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May 31, 2006

In the News: Michael Waltrip (5/31)

(AP Photo/Mike McCarn)

Lost in all the uproar over Michael Waltrip entering into a deal to race the #74 this past weekend at Charlotte when his own #55 failed to qualify for the race, is that this weekend was the unveiling of the special #99 Aaron's Dream Machine that Michael's brother, Darrell will race in the Goody’s 250 Busch race at Martinsville, on July 22. I think the car looks really cool - I love the flames!

About DW driving the Dream Machine, Michael said,

"I’m happy for him to get back in a car. He’ll have a lot of fun and so will I just by watching him. Aaron’s is great to let D.W. take the wheel. But I guess I’m most happy about the fact that I’ll never be asked again when I’m going to let D.W. drive the Aaron’s Dream Machine!”

So am I, Michael, so am I! I love the Aaron's commericals and the ones with Michael and DW are hysterical... the first hundred times. But the "Please let me drive the Dream Machine!" shtick got a little old after a while. I wonder what Aaron's is going to think of next, now that Stevie agreed to allow DW to get behind the wheel again?

One thing I couldn't help but notice in the photo, which made me laugh, is that Michael is wearing socks with his sandals! Ack! I think Michael normally looks great, but socks with sandals is scary!

I don't know who writes the pre- and post- race reports for Michael, but that person was certainly philosphical and poetic in this week's pre-race report. Apparently they are also a baseball fan. A sample:

"Vernon “Lefty” Gomez, an all-star, fire-throwing left-hander of the legendary 1930s Yankees, perhaps more than any sports figure in history saw deeply into life. The Hall of Famer is best known for coining the phrase “I’d rather be lucky than good.” However, baseball is not the only sport where success and luck are synonymous. The same applies to auto racing; a sport in which teams allocate budgets to research and development large enough to bank role third world countries. In a sport governed at times by happenstance more so than skill or strategy, it’s not always the best car or driver that crosses the finish line first. A driver can sometimes get more out of luck than a fresh set of tires on a long, green-flag run.
Although a driver may claim to have expertly navigated through a blinding cloud of tire smoke to avoid an on-track collision, Lady Luck was there to guide him through. It is luck that gives way to cinderella teams and dark horse contenders. She alone tears down dynasties and elevates the underdog."

Isn't that true of life overall though? There is often much out of our hands. We put in 100% effort, try the best that we can and sometimes circumstances don't align in such a way that things work out in the way that we want. Or by chance, something wonderful happens when we least expect it. So I suppose the point of this pre-race report is that luck has not been on the side of the #55 team this season, but perhaps a little luck could help them turn things around. That today's Championship contender might be tomorrow's failure (the #19 team perhaps?) and a team that looks like they can't contend for 30th place, let alone a win, could end up in Victory Lane. One never knows what might happen. I don't think we'll see the #55 in Victory Lane this season, though I sure wish to be wrong about that, but maybe their luck will align in such a way that they will be able to get some good finishes.

In other news, Robert B. Brannan III was named the Vice President of Licensing for Michael Waltrip Racing. With 2-3 Cup teams next season and two Busch teams, licensing is certainly going to be a big job. Most recently Brannan was President of Cabarrus Bank & Trust in Concord, North Carolina, but he was also Vice President and General Manager of Jeff Gordon, Inc. from 1984-2004. In that position he certainly gained a tremendous amount of experience and knowledge that will benefit MWR! It's exciting to see all the ways that Michael and others at MWR are continuing to expand the organization!

Posted by silverdsl at 04:14 PM | Comments (0)

David Stremme Out of the #40 at Infineon

Two weeks ago it was announced that Travis Kvapil would be replaced in the #32 at road course races this season, and Chip Ganassi Racing is going to do the same thing with David Stremme, at least at Infineon. Today it was announced that Scott Pruett would get behind the wheel of the #40 at Infineon on June 25th. I have to think that Pruett will also be in the #40 at Watkins Glen as well, later this season. The #40 is outside the top 35 in owner's points so I understand that Ganassi might think that this will give them a chance to get back into the top 35. And with how terrible Stremme is doing in the driver points, it's not like it really matters so much in that regard if he misses a race. But how is this going to effect Stremme's development as a driver?

Chip Ganassi said,

"I have been very pleased with the strides that David and the 40 car have made over the last several weeks and David is an important part of the future of Chip Ganassi Racing. But in Scott Pruett we have one of the best road course drivers in all of racing and once again have the luxury of being able to utilize that expertise.”

If Ganassi was really so pleased with Stremme's progress and really felt that he was a part of the future at Ganassi Racing, would he really be taking him out of the car?

I think this is a terrible thing to do to a rookie. If Ganassi is really interested in Stremme's development as a driver, I think he needs to be in the car at all the tracks, even the road course races. Let's say that Ganassi intends on keeping Stremme around through next season and beyond - how is Stremme going to be able to race at the road courses if he doesn't get any experience? Also, taking Stremme out of the car will surely be a blow to his confidence, which is probably shaky already considering how much he's struggled so far in Cup. My feeling is that if Ganassi is willing to take him out of the car, then they're not thinking about Stremme being long term in the #40, because if they were, the team would want him to get road course experience. It's unfortunate for Stremme because I think he was brought up to Cup before he was ready. Failing in the #40, which is considered a semi-decent car, could hurt his chances of getting another solid ride.

There are many challenges that face rookies in Cup, but I think that some of the rookies that are successful are those that have a good support system around them. A lot of that support has to come from their team. And it seems to me that Stremme might not be entirely getting what he needs at Ganassi.

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

More Injury Woes for Sheffield; Damon Still Hurting

But before I get to that... I didn't get to see the whole game between the New York Yankees and the Detroit Tigers last night, which the Yankees eventually won 11-3, in extra innings. These days with how early I have to wake up for work, I often miss the end of games and on the weekends it seems like I'm always running around somewhere or I'm watching a race. So even though I'm just as much of a fan as I ever was, I don't get to watch as closely as I used to be able to. But I did see Derek Jeter's big error that led to two runs. A lot of fans are willing to give Jeter a complete pass on that in a way that they wouldn't for other players - after all he is the Captain and the player who has led the team to multiple World Championships - but I really cringed when I saw that error. Of course all players are going to make errors, but the Yankees defense has been a concern of mine since day one of the season. It's not too costly to make an error that leads to two runs against the Tigers, and especially when the Yankees go on to win the game, but the Yankees need to ensure that their defense is strong so that kind of thing doesn't happen in games against division rivals or during the post-season when it could really hurt them.

Onto the Yankees continued injury woes, it's bad enough that Hideki Matsui is lost for the year, but the Yankees other starting outfielders aren't feeling so great either. Just after Gary Sheffield got off the disabled list because of an injury to his left wrist, the very same wrist is bothering him once more. On Monday Sheffield's wrist felt good enough to the point where he was able to play the outfield but after batting practice before yesterday's game it hurt him badly enough that he was a late scratch for last night's game. Hopefully this is nothing more than a minor setback because the last thing the Yankees need is for Sheffield's wrist injury to be something that lingers for the rest of the season. Sheffield has played a major role in the Yankees offense the past couple of years and with Matsui out and other players also hurting, they're really going to need him in the lineup.

Johnny Damon has been playing with a broken sesamoid bone and the pain has spread to other parts of his foot. Yesterday it was so bad that he also missed the game. Damon said,

"It's a small bone that can heal, but it can't heal if it's constantly being used."

That comment makes me think that Damon might be headed to the disabled list. Which might not be such a bad thing if it would enable the bone to heal completely. There is also the possiblity that Damon might require surgery, and if so, I hope the Yankees opt to have Damon do that sooner rather than later. Damon has been solid for the Yankees and I'd rather have him miss time now than down the road.

Damon also said,

"It swells up a lot more on days I do run more. If it's concentrated in just one spot, I wouldn't notice it, but now it's a bigger area, and that's what we're concerned about ... It's a pretty big area where it is compared to where it was."

In light of that comment and the overall state of his foot, I find it very puzzling why Damon was put into the game as a pinch-runner last night. If running makes it worse, why have him run more? If they were truly trying to get him some rest so that the foot can heal, why put him in? I didn't see that part of the game so maybe there was some reason that I don't know about, but if he needs rest, give the man some rest so the foot doesn't get any worse!

Posted by silverdsl at 01:30 PM | Comments (0)

Why Was Tony Stewart's Injury Not Found on Saturday Night?

According to Jimmy Makar, the senior vice president for Joe Gibbs Racing, Tony Stewart's broken shoulder blade likely occured on Saturday night, when he wrecked extremely hard in the Busch race, rather than during Sunday's wreck in the Cup race. What I'm wondering is why, in spite of being taken to the hospital for further examination because he was suffering shoulder pain, was the break not found then? Were no x-rays taken? Apparently this is a very common injury for a race car driver and it seems to me that if a driver is complaining of symptoms consistent with that kind of injury that it's surprising that a through examiniation wasn't done to rule that injury out... or in this case, rule it in. Had that happened perhaps the #20 team could have taken steps, as they are doing now, to change the padding on his seat, give him a local pain medication to deaden the pain and do everything else they will be doing to help make it more comfortable for him to race. Sunday's wreck would likely have still hurt Stewart, but knowing about the broken shoulder blade would have helped his team be more prepared.

Unless Stewart and his team knew about the diagnosis of a broken shoulder blade on Saturday and were hoping to keep it to themselves. After all, they did have Mike Bliss on hand as a relief driver if needed. Why would Bliss be there if they weren't worried that Stewart's injuries from the night before might force him out of the car? Maybe they were hoping that they could get away with hiding the broken shoulder blade so that Stewart wouldn't be subject to the intense scrutiny from the media and fans that will surely follow him for the next few weeks. But the wreck on Sunday would have put a crimp in those plans since it was immediately obvious after Stewart wrecked that he was injured and in severe pain. Maybe they really didn't know that Stewart had a broken shoulder blade, but it seems odd to me that he would go to the hospital for further examination and the injury wouldn't be found then.

I was thinking that Joe Gibbs would put a stop to Stewart racing in any other races besides Cup ones due to this injury, but as it turns out there's apparently nothing in Stewart's contract that would allow Gibbs to do that. I assume that he will cut down on his extracurricular racing while he's healing, but after that unless Stewart decides on his own only to race Cup, he will be free to resume racing whatever he wants, whenever he wants. On one hand, the drivers are passionate about racing that it would be a shame if they couldn't race when they wanted to. But on the other hand, no matter how careful all parties are about safety, there is a risk of injury, as Stewart knows well. So I'm not sure it's a great idea for a driver who is likely going to be a part of the Chase for the Championship, who is his organization's #1 driver, and who is one of the best drivers in the entire sport, to be racing too many non-Cup races. Aside from the fact that an injury could completely derail Stewart's season, if not his career in a worst-case scenario, there are a lot of other people whose livelihoods depend on him as well, since without him, JGR would likely be a lot less successful, at least in the short-term. Of course the problem that Stewart might have, even if he does want to stop racing in the Busch series, is that he likely has a contract with Kevin Harvick, Inc. and the sponsor of the #33 to be in that car for a certain amount of races, so he might have to fullfill his obligations there unless KHI lets him out of the contract.

Since Dover is a particularly demanding track, JGR has arranged for Ricky Rudd, who won four times at Dover, to practice and qualify the #20, as well as be on hand as the relief driver. Stewart will start the race to ensure that he gets driver points, and race as long as he can stand to, and then if needed, Rudd will take his place in the car. That they have this plan indicates how painful the injury must be since no driver wants to get out of their car, even for practice or qualifying if they can avoid it. Hopefully Stewart will heal as quickly as possible and the injury won't end up affecting his ability to race well over the next few weeks.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:41 AM | Comments (0)

May 30, 2006

Driver by Driver: Charlotte

1. Kasey Kahne - Like a lot of other fans I was thrilled to see someone other than Jimmie Johnson win at this track. It's not that I dislike Jimmie as much as many fans do, but it gets tiresome if the same driver wins, at the same tracks, over and over again. It's nice to see that another team has this track figured out. This win moves Kasey up to 6th in the overall points standings, which he must be happy about considering he had slipped some recently and I'm sure no one is complaining about $428,114 in winnings either.

2. Jimmie Johnson - I don't think this signals the end of fans seeing Jimmie in Victory Lane at this track by any means. On Sunday, the #9 team was just slightly better than the #48.

3. Carl Edwards - It's no surprise that Cousin Carl had a strong race because he won the Busch race the day before. Slowly but surely the #99 team is recovering from their early season troubles and are now 14th in the points. A few more good races like this and they could be knocking on the door to the top ten. The first of the five Roush cars in the top ten.

4. Mark Martin - This race was Mark's 650th career start in the Cup race and it was a good one! Besides leading some laps, Mark raced his way to his second top five and seventh top ten. Overall, this team has only finished outside the top fifteen once and that was at Talladega where I believe Mark got swept up in a wreck. Really an outstanding season so far for Mark and if he keeps it up he's going to retire from racing Cup full-time on a very high note!

5. Matt Kenseth - Overcame a loose lugnut to race his way to a very solid 5th place finish.

6. Jeff Burton - Seventh top ten this season for Jeff - very well done. I don't have much else to say about this race for Jeff but on a side note - his website is nicely designed but I'm not a big fan of how it pops up into a new window when you launch the site.

7. Greg Biffle - Greg's the guest this week on the weekly teleconference, so I'm sure he'll have plenty to say about how his fortunes have turned around as of late. He's moved up to 13th in points and just like teammate Carl Edwards, he too could be a Chase contender pretty soon. I think it really shows that if a team has strong cars, if they hang in and perservere that eventually things will turn around for them.

8. Jamie McMurray - This was a much needed good race for the #26 team, but I'm starting to think that this is the weakest of all the Roush teams which is incredible considering they helped get Kurt Busch a Championship just two years ago.

9. Denny Hamlin - Led 25 laps and was the highest finishing rookie in the race. He's also the highest rookie in the overall points in 12th. I really think he will be in VL at some point this season.

10. Reed Sorenson - Another rookie with a strong race. This was only his second top ten of the season, but that shouldn't be a surprise because I'm sure that Reed is still adjusting to racing Cup full-time. I think we won't see what he is fully capable of doing until next season.

11. Dale Earnhardt Jr. - Overcame a penalty for a pit road infraction to finish well. It certainly wasn't a disaster of a race for the #8 team, not when they finished 11th, but I think these kinds of issues are what makes this team a strong team, rather than a Championship team. I could be wrong as they are in 5th in the overall points standings and Junior is certainly a very talented driver behind the wheel, not to mention every team makes mistakes. But it seems to me that the #8 team, as well as they're doing this season, still might not have all the pieces together.

12. Jeff Green

13. Scott Riggs - Finished well but they should have finished much better considering that they won the pole and were strong during the race. Unfortunately problems in the pits did them in. First Scott stalled the car, then in their haste to help him getting going a couple of crew members weren't careful enough with their equipment so Scott ended up going back on the track with a gas can and jack still attached. Big no-no, so he had to come back in. Still, 13th isn't bad.

14. Paul Menard - I have to admit that I didn't think this race was going to be such a good one for Menard because he qualified so poorly and never seemed to do much during the race. But somehow he got a 14th place finish out of it.

15. Jeremy Mayfield - In a lot of ways even a 15th place finish is like a win for this team considering how much they've struggled this season. But it also has to be somewhat of a disappointment because they started the race on the front row.

16. Robby Gordon - This is a really great finish for this team considering they had to go to a back-up car after a wreck in final practice and started 41st.

17. Bobby Labonte - Bobby ended up being the last driver on the lead lap and 17th isn't a horrible finish. However, he started the race in 5th so that's a loss of a lot of positions by the end of the race.

18. Joe Nemechek -

19. Clint Bowyer - Had to serve a penalty for leaving his pit stall with a piece of equipement still attached. I think Bowyer will eventually be successful in Cup but so far it's really been an "eh" season for him.

22. J.J. Yeley - Another rookie who hasn't been doing all that much to impress as of late. I can't get a feel for J.J. - sometimes I feel like he'll eventually do really well in Cup and sometimes I feel like he might not last too long.

21. Martin Truex Jr. - Truex has also been underwhelming this season. While I figured he would experience some rookie growing pains as he adjusted to Cup, I was thinking that he might have a few more stronger finishes this season. But he only has one top ten. Martin knows how to race, there's no doubt about that, but I think he needs to be given better cars.

22. Travis Kvapil - A good finish for this team which might have been even better if not for a cut tire. It seemed to me that this might have been the best car that the #32 team had all season as Travis was legitamitely racing for position, and not just at the back of the field, as opposed to just advancing positions on the basis of other team's misfortunate as has often happened to this team.

23. Casey Mears - Casey started off the season extremely well but he's been racing mid-pack since. It looked like he was on his way to a much needed top five, but with 75 laps to go, he got loose and wrecked himself along with Kyle Busch. The damage wasn't enough to put him out of the race, but it was enough to prevent him from finishing as well as it looked like he might earlier in the night. Casey's name continues to be in the silly season rumor mix, with the latest rumor being he's the front-runner for the #88. Publically Casey says he would like to stay at Ganassi, but that's what they all say. I'd like to see what he might be able to do with another team.

24. Johnny Sauter - A lot of Steve Park fans hate Johnny because he took Steve's place in the #30 car at RCR. They also feel that he's a no-talent hack. I don't think so. It's only one race but I thought that Sauter showed that when he's given a good car, and the #30 was mostly certainly not a competitive car, that he can run up front. Sauter's finish should have been much better as he was in the top ten for a good chunk of the race but a cut tire ruined his fine run. Apparently Johnny will race a few more Cup races for Haas CNC and it's possible that they will add a second car full-time next season, so we might not have seen the last of Johnny as a full-time Cup driver.

25. Kyle Petty

26. Ken Schrader - Apparently I wasn't paying very close attention during Inside Nextel Cup when Ken talked about why this race didn't go so well for his team because I can't remember what he said.

27. Scott Wimmer - I rarely hear anything about this team but I'm intrigued because I actually think there is some possiblities here for improvement. It's just that it's so hard for smaller teams these days.

28. Sterling Marlin - Another not very good race for this team. They've got one top ten but otherwise this season is nothing to write home about for Sterling.

29. Kenny Wallace - I heard Kenny Wallace address the media last week via XM and he had strong words about wanting the media to take this team seriously. Unfortunately until they run up front that probably won't happen, and racing up front is a tall order for such a small and under-funded team.

30. Elliott Sadler - Elliott continues to sink in the overall points standings as the #38 team continues to struggle with giving him decent cars. If this team doesn't find a way to make some improvements I think Elliott's season is in serious trouble.

31. David Stremme - A bad vibration ruined his evening. Stremme's best finish this season was 21st at Texas - really a poor season, even for a rookie, since he's with a well-funded team.

32. Dave Blaney - Handling was an issue for the #22 team in this race. Finishing 32nd caused the #22 team to drop to 34th in the owners points and a few more poor finishes could put them outside the top 35 in owner's points. BDR absolutely must do something to turn things around, as hard as it might be with no manufacturer support, because they are looking at a situation where next season neither of their cars might be guaranteed a spot in the first few races.

33. Terry Labonte - Some wonder why Terry continues to race occassionally for Hendrick and how he could possibly enjoy it since the results are so bad, but I'd guess that he might be helping them out with R&D work, as the Hendrick engineers might try things with this car that they wouldn't with their primary cars.

34. Kevin Harvick - A transmission problem meant that Kevin could finish no better than 34th.

35. Ryan Newman - Had to deal with both handling and mechanical problems. What is going on with this team? Not a single pole yet for Ryan and his season has been extremely inconsistant.

36. Jeff Gordon - First there were brake problems, then front-end suspension problems which ultimately led to Jeff wrecking. Jeff remains in the top ten in points, but just like with the #8 team I'm not feeling like this team is a Championship team.

37. Brian Vickers - Got loose and wrecked on lap 159 but that wasn't the end of his night. Brian spent the rest of the race scuffing tires for his Hendrick teammates. That couldn't have been fun. This team is capable of strong races as they've got a top five and two top tens this season. But the rest of their results have not been very impressive. Brian has the talent behind the wheel since he's the 2003 Busch series Champion but so far his results in Cup have not been great. Similar to Casey Mears, I'm not sure Vickers will be able to develop as a Cup driver with Hendrick Motorsports as much as he might in another organization. At Hendrick he will always be in the shadow of Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, possibly Kyle Busch as well.

38. Kyle Busch - I'll have more to say about young Kyle after the penalities are announced later today.

39. Kurt Busch - Wrecked. Kurt has a win this season, and I doubt it will be the last time he ends up in Victory Lane, but the overall results are much less than most people expected when Kurt got into the #2. I think there are a number of problems, from Kurt and his new team adjusting to each other, to bad luck, to Penske Racing overall not being so strong this season. By the end of the season this team should be better, but the question is by how much?

40. Tony Raines - Blown engine.

41. Michael Waltrip - I said plenty about this previously, but the #74's brake problems ended Michael's night early. 41st is still better than not being in the race at all.

42. Tony Stewart - A very costly accident for Tony.

43. Dale Jarrett- Turns out, not only was Eddie D'Hondt the General Manager at Robert Yates Racing, he was also DJ's spotter. A driver and his spotter must be on the same page and DJ's lap one wreck highlights that loud and clear. Apparently "Hold your line" meant two different things to DJ and his spotter. It would probably also have helped if his spotter had alerted him to Robby Gordon coming up on his inside. Spotters are going to make mistakes but that was a pretty big "oops!"

Posted by silverdsl at 10:53 AM | Comments (0)

May 29, 2006

Photo of the Day - Grounds for Sculpture

Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, New Jersey, May, 2006. Jim and I went back to Grounds for Sculpture yesterday to explore and we had a great time! Grounds for Sculpture is a 35-acre sculpture park and there are many very cool sculptures there. Some where you least expect them! What's really neat is that a lot of thought was put into the landscaping and the placement of the sculptures so that everything "fits," for want of a better word. Really a very fun place to go!

Posted by silverdsl at 09:43 PM | Comments (0)

Michael Waltrip Fights Back!

One of the reasons why I was looking forward to Inside Nextel Cup tonight was because I wanted to hear how Michael Waltrip was going to respond to the outrage and criticism that's been directed towards him the past few days for brokering a deal with the #74 team to ensure that he and NAPA Autoparts would race yesterday, even though the #55 failed to qualify for the race. I knew he would have plenty to say but I didn't expect the kind of rant that he went on, and all I can say is... go Michael!!!

One of the very first things he started out saying was "You don't know all the facts!" And as it turned out he was directing that statement towards INC's host, Dave Despain, who also hosts Wind Tunnel on Speed on Sunday nights. In discussing the situation that Michael found himself in, Dave said on last night's WT that Michael needs to get focused on only one thing - driving his race car. Well, it's very obvious that Michael didn't take too kindly to that statement! His response was that he has so many people around him handling his business that all he does is drive the car. He said that the #55 failed to qualify for the race because of the handling of the car, not because he's focusing on other things besides being the driver and racing. Now, I think that Michael is a little more more involved with the overall business at Michael Waltrip Racing that just driving, since he is the owner, but I think his point is a very valid one.

Even among fans of Michael, it seems that some people forget that he's not the only one running MWR and that there are a lot of very good people, including general manager Ty Norris, who are doing a lot of the decision making and ensuring that MWR runs smoothly. I think Michael set things up in this way specifically, by hiring some excellent and very smart people who can make make the day-to-day decisions at MWR, so he could focus as much as possible on driving the car. And Despain should know this because it's standard for every driver, even the ones who don't own their own race teams - they have a lot of people around them to help them with every aspect of what they have to do outside of the race car. In addition, I think it was a ridiculous comment for Despain to make about someone who he works with on INC. I have no problem with Despain expressing his opinions, but I think he should have a little courtesy for someone who is a colleague of a sort, and refrain from essentially insulting Michael by questioning his focus.

Michael then went on to say that he didn't buy his way into the race, instead his team entered into a partnership with the #74 team that was a win-win for both parties. He also said that the #74 team will now be able to do more moving forward because the team was looking for money to continue their dream of being a full-time team. That's something that I think a lot of fans have overlooked. While they've been slamming Michael for buying his way into the race, they don't see how this actually benefits the #74 team. A few weeks ago that team was hit with a large fine from Nascar for a rules violation and that's a big hit to a small team that has few resources, including financial ones. I have no doubt that this team made more money by entering into this deal with Michael than they would have if they had run the race themselves. That will help make it a little easier to afford to take the car to other races in the future. In fact, Derrike Cope said on his website,

"This was purely a business decision on Ray McGlynn's part to further our team for future races that will hopefully allow us to race more and be more competitive."

Then Michael brought up what's at the heart of why he entered into the arrangement with the #74 team - taking care of his sponsor, NAPA. He said that doing this wasn't about him racing, or as he said in another article, extending his consecutive Cup races streak, it's all about NAPA being in the race. Which is very true. NAPA probably spends $15 million or more on their sponsorship of the #55 car, and it's unacceptable for them to miss races. Michael, and those who work for him at MWR, had a responsibility to ensure that they did whatever they needed to do to make sure that NAPA was a presence in one of the biggest races that they run each season.
Michael's fellow owners understand this completely. Rick Hendrick said,

"We've got 5,000 Lowe's employees here. This is where these sponsors bring their people to have an event. If we didn't make the race it would be a really awkward deal not to have a car in there. I feel [Waltrip's] pain, because I know that would be a disaster for your sponsor.''

Exactly. Missing a race is a disaster not only for Michael and his team, but also for the sponsor. But many people don't understand the business side of the sport or think that it's not very important. But it is. Michael has to keep his sponsor happy. Michael doesn't run Michael Waltrip Racing entirely out of his own pocket. Nor does Bill Davis Racing, Toyota, or Nascar pay all the bills. Those bills, and there are a lot of them, are paid by NAPA and the rest of Michael's sponsors, who pay to get the maximum amount of exposure possible, something they can't get if Michael's not racing.

J.D. Gibbs, president of Joe Gibbs Racing, added,

"It's a hard, hard situation. Give credit to Michael. He's committed to his sponsor and he sucked it up and paid to make it happen.''

Instead of ripping Michael to shreads, it would be nice if a few more people acknowledged how hard Michael and those at MWR are working to make the best of a bad situation. Fact is 2006 has been awful for Michael so far, in some ways an embarassment considering how well-funded the team is, and I highly doubt that he or NAPA is very happy with the way things have gone. Michael could have given up, packed up and gone home when he didn't qualify for the race, but instead he and Ty Norris figured out what they needed to do to make things right. I admire that - this is a very tough sport, not only on the track but on the business end as well. Making things work and having a successful team isn't as easy as some seem to think it is - the #55 team is an example of how hard things can be - so it was no small matter for Michael and the others around him who were involved to make this deal happen.

Back to what Michael said on INC, he finished by saying that he shouldn't be judged, and nor should anyone else be judged, without knowing all the facts. I couldn't agree with Michael more on that point! Yes, we all draw conclusions and speculate on things without knowing all the facts. And it's really hard for fans, because we are on the outside looking in, so it's often impossible for us to be aware of everything that is going on behind the scenes, especially since teams, drivers and sponsors don't always want all the facts to be known. But I think there's a difference between having some opinions on an incident or a situation, based on what's publically known to that point, and bashing a driver as a person, which is what has been happening to Michael. That's why I try to be careful about what I say in this space. I have strong opinions, but I try to stay away from bashing and personal insults. I really don't know all that there is to know about any given situation and I think there are some lines that shouldn't be crossed - too bad not all fans see things my way. It's really appalling some of what's being said about Michael by some fans, not just that they disagree with him getting into a race this way, but all sorts of personal insults. Fact is, 99% of those fans, including myself as big of a fan of his as I am, really have no clue about Michael as a person, about his business, about his obligations to his sponsors, about how he conducts himself, or, as he pointed out, about all the facts in this particular situation.

Some fans took exception with Michael saying that had he not entered into the agreement with the #74 team that Derricke would have parked the car after ten laps, but he wanted to race longer. He said that is the business model that they are choosing to follow and that there's nothing wrong with that, only he wanted to do something different. It's very true that the #74 team has been a start and park team for the two races prior to this weekend, due to "mechanical" issues, which mysteriously cropped up on lap 11 in both races. I think that they do this to protect the car - they don't have the money to get easily get a replacement car or parts if it gets wrecked or there's a major mechanical malfunction, not to mention they may not have a spare engine so if that one goes their whole season could be over. But some fans felt that was Michael taking a shot at Cope - saying that he's a better driver than Cope is, um, no, trying listening to what the man is saying, and not hearing only what you want to hear.

After Michael had gotten all of that off his chest, Ken Schrader also defended his actions. Kenny wisely pointed out that the #74 team earned that spot in the starting lineup and what they elected to do with it is their business. I fully agree - the #74 team entered into the agreement with Michael of their own free will. They could have said no, as it's rumored Johnny Sauter's team did. And there's the thing that bothers me about all of this - Nascar's rules allow this deal to happen and both parties entered into this agreement willingly. Overall, I'd rather that teams race their way into each race and I'm quite sure that Michael and NAPA would prefer to have gotten into the Coca-Cola 600 that way too. But both of these two teams found a way to help each other, something that those in the garage area have always been known for - helping each other.

I think that a lot of the fans who are so outraged by what Michael did, would do very much the same thing that Michael did, just as Cal Wells did last season. There is a real lack of understanding about the pressures that sponsors put on the teams and what kind of business decisions sometimes have to be made because of it. I'm just glad that Michael is sticking up for himself and trying to explain those things to people, even though unfortunately a lot of fans once they make up their mind about something, they find it impossible to see things any other way.

Posted by silverdsl at 07:40 PM | Comments (0)

Random Thoughts on This Weekend's Races

*Best part of this weekend as far as racing goes was Steve Park finishing 10th at Mansfield! For a team that is so small and doesn't have a primary sponsor or manufacturer support, a top ten is like a win for them. I only got to see one lap of this race - the final one - but I was still thrilled to hear that Steve did so well in this race! Reports from the track was that he had a "happy truck," but last race the team was very excited about their truck and things didn't go so well. So I didn't really know what to expect. I'm so glad that Steve's "happy truck" made for a happy race! Only thing is that the #59 team is still outside the top 30 in owner's points. I thought they might be able to move up a couple of positions with a finish like that but they are still in 33rd. I hope that they are able to build on this weekend's outstanding finish next week at Dover and then maybe they will eventually get themselves back to where they should be. As long as they are outside of the top 20 in owner's points they are in danger of missing races and if that were to happen they would be put even further back in the points.

