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Monday, March 16, 2009

SMI considering options for Kentucky Cup date: Speedway Motorsports Inc. has requested that a Sprint Cup race be moved to Kentucky Speedway and “will consider all options” to get one there as soon as possible, according to its annual report filed Friday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. SMI Chairman Bruton Smith said March 6 at Atlanta Motor Speedway that he had not yet requested the realignment but wanted a Cup date there in 2010. “The Company has requested realignment of a Sprint Cup Series race at the earliest possible time and will consider all options if NASCAR denies such realignment request,” the company stated in its filing. It does not elaborate whether “all options” would include legal action. SMI spokesman Scott Cooper said he could not elaborate on the wording in the annual report. (SceneDaily.com)

Celebrities and motorsports personalities to race in charity event at Bristol: Football coaches, football players, TV/radio personalities and more have signed on to run the celebrity heat races as part of the Scotts Saturday Night Special, March 21 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer, who also will serve as grand marshal of the Food City 500, will climb behind the wheel of a race car for the first time as will Terry Bowden. Bowden returns to the college coaching ranks this year after 10 years in the broadcast booth, taking over the Division II powerhouse University of North Alabama. Coaches are not the only ones suiting up. David Akers, Pro-Bowl kicker for the Philadelphia Eagles will participate. Also racing for charity will be local hero Mike Compton, current head football coach at Patrick Henry High School (Glade Spring, Va.) and two-time Super Bowl winner with the Patriots of New England. Rounding out the first heat will be: Bill Jordan, owner/founder of Realtree Camouflage and host of two of his own television shows, Bill Jordan’s Realtree Outdoors and ESPN’s “Driven to Hunt,” and TV/radio personality Riki Rachtman of MTV’s “Charm School” and “Daisy of Love.” Taking the wheel in the second heat will be a field of more experienced drivers. Former car owners and two of the top crew chiefs of all time, Andy Petree and Ray Evernham, now ESPN race analysts, as well as Brad Daugherty, a former No. 1pick in the NBA draft and retired all-star player with the Cleveland Cavaliers will be part of the festivities. Taking advantage of a weekend off on the National Hot Rod Association schedule are Greg Anderson (Pro Stock), Ron Capps (Funny Car) and Doug Herbert (Top Fuel Dragster) who will fill out the field. The celebrities will run 15-lap or 10-minute heats to help determine the starting spots of their pro driver teammates, who then will run 35 laps. That field includes Junior Johnson, Harry Gant, Cale Yarborough and Jack Ingram. The winning “team” is guaranteed $25,000 for their charities and a total of $10,000 will go to the charity or charities of the second-place duo. Every other team will get $5,000 for their charities. Team pairings will be announced at a later time. Tickets still are available for the Scotts Turf Builder 300 (Starting at $45) and Food City 500 (starting at $93). Tickets may be purchased at www.bristoltix.com or by calling the BMS ticket office at (423) 989-6900.(BMS PR)

Front Row Motorsports announces revised Cup schedule: No. 78-Furniture Row Racing announced today a revision of its 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule. The Colorado-based team has added one race to its original 12-race Cup schedule and has revised three of its upcoming race locations. The April 5th race at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth is the recent addition, bringing the current team's schedule to 13 events. The team is dropping the two road races -- at Sonoma, Calif (June 21) and Watkins Glen (Aug. 9) plus the May 31st race at Dover. Those three races are being replaced with Darlington (May 9), Pocono (June 7) and Indianapolis (July 26). The No. 78 Furniture Row team with driver Regan Smith entered two of the first four Cup races with Smith finishing 21st in the Daytona 500 and 20th in Las Vegas. The team's next race will be at Texas. "We all sat down and re-evaluated our schedule to see what suits our racing program the best," said Joe Garone, Furniture Row Racing's general manager. "Since we're a sponsor-owned team we have the flexibility to move in and move out of race markets. We will most likely make additional changes as the season progresses. We're happy about adding the race in Texas and hope that we will continue to make more additions, but that is dependent on the economic climate and attaining additional sponsorship. We're looking for a partner and feel that we have plenty to offer a company from a marketing standpoint with Furniture Row's more than 330 store locations in 31 states." To prepare for the Texas race next month, the No. 78 team has scheduled a two-day test session on Wednesday and Thursday of this week at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain, CO.(DMF/Furniture Row Racing PR)

