The Frontstretch Newsletter: November 25th, 2013

THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
November 25th, 2013
Volume VII, Edition CCXV

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Editor's Note: Remember that this is the first weekly Newsletter of the offseason.  It will cover news that broke on Friday and over the weekend.  The next edition will be on Monday, December 2nd.

Also, our annual NASCAR Driver Reviews will start on December 2nd and will cover (at first) the Champions, along with the drivers that will be at the Sprint Cup Series Banquet in Las Vegas.

Top News
by Phil Allaway

NASCAR Plans to Expand Overseas

USA Today's Nate Ryan is reporting that NASCAR is trying to create a larger international presence for stock car racing by fostering relationship with overseas entities.  Steve O'Donnell, the visible (on Twitter) NASCAR Senior Vice President, believes that there are a few very promising markets that the sport could infiltrate, most notably Brazil, Japan and Russia.  The goal would be to have drivers from those markets begin to gravitate towards racing NASCAR in the United States.

"Our goal is to take what we've learned into other racing cultures and change that from open wheel to stock cars," O'Donnell said.  "We're nowhere near where we want to be, but we want to bring the NBA model where players come to the U.S. from other countries. We want drivers to race in premier NASCAR leagues around the globe but aspire to race in the U.S.  NASCAR started in the South, but every sport that's shown growth has fans and sponsors internationally."

Even without having a foothold in Brazil, NASCAR already has a success story with Miguel Paludo, who came to the United States from Brazil and is currently a regular in the Camping World Truck Series.  However, Paludo was not an open wheel racer prior to leaving Brazil.  Instead, Paludo was racing Porsches.

Also, Travis Carter Enterprises brought All-Japan GT Championship (JGTC) veteran Hideo Fukuyama to the United States to drive his No. 66 Ford.  However, like Paludo, Fukuyama primarily was racing Porsches at the time.

This approach is actually the opposite of what potential investors would like NASCAR to do.  They seem to prefer the cut-and-run approach.

"We get approached every day," O'Donnell said.  "We've had 20 groups approach us from China. But most of them are one-offs. We keep pushing back and saying we're going to do this but in a smart way. If you can show us how we build stock-car racing, that's something we want to pursue."

Had O'Donnell gone after any of those deals, they could have led towards the Sprint Cup, Nationwide or Camping World Truck Series doing one-off races overseas.  There would likely be a substantial amount of money in the deal for NASCAR, but no development would result from it.  The last time that NASCAR did such a deal was in the late 1990's.  Back then, NASCAR held three exhibition races in Japan, two at Suzuka Circuit on the 1.369 mile East Course, then one final event at the then-new 1.549 mile Twin Ring Motegi Superspeedway.  Ultimately, these events featured many of the top Winston Cup stars of the time, along with many Winston West teams, four Japanese racers, and various others (Ex: Australian Touring Car champion Jim Richards at Suzuka in 1997) In 1999, the then-Winston West Series returned for their season finale at Twin Ring Motegi, but after that, there were no further NASCAR events in Japan.

NASCAR would prefer having series in other countries similar to that of the NASCAR Toyota Series.  It is a domestic series in Mexico that is officially part of NASCAR's Grand National Division (along with the K&N Pro Series and the Canadian Tire Series).  For the most part, it is independent from the rest of NASCAR, but there has been funneling of talent into NASCAR's series in the United States.  Multi-time champion German Quiroga just completed his first full-time season in the Camping World Truck Series.  Meanwhile, Daniel Suarez has moved into the K&N Pro Series.  Also, the series held their season opener this year at Phoenix International Raceway on the undercard of the Subway Fresh Fit 500k in March.

In addition, NASCAR hopes to use the Whelen Euroseries as a model for additional international expansion.  The series races mainly on road courses in Europe.  Next year, the Nurburgring will be added to the schedule and additional teams are joining the schedule.  Also, the series has already had their first driver, Anthony Gandon, come to the United States and race in the Nationwide Series (Gandon raced for Rick Ware Racing at Watkins Glen and Mid-Ohio).

News n' Notes:

- Richard Childress Racing announced on Monday that Bass Pro Shops will follow Ty Dillon to the Nationwide Series for 2014.  The outdoor retailer will serve as Dillon's primary sponsor for 11 races this season, joining Yuengling Light beer.

- The Toronto Sun is reporting that Maryeve Dufault has reached a deal that will see her drive 12 races in the No. 79 Ford Mustang for Go Green Racing in the Nationwide Series in 2014.  This will be in addition to a full-time schedule in the ARCA Racing Series.  Dufault has two previous starts in the Nationwide Series.  The first of which was at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in 2011 for MacDonald Motorsports, where she finished five laps down in 30th.  This past season, she drove in one race (Chicagoland) for Go Green Racing and finished 31st.

Have news for Phil and The Frontstretch?  Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com with a promising lead or tip.

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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:

Q: In 1994, Jimmy Horton finished a lap down in 19th in the Daytona 500 driving the No. 80 FinaLube Ford for Stan Hover.  However, he was not originally supposed to have that backing.  Where did the sponsorship come from?

Check back Tuesday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
 
Friday's Answer:

Q: Sunday's Grand Prix of Brazil was the final Grand Prix of the season.  However, the season has not always ended in Brazil.  In 1997, the season ended in Spain at Jerez.  Jacques Villeneuve claimed his one and only World Championship here for Williams-Renault, but chaos broke out during the race for multiple reasons.  What happened?

A: Michael Schumacher had a one point lead entering the race and was being run down for the lead by Villeneuve.  It appears that Schumacher was a sore loser because when Villeneuve made a move on Schumacher at the Dry Sack curve, Schumacher turned into him, apparently in an attempt to take him out.  It didn't work, as Schumacher put himself into the trap, ending his day.  The run down and wreck can be seen here.

Schumacher was blamed for the crash by the FIA (they felt it was intentional) and had all 78 driver points for 1997 taken away.  In addition, the Mayor of Jerez de la Frontera, Pedro Pacheco, was accused of crashing the podium ceremonies.  While this was not true (he was eligible to be there), there was a lot of confusion as to who would hand out the awards, and as a result, then-FIA President Max Mosley declared that no further Formula One Grand Prix would be held at Jerez.

Frontstretch Trivia Guarantee:  If we mess up, you get the shirt off our backs!  If we've provided an incorrect answer to the Frontstretch Trivia question, be the first to email the corrected trivia answer to trivia@frontstretch.com and we'll send you a Frontstretch T-Shirt ... FREE! 

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Coming Monday, December 2nd in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News from Phil Allaway
-- The Critic's Annex: Casino Arizona 50 by Phil Allaway
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles and more!

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