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January 31, 2007

Photo of the Day - The Abbey

The Abbey, Cape May, New Jersey, September, 2005.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:49 PM | Comments (0)

In the News: Michael Waltrip (1/31)

Yesterday Michael Waltrip and Dale Jarrett took some time between test sessions to meet with the media to answer questions. As much as I always love hearing what Michael has to say, I wish the media would come up with some different questions to ask because I'm getting really sick of hearing a defense of Toyota and some of the same topics covered over and over again. How many times can DJ be expected to answer some version of why he went to Michael Waltrip Racing? He must be getting incredibly sick of being asked.

Of course every driver at testing was asked what they thought of the newly redone track at Las Vegas. Michael said that he likes it and that he thinks it will make for good racing. About the increase in speed he said,

"It's really fast obviously, but I don't know what you think we're going to do about that. I don't know why people complain bit. We're race car drivers for gosh sake, so the cars just go fast. It's not the track's fault. The cars would be easiest to slow down than build a track that isn't fun for the fans to watch. That's my take."

Which makes a lot of sense. Of course safety has to be taken into consideration in relation to the speeds of the cars, but it does seem a little silly for race car drivers to complain about speed - normally racers want to go as fast as possible.

Naturally, Michael made sure (yet again) to refute the accusation that Toyota is throwing a lot of money around.

"Everything is going well. Toyota has been a huge support obviously. I think that the media and people in general just missed the whole key to what Toyota did for me. They brought me credibility. They allowed me to go to NAPA, say, Toyota is going to be my manufacturer. They're going to provide me with technology and equipment that will allow me to go race these other guys. It's never been and it will never be about money. We needed their support to be able to do it, not their money."

I think the credibility that being aligned with Toyota brings is great, but even better is the technology, resources and equipment that Toyota is giving MWR - that's a huge part of why they'll be successful because Toyota is going to put a lot of effort into using technology to help make MWR as competitive as possible. Of course that's where the money comes in - Toyota might not be directly giving a lot of money to MWR, but they're putting a lot of financial resources into the technology and equipment side. However, are they doing anything different than any other manufacturer? I don't think so. Toyota has an amount of money that they feel they need to and can afford to spend to help their teams - same as any other manufacturer. Is it more than the other manufacturers? Maybe, maybe not.

Another comment by Michael in relation to Jack Roush was pretty interesting. He said,

"NASCAR will be more popular because they're here. NASCAR is going to be more popular because Juan Pablo is here. What I don't understand, Jack Roush doesn't have a problem with Juan Pablo coming, why is he so mad about Toyota showing up? You can't handpick who comes in your door. This is a global society. Toyota is certainly welcomed here. I haven't talked to one driver that doesn't say it won't be good for the sport."

Michael's 100% right that this is a global society. But I think he touched on something else - no one would ever dare say publically that Juan Pablo isn't welcome in Nascar or that he doesn't belong. So why is it okay to say the same thing about Toyota? For some people, but not everyone, at the root of why they're anti-Toyota is because they're xenophobic. I suspect that some have that kind of attitude about Juan Pablo as well, but to talk openly about that might brand someone as being prejudiced. Well, some of the attitudes about Toyota seem pretty prejudiced and intolerant to me. Nascar can't discriminate - not against drivers born in other countries, and not against manufacturers based in other countries.

Something Michael has touched upon frequently in the past, and I agree with him completely, is how some have great difficulty with change, which leads to a lot of the complaining. He said,

"Any time something is new or different, it's got to be bad. That's pretty much what people think. I'm sure back in the '60s, whenever it was, when they stopped racing on dirt, everybody thought that would be the end of NASCAR. Then when the Chase for the championship came along, that had to be the worst thing ever. It's been the greatest thing ever. Toyota got fortunate. They came out along about the same time they announced Toyota was going to race in Cup, they brought out the Car of Tomorrow, and everybody hates it. So now people spend more time griping about it. Changed their target. They have to have something to gripe about. They move from the Toyota to the ugly car. I happen to love that, too. I'm sorry."

Personally, I think people are complaining about Toyota being in the sport almost as much as they are about the COT, but neither thing is going away. Nor is the Chase. Not only do some fans have problems accepting change, but I also think there's a percentage of fans who are happier complaining about how terrible Nascar is than they are cheering for the drivers they like.

Speaking of being negative, that's what Jeff Hammond was about MWR in his latest column. He said,

"Michael Waltrip Racing is struggling, and it has a lot to do with preparation. Starting three teams and trying to get everything going is taking a toll on the entire organization. Granted, Dale Jarrett is already locked into the field with a champion's provisional, but Waltrip has to make David Reutimann's ride and his own No. 55 car faster. They've got a lot of new components, and they're behind because of it."

I agree that trying to get three teams going at the same time is challenging, but Hammond lost me when he talks about their struggles in testing having to do with preparation. Anyone watching Michael Waltrip Racing: A New Era, would see that MWR has spent a significant amount of time preparing for not only testing but the 2007 season, starting months ago. Just exactly what does Hammond think they've been doing at MWR all these months? In addition, I'm not sure how he can draw the conclusion that they're actually struggling when most everyone else agrees that it's hard to truly know how a team did in testing because of all the different agendas and experimenting that teams do. Yes, it would be good to find more speed for all the MWR cars, and yes they've taken on a lot and it's difficult, but are they really behind? I'm not so sure about that.

In non-testing news apparently Michael and David Reutimann filmed a new commercial for Best Western recently that will air in March. I'm jealous of Michael because he got to go to a part of the country that I'd love to visit - Sedona, Arizona, where the commercial was filmed. It's supposed to be beautiful there!

Posted by silverdsl at 04:29 PM | Comments (0)

More Random Thoughts...

...not worthy of thier own entry but still interesting...

*Mike Skinner is going to race some Cup races for Bill Davis Racing in the #23 car this season, assuming he's able to make the field, and Johnny Benson may do the same. Apparently it all comes down to - no suprise - sponsorship, as well as whether there's a need for BDR to have an R&D car. I would love to see Johnny make a return to Cup, though I'm not sure how competitive the #23 will be.

*Speaking of drivers making a return to Cup, over on the Ricky Craven forum, someone posted that Craven said on Sirius that he may race some COT races later in the season. Ricky's another driver I'd love to see back in any level in Nascar, but much like Steve Park the deals that Ricky's worked on for a new ride haven't worked out. So I'm not going to get too excited about seeing Ricky back in Cup, but it sure would be great! The only question is which team might this be with? PPI Motorsports, Ricky's former team submitted a COT car for approval, but seeing as how they've pretty much closed their doors it doesn't seem likely that it'll be with them. Wyler Racing was going to race some COT Cup races, but I haven't heard much about that lately.

*From the same company that did the outstanding book by, and about, Ken Schrader, comes a similar book about Kenny Wallace. I'm definitely going to order this book! Just like Ken, I'm sure Kenny has a lot of great stories to tell and I think this will be a very good read. Of particular interest will be whatever he says about filling in for Steve Park in the #1 car after his accident, and if any of the stories involve Michael Waltrip since they're pretty friendly.

*Things continue to be unsettled for South Point Racing. Testing was only so-so for the team, and particularly in the Daytona test the speeds were way down in comparision to other teams. That apparently was due to some engine issues due to the difficulty of Kroyer Engines making the switch from Dodge to Chevy. So South Point will be forced to use engines for the first two races of the season from a source other than Kroyer. That's probably a wise idea because it's essential that they get off to a good start this season. However, what do they do if the Kroyer engines still aren't up to speed after that? Will they have to get engines somewhere else permanently? And I wonder why they did a press release about this instead of just quietly using alternate engines?

*As expected Nascar announced today that the past Champion's provisional will be limited this season. Now past Champions may only use the provisional six times during the season. I think that's fair. Instead of eliminating it all together, a driver can still get a perk from being a past Champion, but this prevents the provisional from being abused by teams looking to hire past Champions simply to guarantee them spots in races, which sometimes comes at the expense of faster cars.

*A.J. Allmendinger wrecked both of his cars during testing at Las Vegas, and I don't think that bodes well for him, at least in the short-term this season. While I expect that once he adjusts to racing Cup he'll be pretty good, I have a feeling that he's going to struggle in Cup at first. That's not good for Red Bull Racing since it might mean that he fails to qualify for races. However, I'm not writing A.J. off completely like some are doing simply on the basis of this test. He may not have any Cup experience but his results elsewhere indicate that he's a talented driver so I think eventually he'll be able to show that talent in Nascar too.

*Dale Earnhardt, Jr. suffered two blown engines during testing. That's likely not a big deal because teams often experiment with things during testing that they wouldn't do during actual races. However, one area has come up over and over again as where DEI needs to improve and that's in the engine department so it wouldn't be a good thing for them if that was indeed a sign of things to come.

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

Bernie Williams Gets a Spring Training Invite

Bernie Williams has been an outstanding player for the New York Yankees, and has contributed significantly to their success since 1996. However, he's well past his prime. So much so that it's painful when he plays the outfield these days. Although Williams wasn't as horrible as I thought he might be at the plate last season, he's definitely not the same offensive player he once was either. In addition, the Yankees really don't have a spot for him unless they opt to carry less pitchers. But that hasn't stopped the Yankees from extending a non-guaranteed spring training invitation to him. Respect and loyalty to a player who has been a big part of the organization for a long time is likely what's behind the invite, but I'm not exactly jumping for joy about the possiblity that Williams might somehow find his way onto the team at the end of spring training. After all, Joe Torre is intensely loyal to his veterans, sometimes it seems to the point where he seemingly overlooks that they aren't the player that they once were.

What I'd like to see happen is for Williams to accept the invitation, go to spring training and then retire. That way he can say he retired as a Yankee. A number of other players went that route. Or Williams declines the invitation if he still wants to continue playing and signs with another team. I just don't want to see a scenario where Williams is on the Opening Day roster.

Posted by silverdsl at 02:38 PM | Comments (0)

Mike Mussina Honored

Anyone who regularly reads this space has probably noticed that I've not written about the New York Yankees as much recently as I used to. I'm still just as much of a fan as ever, it's just that nothing's gone on that I've felt particularly motivated to blog about other than the major stories like the return of Andy Pettitte (one of the few whose still not loving it), Randy Johnson being traded, and the possible return of Roger Clemens. I'm very much looking forward to the start of the season so hopefully I'll have more to say about the Yankees then.

In the meantime Mike Mussina was honored last night at the 27th annual Thurman Munson Awards dinner. The dinner raises money each year to help those with diseases, and also honors New York atheletes who are involved with philanthropic causes. This year's baseball honoree was Mussina, whose foundation awards scholarships to high school students for college. Mussina is my favorite Yankee, and his committment to helping others with his foundation makes me like him even more!

Mussina was also asked about a variety of Yankee-related topics. About Carl Pavano, Mussina said,

"He's got to earn some trust from some players again, and from the coaching staff and the manager and the organization. If he can do it, we know he can pitch and we know he can get people out. If he gets over those hurdles, he'll be an asset."

Not only does Pavano need to earn the trust of those on the team, but he also needs to earn the trust of the fans again. There's very few people who think that Pavano is capable of contributing in a positive way to the Yankees. Even if he pitches well to start the season, how long is it going to be before he goes down with another injury? That said, if he stays healthy and pitches extremely well, I think a lot of fans will forget that he missed so much time. If fans can forgive Jason Giambi for Balco, then I'd say they can forgive Pavano for seemingly being made out of glass. That same is likely true for his teammates.

Another topic that came up was the recently traded Randy Johnson, whom Mussina seemed to indicate never enjoyed playing in New York. Mussina said that Johnson,

"...doesn't seem like he has a lot of fun pitching in New York, and he certainly wears it on his sleeve."

and

"When you put on the pinstripes, you're expected to do that 35 times a year. Realistically, that's not possible, but you can't fight it either. You have to roll with it and expect to do well. I just think he got a bad taste in his mouth."

Which essentially means that RJ never adjusted to, or was comfortable pitching in New York with all the pressure. That's kind of amazing to me because if there's one player I figured would be albe to handle playing for the Yankees and all that goes along with it, I would have thought it would be RJ. Instead of being intimidated, RJ's used to intimidating others. But that never happened with the Yankees, and I guess RJ wasn't able to deal with not living up to expectations. Which makes me even happier that the Yankees traded him because a player with a bad attitude, who isn't really enjoying where he's playing probably isn't able to give his best to the team.

As for Roger Clemens, Mussina joked that he wanted the Yankees to sign him because, "He'd be the only guy older than I am." Which is exactly why I hope the Yankees ultimately pass on Clemens.

Posted by silverdsl at 11:27 AM | Comments (0)

January 30, 2007

Nascar Seeking $30 Million From Next (Formerly Busch) Series Sponsor

Nascar's asking price to sponsor the series below the Cup series, now known as the Busch Series, is jumping up to $30 million a season. Many fans are wondering how Nascar's going to convince a sponsor to cough up $30 million, when so many teams on all three levels have sponsorship issues, but I think it might be easier than some fans think. Nascar's spokesperson Ramsey Poston said,

"The entitlement would provide the eventual sponsor over $100 million annually in brand exposure, and that, along with the partnership with ESPN2, makes this a very desirable position in sports."

So for an investment of $30 million, a company will get a return in exposure worth $100 million. I'm thinking there aren't too many other places that a company spend $30 million in advertising and marketing money and get that kind of a return. No wonder Nascar has at least six major companies including Subway, Samsung, Wal-Mart, Dunkin' Donuts and AllState interested in taking Anheuser-Busch's place.

That company's name would be repeated over and over again every time the series name was mentioned, and would be prominantly featured not only in TV Broadcasts, but in media coverage, and in all kinds of publicity. Instead of investing having to spend money to sponsor a team, and then worry about whether their driver will get them enough exposure or if the results on the track will be good enough to justify the money they're spending to sponsor the car, they can sponsor a series where they'll get a tremendous amount of exposure no matter who wins or loses. In addition, with how many Buschwackers there continues to be, the sponsor knows that the interest in the Busch Series will likely continue to be fairly strong. Seems like a pretty good opportunity for a sponsor with some money to spend.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:17 PM | Comments (0)

January 29, 2007

Photo of the Day - Door

Kennebunk, Maine, 2004.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:23 PM | Comments (0)

In the News: Michael Waltrip (1/29)

Michael Waltrip and his fellow Cup drivers were testing in Las Vegas today. I'm sure many of them very much look forward to an excursion to Las Vegas where there's plenty of fun to be had! However, I doubt that the drivers are having as much fun at testing, especially if one is with a team that's not at the top of the speed charts. David Reutimann was the fastest of the Michael Waltrip Racing cars in the first session - he was 39th out of 94 cars in car #00A. That's probably not all that surprising since he's the only one of the three that has raced on the track since it's been reconfigured. Michael was 63rd fastest and Dale Jarrett was 67th fastest.

I'm sure the first reaction from a lot of fans is to freak out. And it's true that seeing the MWR cars at the top of the speed charts would be a confidence booster, especially since a number of races will be at tracks like this. However, as I always say about testing, it's hard to draw too many conclusions. Every team has a different agenda, they're experimenting with all sorts of things, some of which they can't use during actual races, and some of them aren't showing their full hand. In addition, the MWR cars were as fast or faster than cars from elite teams such as Hendrick Motorsports, DEI, Joe Gibbs Racing, etc... I highly doubt those teams are panicing, so why would MWR? I'm sure Michael is nervous about how he and his teams are going to do but all they can do is work as hard as possible to be the best they can be and then let the chips fall where they may. Apparently Michael and DJ will be addressing the media tomorrow so we'll hear more about how Michael feels about this test session then.

In the meantime, the articles about Toyota's entry into the Cup series and the reaction continue. As much as I enjoy reading what Michael has to say about that topic and all others, at the same time I'm getting a little sick of the same story over and over again about the resistance Toyota is facing from some. But Michael says that he doesn't think the general public will have an issue with Toyota in Cup. He said,

"Camry has been the No. 1 selling car in America for nine of the last 10 years. What does that tell you? There's going to be a lot more people who are OK with you driving a Toyota than there is not."

I think he's right if he's talking about non-Nascar or even casual fans considering the popularity of Toyota in this country as a car to drive. But the reality is that there's still a significant amount of fans who are completely against Toyota's presence in Nascar, and are having a difficult time getting used to the idea of them in Cup. Perhaps when Michael and other Toyota drivers make comments like this they're trying to send a message to those fans who are still anti-Toyota by trying to make it seems as if the anti-Toyota sentiments are in the minority. After all, unfortunately there are some fans who follow the herd and might be swayed if they think that the popular opinion is that no one minds Toyota. I just don't think it's going to be that easy though. There are many people who are extremely rigid, stubborn and set in their ways. No matter how persausive the argument is that there's nothing wrong with Toyota in Cup, or that they should at least have a little more tolerance, they aren't going to budge.

Overall, Michael's outlook is positive. He said about his teams,

"So far, it’s really easy. We haven’t lost a single race. We’re tied for the points lead and we’re looking good,. Right now, car ownership is perfect. I’ve got sponsors, I’ve got people and we’re ready to go. For now, it’s all good.”

That's very true. At the moment, MWR is on an equal playing field to all the other teams. I like Michael's attitude because it's very positive - things are likely not to be easy once the season starts, but for now they aren't behind, they've not had any bad races, they're not struggling to catch up in the points or worrying about making that weekend's race. They're just putting the maximum amount of effort possible into making sure they're as prepared as possible for the start of the season and being the best that they can be.

I also like this comment by Michael:

“You might say I might not be the greatest driver ever, but I’ve known a lot of drivers who would like to have won two Daytona 500s and didn’t.”

Despite what a lot of people think Michael's very humble and realistic about himself. He doesn't brag about his accomplishements in the sport and he recognizes that he's not a Tony Stewart or Jeff Gordon, and won't ever be. However, he is a two-time Daytona 500 winner, and that's an impressive accomplishment. Many other drivers would love to win the Daytona 500 just once, let alone twice. Michael may not be the best driver in the field, but he's still extremely talented, way more so than he's ever given credit for.

Ty Norris had a great comment too. He said,

“For Michael to be able to come in and pull this off … is one of the most miraculous things I think anyone has ever done in this sport. He dedicated himself to this thing. He didn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. He didn’t go in and say, ‘This is how it has to be done.’ He basically had a white board and took the approach that if we have to structure a certain way, we’ll do it. Ultimately we were able to come out of this thing with great race car drivers and premium sponsorships across the board.”

It's definitely incredible, and I find myself in awe of what Michael's done, even before they've run a single Cup race as a Toyota team. Michael had a vision and he was determined to make it happen - and he did. That's how I know that ultimately MWR will be successful in Cup, because Michael, Ty, and everyone else at MWR will make it so. Not only is Michael going to continue to not take "no" for an answer, he's going to continue to not listen to the naysayers who have already written him and MWR off. It might not happen immediately, but eventually he's going to open a few eyes.

Most of all, I love reading Michael talk about being happy and enjoying what he's doing.

"A lot of things that have to work out and there are a lot of things I’m responsible for to make sure we’re ready to race in February, but I’m happy. I love it.”

Last season was disappointing and difficult for Michael, probably harder on him than many realize. So many dismiss Michael as a driver and think that he doesn't care about his results as long as he's plugging his sponsors - they're wrong. Michael's just as competitive as any of the other drivers, and poor results and missing races was painful and depressing for him. I'm so glad that he's put that behind him and is focusing on what lies in front of him - something truly amazing that he's created, built and made happen. I hope that Michael continues to be happy and love what he's doing for a long time to come!

In other news Michael will be one of the featured drivers on Nascar Hotpass on DirecTV for Daytona. That's good news for fans of Michael's who are subscribers to DirecTV because they'll have an entire channel during the race that focuses just on Michael - his in-car, his radio communication, his pit stops, the race will be called from his perspective, etc... Although it sounds pretty cool, I don't think I'd get DirecTV just to order that package, even if I wasn't barred from having a dish in my condo development.

