Happy Thursday! WHOHOOOOO almost the weekend! Today In Nascar History February 25, 1995: Chad Little wins at Rockingham to become the second driver to win the first two races of a Nationwide Series season. Little wins the week before at Daytona. Dale Earnhardt is the first, winning the same two races in 1986, the second year of the series. The only other driver to win the first two Nationwide races of a season is Tony Stewart in 2008, when he wins at Daytona and Fontana. Picture yourself cruising in Tony's 2010 Camaro Coupe 2SS. It's a "Summit White", list price at over $35,000! Tony asked Will Castro of Unique Autosports to work his magic and add a few customizations! Buy a ticket for $50 – you'll be entered to win the Grand Prize including the Camaro, A VIP Trip to Stewart-Haas Racing and a personal meet & greet with Tony!!! 70 Early Bird prizes starting March 15th. Get 'em while you can!!!! Just go to www.smokescamaro.
Comments from the Peanut Gallery From Chip Dear NASCAR Momma: What is the reason for start and parkers in the races if not just to fill up the field so that there are 43 cars on the starting grid for a race? It seems to have stirred some of the reporters as I read this week's newsletters. It also seems that the powers that be at NASCAR are just changing the rules as they go to suit themselves when it comes to this issue. I do not believe anyone ever said that NASCAR was a democracy and this seems to support that to a tee. The suggestion that finishing should pay more than a start and park bears some validity. Changes should be made even if it means a rule change to a smaller starting grid. Let those who can qualify and make them run till they bring out caution for either an accident at the back of the pack, where they usually run, or blow up so they can be sure to get enough commercial time so we can see the restarts and the rodent appear. Chip Bits and Pieces Michigan bans smoking in grandstands, suites FOX Sports Michigan International Speedway's seating, mezzanines, concession and restroom buildings, suites and chalets will now be smoke-free, according to a track release. Test at Talladega Open To The Public: Talladega Superspeedway officials announced that the NASCAR Test Session on March 16 will be open to the public. This will give fans their first glimpse of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series cars circling the track using the new spoiler while confirming the restrictor plate size and gear ratio for the Aaron's 499 race on April 25. It will also give fans the opportunity to experience the renovated frontstretch grandstands. Parking lots open at 8:30 am with the test officially kicking off at 9:00 am. The event is free to the public and food and beverages will be permitted. For questions on permissible items or tickets for the 2010 Aaron's Dream Weekend, please contact the Talladega Superspeedway Ticket Office at 1-877-Go2-DEGA or www.talladegasupers Raybestos Rookie Cooking Challenge: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers Kevin Conway and Terry Cook are just two of the superspeedway stars who will compete in the Raybestos Rookie Cooking Challenge during NASCAR Weekend in Las Vegas. The Raybestos Rookie Cooking Challenge will take place at ESPN Zone in the New York New York Hotel & Casino from 2-4 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 25. Admission is free to the public. The Sprint Cup rookies will be assisted by the ESPN Zone Culinary Team. Drivers will be instructed in basic cooking skills as well as how to prepare healthy and delicious meals. The drivers then will roll up their sleeves and prepare some of the dishes they've learned. Young fans from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Las Vegas will be on hand to watch and judge in this pseudo-Iron Chef competition. Following the cooking challenge, the drivers and kids will head upstairs to the ESPN Zone's interactive Sports Arena where they will play games and enjoy a light snack.(LVMS) Special Patriotic schemes for Hendrick cars: The four Hendrick Motorsports drivers are scheduled to drive special "Honoring Our Soldiers" patriotic paint schemes on Memorial Day weekend in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 30, 2010. Commercial Breakdown of the 2010 Auto Club 500: For those of you NASCAR fans that like stats and love to hate commercials, or wonder how often your driver was focused on, here is the breakdown for Sunday's Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway. Fox was the broadcast team for this event.
Ragan to take flight: David Ragan, driver of the #6 UPS Ford, will fly with the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds Thursday, February 25th at Nellis Airforce Base.(RFR) #29 scheme to promote new Pennzoil product: The #29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevy of Kevin Harvick will be carrying a special paint scheme this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway that coincides with some exciting news coming from Pennzoil (RCR). The car will be all yellow to promote Pennzoil Ultra. Sponsor debut for Newman at Vegas: While Ryan Newman embarks on his 299th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend, he will also celebrate an important first for his #39 Stewart-Haas Racing team. Sunday's Shelby American will be the first of nine races where new sponsor Tornados, a brand of family owned Ruiz Foods, will adorn the #39 Chevy as the team's primary sponsor (SHR) Kellogg's debut for Edwards: The #99 Roush Fenway Racing Ford of Carl Edwards will have co-primary sponsorship at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with Aflac and Kellogg's (RFR) The Hartford Renews Its Richard Childress Racing Sponsorship: The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., announced its 2010 sponsorship of Richard Childress Racing's #33 Chevy and driver Clint Bowyer. For the second straight year, the company is the primary sponsor of the #33 Chevy for three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races and an associate sponsor for the remaining events. "The RCR sponsorship is a wonderful experience for our customers and employees," said Mitch Jawitz, Vice President, The Hartford. "This year, we plan to offer even more ways for NASCAR fans to get involved with the racing experience. Just like Bowyer's pit crew, The Hartford team is fanatical about keeping our driver's lives moving forward uninterrupted. Wanna Mix It Up with NASCAR's Tony Stewart in Sin City? Here's Your Chance! Kara Martin/bleacherrepo So you're heading to Las Vegas this weekend and wondering what to do? Forget the Blue Man Group and step aside Wayne Newton, its NASCAR weekend in Sin City! Kick it off right with one of Sprint Cup's hottest drivers, Tony Stewart. As the idiom goes, where there's smoke, there's fire and that is always the case when it comes to Stewart. As NASCAR blazes into Vegas this week, Stewart's fiery fans will have plenty of chances to mix, mingle and win big with their favorite driver. On Thursday, February 25, The Office Depot located at 1435 West Craig Rd. North Las Vegas, NV 89032 will be hosting an autograph signing session and photo op with Stewart. Lucky fans will have the opportunity to meet Stewart, check out the Office Depot show car, and see what life is like behind the wheel in the No. 14 race car simulator. In addition, fans planning to attend the autograph session should also take part in the new Office Depot "Smokin' Hot" Instant Win Game. Now through March 6, fans who make any purchase at an Office Depot store will receive a scratch-off card for a chance to win instantly. The game will have more than 35,000 instant winners, and one grand prize winner will receive a VIP race experience with Stewart at the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, plus a trip to Stewart's "Smoke Show" fantasy driving experience at Texas Motor Speedway later this year. Additional prizes include $100 Office Depot gift cards and exclusive Tony Stewart posters. You're so money and you don't even know it! Increase your odds by getting to the store early, as this event is open to the general public, and only 700 wristbands will be distributed for autographs (one per person). The wristbands may be obtained on a first-come, first-served basis at the store beginning at 8 AM local time on the day of the event only. Cheer Stewart on as he competes in Sunday's Shelby American Sprint Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as he tempts fate in hopes to dethrone reigning champ, Kyle Busch. In 11 career races at the 1.5-mile track, Stewart has one runner-up and six top-10 finishes, may luck be a lady for the No. 14 team and give him the win that he deserves. Anything can happen when it's Vegas baby, Vegas!
