My Hall of Fame Problem...

With the 25 names announced that constitute the nominees for the first class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, I've found myself in quite the quandry. What philosophy do I apply to choose five inductees? Is it like baseball, where I need to weigh stats against contributions to the sport? How does history play in this selection of mine? Or do I ignore the linear timeline of history and pick my inductees based purely on their impact, regardless of when they came into the sport?

Nothing embodies this, crystalizes it better than Richard and Lee Petty. On the face of it, Richard Petty's 200 wins, 7 Championships, millions of autographs seems to make him a no-brainer. But Lee came before, laid the groundwork for son Richard and a host of others who came after. But statistically, Lee's 50 wins and 3 titles don't match up.

So I am left with two line-ups if you will, one based on pure contribution and stats, the other based more on historical significance. Which philosophy I will apply when casting my single vote at NASCAR.com, I have yet to decide.

Line-Up #1 (Linear history)
Bill France
Red Byron
Herb Thomas
Raymand Parks
Lee Petty

Line-Up #2 (Non-linear line-up)
Bill France
Richard Petty
Junior Johnson
Dale Earnhardt
Rick Hendrick

X:)

Have a happy and safe Independance Day!

• 4 Comments

The X-Files: Lenox 301

So race fans, was that fun or what? The Lenox 301 was one torrid affair at times and while it would be tempting to hang the star upon the sliced bread wunderkind who took what will be the first of his many checkered flags, the real star wasn't a driver or team.

It was the double-file restart.

While we have seen it employed at 3 races prior to Sunday's slugfest, this was the first time it really had a chance to shine. The intense action throughout the pack, restart after restart had me glued to the screen for each and every restart. It made the racing at a place like Louden, which can sometimes be less than spirited, tension filled and exciting.

But I am getting ahead of myself. There was so much going on in Sunday's race that it is hard to simply apply the traditional chronicle to the action.

JOEY'S GOLDEN SHOWER
How bizarre is it that this race was affected in the late-going by rain for the second year running? And much like last year, the guy who pulled into victory lane probably didn't belong there. But much like the World 600 at Charlotte earlier this year, credit must be given to a team that did something everyone else COULD have done if they had thought about it. Props to Greg Zippadeli and the entire Home Depot crew who showed us that Tony didn't take all the winning with him when he departed JGR for his own team last season.

The thing is, most race fans realize that at this point, Joey Logano is a real star in the making. Was this reflective of how he is running at this point in his career? No. But it was going to happen this year anyway.

The thing that really was kind of creeping me out though was the resemblance young 19 year old Joey has with another young driver who we lost almost 10 years ago. Sometimes, at the right angle, Joey Logano looks an awful lot like Adam Petty. Logano getting his first win at Louden, the track at which Adam Petty lost his life, in a TNT race called by Kyle Petty was gnawing at me a bit. The universe is filled with irony at times...

GORDON VS. KUBU
If I were really disappointed on Sunday, it was because I was denied what was looking to be a knock-down, drag out battle between Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch. The double file restarts put these guys in lock-step time after time and they sure seemed the match for each other. This is the kind of action we fans were clamoring for when we begged for this restart procedure! Lean on 'em, bump 'em, and fight for the lead even if we're not quite to halfway! Yeah, baby! Was it tense? Yes. Were the drivers seeing red? Oh yeah, especially Gordon who wasn't taking too kindly to Busch's low-line aggression (there's a band name for ya: JG and The Lowline Aggression). Then you also had a whole host of others who were poking their nose in there as well on restarts, like Stewart, Jimmie Johnson and Greg Biffle who was diving into the turns like a darn screaming banshee at times. Fantastic racing. Entertaining as hell. It was only a matter of time before...

KYBU PUTS THE KYBOSH ON 'EM
Hendrick cars sure had a stellar showing going. There were all kinds of representation up front, with Gordon, Johnson, Stewart and Mark Martin all in the top 6 at one point. Dale Earnhardt Jr. continued to show progress as he brought his #88 from mid-pack and into serious contention by mid-race. It was great to see him getting all racy, almost making it 3-wide for the lead at one point. You could hear the screams of the long-deprived Junior Nation as their guy clawed his way to the top of the charts. Get used to it boys and girls: The #88 is going to be a factor, sooner rather than later.

