THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
June 25, 2015
Volume IX, Edition CV
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What to Watch: Thursday
- Today is pull-in day for Sprint Cup Series teams in Sonoma. No on-track activity is scheduled for today. However, if any news breaks, we'll have it for you at Frontstretch.
Top News
by the Frontstretch Staff
New Chief in Town: RCR Announces XFINITY Crew Chief Swap
by the Frontstretch Staff
New Chief in Town: RCR Announces XFINITY Crew Chief Swap
Richard Childress Racing announced Wednesday that they are swapping crew chiefs between the No. 3 and No. 33 teams in the XFINITY Series. As a result of the move, Nick Harrison is now the head wrench for Ty Dillon while Danny Stockman now heads up the No. 33 crew with its revolving door of drivers. Read more
Ford's New Shelby GT350R-C to Debut at Watkins Glen
Ford's New Shelby GT350R-C to Debut at Watkins Glen
Ford Performance announced Wednesday that Multimatic Mototrsports will debut the new Shelby GT350R-C in the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge this weekend at Watkins Glen International. The car will serve as the long-term replacement in the series for the Ford Mustang Boss 302R. 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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Today's Featured Commentary~~~~~~~~~~
by John Potts
The folks who have read my stuff for a long time know how much feeling I had (and still have) for the old Fairgrounds Motor Speedway in Louisville. It operated from 1961 through the 1980 season, before the powers-that-be on the Kentucky State Fair Board decided it didn't fit their image for the future. That's ultimately what happened, even if they did say they wanted to build horse barns on that site. 25 years later, it's still a parking lot.
Milt Hartlauf, the promoter from the mid '60s through the end of the run, and I used to joke that if you wanted to get any publicity from the Louisville papers, you had to walk into the sports department either bouncing a basketball or smelling like horse manure. That's a big exaggeration, though because thanks to some writers who really liked racing, we didn't do too bad.
I'm not the only one who feels so strongly about that place. We've got an official Facebook page, and as of this writing there are over 2,150 members. There may be another short track which has been closed for 35 years with more members on their page, but I doubt it.
I know there are a lot of tracks that have closed and for which a lot of people have a lot of great memories and a lot of feeling. This writing is meant for them, too because I know they feel the same way about "their" tracks as I feel about mine.
The folks who have read my stuff for a long time know how much feeling I had (and still have) for the old Fairgrounds Motor Speedway in Louisville. It operated from 1961 through the 1980 season, before the powers-that-be on the Kentucky State Fair Board decided it didn't fit their image for the future. That's ultimately what happened, even if they did say they wanted to build horse barns on that site. 25 years later, it's still a parking lot.
Milt Hartlauf, the promoter from the mid '60s through the end of the run, and I used to joke that if you wanted to get any publicity from the Louisville papers, you had to walk into the sports department either bouncing a basketball or smelling like horse manure. That's a big exaggeration, though because thanks to some writers who really liked racing, we didn't do too bad.
I'm not the only one who feels so strongly about that place. We've got an official Facebook page, and as of this writing there are over 2,150 members. There may be another short track which has been closed for 35 years with more members on their page, but I doubt it.
I know there are a lot of tracks that have closed and for which a lot of people have a lot of great memories and a lot of feeling. This writing is meant for them, too because I know they feel the same way about "their" tracks as I feel about mine.
FMS was where I and a lot of other racing people in the Louisville area literally grew up. I started flagging there in the 1962 season, and that carried me to places I couldn't have imagined, meeting people I couldn't have imagined ever knowing.
Racers are pretty inventive sorts, and I really believe short track racers are the best at this stuff. It was at FMS where a lot of us saw this skill emerge and reveled in what we were seeing. The reason I bring this point up is that a little while back somebody asked what the best example of "cheating" or at the very least, "thinking outside the box" that other members saw at this little track.
That resulted in a LOT of stories being told. I advised everybody that I was going to be using some of this "thinking" for column material.
My first thought was that in the mid-'70s, the late LaMarr Marshall brought out an extremely low and sleek Camaro. It had the look of those NASCAR modifieds they ran at Daytona for a while.
Then there was 1963, when we ran our big International 500 late model race without MARC (Midwest Association for Race Cars, which became ARCA the next year) sanction. Since we were going by our own rulebook, Harry Hyde looked at it very closely and found that we didn't have any specifications on the fuel filler line. He brought the Pontiac driven by Jesse Baird to the track that day with a four-inch inside diameter pipe sticking up through the deck lid, with a cap on it. That, of course, was before the days of dry-break systems, and the fuel cans just had two-inch hoses on them. As a result, he and his crew were able to dump both cans at once and cut their fuel stop time in half.
Along the same lines, Bobby Watson once told me about a truck he used in ARCA in the mid '60s, and I'm not sure he ever needed it at FMS except for the 500. He said he cinched up the straps around his fuel tank/cell really tight, so it would hold exactly the legal limit. After inspection, he loosened the straps and got another gallon or two in there.