ThatsRacin.com Opinion Before the start and parkers, NASCAR had strokers By Steve Waid - ThatsRacin.com Contributor That NASCAR finds itself having to deal with teams that appear to "compete" for a quick buck rather than actually race – they're called "start and park" – is nothing new. The sanctioning body has done it before. "Start and park" teams are defined as those with limited sponsorship and low budgets. They do not have the resources of their well-heeled counterparts and thus can't hope to compete with them. But, if they are fortunate to qualify for races, there's a golden opportunity to earn some needed income. They just drive around for a few laps and then return to the garage area with some mechanical malady. Equipment isn't used up and the money ain't bad. For example, last place in Daytona paid well over $250,000. It was about $80,000 at Auto Club Speedway. Simple math says that if a team can successfully adopt this tactic for a sizable number of races the money adds up. This sort of thing has been going on, in one form or another, as long as NASCAR has existed. It was never more pronounced than in the 1970s and it culminated in drastic changes in NASCAR. It can be said that if the sanctioning body had not taken action to ease the plight of its lesser teams it might have ceased to exist. Nearly forty years ago there were four, perhaps five, teams with the wherewithal to win races. The rest existed virtually hand-to-mouth. They did exactly what the "start and park" teams do today – they drove around for a few laps and went to the garage area, content to earn a few bucks and save what equipment they had. They were called "strokers" and most – not all – were disdained by fans and media alike. But unlike today, "strokers" could not count on an appreciable income by competing in the majority of races. Purses and the point fund were nowhere close to what they are today. Most of them raced where the money was good and expenses could be held in check. Eventually, it reached the point where they could not make ends meet, even with a series of decent finishes. Revolution was in the air. The "strokers" united. They essentially told NASCAR that if things didn't change they'd simply stop entering races and find other occupations. NASCAR faced a dilemma. There were far, far more so-called "independent" teams than there were those with factory backing or significant sponsorship. In fact, the "strokers" made up the majority of every starting field. It would be tough for tracks to sell tickets for races with only five or six entries. If that were the case NASCAR could hardly survive. And the "strokers" knew it. Still, many of them ceased operations. In 1975 the situation came to a head. In a series of meetings between independent team owners and NASCAR, significant changes evolved. First, NASCAR assured itself that its top-tier teams would enter every race by providing them with appearance money. Four teams – Petty Enterprises, Junior Johnson and Associates, Bud Moore Engineering and K&K Racing – would receive $3,000 for every superspeedway race and $2,000 for every short track race entered. Then the sanctioning body granted appearance money for the independent teams to help offset their expenses. They would get $500 for each superspeedway event and $250 for each short track race entered. Doesn't sound like much, but prices for everything were much lower four decades ago – and amounts increased as the years passed. There were two caveats: To get the money, teams had to rank in the top 20 in points and compete on the full Winston Cup schedule. Sound familiar? Today the top 35 teams in owner points get a free pass into every race. With appearance money – and sizable increases to the point fund provided by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. – the "strokers" found it far more profitable to enter every race and finish as high as possible. To do so regularly assured them a decent points finish which, for many, meant a season in the black. Sure, the "strokers" still got passed – and almost never won - but they did their share of passing among themselves as they fought for the highest finishing position possible. It made racing better. And seldom did a team "start and park." It couldn't do so and hope to exist. Last place didn't pay what it does today. "Strokers" don't exist today. Every team races as hard as possible for position and many more win than did years ago. "Start and park" is a new phenomenon. But it's not unlike many NASCAR faced, and dealt with, in years past. It's time to dial down the boogity Mike Finney/delawareonli During a press conference before the season began, NASCAR let everybody know that it was going to "loosen the reins" on its drivers this year. Evidently, Fox Sports analyst Darrell Waltrip, a three-time Cup champion, thought that edict was meant for him. Sorry Jaws, you are a "former" driver. In his most memorable performance this season, Waltrip was tripping over his microphone at the end of the Daytona 500, openly rooting for Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win. I cannot imagine tuning into the Super Bowl or any other professional sports telecast where the commentators are openly pulling for a team to emerge victorious. "C'mon Saints ... You can do it!" Nah, that's just downright wrong. Those type of comments by Waltrip are one of the reasons why NASCAR is still seen by many as a dumbed-down hillbilly sport. Well, that and the constant abuse of the English language by his cohort Larry McReynolds. Speaking of stupid, it is well past time to get rid of "Boogity, boogity, boogity ... let's go racin' boys." About 10 years overdue, in fact. However, for Waltrip in 2010, it gets worse. During a qualifying race at Daytona he checked in with his younger brother Michael before the race started. He opened the discussion over the team's radio by introducing him as "one of the greatest restrictor-plate drivers in history." Gag. Then, whenever Michael crashes, which seems to be more often than not, Darrell is quick to point out that the accident was of no fault of his brother's. As a driver, Waltrip was a renegade. He stood out against the establishment of such drivers as Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, David Pearson and Bobby Allison. He was well-spoken and knew exactly how to use the media to his advantage. Apparently, he still does. During NASCAR telecasts in the past, he has often made it a point to get a huge chuckle out of "Digger," that animated groundhog that appears on Fox's race broadcasts. By the way, Waltrip sells "Digger" merchandise on his Web site. Yeah, no conflict of interest there. Now, with NASCAR wanting more friendly TV partners in 2010, Waltrip has become a shill for the sport. When the Daytona 500 was delayed by a pothole -- twice -- two weeks ago, Waltrip made it a huge point to announce that nobody in the grandstands was leaving. Unfortunately for him, fans on Twitter exposed him as several thousand of them were making their way to their cars and away from the speedway. Then he did a suck-up interview with NASCAR chairman Brian France during one of the delays that could very well have served as a promotional ad for the organization. And don't get me started on his wall-to-wall lovefest with Danica Patrick. Back in the day, when Waltrip spoke, most people listened. From now on, I believe I will turn my TV down and my radio up and get the boogity out of there. Kroger, Budweiser Score at the Daytona 500 By Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service Kroger didn't pay to sponsor any of the Sprint Cup cars circling the track at the Daytona 500, but its red and blue logo found a home on three of the cars in the race. Cincinnati-based Kroger took the full paint scheme on Marcos Ambrose's No. 47 Toyota, and the rear panel on Kyle Busch's No. 18 Toyota and Clint Bowyer's No. 33 Chevrolet. The placements were the result of a trade-out