The Stafford Fall Final, and the Season Final Quarter
"The body has only five races on it, because the other one was all
crumpled up. We do a lot of beating and banging and pushing each other around,
so they get a little beat up."
So noted one of the crewmen for Stafford Late Model driver Chuck Zentarski in
describing the comparative cleanliness of Zentarski’s Dodge Intrepid alongside
the more battle-scarred Chevrolets of Scott Cook, John Yale, and others lined up
during Stafford’s pre-race pit party before the Fall Final.
"I think everyone’s a bit more equal this year," the crewman said.
"The motors are close, and you’ve got a lot of good cars up front and the
better drivers have to push their way to the front." This would account for
racing this year that has been noticably more ferocious than normal. As for
Zentarski’s motors, his team and a number of Stafford Late Models use Tony
Altieri engines, which also power Late Models and SK-class Modifieds throughout
Connecticutt as well a few cars at Riverhead, NY and even in New Jersey.
The #8 Dodge body still stands out among the GM near-monopoly in Late Models
– and not just because this season Zentarski sported backing from Governor John
Rowland’s election campaign. "One of the team owners is a big Dodge fan. We
had to put a new body on it, and he said, ‘I’m buying the body and I’m buying a
Dodge.’" The Dale Junior script and color scheme might throw an observer
off, but it is in keeping with Zentarski, whose cars used to be black and
silver-red, like Senior’s cars.
The Late Models were the opening act for the 2002 Fall Final, a unique event
in Stafford Motor Speedway’s history. The track has run Grand National North
cars before, but never in conjunction with the Modifieds. Until now.
Stafford’s pre-race pit party, allowing fans to interact with drivers, is a
nice counterpoint to the increasing hostility between Winston Cup drivers and
fans leading to growing restrictions on fan access to the garage area. Where
modern Winston Cup is increasingly segregating drivers from fans, here it is
still possible for ordinary folks to go to drivers like Dale Shaw and joke about
how God – or in Shaw’s case, Guaranteed Overnight Delivery, G.O.D. – is on his
side.
It is also possible for fans to sample at the racetrack SK Modified driver
Jimmy Williams’ sponsor, Dunkin Donuts. When was the last time a big-league
NASCAR team gave fans free samples of cereal, pop, or fast foods?
And on a more serious note, when was the last time big-league NASCAR racers
had the same competitive fire of the lower level classes? Certainly Late Model
rookie Craig Collins has shown a lot of fire this season. "I’ll drive the
car on the extreme edge, if I have to," he says. "I feel I can mix it
up with the best, but we still have a lot to learn here with the veterans.
Before Stafford we raced at Riverside Park, then we took a year off, and we’ve
raced at Thompson and won an outlaw race." He also won a Late Model feature
in latter summer.
Costs, as always, concern race drivers such as Late Modeler Tom Butler – who
ran Pontiacs until a couple of years ago, and this year the team cut extra nose
openings that make his noses look like Grand Prix snouts – with 13 wins in
Stafford’s Late Model classs but is still stuck on that number since 1999.
"We’re not sure if Integrity Windows is going to re-sign with us….the
market is hurting a little bit, right now," Butler said. "In Busch
North you need $150,000 a season, and that was my intention, but the market is
not that good for that. I don’t believe that at this point, where we are, they
can find a way to cut costs in our division. It would be a good idea, but we
haven’t been able to figure that part of it out."
The action was fast and hot in the Fall Final. The Late Models kicked things
off and Woody Pitkat clawed up to challenge Bob Botticello and Scott Garrity;
Pitkat swung under Botticello with ten to go. Jay Stuart, holding four feature
wins in the season, expressed preference for racing in daylight to night,
because his car improved better during sunlight, and he used the sunlight quite
well as the feature went on. Stuart gagged on a late restart, but fully
exploited how his car came in and roared back to Pitkat and got a
green-white-checker finish when Scott Cook spun. Stuart loosened Pitkat a hair
out of the third turn groove and scraped ahead by a wheel at the stripe – which
didn’t quite sit well with Pitkat and he had to be restrained during the victory
ceremony.
