Driver #14, Tony Stewart

It appears that Tony Stewart, who recently became equal partners in Haas CNC Racing, forming Stewart Haas Racing, will be driving the number 14 Chevrolet next year, with Office Depot and Old Spice as sponsors. I'm not sure whether Old Spice will sponsor one car and Office Depot the other, but it appears that sponsorship will be present in 2009 for both Stewart Haas Racing cars.

I am happy for Tony Stewart, for it appears that he has achieved both of his primary goals, which were team ownership and a move back to Chevrolet after driving Toytotas for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008. Tony's cars will be supplied with Hendrick engines and other Hendrick technology. With the right people behind the scenes, there is no reason that Stewart Haas Racing should not be competitive next year.

The number of the car that Tony will be driving is significant as well. A.J. Foyt drove the number 14 from the early 1980's until 1992. A.J. never raced full time in Nascar, but still managed an impressive 7 wins out of only 128 starts. A.J. Foyt's first start in Cup was in 1963 at age 28. His last start was in 1994 at age 59. A.J. Foyt was a winner in virtually every type of racing he ever attempted.

The same can be said for Tony Stewart, a former IRL champion, a former Sprint car champion, and a two time Cup champion with 32 wins to his credit thus far. Like his hero, Tony has won at every level of racing, and he's won races in every type of car he's every attempted to race in. Tony, like his hero A.J. Foyt, is a true champion in every sense of the word. That Tony Stewart picked the number 14 came as no surprise to me. Back when the talk first surfaced that Tony wanted to be a team owner, I thought at that time that the number 14 would be perfect for Tony.

Tony and A.J. Foyt are a lot alike in other ways besides their prowess behind the wheel of a race car. Both are known to be outspoken men who are not afraid to speak their minds. A.J. Foyt was known as somewhat of a brawler, and though we haven't seen Tony in an outright fist fight with anyone, he has been known to lash out, sometimes physically when he's frustrated. Neither of these men appear to have a very high tolerance for nonsense. In a lot of ways, I think Nascar would be a better sport if there was less nonsense and more racing, but I'll discuss that further at a later time.

Both A.J. and Tony are known for being hard chargers on the track as well. Their style could possibly be termed as 'finessed aggressiveness'. Both drivers grew up racing on dirt, where precise car control is a must for success. Both learned early in their careers how to find the limits of their race cars and how to push those limits. Both drivers have had hard wrecks in their careers, but both drivers have also won a ton of races.

I've been a fan of Tony Stewart since he began driving in Nascar back in 1999. Tony is without a doubt the most successful driver to come straight from open wheel racing to the stock cars of Nascar. In his rookie season, Tony won 3 times, which is twice more than did Juan Pablo Montoya in his rookie year in 2007. To me, Tony is somewhat of a throwback to the heydays of Petty, Allison, Yarborough, and Pearson. Tony is a tough guy, not afraid of a fight. He would have fit right in with the tough guys who drove and won a lot back in the 1960's and 1970's, where sometimes on track disputes were settled off the track behind the hauler after the race. Racing at any level has always been a tough business, and in racing, it could be said that the difference between a good driver and a bad driver is the degree of toughness they can achieve, or at least display. It's pretty much survival of the toughest. Tony Stewart is one of the toughest.

I'm happy for Tony Stewart in his new endeavor. I'm glad to see him walk away from Joe Gibbs Racing, because though I've got a lot of respect for Coach Gibbs, I really hate seeing Tony drive in that highly paid kindergarten class made up of Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and the greatest thing since sliced bread, Joey Logano.

This week, we're off to Indianapolis, which is probably by far Tony's favorite track. Tony hasn't won the Indy 500, yet, but he has won the Brickyard 400 2 times. I'm going to make an early prediction, which I never do, but I'm going to go out on the limb right now and say that Tony Stewart is my odds on favorite to win at Indy in 2008. If he does, it will be his first win of 2008, and to me there's not a better sight in the world to see than Stewart win at Indianapolis. Well, except maybe seeing an Earnhardt win at Daytona.

