Pit Pass Radio

I had read the story a couple of weeks ago, but saw for myself today. Lowes Motor Speedway is removing a large portion of grandstands between turns one and two to make room for some new luxury RV parking. I’m sure this will be a moneymaker for the speedway and force fans into some of the other seats that have been unoccupied for the last few races. Either that, or more people will stop coming. I’m just glad I was not a season ticket holder in one of those sections.

It’s not an original idea, many have stated the opinion that the Sprint Cup Series will end up with only 11 main teams, each fielding four cars. With all the mergers going on right now, and limited sponsorship opportunities, it’s becoming more and more clear to me that this, or something very similar, is what will likely happen. This got me thinking, which teams would be included in the eleven? Let’s see if we can work that out. Let’s start with the teams that already have at least four cars:

1. Hendrick Motorsports (5, 24, 48, 88)

2. Roush - Fenway Racing (6, 16, 17, 26, 99)  Must get rid of one by 2010, presumably headed to Yates Racing.

3. Richard Childress Racing (07, 29, 31, 33)

Add two solid 3-car teams:

4. Joe Gibbs Racing (11, 18, 20)

5. Penske Racing (2, 12, 77)

OK, lets add teams involved in mergers or otherwise trying to get to four cars by the start of the ‘09 season:

6. Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing (1, 8, 41, 42)

7. GEM-Petty (9, 19, 10, 43)

…and a merged 3-car team

8. Michael Waltrip-JTG Daugherty Racing (00, 55, 47)

…as well as a couple of solid 2-car teams:

9. Red Bull Racing (82, 83)

10.  Stewart-Haas Racing (14, 39)

10 teams fielding 34 cars. Who will be number eleven? Provided teams like Penske, Stewart-Haas and Red Bull soon expand to 4 cars each (bringing the total car count to 41 including one Roush car that would have to be cut), who will end up being able to survive with the rest? We are left with are teams such as:

Yates Racing (28, 38, 98 - if sponsorships pan out for the 28 and 38) Should be the benefactor of the cast off 5th Roush-Fenway team. If so, this could be the legitimate team to fill the 11th slot.

Robby Gordon Racing (7) His admirable one-car effort with limited funding will, regretably, find it hard to survive in a sea of mega-teams. Might have to merge with a larger team.

Furniture Row Racing (78) Again, a valiant effort, but the team based in Denver, Colorado is already cutting their schedule back and probably won’t be around (in the Cup Series) much longer.

That leaves the famous #21 of the Wood Brothers. Without their being absorbed by one of the other big teams, the future of this historic team is also in doubt. We also have Germain Racing, champions in the truck series, attempting to field a car in 2009 (#13) for Max Papis. This is another one-car effort that will have an up-hill climb to success.

So, barring a new multi-car team entering the fray with solid funding, these 10 teams plus one more (probably Yates) will end up surviving.

That’s 11 teams. With the manufacturers limiting their contributions and the economic conditions that exist, only the very strong will survive. One or more of the top ten I have listed may end up falling by the wayside as a result.

Gone are the days of single car efforts and teams with very little funding being able to “make it” at the highest level of stock car racing. The question is, if we start losing some of these “big” teams who aren’t able the survive this economic crunch, will we continue to see NASCAR field 43 cars per race?

We’ll see.

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve blogged. I’ve been sort of busy. During this time one of the coolest things I got to do was to work as a golf cart driver at Lowe’s Motor Speedway for the Bank of America 500. For three days I assisted guests, taking them from parking areas to the track and vice-versa. It was a lot of fun and I met people from all over the U.S. and Canada. Oddly enought, the majority of the people I met were from Ohio.

Right now I can hear the World of Outlaws Late Models racing around the Dirt Track at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, as I live a mere two miles from the track. I’m considering checking out the racing this weekend as the finals for the WoO takes place on Saturday here. Should be a lot of fun. I’m not as familiar with that form of racing but I am looking forward to seeing some of the stars of the sport for the first time…including superstar, 20 time champion, Steve Kinser.

As far as the Cup Series is concerned, we’ve seen this show before. Looks like Jimmie and Chad can coast from here to their third straight championship, which will tie them in the history books with Cale Yarborough. That race Sunday at Atlanta was their last hurdle in my opinion. They got a lap down early for speeding entering pit road, but made it up quickly by virtue of the free pass. At the end they did something worthy of their championship season. They made a stop under the last caution with less than ten laps to go and decided to get four fresh tires. The #48 restarted 11th and passed all but winner Carl Edwards before the checkered flag flew. Truly amazing. Instead of losing points to their rival team (the #99) they actually gained.

Somewhere, a very fancy trophy is being prepared for engraving.

Ok, so I wasn’t too keen on this deal, but since it has happened, it’s time to look at the positives. It was announced today that Paul Menard will officially be heading to Yates Racing for the 2009 season. He will, of course, be taking his family sponsor, Menards, with him. The announcement did not include anything about a car number…neither did it say whether Menard would be replacing one of the current Yates drivers or if his will be a third team in the stable.

