fans. She hasn’t accomplished much in all her time in the series. He said her remarks about moving to NA$CAR had nothing to do with money were not believable, because it is all about the money. I think most fans could see right through the big “promotion” press conference welcoming her to Brian‘s Big Top Circus. Saxton also provided some interesting insight on the deal. Andretti had a one year option left for Danican’t and in allowing her to leave, Go-Daddy had to provide two years of support. Ernie believes she will never win a race or championship in NA$CAR and will be a mid-pack runner at best. I think I’ve said that too. Let’s face it. In the old days, all you needed was talent and you could get a ride. Nowadays, you don’t need talent just sponsors.
COT Doesn’t Save Money
I’ve mentioned this time and again. So here’s some numbers for you. The Hendrick organization has 12-14 cars per team, which is about the same as the Camry of Today’s predecessor. You can figure it’s the same for Roush, Childress, and Gibbs. Based on an earlier figure Hendrick released of $475,000 per car, that comes out to about $5,700,000-$6,650,000 just in the cost of cars. Next season, with changes coming to the cars’ bodies and the move to the antique and obsolete Throttle Body Injection (TBI) system, you’re looking at a minimum of $600,000-$700,000 just to re-skin the existing cars for the mega-teams. I’ve heard figures ranging anywhere from $25,000 to $100,000 a piece for the TBI system so we’re looking at anywhere from $300,000 to $1,400,000 just in the cost of the TBI. That doesn’t include the time spent figuring out how to make the current Chevy R-07 or Ford FR-9 work with the TBI or installing them. And what happens with the old first generation Camry of Today? In the past, old cars were sold to teams in other racing series so there was some return on investment. Some of the first generation Camry’s of Today has been converted to the Busch Series cars. The ones that weren’t converted and the worn out second generation Camry of Today what happens with them? Since there is no other racing series using the Camry of Today, they’re scrapped and junked leaving the teams to get pennies on the dollar for the weight of scrap metal. The Camry of Today’s predecessor could be sold to ARCA teams for about $30,000 a piece so there was some value in the old car.
Castroneves Fined $30,000
Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves called IndyCar race director Brian Barnhart a "circus clown" on Twitter last week and that cost him a $30,000 fine on Tuesday. It seems he was saying something that Paul Tracy has said before about Barnhart regarding the inconsistency in penalizing certain drivers and not others. Shades of NA$CAR. At least he didn’t get hit with a $50,000 fine like the Cup drivers did during Twittergate. Thanks for selling out your sources lamestream media journalist.
Took Long Enough
NA$CAR has finally released the 2012 schedule. Long after other series have released theirs.
Every time Faux King Brian says he’s done something to make things more convenient for the fans it usually means he’s made things more inconvenient.
Next TV Contract
I’ve been discussing with a few knowledgeable folks just how much money NA$CAR will get when the TV contracts come up for renewal and it won’t be in the billions like they got the first time around. NA$CAR will be lucky to get maybe $500 million. And it’ll be more than likely that wonderful Focks will stick their NA$CAR races on Speed TV like how ABC did with BSPN. And considering how many folks I’ve either heard from or read comments from on the web that don’t get Speed TV, the ratings will probably take some dramatic downward hits. Maybe we’ll get lucky by the time the contract comes up for renewal and somebody like Roger Penske or Humpy Wheeler will be running NA$CAR and things will be turning around.
Mayfield Appeals Hearing Date Delayed Yet Again
It seems that because NA$CAR’s supposed lead attorney is going to be tied up with another lawsuit, he can’t be present for the appeals court to set a date for Mayfield’s appeals hearing so we’re now looking at December maybe or even into 2012 for a date to be set. In plain, simple terms, NA$CAR is trying to drag the appeals process out in a similar manner to what they did with the Federal court hearings. So this isn’t going away any time soon. Maybe Santa will bring Jeremy a nice Christmas present from Santa, like Faux King Brian’s sealed divorce files being opened and all sorts of goodies to aid Jeremy’s case will fall out of it allowing him to amend his appeals case, overturn some previous rulings, and maybe even send Faux King Brian on an all expense trip to the Gray Bar Hotel, Spa, & Dating Service.
What a Coincidence
Even though there were rain drops on the network camera lenses and the lenses of the roof cameras on the Cup cars on the track at Dover for at least 10 laps, Mr Magoo in race control didn’t bother making a call for rain until the BSPN Booth Bozos started talking about Dale Jr’s front suspension problems and then there was a coincidental caution for rain. We know NA$CAR would never call a caution for Robbie Gordon, Joe Nemechek, Travis Kvapil, David Gilliland, or Dave Blaney having suspension problems. They’d never call a caution for anyone not in the play-offs for suspension problems. So why do they feel it’s necessary to call cautions for the play-off contenders when they’re having problems or are about to get lapped by the race leader?
Dollar General Leaving
Sarah Fisher Racing was informed that Dollar General won’t be back next season despite a very hard fought and well deserved win by Ed Carpenter at Kentucky this past weekend. Hopefully this win will help Sarah find a sponsor for next season. Dollar General is also pulling the plug on their NA$CAR efforts.
Interesting Things About IndyCar
The series was originally founded as an oval track series and yet oval tracks make up the minority of races on the schedule. The street and road course races for some reason pull in much larger crowds than the oval tracks do and if you look at the oval tracks on the schedule, most are Bruton’s cookie cutter 1.5 mile tracks. Despite the fiasco at Loudon, caused by Brian Barnhart, IndyCar wants to keep that race on the schedule. In an interesting twist, while Motegi is no longer on the schedule, IndyCar will be racing at Qingdao China. So who knows what races will make the final, final schedule next season. Unless some race sponsors are found for Bruton’s tracks, they may be off the schedule next season leaving IndyCar with Indianapolis, Iowa, and Fontana as the only oval track races for next season.
Badyear’s Staying Until 2017
The one tire manufacturer who is willing to play ball with the France family will continue to bring their bad tires to the track through 2017. Despite fiascos like Charlotte and Indianapolis, Badyear will continue getting free mentions from the Focks Commentating Clowns, BSPN Booth Buffoons, and all of the pit road reporters for all the networks providing coverage. If your tire blows out after just 2 laps, it’s a Badyear.
Motormouth Motorsports to Dominate Focks Pre-Race Shows
Focks, in their infinite wisdom (insert sarcasm), has decided to put both of the Motormouth Brothers on the pre-race show. So prepare yourself for one long shill-a-thon in 2012. We won’t hear about anything other than the products and sponsors they’ll pitch or how much Jabber Jaws influenced a particular driver’s career even if the driver wasn’t born until after Jabber Jaws retired or about how decent a job Ford, Chevy, or Dodge has done on the track. In the past when they’ve had both of the Motormouth Brothers on the same show, it’s been one trying to shout over the other. This is what race fans have to look forward to. Talk about a ratings killer. Good job Focks (insert sarcasm again).
But why do this? To intentionally drive down the ratings so that when the TV contract comes up for renewal, Focks can go cheap citing the poor TV ratings even though they’ll be self-induced. You don’t have to be a marketing genius in Daytona Beach to figure that out.
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