Saluting America's Automobile Renaissance

photo courtesy of CarandDriver.com

If you haven't looked at the new Ford Mustang, or the new Dodge Challenger, or taken a peak at this new version of Chevrolet's Camaro, you're missing a lot.

It would seem that American automakers are recognizing som
e of the the things they did right in the past, and using those positives as marketing tools for the future.

I personally love the retro cars. They were great back then, and they are great now. Not only do these American icons have the good looks which made them famous in the first place, but now they are updated with top notch technology which makes them great daily drivers in 2009 and beyond.

The American auto industry has experienced some tough times as of late. It's refreshing to see many of the designers looking to the past to find inspiration to create great looking new cars again.

Sometimes older is new.

The American automobile scene probably hit it's highest peak, at least as far as styling, in the 1950's and 1960's. Who can forget the first time they saw a 1957 Chevy or a 1969 Mustang? How about the 1969 Camaro? These cars are stars in American culture, and finally the automakers have figured out that sometimes a good design in timeless. There is no need to put square headlights on a classic just because that's what everyone else is doing. That's over simplifying the point a little, but I think you get my meaning here.

Long live the tradition of American classic cars! Long live hot rods, and good old muscle cars!

Check out some of these sites for more pics and information on great new cars that look as good as some of the old ones.

Car Buying Guide

Chevy Muscle Cars

Fast Cadillacs

NASCAR and the National Anthem

Jesse McCartney was the singer of the National Anthem at California's Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday. When I listened to his rendition, I did a double take, because he obviously left out a line. I can see no reason to leave out a line of the anthem for artistic reasons, so I suppose it was probably a mistake on Mr. McCartney's part.

I've touched on this before, but I feel like it's time to bring this up again. Let's do away with celebrities singing the National Anthem in the pre-race ceremonies, and let a local high school band do it.

I'm not singling out Jesse McCartney here, but I've long thought that far too many celebrities do a poor job performing the anthem because (a) they are trying to be creative or artistic with their performance, or (b) they don't know the words, or can't carry a tune.

I'm no expert on high school bands, but I've heard a few. The National Anthem is one song that is regularly played by high school bands, so the tune is not alien to band members.

Personally, I have nothing against celebrities. They have their purposes, such as entertaining people. I do not, however, enjoy listening to someone intentionally mangling the anthem for artistic purposes. I'd rather hear a high school kid play his or her heart out on national TV any day, and if they perform the anthem badly, at least I'll know it's not for lack of trying.

Give the kids a ticket to the race, and maybe infield passes, let them actually meet a few drivers, and who knows? We might just have a few new race fans for life.

In any event, giving kids a chance to perform on national TV, and in front of an audience the likes of which they've never seen before could be the biggest day ever in those kids' lives.

Lug Nuts, Bad Luck, and the Never Ending Year.

photo courtesy of Auto Club Speedway and Pepsi

Folks, in case you haven't figured it out, I'm a Dale Earnhardt Jr. fan. I am a fan for many reasons, and most of those reasons have to do with the personality that Dale Earnhardt Jr. exhibited during his career. Part of the reason I'm a Dale Jr. fan is because he has a real appreciation for the way drivers like his dad raced. Dale Jr. is old school, and understands what old school is.

Old school means that you tough it out, you race your guts out, and you never give up. That sounds simple, but you'd be surprised at how many of the current crop of drivers in Cup don't quite get that sometimes.

Most of the hype surrounding NASCAR these days has to do with sponsors, and attendance at the tracks, and manufacturer support. All of those things are important to the sport.

There might be something more important though.

Pure drive. To be purely driven to win, and to prove the critics wrong is plenty of reason for many. To be honest, Dale Earnhardt Jr. hasn't won much lately. Many of his critics say he's got no talent at all, but they are wrong. Dale Jr. has won at every level he's ever raced in, and won championships, except in the Cup. That goal has eluded Junior so far.

Drive isn't enough for Dale Earnhardt Jr. though. He's driven by more than just trying to achieve expectations. He's failed lately in doing that, but a lot of the time that has been because of circumstances totally beyond his control. After a lost lug nut on a pit stop, critics are quick to claim that such an event happened because Dale Jr. has no talent. I don't know what kind of mushrooms those critics are ingesting, but that is plainly ludicrous. How is a driver responsible for a tire changer missing a lug nut?

Back in the 1970's, NBC started a show called Saturday Night Live, with had cast billed as the 'Not Ready For Prime Time Players.' In some ways, the 88 Sprint Cup team is in that situation. They're not quite ready this year. The 88 has been on the bad side of driver error, pit mistakes, and plain bad calls from on top of the pit box this year. One thing is for certain though. The 88 team, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Rick Hendrick will do their best to fix that situation before the 2010 season begins.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. isn't done yet. If not for some pure bad luck, and getting caught up in some other people's stupidity and problems, Dale Jr. could have been in the Chase this year. Not making excuses, because some other drivers could claim the same lack of production, but Dale Jr. is not done. He'll be back, just in time for all the haters to sound off on him.

Part of driving is just the will to do it, and pass cars. Part of it is trying to meet expectations. Dale Jr. even goes beyond that, because Dale Earnhardt Jr. understands a basic principle his dad taught him many years ago. The fans are ultimately the people you really have to keep happy.

Without fans, NASCAR would be nothing. If you're not getting the results on the race track, where it matters the most, you driver harder, and attempt to win at all costs. That spirit will carry a driver farther than even raw talent can.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. probably isn't the best driver in the Cup series. Not on the basis of pure talent, at least. Dale Jr. has a huge following because he's got the heart and the intelligence to never, ever give up.

In that way, Dale Jr. is a chip off the old block.

A Good Show at California

Photo by Jerry Markland / Getty Images Sport

Yeah, I said it. The Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California was a good race. The fans actually got to see passing, some rather dramatic racing, and of course a few crashes. In other words, not what many fans have come to expect from California, myself included.

It was heartening to see a good show at Fontana for a change, much as we did during Saturday's Nationwide race as well.

From the reports I've read so far, the race was not enjoyed by a huge crowd, which typifies nearly all the races at California. Those who did buy tickets got their moneys worth though.

At times, the racing on the 2 mile super speedway almost resembled the action at Talladega. I was honestly surprised, and pleasantly so.

What wasn't a big surprise, however, was the outcome of the race. Jimmie Johnson obviously had a very good car, and probably no one else in the field, save pole sitter Denny Hamlin had such a dominant car on Sunday. Denny crashed after a restart, taking himself out of contention.

If all the races at Fontana were as enjoyable as the Pepsi 500, I would withdraw all the complaints I've ever made about the track. Hopefully, Sunday's trend will continue into 2010 and beyond, because California is obviously going to have 2 dates, no matter what happens.

Hopefully, the fans will begin to support the track and buy tickets. If you thought about going to the race Sunday and didn't, you missed a heck of a show.

An Exciting Race at Fontana? Really?

I didn't get to watch the entire Nationwide race at Fontana, California today, but I did catch the end of it. Wow, that was some exciting, hard, and fun to watch racing. And it happened at California? Really?

We can compare today's race with tomorrow's race, after tomorrow's race, of course, and if nothing else, it may or may not be a shining example of how the COT (Car Of Tomorrow for those of you who don't know) is either a boom or a bust for NASCAR.

Personally, I'm thinking 'bust' so far. The new car is not only butt ugly, it just doesn't drive worth a darn either, apparently. A lot of drivers would whisper in your ear that they hate it. They can't say it publicly, of course, because NASCAR would take them out behind the woodshed. For the most part, those who have openly criticized the new car have changed their tune within a week or so. I wonder why?

California has been traditionally a yawner of a race track which provides little in the way of actual racing, at least in the Cup series. Why it's got a place in the Chase makes no sense to me whatsoever. It would make way more sense to me to replace that race with a date at Darlington. But I live in South Carolina, so there's some obvious bias here. To those of you from California, no disrespect intended.

Whatever happens tomorrow, it will be interesting to see if the Cup race holds a candle to the Nationwide race as far as excitement, and of course, the reason we all watch, racing.

It's Not a Done Deal Yet: RPM and Yates Racing Negotiations Continue

Richard Petty said on Wednesday that negotiations between Richard Petty Motorsports and Yates Racing are ongoing, but nothing has apparently been signed yet. Petty seemed be confident that a deal would be worked out eventually between the two teams, reports Bob Pockrass with Scene Daily.

This is certainly a critical time for the team that was started by Ray Evernham and is now partly owned by and bearing the name of the "King", Richard Petty.

Essentially, the old Petty Enterprises ceased to exist last year when Richard joined George Gillet in an endeavor to keep the Petty name at the race track. In the process, the King's son Kyle got shuffled out of the deal and now has no association with his father's company.

Many people may consider Kyle Petty retired as a driver, but I have followed Kyle on Twitter for some time now, and he has made it very plain that he does not consider his driving days over, and would very much like to put on a driving suit and a helmet and strap himself into a race car again. It may be argued that Kyle Petty's most competitive days as a driver are behind him, but in all fairness, it's been quite a few years since he's driven anything resembling top notch equipment.

