Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Racing is Big...Right?
Espn.com's Page 2 occasionally run polls asking "SportsNation" as they call it their point of view. The votes are then tabulated and divided up election style into showing what option led what state. The one they are running this weekend asks: "What February event most interests you?" The options are:
-Daytona 500
-NBA All-Star Game
-NFL Combine
-MLB Spring Training
Wide range of options but only two real events that matter, as spring training and the NFL combine are offseason events outside of the limelight, and the NBA All-Star Game is the "Black Super Bowl" as some black columnists have called it where the spectacle matters but not who wins or loses.
Daytona meanwhile is kind of the kickoff into racing after a long winter (technically, that's really the 24 Hours; but we're talking mainstream here where the 24 Hours doesn't exist unless a NASCAR driver wins).
The results aren't very pleasing to the typical race fan's eye. Disclaimer: this is obviously an unscientific poll, but it's as good as numbers as you'll ever get. Also, the internet and these ESPN polls when they've shown age of voters is skewed toward younger age groups.
MLB Spring Training 43%
NBA All-Star Game 24%
NFL Combine 20%
Daytona 500 12%
12010 total votes.
No states were won by the Daytona 500. However, this gives a state-by-state breakdown, so we can tell how popular NASCAR is compared to the three major sports in the U.S. on a regional basis, with a grain of salt.
31% : Wyoming
30% : Mississippi
26% : West Virginia
22% : Nevada, North Dakota
21% : Arkansas, Alabama
20% : North Carolina
19% : Nebraska, South Dakota, Georgia, Indiana
18% : Iowa, Tennessee
17% : Florida, South Carolina
16% : Washington, Kansas, Michigan
15% : Louisiana, Ohio
14% : Arizona, Virginia
13% : Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Texas, Oklahoma, Maryland, Delaware
12% : New Mexico, Oregon, Kentucky, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island
11% : Missouri, Wisconsin, Vermont, International
10% : Colorado, Minnesota, New Jersey, Maine
9% : New York
8% : California, Connecticut
7% : New Hampshire
6% : Hawaii
5% : Utah, Massachusetts
Some observations:
-You're not going to get three more different places culturally than Hawaii, Utah, and Massachusetts.
-The California and New York numbers have to make NASCAR wince. California moreso as NASCAR have poured tons of resources into the two Fontana races in the L.A. market.
-New Hampshire? You have two races in Loudon, why are you so low?
-It's reasonable to expect Nevada's large number is due to having two races there, and also note there are no major team sports in the city of Las Vegas, mainly due to the gambling influences there.
-The best "big state" is not surprisingly North Carolina at 20%. These numbers tend to skew for smaller states due to low votes there. So unless there's a large sample size take the small state numbers such as Wyoming and South Dakota with a grain of salt.
-Two other traditionally racing-centered states in Georgia and Indiana are next at 19%.
-Weakest regions in general are not surprisingly the Northeast and Mountain West.
-Daytona 500
-NBA All-Star Game
-NFL Combine
-MLB Spring Training
Wide range of options but only two real events that matter, as spring training and the NFL combine are offseason events outside of the limelight, and the NBA All-Star Game is the "Black Super Bowl" as some black columnists have called it where the spectacle matters but not who wins or loses.
Daytona meanwhile is kind of the kickoff into racing after a long winter (technically, that's really the 24 Hours; but we're talking mainstream here where the 24 Hours doesn't exist unless a NASCAR driver wins).
The results aren't very pleasing to the typical race fan's eye. Disclaimer: this is obviously an unscientific poll, but it's as good as numbers as you'll ever get. Also, the internet and these ESPN polls when they've shown age of voters is skewed toward younger age groups.
MLB Spring Training 43%
NBA All-Star Game 24%
NFL Combine 20%
Daytona 500 12%
12010 total votes.
No states were won by the Daytona 500. However, this gives a state-by-state breakdown, so we can tell how popular NASCAR is compared to the three major sports in the U.S. on a regional basis, with a grain of salt.
31% : Wyoming
30% : Mississippi
26% : West Virginia
22% : Nevada, North Dakota
21% : Arkansas, Alabama
20% : North Carolina
19% : Nebraska, South Dakota, Georgia, Indiana
18% : Iowa, Tennessee
17% : Florida, South Carolina
16% : Washington, Kansas, Michigan
15% : Louisiana, Ohio
14% : Arizona, Virginia
13% : Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Texas, Oklahoma, Maryland, Delaware
12% : New Mexico, Oregon, Kentucky, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island
11% : Missouri, Wisconsin, Vermont, International
10% : Colorado, Minnesota, New Jersey, Maine
9% : New York
8% : California, Connecticut
7% : New Hampshire
6% : Hawaii
5% : Utah, Massachusetts
Some observations:
-You're not going to get three more different places culturally than Hawaii, Utah, and Massachusetts.
-The California and New York numbers have to make NASCAR wince. California moreso as NASCAR have poured tons of resources into the two Fontana races in the L.A. market.
-New Hampshire? You have two races in Loudon, why are you so low?
-It's reasonable to expect Nevada's large number is due to having two races there, and also note there are no major team sports in the city of Las Vegas, mainly due to the gambling influences there.
-The best "big state" is not surprisingly North Carolina at 20%. These numbers tend to skew for smaller states due to low votes there. So unless there's a large sample size take the small state numbers such as Wyoming and South Dakota with a grain of salt.
-Two other traditionally racing-centered states in Georgia and Indiana are next at 19%.
-Weakest regions in general are not surprisingly the Northeast and Mountain West.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Idiotic Race Fans Loose on the Internet #1
I'm thinking of making this a recurring segment. With the economic crisis having the bad effect on racing it has been, it has really created a factory for a cesspool of bad ideas. Thank God these people have no power over racing or any of its organizations.
