Vegas Testing Turns a Junk Yard

It would seem that the testing at the newly configured Las Vegas Motor Speedway has turned testing from expectations of performance feedback to heaps of COT junk.

For the second consecutive year, Sprint Cup Preseason Thunder testing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway turned into a crash-fest, as eight different Cars of Tomorrow were terminally wrecked in two days of testing.

See who and what at NASCAR News

Richard Petty to Wave the Green Flag

Seven-time Daytona 500 Champion Richard Petty, who's father Lee won the inaugural Daytona 500 in 1959, will serve as honorary starter for the historic 50th running of the Daytona 500 on Sunday, Feb. 17.

We are so honored and proud to have Richard Petty drop the green flag to get the most anticipated event in racing history underway," Speedway president Robin Braig said. "Richard and the Daytona 500 are synonymous with NASCAR's biggest, richest and most prestigious race and we're thrilled to have him get the 50th spectacle underway."

I think that is a great combination of this milestone 50th start for the Daytona 500 and the king himself, Richard Petty, waving the green flag.  I can't wait.

See the article over at NASCAR.

Jr Not as Mad as We Thought

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said his feelings about the removal of show cars and memorabilia at Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI) were mischaracterized, and he has no ill will toward his late father's company.

He goes on to say that for anyone to see his history at DEI, his stuff is still there.

Being it was originally reported that DEI took the cars away and Jr was upset about it seemed odd, being as how Max Siegel had to move the cars to make room for a press luncheon.. so there seemed to have been a lot ta do 'bout nuthin.

See Fox Sports for the rest of the article.

Ganassi wins Third Rolex

Chip Ganassi's drivers weren't racing to make money. They wanted to make history. They didn't make a dime from the win, but apparently they needed some watches!

They succeeded Sunday when Juan Pablo Montoya teamed with Dario Franchitti, Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas to give Ganassi an unprecedented third victory in the Rolex 24-Hour race in as many years.

See Fox Sports for the rest of the details.

Kenny Wallace has a Nationwide Ride

Fitz Motorsports announced that Kenny Wallace will drive a second car for the team in the Nationwide Series in 2008.

Following its successful 2007 season, Fitz Motorsports was eager to field a second car alongside Mike Bliss in the No. 22 Dodge. After much consideration, the organization decided to bring Wallace on board to fill the seat.

See NASCAR for more details.

Is DEI Being Spiteful

Is DEI acting the part of a spiteful parent?

It's being reported that all memorabilia relating to Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been removed from the shop of the race team his father started.

To this writer, removing the visual part of the garage's history is a surprise if this is true. It's a piece of their past that helped make them who they are today, with the fans they have today.

Earnhardt said Monday he's upset that all signs of his stint at Dale Earnhardt Inc. had allegedly been removed from the shop. First told of the absence of his memorabilia last week, he originally said he didn't care.

The absence of Earnhardt-related items was noticed by media who attended a luncheon at DEI last Wednesday. The driver left his late father's company at the end of last season, and he'll drive for Hendrick Motorsports this year.

Max Siegel's response to the scenario is that the team has Earnhardt memorabilia on display and "about nine of his old cars" had been moved off the showroom floor to make room for the luncheon.

"There seems to be some confusion over memorabilia and merchandise," Siegel said. "We no longer have a relationship with Dale Jr. or Budweiser, so we have no license, agreement or business reason to sell any of that merchandise in our gift shop. But as far as memorabilia, more than half of the showroom floor is dedicated to Dale Jr.'s history here."

So there you have it.. some rumors, some conjecture,some hyper conclusion jumping, some fact.

Fox Sports

Steve Park News

An announcement on Steve Park’s official website announced that Steve Park will be returning to the basics and will compete this season full time in the Camping World East Series for NDS Motorsports.

Roush had slow start on COT Testing

Jack Roush was saying that they got a slow on the CoT testing because of NASCAR's rules on tire testing. He expected a crackdown on teams that were using non-Goodyear tires to test in a manner Roush felt was outside of NASCAR policies.

Roush assumed that all testing was going to happen at the same place, but things didn't pan out as he expected and that was the impetus of his organization getting behind the 8 ball on the CoT curve.

Check out the details over at Thats Racin.

NASCAR and Higher Education

Right now, the only driver on the track with a degree (From Purdue University) is Ryan Newman. From Ryan's perspective the education has helped him to manage his time more effectively and has made him a better problem solver.

Presently, nearly every major Cup team today has at least 20 engineers to help manage the team resources. With the competition for seats at an all time high, the take is that one way to increase the marketability of a driver and what's attractive for big companies is education.

(Yea, but if a kid can wheel a car better than anyone else, that goes a long way with everyone!)

Presently, universities and colleges are coming up with NASCAR based curriculum and degrees.

See the rest of this fascinating article at NASCAR.

Jacques Villeneuve parts ways with his Manager

Bill Davis Racing driver & Former Formula One champion Jacques Villeneuve parted ways with his longtime manager and friend Craig Pollock.

The Journal de Montreal reported on Saturday that Villeneuve, who was ready to begin his rookie year in NASCAR's Sprint Cup series, has split with Pollock after 15 years working together.

Read the rest at Fox Sports

Bill Davis Racing's Dave Blaney

Dave Blaney drives the 22 CAT Toyota in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for 2008.

He was born Oct 24, 1962, married to Lisa and has 3 children named Emma, Ryan and Erin and reside in High Point, NC.

His hobbies are Sprint cars, his children's racing and is the co-owner of Sharon (Ohio) Speedway.

He came to NASCAR in 1997 from the Sprint car racing series, backed by Amoco.

