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  • Some comments deserve to be repeated – Indy/Iowa

    Some comments deserve to be repeated – Indy/Iowa

    There were some rather interesting comments heard during the NASCAR Indiana weekend relative to observations regarding a bizarre accident during the Nationwide Series held at the Lucas Oil Raceway. Some of those comments absolutely deserve to be repeated.

    [media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”239″][/media-credit]On lap 177 of the Kroger 200 NASCAR Nationwide Series race there was an accident involving three cars that necessitated a red flag race stoppage. The cars driven by Tim Andrews, #40 Key Motorsports Chevrolet, and Michael Annett, #62 Rusty Wallace Racing Toyota, somehow found each other and slammed hard into the wall. A mere matter of seconds later, James Buescher, #30 Turner Motorsports Chevrolet, lightly tapped the rear bumper of the #66 Rusty Wallace Racing Toyota driven by Steve Wallace. The Wallace car spun and slammed into his team mate’s car as well as hitting the Andrews car. Thankfully the three drivers walked away uninjured but the same could not be said for their badly damaged race cars.

    You could almost sense the uncomfortable atmosphere within the ESPN live broadcast booth manned by Marty Reid, Ricky Craven and Rusty Wallace who had just witnessed his two drivers, including his son, get caught up in a very hard crash not to mention the complete destruction of the two race cars he owns. Rusty Wallace, well known for never mincing words during the course of delivering an opinion, immediately said that he felt the tap from Buescher on his son’s car was the reason Steve Wallace was sent flying into the other motionless cars on the track. It was an opinion not exactly shared by his broadcast colleague Ricky Craven who chose his words very carefully and diplomatically called it a racing incident. The video replay indicated that the contact between Buescher and Wallace occurred several seconds, and a significant amount of feet, prior to the first part of the crash. In fact it also appeared that Wallace hit the gas pedal in an attempt to drive his way past the pair of wrecked cars.

    This was later confirmed during a live ESPN post crash interview when Steve Wallace said: “he, (Buescher), bumped me a little bit getting into turn three. Meantime my spotter said check up, check up, check up. I got on the brakes and the car got sideways and it just slid up into the corner. There was nothing I could do. I tried to nail it to accelerate away from (team mate) Michael (Annett). It was just one of those racing deals.”

    Prior to this crash there was a long green flag run of approximately 62 laps. Rusty Wallace made the comment that he felt we had not seen the last of the yellow flags in the race and reminded us all that this was short track racing. After the crash a seemingly exasperated Wallace said “I knew there was going to be another caution. I just didn’t think it was going to be my cars. Do you have any idea how much money this just cost me?”

    Unfortunately for the Wallaces, the comments didn’t end there and were extended into the days that followed this Nationwide Series race. Even Sprint Cup driver Denny Hamlin weighed in on this issue, via his twitter account, and said “wow. 66 car, (Steve Wallace). Just my opinion but that “touch” from the 30, (Buescher), didn’t make U plow into a wreck that’s 30 seconds old. Ouch.”

    But the strongest observation came a few days later via the SPEED Channel’s “Race Hub” program. It’s very well known that every Tuesday night Jimmy Spencer makes some very unique observations regarding the NASCAR racing from the previous weekend. He awards fancy cigars to NASCAR individuals he’s impressed with and passes out crying towels to those he’s not to thrilled with. Sometimes he even awards a straight jacket to individuals that he thinks are just plain crazy.

    On this particular Tuesday night “Race Hub” host Steve Byrnes couldn’t wait to ask Spencer if Steve Wallace was going to receive a crying towel. That’s when Spencer went into high gear and said “oh sure he is. Oh my God, for the 6,327th time he crashed. You know Steve, he’s never been to a crash that he didn’t want to be a part of. This one was very tough though, these guys were stopped. Steve, you literally hit a parked car-two of them.”

    At this point the SPEED Channel presented the Steve Wallace post wreck interview from ESPN. When Spencer heard the young driver say it was “a racing deal” he grabbed another forward gear and said “Steve, this is just not one of those racing deals. It’s your racing deal. Crash, crash, crash I crashed again.”

    Some “Twitter” comments from fans were equally without mercy and the following is a random sampling of their thoughts.

    “Say what you want to about (Brickyard 400 winner) Paul Menard. Unlike Steven Wallace he figured out what to do with Dad’s toy.”

    “Steve Wallace really worked hard to crash into two parked cars.”

    “Steve Wallace crashed and it wasn’t his fault. I’m in shock and awe right now.”

    “Odds that Steve Wallace wins: 1000 to 1. Odds that Steve Wallace causes a wreck: 3 to 1. Odds that Steve Wallace gets wrecked: 1 to 1.”

    As driver Denny Hamlin said at the end of his “tweet”: “ouch.”

    The final thoughts on this subject comes from the young driver’s Uncle: Kenny Wallace. In one of his “tweets” Kenny Wallace presented us with some philosophy and said: “the world is in turmoil. Let’s all live in a tree house and NEVER take a shower. Ha ha ha. Oh, negativity rules these days.”

    It was also duly noted that Kenny Wallace received a “tweet” that read: “If I was you I wouldn’t call Rusty for a couple of days.”

    In all fairness to Steve Wallace, it has to be pointed out that a few days later there was an unconfirmed report that indicated there may have been fluids on the track from the other two wrecked cars and that’s how he got involved in this incident.

