Dover Is A Big Test For The Roush Camp

Roush has been in a little bit of a slump since Carl Edwards won at Phoenix earlier in the year. While Carl is sitting second in the points, his teammate Greg Biffle has been sliding backwards in a hurry. Carl has been consistently finishing in the top 10, but he’s not had the speed to contend for wins.  Biffle has just been not very good most places we’ve raced. He has been running mid-pack at best and has been caught up in a few wrecks because of it. Ricky Stenhouse has had good days and bad days. You can’t get on the rookie too hard because he is still learning. His two teammates can’t use that excuse. For a team that is used to dominating or at least contending for wins on the tracks that have a lot of banking, they have not found their mojo with the new car. They just seem to be missing one or two little things to elevate them to the level that Joe Gibbs and Hendrick seem to be at right now.

This weekend we are at Dover. Historically this has been a very good track to the Roush Camp. As an organization they have over 75 top fives and 9 wins. Only Michigan and Bristol have better win records for them.  The high banking and concrete surface seems to suit their cars and their drivers. Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle are no strangers to driving a loose car, which is a necessity and this one mile speedway. I can remember back to 2008 when Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, and Matt Kenseth (now at Joe Gibbs) battled each other for the win in a Roush 1-2-3 finish. That’s the kind of performance that Roush would like to get back to and Dover will be a good gauge to see where they stand. The Cup series is so competitive that just being off with your cars a tiny bit is the difference between running up front and running 15th.

Look for Roush to show improvement this weekend. If they don’t, they are going to have a hard time getting Biffle in the chase. I think Carl is fine and will make it, but Greg could easily miss it unless he find a way to improve his performance. Look for Jack to make a crew chief change soon if Matt Puccia can’t right the ship. Everyone knows that Roush will shuffle things around if a team is struggling. I think there is also more pressure on Roush Fenway now that Ford has another top-tier team under its wing. There have been quite a few races this year where the Penske cars have run much better than the Roush Fenway cars. I’m sure this did not go over well with Roush Fenway, who is used to being the top dog in the Ford camp.

You can’t argue that Hendrick and Gibbs have had the best cars. It seems like every race has been dominated by a driver from one of those two teams. Even if they haven’t won every race, they have been a threat to win. That’s all you can ask for. If you keep putting yourself in a position to win, you will eventually have everything go your way and get a win. If you’re running 8th to 10th all race you are not going to get those opportunities. I believe losing Matt Kenseth was a huge blow to Roush Fenway. Matt was such an integral part of the team that it’s like you’re losing a car chief as well. I think he has elevated the competition within Joe Gibbs Racing and taken their program to new heights. I was worried that there might be an issue with Kyle, Denny, and Matt wanting to be the #1 driver, but they seem to be getting along fine.

So after Dover we’ll have a pretty clear picture where Roush Fenway is and if they’ll be contenders for the chase.  I think Carl will get a top five, but I don’t feel good about Biffle’s chances. Ricky has a fair amount of experience at the Monster Mile so I would expect to see him able to run in the top 15. The Ford camp could use a boost right now and this is the best opportunity I think until Sonoma (Ambrose) or Michigan for them to get back to victory lane. It wasn’t that long ago that we were calling Edwards “Concrete Carl” and I’m sure he would like to get some of that magic back.

image from Wikimedia author diaper

Ray Evernham Is Right About The All-Star Race

On my way home from my vacation in the North Carolina mountains I listened to an interesting interview on satellite radio with Ray Evernham. The main topic was the All Star race last weekend and what he thought of it. The question was brought up whether the event was supposed to be a race or more of a show. The answer of course is both. Which can be said for NASCAR in general. It is a fine line between creating entertainment without turning the series into professional wrestling. I think right now NASCAR is doing a pretty good job balancing it on the 36 races that make up the normal schedule. Most of the on-track racing has been good enough to provide the entertainment and some of the events have had a little post-race excitement. One of Ray’s main points was that he thought the All-Star race should have a different technical rules package. To allow the teams more leeway to work on the cars. I agree with Ray that it should be different from a rules package stand-point. Let it also be an All Star event for the teams to showcase their talent. Let them innovate and drive the sport forward.

