Who do we believe these days?

Who to believe these days….

If you have read the Internet news sites the past couple days here are some of the things you have read…..the 9 car will be a Toyota by the end of July, since Petty has only enough parts for one more of the new Dodge engines…….. RCR has filed suit against GM for all the money GM owes RCR…………..Kahne is going to Stewart / Haas racing as a 3^rd team…………Toyota is leaving the Truck series and the Nationwise series……………Team Red Bull is going to Chevy…………….

Gibbs to field 4^th car for Montoya like MWR does for Ambrose……….Well who do you believe? From here in my little corner of the world, I see it this way…..the 9 will be a Dodge till the end of the year after that…who knows,….RCR has filed papers with the court system but it is NOT a lawsuit, it is standard paper work filed by creditors during a bankruptcy ,……Stewart ?Haas may be looking at a 3^rd team in the future and who will drive for them is unknown, but my guess will be that Kesolowski will be the wheel man with help from HMS, and since Stewart ?Haas already gets help from HMS it seems like a good fit…….Toyota may pull $$$$ from the two lower divisions of NASCAR but don’t see them pulling out completely…..Team Red Bull team manager Jay Frye has had a long association with HMS so them going to Chevy could be a possibility since Red Bull has tons and tons of money laying around over there in Austria………and the Gibb’s deal with JPM…. just don’t see that happening.

There has been lot’s of speculation all year long on different teams and where the economy would leave them, but some of these idea’s seem to be pipe dreams of some sports writer who reads about racing a few times a year. I don’t have a crystal ball, and I won’t get into the game of predicting the future, but some where along the way we got to laugh at some of the idea’s I have heard.

One idea I have heard that really does make sense is the one about HMS stopping racing and turning into a supplier for other teams. That would be in line with what “brainless Brian France” wants for NASCAR, all the cars the same ……but I dont see it happening any time soon. HMS the Fastenal of NASCAR….. has ring to it don’t it?

I guess we will just have to sit back and watch and see what happens.

Now we head for New Hampshire…. tough track to get set up for we will see how it works out. Will keep you posted on all the funny rumors I hear….

cya@races

the dr.

Just call him Mr. Restart!!!!

Just call him Mr. Restart!!!!!…..

Kasey Kahne held off Tony Stewart not once, not twice, but 4 times to bring home the win at Sonoma. Kasey said during the race “this is the best race car I have ever had here” and it showed. He made no mistakes and pulled away ever time NASCAR dropped a yellow. So a big tip of the hat to the #9 Bud team.

Now let’s look at a few other notes on the race today,

Is the pressure getting to Jimmie Johnson? The stunt he pulled in practice in front of Marcos Ambrose was dumb dumb dumb!!!! he stopped in the middle of turn 11 and wondered why he got hit from behind… then in the race he ran Kurt Busch off the track and then tells Chad Knaus to send word to the 2 pit that it was an accident…..yeah right! He bounced off of 2/3^rd of the cars in the race today.

2 drivers tried some old dirt track moves by sitting on the track after a spin or incident trying to draw a yellow, first was Bobby Labonte when he spun going into turn 1 and 2, then Kyle Busch did it sitting in the middle of the track.. it worked for Labonte didn’t work for Busch.

How about the 47 car of Marcos Ambrose? Come from dead last to run 3^rd!!! good run for the 47 team.

Did anyone see the 24 getting back at the 13 of Mas Papis? It happened on the cool down lap and I saw it on TNT’s race buddy the 24 really put a wallop on the 13 as he went by…. did NASCAR see it? I doubt it….

there seemed to be lots of pit road speeding today , it got Jeff Gordon, Johnson, and a bunch of others. Really tough penalty on a road course like this.

And how about the King getting back into victory lane?? that was great as the RPM team had 3 cars in the top 10 today… they are a coming, things are starting to get figured out over there at RPM and it shows.

Well hope everyone had a good Fathers day and enjoyed the race….

Cya@races!!!

the dr.

Got $5000.00 laying around?

Got an extra $5000.00 laying around????

Apparently David Ruiteman does….. he just chipped in the Carl Long fine fund…

http://www.carl-long.com/donations.htm look here for a complete list of donations to the fund, notable names listed there are Ruiteman, Boris Said($100.00) and a slew of donations ranging from $5000.00 down to $1.00 for a grand total as of yesterday of $16,055.56 only $183,944.44 to go. Long has filed an appeal with NASCAR and the grand pooba Charles Stang will hear it and out come is expected by the end of the week…… now who the hell is Charles Stang??? let’s take a look.

Strang’s racing days go back to the Carl Kiekhaefer era of the 1950s. He was once head of the Outboard Marine Corp. In 1974 Charles D. Strang succeeded W. C. Scott as president of OMC. Strang’s interest in powerboats, beginning in boyhood, had lasted through college and a post as a research associate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. During a later period of employment with the makers of Mercury outboard motors, interest had deepened into vocation. In 1966 his experience in the powerboat industry had brought him to OMC. Eight years later he rose to the presidency. Where he served for 8 years until 1982. Google offers no help at all… I have searched for hours for what little I have found but this man is a mystery for sure. It has been said he gives no interviews with the media. He did over turn a lower appeal once before with Robert Yates..

http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/headlines/bg/10/26/sleicht.appeal.penalty.overturned.montreal/index.html

Now will he have some sympathy or Long? Who knows but from what I have seen he seems to be a fair man. And in Carl Long’s defense, what about a few years ago when Mikey Waltrip was caught at Daytona with Sterno in his intake? $100,000.00 fine…..and that was a blatant attempt to cheat, we will see at the end of the week I guess …

Cya @races

the dr.

Who is going where???

Who is going where????

