Full Throttle

No matter your feelings on how the Chase formula worked this year, it most likelly is around for the forseeable future given the increase in TV ratings for the Homestead finale and the 9 previous events.

Here are a few notable bits and pieces from this years edition of NASCAR’s “playoffs.”

* Eight of the 10 races were won by title contenders, with only Joe Nemechek and Greg Biffle breaking through.
* Chevrolets won seven races, Fords two and Dodge one.
* Jeremy Mayfield started the chase in ninth place, 40 points behind then-leader Jeff Gordon. He finished 10th, 506 points behind champion Kurt Busch.
* Busch led all contenders with nine top-10s in the 10 races, including one win and eight top-six finishes. He led the standings for the final eight races. Busch’s biggest lead was 96 points over Gordon before an engine failure at Atlanta resulted in a 42nd-place finish.
* Jimmie Johnson trailed by 247 points after the fourth race of the chase and wound up losing the title by just eight points.

Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick today announced key personnel changes affecting each of his organization’s stock-car teams going into the 2005 NASCAR campaign. Racing veterans Jim Long, Lance McGrew and Peter Sospenzo will each assume fresh responsibilities next season, while lead engineer Alan Gustafson has been promoted to crew chief. As part of the restructuring effort, team executive Brian Whitesell will also transition into a new role.

“With a new shop opening and drivers moving to different teams, it made sense for us to look at our organizational structure in a different light,” Hendrick said. “These changes will create more opportunities for our folks and help us work together more efficiently.”

GUSTAFSON TO LEAD KELLOGG’S RACING:

Gustafson, 29, has been named crew chief of Hendrick’s No. 5 Kellogg’s Chevrolets, which next season will feature NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series rookie Kyle Busch as driver.

A native of Ormond Beach, Fla., Gustafson cut his racing teeth working as a mechanic at local short tracks in his home state while taking mechanical engineering courses at nearby Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Gustafson moved to North Carolina in 1996 to pursue a career in motor sports, gaining experience with various teams before joining Hendrick’s in-house chassis effort in 1999. He was named lead engineer for the No. 5 Cup Series team the following year.

LONG MOVES TO BUSCH SERIES:

After leading the No. 5 NEXTEL Cup team for the past three years, Long will slide into the crew chief position with the No. 5 Lowe’s-sponsored NASCAR Busch Series operation. The team has earned a championship, eight victories and six pole positions over the past two seasons.

A native of Toledo, Ohio, Long, 47, is going into his sixth NASCAR campaign with Hendrick Motorsports, including a two-year stint in the mid-1980s. The 2005 season will mark his 10th as a NASCAR crew chief. An announcement regarding driving duties for the No. 5 Busch Series team is forthcoming.

McGREW AND VICKERS REUNITED:

A Baton Rouge, La., native, McGrew, 36, has been named crew chief of the NEXTEL Cup No. 25 GMAC Financial Services team, a move that reunites him with driver Brian Vickers. The duo already has an impressive track record, winning Hendrick Motorsports’ first-ever Busch Series championship together in 2003.

After joining Hendrick in 1999, McGrew was soon named crew chief of the organization’s part-time Busch Series effort, which quickly led to full-time positions in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (2001) and Busch Series (2002-04).

SOSPENZO JOINS LABONTE EFFORT:

A three-time winner on the NEXTEL Cup circuit, Sospenzo will work exclusively with two-time Cup Series champion Terry Labonte as crew chief of the new No. 44 Hendrick Motorsports team, which will attempt a 10-race schedule in 2005.

A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Sospenzo led the No. 25 NEXTEL Cup team to one victory, a pair of pole positions and 13 top-10 finishes over the past two-plus seasons. The 47-year-old came to Hendrick from Penske Racing in 2002.

WHITESELL NAMED TEAM MANAGER FOR 5, 25 & 44:

Whitesell, 40, will take on the newly created position of team manager for the Nos. 5, 25 and 44 NEXTEL Cup teams. A native of Stuarts Draft, Va., he most recently held an identical post with Hendrick Motorsports’ Nos. 24 and 48 efforts.