    The bottom line here is: Rusty Wallace Racing will repair their #66 Toyota and Steve Wallace will be lined up next weekend at the Iowa Speedway ready to race again.

    For right now, all of the above is nothing more than some comments that deserve to be repeated.

  • HOORAHS AND WAZZUPS: A FIRST TIME BRICK KISSER AT INDY

    HOORAHS AND WAZZUPS: A FIRST TIME BRICK KISSER AT INDY

    Over the previous weekend in Indianapolis we witnessed the emotional joy of another first time winner during the NASCAR Sprint Cup’s 2011 season. We witnessed the joy of a father and son moment in victory lane and we watched the race winner’s father, after 35 years of sponsoring cars at Indy events, get the opportunity to join his son for the ceremonial kissing of the bricks. OH yeah, a high profile NASCAR Nationwide Series debut was halted by a double back flip on a motorcycle. With those thoughts in mind, let’s begin with:

    [media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”241″][/media-credit]HOORAH to Paul Menard for becoming NASCAR’s fourth first time winner of the season following an outstanding performance at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Part of that performance included his ability to conserve fuel, during the late stages of the race, that allowed him to pass race leader Jamie McMurray with four laps remaining. HOORAH to the winner crew chief, Slugger Labbe, who also did an outstanding job on the pit box especially in the area of monitoring fuel mileage.

    HOORAH to John Menard, the race winner’s father. The owner of Menard’s Home Improvement Stores has been a long time sponsor of his son’s racing career. He’s also been a long time sponsor of Indy Racing League teams during the annual running of the Indianapolis 500. The elder Menard has always dreamed of participating in a victory lane celebration at the famed Brickyard. After 35 years of trying, and mega millions in sponsorship fees, he finally got that moment and got to share it with his race winning son. The sight of the two of them arm in arm during the victory lane ceremony was emotionally charged.

    HOORAH to Paul Menard for becoming the latest player in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase for the Championship wild card drama. His first ever Cup win moves him to 14th in the standings and places in him contention, with race winner Denny Hamlin 11th in points, for a wild card starting berth in the Chase line up.

    HOORAH to the wild card angle NASCAR introduced into the championship line up procedure this year. It’s actually been a lot of fun examining all of the potential angles and doing the math in order to track who’s going to make the Chase.

    HOORAH to Jeff Gordon, who finished second in the Brickyard 400, for that last ditch charge to the front that had us all paying attention. In the waning laps of the race, Gordon was informed that he was good to go on fuel. At the time he was approximately 12 second away from the race leader. The four time Cup champion put the hammer down and trimmed that margin down to 0.725 seconds before he ran out of laps and time.

    WAZZUP with the Brickyard 400 turning into another fuel mileage race that we’ve seen so many times this year? There were times when some of the front runners were barely above NASCAR’s mandatory speed limit while trying to save fuel. Okay, I’ll concede the point that it does add some drama to the latter stages of the race and it does make a crew chief earn his paycheck. Having made those concessions, there’s no way a fuel mileage ending is ever going to top the drama of two drivers racing door to door to the checkers without so much as a thought to what’s left in the fuel cell. That’s what I’d like to see more often.

    WAZZUP with that lap 121 caution that was triggered by four cars barreling their way towards turn three? The end result was a Landon Cassill spin while a handful of cars went sailing through a grassy strip that created front end damage to their cars. If IRL cars can’t do four wide there, in the Indy 500, then common logic says that four wider and heavier NASCAR stock cars certainly can’t do it. This caution flag should have never happened.

    WAZZUP with driver Marcos Ambrose getting a penalty for jumping the restart? It seems that everyone’s favorite Aussie changed lanes before he crossed the start-finish line. Amazingly, we’ve seen more than a few times lately. That’s a NASCAR no no as well as a drive through penalty. It also raises the question: how many times is this infraction going to occur before the drivers get the message that it simply won’t be tolerated?

    WAZZUP with only 138,000 seats being sold for the Brickyard 400? The problem here is the fact that the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has seating for 257,000. Sadly those remaining approximate 119,000 empty chairs were highly noticeable on television. This situation is, of course, another by product of our national economy. It’s a time when American families are having to make major cutbacks in their budgets and family recreation is a highly targeted area. Realistically, in this economy, 138,000 turning out for literally anything is actually pretty good.

    ***********

    The HOORAH for making chicken salad out of chicken do do belongs to NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Timothy Peters who won the AAA Insurance 200 at the Lucas Oil Raceway At Indianapolis. On Lap 91 Peters found himself spinning out and making his way to pit road with a flat tire. The incident placed Peters on a different pit cycle from the rest of the field and that turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The crew spent the remaining pit stops making adjustments on their truck and also got their driver track position. Peters passed James Buescher, with six laps remaining in the race, to claim his first win of the season and his third career win. That’s getting it done Mr. Peters.

    Another chicken salad HOORAH goes to Kyle Busch for his tenth place finish during the Sprint Cup’s Brickyard 400. Busch had a full day on his hands at Indy that included lengthy repairs following a collision on pit road. This was followed by a little right side wall contact at race speed. Oh yeah, he was also credited for an early race yellow flag because a water bottle somehow escaped from his car and landed on the track. After a very long and hot day at Indy, I’ve never seen a driver so happy over a tenth place finish.

