Time to look back on the past year.

As the year of our Lord, 2013 draws to a conclusion, and the Christmas or Holiday season is upon us, it is time for reflection and looking forward for the New Year.

The past year in drag racing has been exciting and somewhat controversial, but for the most part, it has been exciting.

We saw Antron crash test the Schumacher capsule at Pomona, and come out with for the most part all right. He walked away from it, which is all that matters.

The NHRA tried its best to engineer a way to keep funny car bodies on the cars when and engine explosion takes place when both Johnny Gray had a body almost make it to the spectator area, and Robert Hight’s did get into the crowd.

Gray was the Ginny pig for the first version of the tether system.  It nearly concussion from the blast battered the Artesia, New Mexico driver severely.  This incident at Sonoma forced the NHRA to readdress their tether system again. At this time, it appears it is still an ongoing process.

The point’s races in the NHRA “Big Show” had some drama to them. I was glad to see Shawn Langdon win the top fuel title. Having Shawn race his Super Comp car back in the day, it is reassuring to see that there is hope for those with god given talent and not a fat checkbook to be able to make it to the top echelon of the sport, and be successful.

For many people who are either AARP or AMAC members, the sight of seeing 64 year young John Force take his 16^th title in funny car was kinda like “ In your face” to the Gen Xer’s and Milennial’s who are in the sport. For some of us in that AMAC age range we still have a hard time forgetting Indy 2009.

The best emotion of the year goes to first time Pro Stock winner Rickie Jones, who took the win at the final race of the year in Pomona. People who win national events are happy and thrilled. Some it seems may enhance their enthusiasm to make it a better show. However, this was not the case with Rickie Jones, the kid was crying for joy before the car came to stop, and when all the photographers realized what was happening, it was on, to capture that most genuine of moments.

In the nostalgia world of drag racing it too was filled with drama.

Legendary nitro racer and four-time Good Guys top fuel champion Jim Murphy made it one for the thumb with his first ever NHRA points championship this year. Murphy who split up with long time crew chief Tim Beebe took delivery of Frank Ousley’s old/new car, along with a new ingenious oil containment system, developed with the help of another mad scientist Jim Head.  The system was put to use at Boise, where in the semi final round  win, the engine split a piston in half and not one drop of oil hit the track, the system contained it all.  More on that later.

Back to back to back flopper champion Jason Rupert took the 2013 title, in the most dramatic fashion during the final race of the final event of the year.  My perspective  when there are four teams with a chance at the title on the going into the final race, of the year it is dramatic.

What will be interesting in 2014 is what will happen with the IHRA and their infusion of what would be considered huge money 50,000.00 per event with 10K going to the winner and 100,000.00 dollars for the season points fund with 50 large going to the victor.

Will this get the NHRA’s attention?  It should as four of their big name funny car teams either have committed to the “I” or will attempt to work on both sides of the fence, as much as possible.

The Pro Mod world from this perspective is in turmoil. There are so many factions / sanctioning bodies in the world of pro mod racing it looks more like United Nations general assembly.  I do not know if all these different entities will be able to fight for enough racetracks to race on, and find the money to pay the racers.  Alternatively, will the pro mod racers have to start paying the sanctioning body to race at their events? That might just be a very slippery slope.

So time will tell how all this shakes out. As there are some teams who have already started testing for 2014 and it is about time as there are only 48 days until Pomona.

I would like to take a moment to give a heartfelt thank you to everybody who reads this blog, and visiting my blog site.  I would like to invite everybody to become a follower of the blog, Nitrophoto.blogspot.com, and like my Nitrophoto Facebook page, please.

For those of you who are traveling, travel safe and sanely. The Losness’ are headed to Montana.  My in-laws have this wonderful log house in the mountains and their closest neighbors are a quarter mile away.  The house is in the beautiful Stillwater Valley.

Have a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year. We will talk more about drag racing in a couple of weeks.

Media and Law Enforcement Give Drag Racing another Black Eye.

Media and Law Enforcement Give Drag Racing another Black Eye

Last Saturday evening I was sitting in a media room with other photographers  at a local university, covering a college football game for USA Today, when one of the other photographers who was monitoring a social media site said with shock and sadness that Paul Walker had died.

My response was” Who?”  He looked at me like I had three nipples and said “ Paul Walker…. You know The Fast and the Furious.” 