There must be something cosmically tying Dale Junior and Kyle Busch together. How else can one explain the chain of events on lap 175 that eliminated a host of cars from contention? Martin Truex Jr., Jeff Burton, Kevin Harvick and David Ragan all got caught up in a mess that started when Dale Junior spun his tires for the second time on a restart, stacking up the double-wide field behind him. As everyone is scrambling, trying to figure out who they can pass and where (as it is a restart, after all, and much of this was happening before they actually took the green flag), Kyle Busch does what Kyle Busch does: He tries to take advantage of the situation. Where I can rattle off a host of other drivers who would have dumped out of the gas as the field stacked up before him, KyBu decides to make a move to the outside of the unsuspecting Truex, they touch in a bad way and everything goes "boom!"

I know, I know. I am a KyBu fan and here I am once again trying to make sense of a move that was outright stupid. I can't really defend it. It's part of the package. Always an "E-Ticket Ride" as I say. Honestly, I would much rather be defending him shattering a guitar trophy than this. In retrospect, do I think he would do something different? Probably. But this is racing. These cars are so tightly packed on these restarts now and the drivers are so aggressive that I expect that we'll be seeing more of this going forward. And not all of them will involve Kyle Busch.

CHASE RACIN'
I am thinking that when these guys get to Bristol and Richmond in the races leading up the Chase itself that things are going to get real freakin' heated. On the track and on the blogs - everywhere. This double-file restart is going to really magnify the competition for the final spots for the Chase. Look at those points: everyone from 7th to 14th is in play, on top of each other. One mistake, one slip, one bump and we're talking about disaster for some, glory for others. Getting into the Chase itself may be more a matter of pure luck in the face of chaos than anything else this time around.

Meantime, I am real curious what the mindset is in teams like SHR and Hendrick, who are pretty solidified as far as the Chase is concerned. At what point do you really start to think about testing rather than racing? I expected some guys, like the evil genius Chad Knauss, to start here at Louden with some experimental stuff, but from the way it looked it was just another race for them. Or maybe not. Oh, to be a fly on the HMS shop wall...

NOTES
I am wondering if anyone caught the impact of David Gilliland's aborted restart and the potential wrench -that kind of thing can throw in a race. Here's a back-marker who stayed out and became the leader, thus giving him a choice of restarting the race from the inside or the outside of the front row. As he came around to take the green, Gilliland ducks onto pit road after the pace car and the inside row moves up, giving Kurt Busch the inside line. This time, I don't know if there really was an advantage inside or outside on a restart, but it seems as if the guy who is the leader when they take the green has had his options taken away from him. I wonder if NASCAR will address this, as I am sure there are a couple of crew chiefs and drivers who saw this particular circumstance and are now plotting around it...

What does Kevin Harvick have to do to get a break? Hire a snake charmer? He's been snake bit so many times -this season...

If it comes down to horsepower, it looks to be a battle of Hendrick and the surprising Penske this year. Not -only was Kurt fast as hell, but Sam Hornish had a great showing as well. Has anyone heard of these guys getting chassis dynoed yet this year? Hmmm....

-Is anyone else thinking that Robby Reiser is getting a free pass with all the problems Roush seems to be having this season? Is that just a surface level criticism or is there something to the idea that some folks are meant to stay atop the pit box?

-Richard Petty will turn 72 this Thursday. Saturday will also mark the 25th anniversary of his 200th win (199 if we're excluding the big, illegal engine, right guys?). Anyway, I was at that race 25 years ago. Amazing how far this sport has come since then....

-Ok, so how maddening is this: My fantasy team was pretty much wiped out on lap 175 in a wreck caused in part by my favorite driver (who WASN'T on my fantasy team, BTW). I'm doing alright overall in the standings, but that was a bad day for me....

-I kept trying, but I could find nothing in common between Michael Jackson and NASCAR Stock Car Racing. RIP anyways, Michael. And Farrah. And that Billy whatshisface that is always yelling at me through the teevee. What a weird week...