Now I’m not talking about throwing the rule book away. That would lead to some ridiculous cars being made. I’m saying open up the rules in areas that won’t change the look of the cars, but would give the teams some options to make the car even faster. Mainly in the front and rear suspensions. Allow them to do anything they want as long as they use the Goodyear spec tires and they remain in their normal position when it goes through tech. Let the teams play with the geometry and mounting points.  It would be interesting to see what the teams could come up with. You could also allow the team to decide how much rear spoiler to run. Too tall and the car will have too much drag, too little and you won’t have enough downforce in the corner. Then they could also play with the angle.

I would also like to see them open up the engine rules. Nothing too crazy. Allow the teams to run any rear gear they choose. That way the engine guys can turn as much RPM as they dare. Take away some of the weight rules for the pistons, valves, etc. Allow them to use some more exotic materials.  Just thinking about the possibilities from taking away those couple of rules gets me excited. It would really challenge the engine builders and drive development. You always hear people wanting to return to the “good ole days” and this is one way to get a small piece of that back. I would not be surprised to see some engines turning RPM similar to an Indy car, but with a pushrod V8. The focus for the engine shops now is mostly reliability, but this would be a chance for them to push the power envelope even more.

Now this could lead to some problems with the racing. If a team comes up with an advantage that is too great, they would run away with the win. Think Jeff Gordon and the legendary T-Rex car. That could make for a boring race. I’m sure NASCAR could come up with something to add the excitement back in. I think shrinking budgets and teams not willing to spend all year developing a car for a non-points race would keep most them from spending too much time on the cars. Hopefully this would keep the field relatively close. Obviously the bigger teams will be able to do more, but that’s always been the case in auto racing. I think you would have many engines builders pushing the limits and that could lead to more failures, adding drama to the event.

As a fan I just want to see something special with the All Star cars. Something that sets the racing apart from a normal event other than the big pay-day.  Charlotte is the perfect track to allow the rules to be opened up. It isn’t big enough to allow the cars to get up to dangerous speeds. Even if you added another 10 mph to a lap, it would not cause any issue. You would still be quite a bit slower than Michigan.

What do you think would spice up the race? Do you think the All Star event should be more of a show than a normal points race or do you want to just see good hard race? Would allowing the teams to work on different areas of the car add excitement?

image from Wikimedia author tequilamike

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Matt Kenseth Is The Modern Day David Pearson

I am by far not the first person to make that statement, but it continues to be proven over and over again to be true. If there was anybody on todays NASCAR circuit that reminds me most of David Pearson it has to be Matt Kenseth. Now I wasn’t around to watch Mr. Pearson rack up 105 wins, but I have watched enough video and spent enough time around Leonard Wood to know what kind of driver he was. David was not the type to lead the most laps. He would save his car to lead the one that matter. David was smart enough to realize that to finish first, first you much finish. He would spend the race taking care of his car. Not showing the other competitors his true hand. Then in the closing laps he would make a charge for the front.  In his mind it seemed like a pretty simple formula for collecting the big check and going home with a race car not all torn up. That’s what made him one of the best racers of all time and a hero to so many.

The racing today is different. Most drives will tell you they go out a run as hard as they can every lap. I’ve heard Carl Edwards say that multiple times. They want to run up front at all costs to please the sponsors and get as much tv exposure as possible. There is a lot of pride to leading the most laps, but that isn’t what people will remember or the stat that is the most important. It’s all about the wins in the end. Last Saturdays race at Darlington was a great example of this. Kyle Busch dominated the race.  He led an astounding 265 laps.It looked like he had by far the best car and was sailing away to another weekend sweep. At one point it looked like the only car that could challenge him was Kahne. Who he quickly dispatched of after getting loose underneath Kasey and putting him into the wall. But there was someone else waiting in the shadows to pounce. His name is Davi,.. Matt Kenseth.

All the Gibbs cars were strong, but Matt was consistently in the Top 5 throughout the night. There were points in the race when Kyle definitely had the stronger car, but Matt knew if they kept working on the handling of his car, they would have a shot to win the race. Kenseth has always been the type of driver who tells his crew chief what kind of adjustment he wants. Matt understands the cars and generally knows what needs to be done to improve his car. That might have been invaluable this weekend since Matt was missing his crew chief Jason Ratcliff. Normally that kind of change would spell disaster for a team (Penske felt the pain at Darlington), but Joe Gibbs Racing has the depth to overcome it. For that last run to the checker flag, Matt Kenseth’s car looked the best it had been all night. After letting Kyle Busch use up his tires, Kenseth made it look easy completing the pass on such a difficult track.

