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NCAT: Steve Mathews Look To Carry Early Season Success Into Toronto

[media-credit name=”Mathews Motorsports” align=”alignleft” width=”225″][/media-credit]If you look at the season so far, a lot of people are pointing towards Steve Mathews as being the surprise as he has been running well at each track so far this year.

“This season has been full of success and bad fortune,” he said. “We show speed almost everywhere we go, and are a car to contend with at the front of the field, but like anything else every little detail has to go as planned or flawless in order to succeed. I am happy with my showings on the oval tracks, but I admit there is work to be done on the road circuits. I haven’t really reflected on the season too much as of yet as it is still busy and ongoing, the main thing is that it all happens so fast, so you need to be prepared and ready well in advance.”

Despite the lack of success on the road courses, Mathews says he is welcome to the challenge and looks to improve on them.

“I do like the split of ovals and road course races, but as you can tell by my results I seem to like the ovals better,” he said. “The road courses are a new challenge, and in don’t mind having something new to try and master, especially with the racing being so fun on road courses. To be a good driver you need to be diverse, and that means successful on any course or terrain. With my ultimate goal of one day being in the Sprint Cup Series, where there is only 2 road course races, I wish we had more ovals in the Ontario region on the schedule to prepare myself, but it is what it is.”

The New Liskeard, Ontario native got his start in racing at the age of eight in go-karts, though he says the passion was there even before that.

“Ever since I was a little baby I would watch NASCAR with my dad,” he said.”One day we were outside at the beach and it started to rain so we went inside, with our luck the NASCAR race was under rain delay as well. With the rain delay, the television coverage switched to a kart race, and as soon as I saw driver’s helmets coming off and realizing they were kids, I wanted to race. I bugged my dad every summer to race, and he had researched the sport of go-karting and the summer I was turning 8 he put a go-kart magazine in my Christmas stocking and said lets go racing! So began the passion and disease of motorsports racing.”

Through moving up the ranks, there have been certainly a lot of moments to remember, though not one stands out as according to the young driver.

“I have no one moment I can pinpoint as my most memorable racing moment, I remember every moment,” the 20-year-old said. “I have very strong memories in racing from when I started, to my present time, to everything in-between. Every win, and every race is memorable for a certain reason and I intend on having many more memorable moments, including my first NCATS win.”

The experience has also brought forth a bunch of lessons, which Mathews has carried forward with him to work up the racing ladder and work on to become better.

“You learn many lessons in racing, such as: you can’t win the race on the first lap, gain respect from competitors, and patience,” he said. “The latter of the three is what I have been trying to work on, with no shortage of aggressiveness, I am learning to become more patient for the long races. Racing is full of lessons within the sport, as well as in every day life.”

This weekend’s Honda Indy in Toronto marks the 11th start of the Mathew’s young Canadian Tire Series career, though his first at Toronto after running a limited schedule the past two years.

“Heading into the Toronto Indy I am very excited and anticipate and eventful race for the fans,” he said. “Being downtown Toronto is always exciting in its own way, but going speeds of 175mph along the lakeshore is amazing. Heading into Toronto there was plenty of work to be done on the #15 Ford Fusion as it was unfortunately involved in a crash at Mosport causing heavy damage. Therefore, I would like to thank the crew and Bill Mathews Motors/Jack Mathews Body Shop for all the hard work enabling me to have a car to contend this weekend. The track looks fast and tricky, and I believe will will have a car to contend with in the tough NASCAR Canadian tire Series field.”

The Honda Indy Toronto also brings a bit of added pressure as the series will be racing along side of the IZOD IndyCar Series, though Mathews says he doesn’t let it bug him.

“I do not let the added pressure get to me though, once I am in the car there are no other factors that can affect me,” he said. “You need to perform at your best every event no matter how publicized or important it is, because you never know who is watching and what can happen.”

With the success so far, including a top five at Delawere, Mathews knows the first win is coming for the No. 15 Ford Fusion.

“I feel like my first NASCAR win is right in-front of me, and that with hard work and some lady luck I will stumble upon it in no time,” he said. “For a win to happen, all the pieces of the puzzle must fit together, we have been oh so close and I am confident I can secure a win for Mathews Motorsports in the very near future.”

For more information on Steve Mathews, check out , search Mathews Motorsports on Facebook and Youtube and follow Mathews’ on twitter @15Mathews.

July 6, 2011
NCAT: Mark Dilley Looks To Turn Season Around in Toronto

Going in Toronto, Mark Dilley is looking for the season to turn around as so far the best finish for the No. 9 Rheem/PartSource Dodge team is a fifth place finish at Circuit ICAR.

The bad luck this season that has the hurt Dilley sees him sitting 10th in points, almost 200 points behind points leader Scott Steckly.

“It hasn’t been very good for us,” he said of the season so far. “We’ve had a lot of bad luck, that’s for sure. But hopefully that’s all behind us and we just look forward to get going again and getting everything switched around here.”

Heading into the Honda Indy Weekend in Toronto this weekend, Dilley is looking turn things around with a strong run.

“It’s just a great event,” he said. “Anytime you can race through the streets of the biggest city in Canada, it’s pretty exciting. It’s a great event and we get to showcase ourselves from the NASCAR side in front of a lot of people who wouldn’t see us, if it wasn’t for that event. So pretty excited about it. We’ve always been pretty good there. Just need to have a good, strong run.”

Last year wasn’t that great for Dilley in Toronto as he finished 24th due to a rear-axle issue after qualifying ninth.

Unlike the top NASCAR levels, the Canadian Tire Series is split down the middle almost with ovals and road courses, as there are five road courses in the 12 race schedule. With that said, there are those who have brought up the discussion of which they’d perfer, in which Dilley points more towards ovals for him.

“I’m more of an oval racer,” he said. “I raced ovals all my life, but I just think that unfortunately, the biggest events in the country are the road course racing so we have to be at those, too. I can see both sides of the coin, but for me personally, I’m more of an oval racer.”

Though on the bright side of things, things have been good for Dilley once he’s outside of the racecar this year. The track in Innisfil, Ontario, in which he manages called Sunset Speedway has seen a very good season so far with lots of success. Its not the easiest job for Dilley to have, however he thanks his staff for their work they do in helping.