RPM's lone driver in the 2009 Chase is Kasey Kahne, who finds himself in 12 place with 8 races to go. Kasey suffered a blown engine early in the first Chase race at New Hampshire, but finished a very respectable 8th at Dover last week. Kahne, with 2 wins in 2009, has given Richard Petty his first wins as an owner in quite a few years.

The benefits of RPM and Yates Racing merging are many, with Dodge having had to reduce its support of racing teams because of the company's recent economic woes. Ford support, along with Roush-Yates engines provide at least some potential for making the RPM cars more competitive than most have been lately. Hopefully with more competitive equipment, the team will be able to attract more sponsorship for 2010 and beyond.

Probably the most unfortunate aspect of the RPM-Yates deal is the dissolution of RPM's current engine shop, which means as many as 60 or more employees will be out of work soon. Hopefully, most of these people can find work in other engine departments at other teams, but as we all know, times are tough right now, so all I can do is wish these people best of luck in their future endeavors.

Hopefully, the RPM-Yates deal will work out, and the Petty name will continue to be an important one in NASCAR circles. As they say, though, we shall see what we shall see.

More Bad News for the Auto Industry: Goodbye, Saturn

General Motors today announced that it would shut down its Saturn operations after a proposed deal with Roger Penske's Penske Automotive Group, Inc fell through. Not only does this effect Saturn's manufacturing, research and development, and engineering operations, it also means the demise of the Saturn dealership network as well.

Apparently, Penske could not find backing from GM or another manufacturer whose identity is currently unknown.

It's a real shame that yet another American automobile brand goes away and many more jobs will be lost.

Roger Penske has been involved in various business ventures for decades, including NASCAR and IRL racing. Penske is probably best known for his truck rental and lease business.

I had personally hoped that Penske could save Saturn, but it apparently couldn't be saved under the circumstances that were offered. I was even beginning to hope with Roger Penske in control of the Saturn brand, we might eventually even see Saturns represented on the race track in NASCAR. Obviously, that won't happen now.

One has to wonder what the future holds for other American brands, especially Dodge. It also makes one wonder what the future holds for NASCAR as well. In 10 years, will we still be watching Fords, Chevrolets and Dodges on the track? Or will be be watching Toyota, Nissan, Honda racing for manufacturing championships?

NASCAR and Naughty Words

Is it safe to say that all who are reading this are human? I hope so. Because if not, I'm going to get the heebie jeebies.

But, based on the assumption that all who read my words are human, I have many who have commented here who don't adhere to my policy of keeping the site more or less PG rated. Sadly, I have to delete comments that don't adhere to my policy.

It's not that I'm a prude. It's not that I'm personally offended by some of the names that you call me or a driver or crew member neither one of us knows at all. It's not that at all.

I know that some of my readers are under the age of 18. Some of them are under the age of 13. I'm not presupposing that readers, even at those tender ages, haven't heard most or all of the words that have been aimed at me over the last few years. I'm not making any suppositions at all. I'm not quite that naive. I just don't think that they should be subjected to words like that on my site. And here, I rule. I make the decisions.

NASCAR provokes many emotions from many fans. Sometimes emotional moments take us into the territory that I can't abide by on this forum. I don't mind what you say in a personal, private e-mail, but you have to try, at least, to understand why I censor certain outbursts of emotion on this site. Or, I hope you do. If you don't, there are plenty of places to vent profane outbursts. You can't do it here, though.

This site is a place for people of all ages. My rule of thumb has always been this: If you wouldn't say it in front of your mother or your 6 year old, don't say it here. It's that simple.

Unfortunately, a lot of posts to this site are not an emotional reaction to what I write, but simply a reaction to what I write about. Your driver got crashed out in the last few laps after having a great run all day? I understand your angst and your emotion, but don't drop the F bomb here. I won't allow it.

For those of you who don't know it, I'm a life long resident of the Bible Belt. I'm a Christian, and proud of it. I'm not perfect, and I'm far from it. Sometimes I use the same words as anyone else does. I ask God's forgiveness when I do. Doesn't mean He'll forgive me, because I'm wrong when I do it.

I'm asking your forgiveness too. When some of your posts don't get published, please remember, I have some standards here. I want people 80 years old and 8 years old to be able to read this site and not be shocked or offended by the language.

Call me old fashioned. Call me a lot worse, but keep it on the e-mail, please. By the way, my e-mail is jimcinsc@gmail.com. If you want to let me have it, let me have it there.

Not here, but you can if you keep it clean.

Tiger Who? No, not THAT Tiger.

For those of you who are confused, and you surely are, there is nothing NASCAR related in this article. But I do the blog, and 99.3 per cent of the time, I do write about NASCAR. Not tonight though.

This is a true story that I heard on one of my favorite radio stations tonight as I was driving home from Toccoa, Ga. The station is WCCP FM, which is the main sports talk station in Upstate South Carolina. The radio station is based in Clemson, SC, and is currently the voice of the Clemson Tigers sports teams. WCCP broadcasts Clemson football, baseball, basketball, and whatever else they can fit into their busy schedule.

Tonight, I listened to a show called the UFO Show, which features two good guys, neither of which is a professional radio broadcaster, but are entertaining in their own right. The shows hosts are brothers-in-law, and best of friends, and go by the names Tiger Jim and Carolina Tom.

To those of you familiar with college athletics in South Carolina, you have already figured out what schools these two gentlemen follow. For those of you who don't, Tiger Jim is a Clemson University Tiger fan, and his brother-in-law, Carolina Tom, is a fan of the University of South Carolina Gamecocks. In the state of South Carolina, there is no rivalry as fierce as the one between these two schools. This rivalry has been going on since my parents were kids, and it seems to grow stronger every year.

Wherever you live, you probably have a college that you support, at least as a fan of their athletic teams, and it's pretty much the same all over the USA, and even all over the world. Georgia and Georgia Tech. Michigan and Ohio State. Southern Cal and Notre Dame. Texas and Oklahoma. Auburn and Alabama. You get my drift here, I'm sure. The biggest game of each year here in SC occurs when Clemson and South Carolina do battle on the field of honor each November.

As radio hosts in a major market in the state of South Carolina, Tiger Jim and Carolina Tom are members of the media, and therefore entitled to press credentials at sporting events, at least in theory, and in this state, it would seem.

Not so!

Apparently Jim and Tom had no problems in acquiring press passes at Clemson University. They filled out the proper forms, submitted them, and were approved without any problems.

Carolina Tom applied for press passes at the University of South Carolina for both he and Tiger Jim, and had to provide their bona fides, such as the radio station on which they can be heard, when their show airs, and what the hosts' names are. Tom filled out the forms, and mentioned that the hosts were, indeed, Tiger Jim and Carolina Tom.

A week or so later, the hosts each received e-mails from whatever office at the U. of SC that handles such requests. Carolina Tom received approval, and even a parking space for events at Carolina sporting events. Tiger Jim was told, regretfully, that the University of South Carolina didn't have enough space for him to be included in the press corps.

Carolina Tom called whomever handles the press passes at USC to complain, and try to fix the problem. Tom was apparently told that there would not at this time, nor ever in the future, be a press pass issued to anyone who called himself "Tiger" anything. Oh, and by the way, nothing is going to change that.

Next year, Jim and Tom will maybe submit their real names, and not their radio show names to the University of South Carolina press office, and all will probably be approved.

Business will not get in the way of sentiments, I suppose, when it comes to giving the 'enemy' a seat in your house!

I wonder what would happen if Tiger Woods called the University of South Carolina and asked for a pass? Hmmm. Just wondering.

If you're ever in the Upstate South Carolina area, tune your radio to 104.9 on the FM dial and hear some great sports talk!

Oh, and by the way. Tiger Jim and Carolina Tom, you do a great job. I've listened before, and will be tuned in to listen to you again.

Old vs. New: Looking at Chase Points

Under the current Chase points system used by NASCAR for the Sprint Cup series, Mark Martin is currently in 1st place, with Jimmie Johnson following closely behind by only 10 points. As close as this race is between numbers 1 and 2, it's another 55 points back to 3rd place Juan Pablo Montoya.

All in all, from 1st to 12th place in the Chase points system, there are only 189 points separating Mark Martin from 12th place Kasey Kahne. With 8 races to go, it's still technically possible for any of the top 12 drivers in the Chase to win the championship for 2009. For the purpose of making the end of the Cup season more exciting, NASCAR has been successful in implementing the Chase points system.

For comparison, let's examine the points as they would appear under the old, pre Chase system. Thanks to Jayski.com, we are able to easily make that comparison.

Under the old points system, Tony Stewart would still be in the lead by 175 points over 2nd place Jeff Gordon. Jimmie Johnson would be in 3rd place, only 1 point behind his teammate Jeff. Under the Chase system, Tony Stewart finds himself in 5th place, and Jeff Gordon is in 8th place. Under the old points system, Mark Martin would be in 5th place, 419 points behind Tony Stewart. Since the Chase system has been in place, much the same story has been true every year.

