 6, 1971 while driving a Ford Mustang from the Grand American Series and beating out the drivers running Grand National Impalas, Galaxies, and Chargers. Under the rules of the day, and with Bill France Sr.’s blessings, Bobby, Tiny Lund, and others would run in Grand National races using the Grand American cars, especially because there was a short field. The strange thing is that Tiny Lund has been given credit for a win in his Grand American car. So why hasn’t Bobby?
　
　
I think this win should be given to Bobby and it’s long overdue. One thing it would do is correct the official records of NASCAR. Another thing it would do is put him in a tie with Jeff Gordon. Now think of the publicity that Faux King Brian could generate with this. Lots of hype and hoopla of the 2 of them together and when the day arrives that Jeff should pass Bobby’s record, then a nice ceremony in Victory Lane showing Bobby congratulating Jeff. And the last thing it would do is deflate the oversized ego of Jabber Jaws with his 84 wins. Something a lot of fans would like to see happen. So Your Highness, there’s one heck of a PR opportunity and photo ops just waiting for you to exploit it by simply correcting a one win situation.
　
Bowyer Going to MWR?
　
The bad thing with Bowyer going to MWR along with their new sponsors is we’ll get even more shilling than we currently do out of the Motormouth Brothers. And considering MWR’s win record, well, I sure hope Clint enjoys being a back marker or consistently running mid-pack. You can bet that Crusty isn’t a happy camper since his sponsor is jumping ship and he’ll probably tell us that somewhere between now and Homestead. But then, can you really blame 5 Hour for jumping ship considering how many times Crusty’s boy has finished a race on the tow hook?
　
8^th Annual Augusta International Raceway HOF Induction
　
Friday September 16th, Augusta International Raceway Preservation Society (AIRPS) will hold it's 8th Annual Hall of Fame Induction and Banquet. This years inductees are Jack Ingram; also known as the Iron Man, Sam Sommers former Cup driver, Jimmy Manese; motorcycle hot shoe, L R Newman of drag racing fame and George Lonergan; Hobby Class star. Also Bruce Brantley of Chamblee GA will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. The Banquet starts at 6 pm and tickets are $20 . Tickets will be, as long as they last, at the door. The event will be held at Diamond Lakes Regional Park off Windsor Spring road in Hephzibah, Georgia, just outside Augusta . This is the site of the former Speedway complex.
　
On Saturday September 17th AIRPS will hold it's annual racing reunion this year partnering with the Charley Norwood VA Hospital to hold a Welcome Home Party for four companies/units of returning Veterans. It's free to the public with a kids zone, car show racecars and autograph session. The Veterans Administration will have a health fair, job fair, school fair and many other information services. There will be a stage with live entertainment for good family fun and all are welcome. Opening ceremonies are at 10 am with event closing at approximately 2 pm. For information call Harvey Tollison at 706-829-6825
　
　
　

Big News Is No News

2011-08-25T20:33:00.001-04:00

Big News is No News
　
The already known and not much interested in announcement that NA$CAR now has its own celebrity spokesmodel happened. General fan reaction seems to be “Big Deal!”. Judging from the Twitter traffic of race fans the extreme lack of interest was bordering on truly apathetic. We already knew NA$CAR was getting the IndyCar celebrity spokesmodel. We know she only finished on the lead lap 42.8% of the time against the Buschwackers, underfunded teams, start and parks, and back markers of the Busch Series. And the Ivory Tower Gang is expecting to see a miracles immediately if not sooner with the hopes that NA$CAR’s newest highly hyped savior will save NA$CAR from itself by filling up the grandstands with young boys just hitting puberty looking for cheesy bathing suit pin-up posters to while away their nights with during their late night fantasies and buy tons of her overpriced swag to help fill the coffers. Ain’t gonna happen bubba.
　
I would’ve loved to have had a lie detector hooked up to Danican’t during the press conference. That thing would’ve melted because of its buzzer and lights going off as many as times as it would from the false statements. “If it was for money I would’ve gone a long time ago”. Say what? I seem to recall her complaints about NA$CAR having too long of a schedule and how she enjoyed a 17 race season and being able to lounge around the pool and traveling around. It definitely is for the money.
　
Here’s what Kyle Petty said in an interview with USA Today about NA$CAR’s new spokesmodel:
　
Petty said Patrick's progress should be judged against full-time Nationwide drivers who once raced in Cup, and that her "race-craft" — her ability to execute passes and not just maintain a competitive speed — is the next critical area.
　
"She is a fast learner," he said. "But what I don't like about the Danica thing is if the hype that surrounds it is greater than the product on the racetrack”.
　
"She is a marketing machine. Carl Edwards and Jeff Gordon aren't the marketing machine that she is. But at some point, the marketing and the talent have to meet to produce results. I'm just not seeing it yet”.
　
"I'm all for giving her time, but I'm also all for killing the frigging hype. How long will the racing world buy the hype and not the performance?"　
Also uncertain is whether Patrick will defer a lifelong dream of winning the Indianapolis 500, and whether a one-off attempt at the Brickyard in May would have an adverse impact on her NASCAR schedule. In a May interview with USA TODAY, GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons said he expected Patrick still would run Indy next year.
　
"I think in her heart and her head, she's still an open-wheel driver who wants to win the Indy 500," Petty said. "But where the money is for her is (in NASCAR), so this is where she has to go. At least she is here. … The biggest thing I get out of this announcement is that she's committed to NASCAR. She's not sticking her foot in the water. She's in, and that's a huge statement. In the past, she hasn't been committed to the sport."　

"But where the money is for her is (in NASCAR), so this is where she has to go”. “She is a marketing machine. Carl Edwards and Jeff Gordon aren't the marketing machine that she is”. There it is in a nutshell. Money. Marketing machine. There is only one mention of her as a driver and it’s in reference to IndyCar, which I’ll get to later. And as far as her being committed, is she really committed to being a driver, making all of the sponsor appearances that go with a 35 or 36 race schedule, and dealing with the fans in a much better manner than she has to this point? Is she going to be willing to show up at a children’s hospital with other drivers? Will she show up at a charity event with drivers in support of their children’s charities where they make appearances? So far she’s done a fine job of mouthing off to fans simply wanting an autograph and has yet to make an appearance at a children’s hospital when other IndyCar drivers have and she was invited to. And how about her remarks about not liking road racing when there will probably be 2 more road races added to the Busch Series schedule? Will she be making a call to 1-800-WAA-AAAH because she has to drive on road courses? Can she cut the mustard as NA$CAR’s celebrity spokesmodel in the Busch Series much less in a Cup race? I sincerely doubt it. Why? Comments made during some of her Busch Series races about the other drivers “racing me to hard”. This isn’t supposed to be “ladies before gentlemen”. It’s racing. The job of a race car driver is to race to win which means that drivers will race hard to get the win. They will also race hard not to get lapped. So if you can’t stand the heat in the Busch Series kitchen, I hate to think how you’ll react when you have to go door to door with some of the Cup drivers.
　
And what about the actual schedule itself. The famous celebrity spokesmodel has said she doesn’t like racing on road courses and prefers ovals. Guess what? Since Gateway and Nashville closed their doors, 2 more road races are going to be added to the schedule. If you thought you hated driving a road course in a relatively light Indy car, you’re really going to hate it in a heavy Busch Series car.
　
The GropeDaddy CEO said in a May interview he expected the celebrity spokesmodel to still would run Indy next year. Guess what? Unless her Busch Series or Cup Series car owner buys a car for her to race in, it’s not going to happen. She burned too many bridges with team owners, engineers, crew chiefs, and strategists in IndyCar and there was a big sigh of relief when she made her announcement today. Of course, there was probably some money exchanged between Andretti Motorsports, Tony Stewart, and Dale Jr/Rick Hendrick to get her out of any contractual obligations she had remaining with Andretti. So she is now the problem and responsibility of Stewart-Haas and JR Motorsports. I sure hope they can afford the new Indy cars, engines, and replacement cars.
　
Faux King Brian’s comment that he is happy that she is bringing her talent to NA$CAR to compete with the best drivers in the world. Again, she is not a driver, but rather a brand/celebrity/spokesmodel. And best drivers in the world and most loyal fan base? BZF has been tipping back too many “sodas” again. Viewership numbers have been steadily dropping, seats are empty, and NA$CAR/I$C is losing money hand over fist, so what loyal fans is he talking about? The Dale Jr fans? The Short Attention Span Crowd he brought in to replace all the “good ole boys” who followed the sport since before Faux King Brian was even a gleam in daddy’s eye? I know many people that have turned off NA$CAR. The poor ratings attest to that. And the empty grandstands were happening before the economy went Tango Uniform and has only gotten worse. So what loyal fans is he referring to? And best drivers in the world? The Cup drivers don’t even race in the rain so they definitely don’t qualify as the best in the world.
　
Kyle Petty’s reference to the hype is so very true. Has anyone really noticed how the drivers that NA$CAR has hyped have fallen on their face? They hyped Burnt Toast and he fell on his face. They hyped Hambone and he fell flat on his. They continue to hype Dale Jr and his performance isn’t what it was before the Hype Machine took over. How long will the racing world buy the hype and not the performance as Kyle Petty and myself have both asked?
　
And what happened to Faux King Brian’s big welcome to Dario Franchitti when he tried NA$CAR? Or Jacque Villeneuve? Oh, that’s right. They’re not marketing machines or celebrity spokesmodels. They’re race car drivers. When Dario showed up, there was little to no hype even though he was the reigning IndyCar champ AND is married to Ashley Judd, a Hollywood A Lister. How could the Hype Machine miss that one? And look at all the hype surrounding Shrubbery’s win record? Like Kyle Petty said, “When he gets 200 Cup wins then come talk to me”. NA$CAR’s Hype Machine needs to rust to a screeching halt and let results actually speak for themselves.
　
Anyways, welcome to Brian's Big Top Danican't where you'll be welcome til the hype wears itself out and owners get tired of you not living up to it.　
　
　
　
　
　

Micsellaneous Miscellany

2011-08-04T19:55:00.000-04:00

Rolling Thunder Modifieds
　
The Rolling Thunder Modified Series will be rolling into Motor Mile Speedway in Radford VA on August 6^th. The racing starts at 7 PM. And since it’s just down the road from me, I might just have to go check it out.
　
Prime Time
　
I don’t know how many folks have heard of the blog Prime Time Chuck, but he’s got an interesting point of view and has been writing a series on how to improve/save NA$CAR. It’s not exactly for the faint of heart but Chuck does bring out some very good points on how to turn NA$CAR around and save it from the poor management that’s driving it into the ground.
　
Indy Excuses
　
One of the excuses I’ve seen on several sites is the reason that attendance is off at Indy has to do with the saturation of tracks and race dates near Indy. Now, what was the excuse for moving all of those race dates out of the South? Oh yeah, that’s right. There were so many tracks in the South and it was saturated with race dates. I guess since the south no longer has that saturation of dates NA$CAR can move a few of them back in the hopes that some of the fans that they chased off might return.
　
Ed Hinton put the crowd at barely 100,000 as he’s been attending races there for over 35 years and can remember races being upwards of 300,000 for the Indy 500. Ed’s figures are believable considering how many empty seats were visible.
　
X-Games Ties Indy
　
According to USA Today, the X-Games pulled in 2.9 million viewers as did the Cure for Insomnia 400 at Indianapolis. While the ratings were up for Indy, they still aren’t even close to the all time high of 19 million viewers set in 2005 or even close to the 6.7 million viewers in 2008, the year of the tire debacle.
　
Lucas Oil Renegotiating Deal?
　
Since NA$CAR pulled the rug out from under IRP by moving the races across the street to IMS, Lucas Oil is said to be renegotiating their deal on the naming rights for IRP because they were counting heavily on the Busch and Truck Series races being at IRP to help in promoting their product.
　
Interesting Observation from Bill the Mechanic
　
Maybe it's time to quit using the economy as a reason for poor attendance. On the news Friday night they showed:
　
X-Games from LA. The place was packed. I don't know what the tickets, parking, or refreshments cost, but we can assume they're expensive just because they can get away with it.
　
Video Gaming Convention from Anaheim. Another packed venue. You can bet the entry fee and food were high priced. City of Anaheim controls the parking, I've been told it's $20 bucks at the Convention Center now. Angel Stadium also!
　
Surfing Contest in Huntington Beach. This is a major surfing deal and the locals are concerned about what they'll do with the huge crowds (500,000) that show up each year.
All this happening just this last weekend.
　
Not only that, but people are camping on the sidewalks for days to be the first ones to see the latest movie release. And you can't get near a phone store, with people having to have the newest phones.
　
Looks like people will find the money if you have something they want.
　
　
Carbon Epoxy Problems
　
Carbon Epoxy, the wonderful material used to make the front splitter, can create some major electrical problems when turned into a powder form, which is what happens when it’s ground down on the track as the results of the splitter hitting the racing surface.
　
From an article called “How Products Are Made”, I found a couple of things regarding Carbon Epoxy. One is the health issues:
　
During processing, pieces of carbon fibers can break off and circulate in the air in the form of a fine dust. Industrial health studies have shown that, unlike some asbestos fibers, carbon fibers are too large to be a health hazard when inhaled. They can be an irritant, however, and people working in the area should wear protective masks.
The carbon fibers can also cause skin irritation, especially on the back of hands and wrists. Protective clothing or the use of barrier skin creams is recommended for people in an area where carbon fiber dust is present. The sizing materials used to coat the fibers often contain chemicals that can cause severe skin reactions, which also requires protection.
　
Think about how much of that material is circulating around the race track and fans are inhaling not to mention what the teams are exposed to during pit stops and even during the fabrication of the generic race cars themselves.
　
The other issue is an electrical issue:
　
In addition to being strong, carbon fibers are also good conductors of electricity. As a result, carbon fiber dust can cause arcing and shorts in electrical equipment. If electrical equipment cannot be relocated from the area where carbon dust is present, the equipment is sealed in a cabinet or other enclosure.
　
So, think about your own electrical equipment you take to the races. Radios, cell phones, and cameras. And then there’s the electrical equipment the teams use. Alternators, ignition boxes, electrical switches, wiring harnesses, electrical and battery connections, computers, TV monitors, video cameras, satellite dishes, and team radios. All of which could be shorted out by the carbon fiber being ground off of the splitter. It makes me wonder how many teams, if any, have started sealing their electronics and using protective gear for the shop and track personnel exposed to the carbon fiber.
　
　
Celebrity Spokesmodel Making The Move
　
Unnamed sources are reporting in USA Today, the celebrity spokesmodel Danica will be competing in the Nationwide series full time for JR Motorsports next year with limited Cup starts for Stewart-Haas Racing. She would also plan to run a warm-up race and the Indy 500. This is what Go-Daddy CEO Parsons had hinted weeks ago and he is the one signing her checks (a reported $12m last year). So, if Go-Daddy is supporting Danica in a full season Nationwide, some Cup, and a couple of IndyCar races including the Indy 500, what are the chances that Kasey Kahne’s Hendrick car needs to be searching for a sponsor for next year. I do not believe Go-Daddy can fund Danica’s season and also another Cup car.
　
Nashville Speedway Losing Races
　
Track owner Dover Motorsports has said they won’t be renewing their races at Nashville Speedway for the 2012 season. Where the races will go is anyone’s guess. Between the dwindling attendance and the high cost of the NA$CAR sanctioning fees, they’re not getting the return on their investment. Where the races will go is anybody’s guess.
　
Speedway Motorsports Q2 Losses
　
Charlotte Business Journal reports a second-quarter net loss of $28.3 million, or 68 cents per diluted share, down from net income of $23 million, or 55 cents per diluted share, in the same period last year.
　
Bruton and company are blaming high fuel cost and high unemployment for the losses. I think it has more to do with the poor product being presented to race fans than fuel and unemployment. Not to mention the debacle at Kentucky, which will affect not only next year’s earnings but earnings for years to come.
　
F-1 Racing Coming to NYC Area