Posted by silverdsl at 08:44 PM | Comments (0)

Update from Steve Park

From Steve Park's site:

January 29,2007 - Quick note from Steve:
Wanted to let everybody know that 07 race season is close! It's not here yet and though there is nothing to report, were not giving up the fight! "Never Surrender" We will continue to look for the right opportunity and though we have had some set back's.... we will continue to keep all my fans here on Steve-Park .com informed as the news comes in! It's been a tough road but Hey!.... the Bears are in the Superbowl! Go Bears!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for your continued support!
Steve Park
Harley Park!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've been critical of Steve and his website lately so I feel that I have to point out when Steve and those that run his website do something good. Today they posted an update from Steve that was a lot more candid and up-front about his situation than any update in a long time, with no promises of announcements that never come. That there was an update is great - Steve's fans want to hear from him as much as possible even when he's not on the track racing, and it's disappointing to many when there's silence and he seems to disappear.

It could just be coincidence that they decided to do this update, and another recent one around the time that there's been some complaints, but kudos to them if they decided to address that some fans expressed a desire to hear from Steve more often via his website. So many people depend on websites, especially official websites to get news and information, and fans not only want to see updates from their favorite drivers, but expect it. So it's good that Steve and his "people" are giving them what they want. It's hard for some to understand but the reality is that not every fan will stick around if they feel as if their favorite driver or athlete has dropped off the face of the earth. It's not that they're "bad" fans, or that they stop being fans, it's that they might shift some of the more hardcore fan behaviors elsewhere. Teams, drivers and sponsors spend a huge amount of time finding ways to draw fans in so that they'll buy merchandise and support the sponsors and their products - keeping fans informed and enthusiastic is part of the way to keep fans interested.

As I noted above it's good to see an update that's not an announcement about an announcement. Instead Steve says t that there's nothing to say, and acknowledges that there's been some set-backs. I think it's a much better course of action to be straight-forward. This way no one gets their hopes up thinking that there's going to be some sort of news soon only to be disappointed, and there's no frustrations when deadlines for announcements come and go. It's not always easy to acknowledge when things aren't working out exactly as one would hope as I think Steve is doing here, so I give him a lot of credit for being willing to share with his fans how things are going for him, which isn't all that great as far as a ride goes, but extremely well as far as being a fan goes since his favorite football team is in the Super Bowl.

What's not so good that Steve still doesn't have a ride. Of course Steve isn't giving up on finding a ride for this season - he didn't give up in the face of two serious accidents, I wouldn't expect him to throw in the towel yet. However, he's likely going to be waiting a while for the right opportunity to come his way unfortunately. The vast majority of teams already have their drivers set for this season, but maybe something will turn up as the season goes along if a team wants to make a driver change or decides to expand - Steve could certainly win races for a team that gave him a competitive car or truck, it just takes a team and sponsor willing to believe in his abilities as much as his fans do.

There's also a photo of Steve's dog Harley wearing a Bear's cap - I wonder how many promises of treats it takes to get him to pose like that?! My dog would never be so cooperative!

Posted by silverdsl at 08:03 PM | Comments (0)

Carl Edwards to Race All Three Daytona Races

Not only will Carl Edwards race the Cup and Busch races at Daytona in Febuary, but he will also race the Truck Race that weekend as well. Apparently it's the first of several Truck races that Edwards will race in the #50 truck for Roush Racing, a truck he will share with Peter Shepard. Currently the truck is without sponsorship, as another Roush truck, Travis Kvapil's #6. Any bets about which truck will find at least partial sponsorship first given that Edwards is a very popular Cup driver? It's certainly possible that there's already a full primary sponsorship lined up for Kvapil's truck, but odds are that Edwards will still draw far more attention from fans and the media than Kvapil, even if his results are good this season.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:25 PM | Comments (0)

Answers

It's pretty interesting seeing what people are searching for when they end up on my site. Naturally the majority of interest seems to lie with Michael Waltrip and Steve Park since I talk about them so often, but also Kasey Kahne, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Elliott Sadler. Other non-Nascar topics that draw people to my blog are the Paulinskill Viaduct, Ogunquit Maine, Jekyll Island and Las Vegas. I really don't know the answers to a lot of what people are looking for but here's some thoughts and answers to some of the most recent things that people seem to be wondering about.

*I don't know if any Nascar drivers or their significant others are having affairs. It's none of my business and I really don't care either except in a can't look away from the train-wreck kind of way.
*I don't know what Steve Park's plans are in relation to racing for 2007, though this close to the start of the season I think it's pretty unlikely that we'll be seeing much of him on the track. No, people who think that aren't bad fans contrary to what some believe.
*I haven't seen 360OTC in any stores yet either.
*The Taipei 101 in Taipei, Taiwan is the world's tallest building at 1,671 feet.
*It's lovely at night in Aruba.
*There are a number of rumors about workers being killed during the construction of the Paulinskill Viaduct. There's even one that says that a worker fell into the concrete that was being used to construct the viaduct and his body was unable to be removed so it's still embedded inside to this day. Rumor has it that his ghost still haunts the viaduct. However, to my knowledge no evidence has ever surfaced to indicate that any story about anyone dying while the viaduct was being built is true. There have been some suicides at the viaduct though.
*Yes, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. finally got the rights to his name last year.
*It's highly unlikely that Steve Park will ever race for Bill Davis Racing.
*Wouldn't that be nice if Sunoco sponsored Steve Park?
*I have no nude photos of any driver or their significant others. And the thought of Matt Kenseth nekkid is icky!
*Yes, Aruba's most famous natural bridge collapsed in 2005.
*If Michael Waltrip does that, I don't want to know about it!!

*Bobby Hamiltion did get a divorce from the woman he was married to for quite a few years, and then remarried before he passed away.
*Bill Elliott would like to race the full season in 2007 for R&J Racing but a lack of sponsorship may prevent that from happening.
*Elliott Sadler may have been a womanizer at one time but he recently claimed that he's found a woman that he wants to settle down with.
*Yes, Junior is negotiating with DEI on a new contract.
*I would agree that it was about time the Yankees realized that Randy Johnson is old (in baseball terms) and past his prime.
*It would be hard to give an exact address for the Paulinskill Viaduct since it's out in the middle of the woods on a fairly rural road without any other structures nearby.
*David Reutimann has a message board on his website.
*Yes, Martin Truex, Jr. was literally caught with his pants down. He was caught by a Daytona police officer peeing in public, on the side of his car in a public garage.
*That was a pretty embarassing moment when Kyle Busch got his girlfriend's name wrong at the banquet.
*Claire B. Lang is staying with XM to do her show, "Dialed In" even though Nascar moved to SIrius.
*The three climbers on Mt. Hood likely ran into unexpected trouble which prevented them from descending as quickly as they thought they would be able to. One climber died from hypothermia in a snow cave, and the other two it's believed might have fallen as they tried to go for help.
*No, Alex Rodriguez is not mentally ill. Not hitting as well as he has in years past is not a sign of mental illness.
*Brendan Gaughan's father is Michael Gaughan who owns the South Point Casino in Las Vegas.
*Yes, I also wish there was more news on Steve Park.
*The architecture firm that designed the Red Rock Casino in Las Vegas is KGA Architecture.
*Bootie Barker was paralyzed in a car accident that he doesn't like to talk about because he'd prefer that people focus on his skills as a crew chief or who he is as a person rather than that he's in a wheelchair.
*The Millau Viaduct in France is apparently the tallest bridge in the world.
*I'm sure a lot of people were cursing when Brian Vickers got into Jimmie Johnson which resulted in not only JJ getting wrecked, but also Junior.
*I'm not sure if cocaine, which is one of the drugs that Shane Hmeil admitted to using, could be classified as a performance enhancing substance.
*Michael Waltrip and Terry LaBonte did indeed have a run-in a few years ago in which Terry took a swing at Michael.
*I agree that the Nubble Lighthouse in York, Maine is beautiful.
*Michael Waltrip Racing signed Josh Wise to a development deal a few months ago. He'll race mostly ARCA and the Truck Series this season, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him turn up in the Busch Series before too long.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:20 PM | Comments (0)

January 28, 2007

Photo of the Day

Cape May, New Jersey. September, 2005.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:57 PM | Comments (0)

Ganassi Team Wins Rolex 24 For Second Year in a Row

I watched some of the Rolex 24 because it's racing, and I miss watching races every weekend, but I have to admit that it's hard for me to get into this race. Still, I enjoyed seeing the cars go 'round the track. This year's winning team belonged to Chip Ganassi, just like last year, only the team this time was made up of Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Pruett, and Salvador Duran. By winning this race, Montoya becomes only the second man after Mario Andretti tohave won the Indianapolis 500, an American open-wheel championship, a Formula One race, and a race like this at Daytona.

Some are predicting that Montoya will have an extremely difficult time in Nascar, but I think this is a good reminder of what an outstanding driver Montoya is. Of course Montoya wasn't driving the same kind of car he will be in the Cup Series, but he combined with his teammates to take the Ganassi car out front and keep it there during this race. While Montoya may need some time to adjust to Nascar, I think some who are underestimating him might end up being suprised. I know I'm pretty excited to see how he does.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:33 PM | Comments (1)

January 26, 2007

Mike Bliss to Key Motorsports for Four Races

Last season Mike Bliss was full-time in the Truck Series and he put the #16 truck in Victory Lane at Atlanta, ultimately finishing 11th in the points. However, a trip to Victory Lane wasn't good enough to draw sponsorship for the #16, and Xpress Motorsports had no choice but to decide not to field the truck this season leaving Bliss without a truck ride. But in addition to his driving duties with the #49 Cup car, Bliss has found himself a truck ride for a few races. He'll be racing the #40 for Key Motorsports for four races early in the season, before Shane Huffman and Clay Rogers split the rest of the season in the truck. I'm wondering if this is an effort to try to make sure the #40 is in the top 30 in owner's points before putting young drivers without much experience behind the wheel? Daytona can be tricky for young drivers since it's so easy to find trouble on the track, and Bliss has very good stats at the next three tracks, including Fontana where he's won a race and never finished outside the top ten when he's raced there in a truck.

This would have been a good gig for Steve Park. Although the #40 wasn't an outstanding team in 2006, Curtis Key has expressed his committment to doing as much as he can to make the team more competitive. So I think it might have been a good opportunity for Steve to help a team build into a decent team, plus it probably would have given him the opportunity to mentor Huffman and Rogers - surely there's plenty they can learn from an experienced veteran like Steve. In addition, this would have been a good way for Steve to showcase his ability if the car was competitive enough to allow him to get good results with it. That might have made it possible to attract some interest from other teams that might be looking at expanding their programs or making a driver change later in the season. But Steve didn't get the ride.

ETA: It literally just occured to me in the middle of the night - Bliss is a past Champion. And when I checked, the #40 team is outside the top 30 in owner's points so they aren't guaranteed a spot for those first races. Correction. They weren't guaranteed a spot. Now with Bliss behind the wheel they can make use of his past Champion's provisional if need be. Very smart move on the part of this team to go with Bliss.

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

Will Trains Run Across the Viaduct Again?

There's renewed talk about NJ Transit reviving the abandoned rail line between New York and the Poconos on which the Paulinskill Viaduct sits. That bit of news makes me very cranky because that would likely mean an end to visits to the Viaduct. Sure, I might still be able to walk around underneath, but there would definitely be no access up top, and I'm sure NJ transit would put in a lot more fences and security to prevent access to much of the viaduct. Which makes me sad because I think the Viaduct is one of New Jersey's gems and it's one of my favorite places to visit and explore. I love taking photos there. I think this means as soon as the weather warms up I should make another visit in case access is cut off.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:28 PM | Comments (0)

Truck Series Stats

I love numbers. It's funny that I like them so much because I find math to be very difficult. However, I've always liked numbers in the form of stats when it comes to sports. I'm not really a stathead though because I believe that stats are just one way to evaluate a player or team, as opposed to the only way, since the numbers don't always reflect the full story, particularly in racing where there's so many factors that go into where a driver and team finishes in each race. But I enjoy looking at stats and numbers, so I was happy to see that Charles Krall, one of the editors at Truckseries.com had put together a piece on some of the numbers in relation to the Truck Series last season. Here's a few that caught my eye, and some thoughts on each.

*Let's start with 0 like Charles did. 0 is how many wins Dodge had this season. I guess that's what happens when a manufacturer pulls out of the series as much as Dodge has. Although I believe Bobby Hamilton Racing will continue to field Dodges in 2007, I have a feeling Dodge may come up with zero wins this season as well in the Truck Series.

*Two. There were two first time winners in the Truck Series this season - Clint Bowyer and Johnny Benson. Of course Johnny didn't stop with his first win in a truck - he went on to win four more on top of that. It's really amazing to me what a breakthrough season Johnny had in the Truck Series. Five wins, and 13 top fives, the most of any driver in the series. Well-done Johnny! I hope we see a lot of Johnny racing up front this season too!

*Five. Now that Erik Darnell has won the Rookie of the Year award in the Truck Series, five different Roush Racing drivers have won ROY honors. Besides Darnell, those drivers are Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, and Todd Kluever. Roush has definitely produced some outstanding talent from the Truck Series.

*Five. That's the amount of races with a margin of victory under a quarter of a second. That kind of close racing for the win makes for extremely exciting racing! I love races that have finishes that close to the point! Under a quarter of a second - wow!

*Six. Mark Martin won six truck races in 2006, the most of any driver, and he wasn't even racing full-time in the series. In fact Mark raced in only 14 truck races last season, so he won in almost half the starts he made which is a big indication of how competitive his truck and team were, as well as how outstanding he is behind the wheel. Travis Kvapil will be in this truck this season and it'll be interesting to see if he has as much success as Mark did.

*Seven. That's the winner's average starting spot during the 2006 season. That means that qualifying well really was important in the Truck Series last season. Sometimes I get the feeling, across all series, that teams downplay the importance of qualifying well. But seems to me that this stat reflects how hard it can be for a team if they qualify at the back.

*Eight. Mike Skinner won eight poles in 2006, the most of any driver, yet that translated into one one win. Skinner had a good season and he finished 10th in the points. But with eight poles and an average starting spot of 5.4, best of any driver, it seems like one might expect Skinner to have had even better results since he clearly often had a fast truck during qualifying. Unfortunately, a lot can happen between qualifying and the end of a race.

*8.4. That was the best average finish for any driver in the series and not surprisingly it belonged to series Champion Todd Bodine. To be Champion one has to consistantly finish well more often than not.

*12. The amount of wins for Toyota in the series last season. I would love to see them repeat that kind of success in the Cup Series this season!

*19. That's how many drivers raced the full season in the Truck Series. Really that's not many. Here's another number - 90 - that's the number of different drivers who competed in the series in 2006. I think those two numbers are one reason why it's hard for some fans to really get into the Truck Series. With the Cup Series fans know that the majority of the field are drivers that they're going to see every race. But in the Truck Series drivers come and go on a regular basis, so there's a limited pool of drivers that fans can cheer for from race-to-race and develop a loyalty to.

* 25. That's the number of races that Erin Crocker started in 2006, which meant that she made history by being the first female driver to race an entire season in any of Nascar's nationally touring series. I hope she won't be the last.

*51. The number of drivers who led a race last season. Which means that over half the drivers who raced in the series led at least one lap.

*56. Last season 56 teams entered in at least one race. So there was a revolving door of drivers for many of those teams since 90 total drivers raced at least one race last season.

*107. Toyota teams finished in the top ten 107 times out of a possible 250 available chances for them to finish in the top ten. I think that shows just how good those Toyota teams are, and I hope they continue to be strong for years to come. Toyota drivers also led 1,958 laps in 2006.

*1,046,680. That reflects the total winnings for series Champion Todd Bodine. Compare that to the amount that Jimmie Johnson won as Cup Champion - $8,909,140. Huge difference there. Though there's not as much of a difference between Bodine's winnings and that of Kevin Harvick who won the Busch Series Championship last season. Kevin won $1,345,380.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:13 PM | Comments (0)

Ray Evernham on Erin Crocker

I don't have a link for this because it comes out of an interview with Ray Evernham that Claire B. Lang played on her show on XM this week but he had some interesting things to say about Erin Crocker. For the two people who have been in a cave somewhere and somehow missed the news - Ray isn't just Erin's boss, he's her boyfriend, which puts an extra twist on everything.

Things didn't go very well for Erin in the Truck Series this season. In fact, I'd say the results were pretty putrid. There's really no way to spin her season into something good - she raced in every race but failed to get a single top five, top ten or even top fifteen. Her best finishes were a pair of 16th place finishes, one at Kansas and one at Phoenix. Erin's results were so poor that she finished the lowest in the points - 25th - of the 19 drivers who raced full-time in the Truck Series last season. Six drivers who didn't race the full season actually finished ahead of her in the points. So yeah, that's pretty bad, especially considering it's hard to use the excuse that the truck wasn't competitive since it had full sponsorship and was fielded by a large organization with many resources.

So why didn't she do better? Well, Ray connects it to a loss of confidence on Erin's part, and I would agree about that. She even spoke of it herself at times. Ray feels that perhaps some of the loss of confidence is tied to the negative publicity that she had to endure last season. That may very well be true, but thing is that as much as I think Ray and Erin are grown adults who have the right to live their lives as they choose, they also have to accept the consequences, and that negative publicity is somewhat self-created. So with that in mind, Erin's going to have to look inside herself to get herself back on track and regain her confidence. This is a woman who can race, she's shown that on other levels. And Ray wants to see it in Nascar too. He said that he told Erin this week that he wants to see the "firey redhead" that (my words) kicked booty in the Sprint cars, and won a World of Outlaws race, the only female to do so. I would agree that a change in attitude and getting some of that fire back might be a very good thing for Erin.

If need be Ray said he would even let Erin explore opportunities with other teams if that's what it took for her to succeed. But how likely is that other teams, particularly top teams, will show any interest in her? I think that a lot of teams would shy away from Erin due to not only her poor results in the truck, but also the previously mentioned negative publicity. Again, another consequence that she will have to deal with. Image counts in this sport where drivers are held to very high standards and are expected not to do anything that might offend fans lest they decide not to support that driver's sponsor.

Speaking of sponsors, most had speculated that Betty Crocker opting to discontinue their sponsorship of the #98 truck was due to the backlash from Erin's relationship with Ray, but he said that it was because they felt they weren't getting enough return on their investment in terms of exposure. While I think the controversy about Ray and Erin likely played a role, fact is that it's quite true that Betty Crocker could likely get far more exposure in a higher series even if Erin had gotten better results. I was a little suprised in the first place when the deal to sponsor her for the full season in the Truck Series was announced because usually the sponsors with money to spend want to sponsor Cup drivers and teams. So it's not that suprising that they would opt to cease their sponorship of that truck. In some ways it's unfortunate because not only will Erin not be racing in the Truck Series this season, but the team itself won't be on the track so it's yet another team that's disappearing due to a lack of sponsorship, though it's likely there were other issues involved as well.

Many fans have soured on Erin due to her relationship with Ray, but not me. She'll be racing mostly ARCA this season, and I hope she turns back into that firey redhead that caught Ray's eye on the track (and apparently off of it as well). I would really love to see her succeed in Nascar, because I'd one day love to see a female driver in Victory Lane in one of Nascar's three highest levels. Only time will tell if Erin can get her career back on track and be that female driver.

Posted by silverdsl at 01:54 PM | Comments (0)

January 25, 2007

Photo of the Day -Oregon Coast

Cannon Beach, Oregon. September, 2006. There's probably lots of cool stuff to find on this beach!

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

Something That Will Probably Only Be of Interest to Me

There's not much to say about it, but I came across something pretty interesting - apparently this winter some 300-year old tree stumps have been uncovered on some of the beaches on the coast of Central Oregon. What makes these stumps so interesting is not only the shapes they form (they're actually the root structures of the trees they once belonged to), but that the theory is that they were once part of trees that were destroyed in a giant tsunami that followed an earthquake. Another interesting article that mentions these stumps also talks about Guy DiTorrice, who specializes in the geology of the Oregon Coast, especially fossils.

