THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Mar. 19, 2015
Volume IX, Edition XXXV
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What to Watch: Thursday- Today is pull-in day at Auto Club Speedway for the XFINITY and Sprint Cup Series. However, given the schedule, many of the teams are already on the property and have been for days.
Thursday's TV Schedule can be found in Couch Potato Tuesday here.
Top News
by the Frontstretch Staff
by the Frontstretch Staff
Michael Waltrip Racing Responds to Lawsuit by Former Employee
On Wednesday, Michael Waltrip Racing officially responded to a lawsuit that has been filed by Brandon Hopkins, a former member of Clint Bowyer's pit crew. In their official response, MWR alleged that Hopkins stole a specially-made air gun that they claim "cost upwards of a million dollars to develop." Read more
Premium Motorsports Withdraws No. 66 from Fontana, Will Only Return with Sponsorship
Premium Motorsports Withdraws No. 66 from Fontana, Will Only Return with Sponsorship
Motorsport.com has reported that Premium Motorsports is withdrawing the No. 66 entry from this weekend's Auto Club 400 due to lack of sponsorship. The car has failed to qualify for every event since February's Daytona 500. Read more
Chip Ganassi Racing Expanding Into Global RallyCross with Former NASCAR Driver Steve Arpin
Chip Ganassi Racing announced Wednesday that they are expanding their racing exploits into Red Bull Global RallyCross, where they will run a two-car effort full-time in 2015. Former freestyle motocross competitor Brian Deegan and Steve Arpin will drive the team's two Ford Fiesta ST's with sponsorship from Loenbro Construction. Read more
MINI Returns to CTSC with Ruscitti, Clarke and More in 2015
MINI Returns to CTSC with Ruscitti, Clarke and More in 2015
On Wednesday, MINI USA announced their driver lineup for the new, factory-supported LAP Motorsports team that will make their debut in the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge in Friday's Microsoft Visual Studio 150. Remo Ruscitti and Dan Clarke will drive the No. 37; Lukas Johnson and Stephen Simpson will drive the No. 52 John Cooper Works Hardtops. Read more
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FRONTSTRETCH JOB: WEBMASTER
Frontstretch.com is looking for a talented and motivated individual to fulfill the role of the site's webmaster. The ideal candidate must be highly proficient in WordPress, as the site recently converted from Textpattern to WordPress as its content management system. The webmaster will assist with leftover conversion tasks, work with the management team to implement site enhancements and help troubleshoot problems as they arise. The candidate must also have a working knowledge of search engine optimization strategies to help improve search rankings for the site. Motorsports knowledge is preferred but not required. The candidate should have on average at least 1-2 hours per week to devote to Fronstretch initiatives. If you are interested, please contact our Business Manager, Tony Lumbis at Tony.Lumbis@gmail.com.
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Today's Featured Commentary
Potts' Shots for March 19
Potts' Shots
by John PottsPotts' Shots
As far as commentary goes, there's not much to say this week, with Joey Logano running away in the XFINITY race at Phoenix and Kevin Harvick doing pretty much the same thing in the Sprint Cup event. I enjoyed Sunday's race, but I've been a Harvick fan since I saw him blister the field in a Busch race at Indianapolis Raceway Park by getting his car to work on the inside.
I was a little leery of his choice of the outside in those late restarts, considering that Logano pulled away from him when he did that on the original start. However, Harvick proved up to the task. The last one, beating Jamie McMurray on the inside with just over 10 laps to go, probably produced the best racing at the front we saw all day.
I was happy to see Kurt Busch do so well in his first time out since NASCAR's ill-advised suspension, and happy to also hear that Chevrolet was back on board with him. It was also nice to see the No. 78 team and Martin Truex, Jr. run well again. Those boys may be on to something.
That being said, I'm going to wax nostalgic for a while…
Coming up next Saturday (Mar. 28) is the Columbus Old-Timers Reunion in Columbus, Ind. I've wanted to attend one of these things since they started them, and it looks like I'm finally going to get the chance.
Can't wait to see some of my older friends, like Butch Wilkerson (above picture).
Butch, for those who've never heard of him, was a pretty successful open-wheel driver back in the day until he took a seriously bad hit in a crash at Winchester, Ind. that ended his career. But, the crash didn't bring a stop to his reputation as a genuine character, and I can't wait to hear his stories, even if I've heard some of them before.
Once, back in the '60s, when IRP was running some special sprint car races and offering $1,000 to win (pretty high-dollar for those days), Butch showed up with Dizz Wilson. Dizz was another character, a master car builder and mechanic from Mitchell, Ind. who had a well-deserved reputation for being very demanding of his drivers. I remember one day after practice Dizz telling one driver in particular, who had advanced as far as the Indianapolis 500, to "…get out. You can't drive my race car."