This first comment is from "Lever" over at the SpeedTV forums. It is in reference to the fact that A1GP had money problems to the point their cars were impounded for a period of time in Malaysia and they had to pay $2 million before the cars would be released for their trip to New Zealand. Lever seems to think that paying Ferrari a lot more for an engine will improve the series' problems of a worldwide series as far as travel, little sponsorship, the cars aren't allowed to get sponsorship that clash with their national colors, little to no name drivers and the ones that are there seem to change from one race to the next, little TV coverage, and they're racing in some markets that have had little traditional racing interest.
"Lever": Good thing A1GP had the foresight to invest in their racing series and modernize with new cars, especially cars with the name Ferrari on them. Even in a massive economic downturn - the fact that the series is modern and exciting and has the confidence to invest in itself is probably a primary factor and selling point in drawing new investors interest into the series. I'm also glad A1GP had the foresight not to refer to their racing series as a 'League' - a title inapproriate to a racing series; and one which is just plain Bush League.
First things first. It's a spec series. With the Ferrari engine, it's still a spec series. They didn't modernize anything, as these cars would be just as modern with a Cosworth engine as a Ferrari. Ferrari does not equal "modern", it "equals "expensive and rich...which happens to be modern". A1GP...not rich enough to bribe a Malaysian company to release their cars, so there goes that image.
Second, what does the series gain from having Ferrari on them? What concrete? When you see Ferrari advertising, what does it advertise? Felipe Massa or A1 Team Pakistan? So Ferrari doesn't advertise A1GP, and they're clearly in this only because they're making money selling the engines. So it's less a partnership and more a supplier-customer relationship. And as far as to the idea of drawing in investors, well, it's not going to be be getting investors by throwing money down a hole in this ill-conceived notion that getting a famous carmaker to supply a spec engine for everyone is going to increase interest, sorry. Why don't you actually try to, I don't know, increase your fanbase?
As far as A1GP not referring to itself as a "league", obviously Lever thinks the National Football League is a failure. Nonetheless, strawman argument. Lever for example thinks that if it went by "A1GP League", the series would produce a far worse product than what it is currently.
In light of field fillers in NASCAR and the policy toward them, again from the SpeedTV forums:
"MikeyFan4Square": Here's an idea to keep field fillers from quitting after 10 laps: the prize money should be multiplied by the percentage of the race you run. For example, a $50K price for finishing last and running the full race would become a $5K prize if you only run 10% of the race. This would make field filling much less profitable.
Yes, in these times of economic crisis and money scarce across all racing, let's discourage people from wanting to entering a car at a race and make money even scarcer. Not to mention imagine the Big One happening at Talladega knocking out 20 cars on lap 3. In light of this point, MikeyFan4Square stated this to follow up: "Yeah, that could happen, but that's racing. The 48 can live without that prize money." And the rest of the field?
Anyways, race fan idiocy does not stop. It just continues. When I see some more worthy of being beat down and pummeled, I'll pass on.
This first comment is from "Lever" over at the SpeedTV forums. It is in reference to the fact that A1GP had money problems to the point their cars were impounded for a period of time in Malaysia and they had to pay $2 million before the cars would be released for their trip to New Zealand. Lever seems to think that paying Ferrari a lot more for an engine will improve the series' problems of a worldwide series as far as travel, little sponsorship, the cars aren't allowed to get sponsorship that clash with their national colors, little to no name drivers and the ones that are there seem to change from one race to the next, little TV coverage, and they're racing in some markets that have had little traditional racing interest.
"Lever": Good thing A1GP had the foresight to invest in their racing series and modernize with new cars, especially cars with the name Ferrari on them. Even in a massive economic downturn - the fact that the series is modern and exciting and has the confidence to invest in itself is probably a primary factor and selling point in drawing new investors interest into the series. I'm also glad A1GP had the foresight not to refer to their racing series as a 'League' - a title inapproriate to a racing series; and one which is just plain Bush League.
First things first. It's a spec series. With the Ferrari engine, it's still a spec series. They didn't modernize anything, as these cars would be just as modern with a Cosworth engine as a Ferrari. Ferrari does not equal "modern", it "equals "expensive and rich...which happens to be modern". A1GP...not rich enough to bribe a Malaysian company to release their cars, so there goes that image.
Second, what does the series gain from having Ferrari on them? What concrete? When you see Ferrari advertising, what does it advertise? Felipe Massa or A1 Team Pakistan? So Ferrari doesn't advertise A1GP, and they're clearly in this only because they're making money selling the engines. So it's less a partnership and more a supplier-customer relationship. And as far as to the idea of drawing in investors, well, it's not going to be be getting investors by throwing money down a hole in this ill-conceived notion that getting a famous carmaker to supply a spec engine for everyone is going to increase interest, sorry. Why don't you actually try to, I don't know, increase your fanbase?
As far as A1GP not referring to itself as a "league", obviously Lever thinks the National Football League is a failure. Nonetheless, strawman argument. Lever for example thinks that if it went by "A1GP League", the series would produce a far worse product than what it is currently.
In light of field fillers in NASCAR and the policy toward them, again from the SpeedTV forums:
"MikeyFan4Square": Here's an idea to keep field fillers from quitting after 10 laps: the prize money should be multiplied by the percentage of the race you run. For example, a $50K price for finishing last and running the full race would become a $5K prize if you only run 10% of the race. This would make field filling much less profitable.
Yes, in these times of economic crisis and money scarce across all racing, let's discourage people from wanting to entering a car at a race and make money even scarcer. Not to mention imagine the Big One happening at Talladega knocking out 20 cars on lap 3. In light of this point, MikeyFan4Square stated this to follow up: "Yeah, that could happen, but that's racing. The 48 can live without that prize money." And the rest of the field?
