Nov. 28, 2007 - Let's Make A Deal

The costly albeit logical conclusion came about last week.

Lowe’s Motor Speedway is staying in Concord, N.C.; Bruton Smith will build his drag strip; and the world’s largest political pucker-fest came to an $80 million climax.

Officially, Smith got $80 million from the state, city of Concord and Cabarrus County for improvements around LMS. He also got Speedway Boulevard renamed Bruton Smith Boulevard, which is misnamed because it should be “Bruton Smith Way” to serve as a reminder of just who calls the shots around this place.

To sum up: All the hubbub started when a few Concord residents, who knowingly bought homes within earshot of a NASCAR speedway, were concerned about the noise that would come from Smith’s planned drag strip. The kiddies, they said, might have trouble sleeping. The mayor of Concord, who is soon to be out of that job, hyper-reacted and the city council zoned Smith’s drag strip out of existence before the first burnout. Smith huffed and puffed and said he would move LMS, tearing the current one down piece by piece. Suitors came from neighboring counties in North Carolina, offering land and incentives. The governor of South Carolina met with Smith to discuss a move across the state line. In a panic, the council rescinded its zoning ordinance to allow the drag strip, meetings ensued, butts were kissed at an unprecedented pace, and $80 million later, Concord was presented the speedway it already had for free and a drag strip that the vast, vast majority of residents were ambivalent about to begin with. Taxes will be raised, and Smith will be praised. (How’s that for a re-election slogan, mayor.)

But the $80 million package and the renaming of Speedway Boulevard are only the official perks given Smith and his Speedway Motorsports, Inc. (SMI).

Here are a few of the things you may not have heard about:

• LMS President H.A. “Humpy" Wheeler gets his own theme park. Humpyland is set to open in 2010.

• A lifetime pass to Baby Dolls strip club, a short drive from LMS up Concord Boulevard.

• A free subscription to NSSN and an autographed copy of “Let’em All Go” by Chris Economaki.

• No one can spell or pronounce Cabarrus correctly (is it CAB-are-us or Ca-BARE-us?). Everyone can say and spell Smith, so Smith County it is.

• One free manly makeover at Bass Pro Shops, located conveniently near LMS off of soon-to-be Bruton Smith Boulevard at Bruton Mills Mall.

I think that about covers it. Luckily, Smith and SMI are sticking around.

And, by the way, I hope everyone ate lots of turkey and had a very happy Thanks-Bruton.

Nov. 21, 2007 - Defending Dan

For a while now, colleague Dan Knutson has caught a lot of flack for having the audacity to ask a non-Formula One question at an official Formula One press conference.

He asked a trio of drivers their opinions on the Iraq war.

From the reaction of people — some NSSN readers, some not — you would’ve thought he’d asked the Pope out to a strip club.

I’ve bitten my tongue for a little bit, but I just read another Public Forum letter calling Knutson a hack and essentially saying he should be fired.

I don’t know why Knutson asked that question. It doesn’t really matter. But he had every right to ask it. And Robert Kubica, who politely answered that he was a race-car driver and would rather not delve into International politics, and the other drivers there had every right to refuse to answer.

Professional athletes do live in this world — or at least in some fantasy variation of it. They cannot escape the fact that they perform in violent times at venues that could be bulls-eyes for terrorists.

They are a part of this — not exactly like Ted Williams, Bob Feller and countless racers were in World War II, and not exactly like a polarizing Muhammad Ali was during Vietnam — but they are a part of things, just as I am, and you are.

After 9/11, no one complained when professional athletes and celebrities wrapped themselves in the American flag and pumped their fists alongside us.

So, why the outrage when a trio of F1 drivers are asked to think? To express an opinion on things more important than horsepower and rain tires? Who is to say that one of them does not have an insightful answer that, perhaps, the world should hear?

And spare me the idea that the forum was improper because it was an “official” F1 press conference. There are no unofficial ones. No group of athletes in the world is more insulated from the media than F1 drivers, so just about any question that is asked by the press must be asked in that environment. Most any other comment is elicited, distilled and provided by team or series media-relations persons.

The question was asked, and the drivers gave their obligatory “no comments” — and life, the war and the race went on.

On Thanksgiving, be thankful that people such as Knutson are part of a society that allows those questions to be asked. After all, that is the stuff of the freedom that is supposedly being fought for, is it not?

Save the outrage for the things that matter.

