This past Saturday evening at the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction in Scottsdale, a 1992 Ford Thunderbird driven by the late Davey Allison to victory at the 1992 Daytona 500 race was put up for auction by legendary car owner Robert Yates. Davey was killed in a helicopter crash at Talladega in 1992. He was one of the sport's hot upcoming stars at the time, and his loss devestated NASCAR. The car was completely restored to exactly how it was when it won that race, and was accompanied by Davey's firesuit and helmet from that race. The car came across the blocks during prime time, when the big dogs come out to bid. The car drew only a handful of bids, and sold for a paltry $125,000 - the disappointment on Yates' face was awful to see. If the car had been sold like this a decade ago, it might have brought a million.The Nationwide Series, NASCAR's AAA farm program of Saturday races, is going to get really interesting. Ford has offered up the Mustang as it's entry in the Series, replacing the 4 door Fusion. Chrysler has offered up the Challenger, replacing the 4 door Charger. GM is the only party pooper, choosing to continue to put forward the 4 door Impala instead of the new Camaro. (What do you expect from a Socialist Obama-owned entity like GM?). Seeing sports cars represented on the track rather than 4 door family busses is cool - just like the old Trans Am racing days when Mustangs, Camaros, Challengers, 'Cudas, Cougars, AMXs, and the like tooled around the tracks back in the late '60s and early '70s.
Beginning a decade ago, NASCAR tried to clean up its image, to get away from the Southern bootlegger background. It was deemed necessary to attract corporate America's sponsorship. It worked, but ended up resulting in lilly white pansies as drivers. Any bad word uttered ends up in controversy and fines, and potentially the loss of season points. 'Bad Boy' racing is severely punished, to the point where drivers are so PC that it is boring. Fans and drivers both have been pissed off about this.
Finally, NASCAR gets it. They are supposedly pulling back this year, telling drivers to let it hang out, to let their emotions go, to race hard and do whatever they need to do to win. Fans have been waiting for this for years ... it remains to be seen how much NASCAR will turn them loose. How far will they let the drivers go before pulling them back?
Ford Drivers/Teams should have a designated attack car for each race. The purpose of this car is to head directly towards Jimmy Johnson's Chevy and take it out at the first of each race. This driver, admittedly very good, has won the Championship for 4 years running - and it stinks - it is boring. He is good - his team is good (though they've been caught cheating multiple times over the years) - his equipment is good - his owner is good. I am tired of seeing him in Victory Lane, and the vast majority of NASCAR fans agree with me.
I really want to see a Ford team win the Championship, both in Cup and Nationwide Series this year. Besides being a Ford man, it would be so sweet to see the one major car company that didn't take government handouts come out on top!
With the economic situation we face, sponsorship is a real problem in both the Cup and Nationwide Series'. Start-and-park cars (poorly sponsored, or not at all sponsored cars that qualify for a race, then start the race and complete only a few laps before quitting - in order to collect winnings) used to be almost non-existant. Now, they are at almost every race, sometimes up to 4-5 of them. NASCAR allows and encourages this practice, because they want to fill the 43 car fields for each race.
There are quite a few serious teams/drivers that are out of the sport now, at least for the time being, because there are no sponsors wanting to foot the bill to field their cars. Most of the teams in Cup now have multiple primary sponsors, with each sponsor getting to show their paint scheme for a negotiated number of races during the season. Some of the lower teams, and quite a few Nationwide teams, fight hard for race to race sponsorship deals, not knowing if they'll have money to run the next race or not.
Racing at this level is not for the financially faint of heart. Tires, for instance ... $1600.00 for a set of 4 Goodyear Eagles, tires that are expected to last less than 100 miles in the best of conditions. It is not uncommon for a Cup team to go through 10 sets on a race weekend.
I hope that this season pulls the sport out of its funk. There are so many problems in NASCAR, but it is still the most popular motorsport in America. It is still the most competitive motorsport in the world. The most boring NASCAR race I've ever seen is still far more entertaining than the stuck up Europeans and their Formula 1 crap.
Here's to a new season ... my predictions (or hopes) ....
Carl Edwards wins the Sprint Cup Championship.
Dale Jr. wins the most popular driver award again, though he will not win a single race (again).
Under new rules, I think it is a tossup as to who beats the crap out of Brad Keselowski first.
Jimmy Johnson's crew chief will once again get caught cheating and be suspended.
A Mustang, driven by Carl Edwards for Roush Racing, will win the Nationwide Series, giving NASCAR its first dual champion.
Fox Sports will continue to use the damned gopher graphics on their telecasts, which are otherwise very good.
Danica Patrick will crash out of her first several attempts at Nationwide racing, and will immediately blame all of her competitors.
Obama will attempt to levy a 'redneck racing' tax, charging race attendees a 40% surcharge on their ticket price, in order to fund free healthcare for illegal immigrants.
Nancy Pelosi, trying to energize her California voter base, will ask to wave the green flag at one of the California Speedway's races this year. NASCAR will politely decline her self-invitation.
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