Also under the old system, instead of 189 points separating the top 12, the points gap would be 628. This is obviously the really true advantage of the Chase; keeping the points close and putting more than 2 or 3 drivers in the run for the championship with 10 or so races to go. Other than that, I don't really know of any other advantages for the Chase system.

Drivers outside of the Chase are still on the track every week, but with obviously less TV time because they are locked out of a championship run. These drivers are still racing, however. Drivers are auditioning for new jobs, new sponsors, or just trying to prove to their existing sponsors that they can still deliver the goods, so-so season or not.

In an economy where securing and keeping sponsors has been in many ways harder to achieve than wins on the race track itself, it appears that the Chase might have outlived its usefulness. NASCAR needs all the sponsors it can get, and excluding so many from the lime light for the 'playoffs' can't sit well with sponsors whose names are on cars outside of the top 12.

Taming the Monster: A Look at Dover

At exactly 1 mile in length, Dover technically qualifies as a super speedway, but in reality, the Monster Mile personifies a short track racing experience in NASCAR.

Racing is intense at Dover. In many aspects, the racing there reminds me of Darlington, another super speedway with a short track personality.

The diversity among recent winners at Dover shows just how hard it can be for any driver to totally dominate at this track. Just in the last 10 years alone, the track has had 13 different winners, partly, of course, because NASCAR runs 2 races per year in the Cup series at Dover.

In the last 10 years, Mark Martin and Ryan Newman have won multiple times. So have Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart. Bobby Labonte has won at Dover. Matt Kenseth has won here. So have Greg Biffle, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Who's the odds on favorite to win at Dover this week? Personally, I have no clue, but I'm personally betting on momentum at this point. Mark Martin looks good to win just about anywhere these days, and Dover should be no exception.

Certainly, Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart have a good chance of winning at Dover as well. The same could be said for Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman, Greg Biffle, or Carl Edwards.

Personally, I think it would be a treat to see someone win who has never won a Dover race, such as strong Chase contenders Kurt Busch or Denny Hamlin. A win by someone outside the top 12 would be good to see too, such as maybe Marcos Ambrose, Clint Bowyer, Casey Mears, Kevin Harvick, or dare I say it? A repeat win for Dale Earnhardt Jr? What would that do for the TV ratings?

Once again, NASCAR goes head to head with the NFL on Sunday. Last week at New Hampshire, NASCAR was the big loser in that battle. Personally, I doubt that NASCAR will fare much better again on Sunday, but a great race and a win by a popular driver couldn't hurt. I think that the racing will be great, and the winner, of course, will be they guy that survives the Monster with all the fenders intact.

The Chase was designed to give NASCAR a boost as the season winds down, to erase any huge point leads, and to put the top 12 drivers on a more or less level playing field for the last 10 races of the season. NASCAR, however, appears to be in a lose-lose situation when they go up against the mighty NFL for TV ratings, and unless something drastic happens in the NASCAR world in the remaining 9 races for 2009, that situation will likely not change.

For more in depth information regarding the NASCAR vs. NFL battle, check out the undisputed guru of NASCAR TV coverage, John Daly, at his site. There are tons of great comments there!

Chase Teams Hobbled Going Into Battle

It was interesting to watch Kasey Kahne handling the media this past weekend at New Hampshire. Rather than fielding the usual questions about his chances at winning a championship, Kasey was instead asked about what's happening at Richard Petty Motorsports.

Kahne's answers were diplomatic, but revealing.

Basically, Kasey Kahne doesn't know who's running what at RPM. He assumes Robbie Loomis will be in charge of racing operations, but right now he's just not sure. Apparently no one else at RPM knows exactly what's going on either, or if they do, they're not saying.

Kasey Kahne had an early exit from Sunday's race, suffering a blown engine.

It was revealed also that Pat Tryson, crew chief for the 2 Dodge of Kurt Busch, is only allowed in the Penske shop one day a week for racing debriefs. Tryson has announced that he will be leaving Penske Racing and joining Michael Waltrip Racing in 2010.

Tryson's race day duties apparently remain unchanged for now, but one has to wonder how effective he can be as a crew chief when he has virtually no input on setting up the race cars that he's in charge of tuning at the track.

In other news, NASCAR is apparently considering tweaking its testing ban somewhat. It has been reported today that NASCAR is leaning toward allowing testing sessions at Greenville-Pickens Speedway near Greenville, SC. The reasoning behind such a move is that GPS is not far from the Charlotte area, where virtually all the NASCAR teams are based, so costs involved with testing at Greenville-Pickens would be minimal.

Greenville-Pickens Speedway has often been used for testing by NASCAR teams in the past, especially in preparation for racing at Martinsville.

Kelly Bires: Will Another Young Driver Realize His Dreams?

Kelly Bires is a 25 year old race car driver from Mauston, Wisconsin. Kelly started racing Karts at age 9, and ended up winning 2 national championships while still in his teens. Bires started his first ARCA series race in May, 2004.

Since that time, Kelly has run in the Camping World Truck Series in 2006 and 2007, scoring a top 10 finish in '07. He's run a total of 66 Nationwide Series races since 2007, showing an impressive tally of 3 top 5's and 11 top 10's during that time. Most of Kelly's Nationwide races have been run in the 47 car of JTG-Daugherty, or the team's previous incarnation, owner Tad Geschickter.

Kelly Bires has also run some races for Todd Braun, MSRP Motorsports, Kevin Harvick, and most recently at Atlanta, Brian Mullet.

In other words, Kelly Bires is not exactly an unknown. Kelly Bires has a bona fide racing pedigree.

Regardless of Kelly's past successes, the news out of Mooresville this past week must have indeed been some of the most exciting news he's ever received in his young career: A 2 year deal with JR Motorsports, with owner Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Earnhardt Jr., himself a young driver not so many years ago, has a history of aiding and benefiting young, promising drivers. I suppose it really started years ago with a deal worked out between Junior and his step-mom Teresa Earnhardt, when they formed the short lived Chance 2 Motorsports, giving a young driver named Martin Truex Jr. a leg up in the sport. Martin went on to win Nationwide championships, and currently is a winning driver in the Cup series. Truex will be driving Toyotas for Michael Waltrip Racing in 2010.

Dale Jr. went on to form his own company, JR Motorsports, which a few years ago took a relatively little known driver named Brad Keselowski, and put him in a car with sponsorship, good equipment, and a great crew chief, namely Jr.'s original crew chief, cousin Tony Eury Sr. Brad went on to win in the Nationwide series, and even won his first Cup race at Talladega this year, though only running a part time schedule. Though Brad Keselowski wasn't driving for Dale Jr. at Talladega, one has to think that the skills he polished while driving the 88 JRM car led ultimately to his first win in the big show.

Next year, Brad Keselowski will be leaving JRM and driving for Roger Penske full time in the Cup series, as well as at least a partial schedule in the Nationwide series. Brad has become yet the latest graduate of the Dale Jr. development school for promising young drivers.

JR Motorsports, backed by Hendrick equipment and engineering, is a great place for an aspiring Cup driver to find himself early in his career. For Kelly Bires, this is a chance of a lifetime.

Virtually all successful Cup drivers find ways to give back to the sport which has been so good to them. Most have their own charities, all worthy causes. Many have foundations which help feed children, take care of injured pets and other animals, and provide for victims of disasters. All are very worthy and noble causes.

Other drivers, such as Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kevin Harvick, participate in all the other charities and events, but they take it one step farther, by helping young drivers get into the sport they love. For Kevin and Dale Jr., their race teams are indeed business ventures, and one day both drivers will probably slip on the reigns of ownership in its entirety when they finally hang up their helmets for the last time.

Finding and cultivating young drivers who might not ordinarily have the path opened to them is a great service not only to the young drivers involved, but to the sport itself. Kelly Bires will certainly try to make the most of this opportunity, and given his level of talent, is almost assured of much success during his tenure at JR Motorsports.

Kelly Bires, your ship has come in. All aboard!

The Chase for the Cup is Set

After watching all the races leading up to the 2009 Sprint Cup Chase for the Cup, there are relatively few surprises as to who is in the Chase and maybe one surprise as to at least one driver who is not.

Kyle Busch, even with 4 wins, failed to make the field for the 2009 Sprint Cup Chase. Is this just more proof that the Chase idea is a bad one?

Should a driver with 4 wins automatically be in the chase, despite the DNF's and poor finishes that brought him up just a few points short of making the show?

Many people think so.

NASCAR's points system has almost always rewarded consistency over pure victories. Victories are the fastest ways to gain points, but finishing in the top 5 or top 10 every week provides a driver with more comfort when it comes down to crunch time. Theoretically, I suppose, it's entirely possible for a driver to win the Sprint Cup without a single victory, or even having led a lap. It's unlikely, but it's possible.

I'll leave the argument over whether this makes for good racing to the experts, but the system is what we've got right now.

By experts, I mean, of course, You, the fans.

NASCAR Fans and Manufacturer Loyalty

The big news of the day is, of course, the announcement that Richard Petty Motorsports has signed a letter of intent to merge with Yates Racing before the 2010 season. This means that RPM will be switching to Ford, which seems to have a few fans upset.