For more details, check out his page on Bill Davis Racing.

McDonald's to Back Sadler in '08

MCDONALD’S TO SPONSOR ELLIOTT SADLER IN 2008 - McDonald’s USA and Gillett Evernham Motorsports announced that McDonald’s will sponsor Elliott Sadler’s No. 19 Dodge in six NASCAR Sprint Cup races in 2008.

Cool, Bruce likes the looks that the previous McDonald's cars in years past..
~~~

Additionally Stanley Tools will have a fresh new look in 2008. NASCAR fans will now see the familiar yellow and black colors of the Stanley brand on Elliott Sadler's Gillett Evernham Motorsports No. 19 Dodge at a dozen races plus the All-Star race during the upcoming NASCAR Sprint Cup season.

Evernham Motorsports News Center

Dover and Hendrick Museum Tidbits

The Monster Monument at Victory Plaza will be completed prior to the spring race weekend at Dover, and Miles the Monster will become the largest attraction at a NASCAR track and one of the world's tallest fiberglass structures.  See NASCAR for More
~~~

Over on Racing One,Hendrick Museum Closes for Renovations

Daytona Prototypes strange relationship to the COT

5 Daytona Prototypes will start the 46th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway tomorrow. That should give some comfort to NASCAR fans who are nervous about the future competitiveness of the Racer Formerly Known as CoT.

Daytona Prototypes were introduced to skeptical sportscar racing fans in 2002 by, basically the same folks who are force-feeding you that other car.

See Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie for more on this interesting perspective.
~~~

Speaking of the Rolex 24, some of the NASCAR drivers warming up their skills that will be competing in the Rolex 24 are Jimmie Johnson, Dario Franchitti, Juan Pablo Montoya, AJ Allmendinger, Kurt Busch, Boris Said, Michael McDowell, Scott Pruett, Bill Lester, John Andretti, A.J. Foyt IV, Tony George, Brent Sherman, David Donohue, Buddy Rice, JC France, Colin Braun, Marc Goossens, Andy Pilgrim, Anthony Lazzaro, Jack Baldwin, Andy Lally, Max Papis, David Murry, Chris Bingham, Joe Varde. Tony Stewart does not look like he'll be in it this year.. probably tired of running cars that break on him with a few laps left!  (Wow.. this might become the NASCAR Rolex 24 if they're not careful.)

Kern County's new Track and help from Kevin Harvick

Bakersfield, CA:  On Thursday, January 31^st, the students and advisors who will represent their schools in the 2008 Kern Schools Federal Credit Union Racing Series at "Kern County's New Home to NASCAR", will be presented their race cars for 2008.  The presentation was originally scheduled for last Tuesday, but dense fog led to rescheduling of the event.

Twenty General Motors vehicles will be presented to the twenty area teams that plan to compete in the upcoming racing competition at the new raceway currently under construction west of Bakersfield.  The cars will be transformed from their current state of street legal vehicles to full fledge race cars before the start of the race season this summer.

"We started the High School Racing Series in 1997, and today we are still the only racetrack in the country to offer a race series of this type."  stated Mesa Marin Raceway founder Marion Collins.

"We've had tremendous response so far, with over twenty area teams interested in participating in the program for 2008."  Collins added.

The series received a huge boost as it approaches the 2008 season with the help of Kern Schools Federal Credit Union, and local NASCAR star Kevin Harvick, who helped raise over $100,000 for the series during his inaugural charity event that was held in August at the Buck Owens' Crystal Palace.

Thursday, January 31^st at 3:30pm, adjacent to the showroom of Motor City Auto Center (3101 Pacheco Road in Bakersfield), representatives from the race teams will be on hand to participate in a lottery to choose their race car for this year.

            For more information please contact the offices of "Kern County's New Home to NASCAR" at 661-397-7333.

The 21 Car and MWR stuff

The 21 car owned by Eddie Wood is going to have 3 drivers this year that include Bill Elliott, Jon Wood and Marcus Ambrose.
 FoxSports
~~~

Michael McDowell is slated to drive the No 00 Camry of David Reutimann while Reutimann will get into the 44 Camry of Dale Jarrett once he steps aside after the 5th race of the year in Michael Waltrip Racin.
 FoxSports

Andretti, Jarrett, Kentucky Speedway stuff

Some Scene Daily Headlines:

Andretti still looking for 2008 ride

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - John Andretti says he is looking for a ride for 2008 and won't totally rule out a return to BAM Racing in the future.

Jarrett looking forward to broadcasting races

CORNELIUS, N.C. - Dale Jarrett isn't sure of the exact schedule he'll have on ESPN this season, but the NASCAR veteran says he is looking forward to moving into the broadcast arena.

Kentucky Speedway changes truck race date

The Craftsman Truck Series race scheduled for July 12 at Kentucky Speedway has been moved to July 19 to avoid a conflict with the Sprint Cup race at Chicagoland Speedway, NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston confirmed Thursday.

StubHub, the Preferred Ticket Marketplace for Daytona

StubHub, the world's largest marketplace for tickets, has been selected by the Daytona International Speedway as the Preferred Fan-to-Fan Ticket Marketplace for all events related to the 50th running of the Daytona 500.

Through an agreement with International Speedway Corporation (ISC), StubHub will receive the direct endorsement of the Daytona International Speedway in a variety of race-related collateral materials and promotional elements including print literature and online destinations.

What this means to us is awesome prices, or at least one more avenue to do some price comparisons!

See the article at Racing One for more details.