*Michael Waltrip only lasted 112 laps in yesterday's race... but that's 62 laps more than I thought he would. A lot of fans were worried before the race that it was a safety issue having Michael at 6'5" jammed into a car set up for Derricke Cope, who is listed at 5'7," but might be shorter. But I figured given that the #74 car hasn't lasted an entire race yet that they've been able to qualify for, Michael wasn't going to have to worry about being able to manage for all 600 miles of this race. And I was right, though the car held together in one piece longer than I thought it would. Fact is, though I'm sure the #74 team works just as hard as any other in the garage area, they are a very small team with few financial resources and if what I've heard is correct, not a lot of physical resources in terms of cars and equipment either. They have a lot of mechanical issues and that's probably to be expected. So last night Michael's night ended early due to brake problems, and that wasn't surprising. But Michael achieved his goal - he got NAPA in the race and got them exposure in one of the biggest races of the season, even if he had to cut a deal with the #74 team to do it. I really hope that Dover bring better luck for Michael and the #55 team.

* Joey Miller finished 5th at Mansfield, which is a career high for him. Lately, I've really come to be a fan of his and I'm kind of excited about that. Claire B. Lang from XM decided that she was going to follow a rookie driver in the truck series and selected Joey as that driver. So she's been having him on regularly to talk about the truck races, as well as his experience as a rookie driver and racing overall. That's been really interesting. Joey is only 21, but he seems mature, with a good outlook towards racing. Listening to him on XM is what initially caught my attention, but what has furthered my interest in Joey is that Michael speaks very highly of him. Joey is in one of DW's trucks and Michael has talked about putting Joey in one of his own Busch cars, possibly as soon as next season. So I figure if Michael is so high on him, then Joey must be someone worth paying attention to. But overall, there's just something about him that I like. And I'm excited about it because at 21 years old he might have many years of racing ahead of him, if he's successful, so he's someone that I could follow for a long time to come. Finding someone new to add to my list of drivers that I'm a fan of is something pretty neat to me!

*DW's other driver, also soon to be one of Michael's Busch drivers, David Reutimann, also had a very strong race, finishing 9th. What's really awesome is that David is 3rd in the overall points in the truck series! I think it's going to be hard for anyone to beat Todd Bodine or Ted Musgrave for the Championship, but I love that David is in the hunt! Speaking of the points in the truck series, I can't help but notice that the top six teams in the points are Toyota teams. I sure would love to see Steve hook up with one of those teams, because then he too might be in a position to contend for a Championship.

*I have to admit I didn't pay all that close attention to the Busch race on Saturday night. Michael had an okay race, finishing 20th and was higher in the field at points, which was good to see. It seemed like a sure thing that Casey Mears was going to win, which I would have loved to see considering he's never won on the Cup or Busch levels, but it was not to be. Late problems for Mears allowed Carl Edwards to pass him for the win. Naturally Edwards did one of his backflips to celebrate. Most fans love the backflips, I always worry that a misstep will cost Edwards dearly and lead to a trip to the hospital.

*Which is exactly how the night ended for Jamie McMurray and Tony Stewart. Both crashed hard during the Busch race and both were sent to the hospital for x-rays. Jamie checked out fine, but unfortunately for Tony it wasn't his last trip to the hospital this weekend...

*On lap 33 of yesterday's race, Tony had to endure another hard wreck and it was obvious immediately that this wreck took a further toll on him. It took quite some time for Tony to get out of his car, and when he did he was clearly in pain and making a big effort not to move his right arm. Tony's second trip of the weekend to the hospital showed that he had a non-displaced fracture of his right scapula, which is a fancier way of saying that he broke his shoulder blade. It's expected that he will be able to race at Dover, and really no matter how much pain he's in, unless Nascar doesn't clear him to race, he has no choice, since Nascar's rules don't allow a driver to miss races due to injury without taking a major hit in the points. I think there needs to be some change in the rules so that drivers who are injured don't force themselves to get behind the wheel before they might be completely healed to ensure that they don't put themselves at further risk for injury. There's no doubt if he's physically capable Tony will be racing for the next few races with a broken shoulder blade. But is he going to be able to race to the best of his abilities? I'm not sure he will be. And that kind of an injury could linger if not allowed to heal properly. As much as Tony might hate it, I would guess that he won't be able to do some of the extra-curricular racing in the Busch series and elsewhere that he enjoys doing.

*Dave Blaney has been having a better season than teammate Michael Waltrip, but just barely. I can't help but notice the #22 team sunk another two positions in the owner's points to 33rd. If they don't pick it up, and I have my doubts that they will be able to do so, neither Bill Davis Racing affiliated team will be in the top 35 in owner points. Michael is a higher profile driver than Blaney is so his struggles have attracted more attention, but it could very well end up that no Toyota team has a guaranteed spot in the first five races of the 2007 season, other than Dale Jarrett's team because he will be able to take advantage of the Champion's provisional. It really highlights how putrid the cars are that BDR is fielding this season that both teams are struggling so much.

*On lap 314, Casey Mears got loose and slid around right into Kyle Busch. That saved Mears from wrecking his car, but Busch ended up in the wall and wrecked out of the race. Busch's response was to throw his Hans device at Mears' car as he passed by on the track, a very immature action by a driver who often appears to have a lot of growing up to do. Busch will surely be penalized by Nascar for that, as he should be, because it's a ridiculous reaction to being accidentally wrecked. I think that the drivers need to show some maturity and have enough control of their emotions to not have temper tantums like that. That said, I do understand Busch's frustration because he was racing in the top ten at the time and thought he had a chance to win the race. I'm not sure he was lashing out at Casey, as much as he was lashing out at the situation in general. Because his last name is Busch, it seems a lot of fans are overreacting to what Kyle did and are calling for his head. I hate to see drivers throwing things at each other and I think that Kyle needs to have some understanding for the fact that Casey just lost it, rather than that he did anything deliberate. But I don't think Kyle needs to be punished any more severely than any other driver who has thrown a temper tantrum.

*Kasey Kahne won last night and fans were estatic! Not necessarily because it was Kasey who ended up in Victory Lane, but because many fans were sick of seeing Jimmie Johnson win at Charlotte. I hope that this will put to rest some of the conspiracy theories that Nascar fixes races at this track so that Jimmie can win. But it sure was nice to see how happy Kasey was when he first got out of the car. Not when he was in Victory Lane, where everything is scripted, but when he was still on the track and he was getting the checked flag and celebrating wiith his crew. You could see it all over his face that winning isn't old hat to him - Kasey was as excited as I've ever seen him and it was a great sight!

Posted by silverdsl at 02:01 PM | Comments (0)

May 26, 2006

Robert Yates Racing Has a Lot to Work on

Yesterday I listened to a session that Robert and Doug Yates did with the media that was played on XM, in which they discussed the challenges facing their organization. Two things came up in this session that I'm sure others might think are minor issues, really highlighted for me the depth of the problems that Robert Yates Racing has to overcome in relation to the way the organization functions.

First Claire B. Lang from XM asked about a quote attributed to Doug Yates which talked about them getting their "arms around our company." Yates actually said that it was a nice quote but he never said it. Claire B. then pointed out that is was, get this, in the official press release sent out by RYR when they announced that they were parting ways with Eddit D'Hondt! It was then admitted that the quotes had been written by the RYR public relations staff and that Yates had never seen the press release before it was sent out! That was shocking to me. It's standard for public relations people to make up quotes by their clients but it's imperitive, particularly if there is likely to be a lot of media attention, that the quotes should be approved before they are used. Otherwise, it can be very embarassing as Yates found out. It also indicates that not everyone in the company is on the same page, nor are they working together.

The other thing that came up in the session is that, according to Claire B., Doug Yates had no idea that there was an "out" clause in Elliott Sadler's contract. As one of the people intimately involved with the operations at RYR, because his father owns the company, how can he not know this? I don't expect him to know everything about the driver's contracts but it seems to me an "out" clause is a pretty big thing not to know about. Especially when Sadler just discussed it with the media earlier that day! It seems a little surprising that the Yates didn't go over with their PR staff some of the questions they might expect to get and what some responses could be.

It seems to me that along with making improvements in the technical and performance areas, RYR has to improve the way information flows in the organization. That will also only help them in the long-run.

Posted by silverdsl at 11:38 AM | Comments (0)

Michael Waltrip Will Race on Sunday After All

Immediately after failing to qualify for the Coca-Cola 600 last night in the #55 NAPA car, Michael Waltrip worked out a deal to buy the # 74 McGlynn Racing Dodge, which was to be driven by Derrike Cope. Michael's team will put the NAPA logo on the car and possibly the #55 as well, though the owner points will still go to McGlynn Racing. This is good news for Michael because it allows him to continue his consecutive Cup races started streak which stands at 261 at the moment. In addition, there's another neat streak, that there has been a Waltrip, either Michael or DW, in every Cup race dating back to 1975. That's 31 years of Waltrips! Incredible! Of course this isn't the way that Michael would like to be racing this weekend, but it's better than sitting out the race entirely.

Although Michael's team plans on changing the engine in the car and I'm sure they wiill make other changes to it as well, I'm not expecting the results to be much better than he would have gotten in the #55. In the three races that Cope has managed to qualify for in this car, he's finished 41st and 43rd twice. Two out of the three races, he's parked it after 11 laps, once due to a vibration and once because of oil pressure problems. It's possible he starts and parks to save wear and tear on the car since this team is likely very low on resources or it's possible that the car really is that bad, in which case Michael might not last very long in this race. But at least he'll be racing, which is a good thing.

Yesterday on Michael's site someone suggested that it might be a good thing if he didn't race on Sunday to give him a break from all that he's doing as a driver and as an owner. Of course even if he didn't race, he would still have obligations, such as hospitality visits, that would likely still take him to the track on Sunday, so it's not like Michael would be able to sit around in his underwear doing nothing. But I can't see anything good about him failing to qualify for this race. It's a terrible blow to the team's chances of getting into the top 35 in owner's points, it's horrible for team morale, it's bad for Michael's mindset, it upsets the sponsors and it reflects poorly on the perceptions about how Michael is going to do fielding his teams next season.

I can't even begin to emphasis how important it was for this team to get back into the top 35 in owner points. They had managed to hang on to the 36th spot, with a chance of getting back into the top 35, but depending on how the other teams close to them in owner's points do on Sunday, they will likely drop further down in the points standings. With how lousy the cars have been so far this season, it's going to be very difficult for them to move up any spots considering it seems to be tough for them to get results any better than a top 30. Unfortunately this means that they may have to qualify in on time for the rest of the races this season and there is a chance that they will miss more races. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they did. I would love to be more positive but the facts are the facts - the cars that Michael has been getting from Bill Davis Racing are junk. Michael and his team do everything they can to make the cars better but it seems as if there is nothing they can do to improve them. Until they find a way to get Michael strong, more competitive cars, the results will likely not get better and qualifying for races will continue to be something they will have to worry about.

In addition, if the #55 team can't finish the season in the top 35 in owner's points they will not be guaranteed a spot in the first five races of the 2007 season. So they will have to worry about making it in on time for those races too. I'm pretty sure that with Toyota's help the #55 team will be much better in 2007. But I think the road ahead of Toyota won't be as easy as some think it will be. In addition, the competition to make races is going to be even stiffer next season with all the new teams. It won't be a given that the #55 will be able to easily qualify in. It's bad to miss races this season but I think everyone knows that this is a transition year. However, they absolutely can't miss races next season, when the expectations are going to be so much higher.

Michael's team has to feel very down right now. All their hard work, and they even went so far as to fly to Kentucky to do extra testing last week, has gone for nothing. That's really a demoralizing feeling to do so much to prepare for this race and then have it go to waste. It's probably been hard enough to keep the team's spirit's up and this kind of a blow could really send them into a tail spin. But I assume all the members of the #55 team take a lot of pride in what they do and will continue to put 100% effort into everything that they do, even if the results continue to not be pretty.

What really bothers me is how failing to qualify likely makes Michael feel. It's embarassing for one. In public he does a good job of remaining upbeat most of the time, but I think it has to be depressing. Everyone knew that it was going to be hard this season - but this bad? His expectations for himself and for his team were surely higher and it pains me to think about Michael getting down on himself. As the owner and driver Michael must keep a positive attitude and, at least outwardly, have full confidence in himself and his team's ability to improve. He is the leader of this team and he has to find a way to guide them towards success, even if that means making some hard decisions about further personnel changes.

I can only imagine that one of Michael's first phone calls after arranging to buy Cope's ride was to NAPA to apologize for failing to qualify for the race. NAPA is paying millions of dollars to be on the car, maybe as much as $15 million this season. For that kind of money, it's unacceptable for their car to not be in the race. In fact, it's almost mind-boggling that even with $15 million at their disposal, BDR and MWR are unable to make the cars any better, at least to the point where they don't miss races. NAPA executives were likely not very happy with the outcome last night, but I don't think there's any fears that they will break their contract with Michael for next season. Just as I believe that the results will be much better next season, I think NAPA thinks so too. At the very least, the exposure they will receive due to all the attention that will be paid to the Toyota teams next season will be tremendous.

What is bothering a lot of Michael's fans at the moment is that by failing to qualify for the race, it fuels the negative perceptions about Michael as a driver and an owner. The "haters" are all crawling out of the woodwork to bash and insult Michael, not to mention some of his fans. I think it's a sad commentary that some take joy in other people's misfortunes. I also think it's useless to argue with some of these people because most of them are so dead-set in their desire to hate Michael that they are unwilling to have any kind of an intelligent discussion. To them, Michael not qualifying for the race justifies their hatred and their perception that he's a loser as a driver and as a person. There simply isn't anything that can be done about those people.

Unfortunately this means that the #55 team has even less room for error than they did before. Somehow they are going to have to find a way to improve. Continued 35th place finishes are beneath what this team is capable of it they had decent cars to work with.

ETA: I just wanted to correct one item in this entry - as it turned out the #55 team didn't change engines in the #74 car, the reason being that it turned out that the engine that was already in the car, which the #74 team gets from an outside vendor instead of building themselves, was thought to be a better one than the BDR engine in the #55. I'd say that BDR should think about buying some outside engines if their own are that bad, but they won't be able to get any better in the engine department if they don't keep working on them.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:38 AM | Comments (0)

May 25, 2006

Photo of the Day - Tree Bark

New Jersey, April, 2006.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:08 PM | Comments (0)

Michael Waltrip Fails to Qualify for the Coca-Cola 600

I'm not surprised that Michael Waltrip wasn't able to qualify in on time for the Cup race on Sunday. Fact is that the car was dreadfully slow during practice, and it turns out that he wrecked his primary car, so he was in a very bad position right from the start. I'm really heart-broken for Michael. Unless he finds a way to buy a ride from someone, he will miss his first Cup race in a very long time. Might not be the last time either because missing this race is going to make it very hard to get back into the top 35 in owner's points. He will still race this weekend in the Busch race but I'm guessing that he's probably extremely upset about missing the Cup race, even though he'll probably try to be upbeat, though realistic, about things publically.

I'm really too upset at the moment to say much else other than how awful I feel for Michael. I truly feel sick about this, not because I won't get to see him race on Sunday, but because I know how terrible he must feel. More to come...

Posted by silverdsl at 09:17 PM | Comments (0)

Elliott Sadler Does Have an "Out" in His Contract

A couple of days ago a spokesperson from Robert Yates Racing said that Elliott Sadler is under contract with RYR though 2008, probably hoping to take his name out of the silly season mix. Well, as it turns out what that spokesperson neglected to mention is that Sadler does in fact, as rumored, have an "out" clause in his contract. That means that while he's signed for the next couple of years, he could get out of his contract. Of course Sadler says that he's not going to use that "out" clause and that he has every intention of staying at RYR. But that's what they all say. Every driver claims that they want to re-sign or stay at their present organization. Every driver claims that they like where they are, even if they are really miserable. Very, very, very few drivers publically talk about wanting and actively looking for a new ride, even if that's exactly what they're doing. I'm listening to Sadler on XM and he just said very emphatically that no team has offered him any money. Well, that doesn't mean that he's not listening to some inquires from some teams that might be interested in his services. In fact, that might be wise, in case RYR can't turn things around so he knows what might be available to him in the future. I wouldn't at all be surprised to see Sadler end up with a different team in 2007.

Sadler is talking now about taking RYR on his shoulders, being in the car as much as possible, in the Busch side and on the Cup side, testing and doing everything he can to turn things around. It's going to take a lot more than just Sadler making the effort - RYR's issues are going to need quite a bit of effort from everyone in the organization to resolve. I hope Sadler realizes that he can't do it himself - if he, and RYR, puts too much pressure on himself, I don't think that would be a good thing.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:10 PM | Comments (0)

Roush Most Valuable Nascar Organization

In its June 5 issue, Forbes Magazine examined what the top Nascar Cup organizations are worth on the basis of total sponsorship and revenue for all their cars and discovered that Roush Racing is worth the most. Roush is worth a mind-boggling $218 million with revenue of $108 million!! That's a huge amount of money. And when I see those numbers it makes Jack Roush whining about Toyota and how much money they're going to dump into their Cup operations sound ridiculous. If you're really that worried about it Jack, spend some more of that $108 million!

What really shocked me is that in spite of having Nascar's most popular driver, DEI is only 8th on the list, with a total worth, according to Forbes of $57 million, $35 million in revenue. I would have expected DEI to be much higher on the list, simply because of how much the Budweiser sponsorship must be for, as well as how much revenue they must have coming in from a variety of sources. Waltrip-Jasper Racing comes in 14th, out of 15 organizations, with a total worth of $23 million, $16 million in revenue. Michael Waltrip Racing's total worth and revenue will surely go up next season with more sponsors and hopefully more success. But to me that highlights once more how costly it was for DEI to lose NAPA and the other sponsors who left with Michael last year. That sponsorship surely hurt DEI's total worth.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:48 PM | Comments (0)

Elliott Sadler Back in #90 Busch Car

I find this curious, but considering the turmoil that Robert Yates Racing is experiencing overall, maybe I shouldn't. On May 12th, it was announced that Elliott Sadler would be stepping out of the #90 Citifinancial Busch car for the remainder of the season so that RYR's driver development drivers, Matt McCall and Stephen Leicht, could split time in the car. That made a great deal of sense considering Dale Jarrett is leaving for Michael Waltrip Racing next season, and RYR might want either McCallor Leicht to take Jarrett's place in the #88, but they both need more experience. However, when it was announced that Eddit D'Hondt was out as General Manager at RYR, it was also announced that Sadler would be back in the #90. But I noticed on the entry list for Charlotte that Matt McCall was also entered in the Citifinancial #92, so I figured that the plan was for Sadler to be in the #90 for the races he had committed to from the start of the season to make the sponsor happy, and for those Busch races that Sadler would be in RYR would field a second car for the development drivers.

But now the #92 has been withdrawn, leaving only Sadler entered in the race. That seems strange to me if RYR is really eyeing either McCall or Leicht for the #88 next season. Likely it's only a one-race thing and McCall and Leicht will see plenty of Busch series action but, it seems to me if that really is the plan, they would want them both to get as much seat time as possible. But at this point, who knows what the plan is for RYR? Firing D'Hondt probably means that they are going to take an entirely new approach on many things. One thing is for sure they really need to get their act together.

Posted by silverdsl at 12:59 PM | Comments (0)

May 24, 2006

Photo of the Day

April, 2006.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:11 PM | Comments (0)

A Most Sensitive Subject: Steve Park and the Accident

Here's a topic that is extremely sensitive for Steve Park fans - his accident. As most Nascar fans know, Steve was seriously injured in 2001 during a Busch race in a freak accident under caution at Darlington. The resulting head injury caused Steve to miss the remainder of the 2001 season, as well as the beginning of the 2002 season. Before I go any further let me say that I believe that Steve is fully recovered from his injury and that his driving ability is exactly the same now as it was prior to the accident. I will repeat for those who are even more sensitive than others - I think that Steve Park is just as talented of a race car driver as he was prior to his 2001 accident.

Here's the thing with Steve Park fans and the accident - a lot of people would like to sweep it under the rug. Oh, there's no way to pretend that it never happened, but other than the most casual mention here or there, it seems like a forbidden topic of discussion in some places. But it's like a big, pink elephant in the corner - there's really no way of ignoring it, no matter how hard a lot of people try. The reality is that Steve's accident had a profound impact on his racing career. Prior to the accident Steve had been on the rise in Nascar and was thought to have many years of winning on the Cup level ahead of him. Everything changed on September 1, 2001. He went from being considered a driver who was one of Nascar's brightest stars to a driver who was considered damaged goods in many people's minds, in spite of the fact that Steve would not receive clearance to race from Nascar unless he was completely back to full health. Steve's struggles on the track since, most of which has been due to being in subpar cars/trucks and racing for teams with significant issues, has further solidified the perception in many people's minds that Steve never fully recovered from the accident. For those who like to only read selectively, let me repeat for a third time - I believe that Steve is the same driver he was before the accident. But even though I believe that Steve is just as talented behind the wheel as he ever was, the fact of the matter is that there are many who believe that he is not.

Now some are saying, why are you bringing this up now? It's five years later and it's old news. There's a few reasons. One, is that I don't think that it will ever entirely be old news. Steve's accident, as difficult of a subject as it may be, is a part of who he is, as a race car driver and as a person. Fans hate when the media refers to his accident, and I also don't like when members of the media harp on it, but I do think they would be remiss if they ignored it completely. But besides the accident being part of the Steve Park "story," a comment was made last week on Steve Park Central, in reference to the accident, that has really stuck with me. This fan of Steve's said that they felt that Steve was only now just about back as a driver to where he was before the accident. Now, as I've mentioned three times already I don't agree with that statement. But it really gave me pause - it's not the first time that I've seen even those who are fond of Steve express doubts about whether he is the same driver as he once was. But this time it really made me think - if one of Steve's fans believes that he's not the same driver he was before the accident, then what do those in the garage area think, even though it's five years later? Coincidentally another fan of Steve's brought up this very same issue yesterday to me as we were discussing some things, so that prompted me to give even further thought to this topic.

One would think that after this long, that everyone in the garage area has been around Steve enough after the accident, and has seen him race - and win - that perceptions about Steve have changed. But have they? As the fan who I was chatting with about this pointed out, one has to wonder when drivers with less success than Steve get better rides than he does, what exactly is going on. Now there are a lot of factors that go into why drivers end up in certain rides and Steve has surely turned down a few offers that he didn't feel were right for him. But it seems to me that a driver who has the ability to race up front and win, as witnessed by his 2005 truck series win, who would represent any sponsor very well, who is extremely fan-friendly and has a strong fan base, should be in much greater demand than he is. There are very definitely other factors working against Steve, such as his age, but is it possible that in the back of some people's mind in the garage area, they still percieve him as damaged goods, even though he most certainly is not?

It's something that has occured to me before, and it's one reason why it pains me so much to see Steve continually struggle to get good results. I know that Steve has had to deal with a lot of lousy cars and trucks, mechanical failures, getting swept up in wrecks, problems in the pits, and all sort of other issues that are completely out of his hands. Those are things that can ruin any driver's day at the track, even the best of the best. But some people never see beyond where a driver finishes a particular race or where they end up in the overall points. And I think that some people assume that it's not the cars and the trucks that are the problem, it's Steve. Of course this is true of every driver - people say terrible things about Michael Waltrip's driving ability, when in reality he's had a considerable amount of issues with his cars that have hindered his success. But I think it's much worse for a driver who has a serious injury in his past because it's easy to pin those percieved failures on not being the same due to the injury rather than on other circumstances that they might have to deal with. So I worry that Steve continuing to get subpar results on the track feeds some people's belief, possibly including some who might consider him for a ride, that he is not quite the driver he once was.

I'm sure this entry might anger some if they come across it. Steve's accident is the thing that must not be spoken of, as I mentioned above. In fact, the comment by the fan on SPC, was reported to the webmaster and the thread was removed. Why? Because the feeling was that Steve, who reads SPC regularly, shouldn't have to be subjected to reading that kind of a comment. Well, I have to say that if a mild comment by a supportive fan of Steve's is a problem for him, then he might want to stay off all fan sites, the internet in general, not read any newspaper articles or listen to any TV or radio coverage. There are much, much, much harsher comments made about Steve on a regular basis, some of them by his own fans. Fact is, there are people who think highly of him and wish him well who think he is stick-a-fork-in-him done, in terms of being a successful race car driver. There are more than a few people, some who are long-time fans of his, who think that Steve's career is nearing it's end and that he will never be in another quality, competitive ride again. Some of those people even connect their feeling that he is done to the accident. Again, that is not what I believe, but that is most definitely what some people believe. I understand that those kinds of comments might be hurtful to Steve. But fact of the matter is that he is 39-years old, a grown adult, who should need no protecting, and beyond that, to survive in racing, which he's done all these years, he's got to have a thick skin.

I strongly disagree with any kind of driver bashing, insults, or being deliberately hurtful. However, I also feel that fans have the right to express their opinions in a respectful way, even if not everyone, including the driver being talked about, happens to agree with the opinions as stated. For reasons that I won't fully get into, it's a little troubling if he might have difficulty with even the mildest negative comment or criticism. I have no way of knowing whether this is the case or not, though others have suggested to me that it is, but I talked yesterday about disappointment and I've got to admit that I would also be disappointed if it turned out that Steve would prefer that his fans don't openly speak their minds. I understand that it's difficult for those in the public eye to deal with being in the spotlight and having everything about their lives being subject to constant discussion. But it is something that goes with the territory and even moreso now that fan forums and blogs like this one are so common. No driver is ever going to only read positive comments about themselves, their team, or their overall racing career, even from their own fans.

It's an interesting thing that in this sport how injuries and other related issues are often not to be discussed. Bootie Barker refuses to talk about the accident which left him paralyzed. Issues related to Steve's accident are not discussed by his fans. Yet in other sports, a player's injury history is widely remarked on and dissected. Players who are often injured or who have experienced injuries that might be a factor in the way they play in the future are not players that baseball fans want to see their team sign and say so openly, sometimes in very harsh terms. I know of at least one player, Curt Schilling, who reads baseball fan forums on a regular basis, it's likely that there are others. Few baseball fans worry about having to spare a player's feelings. Again, I think that overly harsh comments that are insulting and disrespectful are inappropriate, but I'm talking about frank discussions that are legitimite exchanges of opinon, being done in good faith, without any intention of harm. Why should a race car driver's injury history and any related issues be off limits, when a baseball player's isn't?

Life isn't always fair, nor is it always all flowers and rainbows. I think we all know that. I am also disturbed by the harshest of comments and negativity that is sometimes directed towards drivers and teams. I think that some of it is inappropriate, unnecessary and most definitely would be hurtful if the people being talked about were to read it. But on the other hand, I find it a little disheartening how some race fans would prefer not to discuss anything of weight in relation to racing and if they do, only in the most sunny of ways. Like it or not, racing is a big business and it's not just about race results and what happens on the track. Racing is also a dangerous sport, in in spite of the safety advances over the years, and perhaps it's more comfortable for some if they don't think about the danger factor, but that danger is still there. But the fact remains that even if you don't want to think about Steve Park's accident and how it's effected his career, even if you don't believe that Steve is any different in 2006 than he was in 2001, even if you think that there are only certain topics that are acceptable to discuss, you can be sure that there are plenty of people out there who have different opinions, who will eventually find a venue to speak their mind like I am here... and there's nothing wrong with that.

Posted by silverdsl at 01:15 PM | Comments (0)

May 23, 2006

Photo of the Day - Pretty House in Cape May

Cape May, New Jersey, September, 2005.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:19 PM | Comments (0)

Another meaningless homerun for Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees lead 7-1 over the Red Sox!! Let's hope they can hang on to win - one never knows what the final outcome is going to be when the Yankees and Red Sox do battle.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:07 PM | Comments (0)

Eddit D'Hondt Out at Robert Yates Racing

Robert Yates Racing, an organization in obvious turmoil, has released their general manager Eddie D'Hondt, as part of a reevaluation and restructuring of the management at RYR. Robert Yates said,

“Right now we are a victim of our own success. For so many years we were successful with the formula we used to run this team. We stayed small and didn’t grow as fast as the technology in the sport has grown. What worked five years ago doesn’t work now. We know we’ve fallen behind in that respect. Our goal is to figure out a technical direction and find the right people to lead that direction. This isn’t a quick fix and it is going to be a process for us. This decision is a first step in the evaluation process.”

In addition, Doug Yates said,

“Eddie (D’Hondt) did a good job for us. But this is our company and Robert and I have decided we need to get our arms around our company. We’re not happy with where we’re at as a race team. We need to reassert key people including ourselves.”

Both Yates are tying this move to being behind in technical areas. However, I can't help but wonder if D'Hondt's ouster is related to RYR's loss of Dale Jarrett to Michael Waltrip Racing, the possible loss of UPS, who might follow Jarrett to MWR, the dissatisfaction of Elliott Sadler with his recent results, and how it appears that RYR was behind when it came to their driver development program because neither of their young drivers are prepared to step into the #88 in place of Jarrett. I'm thinking that it will take more than a managment change to turn RYR fortunes around as much as they would like. I think a big factor will be what driver takes Jarrett's place and what other changes they might make that directly impact their teams.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:36 PM | Comments (0)

On Kyle Petty

I agree with Jerry Bonkowski that Kyle Petty and the Victory Junction Gang Camp were the real winners on Saturday night at the All-Star Race. First, because the camp got a significant donation of more than $250,000 from Coca-Cola and the rest of Kyle's sponsors. Also, Kyle is a winner for the simple fact that he gave a little boy from the camp the experience of a lifetime by having him with him for the race festivities and for all that he's done with the camp. I also agree with the writer that Petty Enterprises as a whole has made a lot of strides in the right direction.

