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After looking at all of the newsworthy articles of the past week….I
think that what was more
amazing is what WASN’T
said.
Yes, Jimmie Johnson won his third in a row.
Yes, Carl Edwards was both a double bridesmaid, and double bride, in
winning both races, yet
coming in second in both
championships.
To be honest with you…neither of these news events interested me in the
slightest. It’s the
events that happened
away from the race track
that I’m focusing on,
and how some major
details were either
glossed over, or not
mentioned at all.
My top 2 underreported events of the last week?
1. 1.
The DEI/Ganassi
‘Merger’.
I’ve dug into this story as much as I could, and some questions remain
unanswered. Was this a
‘merger’, or a ‘buyout’?
What’s happening with
the failed DEI
management/owner? If
Dodge has such a great
new R6 engine, why did
Ganassi bail out on
Dodge, and go with Chevy
equipment? Has anyone
seen my dog?
If I had to judge the subtext behind all that was said about the
Ganassi/DEI ‘merger’, I
would have to say the
following:
A. A.
DEI has squandered what
Dale Sr. had built up
over the years. Ganassi
has snapped up what had
been a
somewhat-first-rate
operation, and probably
got a screaming deal on
it, since DEI can’t keep
a sponsor to save their
lives.
B. B.
If this was a ‘merger’,
why is it that I’m
seeing only DEI
employees getting the
boot?
C. C.
DEI has truly become
‘The Museum’. Oddly
enough, I thought that
DEI would drag out for a
few more years, but now
that it’s finally over?
At least Theresa can now
focus full-time on the
#3 merchandise
business.
D. D.
I am going to predict
that this is only the
first of many teams
going away from Dodge. I
spoke of Dodge and their
lack of attention to
their NASCAR teams…and I
think Ganassi gets the
best of both worlds
here: An almost top-tier
GM team, and he gets to
pull away from
under-performing Dodge
equipment. I was hoping
to see what Juan Pablo
Montoya could do with
good equipment under
him; we just may get to
see that happen,
provided that DEI’s
Chevy stable is up to
par.
E. E.
I’m just kidding about
my dog.
2. 2.
‘Downsizing’.
I think the doo-doo has hit the proverbial fan. NASCAR doesn’t realize
it, but they have more
to worry about here than
whether or not they have
to lay off a few hundred
people.
What do I mean, exactly?
NASCAR’s entire formula is going to have to change, if it
doesn’t want to be
almost extinct 5 years
from now.
The first thing that has to go out the window?
The rampant stupidity at the upper levels of NASCARdom.
First of all, the COSHAT (Car Of Some Hideous Alternate Tomorrow) was
quite possibly the
10-ton straw that broke
the camel’s back.
Something needed to be
done, yes, as operating
costs were getting out
of hand. However, to
force a car upon the
teams that was two-times
the financial drain that
the original car was?
Safety was addressed,
yes, but the cars
themselves are
inherently more
dangerous than the
previous generation in
that the COSHAT cars
themselves cause more
accidents. You
mandate that an entirely
new car be used, yet
it’s almost impossible
to tune for changing
track conditions,
there’s no front down
force, causing excessive
wear on the tires as the
cars skid up the racing
surface on corners,
creating blowout havoc
on certain tracks…anyone
remember the Brickyard
400? Gee, that’s
safe? Oh, and hey,
let’s design a car
that’s entirely
proprietary to NASCAR,
further increasing
costs….there just might
be some off-the-shelf
hardware still out there
that could have been
used in places to reduce
cost….but no, the world
revolves around NASCAR,
right?
Second? The 7-post shaker rig. Anyone price one of these out lately?
Yes, it’s an invaluable
tuning tool…but at what
point do you draw the
line, if NASCAR keeps
blowing the ‘Let’s
reduce costs for the
teams!’ horn, yet they
allow multi-million
dollar testing equipment
that only the
best-funded teams can
afford? Remember DEI? If
I recall correctly, they
had to wait for the Ginn
Racing ‘Merger’ (buyout)
to get a 7-post of their
own…and how many teams
still don’t have one?
Gee, that doesn’t
exactly correlate with
the ‘lower-costs’
mantra, does it? I’m not
trying to put NASCAR
racing back in the dark
ages here, but it seems
like the lesser-funded
teams had more of a
chance of actually
winning a race
before NASCAR decided to
mandate ‘budget
cutting’. If you are
going to allow Space
Race technology, then
you need to deal with
the consequences when
the budgets start
getting out of hand.
Third? I’m looking at the budgets of some of the teams….do you realize
that this is the
most-expensive form of
motorsports out there,
with cars that still
use pushrod engines?
I think the only other
form of racing that
either comes close, or
maybe exceeds NASCAR, is
the NHRA professional
nitromethane ranks, and
these 500-inch pushrod
engines make eight
thousand
horsepower, not eight
hundred. So what’s the
problem? Trying to keep
a 358-cubic-inch NASCAR
engine to stay alive
long enough to live
above 9000 rpm for an
entire race. NHRA
Top-Fuel motors have to
run up above 9000 rpm,
but it’s only for a
moment, not 500 miles,
and even NHRA recognized
a problem; as part of a
safety initiative after
Scott Kalitta’s death,
they reduced the ¼ mile
track to 1000 feet for
Fuel classes, and the
rest of classes follow
suit in 2009. A
side-benefit of this new
rule for the Nitro
classes? Engines aren’t
blowing up as often,
because they aren’t
revving into the
stratosphere for as
long! We can’t reduce
the track length in
NASCAR, but hey, here’s
an idea: Put a 6500-rpm
rev-limiter into every
car. Since the engine no
longer has to zing to
9000+ rpm for extended
distances…the teams
don’t have to spend so
much money trying to
make them live above
6500 rpm. Yes, I’m
rambling a bit, but it’s
a heck of a lot more
than NASCAR is doing
right now to help.