I love stuff that can be found on beaches, I love cool driftwood and twisted trees, and I also love rocks!

Posted by silverdsl at 09:30 PM | Comments (0)

From Rookie of the Year to Rideless

That's what happened to Danny O'Quinn. It's hard to believe that he was Rookie of the Year in the Busch Series, and now he has no ride other than the one race he's going to race for Roush Racing at Kentucky. Part of the problem is that Roush, to whom he's still under contract, can't find a sponsor for a ride for him. However, they've also given him permission to contact other organizations about a ride, and so far no one's interested in his services. His stats weren't impressive last season, just five top tens and one top five. But it was still good enough to get him ROY. In addition, it seems to me that one season in Busch isn't really enough time to give a young driver to develop.

I suppose though in some ways I shouldn't be too surprised. Sponsors and teams in the Busch Series want to align themselves with Cup drivers for exposure and financial reasons. O'Quinn may be a good driver but it's unlikely that he'll get a team or sponsor the exposure that a Cup driver will. It's unfortunate but it's starting to look like O'Quinn's time in Nascar will be a lot briefer than he thought it would be.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:00 PM | Comments (0)

January 24, 2007

Photo of the Day - Palm Trees at Sunset

Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida. January, 2004.

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

In the News: Michael Waltrip (1/24)

Michael Waltrip talked with the media Monday night at an event that I believe was hosted by Toyota. I was hoping that there would be a transcript of his comments like there was for many of the other media sessions that the owners and drivers have been holding this week, but so far no such luck. Maybe if there's a Michael Waltrip Racing specific session for the media with Michael and his drivers there will be an extended transcript and more articles, but for now I'm enjoying the few that there's been because it's nice to read confident and positive comments from Michael about MWR and his future!

Michael's enjoying his role as the owner of three Cup teams. One thing he's particularly excited about is having David Reutimann as one of his drivers. He said,

"Reutimann's just a fast driver. That's what I like about David. Dale and I have to teach him how to harness his speed and get all the way through a race without wiping out.''

Somehow I don't think that's going to be a problem. Every driver finds trouble on the track at times, but last season it seemed like David was pretty good at keeping his cars and trucks in one piece. And he certainly was fast! With DJ and Michael as his teachers, David is sure to learn a lot of valuable things that will help him get good results. Some dismiss Michael as a driver because his results don't place him with the elite in the sport. And some think that DJ is washed up. But both men are still veterans of the sport, who have won multiple races in Cup, and have a tremendous amount of knowledge about racing and how to survive in the sport to share.

Michael also said that all that he's been undertaking hasn't been that difficult.

"It's really not been that difficult simply because I have been working on the footprint of this project for a couple of years now.''

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - one of the things that I admire most about Michael is how forward thinking he is. There's no doubt in my mind that he was probably thinking about how he could build MWR even before he entered into talks with Toyota. And once he officially joined Toyota, he found a way to make all his ideas reality - something else I admire about him. One of the biggest reasons why I think MWR is going to have success is because this isn't something that Michael's just thrown together. A tremendous amount of thinking, planning and hard work has gone into it for several years now, not only by Michael, but by quite a few others working with him.

The big question is how MWR is going to fare when they show up to Daytona. Will their cars be fast? Will all three cars be able to qualify in on speed? Will they be competitive during the Daytona 500? Michael said of MWR's ability to compete and win,

"I knew DEI had it. Do I have it? I don't think anyone can fairly answer that. Can we compete? Yes."

There's definitely too many unknowns to predict exactly how MWR is going to do not just at Daytona but this season overall. But I have confidence that Michael is right when he says that they can compete.

Michael also said that it might not be clear immediately which Toyota teams are going to do well or not. (Though I'm sure fans will jump to conclusions on the basis of one race).

"We're in this for the long haul. I didn't see a future at DEI. But now I think I've found a place where I really fit in. I love it when I see the enthusiasm on Dale Jarrett's face. I just want to go racing."

Michael made reference to four or five races before judgements can be made about the Toyota teams, but I think it might take even longer than that before the teams shake the bugs out fully and we see their true potential. It's very true though that Michael and Toyota seem like a great fit together. Although there's sure to be some challenges and a lot of stress as the owner of three Cup teams, I think in the long run Michael's going to end up being a lot happier doing this than if he had stayed at DEI or raced for another team. It's not just that he didn't have a future at DEI, it's also that Michael has some independance and a lot of control. MWR is his, and he has the final say on what happens.

He just wants to go racing, and all his many fans can't wait to see him hit the track for the his first race in a Toyota Cup car!

Posted by silverdsl at 04:45 PM | Comments (0)

More Items Not Worthy of Their Own Entry

*There was a recent rumor that Kyle Petty might sit out five or six Cup races over the summer, and would work those races as part of TNT's broadcast team. Another driver would presumably race the #45 in his place. Although Kyle acknowledged yesterday that he's had discussions with TNT, it doesn't sound like there's any definite plans in place, simply that Kyle is exploring his options, which I think is wise. Kyle is outstanding in the booth, and he'd be an excellent addition to any broadcast team. He's not afraid to give his opinions, he has a lot of insight to share, and he has a very smooth style. But Kyle said yesterday that he's definitely not ready to step out of the car permanently. The results for Kyle haven't been good for a while now, I'd love to see him visit Victory Lane at least one more time before he retired, or at least have a good season, rather than have to deal with struggling to stick in the top 35 in owner's points like last season. For him to fully step out of the car though, I think PE needs to look at developing a young driver to take his place.

*Another piece of news from Petty Enterprises is that they're looking at moving their shop from Level Cross, North Carolina where they've been since the 50's to a location closer to Charlotte. As difficult of a decision as that might be, I think that would be a smart move. Apparently Level Cross is over an hour away from Charlotte where the majority of other race teams are located, and I think it makes sense for them to be close to where the rest are. Hiring personnel might be easier, networking and meetings might be more convenient, even getting deliveries of parts and other items from companies located in the Charlotte area might be easier too.

*It's not just the Cup series where there will be more emphasis on winning. An additional five points will be awarded to race winners in the Busch and Truck Series as well. I like anything that places more importance on winning races.

*Autozone has signed on to sponsor the #21 Busch car at Richard Childress Racing that will be driven by Kevin Harvick and Timothy Peters this season. Losing Autozone, the sponsor of their #22 car last season, seems to have sent ppc Racing into a tailspin to the point where they won't be fielding any cars themselves this season. But I can't blame Autozone for leaving for greener pastures. Although the #22 was among the better independant, Busch-only teams last season, the results weren't good enough to get them into the top ten in points. There's no question that Autozone will get far more exposure being associated with the reigning Busch Series Champion than with Kenny Wallace, and the results will likely be better too since RCR fields extremely strong Busch cars.

*Sterling Marlin said that depending on how this season goes, it could be his last. Sterling said,

“If we run top 10 this year, I’m going to sign up again and come back. But I’m not going to be a guy who will run around in 30th and be happy.”

Based on that unfortunately we may be seeing the last of Sterling as a full-time driver. Although Ginn Racing has poured a lot of resources, financial and otherwise into improving their organization, I'm skeptical that Sterling's going to race in the top ten regularly this season. Might he be able to get the occassional top ten this season? Maybe. But consistantly be among the better teams in the garage area, I don't think so. I might be surprised but I don't see Ginn being able to compete on the level of Hendrick Motorsports or Roush Racing yet.

*Apparently Robert Yates Racing is considering expanding to a three-car team in 2008, with CitiFinancial sponsoring a third car for Stephen Leicht. I guess we'll see how he does in Busch this season, but it seems to me that Leicht may still need another year or two before he's fully ready for Cup. I also think it puts a tremendous amount of pressure on him to talk about him and a Cup ride even before this season's started.

*If it were one of the Busch Brothers who had pee'd on their car and been busted for it like Martin Truex, Jr., I wonder how many fans would still be dismissing it as a nothing incident?

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

Disgusted by Top Chef

I'll be watching the final two episodes of this season's Top Chef tonight and next week just to find out what happens, but after the events on the show last week I'm utterly disgusted. Marcel might be incredibly annoying but that doesn't mean that it's okay to bully him, and there's never an excuse for things turning physical, which is what happened last week when Cliff pinned Marcel to the ground in a failed attempt to shave his head against his will. Not a single other of the chefs came to Marcel's aid, and all of them found the incident to be hysterically funny at the time. Some joke. The incident got Cliff thrown off the show, and I'm in agreement with Tom Colicchio, one of the judges, who wanted to throw all of those involved in the "prank" off the show and have Marcel win by default. Of course that didn't happen, and we're left with Marcel, Elia, Ilan and Sam in the finals.

While I think that Marcel's cooking is likely the weakest, I can't bring myself to cheer for any of the other three to win. That they're good cooks doesn't erase that they came off as complete asshats in last week's show. In all fairness a "reality" show doesn't fully capture reality - we see only what the producers allow us to see. But thanks to the chefs filming the "prank" with a camera they borrowed from production, there's no way to deny what happened. And there's no way to excuse it either. They should be ashamed of themselves, and they should hope that no one they're hoping to get hired by in the restaurant business was watching. So I'm left with just watching how things play out rather than getting excited hoping that one chef or another wins.

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

Kevin Harvick Calls Teresa Earnhardt a "Deadbeat Owner"

I think Kevin Harvick was right on-target with many of his comments yesterday about Teresa Earnhardt As an owner himself - Kevin has teams in Busch and Trucks through Kevin Harvick, Inc . - he's in a position to know what an owner should do to help their organization succeed, both on- and off-the-track. However, Kevin's message will likely be lost in all the controversy over his remark about Teresa being a "deadbeat owner." I've always been a fan of Kevin's, and I very much enjoy that he's not afraid to speak his mind. However, the one thing I don't always like is that Kevin doesn't seem to know when he's going too far, such as in this case. Many of his other comments about Teresa were completely appropriate expressions of his opinion, but there's no need to insult her.

Kevin said,

"It's hard when you have what I call a deadbeat owner that doesn't come to the racetrack. Richard [Childress] is one of the best owners in the garage. You always see Richard Childress. You always see Chip Ganassi. All these owners, they all come to the racetrack. It's not just a money pit that somebody says, 'Well, I can make money off of Dale Jr. I can make money off of Dale Earnhardt.' "

I have to agree with Kevin on everything other than the deadbeat part. Fact is, DEI can try to spin it anyway they want, but it makes a difference when the owner is visible and involved with their team's operations. Teresa may care about what happens at the track with her teams just as much as any other owner, but when she doesn't show up it sends the message that she's not interested. I also think Kevin has a point in that there's the perception that Teresa is more interested in making money off both her late husband and her step-son, in terms of marketing and merchandising, than doing what needs to be done to help her teams win Championships.

Kevin then went on to say,

"You have to be at the racetrack and you have to play the politics of the sport and you have to be a part of your team and you have to understand what's going on. To me, from the outside looking in, it doesn't look like that's happening."

Again, as someone even more on the outside than Kevin, I agree. There's a lot that goes on at the track beyond the positions the cars finish in. There's networking with other owners, potential sponsors, and everyone else in the garage area. Interacting with the drivers, crew members and other personnel that work with the team and seeing what they do each race weekend. Being available to give input and handle problems in person. Making one's voice heard on policies and rules from the governing body that might effect the team. Meeting and greeting existing sponsor representatives. Addressing the media. Showing confidence in one's team. There's so much that can be done by an owner at the track. Some of those things can be taken care of away from the track too, but we never hear anything about Teresa being involved in any aspect of the on-track, race operations of her teams.

Naturally at an event later that evening, the media asked Dale Earnhardt, Jr. for a response to Kevin's comments. He said,

"You're killing me. That's ridiculous. I don't think there is a comment for that remark."

And he's right - there is nothing he can say other than that it's a ridiculous comment. Even if he agrees completely with Kevin, he can't publically say that. Junior was put in an extremely awkward position. There's no question that there's tension between Junior and his step-mother considering his recent comments, but there's a difference between talking about the difficulties in their personal relationship, and openly critcizing what she does as the owner of his team. Junior went on to defend Teresa by saying,

“With everything that’s happened, not just with the company but over the family over the past five years, she’s had a full plate. The things she has been responsible for, willingly and unwillingly, are very important. She’s taking care of things that are important to the family.”

There is some truth to what Junior said. Teresa, the family, DEI, and the sport suffered a tremendous loss when Dale, Sr. died. That's not easy to recover from, and Teresa suddenly had a lot of responsibility on her that she might not have had before, or have been fully prepared to handle. However, she's still the owner of one of Nascar's biggest teams, and it's essential that she does what must be done to help the team get as much success as possible, particularly on the track. That includes being an involved owner.

Posted by silverdsl at 01:31 PM | Comments (0)

John Story Hired by DEI

I'm often interested in the business side of the sport, and this got my attention - John Story, who was most recently CEO and general manager of Robby Gordon Motorsports, a position he held since the company was created in 2003, has joined DEI. He'll be involved with sales, marketing and communications, and assist DEI's newly appointed president, Max Siegel. RGM and DEI has something of a working relationship last season in which DEI provided engines to RGM, and perhaps some other assistance. I wonder if Robby's regretting that arrangement now that his long time GM who was instrumental in helping him build RGM has been lured to DEI?

Story said,

"What attracted me to DEI is the vision Teresa has for the company, the commitment she has already shown and the ideas she has shared with me for taking the company beyond its already prominent position. She has clearly illustrated that commitment by bringing Max on board, and having the opportunity to learn from him and work with him day-to-day is also a huge attraction."

There's been quite a bit of criticism directed towards Teresa recently. But are things really so bad at DEI if they've been able to hire Story, who surely knows all about the inner workings of DEI since he worked with them previously? Of course it's a great opportunity for Story. He gets to work for an organization much larger than RGM, that fields a car for Nascar's most popular driver, and two others. In addition, he's probably going to be working on a lot of much larger projects than he would get to at RGM, which is a growing organization, but probably has less resources right now than DEI does. It's a great career move for Story, and that might blunt having to deal with a less than perfect working environment.

It'll be very interesting to see how this effects RGM, especially since it's been rumored that they're in the middle of trying to expand, and who they get to replace Story.

Posted by silverdsl at 11:57 AM | Comments (0)

January 23, 2007

Photo of the Day - Bronx Zoo

Bronx Zoo, Bronx, New York. 2002.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:46 PM | Comments (0)

A Few More Items

*Nascar's also decided to make changes to the format of the All-Star Race. It all sounds extremely confusing and complicated, from the 20-lap segements, to increasing the amount of eligible drivers, to the pit crew challenge that will determine how the pits are selected. I guess I don't really care all that much what they do with this race since it's a non-points race, but I'm glad that they got rid of the inverting of the field gimmick. The idea behind the All-Star Race is that these are the best drivers - just let them do what they do best - race.

*The other day I was talking about Jason Keller and how surprising it was that he didn't have a ride given his past success in the Busch Series. He still doesn't have a full-time ride, but today it was announced that he'll race five races for Brewco Motorsports in the #27 car, at Nashville Superspeedway (April), The Milwaukee Mile, O'Reilly Raceway Park, Gateway International Raceway and Kentucky Speedway. All of those are non-companion events to Cup races, where presumably Ward Burton, who had previously been announced would race the #27, will presumably be behind the wheel. I'm sure that Keller would like to be at the track more regularly, and maybe he'll be able to find another team that wants to use him part-time, but at least this is something. And it's with a pretty good team too - Ward's had the #27 up top on the speed charts during Busch testing at Daytona.

*Naturally when those at Richard Childress Racing met with the media today as part of the media tour of all the race shops that's going on this week, the subject of sponsorship for the #31 team came up. Childress says that he presented some possible ideas to Nascar, and they're trying to find a solution to the problem of what to do about the Cingular name change. However, according to Dean Kessel, who is in charge of marketing for Sprint's Cup program, the new IPhone, introduced recently by Apple and Cingular likely can't be on the car. I don't get that. I understand that AT&T is a direct competitor to Sprint-Nextel, and that's why they don't want to allow AT&T on the car. But the IPhone is a subproduct of Cingular, that will be made by Apple! Seems to me that if there's going to be a solution there needs to be some sort of compromise.

*Nacar.com announced an enhanced, and naturally more expensive, version of Trackpass that will debut this season. This version sounds pretty cool, with 3-D features and all, but I don't really want all the bells and whistles. I just want to see all the driver's positions on the track, and be able to listen to Michael Waltrip's radio communications. Luckily, the old version of Trackpass will still be available for those who don't want to upgrade, but since there was a note about how users of the new version could access the radio communications of almost every driver in the field, I suspect I'lll have no choice but to upgrade if I want to be able to listen to Michael. It's not that much extra money, but a little here and a little there adds up over time.

*The actual website for Nascar. com also got a re-design, which will hopefully make the site easier to navigate. One thing that I don't like about the current site is that it can be difficult to find what I'm looking for unless it's directly on the main page. Things aren't categorized very well, and the search is hard to use. Apparently they'll also be jumping on the social-networking bandwagon, with the unfortunately named Infield Community. I say unfortunately named because it sounds exactly like Dale Earnhardt, Jr's new venture, a social networking site called Infield Parking. I wonder who came up with the idea first, and whether there's going to be any conflict since the two sites have very similar names?

Posted by silverdsl at 04:30 PM | Comments (0)

Nascar Expected to Make Changes to Champion's Provisional

It's been said recently that Nascar wasn't planning on making changes to the Champion's Provisional, but it appears that's exactly what they're going to do. Although it won't be in the official rulebook, apparently Nascar plans on putting a new rule on the entry form that all teams receive that states that the Champion's provisional will only be able to be used by an owner or driver six times per season.

While it makes things easier for Dale Jarrett to be able to make use of the Champion's provisional an unlimited amount of times, which is therefore a good thing for Michael Waltrip Racing, I'm actually in favor of this change, and I hope it really does happen. I don't mind a Champion being able to make use of a provisional on a limited basis. Seems to me that Champions deserve some special treatment. However, I don't like the idea of the system possibly being abused by past Champions or their car owners who don't worry quite as much as they might otherwise about having a car fast enough to qualify in on speed because they know that they can make use of the Champion's provisional. That can set up a situation where a faster car might home because the Champion needs to make use of that spot. It might still happen under a limited Champion's provisional system, but at least it might happen less often.

That said, as I'm sure I said when it was first announced, I don't have a problem with MWR to making use of Bill Elliott's services this past season, or any other team that's used a past Champion partially because of the provisional that's available to them. I'm sure that they got a lot of valuable feedback from Elliott as an accomplished veteran, but I would think that another reason they wanted him to race for them was that the Champion's provisional would mean that the #00 would be in for every race it was entered in, unless a more recent Champion needed to make use of that provisional. They took advantage of what the rules allowed, and I can't fault a team for doing that.

Elliott was going to try to race the full season for R&J Racing pending them finding sponsorship. However, this change could throw a monkey-wrench into those plans. It would probably be very attractive to sponsors to know that their car would be guaranteed into races (not to mention driven by a former Champion). However, that guarantee would only be good for six races, unless R&J found a way to get into the top 35 in owner's points.

The only thing I don't really get is why Nascar is just putting this rule on entry blanks instead of in the official rule book? I'd say that's so they can change it easier, but Nascar seems to change rules willy-nilly at will. So why not just make it part of the rulebook handed out to teams?

Posted by silverdsl at 03:04 PM | Comments (0)

Martin Truex, Jr. Gets Charged With Disorderly Intoxication

Seems like some of the drivers can't help embarassing themselves this off-season. First it was Jimmie Johnson breaking his wrist by falling off the roof of a golf cart, now Martin Truex, Jr.'s been arrested for disorderly intoxication after he was caught urinating against the side of his car in a parking garage after a night out with friends. Although it sounds like Truex mouthed off a little to the officer who confronted him, he didn't do anything all that horrifying. Many men have probably given into that kind of an urge, especially after a few drinks, instead of finding a restroom.