However, I have to wonder if the writer was actually watching the race on Saturday. He writes,

Petty came through not just financially for the VJGC and himself, but also from a performance standpoint, finishing a respectable eighth in the event. His teammate Bobby Labonte finished sixth.

Granted, half the field failed to finish the three-segment, 90-lap event due to wrecks or mechanical issues, but the two stalwarts of Petty Enterprises continued to do what they have been doing all season: work to bring the once proud racing organization back to prominence.

Unless I missed something, Kyle's car was not a factor in any point in the race. He rode around in the back of the pack and that's the only reason he missed being swept up in the big melee - he wasn't racing well enough to even be a midpack car! So really finishing 8th had little to do with him or his car, but was more a matter of having the good fortune to not get wrecked. Additionally, while it's true that Kyle has had some decent runs spoiled by mechanical issues, Kyle is currently 32nd in points, which really isn't that great. Come to think of it, Bobby Labonte in 27th isn't very good either, but Labonte has been up front a lot more and would be higher in the points if not for some rotten luck. But Petty Enterprises clearly is on the right track. The addition of Labonte and Robby Loomis has definitely made a difference and I expect them to continue to make improvements over the next few years.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:58 PM | Comments (0)

On Steve Park, Carl Pavano and Disappointment

Last week someone on Steve Park Central made some very interesting comments regarding the possibility they might be disappointed in Steve depending on some of his choices as to the direction in which his career goes in. The thread ended up being nuked because of another comment this same person made, which also brings up an interesting topic that I will discuss in a entry later or tomorrow. But both of those entries are for anyone who saw the thread and didn't get their say, or might have thought about similar issues. Since this is my blog, on a domain that I own, hosted on a server that my husband owns, there are no fears that either of these entries will meet a premature end.

Let me say one thing up front - I'm not the kind of fan who thinks my driver walks on water and that they can do no wrong. I've been disappointed before in Steve Park. I'm not ashamed to admit I was disappointed by the way that he pulled out of the events he had signed a contract to participate in for the Operation Marathon Getaway last year in Las Vegas after people paid a lot of money. I've been disappointed by others that I'm a fan of as well. I was terribly disappointed in Jason Giambi when it was shown that he used steroids in the past. I'm not overly thrilled when Kevin Harvick mouths off like a schoolyard bully about some of his fellow drivers. I was disappointed when Michael Waltrip choose to retaliate against Jeff Green last season during a race, because I don't like it when drivers use their cars as weapons against each other. I was disappointed by Mike Mussina's attitude about playing in Japan. The list goes on. The drivers and players that I'm a fan of are human beings who are imperfect, but besides that they are sometimes going to say or do things that I disagree with. No one should feel that they are any less of a fan because they feel disappointed or don't agree with something that their favorite driver does. I accept that those that I am a fan of will make mistakes, will do things I don't like, will let me down, will sometimes make me angry. I refuse to put any driver or player on a pedestal and pretend that nothing bothers me or they can do no wrong.

At the same time, I believe that as grown adults the drivers and players are capable of making good, intelligent, well-thought out decisions. I trust that they make decisions that are in their own best interests and that they are doing the things that they think will give them the best chance of happiness and success. As veterans of their respective sports, I also figure through the years they've gained more than a little knowledge about racing or baseball and how to keep their careers going as long as possible. However, that doesn't mean that I, or any other fan, is doing something wrong if we respectfully disagree with an opinion a driver or player has, or if we worry about the consequences of a decision that they make. I really hate using the term "bad fan" because there really isn't any such thing, but inappropriate behaviors to me are harassment, stalking, rudeness, bullying, etc... Behaviors which are unacceptable in any setting. A fan expressing an opinion in a way that doesn't involve bashing, insults or rudeness, doesn't make one a bad fan.

With that out of the way, let's get to what this entry is really about. How this one particular fan might be disappointed in Steve Park. Before going any further it should be mentioned that this person is very dedicated, supportive and has been a fan of Steve's for years. So this isn't a casual fan or someone who in reality doesn't like Steve. To set the stage for how this came up, there was a discussion about whether Steve would be interested in a Cup ride with Robert Yates Racing, as unlikely as that might be to actually happen. It was then suggested by those who have spoken to Steve recently that, while nothing is ever ruled out completely, he really wouldn't have much or any interest in taking a Cup ride. The other fan then said that if Steve wasn't interested in getting back to Cup racing that he would be very disappointed in him. He felt that if Steve wasn't racing with the goal of trying to secure another Cup ride, what was the point of what he was currently doing? To be clear, he said that he wouldn't be disappointed if Steve never raced Cup again, because there are so many factors out of Steve's hands that might prevent that from happening, but that if Steve had the opportunity to get into a quality Cup ride and turned it down, that would be disappointing to him.

Before I get into discussing Steve specifically, I think what this person brought up leads into some larger issues in relation to drivers and their goals. Does every driver in Nascar race with the goal of eventually racing at Nascar's highest level? Are some of them satisfied with less? I had always assumed that a race car driver's passion to race and extreme competitiveness meant that even if they acknowledge that it's unlikely to happen, they all dream of racing against, and beating, the best of the best drivers in Nascar, which are found in the Cup series. To get to one of Nascar's highest three levels takes not only a tremendous amount of talent, but also a lot of drive, focus, motivation, a desire to perform on a high level, and also the ability to fullfill some very lofty goals that many are unable to achive. So it's hard to wrap my mind around the idea that some drivers lose the qualities that they surely had to have at one point to get to this level of racing. How can men and women who have had racing in their blood from childhood give up on their dreams? Are some drivers satisfied with just riding around the track, making laps in subpar cars or trucks, with no hope of winning, as long as they're out on the track "racing" something? How does a driver decide that after years of hard work with the goal of reaching one of Nascar's highest three levels, they aren't interested in advancing any further?

I really don't have too many definitive answers to those questions because it's hard to really know the thought process in relation to a lot of those issues without talking directly to a bunch of drivers. However, I do believe that some drivers are satisfied with not racing in the Cup series, even if the desire to one day race in that series isn't entirely gone. Some drivers are in more competitive equipment in the truck or Busch series than they would ever get in the Cup series, so for those drivers they are going to be satisfied if they are enjoying a great deal of success on a lower level. But being successful in a competitive truck isn't enough for Todd Bodine, and Germain Racing, as they will attempt to qualify for several Cup races later this season, even though he is a Championship contender in the Truck Series. There are other reasons why drivers on lower levels might be okay with their circumstances, even if not completely satisfied. Some drivers are very attuned to the realities of the environment that Nascar operates in these days. Teams and sponsors are looking for young, very marketable drivers who will win a lot of races for them; they want drivers who will get a lot of exposure one way or another for the sponsor; drivers who bring sponsorship with them; or drivers who have a Champion's provisional they can use that will guarantee the car a spot in each race. The drivers who are aware of those things - and I think that some drivers are more attuned to the business side of the sport than others - know that their chances of getting back to the Cup series aren't great. But I don't think that those drivers completely give up on Cup racing, even if they know it might happen. I also think there are some drivers, particularly as their career start to wind down, who may find that just being on the track racing, even if it's in cars or trucks that aren't very good, is enough because they love racing so much that they are happy just to be out on the track.

But I've been wondering lately if it's possible that some driver's goals are much less than others. Maybe some don't care about winning as much as they used to. Maybe some don't care if they race on the Cup level again - or ever. Is the passion and desire there for every driver? If it is, I would think that they would all want to race so well that they either ensure that they keep the Cup ride they are currently in, impress an owner enough that they are asked to take an even better Cup ride when their current contract runs out, or advance up to the Cup level if they are currently in one of the lower levels. I would think that a big dream for every driver, no matter how good the racing might be on the level where they're currently racing, is beating 42 of Nascar's most elite drivers to get into Victory Lane on the Cup level. To be showered with confetti and the cheers of 100,000 fans with the knowledge that for at least one week, they've beaten the best of the best. I've got to admit that if I were to find out that a driver doesn't want to go Cup racing, even if it's only a dream that they keep locked away deep inside because they think it will never happen, that would stike an odd note with me. I would like to know that the drivers are striving for more, whether it's on one of Nascar's lower levels or if they are currently a Cup driver. I would like to know that they aren't willing to settle for less, when there might be an opportunity to achieve even more.

I'm going to bring baseball into the mix here because I think that's a big reason why I feel the way that I do. Baseball's version of the truck and Busch series is the Minor League System. It is completely unacceptable for a player to not strive to one day play in the majors, or if they were once in the majors and aren't anymore, to not try to get back. No player ever gives up on dreaming about playing in the majors, where all the best players are, or will be, and where one day a player might help their team win the World Series. It doesn't mean that they aren't realistic about their situation - there are going to be players whose talent level has either declined to the point where they can no longer play in the majors or their skill level was never good enough to get them to the majors. But no player doesn't dream of the day that they get called into their manager's office so that they can be told that they are being called up so they can help their team on the major league levell. If a professional baseball player is completely satisfied to not be in the majors it raises serious questions about their work ethic, their motivation and their goals. That is the kind of player that no one wants on their team.

Which is where New York Yankees pitcher Carl Pavano comes in. Pavano hasn't started a game for the Yankees since last June, when he was put on the disabled list. Since then it's been setback after setback for Pavano as he's tried to make his way back to the Bronx. His shoulder, his back, a bruised ass, tightness in his biceps, now a chipped bone above his elbow which will necessate surgery and likely means the end to his season. Because of how long Pavano has been on the disabled list, rehabbing from various injuries, some of which seemed mysterious and hard to pinpoint, many fans have questioned whether he is really interested in getting back to the majors with the Yankees or whether he is just content nursing his brusied ass, and now his elbow, down in Tampa. Personally, I think that Pavano is just extremely fragile and injury-prone, rather than a player who doesn't want to play on the major league level. I find it hard to believe that a player who has subjected himself to all the hard work that rehab requires, doesn't have the work ethic or motivation to play on the major league level. But many fans believe this is the case and would like the Yankees to sever ties with him as soon as possible.

So if it's unacceptable for Carl Pavano to not want to pitch on baseball's highest level, why is it acceptable for Steve Park, or any of the other drivers who might turn down an offer for a Cup ride, to not want to race on Nascar's highest level? Now that doesn't mean that a driver should take any ride that's offered to them - there are some Cup rides that are very non-competitive. And there are also drivers who have expressed a desire to truck race full-time in "retirement." But it's hard for me to understand why a driver in Steve's situation, wouldn't jump at the chance to get into a situation where they could race on a higher level against Nascar's most elite drivers, for more money and potentially in a more competitive ride. Anyone who has gotten this far in this entry is probably familiar with Steve but for those who aren't - he's 39 with potentially many years of racing ahead of him; he's only racing part-time in the Busch series for a very small team that will struggle to be competitive against the Cup-backed Busch teams; and he been racing the #59 truck, a truck with no primary sponsor, no manufacturer support, no guaranteed spot in each race and given their small resources it's unlikely they will be racing up front too often unless there are major changes to the team's circumstances. With that in mind, in all honesty, it would be disappointing to me if Steve were to turn down an opportunity to race for a quality team in a competitive ride on the Cup level. Fact is, that kind of ride would offer Steve a better chance to race up front and win than what he's in currently and isn't that what racing is all about - winning?

Some who have talked to Steve recently say that he is very happy with what he's doing now, racing in the Busch and Truck Series. But is he really? Is Steve, the race car driver, not Steve the person, really satisfied with the rides that he has now? Because if he is, then it's being implied that Steve is happy with results that are subpar and don't have a lot of hope of getting better unless major changes are made to the teams that he's with. Steve has said that he believes that the #59 team could be a team that could win races - I would agree if hard work was all it took to win races. However, right now this team is going to have an extremely hard time being competitive in comparision to the best teams in the truck series. Is that acceptable to Steve? I would think the answer would be "no!" especially given the amount of cursing that it was said that Steve did this past race weekend because of how bad his truck was and how unhappy overall he was with the inability of the team to make any improvements. So why then would he possibly refuse a Cup ride that might be better than the situation he's currently in? I can understand turning down a ride where the car will struggle to even qualify for races, let alone win any. But would Steve really turn down a ride with Red Bull Racing, Evernham Motorsports or Bill Davis Racing, even if he might be in a position to have better results than he is now? It would be hard for me to understand that.

It's been said that after his accident Steve learned that there are more important things in life than racing and that racing in Busch and the truck series, with less demands on his time, since there are less races and less obligations to sponsors and fans, gives him the opportunity to enjoy more time with his friends and family. I believe that it is very important for the drivers, and fans, to realize that there are more important things than what happens on the track. Many, if not all, of the drivers have to sacrifice time with friends and family during their racing careers, which isn't always an easy thing to do. But I can't help but think though that kind of attitude is one that is usually seen in drivers who are nearing the end of their careers, rather than a driver like Steve who should have years of racing left. Mark Martin, Ricky Rudd and Bill Elliott among others have cited wanting to spend more time with their families as reasons for retiring from racing Cup full-time. Michael Waltrip has also discussed learning as the years went on that there are more important things in life than what happens on the track, yet he is also a driver that probably only has a few more years left racing full-time. Maybe it is simply an attitude shift because of the accident, but it seems curious for a relatively young man to be talking like someone who might believe that most of their best years of racing are behind them - which may or may not be true in Steve's case. Beyond that it's hard for me to understand why Steve, or any other driver, wouldn't want to better their situation, even if they have learned there are more important things in life than racing.

I suppose it sounds like I'm being very critical of Steve and I guess that may be true depending on what his actual thought process is, something I know very little about. But really I'm just pondering some of what came up in the discussion that came to a premature end. I still think the world of Steve, I still believe in his abilty behind the wheel 100%, that he can race up front and win if he has a competitive car or truck. Maybe it's that belief that is why it's hard for me to understand why Steve wouldn't want to go Cup racing again - I believe that he can still do it and succeed at it. But of course, as someone said during the course of the discussion on the possibility of Steve returning to Cup racing, what Steve wants and what the fans might want could be two entirely different things. As it should be. Steve needs to do what is best for himself, no matter how much he wants to please those around him, including his fans. He needs to do what he thinks is going to give him the best opportunity at happiness and in the end only Steve knows what that would be. But in spite of all of that if fans were to find out that he turned down a Cup ride that, some may still be disappointed or question his reasoning.

Posted by silverdsl at 11:13 AM | Comments (0)

Homeruns that Don't Count?

Again, with the homeruns that don't count nonsense. Alex Rodriguez is getting a lot of flack from the media and fans because, in their eyes, it seems as if A-Rod only comes up big when the game isn't on the line. That he's not clutch. So to a lot of people A-Rod's two-run homerun last night was meaningless because it came when the Yankees were down by eight runs. I would just like to point out that if A-Rod's other teammates had been more "clutch" earlier in the game, perhaps A-Rod's homerun would have been one to give the Yankees the lead. In addition, A-Rod's homerun started a four-run rally by the Yankees, had they been able to keep the rally going and gone on to win the game, A-Rod would be a hero right now. I'm sure I've said it many times before in this space, but I'll repeat it again - even the best of players, and A-Rod is among the best in all of baseball, are going to fail to produce in big situations, maybe even a lot. But some will never be satisfied until A-Rod hits a homerun in every single at-bat. That of course is impossible, which means that A-Rod will never live up to expectations in some people's eyes, no matter how well he plays.

Posted by silverdsl at 11:00 AM | Comments (0)

May 22, 2006

Photo of the Day - Aruba

Aruba, October, 2005. How I wish I was on the beach in Aruba!

Posted by silverdsl at 10:01 PM | Comments (0)

Busch Series Driver Spencer Clark Killed in Accident

I suspect a lot of people won't know who he is but Spencer Clark, a 19-year old Nascar West Series driver, who made his Busch Series debut earlier this season, and was expected to have a bright future in Nascar, was killed yesterday in an accident 40 miles east of Albuquerque, New Mexico. One of Spencer's crew members, Andrew Phillips, also lost his life in the accident. Apparently Clark and Phillips were returning to Las Vegas, where Clark was based, from North Carolina, when the trailer they were hauling fishtailed and they lost control of their vehicle. It appears that neither Clark nor Phillips were wearing seatbelts and they were both ejected. Some may remember that Clark was involved in the incident with Kyle Busch at the Las Vegas Bullring, where Clark's "people" incorrectly accused Busch of punching Clark after an on-track incident. I didn't know Clark or much about him, but I do know that some felt that he was a very talented driver, who might one day have a lot of success on Nascar's highest levels. It's very sad that we will never find out what he might be able to do. A very sad day for his friends and family - thoughts and prayers to them. May he rest in peace.

That said, I feel compelled to say one other thing. Clark and Phillips weren't wearing their seatbelts. There is no way to know if wearing their seatbelts could have saved their lives. But it might have made a difference. I urge everyone, no matter how annoying it may be, no matter how much you think nothing might happen - please wear your seatbelt whenever you drive!

Posted by silverdsl at 02:18 PM | Comments (0)

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Does Not Own the Rights to His Own Name

Last week Dale Earnhardt, Jr. gave an interview to The Charlotte Observer in which he said the following,

"Sometimes I wish I had a different first name. Teresa (Earnhardt, his stepmother and team owner) has her idea of what she wants to do with Dad's name over the next several years. And I'm still racing in my career and doing my thing and I have the same name.

So it gets hard because we're sort of in the middle of trying to get the rights. I don't have the rights to my name. I'm trying to get `em. She (Teresa Earnhardt) don't want to come off it too easy, because she wants to make sure my dad's name is always thought of as the way it is. If I didn't have the same name -- and I kind of wish I didn't sometimes -- I wouldn't have to be worrying about it."

When I read that Junior doesn't own the rights to his own name I was astonished. For those who don't understand the significance of what Junior is saying it means that Teresa Earnhardt, his step-mother, is listed as the official owner of the trademark to "Dale Earnhardt, Jr." (and "Dale Jr.") with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. That means she can control what Junior's name is officially used for, whether that is merchandising, for promotional purposes, in advertising and for countless other uses. That also means that depending on his agreement with Teresa and DEI, Junior might see less profits from merchandising that uses his name than do other drivers. I am far from an expert on trademarks, but I do know that Junior not owning the rights to his own name is a very big deal.

What I don't understand is how this situation came to be in the first place. It certainly doesn't appear to be the standard for most drivers. I looked up about ten drivers at random, and every one of them owned the rights to their own names. One guess is that Dale Earnhardt, Sr. filed a trademark for the rights to his son's name at some point and ownership passed to Teresa when he died. But it still doesn't make a lot of sense to me that Junior wouldn't be allowed to have those rights. When he was a child there was no reason to have a trademark on his name and as an adult he certainly should have been trusted to decide for himself how his name is used.

Junior's comments indicate that the issue for Teresa is protecting how Dale, Sr.'s name is used. However, it seems to me that this could also be a matter of control, and not just over how the Earnhardt name is used. That Teresa owns the trademark to Junior's name could also end up being a way that she can control what he does. Think about it this way - let's say that when Junior's current contract expires with DEI he decides to sign with Richard Childress Racing. Unless Junior aquires the rights to his name, Teresa could play hardball and prevent him from using his own name on t-shirts, in sponsor ads, on his website, and in countless other ways. In addition, if she were to allow him to use his name for those things, the profits could end up going right back to her at DEI, not him. Fact of the matter is, I don't see any way for Junior to even think about leaving DEI until he has the rights to his own name.

In addition, Teresa can control exactly how Junior's name is used without consulting with him. She can have it put on products he doesn't like. She can probably kill deals that could be very beneficial to him if she doesn't approve of the way his name would be used or his association with that product. And there is not a single thing that Junior can do about it, because the law is on Teresa's side - she owns his name, she has the final say. I would hope that she and Junior have a good enough relationship that they discuss all possible and current uses of his name and decide together what is best. But it's possible that's not the way things work. I would also like to think that Junior's deal with DEI guarantees him a large chunk of the profits that come from the use of his name - but it may not.

I think there are consequences to this that go deeper than the business side of things as well. Someone on Michael Waltrip's forum pointed out the emotional impact that not having control of one's name can have. I completely agree with that line of thinking. We have our name from birth, it is one thing that makes us unique and gives us our identity, even for Junior whose name is so tightly connected to his father. Junior also can't just go and change his name, like someone who isn't in the public eye might be able to do if worst came to worst. Junior will always be tied to the name, "Dale Earnhardt, Jr." Think about how powerless you would feel if you didn't own the rights to your name, that you couldn't decide how it was used. Think about how much under someone else's control you might feel. I'm not a big fan of Junior, but I have a lot of sympathy for Junior on this issue.

I hope that Junior is eventually able to get the rights to his name because if he doesn't I think that it could have major consequences for him, particularly if there was ever a falling out between himself and Teresa.

Posted by silverdsl at 12:48 PM | Comments (2)

May 21, 2006

Photo of the Day - Big Thunder Mountain

Big Thunder Mountain, Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida. January, 2004.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:40 PM | Comments (0)

This is an All-Star Race?

Last night's All-Star Race in Charlotte was not a race to discover who the true All-Star is, instead it was a race to see who could survive the night, given all the wrecking and other problems that the teams had to endure from mechanical problems to dealing with a long rain delay. I guess I'm not really a fan of the All-Star format to begin with. On one hand it's great to see the drivers race hard and go all out in the hopes of getting a million dollars. But on the other hand, in recent times it seems that it's a wreckfest that sometimes tears up cars that teams were hoping to use in the following week's race which is also at Charlotte. I know that some fans love to see big wrecks but I hate it. I take no joy in the misfortune of others and I'm always worried that in spite of al the safety advances that a driver is going to get injured. I'm also not a fan of the inversion, since I think it's a way to artificially create excitement. Just let them race! So I wasn't really looking forward to last night's race and the long rain delay didn't help raise my excitement level. But I stuck it out and watched from start to finish.

Jimmie Johnson ended up winning, even after a penalty for speeding getting onto pit road, but a big reason for his win might have been because more than half the field was wrecked or non-competitive by the end of the race. Yes, Johnson is an outstanding driver, who could be Champion this season, and Johnson has mastered racing at Charlotte, so it's not all that surprising that he should end up in Victory Lane at this track. But looking at the final results, he really wasn't racing against many cars for the win.

Thanks to a mid-race wreck that destroyed or damaged seven cars, a separate wreck that ended Michael Waltrip's night early, a tussle between Tony Stewart and Matt Kenseth that ended badly for both, and an engine failure for Kurt Busch, there were only ten cars still running at the end of the race. Out of those cars, Scott Riggs was one lap down and Kyle Petty, Dale Jarrett and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. hadn't been factors at any point in the night because there cars seemed pretty off. So that left six cars that Johnson had to race against for the win. Thrilling. I'm surprised that the remaining cars didn't manage to wreck each other before the end of the race too.

After the race Kenseth and Stewart whined back and forth at each other via the media about who was more at fault for their wreck. But in this incident fault probably isn't so easy to pinpoint since the two have tangled before this season and it appears that they are both carrying a grudge. That's definitely not a good thing because I think that's only going to lead to further incidents between these two, and more torn up sheet metal for their teams to deal with, if no one sits them down and tells them to cut it out. Both Kenseth and Stewart are in the Championship hunt and getting wrecked because another driver is looking for retaliation could be very costly.

I do have to agree with this assessment by Kenseth though,

"Tony is always mad at somebody. I'm not going to go out and do the name-calling like he does every week. He's always mad at somebody."

For a driver that has supposedly gone through anger management and has a more relaxed outlook on life, Stewart still seems to have a difficult time controlling his emotions, at times, moreso than some of the other drivers. A lot of fans feel that is a sign of his intensity and passion, but that anger that swirls about Stewart sometimes is disconcerting to me.

Posted by silverdsl at 05:26 PM | Comments (0)

May 20, 2006

Dismal Night for Steve Park in Charlotte

There was one piece of bright news last night for Steve Park and the #59 Harris Trucking team from last night's truck race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. That's the fact that Steve was able to finish the race with the truck in one piece, which with his luck that often leads to him being swept up in wrecks not of his own doing, hasn't always happened this season. Otherwise, considering the high hopes that Steve and the team apparently had for this race, the rest of the night was a huge disappointment. Steve ended up finishing 28th, three laps down. Even for a small team, with few resources that is a poor result.

I was concerned after I saw the results from testing at this track on Thursday. In the first test session Steve was 38th with truck A and 46th out of 49 truck with truck B. In the second test session Steve was 33rd with truck B and 42nd out of 44 trucks with truck A. The speeds and times were well off what the leaders were running, which concerned me, but I figured that perhaps they were trying different things that other teams weren't, which accounted for the lack of speed. That seemed to be bared out when there were reports from the track that they felt very positive about the truck that they were going to race in last night's race and that they were very excited about it. The team felt that they would qualify mid-pack and there was talk that the team felt that this was one of the best trucks that they had all season. Well, things most definitely did not go according to plan.

During practice Steve was in fact mid-pack in relation to the other trucks so I felt a little better about things, thinking that the night would go as the team predicted. But it wasn't to be. During qualifying Steve was not able to qualify any better than 26th and his lack of speed put him in danger of missing the race. It was only Bill Lester's misfortune which likely put Steve into last night's race since Lester had an extremely fast truck during practice and would surely have outqualified the #59. However, he is outside the top 30 in owner points, just like Steve, and wrecking during qualifying meant that he wouldn't race last night. Steve ended up started the race dead-last but still I figured that with how much the team was raving about the truck, that perhaps it was just a qualifying issue and that he would quickly made his way though the field if the truck was that fast.

At the start of the race that's exactly what happened. But suddenly after Steve had made his way into about the top 15-20, he dropped back and kept dropping back. And instead of getting better as the team thought they would on long runs, they only got worse and worse. I had figured that there had to be some sort of mechanical issue to cause Steve to have struggled that much, considering how strong the truck supposedly was. But according to what's been said the truck simply wasn't very good during the race, and no matter what Steve and the team did they were unable to make the truck any better. To me that's worse than a mechanical issue because when a team has a mechanical issue it's something they might be able to fix during the race or figure out how they can prevent from happening in the next race. But a truck that isn't very good is much harder to make better for the next race, because so much more goes into the process of making it better than just replacing one or two parts. In addition, apparently it was said that testing ending two hours earlier due to rain set the team back. Well, 27 other teams were able to overcome testing ending earlier than anticipated to finish better than the #59.

Unfortunately Steve is with a single-truck team that has no primary sponsor, has no manufacturer support, is a small team with fewer personnel and resources than other teams, and doesn't have a guaranteed spot in each race because they are outside the top 30 in owner's points. I know I keep harping on those things, but individually each of those factors can be things that are hard for any team to overcome, but when a team has all of those issues to deal with at once, it can be almost unsurmountable, no matter how hard the team works. The indications are that this may be the team that Steve races for the rest of the season in the truck series and I can't say I'm jumping up and down about that. I would feel better if at some point they found a primary sponsor or aligned themselves with a manufacturer so they had some additional support, particularly financially. But I'm not sure how likely that is to happen. Steve has said that he feels that this team can win races; I'm sorry to say, but at the moment I don't have as much confidence that will happen this season as Steve has. To be frank, I'm not sure how often Steve will be able to even get a top ten with this team, let alone a win.

Someday I would like to see Steve back in a car or truck that will really allow him to showcase his skill behind the wheel on a regular basis. He is a much better driver than this truck is allowing him to show.

Posted by silverdsl at 06:55 PM | Comments (0)

On Kurt Busch and How There is Good Where You Least Expect It

Sometimes fans assume that the drivers that they dislike are all-around terrible people, who do no good for others. But the reality is that things often aren't so black and white. Drivers who are well-thought of and mostly stay out of trouble on the track might do things they shouldn't off the track - Scott Wimmer is a good example of that. Or drivers who raise the ire of fans because of their behavior might still do charitable things for others - Kurt Busch is a great example of that. As I mentioned yesterday, Busch donated $1 million through the Kurt Busch Foundation to the Victory Junction Gang Camp but that just scratches the tip of his involvement with the camp since it opened. Kyle Petty said,

“He has been a huge part of camp from the very, very, very beginning. Last year, he brought his entire crew there so that those guys good experience what camp was like. We just feel extremely blessed to have been associated with Kurt and for Kurt to be part of this camp.”

There are some who are insistent that Busch is only making this donation because he is looking for publicity and trying to improve his image in the eyes of the fans. It's unavoidable that Busch's public relations people are going to milk this donation for all it's worth. However, if what Busch was doing was soley for publicity purposes he would have made it known what he was doing with the camp right from the start. Instead, according to Kyle Petty, without anyone knowing, he is one of the drivers who has been most involved with the camp.

A lot of fans have also assumed that because of his run-ins with his fellow drivers, that Busch is hated by everyone in the garage area. This is not true. In fact, the Pettys, who I think are pretty good judges of character, think very highly of him. Pattie Petty said,

"Some of you don't know the Kurt Busch that Kyle and I know, and the children at our camp know. I personally feel Kurt Busch is one of the finest young men to come around in our garage. This guy has made a difference and will continue to make a difference."

Which only goes to show that sometimes fans think they know, only they don't really. Yes, there are some of Busch's fellow drivers who dislike him but obviously not all. And on top of that, Busch in spite of the mistakes he's made and how he sometimes loses control of his emotions, might very well have a big heart and is very capable of not only thinking of others, but doing things to help those that are less fortunate. He doesn't just donate money, he also donates his time as well, which I think is harder for someone who has as many demands on his time as Busch surely does. Not all that different from Tony Stewart who has also had his issues with controlling his emotions on and off the track, but also is very supportive of the VJGC and other causes.

There are some who say this is no big deal. After all, Busch is a multi-millionare. But I don't think he earns money on the level of an Alex Rodriguez, who takes in over $25 million a year, and a million dollars is still a lot of money, even to someone like Busch. In addition, while I'm sure there are drivers who donate to the camp without anyone knowing, my guess is that it's not every day that a driver hands over a million dollars. Many drivers do things for the camp but it appears that what Busch does might go beyond what almost all of them do.

This also isn't the only charitable cause that Busch has been involved with. Earlier this month he attended the Race Night Fever fundraiser for the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind. After that event he commented,

"The team I used to drive for never was interested in doing things like this."