Switching brands is nothing new in NASCAR of course. It's especially not new for Richard Petty.

Though Petty is probably best known for his relationship with Chrysler Corporation, namely his days driving Plymouths and Dodges, Petty Enterprises also drove Chevrolets and yes, even Fords at one time or another.

Many NASCAR teams have, over the years, switched manufacturers when circumstances have proven beneficial to do so. Some have never done so, however.

Jack Roush has always been a Ford man. He worked for Ford for many years, and his loyalties have always been to Dearborn. Jack Roush fielding a brand other than Ford is unimaginable. Richard Childress and Rick Hendrick have always been just as loyal to Chevrolet. The former Dale Earnhardt Inc, which is now known as Earnhardt Ganassi Racing will likely not field anything but Chevrolets, at least as long as Teresa Earnhardt has a stake in the company.

It should be remembered, however, that even the Great One himself, Dale Earnhardt, drove Fords for Bud Moore early in his career. He didn't much like them, but he won some races in them.

In reading through the great multitude of comments on Twitter today, I was not surprised to see much dismay, and even disbelief that RPM would become a Ford team. One Kasey Kahne fan even said she could no longer support her driver if he became a Ford man. On the face of it, that seems a little harsh, but if nothing else, NASCAR fans are loyal. At least loyal to something.

Many fans are loyal to their drivers, and could care less if their driver was driving a Ford, a Dodge, a Toyota, a Chevrolet, or a Kia or even a John Deere lawn mower.

Other fans will change drivers in a heart beat if their guy goes to drive for a hated auto company. As loyal to the point of sickening as some accuse Dale Jr. fans of being, some in the Junior Nation would drop Little E like a hot potato if he ever drove for Ford, or Dodge, or Toyota. Some of them already did when he went to drive for Rick Hendrick.

Many of us have our favorite manufacturers when it comes to NASCAR, and quite a few of us carry over that loyalty to our personal preference in vehicles. Some of us wish we could drive the Ford, Dodge, Chevrolet, or Toyota that our favorite driver climbs into every Sunday, but not all of us can do that. If money were no object, I'd probably have a 2009 Chevrolet Impala, as sporty as I could get it. Because of economics and practicality, I drive a Toyota Tacoma, though I'm not really a fan of any of the current Toyota drivers in Cup.

As far as the RPM-Yates merger, I believe it will be a win-win situation for both. Dodge's uncertainties and lack of support have left the Dodge teams hanging to a certain extent this year. Ford seems to be the healthiest of the Big Three at the moment, and Roush-Yates engines seem to be some of the most durable in the sport right now. Ford will certainly benefit by being able to associate the Petty name with its racing program. Petty will have a stronger support group than he has had in years, and Yates basically gets to live to fight another day.

Downsides to the deal? A few, certainly. Reed Sorenson is out of a job, but apparently he already knew that. It was originally thought that the Roush-Fenway 26 team, with Jamie McMurray as driver, would be handed off to Yates racing, but it now appears that the team will just go away. It appears that Jamie is out of a job as well right now. Hall Of Fame Racing, which fields the 96 Ford has been run out the Yates shop in 2009, though they have already hinted that they would not do so next year. That seems to be a given now, so one wonders what will happen to the 96 as well for 2010. Bobby Labonte will likely again be looking for a ride again for 2010. It will all depend on sponsorship. I'll ask Ask.com if they'll still sponsor the 96 next year. I'll let you know if they tell me anything useful.

It appears that the 4 RPM-Yates teams will be Kasey Kahne, Elliot Sadler, A.J. Allmendinger, and Paul Menard. Paul Menard, you ask? Why of course. Paul's the man with a built in sponsor, which is gold for any NASCAR owner. Paul's primary sponsor, Menards, will never leave him for poor performance. They can't. Daddy owns the company.

Oh, I'm not saying that Paul Menard is a bad driver. Billionaire daddy or not, Paul has won a Nationwide race, and has 2 top 10's and 1 top 5 in his 100 Cup starts.

What's your biggest loyalty as a NASCAR fan? Is it to your driver, or a particular sponsor, or a particular owner? Could it be to a particular auto manufacturer? There's no right, there's no wrong.

It's all good.

Danica Patrick to NASCAR?

Supposedly it will happen, but nobody knows exactly when or for who Danica will be driving in NASCAR.

First of all, I want to say that there is no reason why Danica shouldn't have a great career in NASCAR. She's obviously a talented driver, and she can learn how to drive cars fast with fenders on the car.

But I will say that I don't expect Danica to win 9 championships in a row in NASCAR, because that seems to be what a lot of the "Taxi cab" snobs think will happen. You know who I'm talking about. There are elite open wheel fans who sneer down their noses at anything NASCAR, and refer to our sport as "Boys driving taxi cabs in circles.", since the sentiment is that it takes no real talent to drive in NASCAR.

Ask Juan Pablo Montoya how hard it is. Ask Scott Speed. Ask anyone named Fittipaldi or Papis. Ask former open wheel star Tony Stewart how hard it is to win in NASCAR.

Tony is probably the only former open wheel guy to make it really big in NASCAR's ranks.

Can Danica do it in NASCAR? Of course she can. She probably will too, but don't expect spectacular results too soon. Driving in circles with fenders on one's car can take time to procure as a talent.

Good for Danica. Come racing where it's as real as it ever gets.

Bobby Labonte Will Be at Atlanta, and The Dangers of Frisbee

Bobby Labonte, who lost his 96 Ask.com Ford ride for 7 races to make way for Erik Darnell and his new sponsorship package with Northern Tool and Equipment and Academy Sports and Outdoors, will be attempting to qualify the 71 Chevy owned by TRG Motorsports and sponsored by TaxSlayer for Sunday's Atlanta race.

Ordinarily, Bobby Labonte would be able to make use of a Past Champion's Provisional to ensure that he makes the field, but since his name was not on the entry list for the 71 car before the deadline, Labonte will have to qualify on time in order to make the race. David Gilliland has made 22 starts in the 71 car so far this year.

In other news, Carl Edwards has apparently broken his right foot playing Frisbee.

Some of us probably thought that driving race cars at 200 miles per hour and doing back flips was dangerous, but now we know the true menace that faces NASCAR drivers.

Frisbee.

(Get well soon, Carl. I kid because I care.)

NASCAR on ESPN. Changing My Tune A Little

If you are a frequent reader of this site, you know that I have been critical to some extent of virtually all of the networks which broadcast NASCAR races. For years, I preferred FOX to other networks, but I, along with apparently a ton of other fans, was glad when FOX handed over the broadcasts to TNT. I think "Digger" did it to me. Cute is just fine, at least for a while, but the great minds behind the broadcasts at FOX might want to remember that too much of just about anything is usually not a good thing. Remember Barney the Dinosaur? I rest my case.

When my step daughter was growing up, I wanted to wrap myself with explosives and blow myself up in close proximity to that purple twerp. That act probably wouldn't have brought me any parent of the year awards, but I'm pretty sure I would have been a hero to many other parents, none the less.

Every network that brings us NASCAR racing has its strengths as well as weaknesses. What I perceive to be a strength or weakness is of course a matter of opinion. Personally, I like Darrell Waltrip and the homespun wit that he brings to the FOX broadcasts. Many fans can't stand Old DW. I understand. I appreciate Kyle Petty and Wally Dallenbach on TNT, mostly because I feel that they both tell it like it is, and won't hesitate to be brutally honest in their opinions.

ESPN brings what I consider to be two solid personalities in the racing world, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree. Dale Jarrett is obviously a chip off the old block, following in his father Ned's footsteps not only as a racing champion, but a great broadcaster as well. Andy brings a wealth of experience not only as a winning crew chief, but as an owner to the booth as well.

I suppose my biggest problem lately with ESPN's broadcasts is the play by play man, Dr. Jerry Punch. It's not that I don't like Dr. Punch, because I do. I feel he simply does not fit into the role of play by play announcer comfortably.

Dr. Jerry Punch is one of the best NASCAR pit reporters ever, in my opinion. Dr. Jerry ranks right up there with Dick Berggren, who performs pit reporting duties for FOX. In my opinion, Jerry and Dick are the very best of the best when it comes to bringing us stories from pit road and the garage.

I do want to commend ESPN for the job they do overall when it comes to bringing us the Nationwide and Cup races. Think about it this way: Of the 3 networks that broadcast the races, only ESPN is the one network totally committed to sports. If you turn on ESPN any time of the day or night, you will see everything from NFL and NCAA football to dart contests. I never even knew what curling was until I caught a show explaining it on ESPN late one night.

What I'm trying to say is that ESPN covers virtually every sport under the sun, or the moon, which ever the case may be. If you think about the enormity of such an undertaking, it's easier to give ESPN a little wiggle room when it comes to providing a flawless or perfect broadcast, week after week. By the way, neither FOX nor TNT put on a flawless or perfect broadcast either. ESPN is experimenting with some new camera angles for in-car, or maybe on-car cameras. The results are somewhat baffling at times, but it provides a new perspective for fans who want to see as much as they can. I applaud the network for trying new things. Experimentation is never a bad thing when it comes to bringing the fans something new and exciting to see. Sometimes trying a new thing might be a waste of time, or it might be copied by the other networks next year. If that happens, you know you did something right as a broadcaster.