However, the one difference between Truex and other men is that he's a Cup driver who has a team and sponsors that he represents on- and off-the-track. This kind of incident is embarassing, and it's unlikely that this is the prefered way that Bass Pro Shops, DEI or Truex himself would want to get some attention. In fact, DEI was quick to release a statement from Truex apologizing. What's interesting is that the statement makes mention that he and his friends had a designated driver. That's important to bring up considering alcohol was involved and they were about to get into an SUV. If they didn't have a designated driver, and the officer hadn't approached Truex, this could have been a much more serious incident.

Posted by silverdsl at 12:25 PM | Comments (0)

Quote of the Day - Henry David Thoreau

'If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.' -Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Posted by silverdsl at 10:55 AM | Comments (0)

If You're Going to Do Something Illegal...

... don't leave evidence behind with your address. From today's National Park Service Morning Report:

Lake Mead National Recreation Area (AZ,NV)
Major Illegal Dumping Site Discovered

On December 28th, rangers found a large illegal dumping site while on patrol near the River Mountains just east of Henderson, Nevada. The dump was located on Bureau of Land Management land, bordering both the park and Bureau of Reclamation properties. Strong winds and recent storms in the area had spread trash from the site (approximately three truck loads of blueprint documents) onto all three jurisdictions. A cardboard box with a FedEx shipping detail was collected at the scene. Special agents from the NPS and BLM were contacted and conducted an investigation that lead them to a company located in Las Vegas named Energy Inspectors. During an interview, two employees from the company, Michael D. Russell and Jeremy Spencer, admitted to dumping the blueprints over a two-month period at the location. They both returned to the site and removed the trash. The case will be prosecuted by BLM. The joint investigation is one of many that have occurred over the past three years in Clark County as a result of the southern Nevada area partnership interagency law enforcement team. The team includes rangers – and, more recently, special agents – from the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, US Forest Service and US Fish and Wildlife Service. The team was created in 2004 as a result of the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act. For more information on the team, please feel free to contact interagency resource protection specialist John Tesar, who can be reached at 702-293-8944. [Submitted by Paul Crawford, Acting Supervisory Special Agent]

I've heard of companies dumping tires or chemicals illegally because of how hard and sometimes expensive it is to dispose of those items, but I'm not sure why a company would dump blueprints illegally. Can't those just be thrown out in a dumpster? Was the company trying to save money on trash removal? Or was there something in the blueprints they didn't want anyone to see? Regardless, it's amazing that there was a shipping label among what was dumped at the site that led investigators right to the company involved. Maybe there was so much being dumped that they couldn't go through everything, but one would think those responsible would have made sure there was nothing incriminating left behind with the trash they dumped.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:02 AM | Comments (0)

January 22, 2007

Photo of the Day - Grounds for Sculpture

Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, New Jersey. May, 2006.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:31 PM | Comments (0)

Reutimann Ready

David Reutimann has a tough challenge ahead of him this season - race both the full Busch and Cup seasons, with a manufacturer new to both series, for an organization new to fieldilng three full-time Cup cars. Oh yeah, he'll be a rookie in Cup as well, with his previous experience limited to just one race. For a while David was worried, but now he's decided to put his concerns aside and just focus on doing the best behind the wheel as he can. He said,

"I try not to think about it as much because I was kind of wigging myself out really bad, thinking about everything that was going to happen. I just tried to not concern myself with stuff I can't really control and just concentrate on the driving part of it and be able to adapt to the changes."

I think David has a good attitude. I like that he's not talking as if it's going to be a walk in the park - he's realistic enough to recognize that it's not going to be easy this season. But it's very true that there's only so much that's going to happen that's in his hands. I think being flexible, and being able to roll with the punches will really help him. There will be some weekends when he will be running around like a madman, especially when the Busch race isnt' at the same track as the Cup race!

Like a number of other drivers this off-season including Tony Stewart, his car owner Michael Waltrip, Elliott Sadler and Denny Hamlin, David is also working out in the hope that staying in shape will help him during races. He said,

"I've been working out a whole lot more than I ever thought I would ever do in my life. I'm riding a lot of miles on my bike because I don't want to fall out of my seat."

Given the demands on the drivers both mentally and physically during races, which will be even greater for David when he's racing both series, I think it was a great idea to start working out more.

I have a good feeling about David this season. He may struggle in Cup, at least at first, given his lack of experience, but I think he might contend for the Busch Championship. It sure would be awesome to see him put that #99 in Victory Lane a few times this year!

On another note, David's website was recently re-designed, and they did a good job. It's not a fancy site, but it's clean, with nicely done graphics, easy to navigate, with plenty of photos, and it's up-to-date with the latest news and information about David.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:03 PM | Comments (0)

Nascar Makes Changes to the Chase

I'm sure many fans are going to complain loud and long about the changes that Nascar announced today to the Chase for the Championship considering how resistant a lot of fans are to any kind of change, but I like what these changes. First the silly 400-point cutoff has been eliminated completely. Now the top 12 drivers will be eligible for the Chase. While a lot of fans think it waters down the Championship to have so many drivers be in the running, I think it adds an element of excitement. In addition, I think there's a lot more room for a diversity of drivers from year to year if there's more than ten who can participate.

Best of all there's going to be more of an emphasis on winning. During the regular season drivers will receive five more points than they had in the past for winning a race. In the Chase itself the top 12 drivers will have their points reset to 5,000, and will then be given 10 extra points for each win during the regular season. The driver that wins the most races during the regular season will be first in the Chase standings, and then it'll go backwards from there in decending order according to wins. Although that might hurt teams that are consistently strong but win less races than some other teams, I like the fact that so much emphasis will be placed on winning. Had this system been used last season, Kasey Kahne who won five races in the regular season would have led the points standings headed into the Chase, and Tony Stewart, who won two races in the regular season but failed to make the cut for the Chase, would have been 5th in Chase points to start.

It'll be interesting to see how the teams adjust to these changes in the Chase.

Posted by silverdsl at 08:12 PM | Comments (0)

Bobby Hamilton, Jr. "Washes His Hands" of His Father's Company

When Bobby Hamilton passed away from cancer a few weeks ago, someone I was talking to wondered in light of the current controversy with Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Teresa Earnhardt, and DEI, how things were going to go with Bobby Hamilton, Jr. and Bobby Hamilton Racing. The answer is apparently not well to the point where Bobby is severing ties with BHR. According to Bobby problems were apparent as soon as he joined BHR last season to race his father's truck after he was diagnosed with cancer.

"Our leader at BHR wasn't around, he was sick, he wasn't up to par. It was almost like the Titanic. I was looking for a lifeboat."

He continued,

"I washed my hands and dried them. I'm done."

Bobby didn't spell out what any of the problems were, whether they were on the competition side or the business side. However, he said,

"There are some other people who [have a] recent involvement into the family and BHR, about six or seven months ago, they're just kind of sinking it. I just can't be part of that. I think I need to separate."

Particularly in light of the issues with Junior and Teresa, one can't help but wonder if one of the people he's talking about is his step-mother, Lori, who married his father last year, since he's apparently taken over the day-to-day operations of BHR. I doubt we'll ever know the full story of why Bobby's is choosing not to be involved with BHR in any way, but I think it's really unfortunate that things are playing out in this way. Bobby shouldn't be forced to help run or race for BHR if he doesn't want to, but on the other hand it's sad that he's going to have nothing to do with a company that has his father's name on it.

Posted by silverdsl at 02:58 PM | Comments (0)

January 21, 2007

Photo of the Day - Infrared Oregon

Somewhere near Cannon Beach, Oregon. September, 2006.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:55 PM | Comments (0)

There is No Such Thing as a "Real" or "True" Fan

Instead of re-inventing the wheel, I figure I'll just post a link to an earlier blog entry I wrote on this topic: There is no such thing as a "Real" or "True" fan. The only "bad" fans are those fans who stalk, harass, invade the space of, insult, torment, or otherwise behave inappropriately towards the object of their obsession. Stating an opinion on a message board doesn't make someone a bad fan, no matter how much some would like to think that way.

Don't let anyone ever convince you that you're a bad fan or scare you away from being a fan of someone just because your opinions or way of viewing the person you're a fan of don't match up to their rigid and intolerant standards.

Posted by silverdsl at 05:25 PM | Comments (0)

Grey's Anatomy Harbors a Bigot?

I can't wrap my mind around what Isiah Washington from Grey's Anatomy was thinking when he referred to his co-star T.R. Knight with a homophobic slur, than repeated it at the Golden Globes of all places. What was most astonishing was that Washington denied the initial incident despite the fact that there had been witnesses to what he said. In fact, another co-star, Katherine Heigl, made it clear that Washington was essentially a liar. ABC was swift to issue a statement that indicated that Washington's actions were "unacceptable and are being addressed."

But I ask why does he still have a job with the show if his action were that unacceptable? A writer of a column that I can no longer find said that she believes that if one of Washington's co-stars had referred to him with the N-word, they would be fired immediately, no questions asked. And I agree. Bigotry is bigotry, whether it's intolerance and prejudice against someone for their race, religion, ethnicity or sexual orientation.

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

Random Thoughts on Busch Testing

Unfortunately, unlike with Truck Series testing, there's not a website that sends staff to testing to do detailed coverage like truckseries.com does. So about all I've got to go on is the test speeds from bgnracing.com and an article on Nascar.com. But a few things jumped out at me.

*On Friday and Saturday both Paul Menard and Martin Truex, Jr. were testing cars (#15 and #11), presumably both for DEI. I didn't realize that DEI was planning on fielding two Busch cars next season, but perhaps one is just a part-time car, and since they plan on having both cars in the Busch race at Daytona, they wanted to test them both this weekend.

*There's not many Cup drivers who also plan on racing the full Busch Series schedule as well but that doesn't mean that there's going to be less Buschwackers. 18 drivers who are full-time Cup drivers showed up to Busch testing, and that doesn't include the Cup drivers who will make spot starts here and there. I think there's a much better chance that the Busch Series Champion will be a non-Buschwacker this season, but there's no doubt that there's still going to be just as many Cup drivers racing Busch. In fact in the test sessions so far, while some Busch-only drivers have been fast, those that have topped the speed charts have been Cup drivers.

*Bill Elliott's testing the #9 car this weekend. I assume this car is still going to be fielded by Evernham Motorsports this season so I wonder if this means that Awesome Bill will make a few Busch starts for Evernham this season in addition to whatever races he races in Cup for R&J Motorsports?

*The Toyotas appear to be fairly fast in Busch testing. Dave Blaney, David Reutimann , and Jason Leffler have all posted top ten speeds in testing so far. I think that there's a good chance that David could contend for the Busch championship this season, just as he contended for the Truck championship last season.

*Some thought that Steve Park's announcement would involve a Busch car and that he'd be at Busch testing this weekend. That didn't happen. That Steve wasn't at any Daytona testing for any of the three series means that the chances of him being in a car or truck at Daytona is slim. Same goes for Jason Keller. It boggles my mind that a driver as accomplished as Jason is over the 16 years he's raced in the Busch Series, including 10 wins, still doesn't have a ride. At age 36, he's not a young gun, but he's certainly not old either. Prior to last season Jason had finished in the top ten in points seven years in a row, including four years where he was ranked in the top five in points. That Jason can't find a ride doesn't bode well for others with less accomplishments in the series finding a ride - really a shame that drivers with a lot of talent like Jason and Steve will likely be sitting idle during Speedweeks.

*Rusty Wallace shook down his son Steven's car this weekend. Rusty will be quite busy this season calling races for ESPN, but I wonder if regrets the decision to completely step away from racing? If I recall correctly his contract with ESPN won't allow him to even make a couple of starts here and there part-time, so pretty much all he can do is work with his son.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:54 PM | Comments (0)

Kyle Krisiloff to #14 Busch Car

Greg Pollex from ppc Racing had talked about consulting with a new Busch team who would be racing the #14, and since there had been a Jayski rumor connecting Steve Park to ppc, speculation was that Steve might end up in that ride. If this is the team that Pollex will be working with Steve won't be their driver - Kyle Krisiloff, who was last seen in the Truck Series racing for Billy Bellow, will be. I don't think Krisiloff endeared himself to a lot of fans or his fellow drivers with his driving style at times, but based on what some of the owners have said recently, they would rather put an overly aggressive young driver behind the wheel who they have to reign in, rather than a young driver who isn't as confident and has to be told to "go!" all the time.

It'll be tough for a brand-new team with a 20-year old driver, but this team is backed by two owners experienced in racing in Travis Carter and Carl Haas, who previously fielded a Cup team together, Haas-Carter Motorsports. The team will race Fords, and as such will get engines from Yates-Roush, so they might end up being able to field decent cars. However, a potential roadblock is that it sounds like they don't have sponsorship completely lined up, and a lack of financial backing could halt this team's plans before they even get started.

ETA: Apparently this team has the owner's points from the #22 car fielded by ppc last season, and as well as a few cars from ppc. The crew chief of the #14 will be last season's crew chief from the #22, Todd Gordon. Although there's been talk from Greg Pollex of ppc racing trying to find sponsorship to field a car in the second half of the season, if their cars and personnel are dispersed to other teams, I'm not counting on seeing ppc returning to the track anytime soon.

Posted by silverdsl at 01:35 AM | Comments (0)

January 20, 2007

Teresa Earnhardt Speaks

Teresa Earnhardt met with the media this week, something she rarely does, to promote the new documentary, "Dale," about her late husband Dale Earnhardt, that will be released in Febuary. During that media session Teresa expressed her desire to sign her step-son, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. to a new contract at DEI. Claire B. Lang discussed this interview session on XM, and apparently there were ground rules to which the media had to agree to if they were going to take part. Ground rules that were so offensive to the Associated Press, that at first they apparently weren't going to attend until they saw that every other media outlet was and they felt they couldn't miss out on the story. So the comments that Teresa made on the recent controversy surrounding contract negotiations for Junior at DEI, are probably a lot different than they would be if the media hadn't had those unspecified ground rules to follow which likely would have allowed them to ask a lot more detailed questions about topics that were unrelated to the documentary.

Of course in the comments that Teresa did make about Junior she said that she's "absolutely" committed to re-signing Junior. How could she say anything other than that? Not only that, how could she want anything other than to re-sign Junior, since it would be devestating to DEI if he went elsewhere. She also said in relation to contract negotiations,

"It's all been very typical. We're moving forward, discussing everything and trying to get this done."

Typical? When was the last time questions about a driver's focus, or family discord was made public as part of contract negotiations? The actual discussions about the contract may not be anything unusual, but the comments by some of those involved in the negotiations doesn't seem standard.

When Teresa was asked about whether the comment she made to the Wall Street Journal aboubt Junior was accurate or not she said "probably." Probably? How could she not know or remember if the comment was accurate or not? Either it was or it wasn't, there's really no middle ground. The other strange comment was that Teresa claimed that she's spoken to Junior recently, though she couldn't remember when.

"I don't know, it has just been a short while ago. We talk."

That doesn't really match up to what Junior said recently, in which he indicated that they don't talk often at all, the last time prior to the media session where he was commenting having been two or three months prior. Apparently they didn't even talk over the holidays. Just strange to me that there seems to be a difference between her perception of the level of communication between herself and Junior, and his.

A few people have wondered if Teresa's comment to the Wall Street Journal, Junior's response, and everything else that's gone on since has been some sort of deliberate attempt to get publicity for DEI. It seems like a strange way to get exposure, by airing one's dirty laundry in public. However, a conspiracy theory did occur to me that if there was any truth to that, it might not be an attempt to get publicity for DEI, but for the "Dale" documentary. There's sure to be plenty in that film not only about Dale, but also that relates to the Earnhardt family. I would guess that more media participated in the session with Teresa than might have otherwise if not for the contract controversy. I would also guess that Teresa's comments ensured that the documentary got a lot more press than it would have without those comments. You'd think that they'd want more positive publicity, but some believe that there's no such thing as bad publicity.

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

ppc Racing Not Closing After All

Or so says Greg Pollex, owner of ppc Racing. According to him ppc racing isn't folding.

"ppc Racing is not closing its doors, and is not shutting down. 2005 and 2006 were difficult years for ppc Racing and I need to take some time to address some issues and sponsorship needs of the company. ppc Racing is not merging its company with any other team. In continuance of working with our sponsors and exploring opportunities for ppc Racing in 2008, I have decided to align with other Busch Series owners to operate cars in the 2007 season."

Yes, technically ppc hasn't shut down completely because the #10 Busch car, driven by John Andretti will be on the track this season. But ppc isn't going to exist as an independent entity in 2007, and the description of how ppc is "aligning" with Braun Racing and Biagi Bros., to the point where Braun apparently hired many of ppc's employees certainly sounds like a merger.

Pollex went on to say that he's also considering a venture with a new team.

"We're working with a new team that will be racing some of our ppc cars. I'm going to participate in the management on a consulting basis and help develop that team to be competitive. It's difficult to start a new team today, but our equipment and know-how will assist that team in achieving that goal much sooner than otherwise." This team will likely operate under the No. 14. ppc has agreed to exchange the No. 22 for the No. 14 with Fitz Racing, pending NASCAR approval."

Difficult to start a new team is an understatement. Just ask Eddie D'Hondt - we've heard zero about Riley-D'Hondt and they planned on fielding two Busch cars in 2007, and then three Cup cars in 2008. Given the lack of news about their plans, I'm not even counting on seeing one Riley-D'Hondt car at Daytona, or full-time this season. I have to wonder given the problems that ppc had finding sponsorship for their truck and for their second Busch car, if the new team will get off the ground - how are they going to attract sponsorship if one of the better independent organizations in Busch and the Truck Series, with solid veteran drivers couldn't?

Posted by silverdsl at 08:49 AM | Comments (2)

Speaking of Steve...

The following was posted on Steve Park's site yesterday:

Mooresville, NC (January 19, 2007) - In an effort to keep my fans as up-to-date as possible, I will be posting any news regarding my 2007 efforts immediately right here at www.steve-park.com. We have received numerous inquiries about the 2007 season and we greatly thank you for your interest and concern. As I have always stated, SPARKIES are the absolute best fans in NASCAR. I simply want to let you all know that once I have confirmed news on the 2007 season, I will post details right here. Thank you so much for your continued patience and support.

Steve Park

It might very well just be coincidence, but I have to wonder whether the folks who run Steve's site saw the recent complaints on SPC regarding the faults about Steve's website in that it's not used as a tool to inform fans and promote Steve. Some have wondered whether news of a new ride for Steve would even show up on Steve's site in a timely manner. I'm glad to see that this message didn't contain an announcement about a possible announcement, and kept things simple regarding talking about updating fans about a new ride when he was able to. Much better than some messages of the past, in relation to not getting fans hopes up only to have nothing announced and there be disappointment and questions about deals falling apart. I'm sure the message will be over-analyzed by some looking for a hint as to whether he has a ride or not, but that's to be expected.

While they're working on Steve's site, and since he's in the process of looking for a new ride, I hope that they'll get around to adding a paragraph or two to the end of Steve's bio. on the site. It ends at the beginning of 2004, with him just having joined Orleans Racing, now known as South Point Racing, and there's no mention of his truck win in 2005, which I think is important to include.

In addition, that truck win put him in select company - one of only about 10 or so drivers who have won in all three of Nascar's highest levels, and one of only two drivers, himself and Jimmy Spencer, who have won in five of Nascar's sancationed series (I believe it's Late Models, Modifieds, Truck, Busch and Cup). That's something unique that should be used to make him stand out from other drivers, and should be front and center on his website because it's an accomplishment to be proud of.

Posted by silverdsl at 08:34 AM | Comments (0)

The Best Response is No Response

Twice someone has copied and pasted this entry about Steve Park from here to Steve Park Central, likely in an attempt to start some sort of trouble. I could talk about this or that in relation to forums and fans, and maybe I will sometime down the road, but sometimes the best response is no response at all. What's probably most humorous about the whole thing is that this person finds that blog entry objectionable, and probably me too, yet made sure to drive the maximum amount of traffic possible to the entry and my blog itself. Even funnier is that I'm sure this person was hoping to chase me away from SPC, or scare me out of posting my opinions. Fat chance of that happening. When people do things like that it makes me even more motivated to speak my mind, even louder.