I find that to be an interesting comment because it indicates that Roush Racing might not have really been too interested in having their drivers involved in charitable causes. It may have been Busch's choice to keep his prior involvement with the VJGC quiet, or it may be that his PR people at Roush never bothered to make anyone aware of it. But Busch never complained, unlike some, as Jim pointed out when I was talking with him about this, who will complain that the media only focuses on the negative, never bothering to cover anything positive they do, including their charitable work. Busch on the other hand, just went about his business, doing good for others, not caring whether anyone knew about it or not.

Posted by silverdsl at 05:27 PM | Comments (0)

Will Chad Knaus Get a New Contract From Hendrick Motorsports?

Last week when Hendrick Motorsports announced that they had signed Jimmie Johnson and sponsor Lowe's to an extension through the 2010 season, they also said that they were working on an extension with the crew chief of Johnson's #48, Chad Knaus. But as it turns out, according to Knaus, no one from Hendrick has approached him about an extension yet. Knaus said,

"I love my job. I love my team. I love it at Hendrick Motorsports. But no one has talked to me about staying beyond 2007."

A spokesperson for Hendrick Motorsports says that they have every intention of negotiating a new contract with Knaus. But I think they might be making a mistake by waiting to start talking with him. Precident was set last season when Jamie McMurray and Kurt Busch signed with new teams before their existing contracts had expired; there is no reason to think that couldn't happen with a top crew chief as well. There are going to be six new Toyota teams entering Cup racing next season, not only are they going to want talented drivers, but they are also going to want talented crew chiefs as well. I have no doubt that Knaus loves working at Hendrick but if he feels he's no longer wanted he may be willing to listen to offers from other teams, particularly very generous offers as those from the Toyota teams certainly will be.

Posted by silverdsl at 05:04 PM | Comments (0)

May 19, 2006

Kurt Busch Donates $1 Million to Victory Junction Gang Camp

I'm sure a lot of people are going to say that he's just doing it for publicity purposes to help clean up his image with fans, but Kurt Busch has donated $1 million, through the Kurt Busch Foundation, to the Victory Junction Gang Camp. The money will be used to build the Kurt Busch Superdome, which will be a large, enclosed facility where campers can play baseball, soccer, softball, tennis and simulation golf. Kurt said,

"This is how serious I am and passionate I am about making a difference in kids' lives."

If anyone thinks that Kurt's involvement in the camp is a new thing, think again. According to Kyle Petty, Kurt has gone to the camp, presumably to visit with the children there, every year since the camp opened. I would guess that seeing those kids has a profound effect on all the drivers, as well as anyone else who visits.

Posted by silverdsl at 11:55 AM | Comments (0)

If You Put it Online, Someone Will See It

It should be obvious but if you post something online, even if it's in a place where you think no one will see it, even if it's somewhere that is a private forum or is password protected, if the information is juicy enough or if the photos are titillating enough, it will find it's way into much wider circulation. I do a lot of research on the things that I'm interested in, using Google and other methods, and I often follow links from here to there to see what I might find. Because I love photography I poke around on webshots and other photo sites. And I really enjoy reading a variety of message boards to see a wide range of points of view of various topics. I am continually astonished by some of what I see posted in my travels, things which would be better left off the internet entirely. There are some people who seem to think that posting something on a webpage or forum is only posting it for their friends, but often anyone can see it, at any time.

Which brings us to the website, badjocks.com, which was featured in an article on the front page of the sports section of The New York Times yesterday. Badjocks.com has been posting photographs they've found on webshots of hazing incidents involving men's and women's sports teams at various colleges and universities. The founder of badjocks.com, Bob Reno said,

"This isn't just a fraternity thing or something we should elbow ourselves and chuckle about. "People are getting hurt."

Especially when the photos involve people being tied up, being forced to drink, sometimes until they pass out, being blindfolded and being humiliated. The photos are distrubing, even the ones that aren't so extreme, because it bothers me that not only are there people who think hazing is the right thing to do, but that there are others who are willing to allow themselves to be treated that way as a way to "bond" with their new teammates.

The 2005 Men's Baseball team at Kenyon College in Ohio, hazed their incoming rookie players by shaving their heads, naturally while drinking, and wrote obscene remarks on the players. The spokesman for Kenyon, where an investigation is underway, said,

"We're dealing with a generation of students who are so used to the Internet and so used to putting anything on it, whether it's blogs or making their personal lives public, that they lose perspective."

Indeed they have. Hazing is strictly forbidden, not only for atheletic teams but also for fraternities and sororities, and heavily punished, at most college and universitys. With that in mind, I can't imagine what would possess these students to think it's a good idea to post photos of them doing something that could get them into a huge amount of trouble on the internet. And now those photos are going to be seen by a lot more people than they originally anticipated, which will likely end up being pretty embarassing to their school, their families and themselves. It might bring some pretty stiff consequences as well.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:29 AM | Comments (0)

May 18, 2006

Nothing Comes to Mind...

... to blog about right now. But tomorrow should be a different story since the events at Lowe's Motorspeedway will be in high gear, plus the Yankees take on the Mets at Shea Stadium this weekend.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:04 PM | Comments (0)

May 17, 2006

Photo of the Day - Buoys

Ogunquit, Maine, July, 2004.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:09 PM | Comments (0)

In the News: Michael Waltrip (5/17)

Michael Waltrip gave a rather lengthy interview to Nascar.com this week in which he made a lot of interesting comments. Michael was first asked about whether it was a relief to have been able to make the official announcement about Dale Jarrett joining Michael Waltrip Racing in 2007. I love this part of the answer,

"Racing and building a team is a project. You've got 100 pieces you've got to fit together and when you get them all fit together there will be 100 more you'll have to assemble at that point."

Why? Because I always think of silly season and where drivers might go as a giant puzzle. I love to speculate and think on various scenarios for how the puzzle pieces might fit so it's neat to me that someone who is actually in the sport views things in a similar way. Building a successful team does take a tremendous amount of pieces, probably more than most fans realize. It's not just driver, crew chief, pit crew, sponsor - there are so many other people who are involved in all aspects of an organization and so much equipment from what's used on race day to what's in the shop. One of the things that I've come to admire about Michael is how well he seems to put all these pieces together. The results might not show it this season, but I think all of that hard work is going to pay off next season.

Michael also said,

"So I felt good about Dale joining us for the last couple weeks."

That makes me laugh because that means that when Michael first brought DJ's name up during the media session he did a couple of weeks ago at Talladega, he probably already knew that DJ was going to be racing for him next season. I suspected that might be the case because I didn't think that Michael or DJ would talk about it so openly if there wasn't a good chance that it was going to happen.

Back when the Cup cars tested at Charlotte a few weeks ago, the car that Bill Elliott tested had a Toyota engine in it, which apparently both Bill and Michael really liked.

"Well, I was impressed with the Toyota engine. I liked it because it felt good. Bill [Elliott] liked it, too, and that was something that was real important for me -- that Bill would get a feel for it and think that it was something that he liked as well. We both agreed that we liked it. The car handled great."

In fact the car was faster than his #55 NAPA car, so it's too bad that Michael can't start sneaking some of those Toyota engines into his cars now! Maybe before the end of the season he'll be able to race with some Toyota engines, or even whole cars. That would be sweet!

Michael was also asked about what the biggest plus was for working with Toyota. He said,

"Credibility. When I went to NAPA and I went to Domino's, Burger King, Best Western and Coca-Cola -- all the sponsors that have signed up so far -- they believed in me and Ty [Norris, MWR general manager] and our management team, and they believe that Toyota will build us a car that we can go out and make some headlines with. They wanted to be a part of that.... And that credibility is what enabled me, not only to get wonderful sponsors, but also to get Dale Jarrett and Ty Norris and some of the key individuals in place in our organization."

NAPA, Domino's, Best Western and Coca-Cola must have been pretty impressed with Toyota and what Michael will be able to do when he's aligned with Toyota if he was able to lure them to leave DEI with him. Some fans have worried about these sponsors leaving him if his season continues to go so poorly. But what it sounds like is that those sponsors left DEI with him, not because of this season and racing for Bill Davis Racing, but because of 2007 and beyond when he would be racing for Toyota.

A lot of fans are very dismissive of Michael, and are fond of mocking him, as well as what they percieve to be his lack of success, in their eyes, on the Cup level. However, being one of the flagship operations for Toyota is a sign that Michael is no joke. There is no way that Toyota would be aligning themselves with Michael if they didn't feel that he could produce for him as a driver and as an owner. Yes, it's true that part of Michael's appeal is how he excels as a spokesperson, how well he handles the media and how much exposure he will get Toyota. But no company invests this much in someone who they don't think highly of. And the fact of the matter is that there is much to admire about Michael.

Later in the interview Michael was asked about the increased role that Larry Carter and Bobby Kennedy are going to have with the #55 team. He said,

"The problem with that is, I find myself torn. This 2006 season is important, obviously, to establish Waltrip Racing in the sport. But Bill Elliott's Burger King program is also important in 2006 -- and that's Larry's responsibility. And ramping-up for our 2007 Toyota teams is very important -- and that's Bobby Kennedy's responsibility. So it puts us in a position where we really have to be careful on splitting someone's responsibilities up so that you don't get in a position of halfway doing both, because if you do, both will suffer."

This is something that I'm not sure some fans understand. They see Michael struggling this season and want changes to be made immediately, and involve Carter, Kennedy and all other top personnel at Michael's disposal so that he can start running up front by the next race. But building a foundation for 2007 is also extremely important. Yes, part of that foundation is the #55 team, but from everything that's been said, what Elliott will be doing in the #00 car is essential for next season. I would like the #55 team to get back into the top 35 in owner points because it is important for them to be locked into the first five races next season. But otherwise, Michael isn't going to be contending for the Chase this season. So I think that putting all their resources into the #55 team as opposed to what they need to do for 2007 wouldn't be wise.

Michael also said,

"So the goal right now is to get a full-time crew chief in at Bill Davis Racing to look over my cars for me. We're working hard on that, but Bobby and Larry and some of their guys are trying to fill the gap until we get that done. No really solid, long-term decisions have been made on what's going to happen there. We're just trying to fight through until we get a guy in place to help us down the road."

I'm really interested in who the permanent crew chief for the #55 might be if not either Carter or Kennedy! Someone from inside MWR or Darrell Waltrip Motorsports? Or would they look outside?

Michael also repeated that David Reutimann will be in one of his Busch cars full time next season. It's obvious he thinks very highly of him.

"What a wonderful person he is. He's a good guy and a heckuva driver, so we'd like to see him win that Truck Series championship this year. He's got a ways to go to figure out how to beat Todd [Bodine] and Ted [Musgrave], but he's right there on their heels so hopefully he'll have a good year in the truck and go out and run really well in Busch next year."

You know what's great? Unlike the current trend where owners want young drivers, Michael is going to be giving a guy who is 36 a chance in his Busch car. Granted, Michael has also talked about putting 21-year old Joey Miller in a Busch car, but I like that Michael is willing to consider both veterans and young drivers. I'm guessing age isn't as much of a factor for him or his sponsors, as much as the ability to get strong results on the track and how they might represent those sponsors is.

In other news, there has been much talk about whether UPS is going to follow DJ to MWR which would result in a third team. Marty Smith, also of Nascar.com, went directly to MWR, where spokeswoman Brooke Hondros said, (he did not directly quote what she said),

...the team does not presently plan to field three Nextel Cup Series teams in 2007. Hondros said MWR is preparing two Nextel Cup teams and two Busch Series teams, all of which will run Toyota Camrys.

But Michael has been saying something slightly different. At Darlington he said,

"We'd like to have three teams. We think that'll give us the best chance to compete against the guys who are winning races now. There's a timetable that will come into play. ... We could start a third team if we could get another sponsor."

The key in what Brooke said of course, is that the team does not presently plan to field three Cup teams. I'd say that would change in a hurry if UPS comes on-board, especially since having three teams is something that Michael would apparently like to do. Some feel that might spread their resources too thin, especially since two out of the three teams will be brand-new, but as Michael says, it does appear that the teams with the most success are those with more than two teams.

As I always say, it will be very interesting to see how this all plays out!

Posted by silverdsl at 03:12 PM | Comments (0)

Travis Kvapil to be Replaced in the #32 For Road Course Races

According to the Toronto Sun, Travis Kvapil will be replaced in the #32 Tide car for PPI Motorsports, by road course specialist Ron Fellows, at both next month's race at Infineon Raceway on June 25, and also at Watkins Glen in August. Of course the #32 is outside the top 35 in owner's points so team owner Cal Wells may feel that this presents the #32 team with their best chance at a good finish by putting Fellows behind the wheel. Wells did the same thing last season when Bobby Hamilton, Jr. was in the #32, and Fellows rewarded him with an 8th place finish at Infineon. While Kvapil certainly isn't racing for the Championship, I can't say that it makes me think that Wells has that much confidence in Kvapil's ability to finish well at either of these two tracks. I'm sure Kvapil will say all the right things about being willing to do anything that will help the team, but I wouldn't feel too good if I were him to be replaced for two races.

Although the car ran better and there were not as many worries about owner points back then, I don't believe Wells replaced Ricky Craven for the road course races when he was in the car. So I wonder if this is just the plan for PPI at road courses these days, or if Wells doesn't mind if he offends Kvapil or makes it seem as if he doesn't have confidence in him because Kvapil might not be long-term in the ride?

Posted by silverdsl at 11:58 AM | Comments (0)

Brendan Gaughan on Truck Series Rookies and Respect

Brendan Gaughan was interviewed by Claire B. Lang on "Dialed In" on XM yesterday afternoon, and oh, how he unloaded on the rookie drivers in the truck series! Claire B. then talked to rookie truck driver Joey Miller for a response, and there was also input from listeners who called in. All of which made for an extremely interesting discussion about rookies and respect that I think applies not only to the truck series but also to rookies and young drivers in all three of Nascar's highest series.

The way it all came about was that Claire B. was asking Brendan about racing at Charlotte. Brendan proceeded to, and this isn't an exact quote, call all the rookies stupid and say that they're too dumb to know any better in terms of the way that they race! Claire B. was clearly taken aback and asked whether he meant stupid-good and he said no, stupid-bad!! That led into a huge rant about the inadequacies of the truck series rookies and their lack of respect for the veteran drivers, from the way that the rookies race, to how few of the rookies bother to seek out the veterans for advice. Other than Boston Reid, who is Brendan's teammate on paper, thanks to Orleans Racing selling the #62's owner points, and Chad McCumbee, Brendan thinks the rookie class in the truck series race know nothing and are worth nothing! Strong words indeed!

Although I don't care for the way that Brendan delivered his comments, I agree with a lot of his message. Many of the rookie and young drivers, in all three series, don't see to have too much respect for anyone else on the track. They won't just lay the bumper to another driver to move him out of the way, they will bump him so hard that he spins out and wrecks. Or they will run another car over, without checking up, and think nothing of it. I also think that it is extremely important for young drivers to pay attention to what the veterans are doing around them, both on and off the track, and seek out opportunities to learn.There is so much that the rookies can learn about racing, dealing with fans and sponsors, and so much more from the veterans who have been through it all. Nascar is an extremely tough sport and business. Only the strong will survive, and I think that the more help and support that young drivers have, whether it's from members of their own team or their fellow drivers, the more likely it is that a young driver will have a long career and be successful. I think it's very unfortunate that some of the young drivers are so high on themselves that they think they don't have anything to learn - how wrong they are. There is learning that can be done at any age.

Some might think that Joey would have defended his fellow rookies, but on a lot of points he agreed with Brendan. He feels that some of his fellow rookies drive crazy, have no common sense and have absolutely no respect for the other drivers they are racing with. In fact, Joey went so far as to name names, saying that Kyle Krisiloff, is "making himself look like an ass" and embarassing a lot of people! Yikes! He also said that another young driver wrecked him in practice one time and never bothered to come over and apologize, even though the damage to Joey's truck was so bad that his crew had to spend time fixing it. He feels that perhaps some of the rookies were never taught about respect for other people by their parents so the way they treat their fellow drivers may also be the way they treat everyone they encounter - scary! Also, he believes that a problem is that some of the rookies, and he admitted that he is one in this situation, have had their parents fund their rise through the ranks. For some of his fellow rookies, this means that they haven't had to earn their way into a ride like some others have and that effects their attitude. On the other hand, Joey feels that while he has made his share of mistakes, he tries to be careful on the track. That he is aware when he is having a bad day about staying out of the way of the leaders and trying not to race a 20th place truck into 2nd place, because that is only going to create problems.

Being aware of the capabilities of their car or truck is important for the young drivers on every level. Now every driver should try to get as much out of their car or truck as possible, but there are going to be some races, maybe even a lot of races if a driver is with a subpar team, that their car isn't going to be capable of racing up front. But that doesn't stop some of the young drivers from trying to charge through the field like a bull in a china shop! Of course veterans aren't immune to this either. A few times I've seen veteran drivers, who I think are feeling pressure to post good results, over drive their cars and the results haven't been pretty. I think it's also a matter of realizing when the time to race hard is and when the time to ease up might be. When a driver is six laps down that would be the time to ease up and let a lead lap car or truck go by. When they are racing for position at the front of the field, and especially when it's towards the end of the race, that's the time to race hard. Every situation is different and the rookies need to learn what each scenario calls for. However, one thing that I don't agree with is that the rookies should just pull over and let the veterans go by. If some of the veterans feel that the rookies shouldn't ever be racing them hard, then I think they are completely wrong. A rookie driver has just as much right to race for position and try to race their way to the front as a veteran driver, they just need to be smart about it.

One thing that both Brendan and Joey touched on is how a lot of the rookie drivers are given big-time rides and how that effects them. Joey mentioned how much money is poured into teams these days and I agree that has a tremendous impact. For one thing I think that the more money that a team and sponsor spends, the more pressure there is for results. That means that some rookies may feel that they have to drive extremely hard to try to finish at the front of the field in every single race, even when they don't have a car or truck capable of doing that. But also, I think that there are rookies in the truck or Busch series that already know that they are going to have a ride in a higher level, sometimes in the very near future. So those young drivers aren't really trying to prove themselves. In addition, if they feel they won't be racing in the series for very long, they may feel that they don't have to treat those that they are racing with very well. I think Michael Waltrip was wise in not saying that Joey automatically will be in one of his Busch rides next season even though that is what he would like to have him do. Instead Joey will have to show that he can handle racing in the truck series first and only then will Michael put him in a Busch ride. This ensures that Joey still feels that he has to prove himself and will likely be cautious about the way that he races.

One of the callers on XM brought up the age of the rookies and I think that is also a factor. Joey Miller is just 21 years old! Kyle Busch was only 16 when he raced his first truck race! These days youth is prized and it seems as if the teams want to promote drivers younger and younger. But it used to be common for a driver not to reach the upper levels of Nascar until they were in their mid-to-late 20's or even their 30's. I believe Brendan graduated from college before he started racing in the truck series full-time. Some of the other veterans probably raced in the lower levels or other divisions for years before getting their big break, and as someone pointed out on one of the forums, often raced cars that they personally built. That creates a level of experience and maturity that the young rookies simply aren't going to have because they've been thrust into Nascar, with all it's pressures, before they might be fully ready as a driver or as a person. Not to mention if a driver has hands-on experience with working on the cars and trucks they are probably more likely to be respectful of their equipment and be careful about not tearing it up because they understand how much work goes into it.

I also wonder given the age of some of the rookies if they don't fully realize the accomplishements of some of the veteran drivers that they are racing with. Jack Sprague is a three-time truck series champion, but his last Championship was in 2001, at a time when the truck series got even less attention than it does now. Brendan won six races one year... in 2003. What some of the young drivers might be most familiar with about Brendan is how he went to the Cup series in 2004 and was released after only one season in the #77. Mike Skinner is also a former Champion of the truck series but his best years in the truck series were in 1995 and 1996. Yes, I think that the young drivers should take it upon themselves to be familiar with those that they are racing against and be respectful of the accomplishments of those who have come before them, but ten years ago a 21 year old would have been 11!

Something interesting that Joey brought up is how respect should work both ways. He feels that some of the veterans are stuck-up, unapproachable, and have attitude problems of their own. For example, Joey told the story of how a veteran driver came up to him at Daytona, before even a single lap of the race had been run, and jabbed him in the chest with two fingers, telling him that he (Joey) better not get into him or else! Meanwhile, Joey's plan was to drop to the back, ride around and try to stay out of trouble. If the veterans are going to decide ahead of time that the rookies are trouble and treat them as such, then it sets up a hostile situation right from the start. In addition, I would add that if the rookie driver hears that Brendan called them all stupid and ripped into them publically, I'm thinking that's not going to increase the odds that any of those drivers are going to seek out Brendan for advice. Nor might they be likely to approach other veterans having heard that the veterans have sat around and talked about how they pretty much think all the rookies suck! I think that presents a problem - the rookies have no respect for the veterans, so the veterans have no respect for the rookies, who have no respect for... you get the picture. It's an unending cycle where lines are drawn in the sand and sides taken. Brendan said that veteran drivers like Mike Skinner or Jack Sprague will take care of things, meaning some sort of message sent on the track, well, I have to wonder is Brendan also going to be sent a message by a rookie or two who might have taken offense at what he said? And then the cycle continues...

Nascar is a very unpredictable sport and there's no telling what the future might hold. That's why I think the respect issue is so important for both the rookies and veterans. One of the drivers that Brendan thinks is so stupid now might be a driver who could be a possible teammate in the future or even someone that he might want to hire for a second truck at Orleans Racing. Or one of the veterans that a rookie so casually dismissed and then wrecked in the truck series might be someone that they will need to call upon for a favor a few years down the road in the Cup series. Something that I strongly believe is that it's extremely important to treat everyone with as much courtesy and respect as possible because you never know when that person could help you in the future.

I don't think there are any easy answers to what's going on in Nascar in relation to the seeming decline in driver's respect for each other or the crazy way that some rookies are racing. But at the very least I hope that the teams start doing a better job of mentoring their young drivers to prevent some of the problems that have sprung up.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:07 AM | Comments (0)

May 16, 2006

Photo of the Day - Outer Banks Wave

Outer Banks, North Carolina, 2003.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:01 PM | Comments (0)

Lowe's, Jimmie Johnson Extends With Hendrick Motorsports

These days if a driver's contract is up relatively soon, even if soon is two years from now, there's a flood of talk that they might try to get released so they can jump ship to another organization. But in spite of Jimmie's Johnson's contract being due to expire in 2008, no such rumors have swirled around him, likely because the #48 team is enjoying so much success. Hendrick Motorsports apparently decided that it was best not to take any chances and have signed Johnson to a contract extension that will go through 2010. At the same time, Lowe's was also signed for an extension that covers the same period of time. Although an extension for crew chief Chad Knaus was not announced yesterday as well, Hendrick Motorsports says that they are working on one with him. If Knaus can't come to an agreement with Hendrick, maybe he'll consider joining Michael Waltrip Racing to be Michael's crew chief? Just wishful thinking on my part - Knaus works exceptionally well with Johnson so I don't see them parting ways anytime soon.

Unlike other sports, the specifics of the drivers contracts with their teams is a closely guarded secret so it's hard to know exactly how much money any of them make, when exactly their contracts expire, or if they might have any "out" clauses which could allow them to leave their team before the end of their deal. But there are at least two other drivers who are supposedly signed through 2008, Elliott Sadler and Jeremy Mayfield, who are rumored to be looking around for new rides. So while to some it might seem early for Hendrick to worry about re-signing Johnson, especially when Brian Vickers' contract is supposedly up at the end of this season so some might think they would want to concentrate on re-signing him first, if Hendrick didn't act as soon as possible they might find other teams trying to lure Johnson to come sign with them. I don't think what we saw with Kurt Busch and Jamie McMurray, where they signed with other teams before their deals with the teams they were with expired, will be the last time we will see that kind of scenario. But it's a lot harder for a driver to find a way out when they're signed many years into the future as opposed to one or two.

Posted by silverdsl at 01:56 PM | Comments (0)

More Injury Woes for the Yankees

It's looking like it might be a rough year for the New York Yankees in terms of injury problems, which really might not be so unexpected given that they have a lot of older, veteran players on the roster. First we have one Mr. Tanyon Sturtze, one of the Yankees's relievers, who decided that he wasn't going to tell anyone that his shoulder was bothering him. So Sturtze was trotted out there for inning after inning this season, in spite of not pitching very well. As it turns out one reason he wasn't pitching very well is because he has a small rotator-cuff tear and bursitis, which might result in Sturtze being out for the remainder of the season. Sturtze has been far from good this season but the loss of a veteran reliever is still one less experienced body in the bullpen. He's been replaced by Scott Erickson but I'm not thinking that he'll be able to pitch a whole lot better than Sturtze. Luckily, the Yankees have Octavio Dotel in the wings, and it's expected that if his rehab continues to go well he should be ready to pitch in the majors in a month.

I understand the mentality of a player is to try to play through aches and pains, it's what they learn to do from an early age - grin and bear it. But for so long? Sturtze had apparently been feeling pain in his shoulder since Spring Training and never said anything to anyone. For three months! Maybe he figured it would go away eventually, that it wasn't anything serious, or that the pain wouldn't effect the way he pitched. Or maybe he was afraid that with Dotel on the horizon he might be the odd man out if the Yankees needed to get rid of someone in the bullpen to make room for Dotel. Bu tthe problem is that in the long-run trying to play through an injury can be costly, both to the individual and to the team.

Even Joe Torre, who adores Sturtze, said,

"I care very deeply about him, and I know what he was trying to do, because he has a big heart. Even if you think you're not injuring yourself further - and you don't know that because you're not a doctor - he was going out there without the ammunition he needs. He was able to throw 90-something mph, but he couldn't finish his pitches."

But it's not just that Sturtze wasn't pitching well. He was also putting himself at risk for making the injury worse. That's exactly what happened to Victor Zambrano of the New York Mets, who didn't tell anyone his elbow was hurting, tried to pitch through it, and ended up blowing out his elbow so badly that he had to undergo a second Tommy John surgury and now his career might be over. It's admirable to want to want to help one's team. It's impressive when a player guts it out and plays through some minor aches and pains. But I think it's stupidity when they put their careers on the line, say nothing about constant or recurrent pain, and try to play through it. The players know their own bodies well enough to know when an ache or a pain is something that is unusual and needs attention from the team's medical staff... they just don't always have an easy time admitting it openly that they aren't fine even if they know it internally.

But the Yankees injury concerns aren't limited to Sturtze. During last night's 4-2 loss to the Texas Rangers, Yankees first baseman, Jason Giambi, dived to make a play on a resulted in a neck injury. Giambi shrugged off the injury after the game and claimed it wasn't anything serious, but his neck is stiff and there's no telling how much worse it might be when he wakes up this morning. Hopefully the injury truly isn't anything serious because losing Giambi would be disasterous for the Yankees, since they are already missing Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui. But even if the injury isn't anything major I don't want to see Giambi rush back and force himself to play before his neck is completely better. The last thing the Yankees need is for Giambi to hurt his neck worse and then miss significant time.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:10 AM | Comments (0)

May 15, 2006

Photo of the Day - Camden, Maine

Camden, Maine, July, 2002. I really want to go back to Maine! Southern Maine is getting flooded with rain right now, I hope the damage is limited to people and property.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:07 PM | Comments (0)

A Sign that Steve is Full-Time in the #59?

As per Steve Park's website, there's a new t-shirt available, which is a Steve Park #59 Harris Trucking shirt. It was already said by those who have talked to Steve that he was in the #59 truck at least through the end of the month and that he had talked about working on something for the rest of the season. So I'm guessing that this is a pretty big sign that Steve's full-time ride in the truck series is in fact going to be with the #59 truck, as opposed to joining Wyler Racing or Bill Davis Racing as some have speculated. I don't think they'd go through the trouble of making a new t-shirt, that won't even ship until the end of this month if Steve was going to be out of the truck in a few weeks.

Perhaps the big annoucement that has been alluded to is that they've got a primary sponsor to come on board for the rest of the season or that they've worked out a deal for manufacturer support. If those things were to happen and Steve could race the #59 truck into the top 30 in owner's points, this team might have a better chance of competing with some of the other truck teams. Maybe we'll be surprised in the end and Steve will leave the #59 truck for another ride but I'm thinking that's not likely at this point.

Posted by silverdsl at 06:44 PM | Comments (0)

Darlington: Driver by Driver

1. Greg Biffle - I'm really not surprised that Greg ended up in Victory Lane. With how strong his cars have been this season, it's only been a matter of time. Some wrote Greg off because of all the bad luck to start the season, but I think it's a mistake to think that he won't be a factor in the Chase this season. With last week's 4th place finish and this week's win, Greg has raced his way to 14th in the points. He could still very much end up a part of the Chase before it's all said and done.

2. Jeff Gordon - In the end Jeff came up just short. Some have said that's because Ken Schrader got in his way at the end up I'm not so sure about that. I'm sure some will take that as another sign that he's not as focused or as talented of a driver as he once was, but I take it as a sign that the #24 team is just a little off and if they put it all together Jeff will be in Victory Lane himself before long.

3. Matt Kenseth - His best career finish in 13 starts at Darlington.

4. Jimmie Johnson - Jimmie led 81 laps but during a late pit stop he was boxed in by Ken Schrader and lost valuable time on pit road that he was never able to gain back.

5. Dale Earnhardt Jr. - I admire Junior, and all the other drivers who have done it, for racing while he was sick and lasting until the end of the race when at one point he thought he might need a relief driver. However, I feel like with the amount of attention that was given to Junior for racing sick both during the race and afterwards, I'm surprised that the headline on Nascar.com wasn't "Junior FInishes 5th While Sick With the Flu!" rather than a headline about Biffle winning the race.

6. Ryan Newman - Second straight top ten for Ryan and the #12 team but he's still only 19th in the points. I'm interested to see what happens with this team as the season goes along. Obviously they are capable of good finishes but something seems off. Especially when one considers that this team used to really excel at qualifying and had three poles by this point in the season last year but haven't gotten a single pole yet.

7. Kyle Busch - Kyle is 7th in the points right now and I wonder if he'll hear even more boos than his brother did if he makes it into the Chase this season?

