Is This The End Of The Line For Mike Skinner?

By Brody Jones

If you are Mike Skinner, you can only be shaking your head in disbelief that one month ago, you signed an extension through 2011 with Randy Moss Motorsports, only to get booted from the ride in the next month. The timing couldn’t possibly be any worse for Skinner as most, if not all, of the competitive rides have been locked up for 2011 and, as sad as it may be, Mike Skinner’s career just might have reached the end of the line. Skinner has had an excellent Camping World Truck Series career, with 28 career wins and a championship in 1995. He was also the Winston Cup Rookie Of The Year in 1997, but he never quite achieved the heights he experienced in the Truck Series.

Yes, the Truck Series has been good to Mike Skinner. It has given him an avenue in NASCAR to be a consistent contender week-in and week-out for victories. It didn’t matter what team he was with, when you saw the starting grid, you almost had to pencil in Mike Skinner as a pre-race favorite. But it seemed like after a respectable 2009 season, everything went on a downward spiral in 2010 that Skinner just never could recover from. First, he lost crew chief Eric Phillips to Kyle Busch Motorsports. That wound up being a terrible blow to team chemistry as Skinner was largely a non-factor in 2010.

Then came the SceneDaily.com article last month where Skinner aired out his grievances with the Randy Moss Motorsports organization, decrying the lack of leadership with the team, in particular directing the comment at Randy Moss. He also complained that if he had another season like 2010 next year, he was going to look elsewhere for another ride. But all seemed well when it was rumored he had signed an extension to drive for RMM in 2011 and it seemed, at the time, that all was well and Skinner would be able to have a job after all.

One month later, he gets fired from the team and the rumored replacement is 2003 Truck Series Champion Travis Kvapil. Getting fired is bad enough, but getting fired a week before Christmas and a month after signing an extension? That has to be like pouring salt and lemon juice on an open wound. What’s worst of all is that pretty much most of the competitive rides have been filled for 2011 at this point and Skinner is likely going to have to take a ride in second-rate equipment if he wants to stay in the sport. But at 53 years old, he is definitely in the twilight years of his career and the “r word” may be something he might have to consider given how slim the pickings are at this point.

So this begs the question does Mike Skinner want to be in second-rate equipment or has he finally got to the point in his career where he doesn’t need racing anymore and walks away from it all? It will be interesting to see what Skinner decides to do because, for years, he has been a key name in the growth of the Truck Series. But now, he might very well find all doors closed to him and he may have to retire and reflect upon an almost 25 year career in some form of NASCAR and the thrills of victory and agony of defeat he has experienced. One thing is for sure though, Mike Skinner is not one to give up without a fight.

Has The Time Come For Jeff Gordon To Leave Hendrick Motorsports?

By Brody Jones

Whether you like him or hate him, the fact is that Jeff Gordon is the standard-bearer for NASCAR drivers of this generation. He has won 82 races in his career (2nd most in modern-era behind Darrell Waltrip), has become the first driver to reach $100,000,000 in career earnings, was the fastest to reach 50 career wins, been a four-time NASCAR champion, and co-owns the #48 Lowe’s Chevrolet driven by Jimmie Johnson. Unquestionably, Jeff Gordon has done it all in his career. In fact, he’s done so well that Rick Hendrick signed him to a life-time contract.

But in recent seasons, Gordon hasn’t been as dominant as he has been in years past. With all the extra attention in the Hendrick shops being devoted to Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, and Dale Earnhardt Jr., the cornerstone of the modern era at Hendrick Motorsports has suddenly found himself relegated to something of second-banana status, almost as if his team has become the research and development team for Hendrick Motorsports. Sure, the performance has been there at times as Jeff has won as recently as 2009 and had several strong runs going, but he’s only won one time in a points-race in the last three years. Though, to be fair, the fact he hasn’t won has been seemingly mitigated by circumstances not of his own doing (namely questionable pit strategy, engine failures, or crashes.).

His 2010 season started off strong and he, at times, looked like the Jeff Gordon of old. But there were times this year where Gordon was not a factor and the most notable thing he achieved this year was his scritch-fight with Jeff Burton. He’s even criticized his team-mate (and technically his employee) Jimmie Johnson at times for on-track moves and it almost seems as if Jeff has hit a personal and professional rut with Hendrick Motorsports. In fact, he has seemed to be so unhappy this year that one can’t help but wonder if perhaps the time has come for Jeff to fly the coop on Rick Hendrick, the only team owner in NASCAR he’s ever really known, outside of a two-year Busch Series stint with Bill Davis. At first, the idea sounds like a stretch as Jeff seems to be a company man, for better or worse. But by the same token, he would unquestionably be the cornerstone of any operation that he went to and be the team’s top priority instead of being basically used for research and development, as he seems to be doing at Hendrick now.

Plus, as the typical racer’s ego is known to do, losing like this has to be eating away at Jeff Gordon. He knowns he can’t have too many more seasons like this or he will quickly become irrelevant in the NASCAR landscape in terms of being consistently competitive. Of course, it can be argued that this happens to most every driver. It happened to Darrell Waltrip, it happened to Richard Petty, it has happened to many others as well. But Jeff’s career is far from over. At 39 years old, he still has at least four or five good seasons left in him. The question is does Jeff want to continue in his lesser role at Hendrick or does he want to be the top guy in an organization again?

The bottom line is that perhaps Jeff Gordon has reached a bit of a career plateau at Hendrick and maybe a change of scenery would do him and his career some good. Few have come out and said so, but you can almost see that there is some animosity on Jeff’s end that he’s no longer the reigning king of Hendrick Motorsports. Now, I’m not saying Jimmie Johnson didn’t deserve to usurp Jeff’s top-dog status at Hendrick. He actually earned it with his five straight championships. But I think now that Jeff sees that the changing of the guard at Hendrick is complete, he has to be wondering if it’s really worth staying on at Hendrick Motorsports if the best he can hope for is just cracking the top 10? Maybe the pairing of him and Alan Gustafson will reinvigorate his career and silence the doubters, but until that day, the question remains could Gordon be winning races elsewhere?

Reconstructing Jamie McMurray

By Brody Jones

After the 2009 season, Jamie McMurray was at about as low of a point as one could get in the world of motorsports. After what had been a disappointing four year stint with Roush Fenway Racing, McMurray found himself on the outside looking in when Roush was forced to cut his teams from five down to four. Jamie didn’t have a solid ride locked up for 2010 until his former boss, Chip Ganassi, needed a replacement for the departing Martin Truex Jr. and called his old friend to replace him. Most people likely were not expecting much out of McMurray in 2010. Perhaps a couple of strong finishes here and there, but nothing spectacular.

McMurray started his NASCAR career in 1999 for the Mittler Brothers Truck Series team, which has launched the careers of such drivers as Carl Edwards and Justin Allgaier, and showed great promise. He really shined in 2000 in the Craftsman Truck Series, splitting the season with the Mittler Brothers and TKO Motorsports, the latter team is where he earned two pole positions, a top 5 finish at Indianapolis Raceway Park, and 4 top 10′s. These results impressed Clarence Brewer of Brewco Motorsports enough to put McMurray in his Busch Series car for the 2001 and 2002 seasons, where McMurray won a pair of races in 2002 at Rockingham and Atlanta. Also that year, McMurray pulled off what has to be one of the five biggest upset victories in NASCAR history when in just his second Winston Cup start, he led 94 of the last 100 laps at the October race at Charlotte and won the race. In 2003, despite not visiting victory lane, McMurray beat out Greg Biffle by 37 points in the Rookie of the Year competition. McMurray also had solid seasons in 2004 and 2005 with Ganassi before taking what seemed like a dream opportunity with Roush Fenway Racing. Yes, life was good for McMurray.

But the four years with Roush Fenway were plagued with inconsistency on the track and generally not getting results. Oh, sure, there were a few fleeting moments of glory where McMurray edged out Kyle Busch in the 2007 Pepsi 400, breaking a nearly five-year drought from victory lane and he won the 2009 Amp Energy 500 in one of his last starts for Roush. But those strong runs were too few and far between for Roush and, when the time came to cut his organization down from five teams to four, Roush felt that McMurray was the odd man out and cut him loose. McMurray’s 2009 off-season looked to be very uncertain as there really just weren’t many quality rides available. But fortunately, Chip Ganassi, who has always been fond of McMurray, needed a new driver to replace the out-going Martin Truex Jr. and he gave McMurray a shot behind the wheel.

Fast forward to the 2010 Daytona 500 in the closing laps. McMurray had a strong car all day, but no one was seriously considering him a factor. But with two laps to go, McMurray slithered through traffic like a serpent to the front and held off a hard-charging Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win the Daytona 500 and start perhaps the most emotional victory celebration in Daytona history where more tears were shed than at a Baptist revival in victory lane by McMurray. It definitely was a feel-good story, but no one figured McMurray would have continued success in 2010. He nearly won at Talladega in the spring and, if not for a late-race caution, possibly had the car to beat at the Coca-Cola 600. If there were any doubts this was McMurray’s year, he put them to rest at the Brickyard 400, a race where many were pointing to teammate Juan Pablo Montoya as the odds-on favorite. While Ganassi won the race, it wasn’t with Montoya. It was with McMurray, who got to kiss the bricks and drink the milk at Indianapolis. But Jamie wasn’t finished yet. He won the October race at Charlotte, resulting in another emotional victory lane interview, dedicating his win to fallen former NASCAR star Shane Hmiel,, who just days earlier had been severely injured in a USAC race at the Terre Haute Action Track.

