Random Thoughts

November 18, 2008

Photo of the Day - Driftwood Beach

Posted by silverdsl at 10:27 PM | Comments (0)

November 17, 2008

Steve Park Video Q&A

Steve Park did something pretty cool on his website last week - in addition to posting some text answers to some fans submitted questions, Steve answered some fan questions in a video. Apparently he plans on doing more of these video Q&As and I think it's a great idea! Over the past few years there have been complaints that Steve's website isn't updated as frequently as it should be, even when he's racing, and that in general there really isn't much new content very often. So as a result a lot of fans of Steve have stopped visited his site. But new and unique content like that video that fans can't get anywhere else other than if they happen to stumble across it while doing a youtube search is a great way to get people back into the habit of visiting his site if the videos are posted on a regular basis. Fans love having their questions answered by their favorite drivers and they also love videos, so the combination of the two is sure to be a big hit! I don't know who came up with the idea of doing these videos but they deserve a big round of applause!

Posted by silverdsl at 01:44 PM | Comments (0)

Ryan Pemberton Leaving Michael Waltrip Racing for Red Bull Racing?

Because of how busy I was I only got around to listening to the most recent edition of "The After Show" on Tony Rizzuti's website and holy carp do I wish I listened to it sooner because Tony dropped a rumor that would potentially be big news if it were to happen! So this week "The After Show" gets it's own entry because that rumor is worthy of a stand-alone entry.

Once before Tony had mentioned that he hoped that Michael Waltrip Racing would be able to keep Ryan Pemberton because how much he's helped the #44 team improve has been noticed in the garage area so other teams might be interested in him. But I didn't realize that Tony was saying that based on having heard something of substance about Ryan actually leaving MWR. According to Tony on last week's "After Show" his sources have told him that MWR may lose Ryan to Red Bull Racing next season. Apparently the reason that Ryan might leave is because he's not convinced that the #44 will be fully funded next season so the "endless stack of cash" as Tony put it at RBR is attractive to him since presumably he would have no worries about finances effecting his ability to make his team competitive. However, Tony's sources are telling him that David would be happy with his replacement crew chief because it would be Brian Pattie, who is currently at Chip Ganassi Racing, who is a long-time friend of David's and has been his crew chief on lower levels.

Continue reading "Ryan Pemberton Leaving Michael Waltrip Racing for Red Bull Racing?"

Posted by silverdsl at 10:36 AM | Comments (0)

Michael Waltrip Out Loud on XM (11/13)

I wish I had the time to get to this sooner but I've been super-busy since last week, so busy in fact that I almost wasn't able to even listen to this past week's Outloud! As it turns out I did get to listen but I was in the car and I was exhausted from a very long day at work so I might have missed a few things. Anyway...

Just prior to doing the show apparently Tony had a big thing of sweet tea so that led them into a discussion of the best places in the area to get sweet tea. Which led into Michael talking about a place near Raceworld that he loves to go to lunch at which is a Greek place in a shopping center nearby. He mispronounced all the Greek names of the food you can get there and said you can get fallopian there. Har, har, har. More seriously he said that he likes to get a plate of food and if I understood correctly sit outside and eat it there. I love Greek food so I might have missed a little of what they said next because I was dreaming of yummy Greek food and places to get good Greek food near me. Even days after listening to this show I'm craving a gyro, some spinach pie and a big greek salad!

Continue reading "Michael Waltrip Out Loud on XM (11/13)"

Posted by silverdsl at 10:30 AM | Comments (0)

Disappointing End to the Season for Michael Waltrip Racing

The Homestead weekend started out on such a high note for Michael Waltrip Racing with David Reutimann winning the pole for the Cup race, his first pole in the Cup Series ever. Things continued to go well for MWR during the Nationwide race on Saturday with Josh Wise and David finishing 12th and 13th respectively. But things didn't go as well for the three MWR teams yesterday.

