Talladega was this past weekend and NASCAR F'd up. They listened to the fans. The tried to recreate pack racing and failed miserably. I'm no scientist but they trying to force cars to run in packs by overheating them if they bump draft doesn't make a ton of sense to me. I get the idea but i feel like they didn't test this for 500 miles. The number of engine problems was high and thats without the sun being out all day.
My biggest grievance was that I like the 2 car drafts. Sure there are a lot of lead changes and some one can come from 25th with three to go and win it, but thats exciting. Listen to tony stewart, destroying cars in pack racing in wreaks that are not that entertaining anyway. I love a good crash just like anyone else but because they are a result of guys racing hard, NASCAR trying to manufacture pack racing and a few crashes.
A recent thing that gets under my skin is Start and parks. I get it that some teams in the lower series cant afford to run. But in Sprint if you cant find 43 cars that want to run a whole race than don't run 43. I'd be okay with 35. So maybe Labonte and Awesome Bill from Dawsonville don't get to run. I'm okay with that. I know the former Champs were once great, for us younger fans that only remember them driving for underfunded teams and never finishing in the top ten of a race its almost a disgrace. I know they want to run and wouldnt see it that way but thats my take. Im not saying every driver needs to be full time i think the 55 has been one of the most entertaining cars but thats because they can field competitive racecars.
News from Nationwide Danica doesn't even get a talking to after spinning out Hornish Jr on the cooldown. She should. First of all how often do we see drivers start taking off safety equipment after the checkered drops. Maybe that needs to stop but spinning someone out and into a wall when the race is over is unacceptable. You want the drivers to have at it thats fine. Don't punish her when she dumps him in turn three next week. But NASCAR atleast call her down if nothing else it gives people something to talk about this week because afterall despite her being a talented young driver you treat her like she's just a publicity stunt.
Its Darlington this weekend and Lord knows I love short tracks so lets hope for a good week. And Stenhouse Jr. can build on his lead
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Demo Derby!
The following post is not about nascar. Ever since Buckshot Jones left the Sprint Cup there are nolonger demo derby's in nascar!
The demolition derby is a pure american establishment. Cars are first and foremost one of the most American things, the cars used in derbies are not exclusively American made but most of them came from Detroit or Flint in the 80's. Besides cars whats more American than destroying things. They give these Junkyard destined cars one last life in some great entertainment. For those of you who think that this is a waste of good cars and Americans being wasteful, Stop! Because this is a sort of recycling, if you think that these cars could be used by civilians go to a derby. These cars are made "running" thanks to spot-welds, pop-rivets, duct tape, chickenwire, and a lot of WD40. Cars are often "borrowed" from junk yards and returned there after the derby. The now dented and wreaked cars are then scrap metal.
So the reason this has come up is because I want to become a derby driver of sorts. Joliet holds four derbies a summer and they host a figure 8 race during them. My goal is by next summer to field a car in the race. My plan is to find a junker that is still kind of running for ideally around $400 and make the necessarily safer modifications and enter the thing in the race. Convincing my mother that this is a good idea is going to be harder (luckily she doesn't read my blog), So i will do the reasponsible thing and not tell her until afterwards. Luckily I have what every good demo derby driver needs, Friends who will support him and help him build a death trap, that coincidentally they would never drive.
The demolition derby is a pure american establishment. Cars are first and foremost one of the most American things, the cars used in derbies are not exclusively American made but most of them came from Detroit or Flint in the 80's. Besides cars whats more American than destroying things. They give these Junkyard destined cars one last life in some great entertainment. For those of you who think that this is a waste of good cars and Americans being wasteful, Stop! Because this is a sort of recycling, if you think that these cars could be used by civilians go to a derby. These cars are made "running" thanks to spot-welds, pop-rivets, duct tape, chickenwire, and a lot of WD40. Cars are often "borrowed" from junk yards and returned there after the derby. The now dented and wreaked cars are then scrap metal.
So the reason this has come up is because I want to become a derby driver of sorts. Joliet holds four derbies a summer and they host a figure 8 race during them. My goal is by next summer to field a car in the race. My plan is to find a junker that is still kind of running for ideally around $400 and make the necessarily safer modifications and enter the thing in the race. Convincing my mother that this is a good idea is going to be harder (luckily she doesn't read my blog), So i will do the reasponsible thing and not tell her until afterwards. Luckily I have what every good demo derby driver needs, Friends who will support him and help him build a death trap, that coincidentally they would never drive.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Standings!
