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October 31, 2008

Photo of the Day - Prisoner Pug

Happy Halloween!

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

Johnny Benson Considering Retirement

Johnny Benson's future in Nascar is uncertain. Although he is leading the points and is concentrating on trying to win the Truck Series Championship, Benson is considering racing for another team next season or even retiring. He said,

“I don’t know what my situation is for next year yet. I’ve heard a lot of the rumors. There is always a lot of things going on, but to be perfectly honest, we’re all really concentrating on what we’re doing. … I’ve contemplated not running anymore.”

I'm surprised that Benson is considering retirement and seriously from the sounds of it. While I understand that maybe he'd like to go out on his terms on top, he's still very much racing competitively - can't get much more competitive than contending for a championship.

There's rumors that Benson could end up at Red Horse Racing either as a replacement for David Starr or in a second truck so I have to wonder if there's something going on at Bill Davis Racing that makes Benson think he might not have a ride there next season. It's been rumored that BDR may sell their Cup operation to Gillett-Evernham Motorsports (and even if they don't I doubt they'll be able to field the #22 since there's no sponsorship for it) but supposedly BDR was going to continue to field their truck teams. Benson's truck wasn't completely sponsored this season so maybe there's a possibility of additional sponsorship issues for next season that could effect his team's ability to be competitive. Or maybe BDR is downsizing their truck operation - the 360OTC situation from 2007 and trying to field a second car for Jacques Villeneuve without a sponsor this season had to take it's toll on the organization financially. I wondered above how much truth there is to the rumors about massive layoffs in the garage area but BDR is one organization that I can see needing to let some people go.

I've always liked Benson and while I was disappointed when he stopped racing Cup, I think he's been awesome in the Truck Series. It really wouldn't be the same watching races without him. I hope he reconsiders retirement and continues racing next season particularly if he ends up as the series Champion!

Posted by silverdsl at 04:27 PM | Comments (0)

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (10/31)

*CBSSportsline.com is reporting that several unnamed sources are saying that there will be as many as 1,000 layoffs from teams throughout the Truck, Nationwide and Cup garages on the Monday following the final race weekend of the season due to the poor economy. I don't have as much of a problem with rumors as some fans do but I find this kind of rumor to be troublesome because no specifics or source is given so it's impossible to know whether there's any truth to the rumor or whether it's just speculation in the garage area. Because no teams are mentioned other than DEI it's going to create a sense of anxiety with every team. Those at DEI are going to be particularly nervous. I would guess there likely will be some layoffs at the end of the season from teams that are closing and from organizations that are looking to cut costs. However, how likely is it that 1,000 people are getting laid off? Some of the teams that are most likely to be shutting down are those that are small and underfunded to begin with and probably don't employ that many people to begin with - even if as many as twenty of those team downsize or shut down would that really total 1,000 people? In addition, other than DEI, Bill Davis Racing or maybe Chip Ganassi Racing, most of the large teams appear to be relatively okay for next season. That doesn't mean there won't be any layoffs - some of them may need to cut non-essential personnel to save money, but so many that there will be hundreds of people out of work? There is always turnover in the garage area when it comes to the pit crews and other personnel during the off-season and I expect that this year will be no different, but unsubstantiated rumors like this might led to even more movement as people try to find jobs with the organizations they feel are most likely to be around long-term.

*I wonder how many in the garage area are hosting Halloween parties tonight? If any drivers end up dressing up I sure hope some photos turn up! A number of years ago Michael Waltrip dressed up like a female cop for a Halloween appearance on Trackside and it was hilarious! I wonder what his costume is going to be this year (if any)? I can think of quite a few costumes I'd love to see Michael in (get your minds out of the gutter!)!

*One idea that had been under discussion at Hendrick Motorsports is for Mark Martin to race the #5 at Homestead in place of Casey Mears who would then shift to Richard Childress Racing for the final race of the season. However, HMS has apparently decided to stick with Mears. I think that's a wise choice. There's likely not all that much to be gained by putting Martin behind the wheel for just the one race and much to be lost, at least when it comes to the fans since a lot of fans didn't think it was right for Mears to be replaced. There's always going to be fan who are upset when a driver is replaced but sometimes there's some understanding if the team is looking to improve performance or get a head start on the following season but when there doesn't seem to be much to be gained it's probably not going to be a popular decision.

*Last week it looked like Team Rensi was going to close their doors after the Nationwide race at Memphis but they're going to end up fielding a car for Bobby Hamilton, Jr. for the last three races of the season, primarily because Hamilton is spending nearly $400,000 of his own money to make it happen. It's a wise choice both for the team and Hamilton. Currently the team is 18th in owner's points which guarantees them a spot to race each week but to keep that guaranteed spot they have to attempt every race. Some might be wondering why it matters if the team isn't going to be around next season but there's still the possibility that they could find sponsorship during the off-season or more likely enter into a deal to tranfer their owner's points to another team. In addition, Hamilton is 15th in points so racing the remaining races gives him an opportunity to maintain or even better that points finish. A lot of drivers probably wouldn't be willing to put up so much of their own money so have to give him credit for doing what it takes to finish out the season. Some have said that Hamilton's confrontation with Landon Cassill hurt his chances of finding a ride and a sponsor for next season but according to Hamilton in an interview last week that incident created a lot of exposure for him and his team that has resulted in some phone calls which may be another reason they're going to finish out the season.

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

Michael Waltrip Out Loud and The After Show (10/30)

Michael Waltrip Out Loud on XM

The show opened with the new song by Guns 'n Roses. Michael said that he can remember the first time he heard GNR - he was just waking up after a late night (which must have been pretty wild night) and he was under the covers at the end of the bed where his feet should have been. He untangled himself from the blankets because he wanted to know why there was a cat screeching and saw Axl Rose singing on the TV. It had such an impact on him that he remembers where he was the first time he heard that song to this day like where he was when Hank Aaron hit his milestone homerun. I can also remember the first time I saw and heard GNR - I was in my bedroom at home watching MTV and "Welcome to the Jungle" came on. I wonder how many others remember the first time they heard GNR - it says something about that band that they were that memorable. I'm looking forward to the new GNR album, but I'm keeping my expectations reasonable since the only original member of GNR still in the band is Axl.

Michael said there was a bunch of different circumstances that messed them up at Atlanta. They had a great car and were able to race up to ninth but then they lost radio communication just as Michael was about to ask for an adjustment to the car. As I suspected the adjustment that was made didn't work out - I would guess that not being able to get much feedback from Michael once his radio went meant that they were mostly guessing on the pit box as to what changes to make to the car. Tony brought up how they showed Michael on TV getting his gloves back on after having been in the pits to switch out his helmet to try to fix the radio problems and Michael said he doesn't like to race without his gloves on. But Michael said it was his mistake not the radio issues that really hurt them - he got too high, got into the wall and that led to a tire blowing which tore up the car. As he and Tony talked about later in the show all the drivers were saying that Atlanta is the new Darlington and half the cars have stripes on them after the race at Atlanta because they all brush the wall like what happens at Darlington. So it's not like Michael was the only driver who brushed the wall, it's just that his encounter with the wall turned out a lot worse than it did for some others.

Since MWR started, there's been a lot of Sundays that they've struggled to finish the race (or even make races) but Michael said that at Atlanta he had a car that he could have finished in the top five with and it was a great feeling. It's difficult to take having that spoiled. However, he noted that they leave each track running well and feeling like they'll be able to race well at the next track so they leave Atlanta with that feeling for Texas.

Tony asked about Marcos Ambrose and David Reutimann - the more Michael talks to Marcos the more he likes him and his attitude about racing. David and his team had a fast car on Saturday but it didn't translate on Sunday and they don't know why. Which is a good reminder for us fans. Sometimes how a driver does in practice is a good indicator of how they'll do during qualifying or a race but sometimes it isn't. A number of times recently Michael has been very slow in practice but has been able to race very competitively on race day. Or in the case of Robby Gordon he's often very fast in practice but usually doesn't finish as well as one might think he would after seeing his practice speeds. There's so many variables and teams are constantly making changes so one never really knows what's actually going to happen during a race.

Michael said that as he was riding around at the end of the race he was interested to see what kinds of strategies the other teams used and Tony slipped in a joking comment about how Michael was interested to see who was going to run over the debris that kept falling over his car. As much as I've been bothered this week by the way a lot of fans and the media have been mocking Michael for having a bad race in his 1,000th start, I admit that I did laugh at Tony's comment, probably because I know that he was just teasing Michael. (I'm so bothered by the attitude that some have about Michael's accomplishment and the accomplishments of some other drivers that I'm going to be doing a separate entry on it at some point.)

Recently Michael took a trip down to The Kingdom at Reynolds Plantation in Georgia for a Taylormade golf experience, which he said is the most fun he's had in a long time, so he had Robin English on from Reynolds to talk about it. Michael and Tony both love golf so they talk about it a lot and I'm sure there must be some in the audience who also love golf but from what I've seen a lot of those who listen tend to stop paying attention when the golf talk starts. I'm glad Michael had so much fun on his visit to The Kingdom but with how many times he mentioned their website and talked about how wonderful it was there, it sounded like he was trying to land them as a sponsor... or get a free trip back. Pretty much it was all about trying to get people to go book a trip there but I don't think there's any way the average fan can go there - it's really meant for corporate clients with money to burn. People go down there and get their golf swing analyzed, get clubs and clothes custom made for them overnight, stay in a Ritz-Carlton ($500 a night) and from how many times they talked about Tony being able to buy lunch with his favorite female golfer, they must put together high-end, dream packages... for a price of course.

Tony is convinced that Jimmie Johnson is going to win the Championship but Michael said that anything can happen and cited how he and Juan Pablo Montoya both had great cars at Atlanta and things went bad for both of them. The same thing can happen to Jimmie. That's true but as much as a lot of fans are hoping that Jimmie finishes last in the remaining three races and doesn't win the Championship I think the odds of the #48 team falling apart that spectacularly are pretty remote. The whole reason this team is on the verge of winning their third Championship in a row is because of how few mistakes they make, and their ability when there are issues to overcome them.

There was some discussion about Texas. It appears that there's a favorable weather forecast and they'll be able to get qualifying in. Tony joked that if Michael doesn't qualify well and he's interviewed afterwards he can say that his poor qualifying run was because he forgot how to qualify since it's been so long.

The email question of the week was about the rumor (since denied) that Nascar was thinking of shortening the field for Cup races from 43 to 36. Michael said he didn't understand what the question was asking, and I think he actually did understand the question, he just didn't understand why someone was asking because to him the answer is obvious. Basically he said if there's going to be short fields so be it, that's happened in the past. He thinks some only remember the past year or two of racing and don't remember when there were short fields previously. He said that it would be a good opportunity for Truck or Nationwide teams to move up and test the waters. I agree with Michael - I don't really see the big deal if there short fields sometimes, and I don't see a problem with part-time teams either (as long as they're not starting and parking) - Nascar needs to be sure that they don't make things too hard for new or small teams. I actually felt pretty good that he said all that because the majority of my fellow fans are freaking out about the possibility of short fields and are thinking that Nascar is going to and should make the fields smaller in response to the difficult economy. So I've been wondering whether I'm completely missing something or I'm an idiot or something because I see things differently - I may still be an idiot but at least there's one other person and an owner/driver no less who sees things the same way as I do about all that.

The show closed with a sappy Aaron Neville song and based on what was being said Michael wanted it played because of something with Aaron Neville's voice but it was hard to tell exactly what he was talking about. I didn't get to listen to Out Loud as closely as I wish I could have since I was in the car fighting through traffic on my way home from work so I'm sure I missed a few things in this recap.

The After Show

Apparently they talked a lot more golf on Out Loud than Tony thought they would, so much so that Rich was going to have to edit out 12 minutes of discussion from the show to get it to fit. They said that's because Robin was so long-winded. I just hope the 12 minutes they cut out wasn't 12 minutes of discussion about racing - as I mentioned above while I'm sure it was all very interesting to Michael and Tony to listen to Robin, I would guess that the average fan listening is much more interested in hearing from Michael, and especially about racing, than from Robin about an experience that not many of them can afford.

With the radio issues they thought that it was someone's mic that was keyed open as opposed to there being a problem with Michael's radio but the whole crew shut their radios off and Traci went into the motorcoach lot to Michael's coach and the corporate coach to see if anyone's radio back there was keyed open. None of them were. I was surprised to hear that they give radios to guests with open mics since I would think they wouldn't want to open the door to a situation like this happening or the possibility of someone talking when they shouldn't.

Tony said that he tries to not show any biases while he's working Hotpass but inside as he was watching Michael he was thinking "please don't hit the wall, please don't hit the wall." He was able to see that when Michael raced his way into the top ten he didn't level off, he was still coming - even to me at home who could only see what was shown on TV and make guesses as to what was happening otherwise from Trackpass it was apparent that Michael had a car that he could have raced his way into the top five or won with. That was really exciting and awesome to see!

With Michael's 1,000th combined start in Cup, Nationwide and Trucks, unlike with his 700th Cup start that no one besides the Wal-Nutz seemed to care much about, they had a little celebration for Michael. NAPA really liked what nascar.com did for Michael - it really was very well done. So they wanted the graphic that was on nascar.com with the two articles to present to Michael on Sunday which they did. And as a special surprise for Michael they flew Macy down but they had to hide her for two and a half hours until the celebration in the NAPA suite. Apparently Michael got all emotional that his sponsor cared enough to make the presentation to him and also that Macy was there. Someone on the forum on Michael's site found a youtube video of the presentation to Michael as well as them surprising him with Macy - it makes me emotional too watching that video and seeing how happy Michael was to see Macy! Sure is a lot of love in that hug between father and daughter! Traci commented on The After Show that it was a side of Michael that people don't get to see a lot and I agree - on one hand I wish that more people saw the sweet, emotional and sensitive side, the human side of Michael and his fellow drivers so that fans see that they're just like anyone else, but on the other hand maybe it's best kept out of the public eye most of the time because just like with everything else there are some who would rip apart and criticize even those kinds of shows of emotion. Sad to say but people have even passed judgment and criticized Michael's relationship with Macy and his other daughter Caitlin, as if it's anyone's business.

Tony said that it was unfortunate that things went so bad for Michael during the race since it was his 1,000th start and how a driver can go from hero to zero instantly.

Max Papis walked by and we found out that Traci apparently loves him - Tony joked that maybe she wants to "hold his hair." We also found out that Traci likes to party in the infield at Texas and that she's gone there with Stephanie Hamilton, Bobby Hamilton, Jr.'s wife - I figured they might bring up the incident from the Nationwide race at Memphis this past weekend where Stephanie gave Landon Cassill the finger but they didn't. During Out Loud Tony had said how much he wanted to eat with Paula Creamer as part of a golf experience at The Kingdom so he joked that he was going to have to keep his wife away from XM for a while - considering he said in his blog that his wife had called him recently to tell him how his "girlfriend" had golfed, I'm thinking it's too late if he didn't want to tip her off about his love of Paula! My own husband has a thing for one of the female golfers - don't know what it is about those lady golfers but apparently they have something that gets the guys going!

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

October 29, 2008

Photo of the Day - Bronx Zoo

Posted by silverdsl at 10:18 PM | Comments (0)

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (10/29)

*Jayski has an "I heard" item that JR Motorsports laid off 15-18 people and may reduce the number of cars they field next season. If this is true I would assume that's because they haven't been able to find a replacement primary sponsor for the Navy who are sponsoring the #88 through the end of the season. Some fans seem incredulous about this item but they must not have been paying very close attention to the owner of JR Motorsports - Dale Earnhardt, Jr. - who was pretty clear that he was concerned about finances for his team(s) and that it was essential that they find a sponsor to replace the Navy. Although Junior surely has the money to field at least one car out of his pocket, it doesn't make good business sense to do that long-term, and particularly in the Nationwide Series where the revenue that the team brings in is surely significantly less than if it were a Cup team. As I've said before in this space it really doesn't bode well for the Nationwide Series that a team owned by the sport's most popular driver is having problems finding sponsors. One problem is that as talented as Brad Keselowski is, sponsors are looking for drivers who they believe are marketable, and since Keselowski isn't traditionally "cute" and doesn't seem to get a huge amount of media attention, that may deter some sponsors.

*Larry McClure, one of the founders and general manager of Morgan-McClure Motorsports has been indicted on charges related to wire fraud, mail fraud and violations of federal tax law - somehow I'm thinking that the odds of the #4 returning to the track are even slimmer than ever.

*Although there's been no official announcement as of yet, it appears that Kyle Petty's last race for Petty Enterprises will be at Phoenix. But that doesn't mean that Kyle's going to stop racing. He's exploring the possibility of racing the entire Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series schedule next season. The results for Kyle haven't been very good for Kyle for quite some time and more than a few have speculated that not only has Kyle lost his ability behind the wheel but also his desire to race. However, Kyle has said that he still wants to race and still feels the passion for racing just as much as ever. So it's good that he may get to race the Grand-Am Series next season. It might not be as high-profile as the Cup Series but it might be fun for him and it would still allow him to remain visible and get the word out about the Victory Junction Gang Camp.

*A driver who has mostly been forgotten about when it comes to discussions about open rides is Scott Wimmer, who has done a very good job in a part-time role for Richard Childress Racing the past two years, even winning a race in the #29 at Nashville earlier this season. Wimmer said this weekend that he's talking to owners and would like to find a Cup ride but I have a feeling that's not going to happen. He indicated that there may be some Nationwide teams with openings at the end of the season and I hope that there's a competitive team that will put him behind the wheel since he's shown that he can race well - and win - when he's give a competitive car.

*Another driver looking for a ride is Jeremy Mayfield and while he would also like to race Cup next season, he's exploring an opportunity in the Truck Series, but it wouldn't be just as a driver. Mayfield is apparently talking with Billy Ballew about the possibility of buying one of his two trucks. Mayfield might race the #15 himself or if he were to get a Cup ride he could put another driver behind the wheel. I think this would be great for Mayfield - not only is the racing outstanding in the Truck Series so he could have some fun racing a truck, but it would also provide a way for him to remain involved in the sport for years to come even after he stops racing.

*Paul Wolfe, who is currently the crew chief for Josh Wise at Michael Waltrip Racing, will join CJM Racing at the end of the season to be the crew chief for Scott Lagasse Jr. I was wondering where Wolfe was going to end up since MWR is only going to field one Nationwide car next season and I didn't see Jerry Baxter leaving considering that he's been with the organization since the beginning when it was housed in a shop in the back of Michael's house. Apparently CJM has formed a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing and will be switching to Toyotas next season so the hiring of Wolfe makes sense since he is familiar with Toyotas via his work at MWR.

*Jack Roush would like to see Nascar give Chase teams a mulligan which mean that only nine of the ten Chase races would count. Completely and utterly ridiculous. In other sports do they allow teams to throw out losses and in the playoffs no less? And why should it only be Chase drivers who get to throw out poor results? Problems and poor results are a part of the sport and if Roush wants to be sure that one of this teams win the Championship then the way to do it is build a team as strong as the #48 team who have a knack for overcoming any setbacks or problems during races.

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

October 28, 2008

Additional Categories Added

Just a little house-keeping news - I've added new categories for a couple of drivers. Since I often discuss topics related to Michael Waltrip or Michael Waltrip Racing, I figured I should add categories for Marcos Ambrose and Max Papis since both drivers will be affiliated with MWR next season via the technical alliance that their respective organizations have formed with MWR. I'll likely be paying closer attention to what both drivers do - particularly Marcos since his team will be housed directly at MWR. In addition, I added a category for Robby Gordon. I'm not a huge fan of Robby's but I've been following his trial and tribulations as owner closely so given how many entires I've done on him and Robby Gordon Motorsports I figured it was about time to add a category for him. There may be some additional categories added as time goes on and possibly a few removed as I don't often discuss drivers like Brendan Gaughan or Elliott Sadler anymore.

Posted by silverdsl at 05:00 PM | Comments (0)

Nick Hughes Named Technical Director at Michael Waltrip Racing Replacing Dr. Eric Warren

A little over a year ago Dr. Eric Warren joined Michael Waltrip Racing as technical director and he was instrumental in helping the organization make a significant amount of progress on the competition side. But one thing that's constant in Nascar is chance and particularly when it comes to personnel. Dr. Warren will be leaving MWR to "pursue other Sprint Cup opportunities" which likely means that another organization took note of what he did at MWR and lured him away. But MWR won't be left high and dry without Dr. Warren - today it was announced that Nick Hughes, who Dr. Warren hired as Engineering Director, has been named Technical Director.

Hughes said of his new role at MWR,

"I am looking forward to the challenge of combining the skills of our engineering group with the experience and knowledge of our teams and other departments in order to continue increasing the performance and competitiveness of our cars.”

It's a good sign that MWR has grown enough that when someone leaves they can promote from within, and while Dr. Warren will surely be missed, the organization will be able to continue to move forward with someone in his place who worked closely with him.

In some regards I'm disappointed that Dr. Warren is leaving because I think he did good things while at MWR, and I also enjoyed hearing what he had to say in interviews. But in the back of my mind I was always a little wary of him because there was some talk that the reason he left Gillett-Evernham Motorsports last year was due to making a rather large mistake with some engineering data that those at GEM said caused some significant set-backs in terms of their ability to be competitive because they were working off the wrong data. I have no idea how much truth there is to any of that but if it happened that there was some truth there, I was concerned that the same kind of situation could happen at MWR. Of course everyone makes mistakes, sometimes even big ones, but there isn't much room for error these days when it comes to engineering and data since being off by the tiniest of fractions could change things dramatically.

The question becomes where Dr. Warren is going to end up. I can't help but wonder if he's going to go to Stewart-Haas Racing as their technical director. I have no doubt that SHR is going to spend a lot of money to try to get top personnel from other teams in an effort to be as competitive as possible right off the bat. It seems to me that Dr. Warren would be a good fit since he has experience working at a new organization that is still trying to build a solid foundation.

Of course Hughes isn't the only person with a new position at MWR - Steve Hallam will also be joining the organization as director of race engineering. Between the two of them and the rest of the talented people on the competition side, hopefully MWR will make even more gains on the competition side in 2009 than they did in 2008!

Posted by silverdsl at 01:26 PM | Comments (0)

October 27, 2008

Photo of the Day - Cape Neddick "Nubble" Lighthouse

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

Germain Racing Forms Alliance With Michael Waltrip Racing

Turns out JTG-Daugherty Racing isn't the only organization that Michael Waltrip Racing is going to have an alliance with next season. During the announcement today that Max Papis would be racing 18 Cup races for Germain Racing with sponsorship from Geico next season, it was also revealed that Germain had entered into a technical alliance with MWR. No details about the alliance were given but I would assume at the very least MWR will be providing cars to Germain. Apparently the alliance came about for two reasons - one, because the organization was already aligned with Toyota via their Truck and Nationwide programs and two, because Papis raced for Cal Wells, MWR's executive vice president, in open wheel.

I'm happy that MWR is entering into another technical alliance. Multi-car teams have the most success and if MWR can't field those cars directly, being able to field them indirectly will also help them when it comes to gathering information. But more than that MWR is going to have money coming in via both deals from organizations with solid sponsorship and that's a good thing as well.

Ted Ward, Geico's vice president of marketing said of Papis,

“Max is an intense guy who lines up with our corporate values of character and integrity, while also possessing an unparalleled amount of passion and enthusiasm.”

So it certainly sounds like they think highly of Papis as a person and they must believe in his ability to get results for them despite only having a minimal amount of experience not only in Cup but overall in Nascar. In fact, it's that lack of experience that is causing fans to be upset that Papis got the nod for the Cup deal over Mike Wallace, who Geico is sponsoring in the Nationwide Series through the end of the season. Wallace is currently 8th in owner's points so some feel that he's proven to Geico that he can get the job done behind the wheel. But what really makes the decision to go with Papis curious is that Geico has invested a lot of money into the popular "Loren Wallace" commercials featuring Wallace. Seems odds to build that whole campaign and develop brand awareness around it only to drop it and Wallace for another driver.

Papis will be attempting to qualify for the Cup race this weekend at Texas and also the season ending race in Homestead in preparation for next season with Randy Goss as his crew chief. It'll be interesting to see how he does, not only in those two races, but next season, and how the technical alliance with MWR evolves.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:21 PM | Comments (0)

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (10/27)

*I'm always a little leery of anything that Mike Mulhern writes because half the time it's wildly inaccurate, but in today's column he discusses the future of the various Dodge Cup teams in light of the rumors that Dodge is cutting back or eventually pulling out of the Cup Series all together. I'm not going to get into too many of the specifics of what he wrote about since again, none of it may actually come to pass, but there's one item that's interesting to me which relates to the rumors that Gillett-Evernham Motorsports may buy Bill Davis Racing's cup operations and then switch to Toyota. Mulhern wrote that Nascar may have put a stop to the deal and I can't blame them if they did. From all that's been said it appears that instead of it being a merger, partnership or alliance like we see with other organizations, it would be GEM buying the #22 team from BDR (and maybe associated resources) outright while BDR would continue to run their truck teams independently. Seems to me that Nascar may want to be careful about how owner's points change hands since teams are starting to get very creative as to what they do to get owner's points.

