NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Teleconference-Chase Owners
November 14, 2006
Thanks to NASCAR, here’s a transcript of this week’s NASCAR NEXTEL Cup teleconference. This week’s features all five team owners whose cars are in the running for the Cup:
NASCAR Teleconference Transcript with Five Championship-Contending Car Owners RICK HENDRICK, JACK ROUSH, RICHARD CHILDRESS, J.D. GIBBS, RICHIE GILMORE
RICK HENDRICK: Well, I’ll tell you, it’s been quite a roller coaster ride. We thought we were out of it, then we felt like we were back in it and it’s good to be able to go into the last race a little ahead rather than being behind.
No WAY! Tony Schumacher Takes it All
November 12, 2006
Tony Schumacher, John Force and Andrew Hines are the 2006 champions.
You gotta be kidding. Earlier this year, the Sarge is down by 336 markers in the points race. He has to beat teammate Melanie Troxel in the finals today AND set a new national record to beat Doug Kalitta for the championship in the biggest drag racing comeback ever.
Ya think?
Downloadable Audio Interviews from Pomona
November 12, 2006
FastMachines.com’s own Dave Lamm is out at the finals in Pomona again this year and brings us four downloadable MP3 interviews. Load them on your iPod and enjoy!
Yeah, They’re Going to Keep it Interesting
November 11, 2006
Kalitta, Beckman, Line and Hines are Finals low qualifiers.
Bent-railed Doug Kalitta is not giving up the Top Fuel championship points lead without a fight.
It’s Crunch Time in Pomona Qualifying
November 10, 2006
Schumacher, Worsham, Line and Hines take provisional poles at Pomona.
This is it, the last race of the season. Championships are on the line (except for already-decided Pro Stock) at the Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals.
Mexico City Preview
November 10, 2006
The final race on the CCWS schedule will feature some new names and faces, especially for Forsythe.
Sharp, Simmons Set for Rahal/Letterman 2007 Season
November 10, 2006
Scott Sharp Joins Jeff Simmons at RLR
Money, or Tequilla, Talks!
Matsoura and Meira Drive Panther Rather Team’s Hopes
November 8, 2006
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Photo: Allan Brewer
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Two-Car Team for 2007 Pairs Kosuke and Vitor
The Panther Lives On
Thoughts of a NASCAR Newbie
November 7, 2006
As someone who normally follows NHRA drag racing, it was quite a change for me to come to the Texas Motor Speedway to cover my first NASCAR event.
I went from watching a side-by-side shootout at over 300 mph between two dragsters on a quarter-mile strip to seeing 43 cars all piled together going about 190 mph around a 1.5 mile oval.
Are you kidding? It was great!
Of course, the roots of the two motor sports are a continent apart. NASCAR has distinctly Southern beginnings supposedly based on speed freak moonshine runners plus stock car races around Florida’s Daytona Beach. Drag racing’s early tire tracks run back to dry lake beds in Southern California.
In the garage on Dickies 500 Sunday, I talked to a fuel guy with Kasey Kahne’s Number 9 Dodge car about the appeal of NASCAR versus NHRA. He said that he really likes the fan “party atmosphere” at NASCAR racing – the tailgating, camping, parties and grandstand camaraderie. There’s certainly that in NHRA, but not on this scale.
The many variables of track racing appeal to him as well; constant adjustments by drivers and teams to track conditions, driving in sun versus shade, reacting to caution flags, reacting to other drivers and reacting to one’s own car. There are many adjustments and variables in drag racing, of course, but there aren’t hundreds of laps of changes.
As a pit person, he enjoys the team ballet when a car comes in: “It’s like synchronized swimming.” There is a mechanical choreography to a 75-minute engine rebuild in a drag pit; it’s just different from the average 14 second multi-person pit stop boogie.
NASCAR is simply much bigger and there’s a lot more money involved, not to mention the cost of a ticket. We’re talking about $450 for a good NASCAR seat versus about $60 for a good NHRA seat. Because of the nature of the two sports and the sheer number of stock car fans, you have to pay extra (a lot extra) for a NASCAR pit pass, whereas “every ticket’s a pit pass” in NHRA.