Visit StubHub to check out NASCAR and Motorsports Tickets

A.J. Allmendinger qualified on the outside pole

Red Bull Racing's A.J. Allmendinger qualified his Daytona Prototype on the outside pole for Saturday's Rolex 24 at Daytona, joining his Michael Shank Racing teammate Oswaldo Negri Jr. on the front row for the famed endurance race.

See this NASCAR.com article for all the details.

Dale Earnhardt Jr in a new Television Series

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the focus of a new television series on ESPN, Dale Jr. – Shifting Gears, premiering prior to next month’s opening of the 2008 NASCAR season.

The five-part series chronicles Earnhardt’s move from Dale Earnhardt Inc., the team founded by his father, to Hendrick Motorsports, in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

See Speedway Media for more details.
(Maybe I'm gettin' old, lazy or blind, but I can't find myself an actual link on ESPN about this!)

NASCAR wants Drivers to be Who They Are

After a few years of beating down "vibrant" personalities when conflict would arise, the NASCAR scene has become quite the politically correct, 'How do you do?" crowd.  We still see flare ups every now and then, but pretty much it's just racing...  with the occasional helmet toss at moving targets, which would cost the helmet tosser some "raffle ticket fee" to an elite, and exciting club that the fans enjoyed watching.

Basically, driver rivalry kept the fans awake and alive when the hum drum laps would count down through the first 2/3rds of a race.  Especially the TV fans.

Now, for 2008, NASCAR says they want the drivers to be who they really are...  which means everyone has to look out for Tony Stewart.  All joking aside, it's an interesting perspective considering NASCAR has been bowing down to network sponsors (so the theory goes) pressure to clean it up and in light of recent attitude developments by NASCAR, (See my previous post here), I think someone woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat finally realizing that they're driving away the core crowd, the faithful fans who never budge for anything for their beloved sport.

Brian France is trying to find a balance between giving the drivers' what they want and ensuring transgressions don't escalate out of control.  Fine, after the race, WWN in turn 3.. boxing gloves supplied!  Hash it out old school style.  (Come to think of it, how many new drivers would bow out if that really were to the case?)

So far.. it seems NASCAR might be finally listening to the fans and the drivers.. so we'll no longer see driver friends rubbing fenders after a race getting fined for goofing off on track.  Either that, or it's a big ploy to garner more fines for the NASCAR foundation.  Hmm.

The inspirational article is over on NASCAR.com.  They chat a little about the fiery collection of drivers under Joe Gibbs Racing roof!  Sheesh, that could be an interesting powder keg.

TV Time Outline for the 2008 NASCAR Season

Broadcast times for the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season have been announced, beginning with FOX's broadcast of the non-points Budweiser Shootout at 8:30 p.m. (ET) on Feb. 9 at Daytona International Speedway.

-18 of the races this year will have a 2 pm eastern Sunday start time.
-All NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points events will be seen on FOX, TNT, ABC and ESPN.
-The two non-points events the Gatorade Duel at Daytona (2 p.m. ET on Feb. 14) and the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race (7:30 p.m. ET on May 17 at Lowes Motor Speedway), will be broadcast by SPEED.

Fox will have the first 13 events, TNT, the six after that and ESPN / ABC will finish up the season.

For the nitty gritty details, check out RacingOne.

Jarrett Replaces Wallace at ESPN

Dale Jarrett will replace Rusty Wallace in the booth this season for ESPN's coverage of NASCAR, while Wallace will become the lead analyst for the network's studio programs.

The move is not exactly surprising – Jarrett thrived last season when he helped call Nationwide Series events last year, and many believed he was headed into a second career of broadcasting when he retires from racing after driving the first five races of 2008.

Any changes they make at ESPN can only help them move forward with a higher quality product that what they've produced so far and we can only benefit from this change..   I hope.

Read the entire Jenna Fryer article at SignonSanDiego

It's time to Change the Tides of Change

Over on NASCAR.com is an article that goes on for quite some number of paragraphs describing how all the change that NASCAR has gone through may not have all been for the better.

One of my premises with this newsletter is to make posts as short and sweet as possible, and if you're intrigued by the info, there's a link attached to let you know where the rest of the article is.

There is hope for NASCAR, if this article is really saying what the words are representing, but near the end of the article, is, to me, the most important statement any ISC or NASCAR official could ever make:

H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler said the start times for many Sprint Cup races this coming season will be earlier, a departure from the mid-afternoon green flags used to try and entice West Coast viewers. "I think we all yielded to pressure from the networks a little more than we should have," Wheeler said. "We paid the price for it, and we're getting back to sanity again."

This is an Opinion Article, and I can't find this noted in the actual coverage of the speech in one source I'm looking at, so here ya go.
See the whole 9 yards of the article over at NASCAR.com

John Kernan and SIRIUS Satellite

Over on Sirius Satellite Radio Backstage John Kernan started a post after he "left" Sirius at the end of last year and some other hosts and producers got in on it. I don't think Kernan did himself any favors with this one and I'm guessing he was pretty miffed to actually start this post.

It starts out: Now some of you may think this is sour grapes, but i left the drivers seat of my own free will, almost.

Check it out at SIRIUSBACKSTAGE.

If you Miss Mesa Marin

So when Mesa Marin Raceway went by the way side for real estate development (How's that going guys?), I was pretty disappointed that this fun track would be no more.

It was a great venue with tons of access, fantastic visibility of the entire track and pits and I got to meet a few guys there like Kevin Harvick. (Yes, he's as much a hoot as he appears on TV.)

In the event you gave up on any kind of racing in that region and relegated your depressed state of acceptance to Irwindale Speedway in Southern California (That's an awesome place too by the way.), the Collins family who operated Mesa Marin for approximately 29 years has plans. Big plans.