As I watched the pass, I could not help to think back to all the wins Kenseth has had like this. Normally not known for his stellar qualifying, Matt usually starts mid-pack and works his way up methodically during the race. The whole time making adjustments so he can contend at the end. It usually doesn’t take him long to crack the top ten. Since his move to JGR his qualifying had improved and he doesn’t have to work his way up. He just hangs around the top 5 until he feels it is the right time to go. Matt is not the kind of guy that shows a lot of emotion and I think he considers himself a realist. The nickname Robot Kenseth floats around the internet. I don’t consider that a bad thing in this sport. If the car only has a 5th place finish in it at the end, that’s where he’ll finish. He won’t try to push it over the edge and  finish 25th. While that might mean less overall wins, it should average out to a better finish in the points. When the car is good enough to win he seizes the opportunity.

Overall I think Matt will be a major threat once we get to the end of the year. During the pre-race show on Speed I scoffed when Kyle Petty suggested Matt could get 4-5 more wins before the chase, but now I think that could be a real possibility. He seems to be there at the end of every race. Usually without a scratch on the car.  Something I think David Pearson would even be proud of.

image from wikimedia author Rick R. Duncan

The Death Of The Manual Transmission Is Getting Closer

It was recently announced that the 2014 Porsche 911 Turbo will not be available with a manual transmission, following the GT3 in dropping it from the options list. The only choice from now on will be Porsche’s PDK dual clutch 7-speed. While the PDK is an awesome piece of technology, I have mixed feeling about Porsche dropping the manual. Everyone now knows that semi-automatic transmission are much faster than rowing your own gears, but I can’t help feeling disappointed in the decision. I’ve always thought of the 911 as a purists car. I will probably never own a 991 turbo, but this is a trend that the whole industry has been shifting toward for the last ten years. You can no longer get a manual transmission in any Ferrari and many of the most exotic cars in the world do not offer one. As someone who enjoys shifting the gears myself, I have mixed feelings.

On one hand, you have the purists that will never give up their clutch pedal. Sure, sure the paddle shift is faster around the track, but there is nothing like that feeling you get on a well-timed downshift and powering through the gears. Good driving technique is rewarded and the challenge will raise anyones blood pressure. Shifting your own gears connects you to the car on another level. You feel one with the car and have complete control. If you have never driven a high performance manual transmission car on the limit, it is hard to describe. I’m not a huge fan of driver aids. When I drove the F430 with paddle shift it was a phenomenal car, but I felt like I was playing Gran Turismo. It was great for a novice like myself, just jumping in the car and driving on the track. I could concentrate on the my line and not have to take my hands off the steering wheel. The automatic blips on the downshift made my spine tingle with the tubi exhaust the car had. Still, I couldn’t help but feel the experience would have been even better if the car had been a manual. Sure the lap would have been slower (much slower in my case), but the experience would have been driving nirvana. There are financial advantages as well. A manual gearbox is much simpler. It is fairly easy to replace and won’t cost you your 401k if you had to buy a new one. I would also be wary of modifying a car with a paddle shift transmission. I would not want to grenade a transmission that expensive.

On the other hand, there are obvious reasons why a semi-auto transmission makes sense. The big advantage is the speed of the shift. Shifts are measured in milliseconds. There is also no opportunity for missed shifts.  That combined with not having to worry about a clutch can lead to much faster lap times on a track. It makes everyone a better driver. Even In a straight line the semi-auto is faster. A lot of the problems that plagued early paddle shift cars are now gone. They were known for being jerky during lower speed driving. From what I’ve read, that has been fixed. I don’t remember any jerkiness in the LP560 I drove earlier this year. It is also nice to be able to throw the car into automatic mode when you’re feeling lazy. It is the best of both worlds. You’re able to drive it as an automatic and not have the increased drivetrain loss, but you’re also able to have full control when you want to drive it hard. As technology gets more advanced, people want the latest and greatest when they are paying $150,000 or more for an exotic vehicle. It only makes sense to have a paddle shift transmission standard.