So today I looked at the Sprint Cup Standings and decided I needed to rant. Greg Biffle continues to show that he is the contender we all thought he was a few years ago. It makes that 16th place finish last year look like a fluke. Truex Jr. is running super well for a strong MWR team and curse I say his name Dale Jr. is running well despite being win less for almost 4 full years. I recently posted this to my facebook "Things that have happened since Dale Jr. won a race on June 15, 2008... I turned 17, Michael Phelps won 8 gold at the 08 Olympics, Obama was elected president, Sarah Palin emerged into the national spotlight, Rod Blagojevich was indicted, I graduated high school, Michael Jackson, Billy Mays, Ted Kennedy and others passed away, Gulf oil spill, 26 drivers have won a sprint cup race, and Jimmie Johnson has won 21 races and 3 championships."
But despite Dale Jr. looking more like Buckshot Jones than his late great Father, his record doesn't show the whole tale. He had a few close misses ran out of gas with a few hundred feet to go, but has been racing hard. This argument has been mounted before but i'll bring it back up, the Car of the Future isn't his style. He has failed to adjust as other drivers have. But I don't think its a lack of dedication.
The other driver worth commenting on is my Boy Mark Martin! Despite missing a race he holds on to 17th a win or two with a few top fives in the next month could give me hop that Waltrip puts him in the car for all races and lets him make the chase and bring home a cup! But back from my daydreaming to reality its just good to see the ol' man still got it and can show guys younger than his own son. I find his and MW ads funny beside the fact that they seem so stiff in lines and acting the height difference is extreme!
Jeff Gordon is 25th and Kurt is 23rd. It will be interesting if Gordon can rebound quick teammate Jimmie Johnson was able to recover from a DNF at Daytona and an appeal of sanctions from NASCAR to slip into the top 10
But despite Dale Jr. looking more like Buckshot Jones than his late great Father, his record doesn't show the whole tale. He had a few close misses ran out of gas with a few hundred feet to go, but has been racing hard. This argument has been mounted before but i'll bring it back up, the Car of the Future isn't his style. He has failed to adjust as other drivers have. But I don't think its a lack of dedication.
The other driver worth commenting on is my Boy Mark Martin! Despite missing a race he holds on to 17th a win or two with a few top fives in the next month could give me hop that Waltrip puts him in the car for all races and lets him make the chase and bring home a cup! But back from my daydreaming to reality its just good to see the ol' man still got it and can show guys younger than his own son. I find his and MW ads funny beside the fact that they seem so stiff in lines and acting the height difference is extreme!
Jeff Gordon is 25th and Kurt is 23rd. It will be interesting if Gordon can rebound quick teammate Jimmie Johnson was able to recover from a DNF at Daytona and an appeal of sanctions from NASCAR to slip into the top 10
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Dirt Tracks
So it's been a while since my last post and there is too much racing to catch up on all of it but i want to start by saying I love the nationwide competition right now.Also supper impressed with MWR they field three good cars every week.
Originally this though crossed me while watching Bristol but really firmed itself during my watching of Fontana (which i hated the racing of). Nascar should ad a dirt track. The super speedways that took over in the 70's are okay but there are so many of them, few tracks lack the individual character. Yes, there is Darlington, Indy, Bristol, The Glen, and Pocano but then races at Fontana, Iowa, Phoenix, Vega, Texas, and Atlanta dont get me excited about the track. Not saying that those tracks aren't good but the reason we all love Bristol is because it's different thats why they are redoing the track to the old style. So my idea is add a dirt track! The racing would be something I haven't seen in my life time, the last Nascar race on a dirt track was in the 70's. At the time the King said he hoped they would keep one on the schedule so that nascar wont forget its roots.
Most race fans have watched a dirt track race at some point. The racing is great and takes great skill. So cars don't go racing around the track at 180mph but watching the turns is great. A joke about nascar is its nothing but left turns, but if its on dirt that is the most exciting thing! One reason dirt tracks were taken out was besides the lack of speed, was attendance. You can cram more people into a super speedway but Nascar attendance and ratings are dropping not saying this should be a gimmick, but i know many race fans that don''t watch alot of races. This should at least for one Sunday boost ratings!