Posted by silverdsl at 08:27 AM | Comments (0)

January 18, 2007

Photo of the Day - Driftwood Beach

Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island, Georgia. July, 2006.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:44 PM | Comments (0)

Xpress Motorsports Still Looking for Sponsorship

Pretty interesting article on truckseries.com about the struggles of Xpress Motorsports to find sponsorship for 2007, which puts the team in danger of having to close its doors. It's pretty amazing really. This is a team that won Championships in the series in 2002 and 2003, and with Mike Bliss behind the wheel this season, won at Atlanta. Bliss ultimately finished the season 11th in the points with one win, 7 top fives and 13 top tens, which isn't bad considering his truck didn't have a primary sponsor all season, meaning that Xpress was paying to field a competitive truck mostly out of their own pockets, with just a small amount of help from an associate sponsor. However, the financial demands are too great for Xpress to put the truck on the track under those conditions again, so the search for sponsorship is underway with no luck thus far.

Dave Fuge, owner of Xpress, indicated that at times it's seemed like he's had a deal for sponsorship, only to see it evaporate. He said,

"Close is a funny word in this dea. Let's just say it's never close until someone brings you a check. There is plenty of talk right now, it's keeping me up at night thinking of the possibilities. There are so many people talking about doing something with you that it gets hard to separate the real ones from the fake ones and they all start to sound alike."

Unfortunately, I don't think he's the only one who's found himself in this situation. Until the contract is a signed, done deal there's still a chance it might disappear, and it sounds like even then, you still can't be sure in the case of a sponsor until there's a check in hand - maybe even until their check clears the bank. I imagine that there's a lot of people who want to be associated with a Nascar team in some way, but actually handing over the $4 million or more it takes to field a truck for the full season probably scares a lot of people away! You'd think that people would recognize that racing is a business, and not waste anyone's time unless they were serious, but apparently not. Unfortunately a sad reality of this sport is that where you could once count on someone's word that's no longer the case, and a deal that seems like a sure thing one day can fall apart the next.

Fuge said that another problem is making sure all the pieces come together in the right way.

"If you don't have a manufacturer then you need more money from the sponsor. If you hire a driver the manufacturer likes, then you may be able to get some more support from them. Then you have a driver that can bring some money, but the manufacturer doesn't like him. Everything has to work together."

Michael Waltrip has also talked about the difficulties in making all the pieces of the puzzle that forms a complete team fit together. There's so many factors that come into play, and so many different people who have to agree before a deal is a "go." Unfortunately the days where all it took was a driver who was talented behind the wheel are over. A driver also needs to be marketable, media-friendly, have the ability to do commericals, be personable, be attractive, and depending on the team may also have to bring sponsorship with them to the table. That puts a lot of stress and pressure on the driver beyond just getting good results on the track. But all of this also puts a lot of pressure on the owner, because they might not be able to to put their first choice of driver in their car or truck if the manufacturer or sponsor won't support that person. And without support from a manufacturer and sponsor, a team risks going under.

Xpress has always been a team that focused on on-track performance and results as opposed to marketing, which Fuge believes has hurt them.

"We are a race oriented, competition oriented team. We aren't a marketing oriented team. Maybe that has been our downfall a little, that we aren't a marketing organization that has a race team component to it. We always believed that going out and winning races was the most important, and that a sponsor would benefit from being on a team that runs up front. A good marketing company can have a race team and survive without running up front. A race team that runs up front cannot survive without the marketing side."

I believe very strongly that this has been the downfall of not just Xpress, but a number of other teams, and maybe some drivers as well. As much as fans and some in the garage area might hate it, marketing and promoting sponsors is at the heart of Nascar right now, and it's unlikely to change any time in the near future. Companies are paying millions of dollars to sponsor cars and trucks, and what's most important to them is using their presence in Nascar to advertise, promote and market their company or product. If winning is what gets them the most exposure, great, but if there are other ways to get exposure and get the most out of their money, but the results aren't quite as strong, that's fine too. Teams and drivers must recognize this and respond to it in a pro-active way to survive, even if it's not the ideal scenario they'd like to be in.

Fuge would like to bring Bliss back as the driver of the #16 truck and that they'd also like to stay a Chevy team, but he said that he's willing to consider other drivers and manufacturers if need be. He said,

"We'd like to have Mike back with us. He did us a favor last year and didn't charge us a lot. He put the money aside in order to help keep the team afloat and competitive. But if someone comes to us with money and they need to be affiliated with a Ford, a Dodge, or a Toyota, we can do that. We have had a great relationship with Chevrolet over the years, but we'll do what we have to in order to stay alive and competitive."

As are many teams these days. It's a difficult sport to survive in and teams, sponsors and drivers must do what they need to to continue to race.

Posted by silverdsl at 02:54 PM | Comments (0)

Braun Racing "Partners" With Biagi Bros. Racing and ppc Racing

Braun Racing confirmed that they'll be partnering with Biagi Brothers Racing and ppc Racing in 2007, but really both of the latter two teams have folded, at least for the moment, and Braun is utilizing some of their assets and resources. It's actually going to work out really well for Braun because they now end up with three teams that are either fully or mostly sponsored, driven by solid veteran drivers, Jason Leffler, Dave Blaney and John Andretti. In addition, Braun is now a Toyota-backed team, which means they have that manufacturer's full resources to support them.

While none of Braun's drivers finished in the top ten in points, Andretti was 12 and Leffler 13th, which if one takes out the Buschwackers, means that they were 4th and 5th among Busch only drivers. In addition, even though he only raced seven races for Braun last season, Blaney won at Charlotte. So with less Buschwackers planning on racing the entire season, I'm thinking that the Braun teams have a good chance of success this season.

Posted by silverdsl at 02:36 PM | Comments (0)

January 17, 2007

Steve Park Talking to ppc Racing?

So finally there's a rumor on Jayski's about Steve Park. An extremely vague, unsourced, and possibly inaccurate rumor, but a rumor all the same. I was looking at the 2007 Busch Series Driver/Team chart that Jayski has, and I noticed in the section for "Drivers Looking" that it says by Steve's name, "We reportedly working on a deal with ppc." Now I have no clue where Jayski might have heard that, how true it is, or how old that rumor is. But it's good to see Steve's name tied to a team.

Unfortunately for Steve, it's a team that appears to be going under. Jayski also had this today:

ppc and Braun Merging? UPDATE: Hearing that in addition to the recently closed Biagi-DenBeste team, ppc is also a possibility for a merge with Braun Racing, possibly to share the #32 sponsors and the #10's primary sponsor, to operate out of Braun's shop. As previously announced, Dave Blaney will drive the #32 this season and with the rumored merge, would continue to do so under the races in which Braun has already secured sponsorship - with Andretti sliding in to drive the #10 with his already-secured sponsorship in the remaining events.(BGNRacing.com)(1-12-2007)
UPDATE: Being told that ppc Racing and Braun Racing have merged for the 2007 season. The #10 car sponsored by Camping World and RVs.com with John Andretti driving, will operate out of Braun Racing for the 2007 season. Employees from ppc have been hired by Braun Racing. ppc will continue working on sponsorship for 2007 and 2008.(1-16-2007)

Assuming that the above is true, it means that ppc Racing won't exist in 2007, and I have to wonder about what their future is considering all their employees have been hired by Braun Racing.

From the sounds of it, just like with many other teams, ppc is experiencing a shortage of sponorship, which means they can't field even one Busch car for John Andretti on their own. If Jayski's rumor about Steve is true, it could explain why there was no announcement last week, because things fell through with ppc. Or maybe the rumor is false and there's some other team(s) he's talking to. It's likely if there's another Busch team that Steve's talking to that it'll become apparent this weekend since Busch testing begins Friday, with odd numbered cars testing Friday through Sunday, and even numbered cars testing Sunday through Tuesday.

I've discussed ppc Racing previously as a possiblity for Steve, and it would have been a great organization for him to race for - at least last season when they were apparenly on much steadier footing and were fielding two of the best Busch only teams in the series. It's really a sad commentary on things that this organization went from fielding two Busch cars and a Truck team last season, to possibly not fielding any car or truck on their own. Assuming this merger is actually happening I guess this is a way to try to save this season, and possibly stay alive for the future by working with another independent Busch team.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:08 PM | Comments (0)

Quote of the Day

"They're certainly entitled to think that, and they're entitled to full respect for their opinions," said Atticus, "but before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience." Chapter 11, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee.

This book probably had more of an influence on me than any other book I read when I was growing up.

Posted by silverdsl at 01:29 PM | Comments (0)

January 16, 2007

Photo of the Day - Cape Neddick "Nubble" Lighthouse

Cape Neddick "Nubble" Lighthouse, York, Maine. July, 2005. One of the most photographed lighthouses in Maine, if not on the East Coast. I've certainly taken plenty of photos of it through the years!

Posted by silverdsl at 10:16 PM | Comments (0)

In the News: Michael Waltrip (1/16)

Michael Waltrip's testing his #55 NAPA car at Daytona this week, but today must be difficult for him and everybody else at testing due to the death of Benny Parsons this morning. Michael told MRN,

“I was at the last race he won. I thought it was cool when he got in Rick’s car and started running up front. He was in victory lane the day I asked my wife to marry me. He sort of facilitated that, and helped me through it. I have a lot of wonderful memories of Benny. Because I appreciated who he was and how he handled himself. He will be missed.It’s sad to be in Daytona. He won here and I’ll think about him a lot this year. He was so sweet. He didn’t want to argue with anybody. He just wanted to have a good time. He wanted to be there to help you if he could and wanted you to let him know what you needed out of him, that’s what I remember most about him. Just a real caring, giving person and we had some great times over the years. Some of the funniest things, were like when he’d golf you’d be like ‘ok BP nice and easy and he would swing so fast I never even saw him do it. And I asked him if he realized he was doing that. We just laughed a lot…we had some good times.”

He later said to Nascar Scene in relation to Benny's effect on the sport through his presence in the TV booth,

"Benny turned it from a nuts-and-bolts sport into a human sport. ...He's a guy that was able to take the race itself and let everybody know that those cars look great, but it's people that make a difference."

From the sounds of it, Benny not only influenced the sport, but also Michael as well.

As for testing itself, in yesterday's test Michael tested two cars. 55A was on the track for 25 laps and was 25th on the speed charts, while 55B was on the track for just seven laps and was much further down on the speed chart in 50th. Michael said about testing yesterday,

“We ended up 25th overall, and considering it was our first day of testing with a new car, I am pretty happy. We ran a 49.10 (seconds), and 49.60 (seconds) was the fastest time. We need more speed but we still have a long list of things to try, so I am optimistic that we can close the gap. Looking back at last week and Dale Jarrett’s fast lap, we picked up. We were hoping we could do that, so that is a good thing."

Do I really believe that Michael was happy with the results yeterday? I'm not sure that I do considering that they need to have as much speed as possible to make sure that they qualify in on time for the first five races of the season. Today's early results weren't much better, with Michael in 55A in 27th on the speed charts, and 55B 39th, but that could improve by the end of the day, and could also get better once they draft. David Reutimann's results have been roughly about the same both days.

As I say all the time, it's also hard to tell exactly how the cars stack up against each other since every team has a different agenda, might not be showing all their cards, or might be doing things in testing that they can't do during a race. So I don't know how many conclusions can be drawn. I also can't say I'm either happy or disappointed about the testing results so far. For one thing I didn't expect to see the Michael Waltrip Racing cars at the top of the speed charts. That would have been wonderful had it happened, but I was expecting them to be around mid-pack in speed, and that seems to be where they are more or less. It would be great to see them pick up speed by the end of this test session but I'm not going to freak out if they don't. This season is going to be difficult for MWR, and I don't expect that they're going to be super-fast or that things will go exactly the way they want right off the bat. In the end, I'm just hoping that this season is a positive one for Michael and his teams, and that the results are better for Michael personally on the track than they were in 2006.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:54 PM | Comments (0)

J.J. Yeley to Race Full-Time in Busch for Phoenix Racing in '07

For some reason I was thinking that Phoenix Racing already had a driver lined up for their #1 Busch car sponsored by Miccosukee Resort & Gaming, but I guess I was imagining things. Today it was announced that J.J. Yeley will race the car for the full Busch schedule, as a teammate to Mike Wallace, who it had been announced previously would be in Phoenix Racing's #7 car with Geico as a sponsor. James Finch said,

"We were looking to get a young driver with a lot of speed, and I think J.J. is coming around real good."

I think Yeley still has room to improve, but racing Busch should help him in the Cup car.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:43 PM | Comments (0)

Benny Parsons Dies Due to Complications From Lung Cancer

Unfortunately the Nascar community has suffered another death - Benny Parsons passed away today at the age of 65 due to complications from lung cancer. Parsons won 21 races over the course of his 21-year career as a Cup driver, including the 1975 Daytona 500. In addition, he won the Cup Championship in 1973. After he retired from racing in 1988, Parsons became a TV analyst, something he continued right through the end of this past season, even after he had been diagnosed with cancer. I think what's extremely sad about this is that the cancer was pretty much in remission, with the doctors telling him it was 99% gone. However, it turned out that the treatments that he underwent to battle the cancer had badly damaged his left lung, which required him to be put on oxygen. After Christmas things took a turn for the worst and he had to be hospitalized. His condition continued to deteriorate until his death today. Parsons will be greatly missed by fans and his many friends in the garage area, as well as by his family, including his son Phil, who is also a TV analyst.

Parsons death makes me think of a friend of the family who passed away years ago also in the same way, not from the lung cancer she battled, but from complications afterwards.

Posted by silverdsl at 11:36 AM | Comments (0)

Netflix to Offer Movies, TV Shows Online

In an effort to be proactive and respond to the increasing amount of people who get their entertainment fix online, Netflix will soon start to offer subscribers the ability to watch movies and TV shows online on a limited basis. "Watch Now" will be slowly rolled out to subscribers, and for no extra charge above what they already pay, they can watch a certain amount of content each month, depending on what package they already subscribe to. There are other limitations besides how many viewing hours they have, such as that there are only about 1,000 movies and TV shows that will be available, as well as that the service will only work on computers or laptops with a high-speed internet connection that have a Windows operating system. I would guess that as time goes on there will be less and less limitations, and more and more movies will be available for online viewing. So far I've never been able to get into watching a movie or a TV show on my computer, but this is a smart move for Netflix because they're trying to keep up with the times, which should help them stay in business while others who don't change fail.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:57 AM | Comments (0)

Ward Burton Speaks

One of the drivers who spoke to the media yesterday was Ward Burton. Because the #4 finished outside the top 35 in owner's points last season, Burton isn't guaranteed a spot for the first five races next season. Ward believes that his team has worked hard to make improvements on last season, but he also acknowledged that it's going to be difficult.

"We're excited about being with Morgan-McClure Motorsports and State Water Heaters. We've got an uphill battle ahead of us. The guys have been working really hard and hopefully their hard work is going to pay off. It certainly is somewhat of a mountain to climb."

Given how much the #4 team struggled last season even to make races, it definitely is going to be a challenge. The #4's best finishes were two 19th places finishes, one with Scott Wimmer at Bristol, and one with Todd Bodine at Charlotte towards the end of the season. Burton's best finish with the team was 25th at Texas. And things will be even harder this season since the level of competition will be even higher with Toyota entering the series. Still, Burton is an experienced driver, and if anyone can get the most out of a car, it's him.

Some fans think that a driver can easily jump back behind the wheel after they haven't raced for a while and it's as if they've missed no time at all. Not according to Burton. Although Burton said that it felt "natural" to be behind the wheel after an absence of over two years, he acknowledged that drivers can become rusty, and also that there are changes that they need to adjust to. For instance in his case, he had to adjust to the increasing dependance on technology and engineers, when previously it was much more simply a matter of the driver and crew chief figuring out for themsleves what kinds of changes they wanted to make to the car. He said,

"What has changed is the amount of support that the driver needs. It used to be that you could have good equipment with a chemistry between a crew chief and a driver and if the driver could tell the crew chief what it was doing and the crew chief could change it, you could make the cars fast with that ingredient. Those days are about gone. Now we have multiple engineers and the aerodynamics that are so important. "

It's not like Burton's been out of the car for ten years, he was only away from the track for a little less than three years. But in that time, quite a bit changed in terms of what he refers to as the support the driver needs and gets. I think that's one reason why it can be so difficult for any driver, not just Burton, who is out of a Cup car particularly, but any car or truck for a significant amount of time to get back behind the wheel. So much changes in a short amount of time that some teams don't want to deal with the adjustment period that a driver might have to go through to get themselves up to speed. In Burton's case it may be a little easier for him because the team he's working with doesn't have as many resources as some other teams, so there may not be quite as much support in the technological and engineering areas as with some of the larger teams.

What I found most interesting is that Buton credits Claire B. Lang from XM for helping him get the deal to race the #4. He said,

"I got here by someone on the radio, I think her first name is Clare (B. Lang, XM Satellite Radio) and she kept worrying the dickens out of me to get back in a car with all the other people she was talking to (laughs). Larry (McClure) called me one day and I was kind of itching to get back behind the wheel and that was two weeks before Martinsville."

Last season there's no doubt that Lang had Burton on her show a number of times to talk about his progress on finding a new ride, and talked about him often otherwise. I think a big reason for that was because so many of her listeners were asking her on a continual basis what he was up to. But through helping her listeners, she also helped Burton because it led to a phone call from Larry McClure. Too bad that hasn't worked as well for Steve Park who Lang also had on her show on XM a few times last season. But I think it speaks to the importance of drivers finding ways to keep themselves visible, keep people talking about them, and keep themselves from being forgotten about by the media, by fans and in the garage area.

Only time will tell how Burton will do this season, but I think he's not going to have an easy time of it in Cup this season. Unfortunately due to a lack of resources MMM will have a very difficult time being as competitive as the larger teams. However, in the races that Burton is able to qualify for, I'm hopeful that we'll be able to see Burton get a few decent finishes.

Posted by silverdsl at 08:57 AM | Comments (0)

If You Can't Expand Out, Build Up

Which is what the developers of a hotel, casino and condominiums in Las Vegas that will be themed after Maxim Magazine plan to do. The project only has seven-acres of land to work with, since it's in a developed area with other hotels, a condominium project, an RV park and a parking garage. So the project will feature three towers, one of which at 732 feet would be 132 feet taller than the tallest already existing hotel, The Wynn. Because the towers are so tall, the developers must get approval from the Federal Aviation Administration, but if they receive the go-ahead, the project will include 300 hotel rooms, over 1,000 condos, and the usual retail, restaurant and casino space. Apparently there's some debate between the Planning Commission, who feel that a pedestrian mall should be present to help draw people in, and the developers who feel that a circular driveway is essential so that they can have an entrance on the strip. WIthout the entrance on the strip, the property wouldn't have a Las Vegas Boulevard address which would cause to become devalued. I have to agree with the developers - people want to be right on the strip when they come to Las Vegas, and if they aren't familiar with the exact location of where this is, a non-strip address might make them think it's not near the strip, and that could effect business.

Posted by silverdsl at 08:29 AM | Comments (0)

When is $15 Million Not a Lot of Money?

Normally something like this wouldn't be of any interest to me at all, but the person who's operated the slots at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas happens to be Michael Gaughan, owner of not only the South Point Casino, but also South Point Racing, which fields the #77 truck for Brendan Gaughan. Apparently for the past 23 years, Gaughan's contract for the slots at the airports has been automatically reviewed because officials at the airport have been too busy worrying about construction projects to want to get involved with putting the slots up for bid, but now a lull in projects has allowed that to happen. Gaughan says that he plans on bidding for the right to keep operating the slots but

"I don't make a whole lot of money off it. The county gets the money."