So I’m torn on how I feel about the eventual death of the manual transmission in high performance cars. It is such an integral part of the pure driving experience. I can only hope that the auto manufacturers of lower priced sports cars keep it as an option. Even if it’s only because of the cost savings for them. I understand that you’re giving up a small amount of speed, but that’s not the point of a great car. To me it is more about how it makes you feel when you drive it. I think some of that is lost when you only have to press a couple of buttons.

image from wikimedia, author Alexandre Prévot

2011 Ford Mustang Clutch Replacement

Literally a couple of days after I wrote my blog post about my Ford Mustang reaching 60,000 miles with not many issues, the clutch gave out. I was making a spirited run onto the highway and when I shifted from second to third the clutch went to the floor and stayed there. I had to pump it up and I barely made it home. It was  slipping like crazy and while starting from a stop there was a lot of chatter. I thought about just taking it to the dealership, but after reading the online service manual I decided to save some money and change it myself in the garage. Since I only had jack stands I knew it was going to be a pretty painful experience. It is not the first time I’ve replaced a clutch so I do have some experience. Fortunately it went out on a Saturday and I could get to work right away.

I wanted to pull the trans before ordering the parts to see what I was dealing with. Just in case I had to order more parts than I originally thought I needed. I jacked the car up and put it as far up on the jack stands that I could. The first thing I did was disconnect the battery. Then I went to work disconnected the front subframe cross-bar. It is easy with just four bolts. I also marked everything I took apart so I could line everything up the same way when I put it back together. The manual tells you to drop the front subframe to angle the engine back, but I did not do this. I really didn’t want to mess with the alignment. Next I disconnected the driveshaft at the trans, rear-end, and the center bearing. I did not remove it totally, just kind of pulled it out the back a little. I didn’t touch the exhaust at first. That was a mistake. Later to get the trans out I had to disconnect the passenger side cat and loosen the ball joint to swivel it out of the way. I did not have to drop the whole H-pipe. Next I removed the starter. The top bolt is a pain in the butt.

I then climbed into the car and started to take the shifter apart. This is fairly straight forward. Pop the surrounding plastic and four cap screws hold it in place. It is probably easier to take off the rear shift bracket first from under the car. This allows the shifter to drop down and you can get to the rear bolts from the top more easily. After the shifter was free I started to look at all the connectors that needed to be taken off. Feel around the top of the trans to make sure you get them all. You can also disconnect the clutch line. There is a little metal clip you pry out and then the fitting pulls off. The little metal clip likes to fly off so pay attention when removing it.  Be ready to catch the dripping brake fluid. Next I used my car jack to support the transmission. At this point I did not have a trans jack. With the weight on the jack I marked and removed the rear trans mount. Pretty straight forward. Next it is time to tackle the transmission to engine bolts. I found the best way to get to these bolts was from under the car. If you have skinny arms you can even get to the top ones from under the car. You obviously can’t see what you’re doing but you should be able to feel them.  I used a piece of cardboard to keep the bolts in the same orientation that they came out in.

Now it was time to pull the transmission back and lower it from the car. This was a little sketchy with the car jack I was using. As you come down you should stop and double check to make sure all the connectors are disconnected. You will also have to make sure the shifter clears the H-pipe as you lower it. With the jack stands I have, the car was not high enough to slide the transmission out. Instead I just pushed it back to give me room to work on the clutch. Removing the clutch is pretty straight forward. There are six bolts on the pressure plate. Once out you should be able to pop the pressure plate and clutch off the dowels. Be careful, the weight of it can catch you off guard.

Once I had the car this far apart I started to order parts. I had no idea what clutch kit to get. After searching the forums and reading a bunch of reviews I settled on the Exedy Mach 500 kit. I also went ahead and ordered the Exedy steel flywheel, ARP flywheel bolts, and Exedy throw-out bearing. I ordered a new exhaust gasket for the cat from the local dealership. I had all my parts by Wednesday, but did not get a chance to work on the car until the next night. Before I could put it back together I still had to remove the flywheel. Using my impact I took out all the bolts and removed it. My next job was probably the most difficult. Removing the pilot bearing from the crank. First I tried the grease method. This didn’t do anything except make a huge mess. I had to go to AutoZone and borrow a slide hammer anda pilot bearing attachment. This made easy work of removing it. Still it was very tight and there was no way the grease method was going to work. You might as well just get the slide hammer right away.

