March 26, 2008 - Trouble Looms For Some

There can be no more resting on the laurels of last year for Sprint Cup drivers. This week at Martinsville will mark the first time that this season’s Cup points will count in the top 35 in owner’s points, the statistic that guarantees entry for that top 35 into the field on Sunday.

That means drivers such as Jamie McMurray, Kyle Petty and whomever the Wood Brothers put in the famed No. 21 — they’ve used Bill Elliott, Johnny Sauter and Ken Schrader this season — have to qualify on speed to make the field for the Goody’s Cool Orange 500. Bill Davis Racing has already parked the No. 27 team and the No. 22 driven by Dave Blaney could be next.

I’ve written before and probably will again that the top-35 rule is an abomination. It goes against everything the sport is supposed to be about, yet NASCAR steadfastly sticks to its guns to protect the sponsors of the top 35, while the sponsors of the struggling teams are given little quarter and are quickly made to relocated their dollars to more successful teams if they want to remain in the sport.

Petty Enterprises truly has a decision to make as the season goes forward. Kyle could remain in the car, but the more prudent measure could be to put Chad McCumbee or another youngster in the No. 45 and see what happens. Of course, that driver is supposed to be Adam Petty, but that is another sad story for another time.

Also sad — for entirely different reasons — is the state the Wood Brothers find themselves in at this point in the season. With Team Penske maneuvering its points around to assure Sam Hornish, Jr.’s position in the field, Elliott’s championship provisional proved worthless and the No. 21 has yet to put together a decent run. The team failed to qualify at Daytona. Elliott was able to use the past champion’s provisional at California when qualifying was rained out. Sauter crashed during qualifying at Las Vegas. Elliott wasn’t fast enough at Atlanta. Qualifying was rained out again at Bristol, and the team sat out that race as well.

Anyone with a splinter of knowledge about NASCAR history knows that the Pettys and the Wood Brothers have long been the foundation of the sport. Without Richard Petty and David Pearson, who combined for more than 300 victories, NASCAR could be operating in anonymity with no arguments about protecting sponsors who are no longer there.

The Pettys will survive, having taken extraordinary measures to do so by moving from the family home in Level Cross, N.C. to the racing hub of Mooresville. So too will the talented McMurray.

But I truly fear for the Wood Brothers’ future in Sprint Cup. The team had already taken the same leap of faith the Pettys did by moving from their Virginia home to Concord, N.C., a couple of years ago. That move has yet to pay dividends, and neither did coaxing Elliott out of retirement for the use of his past-champion provisionals.

I grew up in Spartanburg, S.C., with Pearson’s autograph and a picture of the No. 21 on my wall. That was a long, long time ago. I fear that the future for the Wood Brothers will be far shorter than their glorious past.

March 19, 2008 - Reality Check

So, you think you’ve had a rough week?

Here are a couple of items that have run across my desk that can help put things in perspective for most of us:

Tony Stewart had his back waxed live during his show on Sirius satellite radio’s NASCAR channel. The good news for the rest of us was that the event wasn’t on Speed or ESPN2. Photos are available however at at Sirius’s Web site.

The waxing was reminiscent of the scene from the movie, “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” but it did raise some $150,000 for the Victory Junction Gang Camp, including $15,000 from Joe Gibbs Racing President J.D. Gibbs and $10,000 from two-time defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson.

All this was after hitting the wall hard at Las Vegas and after a late-race crash with buddy Kevin Harvick while running near the front at Bristol.

"Yeah, it does actually. It does hurt worse than hitting the wall at Vegas. It just isn't lasting as long,” said Stewart after the wax — and hair — came off.

On a more serious note, CRP Racing, which fields the Speed World Challenge GT Corvette driven by Brian Kubinski, will miss the Grand Prix of Long Beach due to the extensive damage sustained by the team’s race car and equipment during a fire. The team’s transporter caught of fire on the return trip to Charlotte, N.C. from the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring.

“It’s going to be difficult for us, being a small team, to recover from this very unfortunate incident,” said team owner Nicholas Short. “However, we will pull all of our resources together and work very hard to be back at Miller. We feel terrible that Brian will miss the race at Long Beach but are determined to get the car and team back into full competitive force as soon as possible.”

Luckily, no one was injured during the fire, which happened just 30 minutes from the team’s shop.

Here’s wishing a quick recovery for CRP Racing. And, of course, for Stewart.

March 12, 2008 - My Fantasy World

The Blue Demons. That’s my NASCAR fantasy racing team. Every week, I can go in and replace as many drivers as I want as long as I’m under the salary cap.