In fact they broke ground on February 7th, 2007 on an 85 acre lot west of Bakersfield, California as a joint effort between the Collins family and the locally well known Destefani family.

The track site will feature a high banked half mile oval with an integrated quarter mile oval and a one eighth mile drag strip. Racing was hoped to begin in the spring of 2008.

Well, to be accurate, they already had their first racing event there.. It was a free event with only 2 contestants. During the groundbreaking ceremony Marion Collins and Alan Destefani, the patriarchs of the two racing families climbed into two CAT dirt movers and with a countdown from the crowd, and Mel Destefani waving a green flag, the two mighty CATS took off for an impromptu drag race. No press on who won, or if the dirt movers passed inspection.

Right now, the track is referred to as Kern County's New Home to NASCAR.

Dale Earnhardt Jr's New Track

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is now headed the way of Tony Stewart and a few other drivers who own race track venues. It's called Alabama Motorsports Park, and it's slated to be fully operational by the year 2010.

The facility looks to host events on it's three tracks, an oval track, (branded A Dale Earnhardt Jr Speedway), a road course and a karting track—and will accommodate stock car, truck, open wheel, sprint and motorcycle racing.

The facility is backed by an investor group that includes a diverse group of entrepreneurs based in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia. These include members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the College Football Hall of Fame, and owners of race teams in various stock car and road racing series.

The facility will also see other locally based commercial ventures like an RV resort, a fishing lake, multiple retail locations and restaurant outlets. Other music and entertainment facilities are also planned including music theaters. (Alabama Motorsports Park PR) (I'm wondering if Budweiser isn't bummed about this right now? I bet Mountain Dew is happy.)

In other news, did you know that Dale Jr. is opening a racetrack? The fact that it's branded A Dale Earnhardt Jr Speedway leads me to believe that this will not be the last track he's opening under his name.

http://www.alabamamotorsportspark.com/ is the home page and you can see links to news and a site plan for the facility.

The track also hosts a website / portal that to me, is how they're generating attention to the facility. The website is called The HotLap and is dedicated exclusively to the Nationwide series. It used to be known as BGNRacing.com but that ended when Busch ended it's association with the NASCAR Busch Series.

Update: I left out that Dale Earnhardt Jr is part owner of one other track, Paducah International Raceway, with Ken Schrader and others. (My bad.) My take is that his name is part of the track name, unlike Paducah and I am wondering aloud how many more tracks might be graced with his name. Paducah's short name seems to be PIR, but Phoenix might have issues with that sometime down the road.

New Procedures Announced by NASCAR

Nope, this isn't a duplicate of my qualifying post.. NASCAR announced a few different procedures and rules and summed them up for us.

Qualifying: All three series, teams that are not locked into the starting field will qualify together as a group at the end of the day.

Pit road: Over-the-wall pit crews in NASCAR's three national series will be able to hand push their car no more than three pit boxes away from their assigned pit box

• Outside tires must be hand-directed to the inner half of the pit box before being released during a pit stop.

Fuel cell size: All three national series will run the same up-graded fuel cell -- which is the same fuel cell used in 2007 by the Sprint Cup Series.

Engines: A new engine combination package introduced in the Nationwide and Craftsman Truck series will allow for cost-saving opportunities for teams. (Uh ho, is this another cost saving measure where teams have to completely build a new set of engines to save money?)

Tire usage at non-sanctioned tests: Teams in all three national series will receive an allotment of tires to use for non-NASCAR sanctioned tests. Cup Series teams will have access to 200 tires over the course of the year; Nationwide teams will get 160 tires and Truck teams will get 120 tires. (You know they had to do that.. the teams were testing anyway whether it be with Goodyear tires or not.)

NASCAR fines: Money collected from fines issued to drivers will now go to the NASCAR Foundation, which supports a variety of charitable initiatives. Previously, fine money was added to the season-ending point funds paid to drivers based on their finish in the point standings. (So if they already contribute to the foundation, does this count towards credit?)

Source: NASCAR.com

Qaulifying Changes Announced

After much opinionated airtime from various announcers, fans, bulletin boards and those crazy blog sites everyone has.. oh.. NASCAR announced changed today in their qualifying procedures.

Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition announced the following:

All cars not locked into the field by virtue of owner points will qualify as a group at the end of each session. In Sprint Cup, the top 35 cars do not have to qualify on time; in Nationwide and Craftsman, the top 30 are locked in.

This change accomplishes 2 things: Each group (go or go home cars, and the 'in the show' cars) qualify in similar conditions, and if a go or go home car has to make repairs, they have more time to do it.

Well, at least this seems to be a step in the right direction that we've all seemed to want. I bet Mikey is happy. (Michael Waltrip was the first proponent of this procedure that I heard on the air.)

For more details, check out the article at NASCAR.com

NASCAR looking to Denver Area for Track?

NASCAR has noted to the Denver Post that they are exploring the possibility of building a racetrack development in the Denver area, but did not hint at any commitment to a partnership with the National Western Stock Show.

International Speedway Corp. said that: "We continue to evaluate the possibility of pursuing a public-private partnership to develop a national-level motorsports entertainment facility in the market," said Wes Harris, spokesman ISC.

National Western officials hope for a (1,000-acre) $600 million to $800 million facility done together with ISC near Denver International Airport. If no alliance is formed, they are still looking towards that idea, but on a smaller scale of about $200 million to $225 million stock show facility.

ISC has committed to no one, but is in talks with several parties in the region.