For most of the race David was able to race in the top five and top ten but due to having to use different fuel mileage strategy, he only finished 20th, which was surely a huge disappointment considering where he started and how well he had been racing. When I saw the #44 pit late in the race I figured that he had such a good car he would be able to race his way into the top fifteen at least if not back into the top ten but that didn't happen. I don't know if he had to save gas after that and thus had to slow down or it was just a matter of not having enough time to make up the lost track position. David finishes the season 22nd in points and I have no doubt that next season he'll be a lot higher in points, maybe even in the Chase, considering that towards the end of the season he was racing in the top ten just about every week. The team just needs some better luck as there have been a variety of mechanical issues and other problems that no one can really control that have kept David's results from being as good as they could have been in some races.

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Posted by silverdsl at 10:05 AM | Comments (0)

Jimmie Johnson Wins His Third Straight Cup Championship!

Carl Edwards dominated the race and won, but it still wasn't enough for him to overcome Jimmie Johnson who sealed the deal on his third straight Cup Championship with a 15th place finish. The Championship was all but Jimmie's going into Homestead since he only needed to finish 36th or better to clinch and at no time was he in any danger of finishing anywhere near that poorly. This Championship ties the 30-year record set by Cale Yarborough, and much to a lot of fan's dismay, there's no reason to think that the #48 team won't contend for another championship next season as well. Jimmie, Chad Knaus and the #48 team are the best team in the garage area right now and it's not too likely that they'll drop off anytime in the near future. In fact, they may only get stronger since a number of layoffs were announced recently not for financial reasons but because Hendrick Motorsports is already looking at ways to make the #48 (and #24) team even better.

Of course there are a lot of fans pointing out how under the old points system Carl Edwards would have won the Championship by 17 points over Jimmie. Give it up. Under any points system Jimmie and his team would have figured out how to win this Championship. One of the strengths of this team is how they're able to adjust to any situation and any challenge. In addition, the old points system is called the "old" system for a reason - it's not used anymore. Ten years from now there will probably still be fans calculating who would have won the Championship if the Chase wasn't in place, but the reality is that as much as some fans don't like it, that way of determining a champion is no longer in use.

Continue reading "Jimmie Johnson Wins His Third Straight Cup Championship!"

Posted by silverdsl at 09:47 AM | Comments (1)

November 15, 2008

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (11/15)

*As expected Stewart-Haas Racing announced that they've hired Tony Gibson to be the crew chief for Ryan Newman and Bobby Hutchens to be the organization's director of competition. Both were in those positions at DEI so I can understand why they would be looking for work elsewhere considering how many layoffs there's been as a result of DEI's merger with Chip Ganassi Racing. Gibson's been at DEI for a long time and has been a crew chief for two of my favorite drivers, Steve Park and Michael Waltrip, as well as Dale Earnhardt, Jr. While Gibson seems to be very highly regarded by fans and others I can't say I was overly impressed with him. Should be interesting to see how both he and Hutchens do at SHR, particularly Gibson. I've always thought of Gibson as a lifer at DEI, someone who would go down with the ship so-to-speak, so I'm interested in seeing how he adjusts to working at another organization for the first time in years.

*There's not been much explanation given but apparently the crew chief for the #10 at Gillett-Evernham Motorsports, Mike Shiplett, has been suspended by the team for missing the flight back to North Carolina from Phoenix last week. One has to wonder what that's all about and why GEM considered it such a serious issue that they suspended him for the final race of the season. Technical director Sammy Johns will act as crew chief this weekend at Homestead.

Continue reading "Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (11/15)"

Posted by silverdsl at 04:22 PM | Comments (0)

Johnny Benson Wins the Truck Series Championship!

Johnny Benson won the Truck Series Championship last night and I'm thrilled! It wasn't looking so good for a while but in the end Johnny and his team pulled it off with a risky decision to stay out on a late caution. Ron pitted on that same caution for four tires and that put him further back in the field. Johnny ended up finishing just one spot ahead of Ron, but that was all he needed to win the Championship by seven points. Awesome! I've liked Johnny dating back to when he was a Cup driver and still appeared on SPEED's Monday night show, and I've continued to follow him in the Truck Series. I sure do love how much success he's had racing a truck! If he does retire like he was thinking of doing, Johnny will definitely be going out on top!