As for some logistical issues some but not all drivers have raced on dirt, the current car might need to be adjusted for dirt, goodyear would need a new tire, NASCAR would have to find or build a track, and conduct a lot of testing.
Originally this though crossed me while watching Bristol but really firmed itself during my watching of Fontana (which i hated the racing of). Nascar should ad a dirt track. The super speedways that took over in the 70's are okay but there are so many of them, few tracks lack the individual character. Yes, there is Darlington, Indy, Bristol, The Glen, and Pocano but then races at Fontana, Iowa, Phoenix, Vega, Texas, and Atlanta dont get me excited about the track. Not saying that those tracks aren't good but the reason we all love Bristol is because it's different thats why they are redoing the track to the old style. So my idea is add a dirt track! The racing would be something I haven't seen in my life time, the last Nascar race on a dirt track was in the 70's. At the time the King said he hoped they would keep one on the schedule so that nascar wont forget its roots.
Most race fans have watched a dirt track race at some point. The racing is great and takes great skill. So cars don't go racing around the track at 180mph but watching the turns is great. A joke about nascar is its nothing but left turns, but if its on dirt that is the most exciting thing! One reason dirt tracks were taken out was besides the lack of speed, was attendance. You can cram more people into a super speedway but Nascar attendance and ratings are dropping not saying this should be a gimmick, but i know many race fans that don''t watch alot of races. This should at least for one Sunday boost ratings!
As for some logistical issues some but not all drivers have raced on dirt, the current car might need to be adjusted for dirt, goodyear would need a new tire, NASCAR would have to find or build a track, and conduct a lot of testing.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Nationwide!
Aw yes the relaxing weekend of racing without all the hype of Daytona. Was glad I could work a busy traveling weekend around both races and even had qualifying on while I naped!
Being a fan of Stenhouse Jr. and Martin it started off looking great with Stenhouse qualifying second for the Nationwide Race and Martin winning the pole and both got top 10's out of the deal.
I can honestly say this year I look more forward to Saturdays then Sundays. The Nationwide series looks great this year, I think the cup boys got the message from nascar as less seem to be competing, but that has some negatives. The positives include Nationwide regulars winning races last year there were a small minority of races won by the guys competing for the nationwide title. This year we already have one who is competing for the title and a Truck driver? It makes it more competitive for those guys as well as gives them the respect they deserve rather then Kyle winning 8 and Edwards winning a few others. Hopefully a win or two will help the most promising young drivers secure sponsors for this year and give them a chance at the Sprint Cup next year. And Saturdays race was great it had some good story lines!
There are some downsides though there seem to be major sponsor issues. Nationwide racing has always had this issue its hard enough for the sprint cars to find people to fork up the cash for a hood ad but its worse in the lower levels. Bayne and Stenhouse both drivers with Roush-Fenway have sponsor issues that could threaten their ability to race fulltime this year! These aren't scrubs this is a Daytona 500 winner and defending series champ racing for a major team. It makes it all that much harder for other guys. There are a verity of reasons mainly sponsorship all around is hard to get but also fewer Cup drivers means less viewers and worse rating therefore less profitable to sponsor a car.
On to Sundays race, I love Phoenix well atleast the track, The new Dogleg section is fun to watch seeing guys try to dart across it is fun, although there was less risk in the longer Sprint race then the Nationwide race. And we had a good finish despite there not being a Green White Checker. Kenseth making the moves only to run out of gas but still coast to second. Hamlin looked the the crazy MoFo who went nuts in '10. To make it that much greater Martin got his 2nd top 10 in as many races. Its nice seeing who I would consider tear 1-B drivers at the top and the big names down the list a little. Johnson started the long drive out of a deep whole but I have faith he will be back in the top 10 by June and by the time the chase comes around we will forget the whole deal.
