Aug. 28, 2007 - Fall Is For Football And Racing

College football kicks off its season later this week, reminding us that it is also time for many of the biggest short-track races of the season.

These annual attractions traditionally close out seasons for sanctioning bodies, or individual race tracks. The Sharon Nationals and the Hillbilly 100 are among two of the biggies that get the action started this Labor Day weekend.

Late-model fans will converge on Eldora Speedway for the World 100 Sept. 7-8, while the IMCA Super Nationals, which annually draws more than 600 competitors to Boone, Iowa kicks off Labor Day Monday and runs through Sept. 8. Also Sept. 8 is the Gold Cup Race of Champions for sprint cars at Silver Dollar Speedway in California. Two more biggies for the sprint-car set are the Sept. 28-29 National Open at Williams Grove Speedway and the Nov. 1-3 World Finals at The Dirt Track at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

The North-South Shootout for asphalt modifieds is the same weekend at nearby Concord (N.C.) Motorsport Park.

There are far too many fall classics to mention here, but don’t forget Oktoberfest at Hagerstown, Md. and Oktoberfest and LaCrosse Speedway in Wisconsin. There are the Short Track Nationals at Rockford, Ill., and the World Series of Racing at Thompson, Conn. All are thrilling short track races, which feature events for the entry-level divisions and the full-time racer.

The Oval Nationals at Perris Auto Speedway in California is another early November attraction, and don’t forget the Copper Classic is now in November as a kick off to NASCAR activities at Phoenix Int’l Raceway.

The leaves will be turning soon, but there are still plenty of chances to check out some great racing.

Aug. 21, 2007 - Rain Can Be A Pain

The rainy weather that plagued much of the country Sunday, Monday and into Tuesday has produced some interesting scenarios on the racing front.

First off. The NASCAR schedule is too long. Because it already takes up 38 weeks of the year and the final 17 races run without an off weekend, there is little wiggle room for weather situations like at Michigan Int’l Speedway, which forced Sunday’s race to be pushed back to Monday and then again until today.

I’m glad my family didn’t spend its vacation and its vacation money on a race that was not run as scheduled and pushed back to the point where it was time to return to work. Talk about a ruined vacation. Yes, I know you can’t control the weather, but there should be some type of back-up plan for these situations other than “the next clear day.”

While the NHRA normally pushes its rained out events back to an open weekend, it chose to go ahead with its event at Reading, Pa., after getting the first round of eliminations in on Sunday. More racing happened Monday, but the sanctioning body is still waiting to finish the event.

In addition to the fans missing out on what is the highlight of the summer for many, the teams and competitors had only three days to get back to Charlotte, turn their equipment around and be at Bristol, Tenn., for the next race.

The interesting turn of events presented by the NHRA rainout, is that while a handful of competitors are still at Reading waiting to race, others are already unloaded at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis to begin testing for the Big Go – the U.S. Nationals Labor Day weekend.

Clearly those teams already at ORP could benefit from having been losers at the previous event. It also should be a major help to multi-car teams such as John Force Racing. While Force is waiting at Reading, his other two cars driven by Ashley Force and Robert Hight, are already gathering information that will help all three teams during the sport’s biggest event.

Meanwhile, independent teams for drivers Tim Wilkerson and Del Worsham are also at Reading, but are losing out on the important test time.

To steal a quote, which is used frequently by racers, I guess the rain “is what it is.”

Aug. 14, 2007 — Television Increasingly Rules Racing

Is anyone else wondering why Speed televised today’s Joe Gibbs Racing press announcement regarding the hiring of Kyle Busch.

It is on one hand old news, and on another, news that not that many people really care about. I think that most race fans could care less who Kyle Busch drives for, with many more interested in how long it takes him to get punched by his teammates, Tony Stewart and/or Denny Hamlin.

That said, we also wonder how long it will be before race teams begin arranging their press announcements around television time. I can see it now: “Don’t miss it at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Speed’s live coverage of Bam Racing’s announcement that Mike Bliss will be returning to drive its No. 49 for the 32nd time. Now, that’s some serious viewing right there.

But it really is the way things are going. TV matters to race teams and sponsors and very little else does. Evidence the Knoxville Nationals. Some of us in the media have known for a long time that Donny Schatz was going to go to work for Tony Stewart next season, but we’ve been waiting on the official word. Not surprisingly, that official word came on television during Speed’s coverage of the Knoxville Nationals.