This particular night at Raceway Park, Butch told Dizz to let him worry about the setup, and the master allowed him to do so. Butch was either at the top or near the top of the qualifying order, but in the heat race, with an inverted start, he didn't make any moves but just sort of tooled around near the back and seemed to be playing with the car.
Dizz went ballistic, jumping on his driver's case as soon as he got out of the car. Butch told Dizz in no uncertain terms that he knew what he was doing, instructing Mr. Wilson to get his posterior over in the little grandstand they had in the pits and just watch the feature.
I only saw one other driver tell Dizz what to do, and that was the late Johnny White. But to my surprise, Dizz went over and sat down in the grandstand.
Butch made some minor adjustments on the car, and in the feature he came up through the pack, took the lead about halfway through, and motored away.
Dizz got so excited he poured a whole cup of soft drink over Butch's head when he got his helmet off.
Like I said, Dizz was something of a character on his own. There was a story that one time he had hired someone to drive his car at Winchester, and later in the week had the opportunity to pick up a driver he felt would do a better job. He told the second driver he'd take care of it.
As Dizz got within about ten miles of the track, he spotted the first driver he'd hired filling up his personal car at a gas station.
The story is that Dizz slowed down, rolled down the right-side window of his truck, and yelled, "YOURE FIRED!" as he went past.
- - - - - - -
I'm always interested in some of the things we hear the commentators say during the NASCAR races.
For instance, there was Darrell Waltrip saying, "That car has 'garage' written all over it'" after one incident.
And it seems that all somebody had to do was say, "They're cutting into Harvick's lead," and the leaderboard would start showing him stretching it out again. They wouldn't do something like that just to make us think it was a better race, would they?
There was one Michael Waltrip came out with after seeing a wreck at Kentucky: "You can miss things better when you slow down."
Uh-huh, and then there was Rusty Wallace before a race at Richmond a few years back: "Whoever does the best job is gonna win this thing."
Duh.
John Potts is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at john.potts@frontstretch.com. The picture of Butch Wilkerson comes from John Potts' own collection of photos.
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The Critic's Annex: Toyota 120
by Phil Allaway
Phoenix is usually the time of year in which I dispense with the usual direct and pointed race criticisms and try to be a bit more overarching in my opinions. That's right; it's time for a Spanish-language race critique. For the sake of the critique, I cannot speak Spanish. Therefore, I cannot seriously comment on what the commentators are saying. I might catch names and a few other things here or there, but I cannot comment directly on the words being said.
Last weekend, the NASCAR Mexico Series held their season opener at Phoenix International Raceway as the tertiary series on the card. Originally a 75-mile race, last year saw the event extended to 120 miles. Once again, coverage was aired live, but this time on NBC Universo. In reality, the network hadn't changed. NBC Universo used to be Mun2, but it was rebranded as NBC Universo in February after the network simulcasted Super Bowl XLIX in Spanish.
Former Camping World Truck Series regular (and recent XFINITY Series competitor for Rick Ware Racing) Carlos Contreras joined Omar Amador to host a brief pre-race show from off-site. While previewing the race, it appeared that their focus was on how big of an opportunity it was for the drivers to acquit themselves well in front of the Sprint Cup teams. They also spent time talking about the drivers they felt to be notables: Abraham Calderon (2013 race winner), Rogelio Lopez and Kevin O'Connell. O'Connell is an interesting choice here knowing that he's mainly a road racer best known for his third-place finish at Road America last year in the XFINITY Series. To audiences in the U.S., Lopez might be best known for this crash.
There was no mention made of additional commentators on the broadcast. As a result, I must assume that Amador and Contreras called the race from off-site. Outside of events like Formula One, calling a live telecast of a race from a studio is quite rare. Amador and Contreras were joined by Ana Jurka in the pits, back for another go-round with the series. It appeared that she was the only on-air personality that was on the ground in Phoenix. The action on-track seemed to keep Jurka quite busy during the evening and she did a very good job.
Ultimately, the broadcast seemed a bit slow to get everything across that they needed to, despite the fast-paced (at times) commentary. For example, they couldn't get through the starting lineup until after a crash brought out a caution at the end of the first lap. Also, it appeared that the commentators were slow to notice the wreck that ultimately caused the caution. The broadcast continued showing the leaders and focusing on that action when the wreck could be seen in the background.
On a somewhat interesting note, NBC Universo adopted ESPN's old scroll that they used last on NASCAR broadcasts in 2011. Unfortunately, they did not put car numbers in the scroll. Hopefully, they'll have that issue fixed by San Luis Potosi in April. My guess is that NASCAR itself licensed that scroll once ESPN was done with it. It should be noted that NBC Sports Network did not use that particular scroll for their K&N Pro Series East coverage from New Smyrna Speedway last month.