“It’s tough,” he said of trying to balance racing and managing the track. “There’s a lot of stuff that goes on at the same time; that’s the biggest thing. We do have good staff that work for us at Sunset that can take up a lot of slack, but there’s just a lot of things that happening on the same weekends. Like, this weekend for example, we have Toronto Indy Thursday, Friday, Saturday, we also have two events at Sunset on Saturday and Sunday, so I’m going to be back-and-forth and running around and that, but its been pretty good so far.”

He got into the ownership side of things back in the 1990s when he was the part-owner of Barrie Speedway.

“Well, I actually owned Barrie Speedway back in the early 1990s with a buddy of mine – Brad, who actually runs the Canadian Tire Series now, we owned Barrie before,” he said. “I’ve just always liked it. When we got involved in this, they put a team of owners together that had money to back it and really wanted to make a difference and they’ve done that by the investment they’ve made into the track, redoing the track. Just whatever they said they’d do, they’ve done and it’s been good to work with partners like that where they have the money to repave the track, redo it and a real fast and exciting place to be. So that was really what the biggest part of me was when they put the owners group together, they made a commitment that they’d put money in and they’ve stayed to their word 100%.”

So far this season, the competition level at Sunset Speedway has been great with the amount cars and differnet winners, however Dilley admits the crowds have been down.

“The crowds have been a bit light,” he said. “On the initial part, but its just weather, but now its getting better. But when it rains every weekend on Saturday, its hard to get people to come; nobody is going to sit around in the rain, that’s for sure.”

This summer marks an important time for Sunset Speedway as the Sunset will be one of the five tracks that are part of the Richard Petty Driving Experience Canadian Summer Tour.

“I’m excited about it,” he said. “I think it’s a great opportunity for people to be able to get in a car, the same as what they see on Sundays with the Sprint Cup level. I think that its very exciting and I really believe that the pricing is right with it and I think it’ll be a huge success once it gets rolling. I just think that it’s an awesome opportunity and it’s really awesome of the Richard Petty Driving Experience to come to Canada and showcase what they have.”

Dilley got his start in racing through go-karts at the age of six after watching his grandpa race and has since been winning races, with his most memorable coming in Nova Scotia a couple years ago.

“It was pretty good for me,” he said of the win. “My mom had just passed a couple weeks before so it was kind of a big one.”

July 5, 2011
NCAT: Scott Steckly Carries Momentum and Points Lead in Toronto

[media-credit id=4 align=”alignleft” width=”200″][/media-credit]The beginning of the 2011 NASCAR Canadian Tire Season couldn’t had gone any better for Scott Steckly as so far he sits first in points, 48 points ahead of J.R. Fitzpatrick.

“It’s a great start to the season that we’ve had so far,” he said. “We have a win, two seconds and a fifth place finish, which is very important to get off to a good start in our series, which only has 12 races. One or two bad races can take you out of the points so to get out off to a good start is very important and that’s what we’ve done.”

The win, which came in the first race of the season at Mosport Raceway, opened up the gates to a season that has been full of success for the driver of the No. 22 Canadian Tire Dodge. The win was followed by a pair of second place finishes at Circuit ICAR and Delaware. The last race for the series was last month back at Mosport, though on the road course, which resulted in a fifth place finish after starting on pole.

This weekend, the Canadian Tire Series will be running the Exhibition Place course located in Toronto, as part of the Honda Indy Toronto weekend.

“It’s a very important race for us,” he said. “There’s going to be a lot of cars at Toronto so we definitely don’t want to get a DNF. The road courses attract a lot of cars so we need a good solid finish here at Toronto. We definitely are going to try for a very first road course win. It’s definitely very important for our sponsors to be in Toronto racing at the Indy so we’re looking for great things this weekend.”

For Steckly, his first start in Toronto came last year in which he finished 11th after starting 10th. Though for the most part, road courses aren’t the better area of emphasis for the driver from Milverton, Ontario as he grew up racing on ovals. However, the current Canadian Tire Series schedule has five road courses with a total of 12 events.

“I would rather have more ovals,” Steckly commented. “That’s just because I grew up racing on oval tracks. We get better results on oval tracks, that’s for sure. We do decent on the road courses. We’ve had four or five second place finishes. We can normally run in the top five, but we’ve never got a win on a road course. We getting closer every year so we’re putting a lot of emphasis on the road courses this year and trying to get a win.”

Steckly got into racing originally through some friends, which saw them build a street stock and have him as the driver in 1992. From there, he progressed through the local ranks till he joined the CASCAR ranks in 1999, winning rookie of the year his first year out. He continued to compete in CASCAR till it was renamed the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series in 2007.

Since the series has been called the Canadian Tire Series, Steckly has won one championship, which came in 2008 after winning four races and having four second place finishes that season.

Throughout the years, there have been many memorable highlights, though a win in 2009 at Auto Clearing Speedway in Saskatoon is the highlight.

“I would say my most memorable win is Saskatoon in 2009,” he said. “We blew a motor in practice. We had to borrow a motor from another competitor and we started at the rear of the field and we came from the rear of the field to win the race. So I’d say that’s my memorable win.”

There also have been many lessons learned behind the wheel, but the one that still stands out is respect.

“The biggest lesson I’ve learned is to treat the other competitors and people the way you would like to be treated. Its not like anybody is going away in this sport. I’ve raced against the same guys for the past 10 years so I think its really important to be yourself and treat people the way you would want to be treated.”

July 4, 2011
J. J. Yeley Has One Word for Daytona: Impressive

J. J. Yeley will be back on track this July 4^th weekend for the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. As he pilots the No. 46 Red Line Oil Chevrolet Impala for Whitney Motorsports, the driver has just one word for the superspeedway: ‘impressive.’

“I will always remember the first time I went to Daytona International Speedway,” Yeley said. “I couldn’t believe that the race track was right in the middle of town.”

[media-credit name=”J.J. Yeley Official Facebook Page” align=”alignright” width=”200″][/media-credit]

“It’s such a magnificent facility,” Yeley continued. “The fact that this city has grown up around the track and has supported it like they do is what makes it so special.”

