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

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/

Chutzpah, Sponsorship, ALMS, & Rex White

Way To Go Jennifer Jo Cobb
　
While we only heard part of the story, it takes a lot of chutzpah to do what Jennifer Jo Cobb did. It reminds me so much of Ted Musgrave and the #75 car at Homestead back in 1999 when he parked the car and walked away because it was junk. She doesn’t want to sacrifice her self-esteem, self-respect, or her reputation and apparently Rick Ware seems to think she’s got the sort of brass it takes so he’s putting her in a car at Fontana.
　
Finally, USA Today Woke Up
　
It seems that the folks at USA Today finally woke up to the fact that there’s more than just one female driver in NA$CAR. They did a decent article on Jennifer Jo Cobb. To me, she’s a more complete driver than the female Messiah NA$CAR’s been touting. She comes from a racing family, came up through the ranks, is more mature, actually likes being around race fans, signs autographs without muttering or mumbling or complaining, and doesn’t make excuses for a bad race or poor performance. Danica could learn a thing or two from Jennifer Jo Cobb.
　
Sponsorship Rumors
　
I’m hearing that Jay Robinson Racing has got some sponsorship lined up for Fontana. MAXELENCE will be the Primary Sponsor of the #28 car and All American Sports Pouch Beverage will be the Primary Sponsor of the #70. Looks like JRR has been doing some serious searching into various avenues of going green with their sponsorship quest.


Key Motorsports got Preval as their Primary Sponsor at Bristol. Hopefully this will turn into a full-time sponsorship deal for them so fingers crossed.
　
Why No ALMS on TV?

Has anyone been paying attention to what’s happening with Speed TV? How often do we see an ARCA race any more? Or an ASA race? Or any series that the France family doesn’t have some sort of influence over besides Formula-1, Aussie V-8, or German Touring Series? Since ALMS is the main competitor to the Rolex Series and the Rolex Series is suffering financially and fan-wise, simply use the same control on Speed that’s used on them to control just what all is put out there about NA$CAR. You eliminate the competition. Then folks are forced to either watch what’s provided or go elsewhere. In the case of ALMS, fans are watching it on the web. Wow, fewer commercials than on Speed, something like Race Buddy to watch the race, and no special cable or satellite packages to buy. Sounds like a dream.
　
Why No Outrage Over Bristol Tire Situation?