*In addition, Mulhern says that there may be other organizations looking to change manufacturers and become affiliated with Toyota down the road. I have to wonder how Toyota feels about all of this. Of course they want to be aligned with as many successful teams as possible but just how many Cup teams can they support? I have to think that there's a limit and particularly right now when the economy isn't very good.

*After 23 years as a Nascar sponsor, Kodak is leaving the sport at the conclusion of this season because they feel their sponsorship dollars are better used in the PGA, which they feel is for their digital business model. I can't say I'm surprised - Kodak cut back from being a full-time primary sponsor a few years ago and while they remained with Penske Racing as an associate and occasional primary sponsor, it didn't seem like they did as much with their sponsorship as they once did. It's really unfortunate for the sport to lose another sponsor and especially one that's been around for so long. I don't think it's a good sign that Kodak feels that their sponsorship dollars are better spent elsewhere.

*There's a possibility that Mark Martin may replace Casey Mears in the #5 for the final race of the season at Homestead, in which case Casey would end up in the #33 for target=_blank"ichard Childress Racing. I really don't understand what the point would be. If they wanted to get started working with their new teams and organizations and decided to make a switch with ten races to go I would understand. But one race isn't going to do much for building communication or a comfort level. Casey wouldn't even be with the team he'll be working with next season since they're currently Clint Bowyer's crew so RCR fielding the #33 for him would be about making sure he has a ride for the last race. It's also not like either driver is a rookie who needs to get familiar with racing Cup or with racing at Homestead.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:38 PM | Comments (0)

Carl Edwards Wins at Atlanta But the Story of the Race is Jimmie Johnson

Carl Edwards won the Cup race yesterday at Atlanta but the story of the race was the incredible performance by Jimmie Johnson and the #48 team who re-bounded from a pit road speeding penalty to put them one lap down to finish second. Had the race been just a few more laps Jimmie might very well have outraced Carl for the win too. Countless fans are trying every which way to dismiss what Jimmie did yesterday but I continue to be in awe of Jimmie, Chad Knaus and the team for yet again demonstrating why they are one of the best teams in the garage area. No matter what challenges this team faces in a race they find a way to overcome it and even when he's making a risky decision, Chad knows how to give his driver the tools he needs to be a part of the story at the end of the race. As a whole the team rarely makes mistake and even when they do, they find a way to make sure that those things don't prevent them from finishing well.

While being interviewed in Victory Lane Carl was informed that Jimmie had finished second and his face dropped like he had just been told that his dog got run over. Carl probably thought that he was going to be able to gain enough points on Jimmie after the penalty to put himself back in the Championship hunt but it looks like even a win isn't going to put the Championship in reach for him. And maybe that's how it should be. Although Carl has raced very well during the Chase - five top fives and a win, he also has two poor finishes of 29th and 33rd so perhaps his team is just a tick short of being a Championship team right now. Meanwhile Jimmie hasn't finished outside the top ten all Chase and has two wins.

There were some complaints that ESPN gave him so much coverage during the race broadcast. I've complained myself on many occasions about how the TV broadcasts ignore what's going on with non-Chase drivers or with drivers outside the top ten but in this case I think there should have been a lot of attention given to Jimmie. For one thing he's leading the Chase standings. In addition, the penalty could have opened the door for Carl and others in the Chase to close the points gap and put themselves back in the mix for the Championship. But more than all that once Jimmie got back on the lead lap that he was racing his way back up front and at the end of the race looked like he could overtake Carl for the win was a story of the race.

Some try to dismiss what the #48 team is doing as them just points racing or that they must be cheating or that they were only able to finish second because there's a lucky dog rule, or any number of other things that some think lessen the results for the #48. But the reality is that this team is having this much success not only because overall the team is an extremely strong team and the cars are very competitive, but because Jimmie is an exceptionally talented driver who is racing his way to all these strong finishes. It wasn't just that Jimmie got the lucky dog yesterday, he also had to race his way into position to where he could get it, then race his way through the field into the top ten, then when Chad made the decision to come in for tires, Jimmie had to race his way from 11th up to second.

Jimmie is racing his way to this Championship because he's one of the best drivers in the garage area. He's not being given this Championship by Nascar, his fellow competitors aren't moving over for him and there's no other funny business that the conspiracy theorists are so fond of - when and if Jimmie wins this Championship it will be because he earned it due to the way he raced.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:15 AM | Comments (0)

October 26, 2008

Dashed Hopes for Michael Waltrip at Atlanta

Although the race started out extremely promising for Michael Waltrip and the #55 team it turned into a disaster of a race. Ultimately all three Michael Waltrip Racing cars finished poorly with the best finish being from David Reutimann in 28th. I think I'm more upset about this race for Michael than about any this season because for the first part of the race it appeared Michael had the best and most competitive car he's had to race in years, and I felt certain that he was going to finish up front. Michael was not only able to race his way into the top ten from where he started in 29th, but he had a car that was the fastest on the track multiple times during the first 100 laps of the race. He had a top five car if not one he could have contended for the win with and it was heartbreaking to see everything go to pieces. I expect that there might be problems - there are always issues, even for the best of teams, but it's harder to take when the car is so competitive then when the car is junk from the start of the race. This car was most certainly not junk when the race started and I feel terrible for Michael that on the occasion of his 1,000th start in Nascar's National Touring Series (Cup, Nationwide, Trucks) he wasn't able to finish as well as it looked like he was going to at one point.

The problems started around lap 130 with radio issues that forced Michael to have to come to give up track position when he was racing in the top ten to swap helmets on pit road in an effort to fix the problem. But it didn't work and the majority of the rest of the race was spent with Michael able to hear his team but with them unable to hear him. I suspect that may have helped contribute to some of the later problems because I would think it became a bit of a guessing game as to what changes to make to the car since they were unable to get any feedback from Michael as to what the car was doing. Once they did get the radio issues fixed towards the end of the race Michael mentioned how one set of changes made him loose and I would guess that's how he ended up brushing the wall which led to a blown tire, which led to spins and parts flying off the car for the remainder of the race leading to the #55 being the cause of several cautions - not pretty to say the least. That car was completely torn up by the end of the race, but at least Michael was able to finish - his team worked hard each time there was an issue to make whatever repairs were necessary.

What really made me feel horrible for Michael was when he was finally able to be heard over the radio by his team he said "This race is like my career. So much promise, so much hope, shitty results." My heart really ached for him. There is always so much negativity and criticism directed towards Michael and as much he outwardly says that it doesn't matter what anyone thinks or says about him, I'm sure he would have liked nothing more than to make a statement to some of the naysayers in his 1,000th start. As I say all the time, Michael has just as much competitive fire and desire to win as any other driver and as his comment reflects he is as well aware as anyone of his career stats. As much as he says he'll take those two Daytona 500 wins over a bunch more wins at other tracks, I think there likely is a part of him that longs for more trips to Victory Lane and more respect. It's just so unfortunate because there have been so many races like this for Michael over the course of his career where bad luck and things out of his control - blown tires, mechanical issues, getting swept up in a wreck or poor pit stops have ruined what could have been good finishes for him. Many people only see the numbers, not only for Michael but for a lot of drivers, and see only that Michael hasn't won more races, hasn't finished up front more often, when there is so much more to the story and so many times when Michael has raced competitively and well.

But as frustrated and down as Michael must have been about what happened in this race, unlike Kurt Busch last week who wanted to park his car when he too found himself causing repeated cautions due to blown tires and spins, Michael never once said he wanted to give up or go to the garage when he was able to communicate to his team again. And I doubt we'll ever hear that from him. Earlier this season I didn't understand why he always wanted to have his team try to fix the car when they were involved in a wreck even if there weren't many laps left and there was nothing to gain but Michael explained that because he has NAPA Auto Parts as his sponsor he feels he needs to try to avoid DNFs if it's at all possible so the NAPA car is on the track at the end of the race to send a message that NAPA parts are reliable. so Michael feels he owes it to his sponsor but beyond that it's just not Michael to give up no matter how bad things are.

Some fans questioned why Nascar didn't black-flag Michael and force him to the garage area for causing as many cautions as he did but they didn't park Kurt last week for being the cause of a bunch of cautions and they haven't parked other drivers in a similar situation so why would they do it to Michael? As long as a car is making the minimum speed and isn't leaking fluid or in violation of the rules somehow Nascar is going to let them continue, and as long as Nascar is going to let teams make repairs to wrecked race cars and allow them back on the track there will be a risk that some parts may fly off.

Neither David nor Marcos Ambrose seemed to have a competitive car in this race at any point, though Marcos 's 29th place finish is better than both of the last two drivers to race the third car for MWR. I'll be interested to see a post-race report for David because he's been racing so well for a while now so I'm curious as to whether there was a mechanical issue or poor pit stop that caused him to get behind.

But as disappointing as this race was, as bad as I feel for Michael, there is still a couple of positives to be taken way from this race. For one thing, I liked how much TV time Michael got in the first part of the race and that there was recognition for how well he was racing. Sometimes even when a driver races up front if they aren't among the top drivers in the sport they don't get mentioned. So it was good to hear them talk about Michael and how well he was racing several times today. But more importantly, that car that Michael had to race today was extremely competitive and I think it's a sign of MWR's continuing progress that they were able to build a car that good. If the cars are that competitive on a regular basis next season MWR is going to be contending for some wins.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:37 PM | Comments (2)

October 24, 2008

Marcos Ambrose to Attempt Final Four Cup Races for Michael Waltrip Racing

Today it was made official that Marcos Ambrose will attempt the final four Cup races in the #47 (formerly the #00) for Michael Waltrip Racing with Frank Kerr as his crew chief. Marcos said,

"I’m thankful MWR is giving Frankie and me the opportunity to work together these last four races in the equipment we will be running next year. Driving Toyotas and working with MWR’s engineering staff these last four weeks will really get us ahead of schedule for 2009. Our goal is to learn as much as we can about these cars so we can represent JTG Daugherty and our sponsors better next year.”

I think it's a good idea for Marcos and Frank to get used to working at MWR (more for Marcos than Frank, who was at MWR last season), and also get started on working on things for next season. These days teams start working towards the following season earlier and earlier so waiting until after this season would be waiting too long. Based on what Michael said on his XM show last night Marcos tested at Kentucky this week in an MWR car which is a good thing as well.

Marcos racing the final four races for MWR (assuming he qualifies the car into each race) likely spells the end for Michael McDowell at MWR. I had thought that they might put McD back in the car at his hometown track at Phoenix but it appears that's not going to happen. Given that they're going to be fielding Nationwide cars for both David Reutimann and Josh Wise in the remaining races in that series the chances of them putting something together for him on that level at the end of the season doesn't seem very likely. I suppose that some are going to be pretty sad about McD leaving MWR but I think Marcos is going to end up doing very well for MWR and JTG.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:46 PM | Comments (0)

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (10/24)

*There's a good chance qualifying might get rained out yet again and once again many fans are saying that Nascar should make a change so that if Cup qualifying is rained out one day it can take place the next day. There's part of me that also wishes that there was some way to try to get qualifying in if there's a rainout so that all the go-or-go-homers get an opportunity to try to make every race. However, there's also a part of me that wonders whether it's really possible to reschedule qualifying. At some tracks there might be room in the schedule on the following day but at some tracks there might not be a window where you can fit at least one practice and qualifying in if there's a lot of on track events scheduled and commitments to TV partners to get things started at particular times. Also, what happens if it doesn't just rain on the day qualifying was scheduled to be held but the following day? Do they just reschedule qualifying sessions at some tracks but not others? Maybe there's a way to do it by building in a slot of time well in advance that's left open just in case qualifying needs to be rescheduled but it seems to me that rescheduling qualifying isn't as simple as it may seem. In addition, as was posed on Sirius I think, just exactly when did qualifying become such a highlight of the weekend to so many fans? No one seemed to care last season when Boris Said went home without even getting a chance to qualify yet now that Jimmie Johnson keeps getting to start on the pole due to rain suddenly everyone is upset.

*Red Bull Racing has fired a supervisor and reprimanded several other employees because of their apparent involvement in the sheet metal on the #83 being too thin which led to severe penalties for the team. Jay Frye, RBR's general manager said that Brian Vickers and his crew chief Kevin Hamlin had no knowledge of what was going on. I can believe that Vickers didn't know about it since I would think they would want to keep the driver in the dark to keep them from getting into trouble with Nascar. However, how could Hamlin not have know? How can he do his job as crew chief if he doesn't know what's going on with the car and how it might react on the track? Frye also said that the reports that the sheet metal was acid dipped were in correct and that it was simply a thinner grade of sheet metal - so instead of intentionally dipping the sheet metal in acid to make it thinner, they just intentionally ordered or otherwise got thinner sheet metal from somewhere.

*There's been a lot of concern lately about a lack of sponsorship and how many Cup teams might fold between now and next season. But there's one organization and sponsor that it expanding into the Cup Series - it was announced today that Max Papis is going to race 18 Cup races next season for Germain Racing with Geico as his sponsor. What's good news for Papis, who has previously only raced on road course races on a limited basis in Nationwide and Cup, is bad news for Mike Wallace who has had Geico as the primary sponsor of his Nationwide car for the past two seasons. Unfortunately for him, when Nationwide became the title sponsor, Nascar informed Geico as a competing company to Nationwide, that they would have to leave the series. It appears Geico looked at that as an opportunity to move up to a series where they might get even more exposure than they were getting in the Nationwide Series, only they decided not to take Wallace with them. So unless he finds another sponsor I would guess he'll be looking for another ride for next season.

*Apparently Jack Sprague was on Speed today and said that he won't be back with the #60 at Wyler Racing next season and if the report on Jayski is accurate, the team is in danger of folding if they don't find sponsorship for next season. Although the #60 has had sponsorship in the past from Con-Way freight, this season Wyler fielded the #60 out of their own pocket and that's difficult enough to do in a good economy let alone a poor one - revenue from the Wyler Auto Dealerships is surely way down just like it is for all dealerships. I'm sure there will be talk - yet again - about Steve Park racing for Wyler but where is the sponsorship going to come from? I also think if Wyler was inclined to put Steve in a truck they would have done so a long time ago.

*The #60 isn't the only truck team that might not be around next season. Apparently there are questions as to the future of the Wood Brothers's truck and it sounds like Roush-Fenway Racing is only going to field a truck for Colin Braun, instead of three like they did this season, due to to Ford withdrawing some of their support for their teams in the series. If Roush, an extremely well-funded organization is even pulling back, that doesn't bode well for other teams that have less financial resources.

*Based on Tom Bowles's article on SI.com, it doesn't sound like the chances of the #21 or the Wood Brothers being around next season in Cup are very good either. That's very unfortunate given the long history that organization has in Nascar but it's almost impossible for a single-car team to survive these days. Losing Little Debbie and Marcos Ambrose when JTG Racing decided to partner with Michael Waltrip Racing next season instead of the Wood Brothers may very well be the death keel for the Wood Brothers unless they can find sponsorship elsewhere. I can't really blame JTG for wanting to work with a different organization since the #21 hasn't been competitive for a few years now (though there's also been some talk of a falling out between JTG and the Woods that led to the decision to part ways). I have to think the Wood Brothers are going to have an extremely hard time finding a sponsor - they missed eight races this season, they haven't been competitive, Jon Wood is not going to be a draw for sponsors and Bill Elliott is undecided as to whether he wants to race next season.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:35 PM | Comments (0)

Michael Waltrip on Sirius's The Morning Drive

Fridays are always a good day for me with this blog at least during the season because I always have a recap of Michael's XM show from the night before to do and it gives me a lot of material to think and write about. This Friday became even better when I found out that Michael would be interviewed this morning on "The Morning Drive" on Sirius! The interview was because he's making his 1,000th start this weekend at Atlanta - Mike Bagley referred to it as his 1,000th Cup start as he has a few other times but it's actually his 1,000th combined Cup, Nationwide and Truck Series start. It's really an outstanding accomplishment and I'm really happy for Michael that he's getting so much positive attention for it!

Michael's looking forward to racing at Atlanta. A week ago he didn't even know he'd be making his 1,000 start and he doesn't really know if this is a big deal, but David Poole said that yes, it was because he's only the second guy to get a comma. Yeah, I'd say it's a pretty big deal! Some don't seem to understand that it's not just about the finishes that Michael has gotten in those races but that it's also about how long Michael has been a part of the sport. Michael said racing is what he's done his whole life and this is a chance for him to say "see I told you this is what I do" and that he does it as hard and consistently as he can.

The next chapter for Michael in making things work is as a team owner. He's enjoying seeing the progress and he's looking forward to being involved with that for a long time to come. Poole asked about the challenge as a team owner in regards to sponsorship these days and Michael said that he can only remember a couple of years in the last twenty-five when he knew what he was going to be doing the following year. So many years it's been about whether there's a sponsor and if they're coming back. It's just the way the sport works, that everything hinges on corporate America wanting to be on the car. Which I think is a very good point. Although things are certainly a lot harder now given how poor the economy is, there has always been a degree of uncertainty when it comes to sponsors for many teams and drivers since they don't always know if their sponsors is going to return for the following season.

Michael said you learn to appreciate the opportunities that you get and that you have to work hard. Nothing's a given. He tries to instill in his folks that you have to be fast on the track but you also have to think about what else the sponsor is looking for. You need to give them more than what they would get elsewhere. That's certainly what Michael has always been about and something that he is extraordinarily talented at - being the best in the garage area when it comes to getting exposure for his sponsors and creating opportunities for them to reach fans. NAPA and Aaron's, their attitude matches his - they want to be "all in" doing TV, XM, Sirius and everything else. It's an honor to participate in the race and then get to sit around and talk about it the next day which he loves. He thanks the fans for letting him race for this long and his sponsors for believing in him.

Michael said he doesn't care what anyone says, "I'm a pretty good driver!" I agree! In the recent past he admitted that some of the negativity directed towards him has been hurtful so I'm glad to hear that he still believes in himself as a driver! Michael has a lot of ability behind the wheel and he hasn't always been able to show what he's truly capable of because he's often raced cars that were less than competitive. But his two Daytona 500 wins, two other Cup wins, All-Star win and other highlights of his career speak to his talent. I'm happy that the cars that Michael Waltrip Racing are fielding are getting more competitive because it's going to allow Michael to race up front more often and hopefully contend for some wins!

Bagley asked about David Reutimann and how they first started working with David. I was pretty surprised by what Michael said because he let the cat out of the bag about something that has previously been kept under wraps which is that Michael was actively involved with DW's truck team. That isn't such big news now but at one time it would have been. They first started working with David in the Fall of 2003 when they were looking for someone for DW's truck team. He and Bobby Kennedy had a plan to help DW build his truck team and they had agreed to have some of the MWR personnel help. There has long been speculation that DW's Truck team was really Michael's truck team and that DW didn't actually run it, Michael did and from the sounds of it that's pretty much what Michael admitted to. Maybe DW was involved as well, but it sure did sound like Michael was involved in the decision to hire David back then as well as other things along the way. The reason this would have been a big deal if this was known in the past is because it means that Michael was working with Toyota while he was still a Chevy driver and that kind of thing is usually highly frowned upon particularly when it comes to team ownership. The interesting thing about this is that even if he didn't know back then that he'd one day be fielding Cup cars for Toyota he was developing the driver who would one day be his Cup driver.

I missed a little of what Michael said next about David but when I was able to listen again he was praising David's attitude and demeanor. David has a respect for the sport because he grew up in a hauler at dirt tracks. He's very appreciative as a result. Michael said he talked to Richard Petty last night and they were talking about how it's easier now than it was in the past (I think he means easier to get in a good ride right away for some as opposed to having to work one's way up having to prove one's self in junk cars first) and that maybe because it's easier some don't appreciate it as much. But then they said that it's still a great group of people in the garage area.

Michael said he must be getting old because he's getting philosophical but he thinks it's important to look around and appreciate everything. Poole brought up how some callers will call in to make note of how there were 5,000 empty seats at a particular race and he will bring up how even though there were those 5,000 empty seats there were still 95,000 that were filled (which is a great point - even with the decline in ticket sales the attendance at races is probably still a lot more than at many other sporting events). Michael said with the weather some talk about how there's a 70% chance of rain but he sees it as a 30% chance it won't rain. Wed. afternoon he went wild boar hunting on a farm in South Georgia with the folks from Aarons (he didn't mention if he shot any) and the farmer has 77,000 acres. It's been really dry down there. So even though race fans aren't too happy about the rain falling at the track, somewhere someone like that farmer is smiling about the rain falling.

This interview really summed up Michael - always able to find the positives and appreciate what he has!

Posted by silverdsl at 11:37 AM | Comments (0)

Michael Waltrip Out Loud and The After Show (10/23)

Michael Waltrip Out Loud

A great classic song by Alice Cooper, "I'm Eighteen" opened the show in honor of Michael finishing 18th at Martinsville. However, Michael didn't think an 18th place finish was anything to celebrate. I like that attitude because at one time a top twenty finish might have been something to get excited about but now that Michael Waltrip Racing has made so much progress and the cars are competitive, the expectations are higher. There were several guests in the studio with Michael and Tony Rizzuti as they taped the show including Murray from Texas, the owner of a dirt track, who won the Best Western contest to switch jobs with Michael for a day. So this week was his turn to "be" Michael for the day, though it sounds like he just hung out with Michael as he taped TWiN, the XM show, did a photo shoot, etc... Michael will then go to Texas to Murray's dirt track but it doesn't sound like he's going to do Murray's job either. I had been hoping that the winner would have a really unique job that Michael would actually have to do but I have a feeling that Michael is pretty happy that the winner is involved with racing and that he's not going to have to do anything too crazy!

Last week Michael had to call in to do the show because he was at Home Depot Design Center picking out toilets for his new house. The contractor had told him that it wouldn't take long but he ended up being there for three hours. They asked him at Home Depot what he wanted in a toilet and Michael said that he "just wanted a place to crap in." I nearly fell over I was laughing so much at that comment particularly since I was picturing some older or more conservative listeners clutching their chests in horror.

Recently on one corner of the 'net some of Michael's fans expressed some displeasure about his language over his radio during races as well as for some of the remarks he makes on TWiN which some find objectionable for religious reasons. Sure Michael cusses over his radio sometimes, but what driver doesn't in the heat of the moment when they're frustrated? He's actually pretty good about watching his language and being aware of who might be listening. He often also apologizes as well. As for his comments on TWiN, this person took issue with him saying "hell" and "sexy" and thats the first time I've heard heard of "sexy" being an offensive word. Some seemed to think that it didn't reflect well on Michael but I think he needs to do what he's comfortable with based on his own beliefs, not someone else's beliefs and interpretation of what he should be saying and doing. Michael cursing or making naughty jokes is certainly nothing new and there's an easy solution if someone doesn't like what they hear - don't listen.

Anyway back to the show, Michael and Tony talked about Jimmie Johnson winning at Martinsville. Chad Knaus told Michael at the TWiN taping that they changed ten things on Jimmie's car on Sunday based on Jimmie's feedback. Michael knows how hard it is to do that, presumably because it's so hard to make changes on the car and get it right. The changes worked so well that Jimmie ended up winning, something they think would have happened regardless of whether Jimmie started on the pole or not.

Hendrick Motorsports has a long history of success at Martinsville dating back to when Geoff Bodine won there in 1984, a race that Michael was at though not racing in. I liked how Michael brought up how Rick Hendrick has a heavy heart whenever he's at Martinsville due to the plane crash a few years ago and how winning there allows him to put that all aside for a little while. As I mentioned in a previous entry there was a lot of complaining from fans that Jimmie and others from HMS referred to the plane crash in Victory Lane and I think there's a lack of understanding about how much that crash effected everyone at HMS (and others in the garage area) and how it's not something that is easily forgotten about, particularly when they go back to Martinsville. So I'm glad that Michael acknowledged what should be obvious to everyone that Rick and others still feel a great deal of sadness about those that were lost in the crash and always will to some degree.

Tony brought up how Mike Bliss never got to show what he could do in the #00 and Michael said that the same thing happened with "darn" A.J. (Allmendinger) the week before. Michael thinks that team has a lot of potential with Frank Kerr (back) turning the wrenches. Marcos Ambrose called and left him a message about testing the car at Kentucky and in the message he called Michael "mate" which Michael said was a "special moment." He said it made him want a koala bear and that he wanted to be infested with koala bears. Tony said that was a Mitch Hedberg bit and I have no idea what it was from but the image of Michael and a bunch of koala bears made me laugh!