F-1 could be racing in New Jersey area with NYC serving as a background as early as 2013. Bernie Eccelstone is in negotiations with a group of investors and mayors of two New Jersey towns to hold a second F1 race in the NYC area. Part of the course would run along the west bank of the Hudson River with Manhattan in the background in the Weehawken and West New York cities of New Jersey.
　
I$C to Host IndyCar Races Again?
　
There is talk that ISC is in discussions with IndyCar to host races at California, Kansas City, and Chicago again. The main thing IndyCar needs to enforce is ISC promotion of the races, which is something they never did in the past. That was a major reason for dropping ISC tracks. But ISC realizes that NASCAR alone will not pay the bills with the dwindling attendance figures.
　
　
Truck Team Hauler Takes Out Starters Stand
　
Apparently, the Hauler for the #81 truck took at the starters stand at Pocono. Are they sending a message about Pocono?
http://yfrog.com/gznn2bfj

Odds & Ends

2011-07-28T10:12:00.000-04:00

Condolences
　
I want to send out my condolences to my good friend, racing buddy, and fellow veteran Richard over the passing of his wife Judy. Judy was an avid race fans for many years. When it came to calling things the way she saw them, Judy would tell you exactly what she was thinking, whether it was racing, politics, or living. It wasn’t until last year that Judy was diagnosed with brain, bone, and lung cancer and she fought it right up to the end. She had been admitted to the hospital for pneumonia and passed away. I’m going to miss Judy’s straight forward answers, humor, and honesty.
　
Official Ferrari Team Tested at Daytona
　
The official Ferrari team tested at Daytona on the 26th & 27th. Factory driver Jamie Melo was expected to be the lead driver in the test. Several of the new cars are expected to compete in the 50th anniversary of the Rolex 24 At Daytona on Jan. 28-29, 2012. I don’t know if they’re doing this just because it’s the 50^th anniversary and they want the publicity surrounding it or if they’re going to compete as a regular competitor for the next several seasons. It’s my understanding that the Ferraris are being built to Rolex Series specs and won’t be a true Ferrari 458’s. Sort of like what we have with the Cup and Busch Series generic race vehicles only with actual working lights and more of a resemblance to the street version that what we have with the Cup and Busch Series cars. Ferrari won’t be fielding a factory team as such but will campaigned as “privateers”.
　
3^rd Generation Daytona Prototype Cars
　
From what I’m hearing, the 3^rd generation of the DP cars is becoming more generic. What I heard was the front of the DP was to more closely resemble the street versions. The aerodynamic front ends will have more upright fascia, meaning more drag. The rear ends will be generic. Currently there don’t seem to be any renderings of what the car will look like. The one picture of the current Ferrari being tested for Grand Am makes the car look about as wide as it is long. Grand Am is making a big mistake going in this direction rather than moving more towards something like the DTM-style cars. That would make them look more like their street counterparts and less like a generic vehicle, which seems to be what NA$CAR wants to do with all the racing series they sanction.

Murdock Phone Hacking Scandal
　
I have not heard it mentioned, but the phone hacking scandal could have big implications for NASCAR. Depending on lawsuits and regulations stemming from what occurred, Rupert Murdoch may have to sell off some assets. They could include Speed TV and could impact Fox’s ability to bid on NASCAR’s next contract. It could mean jettisoning the high priced booth bozos. And if Murdock takes a big enough hit financially from these lawsuits, you can forget about Focks renewing their part of the TV contract come 2014. It’s quite possible Focks & Speed TV could break their contract with NA$CAR.
　
Terry Checks In
　
Our man in the stands out West, Terry, checked in on the Kentucky fiasco and the JGR engine deal with this:
　
Only saw the last half of Kentucky and didn't find it much different than most 1 1/2 tracks. Feel sorry for the people who got screwed by the mess they had. Listening to NASCAR radio last week they really pissed off a lot of people. One other thing this summer is how Gibbs seem to get away with things, once again two sets of rules.
　
IndyCar Engines
　
The Leaders Circle in IndyCar has Chevrolet aligned with Penske. Honda is aligned with Ganassi's four cars and AJ Foyt. Expect an announcement soon on more Honda teams. Speculation is that Andretti Autosports, Panther, and possibly Sarah Fisher Racing will be in the Chevy camp. There is talk the KV (Lotus) is leaning towards Honda. Judd, which was to be badged as Lotus, may now just be Judd, if KV does lean to Honda.

IndyCar has limited the annual lease for engines to $690,000, actually far less than the current costs ($1.5 million a year). The manufacturers will be limited top supplying no more than 10 teams/cars.
　
Honda is furthest along, while Chevy is estimated to be 45 days behind, and Judd another 45 days behind Chevy. But all are expected to be ready for next year.
　
Women’s Soccer Vs NA$CAR Ratings
　
USA Today reported that the USA-Japan final drew 7.4% of U.S. households. NASCAR had a 2.9 rating (2.2 million), which was up 12% from last year’s comparable coverage. TNT’s NA$CAR ratings will finish up over last year, given its rating were already up 7% heading into its final race.
　
Now compare that to Focks which was down or just barely equal to its 2010 numbers. It speaks volumes about the poor coverage and commentary provided by Focks. Too bad Focks’ Hill does not wake up and drop Jabber Jaws, rather than putting him on more often.
　
Have at it…Unless You’re Mr Happy
　
Most folks have probably heard the comments made recently by Mr Happy regarding Mafia Mike telling him to stay away from Shrubbery on the track. You have to wonder exactly why Mafia Mike did this. Did Shrubbery’s manufacturer get upset that Mr Happy might keep Shrubbery from formally winning the Chase for the Chumps? Or maybe the team owner overheard something said in jest in the garage? If NA$CAR is going to “have at it”, then it needs to apply to everyone and not just certain drivers. Otherwise, get rid of it and go back to having a bunch of light weights on the track.
　

Federal Case Dropped
　
Faux King Brian has dropped his Federal case against his ex wife regarding her taping their phone conversations. My guess is his lawyers finally figured out that her taping their conversations was legal under NC law. As to the other lawsuit, I guess neither team of lawyers has figured out that since the divorce doesn’t involve an undercover officer, a police informant, or a sexually assaulted minor that the files aren’t supposed to be sealed. But that’s for another day in court.
　
Another NA$CAR Safety Fallacy
　
Over the last decade, Cup drivers have suggested time and again that some sort of device be put in the Cup cars to let them know when a caution is brought out and Mafia Mike and company have always laid out some lame excuse as to why it couldn’t be done. One of their favorites being about the technology not existing. Well, the technology does exist and has existed for a while. IndyCar has had a visible warning device in their cars, installed in the steering wheel itself, which shows visible yellow lights which flash and a red light installed on the back of the cars that flash which warns all of the drivers that there is indeed a caution in addition to the yellow flags, flashing yellow lights around the oval tracks, flashing lights on the pace car, and audible transmissions on the team radios that there is indeed a caution. So how hard would it to be to incorporate this same existing technology into all NA$CAR race vehicles? After all, if they can do it in IndyCar they can easily do it in NA$CAR and NA$CAR isn’t afraid to take somebody else’s idea and use it like they have with the generic race cars and play-off system. NA$CAR’s conjoined twin hasn’t has any problems with using the SAFER walls which were developed by IndyCar or making full-face race helmets and HANS devices which IndyCar made mandatory way before NA$CAR even considered it. So why don’t they do it if driver safety is supposedly of such a high concern to them?
　
Lack of Hype for Indy Race
　
Leading up to this year’s Cup race at Indy, there hasn’t been a lot of hype regarding the race. Ever since the Badyear tire fiasco, attendance has dropped by 50+% . But of course, the problem with attendance won’t be the poor performance of the generic race vehicle or the poor leadership of NA$CAR. It will be the economy or possibly even the current budget entanglement going on in DC.
　
　
Saving Money
　
If you’re active duty, reserve, or former military and have Farmer’s Insurance for your vehicles, be sure to show them your military ID or a copy of your DD-214. This could save you some money every month on your insurance. As tight as things are, we all need every penny we can lay our hands on and if you can save yourself an extra $50-$60 a month on auto insurance, it’s well worth taking the time.
　

　

More Kentucky Opinions

2011-07-13T20:46:00.000-04:00

I asked fans what they thought of the race at Kentucky and here are their opinions:
　
Race Mama had this to say:
　
ok this is to you 2 from me a race fan....

I think what is funny is the horrible traffic issue seems to have made many (not all) forget about commenting on the absolute HORRIBLE excuse of a race....

that track SUCKS too flat for stock cars.....
I am glad Jimmy didn't talk me into going there.

Instead of a gazillion articles about traffic there should have been a gazillion about the lack of racing!

K just my .02 worth

Mary, Chip’s mom, wrote this:
　
It was another stinkeroo aero/clean-air race that was determined by set-ups. Most of the driving skill is taken out of this kind of race except for them trying to dodge each other during the restarts. The 1.5 mile tracks are good for one thing. You can get other stuff done around the house because if you walk away from the television you won't miss much.
　
　
Unkle Phil said:
　
I was glad to see Kyle win; there is no doubt that Kyle has it in his ass, or he can feel what the car needs, unlike Jr. Joey Logano was a snoozer.
　
Richard H. replied:
　
Actually it wasn't awful. The bumps made it impossible for the drivers to just cruise around. The usual drivers, Kyle, Jeff, Jimmy, Carl, went to the front. Good race by Root too.
　
This is from Pat G.:
　
A snoozer....really, I fell asleep with 30 to go.....I read who one the next day
　