There were other personal high-water marks for McMurray in 2010, most importantly the birth of his first-born son, Carter, in November. McMurray attributes all of the success to this season to the power of prayer, saying that after the tough 2009 season he went through and to have the success he has had in 2010 that it definitely made him a believer in the power of prayer. So, following a season that turned Jamie McMurray from a journey-man driver into a legitimate weekly threat to win races, one definitely must wonder what lies ahead in 2011 for the Joplin, Missouri native? It definitely will be interesting to see if he can carry over this season’s success into next season.

Mayfield Goes From Riches To Rags

By Brody Jones

Six years ago, Jeremy Mayfield reached the pinnacle of his career when he made the 2004 Nextel Cup Chase For The Cup. Flash forward to December 2010, and he now finds himself something of a pariah in NASCAR circles, thanks, in part, to a failed test for methamphetamine. Lately, it seems as if Jeremy Mayfield has been afflicted with Munchausen Syndrome, with very twisted and bizarre attempts to keep his name relevant in NASCAR circles as he continues his plight against NASCAR, trying to stick it to “the man”, so to speak. Unlike other drivers that were suspended for drug tests, that, for the most part, took their punishment without much complaint, Mayfield has been trying to blame everyone but himself for the failed drug test and comes across sounding like a conspiracy-theorist on the White House lawn, at his worst (at best, he sounds like Dale Gribble from “King Of The Hill”).
And as far as his excuses go, there have been some true duseys! First, he claimed that an “overdose” on Claritin-D and Adderall allegedly caused his positive test for methamphetamines when most experts clearly concur that is all but impossible. Next, after his step-mother alleges that she saw Jeremy using meth on several occasions, Mayfield absolutely was malicious toward her, calling her a “whore”, a “gold-digger”, and even implying that she killed his father. Whether these allegations hold truth or not remain to be seen, but to air your dirty laundry in public was a low-blow on Mayfield’s part.
It gets better, fellow readers. He has claimed that NASCAR has a “conspiracy” against him and that they “spiked the test”. Plus he claimed that NASCAR suspended him to “send a message to fellow drivers”. First off, I highly doubt NASCAR would put together an elaborate conspiracy against a lower mid-pack driver. Second of all, what motivation would NASCAR have to spike the test? Third, if they were sending a message to other drivers that Mayfield alleges were on drugs, then why haven’t we seen any other positive tests of other drivers since or, to a large degree, before then? Sure, there were some positive tests, most notably Shane Hmiel, Aaron Fike, and the sad story of Kevin Grubb among others, and even in the 80′s, Gary Balough had his issues with drugs. But drugs in NASCAR are not the wide-spread problem that Mayfield claims they are, which makes his plight equal parts amusing and pathetic at times.
The latest allegation he has made was that Brian France had him “intentionally” black-flagged from a race at Indianapolis in 2006, just days before he was released from Evernham Motorsports. Jeremy has had a track record of sticking his foot in his mouth on more than one occasion. He made some disparaging remarks about Roger Penske that got him released from Penske Racing. He also basically exposed the fact that Ray Evernham was dating one of his development drivers, Erin Crocker (they would later get married.) on the way out of the organization. And now that all hope seems to be gone for his racing career, he’s firing low-blows at the CEO of NASCAR? There’s an old saying that you can’t buck city hall, but I think Mayfield has been bucking, spitting in the face, and giving the middle finger to City Hall.
Probably the best thing for Mayfield to do, to save himself any kind of face in the court of public affairs, is to stop trying to fight NASCAR because, as experience shows, no one has ever fought NASCAR and won. Big Bill France scared away the Teamsters in the early 1960′s by threatening to plant corn in the Daytona infield and using a pistol to keep drivers from joining the union and quelled a similar union effort in 1969 at Talladega. Little Bill France had to fight off the efforts of a clearly-ill Tim Richmond in the late-80′s, and I don’t imagine Brian France would back down from similar efforts either. But, knowing the never-ending circus that has surrounded Mr. Mayfield, I don’t see this saga ending anytime soon.

Kentucky Speedway Close To Their Dream

By Brody Jones

In almost eight months, an 11-year dream to see the highest level of NASCAR racing in the Bluegrass State will finally come to fruition. What Jerry Carroll helped start is what Bruton Smith finally managed to achieve in bringing the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series to Kentucky Speedway. The track, which is located about half-way between Louisville, Kentucky and Cincinatti, Ohio is sure to give fans of racing in Kentucky a different type of “horse-power” than the usual thoroughbred racing fare brings to the state and in its 10-year existence, has already made a considerable impact on the racing land-scape, giving fans in a market starved for NASCAR a venue to watch the best of the NASCAR world race at.
While Bruton Smith will (and deservedly so) get the credit for finally bringing the Sprint Cup Series to Kentucky, one cannot forget the contributions of the original owner, Jerry Carroll, who was determined to give racing fans in Kentucky a venue to call their own so they didn’t have to drive hours-upon-hours to go to a NASCAR race. Under Carroll’s guidance, the track was drawing sell-out or near sell-out crowds to their NASCAR races and also held ARCA Re/Max Series, Indy Car, Indy Lights, and USAC events on the facility. Perhaps the most notable race in Kentucky Speedway history was the 2006 NASCAR Busch Series race where David Gilliland, in a car that had never cracked the top-20 before, pulled off the biggest upset in NASCAR history, propelling him into a full-time NASCAR ride with Robert Yates Racing.
The race date didn’t come without its share of obstacles, however. Many detractors of the track say that it’s really not close enough to any major markets and it holds the smallest seating-capacity of any track on the Sprint Cup Series. But the biggest hinderance to the track getting a NASCAR date was an anti-trust lawsuit filed by Jerry Carroll in 2005 against NASCAR. The suit was dismissed three years later, and ultimately, Carroll dropped the lawsuit, which paved the way for Bruton Smith to move a date from Atlanta to Kentucky, to finally allow the dreams of many Kentucky NASCAR fans to come to fruition.
While the seating capacity, by NASCAR standards, is currently small, it won’t remain that way for long as Bruton Smith, who once said “The road to success is always under construction.” will definitely be having the track in a constant state of construction to boost seating capacity to a more NASCAR-friendly level. NASCAR teams will definitely be glad to have the track hosting all three major NASCAR series in 2011 because, before the ban on testing in November of 2008, was a fertile testing-site for many NASCAR teams and the crowds at Kentucky definitely take pride in their race track, as they do in all the major sports in Kentucky.
So in eight months, the dream Jerry Carroll helped conceive will finally bear the gifts of NASCAR exposure for the state of Kentucky and they desperately need this inagural race to be a success because, like many cookie-cutter tracks, the potential is there for so-called “boring” racing that will drive fair-weather fans away in droves. But there are truthfully far more positives that can come out of Kentucky finally hosting a NASCAR race than there are negatives.

Girl Power In NASCAR

By Brody Jones

At times, it is mind-boggling to comprehend how far our society has come as a whole from the 1960′s where women were not afforded the same opportunities as men. Such was the case for many years in the testosterone-charged coliseums of NASCAR. It was practically unheard of until the 1970′s for female drivers to ever enter NASCAR events. Sure, there were three females who broke the gender barrier in the neophyte days of stock car racing in Sara Christian, Ethel Flock-Mobley, and Louise Smith. But much like McCarthy-ism, these females were escorted out of NASCAR and discouraged from competing in the male dominated sport.
Enter Janet Guthrie in 1976, fresh off encountering alarming sexism from Indy Car officials the previous year in her attempt to make the Indianapolis 500, she came to NASCAR and fared respectably well at the top level, with a commendable five top-10 finishes in a career that included 33 starts from 1976-1980. Outside of one-off efforts by Belgian Christine Beckers and Italian Lella Lombardi during Guthrie’s NASCAR tenure, no Y-chromosome drivers of note attempted a NASCAR race until Patty Moise made some sporadic starts from 1987-1989. It would be almost 15 more years until Shawna Robinson’s abortive Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year campaign. At that point, it seemed like it would be a long while until a female driver got another opportunity in Sprint Cup.
However, in some of the lower-level NASCAR series, there have been a few females attempt full-schedules with a mixed crop of results. Jennifer Jo Cobb set a NASCAR record this past season, finishing in the highest season-ending position in points in a NASCAR series with a 17th place finish in the Camping World Truck Series final points standings, despite not having a single top 10. Erin Crocker even ran a full schedule with backing from Cheerios and the Betty Crocker people in the Truck Series in former Ultra Motorsports equipment and largely struggled. Deborah Renshaw and Kelly Sutton also ran full-schedules in the Truck Series while Chrissy Wallace, Kim Crosby, Tina Gordon, and yes, even Danica Patrick have run in the Nationwide Series with Danica, whether you like her or hate her, bringing in fans that would not otherwise watch a NASCAR event.
But on the horizon, there are a few female drivers in other forms of racing who have the potential to possibly topple Danica as the queen of motorsports, at least on a NASCAR level. Take into consideration Alison MacLeod, the winningest all-time USAC Midgets feature winner. She recently signed a deal with Venturini Motorsports for driver development and to hopefully get a few opportunities in ARCA. Given her success in USAC, it’s only a matter of time before she reaches NASCAR. Another name in ARCA that has been a semi-regular over the years has been Alli Owens and she has performed admirably in her ARCA appearances. Also take into consideration current Michael Waltrip Racing intern and part-time Truck Series driver Caitlin Shaw, Derrike Cope’s twin nieces, Amber & Angela, and also Michelle Theriault.
But perhaps the driver that could very well topple all of them is 18-year old Pensacola, Florida native Johanna Long, winner of last Sunday night’s prestigious Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway in her hometown of Pensacola. She ran seven Camping World Truck Series races in 2010 and turned quite a few heads in the process. She has already announced her intentions to run for the 2011 Rookie Of The Year honors in the Camping World Truck Series and should topple Jennifer Jo Cobb’s record points-finish with veteran crew chief Kevin “Cowboy” Starland calling the shots. So for all you chauvinistic, pig-headed NASCAR fans who don’t think women belong in racing, think again because NASCAR is quickly giving new definition to the words “Girl Power!”