“It’s a place that takes your breath away.”

One thing that Yeley knows for sure is that he will have to have a qualifying lap that will take his breath away at Daytona. He is in the unenviable position of being a ‘go or go homer’ for this race.

“When you come to a place like this, you’ve got what you got,” Yeley said. “We’ll tune on the engine as best we can and hope that the new body that we’ve put on this car is streamlined enough to make us fast enough to qualify in.”

“It’s a horrible position honestly to have to be in, especially when you come to a restrictor plate track,” Yeley continued. “It’s tough because there is nothing that I can do as a driver to help make the car go faster. But if we can make it into the race, we’ll be pretty excited about it.”

While Yeley is not terribly fond of the two-car tandem racing that has become the norm at Daytona, he is still excited about trying to find that partner to hook up with to go to the front.

“As long as you have a partner, it’s kind of exciting,” Yeley said with a chuckle. “The problem is there are 43 cars that start the race so someone is going to be left out.”

“The toughest part is the vision,” Yeley continued. “If you are the car that is pushing, you really are limited in what you can see. For the most part, you’re just looking at the back of the car in front of you, hoping that wherever he is going to lead you is a safe place.”

Yeley, like so many of the other Cup drivers, already has a partner in mind with whom he would like to race. But he also realizes that he may have to have a backup plan, a particularly difficult situation for a single car team.

“Everyone knows who they are going to work with at the start of the race,” Yeley said. “I worked with Terry Labonte a bunch at Talladega and we worked very well together, but then he had an engine problem.”

“Unfortunately, we don’t have others on speed dial,” Yeley continued. “Being a single car team, it’s not going to be as easy to have other guys on the same system, like the Hendrick guys.”

“We’ll sit down and talk and go through the scenarios,” Yeley said. “We know the single car teams that also need help.”

“There’s guys that you want to work with and guys that you want to stay away as far as you possibly can,” Yeley continued. “Hopefully, we can hook up with Terry Labonte again and can get to the front.”

Yeley is looking forward not only to partnering with other drivers for the Daytona race but also is seeking sponsorship partners so that he can race more this season.

“We have run five races so far this year,” Yeley said. “We’ve had to start and park the rest of them.”

“This is one of the races on our schedule where we will run the entire race.”

While looking forward to running the full race, Yeley is also strangely looking forward to ‘silly season,’ a time when drivers and teams start making changes. And he is making sure that he is at the track and keeping his name out there as part of the ‘silly season’ mix.

“Right now, we’re getting into ‘silly season’ and there’s a lot of teams looking to make changes,” Yeley said. “I’m trying to be a part of those discussions. The biggest thing for me is to qualify and be competitive with the equipment that I have so we can prove to people that this is where we belong.”

Another way that Yeley is keeping his name out in front, as well as connecting with his fans, is through the use of social media. He has concocted interesting games and promotions, from ‘Speed Dice’ on his Facebook page to ‘Pay it Forward Friday’ on his Twitter account.

“Obviously, this is the time and age of technology,” Yeley said. “So, you have to take advantage of everything you can.”

“I’ve been on Twitter for a year and a half and now Facebook,” Yeley continued. “It’s a way you can really communicate with fans one on one.”

Yeley hopes that all fans, including his Facebook friends and Twitter followers, will be watching him not only as he qualifies his way into the Coke Zero 400 but also as he races toward the checkered flag. What are Yeley’s predictions for the big race?

“If I could look into my crystal ball and we were able to come out of Daytona with a top-10, that would be very special for this team and myself,” Yeley said. “For a team with one car and one speedway engine, that would be great and is very doable.”

June 30, 2011
IZOD IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard Looks Towards Bright Future

[media-credit name=”Ashley McCubbin” align=”alignright” width=”200″][/media-credit]16 months ago, Randy Bernard took over the reins of the IZOD IndyCar Series, ready to get the series back in the spotlight.

Bernard got started in sports marketing back in 1984 with professional bull-riding. In the mass of 15 years, he turned the sport around from being worth $2000 to $22 million. Though once he did that, he decided he was ready for a new challenge, which was when the IZOD IndyCar Series was brought forth to his attention. Bernard met with officials for three hours to discuss being a consultant; though 24 hours later, he was offered the position of CEO.

“I was very intrigued with the opportunity, but I also wanted to do my homework,” he said of that moment during the media luncheon in Toronto. “I felt it was very important for me to fly out and meet with all the big names of the sport. I wanted to meet with Penske, with Ganassi, with Dario (Franchitti) and Danica (Patrick), with IZOD – I just needed to make sure that they’d give me the opportunity to work for ‘em and respect me as a promoter and marketer because I wasn’t going to go somewhere there wasn’t a trust level there. I’ve been on the job now 16 months; I absolutely love it.”

Since taking over the reins, Bernard has made many changes to the series that have brought it back to the spotlight, learning lessons along the way.

“It’s been a whirlwind,” he said. “It’s been like drinking water from a fountain. I’ve always said you’re always good as your last day of work. I learned that in this sport you’re only as good as your last hour of work. It changes so quickly and one day you think you’re on top of the world and the next day, you have the rug pulled out from under your feet. So if there’s one sport that can make you very humble, it’s this sport.”

In his time of being in charge, Bernard has instituted quite a few changes that people have debated, including the double-file restarts. Most fans like the drama that plays out as a result, however drivers and some fans say that it’s brought some unnecessary wrecks into play.

“I look at it as how our ratings are doing,” he said. “If our ratings were to decrease, I would say it’s probably it’s been an important factor to the amount it’s costing. With the fact that were up 24% on network and 14% on cable and that the blogs have been dominated with talk about double-file restarts; it was the number two story of this entire month of May in Indy. I think it shows that it is important and I think fans want to see IndyCar showcased at its very best and if we’re going to say we have the very best drivers in the world, the best drivers in the world need to showcase their skills and learn to deal with double-file restarts.”

Bernard spoke on Wednesday in Toronto of the future of the sport and what he had planned in further promoting it to more people. One of the keys to that promoting includes the title sponsor of the series, IZOD.

