Ye Ed spent the better part of last Wednesday at the New York Int’l Auto Show in midtown Manhattan during the show’s Press Day. This massive automotive exposition — 1,000 new cars from 20 worldwide automakers on display — filled the sizeable Javits Center on Manhattan’s west side. We got an elevated view of the Hudson River while attending the Hyundai press conference and active display in a huge upstairs room, which has a half-acre floor where manufacturers can display the horsepower, handling, acceleration and “whirl” capability of their vehicles. That’s exactly what Hyundai did for hundreds of bleacher-seated auto lovers using a pair of brightly painted examples of its 2010 Genesis Coupe. Two leggy long-haired blondes easily handled the 300-plus horses these first rear-drive Hyundais possessed, accelerating, braking, turning, swerving and looping around the 75-foot wide block-long roadway, only inches apart, which bedazzled the audience. My quiz of the two ladies inquired if basic training had come at a Joie Chitwood Auto Thrill Show, for which they seemed eminently qualified. This unique Hyundai demonstration was the high point of my show visit, but not the most important observation. Significant throughout the show was the automotive trend to “Green” cars, be they high-performance models or something for Grandma to drive. Performance and fuel economy was stressed everywhere with lower CO2 emissions being close behind. Crash resistance and car safety were graphically portrayed in the Ford exhibit showing the 2008 Taurus it deliberately crashed. The damaged vehicle was displayed on an elevated platform, which allowed close-up looks into how well its innards survived the 35-mph barrier impact. The accompanying TV showing of the actual Taurus crash attracted enthusiastic attention. Show staffers forecast an attendance of 100,000. Surprising was learning Steve Saleen no longer holds an interest in the company that builds the car that bears his name. For the record: The North American 2008 Car of the Year is the Chevy Malibu with Cadillac CTS No. 2 and Honda’s Accord third. For North American SUV of the Year, the rankings announced the Mazda CX-9 as winning over the Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid and Buick Enclave. 

Back in my early teens when first exploring the auto racing world, the first remembered advice offered by seasoned promoters Ralph Hankinson, J. Alex Sloan, Al Sweeney, Gaylord White and Sam Nunis was the same: “Never promote an auto race on Easter Sunday or Mother’s Day.” It was a lesson many learned and none forgot, evidence being Sunday’s skip in many schedules.

Long-time stock car team owner Richard Childress is challenging Rick Hendrick for team supremacy on NASCAR tracks. Saturday’s one-two finish by Childress drivers Scott Wimmer and Clint Bowyer in the Pepsi 300 at Nashville followed the week-earlier 1-2-3 Childress driver finish in the Sprint Cup race at Bristol, Tenn. Both Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, Hendrick’s top stars, are out of the top 10 in Sprint Cup points while Dale, Jr. is fifth, almost 100 points behind leader Kyle Busch, a Joe Gibbs driver.

Southerner Gary Baker, one-time track owner and now a Nationwide series team owner, dislikes Sprint Cup drivers appearing in Nationwide Series events. Baker opines the double appearances of Cup drivers on race weekends initially hurt Saturday attendance, contending fans saved their money and bought expensive Sunday tickets. But now, says Baker, seeing 22 Cup drivers race on Saturday leads to empty seats on Sunday. He feels fans now can see their favorite drivers race on Saturday for a third of Sunday costs and then watch the Sunday race on TV from the comfort of their couch.

We long wondered if those two auto-racing fan clubs in Daytona Beach would ever wise up and merge. Well, they have and The Living Legends of Auto racing and The Auto Racing Legends clubs are now one under the LLOAR banner. Want more? Write LLOAR, c/o Maxwell, 373 Woodland Ave., Daytona Beach, Fla. 33118.

Members of the SCCA’s Southern Indiana Region conduct a unique annual survey at its home track. It examines the racing surface for bumps, cracks and concrete in need of patching at the Lawrenceville Airport. March 15 was this year’s crack-finding day.

Our congratulations to Ohio’s Dayton Auto Racing Fan Club. This busy organization, known as DARF, recently celebrated its 40th birthday. Its Fast Times newsletter is one of the nation’s best fan club periodicals. The club’s address is P.O. Box 641, Dayton, Ohio 45401.

Now that all the newspaper clippings have been read, it appears Tony Stewart got more publicity for complaining about tires at Atlanta than Kyle Busch got for winning his first Cup series race for himself and for Toyota as well.

Rahal-Letterman Racing got a nice compliment recently in the New York Times for its donation to a charitable entity of a ready-to-go Indy-type racing car.

FROM NSSN STAFF

A quick trip to Vegas — no jackpots unfortunately — allowed for a brief visit with Chris Powell, general manager of Las Vegas Motor Speedway. According to Powell, Vegas is “recession proof,” and it sure seemed that way with bumper-to-bumper traffic on the Strip and full sidewalks all day long. Powell says that 32 percent of his tickets are sold to Nevadans, and that the 143,000 hotel rooms in town are pretty much full on race weekends.
Incidentally, building is going on like there’s no tomorrow in Vegas, and hotel rooms will increase by 40,000 in three years. LVMS hosts the NHRA, NASCAR Sprint, Nationwide and Craftsman Truck series, with the highest three-day ticket at $257.
Some very creative marketing for the Truck series has resulted in record crowds and tons of local publicity and Powell and his staff are to be complimented on this “secret” strategy. LVMS hires 3,000 folks to staff the grounds come race days, all locals.
The talk turned to Sprint Cup, mostly about the New Hampshire dates and what Bruton Smith is likely to do with his most recent track purchase. Powell said that Smith and Speedway Motorsports (Atlanta, Bristol, Infineon, Las Vegas, Lowe’s, Texas and New Hampshire) have never been awarded or given a NASCAR Cup date, that all had been bought over the years. It started with Lowe’s Motor Speedway (nee Charlotte) and subsequent purchases of tracks that already had dates, some of which were moved to other tracks. Interesting.