Anyways, race fan idiocy does not stop. It just continues. When I see some more worthy of being beat down and pummeled, I'll pass on.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Carpocalypse and the Effects on Racing So Far
Here are all stated effects from manufacturers pulling out of "prominent" racing series across the world, going from the start of 2008.
An entire racing series: ChampCar
Events: Houston Grand Prix, Belle Isle Grand Prix, Mansfield Motorsports Park, F1 Grand Prix of France, F1 Grand Prix of Canada
Formula One: Super Aguri, Honda F1
MotoGP: Kawasaki
World Rally: Subaru, Suzuki
American Le Mans: Porsche LMP, Audi
Le Mans Endurance: Audi
Camping World Trucks: Dodge, Ford
AMA Superbike: Honda, Kawasaki
British Superbike: Ducati
An entire racing series: ChampCar
Events: Houston Grand Prix, Belle Isle Grand Prix, Mansfield Motorsports Park, F1 Grand Prix of France, F1 Grand Prix of Canada
Formula One: Super Aguri, Honda F1
MotoGP: Kawasaki
World Rally: Subaru, Suzuki
American Le Mans: Porsche LMP, Audi
Le Mans Endurance: Audi
Camping World Trucks: Dodge, Ford
AMA Superbike: Honda, Kawasaki
British Superbike: Ducati
Monday, December 8, 2008
Honda Out of Formula One
The usually uneventful racing offseason was brought to life viciously this past Friday.
It started with rumors the preceding Thursday that Honda was looking to withdraw from Formula One as a late meeting was held at the team's headquarters in Brackley, Britain, informing Honda F1 employees that the mother company was going to withdraw the coming day. And when the sun rose over Japan on Friday, Honda CEO Takeo Fukui announced that Honda were going to withdraw. The main driving force Fukui said was that he saw the abysmal car sales numbers coming in and the revenues of the company partly helped to justify that Honda should pull out of the sport.
Whether that is true or not is obviously only a private discussion on the Honda Board of Directors. Regardless, the team had been poorly run for some time. This past season, Honda only finished 9th out of the 11 teams, taking 14 points. The only teams they finished ahead of were tail end neophyte Force India and originally Honda-supported Super Aguri who only ran the first four races before folding. The team's 14 points were split between Rubens Barrichello (11 points - 3rd at Silverstone, 6th at Monaco, 7th at Montreal) and Jenson Button (3 points - 6th at Barcelona). Neither Barrichello nor Button would finish in the top 10 of a race in the last half of the season. So despite spending a reported $400 million and employing 1000 employees at their Brackley facility, it didn't produce much of anything that organizations with less talent and less money could accomplish (Toro Rosso, Williams). The Honda F1 team leadership obviously had the rug pulled out from underneath them, although in the case of some of them it appeared to be karma (see what Honda F1 CEO Nick Fry said after Super Aguri withdrew from the sport with your irony meter pegged full: http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?id=42655&PO=42655 ). At the end of the day though, it does not really matter. The people that control the purse strings are the ultimate decisionmakers. And it didn't help that the entirety of the purse strings came from Honda. They spent the past two years pushing this ridiculous marketing program called "Earth Dreams" where Honda would carry no sponsors and finance the car in full. In the aftermath of their announcement, rival Toyota especially has come out stating that they "have a business model that makes sense", which must certainly irk the Honda people.
As far as what happens, there are supposedly a couple of potential bidders. The first is David Richards of longtime World Rally Championship stalwart Prodrive. He may be the one carrying Middle Eastern interest behind him, and if he buys the team it's likely it will be called Aston Martin with Richards' financial interest in that company. Even if he were to buy Honda F1 though, he's said a workable budget would be $75 million. While high, that represents at least a 75% reduction in budget, and certainly a large number of those 1000 employees will still receive their pink slips.
Honda has said they'll finance the team until March. If there isn't a buyer, the team will be shut down permanently.
It started with rumors the preceding Thursday that Honda was looking to withdraw from Formula One as a late meeting was held at the team's headquarters in Brackley, Britain, informing Honda F1 employees that the mother company was going to withdraw the coming day. And when the sun rose over Japan on Friday, Honda CEO Takeo Fukui announced that Honda were going to withdraw. The main driving force Fukui said was that he saw the abysmal car sales numbers coming in and the revenues of the company partly helped to justify that Honda should pull out of the sport.
Whether that is true or not is obviously only a private discussion on the Honda Board of Directors. Regardless, the team had been poorly run for some time. This past season, Honda only finished 9th out of the 11 teams, taking 14 points. The only teams they finished ahead of were tail end neophyte Force India and originally Honda-supported Super Aguri who only ran the first four races before folding. The team's 14 points were split between Rubens Barrichello (11 points - 3rd at Silverstone, 6th at Monaco, 7th at Montreal) and Jenson Button (3 points - 6th at Barcelona). Neither Barrichello nor Button would finish in the top 10 of a race in the last half of the season. So despite spending a reported $400 million and employing 1000 employees at their Brackley facility, it didn't produce much of anything that organizations with less talent and less money could accomplish (Toro Rosso, Williams). The Honda F1 team leadership obviously had the rug pulled out from underneath them, although in the case of some of them it appeared to be karma (see what Honda F1 CEO Nick Fry said after Super Aguri withdrew from the sport with your irony meter pegged full: http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?id=42655&PO=42655 ). At the end of the day though, it does not really matter. The people that control the purse strings are the ultimate decisionmakers. And it didn't help that the entirety of the purse strings came from Honda. They spent the past two years pushing this ridiculous marketing program called "Earth Dreams" where Honda would carry no sponsors and finance the car in full. In the aftermath of their announcement, rival Toyota especially has come out stating that they "have a business model that makes sense", which must certainly irk the Honda people.
