Attention-Getting RacinDeals
TONY’S APOLOGY: Actually, this should be headed "My apology to
Tony Stewart." Stupid me, believing everything I read in the media. First
there was the interview with the British men’s magazine that said Stewart had
called Alabama fans obnoxious. Then there was the reports of his apology that
sounded worse than the original interview.
I got a chance to hear Stewart for myself on the Rick & Bubba radio show
the other morning…. without the filter of the racing press or any other press.
I believe him when he says that not only did he not say what he’s accused of
saying, but that he was asked a question and his answer was taken out of
context. That happens all the time in the conventional news media, and I’ve seen
it happen in the racing media as well.
So, I take back all my comments
about what Tony had reportedly said about racing fans and Alabama fans in
particular.
HIT BY BUCKSHOT: There’s a phrase we won’t be hearing in the Cup
circuit for a while. Despite assurances earlier this season that Buckshot Jones
was safe, he’s been released by the Petty’s. Steve Grissom is set to take over
the #44 car.
While I’m not that big a fan of Buckshot (I think he moved up to Cup WAY too
early), I don’t think I like the fact that a driver who brings a sponsor to a
team is let go. If I’m the driver who brings a bunch of money to a team, and
they fire me, I’ll take my sponsor dollars to another team. At the very least,
I’d make sure my contract said that if I were released I’d be free to shop the
sponsor around.
CAN I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE?: Kevin Harvick says NASCAR got his
attention by being parked Sunday. He’s still "learning" how things
work in NASCAR.
Let’s hope he doesn’t have attention deficit disorder.
HARVICK’S APOLOGY: Hmm, Tony Stewart apologizes for something he said
that was taken out of context. Kevin Harvick doesn’t think he owes anyone an
apology for his actions last weekend.
Oh well. Harvick says he now knows who his friends are. To me, a friend isn’t
someone who stands by while you screw up; they say something. If Harvick wants
yes men as friends, that’s his choice. He could have come out of this a better
person, and maybe he is. But to in effect deny responsibility for what he did
doesn’t bode well for that.
YOUR PURSE IS TOO SMALL: Bill Davis racing complained that the purse
at Nashville Superspeedway was too small, that it wasn’t the $1,000,000 they
were promised. They indicated that they were not going to enter driver Scott
Wimmer in last weekend’s race because of that.
They showed up anyway. Maybe when they figured out that the Nashville purse
was only a few thousand dollars different from the Bristol purse they decided to
go ahead and run the race. Guess they’re glad they did, since he got his career
best finish in the race.
THE NASCARIZATION OF CART: CART realized it’s races were boring, so
they made pit stops mandatory. They made some other rules changes to liven up
the competition. Guess they’ve finally figured out what NASCAR has known for a
while, namely that racing is show business, and the more entertaining the races,
the better.
They’ve also learned another thing or two from NASCAR. Fail post-race
inspection because of height? No big deal. We’ll dock you some money but you get
to keep the win and points. That’s exactly what they did after last weekend’s
Long Beach race to Michael Andretti.
If you ask me, that’s a bad thing to learn from NASCAR.
PAY TV: NASCAR’s new pay-TV package sounds interesting, but it’s way
over priced. You get five or six channels (no one seems to know how many
channels actually come with the package) of stats, in-car camera views, and
commercials. You read that right. We already know how stupid NASCAR thinks its
fans are ("How bad have you got it?"). Now they think you’re crazy
enough to shell out a $100 for the privilege of watching commercials. Sorry, but
I wasn’t born yesterday.
MONOPOLY MONEY: On the surface, the NASCAR/ISC "partnership"
looks incestuous at best. After all, NASCAR awards races to tracks, and the
owners of NASCAR are major stockholders in ISC. But a race sponsorship
announcement this week got me to thinking.
Sirius Satellite Radio has announced that they’re going to sponsor two
Winston Cup races. Sirius is a direct competitor to XM Satellite Radio. One of
XM’s channels is a NASCAR Radio, which is apparently a partnership with NASCAR.
Along these same lines is the Pepsi/Coke situation. Coke is NASCAR’s official
soft drink, but if you go to an ISC track, you can only get Pepsi.
So it looks like ISC is doing its best for ISC’s stock holders, regardless of
NASCAR.
Either that, or the France family has figured out a way to get sponsorship
from competing companies.
THE BIG ONE: Saturday they had the "big one" during the
Busch race. Looks like everyone got what they wanted, since all the drivers were
expecting a big wreck to happen. These big wrecks are more self-fulfilling
prophecies than anything. Drivers get so keyed up thinking about what they have
to do to avoid the big wreck that they end up causing it.
Just remember that these "big ones" aren’t exclusive to Talladega
and Daytona. Every track has the potential for a big wreck; it’s just that at
Talladega they expect it, and they end up getting what they expect.
ROUSH: I’m not a big fan of Jack Roush. I think the way he did Joe
Ruttman a few years ago was less than ethical. But I certainly don’t wish the
man any physical harm. I’m glad that he didn’t suffer any life-threatening
injuries in his plane crash Friday. Here’s hoping he fully recovers.