8. Mark Martin - Other than when they were caught in a wreck at Talladega, the #6's team worst finish this season was 13th at Martinsville. I think quietly this is one of the most consistently good teams on the track right now, maybe even more than Tony Stewart's, and if they keep it up, Mark will really make a strong run at the Championship.

9. Jeff Burton - Another solid run for Jeff and it puts him into 10th in the points standings. I suspect he might not hold on to that spot in the points standings but I would love to see him in the Chase!

10. Denny Hamlin - Won both the Busch pole and race on Friday but couldn't repeat that success in the Cup race. 10th place is still exceptionally good for a rookie though.

11. Reed Sorenson - Second best finish of the season for Reed. It's hard for a rookie, but he's got to build more consistency from race to race.

12. Tony Stewart - Tony's luck to have finished 12th. Not only did he fight a loose condition all race but he also spun, but suffered no damage in that incident. It's a reflection of how good his team is, and how good of a driver he is that he was able to overcome those things to finish in the top 15.

13. Robby Gordon - A much needed strong finish for Robby to vault him four places in the points standings to 28th place.

14. Martin Truex Jr. - Another so-so finish for Truex and the #1 team. 14th isn't terrible, especially for a rookie, but I think the expectations for Truex, in a DEI car, were higher headed into this season. One thing's for sure is that he's got less top ten's than Michael Waltrip, the driver he pretty much replaced at DEI, did at this point in the season.

15. Ken Schrader - Kenny got some flack from some fans because they felt that he didn't get out of the way of Jeff Gordon, who was trying to overtake Greg Biffle for the lead, fast enough. But I didn't see Kenny block Jeff or do anything too crazy. I also see that Kenny was the first car a lap down so he was fighting to stay on the lead lap in that spot. So while I don't think he should get in the way of the leader's, I don't think he should have to pull over and let them go by quite as easily as compared to if he was already lapped.

16. Joe Nemechek

17. Casey Mears - After a strong start, this team has really fallen off. Three top tens in a row to start the season reflects that this team is capable of better than what they've shown lately. I can't help but wonder, in spite of Casey talking about how he's trying to work out an extension with Chip Ganassi Racing, whether he might end up with a different team where he might get better results.

18. Kyle Petty - For another team 18th place might be a disappointment, but for this team finishing in the top 20 is very solid run.

19. Kurt Busch - Had a problem in the pits to put them at the back of the field and then the car was never good enough to get Kurt back into the top ten where he started the race.

20. Tony Raines - Another top 20 for this team, once more meeting their goals for the season to try to finish in the top 20 in as many races as possible. I also noticed that there was a DLP commercial during the race that featured Tony Raines which indicates that that DLP is probably pretty happy and committed to Tony to go through the trouble of putting him in one of their commericals.

21. Kasey Kahne - Won the pole and led 41 laps but the car faded as the race went along.

22. Bobby Labonte - Surprisingly at Darlington Labonte wasn't the top finishing Petty Enterprises car. Never really seemed strong at all, at any point in the race.

23. Clint Bowyer - Had a decent car but a tire rolled away from the crew during a pit stop, which resulted in a penalty that they were never able to fully recover from.

24. Dale Jarrett - With all the distractions around this team in the past week from the penalties against Slugger Labbe to Dale announcing that he would be joining Michael Waltrip Racing at the end of this season, I'm not surprised that they didn't have a great race.

25. David Stremme - Even starting the race in the top ten couldn't help Stremme get a good finish... but this is actually his second best finish this season. Sad.

26. J.J. Yeley

27. Dave Blaney - I think that Blaney was able to finish this "well" only because of other's misfortune. According to their post-race report the team hoped to earn their second top 25 in a row at Darlington and I think that's a sad commentary on how bad things are at BDR that finishing in the top 25 is something to celebrate. As an established team, with a veteran driver, this team should be better.

28. Sterling Marlin

29. Elliott Sadler - Loose all race and finally spun. Not a good race for the #38 team. Like with the #88 team, I can't help but wonder if they were effected by the turmoil surrounding Robert Yates Racing lately.

30. Travis Kvapil - Blown tire ruined any hopes for a good finish.

31. Scott Riggs - No clue what happened to Riggs in this race.

32. Jeff Green - I *think* Green might have spun or gotten into the wall at one point but since I don't pay too much attention to what he does, I can't say for sure.

33. Scott Wimmer - Wrecked. Surprisingly this team seems to have some semi-decent cars at times for an independent team but often getting caught in wrecks or mechancial problems do them in.

34. Terry Labonte - In his much hyped last race at Darlington, Texas Terry wasn't a factor in any way, shape or form.

35. Michael Waltrip - Electrical issues and other mechanical problems ruined Michael's night. It's always something for this team.

36. Kevin Lepage - Just barely was able to qualify the car for the race, then had to deal with handling issues and an overheating problem.

37. Kevin Harvick - A piece of asphalt came up off the track and damaged the radiator on the #29, necessitating going behind the wall for 12 laps for repairs.

38. Jeremy Mayfield - A right front suspension issue ruined their night. This team doesn't have a single top ten this season, and barely any good finishes period. I would really like to know what's going on with this team because it's starting to seem like more than just issues related to the crew changes.

39. Carl Edwards - Blown engine.

40. Stanton Barrett - Engine problems.

41. Brian Vickers - Car was smooshed in one of the first incidents of the race.

42. Jamie McMurray - Broken oil pump belt was their undoing. What's amazing is that Jamie still earned winnings totalling $113,200, which is more than 30 of the driver who finished better than him, including two drivers in the top ten. Of course this is because of the way Jamie's contract is structured and the contingency awards that he is eligible for but it still strikes me a little odd that a 42nd place finish can be worth so much.

43. Derrike Cope - Derrick Cope fails to finish even twenty laps in this race - what a shocker!

Posted by silverdsl at 04:10 PM | Comments (0)

More on Dale Jarrett to Michael Waltrip Racing

Second try on this entry... hopefully I'll have better luck this morning!

Once it was pretty obvious that Dale Jarrett was going to accept Michael Waltrip's offer to drive for Michael Waltrip Racing in 2007, one thing that everyone was anxious to know was what the car number would be, as well as who the primary sponsor would be. That's because there's been much speculation that UPS was going to also leave Robert Yates Racing and follow Jarrett to his new ride. No announcement was made this weekend about a car number or sponsor for Jarrett and that apparently leaves open the possiblity that UPS will follow him. I had wondered how that was going to be possible since Michael had already said that he had full sponsorship for a second car, but Michael said, "We currently have a sponsorship for a second car, but that’s as far as it goes. I just didn’t want to say we have Dale's car sponsored because that might not be factual. We have two teams sponsored, we have two drivers we might have another, we might not, I don’t know."

What that means is that if UPS comes on board they would sponsor a third car and Michael would search for another driver for the second car. Now how incredible would that be for MWR to have not just two full time Cup teams, but three?! The question is how likely is it that UPS will go with Jarrett? I think unless RYR comes up with a very prominent driver to replace Jarrett, the chances are very good that they will also leave RYR. Just as NAPA is associated with Michael in most fan's eyes, when fans think of Jarrett they think of UPS and vice versa, thanks to all the TV commercials and other marketing that UPS has done. It makes a lot of sense for them to continue that partnership because I think it has benefited both of them tremendously. In the end, as much as it's about racing and what happens on the track, it's also about the sponsors and how much exposure they get. Jarrett has represented them extremely well, and if I were part of their organization I would question how easily he could be replaced, when he was still an active driver.

Some have assumed that the only reason why Michael wanted Jarrett to race for him was because there is the Champion's provisional that Jarrett can take advantage of if need be. However, Michael said,

"Dale will grow this team at a faster rate than we could have done any other way. I knew he was a champion and I knew he had all those credentials, but what I put the most value in -- I didn't pay him because he had that provisional, I had paid him because of how smart he is and how much he knows about racecars. That is why I wanted him on my team."

I can't even begin to emphasis how many positives Jarrett brings to MWR! He is classy, well-respected by most, a excellent race car driver and is extremely knowledgable about racing, among other things. Some fans, who are likely threatened by Toyota's entry into the Cup series, are saying that Jarrett is washed up. I don't agree. Jarrett won at Talladega just last season and has 32 wins over the course of his career. That he is such a recent winner indicates to me that he is still very capable of racing well and winning if he has the car to do it. But besides being a winner and a former Champion, I think as Michael says, Jarrett's veteran presence will be a huge benefit to MWR and the team. I think that when it comes to starting a new team, a veteran's years of experience, and their knowledge of what it takes for success, gives them an advanatage over a younger driver who only has a few years of racing in Cup under his belt. Jarrett may also have more patience and a better ability to deal with the growing pains that most new teams go through, than a young driver.

However, I do think that Jarrett is eligible to use the Champion's provisional is important too, as much as Michael might be trying to downplay it. Jarrett's car won't have any owner points from this season to use to guarantee them a spot in the first five races of 2007, but with the Champion's provisional, unless a more recent Champion needs to make use of it, Jarrett won't have to worry about missing any of those first five races... or any race after that should he find himself outside of the top 35 in owner points after the first five races. But my guess is that Jarrett will likely be in the top 35 in owner points as 2007 goes along, as I think will most, if not all, of the other Toyota entries. I don't think they will dominate the Cup series at first as many seem to think they will, but I do think that Toyota is going to want to have a strong start so they will help their teams field competitive cars.

As for why Jarrett joined MWR, the majority of people have assumed that so much money was thrown at Jarrett that he was unable to refuse their offer. I'm sure that Jarrett will make out very well financially, but RYR was willing to match the offer that he got from MWR and he still left. Jarrett said, "

The reason I am doing this is not about money. This is to help Michael. I told my wife that this was going to be one of the biggest things to happen in NASCAR, for a driver with a new manufacturer to start his own organization."

When the initial official announcement was made on Nascar Live on Saturday, Jarrett talked about the appeal of the challenge of joining a brand-new team and helping make it into a success. I have to admire his courage for taking a risk. Many drivers in his shoes, towards the end of their careers, might play things safe, either by staying with their current teams or by going to another established team. Not Jarrett. He is looking forward to that challenge and I'm guessing that it will totally revitalize him as a driver and as a person. Nothing stale or boring about helping a new team and a new manufacturer win races and be successful in the Cup series!

Jarrett also feels that he will have opportunities to stay involved with racing after he's retired as a full-time driver by racing for MWR.

"This isn't going to be a one- or two-year process developing this into a championship race team. It's going to take time beyond that. Once I quit driving, I can give a lot more time to that. I like the ideas Michael has come to me with about staying involved in his race team and what he could do there, and plus if I'm on the management side I can spend his money and not mine."

I think that Michael offered him the opportunity to be involved on the management side after he retires is probably also a big reason why Jarrett accepted the offer. I don't think every driver is so forward-thinking and willing to acknowledge that one day their Cup career will come to an end as head-on as Jarrett, and Michael, seem to be able to do. Michael has put himself in a position to be involved in racing as a successful Cup and Busch owner for the rest of his life and it sounds like Jarrett will also be a part of that.

Naturally both Ford and Robert Yates said all the right things publically about Jarrett and his tenure with them, and how there were no hard feelings about him leaving. But behind-the-scenes, word is that they are less than happy. But if Ford and RYR wanted to keep Jarrett, maybe they should have thought about talking to him about a contract extension before now, especially knowing that there were going to be at least four open rides with Toyota teams in 2007.

Both Yates and Ford have talked about Toyota throwing money around. As if Robert Yates didn't offer Jarrett and Elliott Sadler a lot of money, probably more than others offered, to get them to sign with him? As David Poole from the Charlotte Observer says, this is the way that every team operates - they make drivers and crew members, especially experienced ones, generous financial offers. He said

Saturday night, Jack Roush was talking about how Toyota's expenditures might upset NASCAR's parity and about how it's teams will "raid" the garage to hire people away from current teams. How else, pray tell, could it be done any other way? If you're starting up a new program, wouldn't you have to get at least some of your employees from existing competitors so you'd have at least a little experience on your side? And how else would you get them away from their current jobs than by offering them more money?

This is the way the world works. MWR wasn't going to get Jarrett to race for them by offering him less money than he would get elsewhere.

The one question that I have is how things are going to go for Jarrett for the rest of the season at RYR. Lucky for him, he's currently 12th in the points, several positions ahead of his teammate, Elliott Sadler. So I don't think that RYR can opt to write him off right now, especially if they are trying to keep UPS and find another driver for the ride. In fact, Yates said,

First of all, I want to make sure that everybody knows that we are fully committed to Dale Jarrett and UPS and Ford in carrying this thing out to the end of the year. I think what will happen is now that Dale has made his announcement, people are going to realize that the 88 is a good seat with a good car number, good sponsor and good history.

But what happens once Yates finds out whether UPS is staying on board, finds a new driver for the #88 or Jarrett slips in the points? I think it's possible that Jarrett would find himself with less support and less resources than what Sadler and the #38 team get. There's also the possiblity that Jarrett won't finish out the year in the #88, particularly if Yates opts to promote one of his developmental drivers in the Busch series into the #88, instead of signing another established driver who already has a ride that they will have committments to for the rest of the season. I definitely hope that doesn't happen for Jarrett's sake, but if it does, perhaps MWR would field a car for him for the remainder of the season.

All in all, I'm unbelievably excited for Michael, Dale Jarrett and Michael Waltrip Racing! I can't wait for 2007 and things could get even better if there's another driver added to the MWR roster. Michael has struggled at many points in his career with a lack of quality equipment, including this season, and I am really looking forward to the possiblity that he will be able to enjoy a tremendous amount of success next season and beyond, not only behind the wheel, but as an owner.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:39 AM | Comments (0)

May 14, 2006

Photo of the Day - Walt and Mickey

Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World, January, 2004.

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

Lost Another Entry!

I was just about finished with a long entry with more on Dale Jarrett going to Michael Waltrip Racing and I lost it all. Argh!!!! Re-doing it will have to wait until tomorrow. Argh!!!!!!

Posted by silverdsl at 10:29 PM | Comments (0)

Thoughts on Darlington

The definite highlight of this weekend was Michael Waltrip and Dale Jarrett announcing their partnership for 2007 and beyond. Otherwise the racing really seemed boring this weekend. Granted my two favorite drivers, as well as some others that I like a lot, having stinky races really put a damper on things, but it seemed like the racing at Darlington was less than thrilling. Which is surprising since there's been some outstanding races there in the past, perhaps one of the most memorable being the ultra-close finish between Ricky Craven and Kurt Busch in 2003.

*In news related to things off-the-track, there was also one bright spot, and that's how a group of Steve Park fans raised $5,000 for the Victory Junction Gang Camp. This resulted in two decals on the sides of Steve's #31 Whelen Busch car. I understand he was thrilled that his fans did so much to help the camp, and indeed it is something to be proud of! The funds that were raised will make it possible for at least three deserving kids to go to the camp and have the time of their lives. Kudos to all those who helped organize the effort, as well as all those who donated! It was especially special that those decals that reflected the fan's support of the VJGC was on Steve's car on Friday, since it was the sixth anniversary of his death and the camp is in memory of him.

*Unfortunately in spite of the good karma that should have been with Steve thanks to the decals on his car, yet again misfortune found him on the track, not once but twice. The car was a fast one and it's likely that Steve could have gotten a top 20 or a top 15. But it wasn't to be.

It appeared that there were some issues in the pits which led to Steve losing spots after pit stops which was problem number one. It makes it really difficult for the driver when he has to navigate his way through traffic over and over again, past other cars who are also battling to get back to the front from the back. But it's probably to be expected. As hard-working as the members of the crew that are employed by Ted Marsh Racing are, they don't race every week, which puts them at a disadvantage in relation to some of the teams that race every week, especially those that are connected to Cup teams. It appears that at each race the #31 team suppliment their crew with pit crew members from other teams. That also puts them at a disadvantage if the crew members they are working with aren't the same from race to race.

But what really hurt Steve was being caught up in two incidents that were not of his own doing. In the first incident, he checked up to avoid getting into another car, only Mike Bliss wasn't as quick to check up and got into Steve's left quarter panel, tearing it off... the very panel that had one of the fan decals on it! Bliss is definitely not a favorite of the Steve Park fans at the moment! But it was the second incident which was the most costly. For the second week in a row, Jay and Tim Sauter tangled and Steve got swept up in the carnage. That led to damage to the #31, an apparent overhearing problem and a 39th place finish. Far from the result that anyone wanted.

Steve's best finish this season in either the Truck or Busch series, was 18th place in the #59 truck at Gateway. However, to find his last top 15 one has to go back to September of last season at Louden, when he finished 12th in the #62 truck. His last top 10 was in July of 2005, also in the #62 truck, when he finished 8th at Kentucky Speedway. I'm not sure how many top 10s there will be for Steve this season in either the #31 or #59, but I really don't think at least a top 15 is too much to ask for!

*Greg Biffle won the Cup race and I knew it was only a matter of time before he was in Victory Lane. Biffle has had horrible luck this season, including in two races when it's seemed like he's been on his way to winning. The problem has clearly not been with Biffle, his team or the cars, though the engine failures are something that the team needs to ensure doesn't happen in the future. Perhaps now everything will fall into place for the #16 team and their luck will be better for the rest of the season. If so, I don't think this will be the last time we see Biffle in Victory Lane.

*Yet again, another awful race for Michael Waltrip and the #55 team. Early in the race it seemed as if the car was at least semi-okay, and that Michael might be able to hang on for a finish in the top 30 at least. Of course that's still not very good but in comparision to some finishes this season, it's better than nothing. But mechanical gremlins once again plagued the #55, and in spite of the team's best efforts to solve the problem, Michael could finish no better than 35th, eight laps down. That's very unfortunate because Jeremy Mayfield and the #19 team also experienced problems, finishing even worse than Michael in 38th place. A strong finish for the #55 team might have gotten them back into the top 35 in owner points since the #19 is just hanging onto the 35th spot in owner points.

Next week is the All-Star Challenge, which is a non-points race. Since it takes place at Lowe's Motorspeedway, where the next points race is the following week, it's a good way for the #55 team to prepare for the race in which the results really count. Michael is capable of racing well at this track, but his last three races at Charlotte have ended in wrecks. I hope that Michael's luck at Charlotte will be better this season!

Posted by silverdsl at 06:01 PM | Comments (0)

May 13, 2006

Done Deal: Dale Jarrett to Michael Waltrip Racing

As widely rumored, and talked about by both Michael Waltrip and Dale Jarrett in recent weeks, it was confirmed today on Nascar Live that DJ has signed with Michael Waltrip Racing to race a Toyota for 2007 and 2008. Whooo-hooooooooo! I am beyond thrilled by this announcement!!!!! It's not that I'm such a huge fan of DJ, to be honest he's always been one of those drivers that have just sort of been there for me, though I am now suddenly a much bigger fan of his, but it's that he bring so much to MWR! First and foremost is the Champion's provisional which means that unless a more recent Champion needs to make use of that provisional, he is guaranteed a spot in every race, including the first five races of next season.. In addition, DJ is a veteran driver who has won 32 Cup races, including one last season, so he is very capable of running up front and winning if he has the car that allows him to do it. DJ is also highly respected by fans and by his peers in the garage area. There are so many positives about DJ signing with MWR and I am so excited for Michael and for MWR!

Michael and DJ are meeting with the media right about now so I think I'm going to wait to say more until after I see if more details come out of that, such as sponsor, car #, news on a new crew chief for the #55, etc... But this is a very good day for Michael and MWR!!!

Posted by silverdsl at 12:51 PM | Comments (0)

May 12, 2006

In the News: Steve Park (5/12)

It's taken ten months but I finally have enough content to do an "In the News" entry about Steve Park! Yes, this makes me happy because I miss the days when there were frequently articles and other media mentions about Steve.

Today Steve makes his return to Darlington Raceway in the #31 Whelen Busch car. Of course most Nascar fans know that is the car and this is the track where Steve was involved in a wreck under caution that resulted in an injury so severe that he was unable to race until the following year. Steve has raced at this track since the 2001 accident in other series, but this is really coming full circle from the accident. Steve downplays getting back into this car but I think that it actually takes a tremendous amount of courage to confront the ghosts of the past head-on. Steve fought back from the accident which was a huge accomplishment and he has continued to fight to remain in Nascar. Returning to race in the Busch Series at this track reflects Steve's strength as a person, as well as his determination. That is to be admired!

I know most fans of Steve's, and probably Steve himself, wish that the media and everyone else would forget about the accident and focus on other things but the reality is that the wreck is part of who Steve is as a driver and his career hasn't been the same since. This is simply part of the story of Steve Park, and even more so when he's back at the track in the same car he was in back then. Naturally, that means that he's going to be the subject of some media attention this weekend. Personally, I think that's a good thing because he sometimes has flown completely under the radar this season, except when he's involved in an incident on the track. This way he gets an opportunity to also talk about some other things which he did today.

Steve said about racing part-time in both the Truck and Busch series this season,

"You hate the fact that you are bouncing back and forth between Busch and Trucks, trying to settle into a ride. I am confident in a short amount of that something is going to come up and I can get back to running full time in Trucks or Busch."

I hope that Steve is confident because he knows for sure that he has a definite full-time Truck or Busch Series ride that will be available to him in the near future! He has hinted to some lately that the does have something in the works but only time will tell as to how that plays out.

Perhaps it's with the #59 team that Steve is currently working with in the Truck Series.

"[Harris has] a team I can feel can grow into a team that can win week in and week out. Their [truck] gives me the opportunity to get back in the Busch Series, too.

I would say with the right amount of resources, financial support and personnel, almost any team can grow into a team that can be competitive every week. The roadblock for the #59 team, as hard-working as they are, is that they are a small team, with no primary sponsor at the moment, no manufacturer support and right now, not even a guaranteed spot in each week's race. Realistically, the chances of them being able to beat the Toyota backed teams or other well-funded teams on a regular basis right now isn't great. But hopefully if Steve were to join them full-time they would get support from a manufacturer and lure a primary sponsor to come on board. And a few great finishes would put them back into the top 30 in owner's points where they belong.

Steve also said of Ricky Craven,

"I think me and Ricky are both picky. We are not just jumping at opportunities and getting in stuff that we feel will run in the back. We want to be in stuff that we know can win races."

Craven is a lot more picky than Steve is apparently since he's turned down some opportunities that I would guess might be comparable to what Steve is doing right now. But sitting around on Moosehead Lake has grown stale for Ricky since he's now exploring the possiblity of returning to the truck series. Craven realized that if you keep saying "no" to every offer, eventually people stop calling.

What's interesting is that Motorsports.com says that Steve would one day like to get back to the Cup series. I wonder if Steve really said that today or the writer is just assuming? That is different from what he's said in recent times when he's stated his preference for staying in the truck series, though that seems to have changed too since as per his comments today it seems as if he wouldn't mind a full-time ride in the Busch series. Unfortunately for Steve though he doesn't have a Champion's provisional to make use of, a $15 million sponsor in his pocket, and he's not under 30, which are some of the qualities that make drivers most attractive to Cup teams these days.

In final practice today Steve was 23rd. That should bode well for his chances for qualifying for the race since he only has to beat four drivers on time to make it into the show. Someone who was at the Ted Marsh Racing shop this week said that a crew member said that this is a very fast car so hopefully that means that Steve will both qualify extremely well this evening and have an outstanding finish in the race tonight!

Posted by silverdsl at 03:19 PM | Comments (0)

Another Cup Driver to Go Busch Racing

A few days ago it was announced that Elliott Sadler would be stepping out of the #90 Busch car, but there's another Cup driver to keep the number of Buschwackers consistent. Braun Racing announced this week that Dave Blaney will race eight races for them in the #38. Blaney's first race with the team is on May 27 at Lowe's Motorspeedway in Charlotte. The only reason this is interesting to me is because prior to the start of this season Michael Waltrip said in an interview on XM that Blaney would be in a car for him at some point this season. I'm guessing that since Blaney is going to be in a car for Braun that plans changed in terms of him getting into a Busch car for Michael.

What's interesting to me is that most fans don't seem to care that Blaney will be Buschwacking. They wig out about all the Cup drivers racing in the Busch series but when there's an announcement about another Cup driver who will be doing it, there's barely a peep. I guess it's only something to get excited about when the Cup driver in question has a lot of success or is a big name.

Posted by silverdsl at 12:02 PM | Comments (0)

Yankees Lose Hideki Matsui to Injury, Possibly for the Season

The New York Yankees lost last night's game to the Boston Red Sox, 5-3, but they lost a lot more than just the game and the series. In the first inning, Yankees left fielder, Hideki Matsui, injured his left wrist while catching a ball hit by Mark Loretta. To anyone watching it was obvious that the injury was probably a serious one and tests at the hospital comfirmed those fears. Matsui has a broken wrist and will undergo surgery today. Early guesses are that Matsui will miss at least three months, but it's possible he could miss the entire season. To make matters worse for the Yankees, The New York Times is reporting that Gary Sheffield's right wrist injury may be worse than originally thought and he too might need surgery.

Losing one key player is bad enough but losing two big offensive contributors for an extended period of time could be deadly to the Yankees. While Matsui has been pretty quiet at the plate so far this season, he normally is extremely productive by season's end and the Yankees were surely counting on him to put up his usual numbers. Sheffield is also a key piece of the offense and even if he is able to come back in a few weeks, there's a chance that his swing might be affected all season by his injury. Should the Yankees panic and go out and make a trade for another outfielder? No, there is no need to do that, especially when it's unknown as to how long Sheffield is actually going to be out for. However, it's essential that the other Yankees step it up at the plate, in the field and on the mound. The pitching must be excellent because while the Yankees are missing two big hitters, the offense might not have as easy of a time coming back from a deficit as they have in the past.

The effects of the Matsui injury won't just be felt in the Bronx. With last night's game, Matsui's streak of 1,768 consecutive games played comes to an end. In this country that streak seemed to be more of an annoyance to a lot of fans who felt that playing every day no matter what caused Matsui to wear down. But in Japan Matsui is revered for that streak. His injury will be huge news there, probably even more so than in this country. Matsui's streak is the third longest ever in the majors, behind only Cal Ripken and Lou Gehrig.

As for the game itself, Loretta was also the man who gave the Red Sox the lead by hitting a grounder to Derek Jeter. Throwing from his knees, Jeter threw high to first and the ball came out of Miquel Cairo's glove, as he attempted to both jump to catch the ball and tag out Loretta. On the play two runs scored. Shawn Chacon was rocky for the Yankees, lasting only 4.2 innings, giving up five hits and five walks, and throwing just 52 out of 104 pitches for strikes. However, by some stroke of luck, Chacon only gave up one run, which kept his team in the game, until Loretta's hit in the 6th.

This weekend the Oakland A's come to town, and weather permitting, fans will get a taste of how the Yankees are going to fare without Matsui and Sheffield.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:11 AM | Comments (0)

May 11, 2006

Photo of the Day - Bailey the Pug

Posted by silverdsl at 09:52 PM | Comments (0)

Michael Waltrip To Make Announcement About MWR on Saturday

Michael Waltrip is going to make an announcement about the future of Michael Waltrip Racing on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. on Speed. David Newton for Nascar.com is reporting that a source has told them that Michael plans on announcing that he has signed a current Cup driver, and Newton of course connects the dots and comes up with Dale Jarrett. I will be very happy if Michael announces who will be driving his second Cup car for 2007, and thrilled beyond belief if that driver is Jarrett. But given Michael's comment in the pre-race report about making an announcement soon about a new crew chief for the #55, it could also be that announcement. As I mentioned in the last entry he said,

“We are really close to naming a new crew chief for the 55 car and hope to have something set this weekend. I’d like to get all the players lined up quickly so stay tuned for more information.”

Both of these announcements could come at the same time, but it's also possible that some people are jumping to conclusions and the driver announcement is still a ways off. I really hope it comes this weekend but I'm also prepared that it might not. In some regards it does make some sense to make the announcement in this way instead of by having a huge press conference since Jarrett, or whoever Michael is signing, is currently with another organization. So out of respect to that organization, it might make sense to be a little more low key about things.

Even if the announcement doesn't come this weekend, it does sound like Jarrett is leaving Robert Yates Racing and will be headed elsewhere, hopefully to MWR. This week's Nascar Scene has some quotes from officials at RYR where they talk about making plans for what they would do if Jarrett were to leave and Eddie D'Hondt, the general manager at RYR, confirmed today that Jarrett has talked with RYR about leaving for another team. D'Hondt said,

"We're as far as we can be with things. There have been talks about a whole bunch of things.

That sounds to me as if they have talked as much as they are going to talk with Jarrett and are likely aware of what his decision is, which gives some credence to the report that Jarrett had informed RYR on April 26th that he was leaving to sign with MWR. D'Hondt went on to say that he is confident that UPS will remain at RYR. That also fits with Jarrett leaving to go to MWR since Michael already has a sponsor for his second car so Jarrett wouldn't need to bring UPS with him.

Only time will tell how it will all play out but it certainly might be an excited day for fans of Michael, and Jarrett, on Saturday.

Posted by silverdsl at 07:39 PM | Comments (0)

In the News: Michael Waltrip (5/11)

Here's an Associated Press photo of Michael Waltrip throwing the first pitch out at last night's game between the Florida Marlins and Atlanta Braves, which the Marlins managed to win 11-3. I say managed win because it broke a streak of eleven consecutive home losses. Yikes! Poor Joe Girardi! In any event, from the photo it looks like Michael is getting ready to throw a strike... only thing is that he ended up throwing the ball into the Braves dugout to Chipper Jones! I'm guessing that was set-up ahead of time or meant as a joke! Somewhere there are female fans of Michael's who are swooning over this photo of him in shorts. I take the fifth on whether I am one of those fans!

As it turns out the reason why Michael was there was because it was "Nascar Night," which was presented by NAPA. Homestead-Miami Speedway was also involved, as they had an interactive display outside Dolphin Stadium, where fans could take part in a tire-change challenge, play Nascar on Playstation 2 and see a Homestead-Miami Speedway racecar. No #55 NAPA showcar? Can NAPA present a "Nascar Night" with Michael at Yankee Stadium? Please?! Yeah, like that's likely to happen!