I suppose that depends on how one looks at it. It's indeed true that Clark County gets 63% of the profits from the slots at the airport. However that still leaves 37% of the approximately 40 million that the slots took in last year for the Gaughan family. That comes out to about $15 million. I guess when one routinely deals with millions and millions of dollars, that does seem like a small amount of money, but to me that's big money!

I have no clue as to how the money that comes from the operation of the slots is used. But one thing's for sure is that for the past three years South Point Racing has been operating a truck out of their own pocket at a cost of about $4 million a year. So that "not a whole lot of money" that the Gaughans make off the slots could be used to pay for that truck three times over. That Brendan is behind the wheel is a lot of motivation to keep spending millions to field the truck, but if they don't find an outside primary sponsor soon, and the results don't improve this season, I wonder if Michael Gaughan will want to continue to spend $4 million a year, plus all the other costs of running a race team, without getting much back?

Posted by silverdsl at 08:05 AM | Comments (0)

January 15, 2007

Nothing to Say

It's just been one of those days when I have writer's block and interesting news seems to be slow in coming. Although the answers are usually predictable, hopefully some of the drivers, particularly David Reutimann and Michael Waltrip will do media sessions at testing in Daytona over the next few days that will give me some material to work with.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:25 PM | Comments (0)

January 14, 2007

Photo of the Day - Ecola State Park

Ecola State Park, Cannon Beach, Oregon. September, 2006. I've seen doing a lot of reading today about some of the areas in Oregon that we visited. But that's usually the way it works - I visit some place and then I become fascinated by it, and want to learn as much about the history of the area as possible.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:51 PM | Comments (0)

Devotion - Robert Frost

The heart can think of no devotion
Greater than being shore to the ocean -
Holding the curve of one position,
Counting an endless repetition.

- Robert Frost

Posted by silverdsl at 08:55 PM | Comments (0)

Random Thoughts on Truck Testing

There's been a few other interesting items from Truck Testing at Daytona this weekend besides that A.J. Allmendinger will be in a Michael Waltrip Racing truck for a few races this season.

*One of the fastest trucks all weekend has been that of Travis Kvapil. Travis must be thrilled to go from racing subpar Cup cars for the past two seasons where finishing in the top 20 was like a win, to being in a truck that tops the speed charts two days in a row! Mark Martin had a huge amount of success in this truck last season, and I'd expect Travis to pick up where Mark left off. The only thing that could prevent Travis from contending for a Championship is a lack of sponsorship since as of yet the truck apparently still is unsponsored. We've seen several trucks last season without sponsorship, such as the #17 of David Reutimann and the #11 of David Starr, do well in spite of not having a primary sponsor, but there's always a concern that an organization won't want to or be able to put as much money into a team they need to be competitive if there's not any money coming in from outside. Luckily, for Travis, Roush Racing is an extremely well-funded organization.

*Recently, Brendan Gaughan talked about how hard South Point Racing has been working to make changes that will help make the #77 team into one that will contend for a Championship this season. In addition, the team recently switched to Chevy. Their deal with Chevy is structured in such a way that Brendan gets paid based on what his results are on the track. Of course what happens during a test doesn't always translate to the track during actual races, but if things continue the way they've gone for Brendan during this test, Chevy won't be paying him much this season. Although the truck was better today until they experienced some engine woes, the #77 truck has been near the bottom of the speed charts all weekend. In addition, they and Kevin Kroyer, who they get engines from, are still trying to deal with transistioning those engines to Chevy. That doesn't bode well that they're still struggling with engine issues - it's essential that they get that straightened out by Daytona, because it's unlikely that Brendan will be contending for much of anything without strong engines.

*Chevy has the most trucks at testing with 16, followed by Ford and Toyota with nine each. Since Dodge has greatly reduced their involvement in the Truck Series, they have just two trucks at testing, both of which I believe are from Bobby Hamilton Racing target=. It must be very difficult for those from BHR to test in light of Bobby's death this past week. His loss will surely be felt not only this season, but for years to come. I would think that BHR will be extra-motivated to put their trucks in Victory Lane this season. With a veteran like Ken Schrader behind the wheel, who was a good friend of Bobby's, I think they have a good chance of doing so.

*Apparently Ken Butler III will be racing the #00 truck for MWR in a few races this season. I'm really interested to see how he'll do. Both Butler Brothers have been the subject of a lot of criticism from fans who feel that their father, Ken Butler, the President of Aaron's has bought them their rides, since Aaron's sponsors the #99 Busch car for MWR. I think there's no question that their father opened some doors for them, but it's not like they've been thrown into a Busch car or a truck right away. Most recently they've raced Hooters Pro Cup races, so it seems to me that MWR is taking the time to develop them, which they might not do if they had no talent and no real future, but instead were just being given rides to make their father happy. What I think is a little silly about when fans talk about a sponsorship only being about a parent buying their kids a ride, is that in reality it's never only about that. In the majority of cases it's likely that the sponsor stands to benefit from their involvement in the sport due to all the exposure they get.

*Todd Bodine said this weekend that Germain Racing is going to scale down their plans to race Cup this season. Previously they had said that they were going to try to race many of the Car of Tomorrrow races, but now they plan on focusing on trying to defend Todd's Championship. I think that's a smart move. Building the cars, testing them, and then trying to qualify them into the races takes a huge amount of effort, and with how many teams may show up to each race, it may be difficult to even make the races. So that definitely could take resources away from what they do with not just Todd, but also with Ted Musgrave.

*Johnny Benson's seemed to have a pretty good weekend - with a new crew chief and other changes to the team, I wonder how easy it's going to be for him to repeat his success from this past season where he battled Todd for the Championship? It sure would be awesome to see him as Champion this season!

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

January 12, 2007

I Don't Believe Steve

Over on Steve Park Central any time someone expresses doubt that Steve is going to have a ride this season or brings up even the mildest of criticism about Steve, such as wondering why he doesn't update his website more often to let his fans know when he will (or won't be) at events, inevitably these days it seems that someone evokes the phrase "I believe in Steve!" as if that should end the discussion right then and there. Of course whether one believes in Steve as a race car driver or a person has nothing to do with whether one thinks that Steve will have a ride this season, or whether he should use his website to inform his fans about what he's up to like most other drivers do. For the record, as I've said a thousand times before on this space, I believe in Steve's abilities behind the wheel, and that if he was given a competitive car or truck, he could race up front and win.

However, I don't believe Steve anymore when he says that he's on the verge of making an announcement about a new ride. Dating back to December of 2005, Steve has either hinted or said, to fans, in interviews, or on his website that there will be an announcement about a new ride, which is usually accompanied by a time-table - two weeks, five or six races, by Friday, etc... Not once including this week, has any of those annoucements about annoucements resulted in anything other than disappointed fans. And I'm extremely frustrated by it. Delays aren't unusual when drivers are trying to negotiate deals. There's much to discuss between driver, team and sponsor, and a lot of pieces that have to come together before a deal can be finalized. What is unusual is that most drivers are cautious about saying too much until they're absolutely sure that they have a done deal in hand, and they're actually going to have something to announce.

To illustrate how little faith I have in Steve when he makes an announcement about an announcement, the past two times that he's given a time-table on making an announcement - in early October when he said he'd have an announcement on October 15, and this week when he said that he hoped to have an announcement by Friday (today) I've pre-written entries for this space, including this one, regarding the announcements that didn't happen. Yep, although this entry is showing up in the evening, I actually wrote the majority of it at 8 a.m. this morning, that's how convinced I was there would be no announcement from Steve today, even though I hadn't seen the full list of which teams and drivers were at truck testing. (Steve wasn't there.)

It's not that I think Steve is a liar - I think he truly believes that there's a chance that he might be able to make an announcement when he says it. He says "I hope" because he really does hope that he can announce a new ride for himself. I also think that he wants to please people, particularly his fans, so I think sometimes he says what people want to hear. Unfortunately, while his heart is in the right place, it's not worked out too well so far. You'd think at some point he might change his approach a little. When John Kernan from Sirius called earlier this week, instead of saying that he hoped to make an announcement by Friday, at which time he'd call in and talk about it, maybe something vaguer like "I've been talking to some teams and things look good. When I can say more I'd love to come on Sirius to talk about it," might have been better.

Fact is putting a time-table on announcing a new ride has been the kiss-of-death for Steve. I suppose it will sound silly to some, but to me there's been no more of a sure sign that a new ride isn't forthcoming when Steve says that an annnoucement about one is imminent. I suppose it's because I'm a baseball fan, and we're a superstitious lot, but I've come to believe that Steve making announcements about announcements, or otherwise giving an indication about when and if he might have a new full-time ride is bad karma.

I'm starting to think that Steve saying "I hope to make an announcement about a new ride" is similar to me saying "I hope to win $10 million by playing the lottery." Yeah, it would be awesome if it happened, it's certainly possible, but how likely is it? I truly hope that Steve finds himself a good ride for next season, though this close to Speedweeks the chances of finding a competitive ride are slim, and has fun racing in 2007. I'm just not getting my hopes up anymore that it's going to happen, even when he says an announcement is on the way.

Posted by silverdsl at 07:12 PM | Comments (2)

A.J. Allmendinger to Race for Michael Waltrip Racing

One thing about Michael Waltrip Racing is that they often pull something out of left field without anyone having any clue that it's going to happen, such as Bill Elliott racing for them last season. It had previously been said that MWR would be fielding at least one truck, and that Michael Waltrip, Dale Jarrett, David Reutimann, as well as developmental drivers Josh Wise and Ken Butler III would see time behind the wheel. Add A.J. Allmendinger, who will race full-time in the Cup series for Red Bull Racing to the list as well.

In looking at the time charts from testing this morning, I had noticed that A.J. was testing MWR's #00 truck, but I figured he was just doing them a favor. However, according to Nascar Scene, A.J. will be in the #00 for a number of truck races that are companion events to Cup races. Apparently the #00 truck is the former #17 truck raced by David last season to a 3rd place finish in the points, so the truck is guaranteed a spot for the first five races. The article mentions that Josh and Ken could see time in this truck for races where A.J. isn't available, so I'm thinking that MWR might end up with two trucks at some races. Presumably they still own the #12 so that could be used for Michael, David and DJ. Last season A.J. was in a truck for Bill Davis Racing for three races. In two out of the three races he was strong finishing 13th and 5th, so he might get MWR some good results this season as well. Either way, he'll get some much needed extra-seat time which should help him with his Cup effort as well.

Posted by silverdsl at 02:28 PM | Comments (0)

The Wooing of Roger Clemens Begins

Let me admit to my bias - I don't like Roger Clemens. Never have, never will. I appreciate everything he did to help the New York Yankees win when he played in the Bronx, but I've never cared for him, and I wasn't sorry to see him leave by way of "retirement." So I suppose it's my dislike of Clemens that's making it hard for me to jump on the bandwagon of fans who feel that the Yankees must do everything in their power to convince Clemens to play for them. I see a 44-year old, who will sooner or later go into a decline, who seems to enjoy playing games regarding whether he's going to retire or keep playing, who will likely want a significant amount of money to play for the Yankees, and possibly some special priviledges such as not having to travel to road games when he's not pitching.

Unfortunately, the Yankees seem determined to pursue him, even if he's only going to pitch for half a season. At the official press conference to re-introduce Andy Pettitte as a Yankee, general manager Brian Cashman said,

"He's kind of like your perfect employee. "If Roger is interested in coming to New York, I'd love to talk to him," Cashman said. "He came in here and not only delivered a huge performance on the field but had a major impact within the clubhouse.""

and that if Clemens decided to play the Yankees would put on a

"full-court press."

Bleech. I just can't get excited about the Yankees re-signing Clemens. I'd like the Yankees to sign a pitcher who is at least ten years or more younger than Clemens, is likely to contribute for longer than a half season, already knows he wants to play for the Yankees, and won't ask for any special conditions to him playing in the Bronx. Granted, there aren't that many future Hall of Fame pitchers hanging around unsigned at the moment who have pitched as well as Clemens has in the recent past. But going after Clemens doesn't feel right to me.

He won't be able to keep pitching the way he has forever. I suppose only pitching for half a season is one way that he tries to prevent himself from declining. But sooner or later it's going to happen. I don't want it to happen when the Yankees are depending on him to lead them to another World Series and after they've thrown a huge amount of money at him. The Yankees seem like they might be hoping to capture some of the magic of the past by bringing back Pettitte, and possibly Clemens, but it's not 1999 anymore.

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

Early Notes From Truck Testing

The rundown of truck teams and drivers who will be testing during this weekend's Truck Series test session at Daytona courtesy of Truckseries.com:

1 - Aaron Fike
2 - Cale Gale (second KHI truck)
4 - Chase Miller
5 - Mike Skinner
6 - Travis Kvapil
8 - Blake Bjorklund
9 - Ted Musgrave
10 - David Starr
13 - Willie Allen
14 - Rick Crawford
15 - Bill Lester
18 - Ken Schrader
21 - Kelly Bires
23 - Johnny Benson
28 - Wayne Edwards
30 - Todd Bodine
33 - Ron Hornaday
36 - Tyler Walker
40 - Shane Huffman/Clay Rogers
47 - Kraig Kinser
50 - Peter Shepherd
59 - Terry Cook
60 - Jack Sprague
63 - Scott Lynch
75 - Dennis Setzer
77 - Brendan Gaughan
88 - Matt Crafton
99 - Erik Darnell
00 - A.J. Allendinger
07 - Tim Sauter
08 - Chad McCumbee
09 - Joey Clanton

Of note - Steve Park isn't in a truck, meaning that unless he's been talking with Woodward Racing, who claim they'll be fielding a truck this season, it's not likely he has a truck ride. Also, Scott Lynch appears to have a truck ride, though I'm not sure what team it's with. I might be mistaken because I don't think this has been specifically announced anywhere, but I think the #00 truck with A.J. Allmendinger is the Michael Waltrip Racing truck entry, which is likely the old #17 truck renumbered. In addition, Truckseries.com pointed out that the way it's looking now this is going to be the first season since 2002 that a female driver hasn't raced. That's extremely unfortunate - I would one day love to see more than a few female drivers be a success on all levels of Nascar.

Posted by silverdsl at 11:33 AM | Comments (0)

January 11, 2007

Photo of the Day - Crater Lake National Park

Crater Lake National Park, Oregon, September, 2006.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:26 PM | Comments (0)

"In a Glass of Cider" - Robert Frost

In a Glass of Cider
It seemed I was a mite of sediment
That waited for the bottom to ferment
So I could catch a bubble in ascent.
I rode up on one till the bubble burst
And when that left me to sink back reversed
I was no worse off than I was at first.
I'd catch another bubble if I waited.
The thing was to get now and then elated.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:13 PM | Comments (0)

Dale Jarrett Addresses the Media at Testing

Not much of interest usually comes out of the media sessions at testing, unless you consider the media making a mountain out of a molehill really exciting. But among drivers who answered media questions at testing this week was Dale Jarrett, driver of the #44 for Michael Waltrip Racing. Jarrett discussed a variety of topics, many of which he's covered before, from why he went to MWR, to his goals for 2007, to Toyota's entry into Cup racing, and more.

One thing I've always found interesting is what Jarrett says was his motivation for leaving Robert Yates Racing for MWR. It's not money as many seem to think, but instead the excitment that comes with the challenge of helping build a new team. Jarrett said,

"...it wasn’t just new and exciting anymore. I just felt like a change like this was something that was exciting to me. To think about the opportunity I had to help a good friend of mine in Michael Waltrip start up his race team. I’ve been very impressed, and was even before I took the job, with everything that Michael and his people had done to get prepared for this. To help him and then to help Toyota come into the sport was a challenge that I felt like would give me that energy and that fire inside me again to really want to help and make this something special. If I can look back after everything is finished and say you know I had a big part of helping Toyota enter the Cup series and be successful, then that will be pretty rewarding."

I wonder how often drivers get bored with their rides? To fans racing is full of constant excitement, but not for the all the drivers apparently, and probably even less so when the results aren't that great. However, I have to wonder - did Jarrett lose his excitement about racing when the results weren't as good as they once were at RYR, or were the results not as good as they once were because Jarrett was no longer excited about racing? Either way, despite what some people think that Jarrett has lost something behind the wheel, I suspect the results will be decent for him this season because it sounds like he's completely re-energized by being involved in helping build MWR as well as being a part of Toyota's entry into the Cup Series.

Jarrett believes that his team can finish the season in the top 15 in points. He said,

"...a more realistic goal for us would be to be around that top 15 in the points in the first year. I think that is attainable. You know it’d be easy for us to go in and say well, I think we can finish in the top 25. But that’s not setting your goals very high and you tend not to work as hard, and we can get to victory lane I think. Not having as much testing, that’s going to hurt us a little bit. But I honestly think that we can get to victory lane and I’ve stated a number of times I’d like to be that driver to give Toyota their first win."

Although I think that Jarrett could have good results this season, I think that it might be difficult to finish in the top 15 - the competition is incredibly tough. Is the #44 team going to be on par with Hendrick Motorsports or Roush Racing in MWR and Toyota's first year in the series? I'd love for that to happen! But I'm also realistic enough to know that it could be hard to achieve immediately. Personally, I'd like Michael to be the first Toyota driver in Victory Lane, but if not Michael, a MWR driver would be fine with me!

Jarrett says that he was pleased with how testing had gone so far.

"As far as the car, the Toyota in the draft was pretty good yesterday. The car that we used wasn’t the better of the two cars for me either in speed or drive ability. But I was still pretty pleased with what I saw, especially as we made the changes to it. The first time out it wasn’t very good. But we made some changes and it responded to that and we got the car driving much better to where it would keep up and would suck up in the draft. We have two cars here today. We brought in a different car for our other car today that’s a little bit different feel and I’m excited about seeing what it’s going to do in the draft. We’ll get out this afternoon and get a lot more but I’ve been very pleased with what I’ve seen so far."

It's hard to draw too many conclusions from what Jarrett is saying. Few drivers are going to go to a media session and admit their cars suck, or that they're frustrated with the test session even if that's the case. These sessions are all about putting a positive spin on how testing is going and on the upcoming season. It's also difficult to really know how cars stack up against each other in testing because teams not only don't always show all their cards, but they might experiment with things that they wouldn't do in an actual race. But it's a good sign that Jarrett has been at least around mid-pack most of the time in testing, and that he says the cars were good in the draft.

One interesting comment that Jarrett made was in relation to Ford. He said,

"I think that Ford has slacked off a little bit in that respect over the years and that they’re still very strong. They have some very good teams out there but it’s going to cost money to be successful in this sport and you’re going to have to be willing to put those dollars out there, and when the company itself is struggling a little bit that makes it more difficult. They’re going to have to realize that’s what they’re going to have to do and hopefully we’ll start selling more Ford vehicles and that will help them. From the technology side of it I do think they haven’t put the effort there that the other manufacturers have."

Of course people associated with Ford like Jack Roush immediately dismissed Jarrett's comments, but someone who raced for a Ford team for such a long time probably has some insight into how much effort, financial and otherwise they put in. Perhaps Jarrett has seen what happens when the emphasis on engineering and technology isn't there, and wants to be sure the rest of his career he races for a team and manufacturer that puts effort into those areas.

Jarrett also refuted claims that Toyota's entry into Cup is what's driving costs of racing up because of how much they're paying their personnel and because of how much money overall they're sinking into the sport. He said,

"It’s no different than the amount of money and technology that a Hendrick Motorsports has. It’s just amazing. It’s tremendous. They can try to put it on the new guy on the block in Toyota coming in that’s creating this expense but it’s just the sport in itself and it’s the other manufacturers that are doing that too."

I have to agree. There's a tremendous amount of money being spent by teams, sponsors, and manufacturers - that would be happening regardless of whether Toyota was entering the Cup Series or not. The well-funded teams will constantly be looking at ways to utilize engineering and technology to gain a competitive advantage over each other. And the more they spend, the more they have to spend to keep up with each other.

Posted by silverdsl at 02:51 PM | Comments (0)

Barry Bonds Tested Positive for Amphetamines?

