Is it time to stop racing at Talladega?

On Sunday at Talladega two Nascar Sprint Cup Series cars wound up airborne and upside down.  Ryan Newman took a wild ride that saw his car land eventually on its roof, which was crushed in. He had to be cut out of his car once it was flipped over.  Luckily he walked away.  Mark Martin went upside down on a green-white-checkered finish.  This came just months after Carl Edwards got airborne and went into the catch fence in front of the grandstand which injured several fans thanks to flying debris.

My question is it time to stop racing at Talladega because it’s too dangerous not just for the drivers but also the fans?  I try and answer that question in this Exhaust Fumes video blog.

Can Juan Pablo Montoya and Brad Keselowski save Nascar?

Nascar Sprint Cup attendance is down and television ratings also continue a downward spiral.  Sure the economy is in trouble but I think so is Nascar and it has to do with the style of racing it delivers to the fans.

In this Exhaust Fumes video blog, I give my thoughts on what is wrong with Nascar’s racing and if Juan Pablo Montoya and Brad Keselowski could be the series saviors!

Wednesday Exhaust Fume Ramblings

Did you miss Tuesday night’s Pit Pass USA show on the PowerUp Motorsports Channel? If you did, you missed an extended conversation with 14-time NHRA Champion John Force. I’ll recap the highlites.

I also weigh-in on whether Jimmy Johnson has just about locked up his 4th straight Nascar Sprint Cup title and what is wrong with Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

Monday morning ramblings!

Exhaust Fumes decides to try and join the digital media revolution by going video.  Hopefully the face you are seeing will not send you into therapy.

There is life outside of Nascar!

I did not watch one minute of the Nascar Sprint Cup race at Kansas on Sunday.  For me, that is unheard of.  Usually, if I’m not at the race, I’m firmly ensconced in my Lazy Boy watching the action on TV.

Sunday, I went to a friend’s birthday party and talked with real people about everything except Nascar and racing.  Guess what, I’m still alive today!

I was afraid I’d be like a drug addict having withdrawals.  I’d be squirming, vomiting and have all sorts of body contortions but none of that happened.  I didn’t have an empty feeling that I had somehow missed something important to my life.  I felt, well NORMAL!

I now wonder if those dwindling television numbers for Nascar are because others have wandered into the desert of no Nascar and they too have found the oasis there of normal life.

Have they found family outings again.  Could they be actually going outside and participating in physical activities?  Maybe they are..gulp..reading a new book.  Of course these wandering fans could also just be so engrossed in posting to Facebook and sending out their latest Tweet on Twitter so that they don’t have time for something as trivial now as Nascar.

I guess what I’m saying is that there’s a lot more to life than just sitting in front of the television for four or five hours every Sunday and watching Nascar.  Hopefully America is finding that out and reconnecting with real life.

A Tale of Two Championships

Nascar’s Chase for the Championship kicked off with a bang as the wildly popular “old man” of racing Mark Martin started off the 10 race run to the title with a win at New Hampshire. A national TV audience on ABC got to watch the event which started at 2PM ET.

The IndyCar series was at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan running their next to last race of the season.  Scott Dixon dominated and put himself in position to win the season crown with a fifteen point lead on Ganassi Racing teammate Dario Franchitti and 18 points up on Penske Racing’s Ryan Briscoe.  This race, which was run in the middle of the night east coast time was seen by six people that can actually get Versus.

Nascar is running race two of their Chase this weekend at Dover, Delaware.  IndyCar doesn’t’ have its next race, its season finale until October 10th..3 WEEKS FROM NOW!

Anyone notice anything there?  Nascar is dominating because of regularity and that their races can actually be seen on television.  IndyCar is losing because everyone forgets they are even racing and they are on a “network” that is big on bull riding!

Oh, I also forgot to mention that Versus (owned by cable giant Comcast) is in a fee dispute with DirecTV.  This makes reception of the Versus IndyCar broadcast even more impossible to find.  Of course the IRL is all for the Versus side in this matter. Read IndyCar press release

While Nascar has been having a slip in their TV ratings, IndyCar would just like to have the viewers that watch the commercials during a Nascar race.

I have had a big problem trying to figure out why the IndyCar big wigs have this arrogant attitude when they are on the verge of going out of business? Nascar has an attitude also but they aren’t facing extinction.

I will make you a bet right now.  More people by far will watch the Nascar Nationwide race from California than watches the IndyCar season-ender at Homestead-Miami Speedway on October 10th.  Both start at exactly the same time (brilliant work IndyCar) at 4PM ET. One race is to crown a series champion, the other just another race in a very long season. Sad isn’t it.

Will the next 10 Nascar Sprint Cup races bring fans back?