Now with all honesty I can say that I have never seen an entire one of these Fast and the Furious movies. I watched about twenty minutes of the first one and then changed the channel to the Discovery or something.

Movies and reality shows that depict illegal street acceleration activities are not something I tend not to watch or give credence to. Then when compared to a legitimate sport such as drag racing, it pains me even more.

            Furthermore, I feel that those knuckleheads in Oklahoma with their reality show have done more harm to the motorsports industry than help it. Even though some racetrack promoters have felt it is OK to bring these people in as celebrities and such to heir events. Nevertheless, I digress.

The mainstream media and the law enforcement community have also done a great disservice to the sport of drag racing when they file reports on situations such as what happened last Saturday afternoon. “There was a possibility that Mr. Walker was drag racing when he was killed.”

Having my undergraduate degree in media studies, I understand why the mainstream media, and law enforcement officials are comfortable with using drag racing as a way to describe the illegal street acceleration activities, when these activities go aria.

The term is laziness.  It is easier to write drag racing than it is to write, illegal street acceleration activities. Two fewer words to write by the author.

The shame is, mainstream media types and some in law enforcement don’t understand that incorrectly using the term “drag racing” in these negative connotations can do to irreparable harm to half billion dollar dollar industry.

These reports are in a sense putting a legal, legitimate sporting activity and business in the same light as an illegal criminal enterprise. 

These erroneous reports can affect how a potential sponsor might look at the sport of drag racing, if that potential sponsor is new to the sport. It will make it harder to convince a potential sponsor to become involve if they see the sport in such a negative light.

However, to many of these uninformed people in law enforcement and the media, they don’t get it or worse yet don’t care.  Case in point.

About ten years ago, I was part of a fledgling all sports newspaper here in Southern Idaho, and there was an accident on a rural road where two cars were engaged in an illegal street acceleration activity. A gravel truck happen to  pull onto the road from a side street and the three kids in one of the cars involved were killed when the car and gravel truck collided.

The local law enforcement put out a report which was picked up by the local print and electronic  media and stated that the kids were killed while drag racing. I tracked down the officer who wrote the report and was doing a story on this tragedy.

My first question to him was “How did the gravel truck get on to the drag strip?” He looked at me with a puzzled look, and I followed up with, “Your report stated that the 3 occupants in the car were drag racing when they collided with the gravel truck and were killed, so how did the gravel truck get on the race track?” His response was “They were drag racing on the street.”

I tried to explain to him that drag racing is legal activity done at a drag strip and illegal street acceleration activities are not legal, and done on the street.  His response was “It’s all the same to us.”

Therefore, I asked him if that is the case then private security guards are the same as police officers.  His response was a very stern “NO”

 I said “Sure you are. You both drive cars with flashing lights on top, both have badges, both carry guns, Billy clubs, and handcuffs etc. All the same to us, right?” 

If he would have had a tazer, his facial expressions pretty much said he would have tazed me right then and there. Rather he spun round on his heels and got in his patrol car and left.

Now I am not trying to make light of what has happened this past Saturday.  It is tragic. Two families have lost a father, a son, a brother. Many others have lost two dear friends. Moreover, many have lost an entertainer who brought them enjoyment.

However, let’s not drag (no pun intended) an entire industry down where many people are employed and many positive things occur, just because somebody in the mainstream media or law enforcement official is too lazy to give a proper description to actually what happened when people engage in illegal street acceleration activities by calling it drag racing.

So when these instances occur where media and or law enforcement take the easy road and use the term drag racing when these illegal street acceleration activities take place. It puzzles me why the leading sanctioning body in the sport of drag racing the National Hot Rod Association sitting on their hands and not coming out with a statement refuting the description of the activities that caused Mr. Walker or others to lose their lives in illegal street acceleration activities.

Because you know damn good and well the next time some high profile individual is killed or seriously injured in an illegal street acceleration activity, and it will happen, if a reporter in the mainstream media or law enforcement office puts in the report, that the victim was involved in stock car racing on the street.  NASCAR would mobilize its legal and communications department in order to contain and redirect those comments so fast it would make one’s head spin.

One last thing is that racing is a legal sport done at sanctioned facilities throughout the world. Where there are safety measures in place and rules to govern the activities.

 When people get out on the street and drive fast it is not racing.  In addition, when there are two or more knuckleheads out driving fast on the streets, it still is not racing; it is illegal street acceleration activity. Alternatively, use the term wreck less driving.  