between the retailer and the regular sponsors on those cars. Ambrose is sponsored by a collection of consumer-packaged goods, including Kimberly-Clark (Kleenex), Kingsford and Little Debbie. Busch is supported by Mars, and Bowyer by General Mills. For a sponsor to surrender the most visible spots on the car in the season's biggest race is especially rare. In exchange, those sponsors use the trade-out to drive additional displays in Kroger's nearly 2,500 stores. "We're always looking for ways to gain additional floor space," said Philip Grieco, director of Mars' sponsorship and sports marketing. "It's another touchpoint for a consumer beyond the candy aisle and the checkout counter." Kroger also locked down an extension on its deal with Daytona International Speedway through the 2014 Daytona 500. Kroger is recognized as Daytona's retail licensing partner. Kroger came on board in 2007 and ran the largest retail promotion in NASCAR history leading up to the 50th running of the 500 in 2008. More than 50 brands participated with special Daytona 500 packaging. The program, which is run by Charlotte-based Retail Sports Marketing, has thrived in the two years since the 50th running. From April 2009 through the race on Feb. 14, 55 brands across 23 companies had used the special 500 packaging and discounts. The No. 47 car was on the cover of Kroger's direct mailer to its customers before the race. "The NASCAR fan is the core consumer for Kroger," said Tad Geschickter, owner of Ambrose's No. 47 car at JTG-Daugherty Racing. It was hard to miss the enormous new Budweiser Party Porch, standing 46 feet high along the speedway's superstretch. It was one of several enhancements to the superstretch, which runs 3,000 feet along the backside of the track. Those 40,000 seats along the superstretch were not sold for any of the lead-in events, but it was full for the 500, which is when the speedway debuted the Party Porch and a new interactive fan zone with amusement rides, giant slide and carousel, go-karts, show cars and team merchandise for sale. Budweiser, a longtime sponsor of the track and the title sponsor of the Bud Shootout the week before the 500, bought sponsorship of the Party Porch as part of a separate negotiation. Terms were not available. The 277-foot-long Budweiser sign, touted by the speedway as the largest sign in motorsports, gave the beer unprecedented signage display and exposure on the race broadcasts. Even though the Party Porch didn't open until the day of the 500, Bud was still enjoying the visibility of the giant sign on TV and across the track. "We're always looking for a positive connection with the race fan and this was an idea they brought to us," said Anheuser-Busch's Brad Brown, senior director of sports marketing. "We were very pleased with the turnout. It was comfortably full with people five or six deep looking over the railing down onto the track." The visibility of the sign "enhances our ad buy and our presence on the broadcast," Brown added. Last laps Office Depot, a NASCAR official partner and Tony Stewart team sponsor, showed up at Daytona with a new agency. After several years with Chicago-based Wunderman, Office Depot is now working with Momentum on its motorsports business. … All four of the manufacturers in NASCAR—General Motors, Ford, Toyota and Dodge—bought space in Daytona's corporate display area. It marked the first time that all four manufacturers featured their latest consumer models in the display area. In past years, some of them had featured their race cars only. … The display area featured 40 companies, a 10 percent increase over 2009. Michael Smith is a reporter with SportsBusiness Journal. Daytona Confident Fan-Friendly Moves will Pay Off By Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service As John Guthrie weaves his cream-colored Tahoe through the thousands of fans at Daytona International Speedway, his mind churns like the pistons in a race car. Suddenly, he thinks of a last-minute detail. "Can you make it happen in 15 minutes?" Guthrie says at the end of a syrup-laced conversation on the cell. For the past three years, Guthrie, the speedway's vice president of business development and partnerships, has handed out the "Outrageous Orange" award in the notoriously rowdy orange lot in Daytona's infield. Most of the fans there camp for several days and the spaces are almost always sold out. This is the kind of award that won't be accompanied by a press release. It's just a way for the speedway to say thanks to some of the heartiest fans there on the Saturday before the Daytona 500. It's those kinds of encounters that lead to business decisions made in International Speedway Corp.'s boardroom, Guthrie said. "We've always focused on the customer," he said, "but I don't think we've been as reactive with our business decisions as we are now." At no time has it been more important to mingle with the fans. ISC, Daytona's parent company, saw admissions revenue sink 17.2 percent last year, and advance ticket sales for ISC's 2010 events have been down 15 to 20 percent, although the Daytona 500 recovered nicely with a full house of 175,000 fans. During its Hershey's Speedweeks and Daytona 500, the speedway introduced two new ways to entertain the fans, based on feedback Guthrie and his staff heard last year. The Budweiser Party Porch featured a massive 20,000-square- On the other side of the speedway is the 5th Turn, a high-end customer experience for fans willing to pay $1,950 for the all-inclusive pass, which is good for five days of racing. Several tents perched together cover the 60,000-square- Inside, the structure was separated into different fan environments. At the center was an atrium room full of natural light, a Bud bar and a variety of food stations and flat-panel TVs. The atrium opened to the other areas of the 5th Turn, including a nightclub called In the Groove with bands; the Spark Pub, an Internet cafe; and the Pit Box for video games, poker and blackjack. In the Groove stayed open at least two hours after the end of each race, including the night after the 500 when dueling pianos from the nightspot Howl at the Moon entertained. The pass also covered seats in the Sprint Tower near the start-finish line for the races. As Guthrie briskly walks out of the dark nightclub into the well-lit atrium, he has another stream-of-conscious "People want light," he said, pointing to the portion of the clear tent covering the atrium that allows the sun to shine through. All of those segmented areas offer different selections of food and drink throughout the day, all supplied by in-house concessionaire Americrown, the ISC-owned catering company. The game room has hot dogs, hamburgers and pizza, the Internet cafe has a healthier selection of foods and a salad bar, and the atrium features fancier dishes like scaloppini pork, portobello marsala and braised beef tips. "You can't treat all of the fans the same way," Guthrie said. "They all want different things, different experiences, and what we've tried to do is deliver those different experiences under the same roof." Daytona sold roughly 1,000 of those $1,950 tickets, down from last year when it sold 1,300 tickets at $2,000 each. Last year's fan hospitality tent delivered one atmosphere and one choice of food, but the economy continues to take a big bite of out of the speedway's ticket business, and the 23 percent drop is reflective of what many of ISC's speedways have confronted. But Guthrie is confident that word will spread about the 5th Turn, which he conceived after last year's Daytona 500 and sketched on a legal pad. Orlando-based Red Top Productions co-managed the 5th Turn with AEG Live. "After last year, we knew that we had to make changes and make this more appealing to the younger crowd," said Red Top's Dana Brown, who added that the staff on the floor of the 5th Turn doubled from eight to 16 this year. "At that price, you can't have