    A never before issued WAZZUP for making chicken salad out of chicken do do. only to see it turn to do do again, goes to NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Elliot Sadler who had a horrible Saturday at the Lucas Oil Raceway At Indianapolis while participating in the Kroger 200. The process began when Sadler crashed his Kevin Harvick Inc Chevrolet during qualifying and start the race at the back of the line. After apologizing to the team for the incident, Sadler grabbed some tools, crawled under the car and helped his guys with the repairs. He deserves a HOORAH for that. Only a veteran would even think about helping with the crash damage. During the race Sadler drove like the proverbial bat out of hell and became a major player during the race’s waning laps.

    Unfortunately, it all unraveled for Sadler on lap 200. Following a restart for a green-white-checker finish, Sadler spun and collected Austin Dillon, his Kevin Harvick Inc team mate. He had to settle for a 16th place finish and took a hit in the championship points standings.

    *********

    HOORAH to Brad Keselowski for a late race charge that allowed him to win the Kroger 200, Benefiting the Riley Hospital For Children Nationwide Series race at Lucas Oil Raceway. Keselowski passed Ricky Stenhouse Jr with three laps remaining in the scheduled 200 and then had to survive a green-white-checker finish before parking his Penske Dodge in victory lane. It was his second win of the season and his 14th career series win.

    HOORAH to team owner Richard Childress for making three appearances in victory lane within a period of nine days. That delightful journey began on July 22nd when his grandson, Austin Dillon, won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Nashville. The following Thursday his other grandson, Ty Dillon, won his sixth ARCA Series race of the season at the Lucas Oil Raceway. Then of course Childress capped off the celebrations by joining his Cup driver, Paul Menard, in victory lane following the Brickyard 400 win.

    HOORAH to NASCAR driver/team owner Tony Stewart for his latest career milestone. A long time alumni of open wheel racing, Stewart won his first ever WOO, World Of Outlaws, race July 27th at the Ohsweken Speedway in Hamilton-Ontario-Canada. To get that first win Stewart had to hold off a late race challenge from series icon Sammy Swindell. Stewart has been firmly entrenched in the WOO Series for many years now as a team owner and has three team championships to show for it.

    WAZZUP with the horrible luck that prevented Travis Pastrana from making his NASCAR Nationwide Series official debut at the Lucas Oil Raceway event? The action sports hero had a very busy schedule that weekend. He was in Los Angeles on Friday night to compete in the annual X Games. He was supposed to fly to Indiana later that night for the Nationwide Series event on Saturday and then fly right back to California for Sunday’s final day of the X Games. It all went horribly wrong-two times. On Friday night Pastrana was going to attempt the 720, a double back flip motorcycle jump. It’s a trick he been working on for nearly four years now. The first attempt resulted in a crash. So did the second attempt which, sadly, also resulted in broken bones, in his right foot and ankle, that required surgery. There was no way the Nationwide Series debut was going to happen after that.

    ***********

    In some final thoughts HOORAH to Roush Fenway Racing for the retro paint scheme, on David Ragan’s #6 Cup car, honoring Ned Jarrett’s induction into the NASCAR Hall Of Fame. It was a classy thing to do for a true NASCAR icon and gentleman who deserves this type of recognition.

    HOORAH to country music superstars Reba McEntyre and Rascal Flatts for their patriotic music performances prior to the start of the Brickyard 400 Cup race. McEntyre performed an emotionally charged medley of “America The Beautiful” and “God Bless America”. The harmonies of Rascal Flatts, performing “The National Anthem”, were pristine.

    The final WAZZUPS of the week involves NASCAR team marketing and the placement of sponsor brands.

    WAZZUP with the new fangled racing caps that makes it so difficult to see the sponsor’s logos? These are the caps that has the logos on the extreme left front of the hat. During national television interviews, where camera shots are often close and tight, you can’t see the logos on the hats at all. It makes me wonder why the public relations squads, who represents drivers and their teams, hasn’t noticed this yet. There’s two obvious solutions: first, have the driver stand completely still while located on the left side of the television personality. Then you have a chance of the sponsor logo being seen. The second solution is even easier: have the PR people pass out the old style of hats. Frankly the new racing hat design is kind of goofy looking anyway.

    WAZZUP with the new fangled sunglasses, with their mega sized lenses, that the young drivers seem to prefer these days? At the beginning of a television interview these drivers have a tendency to remove the glasses and place them on top of their racing caps again blocking the sponsor’s logos. Also again, why aren’t PR reps picking up on this?

    Actually these new sunglasses really aren’t that new fangled. Those of us who recall the disco years probably owned a pair of them. (A brief pause here for someone, not yet born before 1975, to ask “what’s a disco”?) The bottom line here is: doing anything and everything to display your sponsor logo is a good thing. Doing anything that hides the sponsor logo is bad.

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Brickyard 400 at Indy

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Brickyard 400 at Indy

    With Big Machine Records as the presenting sponsor, the Indy pre-race festivities were destined to feature artists such as Reba McIntire and Rascal Flatts performing ‘America the Beautiful’ and the national anthem respectively, as well as CEO Scott Borchetta waving the green flag for the race start.

    [media-credit name=”Adam Lovelace” align=”alignright” width=”245″][/media-credit]Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 18th annual Brickyard 400 presented by BigMachineRecords.com:

    Surprising:  In spite of leading the race at the halfway point, clicking off a position a lap in the final twelve laps of the race, and being the only car assured of finishing the race with enough fuel, it was surprising that the driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, Jeff Gordon did not win the race.