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Daytona Rev. Hal Marchman passed away at 89: "Shalom and amen." With that trademark ending to prayers he offered before every Daytona 500 for 46 years, the Rev. Hal Marchman endeared himself to race car drivers and hundreds of thousands of their fans. It was the Baptist preacher's way of being inclusive, the same way he lived his life, whether he was counseling an alcoholic or persuading community leaders to take on some civic project. Marchman, 89, died unexpectedly at Indigo Palms Memory Care Facility on Sunday. After years of fighting dementia and memory loss, a sudden bout of illness ended his life, said his daughter Anne Marchman-Jones. "We feel like we got our fair share of time with him, but it's hard because we didn't expect (his death) to be so sudden," Marchman-Jones said Sunday. (Daytona News-Journal)

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Nadeau hopes to return to racing: No doubt about it, former NASCAR driver Jerry Nadeau would jump at the opportunity to return to stock-car racing. "I'm still trying to figure out what's next for me," Nadeau said. "I'm just a racer, I love to race and if I can come back in some capacity, I'll do that." Sidelined since 2003 due to injuries suffered in a horrific crash in practice at Richmond International Raceway, the 38-year-old Danbury, Conn., native attended a fundraiser for former NASCAR crew chief "Suitcase" Jake Elder at Memory Lane Motorsports and Automotive Museum on Saturday. (SceneDaily.com)

M. Waltrip tapes episode of My Name Is Earl: What does a Sprint Cup driver do on an off weekend? If he's Michael Waltrip, driver of the No. 55 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota, he's headed to Hollywood! The two-time Daytona 500 champion, who is known for his comedic personality, is appearing in an episode of the NBC sitcom, My Name Is Earl. Waltrip's opportunity to be on the show came shortly after the airing of an Auto Club Speedway commercial he appeared in with actor Greg Germann. The speedway's President Gillian Zucker, who has many connections in the entertainment industry, recommended using Waltrip to her friend, Greg Garcia, the creator and executive producer of My Name is Earl. "This experience is going to be a lot of fun for me," Waltrip continued. "I play myself and I help Earl and his brother Randy get out of a big jam." Waltrip will be in California through Saturday. The episode featuring Waltrip is scheduled to air on Thursday, April 30 at 8 p.m. ET - which happens to be Waltrip's 46th birthday. (MWR PR)

Sprint All-Star race to change format: The NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race will have a different format in 2009, Lowe’s Motor Speedway President Marcus Smith confirmed Friday, but he declined to elaborate. Following a news conference to promote the second annual burnout contest and announce that retired wrestler Ric Flair would be the honorary all-star race director, Smith talked in vague terms about how this year’s format will be different. During the news conference, it was just referred to as a 100-lap event. Last year, the event was split into four 25-lap segments. “We are working on some changes that will be forthcoming – some neat things that we’re going to be changing up,” Smith said. “They’ll be exciting for the fans.” A NASCAR spokesman also declined to comment on potential changes to the non-points event. (SceneDaily.com)