“IZOD has been remarkably great with us from several different aspects,” he said. “First, they are not an endemic sponsor so they’re reaching to a non-endemic crowd, which isn’t a motorsports enthusiast, and what IZOD stands for is very important to us. The fact that they’re a lifestyle, they’re pop-culture and they’re reaching youth, they’re very important to IndyCar. I think if we can use that and educate our fans and use them to bring new fans, a more of a mainstream fan, and use the Hondas, Sonocos, Shell Oils and Verizons of the world and help maintain and create more of a motorsports fan, I think that’ll be our strategy going forward.”

Bernard plans on reaching youth through making partnerships with the go-karting leagues and with the Boy Scout clubs to get the kids to the track via field trips and racing events. He also made a drastic move changing the minimum age of entry to the garage area from 18 to nine this year. They’ve also brought forth a new driver introduction stage, so therefore fans can see their drivers introduced in big style.

They’ve also brought forth the Road to Indy with their own ladder for drivers to climb to become involved in IndyCar Racing, unlike most series out there, as starts right up at the karting left to the top. Currently, Bryan Clauson is one of the drivers on the ladder as after winning the USAC Championship, he was given five free races in a Firestone Indy Lights Car to see if he could impress team owners.

As they try to attract more drivers and fans to the series, Bernard has made huge announcements towards the final Championship race in Las Vegas. Any fan who buys a ticket for any race during the season can get a free ticket to the championship as Bernard says it’s a way to build loyalty between the series and the fans. They’ve also released a challenge to drivers around the world that can award them $5 million.

“We think we’ve got the best drivers in the world – well, we’re putting our money where our mouth is,” he said. “We’ve challenged any race car driver in the world that thinks they can compete with ours and we’ve put up $5 million. All you have to do is come qualify for that race, win the race and we’ll write you a cheque for $5 million.”

The other big change that Bernard has made that has brought forth more promotion for the series is the brand new car, which is set to debut next year.

“It’s going to be a much more innovative car, relevant to technology,” Bernard spoke of during the presentation. “We decided to cut our engines from a V8 to a V6, take it from a 3.5 maximum displacement to a 2.2 maximum displacement. We’re going to be a turbo charge; we’re going to direct injected. We’re going from 630 horsepower up to 700 horsepower and we will be able to improve our fuel – we’re going from an E85 to an E90. The other big thing here on the cars is our aero kits. I’m not sure if we’re going to announce this this year or next year, but every car will have its own identity. Very important to our series – just not sure because of the cost and complexity of it if we’re see this in 2012 and 2013.”

In doing the promoting and bringing forth the new car in 2012, Bernard spoke critically of attracting fans to the sport and making the series its own, separate from other racing divisions.

“We need to define ourselves in the form of our motorsports – different and separate us from everyone else – F1 and NASCAR,” he said. “We are the fastest, more versatile series in the world; no one can deny that. The fact that we race ovals, road course, and street courses at the speeds that we do is what separates us. We’re going to be 40-50 mph faster than NASCAR. F1 doesn’t do ovals. Matter of fact, most of those drivers are afraid to get into an IndyCar to do an oval because of the danger element. The other thing I think that is very important is that we need to go back to our roots.”

He went on to add that the promoting is needed as during the Champ Camp-Indy Racing League split in 1996, they lost 15 million fans. His goal is to attract those fans as he knows that they’re out there and they still do support the series.

With the all the promoting that’s going on to grow the series, a lot of people are wondering what will happen if Danica Patrick chooses to go full-time NASCAR in 2012 and what effect that will have on IndyCar. To that, Bernard says the series is in a good state and he’s more worried about keeping Go Daddy on board.

“I think the world of Danica,” he commented. “I think she’s going to make the right decision for her and I will wish her well whichever decision she makes. She’s done a lot for our sport and that’s what we need to remember. I think that she’ll probably go where the money is the best and I think that’s what I would do, you would do as well, and I think it’s more important right now I focus my attention to Go Daddy and make sure that I can keep Go Daddy apart of our series. I think without Go Daddy, Danica Patrick wouldn’t have the fame that she has and I’m looking out for the long term of our sport.

“It’s not any different when Mario left our sport or when Jordan or Shaq just left NBA. I think there will always be drivers or athletes that leave their sport and we’ve got a great pipeline of great new talent. We just Marco win his second race, first one in five years; we see great drivers like Graham Rahal, Charlie Kimball, J.R. Hildebrand – he’s an American who almost won the 500 in his rookie year. I mean, we’ve got a great pipeline right now and I’m glad it was next year instead of this year. I think we’ll be more prepared for it, as well as the new car with Chevy, Honda, Lotus.”

Next weekend, the IZOD IndyCar Series will be center stage in Toronto, Ontario, Canada for the Honda Indy, July 8th through the 10th.

“We’re going to celebrate our 25th Anniversary here this year,” Bernard said of the event during his presentation. “With one year it didn’t take place, and if it hadn’t been for Honda, Toronto and Savoree Green making sure there’d be something here, it could’ve gone away. The fact that they believed in it, we’re back on course. If there’s one message I hope you get out of here today, IndyCar is back.”

This year, Green Savoree Toronto invested millions into the track in updating the track barriers to the latest technology and to clean the facility up to present the best possible event as Bernard stated that he doesn’t want “to take IndyCar outside the country (United States) unless it’s going to be a big event.”

“I think Toronto, being one of the largest cities in North America, will always be a very important city for IndyCar,” he added later. “IndyCar is on the rise and we want to showcase our sport in great cities and that’s what Toronto does. I like to see the promoter here investing millions of dollars in his race because it’s only makes the racing that much bigger and better.”

To help with promoting the event, Honda Dealers Canada has created “Free Friday” where fans can get into the grounds and access the Paddocks (where the teams work on the cars), which has been used a good promotional tool to get fans to come back Saturday and Sunday.

“I think that what we need to do is continue to educate fans on what we’re trying to do,” he said. “I think the Honda Day out here is huge. Anybody can get a free ticket from Honda and come out to the track and see what’s going on, I think they’ll be blown away to see these cars go at the speed their going and have a beer and relax in the sun. How does it get any better in the beautiful city of Toronto?”

