Full Throttle

Anyone seen any grey matter flying around Daytona USA? No!

How about Charlotte? Seen any cranial explosions near the new home of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, maybe France is hanging ’round there?

No… Oh well…

You will when France reads this:

Later this season, Roush and Smith will add a sixth Cup team, for seven races, to get Todd Kluever warmed up for his role as Martin’s replacement next season. But if Martin keeps rolling through this season as strongly as he’s started it, he might have second thoughts about that retirement.

That will bring the sum total of Roush’s Mongol Hoard to five Cup cars, two full-time Truck programs and six Busch programs, three full-time, three part-time.

And lets not leave out the Driver X “failures,” Danny O’Quinn, David Reagan, Sondi Eden, Peter Shepherd, the 19-year-old Canadian and Michael Pickens, the 23-year-old New Zealander. All have climbed into Roush supported rides at some level this year.

Refresh my memory…, wasn’t one of the reasons behind limiting team size was because they had an adverse effect on the development of young drivers?

Yea, I thought is was… standing by for the muffled sound of an explosion from an Eastern direction.

A quick note for those new to the “Throttle,” or just haven’t been paying attention. This category, NASCAR Cesspool, is a weekly feature detailing some of the “lesser lights” of the previous NASCAR weekend. No one is spared ridicule or criticism, drivers, owners, broadcasters and even fellow Bloggers/feature writers as displayed last week. So beware, if you act like a fool you’re likely to end up with an unwanted dip in the fetid feces of the NASCAR Cesspool.

Ok riddle me this one Fox Sports. During the first caution Sunday a discussion occurred about the size of Fontana’s pitboxes. Not an unusual occurrence, it happens nearly every week in some form.

In this case one of the talking heads noted that the boxes were “the biggest of the all ones Fox will cover all year.” Since when is it necessary to separate anything based on the network carrying the event. What the hell is next, Fox starting their own “virtual Chase” to cover events 16 thru 26? These network idiots never cease to amaze me!

During the Saturday Busch event a yellow flag was thrown for debris on the track surface. To be more precise, it was due to a driver “wardrobe malfunction.” The debris was a drivers glove that somehow got unto the tarmac. Can somebody ’splain to me how NASCAR couldn’t figure out who it belonged to? Just how hard can it be? “Lets have a show of hands please!?”

This is shades of the Australian V8 Super Car Series. In the October Bathurst 1000 when then Series points leader, and now Woods Bros NCTS driver Marcos Ambrose, had a “wardrobe malfunction” that created the most unusual drive thru penalty in series history, if not in all of racing history. The penalty may have cost him his third championship in succession.

Hmmm… whose next to take a dip in the NASCAR Cesspool this week? I should think Penske Racing is deserving of the dive. After all the testing, and not so little grousing about the Charger, they competed with the two year old Intrepid body style at Fontana looking to strike it rich. Results: Intrepids Kurt Busch 16^th, Ryan Newman 20^th. Charger: Kasey Kahne 4^th, Casey Mears 7^th. I guess the lesson learned at Homestead last year, where Kasey Kahne and Ryan Newman drove Intrepids, but saw Casey Mears’ Charger be the best of the brand all day (should have won that race) didn’t sink in. If Ganassi and Evernham have figured a way to make the Charger competitive why haven’t the other two teams and more importantly, why isn’t that knowledge being shared?

The NASCAR schedule gets a swim in the fetid feces of the Cesspool this week. Why have a break after Fontana? The next Cup event is “Los Wages”, why the break? Wouldn’t it be more cost effetive to run the two events back-to-back and teams could plan on staying on the Left Coast rather than two cross country trips? I have a suspicion (hey clue me in I didn’t look at the “pre-Mexico” sched) it’s related to the Busch event in “ole Mexico” next week. It gives all the Buschwhackers a chance to make both events.

Speaking of “Buschwhackers,” it’s a sorry state of affairs when the first Busch regular ends the day in 12^th place. It would be easier to locate the “Lost City of Atlantis” than an actual Busch driver within striking distance of the lead Saturday. Proposal: Any Busch event that has more than 5 Cup regulars entered be renamed the “Before the Cup Race Testing Day 300.” Until that occurs NASCAR will get a “lifetime pass” in the weekly Cesspool.

The final entry this week goes to all the whiners and sourpusses complaining bout empty seats and the “boring race” at Fontana. NEWSFLASH! It’s California, they sell out because it’s an “event,” (a place to be “seen,” see the free concert and visit the tofu bar, etc) as soon as the “event” is over, and long before the race even starts they head home. Trust me on this, after spending 13 years in Cali and attending many sporting events you know the pattern by rote memory.