Either way my message to those in the media and law enforcement don’t take the easy way out when describing a tragedy like what happened on Saturday by just throwing out the term drag racing. It is not fair moreover, it is not an accurate description.

Just to see if anybody notices.

Rumors about NHRA going to quarter mile racing for T/F and F/C, and what I think must be done to accomplish that.

Greetings to all seven of you who follow my blog and I appreciate your continued support. 

I know it has been sometime since my last post and I apologize for that. Between master’s program, (do not roll your eyes at me) and other things it was necessary to put the blog on the back burner for a while.

Well now that the reason for not updating is out of the way. The subject of this week’s blog is somewhat of a rehash of an earlier topic.

At the world finals in Pomona, the rumor mill was running overtime with the topic of the NHRA going back to quarter mile racing for the nitro classes, top fuel and funny car.

Now if this is true it is a great piece of news for us purist in the sport.  Many drag racing fans are linear thinkers and they see the set distance for drag racing as a quarter of a mile nothing else.

Here is a question, would the return to quarter mile drag racing correct the trend of slumping TV ratings and declining spectator attendance?

Speaking of TV ratings Michael Knight in a recent report stated that NHRA’S television audience had declined for the third straight year.  Since 2011 to 2013, viewer ship is down nearly 11.7 percent. It fell 5.9 percent last year.

Now if the NHRA would go back to quarter mile racing will that improve the rating? Most likely, it would not do much to move the needle. 

So why are the numbers down?  Mr. Knight did not elaborate, but I am going out on a limb here and say the reason for the decline is when the broadcast are shown, or not shown on ESPN which has a contract with the NHRA to broadcast their events.

 It seems the NHRA broadcast is the redheaded stepchild of the “Mother ship”.  It makes it hard to build viewership when qualifying shows frequently air at horrible times such as 3:00 am Eastern time.

Or when then NHRA shows are delayed by broadcasts of “The Iowa High School Girls Junior Varsity Badminton Championships” or some such thing.  

Now I know, I am being facetious, but you get the point.

Even though the NHRA pays ESPN to air their shows, NHRA seems to be kicked around when it comes to showing the events. Maybe a change of tact is in order.

Would it be better to be a big fish in a smaller pond of sports network such as CBS Sports or NBC Sports, or even drag racing supporter Forrest Lucas’ network,  MAVTV, rather than being an afterthought on the Mother ship.

Nevertheless, I digress.  Will going back to quarter-mile racing help those ratings? I do not think so. There must be a solid consistent television package to increase the ratings. In addition, the television rating might just go up if the broadcast would shy away from the John Force Show.

On the other hand, would quarter mile top fuel and funny car racing help attendance at the events? Possibly, it would. Drag race fans, purist equate the sport to quarter mile racing. Drag racing is the quickest sport on the planet, and running a shorter distance makes it almost too quick to derive any enjoyment from.

There is a dilemma with going back to quarter mile racing for the nitro cars.

One, technological advancements have allowed the top fuel cars to exceed 332 miles per hour in a thousand feet and 320 miles per hour for the funny cars.  Now if the cars were simply to return to quarter mile racing you might see top fuel speeds nearly 350 miles per hour and 340 miles per hour in funny car.

From a marketing and promotions aspects this would be fantastic. The NHRA marketing and promotions department if they were aggressive would have a field day with these statistics. Pumping up the fan base to take in the greater excitement of 350 mile per hour race cars.

Conversely, the NHRA like many corporations also have a risk management division.  I could see those people in risk management wanting to have no part of racecars going 350 miles per hour on their tracks.

The NHRA this year dodged a bullet when it comes to having fans seriously injured at when the body from Robert Hight’s funny car blew off at Charlotte and landed on fans in the grand stands.

If there was a 350 mile per hour dragster were not able to stop at Pomona and end up on Fairplex Drive at five o’clock on a Friday night.  Well you could just about write off the sport of NHRA Drag Racing.

Which leads me to part two and there are tracks that have the limited space for the shutdown areas. Pomona and Englishtown are two that come to mind. These facilities are land locked and have no physical ability to be extended to allow a car with a parachute or brake anomaly to stop safely 350 miles per hour without crashing onto a public highway.

Therefore, if the NHRA is looking to go back to quarter mile racing, the sanctioning body must address the speed of the cars and slow them down. As I have stated in earlier blogs, there are two simple ways to slow these cars down.