Being an Earnhardt fan, Revisited

I have a lot of fun doing this blog, because I get to talk about my favorite subject, which is stock car auto racing. Not just Nascar, but all stock car racing. I love watching the ARCA series. I love watching late model races at my local track as well. I like watching dirt track racing. When I was a teenager, I used to come home happy, and covered with dust after watching a red dirt race up at Riverside Speedway, in northern Greenville County, South Carolina.

I've also been a fan of drag racing, but not as much. I used to watch Scotty Cannon back in the day when he raced and won a lot at the Greer Dragway, which I believe is in Spartanburg County, South Carolina. Back in those days, they had nights when you could take any car you wanted to down to the track, and drag race. Maybe they still do. I had a friend with a Ford F100 pickup, 1977 model, I think, with a 390 cubic inch engine and an old 3 on the tree transmission. For those of you who don't know what a three on the tree was, that was an old style column shift manual transmission. My friend could drop the clutch in 2nd gear and burn rubber for as long as he kept the gas pedal on the floor. Lot's of smoke, lots of screaming engine sounds, lots of fun. He raced his truck sometimes at the Greer Dragway, and I think he actually won a few. Think about it. A Ford pickup truck beating Camaros and Firebirds on a quarter mile strip. He did it.

My friend doesn't race anymore, to my knowledge. But racing is something that gets into your blood. I watched my first Nascar race when I was about 6 or 7 years old, and I've been hooked ever since. 99.9 per cent of the races I've watched where on TV, and back when I was a kid, you only got to see parts of races on Wide World of Sports, on ABC. In the 1980's, I began to go to some race tracks, such as Darlington and Atlanta and Charlotte. A few years ago, I got to go to Talladega, and that was a real experience. I've been at the track two times when Dale Earnhardt Jr. won, and back in the day, I was at the track as well when his father won. Regardless of anything else going on in my life, those were and still are special moments to me.

I'm an Earnhardt fan. I wasn't always. When I was a kid, I liked Richard Petty a lot, but usually pulled for David Pearson, because he was from the next town over, Spartanburg. In 1979 when Earnhardt came along, I saw him, but didn't really SEE him. It took a few years. Back in those days I probably thought of Dale Earnhardt much like I think of Kyle Busch today. Dale wrecked a lot of cars. He did what I considered to be stupid things on the track. It wasn't until about midway through the 1980's, when Dale was winning everything there was to win, that I began to respect the man. There was a race, one time, and I think it might have been Bristol, but I'm not sure, but Dale was penalized a lap for rough driving, and proceeded to not only race back to make up that lap, but went on and won the race. Dale never needed to be motivated. He had it always inside him. He was born to race, and was always a pure racer. To him, nothing mattered at all except winning.

And win he did. 76 races and 7 championships. Richard Petty also won 7 championships, but he raced in a lot more races, and also back in the day when they used to run 60 or 70 races a year. But to me, race for race, pass for pass, Dale Earnhardt was and will always be the greatest stock car driver that ever lived.

It might surprise you to know that I'm not a fan of his son, Dale Earnhardt Jr., just because he's Dale Earnhardt's son. The first time I ever saw Dale Jr. on camera was in 1997, or maybe 1998. He just seemed like a great kid. He had a lot of confidence, but he didn't whine or complain when he wrecked or made a mistake. He respected the old school drivers, and talked to them and learned from them. He grew up watching his dad and other drivers race. He knew a lot about the sport before he ever climbed into a race car. He watched videos of old races, studied driver's styles and moves. It's true that Dale Jr. had resources his father never had. But Dale Jr. approached it from a racer's point of view, just like his dad did. Anything you can do to beat the other guy, or that gives you some advantage, you learn from it. Dale did it, and so did his son.

When Rod Osterlund sold the team to J.D. Stacy, Dale left. He didn't like the situation, so he left. He'd already won a championship, but the main thing was that Dale wanted to race with the best equipment, but also the best people. He worked briefly with Richard Childress, who had been a driver himself. Richard told Dale to go away until he got his shop and cars in order. Dale drove for Bud Moore for a couple of years, but hated the Fords he was driving. He won, but wasn't happy with the way things were working out. Finally, Dale went back to Childress, and history was made. 6 championships with Richard Childress. The 3 car was truly bullet proof.