Some had wondered during the race on Sunday what was going on with Michael and the #12, and maybe some sent emails into the show about it because Tony asked about that. Michael said that he just couldn't pass him. There was a rear end issue with the car where it would sometimes skip a gear in back. So one time coming off turn two it did it so violently that he got into the outside wall. That threw him off for three or four laps and caused him to lose a lot of ground. His team noticed and told him to get his rhythm back but that's easy to say and hard to do. They were better than 18th at times and worse at times. They're continuing to make themselves solid, they're continuing to make progress and he likes the direction they're going in.

Next there was some discussion about Jeff Gordon - Tony doesn't see him winning this season since he didn't win at Martinsvillle where he's had so much success and the rest of the tracks he's not done as well at. I must have misunderstood Tony because out of curiosity I looked at Jeff's stats and he's actually won at Phoenix and done well at the other tracks, particularly Atlanta. At any rate Tony thinks it's weird to talk about Jeff not winning this season because for the last 13 seasons he's won at least one race every season. Michael said that just because Jeff hasn't won yet or at a particular track doesn't mean that he won't still win one this season. I agree - Jeff may not have won a race this season but he's still raced well enough to be in the Chase which means that he and his team are among the best in the garage area this season. In addition, I have to think he'll be in the mix for the win this weekend at Atlanta since over his last six races there he only has one finish outside the top ten and that includes three top fives.

Tony said that Jimmie has all but won the Championship but Michael said that there's still 42 other cars on the track and you never know what might happen. Things are never as clear-cut as they may seem.

Coming back from break they played Kid Rock's "All Summer Long." Tony brought up how it will be Michael's 1,000th career start in Cup, Nationwide and Trucks this weekend. He asked Michael what the biggest change is between when he first started racing and now. Michael said that it used to be that after races you could change, hop in your car and just drive home but now you have to wait so the biggest change is the traffic.

The other change is that there's all cultures in the sport now. There's African-Americans and Hispanics, all kinds of people in the garage area now. Michael loves it when he's signing autographs and a African-American or Hispanic kid asks him to sign something. When he was a kid he was a fan way before it was cool to be a Nascar fan and that's the way it is for those kids. The sport is multi-cultural and diverse now and people all over the world enjoy it. I applaud Michael every time he brings up diversity in the sport and speaks of it in a positive way because there are more than a few who still wish the sport was the way it used to be where there wasn't any diversity. There is just a resistance from some to any kind of diversity in people's backgrounds, beliefs and opinions. Michael seems to be one of the few who is willing to speak openly about diversity and I suspect that some may be afraid of offending the segment of fans who are close-minded. So I think it's really important that Michael continues to talk about diversity and how it's a good thing.

Tony brought up the increased media focus on the sport and Michael said that's a good thing. When you're passionate about something you want more people to enjoy and understand it. I wondered whether Tony was trying to draw a particular answer out of Michael because he again said there's an increased scrutiny but Michael said once more that the biggest change is the traffic. As much as I suspect Michael isn't always a big fan of some in the media since there's been so much negativity directed at him at times, I don't think he's ever going to openly say that he doesn't think the increased media attention that's given to the sport is a bad thing because there more media there is the more opportunities there are for him to get exposure for his organization and most importantly, his sponsors.

A lot of Michael's sponsors are based in Atlanta so he's going to go down early to take part in a variety of events for his sponsors. He's going to go hunt for pigs with Aaron's. He said he doesn't really have anything against pigs so he has to try to work up some anger for pigs since he doesn't know if he can shoot at them. In the past Michael has said that he wishes that bullets were $5,000 per I guess so they weren't so easy to obtain and even though he's a big guy so some might think he must be aggressive, I've always thought of him as being somewhat gentle so ti's hard for me to picture him with a gun or going hunting. However, given the popularity of hunting in the garage area I'm sure it's not his first time going hunting. It must be difficult if he doesn't really enjoy it all that much because he can't decline an invitation to hunt from a sponsor and he has to make like he's having a great time even if he isn't. But since he seems to have an appreciation for nature and being outdoors I'm sure he enjoyed that part of things at least. He's also going to a Coca-Cola dinner and they're also presenting Bob Susor, the President of NAPA Auto Parts, with a painting of he and Jimmie on the front row at the Daytona 500. That sounds like a pretty cool painting so I hope a photo of it turns up somewhere!

The After Show

Tony and Traci referred to this as the Seinfeld episode because it was a show about nothing. Don't get me wrong - I still enjoyed listening but they definitely didn't talk about as much as they usually do. Tony hasn't been to the track for two weeks and spend this past weekend in the mountains so I guess he feels out of the loop with what's been going on and that's probably why he didn't have as many opinions to offer up as usual.

There was some talk about the Best Western winner and how he's been following Michael around. Tony commented that if you follow Michael around for even half a day you get worn out and that it may seem glamorous but it's a lot of work. I think that's something a lot of people don't realize is that the drivers have so many more obligations than just racing the car and they have a ton of things to do when they're not at the track too. That's especially true for someone like Michael who isn't just a driver but also an owner and a media personality as well.

Apparently Tony also went to a Carolina Panthers game and it sounds like Michael has season tickets. I'm guessing a lot of the drivers do.

Traci said that she and some others were teasing a rookie driver on pit road for how he looks in his uniform and it turns out that driver was Scott Speed. She said that he wears a diaper and I most certainly hope that wasn't what they were teasing Scott about because as Tony pointed out the reason Scott has had to wear a diaper at times is because he has a serious disease. That disease is Ulcerative Colitis, and since I know someone with Colitis and someone with a related and similar disease, Crohn’s, I can say that there really isn't anything funny about Scott having to wear a diaper because of Colitis.

Tony made reference to Michael visiting with some Wal-Nutz after he got done taping the show and as one of the Nutz that made me smile!

There was some discussion about Marcos racing for MWR this weekend and one thing that I've wondered about is what's going to happen to the current crew for the #00. Well, thanks to The After Show I got my answer! Traci said that as part of the deal between JTG and MWR the #00 crew is going to be the #47's crew. I had been thinking that JTG had their own crew but it turns out those that they were using were employed by the Wood Brothers who they are no longer associated with now that they're working with MWR. Traci and Tony both think that Marcos will do better than the last two drivers MWR had in their third car and I have to agree because as one of them pointed out that won't be that hard to do. Marcos just needs to race smart, something A.J. really didn't do when he was in the #00, and not have bad luck like Bliss did.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:12 AM | Comments (0)

October 23, 2008

Camping World to Replace Craftsman as Truck Series Sponsor

Recently there's been some speculation that after next season the Truck Series was going to fold and one of the big reasons that some were citing as evidence of the imminent demise of the series was Nascar's supposedly inability to find a title sponsor for the series. Well, today it was announced that Camping World has signed a seven-year deal reportedly worth $5-7 million a year to sponsor the series so it appears that those of us who are fans of the series will get to enjoy the great racing the series has to offer for at least seven more years. However, what's good news for the series is bad news for Kevin Harvick, Inc. and the East and West Series. Camping World is going to cease sponsoring KHI's Nationwide car at the end of this season and the way the announcement is worded makes it sound like they will also be ending their sponsorship of KHI's #33 truck driven by Ron Hornaday, Jr., as well as the title sponsorships of the East and West Series.

I'm a little surprised that sponsoring the Truck Series is "only" $5-7 million. That doesn't seem like much to sponsor an entire series, but it certainly seems like a very worth-while investment since the exposure that Camping World will get is estimated to be worth $100 million. In light of that I'm also surprised that more companies weren't interested in sponsoring the series. UPS for example, had financial constraints which meant that they weren't able to sponsor a top-tier driver in Cup like they initially wanted when they made the decision that they weren't going to renew with Michael Waltrip Racing. It would seem that they would have been a good fit with the Truck Series given their fleet of trucks. But even though they considered sponsoring the Truck Series ultimately they ended up entering into a deal to sponsor David Ragan which is likely costing them as much as $10 million more a year. Are they really going to get more than $100 million worth of exposure as the sponsor of the #6? Maybe they are, or maybe UPS and other companies questioned just exactly how much exposure they were really going to get given that the Truck races are only carried on Speed and don't get as much attention from the media or fans as the Nationwide and Cup Series do.

One has to wonder what KHI is going to do for sponsorship after 2009 if they do indeed lose Camping World completely? Although KHI is one of the stronger organizations in both the Truck and Nationwide Series that can change quickly without the financial resources to stay competitive. I would think that a popular driver like Hornaday who is making a bid to win the Truck Series Championship for the second year in a row would be attractive to sponsors, and I would also think that there would be sponsors who would be interested in sponsoring the #33 for the races that Kevin is driving the car. But the poor economy throws a wrench into things. It makes it tough for even those companies who might be interested in sponsor cars and trucks to free up the money to actually do so. It becomes pretty understandable why KHI is going to be working with Ricky Carmichael next season. Although he's inexperienced there's almost no doubt that even in a difficult economy he will draw sponsorship.

I also have to wonder how much trouble the East and West Series are going to have finding sponsorship. If companies weren't sure if they were really going to get as much exposure as they wanted in the Truck Series then they are going to stay away in droves from the East and West Series that get next to no media coverage outside of a few websites and local journalists. At least Nascar has all of next year to try to replace Camping World - maybe during that time the economy will improve and some companies will show interest in sponsoring those series.

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

October 22, 2008

Photo of the Day - Grounds for Sculpture

Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ. 2006.

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

Michael Waltrip Making his 1,000th Start at Atlanta

This weekend's Cup race will mark a milestone start for Michael Waltrip - it'll be his 1,000th start in Nascar's national touring series (Cup, Nationwide and Truck Series). Only one other driver in Nascar history has more starts - Richard Petty. It really speaks to how much a part of this sport Michael has been for the last 25-years that he's making his 1,000th start! In recognition of Michael's outstanding accomplishment Nascar.com put together a terrific retrospective about Michael and his career. Part one features Michael in his own words talking about his career and some of his accomplishments and part two features some of Michael's friends talking about the first word that comes to mind when they think about Michael and why. Both articles are well-worth reading for any fan of Michael's but really any fan period because both give a lot of insight into Michael the person and driver, and his value to the sport.

Michael said of making his 1,000th start,

"The 1,000 starts defines my attitude, which has been, for a long, long time, that I'm all-in. I love racing. This is what I do -- whether it's TV commercials or TV shows or the Truck broadcasts. Whatever it is, it's all about the sport and trying to deliver it to the masses, whether it's on TV or the way I race my car. I want people to love my sport as much as I do. So every day, when I wake up I hope that I can make somebody like my sport as much as I do."

I'm not sure it's possible for anyone to love racing and Nascar as much as Michael does, but he's definitely helped me love the sport! Michael's enthusiasm for racing his car, his happiness as an owner when things go well for his teams and his excitement in the booth when he's part of the truck broadcasts is infectious! When Michael says he's "all-in" he is indeed all-in as Nascar and racing is all that he's known for virtually his entire life. For the past 25-years he's lived and breathed Cup racing, first as a driver and now as a driver-owner. Even after he's made his last start, which will hopefully be years from now, he will continue to be involved in Nascar for many years to come as an owner, on TV, and if by chance those things don't work out in some other way. I love that because it means that Michael likely won't ever fade away - he'll always be a presence in this sport!

Often when it comes to his Cup career a lot of fans say that it's lacking because he's "only" won four races over the course of his career in Cup. I've always though it's ridiculous to say any driver is lacking in talent if they've won on the Cup level, and particularly when the driver has won multiple Cup races including two Daytona 500s. Michael said,

"Throughout my [Cup] career I just never was able to line up the stars to have multi-win seasons and accomplish a lot that I'd hoped I would in the Cup Series, but God blessed me with two Daytona 500 trophies and I'll take those, any day. They can have a bunch of North Wilkesboro or Rockingham trophies, for all I care and I'll just take my two Daytona 500 trophies and be happy about it."

There are fans who try to dismiss Daytona 500 wins because they come at restrictor plate tracks where a lot of fans think races are so easy to win that even a crack-addled monkey could it. In reality winning a Cup race on any track is hard, a lot harder than a lot of fans think because so many things have to fall into place exactly right for a driver to end up in Victory Lane. In addition, the level of competition and the talent level of the drivers in Cup is immense. So winning a Cup race no matter what track that win happens at is a major accomplishment and especially when it comes in Nascar's most prestigious race, the Daytona 500. There is so much history connected to that track and to the race itself and Michael will always be a part of Nascar's history books and be remembered as a two-time Daytona 500 winner!

The five highlights of Michael's career are the 1986 Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in his rookie season, some of his memories from Lowe's Motorspeedway including his All-Star win in 1996, memories of the Daytona 500 - of course, his first Busch - now Nationwide - win at Dover in 1988, and the 2005 season with Tony Eury, Jr. as his crew chief. As much as I wish I could say I was a fan of Michael's from the beginning, most of Michael's memories aren't before my time per-say since I've been a Nascar fan on and off since I was a little girl, but I only got into following the sport again as closely as I do now around 2000-2001. I wish I was a fan of Michael's for so much longer because then I would have fond memories of all those things he cites as highlights but other than his Daytona 500 wins, it's the 2005 season that really stands out for me.

Michael said of the 2005 season and working with Tony, Jr.,

"So we go to Daytona and win our 150 [qualifying race] and had an awesome car in the 500 and broke. We went to Phoenix and raced with Kurt Busch to the very end and almost won, so just relating to Tony Jr. and having him pat me on the back and say 'this is fun -- I appreciate you being here.' We got the pole at Pocono and we never did win together, but we came close a few times prior to going to the shop one day and they said 'that was fun, but we're switching you back now [laughing].' So I said 'I think I'm going to go somewhere else to work.'"

Which is exactly what happened - Michael said that he would re-sign with DEI if they let him work with Tony Eury, Jr. again and when they said that wouldn't be happening he and DEI decided to part ways. Although some of Michael's fans wish he was still racing for DEI, I think that worked out pretty well for him since as much as there have been struggles, leaving DEI paved the way for him to make one of his dreams come true - be a multi-car Cup owner. But that 2005 season really was something special. I'm not sure there will ever be another crew chief that Michael's worked so well with. Not only did he and Tony, Jr. work together well, but Tony really understood exactly how to set up a car the way Michael liked it. Because of that Michael was able to race competitively and contend for wins not just at restrictor plate tracks but at other tracks as well including Phoenix where he finished second to Kurt Busch that season. That race will always be one of my favorite races. Of course I love all of Michael's wins but I really loved the way Michael gave it all he had in that race, coming up just short on the last lap. That race and how well he raced that entire season should have opened some eyes about what Michael is capable of when he's given a competitive car to race - he can race up front and contend for wins!

Speaking of Tony, Jr. I loved what he said about Michael in the second article. His word for Michael was confidence, and he said,

"I mean, I think Michael Waltrip is probably the most confident person I've ever seen to drive a racecar. What was really intriguing when me and the guys got to be with him was just his enthusiasm and his confidence at every race. He could walk into any racetrack and think that he could win that race and that was a pleasure to be around. He taught me to think outside the box. Good was never good enough for Michael, he always wanted us to keep trying new things, trying to be better. We weren't able to win that season [2005], but I wouldn't trade the time I spent with him for the world. He was really excited just to be around new people, so that's probably the biggest thing I remember about Michael."

That was what Tony, Jr. did for Michael - gave him the confidence to think that he was going to have a car good enough to win with every week. Believing in his own abilities behind the wheel, in Tony, Jr. and that he could win is a big reason why Michael had so much success in 2005 - he believed he could do it and he did! I hope that even though Michael has struggled more recently he still believes that he can win on any track, at any time if his car is good enough and everything else lines up in the right way for him. The way I look at every race weekend even now is that no matter what might have happened the race before, no matter how much Michael and his team might be struggling, that it's a new opportunity for something good to happen. Because I'm a realist I know that the #55 team has a ways to go before they will be contending for wins on a regular basis but there's a part of me that still gets excited each race weekend that maybe, just maybe, everything will come together in such a way that Michael will somehow end up in Victory Lane!

A quality that Michael has that I think is a huge asset for him that Tony, Jr. brought up is his ability to think outside the box and how he pushes people to keep trying new things and to keep trying to get better. Michael's ability to be creative and think about things differently than some other might is what led him to create Raceworld, to have chrome wheels on his car, and it's what's helped him get so much exposure for his sponsors. Michael never gives up and that drives him to think of ways to do things better or differently. Contrary to what some believe he's also not satisfied with less than what he or his teams are capable of achieving. Some believe that Michael is more interested in getting exposure for his sponsors than in getting good results on the track and that's far from the truth. The competitive fires burn just as brightly for him as for other drivers and he has just as much desire to win as any of the others do. Tony, Jr. certainly saw that and it's unfortunate that not everyone else can recognize that.

Dale Jarrett's word for Michael was "entertaining." He said,

"It's two separate things with Michael, I believe. He's obviously proven to friends, colleagues and the fans he can be very entertaining on stage, the TV or as a commentator. He can literally keep your attention for quite a while because you're sitting there waiting to see what he's going to say next. But unfortunately for Michael, probably too many people look at that and not that he got in this position by being a good race driver. I think Michael's done more with less than a lot of people give him credit for. He obviously knows how to win. He's an excellent race driver and I think we sometimes forget just how good of a competitor and how good a driver he's been over the years, competing lots of times in less-than-adequate equipment."

DJ is talking about one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to how people perceive Michael in that they don't really take him seriously as a driver because all they see is the entertainer part of him. I think a lot of people do forget that Michael hasn't always had the most competitive of cars to race but he's always made the best of what he had. DJ is also right about Michael's ability to keep people's attention - as quite a few other friends of Michael's said in the article he's very funny and he makes people laugh all the time. But I think it's more than that - whether they like him or dislike him everyone seems to pay attention to what Michael has to say. Even those who can't stand him seem to always know what he says in interviews.

Another good comment came from Eddie Wood who said that the word that came to mind when he first thought about Michael was "funny" but he went on to talk about how Michael winning the All-Star race was a big team for his organization. He said,

"He's a lot of fun. I remember at either Rockingham or Atlanta, going back to 1996, 1997 or somewhere around there, where he had 300 or 400 Cup starts. But that's a lot of starts. Winning The Winston [in 1996] with Michael was a big deal for us, too. It was our biggest payday to that point, too -- and it was his first win in a Cup car. It was neat he was the last one to get in out of the [Winston] Open, and the car wasn't very good at first, but we kept making it better and Michael did a good job. But he can get it done behind the wheel. That's not even a question in my book."

Michael absolutely can get it done behind the wheel, and has for 25-years otherwise he wouldn't still be in this sport.

After reading that article I got to thinking about what the first word was that came to mind for me when I thought of Michael and it's "determination." Michael has a lot of determination - to do things his way, to succeed as a driver and owner, to be the best spokesperson for his sponsors that he can possible be, and to never give up. His strong will and drive is a big reason why he's remained in this sport for so long. Some haven't lasted more than a season in Cup or in Nascar as a whole, but 25 years and 1,000 Cup, Nationwide and Truck Series starts later, Michael's still here and I'm so very happy for that!

Posted by silverdsl at 03:52 PM | Comments (1)

Red Bull Racing Penalties Announced

The penalties for Red Bull Racing for having sheet metal that was too thin on the #84 have been announced. The crew chief of the #84, Kevin Hamlin, and the car chief, Craig Smokstad, have been suspended indefinitely, the #84 will lose 150 owner points and Brian Vickers will lose 150 driver points. In addition, Hamlin has also been fined $100,000. I think these are the penalties that everyone pretty much expected. Even though it was a deliberate attempt to cheat, one that they actually raced their way to an 11th place finish with, Nascar didn't go so far as to park the team for this weekend's race at Atlanta. I have to think that Nascar is very leery of going down that road because once they make not racing a penalty once, they set a precedence where they might have a situation where they would have to do it to the team of a popular driver or major sponsor. Which is probably what it comes down to - I have no doubt that Nascar has discussed at times not allowing teams to race if they were caught deliberately and blatantly cheating but they probably don't want to have to deal with the fan backlash that would come from sitting a driver or the outrage from a sponsor that would be none too happy about a car they spend millions on not being able to take part in that weekend's events.

To their credit RBR isn't trying to make excuses or claim that it happened accidentally, nor will they appeal. Jay Frye, RBR's general manager said,

"This approach to racing is against the values of the Red Bull Racing Team, and the necessary steps will be taken to rectify the situation ensuring it does not happen again. It is a privilege to race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and we are taking this penalty seriously."

When the Joe Gibbs Racing teams were caught trying to manipulate the engine dyno results in the Nationwide Series JGR took internal action against those who were involved. I wonder whether RBR will do the same? I think that's the real indicator as to whether it really is against the RBR values.

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

Red Bull Racing

According to Lee Spencer of foxsports.com, Red Bull Racing may receive severe penalties from Nascar after reportedly being caught with sheet metal on the #83 of Brian Vickers that didn't meet the minimum thickness requirements. If true, that would be a major rules violation for two reasons, one, because it's a safety issue and two, if I understand correctly using thinner sheet metal would effect the team's ability lower the car's center of gravity, something which could be a competitive advantage. In addition, unless the team comes up with a pretty good excuse it sounds like it's also a blatant and deliberate attempt to cheat.

Apparently using thinner sheet metal is almost impossible for Nascar to detect during a routine inspection at the track but the #83 was chosen at random after this past weekend's race at Martinsville to be taken back to the Nascar Technical Center for a more in-depth inspection at which time it was discovered that the sheet metal was too thin. One has to wonder how long RBR has been getting away with this and whether that has anything to do with their vastly improved results this season. I also have to wonder if there are any other teams that are using sheet metal that's too thin and whether it's something that Nascar is going to start trying to keep a closer eye on.

Thing is that even if Nascar hands out harsh penalties unless they sit the team for a race or issue suspensions to the crew chief and others with the team that last though next season the penalties probably aren't going to effect the team too much given how late it is in the season. Losing 150 driver and owner's points will only result in the loss of a couple of spots and suspending the crew chief the rest of the season might not have too much impact either given that it's not like the #83 is a Chase team. For a well-funded team like RBR the monetary fine likely isn't going to matter much to them either.

What's most unfortunate is that assuming that Spencer's report is true, it's only going to reinforce in some fan's minds the idea that Toyota's success only comes through cheating. Some are convinced that the Toyota teams have illegal competitive advantages over other teams even though the success that Toyota has had comes from the hard work of their teams. It's unfortunate that in two years three Toyota teams have been busted for major rules violations - Michael Waltrip Racing with fuelgate last season, Joe Gibbs Racing with the magnets to alter the engine dyno results for their Nationwide cars earlier this season and now RBR. The reality is most if not all teams are busted for cheating or rules violations at some point but some fans believe that it's an issue with the Toyota teams more than with others.

Although I don't have as much of a problem as some fans do with teams pushing things when it comes to the grey areas of the rule book and figuring out ways to get creative, I still don't like it when a team is caught deliberately cheating and especially in a major way. It's particularly disappointing to me because I like Vickers and I want both he and RBR to succeed. So I really hope that their success has been because they figured out how to build competitive race cars and that the competitiveness of those cars wasn't dependent on using sheet metal that was too thin.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:36 AM | Comments (0)

Joba Chamberlain Taunted at Strip Club Before Being Arrested for DUI

Turns out Joba Chamberlain not only had a blood-alcohol level of .134 which pretty much ends any questions about whether his arrest for DUI was legitimate or not, but prior to getting behind the wheel when he was in no condition to do so, Chamberlain was involved in a shoving match at a strip club with a fan who taunted him by saying "Too bad you didn't play for the Red Sox. Otherwise, you wouldn't be sitting here in a strip club in Nebraska." Chamberlain's friends were able to stop the incident from turning into anything more serious than a little pushing, but unfortunately they weren't able to stop him from driving. Hopefully this is only a one-time incident for Chamberlain because DUI arrests and getting into physical confrontations with fans after a little taunting are the kinds of things that can end one's career prematurely.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:14 AM | Comments (0)

October 20, 2008

Random Thoughts on Martinsville

*Sure looks like Jimmie Johnson is going to win the Championship - again. With a dominant win yesterday at Martinsville Jimmie has all but assured himself of the Championship which is a pretty big turn around for the #48 team considering they looked completely lost at times on the track early in the season. Since Fontana at the end of August Jimmie has only finished out of the top five once and has won four times. A lot of fans are complaining about how boring it is that Jimmie's running away with the Championship and how it's proof that Nascar should go back to the old points system but there's no guarantee that under the old points system there would be a battle for the Championship since a driver could still open up a huge points lead.

*It was a mixed day for Michael Waltrip Racing at Martinsville. Both Michael Waltrip and David Reutimann had competitive cars but both struggled with issues that prevented them from finishing as well as they might have. David looked to be on his way to another top ten until a blown tire sent him to pit road. He was still able to finish 24th but that had to be disappointing, particularly since he also had another potential top ten ruined the week before in Charlotte by mechanical issues. Although Michael was able to race in the top twenty for most of the day, there were some handling issues to contend with, plus concern over a potentially failing rear end gear (I'm sure they got even more concerned when the #00 dropped out of the race for that exact reason). The #55 team did a good job of staying out during some early cautions to get track position and Michael did a good job of hanging on and keeping it even though the #55 wasn't handling as well as some of those he was racing. As for Mike Bliss and the #00, once again that team is lucky that Robby Gordon has just as much bad luck as they do - if Robby had finished well in this race he might have locked himself into the top 35 but since he had issues too the #00 (soon to be the #47) still has a chance to make it back into the top 35 in owner's points. Basically not the race that MWR might have wanted but not a disaster of a day either.

*Dale Earnhardt, Jr. finished second at Martinsville, a career best finish at the track and his best finish in the Chase but that didn't stop him from taking a shot at Nascar. He said,

"There was no way NASCAR was gonna let this thing go green to the end. They always throw a caution at the end of the race to bunch up the field and get the fans back in it."

Junior needs to stick a sock in it. For one thing all the cautions yesterday seemed perfectly legitimate including the last caution which was for David Ragan spinning. What's so ridiculous about Junior's comment is that Nascar was actually conservative about throwing the caution yesterday and didn't do so a number of times when drivers got into the wall or spun when they were able to immediately get going again without being in the way. All Junior and other drivers do when they make comments like this is give ammunition to the conspiracy theorists and tin-foil brigade who believe that Nascar manipulates races to get the outcome they want. Unless Junior has some sort of proof that Nascar is calling fake cautions then I think he's better off keeping those kinds of opinions to himself.

*Some fans complained after the race that Jimmie Johnson and others from Hendrick Motorsports brought up the 2004 crash of a HMS plane because they're tired of hearing about it. I'm tired of fans complaining about this. Ten people died in that crash including four members of the Hendrick family and several key employees. I think it's completely appropriate to bring up and pay tribute to those who were lost in that plane crash since I'm sure not only everyone at HMS thinks of them whenever they go to Martinsville but many others in the garage area do as well. To me it would be completely appropriate for those at HMS to still be bringing up that plane crash ten years from now when they're at Martinsville. Do fans expect that those at HMS should just forget about the loss of their colleagues, friends and family members?

*A.J. Allmendinger finished 15th in his first start in the #10 for Gillett Evernham Motorsports. That's only the second time the #10 has finished in the top fifteen this season. Although A.J. made a mistake last week that resulted in a wrecked race car (and Michael Waltrip commented this weekend over his radio while watching A.J. race in front of him "no wonder he wrecked our car"), he did a very good job of racing the #10 to a good finish. A.J. still has things to learn about racing Cup but if some team takes a chance on him and helps him continue his development as a Cup driver they won't be sorry. If he can race a car that isn't among the most competitive on the track to a top fifteen, imagine what he might be able to do with a competitive car?

Posted by silverdsl at 09:45 AM | Comments (0)

Photo of the Day - Jellyfish

Living Seas, Epcot, Walt Disney World, Florida, 2004.

Posted by silverdsl at 12:32 AM | Comments (0)

Joba Chamberlain Arrested for DUI in Nebraska

Everyone makes mistakes so I'm not about to stop cheering for Joba Chamberlain but it's certainly disappointing to hear that he was arrested for DUI in Nebraska early on Saturday morning. Chamberlain, a rising young star pitcher for the New York Yankees, was initially stopped for speeding and the officer who made the stop smelled the odor of alcohol in the car. He also saw an open container of alcohol in the car. Of course innocent until proven guilty and all but given that Chamberlain has already apologized for his "error in judgment" I'm thinking the odds of it turning out that he was completely sober aren't too great.

What bothers me the most is the open container of alcohol. That means that at some point Chamberlain made a conscious, although possibly impaired, decision to take that container in the car with him. The possibility that he might have actually been drinking from it while he was driving sends shivers down my spine. I've seen some say that Chamberlain shouldn't be condemned because everyone drives after having a few at some point but "everyone" most certainly doesn't drink and drive. Because I'm very petite I won't drive after having even one alcoholic drink let alone multiple ones. And just because a lot of people do something it doesn't make it right. Although I don't think Chamberlain should have his contract terminated by the Yankees or anything over this, I wouldn't be upset if they took some sort of disciplinary action against him. Being arrested for DUI is a serious matter and drinking and driving can have serious consequences.

Posted by silverdsl at 12:15 AM | Comments (0)

October 19, 2008

Marcos Ambrose to Race for Michael Waltrip Racing at Atlanta

While I was running around like a chicken with it's head cut off for work the past few days, Michael Waltrip Racing announced that Marcos Ambrose would be racing for them in the Cup race at Atlanta. In addition, MWR is switching the car number of their third team, the current #00 to #47 for the remaining races. Although it's only been announced that Marcos will race the car next weekend, I would think that he will be in the #47 for at least three of the remaining four races with the possible exception of Phoenix where I could see MWR letting Michael McDowell make one more start for them since I believe that's his home track. I would assume that even though the team will be using the #47, the owner's points will end up going towards the #00 - I'm not sure how it all works but Bill Davis Racing did it last season with the #36 where it was renumbered for one race but the owner's points still ended up going to the #36.

Michael Waltrip said,

"It's really nice to have a head start on the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season and integrate Marcos with our team. We are pleased that NASCAR worked with us to switch our number so that Marcos and his sponsors have continuity. I, of all people, know the importance of car numbers to sponsors. We are very appreciative that everything worked out. This is a great opportunity for Marcos and it gives him a glimpse of what next season may look like for him. We are really happy about that."

I'm very happy that Marcos is going to be racing for MWR next weekend too! As soon as I heard that Marcos might be affiliated with MWR next season I got excited and I was thrilled when it was made official so I'm all for him racing for them sooner rather than later. I think it's a good way for him to gain more experience in Cup but more importantly get a feel for working with some of the people that he'll be working with next year.

One thing that I was wondering about when I saw that Marcos would be racing at Atlanta is whether he had any experience at that track and it turns out that he does. He said,

"I feel good about making the race at Atlanta. Fortunately, I have made some laps at Atlanta in a NASCAR Nationwide Series car and a Craftsman Truck. Next weekend, we need to qualify, log some laps and gain experience. In preparation, we're going to Kentucky to test to ensure that I am comfortable in the car."

Even though Marcos hasn't made a lot of starts at Atlanta he's done fairly well there in those starts with his best finish being an 11th place finish earlier this year in the Spring Nationwide race. I think it's a good thing that they're not just going to throw Macros in the car either but instead they're going to do some testing with him. Although he's made seven Cup starts already this season, he'll be racing different cars for a different team and manufacturer with some different personnel so there may be some differences from what he was used to prior to the JTG-Daugherty Racing alliance with MWR.

The other piece of news is that it was made official that MWR is going to give the #44 back to Petty Enterprises who had allowed them to use the number for the past two years. Of course officially Nascar controls the rights to the numbers and they are the ones who decides who gets to use which numbers but they don't generally let teams use numbers that "belong" are in use by other teams unless that teams gives the okay for the number to be used by someone else which is what happened in the case of the #44, PE and MWR. Should MWR need to use a third number if they find sponsorship for an additional Cup team they could either apply to use the #66 since that team is getting renumbered as the #39 next season at Stewart-Haas Racing or if Michael is successful in getting the #15 from DEI the third team can use the #55.

What will be interesting is how everything is going to work out with the owner's points. David Reutimann is presumably going to get the owner's points he earned for the #44 to use with the #00, the number he'll be racing next season. The plan seems to be for the #47 to get the owner's points from the #00 and for the #55's owner's points to remain with that team. Nascar has seemed willing to allow those kinds of points transfers during the off-season in the past but with increased scrutiny on the transfer of owner's points, particularly between two different organizations like what would happen with the transfer of the points from the #00 to the #47, I'm a little nervous that they might turn around and not permit something that they've allowed in the past.

But for now I'm just looking forward to seeing what Marcos and the #47 can do at Atlanta next weekend!

Posted by silverdsl at 11:17 PM | Comments (0)

October 16, 2008

Busy...

Works has been so insanely busy this week and will continue to be for the next couple of days so I'm not sure if there's going to be too many, if any, new entries until this weekend. I'm so busy I didn't even get to listen to more than a few minutes of Michael Waltrip Out Loud - sure hope I can catch a replay! Things have been pretty quiet as far as Nascar news goes so I might not have that much to say even if I wasn't so busy. But hopefully this weekend I'll have some positive MWR news to talk about - anything can happen at Martinsville but it sure would be great if all three MWR teams finished strong!

Posted by silverdsl at 08:59 PM | Comments (1)

October 14, 2008

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (10/14)

*Robin Pemberton, Nascar's vice president of competition, said yesterday that there won't be any rules changes for the Cup COT next season. This is probably pretty disappointing to a lot of fans who think the COT stinks and that Nascar needs to make massive changes to it to improve the quality of the racing. I think Nascar is making a good decision. I hope that down the road they'll consider rules changes - if needed - but for now I think it's a good idea to make sure the teams are given enough time to get a handle on the current COT before they go making any rules changes that would require more testing and expense.

*Bruce Martin has a few interesting items in his most recent column on SI.com. For one thing he has some comments from the always outspoken Felix Sabates regarding the state of the sport and how he thinks that there could be as many as eight fewer teams by 2010.Sabates says that this is because of the poor economy and because the investors coming into the sport are going to want some return on their money or they're going to want to get out. For one thing, even when the economy has been relatively good teams come and go - Ginn Racing comes to mind. In addition, a smart investor will invest their money long-term and have the patience to realize that they might not get a return on their money for a number of years. No one is going to keep pouring an endless amount of money into a team without getting anything in return from it but I'm not so sure these investors are gonig to jump out of the sport just as quickly as they jumped in. Furthermore, Sabates made similar dire predictions about next season and while there are likely going to be some teams that aren't around next season, thus far it's not looking like there will be significantly less teams next season than this since there are also going to be several new teams. It's true that the economy is hurting teams, particularly in relation to sponsorship but way too many people have invested way too much time, money and effort into this sport for a multitude of teams and the sport itself to collapse without a fight.

*Martin brought up something interesting about the confrontation between Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick. He wrote, "Imagine what would happen in any sport if another driver went into the opposing team's dugout or bench area during competition?" That player might get a pretty big smackdown if they went into the opposing team's dugout during a game. We're used to drivers going over to talk to each other in the garage area frequently but opposing players going into each other's space is something that's highly frowned upon. In baseball it used to be that players from opposing teams wouldn't even talk to each other on the field or be too friendly otherwise, let alone go into another team's dugout or locker room. In some ways Carl is lucky he didn't get a beatdown from Kevin's whole team.

*Eastseries.com posted the final points for the Camping World East Series and Steve Park finished 9th. I'm not sure I should be happy that he finished in the top ten in points with eight top tens and three top fives in thirteen races, or disappointed that he didn't finish higher. The 26th place finish due to mechanical issues out of his control at Stafford really hurt because it dropped him three spots in the overall points. Of course a driver can only make the most of the cars they're given to race and there's nothing a driver can do about mechanical problems but I can't help but notice that Steve has significantly more experience in Nascar in the Nationwide, Truck and Cup Series than those who finished in the points ahead of him. In fact those eight drivers total experience together in all those series amounts to no Cup races, six Nationwide races and one Truck race - there of them have never raced on a higher level than in the East Series.

As noted there are so many variables that go into it, including that some of these drivers are racing for Cup backed teams, though not the Series Champion, Matt Kobyluck, but as someone pointed out to me while it's great that Steve has raced in the top ten so much, he was only doing what he should be doing given his experience in Nascar and racing overall. In addition, as this person pointed out, maybe given that experience if Steve wasn't at least finishing in the top five in every race, if not winning, then maybe he's not living up to expectations. There are a lot of fans who were thinking that racing competitively in this series was going to impress an owner on a higher level enough to give Steve a ride for next season but I'm not sure a 9th place points finish with no wins is going to be enough.

*Both Steve and Ricky Carmichael drew a lot of fans to the track to see East Series races. It was mentioned by someone at the track this past weekend that there were so many fans who wanted Steve and Ricky's autographs during the mandatory autograph session prior to the race that fans had a hard time getting to the other drivers near them for autographs. What's not so good for this series is that it's possible that neither Steve nor Ricky will be back in the East Series next year. Steve was only signed with the #35 team for this season and Ricky is slated to race for Kevin Harvick, Inc. in the Truck Series. That might mean less fans at East Series races next season which is unfortunate because I think the series and some of it's young drivers could use more attention not less since some of the young drivers racing in the series today might be tomorrow's stars.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:39 PM | Comments (0)

October 13, 2008

Mike Bliss Will Race the #00 at Martinsville for Michael Waltrip Racing

Michael Waltrip Racing announced today that Mike Bliss will be the latest driver to get behind the wheel of the #00 at Martinsville in an effort to get that car back into the top 35 in owner's points. Bliss has done a very good job racing in the Nationwide Series this season - he's currently 4th in the points with three top fives and thirteen top tens for two different Nationwide-only teams. In addition, Bliss is the 2002 Truck Series Champion and has won thirteen truck races over the course of his career. But in spite of his success in the Nationwide and Truck Series, Bliss hasn't gotten the same kind of results in Cup and I have to admit I'm somewhat puzzled by his selection as the driver of the #00. Bliss has raced extremely well at Martinsville in a Truck but in Cup the results haven't been as good and even more worrisome is that he hasn't qualified well there something that's pretty important given that he will have to qualify the car on speed into the race. MWR must have a good reason for selecting Bliss - he is a very solid driver even if he hasn't gotten good results on the Cup level and it's also possible that there was no one else available who they thought would get better results.

Bliss is well aware of what he has to do this weekend from qualifying to the race itself. He said,

"The biggest deal for us is going to be on Friday afternoon when we attempt to qualify. We have to do that first. Once we are in the race, I know the game. They have got to get back in the top 35. I know that I can't do anything stupid and I need to try to do the best I can and more. It's one of those deals where if a guy is going to cut you off, you may have to let off one time to keep from being knocked out of the race."

He definitely has the right approach. I hate to say it because I like him, but A.J. Allmendinger kind of did something stupid at Charlotte when he was impatient and tried to put himself in a space where he wouldn't fit and it resulted in him wrecking. Bliss also understands something that I haven't always been sure that Michael McDowell always understood - the need to let off at times. McD seemed to think that the best approach was to be ultra-aggressive and try to get as much as he could on every single lap when there are times when it's better to let off a little rather than risk getting one's self in trouble and ending up with a wrecked race car.

Bliss said he was impressed with the MWR facility when he saw it for the first time.

"I'm just really looking forward to this weekend. When I walked into MWR for the first time, I was really impressed with facility. I couldn't believe how nice the place was. I think the last time I was there was when it was a movie theater. MWR took over the building and turned the place into Raceworld USA. Not only is their operation impressive, but MWR is getting pretty good. This is a big accomplishment for Michael Waltrip and his teams are doing a good job."

Of course Bliss has to say good things about the team that's giving him an opportunity to race Cup, but he's right that Michael really has accomplished something pretty big with Raceworld and his teams! It must be a kind of weird experience to remember Raceworld/MWR as a movie theater and then to see how much it's changed so much. As one who has a "thing" for the history of buildings and places, it's interesting to consider all that's gone on in that space, is going on now and will go on in the future. Hopefully Bliss helps MWR to make the future a little brighter by helping them get the #00 back into the top 35!

Posted by silverdsl at 09:19 PM | Comments (2)

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (10/13)

*There's a rumor making the rounds that Nascar is considering cutting the size of the fields in the Nationwide and Truck Series to 28 and the Cup Series to 36, presumably in response to the difficult economy and how teams are closing up shop. I'm skeptical about whether there's any truth to this rumor, particularly about the Cup Series field being reduced to just 36 considering the top 35 rule already locks in 36 cars meaning there would be only one open spot for a go-or-go-homer. That would make things harder for teams not easier since it would means that even more teams would be going home each week. As much as there are organizations that are struggling and teams that won't be back next season, at least in Cup there are also organizations that are adding teams. There may very well be some short fields next season, but contrary to what some fans are anticipating, I'm not sure we'll see that in Cup since there would probably be organizations who would field a car just for a race or two if they knew there was a short field in an attempt to make some money. And if there are short fields in Trucks and Nationwide, what's so bad about that? There will always be some tracks where there are more entries and some tracks where they are less.

*A lot of fans still believe that Ray Evernham calls the shots and plays a big role in the day-to-day decisions at Gillett-Evernham Motorsports but that ended when he sold a majority share of ownership in the organization that was once his to the Gillett family. In fact he has so little say that he may not be involved with the company at all in the future. He said,

"That's largely up to the Gillettes. I want to help Mr. Gillette, and I'll do whatever I can to help him be successful, but I also want to pursue ... I'm enjoying my life at ESPN. I'm enjoying a little bit of semi-retirement. I want to help as much as I can, but I also want to make sure I have creditability with the viewers and that's important to me.''

From the way he's been talking for a while he would be perfectly happy not having to deal with a lot of what he used to deal with as sole owner at Evernham, particularly things on the business side, and while some have tied that to the controversy over his relationship with Erin Crocker, I suspect he might have felt that way regardless. This is a very tough business and it takes it's toll on those who are involved - it just seems like Evernham is tired and wants to take his life in a different direction.

*There's been some comments posted on PlanetRobby, a fan site and forum for Robby Gordon fans that are attributed to Robby, about how happy he is with recent changes he's made to his team and the direction they're going in. I think it would be good for the sport if an independent, single-car operation like Robby's were to succeed but I don't have a good feeling after reading what he supposedly said. For one thing Robby said that his new philosophy is "my way or the highway, no between" in terms of his organization and employees. Just exactly what's new about that? Robby has always been one to do things his own way no matter what anyone says or thinks. It's been both an asset for him and something that has also been his downfall. The reality is that it's essential that Robby be open to other people's input and ideas and be able to recognize when a different way of doing things might benefit his team. It was also said that there aren't going to be any engineers, no Nascar guys at all, just "imagineers," apparently most or all of whom will be off-road guys. It's good to have people who can look at things differently than the way things have always been done. However, engineering is a cornerstone of racing, not just in Nascar, but in all forms of racing. I think it's essential if Robby wants to have any hope of competing on the Cup level that there is some sort of engineering presence at his organization. Lately it's been all about maintaining for Robby, maintaining being locked into the top 35 in owner's points. He needs to be able to do more. Hopefully for his sake this approach will work and he'll be able to race competitively but I'm not convinced this is going to work out for him as well as he'd like.

*There was a huge amount of controversy in relation to the ARCA race this weekend, much of it relating to Scott Speed who cost himself the championship by retaliating against another driver and then getting parked. The incident was apparently so bad that there might be further penalties handed out to Speed. I'm not sure that bodes well for him in Cup. Speed has a very unique personality but he may need to learn how to control his emotions a little better. Every driver gets so angry at times that they retaliate or otherwise let their emotions get the best of them, but that's not a good thing for a rookie in Cup.

*Nascar made it official today that they're going to hold off on the Nationwide COT until the start of the 2010 season instead of having the teams start to race it mid-season next year as originally planned. I think that's a wise idea. The cost issues involved with having to build two different cars next season might be too great for some teams. It's still going to be difficult for some teams to build the Nationwide COT, but maybe by 2010 the economy will have improved some and some other issues related to the new car will have been worked out. Best to take the time to test the car well and not rush it to the track.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:55 PM | Comments (0)

In the News: Michael Waltrip Racing (10/13)

Over the weekend Cal Wells discussed Michael Waltrip Racing's plans for 2009 with the media. Those plans are for them to field two MWR cars and a third car for JTG-Daugherty Racing. In addition, if there's sponsorship there's a possibility that MWR will field an additional car of their own. Cal said,

“Our plan right now is two plus one [of JTG Daugherty], and we’re working on some other opportunities for next year. We’re all in to make those three cars race-winning contenders every week. We’re not going to spread our resources unless we can really find the right kind of deal. We did this year, but next year we’re going to make sure that we’re [sponsored].”

Some fans seem upset by the idea of MWR only having two cars of their own with the third team being one that is a JTG team but I think it's a good plan by MWR to only field an additional Cup car of their own if there's the sponsorship for it. Costs have continued to rise and the difficult economy only makes things work. It's one thing to field a car for a handful of races with little or no sponsorship but I don't see how any organization can field an unsponsored car for an entire season anymore, particularly if they want it to be anywhere near competitive. It's essential that MWR continues next season to build on the progress they've made this season and if they are to truly become an organization that fields cars that can contend for wins on a weekly basis, they have to be sure that they're making wise decisions which I think they are doing.

Another reason some fans are unsettled is because the more time that goes by the less likely it is that Michael McDowell is going to be racing for MWR next season, which would be the first time that Michael and MWR would have made the decision to part ways with a driver. McD said,

“They didn’t exercise the option on me. I know it’s due to not having funding, but being out these few races here, I’m not really sure where that’s driven from. I don’t know if I’m racing next week. Hopefully I’ll be in at Martinsville or in at some races before the end of the year. But in the meantime, they’re working hard on sponsorship and I’m working hard on trying to stay in the garage.”

Sponsorship is definitely a big factor in why McD's option wasn't picked up since they can't field a car for him if they don't have a sponsor for it. However, I think he needs to be paying a little closer attention to what's going on around him if he can't figure out why he was taken out of the #00 for the last races of the season. The reality is that whether it's due to a lack of experience or something else his performance in the #00 hasn't been good enough to keep the #00 in the top 35 in owner's points and MWR has more confidence in other driver's ability to try to get the car back into the top 35 by the end of the season. It may be over-confidence in his own abilities or that he's not self-aware enough (he is just 23, something that's easy to forget) but this isn't the first time I've gotten the sense that McD can't fathom the idea that there's still something for him to learn or that he might make some mistakes behind the wheel at times.

I've always wondered what the reaction would be from fans the first time Michael/MWR releases a driver and whether fans will be angry with Michael. Almost every time a driver parts ways with the organization they were racing with there's a segment of fans who view that organization in a very negative light. Hopefully if McD does leave MWR, it will make things easier that they simply didn't pick up his option for next season as opposed to releasing him before the end of the season. I suppose some may view what they're doing now as releasing him since he may not race the #00 any more this season but he did sign autographs at MWR's Fan Appreciation Day at Raceworld last week and he's been with the team at the track so they've still retained him for now. The reality though is that even if it's a amicable parting of the ways for McD and MWR now, the odds are that sometime in the future there will be drivers who are released and it might not be on good terms - that happens with every organization that's been in the sport for a long time from time to time as there are always going to be difficult decisions that have to be made for business or competition reasons. I just hope that fans are understanding that Michael and MWR have to make the decisions they feel are best for their organization which may not always be the decisions that fans want them to make.

McD also said,

“I just want to race – I don’t care if it’s a truck, Nationwide or a Cup car. I’m ready for any of the above. You’re not going to be extremely picky, choosy at this point. I need a job.”

Ideally someone will put him in a Nationwide or Truck ride. Given time, more experience and if he's open to learning from others, McD will likely develop into a good driver who is capable of success on the Cup level. He also has a lot of personality, "gets it" when it comes to the fans and is very media savvy which would appeal to sponsors. So he has the potential to be an asset to a team but I think he really needs to race at least one full season on a lower level if not more before racing Cup again.

In other MWR news, as some had already guessed, MWR will be returning the #44 to Petty Enterprises since that organization intends on adding an additional, part-time team next season. Prior to the start of 2007 MWR had gotten permission to borrow the #44 from PE but now that they might not field an additional team next season it makes sense to give it back to PE. If MWR needs another number the #66 will likely be available next season to keep with the double-number theme, or if Michael is successful in getting the #15 from DEI as he's expressed some interest in doing, they could use the #55 for their third team.

Of course the question most fans have is what happens to the owner's points associated with the #44 and #00. I think that's where things get a little sticky and confusing. Odds are unless sponsorship for an additional team comes through the plan is for the #44's owner's points to shift to the #00 for use by David Reutimann who will be racing that number next season. The #00's owner's points would then go to the #47 that will be raced by Marcos Ambrose. The sticky and confusing part comes in because the #47 is owned by JTG not MWR. So Nascar has rules related to how a transfer of owner's points between two organizations can take place, even when those two organizations have an alliance like JTG and MWR do. Whatever happens with all the owner's points transfers will have to be approved by Nascar. I just hope they approve David getting to keep the owner's points he earned in the #44. It already happened once before that Nascar wouldn't let a mid-season switch of owner's points to allow David to take the points from the #00 to the #44 at the beginning of the season, and while they've indicated they will allow points swaps during the off-season, there seems to be increasing concern by fans, the media and maybe Nascar themselves about points swaps even between teams at the same organization so I just hope they don't make some rules changes about what they're going to allow in terms of points swaps.

Last week there was a Jayski "I heard" rumor that indicated that J.J. Yeley might race the #00 at Martinsville. Many fans were horrified but I actually liked the idea because Yeley had very good stats when it came to qualifying at Martinsville which is important. But as it turns out J.J. won't be racing the #00, but he did have some conversations with Cal Wells and Ty Norris not only about the #00 but apparently about whether there might be any future opportunities for him at MWR according to what he said this morning on Sirius. I thought that was interesting that he was talking to them about whether there might be anything for him at MWR next season because it's a further indication that McD likely won't be back at MWR even if they find sponsorship for another Cup car.

Posted by silverdsl at 02:26 PM | Comments (0)

October 12, 2008

Photo of the Day - Aruba Sunset

Aruba, 2005.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:37 PM | Comments (0)

Steve Park Finishes 26th at Stafford

Steve Park finished 26th yesterday in the rescheduled season finale for the Camping World East Series. Peyton Sellers won a race that apparently had a wild and exciting finish. Too bad it's likely that not too many people other than those at the track are going to see it since HDNet didn't broadcast it and although it's on Speed's schedule to be aired today, reportedly no one from Speed was at the track. It's not only unfortunate for fans of this series but also for Sellers who is looking for a ride for next season since he and Andy Santerre Motorsports are parting ways due to sponsorship issues - the exposure from having this race shown on TV could help him find an other ride.

For me, since the Championship was already determined the race was pretty much an afterthought. To show how little interest I had, whereas in the past I've checked eastseries.com and SPC repeatedly for race updates as to how Steve is doing, by the time I remembered there was a race today it was over. Most race weekends I go in thinking that maybe this will be the one Steve wins but I just wasn't feeling it this time. Apparently he had a competitive car and was racing up front for a while but then mechanical gremlins struck and he ended up behind the wall due to brake issues. Someone who was at the race said that Steve wasn't happy about being told to park it since he felt they were giving up too easily, but if they were out of contention for the win due to the brake issue I can't blame the team for not wanting to risk getting the car torn up in a wreck or risk there being some other issue since even in the East Series it costs a lot to field a car.

This race was probably disappointing for Steve but I hope he was happy overall with this season. Perhaps he didn't win any races or contend for a championship so in some regards he might not have raced up to expectations - his or the team's - but on the other hand he raced competitively and up front in just about every race which is a lot more than he's been able to do with some of his other rides. So hopefully being in this car was a good experience for him. It's unknown whether Steve will be back with this team next season, or have any ride in 2009, but I'm okay with that. I didn't expect him to have a ride this season so I'm just happy he was racing something this year.

Another note on this race is that there continues to be some hand-wringing about Jeffrey Earnhardt once again being taken out of the car that DEI had been fielding for him in this series. In fact, it was referred to as him being "robbed again of his DEI birthright" supposedly by nasty ol' Teresa. Meanwhile it's been reported previously that Jeffrey's own father, Kerry, was involved with the decision to take him out of the car because there were concerns about his work ethic. Having the same last name as the man who founded the company doesn't mean that DEI should ignore issues with a driver. In addition, DEI has to make the decisions they feel are best on both the competition and business side. Having the "right" last name may help a driver get some doors opened for them but ultimately they still need to perform.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:00 PM | Comments (0)

Charlotte Night Racing - Good Racing, Not-so-Good Night for Michael Waltrip Racing

Jeff Burton got a needed win last night and Carl Edwards's championship hopes took a big hit (bad karma?) but as always most of my attention was on the Michael Waltrip Racing teams. Unfortunately it was another tough weekend for Michael and his drivers but at least the cars continued to be competitive.

At the start of the race Michael had a competitive car and was able to race his way into the top twenty. But as the race went on the handling went away and the team struggled to find the right changes to improve things for Michael. Being involved in two incidents didn't help either. In the first Michael was on the bottom of some three wide racing and got down into the grass. Unfortunately he didn't realize Mike Skinner was next to him when he came up - he said afterwards he couldn't see Skinner there which is likely true considering how limited the driver's visibility to the side is because of how tightly they're strapped into their cars. But that's why they have spotters. At any rate, the result was that Skinner and Ken Schrader ended up with wrecked race cars. Later on a re-start there was oil or some other substance on the track which caused Michael and several others to go for a spin. The damage in that incident was worse but the #55 team did a great job of taking care of everything without Michael losing any more than the one lap he was already down. After that the car actually got somewhat better and Michael was able to finish 24th which isn't great but could have been worse. It's nice that these days a 24th place finish is disappointing because of hoe competitive the car seemed to be at times - earlier this season finishing 35th seemed like an accomplishment in some races. Which is why I don't get too upset about finishes like this since there's been so much progress from where they were to start the season.

As always it's interesting listening in to Michael's radio communication. Every driver gets frustrated, whines and complains during races when their car isn't right and Michael certainly let it known that he wasn't too happy with his car for a lot of this race. Prior to one pit stop under caution Michael said that he didn't know what to tell them to do and I sensed he was on the verge of letting loose with a bunch more complaints. I guess Bobby Kennedy thought the same because he told Michael that he needed to "chill the f*ck out." To his credit that's exactly what Michael did - he calmed down and apologized like crazy multiple times for losing his cool. Michael said that he wants to be the leader of the organization but a leader can't act the way he did - he's right and I'm glad he realizes that. Something else he said is that he'll never give up which is just one of the many reasons myself and the rest of Michael's fans love him so much. His determination is what kept him in this sport in spite of so many years without winning and through a variety of disappointments including all the struggles last season.

For a while it looked like David Reutimann was going to race his way to another top ten but disaster struck on a green flag pit stop when he lost his brakes coming on to pit road. David had to spend time on pit road while his team made repairs and he lost quite a few laps which doomed him to a 32nd place finish. What a disappointment for David and his team after they had been racing so well! Even when they don't practice or qualify well it seems like it's a given these days that David will still be able to race competitively and eventually make his way into the top ten - I have no doubt we'll see more of the same at Martinsville and every other race for the rest of the season!

Sad to say but it was a disaster of a night for the #00 team. A.J. Allmendinger got a little too impatient a little too early in the race and tried to fit himself into a space where he couldn't go and the end result was a wrecked race car - his. Exactly what MWR didn't want him to do. At one point Michael asked over his radio whether they were trying to fix the #00 to get it back on the track and Ty Norris responded that no, they weren't because the car looked like it had been dropped from a plane. I'm sure Michael was less than thrilled to hear that. A.J. took full responsibility for wrecking the car and apologized to the other involved drivers and MWR but that was probably of little solace to those at MWR, particularly since the bad races for the #7 and #84 could have allowed the #00 to potentially move into the top 35 in owner's points if A.J. had been able to race it to a strong finish. I felt bad for A.J. because he's still looking for a ride for next season and a wreck like that, particularly when he's racing a car that he needed to be very careful racing, doesn't look good to teams who could potentially give him a ride. Hopefully he'll do better when he starts racing the #10 next weekend.

Luckily, in spite of a 43rd place finish the #00 still has a chance to move into the top 35 since it's only 63 points out of 36th. It's unknown who will race the #00 for the remaining races this season - the rumor that J.J. Yeley would race it next weekend was denied - but given what seems like weekly problems for Robby Gordon to spoil potentially good finishes and that a rookie, Scott Speed, may be racing the #84, it's definitely still do-able for that car to finish the season in the top 35 in owner's points. It'll be interesting to see who MWR selects to race the #00 next weekend - apparently there's still a chance Michael McDowell could race it, but I wouldn't mind them giving Jeremy Mayfield a shot.

Although Carl had a strong car early on but the night quickly turned into a disaster with vibrations due to loose lugnuts and then an ignition problem which caused him to lose laps while his team diagnosed the problem. Carl finished 39th, 16 laps down and all the Kevin Harvick fans cheered as Carl's championship hopes took a big hit. For a while it appeared that it was going to be yet another win for Jimmie at Lowe's but he faded towards the end of the race and Jeff Burton capitalized to win his first race of the season. Jeff is now second in Chase points behind Jimmie and it sure would be great to see him win the Championship and show the doubters that drivers over 40 can get the job done just as well as a young kid on the track!

Posted by silverdsl at 06:02 PM | Comments (0)

October 11, 2008

Photos Released of the Harvick-Edwards Confrontation

When I first heard that a photographer had taken photos of the confrontation between Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards in the Nationwide garage on Thursday but they weren't 6oing to be released for "political" reasons I wondered why. After all, it wasn't like it was a secret what happened since there were multiple witnesses and it quickly became the talk of the garage area. Well, the photos were released today and after seeing them I understand why some might have preferred that they never saw the light of day. Edwards is the real loser here since the photos make him out to be the aggressor, with one showing him with his hand around Kevin's throat. Of course even photos can be deceptive since they capture only a small segment of what the entire incident might have consisted of, but if it's true that this was about what Harvick said about Edwards at Talladega and the note Edwards left in Harvick's plane, that doesn't seem like enough to justify one driver's hand being around the throat of one of his fellow competitors.

Although Edwards is refusing to say much about the incident other than he would like to put it behind him - gee, I wonder why - Harvick isn't being shy about letting it be known that Edwards was messing with the wrong person. Harvick said,

"You just gotta be careful who you wanna pick a fight with. If you want to pick a fight with the wrong person, sometimes it turns around and bites you, no matter how big and tough you think you are."

Edwards is one of the favorites in the Chase and it's hard for me to understand why he would get himself into this kind of a conflict with another driver, and particularly one who doesn't back down when challenged, when he needs to be focusing on doing everything he can to win his first championship. Some have said that Harvick isn't the only driver in the garage who is unhappy with Edwards either - no surprise considering how many torn up race cars there were after his mistake at Talladega. Reportedly even though they're saying the right things publicly his teammates who were swept up in the wreck he caused are none too happy with him either.

Harvick also said, "Best thing I can tell you is we were in our pit stall and just protected our turf." He's right - Edwards went into the pit stall of the team Harvick owned, confronted him, grabbed him when he tried to turn away and put his hand around Kevin's throat. No wonder Harvick's motorcoach driver ended up putting Edwards in a headlock.

Naturally some Edwards fans are blaming the media for making a big deal of all this and for the photos getting out. The media is there to report the news and as much as some would like this to get swept under the rug when two drivers get into a physical confrontation in the middle of the garage area, it's news. If Edwards didn't want to be the subject of negative coverage that in my husband's words makes him look like a douche-nozzle, then he should have shown some restraint and kept his hands off of Harvick, or even better not gone over to confront him in the first place.

Posted by silverdsl at 05:49 PM | Comments (0)

October 10, 2008

Michael Waltrip Racing Day on "Tradin' Paint" on Sirius (10/7): Josh Wise, Paul Wolfe and Jerry Baxter

Last in my installment of entries about "Tradin' Paint" on Sirius's live broadcast from Michael Waltrip Racing on Tuesday is about MWR's Nationwide program. Chocolate Myers and Steve Post spoke to development driver Josh Wise who races for MWR in the Nationwide Series; Paul Wolfe, Josh's crew chief; and Jerry Baxter, a long-time MWR employee who is David Reutimann's crew chief on the #99.

Josh was up first. He started the year testing for MWR (since there was no sponsorship for a second Nationwide car for him), then got the call from Armando Fitz and he's raced for Fitz Motorsports until now, and most recently he's been in a second MWR Nationwide car. He'll race that car this weekend at Lowe's and then in three more Nationwide races to finish out the season. Growing up he worked on his own cars so he's very impressed with the way things are at MWR where there's an assembly line of people who were on the cars as opposed to just one person doing everything. Because he worked on his own cars he has respect and understanding of how much hard work and money it takes so he tries hard not to tear stuff up. I've always liked Josh's attitude and that's one example of why. Not that other young drivers or those who haven't worked on their own cars also don't try to tear things up but I like that Josh is aware and respectful of the hard work that those in the shop put in on the cars.

Someone at MWR came up to Josh recently and said that it was his worst year of racing he's ever had because Josh is used to winning 8-10 races a season. One year he even won 18 races! But this year he's only raced 13 times. Josh said it's such a team sport and so competitive. The greatest driver could come and go and you might never know if they aren't with the right team. So true - driver talent most definitely plays a role but the competitiveness of the cars that a driver is given to race matters too, particularly in Nascar's three highest levels where the talent level of all the drivers is so high. For Josh he never had a lot of money so it was all about how much he wanted it and how many hours he wanted to spend in the garage. He said that they're making a lot of the right steps at MWR and it's exciting to be a part of it.

As far as next season goes, they have to find a sponsor for him so he can race in the Nationwide Series. Jerry Baxter said in his interview that they planned on racing the #99 for the manufacturer's and owner's championship next season and since Michael and David are only slated to race it for ten races I have to think that Josh will be racing it for the remaining races whether there's sponsorship or not unless they decide not to field a Nationwide car full-time. At least I hope that's what the plan is. Josh said that it puts a big smile on his face to see his car and be a part of it all. He hopes to be a part of everything at MWR as long as they'll have him. Josh is a definite favorite of mine and I want to see him race a lot more next season! I think he has a bright future and I really hope he races for MWR for a long time!

Josh ended the interview by saying that he has a new website which can be found at www.joshwiseracing.com.

Paul Wolfe was interviewed next and he said he's having a lot of fun working with Josh. Even though Josh doesn't have a lot of experience he's really into what he's doing and gives a lot of good feedback - I would have to think that's pretty important that a young driver learns how to give good feedback and communicate well with their crew chief right from the start. Right now they're going to places that Josh has never raced before and it's challenging but he works hard. It's hard to work with a rookie but it makes him feel good when he's able to get Josh racing up front.

He's only been working with Josh for five races. They're able to lean on the #99 and the other Toyota teams st see where they're at. Josh looks to David a lot and David's helped them out a lot. It helps to have a teammate when they get down on themselves. I would think that Josh and David probably work together well because even though Josh hasn't raced all that much this season he's been around the MWR shop and done a lot of testing so he and David have probably spent time together and gotten to know each other.

In 1996 Paul moved down to North Carolina from New York to be a driver and he thinks he didn't really get a fair shake to prove what he could do. But his experience as a driver is something he thinks helps him understand what Josh is going through and also helps him speed up what makes the cars go fast because he's sat in them. There wasn't a whole lot of engineering at the teams he started with but now he uses a whole lot of it. There's so much at MWR and a lot to be gained by it but there's also a need to use old school racing common sense too.

Jerry Baxter said that at first the #99 team were right in the thick of things but the last few months took them out of the Championship hunt. However, they're not laying down. Hopefully David and his team will be able to win one of the last Nationwide races this season! They came close a few times but poor David had so much bad luck to ruin so many races for him! It used to be that things were such a struggle on the Cup side that it was a relief for David to come over to the Nationwide side but now David's always in a good mood when he comes over to the Nationwide side (because things have improved so much on the Cup side).

The Toyota Nationwide COT is a joint effort between MWR and Toyota Racing Development. I thought it was pretty interesting that of all their organizations, TRD is working with MWR to develop Toyota's Nationwide COT. After the first test the car came back to MWR where they've been working on it. There's another test scheduled for this Monday and Tuesday at Lowe's.

Jerry started working for Michael eight years ago at the farm (the shop behind Michael's house). He feels privileged to work there with what it's become. Five or six guys are still at MWR from the farm. MWR is a really great place to work. They went through some tough times but it will be worth it. For a while it was the Nationwide side that kept the shop going - that's very true considering all the struggles last season. David winning the race at Memphis last year was huge not only for David and the #99 team but all of MWR!

There were two others interviewed as part of the broadcast, Peter Sospenzo, the crew chief for the #00, whose interview I missed completely and Dr. Eric Warren, MWR's Director of Engineering whose interview I missed most of. I was really disappointed about not being able to listen to Dr. Warren since I though he had some really interesting things to say the time he was a guest on Michael Waltrip Out Loud. But in the tail end of Dr. Warren's interview that I was able to catch he said that he meets regularly with the technical directors from the other Toyota teams like Tommy Baldwin from Bill Davis Racing. That was interesting because I think most believe that even though the Toyota teams work together and share information to some degree on the Nationwide side, they don't do that on the Cup side but apparently they do get together to discuss things. I doubt there's as much information being shared as in the Nationwide or Truck Series but apparently they do work together at least a little. Dr. Warren said that they're chasing small gains all the time, maybe a 100th of a second. They may spend lots of money on testing and come back with nothing. I think that highlights just how difficult it is for smaller and underfunded teams because they wouldn't have the money to spend on tests where they don't get much out of it. All the teams are using bump stops with the COT and there are many different combinations of bump stops to get to where they're at and it's all different for every team.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:06 PM | Comments (2)

Michael Waltrip Out Loud on XM (10/9)

Michael Waltrip Outloud

(Wish I knew whether the Out Loud in this show was "Out Loud" or "Outloud" as I've seen it both ways.)

Opening the show was a song by George Strait but I didn't catch what song it was. Apparently this show was taped the day that "Tradin' Paint" on Sirius broadcast live from Michael Waltrip Racing, so one of that show's hosts, Chocolate Myers sat in. I have to say while I've not always been a fan of Chocolate on "Tradin' Paint" in the past he was good on Out Loud with Michael and Tony Rizzuti.

Michael was eating lunch earlier that day at the place down the road from the shop and a guy walked up to him and said that Nascar should have keep their nose out of the finish of the race at Talladega. Michael asked him how many sports are there that don't have officiating? There has to be officiating. Before I go any further I just have to say I have no idea how Michael stopped himself from telling that guy that what he said was absolutely ridiculous. Michael is absolutely correct that there needs to be officiating. Do umpires stop calling balls and strikes in the 9th inning of a baseball game? Do they stop calling penalties in other sports as the clock winds down? Of course not! So why would Nascar officials stop applying their rules because it's the last lap of the race? I think the issue with all of the controversy over the finish of the race at Talladega isn't that Nascar has a yellow line rule, but that even within their own organization it wasn't clear how it was to be applied and some of the competitors had the impression that they could go below the yellow line if they could see the flagstand on the last lap, which as per Nascar's clarification earlier this week is apparently not the case.

Michael said that Nascar was faced with a tough decision. I would say so since no matter what Nascar did there were going to be fans who were upset. We saw the resulting controversy when they awarded Tony Stewart the win but had they given the win to Regan Smith we would have seen a lot of fans complaining about him violating the yellow line rule and it would also have set a precedence for that being acceptable at future races at Daytona and Talladega.

Tony was working Directv Hotpass and ended up on Jimmie Johnson's channel. He said he heard Jimmie over his radio talk about how he thought if the flagstand is in view you can go below the yellow and maybe that came from Ramsey Poston (A Nascar spokesperson). Michael thought if you had the checkered flag in view you could make your move. If that's the rule - and it's not - apparently no one on this show had read Nascar's clarification of the rule that states that there is no going below the yellow at Talladega or Daytona ever, not even on the last lap - then Nascar thought in their opinion that it wasn't the time for Regan to make the move (in actuality in Nascar's eyes there was never a right time to make that move). Maybe what happened at Talladega will result in things becoming more black and white - that's true since Nascar clarified the rule late Monday. None of the drivers asked questions at the driver's meeting at Talladega but Michael thinks there will be lots of questions next season at Daytona and Talladega. One thing that I heard brought up on one show or another was how the veteran drivers thought they knew what was allowed and didn't want to give away a potential strategy by asking any questions, and the young drivers are too intimidated to ask questions so that resulted in no one asking for a clarification. You have to wonder how often that happens a the driver's meetings.

Chocolate said he was watching at home, screaming and hollering that Regan just won. He too thought that on the last lap a driver could make that move based on what Phil Parsons had said the day before during the Truck broadcast. But then he thought about it and realized that Phil isn't a Nascar spokesperson (though Nascar's own spokespeople were saying "anything goes" and citing a "flagstand" interpretation at various times too). So Chocolate realized that Regan didn't win.Tony said what Regan did was a smart move. Regan could have wrecked Tony S. and it's good that he didn't since Brian Vickers still hasn't gotten over wrecking Jimmie. Regan went for it, he had nothing to lose. I agree with Tony that it was a good move on Regan's part to try what he did even though it didn't work out for him. He didn't win the race but he could have. In addition, he got a huge amount of attention this week for himself and his team and considering he's racing for a ride and the team for a sponsor for next season all that attention can only help. Michael said he never was told "anything goes" on the last lap but had heard the "flagstand" bit. You have to protect the integrity of the sport and have to have officiating.

Once again, Michael's idea for California Speedway came up, about turning it into a restrictor plate track. Most everyone has dismissed that idea as being ridiculous and impossible but they brought up how when changes were announced to Richmond everyone was very skeptical about that too. But they did do the things they said they were going to do and it's a great track now. With California it would make for a cool show but you have to make sure you do it right. Michael wants to go west for the "Piston Cup" one day. Fans love Daytona and Talladega and the drivers put up with it. California is an important market for Nascar but no one can get their arms around it, I guess meaning that it's not a sellout and a lot of fans (not to mention those in the media) don't think much of the racing there. I think that's something that a lot of people who think Nascar should stop going to California Speedway don't understand - it is an important market for Nascar in terms of the media, business, as well as potential revenue and the audience they could reach.

Chocolate enjoys doing Tradin' Paint (unfortunately for Chocolate quite a few fans don't enjoy him on the show) and he was really enlightened by hearing all about MWR and seeing what an outstanding place Raceworld is. He will be able to take all he learned about MWR and the things they do and use it in the future on Tradin' Paint. which really speaks to the value of that show that they did the other day - not only did all of us fans listening get to hear interviews from a lot of people at MWR in which they talked about everything going on at the organization, but being at MWR made a positive impression on Chocolate - it's always good to have people in the media be impressed with what you're doing.

Something that gets on Michael's nerves is when someone talks about how a driver is a "real racer." No one ever says he's a real racer but racing is all he's ever done and all he's ever known. He's only had two other jobs, both when he was young - he worked for Pepsi loading trucks for six months and he worked at Wendy's for two weeks until he cut his finger on a tomato slicer. There are many different ways that people end up in racing and it's not just by being under the car. People make the sport their lives. I have to say the concept of a "real" racer is just as ridiculous as that of there being "real" or "true" fans. Either you're a racer or you aren't. It boggles my mind that someone would think that Michael isn't a "real" racer, whatever that actually means, when he's raced for virtually his entirely life and spend the last 25 years racing Cup. I also think his point about there being many paths that people take to get to where they are in racing and it's not just about how much time they spend working on the cars is a very valid one. These days it seems like some fans look down on the drivers who didn't spend hours working on their own cars for their own team before they came to one of Nascar's highest levels. I think having worked hands on with the cars is an asset to a driver but if they didn't do that and only raced for someone else in a situation where they didn't work on the car that doesn't mean that they're any less of a racer.

Bootie Barker told Chocolate and Steve on their show how he looked around MWR and saw a bunch of racers. They're all guys who want to stick around and do what it takes to succeed. Michael said there are three or four dozen people at MWR who were there when they started who signed up to make it work and that's what they're going to do.

There was some discussion about the upcoming race at Lowe's. Michael mentioned briefly A.J. Allmendinger in the #00 and how Kenny Wallace was outstanding at Talladega. Twelfth is the best finish for the #00 team all season. The Roush cars were fast at the Lowe's test but Lowe's is Jimmie Johnson country. Tony Stewart should have won Lowe's in the Spring. Kevin Harvick looked like he could have won at Talladega. Jeff Burton has been good all Chase but he really needs a win. Personally, I'd like to see a non-Chase driver win on Saturday night but I suspect it likely will be a Chaser.

The alliance between JTG-Daugherty Racing and MWR keeps MWR at three teams, and keeps them healthy and going forward. They're maintaining in tough times. On one of the forums I visit there was some discussion about how there should be changes to make it easier for new teams to establish themselves and survive. I agree very strongly with the need for changes to help not only new teams, but small and independent teams as well. It's not a good thing for the sport to have all the resources, money, sponsors and success be consolidated among a few mega-teams. However, there are also some fans who are complaining about the alliance between JTG and MWR. Well, what other choice does JTG have then to enter into an alliance like this? There's virtually no way they can compete against the mega-teams on their own but an alliance with a larger organization, particularly a close one like this where they'll essentially be the third team for MWR will likely led to better results than they could have gotten on their own. But it seems like some fans would rather JTG fail then to be aligned with MWR like this.