All in all, ESPN is the best network for sports, period. If you can't find your sport on ESPN, nobody plays it or watches it. ESPN strives to be the best broadcaster of NASCAR racing, and given a little time, they probably will be. I'm just gateful that we now can watch each and every race that NASCAR puts on. It wasn't that long ago that we only got abreviated versions of the action, and rarely got to see any Nationwide or Truck racing at all. NASCAR on TV has come a long way in the last 10 years.

ESPN, keep up the good fight. You're getting better, from a fan's point of view, a race at a time.

My only suggestion is this: Marty Reid is a good play by play man. Please try putting him in the driver's seat a little more often.

Bobby Labonte out of the 96 Ford for 7 Races

It was announced yesterday that veteran driver and past champion Bobby Labonte will not be in his number 96 Ask.com Ford for 7 of the remaining races in 2009.

Bobby will be replaced by 26 year old Erik Darnell for these 7 races. Erik as 11 starts in NASCAR's Nationwide series and has 2 top 10 finishes this year. Erick has 2 wins in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in his career as well.

Erik Darnell has managed to put together some sponsorship deals with Academy Sports and Outdoors and Northern Tools and Equipment for his seven race deal in the 96 car.

"This is a move that should be beneficial to Yates Racing surviving this difficult economic time," Bobby Labonte said. "Of course I'm disappointed that the sponsorship environment is so challenging right now, but I intend to make the most out of the remaining races that I'm behind the wheel for Ask.com, DLP, and Hall of Fame Racing."

Hall of Fame Racing would like to keep Bobby Labonte as its Sprint Cup driver in 2010, according to team co-owner Tom Garfinkle. Ask.com has been the primary sponsor of the 96 Ford for all but seven of the remaining races in 2009. Garfinkle said that discussions are still taking place with Ask.com for sponsorship options in 2010, though it is doubtful that the team will be affiliated with Yates Racing next year.

Bobby Labonte has started 568 consecutive Cup races and has won 21 Cup races, including the Cup championship in 2000. Labonte has also won 10 Nationwide series races, including the championship in 1991. Bobby Labonte has also won a Camping World Truck Series race in 2005 and an IROC championship in 2001.



Sources: Jayski.com, SceneDaily.com, Yates Racing PR, Racing-Reference.Info.com

The Montreal Demolition Derby

I didn't get to see all of the NASCAR Nationwide series race from the road course at Montreal, but I did get to see the last 25 or 30 laps or so. Those relatively few laps took about 2 hours and change to watch, since there were more cautions in those closing laps than often occur in many local figure 8 track races. With school buses racing instead of cars. That's about how bad it was.

If you like seeing torn up cars, Montreal in the rain is the place to be. I did notice the absolute king of the wrecking machines though, and that was one Steve Wallace, driver of the number 66 Five Hour Energy Drink Chevy. In the closing laps of the Montreal race, I think even the driver's seat in that car must have gotten bent a few times. I still don't understand how Steve even finished the race, as beat up as his car was. Had there been about 2 more cautions, Steve would have needed the Ten Hour Energy Drink as a sponsor.

The Tasmanian Devil, Marcos Ambrose dominated the race, leading by far the most laps, and lead right up until the last corner of the last lap when he shot his car airborne over the rumble strips and went wide, opening up a hole for race winner Carl Edwards to shoot through. Marcos was obviously unhappy in his post race interview, giving a short, terse one sentence summation of his day and then walking away from the microphone. Marcos did give us his winning grin though, and that was nice, though it must have been very hard for him to do.

Carl Edwards gave us his trade marked back flip, and for the second time in his career, at least that I've noticed, he landed on the pavement, instead of the grass. I really hope that young man doesn't misjudge his flip and finds himself in the hospital with a concussion. Suggestion to Carl: Leave your helmet on next time you do that on the pavement! Take off the HANS device, but leave the helmet. It would be a shame to lose a driver because he was pulling off a race win tradition, and did it badly.

I'm of mixed emotions about racing in the rain after Montreal. It's pretty cool watching the cars kick up rooster tails of spray as they go around the course, but please, Rusty Wallace Inc., do us all a favor next time.

Find a substitute for Steve Wallace next year, please!

Ceremony

It seems that many things in this life are governed by ceremony. Depending on your religion, you were probably subject to some kind of ceremony in your youth, whether it be baptism or bar mitzvah. Or bat mitzvah, for the ladies who might read this.

I just watched the funeral ceremony for Senator Edward Moore Kennedy, better known as Teddy, who died the other day. I was somewhat taken with the precision of the military casket bearers, as I always am. Military precision is crucial in many ceremonies. I was impressed by the precision practiced by the priests during the actual funeral ceremony. When I was a boy, I went to an Episcopalian school for several years, and was always impressed by the ceremony that is the Holy Sacrament, or as others call it, eating the bread and drinking the wine. In my case, it was grape juice, but the meaning was the same.

Life has ceremonies for practically everything. When you get married, there is a ceremony. When you die, there's even more of a ceremony.

NASCAR has its own ceremonies. Ever notice how the crews line up on pit road for the invocation and national anthem? That's a ceremony. It might be a somewhat informal one, but it's still a ceremony. Seeing the crew members lined up, hands over their hearts, while the national anthem is played is a special moment for me. As jets fly over, showing their thundering might, that's one of the best moments of the weekend for me.

Seeing drivers kiss their wives or girlfriends before they get into the car is a ceremony in itself. In a way, they're saying goodbye, just in case. In racing, you just never know which time might be the last time. We all pray and hope that there will never be a last time, but we are all mortal, after all.

Racing is a dangerous business. People die doing it. There is always the risk that in any given race, a driver will die. Thanks to safety improvements, that doesn't happen as much anymore, but cars moving at 200 mph provides a lot of circumstances which might push the balances a little. Sooner or later, someone dies while they're racing. HANS device or not, it's going to happen.

Do we as NASCAR fans have a morbid curiosity about death? No, we don't. We don't want to see drivers die, and we especially don't want to see fans die. It's happened a couple of times throughout NASCAR's history, but they, ahem, we, don't talk about that too much. Death is a pretty final thing. Kenny Irwin. Adam Petty. Neil Bonnett. Dale Earnhardt. Too much death. Not a good business model for NASCAR.

A lot of new NASCAR fans don't get what this sport is all about, sometimes. Gentlemen in taxi cabs driving around in circles. Guess what, unless you're drag racing, you are ALL driving around in circles when you race. Your are all driving around in circles when you go to the grocery store. Think about it. You are basically just driving in a circle every day of your life.

Ceremony. It's a part of life. It's a part of NASCAR. Ceremony is part of everything we do. We aspire to it. We await it, in some way, always. We dream of it.

Ceremony. It's all about life.

Personally, I hate ceremonies. I don't like them. I drink free beer and leave them as soon as possible.

Bristol Night Race Lives Up to the Hype

Saturday night racing at Bristol! Does it get any better? My short answer is not really.

A lot of people have criticized the racing at Bristol Motor Speedway lately. Personally, I thought the Sharpie 500 was a good race. I was not surprised that Kyle Busch won the race, because he is, after all, a very good race car driver. Like him or hate him, Kyle Busch can wheel a race car.

Besides Kyle, one of the drivers I was most impressed with was the always smiling Aussie, Marcos Ambrose. The 47 team uses Michael Waltrip engines and chassis, and I've been very impressed with this team this year. Ambrose never ceases to impress, it would seem. The Tasmanian born driver came to the USA just a few short years ago, and is only a gnat's eyelash away from winning his first Cup race, I think.

Some drivers with high hopes for Bristol had much worse than expected finishes. Tony Stewart, who still owns the points lead, took a hit on Saturday night. Tony experienced radio problems from the very beginning of the race, and only got them sorted out relatively late in the race. The car had problems as well. At one point, Tony needed a push from a NASCAR truck to get started.

Kevin Harvick was running well at times, though he had some bad pit stops. Kevin's day was ended late in the race after a collision with his teammate, Clint Bowyer. Clint's day was ended a few laps later after another collision with Michael Waltrip. Clint and Michael both were having pretty good runs until a couple of Big One's ensued at Bristol, as they almost always do.

I think my biggest surprise of the night was how magnanimous Kyle Busch was in his victory lane interview. Kyle almost apologized for winning the race ahead of Mark Martin, who had a very strong car and was the lap leader for the race. Kyle was in the lead when it mattered, at lap 500. Kyle was also very good on late race restarts. Kyle Busch won the Sharpie 500 hands down, even though he probably didn't have the best car. Kudos to the 50 year old guy for making the race exciting though. Oh, yeah, I'm talking about Mark Martin there, not Kyle Busch. I have a feeling that Kyle will probably be getting people excited when he's 50 years old too. They may boo, or they may cheer, but they will be making noise, never the less.

