Oct. 26, 2007 - A Mystery And A Missing Friend

This is hard for me to write. It's something I should have written years ago but never found a place for it. No one else has done anything either.

Lou Brunell was the PR man for the Flemington Fairgrounds in the 1970's. He was always an energetic, hard worker in racing. After he left Flemington, he worked with me at Nazareth Raceway, and we did the TV taping on Twin County TV-4 together. I had many partners on that show. Lou was very easy to work with and had a genuine enthusiasm for racing.

He was very helpful to me on nights when Nazareth and Dorney Park, which were run by Jerry Freid, raced on the same night. We had to run with a skeleton crew, and Lou always pitched in and helped as we all had to wear several “hats” on those nights.

Nazareth closed in 1988. Lou worked at Mahoning Speedway, announcing for a while. In 1999, I got a call, RCN TV had purchased Twin County and wanted to cover racing again. They picked Flemington. Lou and I did the show together until the next season when Paul Kuhl pulled the plug on racing forever at Flemington.

RCN decided to continue its popular racing show and moved to Grandview Speedway in 2001. Even though Lou and I had been unfamiliar with the weekly operation there, we did the first show that year and were pleased with the results.

Now comes the mystery. The second show at Grandview was rained out. RCN director Rick Geho told me he tried to call Lou to tell him the show was canceled but couldn't reach him. At the next scheduled taping, the always-dependable Lou failed to show.

He has not been seen or heard from since. His last check from RCN was never cashed. I have talked with people from his home state of New Jersey and none have seen him. This mystery has gone on for six years without a clue of what happened to Lou. He was divorced and his only son, Mark, died in a go-kart accident years ago.

Is it possible for someone to drop off the face of the earth and not be known?

Where is Lou Brunell?

Oct. 19, 2007 - Racing Is The Pits

When paying big bucks for your Nextel Cup seat, make sure you have a view of the pits. That's because it's the only place where anything
is happening. I wrote a column a couple of years ago saying I was "tired of tires." Well I still am. Cup races are nothing more than a cash cow for Goodyear, ironically NASCAR's sacred cow. Goodyear has far too much to say as far as making race policy. They pick the tire compounds for each race and dictate what will be required set-up wise.

The choice to a harder tire is a political move. Harder tires make for lousy racing. Goodyear is hoping NASCAR urges softer tires. They get less wear and Goodyear sells more tires. Years ago, Cup racing was so much better when the shoes were bias ply. Drivers such as Dale Earnhardt, Harry Gant and Tim Richmond, among others, were able to throw their cars around on the bias tires. In those days, the driver had more control. It made for better racing.

But Goodyear isn't going to use bias ply since consumer tires are all radials. The cost of retooling and the fact that that use of radials is better for advertising is the reason.

I really hate the fact that in Cup racing, teams change a set of tires every 20 laps — sometimes less. So if during a race you make 15 pit stops with 40 cars running, that's more than $1.2 million for tires every race.

The TV mouths try to make a big thing over pit stops. Frankly, I've seen enough. If you've seen one pit stop you've seen them all. Pit stops determine too many winners, not bare-knuckle driving like it used to.

Have you ever noticed that there is never a Goodyear tire failure? The TV announcers apparently have been coached to say that. When a tire blows, the driver must have run over something or maybe the camber wasn't set right or the recommended tire pressure wasn't used, but it is never the tire's fault.

One solution I'd love to see is to not allow pit stops under caution. Imagine how much that would change the races. I bet there'd be fewer cautions, too. This would have fewer cars in the pits at one time, and it would be safer for the crewmen.

It would also level the race for everybody. How many times does someone get screwed by pitting under green? Then the yellow comes out. NASCAR, which insists on penalizing people, restarts the race with the leader mid-pack and those unlucky ones almost a lap behind. Every other racing series waves those nearly a lap behind around to even the playing field. Yet, NASCAR gives drivers get a lap back through the Lucky Dog rule, even though they didn't earn it. Starting the leader mid-pack often leads to accidents on restarts. NASCAR is clueless on race control.

Almost every race is won by being first out of the pits on the last caution. Let's go back to honest hard racing where the guy who deserves to win does so instead of zillions of pit stops and phony cautions.