According to the New York Daily News Barry Bonds tested postiive for amphetamines last season, then placed the blame on a substance he had taken, and then ingested, from the locker of a teammate on the San Francisco Giants, first baseman, Mark Sweeney. Of course Sweeney denies that he gave Bonds or had anything that would have caused him to test positive. According to the article, Bonds was placed in "treatment," given counseling and was subject to more tests for the next six months.

Of course there's one problem with all of this - no one knows if it's really true or not. Because of the agreement between Major League Baseball and the Player's Union, players who test positive for amphetamines aren't named publically, at least the first time they fail a test. Which means that no one involved can confirm or deny the Daily News story. I also question why a source(s) came forward now to rat Bonds out for testing positive? If this story is true, there's only a small amount of people who would be privvy to the results of the test and that he named Sweeny - why speak up? What's the agenda, other than making Bonds out to be a lying sleazeball?

An unfortunate reality is that Bonds is hardly the only player to use amphetamines. In fact their use was widespread until they were placed on the banned list prior to last season. I'd guess there's still plenty of players who pay Russian Roulette and use them too, especially knowing that they won't be named publically for a first failed test, and they aren't punished more serverely than having to visit a counselor. I think a lot of fans would be shocked if it was ever revealed what players used amphetamines (and other performance enhancers). It's no surprise that Bonds would be named as an amphetamine user, but it wouldn't be much of a surprise if any other player was named either.

I think what's really ridiculous about this story is that if true, Bonds was quick to place the blame on a teammate. Even if he did get something from Sweeney, Bonds is responsible for what he puts in his own body. And if he didn't get anything from Sweeney and just claimed he did - repulsive. That simply isn't something that teammates do to each other, except apparently in Bonds' world. He's truly an unpleasant person.

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

Kerry Earnhardt to Work Full-Time at DEI

From the sounds of it Kerry Earnhardt has decided to retire from racing full-time. Although he's going to race five Busch races, and possibly a couple of Cup races for DEI, the main thing he will be doing for DEI this season is work for them full-time as a liasion between the Busch and Cup programs. That's the role that Tony Eury, Sr. was in, but he'll be Paul Menard's crew chief on the #15 this season. Last season Kerry raced for Thorsports Racing in the Truck Series, and his results weren't impressive - his best finish was 11th at Nashville. So he's decided he doesn't want to go that route again. He said,

"It's hard to give up driving. Now I've come to a point where I realize that doing the things I'm doing is not doing me any good, just riding around and not having any decent finishes."

I think it's hard for drivers to recognize when they're in the situation that Kerry was in that it's not likely that better rides are going to come their way. Given how competitive the drivers are, I don't think there's too many of them who are happy just riding around. But I think it also must be difficult for a driver to acknowledge when their career is nearing an end. It's good that Kerry was self-aware enough to know that the time had come for him to evaluate other options than racing full-time. I also always like to see it when a driver (or other athlete) is able to make the decision to change the direction of their career or retire themselves, rather than have that decision made for them by a lack of interest in their services for the following season.

A common complaint through the years from some fans has always been why doesn't DEI give Kerry a job or a ride? Based on what the ESPN.com article says, Teresa Earnhardt and Richie Gilmore had been looking to hire Kerry for a few years, but it was only now that he was ready to make that move. Speaking of Teresa, there doesn't seem to be the same kind of tension between her and Kerry as there is between her and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. In fact, Kerry said that his relationship with Teresa is "great." Regarding Junior's relationship with her, Kerry said,

"I don't know how their relationship is. I just look at my relationship with her and realize she's not a bad person. There's two sides to it. Dale Jr. and [sister] Kelley grew up in the home with her. I was on the outside with my mom and stepdad. I didn't grow up with the frictions they had like every child has with a parent. It's hard to speak for Dale Jr. and what his situation is."

Of course Kerry was in a very different situation than Junior growing up since he didn't live in the same house with Teresa. But I still find it interesting that his relationship with her is apparently so much different. I also think that Kerry's likely hit the nail on the head regarding why there seems to be so many issues between Junior and Teresa - there are frictions there dating back over 20 years to when Junior was a child. I think that's at the heart of much of the tensions - unresolved issues from long ago that have continued to fester through the years. As Kerry notes, after Dale Sr. died there was no longer anyone there to run interference or help work communication problems out.

"There would be a whole lot of things different, the advice and communications between the families. He was the person you always went to. He was the one that always would give the advice.

From what many people have said, there were quite a number of people, family and otherwise who went to Dale for advice. Often fans will say this or that would or wouldn't happen if Dale were still alive. However, I don't think there's really any way of knowing exactly what would have happened if Dale hadn't died at Daytona in 2001. One thing's for sure - he was a tremendous influence on the sport, and on his family.

Maybe Kerry will also be an influential force at DEI - since he's on good terms with both Teresa and Junior, maybe not only will he be a liasion between the Cup and Busch programs, but also between his step-mother and step-brother.

Posted by silverdsl at 12:52 PM | Comments (0)

January 09, 2007

Photo of the Day - Driftwood Beach

Driftwood Beach, Jeykll Island, Georgia, July, 2006.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:23 PM | Comments (0)

David Starr to Circle Bar Racing

I was just talking with someone earlier about David Starr and how we're surprised that no one's grabbed him for a ride yet considering how talented he is. Well, turns out he does have a ride - Starr will be a teammate of Rick Crawford's at Circle Bar Racing. What's allowing CBR to expand to two teams is that International Truck and Engine Corporation has come on-board. Their sub-brands, Power Stroke Diesel, and MaxxForce International Diesel Power will be the primary sponsors for Crawford and Starr's trucks respectively. This is a great move for Starr! Not only will he have the security of racing for a team that actually has a primary sponsor, as opposed to the situation he was in at Red Horse Racing, but he'll also be with a successful organization that knows how to get to Victory Lane. Crawford has won a race in each of the past four seasons, and finished in the top ten in points twice, including this past season. I expect Starr to continue to race well with CBR. Each of the past three seasons he's finished progressively higher in the points. Last season he finished 5th - with backing from a solid team and a good sponsor, could he be a Championship contender this season?

Posted by silverdsl at 08:44 PM | Comments (0)

Yankees Trade Randy Johnson to the Diamondbacks

New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman is a magician. Somehow he convinced the Arizona Diamondbacks to accept a "Return to Sender" on Randy Johnson. What's really amazing to me is that not only did the D'Backs take the 43-year old RJ back, but they also gave him a two-year extension to his contract, worth $26 million! This for a pitcher who was only average as a Yankee, who isn't getting any younger, who has chronic back and knee problems, and had off-season back surgery that might mean he's not ready for Opening Day. Oh yeah, he's grouchy too! In exchange the Yankees get right-handed reliever Luis Vizcaino, as well as three minor-leaguers, pitchers Ross Ohlendorf and Steven Jackson, and shortstop Alberto Gonzalez.

A lot of fans are disappointed with RJ's performance in pinstripes, but not me. Although RJ was a pitcher I long admired, and one of my favorite non-Yankees, I knew that it was a risk trading for him given his age and other factors. So my expectations were never very high for him, which meant that I wasn't really disappointed that he never pitched like the ace he was supposed to be. In addition, things started off on the wrong foot for RJ in New York with a run-in with a WCBS cameraman on his first day in town. To me that was a bad sign about how his tenure as a Yankee was going to go. Luckily he wan't involved in any other similar incidents, but never did he really do anything all that wonderful on or off the field either.

Good bye, Randy, you won't be missed by this fan!

Posted by silverdsl at 08:04 PM | Comments (0)

In the News: Michael Waltrip (1/9)

That's Michael Waltrip near the #44 driven by Dale Jarrett that he owns during testing at Daytona. I can't even begin to imagine how excited and proud Michael is to see one of the teams that he owns take part in their first official test in advance of the 2007 season. What a sense of accomplishement he must feel, and it's not even an actual race yet! What's really awesome is that DJ was 14th in both the morning session on Day One of testing yesterday, but also this morning. Of course it's a bit hard to draw too many conclusions from testing since some teams won't show all of what they've got during test sessions like this, and other teams will try things they can't do during actual races. But considering all the bleak predictions for the Michael Waltrip Racing teams for next season, it sure is nice to see them being pretty fast during testing! I hope Michael and David Reutimann are at least as fast, if not faster when they test next week!

Ty Norris certainly expects the MWR teams to be competitive. ESPN.com had a great article on MWR, in which Ty specifically told David Newton exactly that, and said,

"That's not blowing smoke. That's reality based on tests, knowing where our cars are in the wind tunnel, feeling good about what we've got going on with our engineer support from Toyota. We feel the pieces are there."

Anyone who's been watching Michael Waltrip Racing: A New Era on ESPN2, and been paying attention to the way that Michael has assembled the team of people who are working with him at MWR would certainly realize that the pieces are definitely there. That's what irks me a little when everyone predicts doom and gloom for MWR next season. It's almost as if some are still seeing MWR as the small team that operated out of the shop in the backyard of Michael's house, as opposed to the large organization that is doing everything that every other large Cup operation does, from hiring the best personnel they can, to using engineering to their benefit, to going to the wind tunnel, to conducting lots of testing, and so much more. There's certainly no guarantees that MWR will be successful this season. It's going to be difficult as a new team, especially since two out of three MWR Cup teams will have to qualify in on time for the first five races. However, with all the time, money and effort that's being put into this effort, I can't see how they can be a complete failure as some are predicting.

As I mentioned above, the ESPN2 show has been doing an excellent job of giving fans a peek at the inner workings of MWR as they prepare for this season. I've really enjoyed seeing things that fans normally don't get to see, such as when David met with Burger King and Domino's in an effort to try to convince them he should get the #00 ride, which he eventually did. Michael is happy with the show as well,

“I feel ‘A New Era’ has accurately depicted the challenges we have faced and the successes we’ve already enjoyed as a team.”

It definitely has to be considered a success that MWR got this far already! Michael continued,

“Our team has allowed intimate access into meetings, projects, tests and appearances daily. I am most proud that Michael Waltrip Racing has been able to provide our sponsors with exposure through this show. After the show stops airing, I think the race fans will want to visit Waltrip Raceworld and carry on the excitement of our inaugural year.”

I definitely agree with Michael that the show is a way to create excitement among existing fans about MWR and Waltrip Race World. However, I also think that it's a great way to create new fans who might become intrigued about following the successes and failures of MWR in 2007 after watching the show. I'm already a fan so I'm biased, but I find it hard to understand how anyone could wish failure on MWR after seeing this show, and getting to know a little those who play such an important role at MWR. It's also undeniable - the show is an outstanding showcase for the MWR sponsors, and it shows just how much of a partnership the relationship between the driver, team and sponsor is, and has to be.

All the news wasn't good for Michael this week. As a friend to Bobby Hamilton, Michael was among those saddened by his death. Michael said,

"He was one of those guys; there was no baloney. You knew exactly what he was thinking about everything."

That's something about Bobby I both admired and sometimes also disliked. I would like to see more drivers tell it like it is and give honest opinions, but I also think there's such thing as going too far, which Bobby might have done on an occasion or two, such as when his son left PPI Racing, and he had a few words for Cal Wells. There was certainly no confusion about how he felt about Cal!

Before heading for testing next week, Michael will be at Sound & Speed in Nashville. That event was a little rocky last year but hopefully it will go better this time around and all of Michael's fans who attend will have a good time seeing him!

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

Rick Ren to Kevin Harvick, Inc.

Last season Rick Ren, as crew chief of the #23 truck at Bill Davis Racing, helped guide Johnny Benson to five wins in the Truck Series, and a second place finish in the points. But instead of seeing if they could do even better in 2007, Ren has left BDR for Kevin Harvick, Inc. where he'll be Ron Hornaday's crew chief. I'm sure that KHI made Ren a very good offer that he couldn't refuse, but it still seems strange that he would leave such a strong team in the midst of when they're having so much success. Of course Hornaday is no slouch himself - he won two races in 2006, and finished 7th in points. But with how hard it can be for a driver to gel with their crew chief, I'd think that Ren might want to continue as crew chief for a driver he knows he works well with.

Posted by silverdsl at 02:58 PM | Comments (0)

Junior and Teresa - What a Tangled Web

Yesterday at testing Dale Earnhardt, Jr. met with the media, and one topic he addressed was a comment made by his step-mother and car owner, Teresa Earnhardt, in December, in which she questioned his focus as a driver. This follows Junior's sister, Kelley Earnhardt-Elledge, who is the general manager of JR Motorsports, giving interviews on XM and Sirius, during which she also addressed the topic. I can't really figure out what Junior's goal was in discussing the topic of his relationship with his step-mother in such detail because it seemed to me that Junior was throwing fuel on the fire by providing the media with material about a story that had started to quiet down. It's also curious to me that Kelley spoke at length last week about how negotiating Junior's contract was very much a business deal and seemed to down play Teresa's comment, yet this week Junior is indicating that his relationship with his step-mother is a huge factor in whether he re-signs or not.

Family relationships are complicated, and can become more so when they're intertwined with business. From the sounds of it, Junior and his sister would have no relationship at all with Teresa if not for the family business - DEI. But the reality is that they are in business together. As such, it boggles my mind that they go for months at a time without speaking directly to each other. It's inexplicable to me that this comment by Teresa has been made, and neither side has reached out to the other. For all Junior and Kelley know, Teresa was misquoted or taken out of context. If not Junior deserves an explanation as to what she met. Yet neither Junior/Kelley nor Teresa have apparently picked up the phone, sent an email or dropped by to one another's house for a visit to clear the air. Instead the issue continues to fester, much to the delight of the media.

There's been much speculation that Junior is going to leave DEI for sure in 2008 and go race for Richard Childress Racing or another organization. I say not-so-fast, in spite of the recent kerfuffle over Teresa's comments. I have my doubts regardless of what Junior's saying at the moment as to whether his mind is made up yet about leaving DEI, especially when they've not gotten too far into negotiations. Kelley said in her XM interview that Junior gives a lot of thought to things, mulling things over for a long time. Apparently it took three to four weeks for him to decide to hire her at JR Motorsports. So it seems to me that if it took him that long to decide to hire his own sister, it's going to take him even longer to make a decision that will a huge effect on his career and have many repercussions on himself and many others

Of course both Kelley and Junior said all the right things about Junior remaining at DEI. That's to be expected - even if a driver already has a deal in the works to sign with another team they talk about how they'd like to stay with their current team so they don't make any waves. But one thing that Kelley talked about is how Junior remaining at DEI is part of their father's legacy, and that Junior racing the #8 for DEI is what their father wanted. How easy is it going to be for Junior to ignore his father's wishes and go elsewhere? Especially since it might mean the end of DEI as a successful organization.

As I mentioned above Kelley spoke at length about the business side of things, not only as it relates to negotiating a new contract for Junior, but also in regards to the business of Junior as well. That means all that goes into managing Junior's licensing, merchandising, marketing, as well as Junior's other projects such as JR Motorsports, the nightclub, the Infield Parking website, and the Alabama track. If staying at DEI is the best decision for Junior's career, and his future from a business standpoint, is he really going to leave because he has a rocky relationship with his step-mother?

In addition, It's not like his relationship with Teresa has changed at all. According to Junior his relationship with Teresa is the same as it has been since he was six years old - that's 26 years! So if he's been able to manage to deal with her for the past 26 years, why wouldn't he be able to be able to deal with her for another few years?

Apparently a sticking point between Junior/Kelley and Teresa is their involvement in running DEI. From the sounds of it, the siblings want a lot more control over what happens at DEI, if not to be able to take over completely. It's unpopular to have this opinion, but I think that Teresa has just as much right to DEI as Junior and Kelley do. Teresa was Dale's wife, and as flawed as her vision for DEI might be, she's running it in the way that she thinks is best, as is her right. Obviously Junior and Kelley (and maybe Kerry too) have some rights to DEI as well, as Dale's children, but some fans seem to think that Teresa has no right to have any involvement in DEI at all, but legally she probably has just as much, if not more, right than Junior and Kelley. So as difficult as it may be, if all three want to be involved with DEI in some regard, I think they need to find a way to work together.

I'm really not looking forward to the next few months when Junior's contract status and his relationship with his step-mother is a continual topic of discussion on message boards and in the media. I'd much rather if the messy details about the personal relationships among the members of the Earnhardt family are kept behind closed doors.

Posted by silverdsl at 01:58 PM | Comments (0)

Steve Park Has a Ride in the Works?

Someone on Steve Park Central called into to Sirius Satellite Radio today and asked about Steve Park. That resulted in John Kernon tracking down Steve who apparently said that he was on his way back from meeting with some un-named team about a deal for a new ride, and that he hoped to have an announcement by Friday. I sure do hope that everything works out for Steve, and that he'll actually be racing in 2007! But I'm not getting my hopes up until there's at least a Jayski rumor if not an actual announcement. For one thing putting a time-table on announcing a new ride has been the kiss-of-death for Steve dating back to December of 2005, when he posted on his site that he hoped to be able to announce a ride for 2006 by the holidays. Why Steve can't just say that things look good for next season without announcing that he's going to make an announcement soon is beyond me.

The other reason why I'm not getting my hopes up is because any team that's still looking for a driver likely isn't going to be an elite team. The best teams have filled their openings long before now. So it's probably going to be something part-time, which might not be so bad if it were with a decent team, or with a so-so team, which might not be so bad either if they were committed to working hard and making improvements. Really though, at this point Steve can't be too fussy. Any ride as long as it's not a start 'n' park or with a completely hopeless team is better than no ride at all. So depending on the team the results may not be anything to get too excited about, but at least there's some hope that Steve might be at the track this year.

In other Steve related news, The Bodine Bobsled Challenge was this weekend and Steve didn't attend as planned. That's unfortunate for two reasons. One, because it's disappointing to fans who went up to Lake Placid to see him, or were expecting to watch him as part of Speed's coverage of the event. But also because the event got a significant amount of publicity. That's an opportunity to remind people he still exists if this deal doesn't happen to come through and he's still going to need to find a ride.

A few people, myself included, questioned why Steve didn't have the people who run his website put a clarification on the site regarding his participation in the event. I think it's completely understandable given how long ago he probably committed to the event, that something else might have come up, like negotiations for a new ride, and he couldn't make it to the Bobsled event. Fans also have to be understanding about drivers obligations to sponsors, teams and their manufacturer, which may mean that they need to drop out of an event without much notice. I think it's also hard if a driver has a schedule jam-packed with appearances like drivers like Jeff Gordon or Michael Waltrip have for their websites to be constantly updated with specifics about appearances. But Steve doesn't have even a fraction of the obligations that either of those drivers have, and he only does one or two scheduled events that are open to fans to attend. So it seems to me that it's not outrageous to think that maybe Steve's website could have been updated with the news that he would be attending the event, along with the official press release, and then when his plans changed, a brief message along the lines of "I'm sorry, but due to unforseen circumstances I will not be able to participate in the Bodine Bobsled Challenge as planned."

So we'll see what happens for Steve in the next week - maybe this season there will be some actual racing in relation to him to talk about as opposed to possible deals, failed deals, and un-updated websites.

Posted by silverdsl at 11:47 AM | Comments (0)

January 08, 2007

Photo of the Day - Spring Flowers

New Jersey, May, 2006. With the way the temperature was in the low 70's around here on Saturday, I was starting to think that we might see some of this soon... but it didn't stay warm for long!

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

Bobby Hamilton

I went to the funeral of my 27-year old cousin today who died unexpectantly, so that's why I've not had much to say in this space recently since my family has been dealing with the after effects of that. But the Nascar community has also suffered a loss - Bobby Hamilton passed away due to head and neck cancer yesterday at the age of 49. A lot of people were shocked by this news, but I wasn't all that surprised. I had hoped that he would win the battle against cancer, but from what I had seen this is a particularly difficult variety to survive, and I didn't have a good feeling when Hamilton missed Homestead, where he had planned on making his return to the track, and also when it was announced that Ken Schrader would race his truck next year. Still, I had hoped that Hamilton's priorities were just shifting from behind the wheel to ownership and to his new wife. Apparently that wasn't the case.

