doing that and that it was a conspiracy theory. Obviously I was right and it’s not a conspiracy theory.
For you Jacques Villeneuve fans, he may be back soon behind the wheel of Robby Gordon’s #55 Busch Series car at Montreal. So keep your fingers crossed.
I found this as the lead off of an article and had to scratch my head:
“NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France said Friday that he is cognizant that Detroit’s Big Three automakers are suffering critical financial problems, but he’s hopeful they will continue to support NASCAR next year and beyond, despite dire circumstances.”
Since when has His Royal Highness been cognizant of anything, much less of the problems in Detroit? He obviously wasn’t cognizant when Dodge cut back their support to only one Truck Series team. He obviously wasn’t cognizant when Dodge cut out their sponsorship to GEM. And with the recent announcement by GM that they’re cutting back on their track presence by not displaying banners, not buying track advertising, ending their deal with pace and track vehicles, you have to wonder just how cognizant the Emperor of All Things NA$CAR really is by not reading what’s going on in the financial world and what’s happening within the auto industry. Maybe it’s the “sodas”, Kool Aid, and palm trees affecting his being cognizant. Don’t worry Your Majesty, that palm tree isn’t going to jump out in front of your car.
Don’t be surprised when GM files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and has to pull the plug on all of their racing support. Not just advertising, but their support to various race teams and series. They’ve got a big bank note coming due for about $18 billion and don’t have the funds to pay it and unless they can get some deal worked out to postpone the payment or roll it over into another payment, you can bet they’ll be having to go the bankruptcy route. And if that happens, there are going to be a couple of multi-car teams who will be in a major bind.
Mark Martin is going to the #5 car at Hendrick Motorsports. Nothing against Mark but wasn’t he supposed to have retired a couple of years ago? And I really have to question him going to the #5 car. That team hasn’t really done anything spectacular in quite a while. Sure, there’s been the odd win here and there, but you’ve got to go back to Terry Labonte driving it to find that car having a decent record. So will he do better there than he did at DEI, Ginn, and Roush? Doubtful and it’s nothing against Mark. Don’t do what Jabber Jaws and some others did and embarrass yourself Mark by hanging around too long.
I did find my copy of the Busch Series COT prototype photo, so if you want to see what it looks like, drop me a line and I’ll e-mail it to you. And apparently, NA$CAR is going to hold off for a year on introducing the Uni-Car for the Busch Series because of the cost to the small teams. Gee, that’s awfully nice of them. Considering the millions it cost the Cup teams to suddenly have to go over to the Uni-Car, regardless of whether or not the teams could afford it. Plus add in the boredom factor of the Uni-Car. HRH really wants to kill off the sport his family built. It’s like the old saying of the first generation builds it, the second generation maintains it, and the third generation destroys it.
Congrats to Randy Moss on buying 50% of Morgan-Dollar racing. I like his attitude of learning to crawl before you can walk. Hopefully this will pay off for him. At least he’s starting out with the most action packed series instead of the most hyped. Maybe the new owner can give Morgan-Dollar a little something they’ve been lacking the last couple of years and return them to their former winning selves.
You have to wonder who’s Wheaties Truex Jr. befouled to have his car confiscated. This, tied in with last year’s episode with the Hendrick Bunch makes me wonder if NA$CAR even bothers to check the Uni-Car’s body when the car goes through inspection at the Top Secret R&D facility. My guess is they don’t. And considering how much money the teams are paying for these inspections, you would think they’d check the bodies also. But this is logical and as we know logic and NA$CAR don’t go together. If I were DEI, I’d be taking my templates with me to the Ivory Towers when I appealed the penalty and making sure they matched up. When you consider who issues the templates to the teams, you have to wonder whether or not all the templates are technically accurate. And if this car had passed inspection previously, why was it suddenly not meeting the templates? More questions than answers folks. And no, I’m not a DEI fan. I’d be asking the same questions if it was Petty Enterprises or one of John Carter’s cars.
And speaking of the Hendrick Bunch, owner Rick Hendrick definitely put his foot in his mouth with a lot of dog owners:
"I like putting two dogs together, nose to nose, and letting 'em fight," Hendrick said, reflecting on conversations he's had in private with his other three drivers.