people sitting at tables with dirty plates." In Guthrie's world, when he's not selling seven-figure sponsorship deals and tending to track partners, he's talking to the diehards. He works the room, seeking feedback from customers and pointing out subtleties, like Garry Hill's racing-themed art collection that adds to the ambience. Guthrie's willingness to roll up his sleeves and rub elbows with the hard-core fans comes from spending a decade in minor league baseball before joining the speedway in 2004. The minors are the perfect training ground for an up-and-comer, he says, because you do it all, from servicing fans and sponsors to covering the field during a rain delay. On this day, the Saturday before the Daytona 500, Guthrie is supposed to meet track president Robin Braig to present the "Outrageous Orange" award, which comes in the form of a gaudy orange banner. Only 15 minutes prior, though, there's no banner. Hence, the syrup-laced rush order Guthrie placed earlier. As he rolls up in his Tahoe at the orange lot, there's an orange banner waiting there, created by his crack staff on the fly. "If you're in sports marketing, banners are a huge part of your life," Guthrie said with a laugh. In the orange lot, where fans braved temperatures in the 40s and a soaked infield from Friday's rain, Guthrie and Braig present the "Outrageous Orange" banner to the lucky fans who managed to link four vans together with a cross walk over top and tarps to cover it all. Brad Brown, a senior director at Anheuser-Busch, tags along and presents 12 cases of Budweiser as part of the prize. "These are the people that make this event what it is," Guthrie said. "They have built the sport into what it is. We've got to make sure we're doing everything we can to embrace them." Michael Smith is a reporter with SportsBusiness Journal. Abandon Martinsville or Jetison California: You Decide! Doug Demmons/insiderraci Every year at this time the same debate is engaged -- should Auto Club Speedway in Fontana have two NASCAR Sprint Cup races each year? The obvious answer is no. The grandstands that seat 92,000 were barely half full on Sunday drawing from a Southern California population base of millions. NASCAR is as much an oddity to the vast majority of Southern Californians as it is to New Yorkers. Compound that with the fact that the racing is often boring at the relatively flat 2-mile oval -- including Sunday's race. Cars strung out along the track -- even if there is an "exciting" battle for 12th place -- does nothing to entice casual fans. That's the norm at ACS and there is nothing to be done about it. Actually, there is something that can be done about it, but it won't happen. ACS President Gillian Zucker had suggested a while back increasing the banking and making ACS a restrictor-plate track. That might actually work -- turn it into Talladega West. But International Speedway Corp., which owns the track, isn't going to spend the millions it would take to do it. And now that it appears Daytona might have to repaved earlier than anticipated at a cost of $20 million, pouring more millions into ACS is even less likely to happen. So why does NASCAR continue to run at ACS twice a year? Several reasons spring to mind. First, Los Angeles is the second largest TV market in the nation. TV ratings for Sunday's race were down from last year, but will likely still be higher than most other races on the schedule. Many of the sports sponsors are located in Los Angeles and want to come out and check on their investments. But this could easily be done once a year at Fontana or with a short jaunt to Las Vegas or Phoenix. Then there is the argument that being in Los Angeles makes it possible for the sport to be promoted on TV shows that it normally would never get any mention on -- simply because the drivers happen to be in town. This is said to be a good thing because it exposes the sport to potential new fans. But a big reason, I suspect, is cultural. NASCAR wants to be accepted on the national stage, to be embraced beyond the Southeast, as if cracking the New York and Southern California markets would somehow rid NASCAR of the redneck image some people still carry. All this is worth rehashing because NASCAR is likely this year to shift a race from one ISC track to accommodate Kansas Speedway and the new casino being built there. The question is which of ISC's 12 tracks loses a race to make room for a second Kansas race. The frontrunners are Auto Club Speedway and Martinsville. Those who defend ACS point out that Martinsville only has about 62,000 seats, so a sellout there isn't much more than ACS drew on Sunday. True. But Martinsville is in one of the smallest markets in the country and still outdraws or keeps pace with Fontana. Martinsville is also the only track still on the schedule that was around when NASCAR was barely out of its moonshine days. And Martinsville is a unique short track where the racing is never boring. Abandoning Martinsville would be like hitting the big time and replacing your wife of 30 years with a trophy wife. It just ain't right. So NASCAR will just have to decide which is more important -- rubbing elbows with the stars in L.A. or doing right by the fans who have supported the sport for decades. Too Early to Panic, Celebrate Larry Woody/racintoday. What do the first two races tell us about how the rest of the season will go? Not a lot, frankly. Remember, last year Matt Kenseth got off to a rousing start by winning the first two races, then faded and didn't even make the championship Chase. On the flip side, Mark Martin got off to a stumbling start, was counted out by some sports columnists (mentioning no names), then staged an incredible rally to not only make the Chase but finish second. So while there's no clear-cut pattern for the rest of the season going into this weekend's third race at Las Vegas, there are some indicators. The biggest is Jimmie Johnson's victory at California last Sunday. It traditionally takes Johnson awhile to pick up speed. If he starts out hot it's scary to imagine what he'll be like on into the season when he and his team really hit their stride. Then there's Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s California quake – car failure and a 32nd-place finish after a promising 2nd at Daytona. Junior plunged from 2nd to 14th in the standings. It's an ominous early-season hole for Junior fans. More optimistic is the outlook for Richard Childress Racing. After last year's Chase shutout the RCR drivers have come back strong so far this year with three drivers in the Top 5. Hendrick Racing has had mixed results, although it has two drivers in the Top 12. I believe when the dust settles after a few more races we'll see the three familiar faces back near the top: Johnson, Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon. The jury's still out on Junior. One puzzler: Tony Stewart. The one-time terror of the track barely gets noticed any more. He flew under the radar all of last season and so far he's done the same this year. Not good, not bad, just sort of treading water and making no waves. Neither had been Tony's style in the past. Since the inception of the Chase for the Sprint Cup – NASCAR's playoffs – there has been an increased sense of early-season urgency. It's a 26-race "regular season." That means drivers have 24 more races to make the Chase. I don't think drivers who have sputtered so far need to start looking for the panic button on the dashboard – remember Mark Martin – but there are some early-warning signs. There's a lot of good drivers outside the critical Top 12, including Jeff Gordon back in 22nd place. They need to get going, while the current occupants of the Top 12 spots know they have to dig in and hang on. September 11 – D Day for finalizing the Chase field – seems like a long way off. But nowadays a driver who dallies too long at the start may be left behind when the train pulls out.