The Grand National North 150 was tamer, but did see a rather hair-raising
scuffle for the lead involving pole-sitter Mike Johnson. Johnson’s #96 Ford was
the first Ford to win the pole in North this season, and he did even better than
just win the pole – he also won the feature. Point leaders Andy Santarre, Matt
Kobyluck, and Brad Leighton all finished in the top ten and thus see their point
battle go to the final race of the year.
The SK Modifieds saw several lead changes early on and also a crash on the
start; Willie Hardie, Emil Downey, and several others were involved. Once that
was cleaned up another four-car crash erupted, then after that Ronnie Silk
powered up the outside just before the most savage crash of the day erupted off
Two – Tommy Cravenho, in Ed Partridge’s #12, spun and collected Jay Miller;
behind them Bob Georgidas smashed into Todd Owens, in Brad Hietela’s backup car,
and sliced Owens’ roof open. Ultimately Ronnie Silk took the feature, leading
the last 16 laps.
Then cam the Mod Tour, and Mike Stefanik was breaking in a new Art Barry #21
Chevrolet, painted bright silver and nicknamed The Silver Bullet. Stefanik was
looking for revenge after the New Hampshire loss, while Ted Christopher was
looking for the season sweep at Stafford, Chuck Hossfeld was looking for another
win, and Eddie Flemke was looking to increase his hair-thin point lead.
Flemke took the big blow of the race. At Lap 92 Joey Carracia collided with
Flemke and both hit the wall off Four; Flemke smashed his right front wheel
assembly, while Doug Coby and Bob Polverari spun on the frontstretch and
Polverari nearly got T-boned by two other cars going full throttle on the
outside. Flemke briefly haranged Carracia after the wreck, and now sits fifth in
points, out by 87.
While Jerry Marquis worked into contention, Terrible Ted led for awhile, but
the primary duel was between Stefanik and Hossfeld, who fought wheel to wheel
for the lead for some five straight laps before Hossfeld brushed Stefanik and
nearly lost it all on the backstretch.
Stefanik lost a big lead in the final laps, but the ensuing two-lap shootout
was anticlimatic, and Stefanik bagged his record 18th Mod Tour win at Stafford.
But even more important, the win gave Stefanik the point lead, while Jerry
Marquis’ fourth put him second in points by just eight, Hossfeld lies just 46
points out in third, and Ted Christopher climbed to fourth, 81 points out.
While the Fall Final was raging, the Winston Cup point race took another
surprising twist. Sterling Marlin smashed the wall, Mark Martin blew up late,
and Jimmie Johnson, despite dropping a lap down and finishing 10th, took the
point lead by 11 over Martin. Tony Stewart now lies 36 out, while Jeff Gordon’s
easy win vaulted him back into outside-shot contention, though he needs more
wins and crashes, blown engines, and the like for the other three to
realistically make up 109 points.
As for Sterling Marlin, he’ll need to explode into contention at Talladega to
start a point rally. He ran considerably better at Kansas than he’s run the last
few races, but he and Ganassi/SABCO need to pick it up more. Dodge as a class
looked better than they have recently – Bill Elliott and Jeremy Mayfield
finished in the top ten, John Andretti and Kyle Petty finished in the top
fifteen, and Kenny Wallace finished 16th.
The surprising quality of the Kansas 400 and Kansas 200 was how unstable the
cars were, serving as an object lesson in why racecars need more, not less, down force.
Offhand one cannot remember the last time this frequency of air-off-the-spoiler
crashes has been seen in NASCAR – certainly not since the mid-1990s, with down force
at half of today’s level. Marlin’s hard hit came when he lost the back of his
car, brushed another car, slowed, and thus got drop-kicked by Jeff Burton.
One hopes John Darby saw what was happening, because his proposed recipe for
lower down force is a recipe for more crashes, less passing, and inferior
racing.
One also has to wonder about the new softer tires being used. The tire used
at Kansas was softer than last year’s, but it certainly didn’t improve grip.
Thus, with the final quarter of the Winston Cup season underway, where do the
teams stand?
HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS – General Motors’ designated champion is back in
the hunt, GM’s designated star of the future leads the points, and the forgotten
members of this team had a surprisingly good day at Kansas – Joe Nemechek
finished fourth, his first top ten all season, while Terry Labonte finished
12th, his best finish in recent memory.