Some have complained that Johnny had help from his Bill Davis Racing teammates to win because Scott Speed (in their minds) intentionally spun to bring out a caution and then Taylor Malsam blocked for Johnny as the laps wound down so Ron was prevented from being able to race his way by Johnny. So to those fans Johnny's Championship is tainted because they think he won it via cheating. Nonsense. I don't like when drivers intentionally bring out cautions, but seeing as how Nascar didn't penalize Speed to my knowledge and they have the final say maybe it's not so clear-cut that Speed spun deliberately. In addition, just exactly what do fans expect, that Johnny's teammates aren't going to help him? Kevin Harvick was there to help Ron and he was going to make it as hard as possible for Johnny in every way he could. Teammates help each other when they can, that's what they do, and especially when there's a Championship on the line. Ron's demise was really when he wrecked on the first lap at Phoenix because of how aggressively he was racing. Maybe if he had dialed it down a little and backed off when Kyle Busch raced him so hard he would have come into Homestead with a big points advantage over Johnny and with how good his truck was he might have been the one celebrating a Championship win last night.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:07 PM | Comments (0)

Nascar Suspends Testing for Cup, Nationwide and Truck Series in 2009 at Sanctioned Tracks

Yesterday Nascar announced that testing will be suspended in 2009 at all Nascar sanctioned tracks for the Cup, Nationwide and Truck Series in an effort to cut costs for teams. I'm sure this move will be widely praised as a show of how serious Nascar is about cutting costs for their teams in the face of a very poor economy but to me this seems like just a lot of smoke and mirrors. For one thing teams can still test all they want at unsanctioned tracks. I'm supposed to believe that Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing are going to stop testing - doubtful. Maybe they'll cut back a little but I'm quite sure they're going to still be doing lots of it next season, just at unsanctioned tracks. Also, am I supposed to forget that there's other kinds of testing to be done besides at tracks? Teams will still be able to go to the wind tunnel, use seven-post shaker rigs and do all the other kinds of R&D and testing they always did.

The big, well-funded teams will still pour more money into testing than the smaller, under-funded teams, and the smaller teams will still be forced to come up with the money to put into the same things the top teams are doing otherwise they risk falling further behind competitively. To me this doesn't do much to address the issue of how expensive it is to field a competitive car or truck - almost $26 million for a competitive Cup car. It's been estimated that eliminating sanctioned testing will save each organization $1 million per Cup car they field. $1 million is a lot for a small organization but if an organization is spending $20-26 million on a car is that really a major savings?

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Posted by silverdsl at 02:08 PM | Comments (0)

November 14, 2008

David Reutimann on the Pole at Homestead!!!

Too busy right now to say more than whoo-hooooooooo! David Reutimann's on the pole for the Cup race at Homestead! Way to go David!!!

Posted by silverdsl at 05:44 PM | Comments (1)

November 12, 2008

DEI, Chip Ganassi Racing to Merge into Earnhardt Ganassi Racing

To the horror of many fans the Associated Press is reporting that DEI and Chip Ganassi Racing have (finally!) agreed upon a deal to merge. The new organization will be called Earnhardt Ganassi Racing and feature a driver line-up of Martin Truex, Jr., Juan Pablo Montoya, Aric Almirola, as well as another unknown driver. One of the sticking points to this merger happening is that both DEI and Ganassi are with different manufacturers, but it appears that they've agreed to align themselves with Chevy next season. Given the rumors of Dodge pulling their support for their Cup teams I can't say I'm surprised that they opted to go with Chevy. Although that manufacturer has plenty serious issues of their own, they've had more recent success in Cup.

Many fans are absolutely freaking out over this news because they view it as the end of DEI. Some are going so far as to compare it to Dale Earnhardt dying again and saying that Junior and his sister must be horribly upset that DEI is being merged with another organization instead of being sold to them. I say - get a grip!! Either DEI merges or partners with another organization or there was a chance they could fold given their sponsorship issues. Would it be better if the Earnhardt name ceased to be on a Cup organization rather than make a move to keep the company going? Good thing for Junior and his sister that Teresa didn't sell the company to them otherwise they might be facing some of the same issues DEI and other organizations are right now in relation to sponsorship. Junior can't find sponsorship for his Nationwide team, just exactly where would he find sponsors willing to spend even more money on the Cup level? And there is most certainly no comparison between someone's death and two organizations trying to work together for the future.