Bye-Bye To La La Land? Jim Pedley | Managing Editor, RacinToday.com Good advice can come from some pretty unlikely sources. Like, say, the following advice: "My grandmother had a saying: 'Go little where wanted, go not at all where little wanted.' " It's advice that NASCAR might want to consider in the coming months. And for a couple of reasons; because of its high degree of common sense factor and because it has an even higher element of apropos-ness when applied to a situation at hand. The quote was issued by Georgia Frontiere, who moved the NFL team she owned out of Los Angles and to St. Louis in 1995. Frontiere was a socialite flake who inherited the team after her husband, Carroll Rosenbloom, drowned and hence did not have time to amend his will and leave his Los Angeles Rams to the son, Steve, whom he had been grooming for the job. Still, "Madame Ram" knew what empty seats and blase fan support meant. And she knew about Southern California culture, as did Al Davis who would subsequently move his Raiders to Los Angeles and then move them back just as quickly. Los Angeles is a seductive place for people who want to turn small fortunes into large fortunes. Always has been. It's basically, the nation's second-largest city; Los Angeles County alone is home for 10 million people. That's a lot of ticket buyers. It's also a mega media market coveted almost as highly as New York. Commercial dreams may be schemed up in New York but they are put into action in Southern California. And the glamour! It's where movie stars – real and imagined – live and play and work on "projects" and do lunch. The rich people there are so rich that they use Mercedes to to take them to their Bentleys. Or not. Repo men put more mile on those cars than do their owners because, see, L.A. is also also the world capital of illusion. There is more display of wealth than actual wealth in Lala Land. The place was built on illusion. Stucco house by stucco house. David Blaine should be its mayor. It's been a magnate for dreaming fortune-seekers since the dust bowl. NASCAR did it's modern Tom Joad thing in 1997 when it moved into the track in Fontana with the California 500. In 2004, the series granted the place a second yearly date. And in increasing numbers, the people of Southern California have done their thing: They come, they see, they got bored, they move on to the next shiney object. NASCAR and track owner International Speedway Corp. have thrown the kitchen sink at Auto Club Speedway. They have moved the dates around, made the fall race a Chase race, they have sent limos to Hollywood to cart the stars out, they have sent their biggest stars the other way. They have tampered with ticket prices and starting times. Nothing. Last Sunday's attendance, by most accounts, was dismal. Again. Blame the economy, blame wet/cold weather, blame Obama. The fact is, half of the 92,000 grandstand seats went unused. NASCAR and ISC officials are in all likelihood well into the planning stages for the 2011 schedule. It is a schedule which will likely see the addition of a second race at Kansas Speedway. That race will have to come from somewhere – from another ISC track, to be specific. Scuttlebutt has turned its fickle finger away from Martinsville as the likely "donor" track and toward Auto Club. In this era of going back to roots, it would just make more sense to take a date from relatively new Fontana and leave two at the oldest and most sacred venues in the sport. The thought here is that it is about time that NASCAR start viewing Auto Club Speedway as having half empty grandstands instead of half full grandstands. A line from that great movie of the 1950s "Sunset Boulevard" comes to mind as I think about all of this. In the movie, struggling young screenwriter Joe Gillis gets all sarcastic when aging, delusional, washed-up starlet Norma Desmond threatens to kill herself to get attention. "Oh wake up, Norma, you'd be killing yourself to an empty house. The audience left 20 years ago." And Joe Gillis, he ends up face down in that Los Angeles-mansion swimming pool he had always dreamed about having. What Race Was TV Watching On Sunday? Larry Woody | Senior Writer I've gotta get Larry the Cable Guy to come over and take a look at my set. Apparently I'm not picking up the same race telecast that the boys in the booth are watching. Last week at California they kept raving about the "close racing" and "tight competition." Somehow I missed it, just as I missed all those "exciting lead changes" Jack Roush said we were treated to last season. Granted, I nodded off several times during the race, so maybe I dozed through the drama they were describing. But I don't think so. The race I saw was a snoozer – 90 percent riding and 10 percent racing, similar to the ho-hum ride-arounds of the last few years. I was fired up after Daytona. We were treated to some tight racing and old-fashioned bump-and-grind battles. I thought that NASCAR's "Have at it" edict might have taken effect. Then came (yawn) California and a racing relapse. There were times during the race when I hoped they'd find a pothole to patch. Anything to break the monotony. I remember a time when race fans were hesitant to go to the bathroom or concession stand for fear they'd miss something. Now they can go take a bubble bath and bake a turkey and not miss anything except a couple of Digger dances. I don't know what the problem is – the cars, the tracks or the drivers. But after a promising start at Daytona, last Sunday it seemed like we were right back where we were last year: NAP-CAR. I'm not sure that NASCAR's visit to Vegas this weekend will cure what ails it. Vegas, like California, hasn't exactly been Darlington West since its inception. I went out for Vegas' Cup opener a few years ago and the most exciting thing was watching a desert breeze ruffle the chorus girls' feathers in Victory Circle. The action has been so-so ever since. Two races do not a season make and it's too soon to draw any firm conclusions. But so far this season NASCAR's batting .500 – a Daytona homer and a California strikeout. That would be a good batting average in baseball but it won't cut it in stock car racing. Fifty percent good racing will fill up 50 percent of the seats. When the Cable Guy gets my TV fixed maybe he can offer some advice to the drivers: it's time to crank it up and git'er done. Franchitti knows all too well the expectations on Patrick Former Cup driver's stay in NASCAR was a short one By Dave Rodman, NASCAR.COM On the eve of the fourth race of her stock car experimental tour, Danica Patrick would do well to study the path of another open wheel explorer -- though it's quite likely she's already picked his brain. He says they're friends, after all. And since unfounded expectations can lay low the strongest man or even the strongest team -- even a strong woman need beware. And if that team is weaker than expected, look out -- the crash landing of those expectations would rival the Hindenburg disaster. But thank God life goes on. Just ask Dario Franchitti, Patrick's former IRL teammate, whose championship race car driving legacy was secured with the 2009 IndyCar title -- or his car owner, multiple champion Chip Ganassi. The Chip Ganassi Racing pair, with their brutally interrupted 2008 expedition into NASCAR cut short by lack of finance, lack of results and an injury Franchitti suffered in a savage, yet typical superspeedway stock car crash, could advise Patrick on the equivalent brutality of those expectations. Before discussing Patrick, Ganassi didn't miss the chance to praise his latest champion, Franchitti. "Let me tell you something, that guy can drive a race car -- he can drive any race car," Ganassi said. "When we tried to do that NASCAR experiment, we thought our cars were a little better than they were and we thought our team was a little better than it was. And the problem was our program was a program that really couldn't afford any hiccups, whatsoever -- it was being run that tight. "The fact of the matter is we had difficulty getting some sponsorship we otherwise thought we'd have -- he had a crash in which he broke his ankle, which was no fault of his own. But he shows up at a place like Bristol and he led over 100 laps in the [Nationwide] race. "I look back at that whole thing fondly. Sure, it didn't turn out like we wanted it to, but I'll tell you what -- it made us all grow a lot. It was good for our team and it was good for him. Did it turn out like we wanted it to? No. But it was a learning experience that in the end everything worked out." And anyways, it's too late for any alarms of warnings they would give Patrick. In the three races she's already run: The ARCA Series opener, the Nationwide Series' Daytona opener and last weekend's Nationwide race at Fontana, Patrick has already discovered the weight of those expectations. "Expectations are a tough thing," Franchitti said. "I think when I went NASCAR racing the expectations might have gone too far. I think if you keep the expectations in check, it's OK. But it's a learning experience -- like starting from ground zero all over again when you try stock cars." Ganassi has raced against Patrick since she came to IndyCar, so with his