    Gordon did, however, come in a solid second, improving his point standings to being just 52 points behind leader Carl Edwards. This was Gordon’s 14th top 10 finish in 18 races at Indianapolis Speedway and his ninth top-10 finish in 2011.

    “Oh my goodness what a day,” Gordon said. “I am so proud of this Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet team. I mean they were just flawless.”

    “It was all we could do to put pressure on those guys and hope they would run out,” Gordon said of his battle with those in danger of running out of fuel. “I passed all of them but one.”

    Not Surprising:  It was not surprising that the one that Gordon could not get past was a driver with a family history as storied as the Brickyard itself. Dedicating the win to his father John, Paul Menard, driver of the No. 27 NIBCO/Menards Chevrolet won his first ever NASCAR race at the track where he had been coming with his family since he was a youngster.

    “You know I’ve been coming here since I was a kid and my Daddy has been trying to win this race for 35 years,” Menard said. “So this is for my Dad.”

    “I can’t believe we won Indy,” Menard continued. “This is just a really special place for my family and myself.”

    Menard made a little history at the Brickyard himself, becoming the first driver to win his first career race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This is also the first Indy win in a Menard’s sponsored race car.

    This is Menard’s sixth top-10 finish in 2011 and his first top-10 finish in five races at Indy. He also became the fourth different first-time winner for the 2011 NASCAR season.

    Surprising:  One of the biggest surprises of the day was how many drivers pitted under green for fuel directly after a restart towards the end of the race. One of those drivers who did just that was NASCAR’s favorite son Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in his No. 88 Amp Energy/National Guard Chevrolet.

    Junior’s fuel strategy did not, however, play to his advantage. He finished 16th and dropped one more position in the point standings to tenth, just barely maintaining Chase contention status.

    “You don’t want to be hanging around out there on the race track when everybody else is already inside a fuel window,” Earnhardt, Jr. said. “So, yeah I can understand why it turned out like it did.”

    Not Surprising:  Since the Brickyard is considered one of the ‘big’ races on the NASCAR schedule, it was not surprising that two drivers who have won ‘big’ races in the past had good runs. Regan Smith, behind the wheel of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet and winner of the Darlington Showtime Southern 500, scored the third place finish and Jamie McMurray, Daytona 500 and defending winner of the Brickyard 400 last year, took fourth in his No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet.

    “It was a great run for the Furniture Row Chevy and my guys worked their butts off all weekend,” Smith said. “This is not a great track for me, so I am happy and if I couldn’t win, the guy in Victory lane is my best friend on the circuit and I can’t wait to congratulate him.”

    “We got a little bit lucky today,” McMurray said. “We’ve had a tough year and a lot of things go wrong and a lot of bad luck. So, it’s very nice to have good luck and a good finish.”

    Surprising:  In spite of an uncertain future for 2012, with his ride for Rick Hendrick ending at the end of the season, Mark Martin in his No. 5 Quaker State/GoDaddy.com Chevrolet pulled off a surprisingly good top-10 finish.

    Martin took the checkered flag at the Brickyard in eighth place, advancing his point standings by two spots up to the 18th position.

    Not Surprising:  It was not surprising that the winner of the final Nationwide race at Lucas Oil Raceway continued his great weekend run over at the Brickyard. Brad Keselowski, behind the wheel of the Blue Deuce, finished top-10.

    “It was kind of an up-and-down day for the Miller Lite Dodge,” Keselowski said of his ninth place run. “At the three-quarter part of the race, I thought we were going to win the Brickyard.”

    “It just didn’t quite work out, but we made our car faster throughout the day and I was proud of that.”

    Surprising:  Even Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota, surprised himself by battling not only track position and fuel strategy but also a tussle with Tony Stewart in the pits to attain a top-10 finish.

    “I definitely had no idea that the day would be so ugly, but yet come out of it smelling like a rose I guess,” Busch said. “We worked our butts of this whole weekend trying to get something out of nothing.”

    Not Surprising:  In spite of a crew chief change, Jeff Burton, RCR veteran and NASCAR statesman, continued his downward spiral. Burton finished 35th in his No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet.

    “We had a little miscommunication on pit road,” Burton said. “The radios blanked out and I couldn’t hear him (Burton’s new crew chief Luke Lambert). I drove by pit road and it just put us in a hole the rest of the day.”

    “We were fast but we just had a lot of crap go on.”

    Surprising:  With so many media pundits predicting a victory at Indy, it was surprising to see how badly Indy 500 champ Juan Pablo Montoya finished. JPM, piloting his No. 42 Target Chevrolet, finished 28th.

    “It sucks when you run good all day,” Montoya said. “We unloaded really bad but at the end, we were a really competitive car.”

    “Right now it’s all about looking at the future.”

    Not Surprising:  After their one, two finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, it was not surprising to see the two drivers of Stewart Haas Racing have another fairly good day.  Tony Stewart, piloting the No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet overcame adversity on the track and on pit road to finish sixth.

    Stewart’s teammate Ryan Newman, behind the wheel of the No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet, also had a decent day, finishing 12th. Both drivers maintained their positions solidly in the top ten in the point standings.

    “I just fought for everything I could get all day,” Stewart said. “We didn’t have the best car by any means.”

    “Whatever you get here, you appreciate it because you had to earn it,” Stewart continued. “You don’t get anything free here.”