Interesting thought on the year-old WC format. Could a driver that is slated for a partial win a few races and keep himself in the top 20 despite missing a few. Through June 17th's Michigan Race Mark Martin would only have missed two starts. If he can put together 2-3 wins by then maybe Waltrip takes himself out of the car to give Martin a shot. He then sits out the next 4 until Indy and a total of 6 of 8 races through Bristol. He already gets 7 of the 10 chase races. As recently as 09 he won 5 races so although he hasn't been to Victory lane since don't rule him out. Its just a thought let me know what you think.
I want to end on a bold prediction for next weekend's race. Kurt will take his new team to victory lane at his home track. I know he hasn't done great at Vegas before but I have faith in him, look for some other shockers Truex Jr. has been running well as has Biffle, look for someone like Gordon to make a jump to the front as well.
Being a fan of Stenhouse Jr. and Martin it started off looking great with Stenhouse qualifying second for the Nationwide Race and Martin winning the pole and both got top 10's out of the deal.
I can honestly say this year I look more forward to Saturdays then Sundays. The Nationwide series looks great this year, I think the cup boys got the message from nascar as less seem to be competing, but that has some negatives. The positives include Nationwide regulars winning races last year there were a small minority of races won by the guys competing for the nationwide title. This year we already have one who is competing for the title and a Truck driver? It makes it more competitive for those guys as well as gives them the respect they deserve rather then Kyle winning 8 and Edwards winning a few others. Hopefully a win or two will help the most promising young drivers secure sponsors for this year and give them a chance at the Sprint Cup next year. And Saturdays race was great it had some good story lines!
There are some downsides though there seem to be major sponsor issues. Nationwide racing has always had this issue its hard enough for the sprint cars to find people to fork up the cash for a hood ad but its worse in the lower levels. Bayne and Stenhouse both drivers with Roush-Fenway have sponsor issues that could threaten their ability to race fulltime this year! These aren't scrubs this is a Daytona 500 winner and defending series champ racing for a major team. It makes it all that much harder for other guys. There are a verity of reasons mainly sponsorship all around is hard to get but also fewer Cup drivers means less viewers and worse rating therefore less profitable to sponsor a car.
On to Sundays race, I love Phoenix well atleast the track, The new Dogleg section is fun to watch seeing guys try to dart across it is fun, although there was less risk in the longer Sprint race then the Nationwide race. And we had a good finish despite there not being a Green White Checker. Kenseth making the moves only to run out of gas but still coast to second. Hamlin looked the the crazy MoFo who went nuts in '10. To make it that much greater Martin got his 2nd top 10 in as many races. Its nice seeing who I would consider tear 1-B drivers at the top and the big names down the list a little. Johnson started the long drive out of a deep whole but I have faith he will be back in the top 10 by June and by the time the chase comes around we will forget the whole deal.
Interesting thought on the year-old WC format. Could a driver that is slated for a partial win a few races and keep himself in the top 20 despite missing a few. Through June 17th's Michigan Race Mark Martin would only have missed two starts. If he can put together 2-3 wins by then maybe Waltrip takes himself out of the car to give Martin a shot. He then sits out the next 4 until Indy and a total of 6 of 8 races through Bristol. He already gets 7 of the 10 chase races. As recently as 09 he won 5 races so although he hasn't been to Victory lane since don't rule him out. Its just a thought let me know what you think.
I want to end on a bold prediction for next weekend's race. Kurt will take his new team to victory lane at his home track. I know he hasn't done great at Vegas before but I have faith in him, look for some other shockers Truex Jr. has been running well as has Biffle, look for someone like Gordon to make a jump to the front as well.
Monday, February 27, 2012
The longest 500
Well folks this post comes a lot later then expected. I for one am happy with the delays everything worked out for me but I am not the average viewer. This weekend was an example of how dedicated NASCAR fans are. The grandstands were full for the Daytona 500, and that should come to no surprise the fact that that was after 30 hours after it was supposed to start and 2 rescheduling. So not only did people wait around four hours on Sunday till they rescheduled for noon Monday but then Monday morning it was announced that the race would start at 6 because of rain concerns. I for one had nothing better to do from Sunday at noon until midnight Monday. My poor non Nascar loving fans had to deal with my constant talking about it all weekend and then my concerns and frustration when previous commitments interfered with the race only to find out I didn't miss anything.