With all the hype going into the event, there are three Canadian drivers entered who each have the pedigree and ability to take the checkered flag.

“I think that James Hinchcliffe, Paul Tracy or Alex Tagliani – any three of those – could win this event and I think if it happens, it just sets the race up for the following year to be that much better,” Bernard commented. “But I think all three of them have a great shot this year. This year, with what we’ve seen halfway through the season, is that we have seven different team owners out of the top 10 and I think that’s remarkable. That shows you how deep our racing is going now.”

One of the big stories for Canadians going into this year’s event would be Tagliani, who won the pole for the Indianapolis 500, which is a highlight in Bernard’s book.

“Last year, he fought and fought to have that team and this year, he was able to partner Sam Schmidt – here’s a guy that was paralyzed in a car – and the fact that they’ve come together and been very successful,” Bernard said during the presentation. “They won the pole at Indy this year, which is no small feat at all. To me, in my sixteen months I’ve been here, I will say that’s in the top three highlights of my career here so far. The fact that I was sitting up in the grandstands and here’s a small team, not a Penske or Ganassi that just took the pole for the Indy 500, was a pretty amazing event. The fact that we’ll have these three Canadians compete here is big for us.”

The competition promises to be strong in Toronto as it has been all year with seven different team owners out of the top 10 cars. Bernard also put forth the promise that it’d be strong competition, especially with the double-file restarts.

“Going to the double-file (restarts), it’s created a lot of carnage and wrecks, which the drivers hate, and allowed us to see a lot more passing and overtake and see guys like last weekend, like Scott Dixon, going from 28th to 3rd, so you’ll see a lot more passing than you’ve ever seen before in Toronto and that’s a promise.”

June 30, 2011
Michael Annett: From Brake Pedal to Full Throttle for Rusty Wallace Racing

Michael Annett, driver of the No. 62 Pilot Flying J Toyota for Rusty Wallace Racing, is moving from stepping hard on his brake pedal at the Nationwide road course race last weekend to the upcoming full throttle action of Daytona International Speedway in this weekend’s race.

[media-credit name=”Autostock Images” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]And on his way, he just happened to score the best finish of his season so far, seventh place on Wisconsin’s 4.048 mile Road America course.

Annett was Rusty Wallace Racing’s top finisher, earning his second top-10 finish and the team’s fifth top-10 finish for the year.

“It was definitely unexpected and I consider myself a survivor of that race,” Annett said. “We were down in the 20’s in the timing charts and I felt if we kept the fenders on the car and stayed on the track, we’d have a chance for a top-15 and then get to the end, and maybe have a chance for a top-10.”

“And we did and it was definitely exciting and good for our whole team.”

In spite of getting a top-10 finish, Annett still does not consider himself an accomplished road course racer.

“I definitely don’t consider myself a road course racer, but pit strategy and steering clear of trouble on the track brought us to another well-deserved top-10 finish,” Annett said.”My crew chief, Rick Viers, made some great calls, and working our way around the mayhem during the three attempts at a green, white, checkered there at the end was to our benefit.”

“We’ve got a great group of guys assembled for our No. 62 team, and their hard work really paid off this weekend,” Annett continued. “We made smart moves throughout the race, and bringing home a car with no damage and a seventh place finish is pretty awesome.”

“I’m excited to give Pilot Flying J and Rusty Wallace Racing another top-10.”

As excited as he was, Annett admitted that he was disappointed for his teammate Steve Wallace, who had what looked to be a potential winning car. Wallace was caught up in an accident later in the race and finished 26th.

“I definitely knew that he deserved a better finish than what he got,” Annett said of Wallace. “He had a really good car and he is a really good road racer. He surprised me this weekend I’ll be honest with you.”

En route to the road course race this weekend, Annett also celebrated another milestone, his 25th birthday.

“I flew on a plane from Concord Airport to Wisconsin for my birthday,” Annett said. “We landed and my mom went to a very good Italian restaurant in Elkhart Lake and her, myself and Reed Sorenson had pasta and pizza and cheese bread.”

“We were all full and then she whipped out an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen for dessert,” Annett continued. “It worked out very nice.”

After his birthday celebration and his great top-10 run, Annett was also very excited for his best friend Reed Sorenson’s victory at Road America.

“As soon as he finished, I pulled up next to him to be the first to congratulate him,” Annett said. “I ran down to Victory Lane and congratulated him there too.”

“He told me the odds would have been a thousand to one for him to win that race,” Annett said. “Better yet, me finishing seventh was even longer odds than that.”

Annett is now ready to move from pumping the brake pedals to running full throttle on the high banks of Daytona. While he has high hopes, he is not so fond of the two-car tandem draft that has become the norm at the superspeedways.

“To me, I enjoyed the chess match being in the big group in the draft, with the driver making the decision about what line to be in and where to be,” Annett said. “I really do not like the racing the way it is now. I don’t like relying on someone else to have success and that’s where we are right now.”

“I am fortunate enough that I have a teammate and we work really well together,” Annett continued. “Going to Daytona we have the same plan to work together. I don’t like it but having a teammate is fortunate going into it.”

While Annett felt that he had some control at the road course, he most certainly feels that it is just a roll of the dice at Daytona.

“I am looking at a top-10 finish to keep this momentum going,” Annett said. “But it’s always a crap shoot at Daytona.”

“I got taken out on lap 15 at Daytona this year and in the last few laps of Talladega,” Annett continued. “It’s really a crap shoot but we definitely have the potential to have both cars in the top-10 at the end. We’re going into the weekend planning on that.”

Annett heads to Daytona in the 10th position in the Nationwide Series championship point standings. He has a win at that track from back in his days with the ARCA Racing Series.

June 28, 2011
Chad Hackenbracht’s Biggest Hurdle Not the Racing But His Own Last Name

Chad Hackenbracht had his best ever career finish in this past weekend’s ARCA race, scoring a fourth place in his family-owned No. 58 Tastee Apple CGH Motorsports Chevrolet at Michigan International Speedway.

