Archive for May, 2009
USAC Eastern Swing Kicks Off at Grandview
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The third annual USAC Eastern Swing is ready to kick off the week of racing with the first event for the USAC National Sprint Cars at Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, PA on Tuesday, June 2. Three other events will be held in Pennsylvania.
Grandview will feature two 25-lap features for the sprint cars, one a make-up from last year’s rain-out. Also on the card is the wingless ARDC midgets.
The tour will then move over to Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, PA on Wednesday, June 3, where ARDC will also be the companion series. Big Diamond Raceway in Minersville, PA will host the Thursday, June 4 race. The Eastern Swing wraps up Saturday night (June 6) with USAC Sprint’s first trip to the 3/8-mile Mercer (PA) Raceway Park.
Dave Darland leads Levi Jones by 12 points in the National Sprint Car championship. Jesse Hockett is in third, 18 points back.
If you’re in the area — come on out and check out non-winged sprint car racing. It’s awesome!
In the meantime, re-live some of the action from the first Eastern Swing in 2007:
Night 1 — Grandview Speedway
Night 3 — Hagerstown (MD) Speedway
Another “Competition Caution”…
Posted by: | CommentsI remember in the 90s ASA used to have what was called a “competition caution” written into their rulebook. Basically, if a race ran a certain number of laps consecutively under the green flag — say, 75 laps — they would automatically throw a “competition caution” to bunch up the field. Yeah… that’s kind of cheesy, but it was ASA so nobody cared.
Fast forward to today and suddenly NASCAR has embraced the term to cover a pre-planned caution period — usually early in the race — to check for tire wear. (Anything for safety, of course!) I’m seeing this tactic being used more and more and it’s really inappropriate for a professional racing series in my view.
It appears that now if even a light rain shower falls on the track any time during the weekend — even if teams have a practice session afterwards — NASCAR is quick to have a “competition caution” 25 or so laps after the start of the race… “so that teams can assess tire wear”. This is supposed to be professional racing. Crew chiefs and drivers are paid an exorbitant amount of money to do what they do. If they’re worried about “tire wear” then let them start with a conservative setup or let them pit whenever they want — under the green flag.
Today at Dover they finally had a pretty good race for the lead going when it was interrupted by one of these stupid fake yellows. It broke the momentum of the start of the race and I wonder how many people tuned out because of it?
Eury Jr. Out, McGrew In
Posted by: | CommentsHendrick Motorsports announced today that Tony Eury Jr. will be replaced as crew chief for Dale Earnhardt Jr. Lance McGrew will step in as acting crew chief effective with the June 7 Pocono 500. Eury will move on to a research and development position within Hendrick Motorsports.
McGrew has one Sprint Cup win, the 2006 Talladega 500 with Brian Vickers.
“Our performance hasn’t been where it should be,” said Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports. “It’s impossible to pin that on any one factor, but a change is the right decision at this point. We have a plan in place, and we’re going to move forward with it.”
This change has been a long time coming. Earnhardt Jr. is mired back in 19th in the points standings and since moving to Hendrick Motorsports has only a single win on a fuel mileage run at last year’s Michigan 400. Meanwhile teammates Jeff Gordon (points leader), Jimmie Johnson (4th) and Mark Martin (12th) have experienced wins in 2009.
See the full press release from Hendrick Motorsports.
Town Hall Meeting?
Did anyone else get a little queasy when they heard that NASCAR held a “town hall”-style meeting on Tuesday? The purpose of the meeting was to examine some of the difficulties facing the sport in recent times (read: declining interest / TV ratings). I mean at first it sounded like a great idea… until I heard that it was going to be for car owners and drivers only.
I applaud NASCAR for acknowledging that there are problems and looking to address them before it’s too late. Ostrich-like behavior, after all, is rarely ever rewarded. But NASCAR needs to stop listening to car owners and drivers and start listening to THE FANS.
Most of the tumultuous change heaped on the sport in recent years — often pushed by the car owners and drivers through NASCAR — has been met with much opposition by the fan base. The “Car of Tomorrow”. The schedule “Re-Alignment”. All the crazy rules they have now. Fans didn’t want any of this stuff… they complained when it was proposed… they complained when it was implemented… and now they’re voicing their complaints with their feet and remote controls.
Hopefully NASCAR will listen to the right people before it’s too late.
Was Carl Long in Attendance?
Carl Long is both an owner and a driver… I wonder if he was invited to the town hall meeting? His mere presence would have been enough to point out what’s wrong with the new NASCAR.
Long is a throwback to old-school NASCAR: an average guy with not a lot of money running an independent team — all for the thrill of racing. He attempted to enter the non-points paying Sprint All-Star event through the Sprint Showdown qualifier. Before the race he blew his motor and sent it to NASCAR for tech inspection where they found it to be oversized by 0.17 cubic inches. Yeah, that’s right — 0.17.
His crew chief, Charles Swing — another average guy –, was fined $200,000 (!) and both he and Long were placed on a 12-race suspension. Long was also penalized 200 championship points, which is interesting since he currently has ZERO because he hasn’t qualified for any 2009 events.
Now where the hell is this guy going to get $200,000?
It’s clear: NASCAR’s intention is to simply ruin the guy, plain and simple.
Indy 500 Ratings Down Again
Posted by: | CommentsAccording to USA Today, the 93rd Indianapolis 500 scored a 3.9 Nielsen rating, comparable to the postponed and rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 that was run on Monday in Charlotte.
The 3.9 rating represents the lowest television rating of a live flag-to-flag Indy 500 broadcast.
