May 27, 2008 - Crowds Came Despite Expense

Clearly, there is a green flag for racing among consumers.

Despite gasoline prices at or above $4 per gallon in most places, from all indications, Memorial Day weekend racing crowds were outstanding, if not spectacular.

Friday’s World of Outlaws event at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway was a sellout, while Saturday’s Nationwide Series race drew a better than average crowd. Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 crowd was fantastic, just a few thousand short of selling out the 157,000-seat Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

The Outlaws traveled north from North Carolina and played before another large crowd in the series’s first visit to Virginia Motor Speedway.

The crowd at the Indianapolis 500 was clearly up from the last few years, with estimates ranging between 300,000 and 350,000 folks. The legendary Snake Pit was even well populated on Race Day. Events surrounding the Indianapolis 500, including The Night Before the 500 midget race and the Little 500 sprint-car race also drew near-capacity crowds.

NASCAR’s Craftsman Truck Series race at Mansfield, Ohio, saw a full house watch a thrilling three-wide race for the lead on the final lap, while Vermont’s Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl also played to a large crowd Sunday, hosting the popular American-Canadian Tour late models.

And from what we’ve seen via the many pictures NSSN receives on a given weekend and what we’ve heard first hand, these were only examples of great crowds that attended races throughout the country.

Hopefully, that’s a sign of things to come for the remainder of this economically challenged summer.

May 20, 2008 - More To 500 Than Danica

As there always is, there are a lot of great stories in the 33-car field for the Indianapolis 500. And yes, contrary to what you read in the mainstream media, there are 33 starters, not just Danica Patrick.

Buddy Lazier’s last-minute run into the field on Bubble Day is a story that will live forever. What an unbelievable moment for a former race winner and IndyCar Series champion. Talk about the mental strength it took to make that run in a car that only minutes before seemed far too slow to make the race.

But for me, my favorite story and my sentimental favorite for the Indianapolis 500, it’s Sarah Fisher.

I remember the first time I saw her race. She was a mere teenager piloting an 800 horsepower winged sprint car at Eldora Speedway, one of racing’s most legendary circuits. You knew right then, she had some skills and some guts.

She eventually moved to midgets and won a fair number of races before making the move to Indianapolis. While this will be Fisher’s seventh Indianapolis 500, she’s never fared well at the speedway, with a best finish of 18th last year.

And her career overall has had its ups and downs. She finished second at Kentucky Speedway many years ago and does have a pole to her credit, but after being rideless for several years and trying stock cars for a season, she has struggled to find her way into competitive equipment since returning to Indy car racing.

This year, she’s made the step, putting her financial future on the line, to own her own team with her husband and father in-law. Sarah Fisher Racing is entering the Indianapolis 500 without a major sponsor, and by her words is operating “in the red,” but on race day at Indianapolis, there will be many loyal fans that remember the fresh-faced young lady wheeling powerful sprint cars, in her corner.

Many of those folks have been more than vocal supporters this month, giving cash and checks to help fund her Indianapolis dreams.

So when the field of 33 pulls away on Sunday afternoon, I’ll be rooting for Sarah Fisher to have the run of her life, not just for her, but for her fans and for the future of Sarah Fisher Racing. A solid run at Indianapolis would go a long way toward keeping the 27-year-old speedster — and Sarah Fisher Racing — around for a long time to come.

May 13, 2008 - Looking For The Best

On June 4, National Speed Sport News will publish a special section celebrating the history of midget-car auto racing.

The occasion is the 75th anniversary of the first official midget race, which was held June 4, 1933 in Sacramento, Calif. In putting this issue together, we have asked our readers to write in offering their opinion on who is the best midget driver of all time.

The response has been excellent, the answers have been intriguing and in many cases fascinating. We have received responses that have varied from two words to six pages handwritten. Some have included old newspaper clippings and old programs.

With a few votes still arriving, readers have currently nominated 38 different drivers as the best. And naturally many drivers have received multiple votes. As part of this anniversary issue, we will include the top 10 drivers as voted by NSSN readers. It will be an interesting list.

Currently, the race for No. 1 is too close to call, but it is clear that three drivers stand above the rest, though, these drivers are all separated by a single vote. The best part of it is that it would be very easy to make an argument for any of the three as the best of all time.

NSSN has also pulled some of the industry’s most notable individuals, including Tony Stewart, John Cooper, Ken Schrader, Bill Smith, Kevin Olson and Mario Andretti, and gotten their opinions on who the best midget racer of all time is.

It’s been an interesting project, and we look forward to sharing the results on June 4.

May 6, 2008 - A Good Rivalry Needed

Now, do you think it is possible that somewhere in this great country of ours, there is a man wearing a red Budweiser No. 8 T-shirt and a green Amp Energy Drink hat with a dart board in his garage upon which he has gone to great lengths to affix an image of 23-year-old stock-car driver Kyle Busch?

My guess, is there are more than one, and hopefully the boys are sticking to dart boards and leaving the real artillery in the pickups.

While Saturday night’s dust up between Busch and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. clearly has awakened the Earnhardt fanbase, known today as Junior Nation, it is priceless stuff and gives an added energy to NASCAR stock-car racing in a time when it could use a pick up.

Busch is the hottest thing going — not just in NASCAR, but in all of motorsports. He’s won seven NASCAR races in three divisions this season and has been a contender to win every time he has hit the track. He’s brash. He’s aggressive. He drives a Toyota and he’s highly unpopular. That all makes him the polar opposite of Earnhardt.

Earnhardt has an adoring throng of fans across the country, many of which you might term fanatic. And even most who aren’t Junior fans have very little against him. As well, while Busch wins frequently, Earnhardt hasn’t been to victory lane in more than two years. He’s in his first season with Hendrick Motorsports and has been a consistent front runner through the first third of the season.

All of this sets the two up for what could be an interesting rivalry. While it seems unlikely Saturday night’s contact and Junior spin was little more than the “racing” accident Busch said it was, it got the attention of many. And it brought a whole new group of Busch Haters to the table.

Finding a Busch fan these days is not the easiest project to complete, and while I think his brain often writes checks his body can’t cash, I’m pulling for him on this one. NASCAR needs two polar opposites fighting it out for the lead on a weekly basis.

It needs some flare, and maybe Rowdy Busch and Junior Nation can make that happen.

And if not, there will still be some folks who have improved their dart-throwing skills.