There are many more stories to be told about this Bristol night race, but I'm only telling you the ones that got my attention.

My congratulations go out to Dale Earnhardt Jr., for securing his second consecutive top 10 finish of 2009. Is it possible that the 88 team is finally turning a corner and becoming more competitive? For the good of the sport, I hope so.

Remembering Legends of NASCAR: Curtis Turner

You think Little E parties too much? No way. Curtis Turner was the king of parties back in the day. Curtis was a former bootlegger who turned NASCAR driver back in the early days of the sport. Curtis won in every kind of car he ever drove in, but was especially known for his talent on dirt. Nobody could beat Curtis on dirt.

They called him 'Pops', not because of his age, but because he had a reputation for 'popping' other cars on the track. Dale Earnhardt was not the first NASCAR driver to do that!

Curtis was not only a race driver, he also flew his own planes long before most NASCAR drivers even flew to race tracks on private planes.

Fact: Curtis Turner once landed his Aero Commander, a 2 engine private airplane on Main Street, Easley, South Carolina, way back in the 1960's. It's true. Check it out.

Curtis earned and lost fortunes in the timber industry, all the while driving for NASCAR. Curtis was once banned for life from the sport for trying to start a driver's union. Big Bill France wasn't too happy about that. Curtis, along with a guy named Bruton Smith, financed and built Charlotte Motor Speedway, lately known as Lowes Motor Speedway, in Concord, North Carolina.

Curtis Turner lost his life flying his own airplane, in Pennsylvania. Curtis was 46 years old when he died.

Here's a passage from the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America site about Curtis Turner.

"The Babe Ruth of Stock Car Racing." Tag a sports figure with so mythic a
designation and he'd best be able to live up to it. Curtis Turner, the
original
superstar of NASCAR, whose cars danced brilliant slides across the
old beach
course at Daytona, whose determination behind the wheel made him a
fan favorite
and a threat on dirt ovals and swift superspeedways, and whose
larger-than-life
presence in the sport as a driver-businessman made his
name, wore the
distinction well.
Whether he was setting the then-record
for most wins in a
season (23 in 1956), or raising the funds necessary to
build his beloved
Charlotte (now Lowe's) Motor Speedway, he remained a man
of enormous vision and
talent. As Humpy Wheeler said, "He may have been the
best natural race driver
we've seen." Added Benny Parsons, "Ask any fan
under fifty, ´Who's the greatest
driver you ever saw,' and it's Dale
Earnhardt. Ask anybody over fifty -
including the pioneers who drove at the
beginning - and the answer's Curtis
Turner."
His illustrious career
began as many did during the seminal
southern racing days, driving modifieds
on makeshift tracks while moonshining in
the 1940s. By then Turner had also
begun his millionaire career as a timber
broker; he'd eventually buy and
sell the equivalent of six percent of North
Carolina. But when his good
friend William France started NASCAR, Turner was
there, running in that
first race in 1949, beginning an exceptional ride in the
elite leagues. He
was the first driver to win two-straight NASCAR races while
leading every
lap. He teamed with France in 1950 in the first Mexican Road Race,
and
essayed a final-day run so startling, one historian wrote, "It is doubtful
anyone ever put on a greater performance behind the wheel of an automobile."
When the NASCAR Convertible Division raced from 1956 through 1959, Turner
won an
astounding 33 of the first 74 races, including 22 out of 47 in year
one, the
season he also captured the Southern 500 and the sports first-ever
most popular
driver award. In all, he won 17 times in what is now the Nextel
Cup division,
including the 1965 American 500, the first race at Rockingham,
which sealed his
comeback after four years away from NASCAR.
But he's
remembered most for
doing what others simply refused to. Turner could
execute a perfect 180-degree
turn on a single-lane bridge. A handsome,
dazzling figure, he threw parties that
were legend, his house becoming the
land of a thousand anecdotes. Until he did
it, no stock-car racer had run
the treacherous Pike's Peak Hill Climb in under
15 minutes. He tried to send
satellites into space. And when Jimmy Hoffa and the
Teamsters asked him to
start a driver's union-in exchange for their broken
promise of a loan to
save his speedway-he did so, crossing swords with France,
who banned him
"for life" in 1961. After sitting out some prime years, Turner
was invited
back in 1965, and he thrilled again. It is for these achievements as
well
that he became, in 1968, the first NASCAR driver ever put on the cover of
Sports Illustrated.
And only two years later, he was gone, at 46, after
crashing his plane in Pennsylvania. His peerless legacy remains: Turner is
one
of NASCAR's "50 Greatest Drivers," a revered figure even among current
racers
and a member of many halls of fame. And now, finally, he shines here
as well.
By Robert Edelstein

Sorry about the formatting. I reproduced it just like it was on the site.

Tough Economic Times Takes Toll on NASCAR

From one end of spectrum to the other, America is feeling the effects of a tough economy. Jobs are hard to come by, and many people are feeling the pinch when it comes time to make their monthly payments for lights, rent, mortgages, TV, and anything else you can think of.

NASCAR has also felt the pinch that many people do, in the form of lost sponsorships and lost revenues in terms of ticket sales and racing related merchandise. Grand stands are often sparsely populated during racing events. Some of the merchandise sellers have taken a beating on tee shirt and hat sales.

Is this the beginning of the end for NASCAR?

No, it's not.

NASCAR has dealt with bad economies in the past. Remember the oil crunch in the 1970's? OK, maybe you don't, but I do. I'm old enough to remember gas lines, much as some of us experienced for a few days after hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans a few years ago. The difference between the Katrina fallout and the 1970's was that the initial crunch passed in only a few days after Katrina. In the 1970's, gas was scarce, and sold for very high prices when it was available, for months at a time. The price of gasoline is relative. Today we complain when we pay 4 dollars a gallon for the stuff, and mostly the price of gas didn't reach those heights back in the '70's, but most people earned a lot less money back then too. In the 1970's most people were considered to be 'well off' if they earned $25,000 or $30,000 dollars a year. That can't be said in 2009.

NASCAR has always coped with bad economies. Not just the sanctioning body itself, but the teams involved. Back in the 1970's, NASCAR shortened the advertised length of races, and that seemed to work, to a certain extent. Fewer laps run means less money spent on fuel, tires, and everything else you can think of.

Today, the main crises that NASCAR and it's teams face is not one of fuel, but of sponsorship. Sponsors have been leaving the sport, taking care of themselves in their own ways by consolidating expenditures on advertising. Remember, NASCAR sponsors are driven much the same was as NASCAR itself is. Fans spend the money to support the sponsors, who, in turn pump money into the sport.

Until this year, it's mostly been a win-win situation for all involved. But now things have changed.

Companies such as Home Depot, Lowes, DeWalt, and a myriad of others have seen their sales numbers fall. Consequently, changes have had to be made. Sometimes that means not sponsoring a NASCAR team or one of the NASCAR tracks. For example, DeWalt Tools, a long time sponsor of Matt Kenseth, is leaving the sport. DeWalt has to keep it's company running, and since fewer people have the money to spend on power tools, DeWalt has felt the hit. They figure they can't afford to sponsor the 17 Ford of Matt Kenseth next year. Who could blame them? If you can't afford it, you just can't.

Lowe's is another example. Lowe's is giving up the naming rights at what was originally known as the Charlotte Motor Speedway. People simply don't have enough disposable income to pump into their local Lowe's store, and sales have fallen to the point that Lowe's feels they can't keep pumping money into the race track. As far as we know, Lowe's will still continue to sponsor the 48 Chevrolet of Jimmie Johnson, but one has to wonder if that will become a problem soon for the North Carolina based corporation.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the rest of his family have taken their names off of the in-development Alabama Motorsports Park. I don't know for sure if this was directly a product of keeping sponsorship, but it looks that way.

Speaking of sponsorship, Dale Jr. seems to be one of the best at acquiring and keeping such. Robby Gordon could probably show us a few tricks too. But, being the sport's current most popular driver probably doesn't hurt Earnhardt's ability to acquire and keep sponsors. As an Earnhardt fan, who reads and even participates on some the most popular message boards and websites devoted to Dale Earnhardt Jr, I can say that practically all of the Earnhardt Nation have become avid Mountain Dew and Amp Energy Drink buyers. I imagine that that's not true of only the Earnhardt Nation.

If you're a Brian Vickers or Scott Speed fan, you probably don't drink AMP, but tons of Red Bull.

Most Jimmie Johnson fans buy their home improvement items at Lowes. Most Joey Logano fans buy theirs at Home Depot. Fans of Tony Stewart buy their office supplies at Office Depot, and eat there burgers at Burger King. Kevin Harvick fans buy their gas at Shell stations when possible, and use Pennzoil products in their engines. Juan Pablo Montoya fans will drive 15 extra miles to do their shopping at Target, even if there's a Wal-Mart next door.

My point here is that NASCAR has the most devoted fans ever, in my humble opinion. NASCAR fans support their driver's sponsors.

And that's how NASCAR will survive the latest economic crunch.

