Off the Wall Racing News

From NASCAR…

Let’s take a look at the Owner Points leaders in each of NASCAR’s three major circuits as the season winds down.

Sprint Cup
Rank-Car#---------Team------------------Points-Attempts-Starts
1----48---Hendrick Motorsports-----------6149-----33------33
2----11---Joe Gibbs Racing----------------6135-----33------33
3----29---Richard Childress Racing--------6111-----33------33
4----24---Hendrick Motorsports----------5942-----33------33
5----18---Joe Gibbs Racing----------------5919-----33------33

Only 14 points between first and second and 38 between first and third!

Nationwide
Rank-Car#---------Team------------------Points-Attempts-Starts
1----18---Joe Gibbs Racing-----------------5215-----32------32
2----22---Penske Racing South-------------5144-----32------32
3----33---Kevin Harvick Inc.---------------4879-----32------32
4----20---Joe Gibbs Racing-----------------4794-----32------32
5----60---Roush Fenway Racing------------4659-----32------32

Camping World Truck Series
Rank-Car#---------Team------------------Points-Attempts-Starts
1----18----Kyle Busch Motorsports---------3522-----22------22
2----30----Germain Racing-----------------3480-----22------22
3----51----Billy Ballew Motorsports---------3264-----22------22
4----13----ThorSport Racing----------------3166-----22------22
5-----2----Kevin Harvick Inc.---------------3117-----22------22

Can Kyle Busch hold on and wrap up the Camping World Truck Series Owner’s Points Championship?

After his win at the Mountain Dew 250 last weekend in Talladega (Kyle has six wins in only 13 starts when he personally drove the number 18 Toyota Tundra this season (!) and sits in 16th place in the driver standings) Kyle Busch Motorsports leads Germain Racing by 42 points. With the three races to go (Texas’ WinStar World Casino 350, Phoenix’ Lucas Oil 150 and Miami-Homestead’s Ford 200) occurring on the same venues as the final Sprint Cup Chase races, Kyle should be behind the wheel of the number 18 Tundra in each event. Will it be enough? Todd Bodine is the series points leader driving for Germain Racing and besides some bad blood between the Onion and Rowdy, there’s been rumblings from the Germain camp about stopping at nothing to deny KBM from winning the owner’s trophy as Germain attempts to sweep both the driver and owner points championships.

Considering Kyle Busch Motorsports is a first year operation and the fact that Kyle has only been able to drive in just over half of the CWTS season’s 22 races, plus by the end of this season he should have made 81 starts in all three of NASCAR’s top racing series, winning the CWTS owner’s points race would be quite an accomplishment in this highly entertaining series.
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A Good Thing from a Bad Economy?

I’m hearing rumblings about how the old time tested system of making it to the big show in NASCAR is making a comeback. In these down economic times owners are less willing to risk investing tons of money on young drivers in the mold of Joe Logano and Kyle Busch. The old step by step system where young drivers are faced with making their way up through the minor racing circuits apparently is coming in vogue once again with big time race team owners.


Knowing how much emphasis has been placed on more glamorous looking drivers to interest advertisers, I have to wonder if a young driver who doesn’t fit the “look” mold but is tearing up whatever circuits he or she is running in, someone who could be the best driver to come down the pike in years, will still get a shot. I’m going to say no…

Looking at the current glamor system, do you think Mark Martin would have gotten a shot at the big time in this day and age? Jeff Burton?
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From Formula 1 Racing…

It appears the Korean people are truly in love with auto racing. Immediately following the inaugural Korean Grand Prix a Korean auto industry executive stepped forward and called for Korea to become directly involved on the track by introducing their own racing vehicles. This after 60,000 racing fans showed up in terrible weather to watch the county’s first big-time racing event. Knowing the Koreans, I expect we’ll be seeing a totally Korean team within the next five years.

