Talladeda II RacinDeals
NEVER SAY NEVER: Jeff Burton says he will "never"
leave Roush Racing.
I suspect that Joe Ruttman had the same feeling as well.
NORTH WILKESBORO: Let’s see… we have two entities who each
own 50% of a facility, and the facility is falling into disrepair.
You’d think they’d have at least sold it by now, but for some
reason they haven’t.
Now Junior Johnson wants to buy the track and run a driving
school and put on truck and Busch races.
Let’s hope Bahre and Smith put the best interests of racing in
front of their own for a change and sell the track to Johnson.
NOT EARNHARDT: Kevin Harvick, repeat after me: I am not Dale
Earnhardt. I am not Dale Earnhardt. I am not Dale Earnhardt. I am
not Dale Earnhardt. I am not Dale Earnhardt. I am not Dale
Earnhardt. I am not Dale Earnhardt. I am not Dale Earnhardt. I am
not Dale Earnhardt. I am not Dale Earnhardt. I am not Dale
Earnhardt. I am not Dale Earnhardt. I am not Dale Earnhardt. I am
not Dale Earnhardt. I am not Dale Earnhardt. I am not Dale
Earnhardt. I am not Dale Earnhardt.
BOBBY GETS IT: "I guess the best thing for me and (Kevin)
Harvick to do is get on that front straightaway and fight. I
think the fans need something like that right now. …We’re
starting to see a few empty seats around here and this kind of
thing brings them back." – Bobby Hamilton
PAUL’S FINE: Paul Tracy wasn’t happy with the way the CART
Chief Steward handled his pit contact with another driver the
other day. In his interview on ESPN, he called him a clown.
The "clown" has fined Tracy $50,000 to in effect
"get even" with him. Sure, there were other factors
named in the indictment against Tracy, but you just know that the
Chief Steward is just getting back at him. I hope Tracy appeals
the fine and wins.
DIZZYING SPEEDS: Speaking of CART, seems that Texas Motor
Speedway and CART have settled the lawsuit that TMS brought
against CART after CART cancelled their race in April, just two
hours before the green flag.
Of course, no details are available, since the terms of the
settlement are confidential. But at the very least, CART should
have refunded the sanction fee, plus covered any expenses TMS
incurred in the cancellation.
NOT VERY PUNNY: OK, can we get away from the Tide and Craven
puns now?
DR. JEKYL AND MR. STEWART: I guess you need to be somewhat of
a schizophrenic to drive a race car. Tony Stewart is probably
the most glaring example of that I can think of. The guy who
turned Jeff Gordon on pit road (and who’s still on double secret
probation from NASCAR), was spotlighted the other day during the
race broadcast for his charity work.
I might not like the way he drives, or even behaves in a
competitive situation, but off the track he’s doing good stuff.
Keep it up, Tony.
RESTRAIN ME: NASCAR has caved. Starting this weekend, drivers
in their three top tier series will be required to wear a head
and neck restraint device. Apparently, the only two "approved"
contraptions are the HANS and the Hutchens systems.
If you ask me, NASCAR is assuming a big responsibility here.
What are they going to say when a driver gets killed wearing one
of these things? Is NASCAR going to be held liable for the death?
What happens if it’s determined that the device was a
contributing factor to the death?
Chances are, all of NASCAR’s touring divisions and the Weekly
Racing Series drivers next year will be required to wear one of
these gizmos. Hutchens and Hubbard/Downing, Inc. are going to be
busy over the holidays.
COFFEE AND ME: I like Hut Stricklin. I think he’s a nice guy.
I even met one of his sisters one time, and she invited me to the
Allison family picnic on race day at Talladega.
But the phrase "nice guys finish last" seems to
apply to Hut. However, he’s made some friends at Hills Brothers,
who are apparently shopping a sponsorship/driver package to a few
teams for next year.
Why don’t they just do like Valvoline and buy an ownership
interest in a car?
TALLADEGA: I’m looking forward to this weekend’s race at
Talladega. While I’ll miss being there, it’ll be nice not to have
to get up at the crack of dawn just to avoid the crowd.
I read and hear things people say about Talladega not being
real racing…. and that just boggles my mind. They say things
like the drivers don’t control their own destiny, and they’re at
the mercy of the pack.
OK then, I have a question for those people: which is more
exciting, watching a Dale Earnhardt go from 18th to first in
three laps, or watching Jeff Gordon pit, take two tires, come out
first, and go on to win?
The things they say about Talladega racing could apply to any
track. Bobby Hamilton’s fate at Martinsville was taken out of his
control by another driver, so it’s not like that’s a unique
feature at Talladega.
I also see things like "This is usually not one of the
most favorite stops on my list…" (from a racing web site
run by "divas"). Fine, if you don’t like the track,
don’t watch the race. But I would suggest that you stop watching
racing completely, and find something safe to watch, like football
(oops, more people die from football each year than in racing).
And this new reporterette chick from AP,
Jenna Fryar, needs to find another sport to cover. According to her, Talladega
Superspeedway is "one of the most dangerous tracks in NASCAR." Hey
Jenna? Why not do your own research instead of parroting what the rest of the
media says?
SNUBBING: At least NASCAR isn’t caving into pressure to adopt
the Lew Composites Bumper. But predictably, the press is
crucifying NASCAR for it’s "inaction" or "snubbing"
of the "humpy bumper."
Let me see if I’ve got this right: when your safety experts
want more testing done to closer simulate real world conditions
before you adopt a "safety" device, then that’s called
"snubbing". Some people just don’t get it.
CHARITY GIMMICKS III: Dale Jarrett cost the Susan G. Komen
Breast Cancer Foundation $2,500 the other day. How? By finishing
second instead of winning the race. With his second place finish,
Ford Credit paid the foundation $7,500. If Jarrett had won,
they’d have paid the foundation $10,000.
The positive side to this is that they at least got some money.
If Jarrett had finished 4th or worse, they wouldn’t have been
paid a cent. Ford Credit has given almost $600,000 to this
foundation over the last three or four years, which is a good
thing. But to tie that donation to the finishing position, laps
completed, laps led, or any other competition-based calculation
is just a gimmick.
Why doesn’t Ford Credit just give the foundation $500,000 a
year? If Jarrett won all the poles ($5,000 each) and won every
race ($10,000 each), that’d a little over $500,000.
SLOWLY BUT SURELY: When I started RacinDeals.com a little over
two years ago, one of the first things I posted
was a piece on what I’d change if I ran NASCAR. One of those
items was mandating a single engine for qualifying and the race.
NASCAR finally saw the light and announced that in 2002, with
only a couple of exceptions (which I don’t really buy), teams
will have to race the engine they qualify with.
Now if they were only made to race the cars with the same
setup they qualified with…