Top Eleven Things I did on a Off Weekend

Originally Posted on April 20, 2006 on Foxsports.com

With no Nascar, IRL, Champ Car or Formula One races last weekend, and although  there was a lot of dirt track racing going on, I had to find something else (besides watching racing) to do.  Here are the Top Eleven Things I did on the off weekend.

11.  Pondered why there seemed to be more UVA and Virigina Tech fans on the Outer Banks than Duke and North Carolina fans.

10.  Considered the merits of various NFL draft picks.

9.  While captive on a ferry, tried to figure out the Formula One Rules.

8.  Attempted to locate ONE NBA fan.  Unsuccessful.  Attempted to find a Nascar fan.  Located at least enough to cover a starting field.

7.  Got mistaken for a teenager.  (And no, boys, this didn't work as a pick-up line if it was one).

6.  Wrote an actual letter (not e-mail) to a living legend.

5.  While wearing sandals with heels, climbed to the top of a lighthouse. (Not recommended for the faint of heart or those of the unsteady balance).

4.  Debated the following with no resolution:  Wing vs. Non-wing.  World of Outlaws vs. National Sprint Tour.  Dirt vs. Pavement.  Ovals vs Road/Street courses.  Kurt vs. Kyle.  Peyton vs. Eli.

3. Experienced and survived some undertow while walking on the beach/ in the ocean.

2.  Ate BBQ and hushpuppies while drinking sweet tea.

1.  Daydreamed about seeing the first race of the season at Knoxville, the Indy 500 and another Southern 500 at Darlington on Labor Day.

Louise Smith: Nascar Pioneer

Originally Posted on Foxsports.com on April 16, 2006.

Before Danica-Mania, Janet Guthrie, Lynn St. James, Sarah Fisher, Erin Crocker, Melanie Troxel or Katherine Legge, there was Louise Smith. 

Louise Smith raced in the Nascar Cup series before it was the Cup series.  Back in the day when Bill France (sr, not jr) was promoting a wacky new idea he had  called Nascar, he tried a gimmick.  He tried to find a female racer to beef up local crowds.  He found Smith.

Smith, without support from her husband, would race with the likes of Curits Turner, Ralph Earnhardt (Dale Jr.'s grandfather) and other assorted drivers. 

Smith never won a race in what is the top series - in fact she did not place higher than 16th.  But Smith was a multi-time winner in modified races.

The most famous story about Smith is that she drove her husbands brand new car to Daytona to see the race on the beach shortly after the war (i.e. WWII).  She couldn't resist racing the car - but crashed during the race causing a lot of damage (including smashing in the roof).  The new car had been her husband's, and a friend had managed to  get the car for him when he returned from the war.  Smith tried to drive home, but the car was too damaged, so she left it for repair with a friend.  When she got home, Louise told her husband the car had broken down and was a piece of junk he never should have bought.  He responded by throwing the newspaper at her which detailed her crash and had a photo of the damaged car.  Smith  reported she ran out of  the house at that point so he could "cool off."

Smith did eventually retire from racing, but kept in touch with life at the track, working closely with the Darlington Track.

Smith died this week at 89, and racing lost a true pioneer.  Let's hope someone picks up the torch for her soon.

Nascar Refunds Fines

Originally Posted on Foxsports.com on April 12, 2006

Nascar typically fines teams and individuals who violate its rulebook.  Those fines are collected in a fund.  At the end of the year, the top 25 teams receive  portions of this fund based on where they finish. 

In other words, Jeff Gordon will more than likely get back  the $10,000 fine he paid for his Bristol Brawl with Matt Kenseth.  Never fear, Kenseth will probably get a slice of the pie too.  

Marty Smith at Nascar.com thinks this is outrageous (as do I).  He believes the money should go to charity or to an injured driver fund.  Both are excellent ideas.

The drivers are already generous with their money - many of the drivers have their own foundations or raise money for other charitable organizations.   Nascar started its own foundation this year, as a funnel for money to other organizations. But why not take the money raised from penalties and give it to someone in need, instead of back to the teams at the end of the year.

The injured drivers fund would be available to those drivers who are seriously injured while racing.  Ernie Irvin, Jerry Nadeau and Steve Park are examples who come to mind.  Obviously, no one wants to use the money in this fashion - we all hope no one ever gets hurt.  And I think most people would be fine if it was never touched because no one is that badly injured.  The realities are that we will need it, and probably in the near future.

Another idea would be to start a drivers' pension plan.  Bobby Allison has attempted to get a drivers' pension started for years.  His primary motivation is the  injuries he got  racing, which forced his retirement.  He has indicated that his medical bills nearly bankrupted him.