Friday, March 13, 2009

NASCAR ratings down; still highest rated sports event: NASCAR Sprint Cup Racing on Fox earned a 5.5/12 (8.9 million viewers) on Sunday for the Kobalt 500 from Atlanta. NASCAR ranked as the highest-rated and most-watched sports event of the weekend for the fourth consecutive week. Although Sunday's rating is down -14% compared to last year's 6.4/15 (10.6 mill), it's up +6% over 2007's 5.2/12. A huge factor in the year-to-year decline was competition from the Duke-North Carolina college basketball game on CBS (2.9/6, 4.6 mill.). The Duke-UNC rating more than tripled the weak 1.1/2 delivered in the same window last year by Purdue-Michigan, and combined viewing of pro and college basketball opposite NASCAR was up by roughly two and a half million viewers. Fox got a lucky break when the final national rating for the Atlanta race came in a tenth of a point higher than the preliminary rating released on Tuesday, a rare occurrence. Men 18-34 continue to be a trouble spot for NASCAR. Ratings in that demo were down -27% (2.4 vs. 3.3) for the Atlanta race, nearly doubling the overall Household decline. One month into the season, NASCAR racing is being impacted by two disappointing trends on the track: lead changes per race are at an all-time low, while caution flags per race are near an all-time high. The season's first four points races have averaged just 14 lead changes per race. The same races a year ago averaged 30 lead changes. Through four races, NASCAR Sprint Cup Racing on FOX is averaging a 6.7/13 (11.3 million viewers), down -11% from last year's 7.5/14 (12.9 mill.). NASCAR's year-to-year comparison continues to be skewed by rainouts in this year's highly-rated Daytona race and last year's lower-rated Fontana race. While it's easy to focus on the -11% year-to-year skid, it's also important to note that this season's 6.7/13 average is still more than double the rating of the NBA On ABC (2.8/6) and is greater than the combined ratings of the NBA on ABC, NCAA Basketball on CBS, and PGA Golf on all broadcasters (5.8/13 combined).(FOX PR)

SMI expects revenue to dip in 2009: The economy is so uncertain that Speedway Motorsports was wary of even offering an outlook for 2009, executives said during a conference call with analysts. "We were actually perplexed as to what we should even say about that," said William Brooks, the Concord-based company's vice chairman and chief financial officer. "We've not been faced with how truly variable some of our expenses can be." The gloomy forecast came as Speedway Motorsports reported a fourth-quarter loss of about $4.9 million, up from a $20.2 million loss a year earlier. For the year, the company -- which owns six other tracks -- earned about $80 million, more than double its 2007 profit of $38.4 million. Revenues for 2008 were $611 million, up 9 percent. (Statesville News & Landmark)

No. 8 Almirola still looking for sponsorship: Earnhardt Ganassi Racing has sponsorship for Aric Almirola for the upcoming NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Bristol and Martinsville and will definitely enter him April 5 at Texas, but his schedule beyond Texas is still pending sponsorship, EGR President Steve Lauletta says. Dale Earnhardt Inc. had intended to run Almirola the full 2009 season, but after the partnership with Chip Ganassi Racing was formed last November, Almirola’s situation has been cloudy with no full-time sponsor. (SceneDaily.com)

Goodyear tire testing at LMS: Goodyear is scheduled to hold a tire test at Lowe's Motor Speedway with four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams representing each of the series manufacturers next week in preparation for the track's May races, including the 25th NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race on May 16, and the 50th running of the Coca-Cola 600 on May 24. Drivers scheduled to test at No. 9-Kasey Kahne (Dodge), No. 48-Jimmie Johnson (Chevy), No. 47-Marcos Ambrose (Toyota) and No. 98-Paul Menard. During both days of the Goodyear tire test, Lowe's Motor Speedway's frontstretch grandstand will be open free of charge from 9am - 5pm and fans should enter through Gate 5A, located next to the main ticket office. Additionally, NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race and Coca-Cola 600 ticket holders will have access to an infield grandstand on Wednesday, March 18, from 10am to 5pm, and can participate in a special fan forum featuring all four drivers from 12 - 1pm. Ticket holders for Lowe's Motor Speedway's May Cup races will need to check in at the speedway's ticket office to receive verification of their ticket purchase before entering the infield at Gate 26.(LMS PR)