Should NASCAR Have A Sponsorship Blacklist?

By Brody Jones

One of the more recent stories in NASCAR has been regarding the Extenze sponsorship and the fact that they now are facing not one, but two law-suits from two different teams. Extenze came into NASCAR this past season backing Kevin Conway and put him in a Front Row Motorsports car, where, under the alleged terms of the contract, the Extenze car had to be in the top 35. Conway and Extenze got shuffled to all three Front Row Motorsports teams just to keep them in the top 35. At the time of the Michigan race, when it became abundantly clear to car owner Bob Jenkins that Conway couldn’t keep his cars locked in, he replaced him with a more experienced driver.
The Extenze people would not stand for this, so they took their money and went to Robby Gordon Motorsports. Things got so bad there that Robby drove the car himself in a few late-season races and Extenze agreed to pay Gordon for those races. Only problem was Gordon never got the money. So now Front Row Motorsports and Robby Gordon Motorsports have filed law-suits against Extenze. Not the ideal way you want your product to get media attention, now is it?
Sadly, this is not a new trend in NASCAR. Far from it. Take the following examples in consideration as to why NASCAR might need to consider a sponsorship black-list. The first example was the saga of the Big Daddy’s BBQ Sauce company based out of Yukon, Oklahoma. They came into NASCAR on board with long-time NASCAR team owner Junie Donlavey in time for the 2000 season with NASCAR All-Pro veteran Mike Harmon set to run for rookie-of-the-year honors. The relationship was doomed from the start, with Big Daddy’s BBQ Sauce not paying Donlavey his money on time (or not at all). The team went to Daytona and it resulted in an ugly debacle in the middle of Speedweeks with Harmon and Big Daddy’s BBQ Sauce finally angering Donlavey to the point that he pulled the driver and sponsorship decals off of his car. Donlavey’s organization never really recovered from this fiasco. The same thing happened to Larry Hedrick’s NASCAR team a year or so later when Big Daddy’s BBQ again failed to pay sponsorship money to the team, causing it to shut down. Other victims of Big Daddy’s BBQ Sauce include Davey Hamilton in the Indy Racing League, South Boston Speedway, and Henderson Motorsports in the NASCAR Busch Series.
Another more-recent example of the case for a sponsorship black-list includes the saga of the Rockford-Montgomery Labs 360 OTC hangover product. They came into motorsports with a bang, sponsoring Jeremy Mayfield in the Sprint Cup Series and Tyler Walker in the Craftsman Truck Series (ironically, both drivers would later fail drug tests mandated by NASCAR.), not to mention they had committed to sponsoring Morgan-McClure Motorsports at one point in the Sprint Cup Series and they were the title sponsor of the World of Outlaws Late Model series. Much like Big Daddy’s BBQ Sauce, the 360 OTC people did not honor their financial commitments and were sued more times than anyone could count before leaving the world of motorsports with scarcely a whimper.
The way Extenze is going, they may very well find themselves on a NASCAR black-list if they keep getting sued like this. And the sad thing of it all is the smaller teams, the ones who desperately need the sponsorship most, are the ones who find themselves the victims of these fraudulent sponsorships. Companies like those listed need to be kept out of the sport because they do more harm to motorsports than they do good. Too many teams have been shut down due to a sponsor not fulfilling their end of the bargain, and perhaps the Extenze people need to get the “Get Out Of NASCAR. Do Not Pass Go. Do Not Collect $200″ card. But where does the blame lie? On these companies that promise people the moon and give them nothing? Or does it lie with the team owners that don’t take a close look at the book-keeping of these questionable sponsors? No one really knows for sure, but mark my words, this isn’t the first, or last, time you will hear about this sort of thing in NASCAR.

Feeding The Start And Park Beast

By Brody Jones

If you watch NASCAR consistently, one of the more disturbing trends in NASCAR has been the practice of starting the race and then parking about five laps in. It’s kind of like if you are coaching a football team and only have them play one series on offense and defense before forfeiting the game. But in terms of dollars and cents, the practice makes sense as it allows teams to build up funds to get more cars and better equipment without tearing up what they have. It also helps balance out the rather expensive tire bills that teams have from time to time.
In the Cup Series, some of the primary culprits include Joe Nemechek, Gunselman Motorsports, Whitney Motorsports, and perhaps the most notorious start-and-park team to ever disgrace NASCAR with their presence, PRiSM Motorsports. In roughly three years of existence in the Nationwide and Cup Series, the team has attempted the full schedule and only run the complete distance in a laughable three events in that team, with none of those being in their own equipment. The team has become fodder for racing message boards everywhere and a hot topic of debate. The many detractors say the team is making a mockery of NASCAR while their supporters say they are doing what they have to do to survive. There are a few other teams that will run two fully-sponsored cars and one start-and-park vehicle, or even one car for the full distance and two to start-and-park.
Some think this epidemic has only recently cropped up. Nothing could be further from the truth as this has been around at least since the 1960′s, except the difference instead of drivers getting creative with the reason the car didn’t finish, like today’s “rear end”, “ignition”, and “transmission” problems, they just simply listed the reason they didn’t finish as “Quit”. Pretty astute reason, if you ask me. Surprised you don’t see more owners that practice start-and-parking just come out and say they quit the race, because it’s the brutally honest truth of the matter. This practice has only become common knowledge in recent years and in fact, there have been Busch Series races at tracks like Pike’s Peak and Milwaukee where almost one-third of the field parked their cars. That’s right, 13 cars engaged in start-and-park practices in a race. Frightening, isn’t it?
But for the teams that actually use the practice, in hopes of becoming more competitive, one cannot fault those teams compared to other teams who are solely out to exploit the system. One team that uses the start-and-park practice from time-to-time in hopes of becoming more competitive is the K Automotive organization. While they park one (sometimes two) race cars, they try to focus their efforts on one primary car and have run respectably at times. A better example is the SS/Greenlight Racing team, which has been known to pull out a start-and-park effort every now and then, but over the course of time, with Jason White and Chad McCumbee, have turned themselves from an also ran organization to a competitive, mid-to-upper level Truck Series organization. So there is hope for some of the practitioners of start-and-parking.
In closing, start and parking is kind of a double-edged sword. If you practice it wisely, you can eventually become a consistent competitor. But if you are just out to manipulate the system, you make your team and everyone associated with it an absolute disgrace to NASCAR. To NASCAR’s credit, they have taken some steps to try and discourage the practice by inspecting these cars as soon as they exit the race and, even in a few situations, telling them to get back on the track. So what is the solution to the problem? Honestly, what people should be asking is does a solution even exist? One cannot fault the crews and drivers for the practice, as it allows them to feed families that are dependent on their income. But in terms of honesty, perhaps being a used car salesman, trying to sell rusted AMC Gremlins would be a more honest practice.

Mark Martin Can Only Benefit Turner Motorsports

By Brody Jones

With the grandiose plans of businessman Steve Turner and his Turner Motorsports organization in 2011, it was increasingly evident that the team needed some veteran leadership for their team. They had the young, up-and-coming talent in place, they just needed to add a veteran driver to the mix. Who fits that bill better than Mark Martin? Martin, who started his NASCAR career in 1982, has gained a reputation over the years as one of the most competitive, consistent, and even well-respected drivers on the circuit. With the rumor mills saying that Martin has agreed to a limited Nationwide and Truck Series schedule, this can only help a team which doesn’t completely have full sponsorship for all their cars in 2011.
Martin is a very marketable driver that has proven to be great with sponsors and interviews over the years and he can only help the younger drivers of the organization such as Brad Sweet, James Buescher, Justin Allgaier, and he’ll be back mentoring Ricky Carmichael again as an oft-forgotten note on Carmichael’s NASCAR career is that none other than Mark Martin helped him make the transition from the world of motocross to NASCAR. He brings leadership to an organization that truly needed it to go to the next level.
Now, I’m sure all the Nationwide and Truck Series fans who decry the presence of Cup drivers in their series will cry foul, but the bottom line is guys like Martin do sell tickets for events and can only help the team as a whole. But those fans need to look on the bright side. At least Mark is not running a full Nationwide schedule like Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski are doing, so those fans should be thankful for that. And can you really blame a guy like Steve Turner for turning to a driver like Mark Martin to get his team to the next level? The bottom line is Steve Turner is a business-man and does things in the best interests of not only his race team, but what is best for him financially as well.
When you add in the Hendrick power and tech support, it becomes clear to even the most lay observer that Steve Turner is serious about making this team a consistent competitor not just for wins, but for championships as well. So to anyone that wants to complain about Martin being added to the driver line-up, think of the bottom line in terms of dollars and sense. Martin is sure to bring much-needed dollars in the sponsorship department and it makes good business sense for Steve Turner to hire a veteran such as Martin to his fledgling operation.
The bottom line is that Steve Turner so far has been making all the right moves to make his team a consistent force to be reckoned with in NASCAR and if he can keep making such shrewd moves and continue to show good judgment like he has to date, there is no telling what kind of heights the Turner Motorsports organization could reach in 2011 and beyond. Fans may as well recognize the fact that Turner Motorsports is here to stay in NASCAR, much like manufactured debris cautions, Jimmie Johnson’s Chase dominance, and Cup drivers in the Nationwide Series.