Michael said the tire incident at Talladega was just two seconds but felt like a half hour. He said it scared him - I might have missed it on this show but he's said elsewhere he thought it might come into the car and at him. He was very complimentary about his team and the way they fixed the car - I think Michael also did a very good job of working with his team over the radio and in the car to help make repairs. I doubt any team has a game plan in advance to address a tire causing damage to the roof and windshield but the #55 acted like they did. Even after that incident Michael put himself in a position to win but got caught up in that wreck. He likes being part of the story - it seems to me that Michael and his drivers have been a part of the story more and more this season and that will likely continue in the future!

Michael like to do a one hour live "Outloud" show next year - sure hope that happens! A live show, particularly one where they took calls from fans, would be really awesome - and crazy too! They closed the show with a song by Good Charlotte but neither they nor I knew what song it was.

The After Show

It was a short After Show this week since everyone was short on time and rushed due to how much else was going on. Apparently Michael lost his license, credit card and maybe his whole wallet at Pocono and Traci also lost her credit card then as well. If I understood correctly Michael found his stuff in the chair in the studio as they were taping the show. Wha? Not even going to try to figure out how he lost his wallet in a chair and only just found it now. Is there a black hole in that chair?!

Once more the yellow line rule was a topic of discussion and Tony brought upt how there's rules that everyone seems to know but no one knows where they came from like the "flagstand" interpretation of the yellow line rule. He pointed out that it only seems to happen in Nascar and wondered why that was. That might because from what I understand Nascar doesn't make their rulebook available to one and all as compared to other sports where the rules are published and anyone can see exactly what each rule says. That creates confusion when there's only a limited amount of people who can go look to see what the rule specifically says. However, in most sports there are certain unwritten rules, grey areas and understandings that aren't specifically i the rulebook. For example there's the neighborhood play in baseball in which the umpire calls an out on a force play with the runner at second even though the fielder often doesn't actually touch second base.

Another issue Tony brought up was the tire issue at Talladega, how there were a lot of blown tires. He said that maybe it was good that it didn't come up on "Out Loud" because Michael always takes a Goodyear stand in that he always defends them. In this case I think Michael would be right to defend Goodyear as he did on This Week in Nascar. As Rich pointed out there were a lot of blown tires in the ARCA race and they use Hoosiers so I think you can't really point the finger at Goodyear when another tire manufacturer also had problems with their tires. But I also think it has to be expected that everyone is gong to blame Goodyear anytime there's a lot of tire issues after what happened at Indy and also because of the harsh comments that Tony Stewart made about them.

Tony, Traci and Rich thanked all the fans - the Wal-Nutz from the forum on Michael/MWR's website - who wrote messages to them this week. I ran out of time and only got to do messages for Tony and Traci so I hope they don't all compare and see how many messages each one of them got!

Each week Traci usually tells a story about something that happened to them at the track the week before so this week's story involved a no golf cart zone at Talladega. If I understood correctly, there's a no golf cart zone near the stands an hour before and an hour after each race for insurance reasons though they'll let other vehicles in. So Benito and Traci tried to pick Michael up after he was done with the truck broadcast and a security guard wouldn't let them go to him which forced Michael to start walking, thus creating a security issue, presumably because he could get swarmed by fans. Luckily, another security guard saw Michael and picked him up in his SUV and drove him to where Benito and Traci were. Which highlights a problem about strict, no-exception enforcement of rule - there also need to be some common sense involved. In addition, if the guard wasn't going to let Benito and Traci go get Michael on the golf cart then he should have come up with a solution so that they could get Michael without him having to walk though a mass of people.

From the sounds of it there may have been some discussion between Michael and Daniel Norwood, who is in charge of the Nascar programming for Sirius (and presumably XM now as well) regarding "Outloud" for next year. It sounded almost like there was talk about the show being an hour next year and I really hope I understood that right! Outloud is really outstanding and I would love for it to be longer!

Posted by silverdsl at 09:22 AM | Comments (0)

October 09, 2008

Michael Waltrip Racing Day on "Tradin' Paint" on Sirius (10/7): Terry Bassett, Chief Marketing Officer

As a former PR person who is currently an event planner, I'm always interested in hearing from those in the sport who are involved with PR, marketing, sponsor services, events planning or other related areas. So I was happy that as part of "Tradin' Paint" on Sirius's visit to Michael Waltrip Racing the other day, they had Terry Bassett, MWR's chief marketing officer on. Chocolate Myers and Steve Post asked Terry what his role at MWR is and he said that he's part of the team that chases the money. He handles everything on the business side including marketing, PR, client services and licensing.

Next they asked specifically about licensing. Terry said that Michael is an icon from a marketing perspective and is third Most Popular in a number of polls - which is a good reminder for fans to keep voting for Michael in the Most Popular Driver poll! Michael drives their marketing. The products they license help support the sponsors brand message and the drivers themselves. Of course it also generates revenue opportunities for them at the track, online and in stores. Licensing is a key component of their revenue according to Terry and I would think that would be the case for all teams. I don't think some fans realize that it's not just because of their ability behind the wheel or how they attract sponsorship which is why some teams sign some drivers, but also because of the amount of revenue they might generate in merchandise sales.

Chocolate and Steve brought up how these days sponsors are referred to more and more as "partners." Terry said that it's getting harder to attract new partners and to get current ones to renew. They have to be very creative - something Michael most definitely is! The car driving around the track and creating TV impressions isn't enough anymore, they need to create other opportunities. They lead with Michael because he's a unique personality from a media, driver and owner perspective. He's MWR's biggest asset in that regard. Which is why Michael works so hard for his partners to generate exposure for them. There's been some articles recently about all that Michael does in that regard and it's great to see him get recognition for what he does because it's clearly very important not only to his own career but to MWR as a whole. I don't think it can be emphasized enough how important Michael is, not just as a driver and owner, but also as a personality because it's helped MWR attract and keep sponsors.

Terry said that Raceworld is a branding opportunity that allows their partners access to the fans every day and creates ways for them to activate. In addition, it's a unique banquet facility - they had a wedding there recently. Michael wants to have a space that appeals to a wide variety of people looking to entertain. As soon as I heard about what Raceworld was going to be I got excited because I knew it would allow them to offer opportunities to sponsors that other teams couldn't. I really feel Raceworld is a huge asset to MWR in this regard and will only be more of one as time goes on and the team has more success because more fans will visit. In addition, as an event planner I can think of a huge amount of possible uses for the space, particularly since there's a theater. There's almost a limitless amount of events that could be held at Raceworld, both racing related and not. Oh, what I could do with that space!!

Posted by silverdsl at 05:32 PM | Comments (0)

Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards Get in a Physical Altercation in the Nationwide Garage at Charlotte

Kevin Harvick had hard words for Carl Edwards last weekend at Talladega after Edwards set off "The Big One" which collected 11 cars including Harvick's. In fact Harvick went so far as to call Edwards a "pansy" for hanging around in the back of the pack for most of the race until making his move to go up front which ultimately resulted in the wreck. In response Edwards left a note for Harvick with Harvick's pilot at the airport that said "Kevin, Thanks for (expletive) me on TV - I was really trying to screw up everyone's day. Love, Carl" and for some reason Harvick copied it and distributed it to some members of the media. So today in the Nationwide garage, Edwards confronted Harvick. After an argument, Harvick turned away, but Edwards grabbed him and that resulted in Harvick shoving him so hard that he dented the hood of Harvick's Nationwide car when he landed on it. Jeff Smith, Harvick's motorcoach driver ended up putting Edwards in a headlock in an effort to break up the fight.

Grow up boys! I completely understand that emotions run high in this sport and that sometimes it leads to confrontations. However, Talladega was last week. A confrontation last week would have been due to the emotion generated by the events of the race. This week the confrontation is because they just don't like each other. Maybe Edwards meant that note as a joke but I think it was immature. I understand that as things escalated with Harvick copying the note and showing it to others Edwards had something to say to him - that's fine. But discuss things like adults even if it's in a heated way. They should be keeping their hands to themselves and particularly in the middle of the garage area when there's many people watching. Supposedly there's a photo that exists of this confrontation which will likely come to light sooner or later which probably won't make either Edwards or Harvick look very good.

Harvick is far from an angel but as the years have gone by while he still has no hesitation to speak his mind, he's less likely to act out in an inappropriate way otherwise. Edwards on the other hand in spite of his clean-cut image and reputation has been involved with at least two other incidents when he confronted other drivers in a way that wasn't necessarily appropriate. In 2006 he threw a tempter tantrum and confronted Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in Victory Lane after Junior ran him over in a Nationwide race. Then last year he confronted his own teammate, Matt Kenseth, after a race and seemed to be on the verge of punching him. Now there's this confrontation between Edwards and Harvick. Just exactly how clean-cut is Edwards if he's constantly engaging in confrontations like this?

Supposedly Nascar isn't going to do anything about this. Of course not. For one thing they love the drama because it gets fans worked up and gets them more interested in the race this weekend at Charlotte because fans are going to want to see if anything more comes of this. But beyond that if they penalize either Edwards or Harvick it sets a precedent where they may have to do something about future incidents like this and as much as physical fights aren't good for the image of the sport (in 2008, yes, I know drivers used to get in fist fights all the time back in the day), they really don't mind if the drivers confront each other and show some emotion contrary to what some fans think.

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

U.S. Army to Sponsor Ryan Newman in 2009

As previously rumored the U.S. Army will sponsor Ryan Newman at Stewart-Haas Racing in 2009. It turns out that the Army will only be the primary sponsor of 22 of the races next season and be an associate sponsor on the remaining 14 races. It's been rumored that Burger King will be the other sponsor for Newman next season but since that's yet to be announced one has to wonder whether that will actually happen and if SHR is experiencing some of the difficulties securing sponsorship that some other teams are having. One might not think an organization associated with Tony Stewart would have those kinds of problems but SHR is likely looking for sponsorship dollars on the upper end of what teams might ask for and given that there are uncertainties about how competitive the SHR teams will be next season I can see why some sponsors might be hesitant.

It's also interesting that the crew chief for Newman is still to be determined. Many thought that it was automatic that Newman would be reunited with Matt Borland but I wonder whether SHR is waiting to see if someone who is currently employed by another organization might become available during the off-season.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:30 PM | Comments (0)

October 08, 2008

Photo of the Day - Clouds

Posted by silverdsl at 11:12 PM | Comments (0)

Michael Waltrip Racing Day on "Tradin' Paint" on Sirius (10/7): Michael Waltrip

Next in the series of entires about the interviews from "Tradin Paint" on Sirius's broadcast from Michael Waltrip Racing yesterday is the man himself - owner, driver, media personality and two-time Daytona 500 champion, Michael Waltrip!

Just like with Cal Wells and Ty Norris, Chocolate Myers and Steve Post asked Michael about Raceworld first. Michael said that originally having a Cup team(s) in the building wasn't part of the original dream, he just wanted to build a race shop for his Nationwide team where fans could come be a part of it. His dream took a left turn in 2005 when Toyota started talking about going Cup racing. As he says all the time, Michael loves racing and it's all he's ever known. He wanted to do things bigger (presumably than other people/teams in the garage area). Some people quested the decision making that went into going with three teams but it was there (the space and resources to field three teams) and he wanted to do it all. He's not going to change - I assume he means his approach which is a good thing. Michael can be very strong-willed and I think that's been a good thing for him throughout the course of his career because he does things his way when it comes to trying to achieve his goals and he's not about to let other people deter him.

By watching Nascar in general and based on what he said the way the sport has grown and evolved, Michael has learned to never put limitations or barriers on what he thinks. I just have to say that one thing about Michael that I absolutely love is that he he's always thinking - he's very creative and he's got a lot of ideas and opinions about everything. When he first started racing it was the same old tracks and the first new track was Watkins Glen in 1986. I couldn't completely follow his train of thought with what he said next but I think he said that if you can't imagine things or you aren't open to new ideas you can't have growth and new things such as Raceworld.

Their facility at Raceworld was built to house four Cup teams and a couple of Nationwide teams so they could be even bigger than they are now but Michael likes the idea of staying where they are now and making their three teams as strong as they can. I'm not sure if he was referring to the three teams they have themselves right now or the two MWR teams that are definite for next season and the #47 via the alliance with JTG. At any rate, Michael likes the approach that Richard Childress Racing and other teams have had where they only add a fourth team when the product is right and when it will make the cars faster. I think that is a sound approach and I'm glad that MWR isn't going to field teams just to have them. Of course I'm sure they would field additional teams if the sponsorship was there but if it isn't, trying to put those teams on the track might only take away from the other teams.

It's encouraging to Michael to see the cars be faster. He's been carrying around all the emotions of the struggles of 2007 and the slow start this season and he wants to untangle himself from all that emotion of the past. He wants out of it and wants to say that's what we're all about - almost winning Talladega with Jimmie Johnson's help, all the laps that David Reutimann led, how he might have won Loudon if not for the rain.That's another thing about Michael that I've always liked is that he's very forward thinking and he tries not to dwell on the past. Some of what's happened to him and MWR in the past two years is probably difficult to put aside easily but I think it's good to focus on all the positive things that have been happening and how it will hopefully lead to even better things and more progress in the future. Of course there are some fans and even a few members of the media who find it impossible to let go of the past - years from now no matter how much success Michael and MWR have some will still bring up how many races it was before Michael won the Daytona 500 or fuelgate from Daytona last year. However, Michael and all those at MWR just need to ignore all that and focus on continuing to move in the right direction.

Chocolate and Steve brought up how fans will call in and talk about how disappointed they are in their favorite drivers if they aren't having a good season so they remind them if fans feel disappointed then imagine how tough it must be to be the driver or a member of the team. Michael said that is has been tough on him but his career has been defined by struggles, which is probably another reason I like Michael because success didn't come easy to him and he persevered where others might have given up. Michael said that during his career he was told he wasn't any good and he didn't listen to those who said things like that. So when he started to do "this" meaning what he's got going on at MWR, some of the same people told him how smart he was but he still didn't listen to them. He wanted to do this because he thought he could deliver a cool team for fans and sponsors. I'm glad that Michael is doing all of this because he wants it and not because of what anyone else wants or thinks he should do.

However, Michael said that as much as he tries to pretend he's a tough guy what happened in 2007 (and I would guess a few things this season and at other times as well) hurt. Which was pretty obvious at times because no matter how much Michael said the right things in interviews or tried to dismiss his critics, there were times when he looked pretty unhappy and upset - my heart really hurt for him at those times. As things started to turn around this season with MWR in terms of performance and sponsors renewed he definitely started looking and sounding a lot happier which was great to see! Michael said he's very thankful for his sponsors and the support he got from Toyota with helped him get through the mess to start 207 which not only set them way back but resonated throughout the entire season.

One of the most challenging parts of being a car owner for Michael is getting people to grasp his vision and understand it. I would guess that might be particularly difficult for Michael because at times it seems like he thinks about and does things differently than others in the garage area might. I think that's a big asset for him but at the same time if people are used to doing things a particular way, they may struggle to embrace a different philosophy or approach. In addition, at an organization like RCR there's a system in place so that if a couple of people leave it's no big deal but at MWR they started with a small core group and if a couple of those people left it was a set back. It was very hard to build something new and build a foundation and have people understand, but based on what Michael was saying now people understand not only his vision more but also what their roles are. He said it's gratifying and rewarding to see it all come together.

Finally, they asked Michael how much longer he plans on racing. He said that yesterday at Talladega he was on it, he loved it and it makes him want to race forever. He wants to be an old man race car driver like Mark Martin. That's what I want too! I would love to see Michael race if not on a full-time basis then on a part-time basis for a very long time! However, he needs to be competitive. He feels a responsible to NAPA to put the best driver in the car and right now he knows it's him - love hearing Michael express that kind of confidence in himself! When he knows that a young kid or someone else can drive better than him then he will go to NAPA. As soon as he notices he's not as good as he needs to be he will get out and just be an owner. He knows that his numbers aren't Hall of Fame numbers as a driver but he nows he will be a really good owner that can be a Hall of Fame owner - for sure! Michael said that it won't be an emotional thing for him getting out of the car, that he'll be aware enough to know when he's not as good and need to just be an owner but I suspect that may be harder than he thinks considering racing and being in the car is all he's known for almost 25 years now. I would think it would be extremely difficult to walk away from that.

The interview closed with Michael saying how thankful he is for getting to experience the highest of highs like wining the Daytona 500 and even the lows too.

Sure was a great interview with Michael and as always I loved hearing him talk at length about all these things!

Posted by silverdsl at 04:49 PM | Comments (0)

Michael Waltrip Racing Day on "Tradin' Paint": Cal Wells, Executive Vice President of Operations

Continuing the series of entires based on interviews from yesterday's "Tradin' Paint" on Sirius's broadcast from Michael Waltrip Racing with MWR's Executive Vice President of Operations, Cal Wells. Chocolate Myers and Steve Post started out by asking Cal about Raceworld and whether it was something that would be part of the future of racing (presumably for other teams with their facilities). Cal said that he doesn't know of another interactive facility like Raceworld and that it's all about the fans and a component that needs to be there for the fans and sponsors. I believe that down the road teams will have to make an investment in a more interactive facility that gives fans more access to getting closer to the cars, drivers and the team itself. Michael has elevated the expectations for the fans in terms of what they get to see when they go to visit a race shop.

Cal was asked about what he does at MWR and he joked that he "just keeps air in the tires." In reality he's got his hand in a lot of different things - he's involved in the competition side, though he said he leaves a lot of that to the crew chiefs and Dr. Eric Warren, and he's also involved with general operations, finance and sales. When he first talked about working for MWR with Michael and Rob Kauffman he told them that he knows where the potholes are and he could help them avoid the mistakes he made. These days there's a lot more business behind everything than there used to be, so much infrastructure that's necessary and a lot more to worry about from legal issues to the FAA and a whole lot more.

Cal cited employee morale as being extremely important and cited a number of people who have had a positive influence or have been central in MWR's progression. First were the crew chiefs and Ryan Pemberton in particularly who Cal said is the manager of the crew chiefs, and has also had a positive influence with the manufacturer (Toyota). The improved results on the track create positive feelings and put a bounce in everyone's step. Of course Michael and Ty Norris brought everything together to get them to the point where they are now. Bobby Kennedy was also important in the process. Cal also mentioned Dr. Eric Warren, and how he's gathered intellectual resources and created a solid platform from an engineering standpoint.

Something else that Cal mentioned in relation to people that Michael also touched upon in his interview that followed is how it's still an evolving process at MWR in terms of the people in the organization. This seems to be something that a lot of fans don't understand, not just at MWR but in relation to all teams. When someone leaves an organization it's not necessarily a sign that the organizations stinks as some have tried to say whenever there's personnel turnover at some organizations. It may be that there simply isn't a good fit for that person with that team or that they aren't on the same page in terms of philosophy and approach. Having the right mix of people who will work together well towards a common goal - winning races - is extremely important, not only for MWR but for all the race teams. Cal said that there are a lot of racers working at MWR (presumably meaning a lot of people who have raced at one time) and that they understand not only what it takes to be successful but to survive. That's pretty important since this is a tough sport to survive in and even tougher give the difficult economy.

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

Michael Waltrip Racing Day on "Tradin' Paint" (10/7): Frank Kerr, Crew Chief for the #47

If I'm going chronologically Cal Wells and then Michael Waltrip himself would be next in the order of how they were interviewed on Sirius yesterday, but I'm going to jump ahead to Frank Kerr, who is the crew chief for Marcos Ambrose because I thought he said a lot of interesting things regarding the alliance between Michael Waltrip Racing and JTG-Daugherty Racing, as well as about Ambrose.

As most MWR fans remember Kerr was the crew chief for David Reutimann last season and did an excellent job of working with Reutimann, but Kerr was replaced with Ryan Pemberton during the off-season. Kerr went back to work for Robby Gordon and eventually ended up at JTG, which reunited him with an organization he worked for from 2001-2003 in the Busch Series when Stacy Compton raced for them. One of the first things that Kerr said during the interview in relation to the JTG-MWR alliance was that it was "good to be back home." That probably applies in more ways than one for Kerr, since it sounds like he's working with a lot of old friends both at JTG and MWR.

Kerr spoke glowingly about the cars at MWR, saying that MWR builds "beautiful" race cars and that you can't find nicer cars anywhere in the garage area. He said that Michael should be very proud of what he has at MWR. Of course one of the first questions that Chocolate Myers and Steve Post asked was how the alliance between MWR and JTG was going to work and Kerr said that they will be all combined at MWR and all the teams will work together as one. The #47 will get the same cars that the other MWR teams will get - the cars that are built can be a #55, a #00, etc... All are the same and the playing field is the same for all the teams. Kerr said that's important because you can't go to the race track and learn from a teammate if things are different from team to team. I really like hearing that everything is going to be the same for all three teams and that they will be working so closely together. I know this bothers some fans for reasons that relates to the limit on the amount of cars a team can own but I think this is an arrangement that will help the MWR teams and the #47 be more competitive.

From here on out, the #47 team will be housed at MWR and they will get brand new cars for Marcos to race at the end of the year. That's a piece of news that I don't think has been reported elsewhere that apparently Marcos will be racing Toyotas in Cup for the last five races of the season. Of course Kerr spoke highly of his driver, saying that Ambrose never gives up that he keeps digging. Apparently at Kansas the window net came loose so Ambrose spent 45 laps holding up the window net with one hand so he actually raced one handed for those 45 laps until he had to pit because his hand fell asleep. I think that speaks to his determination, not to mention his ability as a driver, that he drove with one hand and held the window net in place with the other for so many laps and would probably have kept racing that way if not for his hand falling asleep!

Kerr also had high praise for David who he is clearly extremely fond of. He said that David is an unbelievable talent and that it's a shame that it took this long for someone to find him. I agree. It boggles my mind that no one put David in a Cup car years ago! If he's able to do as well as he's doing for MWR in spite of not always having the most competitive cars on the track, imagine what the results are going to be for him as the cars get more and more competitive! Unfortunately for David he probably never had sponsorship to bring with him to a team, and he's not traditionally "cute" and while he's very funny and personable he can come off at times like he's nervous and shy which may not appeal to some sponsors, so that may be why teams passed him by until DW decided to put him in a truck I'm so glad that David ended up in that truck because it paved the way for him to race for MWR! He's such a huge asset to the organization!

Kerr sounded really happy to be back at MWR even if he's not working for them directly, and he sounded really excited about working with Ambrose - sure hope they have lots of success together!

Posted by silverdsl at 12:06 PM | Comments (0)

October 07, 2008

Tradin' Paint on Sirius Broadcasts From Michael Waltrip Racing - Part One: Ty Norris

Today was a great day to be a Michael Waltrip or Michael Waltrip Racing fan with Sirius (or Best of Sirius on XM)! Tradin' Paint with Chocolate Meyers and Steve Post (a show I usually avoid like the plague) broadcast live from the XM studio at MWR's Raceworld facility and interviewed a whole bunch of people from MWR! It was three hours of nothing but positive talk about Michael, his drivers and MWR as a whole not only from those at MWR but also from fans that called in and Chocolate and Steve who have been known to be critical of MWR in the past. Truly awesome to listen to! I'm still smiling! What was so great is that they had on different people from different areas at MWR from the business to the competition side - and Michael himself of course - to talk about what they do and about the organization so it provided a real overview and insight into the inner workings of MWR.

Even for me who certainly doesn't shy away from long entries there were way too many inteviews and interesting things that were said to cover it all in one entry so I think I'll spilt it up into a few over the next few days. Ty Norris was the first guest on the show - I always enjoy interviews with Ty because he usually has something of substance to talk about and today was no different.

After some discussion about how Michael had a grand vision for Raceworld right from the start and how much better Raceworld came out than anyone envisioned, Ty talked about some of their trials and tribulations of last season and how after what they went through and how hard it was - and still is - how much it upsets him when some win races and act like it's no big deal. Of course winning is a big deal and something that isn't easy to achieve in Cup in particular where the level of competition is so great. So it kind of surprises and disappoints me to find out that some in the garage area take winning for granted. Things can change very quickly in this sport so those who are with winning teams should treasure every moment because there's no telling how long success might last.

The deal with JTG-Daugherty Racing came about because of a conversation Ty had at Loudon in June with Tad Geschickter, a long-time friend of his. Ty told him that now that he was going Cup racing he had the tiger by the tail and told hom some of the things that had happened to them at MWR. That turned into an hour long discussion which led to another conversation down the road when MWR was trying to figure out how to find a sponsor for their third team, something Ty says they haven't given up on. MWR has all these resources and have gone through the build up so they were looking at how they can prevent JTG from having to spend money on all those things. According to Ty it's a "win-win-win" for MWR, their employees, Tad and Marcos Ambrose. I agree - I think it's a great arrangement for all involved!