Curmudgeon-in-Chief Bill sent this:
　
What race? I gave up on moto-wrasslin' when they began to manipulate the outcomes.
I suspect that a good close inspection of schrubs car by one of the other teams would reveal far more than any numbcar inspection ever will. Just my thoughts.
　
Tom B. replied:
　
You know to be honest, my interest has waned so much, never even thought of watching.
　
　
Bill the Mechanic wrote:
　
Another cookie cutter snoozer?
Truth is I didn't watch much of it. Saw a bit at lap 20, till the competition caution break, went to dinner, then watched some at the middle. Towards the end I kept going back & forth between the race and the drags. When it looked like Kryle was going to win I didn't go back.
One thing I did notice though. Finally, they weren't ashamed to show a wide shot of the (full) grandstands for the first time this year.
With all the reported traffic woes, I'll bet they don't get anywhere near a capacity crowd from now on.
Oh, and Bruton should be ashamed of himself, expecting the state to upgrade the roads for his benefit. He created the problem, let him pay to fix it!
Isn't Kentucky having money problems like most every other state?
　
　
Geoff has this to say:
　
Typical mile and a half snoozer, track position, clean air, two green flag pit stops, and the leader has a 7-9 second lead and the old debris caution, BIG SHOCKER.
Drivers take your wave around.
A couple laps of green, oops, a car wiggled in the corner, might be some oil, better check the track for "safety sake".
Drivers take your wave around.
Whoever invented that new clear and dustless oil dry, is a genius.
If you add 30-40 thousand extra seats to a place, you would think the State and Local Dept for building and zoning would verify that you have parking for the extra seats before they OK it.
Not adding volunteer people or staff to check coolers, is a cheap lame ass excuse. But they "LOVE" the fans.
I also think all the Official Statements left out a line at the end of them.
Ya'll come back now, Ya hear.
　
　
Richard, one of our Canadian race fans, sent this:
　
watched it on & off. If your man is leading, the race has to be good, so that would make me rather bias.
I loved the Fri race when Brad K 'toyed' with Harvick. Of course Brad won & Kevin was notably pissed.
Fast fwd to Sat. Brad led for a lot of laps but just couldn't get going during the restarts over the last few laps. Would have been real interesting if he could have been side by side with Kyle at the end. Interesting that they all complained about the rough track, but if one got in the lead, he was hard to catch. So, you had periods that one car was pulling away which some would conclude was not good racing. My view....overall, not a bad race.
Sounds like there was a real problem with traffic. Seems like 20,000 ticket holders never got to the track. Problem with roadways and a severe lack of parking space. Both the track & NA$CAR are all over the media apologizing and promising better for next year. They need to give all those who couldn't get to the track tix for the next cup race.
　
Glenn had this to say:
　
One thing I found interesting…..and Kyle Petty made mention of it.
When Kyle Busch would pit……..his crew chief would say go, go , go…….all the way to the 42.
It seemed that the Gibbs cars new exactly where the “speed traps” were on pit road.
I would think that would provide a heck of an advantage if “everyone” wasn’t privy to the same information…….wouldn’t you?
　
Jules the Engine Guy added this:
　
Obviously there were fans that cared and were treated very badly.
The track staff knowing full well that there were people either walking or waiting in the hot sun for several hours did the Humanitarian thing by tripling the cost of the already over priced bottle of water to $10.
I don't following horse racing or visit the dog track because I feel its cruel so why would continue to follow NASCAR?
　
　
Chris, a student at UNCC added this:
　
If Bruton and Marcus had taken a page from a successful track opening instead of their own history or that of the later owners of the previously successful tracks, they'd have put as much into KY Speedway as Curtis Turner put into Charlotte Motor Speedway or Roger Penske did into California Speedway. Instead of expecting taxpayers to pay in order to play; Roger negotiated to secure public transportation (light rail) to come to the track even before the first event. When one aspect of the first year event went wrong, Roger paid to fix the problem. Then again, the Captain actually was on site to supervise the event he put together. Is it any wonder Bruton and Marcus are making such unprofessional faux-pas when they don't follow common supervision practices? Is there a track left in the SMI portfolio that hasn't had some tainted action take place since Marcus became COO of SMI?
　
　
This is from a person I’ll call Anonymous to protect his identity:
　
Good article, Mikie! One thing, though… as one of those state employees, I can tell you that IMO (as well as many of my coworkers) those unpaid furloughs were the Governor’s retaliation for not getting his “expanded gambling” bill passed through the legislature. Funny how his ‘shortfalls’ turned into a big budget surplus, and that no additional furloughs are being called for this year (which just happens to be an election year).
　
　
Dave From Texas Had This to Say:
　
Wow!!
I read the articles in the Kentucky and Cincinnati newspapers - what a mess!!
If I am reading them correctly, no food, drinks or coolers allowed in the speedway? The gates didn't open until 2:00 pm? Water was $4.00 a bottle? That alone would make lots of people never show up again.
Lots of comments were posted to the effect of this is what happened when the Busch race sold out many years ago - big traffic mess. So they already knew what was going to happen. People were saying that no one bothered to scan at least half of the tickets - they just waved people in without checking *anything*!! So no wonder the GM says he doesn't know how many people didn't get in! He also said, in a round about way, that there will be no refunds. Since they have no way to prove if you went in (or what time) that's going to be a big mess to sort out too.
And virtually no porta-potties outside? And no trash cans? Guess they wanted to cut costs as much as they could - just like TMS is doing now.
Also, I wonder how they all got *out*? Must have been an even bigger mess!
Question for you: Any chance the reason they didn't scan most of the tickets is because the place was over sold? They sold more tickets than the place would hold so the stands would be full no matter what? Just a thought.
　

Sponsors, Media, & Real Stock Car Racing

2011-07-06T21:10:00.002-04:00

Yet Another Sponsor Heading for the Door
　
Sponsors seem to be heading for the door more and more often the last couple of years. It was recently announced that Red Bull was leaving as a team owner with no plans towards sponsorship of another team. And now Crown Royal is heading out the door.
　
Let’s go back to when Crown Royal first showed up. Roush Racing had lined them up as a sponsor for the 2004 season. But due to a major case of greed, Crown Royal was snagged by NA$CAR and its incestuous twin I$C as the official liquor of their tracks and milked for sponsorship money for a full season before being allowed to continue on as a Roush sponsor. They had the reigning Cup champion as their spokesman in the #97 car in 2005 but got some bad publicity (guilt by association) from the Phoenix reckless driving incident and the residual dislike of the 2004 champion from his incident with Jimmy Spencer in which Spencer was forced to sit out for a week. The champ was released early by Roush, the car renumbered to the #26, and Jamie Mac took over the sponsorship. McMurray’s ride at Roush was pretty lackluster overall which didn’t do much for Crown Royal. McMurray left for DEI after the forced downsizing by NA$CAR and the sponsorship was moved to the #17 car, who had a previous sponsorship of another alcohol company. Matt Kenseth hasn’t exactly had a lot of shining moments since the Crown Royal sponsorship was put on his car. This is due in part to the network bias and coverage of the Japanese automaker and their drivers by Focks rather than covering all the cars and drivers. Plus it didn’t help that one of the commentators during the first part of the season has a problem with Ford and that he is “owned” by the Japanese automaker and is their head cheerleader. So even if Kenseth did good, his performance tended to be ignored by the commentators from Focks.
　
Another part of the problem is that NA$CAR’s blue collar fans, who made up the bulk of the fan base, were primarily beer drinkers so Crown Royal didn’t get the Return on Investment (ROI) they had hoped for. Crown Royal isn’t exactly allowed to be carried into the track whereas beer is. Plus the size of the Grand Am crowd, even though they might be more prone to drink Crown Royal, doesn’t make up for the loss of ROI on the Cup side of things. So farewell Crown Royal. Maybe you can find a sport which will give you the ROI you need and not be forced into various side deals by the sanctioning body of that sport.
　
Will the Queen of Hype Be Without a Sponsor?
　
Patrick's good run came on the same day as her sponsor GropeDaddy.com announced the company had been bought by a group of private equity firms for a reported US $2.25 billion.
　
While Patrick did get pushed around the track well until her teammate pushed her, the future has just gotten murky. Despite what’s being said publicly by the former owner, investors generally do not spend money on racing. There are not many teams that want her in IndyCar. The Andretti gig was related to the money she brought, first with Motorola, next with Grope-Daddy. Her hope is that she has not worn out her NA$CAR welcome, so she can maybe get something put together there. However, if the new owners move in a different direction with their advertising campaign and marketing money, this could very well leave the Queen of Hype (QoH), JR Motorsports, and Slick Rick without a major sponsor. Which leads to the question of will any race team actually hire her without a major sponsor? There have been great drivers with 100 times the driving abilities and skills of the QoH who couldn’t find a ride because of the lack of a major sponsor. So will anyone hire her without a sponsor? We’ll have to see what unfolds with the sale of Grope Daddy.
　
Real Professional Stock Car Racing Returning to America
　
It was announced that the Australian V-8 Supercar Series will be racing at the Circuit of the America’s in Austin Texas in a 5 year deal. For folks who enjoy seeing stock cars racing and not just generic race vehicles, here’s a chance to actually see cars which resemble their street counterparts racing each other. While the NA$CAR TV audience has been shrinking over the last several years, the V-8 Supercar Series audience has been growing. This is the same series where Marcos Ambrose got his start and won back to back championships bringing Ford back to life in competition down under. And you’ll even recognize some of the sponsors. Jack Daniels and Jim Beam are just two that NA$CAR fans are familiar with that sponsor Aussie V-8 Supercar teams.
　
Just How Big is the Fan Base?
　
Based on some info from one of my sources, the fan base isn’t anywhere near the highly touted 75 million fans Faux King Brian likes to go on about. The fan base is closer to 7 million fans. This would go a long ways towards explaining why the normal TV ratings don’t get much above 1.5 million viewers during the majority of the season and why so many sponsors have cut back or left completely. This would also explain why so few folks go to the Hall of Fantasies in Charlotte.
　
How Desperate is Daytona International Speedway?
　
This is off of the speedway web site:
　
Girl Scout Summer Slumber Party

July 30, 2011
　
Calling all Girl Scouts! Enjoy a fun slumber party inside the DAYTONA 500 Club at the “World Center of Racing,” Daytona International Speedway.
　
Since when are the Girl Scouts interested in stock car racing? This has got to be a joke. If it's really true then they really are desperate!!
　
And BTW, the Boy and Girl Scouts of Volusia County receive donations from the NA$CAR Foundation as do troops near Michigan Speedway. Not to the national headquarters where the money can be even distributed but only to these local troops.
　
Blocking
　
Wasn’t it Tony Stewart who blocked Regan Smith at Talladega and forced Smith to go below the yellow line to keep from wrecking and costing Smith the win?
　
The is No Truth in Pravda and There’s No News in Izvestiya

This is an old saying from the Cold War which reflected the view of the average Soviet citizen. Pravda is the Russian word for truth. Izvestiya is the word for news. Pravda and Izvestiya were also the newspapers approved and run by the Communist party and were mandatory for businesses, factories, and the military. Both newspapers were used to announce official policy and policy changes. And back then, the Soviet Union was pretty much a dictatorship between a front man or actual Premier, the KGB, who controlled some leaders from behind the scenes, and the Army being the “swing vote” as it were should either the Premiere or KGB become too strong.

Now, let’s look at the NA$CAR controlled media. NA$CAR is a dictatorship controlled by one man. The “official” NA$CAR media only reports what NA$CAR allows them to report, just like Pravda and Izvestiya. The NA$CAR controlled media announces official policies and policy changes, just like Pravda and Izvestiya. And while there’s some truth in the form of fluff pieces and standardized interviews (which both Pravda and Izvestiya had for factory supervisors who reached 5 Year Program quotas), there’s more smoke and mirrors and propaganda than factual information. Some folks will take offense to this, as is their right, but folks who can think for themselves will do a little research and find the comparison quite valid.
　
Control of the media covering NA$CAR is nothing new. It started when Big Bill formed NA$CAR according to the late Jack Flowers. Big Bill would wine and dine members of the press in order to get positive publicity and print and for those who didn’t go along with it, they were blackballed. The same control of the media has gone on through succeeding generations of the France family to include not just NA$CAR but also court proceedings regarding other members of the France family. You won’t find much in the way of Amy France, Brian’s cousin, and her violating the custody & visitation agreement of her child by the child’s father. The most recent examples of the Frances trying to control the media regarding the courts is with the lawsuit in Charlotte of Megan France by her former husband and the heavy hand of NA$CAR censoring the Jeremy Mayfield interview by Steve Byrnes on Speed TV several months back.
　
Then we have the continuing saga of the Double Secret Probation Fines that have been slapped on folks like Hamlin, Newman, and others which eventually see the light of day. Organizations that have to use secrecy, threats, and intimidation in order to promote a positive image in itself isn’t very positive. And even with the “happy happy joy joy” message the controlled media tries to send, the fans who can think for themselves and have longer than a 5 minute attention span know that something is very wrong with the sanctioning body and their messengers.