The Denver Post

New Engine for Toyota

After debuting in the Craftsman Truck series in 2004 with an engine for that series, the moratorium on that engine expired at the end of last year and Toyota now has to come in with a new engine package.

This same engine did not meet specs for the Cup Series. With that, Toyota designed a new engine for the Cup series in 2007, and the Nationwide and Craftsman series engines will now be based on that engine design.

At this time, only Joe Gibbs Racing is using the new design as Toyota got a late start with the design, and if you look at Kyle Busch's testing results, it seems to be working.

Toyota needed to make sure it had race engines for the 14 Nationwide and truck teams it supports for at least the first two races of the season and simply didn't have enough time to build test engines for all its teams.

Scene Daily

Nationwide Cumulative Daytona Test Speeds

At Daytona, Kyle Busch led the pack in speeds in his Toyota in the Nationwide Series testing, followed by Dario Franchitti, Robert Richardson, Johnny Sauter and Kevin Harvick.

See a list of cumulative speeds over at Scene Daily.

Daytona International Speedway

Just a snippet of info about the track that NASCAR sets it's biggest event of the year, the Daytona 500 on, which is 29 days away:

Daytona International Speedway is 2.5-miles long, is tri-oval shaped with 31 degree banking in the turns and 18 degree degree banking in the front tri-oval section. The backstretch is banked at 3 degrees.

Back in the unrestricted days, Bill Elliott set a qualifying record of 210.364 mph on Feb 9, 1987.
The race speed record was set by Buddy Baker on Feb 2, 1980 of 177.602 mph.

NASCAR Considering Raising Minimum Age Allowed

It appears that NASCAR is reviewing the idea of raising the minimum age to drive in the Sprint Cup series.

What this means is that if this new age limit is raised to 21, this is probably going to impact some teams and their 17 year old development drivers.

They (NASCAR) think that young drivers are being pumped into the competition of the Cup level too fast and I agree... Everyone is scrambling to find their very own Jimmy Johnson or Jeff Gordon Jr's and trying to beat out the competition to get to them.

It's a pragmatic approach to team development, but the scramble sure it interesting.

Source: ThatsRacin

Thoughts from Ricky Rudd

The other day..  OK, December 6th of 2007, I heard an interview with Ricky Rudd on The Morning Drive on Sirius Satellite Radio.

An interesting perspective from Ricky that I took away from the broadcast was the following: 

The driving has to get back into the hands of the drivers.  Ricky thinks things changed as Bill France slowly stepped out of the process and let his family start to run the show.

Rudd saw that money and equipment started to make the difference at the end of the race, and it was out of the drivers hand.  ( I've been thinking that when the prize pool set up for the sport is no longer able to support the process, that the sports dependency on outside income can weaken it's financial survival.)

He thinks people are going to get tired seeing the same drivers leading the pack every day.

Thought you'd like to know!

For you Harry Gant Fans out there

Old School Racing will take fans back in time when they kick off their inaugural Old School Racing Tour this May. That is when the fans will be able to see their favorite drivers and the paint schemes they made famous.

Harry Gant will pilot the No. 33 that he made famous. Along with the green and white paint scheme made famous by Gant, fans will also see David Pearson's familiar red and white scheme; the gold and black scheme made famous by Davey Allison and many others that will bring back memories of the good 'ole days of racing.

See the rest of the article over at nascar.com

Dale Earnhardt Jr Notes

NASCAR superstar Dale Earnhardt Jr. will go bumper-to-bumper with his former backer before the Feb. 17 Daytona 500 if he makes the starting grid in a Feb. 3 Super Bowl ad for the company sponsoring his new ride.

As they point out, Pepsi is the No. 2 Super Bowl ad spender this year behind Anheuser-Busch, which was Earnhardt's sponsor last season. He moved to Pepsi and the Hendrick Motorsports racing team after a highly publicized split with his family's team and says he's eager to help Pepsi overtake marketing rival A-B as a Super Bowl ad favorite.