Then to top it all off one of the scariest accidents I've seen ever happened on lap 2, and that wasn't the worst of it. I want to give Jimmie Johnson his time because he 2 hard hits one with a wall then he got creamed driver-side by passing traffic. He looked shook up at the least, but seemed to be okay. Then with about 40 to go as time was wearing down before a meeting I had to go to the craziest accident happened under caution. No i've seen pace cars get hit, but this was different. If you got 8 min to watch crazy accidents check out this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oIZUFmsqYU. But Juan Pablo's car just broke at the worst time, and smacked into a track dryer, with 200 gallons of jet fuel on it. Luckily Montoya and the truck driver would be okay. I preach safety all the time. So why don't the safety drivers wear more gear? It looked to me like the guy was in jeans, when every nascar official has a fireproof suit and a helmet why wasn't he in anything? He should at the least be in a fireproof suit and have a helmet and NASCAR will most likely address this quickly, but he got out just a few seconds before the whole thing went up in flames. Does he need to wear a HANS device maybe not.
Any way I loved this race but wonder how many people called in sick on Monday only for the race to get postponed
Then to top it all off one of the scariest accidents I've seen ever happened on lap 2, and that wasn't the worst of it. I want to give Jimmie Johnson his time because he 2 hard hits one with a wall then he got creamed driver-side by passing traffic. He looked shook up at the least, but seemed to be okay. Then with about 40 to go as time was wearing down before a meeting I had to go to the craziest accident happened under caution. No i've seen pace cars get hit, but this was different. If you got 8 min to watch crazy accidents check out this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oIZUFmsqYU. But Juan Pablo's car just broke at the worst time, and smacked into a track dryer, with 200 gallons of jet fuel on it. Luckily Montoya and the truck driver would be okay. I preach safety all the time. So why don't the safety drivers wear more gear? It looked to me like the guy was in jeans, when every nascar official has a fireproof suit and a helmet why wasn't he in anything? He should at the least be in a fireproof suit and have a helmet and NASCAR will most likely address this quickly, but he got out just a few seconds before the whole thing went up in flames. Does he need to wear a HANS device maybe not.
Any way I loved this race but wonder how many people called in sick on Monday only for the race to get postponed
Friday, February 24, 2012
Safer Barrier
I called Danica Patrick crashing at Daytona but this wasn't her fault, and this isn't about her its about the track. She took a hard lick on an inside wall, a wall that had the safer barrier. Daytona is one of the safer tracks that Nascar runs but there are several tracks where that hit would have been on a concrete wall, and that would have been a serious injury. I don't want to get into what if this crash or that crash wasn't on a safer barrier. What we do know is that the SAFER barrier is just that its safer, since its implementation in 2002 all ovals placed the technology in the corners, some have out fitted the whole exterior in it but few have covered every wall with it. The stuff costs about a cool mil a mile to put in, but its worth it. I think NASCAR should mandate full coverage of inside and outside walls, as well as the walls in pit lane, is it necessarily? probably not, but why not? sell out the walls to more ad space if you need the money or make an ad "This death free race was brought to you by (company name) and the SAFER Barrier."
I know how I commented on drivers feeling too safe well this is why they shouldn't. And what about the road courses. The Glen put some in at turn 11 but I think the wicked turn 5 might still be exposed. What would I rather hit a pile of good years after running through a gravel pit or a nice SAFER barrier. It might not be affordable to surround the whole course inside and out at the glen, aside from it being longer I think road courses bring in less money but maybe nascar could help them out. Atleast make sure every turn has them. There is no argument from the driver because it doesn't affect the race at all until someone hits one then it takes like 5 min to replace to insert on that section and it is safe again.
And to my Danica Patrick fans, although she wasn;t running great she was doing okay and I'll give her that.
I know how I commented on drivers feeling too safe well this is why they shouldn't. And what about the road courses. The Glen put some in at turn 11 but I think the wicked turn 5 might still be exposed. What would I rather hit a pile of good years after running through a gravel pit or a nice SAFER barrier. It might not be affordable to surround the whole course inside and out at the glen, aside from it being longer I think road courses bring in less money but maybe nascar could help them out. Atleast make sure every turn has them. There is no argument from the driver because it doesn't affect the race at all until someone hits one then it takes like 5 min to replace to insert on that section and it is safe again.