Best known as one of the architects of Hendrick’s No. 24 DuPont team, Whitesell has been with the organization since 1992, following a championship-winning stint with Alan Kulwicki Racing. He was named No. 24 team manager in 1999 and was a principal influence in building the No. 48 Hendrick squad beginning in 2001.

Shop foreman Mark Thoreson and lead engineer Darian Grubb will share Whitesell’s former duties with the “24/48″ operation.

The Nos. 5, 25 and 44 teams will be housed together in a new facility adjacent to the 24/48 building on the Hendrick Motorsports grounds. The new state-of-the-art shop is scheduled to open before the 2005 season.

Now that the Chase has been concluded and the bench racing started I thought this subject was dead and buried. Silly me.

Due to the points deducted from Dale Jr. a protest is being lodged in his behalf. And please, no snickers allowed when reading the name of the media company involved.

“We’re taking the protest to Daytona,” says Kimberly Dougherty, Director of Public Relations for CRAP Media, Inc. NASCAR may think the right way of getting a team or driver’s attention to stop breaking the rules is to hit them where it hurts the most: points, believing such a deterrent will keep the integrity of competition equal. To the contrary, NASCAR is the only sport that changes the outcome of an event for what amounts to a personal foul off the field of competition. This kind of penalty takes away from the integrity of fair competition.

I beg to differ there Kimberly. Compare the Indiana Pacers winning percentage before last Friday and about April sometime. The penalty that was handed out for, as you call it, “a personal foul off the field of competition” to the moron Artest will indeed have an effect on the outcome of events.

Changing the outcome of an event takes away from NASCAR’s credibility as a real sport when put up against events like football, baseball and basketball. NASCAR continues to say they are making efforts to grow and be considered a mainstream sport, but they cannot effectively do this if they change the competitive outcome of a race after the fact, especially for minor infractions. “The practice of deducting points for minimal infractions like swearing has nothing to do with competition or the sport,” says Dougherty. “As a matter of fact, the recent incident with Dale Earnhardt Jr. had nothing to do with racing at all,” she adds.

At least your correct on that point, but it does have everything to do with public relations, public image, and being a professional. And I should add, the suspensions that occur in all the “stick and ball” sports relating to over paid, over sexed crackheads for off the field drug offenses also effect a teams on the field performance.

Like the outfit you represent, CRAP Media, your arguement is also crap and your destined to be shown the door real quick at NASCAR headquarters.

I guess I should add CRAP Media has a protest website, “It don’t mean shit.com,” and you can vote in their poll here.

The two of the three top rookies this year in NASCAR may have been able to sit out the last few races of the season and still won their awards. Kasey Kahne, who narrowly missed out on his first victory five times this season, was selected NASCAR’s Nextel Cup Rookie of the Year on Tuesday.

Kyle Busch, younger brother of Nextel Cup champion Kurt Busch, was the top rookie in the Busch Series. David Reutimann earned top honors in the Truck Series.

Kahne, 24, is the youngest rookie winner in NASCAR’s top series since Jeff Gordon won it as a 22-year-old in 1993. Kahne finished the 2004 season with 13 top-five and 14 top-10 finishes in 36 starts, and was the highest scoring rookie in 19 events. He beat Brendan Gaughan by 120 points for top rookie honors.

While Kahne had several chances to make it into Victory Lane this season, he finished second five times. He was also the most dominant car in several races, most recently at Charlotte in October, only to have bad luck or an accident keep him from the winners’ circle. Kahne finished 13th in the final series points standings after he just missed out on a spot in NASCAR’s 10-race championship series.

At 19, Busch is the youngest top rookie in series history. He finished second for the Busch Series championship to Martin Truex Jr. He led the series championship standings for three weeks, and tied Greg Biffle’s rookie record of five series wins.

Reutimann clinched the Truck Series rookie award in the season-ending race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He won the pole and finished fourth in the race to beat Tracy Hines for top rookie honors by 67 points. Reutimann finished the season 14th in Truck Series points.