You go Jr! See the whole article over at USA Today where they talk about the interesting process of getting an ad to the SuperBowl.. it's pretty interesting.
~~~

It would seem that Dale Jr.'s fans did not get ticked off with him moving the Hendrick Motorsports and things are looking up, especially after some of the Daytona Speed tests. See the whole article over at tennessean.com. It's a bit of a recap of what we already know, but there are still some nuggets in there.

How much Impact can an Economic Downturn have on NASCAR?

Tom Bowles of Sports Illustrated notes that with several ominous reports about the economy in recent weeks, many Americans are on the lookout for a possible recession. And in the sports world, there's no one keeping a keener watch then a handful of elite NASCAR owners.

The economy is a concern, because periods of economic downturn tend to affect NASCAR teams more than most; after all, it's the multimillion-dollar advertising budgets of primary sponsors that allow this sport to run in the first place.

Read the entire article over at Sports Illustrated.

Tuesday Speed Tests at Daytona

In the morning session this Tuesday, Dale Earnhardt Jr led the pack followed by Michael Waltrip, Brian Vickers, Dale Jarrett and Tony Stewart.

The afternoon session saw Ryan Newman top the charts followed by Ragan Smith, Paul Menard, Kevin Harvick and Dario Franchitti.

For the complete lists, check out nascar.com.

It's 2008 and Time for That new Look

I don't know if you remember, but I did a survey asking if you liked the format or if a new format was something you'd like.

The results were split down the middle and I came across some templates that weren't the usual blogger templates, so I went for it.

I hope you like it. -Bruce

New Asphalt for Darlington

This could go either way, depending on your expectations of Darlington, the lady to tough to tame, but 2 new layers of asphalt are getting put down on the track surface.

"This is a historic day for Darlington Raceway," said Chris Browning, Darlington Raceway president. "It has been a busy offseason at Darlington Raceway and we look forward to showcasing our new racing surface and infield access tunnel for fans and competitors during the upcoming Dodge Challenger 500 weekend."

The Nationwide Series heads to Darlington Raceway on May 9 for the Diamond Hill Plywood 200, while the Sprint Cup Series will race on May 10 in the Dodge Challenger 500.

See NASCAR for more details.

5 Events is what I Said

Or to be more exact, Boris Said plans on participating in 5 Cup events this year with his No Fear racing team!

Said said (??) Monday that he plans to run both Daytona events, both road course races and the fall Talladega race. The team could run more events if sponsorship materializes.

See Scene Daily for more details if ya need it.

Afternoon Speed Tests for Monday the 14th

Another Toyota topped the charts for the afternoon speed test session at Daytona, as Dave Blaney showed them some mojo.  Blaney was followed up by Dale Earnhardt Jr, Brian Vickers and Dale Jarrett .  Ruh-oh Shaggy.. Toyota is on the move!

See the afternoon speed numbers over on Fox Sports

Toyota tops Daytona Tests for Monday, the 14th!

Dale Jarrett topped the speed charts in the new round to speed tests, but right on his tail was Dale Earnhardt Jr., showing that his new partnership and ride may very well be just as competitive as we've all hoped he can be.  MWR is probably breathing a little sigh of relief with this development too!

These 2 were followed by Dario Franchitti and Tony Stewart.

See the complete list at NASCAR Speed Chart

Danica Patrick and Dancing with the Stars

Apparently Danica Patrick does not have what it takes to tackle the hit show, ABC's Dancing with the Stars.

Helio Castroneves recommended Danica Patrick as a possible Dancing with the Stars participant to the show's producers, but I guess she's got other ideas.

Patrick says that Castroneves did so well because "He smiles all the time, he plays to the camera, and he loves [the attention].  I'm a little too serious.  People at home would be going, 'What's wrong [with her]?'"   (We might be saying that already anyway, so what's it gonna hurt?)

IndyStar

RCR, Red Bull Racing News

Camping World Inc., and Richard Childress Racing (RCR) have agreed to a one-year contract extension. The extension will showcase Camping World as the primary sponsor of Clint Bowyer’s No. 2 Chevrolet in 10 races as the Emporia, Kan., native pursues the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series Championship. RCR Racing
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Did you know that the 83 and 84 cars of of Brian Vickers and AJ Allmendinger are Red Bull’s single largest marketing investment in the United States, complementing spectacles such as the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix in Indianapolis and the two Red Bull Air Races in San Diego and Detroit? See more details over at Team RedBull
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JGR, MWR, Penske Racing, Petty Racing News

The following link has a statement from J.D. Gibbs, president of Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) since October 1997, about the return of his father, Joe Gibbs, to JGR after spending the past four years as head coach of the NFL’s Washington Redskins. JGR
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Paul Andrews, the crew chief for the 55 car in Michael Waltrip Racing, has 30 years of racing experience working for teams such as Petty Enterprises, Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (DEI), Roush Racing, Penske-Kranefuss (Penske) Racing, and Alan Kulwicki Racing. During his tenure at DEI, Paul Andrews got to know Michael Waltrip while serving as crew chief to Steve Park. As Waltrip recorded four NASCAR Cup wins from 2001 READ MORE over at MWR
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Veteran Crew Chief Carrier To Lead Sam Hornish's #77 Sprint Cup Team for 2008. See Penske Racing for more details.
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As you all may be aware, Petty Racing has completed it's move to Mooresville and is prepared for the 2008 season and the third day of Daytona Speed Tests put the car 28th fastest of the bunch for the third day. pettyracing.com

Evernham Gillete, Furniture Row, Hass Racing news

Stanley Tools will have a fresh new look in 2008. NASCAR fans will now see the familiar yellow and black colors of the Stanley brand on Elliott Sadler's ride for 12 Sprint Cup races and the All Star Event. evernhammotorsports.com
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Furniture Row Motorsports has a new crew chief for the 2008 year in Jay Guy. furniturerowracing.com
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Hass CNC Racing continues to take major strides in identifying itself as a mainstay in the Sprint Cup Series. With its most recent addition, the team announces Mike Verlander will serve as Director of Business Development. Verlander brings his experience from MCG Sports where he managed business development for Joe Gibbs Racing. See haasracing.com for more details.