Nascar (and the teams) have balked at starting a pension.  As the drivers are considered independent contractors, they are responsible for their own retirement plans.  Given the amounts most drivers generate in contracts, sponsorship deals, etc., it seems logical that they could finance their own retirement.  However, there will be drivers who are injured who use up more than they anticipated, leaving them living on the brink of financial ruin.  It would be nice to have a safety plan for those drivers to fall back on.  (I for one do not want to go visit my favorite retired driver who is having to sell his trophys, autograph or race memorabilia to feed his family).

What remains is this:  If Nascar is going to bother to fine teams, then it needs to stop refunding the money at the end of the year.  There are good things that can be done with it - to the benefit of the sport, competitors, or charities.

Texas Tangles: Was this a Short Track? Or just a return to Busch Brother Bashing?

Originally Posted on Foxsports.com on April 9, 2006.

Nascar finished its Texas weekend, celebrated 10 years of racing at the facility, and managed to continue the Busch Brother Bashing that had been going on for several races. 

Kurt Busch v. Greg Biffle:  Although the President had a taped greeting at the track, the majority of the Busch Bashing this weekend was betwen Kurt Busch and Greg Biffle.  Biffle's car had been strong during the first 50 or so laps, but he was cycled out of the lead due to pit stops.  As he was working his way back to the front, he came across Kurt Busch.  Whether Busch or Biffle was to blame for what happened next depends on your point of view.  Busch, who  was down a lap, end up running into Biffle's back bumper, causing him to crash.  Biffle blamed Busch for ended his day.  Biffle's girlfriend, Nicole Lunders, walked to Busch's pit box and had words with Busch's fiancee Eva Bryan. 

Kurt Busch vs. the Media? The news media wanted Busch's reaction to Biffle's wrech after the race.  Busch gave an explanation blaming Biffle for coming up in front of him and slowing down.  When another reporter asked him what happened, Busch snapped back at them that he had answered the question and stormed off into his hauler.  He later came back out and answered a few more questions.  Apparently the Penske PR people have not quite worked their magic with Kurt...

Clint Bowyer vs. Kyle Busch:  Late in the race, Bowyer opted to take 2 tires instead of 4 to gain track position.  As he was sliding backwards in the field, he began racing with Kyle Busch for position.  As they raced, Bowyer crashed.  Bowyer claimed Busch got into him, Busch claimed Bowyer did it on his own.  The tape is unclear.   Given that Bowyer is a rookie and Kyle Busch is,  well, Kyle Busch, both are probably at fault in some way.

Carl Edwards vs. Jeff Gordon vs. Tony Stewart?  Carl Edwards, who was in third place, was racing with Jeff Gordon, who was a lap or two down.  Edwards got out of shape, hit Gordon, hit the wall, narrowly missed hitting Stewart and then crashed into the inside wall.  Needless to say, he was out of the race at that point.  Reporters questioned Edwards and asked if Gordon or Stewart caused the accident, Edwards denied it  and said it was just him pushing too hard at the time.  After the race, reporters went to Stewart and asked him what he thought happened - Stewart said Edwards was driving too hard ("in over his head") and lost it, then commented he was glad Edwards was OK because it looked like a hard hit into the wall.  In other words, the drivers didn't have issues with each other, but the reporters tried to generate a fight.  No one appears to have taken the bait.

Busch Series Racing Notes:  Kurt Busch won his first race in the Busch series, and to celebrate, he did his "trademark" snow angel.  I admit it was somewhat charming at Bristol where it had snowed all weekend, but I'm not sure it should be his "trademark" celebration.

Reed Sorenson may be penalized after it appeared he threw a piece of his rollbar padding/insulation onto the track to cause a caution.  He then called in that there was debris in the corner.  The Fox cameras caught the piece of foam flying out the window - it didn't seem to be certain that Sorenson threw it, but he was penalized by Nascar for the infraction (he was sent to the end of the line and lost about 5 places).  Nascar may exact a point penalty as well. 

More interesting was a conversation that Kyle Busch and his crew chief had immediately after that accident.  Busch was warned not to throw anything on the track to cause a caution because they had caught Sorenson.  Busch replied that he didn't have anything to throw.  Seconds later he remarked it would be stupid to do it since he had an in-car camera. 

You'll remember that Greg Biffle eventually won a Busch race when someone caused a caution by throwing a glove onto the track.  Nascar never found out who caused the caution or lost the glove.   Hmm...