Penske Stuff, Irony, Mystery Debris Solution, Subliminal Message, and Other Miscellany

2011-06-08T15:08:00.000-04:00

Hendrick Decals On Penske Indy Cars
　
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this one out. Penske will be the lead Chevy team in IndyCar next season. Penske’s contract with Dodge also ends in 2012. The Queen of Hype will be driving for a Hendrick satellite team in the form of JR Motorsports next season in a full-time capacity. She has also threatened that she will be driving in the Indy 500 every year while she is in NA$CAR. Since she has managed to P.O. just about every team owner, engineer, strategist, crew chief, mechanic, driver, teammate, and pit crew in the garage through her temper tantrums, hissy fits, and inability to set up her own car, the only way she can get a ride boils down to somebody “buying” a ride for her and Slick Rick is the one who’ll be buying the ride.
　
Penske Has Sights Set on De Silvestro
　
Penske isn’t making any secrets about the fact that he wants Simona De Silvestro driving for Team Penske in IndyCar. Even with 2^nd degree burns on her hands, she attempted to run the Indy 500, which shows the signs of a true racer rather than a prima donna, spoiled driver. I think she and Team Penske will make a good match.
　
The Joke is Jabber Jaws, Not on Jabber Jaws
　
When Shrubbery spun out towards the end of the WWE 600 at Charlotte, good old Jabber Jaws immediately made the excuse that somebody had run into the rear of his car. Then on the replay, it was clear that there wasn’t a car within 3-4 car lengths of Shrubbery when he spun. Then Jabber Jaws trying making up yet another excuse for him spinning. Let’s face it, Jabber Jaws has become as big a joke in the announcing booth as he was at the end of his driving career. He needs to retire before he embarrasses himself any more than he already has.
　
Double Secret Probation Fine
　
It seems that Newman was secretly fined $50,000 for punching JPM. These sorts of fine are nothing new as we saw with Hamlin being sold out by a card carrying journalist to NA$CAR during Twittergate and by one legal definition could amount to extortion.
　
Subliminal Message with Pocono Sponsor?
　
Is NA$CAR telling us that the race is going to last 5 hours and that it will be a snoozer by having 5 Hour Energy Drink as the race sponsor? Maybe it should become the official sponsor of the cookie cutter tracks since they all tend to be snooze fests.
　
Great Idea for Debris Cautions
　
Mike in Orlando came up with a great idea to make sure that NA$CAR is on the up and up when it comes to debris cautions.
　
How's this for a way to get rid of our friend: put a helmet cam on the guys in the safety truck that pick the debris off the track during cautions. The same kind of helmet cam that is occasionally worn by "over-the-wallers" during pit stops. When a yellow flag is thrown for debris, the helmet cam goes on and stays on until the safety guys can show us just what kind of debris (if any) there actually was on the track to bring out the caution. For me, these phantom cautions call into question the integrity of that specific race and NASCAR in general. When a significant portion of your fan base equates your (supposedly on the level) sport to professional wrestling, you've got a problem. And yes, it would be interesting to see how many times the feed from the cam goes out at an inappropriate time, like when there's no debris to be found...anyway, thanks for indulging me.
　
“Boys Have At It” Confusion
　
When NA$CAR announced their new policy allowing drivers to express a little emotion on the track, I don’t think they were considering it would result in millions of dollars of cars and trucks ending up being scrap metal. And it seems that one or two drivers have taken it to heart by wrecking, spinning out, and punting other drivers throughout all 3 of NA$CAR’s top touring series. It doesn’t matter if the other driver was a wet-behind-the-ears rookie or a seasoned veteran, these drivers have wrecked them all with one of the two really taking it out on the rookies and less experienced drivers. To make matters worse, NA$CAR has hyped this up in their ads and interviews showing wrecks galore, even wrecks that happened with the old COT with the spoiler. McDowell’s qualifying wreck at Texas, Cousin/Crazy Carl going into the fence at Talladega, Bowyer sliding on his roof at Daytona, Logano tumbling down the track at Dover, and all of these wrecks being used to promote a races at tracks where these wrecks never occurred. Not to mention the ads for the All Star Race preaching revenge, getting even, and havoc run amok. And yet when Newman and Childress both practice their version of “Boys Have At It”, they’re punished for it. So who’s really at fault? Newman and Childress for going along with the program that NA$CAR is advocating or NA$CAR for laying the hype about “Boys Have At It” on so thick that people have actually started believing it?
　
By sitting around with their thumbs up their backsides and allowing certain drivers to conduct a reign of terror on the track, NA$CAR has contributed to the problem and is an instigator of it via their controlled media. As has happened in the past, NA$CAR is saying one thing yet doing another. They want drivers to have bare knuckle brawls to get folks to watch on TV or attend the races and want the drivers to wreck millions of dollars worth of race vehicles so they can fill the coffers of the Ivory Towers without having to spend much in the way of advertising. They get their controlled media to hype things up for them at no cost to the Ivory Towers. Then in turn they fine the drivers or owners for “actions detrimental” for carrying out “Boys Have At It” when they go bare knuckle with 30% of the money going to charity and 70% lining the pockets of various executives and staffers. So while there’s animosity and ill will running amok in the garage and on the track, NA$CAR is laughing all the way to the bank while quietly instigating and promoting the violence and carnage that’s happening.
　
Isn’t It Odd
　
When Shrubbery was nailed for doing 128 mph in a residential area putting the residents of the area at risk, his car manufacturer said nothing. When Shrubbery gets “pruned” by a 65 year old man, they come out in defense of Shrubbery and want the head of the “pruner” be served up on a silver platter.
　
Advice for Richard Childress
　
Two words: Tonya Harding.
　

Jules the Engine Guy had some interesting observations regarding irony:
　
#1
Dodge makes a complaint about engines, saying Ford has an advantage.
Yesterday, in the order of the makes, Dodge, Chevy, Toyota and Ford is last. Dodge dominates too. Nothing against Ford but amazing how that works out.
　
　
#2
With the advent of the new fueling procedures and ethanol, tires now last for an entire fuel run. Are the tires better or is the mileage worse? Also interesting is that its a 50/50 toss up as to whether or not the teams fill the cars with fuel. We heard of Biffle, Kurt Busch, and now Tony Stewart having these issues. One make of car seems left out. The make that hasn't had a problem advertises that its line is the most fuel efficient.
　
　
#3
Cryal Busch (although he does not admit it) tries his damnedest to drive like Earnhardt Sr. He loves it when they make that comparison. So what does he do? He gets ticketed for driving an exotic sports car 3x the speed limit in the county where Earnhardt Sr lived. Then he gets his ass kicked by a man almost 40 years his senior. That man, Earnhardt's car owner.
　
Penske Going to Chevy for Cup?
　
2012 is when Penske’s contract with Dodge runs out and with the announcement that his IndyCar operation will be the lead Chevy team and his IndyCar teams were spotted with Hendrick decals on the rear spoilers, you have to wonder if Penske is already building the new cars without saying anything or if he’s planning to have some sort of alliance with Hendrick in 2012 in the form of possibly being yet another Hendrick satellite team. I’m just speculating here but the indications are pretty strong. So what say you Roger? Is your Cup operation switching to Chevy or not come 2012?
　

TV Ratings Deception
　
Don’t be deceived by all the hype of how Focks ratings had the biggest increase in the last 11 years. If you go back and look at where the ratings were before Faux King Brian took over and the high point, the TV ratings are still down by at least 25%. So while they may have gone up for Focks this season, they’re nowhere near where they use to be.

　

All Star Race Comments, IndyCar, Toys, & Memorial Day

2011-05-27T13:07:00.000-04:00

I think the fan comments pretty much speak for themselves regarding what was supposed to be the All Star Race:
　
Dave from Texas wrote this:
　
Mike,
Two words:
Bore - Ring!!!!
What a snoozer!!
Edwards and Kyle run off and leave the rest. That's the best they could do? Recycle a Nationwide script?
And what was all the "Getting Even", "The Gloves Come Off" and "Payback Time" before the race? That was all they could blabber about? If this didn't look like the beginning of a wrestling match, then I don't know what would. Absolutely disgusting.
And what about the all the phony drama over, "Who Will The Fan Vote In Be"? Gosh, I don't know. *EVERYONE* knew it would be Jr as he had no other way to get in. How insulting is that? I can't believe how stoopid they think I am!!
And the Booth Bozos - it sounded like DW was drunk - but them screaming at me about how exciting it all was got really old, really fast. Especially when it *wasn't* exciting. Talk about much ado about nothing.
I wonder how many tickets they had to give away to get the grandstands as full as they could? Especially when, as the race went on, the crowd seemed to get smaller and smaller. DW saying, "They had great walk-up sales!" wasn't convincing to me. I wonder how many will show up next year? I'm sure you remember when it was *impossible* to get tickets to The Winston three months in advance, much less the night of the event.
　
The whole event was a waste of my time to watch. It was nothing but one long infomercial. (How did you like the driver introductions with the big TV set on the stage showing a Sprint cell phone ad every few seconds?)　

Mary, Chip’s mom, had this to say:
　
What a snoozer the "All Star" race was. I didn't even make it to the end.　
　
Submariner Bill said this:
　
I enjoyed the National Anthem, thought the Military Brass Band played
it with dignity and enthusiasm. They certainly confused the shit out of
everybody prior to the elimination race, though, by doing God Save
America instead of the anthem, leaving everyone with hand over heart
and a "wtf" look on face as they listened to the guy honking like a sick
goose.

I rather enjoyed "The Duck" boy tearing up his car in the infield before
doing the back flip, and his interview (having Scotts come plant some
grass) was kind of fun.

In between I was able to get in some nice naps. If any race ever
demonstrated the aerodynamic bull$hit that NA$CAR has become, that
would be it　

Wayne made this comment:
　
Yeah it was and had to listen to mounds of B/S from Waltrips and Speed. The NW Race was a lot better as home-town kid won it.　

Race Mama, who was at the track, said this:
　
It seemed more like a test session for the 600...I scanned around a lot and teams were trying all kinds of stuff　

Chris, who lives near the track wrote this:
　
I could have walked to the track (avoiding traffic) and gotten free tix--they were pushed for 3 weeks--but I'm still glad based on the Tweets I read that I didn't go.

The fireworks display, which I can see from my front door, wasn't even as good as UNCC displays when they host them--far below Humpy's standards.

I got groceries while everyone was off the roads then watched Indy quals.　
Interesting in that all the empty seats that could be seen and that was even after tickets were given away. And Charlotte’s busy giving away tickets for the 600 too so the track won’t appear as empty. That tells me that it’s not the economy that’s the problem. Not when free tickets are available.
　
Overall fan consensus? Two thumbs down.
　
It seems that since Humpy got dumped that the overall quality of events at CMS have gone downhill. Some fans feel that maybe it’s time for a change of location since some teams are using the All Star Race as nothing more than a testing session for the 600 the following week. Some fans think that the location of the All Star Race needs to be at a different location every year to keep things more interesting instead of the same old stale event year after year. All worthy ideas but we know Bruton the Bald would have a major hissy fit if they tried moving the All Star Race.
　
Danican’t & the 2012 Season
　
One of the interesting things about the Queen of Hype going full time next season in NA$CAR is that you can be assured there will be lots and lots of hype throughout the entire season. The question is, where would she go? It’s pretty obvious she’d stay at the Hendrick satellite team of JR Motorsports in the Busch Series. But who would field a car for her Cup attempts? It would come from yet another Hendrick satellite team, Stewart-Hass. And just who would put her in a car for her attempt for the 2012 Indy 500? Considering Stewart and Hendrick’s connections with Chevy, you can bet one of the Chevy powered teams would be putting her in a car and considering Tony’s relationship with AJ Foyt, it would probably be for AJ. Providing he can tolerate her temper tantrums and inability to set up a race car.
　
Now here’s where her once a year Indy 500 plans fall apart. 2012 is when IndyCar introduces their new bodies, aero packages, and power plants. The Queen of Hype has no experience with the turbo powered engines. She will also not have any experience with the new bodies and aero packages which puts her at an immediate disadvantage. Plus as she still doesn’t know how to set up her current car, based on comments in the IndyCar garage from engineers and former teammates, she’d be dependent on having somebody else set it up for her. This would probably mean both the primary and back-up cars being scrap metal. So how to get her in after that? A similar deal to what is happening this year. She buys a seat, just like the Motormouth Brothers have had to do for some Cup races and is being done this year with AJ Foyt’s team. And come 2013, she’ll have missed out on any changes IndyCar makes to the cars and power plants. The less she drives IndyCar, the more futile the attempts will be and maybe even to the point of embarrassing her, IndyCar, and her sponsors. NA$CAR will try to milk it for all it’s worth no matter how she does. Lots of hype, hoopla, and the sad delivery of not living up to it, just like the All Star Race not living up to its’ hype and hoopla.
　

Chevy Engine on Schedule for IndyCar

　
According to Auto News Log, the development of the engine that Chevy will be fielding for IndyCar is coming along nicely and will be ready in time for the 2012 season. How are they able to do this? By using key elements of their production model engines. Technology from both the Camaro and Cruze engines are being incorporated into the IndyCar engine which makes it relevant to what the fans have under their hood unlike NA$CAR which still insist on using obsolete technology under the hood and generic race vehicles.
　

It’s Just a Toy

That’s what Shrubbery said when he was pulled over for doing 128 mph in a 45 mph zone in a residential area. A lot of fans are outraged over the fact that he was speeding, that he wasn’t arrested for “carelessly and heedlessly in willful and wanton disregard of the rights of others”. Fans need to remember that this incident took place in the county where most of the race teams are based. They also need to look back at previous incidents involving NA$CAR drivers like Motormouth Mikey leaving the scene of an accident when he totaled his SUV and hid in his pool house to avoid being tested for DUI and his more recent incident where he ran into a motorcycle and blew a .06 which is just under the .08 legal limit of intoxication. Or Michael Annett and him rear ending a couple of cars while texting. NA$CAR is pretty much leaving it to the courts to handle it but then I think about some previous incidents involving drivers who were DUI, which also endangers the public, and the drivers being placed on probation such as The Dinger.
　

Memorial Day Weekend

Jeremy Mayfield with a race fan at a frontline FOB.

As it’s Memorial Day Weekend, I thought I’d post a picture of the only NA$CAR driver I know of who ever went to a combat zone to visit the troops and went out of his way to go to a forward operating base (FOB) to visit the race fans who help to ensure our freedom every day.