We all thought so. I cried the day that Dale won the 1998 Daytona 500. To me, that might be the most memorable moment in Nascar history. I also shed some tears when Dale Jr. won the 2001 Pepsi 400 at Daytona, and when he won the 2004 Daytona 500.

I don't really like to talk about February 18, 2001. I didn't even get to see the entire race, because I had other committments that day. When I heard the news, I was totally stunned. I think I walked around in a trance for about 3 months after that. I was happy to see Steve Park win at Rockingham the following week. I was happy to see Kevin Harvick win at Atlanta a couple of weeks later. But everytime I thought about it, tears came to my eyes. I'm not the crying type, either. But the loss of Dale Earnhardt did and still does bring tears to my eyes.

The son doesn't look much like the father. Sometimes he sounds like him, but even his driving style doesn't remind me of his father's. But somehow, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has achieved amazing success on his own, even after his father died. A lot of people like Dale Jr. for a lot of reasons, but I think there is one underlying reason for his amazing popularity. It's really simple. He's a nice guy.

With Dale Earnhardt Jr., you get what you see. He does not try to be a celebrity, but he is. He doesn't try to make the young ladies swoon, but he does. I think if you asked Dale Jr. why he's so popular, he'd probably tell you he has no idea. He appreciates his fans, almost to a fault, and does a lot of things for his fans that other drivers would distain to do. He creates dvd's and TV shows, and does it solely for his fans. He apologizes to his fans when he doesn't run well. Of course he's under tremendous pressure from his sponsors to perform well, and he does. But I think he worries about disapointing his fans more. The same could be said about probably quite a few drivers these days, but Dale Jr. is the one that I notice the most that seems to be trying to make his fans happy.

We've always got the detractors out there, but that's fine. The sport needs detractors. We all have our favorite drivers and the drivers we don't like. Dale Earnhardt Jr. may not win 200 races. He may not win 7 championships. But he'll always be remembered for being the person that he is. He'll eventually be put on the list of the greatest drivers, maybe not because of the number of wins or championships, but for the guy that the majority of the fans pull for.

Dale Jr., You have arrived.

May I ask you an honest question?

It's a simple question. Do you think I can write? Do you like what you read? I'd appreciate some honest opinions here, good or bad. It's that simple. Do you think I ought to keep up what I've been doing for a while or just forget about it? I don't want you to worry about my feelings or my ego or anything, because I pretty much don't much have either anymore. Just tell me what you think. If you can't leave a comment, just e-mail me at jimcinsc@gmail.com. I will read all, but I can't promise I will reply to all. I will make an effort to reply to all I can, but sometimes that's just not possible.

I can assure you all opinions are welcome. I need to know. Call it my midlife crises, if you will. I'm 44 years old and feel like a man without a country. I've got not much of a base anymore. I'm a computer technician by trade, but find myself slipping away sometimes. Technology seems to change faster than I can read about it. I love to write, and feel like that's what I was meant to do. That doesn't mean that it's what I ought to do. I want your honest opinion on that. I've got nearly 200 posts on this blog, and some of them are not as good as I'd want them to be, but some of them were pretty good, in my not so humble opinion.

C'mon, tell me what you think, honestly. You won't hurt my feelings. If you can't post a reply, just go to my e-mail at jimcinsc@gmail.com. You won't hurt my feeling at all if you tell me I probably need to be flipping burgers. As a matter of fact, I might be doing that soon.

Thanks for any and all replies.

Bid Early, Bid Often!

There's only 3 days left in this installment of the TireDawg (aka Garz Karz) Victory Junction Gang Camp charity diecast auction. Remember folks, this is a one of a kind, hand painted diecast, done in exquisite detail. Whether you're a collector or not, this is all for a very worthy cause, and I hope you'll give with your heart. All proceeds from this auction will be donated to the Victory Junction Gang Camp, where the money will be put to very good use.