The damm snow is about to set in. (As I chuckle here in the Philippines) What’s a race fan to do?

Why he straps on a “roobar” to his favorite SUV, heads South of 0 degrees latitude, avoids the vegemite sandwiches and checks on Australian Sprint Car racing. Don’t be fooled, the Aussie’s take their Sprinters seriously, it is common place to see crowds of 30,000 a a weekly event.

Here is a list of December events. The events of most interest to American fans occur in Jan. The $50,000 to win race at Parramatta on 2 Jan always attracts “Northern” drivers. And the big attraction is the US’s World of Outlaws two day event, also at Parramatta on the 13^th.

Sa 4 SRA Eureka Series R2 Premier Speedway, VIC
Sprintcars Mountain Dew Ice International Speedway, TAS
PCR Sprintcar Track Championship Round 7 Parramatta City Raceway, NSW
360 Sprintcars Bordertown Speedway , SA
World Series Sprintcars Round 4 Wagga International Raceway, NSW
Sa 11 360 Sprintcars (TBC) Broken Hill Speedway, NSW
360 Sprintcars (TBC) Broken Hill Speedway, NSW
World Series Sprintcars Round 5 Avalon Raceway, VIC
Sprintcars Brisbane International Speedway, QLD
PCR Sprintcar Track Championship Round 8 Parramatta City Raceway, NSW
AHG Sprintcar Series - Rd 4 Quit Motorplex Kwinana, WA
Sprintcars Cranes Combined Carrick Speedway, TAS
Sa 18 SRA Eureka Series R3 - Fireball Derby Redline Speedway, VIC
Su 26 SRA Eureka Series R4 - Gold Cup Avalon Raceway, VIC
AHG Sprintcar Series - Rd 5 Quit Motorplex Kwinana, WA
PCR Sprintcar Track Championship Round 9 Parramatta City Raceway, NSW
Sprintcars Cranes Combined Carrick Speedway, TAS
World Series Sprintcars Round 6 Speedway City, SA
Mo 27 SRA Eureka Series R5 Nyora Raceway, VIC
Sprintcars Mountain Dew Ice International Speedway, TAS
USA Sprintcars Brisbane International Speedway, QLD
World Series Sprintcars Round 7 Murray Bridge Speedway, SA
PCR Sprintcar Track Championship Round 10 Parramatta City Raceway, NSW
Tu 28 World Series Sprintcars Round 8 Borderline Raceway, SA
Th 30 PCR Sprintcar Track Championship Round 11 Parramatta City Raceway, NSW
World Series Sprintcars Round 9 Avalon Raceway, VIC

The Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) has announced it rule changes for the 2005 season. One of the changes reflects NASCARS’s bid to reduce cost by cutting the length of weekend events.

TOLEDO OH (11-22-04) With a constant eye on safety and cost-containment, the ARCA RE/MAX Series, preparing for its 53rd consecutive season of competition, has announced several procedural and rules changes for the 2005 season. Among the measures are a greater number of condensed race weekend schedules with post-qualifying impound procedures, an initiative to limit engine RPMs to 8,800, requiring that all exhaust exit the right side of the car, requiring roof flaps and strips as well as tethers on cars competing at events on tracks of all lengths, and an upgraded Race Safe System on-board caution light alert. “Safety and cost control are constantly evolving, moving targets,” said ARCA President Ron Drager. “We do our best to work with the teams, our safety and technical inspection staff and officials, high performance equipment manufacturers and officials of other racing series to monitor what’s being developed and used in competition.

We also try to be receptive to suggestions from the teams, and the changes we’re making are a combined result of all that.” Condensing the length of time needed to inspect, practice, qualify and race takes a page from traditional short track racing, where there is no practice after qualifying (”Happy Hour”) and all activities are completed in hours, not days.

ARCA RE/MAX Series events at tracks 1 mile and less have featured the single-day race format, and superspeedway races at Kentucky Speedway, Nashville Superspeedway and Gateway Int’l Raceway have also been conducted with a single day of on-track activity with a single practice session followed by qualifying and the race.