  • Brickyard 400 Win Special Not Only for Paul Menard but Richard Childress

    Brickyard 400 Win Special Not Only for Paul Menard but Richard Childress

    Perhaps it was caught up in the commotion of Paul Menard’s first victory. Or because it was Menard in victory lane and not Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer or Jeff Burton but Richard Childress was the winning car owner Sunday in the Brickyard 400.

    [media-credit id=66 align=”alignright” width=”238″][/media-credit]The win in Indianapolis was as surprising as Childress announcing last season that his organization was going back to four cars. Childress though, knew that it was all a matter of putting the right people in the right places.

    “I’m just so proud of that whole Menard team,” said Childress. “I caught a lot of flack back early last year when we decided to go with four teams. I’ve been watching Paul ever since he won the Nationwide race. He doesn’t tear equipment up, he’s consistent, he’s really good. Got a cool head on him in all situations.”

    Childress said he knew that once the right situation presented itself they’d win and that bringing over Slugger Labbe as Menard’s crew chief and having the support of John Menard was also important to the deal and the team’s success.

    It took Menard 167 races to find victory lane and a few different organizations before he landed at RCR. Childress was prepared to make him a winner and looked forward to all four of his teams being contenders. Menard started the season off as one of the more consistent drivers on the circuit before backsliding through the points.

    Whispers though still started about whether Menard could be working toward his first career win. When practice started Friday Menards wasn’t among those to watch and by his account they were off. But Childress saw the car come to life on Saturday and it gave him the confidence to lean into Menard’s car on Sunday and tell him it was going to be his day.

    Pulling into victory lane on Sunday suddenly wasn’t as farfetched as everyone thought. And it certainly didn’t come from Menard lucking his way into the win either. He battled back from a pit road penalty and going through the grass to avoid a spinning Landon Cassill with 41 laps to go.

    From there it was about nursing his draining fuel tank and proving the critics wrong and Childress right.

    “For a first-year team to come out like this, it’s very gratifying,” the team owner said. “They work hard, Slugger is as hard a working guy as you’ll see around the shop, the racetrack. The first time with the four-car team, I don’t think we were as prepared coming in. I said we’ll be more prepared, we know the mistakes we made, and we’re sure not making them now.”

    For Childress it was the fourth time in 2011 that he’s been to victory lane. Prior to Menard’s win he celebrated on three different occasions with Harvick. The organizations other two teams, Bowyer and Burton have struggled lately but Childress believes that things can quickly turn in their favor as quickly has it has against them.

    In the end though, some things stay the same. Childress again was standing on the frontstretch of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, perhaps with a driver he and most others thought he’d never be standing with, preparing to kiss the bricks. It was the third time he would do so as a car owner.

    “It’s eight years from 1995 to 2003 and eight more years till today,” said Childress talking about his wins. “It doesn’t seem like we’ve been coming here 18 years. I remember coming in here the first time I think in ’93 to do our test with Dale. The first time the cars ran down that front straightaway and though, ‘Man, would it be cool to win at Indy.’”

    It was August of 1995 when Childress and the man who he would rise to the top of the sport with won the second running of the Brickyard 400. It was Earnhardt’s 66th career victory but it was as special as the first one for he and Childress. Except, the two didn’t kiss the bricks that day and Earnhardt never would.

    Harvick replaced Earnhardt in 2001 and in 2003 he too won at the Brickyard. It was the fourth career win for Harvick and the second Brickyard win for RCR. Then, 16 years after standing with Earnhardt in the sunset, Childress was walking to victory lane for a third time with a third driver.

    “To be here again 18 years later [from tire test] and to win with Paul, Slugger, this whole group, to win for RCR, I couldn’t be happier,” said Childress. “Kind of got to pinch myself. I hope it ain’t eight years more before we win it. I’ll be a old man by then.”

  • Agreeing With Dale Jr.; The speedway was made for Indycars

    Agreeing With Dale Jr.; The speedway was made for Indycars

    Once again, NASCAR went to the hollowed grounds of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and I find myself agreeing with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. According to Twitter feeds during the race, Earnhardt said over his team radio that the speedway was made for Indycars. Of course, Earnhardt was talking about pit road, but his observation rings true. The great Indianapolis Motor Speedway is not a stock car track.

    [media-credit name=”Brian Douglas” align=”alignright” width=”235″][/media-credit]For most of the day, fans must have fought sleep. While the great Indianapolis 500 is a spectacle not to be missed, the Brickyard 400 is a snoozer. It came down to a fuel mileage race. Wow, we get that at Michigan and Pocono. How nice. And we had a surprise winner again. Of course, the class of the field didn’t win, and the so-called aero push led to runaway leaders, so there wasn’t much excitement. It was nice to see Paul Menard finally win a race, but many fans felt like Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth had the best cars, or did they?

    Just like at Darlington (and many other venues this year), fuel mileage was king. If your car was able to stretch fuel and not pit as the laps ran down, you could win. Put Mr. Menard in that category. And to make things worse, we get to go to Pocono next. Why? It is woefully obvious to me that stock cars need to run at tracks with banking. It’s just the way things should be. Sure, Martinsville isn’t banked so much (exactly the same 12 degrees as Indy), but its small size welcomes close racing. Not so at Indy .

    The attendance tells the story. NASCAR and IMS seemed to be happy that attendance only dipped 2,000 from last year. The place holds 257.000 people and it was only about 54% full (NASCAR’s estimate of 138.000 was probably generous). You could see the empty seats all around the speedway. So the question is why does NASCAR continue to run this race.

