THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
May 21, 2015
Volume IX, Edition LXXX
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What to Watch: Thursday
- Today, we have Sprint Cup and XFINITY Series on-track activity at Charlotte Motor Speedway that culminates in Coors Light Pole Qualifying this evening. TV listings are posted below. Don't forget to follow our writer, Amy Henderson for all the latest information from Charlotte at @Writer_Amy!
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Thursday's TV Schedule can be found in Couch Potato Tuesday here.
Top News
by the Frontstretch Staff
NASCAR Announces 2016 Hall of Fame Class
On Wednesday, the NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Panel gathered at the NASCAR Hall of Fame to discuss and vote on the 2016 NASCAR Hall of Fame Induction Class. After hours of watching videos and lively discussion, the vote began. The highest vote getter ended up being Speedway Motorsports, Inc. Founder O. Bruton Smith with 68 percent of the vote. Smith will be joined in the Class of 2016 by Terry Labonte, Curtis Turner, multi-time Modified Champion Jerry Cook and Bobby Isaac. In addition, the Landmark Award will be bestowed upon Harold Brasington, Founder of Darlington Raceway. Read moreby the Frontstretch Staff
NASCAR Announces 2016 Hall of Fame Class
James Hinchcliffe Expected to Make a Full Recovery
Verizon IndyCar Series regular James Hinchcliffe was moved out of Intensive Care at IU Health Methodist Hospital Wednesday two days after suffering critical injuries in a practice crash at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Hinchcliffe will not require any more surgical procedures and will make a full recovery. Read more
RPM, Twisted Tea Team Up for Two More Races
RPM, Twisted Tea Team Up for Two More Races
On Wednesday, Richard Petty Motorsports announced that Twisted Tea has added two races to their schedule for the 2015 season. The brand of alcohol will serve as the primary sponsor of the No. 9 Ford in this weekend's Coca-Cola 600 and next weekend's FedEx 400 Benefiting Autism Speaks at Dover International Speedway in addition to the existing races in their deal. Read more
Daytona Begins SAFER Installation, Construction on Other Safety Measures
Daytona International Speedway has officially added track safety improvements to the ongoing Daytona Rising project aimed at improving the fan experience. SAFER Barriers are currently being installed in multiple locations around the track in addition to paving over some of the grass. Some of the improvements should be ready by the Coke Zero 400 weekend in July. Read more
Have news for 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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Qualifying at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway got the Mother Nature shuffle over the weekend. Then, officials had to revise the schedule because of a serious safety concern.
Two cars managed to qualify on Saturday before the rain hit, and it hit hard; I mean, really hard for a long time. Usually, when you get that real hard rain, it's over in 15 minutes or half an hour. Not this time. As a writer friend of mine said years ago, it conjured up visions of flat rocks and deformed cows.
I've only seen it rain that hard for that long once at a racetrack. It was an ASA race at Atlanta back in the late 1970s or early '80s.
This was when it was the old configuration; a true oval, high-banked. After three hours I asked Rex Robbins if he was going to call it, and he said, "We're just about to announce it, are you in a hurry?"
I replied, "Yeah, I want to get out of here before this place fills up with water."
When Indy announced that they'd given up on Saturday, officials outlined a condensed schedule for Sunday, beginning with practice at 8:00 a.m.
I didn't go out there on Sunday for a couple of reasons, but I was keeping track of things. The track was true to their word. Our apartment is about 4.5 miles from the track, but promptly at 8 we heard the zoom-zoom of race cars. I headed for the computer and dialed up racecontrol.indycar.com for the live feed along with timing and scoring. I figured that would suffice until TV coverage started.
In practice, Ed Carpenter got turned around and, sure enough, was flipped upside down just as two others did earlier in the week. Ed walked away, but officials decided enough was enough. This car was the third with the Chevrolet qualifying aero package to get upside down after heading backwards.
This wreck was of even more concern because Ed's car got up into the wheel fence, scattering debris all over the place. The car didn't go through the fence, but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen.
I'm not an engineer, of course, but as soon as Helio Castroneves did his flying stint, I felt the air at that speed was getting under those open rear-wheel covers and lifting the car. I still think so.
Engineers spent the next couple of days after that trying computer simulations and whatever else they could do, looking for a solution. One mechanic may have hit the heart of the problem, saying that the aero kits obviously had not been tested in a wind tunnel with the car pointing the wrong way.
Makes sense to me.
On the other hand, my son pointed out that cars have been getting upside down for years. He's right.
The top accompanying photo shows Jim Crawford trying to set an altitude record back in 1990. The other is Pancho Carter on a practice day. A Hardee's rep once told me that our Thursday Night Thunder series at IRP got them as much exposure as Pancho did at the 500. I said, "Yeah, and you didn't have to turn the sports page of the Star upside down to see your logo, either."