And to my Danica Patrick fans, although she wasn;t running great she was doing okay and I'll give her that.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Bud Shootout
The first thing I noticed about the bud shootout was that Danica Patrick is all over NASCAR. As much as it pains me to say she is here to stay. That being said I hope the novelty of her wares off and she slips into the pack popularity wise but the truth is she is the next Dale Jr. Getting more publicity then deserved in a sport where past champs struggle to find rides someone that hasn't done anything note worthy for several years is having sponsors line up. That being said I'll cut Dale some slack he ran good last year and was a contender despite being win less.
The second thing I noticed is Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Danica Partick, and Trevor Bayne will destroy their's and somebody else's ride. We so NASCAR vets struggling with the pack draft format, and these young drivers who have little to no experience will slide up behind someone and get them loose. I love Stenhouse Jr. and Trevor is a rising star who has won the big one, but this year hes more likely to be in the big one then victory lane. Stenhouse has had trouble finishing races in the past, but if he crashes on Sunday don't read too much into it. Although these racers may have the advantage over others as they get to run in the nationwide race and get a feel for the car and track before Sunday. Any way we will have crashes.
Which brings me to my next point safety. Do drivers think they are invincible? I have been watching early 90's races on youtube in some down time and man there was a different mentallity. Any time someone wreaked other drivers in thier car jumped out and rushed to the aid of other drivers, now they might walk over there but in no hurry. Also post race interviews with winners and in race interviews with drivers involved in wreaks always were Yeah im fine but i just hope ______ is okay. or It feels great to win but my prayers are with _________ i hope he's okay. I'm not saying drivers don't care but they just don't think they can DIE. You see the old mentality in drivers like Gordon who where on the track when guys died and I realize a lot of racers were around when Sr. died but what about J.D. McDuffie? All I'm saying is the young drivers race so hard all the time and are so competitive that they wreak guys hard. Some times its accidental sometimes well, Kyle Busch is well documented. What I'm trying to say is Nascar is deadly, don't forget it. I we never loose another driver but i feel we are stagnant in our safety advances and I know Nascar does its part and has a whole division for new safety equipment but there are still parts of some tracks without safer barriers. What about the end of walls that divide the other side of pit road from the track if a driver hits that right forget it.
A final thing I want to throw out there is what if there was an exhibition race of "Stock Cars". That's right make Carl Edwards run down to the dealer and get a Ford Fusion right off the lot, equip it with a role cage and all the safety equipment and let them have at it. I know that its stock as opposed to open wheel racing but i think it would be entertaining to watch and the pace car could be a ford Winstar mini van or something.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
GENTLEMEN Start your engines
NASCAR is male dominated everything about it is. Everything from sponsors that are dominated by the hard liquor and beer market, or car/tool based industry to the phrases that are commonly used are geared towards male spectators, male owners, and male drivers. I think women can drive. Some women can drive the wheels off of a race car, better then some men who remain in the pack despite poor performances for the better part of a decade. Am I glad a women is joining the field at the Daytona 500 in 2 weeks? YES! Do I think Danica Patrick is the right one? No.
Why is it even a big deal to have a women in the field? NASCAR is one of the few sports that men and women can compete at without there being an advantage to one or the other. Contact sports and any of the Major 4 plus soccer would only have limited specialized roles on a team. For example in Hockey and Soccer we may see the day when a female goalie comes into the league. Baseball could see a female pitcher. This is not to say that women athletes can't be better then men but despite how good they are the female game is often different and less physical. But in NASCAR its even, the true athletes are Chevy, Ford, and Dodge. Women can do anything in a car the same as men, but there are some fundemental blocks in NASCAR that need to change.
Despite female drivers gaining fame over the past few years, with the likes of Jennifer Jo Cobb, Johanna Long, and Danica Patrick Nascar is still only geared towards male drivers. "Gentlemen start your engines" and "Boys have at it" and "Boogity, Boogity, Boogity, lets go racing boys" are just a few of the common phrases used around the sport that are insensitive to female drivers. If a father was watching the race on a sunday after noon at home and his daughter walked in and sat with him and watched it, is the race as it packaged now appealing to young girls to the point where they say "Daddy i want to do that when i grow up?". I'm not calling for pink race cars like that one in the toyota commercial from a few years ago. But, I think we need to reconsider a few things.