    It was a great thrill, and probably still is, for the NASCAR drivers to run at Indy. Many had dreamed of running there and have to be a rush to do so once a year in a stock car. Unfortunately, the show isn’t so great. Much like the two road races run every year, the races just don’t fit in what stock car racing is. In the effort to make NASCAR racing a national sport, we go to tracks that just aren’t suited for stock cars. While places like Darlington, Rockingham, and North Wilkesboro were suited for this brand of racing, they were pushed aside to go into California, Chicago, New Hampshire, and other places that don’t fit the norm. It’s like playing football in Wrigley Field. Something’s wrong with it all.

    And yet we continue and will continue for the foreseeable future. As attendance continues to decline in places where stock car racing is only partially appreciated, the end game will eventually come. It’s just a matter of time. But what Dale, Jr. said today is known by most everyone competing. Stock car racing needs banking and a wide pit lane. And someday, everyone will get the message. Maybe.

  • A Future Begins At The Track of Dreams

    A Future Begins At The Track of Dreams

    The brickyard has long been known as the place of dreams. It didn’t change today. Today it saw a young man who has struggled and fought the naysayers to chase his dream. He never lost his faith and his family never lost their faith in him. A familiar face moved that dream forward last fall when Richard Childress added team number 4. That addition to the legendary RCR stable would set up today’s dream come true for Paul Menard. Because today Paul Menard made his dreams come true with a win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

    [media-credit name=”Brian Douglas” align=”alignright” width=”232″][/media-credit]Although Menard was a long shot to win. He did so with strategy and fuel mileage and consistency. He conserved when he had to conserve. He raced hard when he had to race hard. He over came the obstacles. He fought the temptation to be intimidated by the 24 of Jeff Gordon coming fast in his mirror. He stayed steady and he ran his line

    He won one of the crown jewels of NASCAR, by being Paul Menard. He was quiet on the radio. He was composed in victory lane. His emotions were his to share and he choose to share them with the people who got him there not the people who were undoubtedly surprised that he arrived. “This one is for my Dad.” He said calmly. When asked about the 24 in his mirror, he said, “Beating Jeff Gordon at Indy is a big deal”.

    It was a dream day for others as well. Teams that didn’t run well and haven’t run well, 6 in the top 10 had a below average day and yet the fuel strategy game fell their way. Teams like Kyle Busch, Mark Martin, Jamie McMurray, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth all benefited from late race fuel strategy calls.

    But the track of dreams also brings disappointments for some. It is inevitable after all. For everything that is gained something is lost. In this case it was a race that many who ran well all day ended up not a part of due to fuel mileage. Crew Chief Alan Gustafson commented on those who got good finishes because of the strategy, “You hate that running bad gives those guys an advantage.” Gustafson’s driver finished 2nd after making up 11 seconds in 12 laps.

    Tony Stewart led late only to have to stop for fuel. Jimmie Johnson who ran strong all day in the top 10 finished a disappointing 19th. Dale Earnhardt Jr who took the lead on pit strategy after over heating with debris on the grill and led the race for 6 laps midway but finished 16th. The list goes on.

    The one resounding comment that was heard from every driver was, “Congratulations to Paul and Slugger Labbe. They worked hard for it. It’s good to see it come their way.”

    The race itself was rather nondescript. It was intense for the final 19 laps or so. But it was not really exciting. The broadcast was well a bit over dramatized. The new anchor in the pit studio, Nicole Briscoe was over dramatic in her starring role debut. And the entire broadcast had the feel of theatrical production rather than a race.

    The whole weekend was somewhat that way. The Camping World Trucks normally exciting and fun to watch ran a snoozer on perhaps their final showing at LOR/ORP. But it had its bright spot. We got to see a champion behave like a champion.

    Truck Series winner Timothy Peter’s, however showed an extreme lack of judgment when he proceeded with his celebratory burn out while there were still two trucks on the front stretch. To his left, dead in the water and out of gas a few yards from the start finish line was Ricky Carmichael unable to go any further. To his left was Austin Dillon, trying to finish the race after contact with Todd Bodine. To continue with the burn out while putting others at risk was simply not acceptable. Granted he won the race and was entitled to his celebration but wait until the track is clear.

    The incident between Todd Bodine and Austin Dillon on the final lap was troubling. Todd Bodine ran Austin Dillon into the wall. He made no bones about it and took complete responsibility. He said, “I didn’t see him. If I were him, I would be mad at me too.” Austin Dillon showed his roots when he said, “I don’t know what happened there. I have to talk to Todd first.” How refreshing! A Champion who acted like a champion and a potential champion that acted like a champion, is it any wonder the Camping World Truck Series is so much fun to watch. But fun or not it doesn’t change the fact that Todd’s spotter obviously didn’t tell him that Austin was there. Fortunately, Todd Bodine has exceptional truck control and was able to prevent the situation from becoming more serious. This incident was only the beginning of the “unusual” happenings at LOR/ORP that could have had serious results in terms of driver safety.

    The Nationwide Series also ran at LOR/ORP. This race had perhaps the scariest incident of the year. Justin Allgaier lost a fuel line and the fire under the car grew with each passing lap. Crew Chief Jimmy Elledge called him in when he saw the fire on the monitor.