As far as what happens, there are supposedly a couple of potential bidders. The first is David Richards of longtime World Rally Championship stalwart Prodrive. He may be the one carrying Middle Eastern interest behind him, and if he buys the team it's likely it will be called Aston Martin with Richards' financial interest in that company. Even if he were to buy Honda F1 though, he's said a workable budget would be $75 million. While high, that represents at least a 75% reduction in budget, and certainly a large number of those 1000 employees will still receive their pink slips.
Honda has said they'll finance the team until March. If there isn't a buyer, the team will be shut down permanently.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Old Races #3: 1999 Twin 125s
I always loved the Twin 125s. 50-lap events that kicked off the season and had an exhibition feel to them. Plus, the fields were split in two and you got all the no-hopers and backmarkers that would hope they could get lucky in qualify. We had 59 cars show up this year. This is another event that’s been marginalized to meaningless in recent years as the 125s were increased to 150s and now with the 35-8 system, 4 cars get in on speed and 4 cars (a grand total of 2 in each race) can qualify in the race.
Race 1, Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1JO4FOS73o – Intro, Grid, Start, Opening Lap Crash
CBS Sports had an awesome music intro that plays into the video I’ve always thought. Your commentators are Mike Joy, Buddy Baker, and Ned Jarrett with Ralph Sheheen in the pits.
Drivers that are no longer in any of the three national NASCAR series: Ken Schrader (kinda sorta retired), Terry Labonte (I think he’s considered retired now), Wally Dallenbach Jr., Jerry Nadeau, Rick Mast, John Andretti, Jimmy Spencer, Dan Pardus, Ricky Rudd, Bill Elliott (kinda sorta retired), Darrell Waltrip, Buckshot Jones (one of the best racers’ names of all-time), Billy Standridge, Jeff Green, Mark Gibson, Steve Park, Robert Pressley, Ted Musgrave, Norm Benning.
Owners that are no longer in NASCAR Cup racing are: Andy Petree (Schrader and Kenny Wallace), Ultra (Michael Waltrip) sold to Robby Gordon, Felix Sabates (Marlin) sold to Ganassi who merged with DEI, Harry Melling (Nadeau), Cale Yarborough (Mast), Petty (Andretti) sold to Boston Ventures this past year, Travis Carter (Spencer), Ricky Rudd (himself), Bill Elliott (himself), Buckshot Jones’ dad (his son Buckshot), Bud Moore (Jeff Green), Junie Donlavey (Mike Wallace), Jasper (Pressley).
Crash right at the start. Wally Dallenbach is right on the apron of the track and spins Kenny Wallace into oncoming traffic. The man on the speed bubble is Dan Pardus as CBS shows us and he gets in the wreck. Involved drivers are Kenny Wallace, John Andretti, Dan Pardus, Jeff Green.
Race 1, Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7293IAKjL90&NR=1 – Green Flag Running
A bit of a jump from Part 1. 26 of the 30 drivers are still in fine shape running around.
I remember watching this era thinking that these cars looked nowhere close to stock compared to the cars nine years prior. Now I’m thinking the same thing about the cars today compared to the cars in this Twin.
The cars divided heavily into packs. That’s pretty common in these qualifying races as you always had cars trying to qualify that weren’t good enough that could not keep up with the cars in front of them.
Part 1, Race 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Rf1Wm6ZVyk&NR=1 – Finish, Winner Interview
Another jump from Part 2. 3 more cars have joined the cars out with 6 laps to go: Dallenbach (driving for Rick Hendrick at this point in time), and Norm Benning and Mark Gibson (a couple of no-hopers). Johnny Benson would join them in this segment. At this point in time he was driving for Roush. Both Benson and Dallenbach, despite being on awesome teams, could never parlay that into any success. It’s always been thought that their cars were never receiving the best stuff from their teams and they were acting more as an R&D car instead of a full-fledged car going for wins.
Bobby Labonte wins the first Twin racing for Joe Gibbs. Ricky Rudd gets the last transfer spot in front of Stanton Barrett. Barrett will be aiming to qualify for next year’s Daytona 500 in his own car, and will then be doing a partial Nationwide schedule in addition to the full Indycar schedule. 5 other drivers – Labonte, Gordon, Burton, Martin, and Michael Waltrip – will run the full Cup schedule in 2009.
1. B. Labonte, 2. J. Gordon, 3. J. Burton, 4. Schrader, 5. Martin, 6. Spencer, 7. M. Waltrip, 8. Pressley, 9. Marlin, 10. T. Labonte, 11. Mast, 12. Park, 13. Nadeau, 14. Musgrave, 15. Rudd, 16. Barrett, 17. D. Waltrip, 18. M. Wallace, 19. Shepherd, 20. Elliott, 21. Jones, 22. Standridge, 23. Benson -2 laps, 24. Gibson DNF, 25. Benning DNF, 26. Dallenbach DNF, 27. J. Andretti DNF, 28. J. Green DNF, 29. K. Wallace DNF, 30. Pardus DNF
Drivers that did not qualify from Race 1: Barrett, Standridge, Jones, Pardus, Benning, Gibson, J. Green, Shepherd
Part 2, Race 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVEPhn6QrzI&feature=related – Grid, Start, Green Flag Racing
Rookie Tony Stewart is on the pole! He had ran in the then-called Busch Series in partial schedules for a couple years on top of doing Indycars.