Next Michael heads to a NAPA appearance in Gainsville (Georgia or Florida?) and then he will head to Darlington for this weekend's race-related events. According to the pre-race report, one thing that Michael is most excited about is that his mother, Margaret, will be at the race. He said,

“The coolest thing about being at Darlington this weekend is that the racetrack has chosen to honor mom. It’s pretty special to know that my mom (Margaret Waltrip) will be there for my 653rd start. It makes this the race not only a special event for her, but for me as well because of her presence.”

I really hope that Michael has an incident-free race and finishes great since his mother will be there! Besides that, a solid finish is exactly what this team needs.

There was another item of note, pretty much buried in the pre-race report and that relates to the crew chief of the #55. I had noticed that Larry Carter was referred to as interim crew chief and it appears that there is an announcement forthcoming about who the permanent (at least for now) crew chief will be. Michael said,

“We are really close to naming a new crew chief for the 55 car and hope to have something set this weekend. I’d like to get all the players lined up quickly so stay tuned for more information.”

I wonder who it's going to be? Most people have been assuming that Carter will get the call, and maybe he will, but the way Michael phrased it, I'm almost thinking that there's someone from outside who is going to come on-board as crew chief for the #55. If only Tony Eury, Jr. was a free agent!

Posted by silverdsl at 04:17 PM | Comments (0)

Ward Burton to the #88?

This is a pretty wild one but apparently there is a rumor circulating that Ward Burton might end up in the #88 at Robert Yates Racing if Dale Jarrett leaves for Michael Waltrip Racing or another team. From Jayski's:

Ward to Yates? from LastCowboys.com: ... couple of little birdies have told me in the last couple of weeks that Ward Burton is off the market in terms of driver availability. And while it is claimed that this information comes from people we would all consider ‘official’ type people, these ‘official’ type people are being coy in regards to whom or what has taken him off the market. One rumor that has gained momentum has Ward taking over the #88 UPS Ford owned by Robert Yates Racing when Dale Jarrett bolts for Toyota. Again, Jarrett hasn’t officially said that he is going to Toyota, but he hasn’t exactly denied it either. Another little nugget of information floating around out there states that if Jarrett bolts, UPS will stay with Yates, but they don’t want the next ‘potential’ Cup star. They want a proven competitor, not just some cat with little or no experience.(LastCowboys.com)(5-11-2006)

I don't see this happening. The first issue is that Claire B. Lang spoke with Burton at Richmond and from what she said on XM it sounded like Burton is very much still on the market. He is apparently still talking to sponsors and trying to shake loose some sort of committment that he can bring to a team. If he were going to the #88, and UPS were staying, Burton wouldn't need to worry about bringing sponsorship with him. In fact, it actually sounded like Burton was in a worse position than when she talked to him the last time. At that point Burton seemed to indicate that he had a sponsor locked up and was taking to a few people about a possible ride. This time it didn't sound like he had anything concrete, from sponsor to ride.

Beyond that I have to wonder whether Yates or UPS would be willing to take a chance on a driver who, to my knowledge, has not gotten behind the wheel of any race car, let alone a Cup car, since 2004. I have no idea if drivers lose their sharpness behind the wheel if they aren't racing regularly, or what they can do to try and keep their edge, but it seems to me that this might be an issue for some teams and sponsors. And his results in 2004 weren't exactly impressive either. That's not to say that Burton can't still get the job done in Cup, simply that the #88 is a prominent ride and while Burton is a "name" driver, he's not had the strong finishes (or potential for strong finishes if they are looking at a young driver) recently that might be a requirement for that ride.

It seems to me that any time there's an open ride or possible open ride, it's very in-vogue to toss Burton's name into the mix. But not a single thing has materialized, even part-time, for Burton since he left Cup in 2004. So I have to wonder if he is really that high on team's radar as the rumor mill seems to suggest he is. Or are those in Burton's camp or those that are hopeful that one day he will return to the track simply throwing his name into the mix so that he isn't forgotten about?

Posted by silverdsl at 02:29 PM | Comments (0)

Yankees Win 7-3!

The New York Yankees rebounded from their embarassment of the night before by beating their division rivals, the Boston Red Sox, 7-3. Last night's win was highlighted by an outstanding pitching performance by Mike Mussina, who won his sixth game, best in the American League and tied for best in baseball overall with Brandon Webb of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Alex Rodriguez also partially redeemed himself in the eyes of Yankee fans by hitting a key homerun in the 5th to give the Yankees the lead.

So far this season, even though Randy Johnson is supposed to be the Ace of the Yankees pitching staff, he is clearly not. Instead Mussina has stepped up and I couldn't be happier. Mussina struggled with injury issues last season so I am thrilled to see that not only does he appear to be 100% healthy but he seems to be pitching as well as he ever has. I have to admit that I was worried at first because he gave up homeruns to David Ortiz and Mike Lowell early in the game. In the past the ball flying out of the stadium would be a sign that Mussina was going to have a bad night. But not last night. He was unphased by the homeruns and went on to pitch an excellent game otherwise.

On the mound for the Red Sox was Curt Schilling, who has also been pitching extremely well. After the homeruns that Mussina gave up I was thinking that it might be Schilling's night but the Yankees offense had other ideas. Schilling ended up giving up six runs on eight hits and two walks in just five innings of work. Other than the homerun by A-Rod, Jason Giambi hit his 12th of the year, to put him two behind Jim Thome for the AL homerun lead, and Jorge Posada added a two-run blast in the 5th.

So now that A-Rod hit that homerun last night he is in favor with Yankee fans... until his first at-bat in tonight's game. If A-Rod doesn't continue to come up big, particularly against the Red Sox he will be back in the dog house. so far A-Rod isn't having an outstanding season but the expectations by some fans for him are ridiculous. Some feel that anything less than an MVP season, in which he has multiple homeruns in every post-season or Red Sox game, with no errors, is a disappointment. But those expectations are simply not realistic. I would like to see A-Rod be more productive at the plate and not have games in which he has multiple errors like he did on Tuesday night, but I'm not going to hate him if he doesn't have as good of a season as he did last year.

Tonight's game will determine who wins the series. Obviously I'd like to see the Yankees win but the Red Sox will have knuckleballer Tim Wakefield on the mound who has given the Yankees a lot of trouble in the past. Shawn Chacon will start for the Yankees. It's hard for me to predict how tonight is going to go for Chacon - he's been okay on the mound but the Red Sox have some tough hitters. I just hope the rain holds off long enough for them to be able to get the game in.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:20 AM | Comments (0)

May 10, 2006

Photo of the Day - BW Viaduct

Paulinskill Viaduct, Hainsburg, New Jersey, April, 2006.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:14 PM | Comments (0)

In the News: Michael Waltrip (5/10)

As a huge baseball fan I was tickled to read that Michael Waltrip is also a baseball fan. Which means that he probably had a pretty good time tonight throwing out the first pitch at the game between the Atlanta Braves and Florida Marlins in Dolphin Stadium. He said,

“I really love baseball. It’s a part of our culture. Baseball has similarities to our sport. There’s a lot of hard work, determination and teamwork that goes into each game. It’s also a game of patience and possibility.”

Michael is dead-on about the similarities between baseball and racing. A lot of fans put most of the emphasis on the driver and believe that racing is a solitary sport. But I've always thought that racing is actually a team sport because the driver could not achieve what they do without the time, effort and hard work of their crew chief, pit crew, other team members, sponsors and even the fans. Racing truly is a team effort because everyone is working together towards a common goal, getting into Victory Lane or the best result possible, just like all the players and everyone else involved with a baseball team are doing everything they can to win as many games as they can and hopefully win the World Series. In addition, both sports certainly are all about possiblity - one never knows what they might see in a baseball game from grand slam homeruns to perfect games and one never knows who might win a race. That possiblity is what keeps teams, both in Nascar and in baseball going, because in the next race or the next game, it might be their turn to win.

I have to admit that I'm feeling a little jealous of Michael. Why? Because if he got to the game early enough he was probably on the field for batting practice, something that very few people ever get to do. On top of that he will likely get to chat with former Yankee Joe Girardi, who is the Marlins manager. Girardi was always one of my favorite players and I was thrilled when he was part of the Yankees organization last season. I understood why he left to take this opportunity but I still wish he was part of the Yankees coaching staff. He is an extremely intelligent person who is very knowledable about the game. And I seem to remember hearing once that he is a big Nascar fan, so if that's accurate he is probably pretty happy that Michael was there to throw out the first pitch.

If only Michael would throw out the first pitch for a Yankees game at Yankee stadium... Oh sorry, I got to day-dreaming there!

Back to reality, fans of Michael will be disappointed if they expect to see him racing the #99 Aaron's Dream Machine in the Busch race at Darlington this weekend. The Dream Machine will be on the track but David Reutimann will be behind the wheel. Michael said,

“I’m not running the Nascar Busch Series race, but David (Reutimann) will drive the 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine for Michael Waltrip Racing. My focus this weekend is to help Reutimann in the Busch race and also pay special attention to our Nascar Nextel Cup Series efforts. We’re hoping the changes we’ve made with the team will help us this weekend. We’re doing everything we can to turn our program around by combining all of our resources.”

As much as I will miss him in the race, I think Michael is making a wise decision to concentrate on the Cup program. That doesn't mean that he shouldn't race any Busch Series races, just that racing the full schedule puts a lot of added pressure and stress on him that he doesn't need when he has enough to worry about with the #55. In some ways it might be hard for Michael to turn the #99 over to David, and not be getting into the #66 as originally planned, since he (Michael) is 16th in driver points. But at the moment while the #55 is out of the top 35 in owner points it's probably for the best.

Jay Staton is a Michael Waltrip fan who writes for stockcarreview.com and his latest commentary is extremely complimentary of how well Michael has handled the challenges that this season has thrown in his direction. It's a really outstanding article that highlights one of the reasons that Michael's fans love him so - he handles himself extraordinarily well in almost every situation. Staton writes of how Michael reacted after he was wrecked by Kyle Petty,

But…Although he was clearly upset, and the weight of all of the responsibilities, today’s and tomorrow’s, had to be magnified into one white-hot focal point in the aftermath of being strapped inside a racecar that was bent due to someone else’s miscalculation, Michael did not even mention Kyle by name in the post incident interview. Ladies and gentlemen, that is what is known as a class act.

For the record, Michael’s outward calmness and self control paid off when he took a self-described brick of a car to Talledega the following week and qualified his way into the race, and also successfully soldiered on at Richmond. This writer is hoping that he makes the field every week, if for no other reason than to be a role model to a significant percentage of the rest of the field.

A lot of fans like to dismiss Michael as nothing more than a clown or a mouthpiece for Nascar or Toyota. But he is so much more than that. There are many who learn a thing or two from Michael - from the way he carries himself in interviews, to the masterful way he represents his sponsors, to the respect he has for his peers, on and off the track, to the exceptional way he treats the fans, and so much more. And yes, though MIchael has been known to make some pointed remarks, the majority of the time he is much more restrained in his comments about his fellow drivers than many others - no comments about hairpieces falling down from him. Knowing how to express displeasure with someone or something without resorting to an insult to do it, is a skill a few drivers could stand to learn.

Posted by silverdsl at 08:32 PM | Comments (0)

Argh!!!!

I may cry... I was just in the midst of working on a rather lengthy "In the News" entry about Michael Waltrip and my browser just crashed. I lost the entire thing. Argh!!! I may scream, especially since I don't have the time to re-do it until later. Freaking computers!

Note to self: Save every few paragraphs!!!

Posted by silverdsl at 04:50 PM | Comments (0)

Ricky Craven May Return to the Truck Series

At the end of last season Ricky Craven and Roush Racing decided to mutally part ways so that Craven could see any offers for a competitive Cup ride came his way. If they didn't he said at the time he was willing to go into semi-retirement with his family in Maine. None of the kind of offers that Craven wanted came his way, not because he is a bad driver but because teams are looking for youth, Champion's provisionals or the chance for immediate success. But Craven's not ready to stop racing after all. Apparently he's talking to a team in the truck series that would give him the opportunity to race competitively. He said,

"I have an opportunity in the truck series that has my interest. We've had preliminary discussions and now it's a matter of seeing how serious it is in the next couple of weeks. The bottom line is I need to either get in the game or out of it. I'm the type of person who has to be all in or all out. I'm pushing myself to make a decision.

This is interesting to me because traditionally not too many full-time rides open up around this time of the season unless there's an injury or some other dire circumstances. Yet both Craven and Steve Park have talked recently about the possiblity of getting something in the next few weeks. I have no clue what kind of ride Steve is looking at, though he told some fans earlier this season that he was negotiating for a full-time truck ride. So we have two drivers in talks with two teams and two potential full-time rides becoming available. New teams? Drivers losing their rides? I just hope they aren't both talking to the same team.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:46 PM | Comments (0)

Elliott Sadler Stepping Out of the #90 Busch Car?

Hmmm.... according to bgnracing.com:

A source with Robert Yates Racing said Tuesday during the test session at the Lowe's Motor Speedway, that the team has been informed that Elliott Sadler is stepping out from behind the wheel of the No. 90 for a while to allow the development drivers, Stephen Leicht and Matt McCall to get more seat-time. Both Leicht and McCall are hoping to run the Carquest 300 at LMS at the end of the month. McCall however had a tough day testing on Tuesday after wrecking his machine. Leicht is entered in Darlington this weekend while McCall will run the ARCA event in Kentucky.

Why would Elliott Sadler step out of his Busch ride? The first thought that comes to mind is that he wants to concentrate on his Cup efforts since the #38 team has been somewhat inconsistent this season. But one also has to wonder if Stephen Leicht and Matt McCall are going to get extra seat-time because Robert Yates Racing (or Elliott) knows that there is going to be a vacancy in the #88 that they will need to fill. I hate to see young drivers rushed up into Cup before they are ready so if Yates is entertaining any thoughts of putting Leict or McCall in the #88 or even in a third Cup car in 2007, it's a good thing to have them run as many Busch races as possible. Since I like Sadler tremendously I will miss him in the Busch races but since the results haven't been very good for him in Busch this season, he may not miss racing those races. I do wonder how the sponsor of the #90, CitiFinancial, feels about not having Sadler in their car anymore?

Posted by silverdsl at 03:22 PM | Comments (0)

Anonymous Postings Get Reporter Fired

It's extremely important for journalists to try to be as objective as possible when they are reporting the news. Of course there are many examples of times when that doesn't happen but it's essential for reporters to do the best they can to appear unbiased. If they don't seem to be objective, it makes it very difficult for the audience to trust that what they are reporting hasn't been influenced by their personal beliefs. Kelly McBride, from The Poynter Institute, said

"If you express opinions that are critical of a public agency that you cover, and the public knows that you have expressed those opinions — not reported facts, but opinions — the members of the public have reason to doubt your ability to fairly cover that agency."

With that in mind, Justin Quinn was fired from the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal last month because he was found to be posting on the message board on his paper's website anonymously. The problem with that was that not only was he posting factual information about topics that he covered, but he was also giving opinions, including some that were critical of the paper itself! That boggles my mind. Use some sense! It's bad enough that he was giving personal opinions on topics that he covered which is a no-no, but he also publically made negative statements about his employer. That's always a bad idea.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:39 AM | Comments (0)

Ugly Night in the Bronx

Games between division rivals, the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees, are almost always eventful. Unfortunately, last night it was because the Yankees were humiliated, losing to the Red Sox 14-3. I had been looking forward to watching the game tremendously last night, figuring that the Yankees would play at their best, considering how heated the rivalry continues to be. I was very disappointed to say the least. Randy Johnson was putrid and Alex Rodriguez made two costly errors but overall the game was horrible for the Yankees. If the starting pitcher has a rough night or players in the field make errors, their teammates need to compensate - that certainly didn't happen last night.

Johnson started off the season extremely well and I think it gave a lot of fans a false sense of confidence that after a so-so season in 2005, the dominant RJ of old was back. But since those first few starts Johnson has been extremely inconsistant. Last night was his worst outing yet as he wasn't even able to last four innings, despite being given an early lead due to a Jason Giambi two-run homerun. In just 3.2 innings of work Johnson gave up seven runs, though only two of them were earned, on five hits and five walks. According to the New York Times, Johnson threw 92 pitches and the Red Sox hitters swung and missed only three times! Worst of all is that Johnson looked completely bewildered on the mound, as if he had no idea what was going wrong for him and what do to about it.

Johnson could be experiencing some trouble with his back that he hasn't admitted to publically which could be affecting his ability to pitch well. But it's also possible that Johnson's age has caught up to him and he is going through the kind of likely irreversible decline that many players do as they get older. Some players are able to make adjustments to the way they pitch or hit, but other players seem to be unable to change their approach. It may be hard for Johnson than some others since he was so dominant for so long that it probably seemed like he could pitch like that forever. I think that the Yankees are lucky that Johnson is as talented on the mound as he is otherwise the results this season might be even worse. I hope that Johnson is able to fix whatever the problems are that he's experiencing but it's possible that he might struggle all season. In that case the Yankees are in big trouble because they were counting on him to be the Ace of the pitching staff.

Of his two errors, which earned him the wrath of team owner, George Steinbrenner, Rodriquez said,

"Both plays I should've made without question. That's baseball. Sometimes, you've got to laugh it off."

He is correct that in baseball it's unavoidable that there are going to be bad games and players are going to make errors. But laugh it off? I don't think so. Not in a game when the starting pitcher is struggling, when it leads to two runs scoring and it's a game against the team that the Yankees are battling for first place in the division. Yes, it's still early in the season but if the team can't play well now against the Red Sox, what's going to happen later in the season when the games are even more important? The Yankees are going to lose games, lots of them, and even to the Red Sox. But it's much easier to take when the team doesn't make sloppy mistakes and fights back. Usually I'm not a fan of the times that Steinbrenner mouths off when he's upset, but in this case it was a terrible game and he has good reason to be displeased with what he saw.

Melky Cabrera, who was just called up from the minors to take the place of Gary Sheffield, who went on the disabled list yesterday, also had a bad error in right field which led to two runs scoring. Ironically, when Cabrera was called up last season he also had a costly error against the Red Sox, when he misplayed a ball so badly that it led to a Trot Nixon inside the park homerun. But fans need to remember that Cabrera is a rookie without much experience in the majors before they burn him in effigy. Young players aren't going to be as polished as the veterans. If he's as good of a player as some seem to think he is, then he will learn and there won't be those kinds of errors.

Tonights game, if it doesn't get rained out, features a battle between Curt Schilling and Mike Mussina, both of whom have pitched extremely well this season. I'd like to say that I'm really looking forward to it, but after last night's game I'm not sure what to expect. Unfortunately more than a few times in the past Mussina has been solid on the mound, only to lose because the offense can't score any runs or the bullpen blows it. I fear the same thing happening tonight.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:50 AM | Comments (0)

May 09, 2006

Photo of the Day - Ogunquit

Ogunquit, Maine, July, 2005.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:06 PM | Comments (0)

Is Slugger Labbe's Job in Jeopardy?

When Chad Knaus was busted for cheating back in Febuary, Robert Yates took a hard stance and said in relation to the issue of cheating and his own employees,

"If it was [an infraction] with a clear rule written against it, and he didn't tell me about, because I wouldn't approve that, I'd have fired him, yes."

At the time Yates made those comments I wrote that he should be careful because he had recently hired two crew chiefs, Slugger Labbe and Tommy Baldwin, Jr., with a history of being penalized for playing fast and loose with the Nascar rule book. I figured it would just be a matter of time before one or the other would be caught for something, putting Yates's words to the test, and I was right. This past weekend the #88, driven by Dale Jarrett, was found to have an unapproved rear sway bar mounting. As a result Labbe has been suspended through June 7 and fined $25,000; Jarrett has lost 25 driver points; and Yates 25 owner points.

Of course RYR is going to appeal, as just about every team does when they are given a major penalty for a violation of this nature. Yates said,

"Obviously, in this case, we interpreted the rules differently from Nascar. But because of the lack of a clear-cut understanding on our part, we believe we have grounds for appeal and have started that process.''

Not surprisingly Yates declined to address his ill-advised comments from February.

From what Claire B. Lang was saying during "Dialed In" this afternoon on XM, the violation is very similar in nature to what Knaus was caught doing in that Labbe also took legal parts and put them together in such a way that they did something illegal, as opposed to modifying a part and making it illegal. I don't think there is much of a distinction, but there may be in Nascar's eyes. What I don't understand though is if this violation is similar in nature to what the #48 team did why there is a different in the penalties. In this case there was a loss of points by both Jarrett and Yates, but that didn't happen to the #48 team.

So yet again Nascar sets themselves up to give the appearance that they give preferential treatment to some teams and apply the rules unevenly. I'm sure there is some reason why they handled this situation in the way that they did and I'm sure we will hear all about it tomorrow on Dialed In, since John Darby will be a guest. Don't get me wrong, I think they acted appropriately by giving the #88 team such a harsh penalty, if indeed they were intentionally attempting to gain an advantage by blatantly cheating. But I question why there is the loss of points in this case but not with the #48 team even though the violation is similar.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:34 PM | Comments (0)

Slow...

Today is just one of those days... slow as molasses except for the things that I'd get in trouble for blogging about. Hopefully the Yankees will play tonight and we'll find out what penalities Slugger Labbe will get so it will give me something to talk about.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:18 PM | Comments (0)

May 08, 2006

Photo of the Day - Between Pit Stops

Pocono, July, 2005. Coors Light crew at rest.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:11 PM | Comments (0)

In the News: Michael Waltrip (5/8)

As I mentioned in the last entry, Michael Waltrip will be Kyle Petty's Campaign Manager, for the "Vote for Kyle Petty" drive to vote Kyle into the Nextel All-Star Challenge, which will get the Victory Junction Gang Camp a $250,000 donation from Coca-Cola and Kyle's other sponsors. Of course Michael is also part of the Coca-Cola Family of Drivers, but he is also a tremendous supporter of the camp and an extremely persuasive and charming person. In other words, a natural for being Kyle's Campaign Manager! Michael actually had a busy day today, since there was apparently a rally in Charlotte for this effort which he was going to appear at, Busch testing at Charlotte and the taping for Inside Nextel Cup. But that's how Michael seems to like things as it seems like he's always on the go.

According to the post-race report from Richmond, this week's set of problems that the #55 team had to deal with was a tight race car and brake problems. Michael was even the reciepient of the lucky dog at one point to put him back on the lead lap, but the car wasn't good enough for him to take advantage of that opportunity. It's a kind of sad commentary on the state of things for both teams that the focus for them was the race between Michael and Jeremy Mayfield as to who could finish ahead of the other at the back of the field, since both are battling for the last spot in the top 35 in owner's points. Currently Jeremy is in, but not by much. I really hope that next week at Darlington brings a better race for Michael and the #55 team.

I'd like to see a good finish for Michael next weekend no matter what but especially since his mother will be attending the race. For the second year in a row, Michael's mother, as well as the mothers of a bunch of other drivers will act as the Grand Marshals for the Dodge Charger 500 at Darlington Raceway. The mothers who participate are: Carol Bickford (Jeff Gordon); Ramona Vickers (Brian Vickers); Becky Sorenson (Reed Sorenson); Martha Labonte (Terry and Bobby Labonte); Nancy Sterling (Carl Edwards); Gaye Busch (Kurt and Kyle Busch); Diane Newman (Ryan Newman); Mary Lou Hamlin (Denny Hamlin); Linda Truex (Martin Truex, Jr.); Bell Sadler (Hermie and Elliott Sadler); Margaret Waltrip (Michael Waltrip); Meredith Bowman (Jeff Burton); Jana Bowyer (Clint Bowyer); Joan Wimmer (Scott Wimmer); Susie Nolff (Scott Riggs); and Pam Boas (Tony Stewart). I think that's pretty cool that so many of the drivers mothers will be there to see their sons race. Yes, often the drivers have family at the track with them, but I suspect it's not often that so many of their mothers are there at the same time.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:48 PM | Comments (0)

Vote Kyle Petty Into the All-Star Challenge, VJGC Gets $250,000

Coca-Cola and the rest of Kyle Petty's sponsors have a neat promotion going. If fans vote Kyle into the All-Star Challenge on May 20th, Coca-Cola, Wells Fargo, Schwan's and Tire Kingdom, will donate a minimum of $250,000 to the Victory Junction Gang Camp. As most fans know, the camp was founded by Kyle and Pattie Petty, in memory of their son, Adam, and is for children with chronic and terminal illnesses. Should Kyle win the All-Star Challenge he will donate all of his winnings to the camp and that could total as much as $1million. Fans can vote for Kyle at Nascar's website.

Of course the publicity from this promotion benefits Kyle's sponsors, particularly Coca-Cola, since the #45 will sport a MyCokeRewards paint scheme on the All-Star weekend, as well as during the Coca-Cola 600. But most of all this promotion benefits the VJGC. But that's not stopping a lot of fans from critcizing it, as they do most charitable efforts that anyone in Nascar engages in. Personally, I think one of the best things about Nascar is how charitable the drivers, teams, sponsors and fans are, but to many, nothing in this area is ever good enough. While I don't think there's anything wrong with asking questions about charitable efforts, sometimes it seems as if there are some who are bound and determined to sabatage even the most well-meaning of charitable causes.

In this case some fans take issue with this promotion because they feel that Coca-Cola is trying to bribe fans to vote for Kyle and that there are other drivers who are much more deserving of being voted in. They also feel that Coca-Cola, and presumably the other sponsors, are only entering into this promotion to promote themselves and make themselves look good. In addition, they feel that if Coca-Cola really cared about donating to the VJCG, they would donate regardless of whether or not Kyle is voted in.

First of all, any internet based voting is simply a popularity contest and a test of whose fans can vote the most. It's not a true gauge of who really deserves to be voted into the All-Star Challenge on the basis of talent or wins. That's simply not going to happen. The majority of fans are going to vote for their favorite drivers regardless of when the last time they won is or how well they've been racing this season. Is Martin Truex, Jr., who stands a good chance of being voted in by Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s fans really more deserving than Kyle Petty? Coca-Cola influencing the vote with this promotion is simply giving the fans one more reason to vote for Kyle, just as the fans have any number of reasons to vote for other drivers.

As I mentioned above, of course Coca-Cola and the other sponsors are getting exposure with this promotion. However, there isn't a single thing that any sponsor does in this sport that isn't an attempt to get visibility. But instead of this promotion only benefiting the sponsor or driver, as the majority of promotions do, this one will also benefit the VJGC. A major way that charities get donations is through publicity, especially if there's someone well known connected to the campaign or fundraising event. That's one reason why other drivers such as Michael Waltrip, who will be Kyle's Campaign Manager for this promotion, Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart and others are involved via videos urging fans to vote for Kyle on the website for this effort, www.votekylepetty.com. Fans want to support the causes that their drivers believe in and there is no doubt in my mind that the camp will get donations from the fans of those drivers and others who want to support the camp.

Some are saying that Coca-Cola should just donate the $250,000 quietly and regardless of whether Kyle is voted in or not. I would guess they will make a donation regardless of what the outcome is but since this is a promotion if they announced that, then no one will vote for Kyle. In addition, I'm pretty sure that Coca-Cola has and will make donations to the camp in the future. They are listed as one of the camp's corporate partners/sponsors. It's likely that the camp benefits not only monetarily from Coca-Cola but may also receive product. Fans seems so certain that Coca-Cola doesn't actually care about the camp and is only going to make a donation in the unlikely event that Kyle makes it into the All-Star Challenge, but the reality is that those fans have no idea what kind of charitable donations Coca-Cola actually makes.

It's very predictable that some fans have a strong negative reaction to this promotion. Why? Because fans seem to have that same kind of negative reaction to any charitable effort that anyone in Nascar does. When Michael Waltrip raised $1 million for the VJGC through Operation Marathon, and Jeff Gordon donated $1 million to a Children's Hospital, to name just two examples, they were accused of only doing it for publicity reasons. When Nascar announced the Nascar Foundation which would take donations that would benefit a variety of driver's charitable efforts, Nascar was accused of running a scam and how they too, were only doing it for publicity reasons. And if I had a dime for every time a driver or athelete was accused of not donating enough, even though no one has any way of knowing how much they actually have donated through the years, I could make a rather large donation to charity myself.

I really don't understand why fans react this way. Again, I don't think there's anything wrong with asking questions, particularly if there are questions about whether the proceeds from a fundraiser are actually going to charity. However, there aren't any such questions here. What Coca-Cola and the other sponsors are doing, as well as Kyle and everyone else who is involved, is something positive. It's too bad that so many have trouble recognizing that.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:02 PM | Comments (0)

Steve Wallace Has Tourette's Syndrome

I believe a recent article in the Richmond Times Dispatch is one of the first times that I can remember that Steve Wallace has discussed having Tourette's Syndrome at any length in the media, though I don't think that he has the disease has been a big secret since I heard that he had it a couple of years ago. For those that don't know Tourette's involves uncontrollable physical and verbal tics of varying degrees. Steve, the son of recently retired Rusty Wallace, only has the physical tics, which for him mostly take the form of near-constant blinking and some movements with his arms. Steve says that he's never been made fun of for having Tourette's. He said,

"I've always kind of taken it as a joke. Everybody laughs about it. I've never embarrassed. It's always just been, 'he's crazy, he's wild.' It's never been a big deal."

I think that Steve is in for a rough wake-up call as his Nascar career begins to take off. The unfortunate fact of the matter is that many people do not know that he has Tourette's and if they do, don't understand what Tourette's is all about. I know someone who went to an appearance he did with his father last year and they said that everyone at the appearance was taken aback by Steve's tics. No one knew that he had Tourette's and it was very unsettling for them to see the tics because they knew something was "wrong" with him, but didn't know what. In addition, the fact of the matter is that often people are not very tolerant or understanding of people who are different. And fans can be cruel - it's very unfortunate but there are fans who seem to enjoy picking apart drivers for any kind of weakness - and even though Steve's Tourette's doesn't effect his ability to drive there are some who will think that it does.