It’s hard to spin the obvious: there are fewer people enthused about this race and “re-unification” of two weak series into one has not strengthened Indy car racing. I’m sure the consistently absymal performance of ABC and the lack of serious television coverage in May contributed to the poor showing.
I know I keep hammering on the same point, but we really have to face it… I’m a racing fan and even I didn’t know half the drivers in that field Sunday. It amazes me that there are people out there who still refuse to recognize this as a serious problem. The AJ Foyts, Rick Mears, Mario Andrettis, Al Unsers and Johnny Rutherfords are long gone… and the current crop of drivers replacing them don’t have the image and widespread visibility to fill their shoes.
I know… I’m talking crazy again.
Let’s File This Under “Oops”
Speaking of crazy… Robin Miller must be feeling a bit red-faced today after “breaking” a story on SPEEDTV.com that Tony George had been ousted as CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway by the Board of Directors. The Board, of course, is comprised of his own mother, sisters, and a few others. The story had it that the Board was fed up with George’s “spending” and they voted Tuesday night to release him as CEO.
George held an impromptu press conference of sorts for local Indy media to refute the story, indicating that he remains CEO of the Speedway and that no such discussions have occured that he is aware of. Later, Mari Hulman-George, Tony’s mother, released a statement that essentially declared the story to be false.
George has brought a lot of changes to the Speedway since becoming CEO — including the addition of new races like the Brickyard 400 NASCAR race in 1994 and the US Grand Prix Formula One event. Also in 1994 George announced that the Speedway would create the Indy Racing League under USAC sanction to rival the established CART series. That undertaking and subsequent struggles of the IRL have likely dipped deeply into the Speedway coffers.
George has also been criticized for spending too much money on updates to the facility, e.g. in preparation for the Formula One event. But George addressed that criticism in the press conference, saying that overall the Formula One venture broke even: the first four races drew a large enough profit to recuperate the costs and the losses generated with the final four races. The Speedway abandonded the Grand Prix after the 2007 season.
Under George’s leadership the Speedway invested heavily in safety improvements — including higher fences, new pit exit / entrance lanes and a new pit divider. The Speedway was the primary financial driver of the now ubiquitous SAFER barrier.
So… it looks like Tony George isn’t going anywhere.
That Robin Miller… always trying to stir up controversy.
Parity…? What Parity?
After that, it’s hard to believe anything Robin Miller has to say… but he gave some eyebrow-raising statistics on SPEED the night after the 500. He said that Team Penske and Target Chip Ganassi Racing have combined to win 49 of the previous 51 oval races, including 9 of the prior 10 Indy 500s. Now the teams have had a variety of drivers over the years, but it’s scary to think that those two paint schemes have been first to take the checkers on such a consistent basis. When racing becomes predictable… well… it becomes boring.
Humpy Time
Scuttlebutt out of Indianapolis is that H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler — famed NASCAR promoter for Charlotte Motor Speedway (”retired”, of course) — would make a fantastic addition to the Indy Racing League. Apparently the Gene Simmons “I am Indy” advertising campaign didn’t pan out.
It would be quite an ironic twist to see Wheeler — who spent his life trying to get the Coca-Cola 600 to outshine the Indy 500 — working for the IRL. I think it might be a good idea… at this point the IRL has to try everything. I just hope Wheeler’s idea of promotion doesn’t include school buses jumping 30 wrecked cars with pyrotechnic explosions down Indy’s front straightaway.
I think the IRL needs to make some moves of a little more… substance? This dog is on life support and I don’t know if even Wheeler could save it.
Thoughts, anyone?
Photos: URC Sprints, Modifieds at Bridgeport Speedway, May 23
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Kramer Williamson walked away from this nasty crash in turn 1.
Kyle Purks (64K) and eventual feature winner Curt Michael (5G) in a qualifying heat.
Wade Hendrickson hopped in the 2w and won the Big Block Modified feature.
JJ Grasso set a URC New Track Record of 18.666s (120.540 mph) on feature lap 18.
Castroneves Wins 93rd Indy 500
Posted by: | CommentsJust a month after being acquitted by a jury on six counts of tax evasion, Helio Castroneves became only the ninth driver in history to win a third Indianapolis 500. The victory represented car owner Roger Penske’s 15th Indy 500 win.
Castroneves, who started from the pole, led the first 7 laps and then reclaimed the lead for the final time from Scott Dixon on lap 142. He held off second-place finisher Dan Wheldon and third-place Danica Patrick on a lap 183 restart. Townsend Bell and Will Power rounded out the top five.
Driver Vitor Meira was injured in a lap 174 crash with Raphael Matos in turn 1. Meira and Matos made contact entering the turn and Meira hit the wall head-on and his car flipped on its side. He was extricated from the car and taken to the infield care center. Earlier in the race, Meira suffered a significant pit fire during refueling.
Only three drivers — A.J. Foyt, Al Unser, and Rick Mears — have won the Indy 500 four times. Castroneves, 34, will likely have the opportunity to add his name to that list in the coming years and perhaps even become the first five-time winner of the race.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is celebrating its Centennial Anniversary in 2009, opening for its first race in 1909.
Photos: Micro-Sprints at Bridgeport Speedway, May 22
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Matt Budd prepares for a qualifying race on the Bridgeport quarter-mile.
Jeff Hartman celebrates another 600cc win in Victory Lane.
Dylon McMahon receives a "Bridgeport Speedway" sticker for his first Bridgeport win. Congratulations Dylon!
