Full Throttle

A little short of three weeks ago Brian France said things are not as bad for NASCAR as last year, when a weak economy hurt fan attendance and corporate financial backing.

The second of three political tsunamis that have swept America in recent months brought in conservative and Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie who was sworn in this past week.

NASCAR’s history is well known to even the most casual observers. As a sport rooted in the mountains and the foothills of the Southern Appalachians it first received national prominence in 1965. That year saw Esquire magazine publish Tom Wolfe’s essay, “The Last American Hero”, about Junior Johnson’s Wilkes County exploits.

NASCAR won a big court victory Friday as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed a lower court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of NASCAR and International Speedway Corp. in an antitrust lawsuit brought by the former owners of Kentucky Speedway.

Crown Royal will serve as the primary sponsor for Matt Kenseth’s car at Roush Fenway Racing for 18 events beginning in 2010, the team announced on Tuesday.

DeWalt is pulling the plug on its longtime sponsorship of NASCAR’s Matt Kenseth. The Towson power tool maker cited the “unprecedented decline in the construction industry” for ending its 12-year marketing deal with NASCAR.

If you trade the actor Robert Mitchum with the Legendary Junior Johnson what do you have? You have NASCAR’s roots of course! Silly youngin’s… they don’t know dog squat.

International Speedway Corporation has implemented a text-message based communication system at all of its 12 major motorsports facilities.

Threshold Animation Studios’ Tinseltown Toons has embarked on the first full-length animated feature based on the NASCAR brand for the kids market.

Speedway Motorsports Inc. officials say they have made an official request with NASCAR to add Kentucky to the 2010 Sprint Cup Series schedule.

I touched on the possibility of Chrysler pulling the plug on it’s NASCAR Dodge program a couple weeks ago. At the time not much was to be offered by the parties involved in the way of solution.

This is a follow-up to a comment I left at the NASCAR Examiner. Greg noted the recent C&D AF joke that got out of hand and what NASCAR would be like without factory support.

A few months ago a proposal was floated to construct a new racing facility in Canada’s Niagara Falls region. At the time it was to be financed by Kuwaiti Islamic investment bank Bayt Al Mal Investments although there were still a lot of questions to be answered.

As long-time readers are well aware when it comes to paraphernalia of the racing kind I take a pass and any such over priced crapola. In fact my boycott extends to all sports related, and or branded paraphernalia with the last such item purchased being a Edmonton Oilers jersey circa 1985.

This may came as a shock to some, but owning a oval race track about now isn’t the quickest way to the Land of Milk & Honey.

George Gillett entered NASCAR with the purchase of a controlling interest in Evernham Motorsports. In January 2009, a merger was completed with Petty Enterprises. As a result, GEM was renamed Richard Petty Motorsports.

Several major pieces of legislation in Kentucky’s General Assembly including a tax-incentive plan designed to lure a NASCAR Sprint Cup race to the Kentucky Speedway are in jeopardy.

As sponsor of the NHRAs Kenny Bernstein Budweiser has the longest running sponsorship agreement with a single team/driver surpassing the 28-year relationship STP had with Richard Petty last year.

Find out more about Miss Sprint Cup Monica Palumbo — including where she goes when at one of her favorite race tracks and how she’s able to pull off wearing that fire suit — in an exclusive podcast

 

 Miss Sprint Cup Interview [7:45m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

A bill aimed at helping Kentucky Speedway host a potentially lucrative NASCAR Sprint Cup race got a legislative green light Tuesday.