involvement with Franchitti he has the perfect perspective. "The good news is, I think she's been dealing with that at every step in her career," Ganassi said. "So I'm sure that's nothing new to her. Handling expectations, managing expectations is nothing new for her since she's dealt with at every step of her career. "I hope she does well -- believe me -- it'll be good for all of us if she does well. And anything I can do to help her, I'll do." Franchitti's already done it -- first, by taking a few bullets, figuratively speaking, in 2008, and then supporting his IndyCar foe. "We're friends anyways, so we talk a bunch -- about different stuff, whether we're at the track or if her and Ashley and I and her husband Paul go to dinner -- or we pick up the phone and have a chat," Franchitti said. "But we talked a fair bit about [NASCAR], and some of my experiences. And she came to a couple of the races, like Phoenix a couple times. So she had seen it, and she asked certain things and that was it, really." And to her credit, as Patrick's adventure blossoms, she's held up well. The expectations she never asked for and never created -- though you figure in this day and time as inevitable -- haven't yet been stifling. And that's somewhat amazing when it seems the current level of hype and expectation are worlds different than when Ken Schrader, who was the first open-wheel standout to really make an impact; than to those foisted upon more recent transplants like Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne. Patrick's fits of pique have been amusing -- not confounding or aggravating like similar, seemingly long-ago episodes featuring Stewart and Kyle Busch. Her driving has been adaptable, steadily improving in each event. And most notably, she hasn't made any boneheaded errors -- a claim a lot of the guys who've driven stock cars around her with a lot more experience in the genre, can't make. And since she hasn't really made any, we know she's not prone to repeating errors. That's a rather sizeable attribute to have in this game. Heck, even former champion Carl Edwards had two pit-road speeding penalties last weekend. Patrick is measuring up. But after this weekend at Vegas -- where the measuring stick will be placed at her back again -- she steps off to IndyCar. When she returns, how ridiculous, or measured might the expectations be? "I think to jump back and forth will be very, very difficult -- very tough because they are such different cars -- you can't believe it," Franchitti said. "I think if you took the best guy in Sprint Cup -- Jimmie [Johnson], obviously, winning all those championships -- and stuck him in an Indy car, it would take him a good while to get up to speed. To jump back and forth would be very, very tough." But Franchitti didn't say it would be impossible. "Danica's done what she thinks is best for her," Franchitti said. "And I'm 100 percent behind that if that's what she thinks [is best]. As I said, I think it's going to be very, very difficult but she's thought about it, and with her advisors and her family she's certainly made what she thinks is the right decision. "And I'm not going to second-guess it." Sounds like that might not be bad advice for the rest of us. The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer. What's Vexing Vito Vito Pugliese · Frontstretch. The 'Stache: The Secret To Drivers Winning Races Is Right Under Their Nose From time to time, the mystery and complexity of life confounds my mind, and I'm prone to fits of absolute wonder. For instance, why didn't Jimmy Spencer compete in the Bud Shootout in Daytona? Instead of these dumb stimulus packages that don't work, why not just give everybody a million dollars? Where did the name for the Chevrolet car "Chevelle" come from – and what does it mean? And how come mustaches aren't cool anymore? I am a product of the generation who grew up in the 1980s. It was a time when a man's worth was judged by his mullet, and success meant you aspired to drive either an IROC-Z or a Buick Grand National. But if you really were looking to be noticed and assert your alpha male status, you couldn't just rely on that Members' Only jacket. No, you needed to have a mustache. In modern times, however, it is a look that has been given an Amish shunning. If you are under 40 years old and show up with one now, people will Google your name to see if you're on a sex offender registry. It's as if they've become the sole domain of State Troopers and guys who drive vans with no windows. Well, I think it's high time we kick this notion to the curb, then retreat to a simpler time when things made sense. People usually retreat to a simpler time when their situation becomes overwhelming, and we certainly are in the midst of it now on all fronts. And if there was anything that my time growing up in the 80's confirmed, if you want to get to the top, you have to come clean, man up, and grow a mustache. I mean, think about it – looking through history, anybody who is a legitimate bad ass has had one. Wyatt Earp, Teddy Roosevelt, Don Mattingly, Sam Elliott (hot, hot, hot!), Burt Reynolds, Albert Einstein, G. Gordon Liddy… the list goes on, infinitum. And nowhere is this more apparent than in NASCAR. Don't believe me? Check out Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt, combing for 14 Winston Cup Championships and 276 victories. Sure, Petty may only have had his soup strainer for one title in 1979 – but he wouldn't have gotten all that press for this long had he won just six. Besides, those final 15 wins it took to get to 200 didn't just happen by themselves – you can connect the dots to see how they really got there. Remember how sometimes Petty would suck on a wet towel during a race to help keep himself hydrated and from biting his tongue in an accident? It was really to absorb the sweat from that big wooly bear living under his nose. Dale Earnhardt, Sr. looked a whole lot more intimidating with that glorious crumb catcher spanning the width of his face than without it. After a rather violent accident at Talladega in 1998, Earnhardt singed his trademark cookie duster in a fiery wreck with Bill Elliott. It was honestly more shocking than seeing him pull himself from the wreckage there two years earlier when he was struck in the roof while tumbling upside down, or even at Pocono in 1982 as he hobbled down the Turn Two banking helped by Tim Richmond (suffering a broken knee in the incident). Speaking of Tim Richmond – there is another driver who turned the NASCAR world on its ear out of nowhere in the mid-1980s. Although he raced barely six and a half seasons, Richmond won 13 races, including seven victories in 1986, finishing third in points to Earnhardt. Only one other guy in the Top 10 had a mustache that year; Kyle Petty in ninth position. If we were running by today's Chase standards, Terry Labonte would have made it a quartet with his customary flavor saver in 12th. Think it just applies to NASCAR? Think again. How about 1992 Formula One and 1993 CART Champion Nigel Mansell? Perhaps you are familiar with 14-time NHRA Funny Car champ John Force? And let's not forget USHRA Monster Jam pilot Dennis Anderson… who drives Grave Digger. I know what you're saying. "Vito, that is all well and good, but what about today? How come drivers now don't have mustaches?" And to you, I say, "Nay, they do not." Instead, today the new look de rigeur is the scruffy stubble look. In today's racing world, looking like Thomas Magnum has been replaced with resembling Sonny Crockett. Remember Tony Stewart a couple of years ago? Unabashed, unapologetic, and unshaven. With that wad of greasy hair sticking out from his Home Depot Hat, he looked like a Midwest version of Vince Neil from Motley Crue. But he's not the only one; Brian Vickers finally started running up front and winning once he shunned the Gillette Young Gun look and got in touch with his inner-scuz. Elliott Sadler sometimes tries to emulate the old Stewart look, but maybe that's because he kept running into him back in 2008. Jimmie Johnson has, in the last two years, tried to grow a beard at certain points throughout the season… but for some reason, it just doesn't work. He's too clean-cut, straight, and narrow to try and look like a tough guy anyways. But considering he's working on an unprecedented (like the last two) fifth straight title, is it time for him to graduate into the elite realm of race car drivers and grow a mustache? Do you really think he stands a chance at getting to seven titles just because Chad Knaus will be telling everybody what springs and shocks to put under the No. 48? Yeah, OK. If Johnson were to ascend to the rare air of Petty and Earnhardt, think of the marketing opportunities that would exist to promote a trio of seven-time Cup champions. How great would that look on a painted dinner plate or a new Sam Bass mural: three iconic drivers with mustaches, wearing Ray Bans, Gargoyles, and a cowboy hat. It would be an epic addition to any race fan's rec room or dining area, and help set NASCAR apart once again from the other sports that it has tried so hard to emulate in recent years. With the struggles that Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has suffered as of late, he would do well to drop the Jeremiah Johnson look and take a tip from his dad in his prime; shave the scruff and just leave the lip lizard intact. Better to look like The Intimidator in his prime… than Layne Staley in decline… You can laugh at me or scoff all you want, which you have every right to. Just tell me how I'm wrong. By the Numbers: Fontana Defending winner Busch a first at Vegas; well, sort of By NASCAR.COM Race No. 3: Shelby American from Las Vegas Motor Speedway (3 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX). Green at 3:16 p.m. ET. 1 -- Drivers to win from the pole: Kyle Busch in last year's race. However, Busch actually started from the rear of the field after an engine change in practice. It's the only time Busch has won the pole and the race in the same Cup weekend. 