Real RacinDeals

WHY THEY LOSE: I guess it’s natural for people to look at who’s to
blame when things go wrong… that is, who other than themselves. Take Richard
Childress. According to him, the reason they’re not running good this year is
that other teams are using traction control devices.

But so far, all the proof anyone has is fourth- or fifth-hand; someone’s
cousin knows someone whose brother works at the gas station where a mechanic who
works for one of the teams gets his gas, etc.

If NASCAR has found traction control devices, they’re either ignoring their
use or being quiet about busting teams. I don’t think either is happening. It’s
just sour grapes on Childress’ part because his teams have tanked without
Earnhardt’s presence.

TO SEARS POINT, AND BEYOND: It’s a good thing that Bruton Smith isn’t
in Alaska. That is, it’s a good thing for the Eskimos. I daresay that it
wouldn’t be long before he’d have the exclusive ice distributorship up there.

To sell naming rights to a company that doesn’t even sell products to the
public is a master stroke.

I still don’t really like the idea of naming rights for tracks. What would
have been easier to accept would have been to just go to Sears & Roebuck and
offer to drop the "Point" off the name for a check with a couple of
commas.

SHOWING RESTRAINT: "I can’t afford to give away another
invention." So says George White, who claims to have invented the first
head restraint device over 20 years ago.

To me, that says that his number one priority isn’t necessarily safety, but
profit. If preventing another death is the main point, how can you afford NOT to
give away another invention? If I had a concept that I thought would save lives,
making money off of it wouldn’t be the primary concern.

Regardless, now, 22 years after inventing this device (and two years after
the HANS device got all that publicity from the deaths of two drivers) we
finally hear about this invention. It’s up for approval by NASCAR. According to
White, the Hutchens Device is a copy of his device, which means that it should
get approval.

Anyway, after stating that he can’t really talk about his inventions, he says
"I will say that one of the things we are working on is to have the first
paraplegic driver participate in Winston Cup racing."

What?

Call me biased, but this certainly doesn’t sound safe. Can you imagine Sam
Schmidt in a Winston Cup car? Sorry, but this is the craziest idea I’ve heard. I
can’t imagine why anyone would want to "steal" this idea.

YOUR 37 CENTS AT WORK: Just in time for the 3 cent postage hike (a 9%
increase) comes the announcement that some of that money is going to sponsor a
Busch Car. They’re using it to sell a fund-raising stamp to raise money for the
families of emergency relief personnel who were killed on September 11.

While the fund is a worthy cause, the USPS has no business collecting money
for it using stamps and this race car sponsorship. They need to get back to the
business of delivering mail. They don’t need to spend money on advertising or
collecting for charities.

NURSE, I NEED A SPECIALIST: When will car owners realize that those
200 lb. cars they run in the 24 hour races are not 3400 lb. cars they run in
Winston Cup? Every time we have a road race, a few teams get guys like Boris
Said or whoever. And despite maybe running close to the front, something always
happens and they finish out of the top 25 or so. Why? Because the road course
specialists are running with teams that can’t get one car right, much less two.

It just doesn’t make sense to me to call in these guys for one or two races a
year. It shows that you have absolutely no faith in your existing driver.

You’re probably thinking I’m forgetting guys like Robbie Gordon or Jerry
Nadeau. Those guys have been around NASCAR’s Winson Cup Series long enough to
not be considered ringers. Sure, Nadeau subbed for Steve Grissom and did a
pretty good job, but as I said above, that just shows how little faith they had
in Grissom.

FINES, FIA STYLE: Yikes. Maybe if NASCAR fined teams like FIA, they
wouldn’t have to threaten taking away points. The FIA has fined Ferrari, Michael
Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello $1,000,000 for their sham finish last month in
Austria, where Schumacher "won" the race after Barrichello was
instructed to let him pass on the last lap.

Of course, this IS F1 we’re talking about, and you have to remember that a
low-end driver gets paid something like $20,000,000 a year, just for driving. So
Schumacher and Barrichello’s share of the $1,000,000 fine is chump change to
them.

WRESTLING WITH DRIVERS: I sure hope Sterling Marlin and Hermie Sadler
are making a ton of money from their appearance on a new wrestling show last
week and this week. I can’t imagine any other reason for them to be on the show.

REAL RACE CARS: Whenever I have a chance to watch a CART race (which
lately is rare, since by the time I realize there’s a race, it’s already over),
I like to root for Paul Tracy. But that’s probably going to change.

Seems that with CART’s future up in the air, and Team Green possibly looking
at the all-oval IRL, then in Tracy’s eyes he should open his options and look at
NASCAR. That makes sense, since NASCAR has a bigger fan base than the IRL (and
probably CART, at least in the US). But then he puts his foot in his mouth, by
saying that "they’re not real race cars."

Paul Tracy needs NASCAR more than NASCAR needs him. Perhaps he should think
about that next time he says anything about the sanctioning body.

REAL RACE CARS II: For some reason, DEI is talking to Sam Hornish, Jr.
about running him in a few races next year. One would think that they’d want to
get their program back on course for their existing three teams before thinking
about branching out. This is another example of the void in leadership at DEI
left by Dale Earnhardt’s death.

SPONSOR WOES: I’m not sure which is worse… not having a sponsor and
being unable to run one of your teams, or having a sponsor make you use Carrot
Top as an "honorary" crew chief.