NA$CAR Public Relations: (386) 681-4353 or rposton@nascar.com
I’m still searching for Faux King Brian’s e-mail address but I don’t think computers work too well with chewed up crayons stuck in the CD drive and trying to type with your toes.
Ironic that Rodney Childers and Roto-Reutimann received American muscle cars for winning a bet since they work for a Japanese named auto manufacturer further proof that they don’t make muscles cars over there or here. I definitely wouldn’t mind owning or winning a vintage Mustang GT 500.
TV ratings were up for Loudon. This is the first time in quite a while that the TV ratings have been up for any of the NA$CAR races. Overall, TNT’s ratings are down only 4%, which when you compare it to Focks overall ratings of -11% for their part of the season seems pretty good. Was the rise in the ratings a coincidence with Webhead being sidelined? We’ll know for sure since Webhead won’t be in the booth for the next two races. That’ll save the environment some since he won’t be using all that hairspray to be on camera. Of course, maybe if NA$CAR went back to the old start times and were consistent with them, plus had something that resembled street cars and real racing instead of racer-tainment, the ratings might go back up.
Jim Hunter, one of His Royal Highness’ merry henchmen, says that all is well with the Truck Series and that it’s not going anywhere. Well, even though the Truck Series has provided the best racing under Brian’s Big Top, they’ve been running a short field most of the year and out of the field that is running, only about 25 trucks are actually competitive. The rest seems to be start and parks. But now they’re talking about cutting the Truck Series schedule, which is short enough as it is, and making the Truck Series a spec racing series by going to crate engines. Obviously the Ivory Tower Gang hasn’t been paying attention to what I’ve been saying about the history and fate of spec racing series.
By the time this is posted, the names of the 25 candidates to be considered for NA$CAR’s Hall of Fame should be posted. Despite the fact that the fan vote will only count as one vote (and there are supposed to be 75 million of us according to Faux King Brian’s Propaganda and Hype Machine) and the folks from the media and some former drivers and team owners make up the rest of the vote, you have to wonder if the vote will be a real vote or will it be a sham like the All Star fan vote. Since it’ll come down to 5 names being inducted, you can figure Bill Sr. will be on there. If it comes to a living/retired driver, you have to figure The King will be on there although some others, like the Allison brothers, Cale Yarborough, Junior Johnson, Rex White, Ned Jarrett, AJ Foyt, Mario Andretti, David Pearson, and Marvin Panch, just to name a few, are also worthy. When it comes to a deceased driver, well, that should be interesting. I can think of several who should be in the HOF. Joe Weatherly, Curtis Turner, Red Byron, Fireball Roberts, Tiny Lund, Darrel Dieringer, the Flock Brothers, and Dale Sr. As to living/retired team owners, Raymond Parks, Bud Moore, Glenn and Leonard Wood, Cotton Owens, Lee Petty, Holman and Moody, and several others are worthy of being nominated and inducted. And there are some mechanics and crew chiefs that are worthy also. Red Vogt, the man who coined the phrase NASCAR (before it became NA$CAR), Slick Owens, Waddell Wilson (engine builder extraordinaire), and Suitcase Jake Elder should also be considered. As to track owners, living or deceased, Enoch Staley, Curtis Turner, and Clay Earle come to mind. Only one name comes to mind when it comes to race promoters and that’s Humpy Wheeler. But all of these names will be moot if the vote is like that of the All Star race; a complete and total sham.
You have to wonder, if it is a real vote, just what criteria will be used to select the inductees. Is it based solely on their name power and winning records or contributions to the sport? Lee Petty had a decent winning record but also served as a mechanic and car builder. Will these be taken into account? Red Vogt was a mechanical wizard with the old Ford flathead V-8’s. Rex White pioneered several innovations with chassis and steering that are still used today. Banjo Matthews pioneered things with the chassis that are the foundation for the current chassis. Herschel McGriff and James Hylton are still hanging in there after all these years, so does duration count for anything? And how about humanitarian contributions? Rex White, the Allison brothers, Dr. Don Tarr, Ned Jarrett, Carl Long, Ted Musgrave, and a host of others donate their time and effort to help out former drivers, crew chiefs, and other folks that NA$CAR didn’t deem worthy of assistance. Should this be a consideration? I guess we’ll eventually find out if the vote is real or fake when the few outcasts of the lamestream media compare notes.
Supposedly, Jeremy’s A & B samples were tested by an outside lab and they came up with the same results as the first tests. But according to Mayfield’s lawyer, they weren’t. Hmmm very interesting. It still leaves the unanswered question of where did the B Sample come from since Mayfield didn’t “donate” a second sample. And since the medications that Mayfield takes give a false positive for meth, it only makes sense that a second test would show the same results as the first. Plus there seems to have been a question regarding the chain of custody raised in the past along with the environment in which the samples were collected. I guess well know more as the case goes further along. Maybe folks need to start raising funds for Mayfield like they have for Carl Long to help keep him afloat financially until this mess is over with and Jeremy takes over Faux King Brian‘s job.
I have to laugh with Robin Pemberton saying NA$CAR has made "good gains with new rules and regulations" in reference to the Truck Series. Sorry, the two stop pit stops is one of the dumbest decisions that has been made by the All Seeing, All Knowing, Emperor of All Things NA$CAR. It throws off the rhythm of the race and increases the danger to the pit crew members. Its bad enough we’ve got some drivers that can't hit their pit stalls the first time around and hit pit crew members in the process and they want to give these same drivers a second chance at them? I don’t think so. Returning to the “half time” competition caution so the teams can work on their trucks doesn’t make much sense either. It didn’t make much sense when they first started the Truck Series and going back to it would be taking a step backwards. The official excuse is they could cut their team size down to 6 crew members. Give me a break. At least Pemberton was right about using the crate engines in the Truck Series. "They're not durable to last much beyond one race”. This would cost the teams a lot more money for engines than what it’s costing them now. Something they need to consider with the Cup and Cup Lite Series. It won’t save them any money either, but I keep forgetting none of His Majesty’s decisions which were supposed to save the teams money actually have. The mandated gears haven’t saved them money, the COW (Car of Woe) hasn’t saved them money, the tire programs haven’t saved them money, and banning testing at tracks used for the Top 3 Tiers hasn’t saved the teams money. So since it won’t save the teams money, it means they’ll probably implement the crate engines.
With the Milwaukee Mile owing NA$CAR $1.8
million, that works out to about $45 per butt in
the seat in addition to the regular ticket prices
($79 for the weekend pit pass deal, $20-$55 for
Truck ticket, $26-$66 for Busch ticket). They
drew about 42,000 fans total for their Truck and
Busch Series races. You have to wonder how
bad they did with the AJ Foyt 225 Indy race
back in May.
Inside sources say Humpy Wheeler has the
inside track on replacing Tony George since
Dan Gurney pulled his name from consideration.
Apparently, no sooner than I wrote about Robby
Gordon and Bill Lester running the Rolex race this weekend than the deal fell through. Peter Baron, the car owner, couldn’t get enough of the right spare parts to make a decent go of things, so rather than do it Faux King Brian-style (half-a$$ed) he decided to pull out and will try again later.
Motherhood, Apple Pie, and John Wayne
Mad Mikie, Curmudgeon at Large
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