Oct. 12, 2007 - The Tube Is In The Tank

I’ve been talking to and e-mailing with several people lately on the same topic — racing on TV. It seems like it’s no longer much fun to watch racing on the tube...especially NASCAR.

This is a part of the sport that’s deteriorating. The coverage we get now is mostly terrible.

The first thing everyone should realize that these broadcasts take at least four hours, often more. If you are spending that much time in my living room, at least make it a pleasant experience.    

Go back to the early days of flag-to-flag racing on TV. ESPN was the first to do it regularly. I remember seeing Bob Jenkins and Larry Nuber, previously unknown to me, work together and cover the races. They did all kinds of racing.

I soon learned to enjoy them because these were two guys who thoroughly seemed to like what they were doing. They were entertaining, humorous and informative. They weren't there just for a paycheck.

It didn't take long for some to ruin it. Geoff Bodine was the first driver to constantly whore his sponsors when interviewed. I first thought Ned Jarrett was good. Then he was constantly focusing on his son, Dale, who in those days was deep in the pack. Then he'd interrupt the other voices if they didn't mention the sponsor after talking about a certain car.

What we have today is (mostly) a bunch of people who can't communicate. Bill Weber of NBC at the finale at Homestead last year was so into The Chase that he must have mentioned 200 times that Jimmie Johnson had to finish 13th to win the Cup. Are we stupid?

Now, they have a lengthy pre-race show, mostly talking about points. I put on a recent Busch race and after a long pre-race show, I still didn't know who was on the front row.

Jerry Punch is pathetic. He was a terrible pit reporter, now he's ESPN anchor. You can almost always predict everything he's going to say and to make sure he repeats himself over and over. Punch never has had an original thought. And yes, everybody is “overall.” Punch will tell you Matt Kenseth is “fourth
overall.” What else is there? This isn't Le Mans!
           
Between the endless plugging, the excuses made for NASCAR’s inconsistencies and people like Larry McReynolds and his fourth-grade grammar, racing on TV isn't fun anymore. ESPN is now the worst network for racing. When it had Jenkins, Nuber, Gary Lee, Larry Rice and Dave Despain, it was the best.

Oct. 5, 2007 - NASCAR Needs To Get Its Act Together

Well kiddies, NASCAR has done it again. Maybe those of you who say I'm relentless with my criticism will now realize what they are doing to what used to be the best racing circuit in the world.

Taking away 25 points from Carl Edwards is just another way to manipulate things so they have a close points "Chase." I have never heard of an "unintententional violation," have you? In fact, the car listed the wrong way. Regardless, would an eighth-inch shift mean a difference anyway? 400 laps on a concrete track would certain upset a setting or two.

Look at what they did three years ago. At Homestead, Casey Mears had the race won but the "Chasers" weren't close to the lead. A piece of rubber ends up on the drive off lane and there's a caution. Nextel pays seven million a year for ten years to demand a close finish. They are the ones who insisted on this Chase nonsense in the first place. All the Chase does is eliminate drivers. This year, they knocked out Dale Earnhardt, Jr., their most popular shoe.

Last February, Jeff Gordon won one of the 150 qualifiers at Daytona. A broken shock was discovered. NASCAR said the team was blameless so what did they do? They sent him to the rear instead of the second row which he had earned.

NASCAR never revealed what was in Mikey Waltrip's manifold. Why the big secret? Evernham's No. 10 was shot down and the crew chief fined because of a piece of duct tape. These are race cars, built from the ground up, not stock cars.

How about Biffle's "win" at Kansas. I like Greg Biffle and I was happy to see him get a win, but don't you have to cross the finish line? If he was maintaining a "caution-flag" speed, how come he was passed? Why weren't the passers DQ'd then? I would bet my pension that if Smoke or the Busch Brothers or anybody who NASCAR has a disdain for, were in Greg's situation, they would not have won.

Like I wrote a few weeks ago, nobody complains. NASCAR can do whatever it wants to change rules and apply them differently to whoever they want. I'm old school, I liked racing when they threw the green and the guys raced for the win. Now you have to get through the politics to win. I don't know why people pay their hard-earned money for this charade...it sure isn't racing!