He sold that car to Dave Dayton, and one day while leading a race, Dave ran out of fuel. I was in the pits commiserating with Dave when Bobby came over and told him to loosen up the straps next week.
Innovation was rife in our Figure 8 division. In the early days, guys found out they could add nitromethane to their pump gas if they were running a flathead Ford V-8. Since the cam was in the block operating directly on the valves, those engines weren't subject to the problems nitro gave those with pushrods, lifters and rockers. (This quirk may also be why Parnelli Jones and Jim Hurtubise were the first to be successful with small block Chevy engines in USAC sprint cars – their crews were the first to figure out just how much they could "pop" those things without scattering an engine, I'm told.)
A chemist told me that this combination makes nitrobenzene. The only giveaway is that the exhaust smells like shoe polish. Some nights, there was so much of that smell that you couldn't tell who was doing it; of course, the guys with flatheads were careful to keep their hoods down when an official was anywhere close.
There was another trick that some guys used to keep their Figure 8 car from getting claimed. I'm told that the late A. (Long John) Arnold was a great practitioner of this one. Incidentally, I caught him with the hood up one night. Saw the flathead, had him start the engine, smelled the exhaust, and busted him for using nitro. The deal was to string some small hardware store nuts across the choke horn of the carburetor with piano wire and run it into the driver's compartment under the dash. He'd pull the wire after parking in the pits after the race; the nuts would then fall into the carb.
If the car wasn't claimed, he'd tow the car home and remove the nuts before starting the engine. If it did get claimed, the first time the new owner started the engine, the nuts would fall down through the manifold and the powerplant was ruined. Of course, it didn't take long before guys started checking the carburetors after they claimed a car.
In the Late Model division, somebody discovered that we didn't have a rule about internal weight jacks, and some really inventive solutions came into play, allowing drivers to adjust ride height and weight distribution during the race. I'm told Charlie Glotzbach was one of the best practitioners of this idea.
My first look at it came when we were weighing Roy Wathen's 1966 Chevrolet one night. We had four platform scales with great big dials on them so everybody could see what the weight was on each wheel.
Anyway, while the Chevy was up there, car owner/chief mechanic Gerald Newman took a look at the scales and said, "That ain't right." He then reached inside and twisted a ratchet four or five times. All of us watching were treated to the scales reacting, with weight transferring from the right rear to the left rear and accompanying changes to the fronts.
It was about this time that one fella who thought he was smart told Gerald after a race, "For $50, I'll tell you how to get that left front up."
Gerald replied, "For $50, I'll tell you how to get yours down."
Maybe I'll have more of these stories later. In fact, if any of you readers know of some neat stories like these from your favorite tracks, pass them on and maybe we can have some fun.
If the car wasn't claimed, he'd tow the car home and remove the nuts before starting the engine. If it did get claimed, the first time the new owner started the engine, the nuts would fall down through the manifold and the powerplant was ruined. Of course, it didn't take long before guys started checking the carburetors after they claimed a car.
In the Late Model division, somebody discovered that we didn't have a rule about internal weight jacks, and some really inventive solutions came into play, allowing drivers to adjust ride height and weight distribution during the race. I'm told Charlie Glotzbach was one of the best practitioners of this idea.
My first look at it came when we were weighing Roy Wathen's 1966 Chevrolet one night. We had four platform scales with great big dials on them so everybody could see what the weight was on each wheel.
Anyway, while the Chevy was up there, car owner/chief mechanic Gerald Newman took a look at the scales and said, "That ain't right." He then reached inside and twisted a ratchet four or five times. All of us watching were treated to the scales reacting, with weight transferring from the right rear to the left rear and accompanying changes to the fronts.
It was about this time that one fella who thought he was smart told Gerald after a race, "For $50, I'll tell you how to get that left front up."
Gerald replied, "For $50, I'll tell you how to get yours down."
Maybe I'll have more of these stories later. In fact, if any of you readers know of some neat stories like these from your favorite tracks, pass them on and maybe we can have some fun.
John Potts is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at john.potts@frontstretch.com.
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The Critic's Annex: Scott 150
by Phil Allaway
Hello again. Welcome back to another edition of the Critic's Annex. This week, we're covering the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards' Scott 150. The race was won by Ryan Reed, who had to come all the way from 28th on the grid to do it.
Ray Dunlap was back in the booth along with Phil Parsons to call the race for FOX Sports 2. Dunlap generally does a decent job with ARCA telecasts; it was the series he once worked for back in the 1990s before ESPN hired him. Parsons, meanwhile was his usual solid self as an analyst. 14 years of booth work definitely shows.