TireDawg has been making custom diecast for a long time, mostly for profit, but he will be turning out approximately one custom per month for auction, and he will make sure the proceeds go to the VJGC. Please remember that this is for a great cause, and chances are your favorite driver contributes to the Camp as well.

You can find the Auction Here!

Here is a list of drivers who contribute to the Victory Junction Gang Camp:

Aric Almirola John Andretti Johnny Benson Greg Biffle Dave Blaney Brett Bodine Todd Bodine Clint Bowyer Jeff Burton Ward Burton Kurt Busch Kyle Busch Brad Coleman Derrike Cope Ricky Craven Dale Earnhardt Jr. Kerry Earnhardt Carl Edwards Bill Elliott Christian Fittipaldi Larry Foyt Dario Franchitti David Gilliland Jeff Gordon Robby Gordon David Green Jeff Green Bobby Hamilton, Jr. Kevin Harvick Dale Jarrett Jimmie Johnson Kasey Khane Jason Keller Matt Kenseth Terry Labonte Bobby Labonte

Carl Long Sterling Marlin Mark Martin Jeremy Mayfield Jamie McMurray Casey Mears Juan Pablo Montoya Jerry Nadeau Joe Nemechek Ryan Newman Steve Park Kyle Petty Richard Petty Tony Raines Ricky Rudd Elliott Sadler Hermie Sadler Scott Riggs Ken Schrader Mike Skinner Reed Sorenson Jimmy Spencer Tony Stewart David Stremme Brian Vickers Kenny Wallace Mike Wallace Rusty Wallace Darrell Waltrip Michael Waltrip Scott Wimmer

There's a Reason why the Earnhardt Nation is so Charged Up!

I know, a lot of people give Dale Earnhardt Jr. a lot of grief, but statistically, Dale Jr. is having his best year ever. I want to thank my friends at RacingReferenceInfo.com for providing accurate stats for all things Nascar.

Dale Jr. so far has had an average starting position of 9.4 in 2008. That's the best of his career. Previously, his best starting position was 10.9, which was 2004. Dale Jr. won 6 races that year, but this year, after only 19 races, Dale Jr. is enjoying the best starting average of his career.

In 2008, Dale Jr.'s finishing average is 11.5, also the best of his career. His next best came also in 2004, with an average finish of 12.1. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is truly on track for the best performance of his career, even if he does not achieve 5 or 6 wins.

18 Cup wins, 83 top 5's, and 133 top 10's adds up to a lot for a guy that only has 310 starts in the Cup series. No driver wins every week, and Dale has had a rather phenomenal career, despite his lack, so far, of a Cup championship. Dale Jr. has won 2 Busch Series championships however. In the former Busch series, now named Nationwide, Dale Jr. has also won 22 times out of 104 starts.

For all of you who say that Dale Jr. can't drive a race car, think again. As this year proves, after his move to Hendrick Motorsports, Dale Jr. just gets better and better. He's also going to be harder and harder to beat.

There's a reason other than the statistics why we in the Earnhardt Nation are proud. Despite being the most popular driver since 2002, Dale Jr. has remained a humble driver, and respects other drivers and his fans. Dale Jr. is a whiner? Not hardly. Dale Jr. gets the nod from Nascar? Grow up and examine the facts. Do you really think that 42 other drivers, each with contracts to different owners and sponsors, are just going to lie down for one other driver? Would Lowes lay down for Home Depot? Would Amp lay down for Red Bull? If you think so, then dream on. There's way too much money involved here for that to even be imaginable.

2008 seems to be the year that Dale Earnhardt Jr. has arrived. He's won a points race, and two non-points races, and all I can say is what I remember the great Benny Parsons saying during a race or two. "Boys, he's coming! He's coming!"

Dale Jr. is on his way.

Yawn.

Last night, I finally figured out why non Nascar fans find racing boring. It was evident early in the race that nobody had anything that could run in the same zip code, much less area code of the 18 car of Kyle Busch. I got so bored I went outside and looked up at the stars, or as many as I could see in the cloudy South Carolina sky.