Curtis Turner, IndyCar Stuff, Rolling Thunder Modifieds, History, and Other Stuff

2011-05-23T20:20:00.000-04:00

Hall of Fame Contender: Curtis "Pops" Turner

Curtis Turner with mechanical wizard Smokey Yunick

Curtis Turner was born is a small town in Virginia called Floyd back in 1924. Curtis was known for a number of things. He made and lost more money than most of us will ever see in the timber industry. He was known for holding some wild parties. He was also known for his abilities behind the wheel of a stock car. He was also one of the Founding Fathers of NASCAR along with Raymond Parks, Red Byron, Red Vogt, and the Staley Brothers whom you rarely hear about. Curtis was one of the first drivers to use an airplane to get from one race to the next. Curtis tried to start a drivers union which got him and Tim Flock blackballed for life in 1961. Of course, Big Bill France didn’t know just how popular Curtis was with race fans until the other racing series that Curtis ran in while he was blackballed pulled in more fans than NASCAR was pulling in. Probably a good place to find out about Curtis Turner is to read the book “Full Throttle”. It covers the days from when Curtis hauled sugar to make moonshine and getting shot at to his popularity with Ford Motor Company and how he used that to get the Wood Brothers the backing of Ford to his untimely death. Characters like Curtis don’t come along very often and there definitely aren’t any like him in today’s squeaky clean, politically correct NA$CAR. Some of the “supporting” characters in Curtis’ racing career were the Clown Prince of Racing Joe Weatherly, Smokey Yunick, the Wood Brothers, Big Bill France, Bud Moore, and a who’s who of racing from the good old days of racing.
　
Probably one of the more interesting things (to me) that happened during Curtis’ career was after Big Bill France re-instated Curtis in 1965. Nobody wanted to take a chance on Curtis because of his age. But one team did step up and gave Curtis the break he needed to get back into racing. The same team he helped give a break to years before. The Wood Brothers. They never forgot what Curtis did for them by getting Ford to back them in their racing efforts so they fielded a car for him. And as sort of a jab at the owners who wouldn’t hire him, Curtis had his age as the car number, the #41. Unfortunately for us fans, Curtis retired from racing in 1968 and went back to the timber business. He lost his life in a plane crash which some have attributed to the fuel in his plane that he got before starting the next leg of his flight back to his home in Roanoke, VA. He was given the nickname of the “Babe Ruth of Stock Car Racing” by Sports Illustrated in 1968 and was the first NASCAR driver to appear on their cover. By the time he appeared on that cover, he had won over 350 races in NASCAR, ARCA, MARC, and USAC. Curtis was also the genius behind Charlotte Motor Speedway, which you’ll never get Bruton Smith to admit to nor the betrayal Bruton pulled on a vote as to whether or not to keep Curtis on the board of the speedway.
　
If you look at the “total package”, which is something I urge the voting members to do, Curtis rates right up there and is worthy on being inducted into the HOF.
　
A couple of side notes, Floyd, VA., where Curtis Turner was born, is also the home town of Tony Stewart’s crew chief Darian Grubb and USAR driver Jeff Agnew. Curtis’ daughter Margaret Sue, Pam Roberts (Fireball‘s daughter), and Sybil Scott (Wendell’s daughter) use to be the 3 Musketeers of the infield when they followed their dad’s careers around from track to track and maintained a life-long friendship.
　
Somebody’s Fibbed About The Split Screen Coverage
　
Back when BSPN first got their segment of the broadcast contract, fans were hoping that this would be the advent of the same split-screen coverage that Disney/ABC/BSPN had used for their coverage of the IRL. His Imperial Incontinence, Faux King Brian, dashed all the fans hopes when he stated that split screen coverage would not be allowed because it wouldn’t allow the sponsors to present their form of branding. Well, it seems we’re now catching Faux King Brian in yet another fib.
　
When asked about the split screen format, here’s a non-answer given by BSPN:
　
“Since we returned to NASCAR racing in 2007, one of the most common questions from our fans has been ‘why don’t you do the commercials side-by-side?’” said John Skipper, ESPN executive vice president, content. “We’re very pleased to be able to do it now with NASCAR Non Stop and showcase the advertiser while still showcasing the race. ESPN’s mission is to serve sports fans and this is a way to give the fans more racing action during the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.”
　
Now here’s an answer from BSPN that’s actually an answer:
　
"Currently, we are not allowed to do side-by-side per our rights agreement with NASCAR," Rich Feinberg said before the Daytona 500. "But I know that in our partnership we have discussions with them about that and overall we understand the frustration."
　
So it’s not the sponsors or advertisers who prohibited the split screen coverage but NA$CAR itself which prohibited it. When will Faux King Brian ever learn that his fibs will eventually come back to bite him in the backside? Like the COT will make the racing more exciting, the COT will solve all of the aero problems, we want to bring back our long time fans, it’s Dale Jr’s fault NA$CAR isn’t doing better, and I know what’s best for the sport.
　
　
IMS to Drop NA$CAR?
　
Racer magazine is reporting the sales of tickets for this year’s Brickyard 400 are lagging behind last year’s low turnout of an estimated 140,000. Last year’s attendance was down nearly 50% from the 270,000 that attended in 2007. IMS officials are stating they believe the over-saturation of Cup, NNS, and truck races in the Midwest is a contributing reason, especially the addition of Kentucky just 170 miles away along with Chicago, Michigan, and Kansas.
　
Considering that the France family and ISC have abandoned IndyCar (IndyCar does not race at any ISC tracks), that maybe IMS is considering dropping NASCAR because it is becoming a money loser since the Goodyear tire fiasco.
　
One Manufacturer’s History Speaks Volumes
　
Toyota had partnered with Dan Gurney’s All American Racers and dominated the IMSA prototype ranks, virtually destroying that series (which was revived by Panoz and became the ALMS). Gurney and his AAR team built an Eagle powered by Toyota into the CART series. Toyota suddenly dropped Gurney and driver Robby Gordon in favor of providing engines for Newman-Haas and Ganassi. As in fighting continued within CART, Penske brokered a behind the scenes deal to take Honda and Toyota to the IRL, because of the Indy 500.
　
They were the engine to have when they went to IndyCar, as Penske and Ganassi were cleaning up. Honda partnered with Andretti-Green and when that team’s drivers began dominating, so Toyota joined Chevy in leaving the series.
　
In Formula 1, Toyota was spending more than Ferrari per year, something to the tune of $750m. They even were caught with design information from Ferrari, as one of their car designs looked very much like the previous year’s Ferrari dominating car. But in all their years in F1, they only mustered a couple of podium finishes. So they left and put their money into NASCAR.
　
Toyota, through their Lexus brand, provided support of Ganassi’s Grand Am team. After winning a couple of titles in the prototype division, in late 2009 Toyota announced they were leaving Grand Am. This forced Ganassi to scramble and he ended up putting together a deal with BMW.
　
Toyota’s track record is clear. If they ever win a title, both driver and manufacturer, in Cup or after a number of years with limited success, they will be gone. If they pull out, gone is the money NASCAR relies on, because I’m sure the next TV contract will not be anywhere close to the current one.
　
　
Alex Tagliani on Pole for Indy 500
　
In a feel good story for the upcoming Indy 500, Alex Taglaini put his car on the pole for former driver Sam Schmidt, who was paralyzed as the result of a crash during testing. Beating out the powerhouse teams like Ganassi and Penske is no small feat. Ganassi driver’s Franchitti and Dixon both managed to run out of fuel which put a serious dent in their qualifying efforts. Former NA$CAR driver John Andretti was the only one of the five Andretti Racing drivers to qualify. Simona De Silvestro, coming back from a fiery wreck earlier in the week, was able to qualify 24^th. This leaves the Queen of Hype, Ana Beatriz, 2 Ganassi cars, a Penske car, and others to try to make it in on Bump Day qualifying.
　
2012 All Star Race Rumors
　
Rumors are already surfacing regarding next year’s All Star Race and the Queen of Hype’s silence over next year’s plans on driving in NA$CAR. I’m not sure where the rumor started but according to the rumor she’ll be running in the 2012 All Star Race. I don’t see how she can get in based on her current driving levels in the Busch series and the fact that she has yet to drive in a Cup race, much less win a race in any of NA$CAR’s Top 3 series, but considering past results of the fan vote have been rigged to get certain drivers with high dollar sponsors in, it wouldn’t be a real surprise if the Queen of Hype did get in.
　
Rolling Thunder Modifieds Rolling On
　
Last year’s Rolling Thunder Modified Touring Series winner Trevor Edwards continued his dominance of Newport Speedway having now won both races in the tour’s history at Newport Speedway. Trevor was also the pole-sitter for the double-points event. Eldon Zacek of Concord, NC finished 2^nd. Chris Brown of Ft. Washington, KY assumes the Series points lead after two races this season while finishing 3^rd. Jeff Woods of Vinton, VA was fourth and is now 2^nd in points while Ed Ditges of Orlando, FL rounded out the Top 5.

Lauren Edgerton of Chesterfield, VA becomes the first woman racer in the 20-year history of the Rolling Thunder Modifieds and Lauren finished 6^th.Vance Hall of Richfield, NC finished 7th and moves to third in the points.

The Rolling Thunder Modifieds are scheduled to return to Dillon Motor Speedway on July 9, 2011 for their 3^rd race of the season.
　
　

New Stuff, Old Stuff, & Why The Network Bias

2011-05-13T19:48:00.000-04:00

Thanks to a busy week and Blogger not working right, I wasn't able to get this posted in time but there's a few things that might be of interest to some folks.

Phoenix Reconfiguration to Cost SCCA Races
　
As a part of the reconfiguration of Phoenix International Raceway (PIR), the infield road course is being taken out to make room for more campers and motor homes. Obviously ISC hasn’t been paying attention to the empty grandstands and half-filled campgrounds at their other tracks. But they feel they don’t need the SCCA races. Why? Who knows what goes on in the empty melons of the Ivory Towers of Daytona Beach. Based on interviews done by Terry, our man in the stands out West, a number of fans won’t be going back to PIR because of the reconfiguration of the track. They liked it the way it was because it was a unique design and challenging to the drivers. So if ISC can’t take the hint by the empty stands at Bristol caused by the reconfiguration, what’s it going to take to get their attention about reconfiguring tracks? Totally empty grandstands?
　
Darlington Ratings Down
　
Hard to believe that one of the most exciting tracks on the schedule had its’ ratings drop. But then again, it is believable. According to the “standard start times” that were touted by NA$CAR, the night races were supposed to start at 7:00 PM. Darlington didn’t start til almost 45 minutes later. Not to mention the Ms Terry DeBris caution to bunch the field back up. No wonder folks tuned out and went to bed about 11:00 PM. Maybe if they started at the standard start time, they might have had some better ratings. So which excuse will be used this week? The economy? The price of gasoline? Or the NBA play-offs which were up 32% over last year? Take your pick.
　
North Wilkesboro Closed Again
　
After Save The Speedway put in 6 years helping to get North Wilkesboro re-opened, the track, under management of Speedway Associates Inc., has closed after 14 months of racing. SAI claims it’s due to the high front end cost of putting on the races there. I can’t say for sure since I haven’t seen the books. I know that a lot of money went into getting the scoring tower working again, walls being painted, and some of the suites being repaired. It’s a sad thing to see. It’s also strange that it happened after Save The Speedway decided to go look at some other tracks to save. Could it be that Save The Speedway was really the driving force behind getting the track re-opened and kept it going? Maybe, since several members were involved in providing support to the track and their operations. But this leads to the bigger question. Now that it’s closed again, what will Bruton do? Will he finally come down off of his $12 million asking price and sell it to somebody who will once again bring racing back to the track? Or will he let it return to rotting away like he did before? Hard to say. Only Bruton knows what Bruton will do.
　
AJ Foyt to Drive the Indy 500 Pace Car

　
It appears that animal rights activist got up in arms about The Donald driving the pace car citing something about a rare albino skunk that lives on his head and him endangering it’s life. IndyCar decided to go with the #2 best driver in 20^th century racing history AJ Foyt instead. As AJ doesn’t have any endangered species living on his body, it’s a good choice and the animal activists seem satisfied with it.
　
James Hylton Sets Record

By starting in the Busch Series race at Darlington, 76 years young James Hylton established a record as being the oldest driver to start in NASCAR’s Top 3 Series. Of course, with BSPN’s coverage, you’d never know that James was on the track or about the record he set. However, this is not the absolute record for a NA$CAR event. 84 years young Herschel McGriff holds the all-time record by running in the K&N Pro Series West at Miller Motorsports Park on April 30, 2011. Maybe this will give the Silver Fox an incentive to return to Cup racing? Speaking of the Silver Fox…
　
Pearson Not Happy With Current Rules
　
In a recent interview with Dale Jarrett, David Pearson said that NA$CAR needs to get rid of all their rules. Pearson has been one of the few former champs to be critical of what’s happened to NA$CAR in recent years and he’s not too far from wrong. There need to be safety rules but as observed by a lot of folks, the teams are in a box when it comes to innovation or getting the cars dialed in. This is due to the generic car they’re racing and the multitude of mandated parts which have made the series a high-priced version of IROC.
　
Fined & Penalty Issued
　
Rather than cite the on track actions and threats issued over the radio, NA$CAR cited the post-race pit road incident between Mr Happy and Shrubbery as the reason for a 4 week probation and $25,000 fine. Big deal. I guess it’s going to take somebody being hospitalized or killed before a serious penalty is issued. Can’t upset the car maker that owns NA$CAR or the teams’ sponsors. That means using Iron Head’s formula for payback, it’ll happen at Kansas.