In many ways Steve is lucky. His father is planning on putting him in a full-time Busch ride next season and will surely use his connections with sponsors and others moving forward to help advance his son's career. And there are likely to be many in the garage area who have known Steve since he was a little boy who are likely to be protective of him. So I don't think that Steve is going to have to worry about teams shying away from him because he has Tourette's. That he is a Wallace will likely also help him with any sponsors who might have second thoughts about someone with Tourette's representing them. Of course that would be discriminatory and ridiculous, but the reality is that sponsors seem to want to be associated most with young drivers who fit a certain mold in terms of near-perfect looks and personality. But Steve likely won't have to worry about those issues as much as another driver with Tourette's might.

I sometimes wonder how many issues drivers might have from learning disabilities to ADD to physical aliments that are concealed because of the fear of what fans and sponsors might think.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:46 AM | Comments (0)

Gary Sheffield Won't Play While Injured Anymore

On April 29, Gary Sheffield injured his left wrist during a game against the Toronto Blue Jays, as a result of a nasty-looking collision at first base with Shea Hillenbrand. Since then he made one successful pinch-hitting appearance and started one game against the Texas Rangers but otherwise has been sitting on the bench because of how much the wrist has been bothering him. Previously as a Yankee, Sheffield has played through all sorts of pain and injury including shoulder issues that led him to consider retiring at one point. But now Sheffield has a different plan. He said,

"I'm just not going to go out there and play injured. Been there, done that. I'm not going to do that again. It's just that simple."

and

"I'm just waiting for the pain to go down to what I can tolerate. I'm not going to tolerate a lot, not at this point in my career."

Some fans are tying Sheffield's refusal to play hurt to the Yankees not picking up his option as of yet. But I don't think that's the case and this is coming from someone who doesn't care for Sheffield too much.

For one thing, Sheffield has experienced this kind of injury before, in 2002, when he was with the Atlanta Braves. So he is well-aware of how it could effect him at the plate and in the field. In addition, as a player gets older I think it becomes harder and harder for them to play through injuries. It's also harder to heal. Sheffield also said,

"I'm going to take the extra time to make sure it's right. When it's right, then I'll play. Until then, I'm not playing."

I think what he's doing is being smart. I'd much rather see Sheffield go on the disabled list now for a little while to allow the wrist time to heal, then to miss time later in the season or to play though the injury and potentially make it worse. The Yankees have many great hitters in their lineup but there's no doubt that they are a stronger team with a completely healthy Sheffield. He will see a doctor today in New York, and hopefully the news is good, but regardless I have no problem Sheffield and the Yankees taking a conservative approach with his wrist.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:11 AM | Comments (0)

Joe Torre Gets 1,000th Win as Manager of the New York Yankees

Yesterday's 8-5 win by the New York Yankees over the Texas Rangers gave Joe Torre his 1,000th win as manager of the Yankees, a remarkable achievement considering that only three other Yankee managers have won more games. Even more impressive when one considers that at the time that Torre was hired before the 1996 season, many questioned his ability to successfully manage the Yankees. There have also been times that it's seemed as if Torre's time as manager was hanging by a thead, but unlike other managers who owner George Steinbrenner grew impatient with, Torre was never fired. As a result, Torre has been manager for the longest uninterrupted period since Casey Stengel, who was manager from 1949-60.

What made me laugh was that in an article on CBSSportsline, the writer said,

Players credit Torre for his even-tempered disposition and ability to handle different personalities.

Meanwhile, later in the article Torre is quoted as saying in relation to Tanyon Sturtze who was underwhelming yesterday, to say the least,

"I wanted to wring his neck."

Certainly not an even-tempered remark there! That comment came after Sturtze loaded the bases with two walks and a wild throw in the 7th inning to put Torre's 1,000th win in jeopardy. Sturtze has not been good by any stretch of the imagination this season, which really isn't surprising considering he's never been an elite reliever, even though he did well for the Yankees at times last season. But Torre has trotted Sturtze out there this season seemingly endlessly, but that comment, which is very uncharacteristic of Torre, who almost never expresses disappointment or criticizes his players specifically in public, indicates that perhaps he is finally running out of patience with Sturtze.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:51 AM | Comments (0)

May 07, 2006

Photo of the Day - Aruba

Arikok National Park, Aruba, October, 2005.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:32 PM | Comments (0)

Saw Two Cool Things on Saturday!

Saturday my husband and I took my parents out for my father's birthday. So we took them out to lunch at a very yummy restaurant and then to Cirque du Soleil's latest touring show, Corteo, which was very cool.

On our way to Randall's Island, where Corteo was being performed we were driving through the high speed EZ-Pass lanes on the New Jersey Turnpike when suddenly Jim starts pointing and telling me to look over at the cash lanes. I see much to my amazement the hauler carrying Steve Park's #31 Busch cars, all decorated in the Whelen paint scheme, headed back from Richmond to the shop in Connecticut! I was absolutely thrilled to see that hauler! Maybe it sounds silly to some because it was just the hauler with the cars as opposed to seeing Steve himself but it was just so cool to me that of all the Nascar haulers to see, I saw one that belongs to the team of one of my favorite drivers!

There is very little that is Nascar related up this way and since there are a very small amount of races in the Northeast, the chances of seeing any hauler, let alone Steve's, is slim to none. So it's incredible to me that there was probably a one in a billion chance of seeing his hauler and by random lucky chance I saw it! It's going to sound kooky but it seemed like it was a sign to me. As I mentioned in a previous entry today, it's hard to watch Steve race these days, not because I like him any less, but because it's disheartening to watch him find trouble on the track all the time. But I keep watching. And seeing that hauler was like a sign of why - against the odds I saw that hauler. Maybe against the odds, because Steve is with two teams that are short on resources as compared to other teams, maybe circumstances will come together in such a way that Steve will be able to race his way to a fine finish one race this season. Will he be in Victory Lane this season? I don't know about that - but anything can and will happen in racing - you never know what you might see. I was very pleasantly surprised to see Steve's hauler yesterday, I hope that all his fans will be pleasantly surprised by a few awesome finishes by Steve this season!

As for Cirque du Soleil, there were definitely some astonishing moments in Corteo, where I was amazed by the talent of the performers. It's incredible the artistry of the performers in every Cirque show and how creative the shows are. However, in comparision to the other two Cirque shows that Jim and I saw, there seemed to be a lot more filler in this show than in the others. Part of the problem is that every Cirque show that we see is going to pale in comparision to O, which was probably one of the best performances of any kind that I've ever seen. There was no let-up at any point in O, it was stunning in all ways, at all times. Whereas in Corteo there were a few moments that were less impressive and it felt like they could have ended the show not too long after the first act. I definitely enjoyed the show but it wasn't O.

I really hope that at some point in the near future Jim and I will go back to Las Vegas and we can go see another of the Cirque shows there. The shows there have an advantage over the touring shows because the permanent stages can be so much more elaborate. I'd love to see O again but before we do that I think we'll check out one of the other shows like Ka.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:01 PM | Comments (0)

Roush Racing: Toyota Will Steal Sponsors

Geoff Smith, president of Roush Racing, says that Toyota is going to steal sponsors by offering them radical discounts to lure them to sign on with their teams. He said,

“Toyota is attacking the price points of our sponsorships in the garage by offering radical discounts to the sponsorship values that are out there today as a means of attracting the corporate sponsors to those teams. That’s what they did in the (Craftsman Truck Series), and you can see what the impact is on the sponsorship environment there.”

There's a few problems with Smith's statement. First and foremost, Toyota is taking a different approach in the Cup series than in the Truck series. As Michael Waltrip was so quick to point out, it's not Toyota that is negotiating with drivers or sponsors, it's Michael Waltrip Racing, Bill Davis Racing and Red Bull Racing. So if any sponsors join Toyota affiliated teams, it's because those teams make those sponsors an offer they can't refuse. Second, how exactly is Toyota offering a discount to sponsors yet it's going to cost Michael Waltrip $20 million to field the #55 team and NAPA is paying the majority of that? $20 million doesn't sound like much of a bargain to me. Lastly, if they've offered such great discounts in the truck series, why are there at least two Toyota truck teams without full-time sponsors and several other teams that struggled to find full-time sponsors for this season? If they have it so easy when it comes to attracting sponsors, why are three teams sponsored by Toyota themselves?

I have no doubt that there are issues when it comes to finding full-time primary sponsors in the truck series. There are quite a few teams that don't have sponsors and that's definitely not a good thing. And of course I'm not privy to the facts regarding sponsor deals like Smith would be. But it doesn't seem to me that the Toyota teams are doing so much better than the other teams when it comes to sponsorship. What does occur to me is that perhaps if Toyota is offering discounts to sponsors, it's because they are also having trouble attracting sponsors. Having some sponsorship money coming in is definitely better than no money at all.

If Toyota being in the truck series is having any effect on the sponsors I think it's because so many of the non-Toyota teams are having trouble being as competitive as the Toyota teams are at the moment. Sponsors want to be associated if not with winning teams, at least with teams that can get them exposure. It's much harder for the truck teams to get as much visibility as Busch and truck teams but racing up front is one way to do that. But if few teams are able to keep up with the Toyota teams, then they aren't going to get as much attention. That's not going to make some sponsors very happy, especially since in the truck series they may be dealing with smaller companies that need to make the most out of the money they spend sponsoring a truck.

Overall, I think the truck series has some issues that need to be addressed but the problems are a lot more complex than what Toyota is doing with their sponsors.

Posted by silverdsl at 08:14 PM | Comments (0)

Random Thoughts on Richmond

Both Steve Park and Michael Waltrip had lousy weekends at Richmond and I didn't get to watch the Cup race live or listen to Michael over the radio via Trackpass so I don't have as much to say as usual about this weekend's events. But I do have a few thoughts...

*Steve DNF'd in the Busch race. What a disappointment that had to be for Steve and the team. They give their all to qualifying for the race, they make the show, sit through a very lengthy rain delay and then not very far into the race get swept up in a wreck. Fixing the damage puts them laps down, then eventually the car overheats and puts them out of the race all together. Argh!!! A very frustrating night. I'm not quite sure what happened with the wreck - I guess John Andretti came down the track in front of Steve and he couldn't get whoa'd up in time to avoid getting into him. Or maybe Steve's spotter didn't guide him through well enough. But that's typical of Steve's luck - he'll just be minding his own racing and he gets wrecked through no fault of his own, or a piece falls off the car/truck or suddenly his car/truck won't let him move forward. Hard to believe, or maybe not since Steve has had rotten luck for a long time now, that out of all the races he's raced in both the truck series and Busch this season, Steve has had only one race that has been completely incident-free. That was his first race in the #31 car but the results weren't stellar in that race either. It's getting hard to watch. Of course I won't stop watching or stop being Steve's fan, but sometimes it's not very enjoyable to watch Steve always have problems to deal with.

*Kevin Harvick ended up winning the Busch race on the day that he announced that he and Richard Childress had come to an agreement to keep Kevin at RCR for another three years. It's gotten to the point where Kevin pretty much has the Busch Series Championship all sewed up and that's got to be kind of disheartening for some of the other teams. I'm not as against Buschwackers as most fans are but seeing Kevin dominate the Busch series so completely makes watching a little less interesting because I feel like the outcome of a lot of the races and the Championship is pretty much already known - it's going to be the Kevin Harvick show. In some regards it's actually not that easy what Kevin is doing because running the full schedule takes a committment in time, money and energy, including figuring out conflicts between the Busch and Cup schedules. But I just wish that Kevin had a little more competition from someone, even if it was another Cup driver. I guess I feel that way in regards to the Truck Series as well - I wish that there was some competition for Mark Martin and Todd Bodine, but at least Todd is full-time in the truck series.

*Michael did a masterful job of qualifying for the Cup race. I say that because he had no room for error and he almost lost it and wrecked on lap one of his qualifying effort due to how loose the car was. Had that happened he wouldn't have been racing last night. But somehow he held onto it, kept his foot on the gas, and his second lap was good enough to get him into the show. A lot of people look down on Michael as a driver but there is no way that a driver who doesn't have a great deal of talent behind the wheel could have saved the car as he did and then also run a second lap fast enough to qualify in. Michael usually has lousy luck, just like Steve, but the past two weekends Lady Luck has shined down on Michael at least a little and he's qualified the way he's needed to. I hope that keeps up as long as he's outside of the top 35 in owner points.

*Unfortunately the actual race wasn't very good for Michael. I can't say I'm surprised though. I didn't think that changing crew chiefs would pay dividends as quickly as the team would like. The cars just aren't very strong right now and it showed at Richmond. Michael ended up finishing the race three laps down, not because of any kind of incident on the track or mechanical problems, at least as far as I've heard, but because the car was slow. Somehow the #55 team is going to need to find some speed, otherwise they won't have much of a chance of getting where they need to be in terms of owner's points.

*Kevin wasn't able to sweep both races this weekend and Happy wasn't happy about it after the race. There was a mistake regarding a pit stop that doomed Kevin to finish... third. Kevin led a ton of laps in this race so on one hand I can understand why he and his fans were upset. But on the other hand, a third place finish is still an outstanding finish. I would be beside myself if Michael finished third in a race considering how poor his season has been so far.

*Maybe it's because neither of my favorite drivers did very well but for some reason I didn't find the racing to be that exciting this weekend. That's surprising because normally Richmond is one of my favorite tracks. Not this weekend.

Posted by silverdsl at 07:01 PM | Comments (0)

May 05, 2006

Kevin Harvick Re-Signs with Richard Childress Racing

I have to admit that I'm surprised that Kevin Harvick decided to re-sign with Richard Childress Racing, given how many rumors there were that he would be signing with a Toyota team - usually when there's that much talk there's at least a little truth to it. Or maybe I shouldn't be since it was rumored a couple of weeks ago that he couldn't come to a deal with whichever Toyota team he might have been negotiating with because his price tag was too high, just as it had been intially said that GM wasn't willing to meet his terms. It wasn't long after that rumor circulated that suddenly he and Richard Childress were talking optimistically about sitting down to work out a new contract. Or maybe there's no connection at all. In any event, Kevin has maintained all along that his biggest concern was wanting to be able to win races and compete for a Championship. The past couple of years haven't been great for the #29 team but recently it's looked like they've really made major improvements. That recent success might have been a big factor in convincing Kevin that staying at RCR was the right move. He said,

"I'm looking forward to the next three years at RCR. We've made a lot of changes over the past year that have really helped point the organization in the right direction. The chemistry feels right between the drivers, the crew chiefs and the teams.

I would say that chemistry really is paying off. In his last five Cup races, Kevin has one win, two top fives and a top ten. And in the Busch races he's raced for RCR, Kevin has two wins and five top fives. There certainly aren't too many Busch teams that are any stronger and things are looking pretty good for him in Cup as well.

A lot of Kevin's fans were really anxious for him to stay at RCR and I suppose my preference was for him to stay there as well. However, I would have remained a fan of his no matter what team he was racing for. But I think that Kevin is a good fit at RCR. His personality is occasionally volitile and he can be strong-willed, yet Richard Childress seems to have a lot of tolerance and understanding for him. I also think that not every organization would be that thrilled about how involved Kevin is with his Busch and Truck teams but RC seems to give him a lot of freedom to do whatever he wants with his own teams. More than all of that, I think that with all the changes that RCR made, Kevin is going to be able to race up front a lot more often the next few years than he has in the recent past.

I hope to see Kevin in Victory Lane a few more times this season!

Posted by silverdsl at 03:56 PM | Comments (0)

Toyota Doesn't Plan to Expand Their Cup Lineup

There's been a lot of specluation about which other teams would join with Toyota eventually beyond those that have already been officially announced - Bill Davis Racing, Michael Waltrip Racing and Red Bull Racing. A lot of speculation has centered on either Penske Racing or Joe Gibbs Racing making the switch to Toyota. But from what Toyota is saying right now that doesn't sound like it's likely in the near future. Lee White, Toyota's Vice President for Racing, said,

"We have three teams and we've got our hands full trying to build enough pieces for them. We're not interested in expanding. Those teams want and expect to run two cars each. We might be able to do a seventh car for one of them if they came to us and said, 'We've got a sponsor that we want to run,' but that would be the absolute limit."

I think that's the sensible approach as Toyota is just starting out in Cup racing. That way they can ensure that the teams that they are committed to are strong before worrying about adding any other teams to the mix.

Most fans seem to assume that it's going to be easy for Toyota and that they will be extremely successful to the point of being dominating, but I'm not sure that's going to happen right away. And as for the dominating part, I think that time will tell if that will actually happen or not - there are no guarantees that just because Toyota is outstanding in the truck series that they will be equally as strong in the Cup series.

I am quite sure that the other manufacturers and teams are going to try to make improvements to their own teams and cars so that they will be able to compete with Toyota. In addition, the Cup series is very different from the truck series and even the Busch series. It takes $15-20 million to field a competitive Cup car, only $1-3 million to field a competitive truck. It's a lot easier to come up with the money to make a truck team competitive than find $20 million in sponsorship and other funding for a Cup team, let alone multiple Cup teams. There is so much that goes into making any team on any level successful, but even more so on the Cup level where the competitiveness, the talent level, the pressure and everything else is so much greater. I would love to see Michael Waltrip racing up front, being in contention for wins in his #55 NAPA Toyota right out the the box but I think it may take a little more time than most people think before the Toyotas are as competitive as they likely will be one day.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:29 PM | Comments (0)

May 04, 2006

In the News: Michael Waltrip (5/4)

Sometimes days go by and there's not much "In the News" about Michael Waltrip other than pre- and post-race reports. Other days there's a flood of news and the past couple of days that's been the case - there has been so much that I can barely keep up!

First comes the news that surprise, not only is there a new crew chief for Michael's #55 NAPA car but also for his #99 Aaron's Dream Machine in the Busch series. An article on Nascar.com that is mostly about the changes to the #55 says the following,

Moves are also being made this weekend on Waltrip's Busch team, as veteran Jerry Baxter steps in as crew chief on the No. 99 Dodge, replacing the departed Cully Barraclough.

I am almost positive that Baxter has been a crew chief on Michael's Busch car before, (maybe in 2004?) and in looking at the Michael Waltrip Racing site it lists Baxter as the car chief of the #99. I had thought the #99 had been gradually been making some improvements and they are certainly in better shape than the #55 team but perhaps things weren't getting better as quickly as they wanted. Or maybe Barraclough left on his own accord. In any event, I hope Baxter being crew chief works out well for everyone!

Somehow this piece of information was left out of the pre-race report for this weekend's Busch race at Richmond, but perhaps the change in crew chiefs happened after the pre-race report was done. This week the #99 will not be sporting the familiar Aaron's paint scheme but will instead have Cottman Transmissions on the car. Michael is optimistic about his chances for doing well in Friday night's race. He said,

“I’ve had a lot of success at Richmond in a NASCAR Busch Series car. I’ve won there before and had several solid finishes. We’re bringing a new car that David (Reutimann) tested for us there recently. We are hoping to continue our progression at Richmond.”

One other item of note regarding Friday night's Busch race is that Michael's good friend and former teammate, Steve Park, will be in the #31 Whelen Busch car. I was thinking the other day that my worst nightmare would be if Michael and Steve tangled on the track. It should be obvious to anyone who reads here regularly that I am a huge fan of both and each fanbase would blame the other driver. I would hate to have to take a side, though I think those that are paying attention could figure out whose side I would take if I absolutely had to. But hopefully the race will be problem-free for both Michael and Steve. In my dreams they would finish first and second in this race, but that's unlikely to happen.

The other day Michael announced that he intended on putting David Reutimann in one of his Busch cars next season. That came as a surprise to David because while he had discussed the possibility with Michael, it sounds like he didn't know for sure if it was going to happen. He said,

"I guess it was a trickle-down deal. I was like the last guy to find out. Michael and I had talked about it some last year. I was kind of hoping it would pan out. I'm glad I'm staying with the same family and basically the same organization."

I'm looking forward to seeing what David can do in the Busch series. He was present at the Cup test session yesterday, as was Joey Miller, David's teammate at Darrell Waltrip Motorsports, who may be in the second MWR Busch car next season.

Another interesting article was one about Troy Loomis, one of the original employees at Michael Waltrip Racing. Loomis started as a mechanic and tire specialist and he is now the shop foreman, who has seen the operation grow tremendously. He said,

“Man, times have changed. As we grew, we moved into a bigger facility. Eventually, we’re moving again to support multiple NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Toyota Camry teams in 2007 and our Busch teams too. We are continuing to expand and anticipating our move to Waltrip Racing World. The growth is so exciting for us. We are in search of the best people. We’re putting together the parts and pieces to build our Toyota Camrys.”

It must be a pretty cool feeling to be a part of MWR as it grows and know that he's contributed to that growth. Apparently the other original employees at MWR were Bobby Kennedy, Chris Bryant, Jerry Baxter, and Glenn Funderburk. Kennedy is playing at big role on the #55 team, Baxter is now the crew chief on the #99, as mentioned above, and Bryant is Michael's motorcoach driver. I've met Chris twice and he's extremely nice and a very cool guy. He had mentioned to me that before driving Michael's motorcoach he had been a mechanic but I hadn't realized that it had been at MWR. I was wondering how he got to be driving Michael's motorcoach since often the motorcoach drivers are close friends or relatives since the drivers have to have a lot of trust in those that they give that responsiblity to. But I guess being at MWR for so long is how he ended up as Michael's motorcoach driver.

Finally, Larry Carter, said that the #00 team was happy at the end of testing yesterday. He said,

"Everybody involved was pleased with the way the car drove. We didn’t go there to lay down a super fast lap. We accomplished what we were looking to do."

It appears that the #00 car was actually faster than the #55 car. I hope that the #55 car is high enough in owner points so that they don't have to worry about it but I hope there is never a scenario in which Bill Elliott qualifies the #00 car for a race and bumps Michael in the #55 out! Michael's site also has some photos from testing of the #00 team.

Posted by silverdsl at 06:38 PM | Comments (0)

A Pet Peeve

It's very in-vogue right now for websites, and especially blogs, to feature music, usually some song that is supposed to "say" something about the person whose site or blog it is. Usually the volume that the song plays at, regardless of the volume your computer is set to, is enough to wake the dead. Worst are the sites where there is no option for turning the music off. Hello! Just because you like that song doesn't mean that everyone who comes to the site will. And if you don't have a way to shut it off then the listener has to go in manually and lower the volume on their computer. Rather than doing that I'm guessing a lot of people just click over to another page with no music.

Posted by silverdsl at 06:31 PM | Comments (0)

Now that Carl Pavano's Ass Has Healed...

... he might actually return to the New York Yankees and make himself useful pitching in the Bronx. Of course as it turns out Carl Pavano's bruised ass was really a back problem. A problem which may never fully be resolved. Pavano said,

"I don't know if it is ever going to be perfect. And I'm not looking for it to be perfect. I'm looking to manage it and be consistent as far as my mechanics."

Sore shoulder, back problem, headcase, it's all been mentioned as reasons why Pavano hasn't pitched for the Yankees since June of last season. Supposedly Pavano is on schedule to return to the Yankees this June, a whole year later, but that's only if he doesn't experience any more setbacks. And once he does return to the team, what will his role be? The Yankees have enough starting pitchers right now so someone will go to the bullpen. On top of that, how long will it be before Pavano goes back on the Disabled List due to his back or some other issue? I'm thinking that it won't be long.

Posted by silverdsl at 05:51 PM | Comments (0)

More on Dale Jarrett to Michael Waltrip Racing

There is an update to the possibility that Dale Jarrett will race for Michael Waltrip Racing in 2007. From PRN/Jayski's:

Waltrip discusses Jarrett: Michael Waltrip says he and several other teams have talked with Dale Jarrett about his future plans; however Waltrip downplays a report Jarrett was offered a two year, $10-million contract [see below] to join his Toyota team. “I haven’t made him any offer monetarily and I think I’m pretty sure I can tell you no one has offered him that (10-million) but it makes for pretty good print.” Waltrip said he’s more interested in Jarrett’s services than sponsor UPS. “We have our second car pretty much agreed upon with the sponsor and we’ve got a list of drivers that would be approved by the sponsor and he’s on that list. Anybody would hire Dale Jarrett, former cup champion and his sponsor UPS. We just want to hire Dale because we think he can win races and because that being our focus and the reason our drive for hiring him then I think he appreciates that."(PRN's Garage Pass Radio Show)(5-4-2006)

I immediately thought sure, he hasn't made an offer monetarily because he's not the one who personally handles those details, the job of negotiating a contract falls to Ty Norris or others at MWR. But what it sounds like is that while there are some discussions that have taken place, contrary to the report yesterday, Jarrett going to MWR isn't a done deal yet, if it ever will be. Of course there's also the chance that Michael is downplaying things. But regardless of whether Jarrett will ever sign with MWR or not, Michael has done a masterful job of getting himself, MWR, Jarrett and everyone else associated with this, quite a bit of media attention. Michael did just complain about how he was flying under the radar this season but at least for now that's certainly not a problem as far as the media is concerned.

Tomorrow morning, Jarrett is scheduled to be the guest for the "Nextel Wake Up Call" Session with the media at Richmond. Gee, I wonder what the first question he's going to be asked is going to be? I also have to wonder how long he's been scheduled to be the guest and how long in advance it was known that Michael would be last week's guest and Jarrett would be this week's guest. My suspicious mind can't help but wonder if some of this is a set-up of sorts. More than likely though, Jarrett was asked to be a guest recently when his name started circulating as part of silly season rumors.

Let me see if I can predict what he will say tomorrow... Of course there will surely be a bunch of denials - "I have not made any decisions on my future," I have not signed with Michael Waltrip Racing for 2007." That will likely happen regardless of the truth of the situation because I highly doubt that anyone - Jarrett, MWR, or Robert Yates Racing - is ready to announce anything officially. Virtually everything that happens in Nascar is denied first, sometimes hotly. (Scott Wimmer has not been released, we are not talking to Michael Waltrip about a ride for 2006! The #77 car has not folded!). Then Jarrett will say how much he wants to stay at RYR and how he hopes that he can work out a deal with them. Every driver always says all the right things about how their first choice is to stay with the team they are with so that they don't burn any bridges, especially in case they actually do end up staying, and also so they don't upset sponsors and fans. Jarrett will then say how flattered he is about all the offers he's been receiving and how he hopes to make a decision soon. He will also surely lecture the media at least once about how they've gotten the story wrong. (I personally think that drivers will do this even when the media actually has the story right just to place the blame somewhere else if something they've said or done makes themselves or their team look bad or the cat has been let out of the bag about something prematurely.) But he likely won't give too much concrete information about any of what he plans on doing or who he will end up signing with. Maybe I'll be surprised and he'll announce a new deal with RYR or that he is going to sign with MWR or another team but I kind of doubt it.

Unless someone dangles a very attractive deal in front of Jarrett that he can't say no to, I would guess that his name will continue to pop up in various rumors for a while longer. I hope in the end he does end up signing with MWR.

Posted by silverdsl at 05:01 PM | Comments (0)

Break-In at The Breakers

Four college students at Salve Regina University are under arrest after being accused of breaking into Cornelius Vanderbilt's former summer "cottage," in reality a huge mansion, The Breakers, in Newport, Rhode Island. While inside the thieves made off with items totaling over $100,000, including, according to the article,

a bronze obelisk, a candelabra, an enamel globe clock, a cameo glass bottle vase, a Victorian silver vase and two antique books on gardening during the break-ins. Also taken was a 19th-century crystal inkwell, a Wedgwood black bust of Mercury and a brass caryatid casting by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, the oldest daughter of Cornelius and Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt.

Apparently the students broke in twice using a back door in an area that was undergoing repairs so it's possible that the security system was compromised in that area. I'm wondering what possessed these kids to decide to break into The Breakers? Boredom? To see if they could do it? Did they think they could make some money selling what they stole? Were they tipped off as to how they might easily get in? That's what stikes me is that somehow they knew where they could get in. I can't imagine how they could have thought that they would be able to sell what they stole - once the people who run The Breakers were aware of what had been stolen had these kids not been caught, a discription of the missing items would have been broadcast all over the country. I just don't understand what these kids were thinking. Aside from possible criminal records, I would guess they will likely be kicked out of Salve Regina.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:44 PM | Comments (0)

Denny Hamlin Injured, Goes to Hospital But Will Race This Weekend

Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 Fed Ex car for Joe Gibbs Racing was engaging in some horseplay with some members of his team, which involved seeing who could run around the hauler the fastest. Unfortunately in a freak accident Hamlin seriously cut himself on a sharp piece of chrome and had to go to the hospital via ambulance for stitches. Hamlin said,

"The guys were having races around the hauler after the test. I thought I'd try for the best lap of the night, and as I was running around the front of the truck, I caught my hand on a sharp piece of chrome. I got all stitched up and I'll be fine to race this weekend. By the way, I did finish first. Hopefully Coach Gibbs will be impressed that I can play 'hurt'."

Luckily, the injury wasn't any more serious. I couldn't help but think of rookie hazing when I heard of this story. But no team would ever do something like that, would they?

Posted by silverdsl at 04:37 PM | Comments (0)

Driver by Driver: Talladega

Yeah, I know it's almost time for the next race in Richmond, but it's my blog and I've got things I want to say. :)

I didn't get to watch this race on TV because I was at work on Monday so I am only going on what I heard via XM, Michael Waltrip's radio communication and what I read afterwards, as opposed to what I saw.

1. Jimmie Johnson - Three of the four Hendrick teams were working up front for most of the race but it seemed as if, at least from what I was hearing, there was a lot more said about Jeff Gordon and Brian Vickers. Suddenly though in the end there was Jimmie in Victory Lane. With this win he takes back the point led. Yawn. I can't find myself able to get too excited about Jimmie this season.

2. Tony Stewart - Another race, another strong finish for Tony. In his last four races dating back to Bristol where he won, Tony hasn't finished outside the top five.

3. Brian Vickers - For a while it looked like we might end up seeing Brian's first Cup win but it was not to be. That's unfortunate. I'm not a huge fan of Brian, though he has grown on me the longer he's been in Cup, but I always love to see first-time winners or drivers who haven't won in a long time celebrating in Victory Lane. Their happiness and excitement is always so genuine and there's a lot more focus on the thrill of winning than interviews and sponsor plugs.

4. Jeff Burton - It seems like it's all or nothing for Jeff this season. He's got two top fives and three top tens but he's also gotten swept up in a bunch of wrecks so he also has three finishes worse than 32nd. I think we will see Jeff in Victory Lane before the end of the year though, which will probably surprise a few people who think that he's just keeping the seat warm for a younger driver.