For reinstalled the bearing I removed the crank trigger wheel so I didn’t hit it with the hammer. Using a large socket I drove the new pilot bearing into place. Then I put the trigger wheel back on and the flywheel, torquing it to the recommended spec from ARP and using the lube. Before installing the flywheel, I had to tap the pressure plate dowels into place. I decided to replace the throw-out bearing next. The new one I bought from Exedy looks exactly like the stock one. I think it is the same part, but since I was in there I decided to replace it. It is only two bolts to replace. Now it was time to put the new clutch and pressure plate into the car. Remember to clean off the rust preventative off both the pressure plate and the flywheel surface. The clutch has to go in with the flush side toward the engine. The hub side that sticks out toward the rear. You should be able to get the pressure plate up on the flywheel dowels, but be careful not to drop it. It is heavy. I put a little blue Loctite on the threads of the clutch bolts. Just get the clutch bolts started and insert the clutch alignment tool to center the clutch.

It is important to torque the clutch bolts in a star pattern at only a couple turns at a time. Drawing the pressure plate evenly onto the flywheel. Torque to the appropriate spec in the manual. The manual says to use new clutch bolts, but I didn’t. For reinstalling the transmission I bought a proper trans jack. There was no way I was going to safety install it on the car jack. I also enlisted the help of my brother since I knew it was going to be a tough battle putting it back it. I was right. It was a huge pain in the butt to get everything lined up to get the transmission to mate up with the engine and slide into place. I recommend cleaning up the dowels on the transmission with some Scotch-brite. Mine had some corrosion and would not slide nicely into the engine. Be mindful of all the connectors and not to pinch any wires. After going up and down a million times, we finally felt the input shaft go into the pilot bearing. I was still not able to get the transmission to sit flush against the engine because of the dowels. I had to put the bolts in and draw the transmission onto the engine for the final 0.75″. I know that is not the correct way, but it worked.

The rest of the reinstalled is pretty straight forward. Remember to line up everything you marked earlier. Re-apply Loctite to any bolts that looks like it had it before. I used blue on everything that needed it. Torque all fasteners based on what is in the service manual. This is also a good time to replace the clutch line with a braided SS aftermarket line and the shifter rear bushing with a stiffer part. I didn’t, but will go back and do it later.  If everything is put back together you can re-fill the reservoir with new brake fluid. It will take a huge amount of pumping to get your pedal feel back. At first it will go straight to the floor. There is no bleed and it is supposed to bleed itself by pumping the pedal. I could never get the pedal feel as good as it was before with just pumping, so I used my vacuum bleed pump to bleed it the way the manual calls out. I did not have a rubber stop to use on the reservoir top so I went to Lowes and bought a rubber bathtub plug that fit in the hole. I then poked a whole through it and pushed one of my vacuum fitting into it. Worked perfectly and after vacuum bleeding, the feel was much better.

The last thing you will have to do is the crank sensor re-learn procedure. I didn’t do it right away, but after the 500 mile clutch break in procedure, the CEL popped up for mis-fires. So I went to the dealership and they were nice enough to do the procedure for free in about 10 minutes. The CEL didn’t come on until I started driving the car normally and taking it above 5000 RPM. The Exedy clutch break in is very specific and I was not driving the car aggressive enough to cause a CEL during that time. After the re-learn I have had no issues. The new clutch has a very similar feel to the stock clutch. Maybe just slightly firmer and the grab is very nice. There is also no chatter and you can still slip is nicely. I do not notice a large difference with the “lightweight” flywheel. Which is fine with me. While I am not thrilled about having to change the clutch at only 60,000 miles, now I don’t have to worry about it for a long time when I do more engine mods.

The Cup Series Should Really Have A Few More Road Courses

I’ll admit that I wasn’t always a NASCAR fan. I guess you could call me a late bloomer. Don’t get me wrong, I respected it, but never felt the urge to sit down and watch the whole race. I was always a huge Formula One fan and never missed a race. I also enjoyed watching WRC rally and any kind of sports car racing. Ohio isn’t really a state that is crazy about stock car racing. One day I was flipping through the channels and came across the Nextal Cup series at Watkins Glen. It peaked my interest enough to watch the entire thing. I thoroughly enjoyed watching what I thought were big, simple cars being man-handled around the track. Beating and banging each other trying to gain positions. I loved it. From then on I always watched the two road course races. There’s a huge group of racing fans out there that also loves when NASCAR hits the road courses. Most of these fans are exactly the target audience NASCAR wants to capture. Young to middle age adults. During the two road course races you will see threads pop up all over the internet from people who would normally turn the channel.