A fan has a dollar to spend. He buys a bag of M&M's. He just supported the 18 Toyota of Kyle Busch. He could have had Skittles, but he didn't. That's support.

One of the beautiful aspects of NASCAR has been that the fans drive the sport. Fans probably drive every sport, when you get right down to it, but never so obviously as in NASCAR. If a few racing fans hadn't bought tickets to watch Bill France's spectacle on Daytona Beach back in the 1940's, what would we all be doing today? Football's fun, Baseball's great, Basketball's ok, but to me there is only one fantastic sport.

Fantastic is what stock car racing is, the way NASCAR does it. It could be better, but it's still the greatest show on earth, once again, in my humble opinion.

Introducing a New Feature

I have created a separate blog that allows you, yes, YOU, the fan, a forum in which to sound off about anything relating to NASCAR. You can check out the new site by clicking HERE.

There is only one rule, and that is that you keep your comments PG13 rated. Don't say anything that you wouldn't want your kids repeating, or anything you'd be embarrassed if your grandmother heard you say. You know what I'm talking about. Other than that, you can say whatever you want as long as it relates somehow to NASCAR.

Of course, feel free to post comments on this site as well, but the new site will be all about you and what's on your mind.

I'll post new topics every few days, or you can suggest topics you'd like to see posted. The site will not be driven by topics that I choose, however. You can post pretty much anything you want, whenever you want to.

There is no sign up form, no password, however you may be required to type in a word to post your comment. We do that to prevent spam, which no one wants to read.

I'll be posting my own comments there from time to time, so any of you who wonder what gets under my skin may find out on the new site.

Have at it, and have fun.

Who Does the Best Job Broadcasting the NASCAR Races?

We are now in what could be called the third trimester of the racing broadcast season. FOX carried us through basically the first half of the season. TNT took over for a few races. Now ESPN is going to carry us to the finish of the 2009 season. Sure, the Chase races themselves will be broadcast on ABC, but ESPN will be doing all the leg work on those broadcasts.

To be honest with you, I find strengths in all 3 of the broadcast teams. FOX has remained largely unchanged since their start in 2001. They've enhanced their coverage by adding gimmicks over the years, some of which are good, and some of which are not. Digger, oh, boy, don't get me started on Digger. Digger was cute for about 10 seconds, but now that little varmint is on my top 10 list of things I want to shoot. He's about as annoying to me as Barney the purple dinosaur was a few years ago. But then, I'm not a kid. FOX probably was putting younger audiences in mind when they brought Digger up to bat. In other words, FOX is probably being proactive with Digger, cultivating tender, young fans to watch their race broadcasts. I would think that the racing itself would be enough to draw kids to the TV on Sundays, but FOX apparently feels the need to go the extra mile.

Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds do an adequate job of providing color comments for the broadcasts. Both have matured in their second careers as broadcasters, and both bring a lot of humor to the show. People either like Ole DW or they don't. I watched him as a driver basically all of his career in that endeavor, and I have a lot of respect for Waltrip. Early on, DW was hated much as Earnhardt was during most of his career. Darrell was the 1970's version of Kyle Busch. Darrell had tons of attitude, but he also had the ability to win races. He could talk the smack, but he could back it up on the track.

As much as I appreciate FOX's efforts to bring racing to my TV, I was somewhat relieved when they handed off the broadcast duties to TNT. Ole DW and Digger are too much for me to take for an entire race season.

TNT became a much improved team this year when Ralph Sheheen was put on play by play duties, due to an apparent meltdown by veteran Bill Weber midway through TNT's tenure as the broadcasters du jour. Personally, I've never had much use for Bill Weber. It's nothing personal, but he just grates on my nerves. Ralph Sheheen's obvious enthusiasm for anything racing was apparent from the beginning, and I was actually entertained by his work on the broadcasts. If the management at TNT as half a brain, they should make sure Ralph doesn't get away from them.

To me, what set TNT's broadcasts apart from the rest is the veteran driver and racing pundit, Kyle Petty. As much as I appreciated Kyle's driving ability, I appreciate him much more when he has a microphone in front of him. Kyle has a no nonsense style about him that is priceless in the world of racing color commentary. Kyle will tell you what happened. You can trust Kyle. That's the way I feel, anyway.

Wally Dallenbach has been doing these broadcasts on TNT from the very beginning, and to tell you the truth, I didn't like him much in the beginning, back in the old NBC days. Wally has impressed me in recent years though. Wally and Kyle Petty seem to work well together, and to me, provide the best color commentary in the racing world. I have missed TNT, and personally wish they had more races to broadcast.

Larry McReynolds also joined the TNT broadcasts, jumping ship from FOX, I suppose, but he does great work on the TNT broadcasts. To be honest, I appreciate Larry Mac more on the TNT shows, even though he has a lesser role there. Larry was a great crew chief back in the day, and he provides a ton of technical knowledge to any broadcast team. Larry is a great foil to DW's wit at FOX, but he truly shines in his role as a crew chief on TNT's broadcasts.

ESPN is currently at the reigns when it comes to putting NASCAR on TV. Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree do great work bringing the race to us, color wise. Unfortunately, they are also doing most of the play by play work as well.

Don't get me wrong. I love Dr. Jerry Punch. He's been in the sport a very long time, and he's more than deserved his shot at being in the booth. Brutal honesty requires me to say that Jerry should probably be back on pit road though, because, in all honesty, he's at his best in that role. During the latest Nationwide series race, Dr. Punch was not in the booth, and was replaced by the venerable Marty Reid, and I thought, personally, that Marty did a great job calling the race. Marty also seemed to be a natural fit with Dale and Andy.

ESPN does try to keep the fans informed on what's going on back in the field, but they seem to be silent about cars that drop out after a few laps. Yes, I'm talking about start and park cars, mostly, but as a fan, I'd like to know who they are and why they claimed they couldn't continue to race. Many camera shots so far this season have shown cars going down pit road on restarts with no explanation from the booth. They don't have to tell us what's going on with the car that quit the race when a restart is on, but at least tell us later, when they have a chance to.

Dale Jarrett is a jewel in the broadcast booth. Like Kyle Petty, Dale tells it like it is. Dale, like his dad Ned, seems to have taken to broadcasting like a kitten to milk. Andy Petree is no slouch either. Andy has been both a crew chief and a team owner, and he has the ability to tell it like it is as well.

OK, enough of the talk. Here's my grades, and I'm a tough grader.

TNT - A-
FOX - B
ESPN - C

ESPN, and of course ABC, is still a work in progress. I'll grade them all again in November, God willing.

Rainy Days and Mondays

For the second consecutive week, NASCAR finds itself moving the Sunday show to Monday because of rain. Thanks to NASCAR's presence in Pennsylvania and New York these last two weeks, people in that part of the country must be rejoicing that the drought is over, if indeed there was one in that area to begin with.

Last week at the Pocono race in Long Pond, PA, we actually saw some pretty exciting racing. Watkins Glen has long been circled on my schedule, because with the new car that the Cup series is using, and the resulting lack of handling and ease of passing other cars, I've been looking forward to the Sprint Cup's second road course race of the season. At Watkins Glen, we're almost guaranteed hard racing and some excitement in terms of spins. I don't want to see anyone have a bad day at Watkins Glen, but inevitably, someone will.

Someone will have a great day though. Come hell or high water, NASCAR is going to try to get this race in today. If they can at least run half the posted distance, that will be good enough. Hopefully, we'll all see a full race today.

NASCAR hates rain delays. The show that's supposed to take place on Sunday gets pushed to Monday, when many people will be working. A lot of fans who bought tickets for the event were forced to travel home on Sunday evening without having the benefit of seeing what they came to the track to see. TV ratings will drop for much the same reason. Dedicated NASCAR fans will TIVO the race or tape it, or will watch the replay later in the week, but it's just not the same. We plan to see the show, and when the show is postponed, we're all disappointed.

As for me, I will be watching the race, since I have little else to do anyway. I hope to see a full race, with lots of hard driving, passing, and strategy. I also hope to see maybe a new winner today, someone whom nobody gave a ghost of a chance of being in the front when the checkered flag waves.

I, for one, will be hoping for drought conditions in the Greater Elmira, New York area for at least a few hours this afternoon.

Rain, rain? You can come again some other day.

Back to Road Course Racing. And I'm Glad

Don't like the road courses in NASCAR? Once upon a time, I didn't either. I've changed my mind on that over the last few years though.

Many NASCAR purists have never thought much of the so-called 'road ringers' that inevitably show up at Infineon in California and Watkins Glen in New York every year. Many of these drivers are seldom heard from during the rest of season. Some of them have no interest in running oval tracks at all. Some of them would love to be full time NASCAR drivers, but don't have the backing to run anywhere else besides the road courses. I suppose it's always better to showcase your talents when you have few opportunities to show what you can do.

Most of the regular drivers in NASCAR seem to look at the road courses as a challenge, in a few cases, an unwanted challenge. Success on oval tracks does not always translate to success on road courses, but a surprising number of drivers primarily known for their success at tracks such as Daytona, Bristol, Darlington, or Martinsville have been successful on the road courses over the years. For some reason, the reverse seems to rarely be true.