Drivers that are no longer in any of the three national NASCAR series: Rusty Wallace, Ernie Irvan, Dale Earnhardt (RIP), Jeremy Mayfield, Ward Burton (everyone’s favorite Virginian racecar driver), Bobby Hamilton (RIP), Dale Jarrett, Kyle Petty, Rich Bickle, Chad Little, Brett Bodine (now drives the pace car and designed the COT, but we shouldn’t hold that against him), Geoff Bodine, Kenny Irwin (RIP), Steve Grissom, David Green, Ricky Craven, Andy Hillenburg (now owns Rockingham), Ken Bouchard, Gary Bradberry, Glen Morgan, Dave Marcis, Dick Trickle, Jim Sauter.
Owners that are no longer in NASCAR Cup racing: Nelson Bowers (Irvan), Dave Marcis (himself and Jim Sauter), Joe Bessey (G. Bodine), Felix Sabates (Nemechek) sold to Ganassi who merged with DEI, Morgan-McClure (Hamilton), Tim Beverley (Bickle), Brett Bodine (himself), Scott Barbour (Craven), Michael Kranefuss (Mayfield) who later merged with Penske, Chuck Rider (Cope), Joe Falk (Grissom).
Oh my God! Dale Earnhardt passed below the white line! Black flag him NASCAR!
Race 2, Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGILbAawWDk&NR=1 – Green Flag Running, Earnhardt Takes the Lead
The inevitable happens and Earnhardt takes the lead. For all his documented problems on winning the Daytona 500, no one was better at the Speedway. Like Joy said, he would win 10 straight of these Twin races. Not to mention the Pepsi 400s, IROC races, Bud Shootouts/Busch Clashes he would win.
McReynolds as you can tell here got demoted as he went from being Earnhardt’s crew chief to Skinner’s at Childress. Although it was probably denied at the time, I’m sure performance was a factor.
Race 2, Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL7B3_N12Uk&NR=1 – Race Update, 2nd Caution
David Green is out of the race in an untelevised accident. Ken Squier, one of the announcers emeritus in American racing, gives a small blurb.
Glen Morgan (who?) spins out harmlessly coming out of the trioval. That sets us up with 18 to go til the finish with Earnhardt still leading.
Race 2, Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcBj5kx3Xf0&NR=1 – To the Finish, Checkered Flag, Winner Interview
Everyone starts to position themselves for the finish as is customary in restrictor-plate races. With the smaller races though it’s not the 3-wide running eight rows deep, but it’s more split into a couple packs with the front cars in a straight line. That’s why the best racing was always for 15th position in the Twins.
There’s a very nice paintjob with Kyle Petty running the Hot Wheels paint scheme.
With the top six content for their positions, let’s go back to 15th where the real fight is. Wait, Jeremy Mayfield makes a move on Dale Jarrett and takes 2nd. Geoff Bodine takes the final transfer position. Earnhardt does the status quo thing as he wins the Twin 125. Never was a fan of his, but respected him as a great driver. It's hard to imagine where NASCAR would be without him.
1. Earnhardt, 2. Mayfield, 3. Jarrett, 4. R. Wallace, 5. Skinner, 6. Stewart, 7. Lepage, 8. Hamilton, 9. W. Burton, 10. Cope, 11. Bickle, 12. Petty, 13. Little, 14. Craven, 15. G. Bodine, 16. Irwin, 17. Irvan, 18. Hillenburg, 19. Sadler, 20. Grissom, 21. Nemechek, 22. B. Bodine, 23. Marcis, 24. Bradberry, 25. Bouchard, 26. Sauter, 27. Trickle, 28. Morgan -1 lap, 29. D. Green DNF
Drivers that did not qualify from Race 2: Hillenburg, Grissom, Sauter, Bouchard, Bradberry, Morgan, Trickle, D. Green
Race 1, Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1JO4FOS73o – Intro, Grid, Start, Opening Lap Crash
CBS Sports had an awesome music intro that plays into the video I’ve always thought. Your commentators are Mike Joy, Buddy Baker, and Ned Jarrett with Ralph Sheheen in the pits.
Drivers that are no longer in any of the three national NASCAR series: Ken Schrader (kinda sorta retired), Terry Labonte (I think he’s considered retired now), Wally Dallenbach Jr., Jerry Nadeau, Rick Mast, John Andretti, Jimmy Spencer, Dan Pardus, Ricky Rudd, Bill Elliott (kinda sorta retired), Darrell Waltrip, Buckshot Jones (one of the best racers’ names of all-time), Billy Standridge, Jeff Green, Mark Gibson, Steve Park, Robert Pressley, Ted Musgrave, Norm Benning.
Owners that are no longer in NASCAR Cup racing are: Andy Petree (Schrader and Kenny Wallace), Ultra (Michael Waltrip) sold to Robby Gordon, Felix Sabates (Marlin) sold to Ganassi who merged with DEI, Harry Melling (Nadeau), Cale Yarborough (Mast), Petty (Andretti) sold to Boston Ventures this past year, Travis Carter (Spencer), Ricky Rudd (himself), Bill Elliott (himself), Buckshot Jones’ dad (his son Buckshot), Bud Moore (Jeff Green), Junie Donlavey (Mike Wallace), Jasper (Pressley).
Crash right at the start. Wally Dallenbach is right on the apron of the track and spins Kenny Wallace into oncoming traffic. The man on the speed bubble is Dan Pardus as CBS shows us and he gets in the wreck. Involved drivers are Kenny Wallace, John Andretti, Dan Pardus, Jeff Green.
Race 1, Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7293IAKjL90&NR=1 – Green Flag Running
A bit of a jump from Part 1. 26 of the 30 drivers are still in fine shape running around.
I remember watching this era thinking that these cars looked nowhere close to stock compared to the cars nine years prior. Now I’m thinking the same thing about the cars today compared to the cars in this Twin.
The cars divided heavily into packs. That’s pretty common in these qualifying races as you always had cars trying to qualify that weren’t good enough that could not keep up with the cars in front of them.