Continue reading "DEI, Chip Ganassi Racing to Merge into Earnhardt Ganassi Racing"

Posted by silverdsl at 04:09 PM | Comments (2)

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (11/12)

*The closer to the end of the season we get the more doom and gloom there is about the impact the poor economy is going to have on Nascar, whether there's going to be massive layoffs within the sport, how many teams might fold , and whether there will be dramatically shorter fields next year. None of what's happening now should be a surprise to anyone. Even if the economy was still strong, the sport has been heading in this direction for a while. Rising costs have widened the gap significantly between the have- and have-nots to the point where it's a struggle for new and small teams to compete even when they're fairly well-funded. Teams were struggling to find and keep sponsors, particularly in the Truck and Nationwide Series, for a few years now. It's almost mind-boggling to me that not too many people were apparently paying attention to these things and that when the economy started to go south there weren't more discussions about what the potential effects might be. All of these discussions, particularly those about cutting costs, should have taken place months, if not years ago, not just now when things are dire.

*An interesting item in relation to Clint Bowyer for next season. It was announced today that BB&T Corporation will be the primary sponsor on the #33 for eleven Cup races and will be an associate sponsor on the car for the remaining races. I had been under the impression that General Mills was the full-time primary sponsor for the #33 for next season but based on what was announced today they either sold some races off to BB&T or never signed on for the full season. Given the cost of sponsoring a car at Richard Childress Racing I'm not surprised that General Mills might have sold some races to BB&T.

Continue reading "Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (11/12)"

Posted by silverdsl at 03:13 PM | Comments (1)

Kyle Petty on the Election Results and the Impact on the Garage Area

I normally try to avoid discussing religion and politics at all costs in this space but Kyle Petty made an interesting comment last week that hasn't gotten much attention. He said,

“Ninety-nine percent of the people in this garage are Republicans. They were convinced that when they woke up on Wednesday morning, that if Obama was president, the world would start spinning the other way. With the economic and political uncertainty, they don’t know what to do. That does affect this sport.”

It seems to me that maybe it's not just the poor economy and the woes of Ford, GM and Dodge that is causing some anxiety in the garage area but also that a Democrat won the election. Perhaps the reason why some deals haven't gone through as expected, whether those are mergers between teams, drivers to new rides or sponsors getting signed is because of the uncertainties that some may be feeling in relation to what's going to happen to the economy and in general with Barack Obama as President.

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Posted by silverdsl at 08:43 AM | Comments (0)

New Plan for Red Bull Racing: Brian Vickers and Scott Speed to Swap Rides

After being denied the opportunity to put Mark Martin behind the wheel of the #84, the new plan for Red Bull Racing at Homestead is to have Brian Vickers and Scott Speed swap rides. Actually it'll only be a matter of switching numbers since presumably Vickers will race with his regular crew chief and team as will Speed and the teams will only slap different numbers on the cars this weekend. However, a simple number change will be a big deal for Vickers who will now have to qualify for the race on time, whereas Speed will be guaranteed a spot to race.

Vickers results at Homestead haven't been all that great in the past but he is a talented driver who has raced well this season so unless there's a mechanical issue or he gets caught in a wreck he will likely finish a lot better in the #84 than Speed would have. So I do understand why RBR is making this move. However, I think Vickers is being done wrong - he dealt with being outside the top 35 and having to qualify for races but he was able to race his way into the top 35 in owner's points. I think it's unfair to Vickers to put him back in a situation where he needs to qualify for a race again, though over the course of his career he's qualified well at Homestead. Of course he'll say all the right things publically but privately if I were in his shoes I wouldn't feel too good about this. RBR wants to do whatever they can to get the #84 the best possible finish but maybe they should have thought of that before dumping A.J. Allmendinger, the man who got them into the top 35 in the first place, out of the car.