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Jeff Gordon defends Goodyear tires: While Goodyear has been an easy target of criticism from many of the drivers, Gordon defending the tire-maker after Sunday's race because of how difficult it is to build a tire for the track conditions at Atlanta. "Don't put all the blame on Goodyear," Gordon said. "I will challenge any tire manufacturer out there to build a tire for this car at this racetrack. It's impossible. I made kind of a joke earlier in the week with the Goodyear guys. I said I'm not going to complain about tires ever again because I thought that the last time we were slipping and sliding around a lot, and this time we were really slipping and sliding around. I think they came here. It was about 40 degrees cooler, track temperature. The conditions were different. … Everybody seemed to be happy with the tire. I think the cool track temperature may have covered up a couple things. I give them credit for trying. They were trying to do some things with the construction, based on some of the comments drivers made about how much the cars were moving around on the straightaways and getting into the corners. It didn't pay off." (USA Today)

Goodyear tire testing at Darlington: Darlington Raceway was the site of the latest Goodyear tire test today with four teams, one from each manufacturer that competes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, taking to the track. #96-Bobby Labonte, #29-Kevin Harvick, #19-Elliott Sadler and #11-Denny Hamlin began testing Tuesday afternoon with Goodyear engineers on the two-year old surface at Darlington. All four drivers gave the track good reviews and talked about the importance of winning at Darlington Raceway.
“Well obviously this is a very historic race track that we go to,” said Kevin Harvick. “It still has a lot of the characteristics that it’s had for a number of years so to come here and race as a driver in NASCAR, I think that’s something special to everyone in the garage. This is an exciting place for us to race at and to win would be really cool. We’ve been close a couple of times and it would be nice to finally win one.”
“This is a place I got to come to as a kid and watch races because it is not far from where I grew up so to come here and have a chance to win this race is a dream come true,” said Elliott Sadler. “I love that we race here, I’m glad it’s a night race, it’s a great event for us and since we only come here once a year we put a lot of effort into running well here because Darlington is still a huge cornerstone in our sport and represents where we’ve been and how far we’ve come.”
“They repaved the track last year and you hated to see it in one way but they did a great job and it’s still the same Darlington,” said 2000 Southern 500 winner Bobby Labonte. “Speeds have picked up, the surface is smoother but the racing is still great and it still means the same thing to win here.”
“Darlington is a great racetrack for me, I always run well here,” said Denny Hamlin who has won twice at Darlington in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. “It’s a great race track, I love running here and it’s got so much history. You hated to see it get paved but they did a great job doing it and it still promotes great racing. It’s a great track with great history and you love to win here no matter what car you are in.”
Tickets can be purchased by calling the Darlington Raceway ticket office at 866-459-RACE or online at DarlingtonRaceway.com.(Darlington Raceway PR)

Sprint All-Star weekend announcement: NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race Weekend Announcements on Friday, March 13th, Lowe's Motor Speedway officials, with the help of SPEED, 2007 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race champion Kevin Harvick and one very special guest, will make several announcements at the Time Warner Media Center, Lowe's Motor Speedway infield regarding the 25th running of the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race on May 16.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Tryson named Crew Chief of the race: Pat Tryson, crew chief for the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge driven by Kurt Busch has been named the WYPALL Wipers Crew Chief of the Race in Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. After a dominant day, Tryson made the perfect call on lap 323 of the scheduled 325-lap event when a caution came out, setting up a two-lap dash for victory with a green-white-checkered finish. Summoning his driver to pit road, Tryson instructed his crew to replace all four tires. In addition to the $1,000 check, the winning crew chief will receive signage to announce the win on their pit box the following week. The crew chief with the most weekly wins will be honored as the WYPALL Wipers Crew Chief of the Year and will be presented a $20,000 check at the season finale in Homestead.(Wypall PR)

Atlanta may loss 2nd Cup date? NASCAR and track officials announced attendance at 94,400, but critics say the actual number of people there was far less. Does it all put Atlanta and its two races in jeopardy of being transplanted to another track? (NASCAR.com)