Today, we had a sponsor rep from a company new to sprint-car sponsorship. The company was upset with the lack of coverage it received on Speed’s telecast of the Nationals, and is considering taking its money to NASCAR. The car ran mid-pack in the B main. That’s more evidence that it is really TV time that is ruling the racing world.

“Up next on Speed, live coverage of the Team Penske transporter driving through the gate at Michigan Int’l Speedway.”

Aug. 10, 2007 - Shepard's Day

There was a time when Maryland sprint-car driver Jeff Shepard was considered brash. He drove too hard. He crashed too much and the story went on and on.

But things change over time, and Shepard has changed.

Thursday night he was rewarded on sprint-car racing's biggest stage when he drove John Zemaitis's No. 1z under Brooke Tatnell on a restart with two laps remaining to win the opening night preliminary feature during the Knoxville Nationals.

It was a humble Shepard who politely and candidly answered questions following one of the biggest victories of his career.

Shepard is more than a race-car driver these days. He owns and operates a construction company that occupies most of his time. He acknowledged he spent most of Thursday on the phone, "Yelling at people trying to get things done the right way."

Now, in his second stint driving for the Zemco team, Shepard says things have changed.

"I grew up a lot and they grew up a lot," Shepard said. "I used to party a lot and I’m going to party a lot tonight, I’ve earned that, but it is all about growing up and learning the value of the dollar and being more mature."

Shepard currently leads the point standings at Williams Grove Speedway, but is skipping Friday's event to be at Knoxville. He will likely lose the point lead as a result.

"I've never been a points racer," Shepard says.

And that is the very spirit under which the Knoxville Nationals have flourished.

Aug. 9, 2007 — Green Flag For Sunshine

After losing the first night of the Knoxville Nationals to rain, bright sunshine greeted fans and competitors at Knoxville Raceway on Thursday.

Despite nearly 5 inches of rain during a two-day period, the Marion County Fairgrounds oval is ready for action and cars are currently lining up for hot laps.

Tonight's program is the scheduled Thursday night card, with last night's program having been moved to Friday and Friday's card now scheduled for noon on Saturday.

Among those scheduled to compete tonight are Steve Kinser, Jason Meyers, Terry McCarl, Brooke Tatnell, Tim Kaeding, Stevie Smith, Joey Saldana, Jac Haudenschild and Kaley Gharst

Aug. 8, 2007 — Rain, Rain Go Away

Iowa is a long way to travel from North Carolina to watch it rain.

Yes, race fans as of 4:30 p.m. local time it is raining heavily. Knoxville Raceway officials expect the rain to subside within the hour and hope to have the track run in in time for a 10 p.m. CST start to tonight's opening night of the 47th annual Super Clean Knoxville Nationals.

There's a stellar group of entrants here for the four-night event, which will pay $150,000 to Saturday night's winner. Should the rain subside, among those taking the track tonight will be defending champion Donny Schatz, recent 360 Nationals winner Shane Stewart, Greg Hodnett, Fred Rahmer, multi-time Nationals champion Danny Lasoski, Craig Dollansky, Chad Kemenah, Jason Sides and Jason Solwold. NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne is also scheduled to compete tonight.

Check back for all the news and notes as the Knoxville Nationals week continues.

Aug. 7, 2007 — News Is Tougher To Define Today

What exactly is news?

That’s a question that becomes more difficult to answer every day? Is it breaking news just because CNN, MSNBC, ESPN or National Speed Sport News says it is? Are there time limits for something to still be breaking news. Ten hours after an event occurs, is it still breaking news, or is it old news by then?

Personally, I think the definition of what news is, is different from one person to the next. I do not think that when someone reports: “there is speculation in the garage area that Tony Stewart will leave Joe Gibbs Racing to drive an Indy car for Chip Ganassi,” that it is news.

It is an unsubstantiated rumor.

On the other hand, if someone were to report: “Chip Ganassi confirmed that he has signed Tony Stewart to drive an Indy car. Ganassi said the he’s been trying to get Stewart in one of his cars for 10 years and he’s finally done it,” it is most definitely news.

News judgments are not as easy as they used to be, and sometimes the simplest answer to the question, may be to ask the following questions, “Is this new information? Is it accurate, and if so, does anyone care about it?”

Leaving you to ponder the meaning of life, we are heading for Iowa. Check this space during the next four days of the Knoxville Nationals for daily blog entries, which will include news, rumor and a report on the pie and ice cream stand outside the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum.