Off the cutting room floor

Those were great interviews with Tyler Epp and Jimmy White on today's (Saturday, 8/19) podcast. To think that this quality material had been on the cutting room floor. Certainly, there must be some vehicle for the geniuses at Rowdy central command to make this "wasted" interview stuff available for us to listen to outside of the daily podcast. After hearing today's interviews, it blows my mind to think what great information we are not hearing simply because it had to be edited out in the interest of time.

Guys, is there some way to pick some of this stuff off the cutting floor and make it available for our listening enlightenment on a routine basis?

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Jim Clark's one NASCAR ride

For a short while this morning, I had the SPEED channel on my iMac. SPEED was broadcasting Formula 1 practice from Hockenheim, Germany. Then, the broadcasters started talking about the must-see memorial to Jimmy Clark who was killed at Hockenheim on April 7, 1968. Just as it was with the assassination of John Kennedy, I remember exactly where I was and who told me about Jim Clark's tragic death at Hockenheim. I was a 13 year old Indiana boy at the time. Jimmy Clark was a my hero and I had been robbed.

In the month after April 1968, I was expecting to see Jimmy Clark driving an STP Lotus (Lotus 56) turbine-powered car at Indianapolis. After witnessing Parnelli Jones' domination with the turbine-powered car in the 1967 Indy 500, I could not wait to see this fleet of Lotus turbine-powered cars in the 1968 500, especially with Jim Clark at the wheel of one of these. This wedge shaped Lotus was and is one of the most beautiful cars I have ever seen. I remember that after seeing these Lotuses wanting to be a car designer and asking my dad what it would take do what Colin Chapman does. While I got to see the STP Lotus turbine cars in1968 Indianapolis 500, it just was not the same without Jim Clark piloting one of these.

After that SPEED broadcast today, I got interested in Jimmy Clark's single foray into NASCAR. There is not much written about this. Photos of Clark on his one NASCAR ride are even rarer finds. I found one online article which does a good job of describing Jim Clark's NASCAR venture. And, I located only two photos.
http://nascar.suite101.com/article.cfm/jim_clark_in_nascar

Some say Jimmy Clark is the greatest driver of all time. Maybe, maybe not. 40 years after his death "The Flying Scot" remains a hero of mine.

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Penske says bye-bye to Ryan

ESPN reports that Penske will not re-sign Ryan Newman in 2009. Penske probably just wanted to cut the tie with Ryan before he could do it himself. It would look bad for Penske if Ryan said goodbye to them first. So, they to beat him to the punch.

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/cup/news/story?id=3486307&campaign=rss&source=RPMHeadlines

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Old drivers feel need for leadfootin’

Here is an article that you probably will not see in your local newspaper. These guys are part of the rich tradition of stock car racing in the Asheville, NC area. In the Nationwide Series, Jack Ingram is tied for second in most wins.

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080713/SPORTS08/80712048/1002/SPORTS&referrer=NEWSFRONTCAROUSEL

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Tony Stewart and a precedent for success

Tony Stewart's new venture should not be interpreted as a normal owner/driver scenario; although, it is being compared with all other owner/driver ventures "in the history of the world." Tony as owner/driver has a different feel that what has happened before.

In 2009, Tony may hit the ground running and be a contender in all respects. A precedent was set in 2007 when Mark Martin ran a few races for the short-lived, Hendrick-supported Ginn Racing. Mark came out of the gates like gangbusters with the re-formed MB2 team and was leading the point standings after a few races. The fact that Mark did not have ownership interest in Ginn is irrelevant to his success. After Ginn quickly crashed-and-burned and was absorbed by DEI, things were not quite as rosy for Martin with the change to DEI/Childress equipment.

With his talent, Tony Stewart (and presumably Ryan Newman) has the potential to excel with this re-formed Hendrick-supported team. Tony is a winner and will do all that he can to make a success of this team in 2009 and into the future.

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Stewart Haas Racing logo

Last year when Dale Jr. announced that he would be driving for Hendrick Motorsports, the Rowdy Nation considered it fair game to critique Jr's new car graphics. With that precedent, it's fair game to critique the Stewart-Haas Racing logo.

In the aftermath of the press conference it was said that the logo appears to have been designed by a 5th grader. 5th graders should be offended. The logo is a primitive thing. It appears to be the effort of about one hour of work, done the morning of the press conference after someone suddenly realized that they needed a logo for a prop in the afternoon.

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Two Jayski MWR-related rumors

Jayski is rumoring that:
1) Michael McDowell (McDoobie?) may be a candidate for the Penske #12, and
2) that David Reutimann could fine his way to the Petty #45.

Makes you wonder if Dennis Michelsen's statement about MWR being out of business at the end of 2008 might hold water. Loss of sponsors and potentially the loss of drivers does not bode well for MWR.

If things are as grim at MWR as they often appear, and even if Michael Waltrip gets his Daddy Warbucks, it might not make things right. It's interesting that Daddy Warbucks' intials are "DW."

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NASCAR's feeling effects of slumping economy

On the heels of Racer X's recent gloom-and-doom blogs is this article by Jenna Fryer:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/motor/2008-07-07-2929460367_x.htm

Might things be less gloomy if a spending cap were placed on teams? A spending cap might also satisfy NASCAR's ongoing desire to achieve parity. Obviously, some sort of auditing system would need to be implemented. Open ended spending has made a parody of parity.

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TMI! TMI!

Too Much Information!?!? Like it or not, I guess we all got a biology lesson from Ann Schrader on today's (6/24) podcast. Who would have known? Only on Rowdy do you get this type of NASCAR insider information. Speaking of fire suits, you would think that a fire suit would help that situation. That aside, Ann Schrader is a hoot; or as Buck says, "piece o' work." Good interview.

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Mark Martin out at DEI in '09?

If you can believe what you read, it appears from an ESPN article (early afternoon 6/22) that DEI will pull the plug on Mark Martin in 2009. Where will Mark end up? Or, is this the end of the line?

I suspect that Mark isn't being blindsided by this news. Certainly, DEI cannot hold Aric Almirola back from a full time ride any longer and this has been understood for a while. But, in the twilight of Mark's racing career, he has made it clear that he wants to do it his way, part time. Who else might give Mark a quality, part time ride?

Here's my seat-of-the-pants theory:
First, Mark really does move on from DEI. Next, JR Motorsports moves up to Cup in 2009 and Mark "mentors" Brad Keselowski at JRM for one year. Mark already has a relationship with JR Motorsports, having driven the #5 in Nationwide a few times. Keselowski is a fine driver but lacks experience in Cup and with the COT. Mark has the experience and better name recognition to draw the big sponsorship money necessary for Cup. With support from Hendrick, the Martin/Keselowski tag team will do well and Keselowski gets the full time ride in 2010. In 2010-11 Mark will mentor the driver of a third JR Motorsports car. After that, Mark retires for good or stays on as a consultant mentor and drives in a Nationwide series race now and then.

A third JR Motorsports car in 2010, you ask? Is that a typo? I neglected to mention that Tony Stewart is in a JR Motorsports car in 2009. Hence the third car in 2010.

One wonders if Navy would move from Nationwide to Cup with JR Motorsports? It would be strange to see Mark Martin jump from Army to Navy. Does the armed service allow that?

Did I mention that this is seat-of-the-pants theory making? Time will tell.

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