BAM, BDR, Ganassi Racing, DEI news

Back in December of '07, BAM racing announced a new novel sponsorshup program that makes low cost sponsorship possible. For $4,995, a small business can get a space on their racecar for the whole season and gets website for the sponsor, customized sponsor video's and other interesting details. Check the details out at http://www.bamracing.com/. Hmm, maybe I should get a spot!
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As Toyota’s most successful NASCAR team in 2007, Bill Davis Racing begins Preseason Thunder testing for the historic 50th running of the Daytona 500 with optimism. With the progress the #22 CAT Sprint Cup team made over the second half of last season, the potential shown by the #27 and the success of both Mike Skinner and Johnny Benson in the Craftsman Truck Series, there is no reason to doubt our ability to compete at the highest level of these two NASCAR Series,” said General Manager Mike Brown. BDR
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With Juan Pablo Montoya getting three wins in three different series in 2007, Chip Ganassi Racing has high hopes for the ex-rookie for 2008. See the details over at chipganassiracing.com
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Mark Martin spent his birthday at the track, but it's Daytona, and that's something not a lot of people can say. Make said: “We had a really good day on the track,” said Martin. “We were able to find some things out there that allowed us to pick up speed and work on the car’s handling. We are excited about coming back down here for Speedweeks. We just had a great three days of testing and I’m excited about what we are working towards this season. DEI

22nd Annual Chili Bowl - Saturday Nights Results

I don't follow this type of racing often enough to talk intelligently about it, but if I read my stuff right, then basically what you want to know is the winner of the A main event.

The A main event winner was #71G Damion Gardner, Pittsboro, IN. Tony Stewart came in 8th, Jason Leffler came in 17th, Kasey Kahne finished 22nd.

JJ Yeley had won the E Main 1 event and came in 15th in the D Main 1 event.

Check out ALL results over at the chilibowl web site.

Qual results from the Chili Bowl

In one of the qaulifying heats, the top four finishers in Friday night's qualifying feature included Damion Gardner( first), Dave Darland (second) and Jason Leffler (third) and Kasey Kahne.

NASCAR.com

Chili Bowl Article

There's a great article posted over on ThatsRacin.com about the ChiliBowl event, the participants and different angles on it.

Trying to Move Some New York Property

Now that NASCAR has been dissed in the NY market, they've got land they need to sell and are not having a lot of luck doing it.  At least in the end of November, they were having a typical real estate market day as NASCAR had to terminate an agreement to sell its property on Staten Island.

ISC agreed to sell the 676-acre Staten Island property on Oct. 19 to ProLogis, a Maryland real estate investment trust, for $100 million. ProLogis terminated the agreement on Tuesday, ISC said, before the "expiration of the due diligence inspection period."

There's just a few more details over at SceneDaily

Penske in the Rolex Series?

Wayne Taylor Racing, which in 2008 will campaign the No. 10 SunTrust Pontiac and championship-winning driver Max Angelelli for its fifth Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series season, has entered into a partnership with Penske Racing to field a second entry at the 2008 season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona featuring a lineup of Penske drivers from the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the IRL IndyCar Series, and the American Le Mans Series.

The No. 9 Toshiba Pontiac Riley of Penske-Taylor Racing will be co-driven in the Jan. 26-27 endurance classic by 2004 Sprint Cup champion Kurt Busch, two-time Indianapolis 500 (and dancing fool) winner Helio Castroneves, and open-wheel and sports-car veteran Ryan Briscoe, who piloted the Penske ALMS Porsche to two overall wins and three class victories in 2007 and will join Castroneves full-time on the IndyCar circuit this coming season.

See the rest of the details over at FOX Sports

Wednesdays' Testing

Kyle Busch, in his new ride for JGR Toyota, topped the charts in both morning and afternoon testing in the draft testing that took place today. (Yea, I don't think they'll have any issues coming up to speed in the new make.)

Check out the details of who ranked where at nascar.com

For the Brendan Gaughan Fan

Brendan Gaughan has found himself a ride in the truck series in the No. 10 Ford in the 2008 Craftsman Truck Series, joining Rick Crawford at Circle Bar Racing.

http://www.thatsracin.com/242/story/9944.html

New Pit Road Rules for 08

Officials have distributed 2 new rules for pit road, sure to make it much more interesting and possibly slow down the pit stops by a millisecond or so.

“Cars may not be pushed past the flag person at the end of the pit road. Unless otherwise authorized, once the race is underway, cars may be started by hand pushing in the pit area only, but under no circumstances is any car to be hand pushed more than three pit boxes away from their assigned pit box or into the acceleration zone or onto the race track from the pit area. Cars may not receive any assistance after the white flag has been displayed, except those cars making pit stops …”.

“A team member must be in contact with the outside tire(s) until the outside tire(s) reach the inside half of the pit box before the car leaves its assigned pit box. Any tires let in the outside half of the assigned pit box, or beyond, will result in a time or other penalty.“

Of course, this is all about safety on pit road as tires were bounced around some last year.

Source: Fox Sports

Joe Gibbs Returning to NASCAR

Joe Gibbs is apparently headed back to NASCAR following his resignation Tuesday as coach of the Washington Redskins.

Although he may stay on with the Redskins as an adviser, he's now free to be directly involved again in racing. Gibbs gave no clear indication what role he'll take with the race team, which has won three championships since 2000, during a news conference in Virginia.

Check out the details of the article over at foxsports.com

Garth Brooks to Pitch NASCAR

Garth Brooks will appear in print and broadcast ads for the May 16 fundraising program to benefit the NASCAR Foundation and its associated charities.

See the details over at thatsracin.com

Daytona Test Speeds for Tuesday

nascar.com : Jimmie Johnson sat on top in the morning session while JJ Yeley sat on top in the afternoon session. The link at the head of this paragraph has all the speed charts to date.

Additionally, during testing, some tires were blistering and Casey Mears slapped the wall more than likely, due to blistering. NASCAR isn't going to consider changing compounds and teams will need to be wary about long runs on tires, but hopefully with more rubber on the track this may not be quite so bad. nascar.com

Joe Gibbs to Retire From Redskins