Here’s what the NA$CAR VP for Racing Operations said regarding the penalty:
　
Not punishing fans, we would have issued 100k and pts penalties in past, this was mild-issued because of pit road.
　
Uh huh. And what about the folks who were scrambling on pit road because of Mr Happy‘s rolling car caused by Shrubbery pushing it into the pit wall after it was parked? Mild-mannered? Pull-ease!

Rolling Thunder Modifieds Saving Teams Money
　
Unlike NA$CAR, who every time they’re saving teams money it ends up actually costing them money, the Rolling Thunder Modifieds have a money saving solution for their competitors. They’re letting teams use the F-35 Hoosiers they got from any source to be used providing they’re scanned into the system and are deemed safe for use. Now, when was the last time NA$CAR actually saved the teams money? Way to help out the small guys Rolling Thunder. Two thumbs up.
　
Focks Bias Towards One Carmaker
　
Back when it was announce that the carmaker with it’s international headquarters in Japan was joining NA$CAR, one of the things that was done to secure their place in NA$CAR was the automaker ponying up big bucks to not only NA$CAR but also the networks. This is from a 2007 NY Post article but it gives you an idea of the money being spent on just the commercials:
　
Toyota paid at least $2 million for the TV time - the equivalent of a Super Bowl ad buy - for "Chasing Sunday: The Race to Cup," according to industry sources. Fox is part of News Corp., which also owns The Post.

While the documentary is a behind-the-scenes look at the sport, Toyota wasn't allowed to use the Nascar name or logo in the title because of Ford's sponsorship.

The TV special comes on top of the ads Toyota bought during the race - advertisers pay as much as $500,000 for a 30-second spot - and throughout the season to promote the Tundra.
The auto maker has earmarked a reported $100 million dollars to tout the 2007 Tundra, which the company has called the "most important launch in Toyota's history in the U.S." That's on top of an estimated $200 million it will spend on its Nascar effort.
The Japanese automaker's journey deep into the heartland and a beloved American sport infuriated some fans. As foreign competition forces U.S. automakers to curb ad spending, the Japanese Toyota has money to burn.

The sponsor-friendly Nascar commissioned a study to gauge fan opinion and claims 93 percent were "favorable or neutral" about Toyota entering Nextel Cup racing. "For Nascar it's about the racing product," said spokesman Andrew Giangola. "Having another manufacturer in the sport helps raise the level of competition."
I think they must’ve sampled the wrong market because of the number of complaints I’ve received over the last 4 years since the entry of Toyota into NA$CAR. I’ve probably received 93% against and 7% for or neutral.

But getting back to why Focks is biased towards the Japanese carmakers. Just look at the amount of money being spent on their TV ads. Look at who they own in the announcing booth. Is it any real wonder why the Focks broadcasts are so biased towards JGR, MWR, and other Toyota teams throughout the 3 top NA$CAR series?
　
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/item_Wjrumh7xx0KU4Saay3crPJ#ixzz1LxWeKOAv

Congrats SEAL Team 6, Raymond Parks Jr, Rolling Thunder Modifieds, & Other Things

2011-05-03T09:30:00.002-04:00

Congratulations Seal Team 6
　　

　
　
　
A job well done gentlemen on the elimination of terrorist mastermind Osama Bin Laden and one of his spawn. Hopefully Bin Laden is enjoying his new role as fish food in the Arabian Sea.
　
After the successful completion of their mission and the announcement to the world of their success, Bruton is donating 1,000 tickets to the Navy SEALs and their families for the upcoming Cup race on Memorial Day weekend.
　
Richmond Stuff
　
According to one vendor sales are off by about 25%. He seems to feel they’ll return back to normal when the economy recovers. 2 other vendors said their sales were 50-70% off of what they were in 2009. Either way, it doesn’t sound too good for the vendors at the track.
　
From what I could see on TV despite Speed‘s best efforts not to show the grandstands, it appears that only 1/3 of the track seating was open for the Busch Series race and that was only half filled. According to a Henrico County Sherriff, he estimated the crowd at about 25,000 for the Busch race. About the same size as last year.
　
On the Cup race, the blimp shots pretty much said it all as to the track being about half empty. Based on figures from the Henrico County Sherriff’s Office, there were maybe 70,000 people with cars parked in the parking areas. One entire parking lot went unused. It’s a far cry from the 90,000 fans that’s being claimed by some. Sorry Mike Joy, it was not a good-sized crowd. The track seats 112,029 and with only 70,000 people present, that means there were 42,029 people elsewhere.
　
No problems for the Speed Energy trailer at Richmond and the premiere show of Fast 5 seems to have went without a hitch. The lucky 200 fans who got to see it with Robby Gordon definitely got a thrill from what I heard. The Cup race was also surprising from an exposure point. Robby not only got mentioned but his car was shown, the premiere of the fast 5 movie was mentioned, and also Robby showing up in the motor coach lot driving a faux police car which was tied in with the Fast 5 promotion.
　
Manufacturer’s Meeting With NA$CAR
　
According the press release, it’s supposed to be an informal “town hall” meeting. Based on the past town hall meetings with the team owners and drivers, it’s been more one sided than a true meeting. It’s been “NA$CAR talks, you listen”. Hopefully the manufacturers will address the slower than molasses pace at which NA$CAR is moving when it comes to engine technology and incorporating the looks of the street counterparts that than what we see on the track. As it stands, the trucks are supposed to be going generic soon based on an earlier statement from the Truck Series director. That’s not what fans want to see on the track.
　
A Hall of Fame Must: Raymond Parks Jr.
　

　
　
　
Without Raymond Parks Jr, Bill France Sr would never have gotten NASCAR off the ground and never been able to keep it going. He was more important to the sport than Bill France Jr. as were the Staley brothers, Red Byron, and Red Vogt and the number of meetings they held at the Wilkes Hotel in North Wilkesboro in order to form NASCAR. Parks money and business savvy were a key part in the formation of the sanctioning body. Unfortunately for Parks, Bill France Sr and a sly lawyer beat both him and the other Founding Fathers of NASCAR out of their rightful place as owners of the sanctioning body. If you really want to find out more about Raymond Parks Jr, read the book “Driving With the Devil” by Neal Thompson. Thompson really lays out both the history of Parks Jr, early stock car racing, and the formation of NASCAR. Parks Jr wasn’t exactly a saint but was one of the colorful characters who got things off the ground and his contributions need to be recognized. And no, I don’t get anything for mentioning the book. It’s a great piece of racing history that fans should read to see how stock car racing started out.
　
Female Driver to Join Rolling Thunder Modified Series
　

On May 21, 2011, Lauren Edgerton, Owner and Driver of the #7 modified and Illusion Racing, is scheduled to make the haul from Chesterfield, Virginia to Newport, Tennessee to compete. Lauren is the 2009 East Carolina Speedway Rookie of the Year and UCAR Rookie of the Year, The 2010 Shenandoah Speedway Driver of the Year and the 2010 Shenandoah Speedway UCAR Champion. In Lauren’s four years from 2007 – 2010 she has compiled 18 Wins, 14 Poles, 51 Top 5’s and 73 Top 10’s in 100 starts.
　
Other Rolling Thunder News
　
The Rolling Thunder Modifieds will compete for the first time ever in four different states, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and South Carolina, in the same year during 2011. RTM is a regional modified racing tour which competes on asphalt oval tracks in this region. The cars are IMCA-type Modifieds which use 8” Hoosier racing tires.
　
Key Motorsports Sponsor DrawTite
　
Folks know I’m one for helping out the little guys in NA$CAR. Key Motorsports got a sponsor, DrawTite, and needs fans to help them out by going to their sponsor’s web site just to visit. By generating web hits, it’ll show the sponsor that there is a place for them in NA$CAR and with Key Motorsports. And no, I don’t get anything from DrawTite or from Key Motorsports for doing this.
http://www.drawtiteracing.com/

Fundraising Idea, F-1, Cotton Owens, Ambushers, & Stuff

2011-04-26T15:17:00.000-04:00

Killing Two Birds With One Stone

Since there’s been no clues yet on the stolen Ramo Stott memorabilia, I have the perfect solution for when it is recovered. They sell tickets and have a pay-per-view of the public butt whooping of the dirt bags who stole the memorabilia with the funds raised from the ticket sales and pay-per-view going to help out Sam Ard. It’s a win-win situation for everyone. The memorabilia is returned, justice is served, and Sam Ard gets some sorely needed assistance.

Rupert Murdoch To Buy F-1?

Apparently billionaire and media mogul Rupert Murdoch is looking to buy F-1 along with some possible help from Ferrari. Now why would he want to do that? For one thing, look at where F-1 races. China and the Arab world. Places where the money is. It would allow him far better access into those markets for his global presence and increasing company revenues. For another thing, it would allow Murdoch to move the current F-1 coverage from Speed TV to Focks Sports. A real competitor to NA$CAR that could be broadcast after their NA$CAR season goes off the air. F-1 is also a global product versus NA$CAR which is North American. Plus we’ve got the potential for a possible conflict of interest between Focks broadcasting F-1 AND NA$CAR should Murdoch buy F-1. But conflicts of interests are nothing new to the France family as most race fans know.

Nashville Disproves NA$CAR Theory

For years, we’ve heard the same old, worn out line that Cup drivers put butts in the seats. For a weekend in which there was no Cup race and the Buschwackers continuing to invade the Busch Series, we saw plenty of empty seats at Nashville. Sure, the economy may have played a small part in it but ever since Faux King Brian started bundling up the race weekend instead of letting the Busch Series run on their own and saying that Cup drivers fill the grandstands the grandstands have become emptier and emptier.

And it doesn’t help that the Buschwackers have won all 8 races so far this season. What sort of message is this sending out to not just the Busch regular teams but also to their sponsors and also potential sponsors? Working with some of these underdogs on the sponsorship programs I can tell you based on my own experience that the number of sponsorship proposals sent out versus the number of sponsors landed is ridiculous. 38 proposals sent out and not a single sponsor interested. Why? Because they’re not owned by Roush, JGR, RCR, or HMS, the only teams who get any sort of TV coverage during the BSPN broadcasts. You don’t see Jay Robinson Racing getting any coverage. Herman was lucky to get a post-race interview at Nashville. You’re lucky to see Robert Richardson get an interview. Or any of the Means Motorsports drivers. If the Cup drivers are supposed to be “helping so much”, then why aren’t the Busch regulars benefiting from their presence? They’re not. The only “benefit” the Busch regulars are getting is less purse money at the end of the day and more wear and tear on their equipment. They’re not even breaking even in most cases.

So since this “pick a series” thing isn’t working, I have another solution which will fall on drunken eyes. Why give the Buschwackers anything at all? No money, no manufacturer points, no ownership points, no contingency award points, and no air time on TV. Let the Busch regulars get the lion’s share of everything since there’s not that much to get to begin with. If there’s nothing in it for the Buschwackers, they won’t stick around. No sponsor is going to want to be on a car that doesn’t get any air time, which is what the Busch regulars suffer from right now. The Cup team owner’s aren’t going to stick around if they’re not making any money off of the Busch series operation. No Buschwacker is going to want to race if there’s not even so much as a trophy in it for them. Money is what makes most of today’s Cup drivers show up at the track. So if there’s no financial incentives of any sort, they won’t show up and the Busch Series can go back to being what it originally was. A “AAA” racing series.

Richmond Scare Tactics Alive And Well

Once again, Richmond is using their scare tactics in an attempt to sell tickets. Only this time they’re throwing in the possibility of lost jobs into the mix through their political mouthpieces or politicians who are too gullible to see the truth. NA$CAR/I$C/the France family won’t cut a race from Richmond. It’s almost like saying they’re going to cut a race from Daytona. They’ve invested too much hype and marketing into Richmond and it’s place regarding the Chase for the Chumps. They’ve held Richmond up as being the model for the next generation of tracks that they’re not going to build. They keep saying the racing there is so exciting. If they really wanted to get more fans to attend the races there, they might first start by providing better security for the fans themselves both on the track property and the surrounding areas. The track isn’t located in the best of neighborhoods and it’s not unusual for fans to have their camp sites looted or robbed. So provide some better security first. Then maybe, when fans feel secure, they might start showing up. Of course, you might need to get rid of the generic car first. Like Bristol, the generic car has done little for the racing at Richmond.

Smokey’s “Best Damned Garage In Town” is Gone

A fire burned down what was left of Smokey’s garage. The place really should’ve been a historical landmark or a national treasure. I’m not saying that because I’m a race fan but because Smokey’s innovations didn’t just apply to the race track. Smokey pioneered several things we use in our cars today. The extended tip spark plug, which if you never saw an old spark plug you wouldn’t know what I’m talking about. Not to mention variable ratio power steering, another thing most folks take for granted today. Most race fans are more familiar with Smokey’s racing innovations like the oversized fuel hoses, the chrome-plated aluminum bumpers, or his 7/8 scale Chevy Malibu. Smokey did say he didn’t want any monument or shrine but I think automotive history would’ve been better served had the garage been preserved.

Cotton Owens: A Good Case For The HOF

Us older fans probably remember Cotton Owens for his accomplishments as a driver and team owner. He was rated as one of NASCAR’s, not NA$CAR’s, Top 50 drivers. He was also the owner of the then famous #6 Dodge that David Pearson campaigned for several years and which won the 1966 Grand National Championship with Pearson behind the wheel. Cotton’s been inducted in the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. Cotton also built a car for an Elvis movie, which coincidentally had the #6 on it. He built a Dodge Challenger for Brock Yates to run in the 1972 Cannonball Run, the real thing not the movie. As a driver, Cotton had 9 wins, 52 Top 5, and 84 top 10 finishes. As an owner, Cotton had 38 wins, 177 Top 5, and 241 Top 10 finishes. So Cotton is definitely one to be considered for induction into the 2012 class.