[media-credit name=”Photo Credit: CGH Motorsports” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]But even greater than the challenge of the intense competition on the track is the 19 year old driver’s challenge in just getting folks to pronounce his last name correctly.

In addition to being on a quest for name recognition, the driver is having a little fun with it all. His team has just developed T-shirts, which say “What’s a Chad Hacken-something?”

The correct pronunciation of that all important last name is in parentheses (hock en bra) on the new T-shirts, which are on sale on Hackenbracht’s website www.cghmotorsports.com for just $19.95.

“That actually was started by my marketing guy who is looking for sponsorship for us,” Hackenbracht said of the T-shirt venture. “It has turned into a really big hit.”

Hackenbracht, however, is focused solely on his racing and was thrilled with his good performance at Michigan.

“We wound up getting a fourth place out of it which wasn’t too bad,” Hackenbracht said. “We were up there in contention.”

“It’s a career best for us,” Hackenbracht said. “It was really good.”

The young driver from New Philadelphia, Ohio has been on a tear even before the career best finish in Michigan. He scored an 11^th place finish at Toledo in May, a ninth-place finish at New Jersey and seventh place finish at Pocono Raceway.

This is Hackenbracht’s first full year in the ARCA Series, after running a limited schedule in 2010, with just the televised races on the docket. Prior to that, the young driver ran the Legends series, scoring 18 wins and the national championship.

Hackenbracht is a bit unusual as far as his driving pedigree. He is not from a traditional racing family, but instead caught the racing bug by seeing it on television.

“I basically was watching the Daytona or Talladega Cup race and I saw it and said to my parents, ‘Hey, I want to race.’ Hackenbracht said. “I don’t think they took me seriously but they said to come up with different options.”

“I came up with four-wheelers and go karts and my mom said no to both of them,” Hackenbracht continued. “So, then we saw quarter-midgets and started with that.”

The young driver has been moving on up the ranks ever since, with his eye eventually on a Truck or Nationwide ride. Like so many others, Hackenbracht definitely sees himself in the Cup Series sometime in the near future, with just the economy standing in his way.

“I’m in the perfect age range,” Hackenbracht said. “But just the wrong economic time.”

“In a couple years, you’ll have a lot of rides opening up,” Hackenbracht continued. “But you’ve got to survive until then.”

Hackenbracht survives with a little help from his friends, particularly those in the Cup garage, as well as good friend and mentor Ron Hornaday, Jr.

“ARCA is kind of like a big family,” Hackenbracht said. “All the teams work with you.”

“I’ve got a connection with Ron Hornaday in the Truck garage,” Hackenbracht continued. “He’ll stop in the shop after a race and we’ll talk a little bit.”

Hackenbracht does follow one particular Cup driver, one in fact that he has inherited from his mother.

“My mom’s driver is Jeff Gordon,” Hackenbracht said. “I follow him just because of my mom and dad.”

“But I really like Mark Martin myself,” Hackenbracht continued. “He races hard but he races clean. That’s what I do and what I want to be.”

In addition to the racers that Hackenbracht follows on the track, he also models himself after the premiere drivers in the sport as far as putting time in at the shop and at the gym. But he does have one other duty that has led to yet another name for the young driver.

“The guys at the shop call me ‘Sticker Boy’ because I put all the details on the car,” Hackenbracht said. “That’s kind of my thing.”

Whether you call him ‘Hacken-something’ or ‘Sticker Boy’, Hackenbracht will next be doing his thing in the ARCA Racing Series on Saturday, June 25^th in the Winchester ARCA 200 presented by Federated Auto Parts at Winchester Speedway in Indiana.

“We came to Michigan and showed our performance was no fluke,” Hackenbracht said. “I’m anxious to get to Winchester as I feel we have a shot at our first career win.”

June 22, 2011
Jeff Gordon’s Success Spans Pocono Victory Lane to Ending Senior Hunger with AARP

Jeff Gordon is headed to the Irish hills of Michigan to race this weekend fresh off his victory at Pocono Raceway, his second win for the season and his 84^th win, tying Hall of Fame inductee Darrell Waltrip and Hall of Famer Bobby Allison.

[media-credit id=18 align=”alignright” width=”220″][/media-credit]Gordon’s success is also carrying over off the track as his partnership with the AARP Foundation is making a real difference in ending senior hunger. The AARP Foundation has partnered with Gordon for 22 races as a primary sponsor this season to call attention to the issue of the elderly who often have to choose between buying groceries or filling their prescriptions.

“It came about organically,” Anisa Tootla, AARP Foundation’s Vice President for Hunger Programs, said of the Jeff Gordon/AARP Foundation partnership. “It started with a conversation at a race track. The AARP Foundation and Hendrick Motorsports found each other at the right time.”

“We know that NASCAR fans are some of the most charitable, community-minded sports fans in the country and they have a track record of commitment,” Tootla continued. “We also know that Jeff Gordon is one of the most philanthropic drivers in the circuit. It was the right fit at the right time.”

The AARP Foundation has taken on its first ever cause-related marketing initiative smack dab in the middle of America’s fastest growing sport. From their CEO Barry Rand to their Foundation staff in every state in the nation, all have been convinced that NASCAR, Jeff Gordon, and Hendrick Motorsports are the perfect partners to raise awareness of the issue of senior hunger.

“There is very little awareness of the issue of senior hunger,” Tootla said. “There are 51 million people who face the threat of hunger and over 6 million of them are over the age of 60 years.”

“Very few people are aware of this problem and it’s a growing problem with the aging of the population and the recession, which makes it worse,” Tootla continued. “This partnership is unique in that realm of bringing awareness to an issue that very few people know about.”

The AARP Foundation and Jeff Gordon have also gotten creative in the ways that they are working together in activating this unique sponsorship. Not only does Gordon pitch donating to the cause every time he is interviewed on the track, but his show car is traveling throughout the country, attracting crowds and raising funds as well as awareness.

“We’ve had a variety of events, food drives, and relationships with grocery stores,” Tootla said. “Part of our local activation has been a great combination of local businesses, food banks, our State organization and really driving the awareness, as well as raising funds and food for local organizations helping hungry seniors.”

