Texas, Red Ink, and the Truck Series
DON’T MESS WITH TEXAS: Bruton Smith
still thinks that he’s going to get another Winston Cup race at his Texas track
in 2002. There’s really no reason these days for one track to host two events a
year. While it may be true that Texas could sell out both events, there are
markets that don’t have a Cup date that could too. It just makes more sense to
spread the races around.
STAY OUT THE WHAT?: The ugly body of politics is insinuating itself once again in racing. The
not-so-reverend Jesse Jackson has apparently stuck his nose (hopefully that’s
the only body part of his that’s involved) into a sponsorship deal between Dr.
Pepper and "the first
African-American owned NASCAR racing team and driver combo in NASCAR history."
Uh, Jesse, racing is a sport that doesn’t
respond well to "affirmative" action. You actually have to have some
talent to race. But I suspect that Dr. Pepper, in order to keep from being
called "racist" has succumbed to Jackson’s "brokering" of
the deal.
This looks like just a PR stunt to draw
attention away from Jackson’s other problems. And the line about this being the
first black owned/driven team in NASCAR history sounds good, but apparently
isn’t exactly true. But the Rainbow Coalition and other "civil rights"
organizations (that perpetuate race problems) haven’t let the truth get in the
way before, so it’s not surprising they’d make this kind of claim.
As it turns out, this is just going to be
a Late Model team that will run in the Weekly Racing Series in North Carolina
(note to Dr. Pepper PR: It’s the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series, not the NASCAR
Racing Series).
The driver they’ve picked, Morty Buckles, "has excelled at every form of
motor racing that he has participated in, having won numerous races and captured
many top five and top-10 finishes in his racing career." OK. Where’d he
race at last year?
It’s just as hard for me to understand why
someone would be picked to drive a car (or fill a job) because of his race as it
is to understand why someone would NOT be picked because of his race.
Once the helmet goes on, you can’t tell
what color a person is. All that matters is where they finish. No amount of
affirmative action can make someone win a race if they don’t have what it takes
to begin with.
DODGING THE MONEY: Is it true that
DaimlerChrysler uses red on their cars to signify what their bottom line looks
like? You can’t lose a billion dollars a quarter for too long and still
remain a viable business entity.
FOLLOW THE GLOWING CAR: I seem to
remember seeing somewhere on the ‘net that Fox wouldn’t try using any of that
glowing hockey puck technology on the races they’ll be broadcasting. But
according to this
article, it looks like they’ve got something up their sleeve, at least for the
Daytona 500.
It all looks like a Rube
Goldberg contraption: GPS receivers in the car along with other telemetry
systems will send the car’s location (and other info) to the production truck,
where it’ll be used to put a colored area around the car. Maybe if you’re
watching the race on a 13" TV, it might be a good thing, once they get the
set top box hardware in place so the viewer can pick the car he wants to
highlight. But I think it’s going to be very distracting, especially if they’re
highlighting a car that I’m not interested in.
THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE TRUCK
SERIES: Take an idea that Bob Harmon and Neil Bonnett came up with in the
early ’80’s, throw in some NASCAR, and add a TV package, and what do you get?
NASCAR’s Craftsman Truck Series.
When the Truck Series first started, they
had a "half-time" break (at some tracks, they had two breaks). The
result of that was that someone like Bobby Hamilton could buy a truck, take it
to Nashville Speedway USA for their first race there, and use a small toolbox
for his "pit wagon" and maybe two guys for a crew. Everyone was on an
even keel. No one had an advantage because they flew in pit specialists on race
day.
But then add a bigger dose of NASCAR to
the mix. We can’t leave well enough alone, so let’s get rid of the half-time
breaks, move away from the short tracks, and see what happens.
What happens is that the racing has become
just like Winston Cup racing: boring (with a couple of notable exceptions, just
like in Cup). Now races are won and lost in the pits, or on pit strategy.
Throw ESPN’s sub standard broadcast team in the mix, and you get low TV
ratings to boot.
You can trace the downfall of the Truck
Series to NASCAR’s removing the half-time break. Once they did that, the racing
became boring.
O-BOY: O-Town is going to sing the
National Anthem at the Daytona 500. Who’s O-Town you say? If I remember right,
they’re the "boy band" that was portrayed in an MTV Real World like
series last year. In other words, this is a made-for-TV band. I would guess that
most other singers of the National Anthem are either paid to perform or get VIP
treatment for the race. I wonder if this could be the first case of a band
paying the Speedway?