BTW, who finished #2 to Pearson in the 1966 season? None other than 1966 Rookie of the Year James Hylton. Yes, the same James Hylton who’s still racing today in ARCA and was a former crewmember of Rex White’s 1960 Grand National winning team.

Sponsor Ambushers, Another Garage Predator

Unfortunately there’s another kind of ambush predator out there called “sponsor ambushers”. For example, a small team that finally lands a sponsor will have a few guests from that sponsor come to the races. The next thing you know, the ever present “mystery people” from NA$CAR or the Cup owned or affiliated teams, are “accidentally” bumping into these guests on the way to the bathroom or concession stand and their card “accidentally” falls into that person’s pocket. Then, coincidentally, a private jet just happens to land near that sponsor’s headquarters the following week and before you know it that small independent team doesn’t have a sponsor anymore. This happens more often than you think. And this isn’t based on my own experiences with having sponsors stolen or re-assigned by NA$CAR but from one of the underfunded, underdog teams we don’t hear about in the media. I had to leave out some names and one particular incident which would pretty much end that team’s career due to some high-powered folks using their clout to destroy that team, the team owner(s), and their reputation.

Tax Deductions, Missing Memorabilia, HOF, & Other Stuff

2011-04-20T16:12:00.002-04:00

Sam Ard Donations Can Be Tax Deductible

　
If you’re looking for a tax deduction for next year, you can donate to the Sam Ard Care Fund through Motor Racing Outreach (MRO) at:
　
Samuel J. Ard Care Fund
M.R.O.
Smith Tower Suite 405
555 Concord Parkway South
Concord, NC 28027

Ramo Stott Memorabilia Still Missing

　
Still no word or any leads on the Ramo Stott memorabilia that was stolen from the Stott household in Iowa. There is still a reward for the arrest and conviction of the dirt bags who stole it.
　
Spinning the Ratings Numbers
　
NA$CAR’s latest “spin” has to do with the ratings numbers. If they moved a race from one weekend to another, but there was still a race on, then the numbers are still valid. For example, if race #5 of this season is measured against race #5 of last season, then the numbers comparison should be valid. However, because the race locations may be a week earlier or later than last season, the numbers are being skewed to show that this season race at Talladega for example is up versus last year’s race even though they’re not on the same weekend. “Flip it on full spin cycle boys, we want those numbers to look good”.
　
Nielsen Media Research estimates there are 115.9 million television households in the U.S.A. "Household Rating" is an expression of the percentage of households tuned in to any show at a given time. Therefore, a 1.0 rating would equal an average of 1.159 million households were watching during the program.
　
　
2012 HOF Nominees

The announcement was made for next years HOF nominees. And once again I’ll say that Raymond Parks Jr and Red Byron should be inducted. They should’ve both been inducted in the first class. Without the financing of Raymond Parks Jr’s moonshine, Bill France Sr would’ve had to fold up his tent and gone home. In the tradition of real sports, Red Byron should’ve been inducted in the 1^st class as he was the first champion. But as this is about family oriented sports entertainment and Faux King Brian doing his best to sever the ties of moonshine and the South to the origins, revising history, and making of what was once a sport, both of them lost out.
　　
After those two, here’s where it gets tricky. There are a lot of worthy folks on the list. The Wood Brothers who revolutionized the pit stop. Two time Grand National and American Motorcycle Association Champion Joe Weatherly. Two time champion Herb Thomas, who’s career was ended early thanks to Carl Kiekhaefer because Herb changed teams and Kiekhaefer was irate about it and had Herb intentionally taken out during a race in Shelby NC after which Herb was never quite the same. Two time Grand National champion Tim Flock who was blackballed by Bill France Sr along with Curtis Turner for trying to form a badly needed drivers’ union which is still needed today is another worthy candidate. There are some sentimental favorites for me on the list. Fireball Roberts, NASCAR’s first real superstar, who was my hero as a kid. Hometown hero Curtis Turner. NASCAR’s original Golden Boy Fred Lorenzen. Cotton Owens who was a success as both an owner and driver and was selected as one of NASCAR’s Top 50 drivers. But despite the accomplishments and contributions of some of these early legends, they won’t make it in because they don’t have the “name recognition” or “star quality” that Faux King Brian is lusting after. Some still have the heavy taint of “redneck”, “Southerner”, and “moonshine” to their names and legends which the Revisionists, PC crowd, and Faux King Brian despise so much. We have one driver who could be selected because of his ethnic background, and no, I’m not going to mention his name because that would be used by Faux King Brian‘s Diversity Program as yet another sham showpiece and actually dishonor the driver. Pick who you want and vote for them. Drop an e-mail to Dustin Long as he’s one of the voting members and let him know who you think should be in the 2012 class and why.
　
IndyCar Moving Forward
　
While the dinosaur that is NASCAR still continues on with it’s generic race vehicles and will eventually embrace 1980’s engine technology with the TBI (Throttle Body Injection) system, IndyCar is bringing in engine manufacturers who are using current, state-of-the-art engine technology and will be moving away from their generic 1980’s Dallara bodies to a variety of body styles next season. According to Autoextremist owner/writer Peter De Lorenzo, “Because the buzz at Long Beach wasn't about how great the ALMS is, it was about how many quality teams from the ALMS and Grand-Am were seriously considering giving IndyCar a shot in 2012”. This could boost the car count for IndyCar to levels where they could actually have to resort to “go or go home” qualifying procedures and hurt the Grand-Am Series, which is owned by NA$CAR, because of it‘s dwindling car counts under the “leadership“ of Jim France, Faux King Brian‘s uncle, and the real lack on interest by NA$CAR in the Grand-Am Series and the incorporation of NA$CAR‘s “techniques“ to generate artificial excitement. What’s it going to take to get NA$CAR into the 21^st Century, run relevant engine technology, and have race vehicles that actually resemble their street counterparts? A walk-out by the Big 3, which they have threatened to do if NA$CAR doesn’t get off their slower than molasses rear ends and start making the cars readily brand identifiable as either a Mustang, Challenger, or Impala.
　
Another Woman to Drive in the Indy 500
　
Conquest Racing has announced that they will be fielding a car for Pippa Mann. This means that the Indy 500 field will have 3 female racers and one female celebrity in the field. Folks don’t know it because Pippa’s not a celebrity but she was the first woman to sit on the pole at IMS and did it in the Indy Light cars. Pippa will be joined by drivers Simona De Silvestro and Ana Beatriz and female celebrity the Queen of Hype.
　
IndyCar to Bid Bye Bye to the QoH Next Season
　
It’s looking like the Queen of Hype won’t be back in the IndyCar Series next season based on what sources are telling me. She’ll be spending next season promoting her branding and marketing in NA$CAR full-time instead of the current part-time branding and marketing schedule she’s had the last two seasons. If the branding and marketing schedule on BSPN turned your stomach the last 2 seasons, just wait til next season when it‘s all Danican‘t all the time on BSPN.
　
No Problems at Talladega for Robby

Robby had his Fast 5/Speed Energy show car and souvenir hauler at Talladega and didn’t have a single problem with his show car being towed, being banned from the I$C tracks, or being accused of “ambush marketing” which is also used by a home improvement company, a car manufacturer, a certain cell phone provider who is the only one allowed thanks to the exclusivity agreement, and the “fine” folks at Focks who employ ambush marketing every time they shill for one certain auto manufacturer who owns Jabber Jaws, certain drivers who are brand names by themselves, the official fuel provider, the official tire provider, and every time they slip in a logo for the Cup and fuel provider on either the roof cam, in-car, or rear cam views with the driver‘s name and car info.
　
Speaking of which, anyone happen to notice which driver’s fans are being targeted by American Ethernol with the roof cam shots?
　
SCCA Action at Long Beach
　
In the SCCA World Challenge race at Long Beach, female driver Shea Holbrook won the Touring Car division. Joey Hand co-piloted the Team BMW RLL M3 to the ALMS GT win at Long Beach. So far he has won the Rolex 24, Sebring, and Long Beach - 3-for-3. Looks like Joey could have a banner year if this keeps up. Can or will anyone step up to the challenge?
　
US Forces Still Involved With Japanese Relief Efforts
　
About the only thing we’re hearing about now in the media is the occasional reports about the nuclear reactors that were damaged during the earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan but our troops are still there helping with various relief efforts. Now that roads are re-opened, helicopter efforts launched and recovered from the USS Ronald Reagan have been scaled back. Our troops will continue to assist in the relief efforts there until the Japanese government can fully take over for our troops. Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa said the U.S. aid underscored the importance of the two nations’ military alliance. “At no other time have I felt as proud of our alliance with the United States,” Kitazawa was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying. So while things may be scaling back some, we’ve still got goodwill ambassadors on the ground lending a helping hand.
　
　
　
　

Ramo Stott Memorabilia Stolen, Sam Ard Auctions, Drug Testing & More

2011-04-18T08:37:00.003-04:00

Ramo Stott Memorabilia Stolen
　
From: Corrie Stott Racing
Reward for the arrest and conviction for the slime bags that broke into my parents property in Iowa. Lots of "Ramo Stott" memorabilia was stolen...If anyone has information please drop me a message.... just want to keep the heat up on this !!!!
I will keep posting this until the scum comes to the surface !　

To the younger race fans, Ramo Stott probably doesn’t ring any bells but to the older fans, Ramo is probably better known because of his racing in USAC, ARCA, IMCA, & NASCAR before it became NA$CAR. Ramo also sat on the pole of the 1976 Daytona 500. If that race doesn’t sound familiar, then you haven’t been following the sport very long. Check out the links to find out a little more about the Ramo Stott and the 1976 Daytona 500.
　
Should you have any information regarding the stolen Ramo Stott memorabilia, you can contact Corrie Stott through his Facebook account, his web site, or yours truly.
　
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Daytona_500

http://wwnboa.org/ramo.htm http://wwnboa.org/ramo.htm

http://www.dirtfans.com/RamoStott.html http://www.dirtfans.com/RamoStott.html　
　
More Sam Ard Memorabilia Being Sold

There are 3 more items on E-Bay that Sam is auctioning off in order to help pay his medical bills and there will eventually be a total of 7 trophies that will be auctioned off to help keep a roof over his and his wife’s head. NA$CAR is aware of Sam’s situation as both the NA$CAR VP of Racing Operations and the Minister of Propaganda have both received tweets about Sam’s situation in the form of a link to Dave Moody’s article about Sam. So they can’t deny they are ignorant that Sam needs help. They may be ignorant of many other things but not that Sam and his wife Jo are in desperate need of help.

http://cgi.ebay.com/TROPHY-WON-SAM-ARD-HICKORY-SPEEDWAY-1981-/380333059664?pt=Vintage_Sports_Memorabilia&hash=item588d9dee50

http://cgi.ebay.com/LAST-SAM-ARD-SIGNED-NASCAR-WINSTON-CUP-MEDALLION-/380333035226?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item588d9d8eda

http://cgi.ebay.com/PLAQUE-AWARDED-SAM-ARD-1973-LONESOME-PINE-200-/380333044823?pt=US_Racing_Fan_Shop&hash=item588d9db457

Drug Testing and NA$CAR
Graham Light, NHRA VP of Racing Operations, that stated everyone is on the list to be tested, and he's been checked several times each year himself. NA$CAR’s rules state that all officials are subject to testing and those officials include Faux King Brian, Mafia Mike, and others and yet there appears to be no testing of them despite their own rules calling for it. And yes, they are aware of it. It was brought to their attention on twitter. So how hard can it be? If the NHRA can do it, why can’t NA$CAR and their officials?
　
Racing at Talladega
　
I think this pretty much sums it up:
　
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njWNwWqX9qc
　
Have You Figured It Out Yet?
　
Every week, the driver of the #24 car is selected as the pizza fan favorite. That same driver is sponsored by a major cola company that owns that same pizza company. Is it a coincidence that he “wins” that honor week after week?
　
BZF Lawsuit Over Taped Phone Conversations Flawed
　
It’s my understanding that under NC law that as long as one part, in this case the ex-Mrs. BZF, is aware that the conversations are being recorded they’re legal. So Faux King Brian has no grounds on that one. As to extortion, I’m not sure whether or not that is true however, based on the Imperial Ego and its past history, I have no doubt he has probably made some admissions to things he shouldn’t have. He could’ve admitted to not paying child support and alimony, his dalliances during his marriage to the former Mrs. France, his illegal campaign contributions made in other peoples’ names, possible legal favors done for him in the Florida courts in return for certain considerations, some much speculated upon drug use, or other things which could cause him either extreme embarrassment, discomfort, or maybe even result in some jail time if publicly revealed. It could also be a sympathy ploy on his part to gain the support of divorced men who feel their ex-wives took them to the cleaners. Or, he plain and simply doesn’t want those tapes admitted and is trying any desperate measure and accusation he can to keep them out of the lawsuit proceedings he has currently going on with his former wife.
　　
　
　
　