For instance, Robby Gordon is considered a serious threat at any road course, and has indeed won at both Sonoma and Watkins Glen in his Sprint Cup career. Robby's first win came, however, at New Hampshire. Robby's only other NASCAR win was in the Nationwide series, of all places, at Richmond.

Of todays current Sprint Cup drivers, Mark Martin has won at the Glen 3 times, so the driver with the most wins currently in 2009 shouldn't be counted out here. Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart have each won 4 times at Watkins Glen. Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch each have a win here.

In the Nationwide series, Ron Fellows has won 3 times since 1998. Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, and Marcos Ambrose have also won the Nationwide race at the Glen. Believe it or not, Dale Earnhardt Jr. won at the Glen in 1999 in the then Busch series.

Some drivers attempting to make the field at this years Cup race at the Glen include P.J. Jones, Boris Said, Ron Fellows, Max Papis, Brian Simo, Tony Ave, and Andy Lally. In all, there will be 11 cars not in the top 35 in points attempting to make the field, a total of 46 cars on the entry list, so 3 of these 11 cars will not make the race.

Probably the main thing I'm personally looking forward to this weekend is the fact that the races will likely not be boring. There will be spins and passing. There will be tempers flaring.

In other words, there should be good racing at Watkins Glen this weekend.

Correcting My Mistake

Yesterday I wrote about ESPN's policy regarding social networking sites, and I have apparently erred, and I wish to apologize for that.

I received an e-mail today from Andy Hall, who is a manager of media relations for ESPN Communications. Mr. Hall was kind enough to pass on some more information on the matter, in the form of an article which appears on USA Today's website regarding ESPN's policy. You can read the entire article here.

I will quote from the article:

Take ESPN's latest "Guidelines for Social Networking" that were slated to be announced Wednesday but Tuesday leaked via Twitter. ESPN's Ric Bucher tweeted ESPN "prohibiting tweeting info unless it serves ESPN." ESPN's Kenny Mayne followed with a timely international analogy: "was informed 2nd hand of Taliban-like decree against further Twitter."

If only there was such foul play afoot. Instead, the policy suggests ESPN staffers shouldn't tweet what they "wouldn't say" on-air or write online. Which should be pretty obvious, given that if ESPN staffers communicate something deemed offensive, nobody cared about the specific venue. ESPN'sDana Jacobson was suspended last year for foul comments she made at the podium of a celebrity roast in Atlantic City — it wouldn't have mattered if she'd delivered them by carrier pigeon once they became public.

The ESPN policy suggests tweeting should be just one more product, meaning no "discussing internal policies," no "disparaging colleagues or competitors" or defending "your work against those who challenge it."

Companies like the idea of their tweeting to hype company stuff, but not having them send online traffic to other websites. Now, all ESPN tweets need to appear simultaneously on ESPN.com and Twitter.com. Says ESPN.com editor Rob King, "Twitter is evolutionary, not revolutionary."

I wish to apologize for jumping to the conclusions that I did concerning ESPN's policies. I neglected to wait until ESPN had a chance to respond to all the buzz going on yesterday. I was using the information that I had at that time, and I appreciate Mr. Hall for taking the time to point out the fact that I had not head all the facts when I wrote the piece yesterday.

Thanks, Mr. Hall. It appears that nothing from the fans' point of view will change regarding NASCAR fans getting their news.

ESPN Shoots Self In Foot, NASCAR Suffers

The news has probably been reported elsewhere, but I first read it on John Daly's excellent site this morning. ESPN has cracked down on the use of Twitter and other social networking sites by its employees.

That's nothing new, right? Many companies who have employees who use computers have done much the same thing, and for productivity's sake, it's probably not a bad decision.

But for ESPN to do so is not a good decision at all.

As you can probably tell, I am on Twitter. I'm a relative newbie on the site, but I've come to enjoy it and depend on it. Many who do not understand what Twitter is all about consider it to be a site from which rumors are spread by people posing to be people they are not.

Well, actually, there is a lot of that on Twitter. The site is not without its faults. For instance, there are several 'Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s on Twitter, but none of them are real. NONE of them. Dale Jr. has said he does NOT tweet, and doesn't have a presence on Facebook or Myspace. Anyone who claims to be Dale Jr. on these sites is a fake.

Twitter does, on the other hand, have real people. A lot of NASCAR journalists post there. Several drivers do as well. If you log on to Twitter and follow Kyle Petty, Michael Waltrip, Kenny Wallace, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman, and Juan Pablo Montoya, you will be entertained. Believe me, it's well worth the price of admission, which of course, is free.

Watkinds Glen driver have a great presence there as well. I currently follow Max Papis and his wife Tati. Did you know Max partially fell through the ceiling in his house last week? I did, because he and his wife posted pictures of the event on Twitter. By the way, did you know that Tati Papis is the daughter of Emerson Fittipaldi? Well, now you do!

Delana Harvick, wife of driver Kevin Harvick is also a frequent tweeter on Twitter. That sounds funny, doesn't it, but it's true. Delana and Kevin often banter among themselves in a good natured way on Twitter.

ESPN, in its infinite wisdom, has decreed that no one in the organization, including on air talent, shall participate in this great experiment called social networking. Why is that bad? Let me 'splain.

Way back when Al Gore invented the Internet, he obviously had social networking in mind. OK, maybe I joke here, but the point I'm trying to make is that social networking was bound to happen. It probably all started with e-mail, then advanced to IM, or Instant Messaging. Message boards and then chat soon ensued. Now we've got sites like Facebook, Myspace, and a ton of others.

Twitter, on the other hand, came up with a concept. "What Are You Doing?" is the prompt, and you have 140 characters or less to say whatever it is you're doing. Or, you have 140 characters or less to say whatever you want to say. You may ask why 140 characters? I don't know, but that's the way Twitter is.

I do not have a degree in journalism, but I've taken a lot of writing classes. One of the things that was always drilled into me was don't be too 'wordy'. 'Wordy' means don't use more words than necessary to say what you want to say. That made sense to me, because I'm usually a quiet person, until you get to know me, at which point I tend to babble, because other than my cats, I don't have a lot of people to talk to. But that's another story for later. By the way, I know cats aren't people. They do listen well, however. Most of the time. OK, maybe they don't listen at all, but they look at me when I'm talking, which gives me the illusion that they're listening. Okay? Oops, I'm babbling again. Too wordy.

Anyway, Twitter makes every participant a chance to become a journalist to some degree. You have to condense your thoughts into a small space to put your ideas out there. Some people accomplish that by abbreviating words, which sometimes makes the tweets unreadable, or cryptic, to say the least.

In these days of bad economy, less money to spend, and all the other woes that face all of us each and every day, NASCAR has been hurting. Rarely are the stands full for even the biggest races of the year. People are having to cut back on their spending for items like race tickets, motel rooms, fuel to get to the races, fuel to get back home, tee shirts, hats, die casts, and all other things NASCAR related. Remember, fans are what support NASCAR, ultimately. Sponsors support the teams and the various series themselves because they believe the fans will buy their products. NASCAR has experienced a downturn in business this year because a lot of people are just like me. We just don't have much money to spend on anything but shelter, food, and clothing. Some of us are having a hard time just keeping a roof over our heads, food on the table, and decent clothes to wear. I know I am.

I wish I could go out and buy the latest die cast of the 14 Tony Stewart 'Swagger' paint scheme he ran at Pocono. I can't afford it. A lot of other people can't either. For those of you who can, I am glad that you have the ability to do so.

I'm simply going to quote a portion of John Daly's great article from this morning to show you all how I feel about ESPN silencing some of the greatest tweeters ever. It means a lot to a racing junkie like me to get the news from the tap, so to speak. John Daly can say it much more eloquently than I can.

ESPN has dropped the hammer on NASCAR reporters, anchors and production staff using Twitter. Unfortunately, they have done it during one of the most critical times of the NASCAR on ESPN season.

Throughout this year, ESPN's NASCAR efforts have been better off due in no small part to the contributions of many ESPN folks who use Twitter on a regular basis. Ryan McGee, Marty Smith, Mike Massaro, Shannon Spake and even Allen Bestwick all use this form of social media to present a mix of professional and personal messages.

This often drove Twitter users to the ESPN.com website to follow-up on a message or a link that had been posted. The entire idea of Twitter was to allow the closest thing to a short conversation to be sent anywhere to anyone who wanted to listen.

This hurts NASCAR, and its fans in an almost indescribable way. ESPN's ruling on the issue denies fans of up to the moment news, and will certainly drive NASCAR fans away from ESPN to get their racing news. This could be a sad, sad day for NASCAR. Just when they needed the boost they were getting from Twitter users, they lose it. So far, the only main affiliate of ESPN who has not been silenced on Twitter is Jay Adamczk, better known as Jayski. For many years, Jayski has run the best information site about NASCAR, and so far his news stories are picked up and posted on Twitter via RSS feed.

Long live NASCAR. Long live people like John Daly and Jayski.