To get slightly off-topic, I'm not a fan of the car branding in the Mexico Series. Rules apparently allow teams to put their side numbers either on the door, like most every other oval series or on the back of the quarterpanel, similar to what ASA did in 2004. Most teams chose the latter. I know Kenny Wallace likes the latter for his UMP Modifieds, but those numbers are much bigger than what we have here. Since my cable system (Time Warner Cable) only offers NBC Universo in standard definition, that makes the numbers difficult to see. Since the scroll isn't exactly helping that much here, it's very difficult for viewers to identify the drivers (especially with Calderon's No. 2, since his team chose to run red numbers on an orange car). If I were running the Mexico Series, requiring that side numbers be on the doors with a significant contrast in color would be a low-cost rule change that I would make.
Now, when I was in college in New Jersey, I had three Spanish language over-the-air affiliates (Univision, Telemundo and Telefutura (now UniMas)) available in basic cable. Outside of the near-constant dancing competitions (it seemed like a ballroom dancing competition show was on 52 weeks a year) there was a good amount of live soccer to be seen. If you watched Telemundo, there was a good chance you'd hear Andres Cantor calling games. You'd recognize his voice anywhere, especially if you saw that funny GEICO commercial where he commentated on chess. I only mention Cantor here because I consider him to be a gold standard for enthusiasm in the broadcast booth. Amador is not on the same level, enthusiasm-wise by comparison. However, he is quite passable. I'm always wondering what it would be like for Cantor to call a race. However, soccer being a near 52-week-a-year sport makes it near impossible to ever find out.
Post-race coverage was fairly sparse. Viewers got only a couple of post-race interviews in between cuts back to the studio. In addition, they aired an interview Jurka did with Daniel Suarez, the race's defending champion and current rookie contender in the XFINITY Series. Why they put that interview here, I have no clue. It's way out of place. Perhaps it was done due to NASCAR's schedule.
As I mentioned earlier, NASCAR's new TV deals will see more Mexico Series races on television in 2015. Last year, Phoenix was a one-off on Mun2.
Overall, I thought the race was OK to watch, but a little difficult to follow for reasons mentioned above. Amador and Contreras sounded enthusiastic, but with very little knowledge of Spanish, it's a little hard to tell. As compared to last year's telecast, they didn't spend a large amount of time explaining basic terms, which was a relief (that irritated me at times). Instead of having Cup drivers give translations of Spanish terms (which resulted in a funny clip of Clint Bowyer asking "Where is the bathroom?" in Spanish), they introduced viewers to some of the series regulars, which will help create some name recognition, but the series needs to help as well.
That's all for this week. Next week, I'll be back with a look at the coverage from Sebring this week. Until then, enjoy the action at Fontana and Sebring.
Frontstretch Line of the Week
From Happiness Is… Hot Dogs, Pyrrhic Victory & Keloorah"A pyrrhic victory is one where the cost of winning is equivalent to defeat. It's little surprise then that the two decided to part ways this week. The fun part is that even though van der Garde apparently was paid off handsomely the two are still taking jabs at one another. To call their spat childish is accurate, but what makes it idiotic is that Sauber is a team that's struggling for funding and consistency while van der Garde is now a driver who will likely not find another ride in F1. The fact that both parties can emerge as winners and losers illustrates that perhaps the battle wasn't worth fighting." - Huston Ladner describing the legal battle between Sauber and Giedo van der Garde.
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TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:
by Beth Lunkenheimer
by P. Huston Ladner
by Toni Montgomery
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: Today, more than likely, a driver could not pull this off, but in 2002, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. successfully hid a concussion that he suffered at then-California Speedway. How did he get what turned out to be his first of several concussions?
Check back Friday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Wednesday's Answer:
Wednesday's Answer:
Q: 1998 was a rather painful season for Bill Elliott, both personally and physically. At Talladega, he was involved in a huge crash in the tri-oval. A week later, he took another nasty hit. What happened?
A: Dale Jarrett blew an engine entering turn 1, oiling down the track. Elliott slowed down and got out of the groove. He did everything right. However, Kyle Petty got in the oil and spun out. Petty collected Elliott and sent the McDonald's Ford hard into the outside wall. The crash can be seen here.
Elliott, Petty and Jarrett were all out on the spot. Elliott, who was nursing a bruised sternum from Talladega, broke his foot in the crash and cut his chin on his restraints, resulting in stitches. Dale Earnhardt, who also spun in the oil, continued on and finished ninth.
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COMING TOMORROW
COMING TOMORROW
In The Frontstretch Newsletter:
We'll have a recap of Thursday's breaking news for you as well as a preview of Sunday's race in Fontana.
On Frontstretch.com:
We'll have some discussion questions to cover ahead of this weekend's Auto Club 400. Joseph Wolkin will cast his Eyes on XFINITY, and we'll have news updates on practice and qualifying.-----------------------------
Talk back to the Frontstretch Newsletter!
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