Part 1, Race 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Rf1Wm6ZVyk&NR=1 – Finish, Winner Interview
Another jump from Part 2. 3 more cars have joined the cars out with 6 laps to go: Dallenbach (driving for Rick Hendrick at this point in time), and Norm Benning and Mark Gibson (a couple of no-hopers). Johnny Benson would join them in this segment. At this point in time he was driving for Roush. Both Benson and Dallenbach, despite being on awesome teams, could never parlay that into any success. It’s always been thought that their cars were never receiving the best stuff from their teams and they were acting more as an R&D car instead of a full-fledged car going for wins.
Bobby Labonte wins the first Twin racing for Joe Gibbs. Ricky Rudd gets the last transfer spot in front of Stanton Barrett. Barrett will be aiming to qualify for next year’s Daytona 500 in his own car, and will then be doing a partial Nationwide schedule in addition to the full Indycar schedule. 5 other drivers – Labonte, Gordon, Burton, Martin, and Michael Waltrip – will run the full Cup schedule in 2009.
1. B. Labonte, 2. J. Gordon, 3. J. Burton, 4. Schrader, 5. Martin, 6. Spencer, 7. M. Waltrip, 8. Pressley, 9. Marlin, 10. T. Labonte, 11. Mast, 12. Park, 13. Nadeau, 14. Musgrave, 15. Rudd, 16. Barrett, 17. D. Waltrip, 18. M. Wallace, 19. Shepherd, 20. Elliott, 21. Jones, 22. Standridge, 23. Benson -2 laps, 24. Gibson DNF, 25. Benning DNF, 26. Dallenbach DNF, 27. J. Andretti DNF, 28. J. Green DNF, 29. K. Wallace DNF, 30. Pardus DNF
Drivers that did not qualify from Race 1: Barrett, Standridge, Jones, Pardus, Benning, Gibson, J. Green, Shepherd
Part 2, Race 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVEPhn6QrzI&feature=related – Grid, Start, Green Flag Racing
Rookie Tony Stewart is on the pole! He had ran in the then-called Busch Series in partial schedules for a couple years on top of doing Indycars.
Drivers that are no longer in any of the three national NASCAR series: Rusty Wallace, Ernie Irvan, Dale Earnhardt (RIP), Jeremy Mayfield, Ward Burton (everyone’s favorite Virginian racecar driver), Bobby Hamilton (RIP), Dale Jarrett, Kyle Petty, Rich Bickle, Chad Little, Brett Bodine (now drives the pace car and designed the COT, but we shouldn’t hold that against him), Geoff Bodine, Kenny Irwin (RIP), Steve Grissom, David Green, Ricky Craven, Andy Hillenburg (now owns Rockingham), Ken Bouchard, Gary Bradberry, Glen Morgan, Dave Marcis, Dick Trickle, Jim Sauter.
Owners that are no longer in NASCAR Cup racing: Nelson Bowers (Irvan), Dave Marcis (himself and Jim Sauter), Joe Bessey (G. Bodine), Felix Sabates (Nemechek) sold to Ganassi who merged with DEI, Morgan-McClure (Hamilton), Tim Beverley (Bickle), Brett Bodine (himself), Scott Barbour (Craven), Michael Kranefuss (Mayfield) who later merged with Penske, Chuck Rider (Cope), Joe Falk (Grissom).
Oh my God! Dale Earnhardt passed below the white line! Black flag him NASCAR!
Race 2, Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGILbAawWDk&NR=1 – Green Flag Running, Earnhardt Takes the Lead
The inevitable happens and Earnhardt takes the lead. For all his documented problems on winning the Daytona 500, no one was better at the Speedway. Like Joy said, he would win 10 straight of these Twin races. Not to mention the Pepsi 400s, IROC races, Bud Shootouts/Busch Clashes he would win.
McReynolds as you can tell here got demoted as he went from being Earnhardt’s crew chief to Skinner’s at Childress. Although it was probably denied at the time, I’m sure performance was a factor.
Race 2, Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL7B3_N12Uk&NR=1 – Race Update, 2nd Caution
David Green is out of the race in an untelevised accident. Ken Squier, one of the announcers emeritus in American racing, gives a small blurb.
Glen Morgan (who?) spins out harmlessly coming out of the trioval. That sets us up with 18 to go til the finish with Earnhardt still leading.
Race 2, Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcBj5kx3Xf0&NR=1 – To the Finish, Checkered Flag, Winner Interview
Everyone starts to position themselves for the finish as is customary in restrictor-plate races. With the smaller races though it’s not the 3-wide running eight rows deep, but it’s more split into a couple packs with the front cars in a straight line. That’s why the best racing was always for 15th position in the Twins.
There’s a very nice paintjob with Kyle Petty running the Hot Wheels paint scheme.
With the top six content for their positions, let’s go back to 15th where the real fight is. Wait, Jeremy Mayfield makes a move on Dale Jarrett and takes 2nd. Geoff Bodine takes the final transfer position. Earnhardt does the status quo thing as he wins the Twin 125. Never was a fan of his, but respected him as a great driver. It's hard to imagine where NASCAR would be without him.
1. Earnhardt, 2. Mayfield, 3. Jarrett, 4. R. Wallace, 5. Skinner, 6. Stewart, 7. Lepage, 8. Hamilton, 9. W. Burton, 10. Cope, 11. Bickle, 12. Petty, 13. Little, 14. Craven, 15. G. Bodine, 16. Irwin, 17. Irvan, 18. Hillenburg, 19. Sadler, 20. Grissom, 21. Nemechek, 22. B. Bodine, 23. Marcis, 24. Bradberry, 25. Bouchard, 26. Sauter, 27. Trickle, 28. Morgan -1 lap, 29. D. Green DNF
Drivers that did not qualify from Race 2: Hillenburg, Grissom, Sauter, Bouchard, Bradberry, Morgan, Trickle, D. Green
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
NASCAR and the 2009 Season
This coming Sunday at Homestead, Jimmie Johnson will clinch his third consecutive Cup championship. With an almost insurmountable lead, he will be the first person to accomplish that feat since Cale Yarborough in the late 1970s.