 

Kings Royal by Crown Royal? Corporate Sponsorship at Dirt Tracks

Originally Posted on Foxsports on April 8, 2006.

Crown Royal announced that it would be sponsoring a dirt track race - the King's Royal at Eldora.  Eldora, a revered dirt track built and promoted by Earl Baltes, is now owned by Tony Stewart.  It isn't hard to see that Stewart, who has already drawn Old Spice, Home Depot, and Coca Cola into  sponsorship at Eldora, has the midas touch when it comes to making executives pony up money for local dirt track racing.

For those who don't know, the King's Royal is a race for winged sprint cars, which has a $50,000 to win paycheck.  Traditionally, the World of Outlaws and the All-Star Sprints have raced at the July event.  This year, hopes are that the splintered series (WoO and National Sprint Tour) will both show up at the event.  Given the new corporate sponsorship of the race and the tremendous pay out, drivers would be foolish not to.  For drivers the sponsorship could be used as a platform to get additional sponsorship for their operations.

Fans flocked to the race before, and the sponsorship will not likely affect their attendance.  However, the question for fans is:  Can they take Stewart's corporate sponsorship boon and translate it into a boon for other tracks? 

Should promoters try to duplicate Stewart's success?  Many local dirt tracks have strong local audiences.  The more successful tracks have major races that draw out of towners to the track (Knoxville, Belleville, Anderson, Eldora etc.).  Those tracks have some level of corporate sponsorship, but Stewart's new conquests have upped the ante.  Of course, Stewart is a well-known name in sports given his numerous championships in various forms of racing.  His antics (and temper) are legendary and generate controversy whether earned or not.  But local promoters should look at this new sponsorship as an indication that corporate America may finally be waking up to the potential of small tracks, whose fans are fiercely loyal.

Stewart is hoping that the corporate-powers-that-be continue to shine on Eldora - and hoping that it will even open the television market to the potential of dirt track racing.

Dateline, Mexico City and "Foreigners" in Nascar

Originally Posted on April 6, 2006 on Foxsports.com

I was amazed this week when two commenters on my blog were more interested in discussing immigration issues and the Dateline "Muslim" story than what happened at the race last weekend.   Here is my take on those issues.

Dateline brought some "Muslim -looking" men to the race at Martinsville to see what fans' reaction would be to them.  According to Nascar, nothing happened.  End of story, right?  Not so fast, says Nascar.  Nascar is livid that Dateline would attempt to incite a racial incident at a race. (How will this affect NBC's last season broadcasting the races? Dick Ebersol, where are you in this mess?)  In my opinion, Nascar should use it to bolester its image - we're rednecks, but we don't care what you look like, as long as you aren't pulling for (fill in blank of hated driver of the week here).  I submit to you, had these men been wearing Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, or (horrors), Jeff Gordon T-Shirts, they would have been guaranteed to have a run-in with another fan (probably fans of Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, or any other driver).  Even a Ryan Newman shirt after the race could have generated comments from more than one Junior fan.  Fortunately, the Dateline staffers had not done enough research to figure this out (this fact alone should mean someone loses their job, I mean, there wasn't one person on a network who broadcasts the races who knew this?!?).

In 2004, a group attempted to protest at Nascar races with a group of African-Americans.  It didn't work, as the group would fail to show up at the tracks after making grand pronouncements of tens or hundreds of protestors.  Despite the organization's numerous press releases that they were "really, really, really" going to do it at the next  race, the media finally quit running the story. 

Nascar races have a very vanilla crowd - and we want to gain in Hispanic, Asian, African-American, Muslim or Canadian fans.  There are bound to be a few xenophobic fans in the Nascar Nation (which is several million strong).  It is inevitable.  But I still think the bigger issue is who they are rooting for - not what they look like.

Hopefully, the majority of fans will continue to welcome those who love other drivers regardless of their personal feelings for that driver.

Mexico City has a road circuit that the Busch series races on in March.  Typically, the race has been on a weekend that the Cup series is off.  That way, Cup drivers can Buschwack the race, gain some road course experience and have authentic Mexican food with the Busch teams.  {Teams report an added perk is the Formula One style practice of having rather scantily clad women "helping"  around the track.  Umbrella girls unite!}  Some Buschwackers have boycotted the race - Tony Stewart was rather adament that he had no intention to go to Mexico to race.

Owners complained initially that the costs of racing in Mexico would be too high.  Nascar upped the purse for the race to compensate for that.  Security has been an ongoing issue - the first year (2005) teams were told to stay in specific hotels and not to venture out.  Shuttles were provided to and from the track.  Extra security was hired.  I assume similar measures were taken this year. 