That’s it for this week, feel free to add your own additions in the comment section.

Monterrey, Mexico

NASCAR suspends driver Hmiel for indefinite time:

Driver Shane Hmiel has been suspended from competition indefinitely by NASCAR after failing a third substance abuse test.

“Shane failed to fulfill the prescribed rehabilitation program scheduled by NASCAR,” NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said Friday. “As a result, Shane has forfeited his opportunity to compete in any NASCAR-sanctioned events.”

NASCAR didn’t say which of the requirements Hmiel failed - medical and psychological reviews or frequent testing - but it matters little. He knew what the conditions were and disregarded them. Tough.

In the inimitable words of the late, great comedian George Burns, “Say good night Gracie.”

NASCAR Cup owners are hot about the new tire-leasing rule. Teams have to purchase Goodyear tires at $407 each plus tax but receive only $125 per tire

Some headline huh? It outta get a few strange hits from the search engine bots.

As you know I wouldn’t lie, too much, But that’s what this story is about. NASCAR’s attempts to move into Staten Island, that frankly I never realized was a stepchild, hairless or otherwise but that’s what the story claims New York City’s forgotten borough is called by some.

Most of the article is boilerplate stuff. Most are opposed, some on the fence, but it does mention one convert:

Approval would be just fine with Vincent Pompa, a lifelong Staten Islander and a member of a local community board.

The 78-year-old retired chemist was opposed to the track before International Speedway took him to a race in Richmond, Virginia. Pompa says he was surprised that 100,000 race-day fans were gone in two hours and that noise from the track could barely be heard half a mile away.

Now Pompa says a racetrack on Staten Island would be “the lesser of three evils,” better than adding manufacturing or housing.

“People don’t like change, but the island has already changed,” he says.

Nothing like a paid political junket to influence the hearts and minds I always say. Especially and up close and personal look that Richmond would provide.

In the end the article doesn’t provide much in the way of news, but it damn sure gave me a good headline didn’t it?

I was making my normal rounds of the blogosphere and racing sites via my normal mode of transportation when I cruised past Clance’s place of abode, The Church of the Great Oval and spied a headline that caught my attention. (Not hard, I’m also distracted by spinning lights and sparkly things - and Double Stuff Oreos)

Anyway, her headline noted an accusation that NBC’s coverage of the Daytona 500 was an exercise in providing half truths. Never one that put any belief in curiosity being related to dead cats I stopped in to see what all the fuss was about.

Clance’ noted an editorial by Tiffany Myers at Racing Junky. Ms. Myers attended the 500 and from her seat “on the super stretch down towards Turn 3″ she claims to have had a far better picture from what was shown to NBC’s audience via their NASCAR intravenious tubes (otherwise known as TV). In fact she has accused NBC of bias in how they presented the broadcast based on what she personally viewed and what her “recorded version of the race” had shown.

Before I get into specifics it’s instructive to review what we do know.

• All coverage of TV sports events sucks for various reasons. Some cut across all sports, some are unique to an individul sport.
• NBC along with the other networks that cover NASCAR miss things, also for various reasons, nothing is perfect or omnipresent despite the plethera of cameras around the circuit.
• All networks miss things due to commercial breaks, sometimes they catch up via replays, sometimes not.
• More specific, is the weather during the event. From the outset the low ceiling created problems for the in car equipment and associated Helo that relays and transmits the TV pictures.
• There were times during the event when in car camera shots went black because of a loss of signal.

So there’s the basics, even I understand them through my occasional “Oreo euphoria.”

Ms Myers stated what preceded Tony Stewart’s act of retribution on Matt Kenseth (EDIT: Name changed thanks to the sharp eye of Deb who spotted my error case of brain fade) was a long string incidents by a number of drivers and I have no reason to doubt her. She notes, and I distinctly remember Stewart saying as much in the after race interview. And this is where we part company:

However, as a journalism major, I find it highly disturbing that NBC refuses to show the public the entire truth. Kenseth should well have been black flagged for his blatant hit

A1 Team Lebanon has expanded its driver line-up to three for this weekend’s A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Monterrey, Meixco with the addition of Graham Rahal, son of Indycar legend Bobby Rahal whose family comes originally from Aitaneet in the Lebanon.

