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Tag: Allmendinger

  • Dodge Leaves and Allmendinger Comes Clean

    Dodge Leaves and Allmendinger Comes Clean

    [media-credit id=18 align=”alignright” width=”240″][/media-credit]What a day for news! Today we learned that the Dodge brand will disappear from NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series at the end of the year. It’s not the first time for Dodge. They left back in 1977, only to return in 2001, but this has to be a blow to the sanctioning body. America’s Big Three automakers belong in NASCAR. It’s an American series featuring cars you can buy at a dealership. The Ford Fusion, Chevrolet Impala, Toyota Camry, and Dodge Charger are all cars that American families buy in large numbers, and now one of the brands is gone.

    Petty Enterprises brought Chrysler Corporation vehicles into the spotlight in the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s. Richard Petty, the undisputed King of the sport, won more races than anyone else in Plymouths. He later changed to GM cars and even later Fords, but it was always the top brand, even when Chevrolet competed. Add to that successful teams led by Cotton Owens, Harry Hyde, and others. The excitement when Dodge came back was legend. Mopar fans had cars to root for. Ray Evernham, former the crew chief for the fabulously successful Jeff Gordon, spearheaded the new Dodge resurgence along with the Petty family and others. Today it came to an end.

    Looking for reasons is pretty elementary. Dodge had been reduced to a two car team led by Penske Racing. Evernham had sold out to George Gillett which morphed into Richard Petty Motorsports, and with Chrysler’s money problems, only Penske remained. Earlier this year, Penske announced he was switching to Ford and the rest is history. Dodge tried valiantly to find a team, any team, to carry its banner, but in the end, no credible tram wanted them. Just like the 1970’s, when only Ford and Chrysler competed on the NASCAR ovals, the field is reduced to Chevrolet, Ford, and Toyota, the only difference being that three manufacturers are competing instead of four—two of the former Big Three and Japanese Toyota.

    Who can blame successful teams for not considering Dodge? Penske was the sole engine supplier, and it would be unlikely that he could build Dodge engines and campaign Fords. Problem No, 2 was the domination of Chevrolet and Hendrick Motorsports especially. Winners of five of the last six championships (a clean sweep if you consider Tony Stewart’s SHR is a satellite team depending on chassis and engine from HMS), why would any Chevrolet team consider switching? Ford teams are so wrapped around the Roush-Yates engine program that is so good, that changing to a manufacturer that has had little success outside of early Evernham successes would be a real gamble. As hard as Dodge worked, it wasn’t going to be, and so they left America’s premier sedan car series.

    That left a hole in what everyone thought would happen. Many believed that Petty Motorsports would move to Dodge as their top team, but apparently that wasn’t to be. RPM, whose contract with Ford and Roush ends at season’s end, is still debating their options, Toyota is a possibility, but this reporter thinks they will stay with Ford. Time will tell.

    *******
    In what has to be the worst PR nightmare this season, A.J. Allmendinger admitted today that he had tested positive for the prescribed drug Adderall. He said he took it to combat fatigue. He said he didn’t know what it was. He took it from a “friend.” For a guy who said he was for concerned what went in his body, he made a bad decision. The human condition. Allmendinger lost a ride of a lifetime. Now the only speculation is who will get the ride in the No, 22 Dodge ride for the rest of the year and the No. 22 Ford ride for 2013. It won’t be Allmendinger. So the drama continues. And they said 2012 was boring,

  • Has NASCAR Destroyed A.J.’s Career?

    Has NASCAR Destroyed A.J.’s Career?

    Maybe a career has been destroyed.  Just like the teacher I once knew who was accused of unthinkable acts, lost his job, but exonerated.  It didn’t make much difference.  From the time he was accused, he was guilty in the world of public opinion.  He survived because he wasn’t A.J Allmendinger, the driver of the No. 22 Penske Dodge.  It’s unlikely that Allmendinger will be as lucky. The teacher survived and went on to do work in another field, but all Allmendinger knows is racing and that career is in jeopardy.

    What drug did he test positive for? It’s a secret and NASCAR isn’t telling. Heroin? Marijuana? Alcohol? NASCAR’s policy says they won’t disclose the drug. Therein lays the problem.

    Most of us support the testing of drivers, crew members, and anyone else that has anything to do with NASCAR racing, but the fact that the drug is not disclosed leaves a lot for speculation.  Most of that is bad.  Major League Baseball tells us the drug that the player tested positive for and gives us a reason why the player is suspended. Not NASCAR.  Many people want to know How to Beat a Drug Test – Health Street, you can learn what works and what is pure myth.

    It takes me back to long ago when Tim Richmond was banned from the sport. The unofficial line was that Richmond has huge amounts of Tylenol in his system. In fact, Richmond was suffering from AIDS. Yes, it was early when AIDS was not understood, but the secrecy was more than I could stand. What was the problem?