I would like to see at least two more road courses on the Sprint Cup schedule. These are some of the best drivers in the world and they should be racing on the best circuits North America has to offer. I think the new circuit in Austin Texas would be a great addition to the schedule.  Circuit of The Americas (COTA) is a new world-class racing facility built to host the US round of the Formula One championship. While it doesn’t have the history of Watkins Glen, it would provide a great backdrop to get some new fans excited about our sport. You could even make it a companion race with DTM or Australian SuperCars to attract an international audience. I think there is little doubt in anyones mind that it is one of nicest race tracks in the world.  If it is the premier facility in the US, it should have the premier racing series run there.

The second road course that I think would be a home run is Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. Taking the Cup series international is an obvious next step. Maybe not worldwide, but at least to Canada. You can only grow so much here in the US. Canada offers a great opportunity to reach a whole new group of fans. Canadians are huge race fans and Montreal is a great city.  There is already a Nationwide race held there every year and it seems like there is always a great turnout by the Canadians. The track itself is interesting and always provides great racing. It would be a great change of scenery for the Cup series. I know there are sponsors concerned about being in Canada and advertising to the wrong country, but I would think it is still well worth it for the tv exposure. It could also bring in new international sponsors, at least for this one race.

Now the schedule is already too long as it is. I don’t think any track should have more than one race other than the restrictor plate races and Charlotte for the all-star race. I realize that some of the tracks need two races to make their economic model work, but with lackluster attendance it could be a net gain to reduce everything to one. I quickly think back to Bristol earlier this year and all those empty seats. Cutting back to one race may help them get back to the most coveted ticket in NASCAR. That’s another topic all together. So that leaves me with taking away two races.

The first race I would get rid of is the second Pocono race in August. I don’t see any need to go to this track twice. The race is interesting because of the unique shape, but long green flag runs can make it a little boring. One race at Pocono is enough. I would switch the August date with Montreal. The weather should be great there this time of year. This would put two road course races in a row so I would probably move Sonoma to a little later in the year. The second race I would ditch for a COTA race is actually the one we just visited. I would swap out the first Texas event for this race. That way you still have two races in Texas and can take advantage of the cooler weather in the beginning of the year. We have enough 1.5 mile tracks on the schedule so I don’t think anybody would miss running Texas twice… except Roush Fenway.

Racing on the road courses has been a part of NASCAR history since the sport began. With the caliber of drives we have, I think there should be more. It provides a different challenge to the teams and allows drivers with a road racing background to show off their talents. I don’t see any downside to adding them. What do you think about only having two on the schedule? Would you like to see more? What tracks would you pick?

Where Have All The Ricers Gone?

When I was in high school I used to sit in class and dream about owning a 99-00′ Honda Civic SI as my first car. I used to list out all the parts I wanted to buy for it.  Browsing the internet for different modifications I could do. An obnoxious exhaust, APC altezza taillights, an aggressive body kit with EVO style fog light, even underbody neons. I was a full-fledged wannabe ricer. I didn’t know any better. There were no other car enthusiasts in my family to show me the light. The movie The Fast And The Furious had just come out and the ricer movement was in full swing. While the term rice is usually associated with Asian cars, I consider any car with over the top appearance modification ricey. Of course ricey is entirely subjective, but I feel I think most would agree with what I consider rice.

With the sixth Fast and Furious coming out this year it got me thinking about how the car culture has changed here in the US. I very rarely see a newer car riced out anymore. The only cars that seem to be carrying on that style is lower-income people who have bought the previously riced out cars from the 2000s. Most are falling apart. I can’t remember the last night I saw a new Civic with any distasteful modifications. Even The Fast and The Furious movies themselves have ditched the gaudy look for more performance oriented modifications. Most are  vehicles that any car enthusiast would love to own. I’ve seen some of the muscle cars that will be in the new movie and they look more like cars that would go across the Barrett-Jackson auction block for good money. Filled with supercars and other rare sheet metal, the cars in last few movies are so much better than the cars of the first two. I’m sure much of this has to do with a ballooning budget and freedom to build better vehicles.

I don’t know if the fact that I don’t see these types of cars anymore is because of my age and I’m not around that crowd anymore, or if the scene has truly shifted. The car scene here in Charlotte has gone down hill in the last 10 years with the cops cracking down on street racing. It drove even the ones who were there just to hang out away. No longer do big crowds of car enthusiasts hang out in parking lots every Friday and Saturday night. In Columbus Ohio there used to be 200-300 cars show up on the weekend nights. Probably 70% of the cars were riced out.  Now most enthusiasts only go to organized car shows during the day. Or they actually use their cars for events like autocrossing and drag racing. I still like to go out cruising when the weather is nice and I come across very few riced out cars. It seems most have changed to a more understated look with an emphasis on performance. I see more cars with turbos and superchargers than giant wings now. The flashy show-only mods seem to have fallen out of favor with even the young crowd. I think even the people driving ricey cars don’t even want that junk on their car anymore. I think most now buy it like that or go through a brief ricer phase like I did.