“We also have made contributions to local food banks to feed hungry seniors,” Tootla continued. “The ISC tracks themselves have made food donations through the extra food at the end of the race weekend.”

Just as Jeff Gordon uses social media to keep in touch with his extensive fan base, the AARP Foundation and the Drive to End Hunger are also using the social media platform to connect Gordon’s fans to the cause.

“We have a Drive to End Hunger presence on Facebook and Twitter,” Tootla said. “They are active sites, particularly on Facebook.”

“We’ve seen an uptick of friends and tweets and retweets with every passing week where Jeff races,” Tootla continued. “It’s a destination site not only for NASCAR fans but the broader population.”

“We’ve definitely seen a lot of interest and noticed the passion of the race fans,” Tootla said. “The number of responses that we get when Jeff is in the car is amazing.”

“When Jeff talks about hunger, it’s really a call to action and people respond,” Tootla continued. “He is certainly a huge draw.”

“We had an event in Kansas where he did a check presentation to a food bank and drew over a 1,000 people,” Tootla said. “He’s a wonderful spokesperson for the cause. It’s been a great partnership.”

The driver of the No. 24 Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet could not agree more.

“I really love the fact that since Daytona they’ve served over 2 million meals,” Gordon said. “In the first couple of months, you see the numbers start to go up and it seems like in the last couple of months, things have really taken off. I think it’s awesome.”

“You certainly hope that they are having success,” Gordon continued. “They are very new to the sport and what it takes to be a sponsor in this sport.”

“Sometimes you just hit the ground running and I feel like they’ve done a great job with that,” Gordon said. “Because of that, they’ve seen the results.”

“I feel like it’s a program that is only going to get stronger and better as they learn more about what it’s like being a part of this sport and what our fans are like.”

The AARP Foundation’s Drive to End Hunger and Jeff Gordon will be next rolling into the Irish hills of Michigan for this weekend’s racing activities. The AARP Foundation will be right there with him, presenting the Food Bank of South Central Michigan with $10,000 to help feed hungry seniors in the area.

“We have a long way to go to end senior hunger,” Tootla said. “Everyone can help in one way or another and every contribution at www.drivetoendhunger.org helps.”

“It’s been a joy working with Jeff and Hendrick Motorsports,” Tootla continued. “They are charitably minded, committed to the cause and committed to ending hunger. We couldn’t think of better partners.”

June 16, 2011
Landon Cassill Thanks a Teacher, His Lucky Stars at Pocono, and Readies for Michigan Celebration

[media-credit id=62 align=”alignright” width=”214″][/media-credit]Landon Cassill, driver of the No. 51 Security/Benefit Thank A Teacher Chevrolet for Phoenix Racing, has much for which to be thankful.

First and foremost, he is thankful that he is competing at the Cup Series level as a driver for an up and coming team, owned by James Finch.

Cassill, the 2008 Nationwide Series Rookie of the Year and former development driver for Hendrick Motorsports, recognizes that he is most fortunate to be behind the wheel of a race car at NASCAR’s highest level.

Cassill is also thankful to Bill Elliott, who had been in the Phoenix Racing machine prior to his coming aboard. ‘Awesome Bill for Dawsonville’ was able, as a former champion, to shake down the car to prepare it for Cassill’s tenure behind the wheel.

In order to be on the track, Cassill is incredibly grateful to his new sponsor, Security Benefit, and their special program ‘Thank A Teacher Today.’

“It’s great,” Cassill said of his sponsor and their program. “Security Benefit has been on board with us and Phoenix Racing and they’ve got this program ‘Thank A Teacher Today.’

“It’s kind of new and it’s just starting up but I think it speaks for itself,” Cassill continued. “We really need to thank the teachers out there that have gotten us to where we’re at. I know I have a lot of teachers to thank.”

Top on the list of teachers for which Cassill is grateful is his science teacher, Mr. O’Connor. Cassill graduated from high school in 2007.

“Mr. O’Connor, my science teacher from high school was my favorite teacher at Thomas Jefferson High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa,” Cassill said. “He was a good teacher that was a good friend to me.”

“He taught me a lot about discipline and things like that,” Cassill continued. “Some of what he taught wasn’t even science but he was just an impactful teacher and I think that’s what makes a lot of them special.”

Cassill believes that his sponsor and their ‘Thank A Teacher Program’ are a perfect match on and off the track.

“It’s really neat for me to have the opportunity to carry that banner because I’m so young and I just got out of high school a couple of years ago,” Cassill said. “I can remember my teachers and I can go back to my school.”

“We’re planning to go back once school is back in session,” Cassill continued. “Even outside of school, I’ve had a lot of teachers that have helped mentor me in what I do. It’s a really neat sponsor and a really fun deal.”

Cassill’s sponsor is designing a new website where fans will be able to post on the wall and share their favorite teacher stories. Security Benefit will also be providing opportunities for teachers to come to the track, hang out with the young driver, and be a part of the NASCAR experience.

“I’ve shared a story about my favorite teachers and it’s a place to go to thank your teacher,” Cassill said of his sponsor’s new website. “And then we’ll entertain teachers at the race track.”

“It’s just a neat deal,” Cassill continued. “A lot of these sponsors in the sport are pushing products, but this one with Security Benefit is taking the initiative to thank our teachers.”

In addition to his sponsor gratitude, Cassill is thrilled with his run at Pocono Raceway this past weekend. He not only managed to finish the race on the lead lap, which was one of his major goals, but he even had his No. 51 Thank A Teacher race car out at the front of the field for a few laps.

“It was a great day for the Thank A Teacher Today team,” Cassill said. “For us to go out and finish on the lead lap, and lead the race along the way, says a whole lot about us.”

“And yeah, it was cool leading laps in the world’s greatest motorsport so I’m proud of that.”

Cassill was also grateful for the opportunity to learn more about Pocono, particularly as last year he was only able to start and park there.

“I learned a lot about the track,” Cassill said. “Seat time is so important and I felt a lot more comfortable by the end of the race. This is just what we needed after a few tough finishes.”