    Late Monday, Allmendinger and Penske Racing requested testing of the “B” test (each driver gives the testing facility, Aegis, two samples), which could exonerate Allmendinger, but what damage has been done to this driver’s career.  If it had been revealed what driver he was tested positive for, it might give sponsors, fans, and the sport a better idea of what is going on here.  Only a court order in the Jeremy Mayfield case let us know about the details of the case.  It’s likely that this is something that the promising driver will live with for the rest of his career.

    It’s time for NASCAR to reveal the reason for suspensions and what the drug is that the drivers are suspended or temporarily suspended for.  It happens when cars are found not to be in line with the rules. It happens when driver steps over the line in their dealings with the press or the rules. Why not on drug testing? Do drivers have to spend huge money with attorneys to reveal their infractions when it comes to a drug test?

    Luckily it’s only happened twice.  The first was Jeremy Mayfield and the events afterward were pretty evident, but it should be revealed immediately so that a career is ruined in the meantime.

  • NASCAR Notebook – Silly Season is Apparently Over

    NASCAR Notebook – Silly Season is Apparently Over

    It looks like the Daytona Pre-Season Thunder event pushed teams to make decisions on 2012. If you remember, David Ragan, David Reutimann, Kurt Busch, and Clint Bowyer were dismissed or left their rides following the 2011 season. One by one, they found employment, but the changes were substantial.

    [media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”253″][/media-credit]1. When sponsorship couldn’t be found for the Roush-Fenway No. 6 after the 2011 season, Roush released David Ragan from his contract. Ragan finally found a ride in one of the Front Row Motorsports Fords this weekend, as I predicted. It was also announced that Nationwide Series Champion Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. will be in the Daytona 500 in this car for seems to be a one-shot effort.

    2. After being released from the Michael Waltrip Racing No. 00 car, David Reutimann finally found a ride with Tommy Baldwin Racing for a limited number of races. Reutimann will be replaced by Mark Martin and owner Michael Waltrip in what will become the No.55.

    3. The No. 5 ride vacated by Martin will be filled with Kasey Kahne at Hendrick Motorsports. Kahne had driven the No. 4 Red Bull Toyota in 2011 after leaving Richard Petty Motorsports late in 2010.

    4. After Kurt Busch and Roger Penske agreed to part ways, and after much speculation on who would drive the No. 22 Dodge, A.J. Allmendinger was hired on what many consider to be a one-year contract.

    5. When Allmendinger was given his release from the No, 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford when main sponsor Best Buy left for Roush-Fenway, it was rumored that Kurt Busch would get that ride. Unfortunately, sponsors didn’t feel comfortable with Busch, so Aric Almirola got the ride and got the bonus of Smithfield Foods as a sponsor.

    6. When Clint Bowyer and Richard Childress couldn’t come to terms or a sponsor could not be found, Bowyer left the No. 33 Chevy for Michael Waltrip racing with NAPA as sponsor and using the No. 15. The No. 33, much like the No. 6 at Roush-Fenway, was retired.

    7. Kurt Busch ended up at Phoenix Racing with the No. 51 Chevrolet, which is considered an arm of Hendrick Motorsports. No sponsor has been announced.

    8. Scott Speed found a ride in the No. 95 Bob Leavine Ford for an unannounced number of races, a place Speed raced last year for a few races.

    9. Sadly, TRG Racing, the home of rookie of the year Andy Lally, has apparently closed shop to concentrate on other forms of racing

    Whew, is that ever a mouthful. In the more than 15 years I have been covering the Sprint Cup Series, I cannot remember any more changes. Most of it is a symptom of a not-yet-recovered economy. Things will get better in time. It will be interesting to see how the move to MWR Toyotas treats Martin and Bowyer, how Stenhouse performs in the No. 6 at Daytona, a race that car has been very competitive in, if Kahne can avoid the slump of the No. 5 at Hendrick, how A.J. does in the Penske organization, whether or not Aric Almirola can lead the Pettys back to victory circle, and finally what Kurt Busch will do in James Buescher’s cars. I can’t wait

    ********

    After all the stuff we’ve heard (and stuff is very appropriate in this context) over the years, we were led to believe that some insurance god somewhere had mandated that under no circumstances could cars run faster than 200 mph at Daytona, and something awful would happen if that were the case. Well in Daytona testing this week, even though single car speeds were well below that, 200 mph was fairly common in drafting. NASCAR went to a bigger plate on Friday, and the result was Kurt Busch topping 206 mph, and went back to the smaller plate on Saturday. The result was still speeds in excess of 200 mph, so I guess we can expect some tweaks before next month if the 200 mph insurance mandated limit is still in effect. Or was it ever? Kurt Busch said this week that was common in the two car drafts. I have no idea, but the last two days saw more pack racing.

    *********

    I cannot imagine how it feels to be David Ragan and David Reutimann these days. Ragan was in the car that Mark Martin almost won numerous championships in, and was featured in UPS commercials the last few years. Now, he’s been relegated to running in a car that, well, hasn’t been all that competitive. Reutimann is in the same position. Both have won races in better equipment, but their chances, except at Daytona or Talladega, are slim (anyone can win there). It also points to the big gap in the haves and have-nots.