Seems these days it is all about who is going where….. Martin Truex is rumored to be headed to MWR, Red Bull is headed to Chevy, G.E.M. Is talking to Toyota and Ford, sponsors moving around, owners joining together, man it is like a crap shoot these days.

I just read an interesting article onhttp://www.mikemulhern.net/ (see link for full story. http://www.mikemulhern.net/index.php?q=breakingnow/mike-accavitti-new-boss-dodge) saying that long time NASCAR supporter has taken over the topspot at chrysler, his name is Mike Accavitti, will his new job bode well for Dodge teams? Well RPM has laid off 9 people, and Richard Petty has said that Dodge is a real slow pay on sponsorship money, so will things change with the sale of Chrysler to Fiat? Well Roger “the Capt” Penske said he is staying with dodge, and he was the first to run the new Dodge motor, could Penske be the new face of Dodge in NASCAR? How will him buying the Saturn line from GM factor into this deal? Truth of the matter is no one knows for sure, and with the uncertianity of how things are going to turn out I am not sure I would be hitching my wagon to any make right now.

On another note…… what is with all these back up cars this year? Matt Kennseth won Daytona with a back up,Gordon has run very well with a back up, Jimmie Johnson has won with one, so has Tony Stewart, and last week end even the dirt racing series got in on the back up craze as Brad Neat pulled a back up off the trailer and marched to the front

After damaging his primary car last weekend at Eldora Speedway Brad Neat of Dunnville, KY climbed into 4-time and defending series champion Earl Pearson Jr.’s back-up MasterSbilt Chassis that “The Hurricane” drove last year to the championship. Neat led every lap of the 35-lap Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event at Duck River Speedway on Thursday Night as the 2009 Summer Sizzler Tour kicked off

The work that goes into having a race ready backup is unreal, it is setting up 2 cars to win the race. Lots of work and labor goes into these things and no one but the driver ever gets credit, so to the crews and teams that get these cars ready week after week, DAMN GOOD JOB!!!!!!!

Robby Gordon NASCAR’s most penalized driver, has run afoul of SCORE with his win in the Baja 500, they have listed a whole list of things that they say he done, but true to Robbie’s nature he has answered with a rebuttal, now who do you believe? …..well I tend to lean toward Robbie on this one……but we will see how the appeals process goes, and knowing SCORE and the way they have done things in the past…….. ummmm not real sure…

NASCAR has hit Rusty Wallace Racing crew chief Bryan Berry with a fine and suspension, NASCAR officials called it “an inappropriate comment” by Nationwide crew chief Bryan Berry in an altercation with driver Marc Davis suspended Berry indefinitely.
Berry, who works for Rusty Wallace and Brendan Gaughan, was upset with Davis after a pit road collision and apparently used a racial slur in their confrontation. Now Marc Davis (who happens to be black) turned in front of Brandon Gaughan on his way to the garage, while Gaughan was trying to make a pit stop, now Davis has made some waves the past year trying to get a ride and get into NASCAR’s top 2 classes.

Well we got a Red Bull car on the pole, the race track is fast…very fast and sunday will see a great race I think.

C_YA@races

the dr.

Disrespect……..

Total lack of respect…..That is the only way I can describe the little tirade that Kyle Busch pulled in victory lane tonight at Nashville Speedway.

One of the most coveted trophies in NASCAR is the Sam Bass designed Gibson Les Paul Trophy Guitar that each driver receives in Victory Lane at Nashville Superspeedway!   The Toyota Tundra 200 Trophy Guitar will be a prized possession for the winner of the Toyota Tundra 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race scheduled for Saturday afternoon, August 12.   Tickets are on sale now by calling toll-free 1-866 RACE TIX.

Each guitar is specifically designed by Official NASCAR Artist Sam Bass.

Sam Bass is one of the most accomplished artists in the history of American motorsports.  His penchant for combining the riveting aspects of fine art and innovative graphic design have made Bass – the first artist officially licensed by NASCAR – a favorite with fans and competitors alike. http://www.nashvillesuperspeedway.com/track/press/article.php?dir=200607&id=639

Have you ever seen one of these things?

A picture of it can be seen here….http://www.nascar.com/2009/news/headlines/bg/04/07/sam.bass.nashville/index.html

And for Busch to do his best rock star impression and run around like a idiot then smash the trophy not just once but 3 times into the ground then throw it down like a piece of trash, he did pick it up and toss it to his crew, his comment about “now everyone gets a piece of it” was crap pure crap!

And yeah the little punk won the race……… now I am going to go chop some wood.

C-ya @ races.

The dr.

Fans…….

Fans……. yep that’s what we are, fans. Fans of a sport that we all identify with on some fashion. We all have our favorite drivers then our next to fav’s and so on…. but what makes a fan? How does a fan pick his driver? Well lets look at this a little more in depth.

Take me, the dr, for example, my favorite drivers since I was a little kid, have been drivers who have done amazing things but yet stayed under the radar, long ago (and I mean LONG ago) I had a favorite driver named Jody Ridley, a local driver who dominated the local tracks for years with his brother Biddle as his crew chief, then as I got older I still followed Jody and watched as his career took off when he won the NASCAR rookie of the year honors in 1980, Jody got tired of the grind and moved back to running local tracks until Bill Elliott got hurt and called on his hero to come fill in for him.

I have found that the drivers i tend to lean toward are clean drivers who “walk softly and carry a big stick” type and don’t seem to be embroiled in controversy.

I know each of us are passionate about our drivers win lose or draw, and that is what makes NASCAR fans different from all the rest, the “real NASCAR Fan’s” just want good racing, they understand that you really can’t win them all. And as long as it is a good race we are happy. But if you want to really tick a NASCAR fan off…. talk trash about his driver. NASCAR fans are unique, in a very special way, we love our racing!

C-ya at the races!

The dr.