The other thing is NASCAR needs a female role model bad! And that might be Danica Patrick but I doubt it. First of all she isn't good enough. When Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier the reason he was sucsesful in helping other black players follow in his footsteps is because he was great. He won the rookie of the year and was 5th in MVP voting by year 3 he won the award and the batting title. That being said Danica Patrick when she joins the Sprint Cup Boys in 2 weeks will be an average driver at best. The truth is she has only won one major racing event and that was in Japan in an Indy car. Shes coming from having raced 2 partial season for a total of 25 races at the nation wide level, with 3 top tens, one of which was a fourth place finish where she beat some sprint cup regulars such as Carl Edwards. But she will not have immediate success at the Sprint cup level. This year she gets a full season in the nation wide and 8-10 races in the sprint. All that I am saying here is she is not ready, sponsors are rushing her and for good reason she brings in money, but she is not ready.
Secondly, if I had a daughter I would not wont her to look to Danica as a role model. Yes she is doing things that people told her she can't, yes she is breaking ground where no women has gone before, but she has also sold her body to sponsors. She has posed for Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition in a bikini and has countless racy photos of her. Other women in nascar like Jennifer Jo Cobb and Johanna Long don't and would be better role models.
All this to say I don't know if she will ever be successful, I don't know if she will have a great following of women in her footsteps, and I don't know if NASCAR will change some ways to make the sport more gender neutral. But it wont be the first time someone will race who I don't think should be there, (Robbie Gordan).
Why is it even a big deal to have a women in the field? NASCAR is one of the few sports that men and women can compete at without there being an advantage to one or the other. Contact sports and any of the Major 4 plus soccer would only have limited specialized roles on a team. For example in Hockey and Soccer we may see the day when a female goalie comes into the league. Baseball could see a female pitcher. This is not to say that women athletes can't be better then men but despite how good they are the female game is often different and less physical. But in NASCAR its even, the true athletes are Chevy, Ford, and Dodge. Women can do anything in a car the same as men, but there are some fundemental blocks in NASCAR that need to change.
Despite female drivers gaining fame over the past few years, with the likes of Jennifer Jo Cobb, Johanna Long, and Danica Patrick Nascar is still only geared towards male drivers. "Gentlemen start your engines" and "Boys have at it" and "Boogity, Boogity, Boogity, lets go racing boys" are just a few of the common phrases used around the sport that are insensitive to female drivers. If a father was watching the race on a sunday after noon at home and his daughter walked in and sat with him and watched it, is the race as it packaged now appealing to young girls to the point where they say "Daddy i want to do that when i grow up?". I'm not calling for pink race cars like that one in the toyota commercial from a few years ago. But, I think we need to reconsider a few things.
The other thing is NASCAR needs a female role model bad! And that might be Danica Patrick but I doubt it. First of all she isn't good enough. When Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier the reason he was sucsesful in helping other black players follow in his footsteps is because he was great. He won the rookie of the year and was 5th in MVP voting by year 3 he won the award and the batting title. That being said Danica Patrick when she joins the Sprint Cup Boys in 2 weeks will be an average driver at best. The truth is she has only won one major racing event and that was in Japan in an Indy car. Shes coming from having raced 2 partial season for a total of 25 races at the nation wide level, with 3 top tens, one of which was a fourth place finish where she beat some sprint cup regulars such as Carl Edwards. But she will not have immediate success at the Sprint cup level. This year she gets a full season in the nation wide and 8-10 races in the sprint. All that I am saying here is she is not ready, sponsors are rushing her and for good reason she brings in money, but she is not ready.
Secondly, if I had a daughter I would not wont her to look to Danica as a role model. Yes she is doing things that people told her she can't, yes she is breaking ground where no women has gone before, but she has also sold her body to sponsors. She has posed for Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition in a bikini and has countless racy photos of her. Other women in nascar like Jennifer Jo Cobb and Johanna Long don't and would be better role models.
All this to say I don't know if she will ever be successful, I don't know if she will have a great following of women in her footsteps, and I don't know if NASCAR will change some ways to make the sport more gender neutral. But it wont be the first time someone will race who I don't think should be there, (Robbie Gordan).