Chase winding down in the desert as Hamlin leads going to Homestead

By Joe Dunn

    As the NASCAR Sprint Cup teams arrived for work Sunday morning at Phoenix International Raceway, for the Kobalt Tools 500, they were greeted by something familiar from home on the east coast.  The garage opened this morning at 7AM local time as the sun was barely visible and the thermometer was hovering at the 40 degree mark.  But by the time the green flag dropped at 2:18 PM we were all reminded that we are here in the desert with a bright sun and 70 degrees.  This was ideal weather for the fans and the teams alike, except of course for the #71 team and driver Brendan Gaughan.  On the second lap, Gaughan had a right front tire go down sending him into the outside wall with heavy damage.  The TRG crew worked on the #71 car, but the front end damage was too severe for them to fix. The car was loaded up and readied to limp back home.
    The angels were not looking over Brad Keselowski either as he cut down a right front tire on lap 58 sending the #12 Dodge into the outside wall resulting in heavy damage.  After being treated and released from the infield care center, Brad headed to the garage to watch his crew working feverishly to rebuild the right front of his car.
    On lap 101 with Denny Hamlin leading the race, the third caution of the day came out for debris.  Seems that an errant water bottle splashed all over Jimmie Johnson’s windshield.  As the field pitted  the top 5 were Edwards, Hamlin, Kurt Busch, and Tony Stewart.  It was speculated that Jamie McMurray was the guilty water bottle thrower, but he did get that needed lucky dog to put him back on the lead lap. Hamlin wasted no time retaking the lead from Edwards after the restart.
    By lap 200 the #12 team had given up the battle and loaded up the car for the long ride home.  The result for Brad Keselowski will be a 42nd place finish, heading into the final race. On the track, Denny Hamlin continued to pace the field under green until the caution flew one more time on lap 222 as Robby Gordon spun in turn three.  In the ensuing pit stops, Kyle Busch and his crew outperformed the 11 crew and took over the lead. Harvick was forced to return to pit road for a missing lug nut which resulted in restarting 18th.
    On the restart, Hamlin rocketed past Kyle to retake the lead.  On lap 223 it was Hamlin, Edwards, Busch, Johnson and Newman rounding out the top five.  The green flag run was short lived as Travis Kvapil spun out on the front stretch on lap 235.  On lap 266 Carl Edwards squeezes past Hamlin to retake the lead, and two laps later Edwards has an 8/10th second lead over Hamlin. Montoya passes Jimmie Johnson for fourth and Ryan Newman joins in passing JJ for 5th place.   By lap 278 Harvick had worked his way up to 12th and was threatening.
    With 22 laps to go, Hamlin was looking for a caution, constantly telling his spotter there was debris.  Obviously NASCAR and many of the other teams saw no debris, in addition Johnson was too short of fuel to make it.  Meanwhile Gil Martin had told was  Harvick he had just enough gas to finish the 312 laps.  On lap 296 Chad Knaus was telling JJ to start conserving fuel.  Jimmie asked how much and Chad told him that he would tell him how fast to drive.
    On lap 300 Hamlin could wait no more and was forced to pit, barely able to return to the lead lap.  Meanwhile Edwards continued his charge up front while Johnson was slowing and holding onto 5th place.  Harvick moved up to 7th and Chad ordered JJ to cut all the fans and not use the brakes at all.  With 5 laps to go Johnson was told to do whatever to keep Harvick behind him, as Johnson slipped to 6th with Harvick right behind him.
    On the final lap, Montoya runs out of gas as Edwards wins the Kobalt Tools 500, with Ryan Newman 2nd , Logano 3rd with Johnson and Harvick finishing top 5.  Denny Hamlin finished 12th while Montoya managed to finish on the lead lap in 16th place.
    As the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to their final race at Homestead, Denny Hamlin leads the Championship points 15 points ahead of Johnson, with Harvick 3rd, 46 points behind Johnson.

Edwards victorious at Phoenix

By Joe Dunn

    With two racing remaining in the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series some teams and drivers were searching for solution for 2011.  Entering the Wypall 200 at Phoenix International Raceway Brad Keselowski and the Penske/ Discount Tire #22 team already have the driver’s championship locked up.  The only other top fight is between that #22 team and the Joe Gibbs Racing #18  team for the owners championship.  Gibbs was leading entering this race.
    From the drop of the green flag, and even before, it was obvious that Carl Edwards wanted this win bad.  He battled early in the race with Joey Logano, who led 23 laps early in the race.  Up front for the first 100 laps it was Edwards, Kyle Bush, Kevin Harvick, Justin Allgaier and Logano.
    With 50 laps remaining in the race the top 5 battling were Edwards, Bush, Harvick, Keselowski and Logano. With 30 laps to go Bush was forced to pit for a cut rear tire change, no caution came out and he went down a lap to the leaders.  Although he fought hard to regain ground and made his way to the first cart none lap down, the needed caution was not forthcoming. Kyle did manage to get past the leader to finish on the lead lap, but at 16th place, the last car on the lead lap, the hopes of the owners championship for Joe Gibbs Racing is all but a memory.
    In the closing laps it was Edwards out front with a commanding 4.5 second lead over second place Kevin Harvick.  Carl would come home the winner once again, followed across the line by Harvick, Logano, Keselowski and Sorenson in fifth.  Rounding out the top 10 were Almirola, Stenhouse Jr., Allgaier, Braun and Steven Wallace 10th.
    Trevor Bayne, who had to qualify on speed in the RFR unsponsored #17 car started 9th and remained in the top 15 most of the day.  His intention is to turn laps as he hopes to maintain his championship points position after being released by Diamond-Waltrip Racing.  Racing smart, with no real points battle in sight, Bayne brought the #17 home in 14th place, giving Roush Fenway racing five cars in the top 15 for the day.
    The fight on the other end of the spectrum included a few teams with their eyes on the top 30 points position.  That’s the elusive number to get your car locked into the first  five races of 2011.  Those teams in the battle include the #70 of ML Motorsports and driver’s Shelby Howard and Mark Green.  Howard only runs a 22 race schedule, but a partnership agreement between ML Motorsports and Jay Robinson Racing provides the 70 car with more equipment and a second driver in David Green.  It’s a strange situation since Howard replaced Green as the primary driver for ML after 4 races in 2009.  The 70 came to PIR in 30th, 101 points ahead of the 81 team.  The 35 of Mark Smith and the 23 of Robert Richardson were only 41 points ahead of the 70.
    The tension for that coveted 30 spot heated up on lap 20 of this race as Mark Green and the #70 car headed for the garage with a ‘blowed up’ transmission and engine. The folks back at ML Motorsports got a sigh of relief as the #81 car finished 26th keeping the #70 locked in the field going into the final race at Homestead.
    For Indycar star, Danica Patrick this was another day of over exaggerated media coverage, a bit of almost racing, a bit of beating and banging and of course the obligatory whining. The final result for Danica was in line with her previous 10 races, finishing seven laps down in 32nd place.
  

2010 winding down looking gloomy

By Joe Dunn

    As teams and driver’s in NASCAR’s number two and three series arrive at Phoenix looking past the final two races, things are not looking rosy.
    I caught up with some of the players in the garage at PIR to ask how they see 2011 shaping up.  In the NASCAR Nationwide Series there is a lot of uncertainty for sure.  Kenny Wallace announced earlier in the year that depending on how he performs in 2011, it may be his final curtain for NASCAR as a driver.  I had heard earlier in the month of changes coming to Jay Robinson Racing for next year, including the possible shuttering of the #28 team. When I spoke with Kenny at PIR he was pretty blunt. “ I am embarrassed, I can’t run another season in cars with no power.  I don’t know right now what the answer is, but we can’t keep doing this.”
    If Kenny is looking for another ride for 2011, the pickings are slim.  RCR announced earlier that they will not return to the series in 2011 and have an arrangement to turn the #21 over to Morgan Shepherd.  But folks inside the Shepherd camp admit that it is getting harder and harder to keep showing up at the track week in and week out with little to no sponsorship money.  Add  that sponsor problem to the cost of building all new cars for next year, combined with the ‘purse’ cuts in 2010 and more cuts in line for 2011, and it spells more doom and gloom.  The day of the single car teams is looking dim and could provide little more than start and park teams.
    While the larger operations, such as Roush Fenway, Joe Gibbs, and Hendrick/JR Motorsports have room to work with Cup revenue and sponsor exposure with their Cup drivers, these smaller one and two car teams are in a real bind.  ML Motorsports, out of Indiana is another single car team that could be promising with driver Shelby Howard. For 2010, they teamed up in a partnership with Jay Robinson Racing and driver Mark Green to fill in for the races other than the 22 Howard runs.  This effort has pushed the #70 team into the top 30 and a guaranteed starting spot each week, and will lock them in for the first five races of 2011.  But the uncertainty at Jay Robinson Racing may put that program in jeopardy for next year.
    A few weeks back Diamond Waltrip Racing released promising developmental driver Trevor Bayne.  Wasting no time, RFR signed the talented young Knoxville, TN driver and placed him in a spare car in the NNS for the final races.  In a surprise move, RFR made a deal to put Bayne in the legendary Wood Brothers #21 Sprint Cup car at Texas Motor Speedway.  An impressive Bayne finished on the lead lap consistently running along side seasoned veterans in the series.  That race earned Bayne NASCAR’s approval to attempt the 2011 Daytona 500. Now NS or will this signal the release of Ricky Stenhouse of Colin Braun?
    At about the same time, leading rookie of the year contender Brian Scott was released from his ride after Braun Racing sold out to Turner Racing.  Scott managed to stay running and continue to compete for the ROTY honors.  He is driving in the 09 RAB racing car now but has signed on with Joe Gibbs Racing for 2011. When Scott moved into the 09 car the team had gone through a myriad of drivers and musical crew members. With Scott came the switch to Toyota and the question now becomes, will the 09 team become part of  JGR, with RAB leaving the series?
    The Nationwide teams are not alone as the Camping World Truck Series also has a lot of teams in financial straights. Danny Gill, who started to the season with two trucks in the opening race at Daytona, both finishing in the top 10.  He had kept both teams in the top 25 in points until the lack of sponsorship forced him to pull the #95 truck from contention.  Struggling each week, Gill managed to keep his #46 team locked in, but he was running out of money.  A few weeks ago Eddie Sharp Racing made a deal for the #46 team for some of their developmental drivers. The Sharp deal brought in new Toyota Trucks to use.  NASCAR veteran Steve Park took the wheel of the #46 truck at PIR.
    When I spoke with Gill On Pit Road at Phoenix, he confided that he simply ran out of money.  He has sold the #46 ‘team’ to ESR who be buying all new Toyota trucks from Kyle Bush Motorsports in 2011.  The physical assets of the #46 team have been sold to another individual and the Gill Motosports shop in Murfreesboro, TN will be closed by the end of November.
    Truck Series Rookie contender Jennifer Jo Cobb who entered the series this year with financing from her own clothing line told me that she is uncertain at this point what the future holds.  She attempted a handful of Nationwide races this year with the intention to go full time in 2011 in that series, but wrecked cars and no sponsor money ended that quest. “ There will be no idea of a full time Nationwide run next year” she told me Friday night before her truck race. “ At this point, I don’t know what we will be doing next year, except that I will tell you that I will be at Daytona.  After that, it depends on sponsorship.”