    The fire itself was scary enough. But what Allgaier’s wife reported happened next on Twitter was terrifying. “I’m so angry w/ the firefighters… Got to car & told crew “not my job” so crew guy took fire extinguisher and it didn’t even work!” she reported. “I’m thankful Justin was okay and for the 32 guys for pulling him out of car!” She concluded.

    So not only did the fire officials refuse to help Justin out of the car, they didn’t have fire fighting equipment that was functional to try to put out the fire. Surely, this incident did not get lost in all the confusion about lining up for the restart?

    The young man’s life was at risk. The oil in the engine was reportedly over 300 degree’s. The front of the car was a rolling ball of fire. Yes he had on a fire retardant suit. But there was no way for anyone to know at that point that the engine would not blow up or that the fire was not much wider spread than it appeared and it appeared severe.

    This situation was severe enough that NASCAR needs to step up to the plate and make their driver’s safety first initiative a mandatory requirement for all tracks. No driver should ever be at the mercy of help coming or not coming because of the location of the vehicle that is on fire. No driver should have to depend on his team or team mates to help out of a burning vehicle. It is simply unacceptable.

    Regardless of what happened on the track with the restart, Justin Allgaier should have been the primary concern of everyone on pit road. His safety and his exit from that car should have been the foremost thought and focus for everyone, officials and safety workers. Every one of those people within the reach of a fire extinguisher or him should have been there immediately to assist him out of the vehicle and to put out the fire.

    Officials wear fire suits too. Yes I understand that they are impartial. But saving or assisting a driver from harms way is part of their job. It’s why they monitor lug nuts and pit stall positioning. I will lay you odds that if Justin had been out of the box there would have been an official there to issue the penalty. Yet when he needed them to be proactive and help him, they were conspicuous by their absence.

    The hype and the spectacle that is Indy has come to an end. The bricks have been kissed. The trophy has been awarded. And the haulers have begun their trek homeward. The new week has begun. Crew Chiefs have replaced their notes with Pocono and the work begins in earnest to find the way to victory lane again, this time at the tricky triangle. For some this will be a night of celebration and champagne. For some it will be a night of if only’s. But one constant remains, on nagging thought on the minds of every driver and team. How do we squeeze a gallon from a drop and when will we race for the checkers again. Only time will tell and then only if NASCAR will allow the secret to be told.

    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ * * * * ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

    Congratulations to Timothy Peters and his Red Horse Racing Team on their victory at LOR/ORP.

    Congratulations to Brad Keselowski and his Penske Racing Team on their NNS victory.

    And major congratulations to Paul Menard and his RCR team on their win of the Brickyard 400. It is always inspiring and uplifting to see someone make their dreams come true. Enjoy it Paul. You earned it. “Remember today, for it is the beginning of always. Today marks the start of a brave new future filled with all your dreams can hold.”

    That said, to all the competitors in all the series thanks for giving us everything you have to give, you are our heroes. Most importantly, thanks to all the families who shared their loved ones with us so we could cheer our favorite driver and favorite teams. You are the true heroes of the sport and we are forever in your debt.

  • Fuel Mileage Races Healthy For The Sport? What Needs To Be Changed?

    Fuel Mileage Races Healthy For The Sport? What Needs To Be Changed?

    NASCAR like all sports in the world has many flaws and they need to be addressed. My first question to my viewers is this, Are fuel mileage races healthy for the sport? I would like to hear your opinion on that later.

    I have been receiving a lot of angry letters from fans all over about the extremity of fuel mileage races especially this season. Now, why do you think that is?

    [media-credit id=66 align=”alignright” width=”251″][/media-credit]I have an answer for you and it’s going to make every single corn farmer involved in this deal angry and it is ethanol. Now, what is ethanol? It is corn. This corn is turned into fuel through industrial fermentation, chemical processing, and distillation and is the main feedstock used for producing ethanol fuel in the United States, but it is mostly used as an oxygenate in the form of low-level blends because a full blend of this corn ethanol wouldn’t work.

    Using ethanol to fuel these race cars is only making food prices skyrocket. Kenny Wallace doesn’t seem to understand that, but I can sympathize with him because American Ethanol is his sponsor and he is trying his absolute best to promote a complete waste of money. For those of you who have studied economics this is simple supply and demand. It is quite a simple concept. If you have low supply but a high demand, then prices go up. There is a low supply of corn because the federal government is converting it to fuel that is why prices are so darn high.

    Ethanol also doesn’t get as much mileage as gas along with the incredible amount of corn needed to produce 1 gallon of fuel. Did you know that each gallon of ethanol needs over 1,700 gallons of water? That is mostly for growing the corn! This also leads to soil erosion and produces about 6 to 12 gallons of noxious organic effluent. Yeah. Not good.

    The state of Minnesota found out how unreliable it was the hard way. In January of 2008, Minnesota forced all of their public school buses to use full blown ethanol. There was no blend. Well these geniuses back in Minnesota didn’t do enough research to realize this stuff turns into a gel when it freezes. Hello!! This is Minnesota in January!! The buses couldn’t start and many young kids were treated for hypothermia all across the state. And I forgot to mention over 26 pounds of corn is needed to produce 1 gallon of this crap.

    Now, this controversy has carried over into my sport and it’s not making me happy. Unlike regular gas that we should be drilling for, ethanol has an expiration date like a gallon of milk. It cannot stay in a tank forever. So, all of this stuff you hear about ethanol being the next generation changer is absolute bull. Thankfully for NASCAR, they burn the fuel during the race so they don’t have to care, but what races have been affected by this change and by bad calls in general?