Although Cassill was thankful for his good run at Pocono, finishing 25^th, he paid a bit of a price for his personal accomplishment.

“I have a nice little blister tomorrow from the shifting,” Cassill said. “There was a lot of shifting going on so it made it interesting. It was fun though.”

With Pocono in his rear view mirror, Cassill is getting ready to celebrate a major milestone in his young career at this weekend’s race in the Irish Hills of Michigan. Cassill will be marking his one-year anniversary in the Cup Series.

“I made my first start in the Cup Series with Phoenix Racing last year in the first Michigan race,” Cassill said. “It was a neat opportunity for me at the time because it was my first opportunity in the Cup Series.”

“And it was kind of a surprise and we didn’t even have the funding to go race,” Cassill continued. “So, we had to qualify for the race. We qualified in and it was just a neat deal for me. It sparked my opportunity to go Cup racing.”

How will Cassill celebrate his special anniversary at Michigan?

“I’m just going to be there and race,” Cassill said. “Hopefully we’ll keep this momentum up and capitalize at Michigan.”

“And hopefully I’ll have a good race and make an even better memory from it.”

June 14, 2011
Martin Truex Jr.: Same Old Jersey Boy With Brand New Crew Chief

[media-credit name=”Ed Coombs” align=”alignright” width=”235″][/media-credit]Prior to the race at Pocono, one of two tracks closest to his home state of New Jersey, Martin Truex, Jr. got the news that he would have a new crew chief, Chad Johnston, atop his pit box.

And even though this self-proclaimed Jersey boy is glad to be ‘home’, he is still a bit disconcerted from the news of the change.

“I mean it’s a tough deal,” Truex said. “It’s a tough situation to be involved in. This is obviously the first time I’ve ever been in this position where we’ve changed crew chiefs during the season.”

Truex seemed to feel most badly for his former crew chief Pat Tryson, who was relieved of that duty and will be reassigned within the Michael Waltrip Racing organization. Yet after 49 races together, while Truex feels a bit badly about how it all came down, he is still looking forward to working with Tryson in a different capacity.

“I feel bad for Pat (Tryson) obviously,” Truex said. “Hopefully we can keep Pat and hopefully he will stay around and help us make our race cars better because that’s the things he’s really good at.”

Truex, Jr. is looking forward to continuing to work with his new crew chief, a 31 year old engineer from Indiana. Truex’s new boss atop the pit box, Chad Johnston, grew up racing himself on the paved and dirt short tracks the heartland, driving open wheel midget cars.

“It’s not a big transition for the team though because Chad’s had a lot of responsibilities on the team up until now,” Truex said. “He was already in charge of the race car and the changes that went with it.”

“So far, things haven’t been a whole lot different,” Truex continued. “Most of the interaction about the race car has been between me and him for the past six months. So, that’s not a big transition.”

Because Johnston is so familiar with the team, the major new responsibilities include tech, taking charge of the team, and calling his first race, the 5-Hour Energy 500 at Pocono, atop the pit box.

“The biggest things different for him is going through tech and making sure everybody’s doing what they’re supposed to,” Truex said. “And of course his job on Sunday will be different with him calling the race.”

“Towards the end of last year when we gave Chad more of a responsibility as far as overseeing all of the set up on the car and the interaction on the race car going between me and him, we’d already seen big benefits from doing that,” Truex, Jr. said. “It’s not that Pat wasn’t getting it done but it was more that Chad was really stepping up and it was time to promote him.”

“He’s really doing a great job and all the things that we’ve given him to do, he’s really taken them on his shoulders and done a great job,” Truex continued. “He’s worked hard for this and he deserves it.”

Truex, Jr. is also hoping that the crew chief change will position him to somehow get back into Chase contention. He also definitely wants to return to his on-track performance of earlier in the season, especially on the bigger tracks.

“We’ve had a shot to win a few races and if we just could have closed the deal, we could be in the Chase,” Truex said. “The biggest thing that I’m worried about right now is that our performance hasn’t been as good as earlier in the year.”

“We were running really strong, leading laps and running up front for a while but the past month, it’s been kind of tough,” Truex continued. “It’s really just the bigger tracks.”

“Right now some of these races, we’re just going to have to get through and get the best we can until we get our cars better,” Truex said. “If we could go and win a couple races, we could make a deal out of it. So, that would be good.”

The new driver/crew chief combo will be first tested as they try to get back on track at the ‘Tricky Triangle’ this weekend. The challenges at Pocono Raceway will no doubt include managing the fuel, as well as the challenge of shifting for the first time in many years at the track.

“It’s quite a bit different,” Truex said. “We were doing a bit of shifting just to see what it would be like and it’s different.”

“I don’t know how much it will affect the fuel mileage and it usually comes down to a fuel mileage race,” Truex said. “I did shift the whole entire time in Happy Hour just to get a good read on it and see where we stand on it.”

As the Michael Waltrip team heads into the summer months, the Jersey driver also acknowledged that keeping cool, both in the car physically as well as emotionally, will become more and more important. And no doubt, Truex will lean on his young crew chief to assist in both regards.

“These cars are hot,” Truex said. “They put a lot of effort into keeping them as cool as possible but at the end of the day, it’s just hot.”

“You just have to be prepared for it,” Truex continued. “You just have to suck it up.”

“I started to train this year but I don’t think it’s all it’s cracked up to be, to be honest,” Truex said. “I think it’s a situation that when you do this, you get trained for it. It’s kind of like an experience thing.”

“You get used to the heat and you don’t worry about it anymore,” Truex continued. “I sometimes don’t know how we do it but we’re able to make it through.”

With a new face atop the pit box, Martin Truex, Jr. will be looking to his roots for some familiarity. His family is not able to be with him this weekend, however, his girlfriend and dog are keeping him company.

“Yes, I am a Jersey boy,” Truex said. “I haven’t lived there in a long time and I don’t get back there as much as I’d like to but yeah , I never forgot where I came from.”

“I still love it there,” Truex continued. “All my friends are there and my family still lives there.”

“It’s nice to get back there and I’d like to get back more often,” Truex said. “Someday I’ll be able to spend more time there.”

June 11, 2011