Gordon’s title hopes look less realistic than Johnson’s, but Chevy’s clutch
comeback at Kansas should provide some momentum entering the stretch run. The
best Nemechek and Labonte can hope for is a win, but Terry’s days now appear
numbered with Ricky Hendrick being groomed for the #5.
ROUSH PERFORMANCE RACING – Like Hendrick with two teams in the top ten
in points, Roush Racing’s elder statesman squandered a golden points opportunity
while the team’s winningest driver this year came home seventh in the 400. The
other two teams had a lousy day; Kurt Busch blew another engine – if you
remember his public tirade several weeks back about Roush’s engines, you may see
more such seething there – while Jeff Burton’s stout effort went up in smoke
after 222 laps. Burton’s effort certainly has no chance in the point race, and
one wonders if they will go the season without a win, for the first time since
the #99’s debut season of 1996.
JOE GIBBS RACING – Bobby Labonte is in outright freefall with two
wrecks in two days at Kansas and the team’s seeming inability to get the #18
competitive. Tony Stewart, meanwhile, keeps nickel-and-diming to title
contention and looks like the clear #1 in the JGR outfit. If Stewart pulls out
the title it will be something of an upset considering everything that has
happened this season.
GANASSI/SABCO RACING – Now in something of a freefall after the
Southern 500. Sterling Marlin’s Richmond crash took something out of him, his
hard Kansas crash may have taken some more out, and the weaknesses within the
overall Dodge program are finally starting to hurt his title hopes with mediocre
runs the last several races. Marlin isn’t getting much help from his teammate,
as Jimmy Spencer’s effort, better than in recent races, ended in another crash,
and the choice of winless Grand National sophomore Jamie McMurry to drive the
Texaco #42 next year has puzzled many.
There is also concern about the brand of car the Ganassi team will run, as
seen below…..
PENSKE SOUTH – Rusty Wallace isn’t in desperation mode yet, but the
lack of a win is eating at him despite another top five at Kansas. His lobbying
for softer tires appears to have gotten some results from Goodyear, but he
hasn’t been able to exploit it yet. Teammate Ryan Newman, meanwhile, has had the
best rookie campaign seen anywhere – by 1998 standards; the trouble is this is
2002, and rookie standards have become championship standards.
As for Penske’s marque of choice – Toyota’s NASCAR efforts are apparently
building, and despite Mike Mulhern’s insistence that Penske will switch to Dodge
next year (never mind the time constraints that make such a switch illogical
plus the lack of resistance from Ford), Penske (and Chip Ganassi) will almost
certainly be a Toyota campaigner should the brand arrive in Winston Cup in the
middle of the decade.
RAY EVERNHAM MOTORSPORTS – Two wins in two races caused fans and
everyone else to remember 1988 and the Bill Elliott title express. Elliott’s
efforts have cooled off since Indianapolis, and there is little realistic chance
of the title, but Elliott’s rejuvenation as a driver continues.
Teammates Jeremy Mayfield and Casey Atwood, though, are a different story.
Mayfield bagged his first top ten in months at Kansas, but there isn’t much talk
of a win here, and there is even less talk about Casey Atwood. A cynic might ask
if Evernham really has tried everything he can to boost Atwood’s efforts, and
with Evernham to "closely monitor" Atwood over the rest of the year,
we may see Atwood wind up back with Clarence Brewer in Grand National in 2003
and someone else in the ex-Kulwicki/Bodine/Mattei #7.
ROBERT YATES RACING – After being fired from DiGard Racing in the
summer of 1980, crew chief Buddy Parrott walked into the DiGard engine shop and
throttled Robert Yates. This is the most appropriate analogy to be drawn from
the Yates Racing soap opera of 2002, between very public feuding between driver
and owner over contracts, a fight between Ricky Rudd and one of his engine
builders, and a very subpar performance at Kansas. Rudd had a mediocre top
twenty and Dale Jarrett blew up, putting Jarrett 114 points out of tenth in
points and leaving Rudd 81 out of ninth and 101 ahead of 11th. Yates’ rumored
desire to get out of team ownership and open a multi-customer engine shop may
also be draining the team’s title hopes away.
EARNHARDT INC. – Dale Junior’s strong run at Kansas after admitting he
drove a quarter of the season with a concussion without informing anyone was a
needed shot after the mild uproar his revelation about his concussion caused.
Junior will be the favorite at Talladega but hopes for a top ten in points are
gone.