For my first car I ended up getting a Pontiac Grand Am. Not really the type of car you can modify or even rice out. I still got a tasteful wing (well I thought it was tasteful at the time) and 18″ wheels. After adding some lowering springs, my focused soon turned to making more horsepower than the looks of the car. I designed and built a custom turbo kit with all the spare money I made from my job. This led to the career I have now. It was really a huge waste of time, but I learned a lot. Still there is a part of me that has always wished I could have gotten that Civic SI. It’s probably a good think I didn’t since I would have ruined a great car. I got my first taste of modifying a car with some potential when I purchased a MKIII Supra Turbo and never looked back.

Where do you think all the ricers have gone? Is it where I live? Are they even gone at all?

Martinsville… Pretty Much What Everyone Expected

The STP Gas Booster 500 played out how everyone thought it would. The race was dominated by Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports. In the last 10 years these two teams have owned Martinsville. Today they led all but two laps. Not only did they lead all the laps, they also dominated the top five for most of the race.  Johnson, Kenseth, and Busch traded the lead throughout the race as their crew chiefs tried to keep up with the changing track.  Early in the race, Johnson had the strongest and most consistent car. After lap 90 or so the Gibbs gang looked the best. It seemed like Chaf Knaus made a slight mis-adjustment on the 48 allowing Busch and Kenseth to swap the lead through the middle part of the race.  Chad came over the radio saying he would go back on the adjustment for the end of the race. This seemed to be what Jimmie needed to take control of the race back. For the last 100 laps nobody could get by him. I was hoping Clint would have enough to challenge for the win, but his car was not good enough on the short run. Jimmie easily took the checker flag and won his second race this year.

The win puts Johnson in the points lead. What started as a strong day for Dale Earnhardt Jr. ended with a disappointing  24th place finish. Midway though the race they seem to lose the handle on their race car. He drops to third while a 6th place finish for our 2012 champion keeps Brad in second. After a controversial call (bad call IMO) on a late race pit stop, Brad was able to use some fresher tires to his advantage and almost beat Kyle Busch to the line for 5th. Brad was the best Ford finisher for what is usually a tough track for the Fords.

Clint Boywer finished a strong 2nd after battling back from being involved in a 11 car melee on lap 181. The fireworks  between Clint Bowyer and Jeff Gordon everyone was hoping for never transpired. Clint gave Jeff a shot in the back to get around him late in the race, but there was no retaliation. It seems both had getting the best finish possible in mind rather than payback. There was also some talk about Tony Steward going after Joey Logano, but they raced each other clean all day. There was even a point where Tony let Joey go by since he had the faster car. While Tony had some threatening words for Joey after California, it looks like the week off gave him enough time to cool off. While he still defends his views on blocking, I believe his strong words for Joey were just out of passion and he knows it’s not worth getting a bad finish.

Jeff Gordon finally finished well and was rewarded with a nice bump in the points (6 positions). He might be starting to prove me wrong, choosing Stewart over Gordon in my Top 12 article. He fell back in the middle of the race, but while everyone else was tearing up their cars, he surged to the front. Before Johnson’s last pit stop for fresh tires, Gordon was hunting him down. This looked like the Jeff Gordon we are used to. Also a headline, this was the first race that Denny sat out after being injured. He tried his best to remain focused on helping his substitute driver Mark Martin. I could tell by the expressions on his face that it was hard to watch someone else drive his car. Mark showed glimpses of speed and was able to salvage a top 10 finish, but it was not pretty. He was involved in a couple of accidents and a pit stop miscue led to a wheel falling off as he pulled away. To make matters worse he was hit with a penalty for putting that wheel back on outside his box.

In keeping with my foot in my mouth theme, Danica Patrick had a very good race. 12th for a rookie at a track as tough as Martinsville is impressive. I thought for sure she would be multiple laps down, but by mid-race she had figured out the paperclip and was passing cars. She looked much fast than her rookie of the year competitor…. and boyfriend Rick Stenhouse.