However, NASCAR crews can be forgiven for not worrying about the race in front of them. A sizable portion of them will be receiving their pink slips on Monday morning. For the first time since the 1980s when Buick Regals and Oldsmobile Cutlasses were running in NASCAR races, money and the economy has caught up to NASCAR. Now this happened in the 2004 season when the economy was weak then, only 45 cars showed up at Daytona and then the field the next weekend at Rockingham had four or so field fillers.
This time though is worse in that it is actually affecting the best teams. Even the likes of Hendrick has had to layoff employees, including Jimmie Johnson's spotter even before Johnson has won the championship (he'll finish the season, but talk about inviting bad omens). Even Dale Earnhardt Jr., who fields JR Motorsports in the Nationwide Series for fun mainly, is having trouble finding a sponsor. When Junior is having trouble due to the economy, you know it's bad. (The Nationwide Series is a topic by itself. If the Cup series is scratching its head, I fear for what Nationwide fields will look like.)
Using Jayski's site and today's news , I can come up with 37-38 full-timers and a couple stated part-timers.
(this obviously isn't counting the Kirk Shelmerdines and Derrike Copes of the world that will surely pop up, although they now have to buy a COT car to compete)
Cars with no changes from 2008:
#2-Kurt Busch-Penske
#6-David Ragan-Roush
#7-Robby Gordon-Robby Gordon (maybe the least solid on this part of the list)
#9-Kasey Kahne-Gillett Evernham
#11-Denny Hamlin-Joe Gibbs
#16-Greg Biffle-Roush
#17-Matt Kenseth-Roush
#18-Kyle Busch-Joe Gibbs
#19-Elliott Sadler-Gillett Evernham
#24-Jeff Gordon-Hendrick
#26-Jamie McMurray-Roush
#29-Kevin Harvick-Childress
#31-Jeff Burton-Childress
#42-Juan Montoya-Earnhardt Ganassi
#43-Bobby Labonte-Petty
#48-Jimmie Johnson-Hendrick
#55-Michael Waltrip-Michael Waltrip
#77-Sam Hornish-Penske
#83-Brian Vickers-Red Bull
#88-Dale Earnhardt Jr.-Hendrick
#99-Carl Edwards-Roush
Number changes:
#00-David Reutimann-Michael Waltrip (was #44)
And then there's the normal silly season carousel:
#07-Casey Mears-Childress
#5-Mark Martin-Hendrick
#8-Aric Almirola-Earnhardt Ganassi
#10-Reed Sorenson-Gillett Evernham
#12-David Stremme-Penske
#14-Tony Stewart-Stewart Haas (was #70)
#20-Joey Logano-Joe Gibbs
#39-Ryan Newman-Stewart Haas (was #66)
#41-TBA-Earnhardt Ganassi
#44-Chad McCumbee-Petty (was #45)
#82-Scott Speed-Red Bull (was #84)
Brand new full-time teams:
#33-Clint Bowyer-Childress
#47-Marcos Ambrose-JTG Daugherty (this could be considered the continuation of the #00 MWR car)
Robert Yates, 2 or 3?
It is known he will have at least 2 teams, but could have 3. Pretty much Paul Menard is guaranteed a ride for bringing Daddy Money, and if they don't increase to 3, he'll replace either Travis Kvapil in the #28 or David Gilliland in the #38 (Kvapil or Gilliland could get the new car if part of Menard bringing his sponsor is he's in Top 35 at the start of the season).
Confirmed/likely part-time teams (Furniture Row, Hall of Fame, and Bill Davis might not show at all):
#13-Max Papis-Germain
#21-Wood Brothers
#22-Bill Davis
#78-Furniture Row
#96-Hall of Fame
With the following full-time cars having disappeared over the past year:
#00-Michael Waltrip
#01-Dale Earnhardt Inc (disappears after Homestead)
#15-Dale Earnhardt Inc (disappears after Homestead)
#27-Bill Davis
#40-Ganassi
#49-BAM
So your best case right now is looking like 38 full-timers. Papis will be running 18 races for Germain. Daytona will have a full field because it's Daytona. The next race at Fontana? My bet is no.
I think NASCAR's main problem is the same one that Formula One kind of has: it just costs too much for what you get. Greg Beck, a long-time Indycar owner who has to jump through hoops to just be able to get a car to the track most of the time, has stated that his coming full-season program with Stanton Barrett is being helped by the fact it'll be a no-frills operation and that they're getting a lot of interest from companies previously involved with Nationwide that are looking to Indycars simply because the exposure is roughly the same if slightly more and the costs are less. He said the main problem in stock cars is that there is a lot of chaff that can be cut off from the budgets. I tend to believe him. 90% of the money spent on restrictor-plate cars are a waste considering how often a car wrecks at Daytona and Talladega. Robby Gordon this past year, who has little money compared to some teams, had a simple formula. Float at the back and let everyone wreck in front of you. His worst finish with that strategy at Daytona and Talladega this past year was 11th. Best bang for the buck you'll get at those tracks.
It will be interesting to see not only how 2009 goes from a competition standpoint but also from a organizational standpoint. What will NASCAR do? They're a traditionally "proud" organization loathe to admit mistakes. Are they going to admit the COT was a very costly failure? Likely not. What steps will they take to deal with it next year then? We're likely going into an era when the number of competitive cars that can contend for wins will also decrease. Are we going to see more debris cautions to artificially tighten the field? Will we see testing curtailed? Will they become even more stringent on development costs?