Hot Pass at Bristol - A fans ultimate experience

By Joe Dunn
    Ask any race fan what they would want most at a NASCAR race, and most would tell you they’d give almost anything for a garage pass.  Now, ask them what track they would most want one at, and 90% would tell you Bristol Motor Speedway.
    Of course, as any longtime fan would tell you, a hot pass is out of the question for a normal fan and that pass at Bristol is simply impossible.  Well, any fan except maybe Barbara Albert from Camden, Tennessee.  Barbara has been a fan since her first NASCAR race at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1993.  She attended that race with her husband and by lap 25 she was totally lost.  She could not determine who was running where, but she was enjoying the show.  It was at that point that she decided that she needed to educate herself about racing and the drivers, which she began doing then.
    Now, seventeen years later, at 73 years old, Barbara is a near expert at NASCAR and it’s drivers.  But like most fans, she cannot afford to attend a bunch of races each year, so she and her daughter, Tiana Lemons of Nashville have season tickets for Nashville SuperSpeedway and then try to attend one other race per year at another track.  This year they picked Bristol for that second race and were looking forward to experiencing the ’Night Race’ in August.
    Both mother and daughter living in and near Nashville, they were both quite familiar with the devastation of the floods that struck the Nashville area earlier this year, but they surely never thought the floods would present a rare opportunity for them.  As they were preparing to attend  the NASCAR Nationwide Series race, the Federated Auto Parts 300 at Nashville they learned of  the efforts by Nashville SuperSpeedway, NASCAR, Nationwide Insurance and several of the Nationwide teams to raise funds for the flood relief efforts.  Among the efforts was a silent auction to be held at the track on race day, with items donated by several teams.  As they perused the list of sheet metal, and various clothing items, Barbara spotted one item that she could not believe, it was an auction for a pair of pit passes at one of three upcoming NASCAR Nationwide Series races.
    The passes were being offered by the #70 team of  ML Motorsports and driver Shelby Howard.  The three race options were at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Gateway International Raceway and the ’Night Race’ at Bristol Motor Speedway.   As they made their way through the auction items, they finally found these ’pit passes’ and discovered that no one had bid on them. The silent auction was an open bid system where you signed your name and entered your bid amount.  Other race fans then had the allotted time frame to up the bid in an attempt to ’win’ the auction.  With this in mind Barbara bid what she hoped was a high enough bid to secure the auction.  Each time she and Tiana checked back, they anxiously discovered that no one had bid against them.  Finally, just before race time, the auctions were closed and Barbara was notified that she was indeed the auction winner.  The choice of which race was simple, they already had tickets for the Bristol race.
    Two months later Barbara and Tiana made their way east from Nashville, TN. to the Mecca of Motorsports, Bristol Motor Speedway, early enough to attend the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series  race on Wednesday.  They set up their tent at nearby Red Barn Campground, showing that they are true diehard NASCAR fans and headed to the track to attend the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race. That turned out to be a good night for Barbara as she watched her favorite driver, Kyle Busch win the first race of the weekend.
    Thursday they dodged the early rain before heading to downtown Bristol, to attend the Food City Family Day. Mother and daughter took time to do a bit of sightseeing, shopping and then to have lunch. From lunch they headed back to the track and reported to the NASCAR Nationwide Series credential office to be issued those illusive Bristol hot Passes.  Later, the evening was capped off as they headed back to the track where they found themselves a place near the track’s south entrance to see the famous NASCAR Sprint Cup hauler parade.
      Finally, on Friday, the big day arrived, after working their way through track security, they entered the tunnel to the Bristol infield in search of the #70 ML Motorsports hauler.  They had spoken with Jennifer Weaver, Team rep for ML on the phone but they were anxious to meet with her in person.  To this point, neither mother or daughter were sure just what kind of access they were really about to have, but they were instructed to report to the team hauler for assistance.  While passing through the tunnel they spotted a girl wearing an ML Motorsports shirt and stopped her.  The girl was in fact Jennifer who escorted them to the hauler and got them started on their experience.
    Excited about the opportunity, they arrived at the hauler bearing homemade baked goods in appreciation for the team members.  In disbelief they were invited to join team members in the Lounge area of the hauler where they began to ask just what and where they where allowed to go. Bristol Motor Speedway was really a great choice for this pass, as it is the only track on the circuit where the Nationwide Series and the Sprint Cup Series share the same garage area on Friday.  When told that they basically had access to all open areas of the garage they happily headed to the Cup side in quest of  driver autographs.  The first driver they encountered was Jimmy Johnson, then came Jeff Gordon.  Tiana managed to track down Bobby Labonte as he was headed back to the hauler after practice.  “ I don’t know how those guys do it,” stated Tiana, “ when Bobby was signing his arm brushed against mine, and his driver’s suit was soaking wet.”

    As the Nationwide cars lined up for qualifying, they joined the team on pit road to wish Shelby Howard good luck on his qualifying effort.  With the #70 car off, they worked their way down pit road, snapping pictures of several drivers along the way.  Working their way back to the Nationwide garage area, Barbara was surprised when she was introduced to and asked to pose for a picture with her first winner, Morgan Shepherd.

    To their complete surprise, team members invited them to join them on the front stretch of the track where they got to be front and center for driver introductions. Come race time, mother and daughter found themselves the guest of the #70 ForeTravel Motor Coach team in their Pit area, where they had highboy chairs behind the pit box.  Interacting with team members, they got to know each one and their duties.  During the race, they were both invited to sit on top of the pit box with crew chief Chris Rice.  Barbara declined, due to a bad knee, but Tiana wasted no time in accepting the offer and climbing topside. They remained with the #70 throughout the race, and then headed to the end of pit road to see the drivers as they exited their cars and headed toward the haulers.

    Saturday afternoon they returned to the track to take their place as ‘normal’ fans for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race festivities.  But to each of them, they will never again be ‘normal’ fans. Tiana summed up the weekend and especially their Friday as “An incredible experience that I will never forget.”  Barbara said,” I really enjoyed the races, the whole weekend was Fantastic!” “The ML Motorsports team really treated us like Royalty” said Barbara “This whole experience was really much more than I could have dreamed for, and the fact that this was the result of efforts by so many people to help the Nashville Flood victims made it even better“
    Barbara and Tiana are not sure just which races they will attend next year, but you can be sure they will be at Nashville SuperSpeedway on April 22 and 23rd.

Kyle Busch notches win number two of the weekend

By Joe Dunn

    In a typical Bristol beating and banging race, Kyle Busch grabbed his second win of the weekend in the Food City 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway.  The race had an exciting 8 cautions for 48 laps with a spectacular incident with Kasey Kahne.
    Elliot Sadler started on the pole but quickly relinquished the lead to Joey Logano on the very first lap. Logano fought off teammate Kyle Busch for the first 30 laps before giving way to the 18 car. Series points leader Brad Keselowski battled with the lead cars, finally getting past Busch for the lead on lap 58, following pits stops on the first caution of the race. But he would only hold the lead for 4 laps before Busch edged past him on lap 62.
    On lap 82, Justin Allgaier got together with Trevor Bayne, Allgaier went high and apparently was unaware that Kasey Kahne was on the outside. The #12 of Allgaier forced the #38 of Kahne against the wall, which led to Kahne’s car climbing the wall riding about a quarter way around the track with the right side wheels atop the wall.  Kahne merged from the car unhurt as the TV reporters likened the ride to a Joey Chitwood type stunt. Referring to the famous auto thrill shows of the 1960’s and 70’s.   The damage ended the night for Kahne, but Allgaier and Bayne would both continue.
    The third caution of the night flew on lap 118 as Ryan Newman crashed in turn one, ending the night for the #1 Phoenix Construction Chevrolet. During the caution, Brad Keselowski stayed out to take the lead, but Carl Edwards on 2 tires quickly took the lead, only to lose it 9 laps later to Sadler.  Clint Bowyer would take his turn leading 7 laps before Brad Keselowski would take over once again on lap 162.
    The next 50 laps would lead to fierce competition between Keselowski and Busch until lap 219 as Busch would edge past Keselowski for the lead.  After Busch cleared the #22 car, Keselowski rammed Busch getting him loose and pulling back in the lead. But as Keselowski attempted to clear Busch, Kyle repaid the Brad with the same tap.  This one sent Keselowski spinning and ended his chances for a win.
    Following Busch across the finish line was Jason Leffler, with Elliott Sadler, Dale Earnhardt Jr and Carl Edwards in fifth.  Finishing sixth was Trevor Bayne, followed by Clint Bowyer, Reed Sorenson, Parker Kligerman and Joey Logano rounding out the top 10.  Points leader Keselowski finished 14th, narrowing his lead over Edwards to 313 points.  The #22 car is now 73 points behind the #18 in owners points.
    After the race Keselowski sparred no time badmouthing Busch for turning him and it appears that Busch now joins Carl Edwards on that list of  drivers to beware of Brad. Brad claimed that Busch was taking advantage of Brad’s being on probation. When asked to respond to Keselowski’s comments Busch simply stated that drivers are merely racing Brad as he races everyone else.  Elliott Sadler was not so kind, indicating that Keselowski was about to have problems with many more drivers if he didn’t change his attitude and driving style.
    We will all have to watch the Irwin Tools Night Race to see if any retaliation should come there.
  