I must say, the sheer size of the TMS facility is mind-boggling. The towers and grandstands dominate the skyline just north of
Speaking of money, I saw countless VIP and corporate sponsor tour groups, complete with little tour group signs, being led around the pits and garage. They are often futuristically mike’d to better hear their tour guide. Drag racing certainly has corporate sponsor groups quaffing those complimentary drinks and food in tents near the haulers, but this was an entire sub-industry of VIP coddling.
The main
Fan support enriches both sports, but there are more folks who follow NASCAR. Even the tunnel from the infield to the grandstands at TMS has Sharpie odes to favorite drivers: “Junior rocks my world!” and “Angie (hearts) Jeff Gordon.”
I spoke with a fan in the grandstands who was decked out in full Jimmie Johnson regalia: jacket, pins and #48 dangly earrings. I asked her how she got involved in the sport:
“Everyone in my office at work was into it but I wasn’t,” she said. “Then one time I was home sick while the races were on TV, so I watched and got interested.”
(I could relate to that, since I started to enjoy college hoops when I was pregnant and had to stay in bed in front of a TV that was tuned to March Madness.)
“Everyone said I had to pick a driver to follow,” she continued. “I picked Jimmie Johnson mostly because he was cute. My girlfriend and I are the ‘Jiordons’ since she likes Jeff Gordon. I like the fact that the sport is fan-based. It needs to stay that way – the drivers must stay accessible to the fans. It’s much more than just going around and around a track. I learn something new at every race.”
Both sports are incredibly colorful.
The race vehicles, the haulers and the team uniforms provide terrific eye candy for the fans. The major difference is that NASCAR vehicles are more logo-dominant. They are colorful, but only as colorful as their sponsor (sunny yellow on the Cheerios car, for example. God forbid you get some sponsor who uses puce or magenta.) Drag racing has more original art around the sponsor logos, a legacy based on sign-painting
The noise levels are different. In NASCAR, one pair of foamie ear plugs’ll do you fine. In Top Fuel or Funny Car, foamies plus ear muffs aren’t enough to keep your teeth from chattering with the roaring racket.
At any racing event, strip or oval, you apparently must have scantily-clad women hawking assorted merchandise. Maybe I wasn’t in the right place, but I didn’t see as many at this NASCAR track as I see at drag races. A couple of Crown Royal babes in short skirts and black tights just can’t compare to those supertanned Skoal women in their black patent-leather bras and miniskirts.
Scanners are unique to NASCAR. Fans can rent something called TrackScan that has “NEXTEL FanView,” a handheld device with a tiny TV and access to the frequencies with the chatter between driver and pit crew. They can also rent or buy just the scanner to listen to team audio. I can imagine some of the more colorful language that must come across those things, so if you don’t want to hear the purple prose, don’t listen in.
Both sports have Budweiser as a major corporate sponsor, so there are plenty of opportunities to buy red Bud gear in support of your favorite team at either the strip or the oval. Full disclosure: I’m a lager or ale person and find Bud beer too watery. Guess I’m outvoted by slightly more than a few million people.
As an unrepentant shopper, I appreciate the opportunity to buy even more gew-gaws at a NASCAR event to go with my lovely John Force Racing, Pedregon brothers and Melanie Troxel T-shirt collection. I got off pretty light — Reese’s Cup stuff for my kids and a Jack Daniel’s Racing item or two for me. I skipped the $75 Reese’s padded jacket – I like to eat the addictive little buggers, not look like a giant orange piece of candy.
In one important way, however, the drags and NASCAR are exactly alike; you simply must see the races live and in person.
“All drivers to your cars!” Ladies and gentlemen, let’s go racing.
Monday Morning Crew Chief
November 6, 2006
The Chase is making haste for Tony Stewart as NASCAR falls once again into unintended consequences — which Champ Car’s Paul Tracy can identify with.
