Hitting the Racing Newswires
Gee, what a shock! (Can you see the sarcasm drip off the statement?)
Jeremy Mayfield has been cut loose by Haas Racing and replaced by Johnny Sauter.
“We were unable to provide him with the right balance, handling and speed he needed to be successful,” General Manager Joe Custer said in a statement.
Ah-huh, and that changes how with Sauter at the wheel? MeThinks that qualifies as my Most Disingenuous Statement of the Day. Let’s face a bit of reality, Mayfield has been damaged goods since dragging the Evernham/Crocker thing into a brighter spotlight than existed at the time. His days driving for any of the top 3-4 teams is over.
There is more Titanic-like deck chair shifting at Petty Enterprise’s with Stewart Cooper hired as crew chief for Kyle Petty on Tuesday, taking over the slumping #45 Dodge after it missed the past two races.
Something to ponder: Phoenix: Da waren es nur noch 45… Wonder if Kyle and The King know they’re big in Germany?
Also shifting deck chairs, NASCAR veteran Marty Gaunt joins the Bill Davis management line-up. How that gets a sponsor for the #27 is debatable, we’ll see.
Where-o-where did all the TV viewers go? No, not NASCAR’s, but the one event that was supposed to knock Sprint Cup’s TV ratings for a loop - and didn’t - the NCAA tournament. CBS ratings for the final game dropped slightly and ratings for the 64-game tournament were down about 8 percent overall.
Just think, if it weren’t for office pools and Vegas betting the tournament’s ratings would rival CBS’ “epic” show “Jericho” and get kicked to the curb. The real March Madness, CBS paid $529 million for this year’s rights to the tournament! A half a billion dollars could buy a 2 car team in F1 or 26, that’s right, 26 Sprint Cup teams for a year.
Speedway Motorsports Inc. and International Speedway Corp. are suing each other over the rights to broadcast New Hampshire Motor Speedway races on the radio. Ho-hum, someone wake me when it’s over.
The Sporting News’ Reid Spencer: Way too much whining in NASCAR now Spencer notes an interesting observation by golfing legend Jack Nicklaus as it relates to who wins and who doesn’t. Terry says, “hey, put down that ‘Whine carafe’ shut up and drive.”
In “unified news,” more commonly known as IndyCar, Gomer is back. After missing last year’s Indy 500 due to health concerns Jim Nabors will return to this years 500 to sing “Back Home in Indiana”
As a kid before the 500 was on live TV, and with a radio propped up in my backyard facing bedroom window, I vividly remember the goosebumps Nabors’ rendition of Back Home in Indiana raised on my arms while tending the backyard BBQ. Or maybe it was that hot thirteen-year-old cavorting around next door in a one-piece bathing suit that did it. The memory is dusty.
More later…
Mayfield’s garbage on the track, and he’s not much better in person. I’d be interested to see if he actually lands anywhere this time ’round.
On the other hand, it’s nice to see Sauter finally back with a Cup ride. Good dude.
I wouldn’t go so far as to call him garbage, but he’s most definitely not in my top 15 list of driver’s I’d hire.
[...] Mayfield has been cut loose by Haas Racing and replaced by Johnny Sauter…read more [...]
[...] Marc created an interesting post today (Hitting the Racing Newswires).Read a snippet here, but follow the link for the whole thing.CBS ratings for the final game dropped slightly and ratings for the 64-game tournament were down about 8 percent overall. Just think, if it weren’t for office pools and Vegas betting the tournament’s ratings would rival CBS’ “epic” show … [...]
You quoted Terry Blount?
I’m going to have to completely re-evaluate my hitherto sparkling evaluation of your writing…
Hey, sometimes you have too dig deep through a pile of garbage to find one nugget of truth.
In Terry’s case “shut-up and drive” fits the description.