Despite being only 17, Graham has a wealth of racing experience from karts, Formula BMW, the Star Mazda series and Formula Atlantic, he is all-set to race a full season in this year’s Champ Car Formula Atlantic Championship. Having proved his capabilities in a powerful single-seater in a Formula 3000 test at Misano in Italy, he joins regular A1 Team Lebanon drivers Khalil Beschir and Basil Shaaban.

“We’re delighted to welcome Graham to A1 Team Lebanon,” said Seat Holder Tameem Auchi. “He’s from such as illustrious motor racing family, so we’re very proud that he is able to join us in the A1 Grand Prix series.Our team is one of the least experienced in the series and we are always reviewing our driver options in order to compete at the highest level,and recruiting Graham enables us to accelerate our learning curve while also expanding our fan base in the Arab-American community.”

“This is a very exciing opportunity for me,” said Graham. “I\’ve always recognised my Lebanese roots, so to compete for the country of my ancestry is very special. I hope that I can work with Khalil and Basil to share our racing knowledge and bring pride to the Lebanon with our results on the trakck. I\’ve grapsed the chance to compete in this new series that is attracting so much attention worldwide. It will give me valuable international exposure outside the USA.”

As you’d expect, father Bobby has booked his own passage to Mexico to witness this latest development in Graham\’s burgeoning racing career:”I’m very proud of our Lebanese heritage and this unique opportunity for our son to represent not just the Lebanon and the Arab world but the Lebanese community in the United States. The racing will give Graham a new challenge and the first chance for him to compete on a truly international platform.”

Up Front.

I don’t agree with the penalties handed down to the Hendricks #48 and HoF Racing’s #96. Both teams were caught red-handed with illegal parts and or configurations. Both teams should have received similar penalties, either no points deducted, or both getting docked the 25 points. To add insult to injury NASCAR, or at least writer Ryan Smithson, is trying to pass off Chad Knaus’ penalty as “among most severe in history.” In terms of Lazy-Boy time Knaus received that’s true, but it sure doesn’t take into account the points differential in this case.

But ya know… that’s NASCAR, so what else is new? Move along now, nothing to see here should be the mantra. With 35 events left and a possible 185 points up for grabs in each - not to mention a potential 5 “free passes” given by a teammate for leading a lap - the 25 points only serves the purpose of poking a stick in the ribs of the partisans.

And there are a ton of “hurting ribs” around the net today! Which is the reason for this little diatribe. Can’t say I didn’t expect it, but the amount of venom and hate spread around is astounding.

I don’t and never will understand it. What amount of “passion” does it take for someone to claim the Johnson victory should forever have an asterisk beside it in the record books?

When do you cease being a fan and become someone bordering on dementia? Is it when they feel “their driver” is at such a severe disadvantage because of the #48 violation (never mind it ran in legal trim) you feel compelled to trot this out: “NASCAR’S “golden boys” and their ‘Clinton pardoned criminal owner’ have again been exposed by “driver” Ryan Newman and most fans.”

Damn, I feel lefted out, I’m not part of the in crowd that “exposed” anyone! Where can I get my “golden boys” T-shirt and sign up to be a “most fan?”

Again, what amount of “passion” does it take for someone to write this crapola? It’s way beyond my comprehension.

The top image is my “poke in the ribs.” Say what you will about Chad Knaus but he is an “E-vil Genius” around the garage. If it can be massaged, twisted, and on occasion broken, it will get done to gain an advantage in the best traditions of Smokey Yunick and Junior Johnson, who produced Fred Lorenzen’s #26 above. Lovingly (or derisivly by some) called the Yellow Banana. It stands as one of the most radical and controversial cars in NASCAR history. Yet due to lagging attendence at the time it sailed through tech inspection.

Bottom line is Chad Knaus has some catching up to do if he aspires to reach Junior Johnson’s level of ingenuity and audacity. And NASCAR has to deduct points, or not, on an equal basis.

Oh… and the Yellow Banana was leading the 1966 Rebel 400 when the right front tire blew sending Fred into the guard rail and ending his day.

UPDATE: This is just funny, via one of the newest NASCAR blogs on the block Pit Road Post:

Because of this [Chad Knaus] probation, the Pit Road Post has set up the Chad Knaus Probation watch. Each week our team of on the ground Pit Reporters will watch Knaus and team 48 for any infractions or bending of the rules. This includes acknowledging Jeff Gordon’s presence every time he is the room. If we see an infraction, we won’t report it - we will Publish it!

I recommend a visit to Pit Road Post, authors Keith & Chuck offer much more of the same.

Sheikh Maktoum, founder of the A1 concept, has hit out at Max Mosley after the FIA president predicted that the series