Nov. 14, 2007 - Perley Part Of New England's Dominance

Laughter and chatter in thick-as-clam-chowder New England accents were coming from ISMA driver Chris Perley’s motor home.

“We’re having a wicked-serious conversation, here,” Perley says with a smile.

He also says this is his favorite part of racing — the down time, the bull sessions, er, I mean “wicked-serious” conversations. But it’s easy to laugh these days in the Perley camp. The ISMA touring champion was nothing short of dominant this past season with 11 victories in 16 races.

All season long, he was real good. Wicked-good.

When he rolled into Concord Motosport Park for the John Blewett III Memorial Shootout a week ago, Perley and the crew from Rowley, Mass. were summarily identified by everyone — drivers and fans alike — as the man to beat.

So, when California driver A.J. Russell was borderline obnoxious after his victory Saturday night, saying, “Everyone said Chris Perley couldn’t be beat, but we beat him.”

This, after Perley was the first to stop his car, get out and congratulate Russell. Still, the excitement was understandable.

After all, not too many people know what it feels like to beat Perley this year.

“I think the guys are getting tired of it. I can tell you it’s getting a little harder to pass out there,” Perley said. “Guys don’t want to let me by.”

This past year, they really didn’t have much of a choice in the matter.

Like the rest of the New England sports scene, Perley has been dominant. The Patriots are unbeaten, the Red Sox won the World Series, the Celtics are unbeaten to start the season, and even the New England Major League Soccer team (the Revolution) is in the league’s title game.

“A guy came up to me the other day and said congratulations on the World Series,” Perley said. “I said, thanks, because I’d won the World Series at Thompson ((Conn.) Speedway). Then, I realized that he was talking about the Red Sox. I was like, yeah, they’re pretty good, too.”

In a region that is dominating the sports landscape these days, Perley feels right at home.

Wicked-good, that guy.

Nov. 7, 2007 — Feeling The Petty Blues

So, “The King” was driving from Dallas to Phoenix Wednesday morning. I don’t know why he wasn’t flying. It’s a hefty drive.

But he was on his cell phone with a bunch of us media types telling us about Petty Enterprises and his home of Level Cross, N.C. where the sky is always “Carolina Blue.” A lot of people would call it “Petty Blue,” which is just a little darker shade.

Petty Enterprises is moving from Level Cross to join what has become the center of the NASCAR universe in Mooresville, N.C., which sits off I-77 and is near Lake Norman. There is more traffic there along I-77 in a day than Level Cross sees in a month — maybe a year — but Petty says this is where Petty Enterprises is drawing the battle lines in a fight to be, yes, respectable again. For the next two years, Petty will lease shops from Robert Yates Racing and then decide where to set up permanent residence.

It’s been a while. Bobby Labonte has helped the No. 43 Dodge since coming on board prior to last season. He’s in the top 20 in points, but Kyle Petty in the No. 45 is struggling with the car sitting at No. 34 in the owners’ points, precariously close to losing NASCAR’s top-35 free pass into races.

Things were supposed to be different over there. Adam Petty, Kyle’s son, was the future, all full of talent and charisma and that royal blood, but he died during his rookie Nextel Cup season after a crash at New Hampshire in 2000 — so, Kyle Petty drives Adam’s No. 45 now, and — for the life of me — I don’t know how he got in that car, but he did because, I guess, Pettys race.

But there is more to be done if the King is to return to the top of the sport he ruled for more than 20 years, which included 200 victories — a record no one will ever touch. He knows it.

Even with help from Ray Evernham’s engine program, Petty finds itself way behind — maybe too far behind the Rick Hendrick’s of the world to ever catch up. If Penske and Evernham can’t win in a Dodge, who can? The King? He believes so.

Besides, what’s the alternative? Quitting?

Petty says that if he can’t compete for the top engineers and mechanics and crew in NASCAR because Level Cross is just too far away, then the shop has to move. He admits that maybe the move is coming 20 years too late because of his own “hard head.”

In 2009, the Pettys will celebrate 60 years in the sport — 60 years since Lee Petty worked under the car on the dirt floor of a garage set up out back of the house.

What followed is the stuff of legend — until lately, when the stuff of futility took over. It’s given a whole different meaning to the term “Petty Blue.”

I hope the moves helps turn things around because Petty is the last icon in NASCAR. I hope the folks in Level Cross can bask in the glory of Petty Enterprises victory again, even if the old shop is the home of show cars or the Richard Petty Driving Experience instead of the Cup team.