Back in the 1960's, Big Bill France went to great lengths to try to make the racing equal for all manufacturers. His son, Little Bill did much the same thing in the 1970's through the 1990's. Now Brian France has the reigns of Nascar, and he's monkeyed with the sport quite a bit. I'm not so sure I'm a fan of the lucky dog pass. I agree that the cars probably don't need to be racing back to the yellow flag, when a car is sitting helpless, sideways on the track. If it means greater safety for the drivers, I'm all for it. If the head and neck restraint system, commonly known as the HANS device had been mandated before the 2001 racing season started, Dale Earnhardt probably would have grumbled about it, probably a lot. But he might still be alive. Had it been mandated before the 2000 racing season, Kenny Irwin and Adam Petty might still be with us.

The new car, formerly known as the Car Of Tomorrow was meant to be safer, and also level out the playing field. It would appear that the playing field is not, in fact, level however. Kyle Busch won his 7th Cup race of 2008 at Chicagoland last night. I will congratulate him for an astonishing year, and am willing to recognize that the Wild Child does indeed have talent. But I have to ask you, how much talent does it take to run out front, virtually every race, with no competition around to make it interesting? Crew chief Steve Addington is an absolute genius, and Kyle must be the best driver in the history of the sport, or is there something else going on?

Toyota debuted in Nascar's elite series for the first time last year. They had a very dismal year. For 2008, Toyota somehow convinced long time GM race owner Joe Gibbs to switch from Chevrolet to Toyota. Head engine guru Mark Cronquist took charge of the engine program, with a lot of help from Toyota, and he's apparently a genius too. Nobody, from any other automobile manufacturer, with anyone at the wheel can keep up with the 18 car of Kyle Busch.

What's strange about this is that neither can his teammates. Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin are both winless this year in the Cup series. Supposedly they have the same engines, the same chassis as Kyle does, but they can't keep up. Tony is leaving after 2008, going back to Chevrolet with Stewart-Haas Racing, to be an owner and a driver. Why leave when Toyota is so good, so suddenly?

Tony is a 2 time Cup Champion with over 30 wins to his credit, and each victory in Nascar has come in that famous orange number 20 Home Depot car. Tony is known as a late starter, not usually winning until the season is well under way. But Tony looks like a chump when he's trying to chase down his teammate, the next Dale Earnhardt, the next Jeff Gordon, the next, dare I say it? Richard Petty? I've heard all those names used in comparison with Kyle Busch.

Next Dale Earnhardt? Heck no. Richard Petty? Forget about it. Jeff Gordon? Nope. Not enough class. If Kyle Busch would just grow up, I might be able to admire him. But I can't admire a person who consistently acts like a spoiled brat. Even his older brother, Kurt, doesn't seem to want to have anything to do with him. Kyle seems to rejoice in the boos he receives at the track, making his sarcastic bows, and basically irritating fans over virtually every other driver out there.

I'm a Kyle Busch fan. He's not my favorite driver, but I've been watching this sport since about 1971. I've watched the King battle the Silver Fox. I've seen Cale battle Bobby. I've seen Earnhardt battle Jaws. I appreciate people that can drive these cars on a track with 42 other cars. I'm a fan of all of them when it comes right down to it. They've all got way more talent at driving than I will ever have. So I can say I'm a Kyle Busch fan. I never want to see any of these people get hurt. I've seen too many drivers die, both on the track and off. Fireball Roberts. Alan Kulwicki. Davey Allison. Neil Bonnett. Kenny Irwin. Adam Petty. Dale Earnhardt. I've seen a lot of near death experiences too. Bobby Allison. Ernie Irvan. Steve Park.

What these guys do is incredible. The fact that they can do it at all is amazing to me. I never want to see any of these guys carted off on a stretcher. It's happened before, and it will happen again, but I hate to see anyone get hurt in this sport. I wish I could say I like Kyle Busch, but I can't honestly say that.