Next week we go to Texas where we should see very high speeds with the new G6 car. I like Texas and I look for a lot of the drivers to break the track record in qualifying. Look for Roush Fenway to rebound as they are very good at the 1.5 mile tracks. I will also look for Dale Jr. to be up front again since he ran well at this type of track earlier in the season. Eddie Gossage is known for putting on a spectacle off the track, but I expect the racing on the track to be just as good. With multiple lanes and a track that will change throughout the night, we should have a bunch of comers and go’ers. Combined with tire wear, this should make for a great race.

Who do you think will be a threat to win in Texas?

image from foter.com BiggerPictureImages

With The Economic Recovery, When Will Sponsorships Come Back?

With the stock market hitting new highs, one has to wonder what the sponsorship market in NASCAR will do. It is no secret that the sponsorship landscape has changed dramatically over the last five years. Gone are the days when a team would hope to sign one primary sponsor for the whole year. I believe Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski, Greg Biffle, Danica Patrick, and Denny Hamlin are the only drivers left having or close to having only one primary sponsor. Paul Menard is sponsored by his family’s business and Kurt Busch by the team owner. Most teams have to piece together sponsorship for the entire year. Roush Fenway just announced that they will have two primary sponsors in one race with a new removable wrap! Now that’s getting creative.

It’s easy to see that companies have been cutting back their marketing budgets when NASCAR’s most popular driver has space still available on his car. I’m talking about Dale Earnhardt Jr. of course. The powerhouse teams who employ large marketing departments are feeling the money crunch just like the smaller teams. Roush Fenway has been running many unsponsored cars in both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide series for a couple of years now. They are not willing to devalue what they believe their quarter panels are worth. Some of the other teams are willing to take a little less to keep the money coming in. I don’t know what the right thing to do is, but I would think some money is better than none. Plus there’s no reason you can’t ask for more once sponsorship demand picks up again.

Sponsoring a car for a partial season is a great deal for a company. For a fraction of the cost of a full season, you get the same access to the driver and most likely the ability to use his likeness for promotion. They can pick the races in a location they want to target. The race closest to their headquarters is popular so they can have some kind of hospitality component for employees and customers.  If they spend less on the actual sponsorship, they can spend more on activation. Which can be commercials, at track displays, or becoming official partners with NASCAR. I think the activation is just as important as having your name on the car.

So now I come to the original question. How long until the teams start to see sponsorships returning or expanding? Changes in NASCAR sponsorships seem to lag behind what is actually going on in the economy by 2-3 years. Which seems to be the length of most contracts. You would think that the recovery would be quick than the downturn because teams are ready to sign new deals now, for the right amount of money. The problem is that even though it looks like the economic ship is righting, companies are hesitant to make any long-term commitments. The problems in Europe and China could send the market down with just some bad economic news or some foreign nations economic policy. It will take a few years of solid growth before companies will open up their budgets for alternative marketing opportunities, like NASCAR.

I believe we are almost there. Most of the blue-chip companies had a solid 2012 and 2013 is not looking bad either. I think if the economy doesn’t regress by the end of the year we will see some bigger deals signed. There are a lot of good teams and drivers that need to get something on paper or they might not be around next year. Ryan Newman is someone who comes to mind in desperate need of sponsorship. He plays it off that he’s not worried about it, but I don’t see how that is possible. What I’d really like to see is new companies coming into the sport. There are technology businesses out there swimming in cash that wouldn’t blink an eye at spending 10-15 million dollars. The problem is that NASCAR is not their target market. For that to change NASCAR has to attract a younger audience. The drivers have to become larger than life figures that kids want to be and young people want to follow. That’s why I think someone like Travis Pastrana is great for the sport. He brings in loads of new fans that haven’t even given NASCAR a thought in the past.

After a few years of contraction most teams are leaner and meaner than they’ve been in 7-8 years. For a company wanting to get into the sport, this is a great time. You can have your pick of many of the top drivers at a discount compared to 4-5 years ago. I hope that any company on the fence about jumping into our sport sees the value and takes the plunge. Even the Nationwide Series offers great exposure. NASCAR fans are some of the most brand loyal fans in sports. I know I will go out of my way to support a company that supports a team or driver. Good luck getting that kind of loyalty from a funny Super Bowl ad.

How long do you think it will take for drivers like Carl Edwards, Dale Jr, and Kasey Kahne to be fully funded for a season again? Do you think single primary sponsors will ever come back?

image from Wikimedia Royalbroil