Full Throttle

The NASCAR Suits have a mile long list of why they insist on having Champions Week in the Big Apple, chief among them is exposure in one of the world’s media capitals. It’s a valid reason but with the NASCAR marketing machine as pervasive as it is I question the need for whatever boost NYC may provide.

I will be the first to admit I’m biased, and generally dislike all functions of this type. They’re all exercises in self-aggrandizement and provide increased income flow for the nations chiropractors to repair damage done while participants pat themselves on the back.

That said, what put me in total opposition to NASCAR’s obsession over NYC was the treatment they received during The Great Staten Island Adventure™. The negotiation process was rife with outright lies and physical altercations.

The fact the ISC effort failed and forced a sale to a large warehouse conglomerate is icing on the cake as far as I’m concerned. What residents feared most, traffic & its attendant pollution, is exactly what they will get as hundreds of 18-wheelers roll thru Staten Island each day. (I love the smell of diesel fumes in the morning!)

Early this year the Charlottle Observer floated the idea of Champions Week shifting its location to Las Vegas, sadly that didn’t happen.

By now you’re wondering where I’m going with this.

It’s here, in the following headline from a prominent NYC website.

“NASCAR Drivers Towing Giant Wal-Mart Full Of Fat Middle-Americans Thru Center Of Manhattan.”

That pretty much encapsulates the general feeling towards NASCAR (not to mention Middle-Americans) in the five boroughs of NY. To be fair, odds are good the headline was written by someone other than the author, but it made “print” none-the-less.

The article itself is nothing more than a Whine-Fest over Mid-Town traffic as a result of NASCAR parading it’s race cars through that part of the city. The city has declared a “Gridlock Alert Day” to which I say, call them all a Whaaaaaambulance!

It also makes me wonder if Gawker (you know, those wonderful people that bring you that Deadspin tripe that masquerades as a blog), also call foul when the Korean American Parade passes along Broadway tying up traffic.

Or perhaps they commence a Whine-Fest when the Hispanic Day or the Columbus Day Parades bring 5^th Avenue traffic to a standstill.

Truth be known, with all due respect to political correctness, I doubt if they would utter a single peep when September offers the Muslim Parade & Festival along Madison Ave.

Admittedly I have little proof any of the above assumptions are true, but MeThinks I’m close, and most of their crocodile tears are reserved for NASCAR. (for more proof check out the comment thread: “Have you met any NASCAR fans? Any “real Heartland Americans”? He was being restrained.”)

As I said, I could care less about the event itself, but it’s high time NASCAR divorced itself from the ungrateful bastards that live in and run the city of New York. Move Champ Week to East Timbuktu for all I care just move it.

UPDATE: The ignorance and stupidity didn’t stop at a few NYC media outlets and blog comment threads, it reached all the way to NYC’s Mayor Bloomberg. He claims he knew nothing about NASCAR’s top 10 drivers parading through Midtown NY or the gridlock it would cause due to a scheduling conflict with the annual Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting.

Stick a sock in it Mayor, or a Nomex racing glove, and just shut up.

UPDATE II: Here is a “Dear Brian” [France] letter I’m in complete agreement with.

With all due respect to Jimmie Johnson and his better half Chandra, not to mention Jeff and his ex-SuperModel, new Momma and wife Ingrid, there just may be The Perfect NASCAR Marriage.

It might not seem so at first glance, but I’ll explain. Eventually.

NASCAR, and those people the bring you The Right Stuff NASA, share a joint anniversary in 2008. Both have been a part of the American scene since 1948.

NASA plans a December 6th launch of space shuttle Atlantis and has already started finalizing the flight cargo manifest. Among the items that will be stowed inside the shuttle’s cargo bay: three Daytona 500 race flags.

This the first time that the Daytona track and NASA have joined forces and both organizations are looking to capitalize on the publicity. Toward that end both sides are trying to arrange astronaut-driver promotional events, including a possible joint NASCAR driver-shuttle crew press event during Atlantis

That headline should bring out the Jeffy defenders in droves, but more about it in a minute.

This week is the annual Baked Chicken and Gross Beast soir

It’s a trite and over used phrase but it must be said: “Just what to hell are they thinking?”

Mergers are designed to strengthen two or more parties. A merger between the CCWS and IndyCar is what is sorely needed for open wheel racing in the good old US of A to survive, if not prosper.

What’s not needed is to merge two of the most successful Champ Car teams into a single, dare I say it, SuperTeam.

Forsythe Championship Racing owner Jerry Forsythe and RuSport owner Dan Pettit announced that they will combine operations and run under the banner of Forsythe/Pettit Racing beginning with the 2008 season.

During CCWS’s 16 years in existence (minus 1985-1993 when on hiatus) Forsythe has 32 wins, 34 poles and one championship and is one of the series most successful teams.

RuSport, although with much shorter CCWS history, has finished second the last two years and has four wins in it four seasons of competition.

It should be pointed out Jerry Forsythe is, along with partner Kevin Kalkhoven, a co-owner of CCWS.

Forsythe, a co-owner of the Champ Car World Series, said, “I am pleased to announce the combination of Forsythe Championship Racing and RuSPORT Racing. I know that Dan and I share the same goal and that is to compete for a championship.

But what about sharing a goal of a more competitive racing series that not only offers a more equal brand of racing from top-to-bottom, but one that has a little more than a bakers dozen in each starting field?

Again, just what to hell are they thinking?

Beside self interest I mean.

It’s Monday after the long holiday weekend and most of the leftovers from Thursday are gone.

But as the picture seems to indicate there’s still some leftovers that have become the subject of the FT trivia quiz this week.

Your mission if you should except it, and why wouldn’t you, is identify this Jimmie Johnson impostor.

The silver & blue paint scheme is familiar but the more discerning among you will note the split grill and badge between it all scream PONTIAC GRAND PRIX. And the neon yellow #48 makes it appear from a distance to be a fairly accurate clone of the two-time NEXTEL Cup champion’s ride.

But it’s not.

Those with a shall we say, a more “worldly view” of stock car racing, may have a slight advantage in tracking down the #48’s identity. As would those with Google skills and decide to use the hints displayed in the image.

As for other hints, that’s about all I have fer ya. The season for this driver and the series he runs in starts in the spring just as the real Jimmie Johnson’s, so you can rule out the new SpeedCar Series whose inaugral season starts January 26^th, 2008.

As a last hint the series competes on an even split between road courses and oval tracks. One of the oval tracks is nicknamed “The Rock” (that should toss some of you for a loop!) and Tony Kanaan in a Ford/Lola Champ Car holds the track record at an average speed of 215.397mph.

So there you have it, the “#48 Man Edition” of trivia. I’ll bet a bucket of leftover giblet gravy no one guesses the correct answer.

A1GP Sepang Qualifying Results:

A1GP Team Switzerland’s Neel Jani put in a sensational performance during qualifying for the A1GP Sepang, Malaysia to take pole position for Sunday’s Sprint and Feature race. The Swiss star will start the Sprint race from P1 for the third consecutive season at Sepang and he will lead the drivers off the grid for A1GP’s 50th ever race Sunday afternoon.

Neel Jani continued his magnificent form around the Sepang circuit, setting the quickest lap during the first qualifying segment and going on to better it in the second to snatch pole position for the Sprint race from A1 Team France, demoting Loic Duval to second on the grid.

Great Britain’s Oliver Jarvis and German rookie Michael Ammerm