    The Budweiser Shootout was the first race and right off the bat we had a bad call by giving the win to Kurt Busch. Denny Hamlin according to photos dipped below the yellow line just after taking the lead from Ryan Newman to avoid a wreck and it was wrong taking that win away from him. Like I have said in the past, more consistency would be nice.

    Daytona and Talladega have perhaps turn into the biggest jokes in the sport. The two-by-two tango crap is not racing! It’s follow the leader until someone else wants to be the speeder. It may have produced a .002 finish between Jimmie Johnson and Clint Bowyer, but that is not racing.

    The fuel controversy has also affected which driver should really win the race. We saw Kevin Harvick win the Coca Cola 600 this past May. Who had the best car that day? Matt Kenseth. He had fuel issues like many drivers and we had a ‘surprise’ winner. Well, I like many fans are sick of these ‘surprises.’ I just want to see the best car win, but a lot of times now it’s a random driver the next time.

    In Kansas, Kurt Busch was the class of the field, but had fuel issues. Your surprise winner is Brad Keselowski. Today at Indy, the two best cars were Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon. Paul Menard won his first career race. The longer your fuel stretches also depends when you buy the fuel because like I said, it has an expiration.

    Congratulations to Menard on his first win, but I call on NASCAR to go back to regular gas! It’s more reliable and less expensive. If you ask any corn farmer that is apart of this NASCAR package, they will tell you how magnificent their stuff is. Well, no kidding. They are getting money off this ya know? I like surprises every now and then fans, but when it is happening every week because of the fuel we are using, can we please return to decency?

  • F1 – Button wins wild Hungarian Grand Prix

    F1 – Button wins wild Hungarian Grand Prix

    Jenson Button (McLaren Mercedes) overcame rapidly changing weather conditions to win the Hungarian Grand Prix. The win came in Button’s 200^th Grand Prix.

     

  • NHRA – John Force breaks another record in Sonoma qualifying

    NHRA – John Force breaks another record in Sonoma qualifying

    John Force became NHRA’s all-time leader in No. 1 qualifying positions when he raced to the top spot in Funny Car Saturday at the FRAM / Autolite NHRA Nationals at Infineon Raceway.

  • Keselowski wins the NNS race at Lucas Oil Raceway

    Keselowski wins the NNS race at Lucas Oil Raceway

    Brad Keselowski won a side-by-side, bumping and grinding battle with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the final laps of Saturday nights NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) race at Lucas Oil Raceway and made the pass with a handful of laps remaining.

    [media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”224″][/media-credit]But a late spin by Elliott Sadler setup a green-white-checkers restart. Keselowski was able to hold off James Buescher and Stenhouse Jr. to win the final NNS race at the speedway.

    “We ended up restarting in second position on the outside lane and I knew that if I could get around the 6 car that we had a shot at the win. I had a great short-run car that could give Ricky (Stenhouse Jr.) a run for his money. If the race was two of three laps longer, I’m sure Ricky would have drove around us. Our Discount Tire Dodge Challenger was great on the short run. It’s great to get back to victory lane again.” Keselowski said.

    Stenhouse Jr. led 188 laps and dominated the night until lap 188 after a yellow flag came out when Trevor Bayne blew an engine. Stenhouse Jr. took the inside on the restart which allowed Keselowski to first battle on the outside and then bump and grind his way by on the inside.

    “I just knew that I needed to get a good restart. He still beat me. We drove into 1 and 2 and he had a great run, he was clearing me. So I crossed back over, got back to the bottom and raced him into 3. The next thing I knew I was in the lead.” Keselowski said.

    On lap 175, Tim Andrews, Michael Annett and Steve Wallace were involved in a hard crash between turns three and four. Andrews and Annett both were stopped at the outside wall and Wallace spun coming out of four and hit teammate Annett with the back of his car, spinning it around in the air and then into Andrews’ car. This brought out a 12 minute red flag condition for track cleanup.

    “I got loose there underneath the 40 (Tim Andrews) — I think we were lapping him for about the 10th time tonight.” Annett said.  “I was probably over aggressive on my part, but it’s just a shame to tear up a good race car — actually two Rusty Wallace Racing cars. I heard Steven I guess got jacked up from behind slowing up for the wreck when the guy behind him didn’t see it and tore us both up. Just a shame, but we have Iowa next weekend and that’s a big one for us.”

    “I got in the brakes and the care got sideways. It just slid all the way through the corner and there was nothing I could do except try to nail it to accelerate away from Michael (Annett). It was just one of those racing deals. I hate it for both of our cars. Both of our cars were running good and we were getting better. It’s just one of those things.” Wallace said.

    On lap 193, Justin Allgaier’s car caught on fire while driving around under caution. Allgaier has to take his flaming car behind pit wall and Reed Sorenson’s crew quickly pulled him out. He finished 27th.

    Sadler started 42nd and worked his way through the field. But on lap 198 while battling for third spot be lost control and spun between turns three and four, collecting his Kevin Harvick Inc. teammate Austin Dillon. What could have been a top-5 finish for Sadler, ends up being 16th.

    Stenhouse Jr. moved into the series points lead by 4 points over Reed Sorenson.

    The series heads to Iowa Speedway for the U.S. Cellular 250 presented by the Enlist Weed Control System on August 6th.