Today Travis Kvapil was on Tradin’ Paint with Steve Post and Chocolate Myers for his regular Wednesday segment on Sirius NASCAR Radio. Travis seemed confident that prospects of 2009 sponsorships were good for the #28 and #38, and that Menard would be brought on as a third car (#98?). The positives of of having Paul and sponsorship money from his father John’s company will provide a needed boost for the team…no doubt. Yates Racing is already doing more with less than almost anyone in the garage area, admittedly with assistance from Roush-Fenway. The Menards money should allow the team to hire a few more employees and do more testing. Meyers also brought up a good point, that some of Menard’s vendors such as Sylvania, Quaker State, Turtle Wax, etc. might be able to help out as partial sponsors for the other cars. I don’t know, but we’ll see how that all plays out.

The hosts speculated further that, if this three car team does happen in 2009 for Yates, 2010 could be very interesting, as this will be the year that Jack Roush will have to cut from five teams to four. My guess is that Jamie McMurray’s team will move to Yates Racing at that point, giving them a 4 car team. If this all happens (and it is a BIG “if”), Yates Racing should be solid and remain in the sport for many years to some.

I’m sitting here on Saturday morning, reflecting on the week and looking forward to what’s coming up. Gameday is on from Athens, Georgia as they prepare the fans for the day ahead in college football. I love college football. I especially love my Auburn Tigers. The Tigers suffered a tough loss last week to LSU, and it will be interesting to see how they respond today at home against Tennessee. The Volunteers are struggling, but Auburn has yet to find it’s way offensively. Expect Auburn to throw it today. A lot.

As far as NASCAR, I am looking forward to the upcoming Chase event at Talladega. Kansas? Well, I loved the group but I could do without racing there. I know, great facility, terrific fans…just a snoozer on TV. We’ll see. Hopefully it will be better this time. We had a great race at Dover last week, with no less than four Roush drivers (and Mark Martin!) battling for the win. That was awesome…I just wish the 28 and 38 had been a little closer to the front.

Yes, I am biased. The Yates teams are getting better and better with very little funding. Maybe, just maybe they can get solid funding for next year and move up to compete with the top ten teams by sometime next year. There has been talk of Paul Menard coming over with his dad’s sponsorship money, but I don’t think that is the solution. The money would be great, but Paul is mediocre as a driver and I believe the team would continue to drift.

As you can see by the pictures, I really enjoyed getting to go and observe the Sprint Cup test sessions here in Charlotte this week. I also shot some videos with my still camera Wednesday night. I posted a few on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAOW7k8m-mA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8PrSNJD7j8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcgzFy6rvPE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSCwN5a8qQc

The quality isn’t great, but you get the idea.

OK…Here’s to an Auburn win, a great Saturday of college football, good Nationwide and Sprint Cup racing and a win for the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.

Yeah, and throw in top tens by TK and Gilly. That would do it. That’s all I want…

Oh, and this paddle ball game…

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Here are a few pictures from the first day of open testing for the NASCAR Sprint Cup teams at Lowes Motor Speedway. I took my daughters back to the track tonight and took some video and will try to get that posted soon. By the way, the 75 car is Derrick Cope, who is going to attempt a couple of Sprint Cup races beginning with the race here at Charlotte. Anyway, Enjoy!

One of the benefits of living 2 miles from Lowe’s Motor Speedway is the opportunity to go by there for special events. Currently there is a 2 day test going on for the Sprint Cup cars. Grandstand admission was free, so I went and had a great time watching the teams dial their cars in for the upcoming Bank of America 500.

Testing began at 1:00 and Dale Jr. was the first car on the track.

I’m really pleased with how the pictures came out, considering I took them from about 100 rows up in the stands. Anyway, Jr. seemed really fast in this “B” car. Later he pulled onto pit road in the other car

The ominous black with lime green numbers really made a statement. He must have liked this car better because he drove it solely for the remainder of the time I was there. Notice the black car at the top of the picture? It had a #25 on it.That’s Jr. Motorsports (Hendrick) driver Brad Keselowski getting ready for his Cup debut. Nice to see the 25 back on the track.

Both Yates cars were there and they seemed to be running well…

Looks like TK and Gilly have new cars for the event.

I will upload the rest of the pics soon.

I was fortunate enough to get a chance to work the inaugural NHRA event at the brand new ZMax Dragway in Concord, NC. I spent the better part of three days answering questions in the track’s information booths and shuttling fans back and forth between the track and parking areas on golf carts. It was a lot of fun and a great opportunity to meet a lot of great people, especially those from University City Fellowship with whom I volunteered.

Being a “NASCAR person”, I had not followed drag racing very much, but knew enough to be fairly helpful. Most of what I know about drag racing I learned as a kid from the televised battles between stars like Don “The Snake” Prudhomme and Tom “The Mongoose” McEwen. I have kept a cursory eye on the sport over the years, but have not followed it closely.