Nascar’s Chase for the Sprint Cup kicks off this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.  While the main focus will be on the 12 drivers that have a chance of winning the season crown, I’ll be watching to see if the overall racing continues to become more exciting.

For the last several years we’ve all heard how the Nascar Sprint Cup races have become boring. I’ve got to say that hasn’t been the case since about the beginning of August.

Maybe it’s the double-file restart policy.  Maybe it’s the tricky COT has brought 20 cars or so close together in performance.  Maybe its drivers knowing they are fighting for a job.  Whatever it is, the on-track products is a hell of a lot better and I think it will be unbelievable the next 10 races.

I say that not because of the 12 drivers in the Chase who now know no matter what, they can’t finish worse that 12th in points, but the 10-15 drivers outside the Chase who are going all out for one thing only..WINS!

Just look at those not in the Chase.  Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt, Jr, Marcus Ambrose, Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, David Reutimann, Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex Jr, Jeff Burton, Joey Logano and the list goes on and on.

Folks, those guys outside the Chase can cause havoc with those in the Chase just because they are that competitive and could populate the top ten in every race.

For the first time since the Chase format began, it seems this “two agenda” scenario may be just the thing to revitalize interest in Nascar. They still can’t compete with the NFL on Sunday (My theory is all those billions gambled on football games causes this) but they can bring back that occasional Nascar fan.

All I know is that for the first in awhile I don’t want to miss one minute of a Nascar Sprint Cup race beginning this Sunday with New Hampshire.  I’m saying good-bye to my mid race nap and will watch every lap that aren’t missed by those pesky TV commercials.  Let the racing begin!

Will Danica be the dagger to the heart of IndyCar Racing?

All indications are now that Danica Patrick will start her move to Nascar this year.  She’ll run selected Nascar Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series races along with possibly a couple of ARCA races before year’s end.  She’ll then definitely be in the ARCA race at Daytona come February..setting her up to be cleared to run with the big boys at Daytona.

Even though the word is Danica will continue to also race full time in the IndyCar series at least for 2010, it means that all eyes will be on what she does in the tin tops, not open wheel.

As I’ve stated before, like it or not, Danica Patrick is the face of the IndyCar series.  She’s the star, the big commodity, the one that brings in tons of those all important sponsorship dollars.  Without her, the death spiral I already believe IndyCar to be in will accelerate.

No one except possibly Helio Castroneves and mostly because of the fame he got with winning Dancing with the Stars comes close to Danica Patrick’s media exposure.

If she is in Nascar, everyone will watch to see how she does.  Who is going to watch an IndyCar race that would go up against it?  NO ONE!

I think it’s very telling that everyone is now pushing for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to move the start of the Indianapolis 500 back to it’s traditional local time of 11AM.  The reason, Nascar drivers could then attempt doing the double..racing both in Indianapolis then in the Coke 600 that night in Charlotte. I find that amazing. 

The Indianapolis 500 is in so much trouble they need Nascar drivers racing at Indy to save what arguably once was the biggest racing event in the world!

Of course if Danica is one of those that would do the double, why that would help attendance and the dwindling television numbers.  (Oh, the reason the start time of the 500 was moved to later in the day was to increase television audience which has consistently gone down!)

I can see it now…it would be Danica all the time from the start of the race day in Indianapolis until the end of the day in Charlotte.  I bet there would even be live updates from the plane taking her to Charlotte. She would become the event and not either race.

This sadly is where we are and there will be two big winners in this scenario.  Danica Patrick who can get a gazillion more endorsement deals and buy her own country from all the money she’ll make and Nascar.  The losers, the IndyCar series and quite likely the Indianapolis 500.

Hopefully, I’m completely wrong but my biggest fear is that I am not.

Is the end near for Indy Car?

I still chuckle when I remember all the hoopla that surrounded the “unification” of the IRL and Champ Car a year ago.  Why Indy-type racing had been saved and the bloody war, which should never have happened, was over.  It was to be all blue skies from then on. Nothing was farther from the truth then and now.

The masterminds (now that’s a misnomer!) who run Indy Car have no plan that is visible to anyone with half a brain how they are going to bring the series out of the ashes.

First, a television deal with Versus, a cable outlet that most Americans do not get unless they pay for additional channels, was asinine.  All one has to do is ask NHL players or fans since that league put a lot of their games on the channel including the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Now Versus is telling Direct TV that it wants more money from them to carry the IndyCar Series and Direct TV is threatening to drop the channel.  If that happens, even fewer people get the telecasts. (Oh, if you didn’t know, Versus is owned by cable giant Comcast!)