• 16 Comments
• The X-Files

Meet Jamie Whincup

Ok, the pic is silly and I know you all will get a kick out of it, but that's how they do things Down Under I guess. This guy is named Jamie Whincup. He is the reigning champion of the Aussie V8 Supercar series, the same series that brought us Marcos Ambrose. This guy is another fantastic racer, and the big story down in Australia is whether he is going to follow Ambrose stateside to compete in NASCAR. The guy can race, that's for sure. Young, cocky, pisses off some people. Reminds me of someone we all know. Anyway, here's an article on the decision before him with some references to Ambrose. Enjoy.

~~~

Decisions, decisions for Whincup
Tuesday 23/06/2009 11:30

Author: Briar Gunther
Source: BigPond Sport

Reigning Champion Jamie Whincup is yet to reveal his plans for next year, saying he still has not decided to remain driving in the V8 Supercar Championship.

The TeamVodafone driver, whose contract wraps up at the end of the year, is tossing up between his V8 Supercar career or pursuing a drive overseas.

“It will all just be dribble now if I comment on it. I’ll have an answer pretty shortly on whether I’m staying or going,” he said.
Whincup said speculation that he had already re-signed with TeamVodafone was incorrect.

“There’s no truth in that,” he said. “I’m very close to making a decision but haven’t done one yet.

“I’m better off just waiting for a couple of weeks and giving you guys some quality stuff. I could create a bit of a storyline (now), but what’s the point in that?”

One of the overseas categories Whincup is believed to be considering is Nascar. Two-time V8 Supercar Campion Marcos Ambrose left Australia for Nascar three years ago and is fast earning a reputation as a quality steerer in the USA.

Ambrose, who finished third in the Nascar race at Sonoma yesterday morning (local time), was recently quoted in a Wide World of Sport article warning Whincup to “think long and hard” about an entry into the American stock car category.

The ex-pat said it was more about “opportunity than ability” but also heaped praise on Whincup, saying he was “the best Australia’s produced for awhile”.

Whincup, who admires Ambrose’s achievements, agreed the tough economic conditions could derail his international charge if he chose that path.

“It’s tough at the moment but everyone’s in the same position so I listened to his comments,” Whincup said.

“I believe his comments were his honest opinion which is great and it’s something to consider moving forward.”

Whincup was also humbled by Ambrose’s praise.

“I’ve got to make sure it doesn’t get to my head but I certainly listen to what he’s got to say.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for him and he’s an extremely good driver so learning from his experiences and talking to him is important.

“I’ll take as much advice as I can to make the right step.”

The 2009 V8 Supercar Championship leader is keen not to let Ambrose’s comments inflate his ego and said the people around him helped him stay grounded.

“I’d just like to think it’s not in my nature,” he said.

“My family and parents are fairly humble people so hopefully that stays the same for me.

“It is tough, you’ve got to keep an eye on it but it’s just a sport at the end of the day and something I like doing.

“If it’s just a go-kart race or a V8 Supercar race, it’s all the same.”

Whincup admitted his performance at the Hamilton street race, when he laid across the bonnet of his #1 ‘Hogster’ as if to say “too easy” after winning both races, could have been misconstrued for arrogance.

“That was for a bit of a laugh, really; trying to do something different.

“We don’t want to be doing the same boring thing week in week out so I was just trying to spice it up and do something different.

“I can see how that could be taken the wrong way but the intention was just for it to be a bit of a laugh.”

• 11 Comments
• Marcos Ambrose, Jamie Whincup, Aussie V8 Supercars

Should Kasey's Car Be #43?

I loved seeing Richard Petty in victory lane yesterday. But there was something amiss as the car had all that legacy Evernham font livery going on. Seeing that Kasey is the big "name" driver at Richard Petty Motorsports, shouldn't his car be painted up with the #43? It would have been even MORE special if he had pulled a car with that storied number into victory lane, in my opinion.

What do you say, Kahne fans? Would you trade in your #9 hats for one with the legendary #43 on it? Or does the King just cast too big a shadow?

• 10 Comments
• Richard Petty, Kasey Kahne, #43

X-Rant: Road Course Chase?

I think I was watching a different race than most people on here were. While i won't take anything away from what Kasey Kahne accomplished as he raced a fantastic, impressive race, I don't think I really thought much of the race itself at Infineon. It was simply a crash-fest to me, a chaotic experience that showcased both the COT's and many of the driver's lack of grace.