Impounding cars after qualifying restricts teams from investing in manpower, parts, fluids and resources specific to qualifying, since the cars are raced with all the same components exactly as qualified. In most cases, the procedure can also save teams a day’s expense of travel accommodations. At least 20 of the series’ 23 races in 2005 are expected to see abbreviated schedules.

The RPM limit is specifically designed to increase internal engine component life. Engine builders on the cutting edge of innovation continue to increase the RPMs an engine can produce for short runs, producing more power and speed at the expense of stress on engine parts which reduces the life expectancy of the components significantly. Among the RPM control methods researched have been designating specified gear and transmission ratios as well as limiting engine RPMs through restrictions on sanctioning body-issued ignition boxes. Rerouting the exhaust from exiting the left side of the car to the right directs much of the heat away from the fuel-filler inlet, thereby decreasing the potential for heat-induced fire.

Roof flaps, wicker bill roof strips and wheel, hood and deck lid tethers are already a requirement for ARCA RE/MAX Series races on tracks over one mile in length, but will now be required on short tracks as well. The roof aerodynamic pieces are designed to help keep the car’s four tires on the track in the event of a spin, while the tethers attach to components of the car which could become dislodged in an impact. The conformity of all cars to the same set of requirements also eliminates any potential competitive advantage to constructing a car without the designated parts.

The Race Safe System, which the ARCA RE/MAX Series has mandated since 2003, triggers a caution light on the dashboard of all cars simultaneously when the caution flag is displayed and the track caution lights are activated. Racing Electronics, ARCA’s official two-way radio communication provider, administrated the Race Safe System prior to purchasing the company, which has improved the product’s reliability and performance. Race Safe System changes for 2005 include its own radio frequency thereby eliminating possible interference from outside sources, the addition of green indicator lights to indicate a full charge, longer battery life and lighter weight.

Source: ARCA Racing

Alexandre Premat triumphed in an incident-filled 51st running of the Macau Grand Prix, with two Safety Car periods and a red flag bringing an early end to the event. The Frenchman withheld intense pressure to head home Poland’s Robert Kubica and Brazilian Lucas di Grassi to take victory in the prestigious event.

Premat had started from third on the grid and kept that position off the line, as Nico Rosberg moved ahead of pole position man Lewis Hamilton as the lights went out. At Lisboa on lap two, though, both Rosberg and Hamilton ran wide and hit the barriers.

That handed Premat the lead but it almost went wrong later that lap when he got sideways through Moorish corner and clouted the barrier heavily. It appeared at first that he had damaged his ASM car, as the following Kubica closed in on him, but he managed to continue.

The Safety Car was called out on lap three after a heavy accident involving Alvaro Parente at the Solitude Esses, allowing Premat time to check how his car was handling. At the restart on the beginning of lap six Premat put his foot down and managed to get away cleanly.

Behind him Kubica misjudged the restart and lost momentum, allowing Jamie Green to draft past him on the run down to Lisboa and seize second place. But Green’s challenge to win the race was short-lived after he suffered a puncture. It caused him to run wide at Fishermen’s Bend on lap eight and lose time. He was passed by Kubica and eventually slowed before coming into the pits for a new tyre. That left Premat clear of Kubica at the front with Lucas di Grassi moving up to third, despite having suffered a broken diffuser after being hit from behind by Fabio Carbone, who was running fourth with a damaged front wing.

On lap nine the Safety Car came out for a second time after Christian Jones and Rodolfo Avila were involved at a collision through the Solitude Esses and temporarily blocked the track. The Safety Car came in at the end of lap eleven and, although Premat locked up at the final corner, he managed to get some clean air between himself and Kubica.

Premat appeared to have everything under control by lap 13 while behind Kubica, Carbone managed to dive past di Grassi at Lisboa Bend for third. That move was worth nothing, however, because the race had to be stopped after a major pile-up at Police Bend caused when Marko Asmer spun across the track and triggered a multi-car pile-up.