Sam With Two of His Trophies

Sam Ard Trophy For Sale, TMS Coverage, & Things

2011-04-13T15:30:00.010-04:00

Sam Ard’s 1982 Dogwood 500 Trophy For Sale
　
Since the France family still refuses to do the right thing, Sam is having to sell off another of his trophies. This is the last time this trophy will be seen on E-Bay. Even though Dave Moody wrote a piece about Sam and Jo Ard’s situation, he’s the only person in the NA$CAR media to do so. Where are all these writers who talk about remembering the history of the sport and those that made it? Where’s the outrage for a man who helped build this sport that has to resort to selling off his memories to help pay for his medical bills that are a result of an accident under the guise, supervison, and sanctioning of NA$CAR? Where is the conscience of those that helped contribute to this situation? It’s pathetic really. There’s no morals or conscience when it comes to helping out the former greats of NA$CAR unless it directly puts a buck into the France family pocket.
　
If you want to help Sam out and do what the France family won’t, here’s the link for the trophy:
　
http://cgi.ebay.com/380331040573 　

UPDATE THE TROPHY WAS SOLD

UPDATE 2: LOTS OF TWITTER TRAFFIC RETWEETING DAVE MOODY'S ARTICLE WHICH INCLUDES IT BEING SENT TO 2 NA$CAR HONCHOS, NA$CAR'S HOF HONCHO, AND BEING RETWEETED BY KYLE PETTY, HERMIE SADLER, AND SOME OTHER MEDIA FOLKS.

Why Versus is Better than Focks

　
During the IndyCar race, Versus used the split-screen coverage to show the racing and run commercials. Focks preferred to show 5-8 laps of commercials before interrupting them for a few laps of racing. Versus commentators don’t make up excuses when Danica or the sanctioning body messes up. Focks commentators makes up excuses for everything. Bad tires, bad officiating, and poor performance of the Chosen Ones and cheerleads for one make of vehicle and certain drivers.. Focks uses all sorts of gimmick shots that can cause even sailors to get seasick. Versus keeps the gimmick shots to a minimum preferring to show the action on the track of groups of competitors. When Will Power had pretty much run away with the lead in the closing laps, Versus showed the racing that was going on in the back of the pack. Focks preferred to show single car coverage of Matt Kenseth running away with the lead. Is it any wonder why race fans voice their concerns and dissatisfaction with the poor coverage and commentary of Focks at The Daly Planet week after week during race season?
　
The National Anthem at TMS
　
For everything that was wrong at TMS this past weekend, the one thing that Eddie Gossage did get right was bringing in a US Army band to play the National Anthem. And Dale Jr, smack your crew chief upside the head for not paying the proper respects to the flag every time he doesn’t do it. Which so far has been every race this season.
　
Captain Thunder Interview of Jeremy Mayfield
　
Jeremy Mayfield did two interviews with John Nevins aka Captain Thunder in which Mayfield was able to give his side of the story without being interrupted or censored. There are some folks who wish Mayfield would just go away, which they’re entitled to. One very striking thing Mayfield pointed out during his interview had to do with one of the drug tests that were done by NA$CAR. He had a test run by an independent lab before he submitted his urine sample to NA$CAR for testing and had another test done afterwards by the same independent lab. Perhaps folks have heard of Lab Corp? They’re one of the top testing labs in the country. NA$CAR’s results came back positive while the Lab Corps results came back negative. So how could that be? Lab Corps has no horse in this race. They couldn’t care one way or the other just so long as their reputation remains intact. They don’t care about the results just so long as they followed the established guidelines and protocols called for by SAMHSA regarding drug testing. Aegis Labs on the other hand is contracted by NA$CAR so they definitely have a vested interest in showing that their “results” are consistent. Especially after they’ve already lost at least one false positive lawsuit using their questionable techniques. I’ve also proven that NA$CAR has fibbed on at least one occasion when their official spokesman stated unequivocally that there were no witnesses to Mayfield’s independent tests and yet Mayfield did have a witness that is known to me as well as a camera crew documenting everything Mayfield was doing.
　
I know folks have already made up their minds about Mayfield, even though under the basic premise of our laws that you’re innocent until proven guilty and it probably won’t change their minds, give a listen to the interviews and get Mayfield’s side on some of the issues that were brought up by Captain Thunder and his sidekick.
　
http://captainthunderracing.com/　

How About Those Ratings for Texas?　

According to USA Today, coming in at #32 in the weekly ratings was a repeat of “The Big Bang Theory” with 7.3 million viewers. Coming in at #33 in the ratings was the race at TMS with 7 million viewers just beating out #34 Family Guy and #35 a repeat of America’s Funniest Home Videos at about 6.5 million viewers. What happened to those 75 million fans that NA$CAR is supposed to have? Also, there’s a big disparity between the numbers being reported showing the numbers being up and what they truly were versus last season. Unfortunately I can’t find the article right now but it showed how the numbers were being jumbled around on this year versus last year and how the ratings were actually down.
　

Gimmick Shots From Focks at TMS
　
There were 160 gimmick shots for the Cup race .

In-Car Shots 22　
Ground Camera Shots 6　
Roof Cam Shots 60　
Rear Cam Shots 24　
Wall Cam Shots 48
　
The majority of roof cam, rear cam, and in-car cam shots were from the #18, #22, #29, #48, & #88.
　
Ms Terry DeBris at TMS　

When Matt Kenseth had an 8 second lead at Lap 209, Ms Terry DeBris, dressed up as a Texas Longhorn, was found to be grazing along the back straight thus causing Caution #4. But due to the poor lighting on the back of the track and lack of fans there, she wasn’t shown. Apparently she’s been taken away to the Ft Worth Stockyards by Eddie Gossage and is currently waiting to be bid upon.

Focks Faux Pas　

During the 1st Caution, Jabber Jaws said “You’re over 200 mph going into that turn”. Later during the race a roof cam shot of the #18 car with telemetry showed the car didn’t get above 195 mph.
　
On Lap 173, Mike Joy said “They’re NA$CAR’s two winningest drivers” in reference to Mr. Happy and Hambone Hamlin. NA$CAR’s winningest drivers are The King and The Silver Fox with 200 wins and 105 respectively.
　
Lap 192, Mike Joy said “Seating down the front stretch and back stretch sections are nearly full but for some sections down past pit road towards Turn #1”. An overhead shot from the blimp/helicopter clearly showed empty seats at Lap 11Lap 19, Lap 29, Lap 30, & Lap 114.

On Lap 211, Mike Joy said, “Hope that clears things up with 211 laps to go”.

　
How Come?

As easy as it was to show the computer screen which covers speeding on pit road during the race at TMS, how come NA$CAR won’t allow a camera in race control showing the pit road speeds during the pit stops or hook it into a direct feed of some sort to Focks so they could put it on a scroll on the bottom of the screen? That would end some fan complaints regarding the drivers who are perceived to be speeding and if it can be sent via wifi to the teams, they wouldn’t have any grounds to complain when they do get nailed for speeding.

The Race　

Pretty simple really. Matt Kenseth got up front and ran away with it. Outside of the cautions, not a heck of a lot of action was shown on the track outside of some of the pack shots shown from the wall cams. One or two of the Chosen ones passing each other. Most of the race coverage revolved around Kenseth, Johnson, Shrubbery, Mr. Happy, and Busch the Elder with an occasional appearance by Dale Jr and Trevor Bayne. Unlike Versus, as mentioned earlier, Focks decided to show Kenseth all by himself during the closing laps of the race so if there was any mid-pack racing going on the home audience never saw it. A McRace at a McTrack with a McCar. With Fords sweeping the weekend and really running away with the Cup race, you can almost bet there will be some whining from at least one car manufacturer.

Up Next　

The plate disaster called Talladega. Will we have a repeat of the boredom that was Daytona or will there finally be a plate race that doesn’t call for 2 pots of coffee like a McTrack? Guess we’ll have to watch and see.　

Robby's Texas Nightmare

2011-04-11T13:47:00.023-04:00

What seemed to be just another race weekend at Texas Motor Speedway has turned into a nightmare for Robby Gordon. As usual Robby, as the owner of Speed Energy Drink, sent the check in to SMI to pay for the lot space for his souvenir hauler and as usual it cleared the bank. That is considered to be a binding contract in several states. No misrepresentation on Robby’s part since it was clearly from Speed Energy Drink. He didn’t have a problem at Las Vegas or Bristol, two other SMI tracks, and didn’t have a problem with the ISC tracks at Daytona, Fontana, Phoenix, or Martinsville. Once Robby’s Speed Energy Drink souvenir hauler and show car showed up, that’s when the nightmare ensued.
　
First, Texas Motor Speedway towed Robby’s Fast 5 show car away. The show car was there as a part of a Universal Pictures promotion for the upcoming Fast 5 movie. What’s odd is that there were other energy drink show cars parked in the same area that looked like they’d been parked there for several months and none of them were towed. And there were the souvenir haulers for the other energy drinks all along the row of souvenir haulers and nobody was bothering the Junior haulers (Amp Energy Drink splashed all over it), the Red Bull Haulers (Red Bull a competitor of Coca Cola’s Full Throttle), or Shrubbery’s souvenir trailer (with NOS in plain view on the trailer).

SPEED ENERGY
Check it out TMS has threatened to take all of our product and tow our merchandise hauler out of the racetrack! WTF　

Then they were wanting to haul away the Speed Energy Drink souvenir hauler and confiscate all of the Speed Energy product that there. When Robby made his initial enquiry as to what was going on, he was told by Texas Motor Speedway that the track was sponsored by Red Bull and it was out of respect to Red Bull that they were doing this. Gee, that sure is funny. All of the SMI tracks are sponsored by Coca Cola, who manufactures the Full Throttle energy drink and distributes Monster Energy Drink. So that would mean that SMI violated their contract with Coca Cola by taking on the Red Bull sponsorship at Texas Motor Speedway. But wait, it gets even better.
　
Robby’s then sent a Twitter message that he didn’t get permission from the sales department to hand out free samples of the Speed Energy Drink.
　
Texas Motor Speedway
Every brand who hands out samples needs authorization from our sales team. Every sports venue has these rules, and we're not against anyone.
　
Since when did a salesman get to override a written contract? The worst that Texas Motor Speedway should’ve been able to do is make them keep the free sample behind the counter. At Charlotte and Atlanta, I’ve had samples handed to me from companies who weren’t on track property. And Robby hasn’t had a problem with this at the other SMI tracks prior to Texas. But wait, it gets even better.
　
Robby then receives a letter from SMI which prohibits his Speed Energy Drink souvenir hauler from all SMI tracks. Gee, could that be because Robby’s Speed Energy Drink isn’t listed as one of SMI’s “valued partners” that the Speed Energy souvenir hauler is being banned from all the SMI tracks? Since when did tracks have the authority to prohibit sponsors from showing off their wares at the tracks? Didn’t NA$CAR approve Speed Energy as a sponsor? Does this also mean that the tracks can ban certain makes of vehicles from racing because they’re not the “official vehicle” of that particular track?

SPEED ENERGY
Just so you guys know, TMS sent the letter that they gave us to revoke our access to promote to ALL the SMI properties. Which means next SMI track you prob wont get any SPEED Energy. Really?　

And how about some of the ads Texas Motor Speedway has used with Dale Jr in his AMP uniform which clearly show the Amp logo and Mountain Dew logo and show the Amp or Mountain Dew car? Isn’t that a bit hypocritical of them as they’re supposed to be a Coca Cola track? Or a Red Bull track if you believe Texas Motor Speedway?
　
And since the Fast Five movie logos are on the car this weekend, Universal Pictures was expecting some reasonable appearance obligations that Texas Motor Speedway is now interfering with. Will SMI, Gossage, and Bruton stand together when they realize a fight with a major movie studio who has more lawyers than SMI does is the consequence, or will finger pointing ensue?
　
And how about the actual race coverage? When they showed the Dodge Chargers of the Race graphic, they showed the 2 & 22 cars from a blimp/helicopter shot but the 7 was nowhere to be seen. During the race, there’s usually an accidental shot of Robby’s car usually when he’s near one of the Chosen Ones, he’s in or near a wreck, or he’s being lapped. But no, not a single shot of his car the entire night unlike all the previous race of the season where we at least caught a small glimpse of at least a quarterpanel.

Anyone remember what happened at Las Vegas when Robby Gordon was qualifying? No? Let me refresh your memory with this video clip.
　
http://youtu.be/UotI8eQynv4 　
　
One thing Speed Energy did make clear in a Twitter is that THEY aren’t calling for fans to boycott Texas Motor Speedway
　
SPEED ENERGY
We would never tell any1 to boycott anything. just showing what is out there. TMS is a great facility & we all want what's best for the sport
　
So while Speed Energy Drink might not be calling for a boycott, I’m thinking fans might want to rethink their plans involving Texas Motor Speedway, any events they host, any events they sponsor, and also purchasing any goods from any of the track’s sponsors. like Coca Cola, UPS, Dickies, Brookshires, Samsung Mobile, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Chevy, Bank of America, WinStar World Casino, Firestone, and others. Fans might also want to go to the speedway’s web site under the “contacts” section and drop Eddie Gossage, the man who forget to put Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s driver’s uniform in a safe, secure area which resulted in it being stolen, a line and let him know your opinion on this whole deal and your future plans and those of your friends and family members regarding Texas Motor Speedway and the track’s sponsors.