It was cool to get my first up close look at the sport of big-time drag racing. I was impressed by the classes leading up to the pro classes but was not prepared for the power of the top fuel and funny car guys. WOW! I was blown away (almost literally!). The power these cars generate and the pressure you feel on your body (not to mention the noise) of these cars leaving the line and heading down the quarter mile was like nothing I had ever experienced! The highlight for me was getting to see John Force take on his daughter Ashley in one of the qualifying rounds. Ashley was able to beat her father to the finish and John didn’t make it into the final round on Sunday. Though he was disappointed, this did not put a damper on Force’s enthusiasm for the event and for the awesome facility built by Bruton Smith.

In fact, that was the general concensus from the the people l talked to - that Bruton’s speed palace is incredible, one of a kind and as Force put it “the future of drag racing”.

As I sit here watching Speed and waiting for the Bristol Cup race to start I am reminded of the time I covered the race there in the spring of ‘06. In the days leading up to the race I had been keeping an eye on the weather for the area since my trip would involve an 8 hour drive. Frozen precipitation was predicted for at least part of the weekend. Snow? No way, I thought. Rain maybe, but not snow.

When I arrived at a friend’s house on Thursday evening we watched the local weather forecasts. It quickly became apparent that snow might, indeed fall during the Bristol weekend.

Friday morning revealed an overcast sky as I made the 20 minute drive over to the track. There was a little rain but nothing much. It was chilly as I interviewed drivers that morning. You might remember that Kevin Harvick had some choice words about Kurt Busch in the media center that morning; something about Kurt’s ears and the fact that he (Busch) would soon embarrass Roger Penske.

Race cars finally got onto the track Friday afternoon, preparing for an afternoon qualifying session. Then it began.

Snow.

It snowed harder and harder until the announcement was made that Cup qualifying would be canceled. The field would be set according to the previous year’s owner points. I left the track wondering if the snow would be a factor in the Busch (now Nationwide) race on Saturday as well as the Cup race on Sunday.

Even the King took cover!

On Saturday morning, I got up and immediately looked outside. Flurries. The snow let up a bit as I made my way to the track. By the time I got into the track the snow had stopped and it looked like the Busch race would be run.

Indeed, the race got underway as scheduled, but early on the clouds began to look ominous. Then, a caution flag…for snow. The cars were brought onto pit road and covered. I was fortunate to be in one of the suites high above the speedway for the race and I was able to witness something I had never seen at a racetrack.

A snowball fight!

Fans began to lob snowballs across the track toward pit road and then, the drivers and crews began to make their own snowballs and throw them back toward the stands! I saw Michael Waltrip himself take part in this odd form of entertainment! It was the weirdest thing I had ever seen at a racetrack!

Eventually the race resumed and Kyle Busch was flagged the winner. Sunday there was a little snow on my truck and some sleet and snow falling as I drove to the track for the main event. Tailgaters were undaunted, though, and I saw some who had there grills set-up. Who cares if it’s freezing?

Another Busch, Kurt, win his first race for Roger Penske in the number 2 car he had taken over from Rusty Wallace. Kurt got out of his car for a post race celebration at the start-finish line. He laid down on the track and began to wave his arms and legs. What?

Snow angels.

It was a weekend I will never forget. I will always be able to say I was there when the snowball fight broke out at Bristol!

The melee at the end of the Centurion Boats at the Glen last Sunday was one of the worst road course wrecks we’ve seen in a long time. Hardly ever do you see an incident at the Glen (or Sonoma) that results in so many mangled race cars. It’s very fortunate that none of the drivers were hurt badly. There have been many opinions out there about the cause of the crash. Jimmy Spencer said on NASCAR Victory Lane that the wreck was clearly Michael McDowell’s fault in the double zero car. Michael Waltrip, owner of the #00 who also has a race review show on Speed, predictably defended his driver.

“David Gilliland just lost his cool there. It happens. He just lost it.” What? Wait, am I missing something? Granted the replays didn’t show everything, and I certainly wasn’t there as Mikey was, but come on. There appeared to be some door banging getting into the final turn there at the Glen (some call it turn 11) and coming off the corner, the #00 of McDowell veered left and drove the #38 of Gilliland hard into the tire barrier. McDowell was able to continue on whereas Gilliland was bounced back onto the racetrack directly in front of oncoming cars at a very narrow section of the track, which was immediately blocked with wrecking cars. Gilliland was pounded very hard several times in the passenger-side door by the likes of Max Papis in the #70, Joe Nemechek in the #78 and others.

Now I know that they are having another tough season and things are not looking great for MWR right now, but please, let’s not turn a blind eye to the obvious. Both drivers said afterwards (after seeing the video in the NASCAR hauler) that the incident was your basic “racing deal”. My opinion is that Gilliland is being generous. He was on the outside of the turn, side-by-side with McDowell, when he was run into the tire barrier. I guarantee if this had been Tony Stewart or Jeff Gordon who had gotten slammed into the wall they would’ve given the rookie, McDowell, an ear full.

Look, we all have our own varied opinions on these things (thank goodness) and I may be totally wrong about this, but I don’t think I am. By the way, it’s very ironic, don’t you think, that McDowell was replaced by Mike Skinner almost immediately after the race…

Oh yeah, that’s been planned for weeks and had nothing to do with the wreck, I know.