1 -- Drivers with an average finish at Vegas in the top 10: Jeff Burton (9.8). He has been has been running at the finish in all 12 of his races there and finished on the lead lap in the past eight races. 1 -- Teams which have had a car finish in the top 10 in every race at Las Vegas: Roush Fenway Racing. Roush drivers have led the most laps in seven of the 12 LVMS races. 1 -- Drivers to post a top-five finish in the past two races: Greg Biffle. He is one of only three drivers -- Jeff Burton and Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- to score a top-10 in the past two races. 3 -- Drivers with multiple victories at Las Vegas. Each of those driver's victories came in back-to-back races: Jeff Burton (1999 and 2000), Matt Kenseth (2003 and '04) and Jimmie Johnson (2005, '06 and '07). 4 -- Drivers who have competed in all 12 races at Las Vegas: Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte and Mark Martin. Labonte is the only one without a win; however, he's also one of four drivers -- Kyle Busch, Dale Jarrett and Kasey Kahne are the others -- with multiple poles at LVMS, each with two. Both Labonte and Busch have raced to their poles in Joe Gibbs Racing's No. 18 car. 5 -- Most top-fives at Las Vegas, shared by three drivers: Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin. Gordon has three top-fives in the past five years and a sixth-place finish last year. Martin leads all drivers with nine top-10s. 5.7 -- Average starting position at Vegas for Kurt Busch, best of any driver with more than one start. He has never started outside the top 10. However, he has only two top-10s in his nine starts and hasn't finished better than 16th in the past four races. His average finish: 20.4. 11 -- Drivers who broke the old track record in time trials during last year's qualifying. Kyle Busch set the track record at 185.995 mph (29.033 sec.), breaking the old record of 184.856 mph. (29.2212 sec.) set by Kasey Kahne in 2007. 11 -- Kyle Busch has finished 11th or better in five of his six career start at Vegas. He finished 41st in his first start in 2004, crashing out after 11 laps. It was the first career start for the then-18-year- 11 -- Times the driver leading with 10 laps to go has won the race. However, the leader at the halfway point of the race has won three just times. 14 -- Cautions in last year's race, a track record, for a total of 66 laps. It was just the third time a race at Vegas has had 10 or more cautions, all in the past five years including the past two in a row. 17 -- Laps led by Jeff Gordon in last year's race, surpassing 20,000 career laps led. He is one of only seven drivers with 20,000 or more laps led. Richard Petty leads all drivers with more than 50,000. 438 -- Laps led by Matt Kenseth, most of any driver. Kenseth completed all but one lap in his first nine starts at Las Vegas, 2286 of 2287, but completed only six laps last year (engine). • Powered by Racing Recall Montoya, McMurray make for an odd couple at EGR By David Caraviello, NASCAR.COM The oddest thing about Jamie McMurray's return to Chip Ganassi's race team wasn't his reunion with a car owner he had split with five years earlier. They had parted on good terms, with Ganassi telling the driver that he couldn't match what Roush Fenway was offering him, and to take advantage of the opportunity. McMurray would send his old boss occasional text messages, congratulating him on a victory in an IndyCar event or the 24-hour Daytona sports-car race. "I kept that friendship," McMurray said. "You just never know." So no, it wasn't strange at all that a driver and a car owner with a mutual affinity for one another would one day reunite. The oddity had to be sitting up on a stage and being introduced next to his new teammate at Earnhardt Ganassi Racing -- Juan Montoya. Because the last time the two drivers had been that close in proximity, one was putting the other into the wall. "Probably in Juan's case, it's a good thing Ganassi hired me," McMurray joked, "because the Chase would have been hell." It would have been difficult to imagine McMurray and Montoya as peaceful teammates a little more than a year ago, after the most recent spring race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Montoya wanted to advance a position on the half-mile race track, and he thought McMurray was holding him up. On Lap 123, they bumped. Then Montoya dropped behind McMurray, applied a gentle love tap to the left-rear bumper of the No. 26 car, and spun his future teammate into the wall. Hard feelings? You bet. They joke about it now, after the strange confluence of events that brought them together. McMurray, who's watched Formula One racing on television for years, said he was one of the first NASCAR regulars to introduce himself to Montoya when he heard the Colombian was making the move to stock cars. He wanted to offer whatever help he could, and hear stories about the F1 lifestyle. They had even struck up something approaching a friendship -- until that Sunday afternoon at Bristol. "When you're not teammates with somebody, and you get wrecked, you're pissed," McMurray said with a wry smile. "Especially at a place like Bristol, that just brings out the worst in everybody. And since they've changed the race track it's made it even worse, because literally the leader can catch you, and if you get on the top side, he can't pass you. You can hold him up. I did that to Juan, and I got wrecked." Montoya understands. He was in the top 10 at the time, and would go on to finish ninth. For him, it was one of those situations where he knew he had a fast car, and he knew he might have an opportunity to win the race. He didn't want anything to disrupt that, especially on a track like Bristol that had given him fits in the past. "He was really pissed about it, but I was OK," Montoya recalled. "It's understandable for him. They were having a rough year, and he was running well. We were like sixth or seventh or something like that, and I had a really fast race car. It was frustrating because he wasn't giving me a lot of room. But I'm sure if you asked him, it was the other way around." The grudges didn't last very long. At a tire test at Daytona last November, McMurray approached Montoya in the lobby of a hotel and broached the idea of the two becoming teammates. He was already excited about seeing what kind of setups Montoya was using, given that the former F1 driver was in the midst of his first Chase appearance. It was a nice change for McMurray, who admits to sometimes feeling "overwhelmed" by the overload of information flying around the then-five teams at Roush, his former home. "I know for years, especially when Hendrick was the first one to have four cars, or Roush, we thought, 'Oh, it would be great to have all that,'" said McMurray, who added that he knew late last season he would be the odd man out at Roush, which had to contract from five to four teams for this season. "But sometimes it's not better to have all that information. The change has clearly benefitted McMurray, who won the Daytona 500 and stands fourth in points entering Sunday's race at Las Vegas. Montoya had a strong Daytona, too, and led last Sunday's race in Southern California before his engine let go. As for that one-time feud between the two? It's long been forgotten. "We race every single weekend," McMurray said, "and it takes about two more weeks before somebody else makes you mad." An Opinion Hype surrounding Danica is unappealing to some fans Carolyn Brewster/scenedaily I said nothing all through early February when we were reminded constantly that Danica Patrick would run at Daytona. The casual NASCAR observer might have assumed Patrick was going to race in the Sprint Cup Series when, in fact, it was the Nationwide Series. I sat quietly through all that hype. I remained silent when Patrick overcame a spin to place sixth in the ARCA race and commentators spewed accolades in such abundance that I thought I might spew myself. Someone needed to remind them that it was an ARCA race and not the Sprint Cup championship. When Patrick did wreck in her much-anticipated Nationwide debut at Daytona, again, I said nothing. Then her 36th starting position heading into the second Nationwide event at Auto Club Speedway made "news" and yet mum remained the word from me. But a stout 31st-place finish (and yes, I'm being sarcastic) at California has me ready to talk. Can you say AMEN?