Head coach Joe Gibbs will retire as Redskins head coach and team president.
The Redskins will hold a press conference on Tuesday at 3 p.m. ET to make the announcement.

redskins.com

Uh ho.  If Joe comes back to his NASCAR office, the other teams are going to have one heck of a competitor on their hands again.

McDowell to Succeed Ruetimann

It is expected that Dale Jarrett will be retiring later this (mid) season.

This will open up the opportunity for David Reutimann to slide over to the No. 44 car and bring ARCA runner-up champ, Michael McDowell into the No. 00. The changes are expected to occur at the Martinsville race in March.

Check out the details over at doyounascar

Kurt Busch's Team Getting A Rough Spot

A perspective by Bruce Simmons

It was one thing to swap points with the 2 and 77 teams and Penske's blind faith in Sam Hornish Jr., but has anyone thought about how this point swap really affects Kurt Busch's 2 team?

Points dictate garage stalls. Busch's team might not make the cut to get a garage stall during the first five races.

Busch will be "outside" of the top 35 in points, but he is the most recent champion so he is in the first 5 races, no issues.

They'll be going through tech last and may not get garage stalls at a couple of the races.

This was, as they put it, the best move for the organization and the 2 team did know what they were getting into, but for the consummate Kurt Busch fan, this must be killing you! Sorry.

Inspiration for this piece: scenedaily

Monday's Speed Tests

The first session of preseason testing opened Monday at Daytona International Speedway, and two-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson was the fastest of the 25 cars on the track during the morning and afternoon sessions.

He was followed in the morning session by Casey Mears, Jacques Villeneuve and A.J. Allmendinger. The afternoon session saw Jimmie Johnson, Casey Mears, Kyle Busch, A.J. Allmendinger and Jacques Villeneuve. (See nascar.com for the speed charts)

Keep in mind that NASCAR does not allow draft practice so it was single car runs today.

Dale Earnhardt Jr apparently surprised everyone by being there because he's testing next week and with the potential of no team mates being present, he wanted to touch base with his posse while they were at the track this week.

See Fox Sports for details.

Mark Martin's Cup Schedule

It looks like Mark Martin will be competing in 24 cup point events, and 2 non point events for 2008, with Aric Almirola filling in the #8 seat for the rest of the other events.

Check it out at daleearnhardtinc

-more-

Mark Martin to Drive the 5 Car? (July 2)
Mark Martin Drives for HMS. (July 5)
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Kasey Kahne Pleads Not Guilty

Gillett Evernham Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne has filed a written plea of not guilty to a charge of misdemeanor battery stemming from an alleged pushing incident with a security guard Nov. 16 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The not guilty plea was filed Thursday and cancels the arraignment scheduled for Tuesday.

See the details at scenedaily

Robby Gordon on the Cancellation of Drakar

The Dakar Rally was canceled this week at the last minute because of security concerns stemming from terrorist activity in Mauritania, where eight stages of the race were scheduled.

Robby Gordon showed some concern about this last minute decision to cancel the event with no apparent back up plans for moments like this.

As Robby put it: “I can completely understand their decision to not go to Mauritania,” he said. “.... Why didn’t we run 10 days in Portugal on the same course? Something. All of the equipment was there. All of the teams were there. ... ”

See the details over at That's Racin.com

Court Rules Against Kentucky Speedway

A U.S. federal court judge has ruled in favor of NASCAR over Kentucky Speedway in the track's antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR and International Speedway Corp.

"After careful consideration and a thorough review of the record, and granting [Kentucky] Speedway the benefit of the doubt on all reasonable inferences therefrom, the court concludes that Speedway has failed to make out its case," Judge William O. Bertelsman wrote in an opinion issued this morning.

Scene Daily

The 2008 Hendricks Stable

Well, 2008 is here.

And here is the Hendrick Motorsports lineup, in suit, ready to rumble.

With 2 champions on the team, the focus will be on Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the media, and probably from within the team.

See Sports Illustrated for the article this image comes from.

Days to Go Till the 500

There are 45 days to go until the green flag drops for the 50th Daytona 500.

Until then, we have testing, speedweeks and what not to halp our fix.

James "Penny" Paniagua Passes Away

Why are we talking about James "Penny" Paniagua? That's because James "Penny" Paniagua was the man who gave Jeff Gordon his first taste of speed, as it's put.

He died last Saturday a week after having a heart attack. RIP James.

James Paniagua, 89, introduced hundreds of youngsters – including a 4-year-old Gordon – to quarter-midget racing. An innovative designer and mechanic, he custom built more than 100 quarter-midget cars. Among his first models was one bought by John Bickford, Gordon's stepfather, for the racing prodigy.

See the rest of the article at The Sacramento Bee

Gaughan filling in for Robby Gordon

Here's an interesting item of note: Brendan Gaughan will fill in for Robby Gordon in the No. 7 Robby Gordon Motorsports Ford during the upcoming Sprint Cup test session at Daytona International Speedway.

Gordon is in Africa to compete in the Dakar Rally, which runs Jan. 5-20. With Gordon tied up, the No. 7 team opted to go with a substitute driver for the session, which begins Monday.

See the rest of the article at Scene Daily

The Unknowns of the COT

Over on NASCAR.com, is an article on the COT and how it's still new with some unknowns still in the equation.

As they quote Ryan Newman saying, "When we go to test we anticipate going faster each time we go there, whether it's Kentucky or Nashville or each racetrack we go to.".. Yet the COT is about 1/2 a second slower so it's not something they are used to...

See the article over at NASCAR

NASCAR Daytona Test List

What will NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow look like on the high banks of Daytona International Speedway?

The world will find out beginning January 7 as NASCAR Sprint Cup teams take part in preseason testing at the famed 2.5-mile superspeedway.

This Fox Sports link has the list of drivers expected to compete at the first session, which takes place January 7-9, and the second test, which is scheduled for January 14-16.

Hello to 2008

Another calendar year has come and gone. 
We now have only 359 shopping days until Christmas.
I want to say thank you to my 40,000+ visitors for coming by and checking out my work and efforts.
Now, let's look to 2008 and see what that has in store for us, for humanity.

Happy New Year and Best Wishes to Everyone
Bruce E. Simmons