The early portions of the event were run in a start-and-stop fashion as multiple spins slowed the pace. The most notable of these incidents was the one involving Cody Coughlin. While Dunlap didn't appear convinced at first, it was obvious to me and Parsons that Coughlin was hit from behind by Matt Tifft. However, both commentators noted that Coughlin was driving too fast on the flat tires. Of course, that led to the inevitable ripped up right front fender. I know, it's not really taking a stand, but good lord, Venturini Motorsports. Don't be stupid.
A good amount of time was spent talking about the bumps in turns 3 and 4 and how they upset the cars. I found that interesting because I don't recall hearing anything about that being mentioned during the XFINITY Series race. Even though ARCA cars are still the "Gen-4" style version, I'm sure the current XFINITY Series ones are still affected by bumps.
The overall racing during the event was not half bad. The problem is that we didn't get to see all that much of it. Unfortunately, that's because there aren't really that many competitive cars in ARCA these days. Ten years ago, it would have been a different story. We would have had a field of 40 or so and maybe 26 of them would have been very competitive as opposed to the 30 and 13-ish that we got. They're hoping that the reduced costs of the ARCA Ilmor 396 engine and the Five-Star bodies (on shorter tracks and road courses only) will bring more teams into the series, but we're yet to see that. It's just cut the costs of teams already in ARCA.
The other reason was that FOX Sports 2 really focused on the very front of the field. You saw a bunch of Ryan Reed, the Kimmels (Will and Frank), Matt Tifft and Daniel Suarez. Everyone else was nearly invisible. That's not necessarily a good thing if you're trying to get eyes. Essentially none of those guys is full-time in the series right now, limiting the ability for fans to stay interested in ARCA. I'm sure there was more racing out there; we just didn't really see it.
Reed was ultimately the story on Saturday. He wrecked in qualifying and managed to storm to the lead from the back in 21 laps. He did that with an existing team, too as opposed to Roush Fenway Racing purpose-building a car just for the race. Certainly, while struggling at times this season it's clear just getting himself in the XFINITY Series has really helped Reed's development. Sure, Dunlap stated that the car didn't look like it had been wrecked but yeah... it was. With the race being on SDTV-only (for me, since I don't get the HD feed of FOX Sports 2) it was a little hard to tell. But you could see the tape on the quarterpanel coming loose during the race. That was an ugly beast that Reed took to Victory Lane....
Post-race coverage was curtailed from what it could have been, but it was not FOX Sports 2's fault. Right after the checkers fell, storm clouds moved in that ultimately delayed the Owens Corning AttiCat 300 to Sunday afternoon. Lightning strikes meant that the post-race interviews had to be cut off after just two. Had that not happened, we would have gotten triple the amount.
Thank you for checking out this week's edition of the Critic's Annex. Next week, we'll be back with another look at motorsports programming, likely more ARCA coverage from Winchester Speedway on CBS Sports Network. Until then, enjoy this weekend's action at Sonoma, Winchester and Watkins Glen.
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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Frontstretch Line of the Week
From Top 15 Up-And-Coming Drivers in Stock Car Racing"Byron, 17, has led 498 of the 902 total laps of competition in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East this season, scoring three wins in the first six races. He's also won his only start in the CARS Super Late Model Tour and finished second in the Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown. If he keeps this pace up, Byron will be a household name in the next couple years." - Aaron Bearden, on K&N Pro Series East points leader William Byron
TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:
by Beth Lunkenheimer
by P. Huston Ladner
by Toni Montgomery
by Joseph Wolkin
by Tony Lumbis
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: Sonoma Raceway has a history of rather bizarre crashes over the years. In 2008, Jeff Jefferson was involved in one of these bizarre crashes. What happened?
Check back Friday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Wednesday's Answer:
Wednesday's Answer:
Q: Dave Rezendes ended up redeeming himself after getting bounced from what should have been his Winston Cup debut earlier in the year by winning the 1996 Kragen 151 at then-Sears Point Raceway. One of his main competitors, Mike Skinner, took himself out of contention on a restart. What happened?
A: Skinner was leading on an early restart and charged up the hill to turn 2 with Ron Hornaday, Jr. right on his tail. However, it seemed like Skinner couldn't slow his Goodwrench Chevrolet enough to make the turn. Skinner ended up going straight off the road and into the tires, allowing Hornaday Jr. to take the lead. The crash can be seen here.
Skinner ended up hung up on the tires and couldn't get off, forcing NASCAR to throw a full course yellow. With more than half the race remaining, Skinner was still able to drag his wounded Chevrolet all the way up to a third-place finish.
COMING TOMORROW
In The Frontstretch Newsletter:
We'll have a recap of Thursday's breaking news for you and preview this weekend's racing down at Sonoma.
On Frontstretch.com:
Amy will be back with another edition of Holding a Pretty Wheel, taking a look at Brendan Gaughan's year in both the Sprint Cup and XFINITY Series. Can he get things turned around at Premium Motorsports?-----------------------------
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