Ty also talked about how important it's been for MWR to be better than anyone when it comes to what they do for their sponsors off-the-track since they couldn't always deliver on the track. Michael's been like that his whole career and he put that spirit in everyone at MWR according to Ty. What Michael does for his sponsors and fans is a key asset for MWR, but I'll get into more detail about all that in a later entry about what MWR's Marketing guru, Terry Bassett, had to say during today's show.

There was a bit of news in Ty's interview that I don't think has been discussed elsewhere though it's certainly been speculated about - what's going to happen with the owner's points for the #00. Ty said that MWR isn't going to make any decision on what happens with those points until the end of the season. I would guess there's a variety of scenarios they're considering based on whether the #00 is in or out of the top 35 at the end of the season and also whether they find a sponsor for the car. Ty said they've talked to Nascar about transferring the #00 points to the #47 and what they might be able to do so I would guess that even though they're trying to find a sponsor for that car, the most likely thing to happen is that the #47 ends up with those points which would be a very good thing for Ambrose - if there's enough points to be in the top 35 he won't have to worry about qualifying for the first five races and if the points are only enough to be in 36th in owner's points that would still offer Ambrose protection in case qualifying got rained out in one of those first five races.

Ty said they're not trying to do anything (with JTG) that would go against the four car count, that they're just trying to survive in a tough economy and trying to help JTG survive as well. I have to say that as much as Ty is saying that the #47 isn't going to be an actual MWR car that should count as one of their four cars, based on what Frank Kerr said later in the day which I'll get to in a later entry, this team will be operated like a third MWR team in just about every way on the competition side. It's just on the business and ownership side where things will remain separate which I suppose is all that Nascar is concerned with.

So that's the first of the interviews from today, more to follow over the next few days...

Posted by silverdsl at 08:57 PM

Jack Sprague Not Retiring After All; Will Replace Terry Cook at Wyler Racing

Silly Season or whatever this is continues to make my head spin. Just a day after being released by Kevin Harvick, Inc. and indicating he might retire, Jack Sprague has found a new ride. Wyler Racing announced today that they have released Terry Cook and Sprague will take Cook's place behind the wheel of the #60 for the rest of the season. Sprague, who I believe is married to someone in the Wyler family, raced the #60 for Wyler from the end of 2005 through 2007 before joining KHI prior to the start of this season. During his prior stint with Wyler, Sprague won three races, and had 18 top fives and 27 top tens. Sprague who is 8th in points is a bit of an upgrade from Cook who was just 10th in points, with only two top fives and seven top tens this season for Wyler. If sponsorship is found apparently Sprague could end up racing the #60 next season as well. How things change in just 24 hours!

Posted by silverdsl at 06:36 PM | Comments (0)

Patrick Carpentier Out of the #10; Mike Wallace, A.J. Allmendinger In

Effective immediately Patrick Carpentier has been released by Gillett Evernham Motorsports, and Mike Wallace will take his place behind the wheel of the #10 this weekend at Charlotte, with A.J. Allmendinger then taking over at Martinsville and for the remainder of the season. This isn't much of a surprise. For one thing Carpentier knew he wouldn't be back at GEM next season and teams often remove lame ducks during the last ten races of the season so they can start getting ready for the following season. But after Carpentier failed to qualify for Talladega it became clear there was ill will between him and his crew chief Mike Shiplett that led to an argument between the two and likely played a role in the decision to release Carpentier now. Carpentier wrote on his website, "I think it's a complete lack of respect," Carpentier wrote.

"I never was shy to take the blame when I thought it was my fault, but here, everybody knows that it's like driving in a straight line. The driver just has to keep the steering wheel straight. He should have taken a time out and calmed down before he spoke... I know [Shiplett's] criticism didn't make any sense. What is worst is that he seems to have forgotten pretty quickly races like Dover or in Atlanta where I've qualified a car that he himself didn't think was fast enough to earn a place on the starting grid. I realize now that some people have a really short memory span in NASCAR."

Contrary to what some people believe, Nascar is a team sport. Talent behind the wheel matters but a driver can only make the most of the cars they're given so blame for success and failure is shared and usually due to a variety of factors. Carpentier was thrown into a difficult situation where he was expected to qualify for races without having any Cup experience for a team that's struggled to race competitively for the past few years. It should have been expected that he might struggle and the team should have had patience if there were issues.

Allmendinger is a good choice to race the #10 for the remaining races after Charlotte for the same reasons why he was a good choice for Michael Waltrip Racing for this weekend in the #00 - he knows how to qualify a car into the show and he has experience racing a car into the top 35 in owner's points. I'm not sure he'll be able to do that for the #10 since that car is further behind than the #00 is but if he races as well for GEM as he did for Red Bull Racing he'll likely help them gain some points on the 35th if the cars he's given to race are any good.

When Allmendinger was interviewed earlier today on Sirius he seemed to indicate that he didn't yet have anything lined up for next season. Most are assuming that he'll end up at Chip Ganassi Racing but it seems like Allmendinger is getting the opportunity to showcase his skills for a variety of teams - and manufacturers. So maybe he's still looking for a team for next season. If he races as well for MWR and GEM as he did for RBR before they released him he will likely be in demand by a variety of teams. As for Carpentier, while he seems to be a nice person who likely has more talent than he's been able to show in the #10 I suspect he may have trouble finding another ride in Nascar, particularly if he wants to stay in Cup.

Posted by silverdsl at 05:11 PM | Comments (0)

Random Nascar Thoughts on Random Thoughts (10/7)

*Late yesterday Nascar released a statement clarifying the rule regarding going below the yellow line at Daytona and Talladega - it's not allowed ever, even on the last lap, to advance one's position. Although it wasn't specified this appears to be a rules change of sorts since more than a few - including some in Nascar - were under the impression that it was okay to go below the yellow line for position once the driver saw the flag stand on the last lap. In fact that belief formed the basis of an excellent and spirited discussion between Michael Waltrip and Greg Biffle on last night's This Week in Nascar with Greg strongly disagreeing with Nascar's decision to strip Regan Smith of the win and Michael defending Nascar's position with the stance that Regan likely couldn't see the flag stand before he made the move which is why Nascar took the win away from him. Turns out Nascar just doesn't want there to be any drivers going below the yellow line even on the last lap. I have no problem with Nascar making the rules they feel are necessary but I think that this statement is coming too late. Had Nascar put out an official press release immediately following the race clarifying that there was no longer a "flag stand" interpretation of the rule as many believed it might have cut down on some of the controversy the last few days. Even better would have been if once they decided that was no longer going to be allowed they spelled it out to the drivers and their own officials who gave conflicting explanations of what the rule was after the race so everyone was on the same page and had a complete understanding of what the rule was.

*The discussion between Michael and Greg on last night's TWiN really was outstanding, one reason being that Greg clearly felt very strongly about Regan having been done wrong by Nascar. I applaud him for having the courage to be openly critical of Nascar - I really don't think it's as easy for a driver to do as some fans may think. One reason why the discussion was so good was because Michael and Greg took different sides and therefore were able to engage in a back-and-forth about it. However, as per usual some fans thought it was outrageous that as he usually does Michael defended Nascar to the point where some felt he should be removed from the show because he "kisses up" to Nascar too much. I think that's ridiculous. For one thing the discussion on TWiN would have been very boring and much shorter if Greg and Michael agreed with each other. In addition, it's important that all points-of-view, and particularly those of the governing body of the sport, are presented, particularly when there's a controversy.

Michael should be as free to express his opinions as the fans are to express their's, even if it's something some fans don't agree with. Michael is of the opinion that Nascar is usually in the right and it's unfortunate that some have such a problem with that to the point where they think Michael is an idiot just because he agrees with decisions that Nascar makes. Michael isn't an idiot. He's an intelligent person who has a tremendous amount of knowledge about the sport thanks to his more than 25 years of racing in the Cup Series, as well as his status as an owner the past few years. His opinions shouldn't be dismissed just because they aren't completely in line with those fans who are anti-Nascar.

*Another thing that some fans were on Michael about was his defense of Goodyear on TWiN because instead of blaming Goodyear for the tire issues like some fans wanted he cited debris as a possible cause of the tire failures. Goodyear may have been at least partially to blame for the tire issue at Indy earlier this season but it's nonsensical to blame them for the problems at Talladega. For one thing, there were numerous tire failures during Friday night's ARCA race at Talladega and in the ARCA Series they don't use Goodyears, they use Hoosiers. So same problem for two different tire manufacturers. In addition, Goodyear has been studying the tires that blew from Sunday's race and the preliminary conclusion is that they were caused by punctures - aka, debris. One of those tire failures happened to be on the #44, a car Michael owns so his opinion was based on actual knowledge of what happened as opposed to simply wanting to "kiss up" to Goodyear (or Nascar).

*Stewart-Haas Racing will make an announcement on Friday that next season the U.S. Army will sponsor the #39 that will be raced by Ryan Newman. Previously it had been said that the Army was going to split the sponsorship with Burger King but it appears that the Army is going to be the full primary sponsor of the car. What I'm interested in and will likely never know since the financial details of these deals are always kept under wraps, is how much this sponsorship is for. If the Army was looking at only sponsoring a half season on the car I have to wonder how much this sponsorship is actually for and if it's not for the reported $20-25 million it supposedly takes to field a competitive Cup car these days whether that's going to effect the ability of the #39 team to race up front.

*Sam Hornish is going to make his first career Truck Series start in the #4 truck for Bobby Hamilton Racing at Martinsville. Apparently it's as an effort to prepare him for the Cup race that Sunday (if he qualifies for it). I have to wonder why Penske Racing hasn't had Hornish race in the Truck and Nationwide Series more this season to help him gain more experience. Although Talladega was the first race that Hornish failed to qualify for, the results for him all season have been pretty bad and it's not looking too likely that he'll be able to race his way back into the top 35 in owner's points. Had he spent more time in the lower series learning the ropes before being thrown into the high-pressure and ultra-competitive Cup Series, it seems to me that maybe the results might have been a little better.

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

Jack Sprague Released by Kevin Harvick, Inc.

Rumors had circulated for a few weeks that Jack Sprague was going to be replaced next season with Ricky Carmichael in the #2 truck for Kevin Harvick, Inc. but it was still a bit of a surprise when Sprague was released yesterday with five races remaining in the Truck Series schedule. Kevin Harvick will race the truck at Martinsville, and the driver or drivers who will be behind the wheel for the other races to be announced at a later date. Harvick said,

“The performance of the No. 2 team was not up to either Jack or KHI’s standards. My main goal now is to prepare the team to run for a championship in 2009. I am looking forward to getting behind the wheel in Martinsville. It should be a lot of fun.”

Harvick and his wife, Delana, are quick to make driver changes even when a driver seems to be performing well on the surface if they don't visit Victory Lane. Matt Crafton was released after the 2004 season even though he finished 5th in points and Sprague has been released now even though he's currently 8th in points, finished as high as second this season, and has an average 13.6 finish. Sprague may not be racing as well as he has in the past over the course of his career, but he's not racing that poorly either so it's a little puzzling why Harvick felt the need to make a driver change now.

But maybe a clue came from Sprague himself yesterday in an interview on Sirius. Sprague sounded bad, just really down and defeated, not just about being released but about the way he's been racing since the middle of last year. Sprague said he had no ill will towards KHI, that the split was a friendly one, and that he couldn't put his finger on what went wrong, that they had chances to win but just couldn't do it, and that he was very frustrated. Granted he had just been released a few hours before but Sprague sounded really disheartened, which is the way he sounded when he was interviewed after wrecking at Talladega this past weekend. As much as he says he still loves racing Sprague is considering retiring unless he gets an opportunity to race a competitive truck like he was racing at KHI because he said that at some point he has to put his family in front of Jack Sprague. So I just got the feeling that Sprague is really down on himself and on racing right now and that kind of an attitude probably isn't helping matters much.

With Sprague's release that makes two former series champions that didn't make it to the end of the season in their rides. Given the difficult economy which is leading to sponsorship and financial issues for a lot of teams and the continuing emphasis on youth, even in the truck series with some teams, one has to wonder if we'll see either of them on the track next season.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:23 AM | Comments (0)

October 06, 2008

A.J. Allmendinger Will Race the #00 for Michael Waltrip Racing at Charlotte

Michael Waltrip Racing announced today that A.J. Allmendinger will take a turn behind the wheel of the #00 at Lowe's Motor Speedway this weekend in Charlotte in a continuing effort to try to get that car back into the top 35 in owner's points. Michael Waltrip said,

"Our singular focus with the #00 team is to reposition the team in the top 35 in owner’s points and be there in end. The decision for us to continue to make changes is about our organization. Kenny Wallace did a tremendous job for us at Talladega and recorded the team’s best finish of the season. I know AJ will do a great job for us too in our Toyota Camrys."

I think A.J. is going to do a great job too! I'm so excited that he's going to race the #00! When it was said on Jayski that A.J. had said this weekend he might be back racing as soon as Charlotte I had a feeling he might end up in the #00 and I'm so glad that's exactly what happened! A.J. definitely understands not only what it means to have to qualify for races and race as a go-or-go-homer but also how to get a car back into the top 35 in owner's points. He did an outstanding job of racing the #84 back into the top 35 and it was out by a lot more than 39 points which is all that separates the #00 from the #7 in the owner's points.

A.J. said,

“I look forward to it and I think this is a great opportunity. Over the past couple of months the organization has really picked up with how everyone has been running. Hopefully, I can go out there and do a good job and get the No. 00 Champion Mortgage Toyota team back inside the top 35.”

It's definitely a great opportunity, if only to help out a team and keep himself visible in the garage area while he's still looking for a ride for next season. Odds are that A.J. is going to end up racing for Chip Ganassi Racing next season and that MWR is only going to use him for this race and maybe if he does well in this race for a few more this season but I would be thrilled if somehow it ended up that sponsorship was found for a fourth car and A.J. ended up in it!

Michael added that they're "...moving in the direction of having multiple drivers based on their experiences at particular tracks" which sounds a lot like there will be some other drivers who take a turn behind the wheel of the #00. Jeremy Mayfield is another driver who is available so I can see MWR possibly using him, particularly since he's talked with MWR in the past about a ride. If Johnny Benson wasn't in the thick of the championship hunt in the Truck Series I can see him racing the #00 as well. Maybe even Michael McDowell will get to race it again though I wouldn't be surprised if that didn't happen.

I've always enjoyed watching the races at Charlotte and I can't wait to cheer on Michael, David and A.J. this weekend - I just wish it was going to be in person!

Posted by silverdsl at 03:11 PM | Comments (0)

Dashed Hopes for Michael Waltrip at Tallaedga

Anything less than a trip to Victory Lane is probably somewhat of a disappointment for Michael Waltrip at Talladega since he's such an exceptional restrictor plate racer and has had so much success at this track in the past. So he was probably thinking that in the last laps he would be in the mix for the win like he was at this race in the Spring with Jimmie Johnson's help before the engine in the #55 blew. But even though Michael was the innocent victim in two incidents and was able to finish no better than 19th, three laps down, I was still happy with what I saw from Michael and the #55 team yesterday.

For one thing the #55 team did an outstanding job of making repairs after both incidents so that Michael could get back on track and keep going. In fact, after the first incident, a freak accident in which a piece of tire hit the #55 and caved in the roof, windshield and hood, the team was so good at making repairs that not only did Michael not lose a lap but he was still able to race his way back through the field to the front and lead a few laps. It sure was awesome to see that #55 out in front of the field and if Michael hadn't gotten swept up in the second "Big One" I have no doubt that's exactly where Michael would have been at the end of the race as well! I never cease to be amazed at how good Michael is at these kinds of tracks - even when he doesn't have the best car he knows how to work the draft and make his way up front!

It was also a pretty good day for Kenny Wallace who was behind the wheel of the #00 in place of Michael McDowell in the hopes that Kenny would be able to help Michael Waltrip Racing get the #00 back into the top 35 in owner's points. Kenny wasn't able to get the #00 back into the top 35 because Robby Gordon in 35th finished 9th but Kenny was able to finish 12th in spite of maybe not having one of the better cars on the track. Although Robby gained nine points on the #00, Kenny did a good job of keeping the points battle between the #00 and the #7 for that 35th spot close. Odds are MWR will either put McD back behind the wheel or use drivers other than Kenny for the remaining races but it sure was great to have him race for MWR even if it was only for one race!

David Reutimann had to rebound from a blown tire but once he did he was racing in the top ten and looked to be on his way to another fine finish until his engine blew. I'm sure David and his team weren't too happy with that but like with Michael all their issues were completely out of their control. I expect David and the #44 to continue to race well for the remainder of the season - it's really terrific how well that team has come together!

As I said in my previous entry I was really bothered by Tony Stewart being awarded the win, but I also didn't like seeing two big wrecks that collected multiple cars capable of contending for the win. I wouldn't have liked seeing those wrecks even if Michael had made it through undamaged. It's kind of ridiculous to me that by the end of the race there were 23 cars that there either many laps down or out completely, the majority being due to wrecks. So what ends up happening at these kind of tracks is that it's more of a race of who can avoid getting swept up in a wreck as opposed to who has the best car. The #96 car is a good example of that - poor Ken Schrader could barely keep that car in the draft which is what enabled him to avoid all the wrecks because he was "racing" so far behind the rest of the field and ultimately he finished 16th. Don't get me wrong, I love that Michael has so much success at these kinds of tracks so for that reason alone I look forward to when they race at Daytona and Talladega but at the same time I dread it because I don't like being a nervous wreck lap after lap knowing that the Big One is coming and hoping that it doesn't involve Michael or his drivers. Unfortunately yesterday Michael along with many other drivers were the innocent victims of Carl Edward's mistake - I just hate seeing that much torn up sheet metal and good runs ruined for so many drivers!

On to Charlotte where hopefully the result will be better for Michael and his drivers!

Posted by silverdsl at 11:50 AM | Comments (0)

Controversial Finish at Talladega

I'm not one to complain like some fans do about Nascar and their consistency as it relates to rules since I don't think thinks are as black and white in a lot of cases as many fans think they are or should be. However, I'm really bothered by Tony Stewart being declared the winner of yesterday's race at Talladega. I understand completely that there's a rule that prohibits going below the yellow line to pass for position and that's why Regan Smith not only had the win taken away but was penalized by being given an 18th place finish, last car on the lead lap, instead of a second place finish. The problem is that in the past Nascar themselves have said that on the last lap when coming to the checkered flag a driver can make a pass for position under the yellow line. In fact that's how they justified a 2007 Truck Series win by Johnny Benson. So aside from Regan thinking what he did was completely legal there other drivers in the field who thought that the rule allowed for "anything goes" on the last lap. Of course the other thing is that once Regan went below the yellow line, maybe because he was forced down there by Tony, he really didn't have much choice but to stay there because going back above the line would have resulted in a wreck - would Nascar have preferred that outcome?

What's completely unacceptable to me is that not everyone within Nascar is on the same page in relation to the rule and if Nascar's own officials don't know what the rule is then how are the drivers supposed to know? As noted, in 2007 there was some controversy over Johnny's Daytona win and back then Ramsey Poston, Nascar's managing director of communications said on Sirius, "When the drivers can see the checkered flag, you can get all you can get." At the time, Owen Kearns another Nascar spokesman also said, "...if you can see the checkered flag on the last lap, anything goes." So as recently as a year ago it was completely acceptable for "anything goes" when a driver saw the checkered flag on the last lap.

Maybe Nascar will use the argument that was a Truck race not a Cup race and it was a year ago. Okay, well then what's the explanation for Jim Hunter, Nascar's spokesperson and Robin Pemberton, Nascar's vice president of competition giving two different and contradictory explanations of the rule? According to David Poole from thatsracin.com and The Charlotte Observer on "The Morning Drive" on Sirius Hunter said that there is no passing under the yellow line for position ever, not even on the last lap. However, Jenna Fryer from the Associated Press told Poole that Pemberton said something different. Apparently Pemberton said that as long as a driver can see the flag stand on the last lap then they can pass below the yellow line but Regan got the win taken away from him because he made the pass before he could see the flag stand. Poole flatout called that bullshit because he said Regan made the pass in front of the media center so he says he knows for a fact that Regan could see the flag stand when he made the pass.

Adding to this mess is that apparently there was discussion among the drivers on Sunday morning about whether it was acceptable to pass under the yellow for position on the last lap because of some comments that Phil Parsons said during the truck broadcast the day before. In fact, Jimmie Johnson said that because of that talk he would have done the same thing Regan did had he been in the same position. But even when it was said in the driver's meeting that no passing was allowed under the yellow line, none of the drivers spoke up to ask for clarification as to whether that also applied on the last lap because no one wanted to give away a possible strategy. That's unfortunate because a lot of this could have been avoided if someone had the stones to stand up and ask for a clarification. That said, that doesn't mean that no one was asking any questions of any of the Nascar officials. When told of the finish of the race up front, Michael Waltrip said over his radio that he had asked and had been told that as long as a driver could see the flag stand on the last lap it was okay to use the apron - essentially the same thing that Pemberton told Fryer. Had Michael not gotten swept up in that huge wreck he might have been up there battling for the win at the end and he might very well have done the same thing as Regan. There's no telling how many other drivers might have considered doing the same, particularly those who might have spoken with Pemberton or other Nascar officials who told them what is apparently incorrect information. (As a side note it will be interesting to hear what Michael has to say on TWiN tonight and whether he says what he was told or whether he just toes the Nascar party line.)

So the result is that Regan thought he had gotten the first Cup win of his career and instead he ends up with an 18th place finish. That's very unfortunate not only for Regan who might not have a ride next season, but also for DEI who needs to find a sponsor for that team. A win would have been huge for the #01 team, for DEI and for Regan. One has to wonder what would have happened if the roles had been reversed, if it had been Tony who had made a last lap pass below the yellow and whether Nascar would have allowed it given his popularity and that Home Depot is a major sponsor. After all, it appears that the rule is different at different times.

The real problem here is that there's nothing in the rulebook that spells any of this out. So that's why the rule can be in flux because Nascar can change the rule at their discretion and no one can really do anything about it. I think that's completely unfair to the competitors - and completely unfair to the fans as well.

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

October 03, 2008

Helio Castroneves Indicted on Tax Evasion Charges

Indycar driver and Dancing With the Stars winner Helio Castroneves was indicted yesterday on multiple counts of tax evasion and tax fraud. Castroneves is accused along with his sister, who is also his business manager, and his laywer, of failing to report more than $5 million worth of income to the IRS between 1999 and 2004. Instead, Castroneves and Co. are alleged to have put the money in off-shore accounts in an effort to hide it from the IRS. Castroneves currently races for Penske Racing in the Indycar Series where he is second in points.

Maybe it'll turn out that these allegations are false or Castroneves will be able to settle with the IRS, but there's a possiblity that he could end up going to prison if he's found guilty in a trial. Some believe that Castroneves will be able to get off easily, but the IRS didn't let Wesley Snipes off easy when he was charged with similar crimes. And make no mistake, although what Castroneves is accused of doing doesn't involve drugs or violence or anything like that, tax fraud and tax evasion are crimes. These are serious allegations and Castroveves has a lot on the line because he could end up losing a lot - like his Indycar and entertainment career.

Posted by silverdsl at 11:15 AM | Comments (0)

Michael Waltrip Out Loud on XM and The After Show (10/2)

I hate to start off with a complaint but I'm not too happy that XM opted to have "Mad Dog" Russo on for an additional hour and a half last night, pushing the airing of Michael Waltrip Out Loud (and Dale Junior Unrestricted) to a later time slot and didn't bother to let anyone know when or even if the show was going to air. I understand that Mad Dog coming on-board is going to cause changes, but please keep the audience updated on where and when they can find their favorite shows! Claire B. Lang got shifted to an entirely new channel and timeslot which a lot of people are having trouble finding and I have a feeling a lot of people probably missed Michael's show last night because they didn't know when it was going to air. Maybe the listeners for Claire or Michael or Junior's show aren't much in comparison to the audience for Mad Dog but I hope we still matter. I just hope this isn't a sign that XM/Sirius isn't committed to Michael's show past this season - this show is a highlight of my week when it comes to what I watch and listen to that's Nascar related besides the races and I would be upset, as would a lot o others, if it didn't continue.

Michael Waltrip Out Loud on XM

Anyway... Last night's show opened with "Carry on My Wayward Son" by Kansas. Tony joked that the wind must have blown away because he was on the phone instead of being in the studio. That's because Michael was playing in a two-day golf scramble at the Cliffs in Greenville, SC for Gary Player to raise money and awareness of Childhood Obesity. Michael sounded very out-of-breath for the entire show and that was because he was playing golf and walking from hole to hole as he was doing the show. Playing at this golf scramble must be why he missed TWiN on Monday as well, and it must have been pretty important to him to play in it since it's rare for Michael to miss a TWiN taping. It sounded like he was having a lot of fun so I don't blame him for opting to golf for two days, especially considering how much he loves golf in general.