Teammate Michael Waltrip has also hit the skids lately, but his season is
still infinitely better than 2001, while Steve Park’s dismal season kept getting
worse with two more crashes and no realistic prospect of another top ten this
year.
PPI – The switch to Pontiac is a puzzle, and the uneven season Ricky
Craven has had took another dip with overheating at Kansas. Martinsville looks
to be Craven’s best shot at a win this season.
RCR ENTERPRISES – Jeff Green is the highest RCR Chevrolet in points.
It shows how much of a struggle the year has been that this is the case, and
that he is 17th in points with no chance at anything higher than 15th. Kevin
Harvick’s hot streak after changing crew chiefs cooled off badly, and after
leading at Kansas Harvick finished 11th, not a great finish but productive.
Robby Gordon played ghost in finishing 13th – no one heard a thing about him all
day – and sits 19th in points. Still, RCR has established a depth hard to find
in many multi-car teams.
JASPER MOTORSPORTS – That this team has three top tens is a stellar
effort considering the odds against them. Dave Blaney has clicked better than
expected here.
PETTY ENTERPRISES – The most improved team of the series. Kyle Petty
made clear to anyone who’d listen that his organization would have to
nickel-and-dime to get out of their hole, and that is how they’ve raced this
year. John Andretti’s mini-soap opera on his contract was nettlesome, and the
changes in crew chiefs at his corner and that of the #44 (not to mention the
driver changes there) have impeded the team’s forward progress, but Kansas saw
some consistency show up for the organization. The #44 will race wherever it can
next year, and a sponsor would do well to back that car for a team closing back
to competitive strength.
WOOD BROTHERS RACING – After a hot start, Elliott Sadler cooled
greatly and has three other top tens to go with two seconds. A stronger team
than its stats show, the Wood Brothers are looking forward to Ricky Rudd, while
Sadler is looking forward to the Yates team.
BILL DAVIS RACING – Winning the Daytona 500 was the highlight; winning
the New England 300 was the statement that this is a great team. But the
organization has struggled quite badly at most events, and Kansas’ cut tire and
subsequent multicar melee involvement was another wall in the team’s season.
Burton’s teammate has been an area of instability after Hut Stricklin’s strong
effort at New Hampshire in July; Kenny Wallace is now aboard but has not
improved the team at all despite 16th at Kansas.
MORTON-BOWERS-VALVOLINE RACING – A team on the edge. Ken Schrader has
picked up in top fifteen consistency despite being wiped out early at Kansas,
but has no top tens to show for his efforts, and the sponsor is quitting with a
new sponsor hunt a touch-and-go prospect. Certainly a sponsor can benefit from
this, a competitive team. While Schrader is running well, Johnny Benson saw a
top ten at Kansas explode into 23rd. Five top tens this season is decent, but
hardly worth celebrating for a driver once touted as the next first-time winner.
MORGAN-MCCLURE MOTORSPORTS – They have to hope that Pontiac backing
will help them; something is needed for a team with literally nothing to show
for the season.
BODINE-BROOKS RACING – Brett Bodine may be finished as a team owner
now. Two straight DNQs usually means no more starts with so few races left in
the year. Hooters Restaurants now looks certain to purchase the team.
TRAVIS CARTER RACING – Believe it or not, Todd Bodine has a top five
and three other top tens this year. But that’s all that can be said for a
hopelessly out-resourced team. Carter’s choice of Hideo Fukuyama for his #66
raises questions about his wisdom in driver choices.
A.J. FOYT RACING – Another hopelessly out-resourced team, Mike Wallace
has given some life to the #14, but there is more needed to get some power going
here.
ELIZABETH ANN MORGENTHAU RACING – They shot themselves by hiring
untalented Shawna Robinson as a driver; they have no chance of making up for
that mistake.
ANDY PETREE RACING – Losing one team and then losing their primary
driver in a bad multi-car crash at Richmond are an ignominious fall for a team
that bagged two spectacular wins in 2001. Greg Biffle gave the #55 an adrenaline
charge in relief of Hamilton, but has faltered as the season has ground on and
has little prospect unless something big happens in way of a sponsor.
So now comes the best racetrack in the world. I know what people like Ed
Hinton will say, but ignore the critics – Talladega is the ultimate speedway.