Johnson takes first pole of year and first ever at Bristol

By Joe Dunn

    Jimmie Johnson surprised the fans and other drivers alike when he turned a fast lap of 15.540 for 123.475 mph to claim the pole for the Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
    Ryan Newman had set the mark when he went out 10th and held the provisional pole until being set back by his teammate Tony Stewart.  Stewart place atop the board was short lived as Joey Logano was next out (17th) and bested Stewart’s time by .023 seconds.  It appeared Logano would start up front until Carl Edwards went out 33rd and sent Logano back  beating his time by .022, but Carl would have to settle for the front row besides Johnson who turned a lap more than a half second faster.
    Jeff Gordon, who earlier in the day told the media that he seemed to have lost his ‘edge’ at Bristol when the track was resurfaced a few years ago, went out fifth and slid the car out of turn four onto the front stretch before taking the green flag.  NASCAR officials allowed Gordon’s crew to put scuff tires on since the tires were flat spotted and he had not taken the green.  Gordon went on the 5 minute clock and would go out later, turning a lap of 15.803 seconds, good for a disappointing 26th place start.
    David Reutimann, who had missed the practice sessions and was expected to miss qualifying due to stomach issues, surprised folks by climbing in the car and qualifying fifth. Jeff Green, who has been absent from the Cup series for a while, qualified the 26 car 31st putting the car in the field.  Kevin Conway, who was recently released from the #34 car was behind the wheel of the Robby Gordon #7 car  and made the race by way of owner points, starting 40th.  Casey Mears, driving the #13 Geico Toyota for Germain Racing filled the final spot starting 43rd.
    Missing Saturday Night’s race, the 100th NASCAR Sprint Cup Race at Bristol Motor Speedway were, Dave Blaney (36), Joe Nemechek (87), Kevin Lepage (4), J.J. Yeley (46), Brian Keselowski (92) and Mike Bliss (32).

JR Motorsports addresses 2011 drivers

By Joe Dunn

 (Bristol, TN) Kelly Earnhardt took advantage of the new media center at Bristol Motor Speedway to officially announce the signing of Aric Almirola as the full time driver of the JRM #88 car in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.
    The announcement was not a surprise as the story became public earlier in the week, but this was an opportunity to address the media as a whole.  Almirola who has spent time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driving part time with DEI, but later found himself without a ride.  This season Almirola connected with Billy Ballew Racing, to replace Kyle Busch in the #51 truck in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.  Currently sitting comfortably in second place in the standings behind points leader Todd Bodine, Almirola emphasized that his primary focus  remains on the #51 truck for 2010.
    Speaking about this new contract, Almirola was very positive about moving up to the Nationwide Series and more importantly moving up with a team that has a proven track record and the equipment and personnel to be a legitimate championship contender.  Almirola talked about his return to the NCWTS this year and the positive effect it has had on his attitude, and acting as a fresh ‘restart’ on his racing career.  He attributes his success with Billy Ballew this year as a catalyst to open the door for more opportunities, with the #88 NNS being the best and easiest choice for him.
    Kelly Earnhardt addressed the sponsor situation for 2011 by stating that they had some contracts in place and other’s that were very close to signing. She was clearly optimistic that JRM would have both the #88 and the #7 cars fully sponsored for 2011.  On the #7 car, Earnhardt stated that Danica Patrick’s time so far in the car has not been very good, however, they are still committed to bring her back for 2011.  No race schedule for Patrick is available yet, as they must wait for the IndyCar schedule to be released to work around.  She anticipates that Patrick will be in the car for more races in 2011 than in 2010, and that Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be in the car for 4-6 races in 2011. 
    Regarding the third driver in the #7 car for 2011, Earnhardt spoke positively about the success that Josh Wise has been having in the car, “ He has run seven races for us so far and has not put a single scratch on the car, while keeping it in the top 20 in points.”  With that statement made, Kelly still fell short of committing to Wise being the third  of record for the #7 car in 2011.

Time for Danica to exit NASCAR

By Joe Dunn

    Danica Patrick completed her sixth NASCAR Nationwide Series race Saturday in the Carfax 250 at Michigan international Speedway. Not surprising, she qualified at the rear of the field, starting 33rd. Her finish was another result that fans have come to expect, 27th place, 4 laps down.
    Patrick came to NASCAR amidst lots of fanfare and media attention. Even at Michigan, her sixth race where she was still running barely ahead of the start and park cars in the garage, the TV commentators were all over themselves talking about her.  The outrageous excuses for her poor performance has gone way beyond stupid.
    It seems that no money was spared this season to assure that Patrick would be locked into the races, first by buying the 2009 11 team to have a guaranteed top 30 points for the first 5 races.  Patrick quickly showed why that was a necessary expense to get her in the field. In 6 races, she’s had a best qualifying effort of 25th and an average qualifying result of 31.8.
    After the first 3 races, it appeared that JR Motorsports realized that they could not count  on Danica actually making the rest of her scheduled races without the guaranteed start of a top 30 team.  After, months of talk about the #7 team not running the full schedule and rolling out just for Patrick, there was a rush to line up drivers to keep it in the points.  Since Patrick’s race at LasVegas, the team has started with 5 different drivers, in an all out effort to lock the car into the field each week. Each one of those five drivers accumulated far better results than Patrick.
    In six races Danica has an average qualifying effort of 31.8, while Steve Arpin, a dirt track driver with very limited paved racing experience averaged 16.8 in qualifying, and rookie Josh Wise averaged 19th in his efforts. The finishing order is even more disturbing as Patrick has an averaged finish of 30.5.  This would not be a real concern for a real rookie, but Danica mania was selling her as a champion coming into NASCAR from the open wheel ranks.  It seems that if she is considered a star of the IndyCar Series, that program is in serious trouble.
    Landon Cassill was the first casualty of the keep Danica locked in program.  After three races in which he had a qualifying effort of 22.6 and an average finish of 24.3, he was tossed aside as not the power needed to benefit Patrick.  Next came Steve Arpin, the Canadian open wheel racer that began his rookie season in the ARCA series this year.  After 5 races with an average start of 16.8 and an average finish of 24.8, he was quietly sent back to ARCA to be replaced by Josh Wise.
    The latest story from JR Motorsports is that Josh Wise will remain in the car and will share the #7 car in 2011 with Patrick and Dale Earnhardt Jr.  In five races so far in 2010 in the #7 car, Wise has an average start of 19th and an average finish of  12.8.  It is a shame that he won’t have a serious chance to make a run at the Championship for 2011.
    Looking at the history of NASCAR and the level of competition, it is hard to believe that any team would keep a driver in the car who has an average start of 31.8, and average finish of 30.5 and in 6 races has finished on average 30.5 laps behind the leader.  A driver whose best finish was 2 laps behind the leader!
    Is anyone besides me, tired of the constant interviews with Danica where she continues to display just how out of touch  she is with NASCAR?  Six months after her first start, she still has no idea how to tell her crew chief what the car needs for her to drive it.  Is anyone else getting tired of the ‘it’s a learning program’, when there are capable and genuinely promising drivers sidelined looking for a ride.