Michael and Tony talked briefly about the losses of Paul Newman and Dick Bahre. Michael said that if there was one guy who was the most important in helping him get to the level of where he's at as a driver it was Dick Bahre. He's really saddened by his loss and it was a tough weekend losing both him and Paul Newman. Dick Bahre is at least the third owner that Michael's raced for who has passed away in the past few years and I feel bad for him when I hear about these losses since I know in addition to feeling grateful to them for helping him with his career, these are probably people who had a tremendous influence on him inside and outside the car.

At Kansas it was a tough weekend for the #00. He was out of the top 35 by just 8 points. They has some good runs at a few tracks but came up short at a few others. Eight points and 6/1000ths of a second separated the #00 from racing. It's fun to focus on the Chase but it's equally as important what goes on throughout the field (such as what's happening with the top 35). I wish that ESPN/ABC did a better job of recognizing the importance of what's going on throughout the field. As I've said before I know it's impossible for them to talk about every single thing that happens for every single team and driver but I wish they would update fans on a wide variety of drivers throughout the field. I would especially like it if they didn't just give a points rundown for the Chase, but also for the top 35 so that fans knew who was in and who was out at the conclusion of each race.

Tony asked about Joe Gibbs Racing and whether Michael was surprised by what's going on with them in terms of falling apart in the Chase. Michael said that it's strange and that he is surprised but he doesn't think it has anything to do with the Chase. It shows how easy it is to get off-base. JGR never saw it coming. You can lose contact with what it takes. I still find it a little puzzling, and as Michael said, strange that suddenly JGR is off-track with all three of their teams. Maybe there were some signs earlier in the season that Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin might not be forces to contend with in the Chase, but Kyle Busch and his team were on it all season long. There were very few mechanical failures, now suddenly it seems like every week the cars are falling apart. JGR needs to figure out why it's happening, not just to salvage the Chase for their drivers but also for the future.

The track lacked grip at Kansas and that made it fun, that was why drivers were all over the place. Carl Edwards decided he wanted to win so he went all out with that move at the end. But he failed to take into consideration that Jimmie Johnson was doing the same. You can't out will anyone at this level, everyone wants it. I think that's an important point that maybe some fans don't really realize - every driver out there wants to win. Sure, if you're racing for Front Row Motorsports, realistically you know that you aren't likely to end up in Victory Lane but you still want to win. In addition, all the drivers have a tremendous amount of competitive fire, desire to succeed and passion for the sport - they have to otherwise they would never make it to Cup and last among the sport's most elite drivers.

They took a break and when they came back Michael was singing a Brooks and Dunn song as he was walking around the track. When he's golfing at beautiful courses like the Cliffs he likes to "suck in nature." When they built that course they didn't disturb what God built, just enhanced it. He likes having the opportunity to wander around, appreciate nature and be thankful. I always like hearing about Michael enjoying nature while he's out on the golf course. I don't golf nor would I go to a golf course to enjoy nature, but I most certainly love nature myself and I often wish I could spend more time sucking it in myself, particularly with my camera in hand.

Back to Kansas, it was Clint Bowyer's home track and Tony thinks poor ol' Clint is kicking himself for what could have been. Michael said you can't keep continuing to kick yourself. Clint was able to rebound from the first mistake but not the second. Clint probably never dreamed he would be racing so quickly at this track in his home state. I have to say I'm getting sick of hearing about the wonders of Clint Bowyer - it seems like there's a push in general around the sport to promote Clint and even Michael has gotten into talking about how great Clint it. I think Michael's too nice in light of some of the comments that Clint has made about him - I really doubt we'll ever hear Clint talk openly about how wonderful Michael is.

There was more talk about the various Chase drivers. Tony Stewart's aggressiveness ruined his day. They didn't talk much about Tony and I've been kind of perplexed that there's not been much of any discussion in general anywhere about what went on with Tony. Lost in the great move that Carl made at the end of the race was a great move Greg Biffle made to take third away from Jeff. Those five points Greg got for that could end up being huge at Homestead. Michael said you don't know what might mean something so you never can quit. You have to race all the way to the checkers and you never know what might happen on the last lap to allow you to gain positions. Which is another great point In some regards it's a fine line. A driver can't be overly aggressive and race like a bat out of hell on every single lap from the start of the race but at the same time they need to race hard to gain positions and there's no telling when a gain of just a spot or two might end up making a difference in the long-run. A gain of five points might not be just important to a Chase driver but also for a driver trying to get into or stay in the top 35 in owner's points.

Tony brought up the financial markets and the economy and whether Michael is worried as an owner about everything that's happening in terms of the effects on his race team. Michael said he's concerned all around as an owner or Dad of a daughter in college and a daughter in grade school. Need to ensure that these things don't occur again, especially for the working Mom's and Dad's. There are mistakes that were made long ago that are just coming to the surface now.

Michael said it's more important than ever to work hard for his sponsors, to help NAPA sell auto parts. These businesses still have to advertise but now there's more scrutiny. He thinks of how much more he can do as a driver, and owner and a spokesperson so the sponsors will stay as part of the team. Which as I wrote about in this space not long ago, highlights the importance of Michael's hard work and skill with his sponsors - it's absolutely essential for teams and drivers to work hard for their sponsors so they stick around because the teams can't operate without sponsors.

While I think that owners like Michael have reason to be concerned and are surely feeling the effects of the economy as are many others in the garage area, I think there's some risk in terms of how it might go over with fans for drivers who earn more in one weekend than many fans earn in a year to complain too much about the economy and all, but Michael did a good with what he said. In the not too distant past Junior has complained about the rising cost of gas - everyone feels the effects of the economy and rising fuel costs but it's a little ridiculous for someone who earns a reported $30 million a year to complain about how much he pays for gas. In Michael's case he probably puts most of his money into Michael Waltrip Racing so he has a lot more to lose in a difficult economy. But recently Michael took a helicopter to South Carolina just to check out a pool that was built by a designer he's thinking about using to build a pool at his house so he has to be doing relatively okay financially. I'm just glad that he was careful about what he said.

There was some discussion about DEI losing Paul Menard. Everyone, including me, has made more of an issue of DEI losing the Menard's sponsorship than losing Paul but Michael said that Paul is a steady driver who is a consistent top 20-25 driver, as if it was a loss for DEI in that regard as well. I thought that was an interesting comment which maybe makes some sense. If an organization has four teams ideally you'd like all four teams to race up front and win races consistently but realistically that might not be possible so you would at least want your driver to consistently race at least well enough to be in the top 35 and even better be in the top 20-25 in points. The reality is that while every driver in the Cup Series is talented not every driver can be an elite driver on the level of a Tony Stewart or Jimmie Johnson so just being a good driver who races consistently might be good enough for some teams depending on what their goals are.

Here's what could potentially be some big news depending on how things work out - Tony asked about the #15 and Michael is most definitely interested in "looking at the options" when it comes to the #15, so much so that he's already been on the phone with Mr. Susor, the president of NAPA, and other higher-ups to see if they should look at trying to race that number. However, they tried to get it once before from DEI and that didn't work out so it might not work out again if they tried to get it again, but he wants to look at his options. It really sounded like he wants to race the #15 again even though he didn't come out and say it.

It doesn't matter much to me which number Michael races - I like the #15 and of course there are many fond memories associated with the number, most significantly Michael's two Daytona 500 wins. But I've come to like the #55 as well and I have quite a bit of #55 shirts. However, I have a big piece of artwork that I spend quite a bit of time doing that incorporates the #15, that I had Michael sign the first time I met him so I wouldn't mind him going back to racing the #15 just because of that. But I suspect Teresa may not be very inclined to give up the #15, and in fact I read somewhere this morning that DEI is already looking for a replacement sponsor and driver for that car. Still, for MIchael's sake since racing the #15 again obviously has some appeal to him, I hope somehow he might be successful in convincing DEI to allow him to use it.

Next question from Tony was about whether Michael might be on the pole again for Talladega. Michael said no, they sat on the pole with a race setup (last year) but the go or go homers are a lot more desperate now. They're going to take advantage of the rules as much as possible and one of them will likely get the pole. However, the #55 will be in the mix for sure when the white flag drops... as will Kenny Wallace in the #00. Michael just kind of slipped that in, and didn't give any explanation as to why MWR decided to replace Michael McDowell. In fact, McD wasn't mentioned at all, even in the earlier discussion about the #00. It's fun for Kenny but he also wants to prove that he's just as good of a drafter as his brother Mike (who will be in the #33).

The email question was about whether there should be a second Nationwide race at Talladega. Michael launched into a defense of Nascar and about how he tries not to second guess Nascar, yadda, yadda, the usual things he says, and I expected that to be followed by a but... and maybe part of him does wish there was a second Nationwide race at Talladega. But Michael gave some reasons why there isn't that mostly relate to cost - the plate races are more expensive and it takes more money for the teams. Just three plate races allows the teams to maximize the use of the cars. If you go to two races at Talladega it's four plate races and there are concerns about back-up cars and the motors are more expensive.

Michael's pick as the song to close the show was "I'm Alright" by Kenny Loggins.

The After Show

As for The After Show, as per usual there was some interesting discussion on that show as well.

A lot of us fans listening in on Michael's radio this past weekend at Kansas wondered who was spotting instead of Ty Norris. Turns out it was Roman Pemberton. It didn't sound like Roman is permanently taking over as Michael's spotter so hopefully Ty will be back this weekend at Talladega - all of us fans noticed a big difference between Roman and Ty. I'm sure Roman is a great spotter himself but Ty is really terrific, at least it sounds that way to us fans. During "Outloud" Michael talked about getting spun and he didn't know who had gotten into him, but as anyone watching the race knows it was David Ragan in the #6. Tony wondered whether some drivers race Michael are still thinking that he's not racing competitively so when they're racing him they're assuming that he's 42nd and multiple laps down and whether they would race him differently if they realized how competitively he's racing these days. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some truth there. Fans still perceive Michael and MWR to be struggling and some seem to assume that Michael still races at the back of the pack every week even though he's been racing much more competitively to the point where he's been racing in the top 15-20 on a regular basis - or better. So there may be some drivers who still think that Michael must be a slow car when they come up on him even though his cars have speed now.

Tony was working Kyle Busch's Directv Hotpass channel this weekend. Tony and those working the channel with him made the decision not to talk to Kyle after the race because they felt they weren't going to gain anything from it. On the other hand ESPN likes to cause drama so they send Shannon Spake over to ask Kyle some stupid questions that result in stupid answers that make Shannon look bad, and of course they're hoping to get some kind of controversial answer from Kyle. Tony says he always tries to ask whether you're going to gain anything by interviewing someone. Traci said it was like that last year when Michael was missing all those races, after a while when it came to doing interviews, was anything going to be gained, presumably from answering the same questions over and over. Thing is, as a fan, I want to hear from the drivers even when the same questions are being asked. I want to know what's going on, why things are happening as they are, what the driver's mindset is even if it seems obvious. I'm not in the garage area and I don't often even get to see races in person or go to appearances. So my only way of knowing what's going on with my favorite drivers - and this is true for many other fans - is by what they say to the media.

Tony said that thanks to the fans Michael is on Directv Superchannel every week. He's the only non-Chaser other than maybe Ryan Newman who is on every week and it's his fans who are keeping him on. So keep voting for Michael for directv hotpass superchannel!

There was some more discussion about the economy and also about the effects of the shortage of gas in some parts of the Southeast. Tony felt that Michael gave a politically correct answer - which imo, was a wise thing to do on such a delicate topic. Tony thinks that surely teams are feeling the effects of the economy. It was once a good value for sponsors to sponsor race cars but now it's a luxury. I have to think that not only is the economy playing a role but also the rising costs in terms of how much it takes to sponsor a competitive race car. A sponsor might be able to put in the same amount they did five years ago but that might not get them a car that's as competitive or a driver that's as popular as it once did.

Traci wondered about how the effect the gas shortage is going to have on race attendance. Apparently NAPA was going to bring a lot of people to Talladega but now they're considering not going because they're worried about getting gas. We don't have those issues in the Northeast so I don't really know what the situation is but I have to think part of it is perception vs. reality. It's been said that the gas shortage is only in certain areas and that it's easing up as more gas comes through the pipeline that supplies those areas. So I think an issue for Nascar and the tracks is making sure that if there is enough gas available that fans know about it and also that they know where to go to get gas. Some may be afraid to travel to races even after there's gas available. Tony wondered about whether these economic issues will cause teams to downsize, for example that they might go with an internal PR person instead of using an outside company.

Apparently Benito, Michael's motorcoach driver, had quite an adventure getting to Kansas. The motorcoach broke down a hundred miles away from the track, then after it was fixed broke down a second time. So Benito had to get it towed to the track, then Craig, Kenny Wallace's motorcoach driver had to use Kenny's truck to push Michael's motorcoach into position. Then the guys who came to fix the motorcoach kept asking for tools and much to Traci's annoyance free stuff. But from the sounds of it even though the motorcoach let off so much smoke when it was first restarted after it was fixed that there was concern that it was on fire (hopefully Michael wasn't around to see that!) all appears to be well now and Benito and the motorcoach made it safely to Talladega.

Traci said she was glad Benito (Michael's motorcoach driver) made it to Talladega. On the way to Kansas the motorcoach broke down not just once but twice so he had to get it towed to the track. Craig, Kenny Wallace's motorcoach driver had to use Kenny's truck to push Michael's motorcoach into place. Some guys came out to fix the motorcoach and Traci was getting annoyed by them because they kept asking for stuff, tools and free stuff. When they left the track Benito started up the motorcoach but there was a huge amount of smoke coming out the back and Kenny was in his motorcoach behind and called Benito to ask whether he was trying to asphyxiate them or something. Just by way of explanation, Benito got the gig with Michael because of Kenny - he was Kenny's handyman originally and Kenny got him in at MWR. From what I saw last year Benito helps Kenny and Craig out as much at the track as he helps Michael.

Posted by silverdsl at 09:08 AM | Comments (0)

October 02, 2008

Two More Lawsuits for Robby Gordon

McLaren Capital Advisors is suing Robby Gordon and this week Robby filed a counter-suit in relation to the failed deal between Robby Gordon Motorsports and Gillett Evernham Motorsports that McLaren brokered. McLaren is apparently suing for over $1 million in fees they billed Robby for which he feels he shouldn't have to pay because according to Robby's lawsuit

"...the transaction was fraudulently induced and that McLaren disclosed confidential information and cooperated with GEM in its lawsuit with Gordon, which eventually was settled."

Robby has been involved in so many lawsuits and legal action this year that it's hard to keep track of all of it but I believe this would be his fourth and fifth lawsuits of the season, following disputes with Vanguard Integrity Professionals, Camping World and GEM. Like the other disputes which were settled (except maybe for the one with Vanguard) I would guess this one will be too. At least Robby hopes there's a settlement or that he doesn't have to pay at all since the financial situation at RGM is reportedly not very good so he may not have a spare $1 million hanging around.

With Robby racing to stay in the top 35, which could determine the future of his team, the last thing he needs is yet another distraction to take his focus away from what's happening on the track.

Posted by silverdsl at 04:38 PM | Comments (0)

October 01, 2008

Photo of the Day

Ogunquit, Maine, 2004.

Posted by silverdsl at 10:28 PM | Comments (0)

Rusty Wallace Denies That He's Returning to Racing Cup

In a column for Speed, Kenny Wallace said that even though he retired from racing in 2005, his brother Rusty is considering making a return to racing, possibly in a Cup car for DEI. Although it seems like a bit of a stretch for Rusty to return to racing Cup full-time when he's never raced a COT before, the rumor made sense to some because Rusty would surely help DEI attract much needed sponsorship. However, Rusty has quickly denied that there's any truth to the rumors that he's going to return to Cup. He said,

“I love Kenny to death; he’s been trying to get me back in a car ever since I retired after 2005. While any rumors like this are certainly flattering, they’re untrue. I have a long-term commitment to ABC and ESPN, and I really love what I’m doing right now.”

So it doesn't appear that we'll be seeing Rusty racing for DEI. However, could there be some grain of truth to that rumor? After all, the rumor had to come from somewhere. Someone on one of the forums I visit speculated that maybe Rusty is looking to partner with DEI not as a driver but as an owner because he's looking for an organization that his son, Steven, could race Cup for. That makes a lot of sense to me. RWI would get help from a larger organization and DEI could fold their Nationwide efforts into RWI. So it'll be interesting to see if anything comes out of this rumor.

Posted by silverdsl at 03:09 PM | Comments (2)

Bootie Barker Will be Michael Waltrip's Crew Chief in 2009!

More exciting news for Michael Waltrip and Michael Waltrip Racing! On the heels of announcing their alliance with JTG Daugherty Racing, they also announced that Robert "Bootie" Barker will be joining MWR as the crew chief for Michael and his #55 team next season! Current crew chief Bobby Kennedy will move back into a management position at MWR. I love me some Bootie! He's an extremely well-regarded crew chief, who will definitely be an asset to Michael and MWR as a whole! Although Bobby and Michael are long-time friends who get along well, and Bobby has been able to keep Michael calmer during race than some of his past crew chiefs, I've felt that Michael might need (yet another) chance in crew chief for a while. To his credit the #55 team has made a lot of progress since earlier in the season with Bobby's help, but it seems like during races that Bobby struggles to keep up with the car and make the changes that Michael needs. So it's not unusual for a competitive car to turn into an ill-handling car. In addition, while the cars have gotten a lot more competitive on race day, often the team still struggles in practice and qualifying so I think they need to make gains in showing up at the track with a fast car, particularly since I think it would end improve the end result if they qualified better and didn't start from the back all the time. Hopefully Bootie will be able to help them address some of those issues!

Michael said,

"Our organization continues to grow and add depth in several key areas. Bringing Bootie on as my crew chief is part of a larger plan that enables Bobby Kennedy to move into a critical management position. We have discussed this move since the summer, but waited until we were able to hire a crew chief of Bootie's caliber and we're really glad to have him join MWR."

I'm really glad that he's joining MWR too!

I love Michael dearly, but even though he's my favorite driver I'm not blind to the fact that he has an extremely strong personality, likes to be in control and can be very difficult over the radio during races. There have been times when he's screamed and yelled when he isn't happy and with some of his past crew chiefs he's tried to take control and be both the driver and crew chief as opposed to letting whoever is on top of the box make the majority of decisions. He's been better with Bobby who he communicates better with and who he clearly trusts. I'm hoping he can develop that kind of relationship with Bootie. That Bootie has such a good reputation should help. One reason Michael worked so well with Tony Eury, Jr. was that Michael trusted that Tony, Jr. would give him competitive cars to race and that he knew which changes to make that would make the car handle right for Michael. I really hope that Bootie and Michael will work together as great as Michael and Tony, Jr. did!

It's somewhat surprising that Tony Stewart didn't keep Bootie at Stewart-Haas Racing, though maybe Bootie didn't want to stay. One would think with so many other changes at SHR, that they'd want to find a way to keep Bootie since he's already been working there and he's so talented and knowledgable. I would have thought that maybe Bootie would have been Ryan Newman's crew chief next season but they must have someone else in mind.

What's wonderful about Bootie coming to MWR is that it's yet another sign of how far the organization has come! Bootie is the kind of crew chief who would be in demand by multiple organizations yet he choose to go to MWR. That really says something to me. I don't want to set my expectations too high since MWR will still only be in their third year of fielding Cup cars full-time but with all the positive changes and additions at MWR, I have a feeling they're really going to be a lot more competitive next season!

ETA: Bootie was on XM with Claire B. Lang this afternoon talking about how he went over to MWR for three reasons - the progress that they've made, that he knows Ty Norris, Cal Wells and Ryan Pemberton well, as well as Michael, and that Michael has faith in him and that makes him feel good. Bootie said that he hopes to be hated and that he wants to get booed because that would mean that he and Michael are winning a lot and that fans are tired of it. I hope that happens too!

But another thing Bootie mentioned are the naysayers and how there always will be naysayers. And indeed in spite of the fact that MWR announced some very positive news today there are some who are completely unable to acknowledge that MWR made some good moves and instead are trying to find some way to twist these things into negatives. Not surprisingly a lot of those are Robby Gordon fans. I've seen it said that all the personnel moves and changes that MWR has made since last season are a sign of how horrible the organization is since there's been so much turnover. Yes, an organization needs to have stability but there also needs to be the right team of people in place and it may take some time to find those people, particularly when an organization is as new as MWR is. In addition, adding talented personnel and making changes that result in progress are a sign of growth, not weakness. Some are saying that Bootie's killed his career by going to MWR - get real! Sometimes things don't work out but I think Bootie is an intelligent person and he wouldn't take a job with an organization he didn't think had potential for success.

The other thing that some fans are crying about is that some thing Nascar shouldn't allow MWR to have the alliance with JTG Daugherty Racing because it could result in MWR having four teams. And the problem is what exactly? Nascar's cap is four teams, not three. They're also whining about how Nascar shouldn't let the #47 be housed at MWR because it will give ideas to teams like Roush and Hendrick in terms of getting around the rules for the cap on the amount of teams they can have. Apparently no one has noticed that those organizations have already gotten around the rules by entering into close partnerships and alliances with satellite teams. Nascar can't tell an organization who they can lease space to or what they can do with their facilities. Of course if Robby had entered into a deal like this the same fans would be talking about what a genius move it is. No one has to like MWR or Michael but at least be able to see things for what they are. MWR made some good moves today that will hopefully help them be a better organization next season.

Posted by silverdsl at 01:55 PM | Comments (2)

JTG Daugherty Racing, Michael Waltrip Racing Form Alliance for 2009

Today it was made official that Michael Waltrip Racing will have an alliance with JTG Daugherty Racing for 2009 under which JTG will move into the MWR shop and also receive cars, engineering, mechanical and other technical support from MWR, as well as engines from Toyota Racing Development. That means that Frank Kerr, who was David Reutimann's crew chief last season, and is currently Marcos Ambrose's crew chief on the #47 will be working at the MWR shop once again. What this does is fullfill MWR's contractual obligations to Toyota to field three Cup cars. Michael Waltrip said,

“The alliance with Tad, Jodi and Brad happened because MWR has shown over the past few months that we can field a competitive product. This allows MWR to maintain the economies of scale we currently enjoy as a three-car team. We continue to invest in our development, and this alliance helps keep the momentum we’ve gained in our fabrication and engineering departments this summer."

This alliance will also allow Michael, David and everyone else at MWR to work with another talented driver - Marcos. While he has a very aggressive racing style at times, Marcos has shown that he has talent behind the wheel and he will contend for wins at road course races. He also seems to be a great person who is friendly to the fans. What's also good about this deal is that the #47 has full sponsorship for next season from a variety of sponsors including Little Debbie, Clorox and others so there are no worries about where money is going to come from to pay expenses related to this team like MWR has now with the #00 team - everything will come from JTG and their sponsors.

The other thing I like about this alliance is that unlike some alliance/partnerships where the teams are very separate and stay in their own facilities, the #47 is going to be in the MWR shop. I think being able to work so closely together will benefit everyone from the crew chiefs to the drivers, and will mean that the cars for all three teams are prepared the same. Although JTG is retaining ownership of the #47 and will be presumably responsible for everything related to sponsorship, marketing and everything else on the business side with the team, this is very much like a third team for MWR and will likely be treated very much that way.

However, Michael said that the plan is still to try to find sponsorship for another MWR-only car. He said,

“This doesn’t change anything from our original plans, as our sales team is working hard on securing sponsorship for another MWR Cup entry. And those plans currently include McDowell. That’s the same position we were in before the JTG Daugherty alliance was formed.”

Their plans might currently include McD but I suspect that if there's another MWR car he won't be the driver. Being taken out of the car for Talladega and possibly for the rest of the season isn't a good sign - while everyone at MWR may like McD, I'm not sure they have confidence in him right now... or maybe that's just how I feel. I wouldn't be surprised to see some of the members of the #00 team working on the #47 next season if MWR doesn't field another car.

I admit that I had heard something about this being in the works awhile back - someone accidentally came across something about this and didn't even fully realize what it meant but together we put two and two together. I've been very excited about the possibility of MWR working with JTG ever since that information came my way and it's been hard to keep that excitement to myself! I love the fact that MWR has gotten to the point where they can enter into an alliance with another organization and I think it's great that it's with the team that Marcos races for! Some were convinced that MWR wouldn't be around next season but instead they're actually growing to the point where they may even have four teams!

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

Photo of the Day - Cape Cod National Seashore

Cape Cod National Seashore. 2008. Yup, still going through my photos from last weekend in Cape Cod. Sure wish I was heading back to the beach this weekend!

Posted by silverdsl at 12:53 AM | Comments (0)