He obviously hasn’t looked around in the RV’s of a lot of the drivers who are dog owners. There are race fans who take their dogs to chase racin‘. There are some shops who have dogs as mascots. After the Michael Vick case, you’d think people would be a little more careful about their comments regarding dog fighting. This could very well be a much harder “mea culpa” to get forgiven for than when he spent $350,000 for the Presidential Pardon he bought from Bill Clinton. Granted he may have just been using this as a metaphor or simile, but if it was, he really did it in poor taste. And think about this too. We fans already have an image problem along with the sport to outsiders and the unknowing of being a bunch of toothless, ignorant rednecks. And now we have to worry about having people and the media outside the sport think we enjoy dog fighting? Open mouth, insert foot, season to taste, and chew vigorously Rick. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if the ASPCA and various animal rescue groups started calling the shop about this.
It seems Ganassi is cutting back even more on his personnel. This time, it’s the more “tenured” members of Ganassi on the #41 and #42 teams. By cutting the more senior members of the teams, he’s saving himself money by only having to use young members and not pay them as much. If he thought he had problems before, we’ll have even more now with cutting loose his experienced team and shop members. And for those who didn’t have a chance to listen to JPM on the radio at Daytona, he is not happy with everything that’s going on at Ganassi. If ever somebody was going to jump ship to a better team, it’s JPM.
And along the lines of Ganassi cutting back even more, could this also be leading to Ganassi Racing being bought up by another Cup organization? Petty Enterprises wants to expand to a 4 car team and with Ganassi being a Dodge team, it could be the ticket that Petty Enterprises is looking for. And with Bill Davis losing his main sponsor for so many years, could BDR be coming up for sale? We could be getting closer and closer to the dreaded 11 Super Teams that have been mentioned over the last few years.
And another rumor of yet another team coming up for sale and that’s DEI. Could this be the chance that the Earnhardt kids have been waiting for to get back the organization their dad built and turn it around? The sale has been denied, but the rumors still persists. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Is there a Volkswagen or Audi in NA$CAR’s future? Possibly. Both German manufacturers are looking at building auto plants here in the USA. Volkswagen has been racing in rally races for a number of years as has Audi. Plus Audi also competes in the American Le Mans Series. So there could be a new player on the track eventually. This isn’t any sort of insider info I have, just something to think about since both manufacturers plan to build here. Providing, of course, that NA$CAR doesn‘t become just a glorified IROC with the generic Kit Car or a spec car series which it does every time they mandate parts and specifications for the Uni-Car.
I can't add much about Tony and his escape from JGR. The only question remains who will be in the second car. I keep seeing Newman but keep hearing Truex Jr. I guess we'll know more as silly season gets even sillier.
If you ever have to figure out why a NA$CAR
decision goes the way it does, it’s easy to figure
out. Follow the money trail. Why do we still
have the restrictor plate on a car that’s not
supposed to need one? Money. If NA$CAR did
away with restrictor plates, their insurance cost
would go through the roof for Daytona and
Talladega. Why do we still have Badyear tires?
Money. Badyear is a client of HRH Brand Sense
marketing company. Just follow the money trail
folks and that’ll explain about 98% of NA$CAR’s
decisions. Just don’t follow the money trail from
a certain silver Lexus or you could hit a palm
tree and spill your “soda“.
Once again, another story the lame stream media won’t tell you about. The Air Force, based at Bagram Air Base, in conjunction with the 11th Quartermaster Rigger Detachment and Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force, manage to deliver about one million pounds of humanitarian aid and supplies to Afghan civilians and our troops through air drops. Last winter, humanitarian assistance such as blankets, rice, beans, coal, oil and stoves were delivered to Afghan villagers hit hard by the extreme winter weather. They also used helicopters to deliver humanitarian aid in areas where air drops aren’t possible. Folks, if this doesn’t show you what our service members are made of, I don’t know what else does. My thanks to all the folks involved in these operations to help keep the Afghani civilians fed and warm.
Motherhood, Apple Pie, and John Wayne
Mad Mikie
Curmudgeon at Large
Want to chat with other race fans about this article and other NASCAR stuff?
Gotta comment, question or want to say hey there...email Mike here
Go visit our home page, called appropriately The Pits & check out our photos & pages. Our most popular page; Race Recon is where you get all the info you need to go to the races including local camping, hotels, bars, restaurants, tracks, golf & other important race weekend information. We also have attending a NASCAR Race tips, tailgating tips & recipes, stories, trivia, quotes & more! While you are surfing see if you are a REAL RACE FAN. Be sure to read the Fan Fables, LAIDBACK RACING’S adventures with the tailgating race fan at NASCAR tracks.