I'd be lying if I said that Hamilton was a favorite driver of mine. He wasn't. However, I still had a tremendous amount of respect for him as a driver. Hamilton found his greatest success in the Truck Series, where he won ten races and was the 2004 series Champion. But he also won on each of Nascar's other two highest levels - once in the Busch Series and four times in the Cup series. Overall, his career in Nascar spanned 18 years, and he had many friends in the garage area who will surely miss his presence at the track. None more so than his son, Bobby Hamilton, Jr. Life at and away from the track will be very different now for Bobby, Jr. and the entire Hamilton family, as well as his many friends and fans.

R.I.P. Bobby.

Posted by silverdsl at 07:27 PM | Comments (0)

January 05, 2007

Childishness on Top Chef

I've been watching Top Chef on Bravo and I have to say that this week's episode disgusted me. Not the food mind you, but the behavior of the contestants. Sure, Marcel can be arrogant and annoying, plus he's awkward socially. With how young he is, it's quite possible that he has a lot of maturing to do. I can understand how that kind of person can be irritating. But there's no excuse for the behavior of the other chefs towards Marcel. Taunts about his sex life? Ripping on him in public in the middle of a store? Being angry at him because he asked others to be careful about keeping the refrigerator door closed? Insults in front of the dinner guests? Over-reacting to him saying that his food wasn't being ready to be served? Childish and pathetic. Meanwhile, Marcel for all his flaws, always rises above whatever insults have been slung at him to lend a helping hand to the chefs who need it.

Yes, the producers may have edited things to create drama, but the insults still came out of the contestant's mouths, and it's pretty clear that at some point they all decided that they couldn't stand Marcel and that it was acceptable to bully him. It's unacceptable from middle school students, and it's unacceptable from grown adults. Not only that but it's completely unprofessional. Do they think that they're going to become so famous that they'll never have to work with someone they don't like or someone who irritates them? Think again! Do they not realize that there are likely any number of people in the restaurant and food industry watching this show and getting an extremely negative opinion of them? Obviously not!

Seeing this episode has killed some of my enjoyment of this show. The worst offenders are the most talented chefs, but how can I cheer for them to win when they seem to have a very ugly side to them?

Posted by silverdsl at 11:44 AM | Comments (0)

January 04, 2007

Random Thoughts on Nascar

As teams gear up for testing, the last few teams that haven't finalized their 2007 plans are in the process of doing so, and as a result there's been a number of announcements and news this week. A lot of those items really aren't worthy of an entire separate entry so...

*A few days ago an article on Nascar.com indicated that ppc Racing was downsizing to just one team in 2007, and that they would be selling the #22. That is in fact what's happened. Fitz Racing announced today that they purchased the #22 from ppc - but not the owner's points - and that David Stremme will be behind the wheel of the car part-time, and other unnamed veteran drivers will race the remaining races. Apparently Fitz wore #22 when he played football in college, which is why he wanted it for one of his teams. What I don't get is why he didn't also buy the owner's points, unless he was afraid of a backlash like what Michael Waltrip experienced for buying the #77's owner's points. Fitz says he's not worried even though the #22 team won't be guaranteed a spot in the first few races because there are several Busch teams that have folded. Well, I think he should be worried - the Fitz cars weren't competitive at all last season so unless Fitz has made changes in the shop, I'm not sure it'll be so easy to make every race with so many Cup backed teams also trying to make races.

*According to Jayski, the #31 Busch car, fielded by Marsh Racing isn't folding, even though they lost their primary sponsor, Whelen Engineering. However, whether they run any races is dependant on finding sponsorship, which likely won't be an easy feat considering they're a part-time team, that had poor results in 2006. The plan is for Peyton Sellers to race the #31 should sponsorship be found, so perhaps since Sellers is a Richard Childress Racing development driver, RCR will assist the #31 team with finding that sponsorship they need to keep racing, since Sellers needs the seat time if he's going to eventually move into one of RCR's cars.

*Jayski is also reporting that the #25 Woodward Racing truck team has folded. Boston Reid was behind the wheel of that team for 20 races, and Damon Lusk for five races last season. The results weren't very good for either driver and featured a stretch of four races, three with Reid, and one with Lusk, that resulted in four DNFs in a row, three from wrecks and one from a blown engine. My question is what happens to the owner's points from this truck, assuming this piece of news is true? Because the team entered into a deal with Michael Gaughan at the beginning of the 2006 season to buy the #62's owner's points, Gaughan is listed as the owner of the team. So I'm thinking that he would then have control over the owner's points associated with this team, and in that case, what, if anything, will he do with those points?

*Speaking of Boston Reid, if anyone's wondering, his website has an update from him that indicates that he's still looking for a ride for 2007, but that he hasn't found anything yet. Like Steve Park, that doesn't bode well that so close to testing and the start of the season he's still out of work.

*On the Cup side, there had been a lot of speculation about what number Ricky Rudd was going to use at Robert Yates Racing. Many fans hoped to see the return of Rudd in the #28, which is the number he raced for three seasons previously at RYR. However, Rudd is going to race the #88, the same number that Dale Jarrett raced when he was with RYR. Apparently, RYR has some sort of contractual agreement with Texaco, who sponsored Rudd in the #28 at RYR, and they couldn't come to an agreement regarding RYR's use of the number. Rudd fans are pretty upset about that but personally, I think sometimes fans get too hung up on numbers. There are definitely some numbers that I'm more fond of than others, but in the end I don't care what number my favorite drivers race, as long as they do well!

*Another Jayski item - apparently TNT is planning on showing the Pepsi 400 without any commercial breaks, because the entire race will be sponsored by Pepsi. On the surface this sounds great because with no commercial breaks, fans won't miss any of the action on the track. However, I have no doubt that for the amount of money that Pepsi is likely paying to sponsor the race, the mentions, graphics and other ways of advertising the brand will probably be pretty in-your-face. That could get annoying.

*Mike Bliss will stay with BAM Racing's #49 team in 2007. The team's added a new crew chief in Lee McCall, but I can't say I'm overly optimistic about this team's chances for success. They're outside the top 35 in owner's points and at no time this past season did they show any hope that they were going to become even remotely competitive in the near future. I think they'll have an extremely hard time qualifying in for races this season.

*Derrick Finley has been named crew chief for Jeremy Mayfield at Bill Davis Racing. I have to admit this suprised me. Although it had been said that Tommy Baldwin, Jr. had been hired as Director of Competition at BDR, I had thought that Baldwin would end up as Mayfield's crew chief this season, especially since he was on top of the pit box for Michael Waltrip at the end of last season. But apparently not. Finley also served as Michael's crew chief last season, and he wasn't impressive. Perhaps he and Michael were simply never able to get on the same page in terms of communication, but I also got the sense that Finley wasn't always confident in his decisions he made during the races in the pits. It'll be interesting to see if he has more success with Mayfield than he did with Michael.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:25 PM | Comments (0)

Frank Kerr to be David Reutimann's Crew Chief

Yeah, I thought "who?" too when I read that Frank Kerr had been selected as David Reutimann's crew chief at Michael Waltrip Racing. But as it turns out Kerr has been involved in racing for years, both as a sprint car driver who won 250 features, and as a crew chief who worked at Braun Racing and Robby Gordon Motorsports. Also, he's no stranger to MWR. I had a feeling that MWR might promote from within when it came to the crew chief of the #00, and it turns out that I was right. I didn't realize this at first, but apparently Kerr has been working at MWR since August of last year, as head of the R&D Department. In that role, he had been doing a lot of testing with Reutimann, and apparently they worked extremely well together. Michael Waltrip, owner of the #00 said,

"It made perfect sense to promote Frank to crew chief. Frank fits our crew chief mold."

I was a little uncertain at first, but the more I hear, the more sense it makes to me too. Kerr is familiar not only with Reutimann already, but also with the way things work at MWR. He should easily be able to slide into the crew chief position, and work well with the other MWR crew chiefs. In addition, there won't be any issues at testing or during Speedweeks, both of which are right around the corner, with communication since Kerr and Reutimann are already familiar with each other. Ty Norris, MWR general manager said,

"Frank gained a tremendous amount of confidence in David and they have already worked through that critical communication barrier that normally hinders a new driver/crew chief combination. That weighed heavily in the decision."

I especially like hearing that Kerr has confidence in Reutimann - I think that's extremely important that a crew chief believes in his driver!

In a strange twist of fate, Kerr and Reutimann had met well before either one came to Nascar. As a 14-year old in Florida, Reutimann was a big fan of Kerr, when he was still driving sprint cars. Reutimann said,

"I was at the Florida Fairgrounds because my dad was racing there. I went and bought a photograph Frank's car and stood in line for his autograph. I still have that photograph today. It's crazy how different our paths were and we've ended up in the same place after all these years."

That really is pretty wild how things sometimes work out! There was no way for either man to know that years later they'd be working professionally together in racing, but fate has a funny way of working its magic.

Of course it's impossible to know how the Kerr/Reutimann pairing is going to work out. The #00 team has a lot of challenges ahead of them. As a new team with no owner points, they have to qualify into the first five races on time, and on top of that Reutimann is a rookie to Cup racing, and he's also going to be racing the full Busch schedule as well. I hope they have a good test session this month, and even better, have a great Speedweeks and Daytona 500!

In other David Reutimann news, Domino's gave him a little hands-on experience with their product. Reutimann and some others from MWR were in Michigan recently where they were timed on how fast they could make a Domino's pepperoni pizza. Domino's has a two-minute requirement for how fast the pizzas need to be made and Reutimann clocked in under that at 1:29. However MWR vice president for corporate business was even faster - he made a pizza in just 1:09! Wow! Cooking is definitely not one of my strong points so I think both Reutimann and Penn made their pizzas a lot faster than I could have!

I guess Reutimann now has something to fall back on in case driving the #00 doesn't work out, but it's not his first choice. He said,

"It's something I definitely never thought I'd be doing. It's cool to see how the system works, but I'm really hoping this racing thing works out for me."

I hope this racing thing works out for him too, even better than he ever dreamed it would!!

Posted by silverdsl at 01:17 PM | Comments (0)

Well, it's been a crappy few days for some that I know, and some bad stuff has happened. Not to me, or my husband or my parents luckily, but to friends and family. There really isn't much more to say but I hope that everything works out the way that it should, and that everyone has happier days ahead.

Posted by silverdsl at 01:14 PM | Comments (0)

January 02, 2007

Photo of the Day - Aruba Sunset

Aruba, September, 2005. Yet another beautiful Aruba sunset.

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

Terry Cook to the #59 Truck

...and the pool of available rides for Steve Park shrinks even more. This evening it was announced that Terry Cook will race the #59 truck fielded by HT Motorsports this season. Since Steve had raced the #59 truck for ten races this past season, when the team had parted ways with Chad Chaffin, it had been thought that a reunion might be in the works, particularly since Steve supposedly has sponsorship to bring a team, and HT Motorsports is very much in need of sponsorship. But it's not to be, and I think it's an extremely bad sign that even a team that spoke so well of Steve when he raced for them, looked elsewhere to fill their opening.

Of course the #59 team is getting a talented driver in Terry. He's won six truck races during his career, including one this past season, has seven poles, and has finished in the top ten in points four times, including this past season. It remains to be seen what he can do in the #59 truck though since the team has struggled to be competitive the past couple of seasons. Toyota is sticking with them which should help, but it's essential that they find a primary sponsor - no easy matter these days - and it'll probably always be a challenge for them as a small, one-truck team, with few resources located in Virginia, away from where the majority of other teams are based.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:20 PM | Comments (0)

Ward Burton Gets a Busch Ride

Looks like we'll be seeing a lot of Ward Burton this season. Not only will he be racing the #4 Cup car for Morgan-McClure Motorsports, but he'll also be racing 20 Busch races for Brewco Motorsports in the #27 car. A driver to-be-named later will be in the car for the remaining races. I have to admit this bit of news really surprised me. I figured that Casey Atwood, who was in the car for eight races at the end of last season was the leading candidate to get that ride full-time. While the results weren't spectacular for Atwood in those races, they weren't awful either. I guess Brewco wanted better results, and maybe both they and Kleenex, the sponsor, wanted a higher profile driver as well. I think it's possible that Burton could have better results in the Busch car than in his Cup car given that Brewco has shown recently that they can field decent cars, where as the results for MMM have been extremely dismal in recent times.

Of course this is even more bad news regarding Steve Park's chances for a ride for this season since this is one less open ride. Although I figured Atwood was at the top of the list for this ride, this is another team that I was hoping Steve might end up catching on with. Apparently not.

Posted by silverdsl at 01:28 PM | Comments (0)

What I've Been Listening To...

It's been quite a while since I've talked about what music I've been listening to. One glaring reason being that there hasn't been a huge amount of new music that's caught my attention in quite some time, so I've been listening, as always, to a lot of classic rock and other music of the past, even if it's the recent past.

One of the few current albums that I like is James Blunt's Back to Bedlam, but since that album came out in 2005, it's not exactly new anymore. There's definitely some fairly recent singles that I like such as Justin Timberlake's "Sexyback," Nickelback's "Far Away," and Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy," but none of the albums those songs belong to have really inspired much in me. The only other recent album that I've been listening to is the new Daughtry album, though I can't say it's a favorite or very ground-breaking musically, simply that it features some catchy songs.

So I've been listening to a lot of my usuals like Fleetwood Mac, Simon & Garfunkel, 3 Doors Down, The Scorpions and Bon Jovi to name a few. I also have XM and Sirius satellite radio both, and I've been listening to both of those quite extensively as well. I would have liked to have had just one or the other, but Nascar moved to Sirius and XM is built into both my car and my husband's. So dropping XM wasn't something we wanted to do since we both listen to XM in our cars a lot, and I didn't want to miss out on Sirius's Nascar coverage, since that was why I got satellite radio in the first place. What I decided to do is drop one of my XM recievers from my account, so that way paying the monthly costs for Sirius wouldn't come out to that much more than I had already been paying.

As it turns out XM and Sirius have very much the same programming. I like Sirius's "Hair Nation" channel, which plays all hair-bands, all the time, a lot better than XM's similar channel, "Boneyard," which isn't exclusively hair bands. Not only that it seems as if "Boneyard" plays a lot of songs that I've never heard of, and aren't all that great. I also like Sirius's classic rock channels, and it seems that I can always find a song that I like on one of them. However, I think I like XM's more current music channels better. "Ethel," the alternative hits station on XM usually has music I like, and so far I haven't really found a similar channel to XM 22, "The Mix," which really isn't an XM channel since Clear Channel operates it, but plays a good "mix" of music.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:03 AM | Comments (0)

Making a Correction

Some time ago in this space I repeated what someone on Steve Park Central had said about how Steve had no business manager, no agent, no public relations representative, and no one to handle his business affairs at all in an official capacity. I should have known better than to repeat information that came off a message board because in the months since it appears that piece of information is not correct. I suppose some think that it doesn't matter either way, but to me getting things accurate is important. Aside from Steve saying in an interview in September that he was working with an agency to try to help get a deal done for a new ride, someone posted a link to Steve being available as a speaker through IMG's Speakers Bureau. IMG is a marketing and management company that represents athletes, performing artists, writers, fashion models, broadcasters, and others.

While it's possible Steve is no longer an IMG client, it's very unlikely that Steve would be featured as part of IMG's Speaker Bureau if he wasn't represented by them at some point. Given that the biography on the page appears to be fairly up-to-date with information about Steve's Truck Series win, it appears that if he's not currently represented by them, he was in the not too distant past - and he may very well still be a current IMG client if he's on their website. Despite what was said over the summer, I'd be surprised if Steve didn't have some sort of representation or someone to look after his business affairs, whether that's IMG, another agency or individual.

Posted by silverdsl at 08:20 AM | Comments (0)

January 01, 2007

Photo of the Day - Cape May

Cape May, New Jersey, September, 2005. It appears that I'll be going to Cape May at least once this year. Yay!

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

Bill Elliott to Race at Daytona in the #37

Bill Elliott is guaranteed a spot in the 2007 Budweiser Shootout, and fans have wondered if a team would give him a ride for the Shootout since he's not currently signed for a ride for next season. Some had hoped that Evernham Motorsports would field a car for him, since a car from that team would likely be at least somewhat competitive, and others had hoped that Michael Waltrip Racing target would give him a car so they could use data from the Shootout to help their own efforts during Speedweeks. However, the team that Elliott will race for in not only the Shootout, but throughout Speedweeks in an effort to make the Daytona 500, is R&J Racing.The #37 team uses engines made by Ernie Elliott, who I believe is Bill Elliott's brother, so it's not surprising that Elliott would end up in this car, especiallly since he was in the car for three races this past season.

It'll be great to see Elliott in the Shootout, but I think he's going to have a hard time making the Daytona 500. Yes, the three races he was in this car for in 2006, he qualified in on time, and he finished 16th at Kansas, but the competition is going to be extremely stiff for just a few open spots for the 500. The #37 team doesn't have much sponsorship, and as much of a feel-good story as it might be for them to make the race, I have my doubts about whether they'll be successful, even with a driver as talented as Elliott behind the wheel.

ETA: Someone reminded me about the Champion's provisional that Elliott can make use of which I had completely forgotten about. So that means that he's pretty much locked into every race that he attempts, even if his car is lousy, unless a more recent Champion needs to use that provisional. That means there's going to be one less open spot for all the other teams who need to make it in on time to those races he enters.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:33 PM | Comments (0)

Quote of the Day

"Truth is not only violated by falsehood; it may be equally outraged by silence." - Henri Frederic Amiel

I've had an internal debate with myself for a little bit now. I know the truth about something; a matter of little consequence to most, but of importance to a few. And due to circumstances I've felt it best to stay silent, but I'm not sure that's the right decision because the more time that passes the more chance there is that wrong is being done to more than one person by this falsehood. I've always believed in saying what needs to be said even if it's unpopular, and at some point this truth will need to be voiced, even if some refuse to believe.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:26 PM | Comments (0)

South Point Racing Becomes a Chevy Team

Brendan Gaughan was on Dave Moody's show on Sirius earlier and he said that South Point Racing , formerly known as Orleans Racing, had switched manufacturers from Dodge to Chevy. As part of the switch, apparently the money that Brendan, or possibly South Point Racing, that wasn't quite clear, recieves from Chevy will be performance based. That means that if the #77 contends for the Championship they'll get a lot more money from Chevy than if they struggle. That doesn't really bode well for Brendan, because as I noted last week, Brendan was among the worst of all full-time Truck Series drivers in 2006. While Brendan indicated that they are making major personnel changes at South Point Racing in the hopes of improving their results next season, 2006 was the third season in a row that this organization struggled with issues and problems that prevented them from being as consistantly competitive as a lot of other teams in the series. In addition, the #77 team still doesn't have a primary sponsor, which means that they have no outside funding coming in for the team, other than what Chevy gives them, again for the third year in a row.

While I was thinking about South Point Racing and their chances of being a Championship team in 2007, I was reminded of Brendan's rant on XM about the rookies in the truck series back in May. Brendan thought that the Truck Series rookie class of 2006 were "stupid," know nothing and are worth nothing. In essence he was extremely negative about their talent level. Well, out of curiosity I took at look at the final points standings and discovered that one of those truck series rookies, Erik Darnell, finished three positions higher in the points than Brendan did in 12th. Not bad for a stupid, know-nothing, worth nothing rookie, ay? In addition, another rookie, Chad McCumbee, finished just two spots behind Brendan, in 17th, inspite of racing one less race than Brendan. Aric Almirola, also a rookie in 2006, finished just behind McCumbee in 18th. Now neither McCumbee or Almirola had outstanding seasons, and some would say that the only good seasons in the Truck Series are those that results in top ten points finishes. But it seems to me that a few of the rookies in the series who Brendan was so down on didn't do much worse than he, a nine-year veteran. I wonder if Brendan's outlook on rookies changed any by the end of the season - maybe they don't suck quite as much as he thinks they do.

Posted by silverdsl at 05:36 PM | Comments (0)