After an hour or two of meetings last Sunday, it was announced that cars would have to qualify with their race day aero package, which meant more downforce, and without the boost which was to have been allowed for qualifying, which meant less speed. We'd seen 233 in practice, but now 230 was going to be out of sight.
One team using the Honda engine spoke up and said their aero package hadn't caused any problems yet, leading one Chevrolet guy to say they probably weren't going fast enough yet to get sideways.
Regardless, it did slow them down and I think it made them fairly equal.
Another effect of all this delay was that the nine-car shootout for the pole was canceled, and each team was going to get only one shot at qualifying.
Except for those from 31st on back. They'd get an hour at the end of the day to make as many runs as they wanted, to reshuffle that back row or bump their way in, if there were enough cars.
Turned out there were enough cars. Buddy Lazier, a former winner, hadn't even gotten on the track yet, but was ready to try at 6:00 p.m.
After his first shot, it was obvious he didn't have enough speed to bump the next slowest car, the Jonathan Byrd's entry driven by Bryan Clauson.
His crew went back to work, and judiciously waited for their next attempt until it was obvious Clauson wouldn't have time for another run. Didn't matter. He still wasn't fast enough.
I'm sorry for Lazier, especially since he's a former champion, but I'm exceedingly happy for Clauson and the Byrd team, who happen to be very good friends of mine.
I'm also thrilled because Scott Goodyear and Eddie Cheever shot off their mouths on national TV, saying guys like Clauson, who come off the short tracks in open wheel cars, didn't have the "credentials" to drive IndyCars.
WHAT?
Haven't they heard of a couple of guys named Tony Stewart and Ed Carpenter? Ed came up through the "old" ladder system as a winner in midgets, sprint cars, and Silver Crowns.
How much do these two guys know about what it takes to drive an open wheel car on a short track, paved or otherwise? Do they know what it's like to have to live on that right-rear tire?
All I really know about the "credentials" of those two guys is that one of them did win a 500 and tried to steal another by ignoring the yellow light; the other blew a shot at winning by passing the pace car under yellow.
John Potts is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at john.potts@frontstretch.com. Potts also provided the two above pictures of Jim Crawford and Pancho Carter crashing.
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Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager and a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.
The Critic's Annex: Menards 200
by Phil Allaway
Welcome back, TV fans. Last Sunday, while the XFINITY Series was having a good time racing at Iowa Speedway, the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards took to the half-mile Toledo Speedway for 200 laps of action. It was an interesting event that served as the first ARCA race of the year for CBS Sports Network in 2015. While the contract remains the same, the telecast looks a little different as compared to last year.
In 2014, Rick Benjamin anchored the coverage of CBS Sports Network's races like he had with the tape-delayed events on NBC Sports Network in 2013. Andy Hillenburg was alongside. For this year, a brand-new on-air crew has been tapped. Ray Dunlap, a former PR man for ARCA before getting into TV, was joined by Jim Tretow, a longtime ARCA pit reporter, in the booth. On pit road making her live TV pit reporting debut was Kristen Beat. It wasn't Beat's ARCA debut, however as she pit reported the pay-per-view telecast at Fairgrounds Speedway back in April.
Beat has an interesting on-air presence as a pit reporter. She's not above making random references to tie into her work. Essentially, Beat's a little like how I would pit report a race. Having said that, she's generally enjoyable to listen to and knowledgeable.
CBS Sports Network's production did have a number of technical issues. As you may have heard, it started raining early on. Dunlap did a decent job informing viewers that rain could be possible, but that he didn't think it was going to be an issue. I don't know what weather app Dunlap has, but I checked Weather Underground and it showed some showers very close to the track prior to the start of the race. The cameras showed darkening skies and rain not too far away. I don't know if Dunlap was being serious or not, but the writing seemed to be on the wall.
As soon as the rain started, sun spots apparently came into play, cutting out the satellite feed. CBS Sports Network's move here was to go to commercial, then cut to alternate programming; in this case, it was Player Style Files. For those of you wondering, Player Style Files is sort of like an athlete-centered Cribs. However, we're not here to talk about that.
There was no real coverage from Toledo during the red flag. Part of that was due to the technical issues, but the real reason was likely that they had already switched to alternate programming. The network probably figured, why not just stay there?
In addition, Beat's microphone had multiple issues during the race. As a result, she had to re-do a live piece where she talked about Josh Williams racing in support of a young race fan with leukemia. Pit interviews, as a result were a tough go.
My guess is that Beat should take some advice from some of her more experienced pit reporting colleagues (Ex: Dunlap) and figure out some strategies to keep her stuff dry in these situations. I only say that since Dunlap stated on-air rain showers played a role in her issues. I have no doubt that they'll help her out in that regard. In fact, I wouldn't be shocked if these problems were part of the reason why CBS Sports Network didn't really provide any rain delay coverage.