5. Jamie McMurray - I'm kind of shocked that it took Jamie this many races to get his first top five of the year considering how strong this team has been the past few years. I continue to wonder - is his underwhelming season so far because he's still adjusting to being with a new team or is it because he's always been overrated in the past?

6. Matt Kenseth - Unfortunately for Matt, 6th place isn't good enough to hold onto the points lead.

7. Kurt Busch - Good race for Kurt - he got a top ten and led nine laps.

8. Carl Edwards - Another Roush car in the top ten. Switching crew chiefs certainly hasn't seemed to hurt Carl any. In fact, given the results since the switch, it seems to have helped him even more than Jamie. Of course two races is an extremely small sampling but I think it shows that whatever problems the #99 team might have been having, which I think was mostly just bad luck, was not with the driver. The only negative about this race for Carl is that he might have been responsible for the early wreck that collected 13-cars.

9. Scott Riggs - Yet another strong race for the #10 team and Riggs has now moved up another four positions in the points to 25th. He missed one race and he's still higher in the points than 11 other drivers. There were quite a few people who thought that Riggs was over his head in Cup prior to this season, but this is Riggs's third top ten this season and he's looked pretty good on the track so far. Personally, I think Riggs is likely a much better driver than he's gotten to show in the past.

10. Robby Gordon - A much needed top ten for Robby to give him a little more breathing room in the owner's points. Robby should be getting a lot more attention for what he's doing this season, which is more or less running a successful one-car team that is competitive. He is doing what PPI should be doing with the #32 car.

11. J.J. Yeley - J.J. was the top finishing rookie. The day before in the Busch race he had also been on his way to a good finish when Michael Waltrip got into him, causing J.J. to spin out and wreck. When he was interviewed on Sunday during the rain delay, J.J. was asked what he thought about what Michael did to him and I was impressed because J.J. opted not to rip Michael, when he had a prime opportunity to do so. Other drivers might not have been so considerate and it's a sign of maturity, but then again J.J. is 30 years old. WIth how young many of the rookies are these days that he is 30 seems to surprise a lot of people.

12. Dale Jarrett - A decent day for DJ but with Slugger Labbe, who has had so much success at plate tracks, as his crew chief, he should have a good day in these races.

13. Jeremy Mayfield - A 13th place finish is good but I have to wonder if this finish is more a result of all the wrecks rather than that the team is showing improvment. I have a feeling that this is going to be a very long season for Jeremy. I would not be surprised to see a driver change in this car by next season.

14. Jeff Green

15. Jeff Gordon - Jeff led the most laps in this race and it looked like was on his way to his 5th Talladega victory. But nothing is ever guaranteed, especially at a plate race. During most of the race all three of the remaining Hendrick cars worked together beautifully to stay up front but in the last few laps it was every man for himself. After the race Jeff said that he made two mistakes that ended up shuffling him back to 15th on the last lap and took full responsiblity for costing himself the win. This week a few people, including Darrell Waltrip, have questioned whether Jeff's focus is the same as it once was, wondering if everything that he's involved with outside of the car is a distraction. Of course Jeff denies that, but I suspect that there is some truth to it. Jeff is still as talented as ever, and I think the competitive fires burn just as brightly as ever before. But I also think there's so much swirling around him that it would be impossible for him to be as tightly focused on racing and his car as he was once able to be. You have to wonder how much of an affect that problem is, and will have, on Dale Earnhardt, Jr. who surely has just as many distractions outside of the car as Jeff.

16. Elliott Sadler - He won the pole and celebrated his 31st birthday on Sunday so hopes were high that Elliott would finish very well in this race. He certainly had a strong car, leading 23 laps and racing up front. However, towards the end Elliott was fighting a loose condition and had trouble finding others who were willing to draft with him.

17. Tony Raines - Another top 20 for this team. This team is doing exactly what Michael Waltrip hoped to do with his #55 team. Don't aim too high, set reasonable goals, get through all the challenges that new teams face and build a strong foundation for next season. This team is doing just that as a single car team. I wouldn't be surprised to see them be a much stronger team in 2007.

18. Kyle Petty - Kyle announced last week that he's lost one of the sponsors for the #45 who was supposed to sponsor 7-8 races. Kyle said that he let the sponsor out of their contract because they told him that the company was having financial issues. Everyone is patting him on the back for this but I don't see what choice he had considering it sounds like he might not have gotten any money from them either way. The problem for Kyle is that his team hasn't been impressive this season and it might be hard to find additional sponsorship this late in the game.

19 . Travis Kvapil - On the surface this seems like a good finish, but I have to wonder if he finished so well because of how many wrecks there were. Travis rode around in back for most of the race in a deliberate effort to stay out of trouble, but even towards the end when it was time to "go" it didn't seem like he had the car to be up front with the leaders. One interesting note about Travis is that he also had a broken brake rotor at the end of the race, just like Michael Waltrip. In fact, part of the reason he was involved in the last wreck was because he couldn't slow down enough to avoid it. His team also had to come in to repair the rotor, just like Michael was forced to. And if a rotor issue can cause a driver to not be able to stop like what happened to Travis, I can't say I blame Nascar for making Michael come in for repairs.

20. Casey Mears - Based on the post-race report, this team experienced quite a few problems - a spotter mistake, Casey stalling coming out of the pits after a pit stop, a tangle with Dave Blaney, a vibration and the loss of third gear. But it was still a better day than many other drivers had, including his teammates.

21. Scott Wimmer - Another of the many teams that elected to hang in the back for a good portion of the race to try to stay out of trouble. Eventually they moved forward and seemed like they might get a decent finish but a lost cylinder in the engine ruined their day.

22. Denny Hamlin - His role in a lap 174 wreck earned Denny a rough-driving penalty. I didn't see the wreck but I believe that not only did he make it four wide in a bad spot, he went below the yellow line which he wasn't supposed to do.

23. Kevin Harvick - Kevin qualified very poorly for this race which had at the back when a wreck occured in front of him on lap 9. Kevin would have survived just fine but when he checked up to avoid wrecking himself, Hermie Sadler didn't and slammed into him from behind which severely damaged the #29. Naturally Kevin was less than thrilled with Hermie.

24. Dave Blaney - It looked like Dave was on his way to a semi-decent finish in this race. But Denny Hamlin decided to make things four wide and disaster struck as the ensuing wreck collected multiple cars, including both Dave and his teammate, Michael Waltrip.

25. Michael Waltrip - I said plenty the other day about Michael getting a fine finish stolen from him by bad luck, Nascar, Denny Hamlin, and Joe Nemechek. Not likely to invite Hamlin on as a guest on Inside Nextel Cup in the near future.

26. Reed Sorenson - Also a victim of the late-race wreck. Will probably not be sitting next to Hamin in the next rookie meeting.

27. Joe Nemechek - Also not a fan of Denny Hamlin this week.

28. Kevin Lepage - Also taking Hamlin off his Christmas card list.

29. Bobby Labonte - Looked good early in the classic STP Oil paint scheme but a blown engine did this team in. Petty Enterprises has obviously made tremendous strides over last season as the #43 is up front a lot more than it was last season but this is the second blown engine in just nine races.

30. Chad Chaffin - One of the unmentionables - a driver that almost never gets mentioned unless he's wrecking.

31. Dale Earnhardt Jr. - Since Junior ran a paint scheme in honor of his father at Talladega many fans were handing him the win before he even hit the track. But Junior didn't qualify well, and although he spent many laps up front and even led for a while, a win was not to be. The #8 blew an engine, and of course the stands promptly emptied. I heard an interview with Richie Gilmore after the race on XM and he admitted that the reason that the engine blew might have been that they were pushing things a little too much. I have no clue why they would do that in this race since Junior is always a threat to win on plate tracks and when they're running an extra special paint scheme in honor of the man who founded DEI. It seems to me that this was not the race to start experimenting with things.

32. Kyle Busch - Involved in a wreck the day before his 21st birthday, but it appears that this one he wasn't at fault for, though I'm sure many fans looked for a way to blame him.

33. Ryan Newman - His post-race report made me laugh because the title talked about how the team rallied so Ryan could finish 33rd. Only because other cars were in worse shape after the early wreck.

34. David Stremme - He qualified the best out of all the Ganassi cars but finished the worst, though that was through no fault of his own. He saw trouble brewing early on and tried to drop back to avoid it but he couldn't drop back fast enough and was collected in the early wreck.

35. Mark Martin - I wonder if he had a chat with his teammate, Carl Edwards, after the race about his role in the 13-car wreck? The #6 team was behind the wall for quite some time making repairs and when Mark was finally able to return to the track, for some reason instead of having AAA, his sponsor on the hood, his car sported a hood from Greg Biffle's car. Not a fan of plate racing before this past weekend, I'm sure he dislikes it even more now.

36. Martin Truex Jr. - Won the Busch race on Saturday, wrecked less than ten laps in on Sunday.

37. Sterling Marlin - Also collected in the 13-car incident.

38. Greg Biffle - Second engine failure of the season for this team. It's shaping up to be a very miserable season for Greg.

39. Kasey Kahne - Took a very hard hit in the early wreck to the point of where the track doctor feared he had suffered a mild concussion and wouldn't clear him to go back on the track to race. In fact Kasey was forced to go see the doctor on Wednesday morning before Nascar would allow him to test at Charlotte later that day.

40. Clint Bowyer - Wrecked.

41. Kirk Shelmerdine - Wrecked. It's hard enough for a small team to deal with bent sheet metal but probably almost impossible for a tiny team like Shelmerdine's.

42. Ken Schrader - Also caught in the early wreck. Opted to ride his motorcycle back to North Carolina from Talladega, getting back just in time for the taping of INC. I wonder how many times he cursed the recklessness of the young drivers these days?

43. Hermie Sadler - Hermie, Hermie, Hermie. What were you thinking? Somehow Hermie completely missed Kevin Harvick checking up and ran into the back of him big time. Not just he couldn't get checked up in time but completely ran Kevin over. Michael Waltrip has some sort of partnership with the team Hermie is racing for which is why the car sports Aaron's as a sponsor in some races. But that didn't stop Michael from having less than complimentary words for Hermie failing to stop before he ran into Kevin. Then Michael was less than pleased that Hermie's team was unable to get the car fixed enough to get him back on track, presumably because Michael wanted the drafting help. But there was damage to the engine on Hermie's car so the problem was unfortunately terminal. Which ended up being a good thing for the #9 team because when they were able to get their car fixed up enough to return to the track they needed a relief driver since Kasey wasn't cleared to race - enter Hermie.

Posted by silverdsl at 08:51 AM | Comments (0)

May 03, 2006

Photo of the Day - Stairs to Nowhere

Paulinskill Viaduct, Hainsburg, New Jersey.

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

In the News: Michael Waltrip (5/3)

There sure is lots of news about Michael Waltrip, other than the talk getting louder that Dale Jarrett is going to sign with Michael Waltrip Racing, as I discussed earlier. Probably the biggest news is that Michael will have a different crew chief working on the #55 starting this weekend at Richmond. Derrick Finley is out, and Bobby Kennedy, Larry Carter and Jason Oversteet are in. I don't have any idea which of those three will actually be on the pit box during the race calling the race for Michael, but Carter essentially filled the role of Michael's crew chief during a race earlier this season and things went very well. So I wouldn't be surprised if it was him. It's also not surprising that now that more races have gone by that Michael would look to make some changes to the team. If they thought that things weren't going to improve with Finley as crew chief, and I doubted that they would, then it's definitely best to try to make a change for the better sooner rather than later. Michael said,

“It is extremely important that we use all of the resources we have at both Bill Davis Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing to get our program where it needs to be. Bobby, Larry and Jason have been working on getting our Burger King cars built that we will run with Bill Elliott this year. Getting those guys to the track and working with our NAPA car will not only help us now, but it will also allow them to gather ‘at-track’ data for that effort as well.”

I guess Michael forgot that he's supposedly fielding this car through Waltrip-Jasper, not Michael Waltrip Racing? Of course they are one and the same, but I just find it funny that Waltrip-Jasper was announced to such big fanfare and just a couple of months into the season it is rarely mentioned. In any event, Michael is 100% right that having as many MWR personnel at the track working on his current car will also help them be as prepared as possible for 2007 and beyond. But I hope that it will also pay dividends in the present as well. I don't think that the #55 is going to suddenly start running up front in every race - they will still have to use BDR cars which are kind of iffy, at least until MWR is prepared to build their own cars in the new shop at Waltrip Racing World. But I am hoping that they will be able to improve on their performance so far this season. Michael's goal of finishing in the top 20 in as many races as possible is still a good goal to shoot for and it would certainly get them higher in the owner points.

When it was announced that Michael wasn't going to be able to race for Brewco Motorsports in the Busch series due to the conflict between their associate sponsor, Federated Autoparts and Michael's primary sponsor of his Cup team, NAPA, I wondered what that meant for the deal that Michael had entered into with Yardman. Not only were they going to be the sponsor on the car when he or Ken Schrader raced the #66, but Michael was going to take part in some promotional contests with them. Although Scott Wimmer will take Michael's place in the #66 car, Michael will still take part in promotional events for Yardman and the lawn mower company will also be on Michael's Cup uniform (but not his car?). Michael said,

“When this conflict arose we exhausted all efforts in trying to find a solution so that I could continue driving the Yard-Man Ford. I am proud to represent Yard-Man and I am happy that I get to carry on a relationship with Yard-Man through corporate appearances and promotions.”

Of course something had to be worked out. Aside from the fact that I think it's kind of embarassing that no one realized that there might be this kind of conflict until after all the contract were signed (sorry Michael!), there was an obligation to Yardman. They thought they were going to benefit from sponsoring a car with Michael on it, no doubt because aside from the possible strong results on the track, Michael certainly does a lot to get quite a bit of visibility for his sponsors. It just unfortunate there wasn't a solution which would have allowed Michael to continue to race for Brewco.

Yesterday and today Cup teams are testing at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte in advance of the races there later this month. Michael is there testing his #55 but Bill Elliott is also testing the #00 Burger King car for Michael Waltrip Racing. There are some photos of Elliott and the #00 car on Michael's site. I think the car looks pretty cool myself, though some fans aren't overly thrilled with the paint scheme. Unfortunately neither car was high on the testing charts yesterday, though Elliott's speeds were much better than Michael's - he was among the slowest cars that tested yesterday. Today's speeds haven't been released yet but hopefully they will find a little more speed and more importantly gain some insight and information that will help them when they actually race at Lowe's.

The one item that has jumped out at a lot of people is that when Michael announced that Elliott would be racing for him, he said that the #00 would be a Chevy with a Hendrick engine. However, the #00 is officially listed as a Dodge, though based on the photos it seems to be a Chevy. I don't know if it really matters for testing and it could simply be a paperwork screw-up, but that could be something to keep an eye on for the future.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:43 PM | Comments (0)

Many Busch Series Penalties Announced... Most of Them to Kevin Harvick Affiliated Teams

Let's see if I can summarize all the penalties that were handed down by Nascar today in relation to violations found on Busch cars this past weekend. Not only was there an issue with the car that Kevin Harvick raced during the Busch series race at Talladega, but both of his Kevin Harvick, Inc. cars that were in the race were also found to have violations. It's likely just coincidence, but it does strike me as a little funny that all three cars associated with Harvick last weekend were found to be in violation of the Nascar rulebook.

In any event, KHI's #33 car, driven by Tony Stewart, and the #77 car, driven by rookie Burney Lamar, were found to have an issue with the rear spoiler. So both Walt Rogers, the crew chief of the #33, and Gene Nead, the crew chief of the #77, were fined $10,000 and placed on probation until December 31. Stewart and Lamar were docked 25 driver points and DeLana Harvick, who is listed as the owner of both cars, was docked 50 owner points, 25 points for each car. The specific violation was said to be that "the forward facing flange of the rear spoiler did not maintain the specified thickness." The violations were found during pre-race inspections so I don't know how that might have effected the way the cars raced, but given the penalties it sounds like these were pretty serious violations. Of course the points are meaningless to Stewart, since he's not racing for the Busch championship. But it could be costly to Burney Lamar. He is in the running for Rookie of the Year and is also fighting to stay in the top ten in points.

In addition, the #21 car that Harvick was racing for Richard Childress Racing was found to have a rear quarter panel that didn't meet the required specification which was found in the post-race inspectation. That means that the car was actually raced this way. Again, I don't know how that might have affected the car but Harvick did finish second. His crew chief, Shane Wilson, was fined $10,000 and placed on probation until December 31. Harvick also lost 25 driver points and Richard Childress lost 25 owner points. Given how strong Harvick has been all season in the Busch series in both cars he's been in, I don't think losing 25 driver points is going to make any difference when it comes to Harvick racing for the Busch Championship. There are still plenty of races left, but barring an injury to Harvick that prevents him from racing, or quite a few disasterous races, it's looking more and more like Harvick will be Busch Champion this season.

Harvick's teams weren't the only ones that were penalized. Nathan Homick, a crew member on the #4, driven by Mark Green, was fined $5,000 and indefinitely suspended. That's because during pre-qualifying inspection he was found to illegally have Nascar seals. I was thinking that was so the team could make it seem like the car or certain parts were inspected when in fact they hadn't be and Claire B. Lang pretty much just confirmed my thinking on XM. To me, that is a major infraction, perhaps a more serious example of cheating than a lot of what teams have been accused of doing in the past. Think about it. A team could have a seriously illegal part on the car but if they fooled Nascar inspectors into thinking it had passed inspection there is quite a bit that they could get away with. I can understand why Homick is suspended indefinitely.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:58 PM | Comments (0)

Dale Jarrett to Michael Waltrip Racing?

I'm not sure how legitimate this rumor is but Nascar Scene is reporting that Dale Jarrett informed Robert Yates Racing last week that he intends on signing with Michael Waltrip Racing next season. Last week, Michael Waltrip confirmed that he had offered Jarrett a ride but said that he hadn't heard back from Jarrett about whether he would accept or not. It stuck me as odd at the time that Michael was so willing to openly speak about courting Jarrett since teams normally do not say who they are trying to sign. And Michael and MWR are notoriously closed-mouthed about much of what they do before it becomes official. But perhaps Michael discussed Jarrett because he knew that even though it wasn't a done deal and nothing was signed, that there was a very good chance that it was going to happen or he was trying to accelerate the process.

Of course, there may not be much to this rumor, as the Scene's sources may simply be trying to manipulate the situation for their own reasons. But I think it would be a very good thing for MWR to sign Jarrett. I have to admit that while I like Jarrett, I've never been a huge fan of his. However, there is no question that he would be an outstanding addition to MWR. He's a veteran driver who can still win races if he has a strong car. In addition, he's well-respected, well-liked, he's a former Champion, who could take advantage of a Champion's provisional next season in the first five races assuming that a more recent Champion didn't need to use it, he has a big fan-base, and he would draw plenty of media attention. I also think he would work well with Michael, as his teammate. Another plus is that Jarrett would likely only sign for a couple of years which would allow him to help Michael build MWR into a strong organization, then he could hand his car over to a young driver in 2009.

The only thing that I'm a little confused on is in relation to UPS. The article states that UPS might follow Jarrett to MWR if Yates doesn't convince them to stay by finding a talented young driver to take Jarrett's place in the #88. However, unless Michael has already signed UPS or MWR is considering fielding a third Cup car, it wouldn't seem like there is room for UPS as a primary sponsor since last week Michael said he had sponsorship for the second Cup car all set. What happens with UPS definitely bears watching, not just in terms of Jarrett, but because they are a major sponsor who not only invests a lot in the team that they sponsor but also does quite a bit of commercials and other advertisting with Jarrett. So if UPS parts ways with RYR and Jarrett, I think a lot of teams will line up to try to convince them to sponsor their own cars. I suppose even if UPS doesn't go with Jarrett to MWR that they could end up on one of the other Toyota teams - I've heard nothing about sponsors for the second Bill Davis Racing car or for either Red Bull Racing car.

I also find it interesting that so far we've heard far more about what MWR is going to be doing for 2007 and beyond than any of the other teams who will be affiliated with Toyota. As noted previously, traditionally MWR isn't very open about all of what they're doing so that is a slightly different approach. But I think that one reason that Toyota wanted to join with MWR is because Michael is an outstanding spokesperson for whomever he is affiliated with. So with that in mind perhaps it's not so surprising that he's taking the lead in terms of being the most vocal about his preparations for 2007. Regardless, even though 2006 has been a disappiontment for Michael, 2007 is looking like it could be very exciting for Michael and MWR!

Posted by silverdsl at 03:23 PM | Comments (0)

Top Chef Renewed

I've been really enjoying watching Top Chef which airs on Wednesday nights on Bravo. It's from the same producers as Project Runway, which I love, so I guess it's not surprising that I enjoy Top Chef so much. Basically, it's a reality show in which chefs compete against each other in various challenges for the title of... yes, you guessed it - top chef.

So I'm very happy to hear that the show has been renewed for another season. Not only that but the current season has been expanded. There will be a reunion show and then the final challenge to crown the top chef will happen over two espisodes. Apparently viewers will be able to play a hand in the final voting as they will be able to cast votes using cellphones, the Internet and interactive cable remotes. I'm not sure how that's going to work though - are viewers going to choose who the top chef will be? I think that should be up to the judges who are actually there tasting the food and seeing how the contestants act in the kitchen but perhaps they have something else in mind with the voting.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:02 PM | Comments (0)

Jason Giambi Named Player of the Month

A couple of years ago, most people, including many New York Yankees fans, had written Jason Giambi off. Between Balco and his health issues, most assumed that he would never be a productive player again and expected the Yankees to aggressively find a way to void his contract. Good thing the Yankees never went that route. Giambi began his comeback last year and this season he's showing that his fine hitting last season wasn't a fluke. It's only one month into the season but so far he has been unbelievable at the plate. As such he has been named the American League's Player of the Month for April.

Giambi batted .344, hit 27 RBI, scored 17 runs, had a .852 slugging percentage and a .554 on-base percentage. he is currently first in the league in RBI, walks, on-base percentage, slugging as well as in OPS (on-base plus slugging). He is also 9th in the league in homeruns. Really it's remarkable how far he's come. Yes, he hit like this in his younger years when he was an MVP, but often when a player declines as Giambi did when he joined the Yankees, it's very hard for them to get back to that level of play, especially as they get older. But Giambi has. Outstanding and impressive. I hope he can keep it up.

Posted by silverdsl at 02:48 PM | Comments (0)

May 02, 2006

Photo of the Day - Viaduct

Paulinskill Viaduct, Hainsburg, New Jersey, April, 2006. Not the greatest photo in the world but it gives a good sense of how huge the Viaduct is.

Posted by silverdsl at 11:02 PM | Comments (0)

No Joy for Michael Waltrip in Talladega

I love being able to listen to Michael Waltrip and other drivers in-race radio communications via Trackpass on Nascar.com when I'm at home or via the scanner at the two races I've been to in person. When you listen to your driver over the radio you hear a tremendous amount of things that you would never know about otherwise, mostly about their team, but sometimes also about what's happening in the race in general. I've found out so many things about the cars Michael has driven, how awesome the cars he had last season were and how awful the cars are this season, by listening to his radio. If not for that, there are races that I'd probably only know the bare bones of what happened to him in each race and no more.

However, there's a downside to listening to what the drivers and crew chiefs, especially as it relates to drawing conclusions about what happened to a team during the race from what they say over the radio. We are only getting one side of the story, that of the team. Not only that but there may be key pieces of information that are never said over the radio, either because they don't want to say it when anyone can hear, because they aren't aware of all the facts when a particular situation first unfolds, or because they simply neglect to say something that is important in terms of completely understanding what's happening. In addition, since racing is an emotional sport, things may be said in the heat of the moment that a driver might not really mean or might not say under other circumstances. And particularly over Trackpass, the sound quality can be iffy so there are times when it's hard to hear 100% of what's being said. So while there is much to be learned from listening to Michael's radio, I always have to remind myself that what is said over the radio isn't always the be all, end all, final word on a particular situation. With that in mind, I decided that I would wait a day before saying much about how Michael did in yesterday's race in the hopes that I would find out more about what exactly happened to Michael at the end of the race.

A day later and I'm still not 100% sure what happened, even after reading through the post-race report. But let's back up to the start of the race - Michael seemed to be in good spirits as the race began. I really think he thought he had a chance to contend for the win and even if he didn't win, I think he was very confident that he would get the strong finish he so desperately needed to get back into the top 35 in owner points. After all he is one of the best drivers on the track when it comes to plate races. A great finish yesterday could have been exactly what the #55 team needed to turn their season around. For a while it seemed like Michael might be actually be able to get a top fifteen at the very least and maybe if things went their way eek out a top ten. The #55 was certainly not as strong as the cars that Michael had at plate races when he was at DEI, but it seemed decent enough to get Michael the kind of finish he needed. He said over the radio that he planned to hang towards the back for a while, something that other veteran drivers tend to do as well at plate races, in an effort to avoid The Big One and in fact Michael wasn't collected in some of the early incidents. So for most of the race it seemed as if everything was going according to plan. But Michael's luck ran out on lap 173 when Joe Nemechek and Reed Sorenson wrecked and Michael got caught up in it.

Here's where things get confusing. Initially the team thought that the damage to the car wasn't very bad. But after they got the right front tire off the car, they discovered the damage was a lot worse than they thought. In fact the right front brake rotor was cracked. With only a few laps left, Michael wanted to return to the track and just hang on to the end of the race, but Nascar was insistent that the rotor had to be repaired before he would be allowed to continue. Worse yet, they wanted him to go behind the wall for repairs instead of his team fixing it on pit road. Michael begged and pleaded, asking for Nascar to work with them, wanting them to help him in light of how bad his season has been going. He said that he would ride around at the back of the pack, anything, just don't make him go behind the wall. Finally, and perhaps it was a compromise of sorts, Nascar agreed to allow the repairs to be made on pit road - but they had to be made.

Of course that put him laps down and as each lap went by I felt sicker and sicker, so I can only imagine how upset Michael was. With just a few laps left in the race, the repairs were finally complete and Michael went back on the track. The only problem was that he wasn't making the minimum required speed, which caused Nascar to blackflag the #55. Again, Michael pleaded with Nascar, saying that he was deliberately not at speed because he was trying to stay out the way of the leaders as they passed. At this point not only is he not at minimum speed, but according to the post-race report, apparently he and the team realize that he also has cut down a tire. So they go back into the pits and I heard someone say over the radio something like "We'll give it one last try," but that was not to be. Why? Because Nascar wouldn't let them get back on the track. The post-race report connects Nascar telling them to take the car to the garage with the car not making the minimum speed but the prevailing theory among many of Michael's fans is that the entire episode at the end of the race was a conspiracy against him.

I don't agree. Granted I'm not big on conspiracy theories and the idea that Nascar is out to get certain drivers and teams to begin with. But I also have to ask myself what reason would Nascar have to be out to get Michael who is one of their most vocal supporters? The reality is that Nascar has rules to enforce and sometimes Michael is going to suffer as a result. Do unfair things happen and are the rules sometimes applied unevenly? Absolutely. Often Nascar has judgement calls to make when it comes to how the rules are enforced and there are so many variables that go into each situation that it's not surprising that teams may be treated differently for similar situations. Is it fair? Of course not. In an ideal world the rules would always be applied the same to every team and no team would ever be screwed by Nascar enforcing a rule. But it's going to happen to every single team, yes, every single one, at one time or another.

But beyond that sometimes things just happen and not in a good way. The brake rotor was cracked, there's no arguing that. Michael said over the radio repeatedly that his car was fine and that he had plenty of back brakes so many fans are questioning why Nascar wouldn't just let him finish the last few laps of the race. The problem is that Michael is sitting there in the car and he's the only one who really knows if the car is fine to continue or not. No one from Nascar is in the car with him. All they know is that a rotor is broken, which I assume could be a safety issue because it could prevent him from stopping as quickly as might be necessary, which is what happened to Travis Kvapil during the race when he too experienced a rotor problem.

The other issue is that Michael said that his car was completely fine to continue but was it really? Or was he just hoping that it was okay and that he would be able to find some way to hang on, just like drivers do in countless other situations when they fear they have a tire going down, an engine blowing and some other problem that might result in disaster? I don't think Michael would insist on wanting to race without making the repairs if he really thought that he was going to put himself or his fellow drivers in danger. But I do think that he might try to bluff about how the car really was if he thought he could find a way to hang on and keep it going to the end of the race. Michael and his team are in a desperate situation and it would be understandable if he was willing to say anything that might convince Nascar to let him stay out. It's just like how a pitcher will insist he's fine and can get the next batter out when his manager asks him if he's okay, even though the bases are loaded, he just walked the last three guys, it's obvious he's got nothing left and his arm is about to fall off. Competitive athletes do not give up easily.

As for Michael not being allowed back on the track for the last couple of laps by Nascar, I would guess that in Nascar's eyes there was also a safety issue there. He wasn't making the minimum speed, regardless of the reason why that might have been, and according to someone who was at the race he appeared to be sliding around when he got back on the track. Nascar may have felt that the brakes he had left weren't good enough, even after the repairs. The only issue I thought Nascar might have had with Michael is that he might not have come in for the repairs as quickly as they might have wanted since he so badly wanted to stay out on the track. So I was thinking that they might not have allowed him back on the track the final time to send him a message about that. But the more I think about it, the more I think that there was a safety issue that they were concerned about. Of course that's not going to make Michael, his team or Michael's many fans feel better about the way his day was ruined.

I just want to know when Michael's luck is going to take a turn for the better? I think the cars he's had have been slightly better and the communication between himself, his crew chief and his spotter also seems to have improved a bit. I would just like to see him be able to show some improvement on the track. I feel bad for him that he's struggling so much - is a couple of strong finishes too much to ask? Maybe this coming weekend at Richmond... but first he's going to need to qualify on time again.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:01 PM | Comments (0)

May 01, 2006

I had wanted to blog about today's race but then I was so disheartened with the results for poor Michael Waltrip. :( I'm pretty busy tomorrow but hopefully regular entries will resume late tomorrow or Wednesday.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:56 PM | Comments (0)