NASCAR does nothing to
try to stop the motors
to rev that high, yet
ignores the fact that it
costs a heck of a lot of
money to make an engine
live for any length of
time up in the rpm
ranges these motors are
now living at. And of
course, not every team
can afford the engines….
Fourth? Aerodynamics. This entire season has been a bit of a joke. So
NASCAR wanted a ‘new’
car that could close up
the racing, and make the
500-mile horse race more
exciting? Instead, they
created a car that’s now
even worse than the
previous entity about
needing ‘clean’ air to
run. Yank the spoiler
and remove the air dam,
except for the
super-speedways. Allow
the cars to lose
500-1000 pounds. If no
one can benefit from
‘clean air’, than anyone
can run up front…which
means….gasp!....closer
racing! No more need to
have to throw bogus
‘debris’ cautions to
bunch the racing back
up. The car has to
depend more on chassis
setup now, instead of
the ‘aero’ package.
Finally? My Pipe Dream. Make one, or both of the Bristol events be
‘Retro-Night’. How does
this work? Allow the
teams to pick ANY of the
car bodies used in the
last 60 years of NASCAR,
provided it’s the same
make as what they are
running (I don’t know
what to tell Toyota,
sorry, maybe they can
run a stretched 1972
Celica or something),
and since Aero isn’t
that big of an issue at
Bristol…you can get away
with running a 1964 Ford
Galaxie, or a 1975
Laguna S3, or even a
1970 Superbird, and give
the fans something to
remember, and on top of
that you might even get
some of the angry fans
back to the track, or at
least watching a NASCAR
race again. Of course,
you can run the regular
modern chassis, and
modify the body just a
bit to fit properly. I’m
not talking about ‘tape
and sticker’ jobs, where
they stick accent
‘decals’ to make a
regular car look like a
1957 Chevy, like Jimmie
Johnson’s team did in
2007, I mean fabbing up
a REAL body that looks
something like the
original. Yes, obviously
this might increase the
cost of operations to
teams…but considering
what COSHAT bodywork
already costs? I don’t
see much of a loss here.
Oh yes, before I forget….give everyone 200 chase points, no matter
where they finish,
ensuring that everyone
shows up, yet not
punishing them if they
finish poorly due to a
‘bad’ body pick. Think
of it as a ‘Fan
Appreciation Night’.
Whatever happens, I have seen not one measure come from NASCAR that
actually reduces the
‘cost’ of running an
operation. Instead, it’s
been entirely the
opposite, and I feel
that this lack of
foresight may actually
bring down the sport of
NASCAR, as nothing I
have seen indicates that
the France Cartel ‘gets
it’.
Race Notes
After watching Larry MacReynolds gush ad-nauseum about just how
wonderful NASCAR is on
the SPEED Report after
the Ford 400 at
Homestead…you would
think that NASCAR
regularly saves people
from burning homes,
drills water wells for
thirsty people in
Africa, or rescues
puppies from trees.
Maybe a little less
butt-kissing….?
Anybody else as burned out as I am with the ‘Thomas Kincaide NASCAR
Painting’ commercial?
That ad spot is about as
obnoxious as the ‘Billy
Bass’ commercials, but
at least you can work
with the ‘Billy Bass’
fish:
http://bigmouth.here-n-there.com/billy-intro.html
. The NASCAR painting?
That absolutely screams
out ‘Dogs Playing
Poker’. Of course, I’m
probably offending the
three people that
actually bought one of
the NASCAR paintings…
With a tinge of sadness, I must say something about the Wood Brothers’
announcement to reduce
their NASCAR
operations…The Wood
Brothers have been
around for about as long
as the Petty clan, and I
think they deserve
better, much better than
they are getting now. If
I had to say anything
about their operation, I
would have to suggest
that the Wood Brothers
focused more on the
racing side, than the
marketing angle, and
lost out as a result.
Unfortunately, I think
that this is one of the
teams that I predict
will fold before the end
of the 2009 season.
NASCAR Jokes
What do you call a NASCAR Official without a girlfriend?
Homeless.
How does a NASCAR race team make a million dollars? They start
out with $20 million.
St. Peter is checking ID’s as people line up to get into Heaven. He
asks the first man,
“What did you do for a
living on Earth?” The
man says, “I was a
Dentist”. “You may pass
through the Pearly
Gates....Next! What did
you do for a living?”
St. Peter asks the next
person. “I worked at an
animal shelter”. “You
may pass through the
Pearly Gates….Next! What
did you do for a
living?” St. Peter asks
the third person. “I was
a NASCAR official”,
replied the man.
St. Peter puts his hand out, stopping the man from going forward, and
says, “I’m sorry, but
you are prohibited from
entering the Pearly
Gates due to violating
rule 12-4-A, Actions
Detrimental to Heaven,
Conduct Unbecoming of
THE Sanctioning Body”
You can contact
Larry at
racingmoose@msn.com
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