Yes for Kentucky, No for Indy, 1st Chase race to Chicagoland

By Joe Dunn

    It really came as no surprise to anyone that follows NASCAR Thursday, when Atlanta Motor Speedway President Ed Clark announced that the track would cut back to a single NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race for 2011.
    Ever since Speedway Motorsports Inc. signed the deal to buy Kentucky Speedway in 2009, everyone anticipated a Cup date moving to Cincinnati area track.  There was a lot of speculation about just where that date would come from. The guessing grew more varied after O. Bruton Smith and SMI later purchased  New Hampshire International  Speedway.  But if you were among the media, or the few fans that were present at the spring Atlanta race, the handwriting was on the wall.
    I spoke with Smith last year at Kentucky and although he would not commit to the source, he made it clear that an SMI race would move to Kentucky Motor Speedway in 2010 or 2011.  When the track didn’t get a race date in 2010, due to the unsettled litigation with the former owners, Smith began talking about changes coming to KMS. In June of this year Smith was at the track for the NASCAR Nationwide Series race and he talked openly about leveling the infield and rebuilding it to mirror the new infield at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
    When Smith spoke openly about his displeasure with the security cost at his newly acquired New Hampshire Motor Speedway, many fans felt it was a signal that NHMS would indeed be losing a date to KMS, but that was never considered a serious by most of the media.  Remember folks, NHMS does have a ‘Chase’ date and Smith has again been very vocal about wanting a second Cup date for Las Vegas, and also his desire to make that the final race on the schedule. So, if we do see a second date at LVMS soon, it probably will come via NHMS.
    On the NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule, the folks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway went public last month suggesting that they were actively pursuing the NNS race date now held by O’Reilly Raceway Park.  Never mind that ORP has hosted that race for 28 years and it is an extremely popular race weekend that also includes a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race, and a night of USAC open wheel cars, it is a fan favorite weekend.
    This comment by IMS CEO Jeff Belskus was not accepted well by the folks over at the NHRA (owners of ORP) and they quickly pounced on NASCAR to keep the date safe.  The IMS move came about as the track has seen their attendance figures plummeting over the past few years.  Going from about 300,000 fans a few years ago for the Brickyard 400 to a reported 140,000 this year, says a lot about the track itself and the racing that it provides.  Although all NASCAR tracks have suffered attendance problems for 2009 and 2010, none have seen the drastic cut that IMS has.  All the while, just down the road at ORP, they are still selling out on the same weekend.
    Hats off to NASCAR for not letting this one drag out as only three days after the IMS announcement, they contacted NHRA to assure them that the NNS date will indeed stay at ORP.  In other news, SPEEDTV reports that Chicagoland Speedway will host the first Chase race in 2011 while New Hampshire motor Speedway will move one week to the second Chase race.

Troubles ahead for Nationwide Series?

By Joe Dunn

    NASCAR is looking ahead to 2011 with some not so subtle changes for the NASCAR Nationwide Series.  The biggest change of course is the move to the new car. That project has been in the works for a couple of years and the first official appearance was earlier this month at Daytona.
    I spoke to several NNS team owners over the weekend at ORP and the general consensus is that the smaller teams see this new car as a financial burden that most cannot afford.  It’s no secret around the garage that NASCAR had contacted the larger Cup based organizations, among them, Roush Fenway Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing and Richard Childress Racing to each bring extra cars to Daytona for the first race. The fear of not having enough cars to fill the field for a highly anticipated and publicized race was real.
    NASCAR truly was surprised when the entries came in and a full field was assured.  With the addition of Dale Earnhardt Jr. in a special Richard Childress car, and Carl Long in a one race deal with a new owner, one car even went home missing the race. But the real story was the fact that most of the teams there had no backup cars. Joe Nemechek was one of them. “ I had one car there, and no backup. That was not a new car, but rather an old Cup car that we rebuilt to make into a COT car.” Nemechek told me at ORP, “ I don’t know yet what I’m going to do for next year, if we can afford to build some of these new cars. The money is just too tight now.”
    Jennifer Jo Cobb, owner /driver of the #10 team in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series has aspirations of moving up to the NNS in the future. She was forced to partner up with Baker Curb Racing to build a single car which they jointly plan to run in the four races scheduled for this year. “That car was destroyed at the beginning of the race at Daytona, and we have no backup car.  We are rebuilding it for the Michigan race, but since I will be driving at Darlington that week we’ll have another driver in the car” Cobb said,  “ We started building the new car early, but it became obvious that this was not a cheap project. Baker Curb lost their sponsor on the 27 car earlier in the season and they were struggling to fund a new car, so we partnered up on this deal for the four races.”
    It’s not just the new car that is hampering some of the smaller limited budget teams. “We entered a car in the Nationwide race at Gateway and we didn’t make the field,” said Cobb, “ The lack of testing is really hurting us, but with the way the testing rules are we just can’t prepare a new car for a track that I have not driven before.  That was obvious at Gateway.”
    The problems with this series is funding, With the economy not rebounding as many had hoped it would, the majority of the NNS teams are really in trouble.  The sponsors have gone away and attracting new ones is a near impossible task. “ A few years ago, you could land a $200,000.00  sponsor relatively easy, heck, sometimes you were turning them away.”  Nemechek said, “ Now, you are breaking your neck and bending over backwards to land a $20,000.00 deal.  You can’t build new cars and keep racing like that.”  In addition to the loss of sponsorship money, the race purses were all cut this year too.
    At the beginning of the season, NASCAR announced that in conjunction with lowering ticket and concession prices, the track would be cutting the purse money by 10%. Several team owners have privately confirmed that the 10% is an exaggeration. Some say that the cuts in some cases were more in the neighborhood 20-30%. One team official compared the present purse structure to a welfare system.  “We don’t usually start and park, but we will be for a while.”  I was told, “The difference in purse money between finishing 40th after 10-15 laps and finishing 28th after 100 or more laps, won’t pay the tire bill.  And if the car gets tore up, your in even more trouble money wise.”
    These situations point to  real genuine problems in the series, and those problems are not going to be remedied by mandating a new car that many of the teams simply can’t afford. NASCAR did step in and approached the ARCA series, the result is a change in ARCA rules for 2011 which allow their teams to run the shorter wheelbase cars.  This will present a market for the current cars that will become obsolete after this season. That will help some of the bigger teams as they recoup some money from the old cars, but just as it did when the Cup teams moved to a new car, the supply will be a lot bigger than the demand. At that time, the old cars sold for pennies on the dollar and only the front running team’s cars were in demand.
    I spoke with Cindy Shepherd Caldwell, of Morgan Shepherd Racing, about this a few weeks ago at Kentucky Motor Speedway, and she was pretty blunt about it.  “There will only be so many buyers, so most of them will be looking at the Gibbs, Roush, Penske, and Childress cars.  Teams like us will be lucky to give these cars away.”  Then of course there is the case of the Super Speedway cars, those cars built exclusively for Daytona and Talladega. ARCA’s rule change did not include those tracks, so those cars, even with the top teams, are without a market.  Some of the teams were looking to strip down and unload those cars after Talladega, but many are now sitting behind the race shops collecting dust. Many of the teams are hopeful that ARCA will change the rule on those two tracks, they have promised to make a final decision sometime in September.

Hornaday and Bush repeat at ORP

By Roger Faulkner

It was another hot weekend at O’Reilly Raceway Park, in Clermont, IN. as the track came alive for three solid days of great racing. This was my second year at the great old track to cover Nascar for On Pit Road, but this year we got there early, arriving Thursday afternoon. That early arrival gave us time to catch the USAC action as the Midgets and the Silver Crown Sprint cars were in action.
The Midgets ran their 30 lap feature first and it was Kody Swanson of Kingsburg, CA. that led the race flag to flag. Among the field that night was Jason Leffler. Ryan Newman attempted the race in a Tony Stewart car, but they could never get the car to handle and pulled in after only a couple of laps in the heat race. In the Silver Crown race, both Leffler and Newman started the 100 lap race, with Newman starting second and leading the first lap. But both Newman and Leffler would retire early as the race was dominated by Brad Sweet, Kody Swanson and Bobby East. On lap 64 Tracy Hinds took the lead and never looked back as he collected the win.
In the Nascar Camping World Truck Series AAA Insurance 200, it was an three early battle between, Pole sitter Timothy Peters, Kyle Bush and Ron Hornaday. But as the laps wore down, it was Hornaday taking the lead and holding off the challengers. Peters would eventually fade back in the field and the battle was all Hornaday and Bush, but the crafty old veteran hung out there to repeat as the winner again this year at ORP. Bush had to settle for second, followed by Matt Crafton, Johnny Sauter and James Buescher. Rounding out the top 10 was Rookie Austin Dillon, sixth, followed by series point leader Todd Bodine, Brad Sweet, David Starr and Timothy Peters in 10th.
A jubilant Hornaday celebrated hard in Victory Lane as he is on a rebound from a poor start to the season. He made reference to that bad start when he declared, “this win is for Ray Dunlap.” the popular reporter for SPEED TV, “ Ray said that I was out of the running and could hang it up, early in the season. Ray, I’m still here.”
On Saturday night, the Nascar Nationwide Series took to the same track at ORP, with Trevor Bayne starting on the pole for the second year. Nascar had been watching the weather all day and there were threats of rain, so the start of the race was moved up 15 minutes. Bayne led the early laps, but as the race settled in it was Kyle Bush and Trevor Bayne swapping the lead several times. Carl Edwards charged to the front, but he never had enough to get past Bush. With an eye on the radar Nascar made quick work of the 6 cautions in this race and finished the race in less than 2 hours. It looked like the race was going to finish early and right on the 200 lap mark, but a spin in turn 4 by Joe Nemechek brought out the 6th caution on lap 196. That set up a green-white-checker finish with Edwards pushing hard to catch Bush. But Kyle would have no part of that so on lap 201 he collected his third win in a row at ORP in the Nationwide car. Edwards crossed the line second, followed by Almirola, Bayne and Sorenson. Series point leader Brad Keselowski finished 8th.