I work for a racing publication. It dominates my working life and quite a lot of my casual existence because, frankly, there’s no getting away from it if I’m going to succeed with the day job.

So, why is my team so bad? To quote Bill Walton, it’s “horrible.”

My first problem is I generally go with drivers I like. Unlike fantasy football and baseball, in which I can draft just about anybody regardless of team or personality in the name of winning, I just can’t bring myself to do that in racing.

I’ll always take Tony Stewart of Jimmy Johnson, regardless of statistics or a recent run of luck. Sorry, Jimmy, nothing personal, but it comes back to that whole “vanilla” thing.

The second thing is statistics. I don’t pay enough attention. Sheena Baker, my co-worker here at NSSN, can break down stats on drivers and tracks and just loves it. I don’t get into racing stats beyond maybe knowing a guy traditionally does well at a certain track — like Bobby Labonte at Atlanta or Mark Martin and Johnson at Charlotte. Courses for horses.

The NFL and baseball are two totally different animals. I consume the stats — always have — to one degree or another. I know the guys who are going to perform for me week-in and week-out. Plus, my instincts have always paid off, particularly in fantasy football. I drafted then Washington Redskins running back Stephen Davis in the final round the year he broke out with a Pro Bowl season. I had covered him in high school, followed him at Auburn and just had a feeling that Skip Hicks wasn’t the guy.

In fantasy racing, there’s too much of that. I essentially play with my gut, not my brain — and neither one has been working too well lately.

So far, I’m embarrassed by the performance of the Blue Demons. I’d be more embarrassed if folks online had any clue as to what I do for a living.

Oh well, if I knew so much, I’d be in Vegas, making a lot more money.

March 5, 2008 - Ride Wanted: Hire Tracy

For the love of all things Canadian, including Paul Tracy, would someone in the IndyCar Series please hire Paul Tracy.

Yes, he’s an occasional on-track menace. As a car owner, you can place bets on him saying something that’s going to cause a ruckus. He’s going to be unseemly at times. He’s going to be brash. He going to give you headaches, so be well-supplied with Extra-Strength Tylenol (maybe there’s a sponsorship opportunity there, who knows?).

But hire him.

He is exactly what the new-and-improved IndyCar Series needs.

Paul Tracy

Good or bad, Tracy, who became the odd-man-out when Forsythe Championship Racing decided not to jump to the IndyCar Series, will make headlines. With the reunification of American open-wheel racing complete, the series needs to give fans as many reasons to watch as possible. Love him or hate him, Tracy should be one of those reasons.

Here’s why:

He is no longer just restricted to the road and street courses of Champ Car. He will spend more than half his time flat-out on an oval. Who knows what will happen?

He is Champ Car's winningest active driver and the 2003 series champion. The IndyCar Series must trumpet itself now as the undisputed best in all disciplines of open-wheel racing. It can't begin with one of the best on the bench.

But this is the most important thing — there is already a natural rivalry with Team Penske driver Helio Castroneves, who won the 2002 Indianapolis 500 at Tracy’s expense. Tracy’s appeal was denied despite Tracy’s claim that he had nosed in front of Castroneves prior to a last-lap caution that froze the field. He hasn’t forgotten, either. In interviews since the unification announcement, Tracy has referred to Castroneves, who won this season’s “Dancing with the Stars” title, as “Twinkle Toes.”

Racing is in desperate need of a good rivalry, and this could be it. The advent of power teams such as Hendrick and Roush Fenway along with the fact that NASCAR drivers have been pre-programmed to play nice for so long it makes the coming of a Petty-Pearson or Waltrip-Earnhardt rivalry unlikely, despite the occasional Tony Stewart blow-up.

Connors had McEnroe. Evert had Navratilova. Palmer had Nicklaus. Nicklaus had Watson. Foyt had Andretti. The Steelers had the Raiders. The Patriots have the Colts.

"The Chrome Horn" has “Twinkle Toes” — the ever-smiling, popular Castroneves vs. Tracy, who is popular in his own right but would willingly wear the black hat in this scenario, just as Earnhardt did when he was putting the bumper to Waltrip and Jeff Gordon.

Good guy vs. bad guy. It's just good for business.

Open-wheel racing has done a lot to help itself over the past few weeks. Now, it needs to do a little more by making sure Tracy is a big part of things. If Tracy is on the sidelines in 2008, IndyCar has missed another golden opportunity in the marketplace.