He
Said/She Said “NASCAR: Oh, the Drama!”
May 31, 2007
Everett
Mugg and Debbi Willis - SCR
Obligatory DEI/Junior Rumor Update (or As the Jr. World Turns)
He Said: The latest rumor off the press is that along with the disgruntled Greg Biffle among other veteran Cup
drivers, DEI may be looking to other series champions. SCR’s Matthew Blaylock was the first (if not only) person to
predict they may look into eight time ARCA Champion Frank Kimmel. Not a bad choice from my point of view. Kimmel is an all
around driver. He excels on the short tracks, the intermediate tracks and the super speedways. Though having limited road
racing experience there are only two road races a year. The only place Kimmel can not get a car to victory lane from is the
junk yard and he has come close at that a few times. He has worked with young drivers in the past, most recently Ryan Foster
last year whom he fielded a car for and mentored to a 7th place series finish. In addition to being a top notch driver, Kimmel
is a gracious champion, photogenic, easily accessible to the media; in short a sponsors’ dream.
And where oh where will
Junior go? Short answer: Anywhere he wants to.
She Said: While Kimmel is a remarkably qualified option and it
would be an incredible break for an ARCA driver to land a ride with DEI (in Jr.’s ride, no less), I don’t see
this happening. With Greg Biffle and Pat Tryson out there, I’m thinking it’s their turn and DEI could be the perfect
match. Biffle’s in his prime and Tryson is more than capable of leading a championship team. There might be a Ford to
Chevy learning curve but I seriously doubt it’ll take them long to catch up. All that matters is speed and teamwork
and I think the Biffle/Tryson/DEI match up would be something to watch out for!
As for where Jr. will
go, undoubtedly the rumors will continue to fly until something concrete is declared by an owner or Kelley Earnhardt Elledge
for Jr. I find it the most entertaining that Jr. just watches as everyone scurries around him trying to figure out which
way he’ll go. In the meantime, his crew chief pays a hefty penalty of absence on suspension while the interim crew
chief, Tony Gibson does Tony Eury Jr.’s job better than he was doing it. Listening to scanner communications it sounded
much more like business about the job on the track instead of two siblings spatting and Jr.’s solid top ten finish was
the proof.
AT&T VS. NASCAR
He Said: This AT&T/NASCAR fight is laughable. In the days when tobacco was the sponsor, it was easy. By law
Tobacco companies could only sponsor one sport. Winston chose NASCAR and the others went elsewhere. No problems with a series
sponsor having problems with the competition. Times have changed.
NEXTEL came in and paid
big bucks to sponsor the series doing what it could to lock the others out. Alltel and Cingular were grandfathered in and
AT&T was booted. Alltel and Cingular also were denied the same privileges as other sponsors in regards to on track presence.
They were not allowed to sponsor races. With the merger of Cingular and AT&T though, AT&T brought the fight to court. How
hard is NASCAR really fighting? I would suggest just hard enough to make a show for their series sponsor and not one bit more.
They already have Sprint committed and as long as they (NASCAR) do not violate the terms they get to keep that cash. Yet if
a judge says that AT&T (as well as Alltel) can dump more money in their pockets it is not THEIR fault is it? NASCAR is
laughing all the way to the bank.
She Said: NASCAR vs. any sponsor fight is laughable in my opinion when
they’ve got over 60 major official sponsors of NASCAR! How NASCAR expects teams to continue to be funded and creatively
manage their budgets with NASCAR tying one hand behind their backs all time is beyond me. Besides, isn’t this somewhat
akin to the pot calling the kettle black? When NEXTEL took over the sponsorship from Winston, they weren’t linked with
Sprint yet. When Sprint merged with NEXTEL their greatest dilemma was the NEXTEL issue. Sprint had to protect Nextel’s
brand consciousness, and to be honest, namely the NASCAR’s sponsorship. How could we change the sponsorship AGAIN? So
what did they do? So they called themselves “Sprint together with NEXTEL.” What
a mouthful! But, the sponsorship title to the sport is left alone and it is still known by NEXTEL CUP. With all this said,
how in the world is this any different from the merger of Cingular and AT&T? Should Cingular run around calling themselves,
“Cingular together with AT&T’? Will that make it any easier to swallow? I don’t think so. It’s
a waste of resources, manpower, time and simply causes more expense that gets passed on to the fans. NASCAR needs to jump
down off their high horse and quit throwing good money away and be glad the teams find sponsorship!
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Will Hendrick’s Domination of Car of Tomorrow (COT) Continue?
He Said: I can not see a reason why not. With Hendrick drivers winning 9 of 12 events so far including all the
COT races, odds are pretty good 1 of the 4 will win. While every other team is whining about the new car Hendrick is adjusting
and moving on.
She Said: From what I understand, Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) can’t
help themselves as they were invited to pretty much every track test available to the COT and with that much information at
their disposal, if they weren’t winning so much, I’d say shame on them then! My question as usual, is: why were
they the only ones invited to EVERY test? If other teams turned down opportunities, then shame on them! Presupposing you’ll
figure out a new-fangled model on the track as you go through the season is ludicrous, however, if the other major teams weren’t
invited, then dang NASCAR for their favoritism! If HMS is supposed to share the info, then cough it up boys!
The COT is a painful
thing to watch in my personal opinion. It’s going to take a while for me to like that car. Right now, all it shows me
where I’ve watched it, is like saying: “eeny meeny miny mo, you’re in the lead so to victory lane you
go…,” which is a sorry way to race. If NASCAR wants all the same cars, make it IROC because that’s
what it’s becoming. I know what we’ve been told about all the blah blah blah on better whatever, but for me, it’s
just NASCAR messing with a good thing they didn’t need to mess with.
Questions,
Comments;
Email Everett
or
Email Debbi
The views and opinions in this article are that of the
writer(s) and not necessarily that of SCR
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2006 StockCar Review.