While I’m not surprised none of the lamestream media is saying anything about what happened with the tires, where’s the outrage over the sense of fair play? The teams practice with one tire compound most of the weekend then get issued a different compound for race day. Of course, had somebody been able to do some actual testing at Bristol like a couple of years ago, NA$CAR might have had some feedback on the tire compound and have made changes well in advance. Now that they’ve used about half the tires for the upcoming Sleep Lab 400, brought to you by United Insomniacs Inc., at Otto Klubb Speedway, what excuse will be offered up when they don’t have enough tires for there? The economy? High cost of hotel rooms? High gasoline prices? Fans shopping under the grandstands?
　
Why Are There So Many Unsponsored Busch Series Cars?
　
Lord only knows the Busch regular teams don’t get enough recognition for the efforts. Did anyone happen to notice that when a Busch regular team announces they have a sponsor you’re lucky to hear about it but when a Buschwacker announces a sponsor, it’s splashed all over the front page repeatedly and mentioned relentlessly by the talking heads during the various racer-tainment shows? Or how about the coverage of the Busch practice sessions? Anyone happen to notice who BSPN was locked in on? It wasn’t folks like Scott Wimmer, Derrike Cope, Blake Koch, or Morgan Shepherd. It’s folks like Dale Jr, Mr. Happy, and Cousin/Crazy Carl who are shown. So whomever might possibly step up to sponsor a Busch regular team isn’t going to sponsor a Busch regular team or even a Buschwacker team for $10 million for a whole season when they can put that same $10 million into a sponsorship on a Cup team which stands a better chance of being shown. Sponsors don’t get the Return on Investment (ROI) on a Busch Series team that they can on a Cup Series team. How many folks have rushed out and bought DuPont paint just because they advertise on the 24 car? How many folks have rushed out and bought a Caterpillar bulldozer just because it’s on Mayor McCheese’s car? How many folks know what green effort Jay Robinson Racing has on the C Post of their cars? Not many. So despite the name recognition of the drivers and the lack of coverage and mentions, especially with a Busch regular team, the sponsors aren’t getting back in sales what they had hoped to achieve through sponsoring a team. Why do you think the Navy, Marines, Gain, Red Baron Pizza, Bob Evans, Nesquik, Schneider National, and others have left the sport? They’re not getting back their ROI plus the strong-armed tactics used by the networks and NA$CAR to get them to advertise or be the official product/service/partner/provider of NA$CAR.
　
Just Why Are the Sponsor Mentions Down?
　
I really had a good laugh about this. It’s pretty simple really. Remember at the beginning of the season Focks said they’d be concentrating more on the drivers? That’s one part of the reason. Another part of it has to do with the economy. Sponsors are having to cut back on just how much money they’re laying out. It’s not just a matter of them laying out $20 million for a race team sponsorship, they also are subject to the strong-armed tactics of NASCAR and Focks to buy air-time for commercials or to be the official sponsor of some sort of segment during the race broadcasts which can cost them up to an additional $8 million. Or to be an official product/service/provider/partner of NA$CAR. So that $20 million sponsorship just jumped up to costing them $28 million or more. Who do you think pays for “The Five Knuckle Shuffle” brought to you by Mr Stiffy or the Exlax “Smooth Move of the Race”? Why do you think one car manufacturer is so heavily advertised and shown on so many sponsor graphics during the racer-tainment and we have both Jabber Jaws and The Human Shill yammering away about that one car or truck make so much? Then there’s also the cutback on “mention money”. That’s money paid to the networks to ensure that a team gets mentioned on-air. You don’t pony up any mention money you don’t get mentioned. With all these revenue sources drying up and the unwillingness of sponsors to fork over what almost seems like extortion money to get shown and mentioned on the air, it’s no wonder sponsors aren’t getting shown or mentioned as much. Take a good look at who buys air time during the commercial programming segments which is interrupted briefly by the weekend racer-tainment and how many times that team sponsor’s is shown to include the hood and quarter panels. You’ll see a lot more of the 48 and 24 cars than you will of the 7 or 92 cars. Why? Because the 7 & 92 sponsors don’t buy commercial programming time. It’s really that simple. You pay “protection money” you get taken care of as they say in La Costa Nostra.
　
IndyCar Heading for Trouble?

First there was the announcement that fans would be losing a lot of their internet access to IndyCar. Then came the recent announcement that they’d be using the Free Pass and Double File Restarts that is used by NA$CAR. Obviously, they didn’t learn from NA$CAR’s mistakes. Right now the long time fans are in an uproar, just like the long time NA$CAR fans have been with all of the changes that have been forced down there throats by Faux King Brian. I had high hopes for IndyCar but if they’re going to go down the same road which took NA$CAR from being a multi-billion dollar industry to a multi-million dollar industry, you have to wonder if maybe their new leadership needs to look at some history. Like I say, those who fail to learn the mistakes of history are doomed to repeat them.
　
Upcoming Rex White Appearances
　
Rex will be appearing at the 5^th Annual Legends Helping Legends Fundraiser on March 26^th at the Memory Lane Museum in Mooresville NC. The first weekend in June, Rex will be at JB Days for the annual Raymond Parks birthday celebration. Then in August, Rex will be appearing at Lynchburg City Stadium on August 18^th from 6:00 pm-7:15 pm. So if you want a chance to meet one of the class acts of the Grand National circuit and the 1960 Grand National Champion, you’ve got several upcoming opportunities to do so. And tell him I said “Hi”.