All Purpose NASCAR Thread

Glad to see the 28 is back, actually. Rather would've seen the 28 and 88, not the 28 and 38, though.

 

Apparently, it's the things that go 10 MPH, not 200, that can hurt Jimmie Johnson

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?seriesId=2&id=2693153

 

Wow, this is a juicy little quote...

Teresa Earnhardt questioning Earnhardt Jr.'s commitment?: Dale Earnhardt Inc. team owner Teresa Earnhardt appears to be questioning stepson #8-Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s commitment to racing in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. The story in Thursday's edition [subscription only] says Earnhardt Jr.'s contract with the team founded by his father expires after the 2007 season, but Teresa Earnhardt expressed uncertainty about his future. "Right now the ball's in his court to decided on whether he wants to be a NASCAR driver or whether he wants to be a public personality." Earnhardt Jr. "was not available for comment" on the statement, the story said.(SceneDaily.com)(12-15-2006)

 

Yeah, they're not exactly the best of friends. Though I heard she was trying to be awfully...chummy with him at a party banquet week. And not in a stepmother kind of way.

 

Ewww.

 

I'm really not a Dale Jr. fan (24 is 8 times as good as 3 and 3 times as good as 8) but Teresa's comments are somewhat mystifying considering she owes a large chunk of her annual income to her stepson's status as "a public personality."

 

Jeff Gordon, impending father:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news?slug=ap-nascar-fathergordon&prov=ap&type=lgns

 

Wasn't there a movie about that? Pet Cemetery?

 

She and DEI don't make as much off Junior as people think. A lot of that Bud money goes straight to Junior. Granted, the team gets a good share (I believe around $22M/year), but a lot of Junior's sponsorships are personal endorsements. If DEI DID make a ton of Junior, one would have to wonder why they don't do any better. As for Teresa, I respect what she's done and what she's gone through, but if she wants Junior to be better on the track, she needs to start spending money on the engine program and get some more HP. If I recall correctly, Junior re-structured his last deal so he would have less sponsor commitments in order to focus more on racing. All she's doing is driving him over to RCR. It's going to be pretty sad in '08 when the son of DEI's namesake will be driving for someone else, even if it is Daddy's old team...

 

I use this as a perspective: In 1984 when Terry Labonte won the Cup, he did two appearances for Piedmont Airlines, his primary sponsor...the entire year! In the last year he was in the #5 Kelloggs car with Hendrick, he did two primary sponsor appearances per week every week of the season, not to mention appearances he did for other sponsors, NASCAR, and HMS. That's one thing people who don't know NASCAR don't understand: a regular athlete has basically a regular job. Once you're done practicing or the game is over, you're done. During the off-season, for the most part, it's vacation. The NASCAR driver, especially the popular ones, get the month of DEC off and that's about it. The drivers I know pretty well say they love their lives and wouldn't trade it, but they basically get one day off completely to themselves maybe every other week. Everything else is sponsor stuff, especially now that NASCAR has mandated fewer test sessions at Cup tracks. Obviously these guys aren't complaining, otherwise they wouldn't be doing what they're doing, but the life of a NASCAR driver is definitely different than any other athlete...

 

It appears that the ISC plan to put a speedway in the Pacific northwest is going to go about as well as the one for Staten Island:

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/6297343p-5491875c.html