Bowyer's crew wins Tissot Pit Road Precision Award: The No. 33 crew for Clint Bowyer won the Tissot Pit Road Precision Award in Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, becoming the fourth different team in as many races to capture top honors for pit road achievement. Bowyer's crew captured the Tissot pit road win as a result of the team's No. 33 BB&T Chevrolet Impala SS spending the least amount of time on pit road (364.400 seconds) during the Kobalt Tools 500. The quick pit stops helped lift Bowyer to a sixth-place finish as the Richard Childress Racing driver remained second in the driver point standings. Bowyer's over-the-wall crew consists of: Clint Pittman (front-tire changer), Shane Stevenson (front-tire carrier), Daniel Rankin (rear-tire changer), Michael Hodges (rear-tire carrier), Bill Ferguson Jr. (jackman), Bryan Smith (gasman), Chad Haney (catch can) and Scott Brewer (eighth man). The team's crew chief is Shane Wilson, pit crew coach is Matt Clark and the strength/conditioning coach is Ray Wright. For winning the Tissot Pit Road Precision Award, the #33 team will receive $5,000. The team with the most pit road wins at the completion of the 36-race schedule will earn a $100,000 bonus plus Tissot watches for the driver and over-the-wall crew members. (DMF Communications/Tissot PR)

The NASCAR Hall of Fame names operations manager: The NASCAR Hall of Fame has named Steve Burrell as operations manager. In this role, Burrell will be responsible for all daily operating functions for the Hall of Fame, including developing policies, procedures and a work environment that ensures exceptional customer service. He will plan, direct and supervise daily operations including guest services, event management, volunteer coordination, emergency procedures and security. "I feel both excited and privileged to join an organization that holds itself to such high standards as the CRVA [Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority]," Burrell said. "I look forward to contributing my talents in operations and risk management to this role with the NASCAR Hall of Fame." (NASCAR PR)

Bruton Smith talks Obama, Formula One and more: In a 45-minute session on Friday, Speedway Motorsports Inc. head man Bruton Smith opined on topics from President Barack Obama to Homestead-Miami Speedway and race start times. Noting that SMI's Bristol Motor Speedway was having trouble with corporate ticket sales, Smith said, "They're afraid that Obama might shoot them or something."Smith added that the Daytona 500 should not have started as late as it did, said Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., was in the wrong place and that he finds Formula One racing boring. "Watching grass grow was more interesting," he said. (ThatsRacin.com)

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Ambrose crew members suspended four races: Jimmy Watts, a crew member for the No. 47 team in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, has been suspended from the next four Sprint Cup Series events (until April 22) for rule violations during last Sunday�s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Watts was found to have violated Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing) and 9-15-U (crew members must not go on the race track for any reason while the cars are racing or while the cars are running under the yellow flag or the red flag, unless otherwise directed to do so by a NASCAR official). Watts has also been placed on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31. In addition, Frank Kerr, crew chief for the No. 47, has been placed on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31 for violating Sections 12-1 and 9-4-A (crew chief assumes responsibility for the actions of the team).(NASCAR PR)

Ky. Busch merchandise sales up: Kyle Busch rose to eighth in merchandise sales last year at the NASCAR.com Superstore, according to Sports Business Journal. Busch's merchandise sales increased 610 percent last year at the NASCAR.com Superstore and 96 percent trackside. (HamptonRoads.com)

Dale Jr. trying to boost home sales: Buy a house and possibly end up in the pits with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. That's a new incentive Earnhardt's realty company, DEJ Realty, is offering to try to boost sales in a bad economy. Junior owns DEJ Realty. "Right now it's a difficult time," said DEJ realtor Terri Church. Home closings and prices are down. Race City USA and surrounding areas are no exception. DEJ Realty's plan to drum up business? DEJ, of course. Buy or sell a property through DEJ Realty, you're entered into a contest where you can  possibly become an honorary pit crew member, win hot passes to get you in the pits or tickets to next year's Coca-Cola 600. (WCNC.com)