Danica get’s a top 25, along with Morgan Shepherd

By Joe Dunn

    In her last race in the NASCAR Nationwide Series at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Danica Patrick got together with Morgan  Shepherd which sent her into the wall. It was a pure racing incident where Shepherd got loose and slid up into Patrick’s car.  The immediate reaction from Danica has been well documented and of course included a lot of comments that illustrated her lack of knowledge about NASCAR and the way these cars react to each other on the track.
     In the aftermath she finished 30th, 5 laps down, while Shepherd finished  8 places ahead of her 3 laps down. Skipping Daytona, Danica returned at Chicagoland for the Dollar General 300.  This week, she didn’t have anything to blame on anybody else.  Her run, which mainly consisted of being 2 or 3 laps down to the leaders was the typical run of a rookie, except of course for the TV guys still drooling over her and giving her way too much attention.
    Danica again began the race weekend with one of the best cars, for one of the best teams, that was specially prepared for her and this race.  Danica’s performance was pretty much uneventful this week.  She managed to stay out of the way of the leaders, and it wasn’t until past the halfway mark before she actually challenged anyone on the track.  She managed to stay out of trouble and finished a career best 24th, 2 laps down.
    For Morgan Shepherd the Dollar General 300 was a new type of learning experience for the 68 year young veteran. When the rumors went out early in the week that Richard Childress Racing  was not going to run the unsponsored 21 car at Chicago, there was discussion about Shepherd using the 21 number on his car for a guaranteed start.  Those discussions continued but by the time they were at the track Thursday, NASCAR had ruled that an RCR car must be used to complete the deal.  The frenzy that followed resulted in an RCR 21 car arriving at the track late Thursday.  By the time the car made it through inspection, Shepherd was able to run 17 laps in the final practice with a car that was not prepared for this race.
    This was a rather uneventful race for Morgan Shepherd also, except that he didn’t have to worry about qualifying.  His driving style was pretty similar to what it has been for the past years. Treating the car like everything was coming out of his own pocket, (which for the most part IS the case) he carefully ran a conservative race, taking care not to tear up the car.  Shepherd is an old school racer who understand the phrase, ‘bring it home in one piece.’  In the end, Shepherd finished 25th, 3 laps down, one spot behind Danica.
    There are still a lot of unconfirmed rumors running about Shepherds future with the 21 team. But so far, now comments yet from anyone at RCR or from Morgan Shepherd. Speculation is that Childress may allow Shepherd to use the 21 car in the remainder of the unsponsored races for the season.
    All of this of course brings us back to the month’s old question, where is John Wes Townley?  Still, nobody at RCR will comment.
  


  

One driver’s memories of the 1959 NASCAR Firecracker 250

(L to R) Roger Flaherty, unknown, Leif Johansson, Frank Wasko, Gary Raymond, John Paschal(driver), Tommy Paschal -photo courtesy Roger Flaherty

By Joe Dunn

    It was a 51 year reunion of sorts and I’m not sure who enjoyed it the most.  I felt like I had fallen back in history, to a time that I have had the pleasure to study over the years. The time was 1959, racing news was not available like today, so most  of the information was weeks or months late, gathered from the ‘racing papers’ sold at the local race tracks. Record keeping was sporadic at best and  there was no central records office for auto racing.
    Daytona International Speedway had opened in February of 1959 with it’s inaugural race, the Daytona 500, but the new track already had other racing venues scheduled. The 4th of July was to be a much anticipated USAC Champion (Indy car) race.  Promoters envisioned this to become the southern version of the Indy 500. But a 100 lap USAC race on April 4th, resulted in the death of rookie driver George Amick.  It was a mutual decision by UASC and DIS officials that the track was too fast and the surface too rough to ever run the open wheel cars there again.
    This led Bill France Sr. and the folks of NASCAR scrambling to fill the date, and quickly a NASCAR Grand National event was added to the schedule.  Not to take away from the ‘glory’ of the ‘500’, this would be a shorter race consisting of 100 laps for a distance of 250 miles. Being held on Independence Day, the ‘Firecracker 250’ seemed to be a fitting name for the event.  With less than 3 months to get a field of cars in place, legendary promoter and NASCAR Vice-President Ed Otto reached out to his northern roots to get cars and drivers to fill the field.
    It was late June of that year that John Paschal of Hibernia, NJ headed for Daytona Beach Florida in his quest to join the ranks of NASCAR at the new Speedway.  John packed up his 1957 Ford for the trip and hooked  his Sleepy Hollow Garage, 1958 Ford race car up with a tow bar for the trip. He arrived in Daytona early in the week and was the first car to arrive at the Speedway on Tuesday, for the Saturday race.  “ I had raced for a while up north, but I knew I had a lot to learn about NASCAR and wanted to be there early in hopes of getting some help and advice from the other drivers.” John recalled.
    Paschal’s mother was already living not far from Daytona, so younger brother Tom  was quick to join in to help. Being at the track early, they both met up soon with Bill France Sr. who was staying in a trailer at the track.  “I got to talk to Mr. France and he was a really great guy”, said Paschal, “I explained to him that Tom was my ‘crew’ and even though he was too young (15) to get a NASCAR license, he took us over to the office and got Tom a license.”  John Paschal’s No. 60 team was assigned a garage area and as other teams began arriving, Lee Petty was assigned the garage next to John, with Ralph Moody also being nearby.  Over the days leading to the race John  learned of a lot of ‘little’ things he could do to improve the car for racing at Daytona.
    “ I was out running laps, I had it to the floor and all of a sudden two or three cars would go by, all bumper to bumper.” said Paschal, “When they got along side me, I saw the RPM’s on the tach go up and my speed increased.  As soon as they got by, everything went back to where it was and they were long gone.  I  had just learned about the draft!” Discussing the cars then and comparing to the cars of today, John told me that they had all of the factory glass still in the car and he had his windows open to try to keep himself cool.  He noticed that a lot of cars were running with the windows closed. “I was running out there, and I rolled up the window to see what it would do, and all of a sudden I was going 10 MPH faster.  That was something you would never experience at a short track.” he told me.
    Brother Tom recalled that they were having trouble getting up the speed for a qualifying run, “I had the intake manifold off and Lee Petty came by and looked at the camshaft.  He told me to go over to the Holman-Moody trailer and get an offset camshaft key. I went over and got that key and we picked up almost 10 MPH. These guys knew all the tricks.”
    John was told about the bump in turn four, where if you were running high and hit it, you would fly up into the wall. “ I knew about that bump, and when I qualified, sure enough, I was high and it threw me into the wall and messed up my run.” John explained. He was disappointed in the fact that he qualified and started 9th in his first race there.
    Come race day, The No. 60 Ford managed to stay up front, “I was running 6th  for much of the race. Mom was home, but she told me later that she listened to the race on the radio and how excited she was when they mentioned my name several times.”  John still has fond memories of that and had tried, with no success to find an audio copy of that radio broadcast.  But his top 10 run would be derailed when his engine suddenly began losing power.  His oil pressure was dropping, the car was smoking real bad,  and he feared it would not make it all the way to pit road before his engine exploded, but somehow he managed to get there.  His engine was nearly out of oil and a check under the car revealed the problem.  A broken oil filter had allowed the engine oil to run out. Both Tom and John scattered up and down pit road and the garage area in an attempt to locate an oil filter. But they were running out of luck as the field raced past and not a single filter could be found.
    It was a sign of sheer racer desperation and determination as they both started peering over the infield parking lots. John spotted a new 1959 Ford in a lot and they both climbed the fence to get at the car.  John crawled under the car and discovered the same engine with the same filter. Not bringing any tools in the rush, John struggled to remove the oil filter by hand. He managed to get it off and instructed Tom to leave a note on the car telling the owner what they did.
    Over the fence and back to the car, they got the ‘borrowed’ oil filter installed, filled the engine with oil and the No. 60 Ford was back in the race 33 laps down. The Paschal team finished the race, officially in 30th place, but John likes to think he was 16th.  You see, NASCAR had two Grand National divisions back then, Hard Tops and Convertible, and this race had both cars, so John Paschal’s car was the 16th place Hard Top to finish the race.  After the race was over, and John had collected his $100 winnings, he also had a bill for his tires, parts and fuel for the race, which far exceeded his winnings. He mentioned to Bill France Sr. that he was going to have to find a buyer for his 1957 Ford tow car, to pay the bills. France smiled and told him that his secretary was in need of a car and he bought the car on the spot.  With his bills paid and a few extra dollars to spare, he found another racer to ‘hitch a ride with for himself and his racecar to get back home to New Jersey.  “Oh, and about that oil filter“, John recalled, “This short guy comes up to me after the race, he was a true race fan and he understood and seemed to appreciate that he had ‘helped’ one of the race teams. He was also very thankful for the note giving him the heads up.”
    Although the records available show this as John’s only NASCAR race, he talked about other races he ran including the 1958 race at the Polo Grounds in New York city, the 1960 Road Course race at Montgomery Air Base in NY, Heidelberg Raceway in New Jersey and a few others during that era.

    Back to present day and the ‘Reunion’, it took place on Wednesday June 23 at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, NC. When it was announced a couple of years ago that the Hall of Fame would be offering a ‘Commemorative Brick Program’, Tom Paschal wanted to honor his brother with one.  He contacted their sister, Johanna Paschal Cavalli and she began the process to order the brick and to get the information needed to get just the ‘Right’ inscription on the brick.

In January of 2009, she contacted this writer asking for help as she was having some problems gathering information. I did a bit of research on my own, sent it along to her and wished her luck.  She thanked me for the help and I didn’t hear back from her until Monday June 21, 2010.  It was at that time she told me about the ‘Brick’ and that the family was all gathering Wednesday at the NASCAR Hall of Fame to see the brick. My plans suddenly changed for that week and I got a chance to relive that era from my childhood with the Paschal family.

   Meeting in Charlotte would be John Paschal, now of Mine Hill, NJ, Tom Paschal of  Sacramento, CA., sister Johanna Cavalli of Palm Coast, FL and John’s daughter Sonja Kuntzelman and family of Hertford, NC and his son J. Tom Paschal of Greer,SC.

Tom and John at the NASCAR Hall of Fame with Lee Petty's car from the 1959 Firecracker 250.


    Hats off to the staff at the NASCAR Hall of Fame for making this all possible and a special Thank You to Natividad Lewis of the Hall of Fame for her help in making this a special day for the family.