Oh, I'm sure there are fans who just plain like the beating and banging. I do to. But I prefer oval short tracks for my beating and banging, thank you. ON an oval, the cost of being spun isn't quite the same in terms of lost time and track space as it is on the road course. The impact of getting spun in the closing laps of a race at Bristol isn't nearly as great as it is at Infineon as there aren't as many cars on the lead lap.

Take the case of poor Dale Junior. This guy had himself a pretty decent race going on, and through nothing of his own doing he was unceremoniously kicked to the back of the pack late in the race thanks to a forward running chain-reaction. It wasn't something skillful or exciting. It was stupidity on display. The mistakes here are too numerous, the skillsets woefully disproportionate and the final results, in many cases, undeserved.

And the car. Don't even get me started on the car. It's like a dadgum elephant ballet out there! Lumbering, epileptic mules pulling carts through the narrow streets of some highwalled Mexican village. Nothing graceful. Nothing but chaos.

I'm not saying I don't enjoy this kinda racing, but I certainly don't want to hear anyone talking about putting one of these things in the Chase. That's just stupid talk, sorry. With the double-file restarts in play, Infineon is more chaotic than Talladega in many ways. Put one of these road races in the Chase and you'll get all the same ringers chasing the moon while Jimmie, Tony et al are chasing a championship. Do you really want Boris Said and Robby Gordon impacting YOUR driver's championship hopes? Better yet, do you want some in-over-his-head oval guy outbraking himself and your guy into the tire barrier and out of contention? Like I said, it's bad enough that we have Talladega and Martinsville in the Chase where anything can happen. But at least on those tracks the majority of drivers know how to drive them.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe what I saw yesterday was thrilling. But I really don't think it showcased the best that NASCAR has to offer...

X

• 9 Comments

The F1 Split

For those interested, the FIA (which is essentially the NASCAR of F1) has proposed and intends to enact a "salary cap" for next year's F1 season. It will give teams who stay under a proposed budget of $56million US more testing and advantageous regulations than the Ferrari's of the world who would like to keep spending their annual $300 million for two cars or whatever per season (I know, crazy money. This is F1). Several teams, including all the big dogs like Ferrari, McClaren, Braun, Toyota and Red Bull have signified their intention to start their own series if such a budget cap is imposed. As of yesterday, these big teams (organized under the acronum "FOTA") have said that they intend to field their own series separate from F1.

Now, I have questions for my fellow multi-discipline fans. Is this a bluff? Do you think this split will really happen? If so, who has the upper hand? In the US, the CART/IRL split was ugly, and the organization with the biggest race, IRL's Indy 500, ended up winning eventually. Is that the case here, or does Ferrari just plainly hold too much attraction to ignore? How is this playing in Europe where there is far more focus than here? What's your take?

For NASCAR fans, do you see this kind of scenario where the teams and stars become more powerful than the sanctioning body ever playing out and causing problems in NASCAR? Rick Hendrick holds a lot of cards, what happens if one day NASCAR does something he doesn't like? Just a hypothetical...

• 11 Comments
• F1, FOTA, IRL, CART, BIG TEAMS IN NASCAR

F1 on an Oval?

The boys asked if F1 has ever raced on an oval during today's podcast, soo...

Ok, not either technically, but still cool. Monza has been a part of Formula 1 and Grand Prix racing going back forever. Built in 1922, it is absolutely one of the most storied tracks in racing history deserving of a place up there with the likes of Indianapolis, Le Mans, Monaco and Daytona.

In 1955, they came up with this wicked hybrid configuration where the drivers partly raced around an oval. Wait til you see this footage. it is from the 1966 racing movie "Grand Prix" starring James Garner. By the time of the filming they had stopped using the oval brcause it was just too dangerous. But you'll get the point.

Last I knew, the banks were still there and you can walk them and relive the history of the place. Anyway, here, check it out:

• 21 Comments
• F1 on Ovals, Grand Prix, James Garner, Monza

I Give You The Baseball

In recent weeks, the growing chasm between long-time fans of the sport and those who have come onboard in recent years has played out a bit here on Rowdy. It is especially evident when you get into the continuing subject of Kyle Busch. I have seen some newer fans make some overwhelming claims about the kid's ability. On the other side, I have seen some of the most egregious, self-righteous behavior by long-time fans who think the newer fans don't even have the right to their opinion because they maybe don't know Smokey Yunick from Smokey Bear.