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Brand Loyalty
As the NASCAR season is one week away from the shootout it is time to know how is racing for what sponsor. This year like most years there are some shuffling of drivers and numbers and sponsors. Thinking of one of my favorite drivers Mark Martin and his new sponsor Aarons sponsor got me thinking about Brand Loyalty.
It has long been said that NASCAR fans are the most brand loyal people around, and since the late 90's more companies have joined the ranks. NASCAR fans can still be loyal but i think the sponsor's in some cases are advertising in a market that isn't their consumer base. Case in point DuPont, Gordon's primary sponsor for 18 years and still 12 race sponsor. Who knows what they do? They are a chemical company, and they have used their sponsorship to get their name out their, but they don't make consumer goods so they don't benefit from the brand loyalty of Gordon's fans. It is good advertisement but are they getting their monies worth out of it. At about $500,000 a race Dupont has dumped $20 mil a year into advertising a company that the average viewer has no idea what they do.
Comparing a Driver of similar fame tony Stewart who has sponsors that are more at the fans level. When Driving for the #20 Home Depot you bet that many of his fans would only use that as their hardware store, especially when the other option is Johnson's Lowe's or Menard's Menards. But the case seems to me at least that many of the sponsor are not in touch with their fan base. Now that being said i realize I don't fit the historical fan base of NASCAR but living within 30min of Chicagoland speedway I m at least kind of in the geographical range, and as a 20 year old male i represent a demographic NASCAR is desperately trying to reach. And have done so with the adding of sponsors like AMP, Monster, and such.
But still major sponsors such as Sunoco (I have never even seen a sunoco gas station, as they are only in 26 states), and Mark Martin's former GoDaddy, along with many other sponsors I would never have the need for their product.
Point of all of this is as a guy that chose Amp over Monster because of Dale Jr. and prefers to shop at a Home Depot because of Tony Stewart, and will take a Coke the official non-alcoholic beverage of NASCAR over a Pepsi any day, and a proud user of Gillette thanks to Busch and Edwards and other NASCAR "young guns", and would never put anything but goodyears on my car even if it is a VW, I feel that some sponsors just don't fit in. That being said I realize there aren't enough beer companies to sponsor every car and some race fans do need Viagra, but if we don't stop some where we will have "Maxipad the offical tampon of NASCAR Drivers"
It has long been said that NASCAR fans are the most brand loyal people around, and since the late 90's more companies have joined the ranks. NASCAR fans can still be loyal but i think the sponsor's in some cases are advertising in a market that isn't their consumer base. Case in point DuPont, Gordon's primary sponsor for 18 years and still 12 race sponsor. Who knows what they do? They are a chemical company, and they have used their sponsorship to get their name out their, but they don't make consumer goods so they don't benefit from the brand loyalty of Gordon's fans. It is good advertisement but are they getting their monies worth out of it. At about $500,000 a race Dupont has dumped $20 mil a year into advertising a company that the average viewer has no idea what they do.
Comparing a Driver of similar fame tony Stewart who has sponsors that are more at the fans level. When Driving for the #20 Home Depot you bet that many of his fans would only use that as their hardware store, especially when the other option is Johnson's Lowe's or Menard's Menards. But the case seems to me at least that many of the sponsor are not in touch with their fan base. Now that being said i realize I don't fit the historical fan base of NASCAR but living within 30min of Chicagoland speedway I m at least kind of in the geographical range, and as a 20 year old male i represent a demographic NASCAR is desperately trying to reach. And have done so with the adding of sponsors like AMP, Monster, and such.
But still major sponsors such as Sunoco (I have never even seen a sunoco gas station, as they are only in 26 states), and Mark Martin's former GoDaddy, along with many other sponsors I would never have the need for their product.
Point of all of this is as a guy that chose Amp over Monster because of Dale Jr. and prefers to shop at a Home Depot because of Tony Stewart, and will take a Coke the official non-alcoholic beverage of NASCAR over a Pepsi any day, and a proud user of Gillette thanks to Busch and Edwards and other NASCAR "young guns", and would never put anything but goodyears on my car even if it is a VW, I feel that some sponsors just don't fit in. That being said I realize there aren't enough beer companies to sponsor every car and some race fans do need Viagra, but if we don't stop some where we will have "Maxipad the offical tampon of NASCAR Drivers"
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