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Aug. 20, 2005 - Los Angeles, CA. -
NASCAR Nextel Cup racing has maintained its
stranglehold on the number one circuit in media and fan interest
this year. Even "silly
season" garnered top spot in news between weekend races. Jack
Roush "stole" signed driver Jamie McMurray from Chip
Ganassi Racing. Shortly thereafter Roger Penske "stole"
signed driver Kurt Busch from Roush. Fittingly, Jack now knows how
it feels. NASCAR will not get involved in the early contract signing
issue because it considers drivers "independent
contractors" so it has no influence on their contract
negotiations with car owners. With Roush and Rick Hendrick teams
winning most 2005 Nextel Cup races, is Kurt's move wise if he wants
to win races? Perhaps he is making the move for guaranteed up-front
money. Or maybe being a member of a crowded five-car team is not as
desirable as being a member of a three-car team. Even Jeff Gordon
said signing with another team a year and a half early is not right.
That is Jeff speaking as a co-owner of Jimmie Johnson's No. 48
Nextel Cup car.
Speed Channel recently named the top ten NASCAR
drivers based upon a fan poll. In order they listed them as follows:
1. Dale Earnhardt, Sr, 2. Richard Petty, 3. Jeff Gordon, 4. Rusty
Wallace, 5. Darrell Waltrip, 6.Dale Jarrett, 7. Mark Martin, 8. Tony
Stewart, 9. Sterling Marlin, and 10. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. It seems
the poll is biased in favor of current or 1990s drivers and recent
arrivals in Cup racing. Perhaps most of the voters never saw the
pioneers of NASCAR compete, or worse yet never read anything about
them. What about David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Bobby and Davey
Allison, Curtis Turner, Glenn "Fireball" Roberts, Ned
Jarrett, Bill Elliott, Geoff Bodine, Buck and Buddy Baker, Ernie
Irvan, Fred Lorenzen, Tim Flock, Herb Thomas and others? These guys
enjoyed significant accomplishments in NASCAR and are members of
"NASCAR's Greatest
50 Drivers Club".
The Champ Car World Series street race in San
Jose, CA has to be hailed as a success for the 60,000 spectators at
the Sunday, July 31 inaugural race. But it has to be derided for the
narrow, funnel-like course and extremely bumpy pavement that
actually had racing cars at speed over light rail tracks. Only nine
of 18 starters finished (four out for mechanical reasons and five
out because of contact). Winner Sebastien Bourdais beat runner-up
Paul Tracy by a whopping 3.724 seconds. With CCWS racing half of its
races outside the United States and concluding the 2005 season with
four races overseas, CCWS clearly has work to do to capture the
interest of racing fans in the USA.
Congrats to July 30 Belleville, KS Midget
Nationals winner Jerry Coons, Jr, of Tucson for winning his first
prestigious Belleville Nationals after 15 years of trying at the
fast, banked half-mile clay track. It was the 23rd year for the
midget-racing classic that now races under USAC sanction.
Coons drove the Rusty Kunz Venture Racing No. 25 Spike chassis with
an Esslinger engine. The Thursday night USAC Ford Focus race was a
non-points race this year. Eight California FF Series drivers
competed last year in a 26-car, 100-lap main event that Californian
Bradley Galedrige won. Leon Bacon, from USAC's Midwest FF Series,
won the 17-car 50-lap main this year. Only three California FF
Series drivers-Chase Barber, Randi Pankratz and J. R.
Williams--competed at the
second Belleville FF Midget race.
Tragic News: Internet sources brought news Monday
that driver Kevin Doty, from Milan, IL, was critically injured and
hospitalized after a Badger Midget Auto Racing Association race
Sunday night, Aug. 14. His flip (on lap 11 of a 25-lap main)
occurred in turn four at a regular Sunday night race at Angell Park
Speedway in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. Another release from BMARA
revealed that Kevin passed away on Tuesday, August 16 at 8:30 a.m as
a result of massive head injuries. He was 43. The 1994 BMARA
champion won a feature at Angell Park last August for his first win
there in four years. He ranked 12th in 2005 BMARA points when he
died. Survivors include his father Don "Bud" and son
Kevin, Jr, to whom Kevin was devoted. Funeral arrangements were made
in Davenport, IA with visitation on Monday, August 22 from 4:00-7:00
p.m, with a funeral
service at 11:30 a.m August 23.
Kevin's career highlights include victory aboard
the No. 1R midget in the 17th annual Belleville Midget Nationals in
1994. He also won eight USAC National Midget Series features (one at
Ventura, CA) and from 1994-1998 seven USAC National Sprint Car
features (four at Eldora Speedway). He was named USAC National
Sprint Car Most Improved driver in 1998 when he finished a
career-best 11th in final points in just 16 starts. He won four
mains, had four seconds, one third, one fourth and another top ten
in addition to two fast qualifying times during 1998. I recall
talking to personable Kevin several times. I remember him for
driving his dad's No. 50 Midget, plus the No. 99 Steve Beneto and
No. 11 Wilke Racing Midgets and several top USAC Silver Crown cars.
I was present at North Vernon, IN on 7/24/97 when Kevin won the
30-lap feature at the
3/8-mile clay track during Indiana Sprint Week. He raced the No. 25
Steve Chrisman
Chevy that night and also had 10th, 5th, 4th and 5th in other 1997
ISW features aboard the Chrisman No. 25.
On a happier note, congratulations to a pair of
second generation drivers now making names for themselves in racing.
It seems the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Kraig Kinser,
20-year old son of perennial World of Outlaws champion Steve Kinser,
won the prestigious 45th annual Knoxville Nationals Sunday
night, August 14. He won $140,000 from a monster WoO payoff. It was
his second attempt in the 410 cu. in. winged sprint car classic his
dad won 12 times. Steve finished seventh and beamed in pride next to
his older son in victory lane. Rain postponed the race 24-hours. The
scheduled four-hour live telecast on Speed Channel was not aired
Sunday night because of contract arrangements.
Announcer Ralph Sheheen, analyst Brad Doty and pit reporter Dave
Argabright were in Knoxville ready to work Saturday for the first
live Knoxville broadcast since their live TNN broadcasts several
years ago.
On Friday, August 19 versatile Kraig Kinser, who
also raced a USAC Silver Crown car this year, raced in the
ARCA 200 stock car on the two-mile Michigan Speedway. He ran up
front and finished eighth in the No. 10 MB-2 Chevy. The winner of
that race was Steven Wallace, making his ARCA debut after just
reaching the minimum age--18. The son of Nextel Cup driver Rusty
Wallace and his wife Patti raced a Penske Racing No. 27 Kodak Dodge
and dominated the race. Uncle Kenny sat atop the pit box giving his
nephew advice. Nervous dad Rusty was nearby on the panel of Speed
Channel's Trackside show unable to watch the race.
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