As a long time, sometimes self-righteous boob myself, I am calling out everyone on this matter. Unless we want this sport to end up like horse racing where we lose generation after generation, we have to find a way to deal with the subject of "tradition" in NASCAR.

I can think of no other sport where the old fans wield their knowledge with such a sense of superiority. I do this too. Sometimes, it is hard not to reference things that happened back in the day and wear it as a badge. I wish Rowdy had a better tool for making links in posts, as I would do my best to link items (like the above Smokey Yunick reference) to articles that give instant background to the reader. To me, this is what we long time fans SHOULD be doing with our knowledge. We should IMPART it to the newer fans; give them a means of educating themselves on the history of the sport we all love.

Instead, many of us use this knowledge as a means of separating ourselves from the crowd, a way of saying "I am a better, more qualified fan than you. Your opinion is crap because I saw Richard Petty win and you didn't".

This is something that of course makes the long time fan feel better about themselves as they deal with a sport that is moving further and further away from their frame of reference. But this is what happens. Eventually, no one will care about Smokey Yunick except the hardcore historians.

I like to think of baseball as an analogy. Consider that many of us longtime NASCAR fans first started listening to races on the radio, like my dad's generation did baseball. Now, for someone like my dad who was born in 1920, his perspective and understanding of baseball was amazing. He literally grew up with the game. By the time of his passing in 1990, the game was altogether different than the game of his youth. But he never treated the history as a personal possession. He shared. He told stories. He imparted his love of the game unto me. And while I never learned to recite the Yankees 1927 line-up like he could or recite the career stats of Red Faber, I loved the game just as much and moreover, I understood the nuances of the double-switch as well as he did.

Now, let me give these newer fans the other perspective.

I used to go see this little band in Atlanta back in the 1980s. The singer was this shifty, staring at the floor guy who could barely be understood. In a time of hair bands and lipstick, these guys where strumming Rickenbacker guitars and writing brainy, twangy songs that only a handful of bar band followers liked. We hung around after shows and knew the band personally. They were "our" band, especially as they started touring around the southeast and gaining college airplay. The songs we knew from hearing them in dive bars were now on the radio. The band got a record deal. They re-recorded the songs with a producer. They started making videos. The singer was suddenly not just staring at the floor. They were on MTV.

And when REM came to play the Miami Arena in 1992, they were no longer that little bar band I loved. Peter Buck didn't remember me at all. The fans all looked like the band and thought there had never been an album before "Green". And man, did they love that "Shiny Happy People" song... what crap!

But, I also had taken a friend to the show who had never been to a rock show before. I'll tell you what happened: He was so inspired by that show that he went out and gobbled up the whole discography of REM. All these years later, we still may not agree on which album is their best, but he is still my concert-going buddy.

NASCAR is in a real weird place nowadays where it doesn't seem to know what it wants to be. There are so many long time fans who feel like they have been put out. Change is unsettling. What we all have to remember is that if the ultimate goal is for the sport to continue to be what it is to each of us, we can't treat this change as an insult. It is what it is. Goal posts move, spitballs get outlawed and the game changes.

And remember what my dad told me once: "Just because I saw Babe Ruth play doesn't make me smarter about baseball. It just makes me old."

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• 12 Comments
• NASCAR Tradition, Fans, Kyle Busch, REM, baseball

The Kid Races EVERYTING!

Scene Daily has apiece below saying that Kyle Busch (along with Scott Speed - now there's a pairing) will compete in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Brumos Porsche 250 (to me, always the Paul Revere 250) at Daytona. They'll be racing in the DP class in the Lexus/Riley #02. Really interesting... especially the new relationship with Ganassi. Where could that lead n the future?

So, I'm thinking of promoting a rickshaw race through the streets of Downtown Ft. Lauderdale. You think there's any chance Kyle will enter?

• 12 Comments
• Kyle Busch, Scot Speed, Grand Am, Paul Revere 250, Target Chip Ganassi

Johnny Benson Crash

Just caught the headline on Scene Daily that Benson has been upgraded to Fair condition. Here's hoping Genrleman Johnny gets better soon...

• 14 Comments
• Johnny Benson Crash, Berlin Speedway