And this doesn't even account for the terrible economic position that Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors are in.
However, NASCAR crews can be forgiven for not worrying about the race in front of them. A sizable portion of them will be receiving their pink slips on Monday morning. For the first time since the 1980s when Buick Regals and Oldsmobile Cutlasses were running in NASCAR races, money and the economy has caught up to NASCAR. Now this happened in the 2004 season when the economy was weak then, only 45 cars showed up at Daytona and then the field the next weekend at Rockingham had four or so field fillers.
This time though is worse in that it is actually affecting the best teams. Even the likes of Hendrick has had to layoff employees, including Jimmie Johnson's spotter even before Johnson has won the championship (he'll finish the season, but talk about inviting bad omens). Even Dale Earnhardt Jr., who fields JR Motorsports in the Nationwide Series for fun mainly, is having trouble finding a sponsor. When Junior is having trouble due to the economy, you know it's bad. (The Nationwide Series is a topic by itself. If the Cup series is scratching its head, I fear for what Nationwide fields will look like.)
Using Jayski's site and today's news , I can come up with 37-38 full-timers and a couple stated part-timers.
(this obviously isn't counting the Kirk Shelmerdines and Derrike Copes of the world that will surely pop up, although they now have to buy a COT car to compete)
Cars with no changes from 2008:
#2-Kurt Busch-Penske
#6-David Ragan-Roush
#7-Robby Gordon-Robby Gordon (maybe the least solid on this part of the list)
#9-Kasey Kahne-Gillett Evernham
#11-Denny Hamlin-Joe Gibbs
#16-Greg Biffle-Roush
#17-Matt Kenseth-Roush
#18-Kyle Busch-Joe Gibbs
#19-Elliott Sadler-Gillett Evernham
#24-Jeff Gordon-Hendrick
#26-Jamie McMurray-Roush
#29-Kevin Harvick-Childress
#31-Jeff Burton-Childress
#42-Juan Montoya-Earnhardt Ganassi
#43-Bobby Labonte-Petty
#48-Jimmie Johnson-Hendrick
#55-Michael Waltrip-Michael Waltrip
#77-Sam Hornish-Penske
#83-Brian Vickers-Red Bull
#88-Dale Earnhardt Jr.-Hendrick
#99-Carl Edwards-Roush
Number changes:
#00-David Reutimann-Michael Waltrip (was #44)
And then there's the normal silly season carousel:
#07-Casey Mears-Childress
#5-Mark Martin-Hendrick
#8-Aric Almirola-Earnhardt Ganassi
#10-Reed Sorenson-Gillett Evernham
#12-David Stremme-Penske
#14-Tony Stewart-Stewart Haas (was #70)
#20-Joey Logano-Joe Gibbs
#39-Ryan Newman-Stewart Haas (was #66)
#41-TBA-Earnhardt Ganassi
#44-Chad McCumbee-Petty (was #45)
#82-Scott Speed-Red Bull (was #84)
Brand new full-time teams:
#33-Clint Bowyer-Childress
#47-Marcos Ambrose-JTG Daugherty (this could be considered the continuation of the #00 MWR car)
Robert Yates, 2 or 3?
It is known he will have at least 2 teams, but could have 3. Pretty much Paul Menard is guaranteed a ride for bringing Daddy Money, and if they don't increase to 3, he'll replace either Travis Kvapil in the #28 or David Gilliland in the #38 (Kvapil or Gilliland could get the new car if part of Menard bringing his sponsor is he's in Top 35 at the start of the season).
Confirmed/likely part-time teams (Furniture Row, Hall of Fame, and Bill Davis might not show at all):
#13-Max Papis-Germain
#21-Wood Brothers
#22-Bill Davis
#78-Furniture Row
#96-Hall of Fame
With the following full-time cars having disappeared over the past year:
#00-Michael Waltrip
#01-Dale Earnhardt Inc (disappears after Homestead)
#15-Dale Earnhardt Inc (disappears after Homestead)
#27-Bill Davis
#40-Ganassi
#49-BAM
So your best case right now is looking like 38 full-timers. Papis will be running 18 races for Germain. Daytona will have a full field because it's Daytona. The next race at Fontana? My bet is no.
I think NASCAR's main problem is the same one that Formula One kind of has: it just costs too much for what you get. Greg Beck, a long-time Indycar owner who has to jump through hoops to just be able to get a car to the track most of the time, has stated that his coming full-season program with Stanton Barrett is being helped by the fact it'll be a no-frills operation and that they're getting a lot of interest from companies previously involved with Nationwide that are looking to Indycars simply because the exposure is roughly the same if slightly more and the costs are less. He said the main problem in stock cars is that there is a lot of chaff that can be cut off from the budgets. I tend to believe him. 90% of the money spent on restrictor-plate cars are a waste considering how often a car wrecks at Daytona and Talladega. Robby Gordon this past year, who has little money compared to some teams, had a simple formula. Float at the back and let everyone wreck in front of you. His worst finish with that strategy at Daytona and Talladega this past year was 11th. Best bang for the buck you'll get at those tracks.
It will be interesting to see not only how 2009 goes from a competition standpoint but also from a organizational standpoint. What will NASCAR do? They're a traditionally "proud" organization loathe to admit mistakes. Are they going to admit the COT was a very costly failure? Likely not. What steps will they take to deal with it next year then? We're likely going into an era when the number of competitive cars that can contend for wins will also decrease. Are we going to see more debris cautions to artificially tighten the field? Will we see testing curtailed? Will they become even more stringent on development costs?
And this doesn't even account for the terrible economic position that Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors are in.
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