He started his professional career with Rick Hendrick, and had a decent, but not very distinguished career there. He was let go last year to make room for Dale Earnhardt Jr. This year, apparently is the year of Kyle. He's won in all 3 series this year. He's gathered a few fans, but irritated many more with his sarcasm. If I had to guess, the average Kyle Busch fan is about 13, and likes to sass their parents. Darrell Waltrip is much older, but he probably sassed his parents too.

I hope that in it's infinite wisdom, Nascar will find a way to truly level the playing field. This sport is too important to me to just walk away from it, but I'm afraid if I see many more races like I watched Friday and Saturday night, that might be just what I'll do.

Please don't forget to check out the Tiredawg's auction to benefit the Victory Junction Gang Camp. You can find the auction here! To read more about the Victory Junction Gang Camp, just click Here! This is a very worthy cause folks, and Tiredawg is doing this out of the goodness of his heart. He does great work, as you will see. Please do all you can to support a great charity, started by Kyle and Patty Petty in memory of their son Adam. Own a one of a kind tribute diecast that depicts the famous colors of both Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt. All the proceeds will go to the VJGC, and Kyle, Patty, and the King himself will appreciate it!

The Kyle Busch Factor

Last night, Kyle Busch set his Toyota on cruise control and literally loafed his way to yet another win in the Nationwide series. After the race, a few other fans and I were chatting on the Dale Jr. Pit Board, and it was brought to my attention that there is a way we could all pay our proper respects to the New Boy Wonder! A fan who goes by the handle AlwaysL8 thought that instead of the usual beer cans being tossed onto the track, which I have never been a fan of, by the way, we should all present Kyle with our posteriors. Yes, a full moon salute, and I imagine if 150,000 fans all presented Wild Thing with such a salute, he might just faint on the spot. It's an interesting theory, to say the least. Providing Kyle with a little 'hind sight' might do wonders for his attitude in general.

Just in case he doesn't win again for a while, why wait until he does his burnout and his sarcastic bow? There's always driver introductions before the race, and we could all pay our respects then. What could please Wild Child more than to be presented with a full moon as tribute for his racing prowess?

It's a lot of fun to think about, but as usual there is a possibly more serious side to this little blog. Kyle literally cruised to victory last night, and as talented a driver as he is, he passed other cars on the track like he was driving a Ferrari through the Boston Marathon. We all get the point. Kyle's good, but is he really that good?

Last night, in the pre race show on ESPN2, analyst and Nationwide team owner Rusty Wallace brought up the point that the Toyota engines that Joe Gibbs Racing are using are making 22 more horsepower than his Chevrolet engines. From the way that Kyle Busch easily passed cars and drove away from the field, I'd say that figure might actually be on the conservative side. But 22 horsepower is plenty enough of an advantage in a sport where specs are checked to the thousandth of an inch.

Not too long ago, Nascar used to regularly review the statistics of each race, and if, say, the Chevrolets were winning a lot of races, they'd give the Fords some small advantage, such as a degree or two of rear spoiler. The new car just as the wing now, at least in the Cup series, but is it really right for Toyota to have such a blatant horspower advantage? I'm willing to give JGR head engine builder Mark Cronquist his due, but does Nascar really want one car manufacturer to flat out dominate the sport? Bill France Jr. would not have liked that very much, were he still with us. Brian France apparently doesn't have much of a problem with the advantage, and nobody is really in a position to tell Brian what to do, except when we as fans vote with our ticket money and TV viewership. I'll still watch all the Cup races, but I'm seriously thinking about skipping the Natiowide races for a while. Watching the 18 or 20 car win practically every race just gets so boring after a while. I watched last night's race, and saw the 18 car obviously in it's own zip code compared to the rest of the field. I'm not saying Kyle isn't a good driver, but as Clint Bowyer said last week, a monkey could win in those cars.

Racing at Chicagoland can be very exciting. I just hope the Cup race tonight is better than the Nationwide race last night.

Please remember to check out Garz Carz and his auction on E-bay! The information is in the post below.

And Kyle? this moon's for you.