This weekend the Formula 1 circuit will be in Brazil for that country’s Grand Prix. Here’s a video primer on the event…

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From IndyCar…

A concerted effort is being carried out to secure the immediate financial future of the IZOD IndyCar Series. It’s recently been announced IndyCar has added 14 new commercial sponsor/partners over the past twelve months. These include such big names in the business world as Verizon, Sunoco and Philips. Other good things going on include licensing revenue increasing at an 83% clip over last year and a similar increase in merchandise sales. All this in a down economy? Sounds like somebody knows what they’re doing and doing it in direct competition with NASCAR. Maybe Mr. France needs to pay more attention…

Here’s the 2011 IZOD IndyCar racing series schedule:

3/27/11 - Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Florida (racing on the streets of St. Pete)
4/10/11 - Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama by Legacy Credit Union in Birmingham, Alabama
4/17/11 - Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, California (racing on the streets of Long Beach)
5/1/11 – Sao Paulo Indy 300 Sao Paulo, Brazil (racing on the streets of Sao Paulo)
5/29/11 – Indianapolis 500, Indianapolis, Indiana
6/11/11 – Firestone Twin 275s, Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth, Texas
6/19/11 – The Milwaukee Mile, West Allis, Wisconsin
6/25/11 – Iowa Corn Indy 250, Iowa Speedway, Newton, Iowa
7/10/11 – Honda Indy Toronto, Toronto, Ontario (racing on the streets of Toronto)
7/24/11 – Honda Indy Edmonton, Edmonton, Alberta (racing at the City Centre Airport)
8/7/11 – Honda Indy 200 presented by Westfield Insurance, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio
8/14/11 – New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, New Hampshire
8/28/11 – Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma, Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, California
9/4/11 – Baltimore Grand Prix, Baltimore, Maryland (racing on the streets of Baltimore)
9/18/11 – Indy Japan 300, Twin Ring Motegi, Motegi, Tochigi
10/2/11 – Kentucky Indy 300, Kentucky Speedway, Sparta, Kentucky

16 races in four countries…

Finally, 33 cars that won the Indianapolis 500 over the years were on display recently at the Grand Old Track…

Can you imagine how much time it took back in the day to drive one of those old race cars 500 miles?

Heck, I just might be able to handle driving a couple of those older rigs…
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Editorial… Drafting to Victory

When I entered the world of gainful employment I cut my teeth in a very competitive business in the San Joaquin Valley as a pest control advisor in Tulare County’s tree fruit business. There were five farm chemical sales outlets in my hometown of 5,000 people alone. If you wanted to survive as a fieldman you had to out-service your competitors while trying to influence the local citrus, olive, stone fruit and nut crop growers to use your pest inspection service and pest control recommendations and buy from the farm chemical sales house you’re affiliated with. I’m here to tell ya, it was a cut-throat deal. You had to work your tail off to build a trustworthy clientele and still keep your head on a swivel being sure your competitors weren’t nibbling on the fringes of your customer base trying to put doubt in their minds about your abilities. It was the way it was and you lived with it. I figure that’s just the way life is. You scrape your way up the ladder.

This same means of making it pervades the business world and can be seen in most other endeavors and that’s why it’s surprising to me when I see a sport like auto racing condoning something like restrictor racing on NASCAR’s super speedways. This practice runs counter to everything I was steeped in.

What’s wrong with this picture?

Now if they want to restrict the speed, that’s a safety issue and I can understand it. I’ve been assured by our crew chief, jmayer, that the COT still isn’t safe enough for 230 MPH racing. But the fact that restricting horsepower in combination with the super speedways has allowed such a thing as speed enhancing drafting to be used runs contrary to everything I’ve been taught. Competitors helping competitors? That’s sacrilege!

Sunday’s Finish at Talladega

Might as well have tow bars… Just sayin’…

One question that comes to mind… What happened to those terrible pit crew dudes that were forced off the 29 car’s crew??? Bowyer wins!

The only answer I can come up with to solve my dilemma is to do away with the restrictors but I guess that’s not gonna happen… Maybe an “S” curve on the back stretch? Don’t think so… Restrictors? It’s going to have to grow on me…
Okay, I’ll get off my soapbox…

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Enjoy a fine autumn weekend in the good ‘ole USA!
And British Columbia, Canada to you tez!