Full Throttle

Brian France has said changes are on the way and the Mongol Hoards led by Genghis Roush and Kublai Hendrick will be banished to the dustbin of NASCAR history. In a highly secretive “communique” issued to five handpicked ink-stained wretches in Kansas, France threw down the gauntlet.

“HE, who shall be obeyed” has decreed it, and it is so, no more multi-car teams! At least not as we know them now. The question is, how the hell is he going to accomplish this surgical strike on the Hoards?

Lets use Jack Roush as an example, with 5 cars in the Chase the team has been on the receiving end of bad press and some fan abuse as a result. So what does Jack have? The reigning Champion in the #97 of Kurt Busch and the man he deposed, the #17 of Matt Kenseth. The #16 of Greg Biffle, #6 of Mark Martin and the #99 of Carl Edwards. But wait… There’s more! Both Elliot Sadler and Dale Jarrett run Roush engines under an agreement with Robert Yates.

Other than hard work for nearly 20 years why does Roush have what he has? Dedication to Ford is the main reason, going back to pre-NASCAR days in Trans-Am and drag racing. In today’s NASCAR Jack is Mr. Ford with a direct hotline to corporate HQ in Dearborn. Without Jack the other Ford teams in NASCAR would be fending for themselves and knocking on Dearborn’s door. Given Ford’s current financial condition it may be a knock that goes unheard.

At present there are 10 Fords the are independent of Roush/Yates. The two most prominent being The ppc Racing Ford of John Andretti and the Wood Bros. Ford of Ricky Rudd. The rest are not full time operations for various reasons. The “independent” Fords are not truly so. They very much depend on the Ford engineering funneled to them via the Roush operation. Without Roush they would be in worse shape than they are now. In a very real sense it’s reminiscent of the late ’60’s when a team that wanted to run a Plymouth had to get the required parts distributed through Level Cross after preying at the altar of Petty Enterprises.

So how do you drop the axe on Roush?

France has singled out the Roush/Yates deal so that’s gone for sure (that’s “sure” by NASCAR’s definition which doesn’t always match up with reality.). Of the five Roush drivers how do you cut them back to three? You could just take the bottom three in the points standings but that disregards the legal entanglements. Whatever decision is made must be based on both the length of a drivers contract and the sponsor deal that is in place. That would dictate this process would occur over a number of years.

Legalities aside, lets say the three left are Jamie McMurrary, Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth. Here is where businessman Roush steps in and places his three largest sponsors in monetary terms on the hoods of those three. Will the now “free agent” sponsors migrate to the Woods Brothers, or one of the “lessers?” Would you as the head of marketing for Crown Royal or Viagra cut a check to PPC Racing? It might be a more likely scenario that you would cut a smaller check, become an “associate sponsor” of one of the three remaining Roush rides, then take the savings and what is called “The Great American Race” in February becomes the Viagra 500.

When you add in the effects to the Hendrick operation it gets worse. What happens to Bliss and Nemecheck? Although they are not part of the Hendrick stable they rely on it for parts, engines and engineering. If the cut happens the first thing to go - in a fit of in your face pique - will be that assistence. Both programs have run well when not saddled by bad luck but without Hendrick support they will quickly fall off the map and so will their sponsorship dollars. Sorry Brian, a big name sponsor, even one just cut loose from Roush or Hendrick will not move over to the #0 car. Not one without Hendrick support, it just ain’t gonna happen.

Added to all this is this kicker, Toyota builds it [avatar:http://cranialcavity.net/files/cts.gif]Craftsman Truck Series[/avatar] engines in-house and supplies them to all its truck teams. Toyota makes sure each team has access to identical technology.

That concept will continue when Toyota moves into Cup, probably in 2007. Toyota might have three Cup team owners (Hello Darrell Waltrip along with Davis Racing and brother Michael, Take your pick on the third) with two cars each but has the advantages of a six-car team.

After expending all the verbiage above, I have a feeling. I smell a smoke screen being layed. We are being shown a show of smoke and mirrors. And I question the timing! Why raise such an important and possibly divisive issue smack in the middle of NASCAR’s premire event, the Chase?

As part of the confab with his selected minions of the press France made pointed remarks about “The Car of the Future.” That is THE subject of interest in the corporate halls of Ford, GM and Diamler-Chrysler. The new car, to be introduced full time in ‘07, has worried those that rely on even the slightest resemblance between what is on the showroom and what appears on the track. The newest incarnation of NASCAR racer takes it further away from the showroom than any before it.

(Speculation Alert!) What if, the bruhaha over team size is a ruse. What if France and his army of Daytona suits know full well if it were undertaken it would take years to accomplish? They have had their legal beagles survey the situation and they say yes, but, and they drift off into a long recitation of legalese fitting for a hearing before the Supreme Court.

So again, why now? Broaching the subject now deflects attention away from the Chase’s “Roush Five.” A mostly news media driven story anyway now they have run out of “Chase without Dale and Jeff” stories to print (and not so incidently a bone thrown to the fans of those two). At the same time NASCAR gets to fire a shot across the bow of the auto makers. “Hey guys, don’t make waves the COF is good for you, squawk too loudly and we might break up your de facto factory teams at Roush and Hendrick.”

And really. Can we believe NASCAR is truly concerned about consolidation of power in a couple a garages? I don’t believe it for a minute, not unless the Daytona suits divest themselves of a few of the 12 tracks they own, a few marketing licences (ie when there is no longer an official vegetable, official breakfast cereal, an official ladies purse, deodorant, toothbrush or Infant bib) and drop the NASCAR news service they are starting.

Until then any sheep bleats about multi-car teams from France are just that, bleats with no substance and will quietly go away under an avalanche of legal briefs.

Another two cents: If NASCAR feels obliged to “level the field” they should start another Chase! At present those teams that finish the year 35^th and below must make the starting field of the following year’s Daytona 500 on time alone. Make a Chase for those from 36^th and below, reset their points as the current Chase does and give say… 2.5 million to the top point getter plus a guaranteed spot in the first month of the following season. WHAT, you say that will create a problem on restarts with Chase cars on the outside and 36^th and below Chasers inside all fighting for their Chase lives? Au contraire mon ami I’ve solved that as well. In July the NASCAR Busch North Series changed their restart rules. NASCAR Grand National Division (Busch North Series and West Series) races will now feature