Second, how does a domestic U.S.A. race not get a green flag until almost 10PM ET on a Saturday night?  That’s what happened for the Chicagoland race this past Saturday.  I went to bed around halfway as I’m sure most of those that were watching (all six of us) did.

Was there a big bull riding event Versus needed to carry earlier that pushed IndyCar back into the twilight zone?  Oh, did I mention, there was no Nascar race to battle on Saturday afternoon?

Let’s look at the wonderful 2010 IndyCar schedule.

Having not learned from the mistakes of CART, IndyCar starts the campaign in BRAZIL!  Now don’t get me wrong, I loved visiting Brazil with CART but it does nothing for the sponsors of the IndyCar teams and doesn’t help television ratings.

The only reason IndyCar is going to Brazil, is that they’ve been promised a big pay day.  I just hope they get the money upfront as there is a history of non-payment from Brazilian events.

You’d think Indy Car would try and build on the momentum of the only event they have that the general public cares about the Indianapolis 500.  However, the series holds only two races in the entire month of June following Indy!

Let’s go to the end of the 2010 season.  The final three races are all separated by two weeks..and the middle one of the three is in JAPAN! Wow that should build momentum into what is billed as the championship showdown at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Another thing that IndyCar lacks, any promotion of its drivers.  I know who the drivers are but the general racing public has no clue who Ryan Hunter-Reay, Hideki Mutoh, Mike Conway, Ed Carpenter, Robert Doornbos, and even Ryan Briscoe are.  The league does very little in building up the drivers.

It all comes down to leadership and there really hasn’t been any in any type of IndyCar racing for at least 15 years and if it doesn’t happen soon, this series will die.  Without the financial aid that Tony George was giving small teams to keep them afloat the last 14 years, the end is nearer than any of us would like to believe.

It would not shock me at all if Nascar at some point took over the IRL and added it to its property list. SMI the company owned by Bruton Smiths that features tracks such as Lowes, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Bristol, New Hampshire, and Infineon raceways could also be a buyer.

Would that save IndyCar?  Possibly, but at what cost?  That to me would be the big question.

Unless quality and definable leadership emerges in Indianapolis for the IRL in the next 12 months, I see no hope of survival and that saddens me deeply.

Ramblings from Michigan

I had the best seat of anyone at Michigan International Speedway this past weekend.  That’s because I’m the track announcer there and my “
office” is directly above the start/finish line several stories up.  From there I can see the entire track and roughly 20 miles in any direction. What I saw out my window this weekend was some fantastic racing.

Saturday’s Carfax 250 Nationwide race was as exciting as it could get with Brian Vickers and Kyle Busch battling for the win when suddenly Brad Keselowski came out of nowhere to take the checkered flag.

I’ll be honest, I was loudly cheering Brad on to victory.  I couldn’t help myself.  I know Brad and his entire family since they are from the metro Detroit area and on top of that, they are great people.  It also made the kind of story you only dream about.  “Local kid holds off big names to win at home track.”

The little scuffle and words between Busch and Vickers post-race only added to the buzz that was created by the finish.  In my estimation, Busch had absolutely nothing to bitch about.  Vickers did move him to the bottom of the track, but wasn’t even close to running him into the grass.  Where Busch was on the main straightaway was exactly where many of the drivers went during qualifying. 

Sunday’s Carfax 400 was the usual fuel mileage affair but that didn’t lessen it’s excitement.  There was some outstanding racing during the day and I’ve never seen so many four-wide battles on the track as I did on Sunday.

I know it might not have been door handle to door handle for the finish, but the COT did seem to be racey and there was plenty of excitement throughout the field all day long.  Maybe it’s time for drivers to just shut up about the car and put their foot down as hard on the throttle as they can.

That brings me to Dale Earnhardt, Jr.  He did have a great run on Sunday finishing third, but I’m not sure he would have without the cars in front of him having to go into fuel conservation mode.  Doesn’t really matter though, he earned his third place finish. My problem is what he said on Friday.

Junior came out saying Nascar needed to make changes to the COT now. While we all know there are things Nascar needs to do with the car, its not a desperate situation.  (Remember when we had to have the “Stimulus Bill” passed right now or the country was doomed!)

To me, it was Junior finding an excuse for running poorly.  I say that because 5 Hendrick cars with Hendrick engines and Hendrick engineering are in the top 12 in points.  (I count Stewart-Haas cars here as that’s the package they have.)

Obviously the car can do better than what Junior has been doing in it.  I’m beginning to wonder if somehow he’s gotten psyched out by the COT and just can’t adjust his style to today’s reality.  We’ll see if the Michigan finish changes his mindset.

All in all it was a great weekend of racing at Michigan and one that should get Nascar fans buzzing about two of the best races of the season.