Some fans think that a race in Mexico is a bad idea.  And, since Nascar does run a limited number of races, it seems silly that we have to go out of country to find a track to run on. 

But in the bigger picture, Mexican fans support autoracing.  Formula One is a huge deal in virtually every country but America.  Drivers like Senna (Brazilian) and Fangio (Argentinian) still have fans worldwide.  By racing in Mexico, Nascar hopes to add to its fan base by showing that stock car racing is fun.   Canada is probably next on the list - it draws both the Champ Car series and Formula One.  Again, this is a base Nascar wants to tap to continue its growth.

Are these legitimate arguments for racing out of country?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  But I don't think the current polical battle over immigration is a reason to not race in Mexico.  I think arguments can be made about cost, supporting local tracks (ie Mid-Ohio, Milwaukee, Rockingham, Elkhart etc.), travel distance or even safety.  But in the end, Nascar will decide with its pocketbook - if it costs them too much then they probably will stop going there.

My Martinsville Musings

Originally Posted on Foxsports.com on April 3, 2006.

Ah, Martinsville.  The paperclip.  Two drag strips connected with two hairpin turns.  Whatever you call it, don't leave without eating a hotdog!  {Seriously, the teams nearly boycotted last year when the condiments and wrapper were changed. }   The race for the most part was uneventful - at least compared to last week at Bristol.  There were still some interesting storylines...

A crash on lap 2 took several cars out of contention for the win.  The groaning you heard across the country was due to the red #8 being involved.  By the end of the race, Junior had "crashed" again, managed to stay on the lead lap, work his way through traffic, and finish 4th after getting by Kyle Busch.  I don't know that there was much to salvage on the car when it hit the hauler - three of the four corners of the car were missing, based in, or dented and  half the brake fan system was gone.  Most impressive was that the team did not give up - which is a marked difference in attitude from last year at this time.

The lap 2 crash ended Robby Gordon's day.  Robby, one of few owner/drivers, was in the top 15 in points prior to the race, but due to the DNF is 27th in points.

Despite the multiple on track incidents throughout the race, there did not appear to be any Bristol pay-backs.  Jimmie Johnson commented on this after the race - his point was that if the media would quite playing it up, there would be more.  According to Johnson, no one will do it when they know the media is looking to pounce on it, so if they lay off, the paybacks will come.  An interesting theory to be sure.

The one feud that has started is Denny Hamlin vs. Mark Martin.  I'm not clear on what happened, but Hamlin expressed his displeasure with Martin due to two run-ins on the track - one at Las Vegas and one at Martinsville.  Martin has not commented at this point to my knowledge, and Hamlin acknowledged that he still respects Martin but whats to know why he has been singled out.  Knowing Martin, this will be a non-issue by Texas.

The Dodge teams continue to have some trouble with the Charger - their highest finisher was Scott Riggs in 10th.  The highest finishing rookie was Reed Sorenson in a Dodge (12th)

What happened to all the discussion of Roush Racing domination?  The highest finisher was McMurray in 9th, followed by Martin (13th), Edwards (16th), Kenseth (24th) and Biffle (31st).

Jeff Gordon has stalking at Martinsville down to a science.  He's won there 7 times  - and the last few has appeared out of nowhere at the end.  He likes to spice it up - this time he got a flat tire early in the race, which caused a caution.  Conspiracy theorists point out that while Gordon got a caution with no debris apparent on the track, a couple other spins, tire-blow outs and debris went unflagged during the race. 

Does anyone else think that Jeff Gordon's two teammates cut him a break on the final two laps when he slipped on the speedy dry?  I think if any other two cars had been right behind him, he would have been shown the wall.

For a guy edging toward retirement, Mark Martin is sure charging up the points standings - he's currently in 2nd behind Jimmie Johnson.

Since it was Martinsville, I wondered how quickly Stewart would mention the Hendrick Motorsports plane crash in his victory speech.  It was practically the first few words out of his mouth.  In Oct 2004, his pilot, Scott Lathram was on the plane, coming to Martinsville to see Stewart before Lathram left for Iraq.  Apparently Stewart hasn't forgotten him - and still has information on his website to make a donation to Lathram's Memorial Fund.

I don't know which is more fun - watching Tony Stewart climb the fence after he wins or watching him spray Jimmy Spencer with a Coke during the victory lane broadcast.

My vote for one of the coolest trophys anywhere is the Grandfather Clock given at Martinsville, although I'm fond of the "brick" trophy at Indy and the glass palm trees at Darlington.