My guess is that Beat should take some advice from some of her more experienced pit reporting colleagues (Ex: Dunlap) and figure out some strategies to keep her stuff dry in these situations. I only say that since Dunlap stated on-air rain showers played a role in her issues. I have no doubt that they'll help her out in that regard. In fact, I wouldn't be shocked if these problems were part of the reason why CBS Sports Network didn't really provide any rain delay coverage.
Once the racing resumed, CBS Sports Network brought viewers a decent amount of racing for position. However, the network had to pick and choose what they could cover. Unlike a broadcast on FOX Sports 1, there's only a finite number of cameras available. It's limited enough that there's only a few exterior views, creating more of an "old school" style coverage you'd see back in the 1980s as compared to 2015.
I think the issue with Sarah Cornett-Ching should have been covered more substantially. All viewers heard was that she apparently pulled into the pits, got out of the car and got in the ambulance for treatment. What really happened was that her car suffered an electrical failure that killed her Koolbox. After the race, she was sent to the hospital due to elevated levels of carbon monoxide and dehydration. Cornett-Ching is fine now and plans on racing this weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park.
Enthusiasm with Dunlap has never been a problem and Sunday was no exception. He did a good job bringing viewers the action, and despite not being around the series all that much these days, he seemed to be familiar with everyone. I know that's not saying much, but a series like ARCA is often treated like an afterthought.
Since the telecast was already 50 minutes beyond the end of the scheduled time slot, post-race coverage was limited. Viewers saw interviews with the top-2 finishers (Todd Gilliland and Tom Hessert) along with Todd's father, David. There was also a check of the unofficial results before they left the air so that CBS Sports Network could get to other programming. Interestingly enough, due to the delay, that other programming was a repeat of the race that just finished. In that case, they could have gotten away with more post-race coverage, and perhaps given viewers an interview with Grant Enfinger. He apparently lost fourth gear, causing Toledo's big wreck that somewhat altered the outcome of the race.
Overall, the telecast was a rather trying time due to the technical woes. No one could really help those issues, though. When they weren't cropping up, the coverage that resulted was decent. We got good racing and a good series of calls from the booth. Also, when her microphone decided to work, Beat did a good job in the pits. I just wish she spoke a bit louder. It's a racetrack; you need to make yourself heard. Despite that, Sunday's broadcast is something ARCA can build on for Winchester next month.
That's it for this week. Next week, we'll be back with a look at One Hot Night, the new special on The Winston from 1992 that premieres tonight after Sprint Cup Qualifying on FOX Sports 1.
Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager and a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.
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"I am very concerned about cars flipping. Let's remember that the DW12 has brought draft-intensive racing to Indy, meaning multiple cars will be bunched in single-file and sometimes even double-file draft-packs of 5+ cars throughout the race. If a car flips and multiple cars hit it, I really do not want to see the result of that...." - Matt Stallknecht, displaying concern about what happens if someone flips during Sunday's Indianapolis 500
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FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
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COMING TOMORROW
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Talk back to the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Got something to say about an article you've seen in the newsletter? It's as easy as replying directly to this message or sending an email to editors@frontstretch.com. We'll take the best comments and publish them here!
©2015 Frontstretch.com
Frontstretch Line of the Week
From Open Wheel Wednesday: Roundtable Discussion of the Goings-On at Indy"I am very concerned about cars flipping. Let's remember that the DW12 has brought draft-intensive racing to Indy, meaning multiple cars will be bunched in single-file and sometimes even double-file draft-packs of 5+ cars throughout the race. If a car flips and multiple cars hit it, I really do not want to see the result of that...." - Matt Stallknecht, displaying concern about what happens if someone flips during Sunday's Indianapolis 500
TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:
by Tom Bowles
by P. Huston Ladner
by Toni Montgomery
by Joseph Wolkin
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: In 1994, Phil Parsons used Hoosier tires to run down Mark Martin and win the Champion 300 in his Matchbox Chevrolet. However, this somewhat bizarre race was marred by a huge crash early on. What happened?
Check back Friday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Wednesday's Answer:
Wednesday's Answer:
Q: In the 1980s, the two support races at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the then-Busch Grand National Series were showcase events. However, these showcase events often contained an aspect of Saturday night short track racing. What was this added element?
A: The 300-mile Busch Grand National races at Charlotte Motor Speedway often had halftime breaks, much like early Truck Series races and some current K&N Pro Series events (depending on the week). NASCAR promoted halftime breaks as a new thing when the Truck Series began in 1995, but it was really a throwback.
COMING TOMORROW
In The Frontstretch Newsletter:
We'll have a recap of Thursday's breaking news for you, including tonight's qualifying for the Coca-Cola 600.
On Frontstretch.com:
Matt Stallknecht will have four burning questions to consider heading into Charlotte.-----------------------------
Talk back to the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Got something to say about an article you've seen in the newsletter? It's as easy as replying directly to this message or sending an email to editors@frontstretch.com. We'll take the best comments and publish them here!
©2015 Frontstretch.com
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