Monday, March 9, 2009

Goodyear Tire testing at Darlington Raceway: No. 11-Denny Hamlin (Toyota), no. 29-Kevin Harvick (Chevy), No. 96-Bobby Labonte (Ford) and No. 19-Elliott Sadler (Dodge) are scheduled to be at Darlington Raceway participating in a Goodyear tire test on Wednesday, March 11 in preparation for the Southern 500 on May 9th in which tickets can be purchased by calling the Darlington Raceway ticket office at 866-459-RACE or online at darlingtonraceway.com (Darlington Raceway PR)

No further action against Ambrose crew member: A quiet and remorseful Jimmy Watts stood outside the NASCAR hauler during the Kobalt Tools 500 to meet with NASCAR officials after he had been suspended for the remainder of the event for running onto the frontstretch grass with the race under green-flag conditions to retrieve a tire from the JTG Daugherty Racing car on lap 67. Watts, a gas man who also works for the Charlotte Fire Department, said he has been in the sport for more than seven years and just made a mistake. NASCAR threw the caution as he chased the tire. The tire had rolled on to the frontstretch grass when it got loose from the JTG Daugherty team of driver Marcos Ambrose and was knocked away by the Yates Racing team. “I saw the tire going away and it was a reaction – the wrong one,” Watts said. Watts said he “certainly did not” think that the tire would roll that far across the grass and by the time he was in the middle of it, he realized he was in a bad position. Watts said he hoped to be back next week but was waiting to talk to NASCAR officials to see if any additional penalties would be issued.(SceneDaily)

Roush Fenway looking for sponsors: Roush Fenway Racing President Geoff Smith should only be negotiating to renew the one NASCAR Sprint Cup sponsorship he has open – the No. 17 Ford and DeWalt – for 2010. But Smith’s organization is working on helping nearly all of its Cup sponsors (No. 26-Crown Royal, No. 16-3M and No. 99-Aflac) find other companies willing to pony up the money to buy some races for 2010 and beyond even though they have contracts obligating them for the entire season. Smith said the companies have requested help, and it’s imperative in these economic times that the organization find more sponsors willing to share some of the costs. DeWalt, whose contract is up after the 2009 season, has also indicated it wants a partner. The only sponsor that has not requested a partner is UPS. A new sponsor could be on one of those cars by the end of 2009 if there is a commitment for future years, Smith said. Even though Roush Fenway can have only four Cup teams next year, it also is responsible for sponsorship for Yates Racing, so it is continuing to court companies to sponsor Cup teams. On an initial call, Smith said the organization will offer anything open in its portfolio. The one thing his company won’t do is to stagger sponsorships on a car because the organization has to commit to a salary for the driver and needs the sponsorship to back it up. Smith said that car owners must realize that they need to spend money on sales. He said he has “a whole team” making cold calls about sponsorship.(SceneDaily.com)

Engine failure slows Ryan Newman: No. 39-Ryan Newman ran solidly in the top-15 for most of Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga., but engine issues during the final 100 laps of the event slowed down his No. 39 Haas Automation Chevy and thwarted his team’s march to a top-10 result. Newman was relegated to a 22nd-place finish in his 15th career Sprint Cup start at AMS. “Our Haas Automation Chevy was pretty good today,” said Newman after the race. “We had some handling issues, but Tony Gibson (crew chief) and the guys adjusted on the car and gave me a really competitive machine. At the end, I think we maybe had a top-10 car, but we lost a cylinder and that put us behind. We were right in cycle to be the next guy for the ‘lucky dog’ and we just lost that cylinder and that set the tone for the rest of our day.” At lap 225, Newman radioed his crew that he had an engine problem, as his V-8 powerplant had missed several times as he drove down the backstretch, ultimately dropping a cylinder. Newman was able to nurse the engine and maintain a spot in the top-20 until the final caution flag of the day waved at lap 321. Under the caution, Newman reported that the motor had lost yet another cylinder. On the final restart, he couldn’t get his car up to speed quickly enough and lost four more spots, whereupon he finished 22nd, three laps down.(SHR/True Speed Communication PR)