Jeff Gordon to keep driving so kids can share NASCAR glory By Nate Ryan, USA TODAY As his family expands, so does the timeline on Jeff Gordon's Sprint Cup career. Once planning to retire from NASCAR at 40, he now wants to drive several more seasons with Hendrick Motorsports so his children can appreciate the success of the sport's sixth all-time winningest driver (82 victories). Gordon has a 2-year-old daughter, Ella Sofia, and his wife, Ingrid, is due with their second child in August. "I've always said I don't want to race for the money," said Gordon, who turns 39 on Aug. 4. "I really want my family to be able to be a part of it in a way that they can see and experience and be proud of what I've done." Gordon has a lifetime contract to drive the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick, which is working to extend a deal with his primary sponsor, DuPont, beyond the 2010 season. "You go through life and find you really care about what you do and how important it is," he said. "You think about what life would be like without it. I'm enjoying what I do." John Bickford, Gordon's stepfather who oversees the four-time champion's business affairs as general manager of Jeff Gordon Inc., told USA TODAY the four-time champion is five to six years away from retiring. Gordon also said age has helped motivate him and finishing third in points last season proves "we've still got it." "As I've gotten older, I've realized how competitive I am," he said. "I need to be a part of a competitive environment. It drives me. It really balances me out. I've got to find something to transition into when I'm not driving." With an eye on his future, Gordon has been dabbling in racetrack consultation and design and recently switched representation from IMG to Just Marketing International, a motor sports marketing agency. "We're creating all these opportunities so Jeff has choices," Bickford said. "Just Marketing is a company that will help develop choices." Plans to retire from car, not sport He has represented high-end sponsors (Tag Heuer and Elizabeth Arden, to name a couple), started a wine label and hosted Saturday Night Live. He counts famous actors and musicians among the acquaintances he has made at red-carpet premieres and cocktail parties. If any NASCAR driver was well positioned for a post-racing career with the roar of 850-horsepower engines replaced by Hollywood theme music, it's Gordon. The four-time Cup champ, though, isn't fleeing from the sport that made him famous as he plans for life beyond the cockpit. "The reality of it is my passion is racing," he says. "I'm a highly competitive person, and whether I'm driving or not I want to be involved in racing. I feel like it'd be pretty crazy for me to step away from that." Once seemingly headed toward a second act marked by perhaps the silver screen (Bickford said four years ago that he hoped Gordon would be become as well known as an entertainer as a driver), the Hendrick driver is taking steps to ensure he's a fixture in NASCAR long after he takes his red and blue helmet off for the final time. Already pursuing aspirations of emulating golfers Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman as a driver-turned- "As we get further down the road, those conversations will get more serious with (team owner) Rick (Hendrick) and Hendrick Motorsports about what that role will be," Gordon said. "And I'm comfortable behind the camera. I enjoy doing those things, and sometimes they're fun, but sporadically. If it was a full-time thing, I don't know if it's something I'm good enough at or if I'm really passionate about it." New agency means new business plan Gordon's recent shift in representation from IMG — a sports marketing agency with a long roster of clients in golf (Tiger Woods), tennis (Maria Sharapova), racing (Danica Patrick) and the NFL (Peyton Manning) — to Just Marketing International is indicative of his primary interest. Unlike IMG's diverse interests, JMI is focused solely on motor sports as a sponsor representative that manages more than $300 million annually in investments across NASCAR, the IRL, the American Le Mans Series and Formula One. "I feel they have their finger on top of our sport better than anybody," said Gordon, who worked with JMI through its sponsorship pitches to Hendrick. Bickford said previous agencies William Morris (from 1997 to 1999) and IMG (2000-09) helped "the Jeff Gordon brand transition out of the South," but JMI would help Gordon "demonstrate to people how to create choices post-driving because not every driver can go into TV." Gordon is the first driver in JMI's lineup and might be the only one, says CEO Zak Brown, who says the company would be interested only in other F1 stars (such as Lewis Hamilton) of Gordon's stature. "I think he's the poster boy for the new era of sponsorship, "Jeff's the most recognizable name internationally, and he likes the global side of the business, and that's a big strength of ours. That's the fastest-growing part of our business, because it's better to fish from a world economy, especially right now with the domestic economy not so good." JMI, based in Zionsville, Ind., has six offices in four countries, and about 40% of its business is international. That dovetails with Gordon dabbling in track design. Bickford says there's been interest in his stepson's services from China and the Middle East (where F1 sanctions races in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates). Gordon has consulted on Canadian Motor Speedway, a planned 1-mile oval with progressive banking in Fort Erie (near Niagara Falls) scheduled to open next year. Gordon says he encouraged track engineers to design smoother transitions from the turns into the straightaways. "I had a blast doing that," Gordon says. "I've always been a big believer that you need to have a driver involved in design. I'd love to bring some of that to the table." NASCAR ON TV THIS WEEK
All times Eastern Well, that's all for today. Until the next time, I remain, Your Nascar Momma Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"
"Don't come here and grumble about going too fast. Get the hell out of the race car if you've got feathers on your legs or butt. Put a kerosene rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up there and eat that candy ass." -Dale Earnhardt - 1998 |
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