In talking with various crew chiefs in the sport and consensus is that the NHRA can either take away one of the magnetos from the engine.  Thus, there is no way to burn all the fuel injected by the 100 gallon per minute pump into the combustion chamber.  Therefore, fuel flow rates would be reduced until the magnetos could produce a spark with enough energy to burn the fuel. Moreover, in theory slowing down the cars to a more manageable speed..

The other school of thought is regulating the pump rate to 60 gallons per minute rate rather than 100 gallon per minute, and keeps the two magnetos. The theory is the two magnetos would eliminate dropped cylinders and fire the fuel in the combustion chamber which can a does cause engine damage.

Either way horsepower reduction in a manageable order must be done to slow the cars down.

The long and the short of if it is, if the NHRA does go back to quarter mile racing for the nitro classes,  some due diligence must be done before this can be accomplished.

The NHRA must address these rumors and look at the risk/reward factors of going back to quarter mile racing for top fuel and funny car, and inform the competitors in a timely manner on their decision.

For this fan, I hope the answer is yes, to quarter mile top fuel and funny car racing.

Just to see if anybody notices…

.

Sometimes I Wonder, Why?

Wendell Scott and Darrell Wallace Jr. are linked together by many things in life, including passion, determination, history and now after this past Saturday, success.

Darrell Wallace Jr, or Bubba as many know him is 20 years old, and a gifted individual who loves to drive race cars in NASCAR. Wendell Scott was also very gifted and determined, competing in NASCAR back in the 1960’s. He took his first and only win in 1964 at the Jacksonville 200.

 Bubba Wallace this past Saturday in Martinsville, Virginia won his first ever Camping World Truck Series event, driving for another gifted and determined individual, Kyle Busch. Both Busch and Wallace drive for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Earlier this year, at the opening race for NASCAR, the Daytona 500 Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year, candidate Danica Patrick won the pole for the Great American Race. Patrick’s feat was extraordinary because not many rookies have been able to accomplish this feat in the history of NASCAR.

These feats of greatness have been and are celebrated in the national media as being special. But, why are they special?

NASCAR makes these feats special with their media and marketing departments touting the cause of diversity. Darrell Wallace Jr. is black, as was Wendell Scott. Danica Patrick is obviously female.

The national media was abuzz with headlines: Darrell Wallace Jr. makes NASCAR history with victory. (USA Today) Darrell Wallace Jr. hopes to pave way for other African-American drivers after historic win. (The Sporting News) and Darrell Wallace Jr. sets NASCAR milestone. (Al Jazeera) Yes Al Jazeera the network from Qatar.

The NASCAR marketing machine is full throttle getting this story out about Bubba Wallace and their “Drive to Diversity Program” to the media as it was when Danica won the pole at Daytona.

The problem is when it comes to motorsports as a whole and diversity, NASCAR is a day late and a dollar short.

In actuality, the NHRA is the tip of the spear when it comes to diversity, the problem is they really do not pound their chest about it, or the national media does not give it a great deal of credence.

The deal is the NHRA is so diverse it does not need a program to promote it.  Drag Racing has had female world champions Shirley Muldowney (Three times); Angelle Sampey (three times); and Jackie Alley. Latino world champions, Tony and Cruz Pedregon,( both have done it twice) and a black world champion Antron Brown.  Antron Brown won his first Top Fuel World Championship in 2012 and has two race wins in 2013.  These people were not just race winners, but winners of season long championships in both professional and sportsman categories’.

In 2008 Lewis Hamilton, won the F1 Drivers World Championship and continues to be perennial race winner on the F1 circuit.  In 2012, he took the victory at the first annual US Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas in San Antonio, Texas.

My question is this, why in 2013 if we live in a country where everybody is equal (supposedly) then why would a person’s skin color or gender even brought up when we talk about racers winning races or championships.

Why can’t we just say that Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr, took his first ever Camping World Truck Series win at Martinsville. 

 Wallace is very talented, aligned with a great organization in Joe Gibbs Racing, and is destined for greatness. This kid will be a star in NASCAR in the future.

Why quantitatively classify this by putting race into the mix?  For ratings, for hits on websites? 

I feel we need just to talk about the talent of the driver, or crew chief, or crewmember. Why do we even need to bring race or gender into the equation?  I can guaran-damn-tee  you that the race car has no clue what race, creed, sex, or religion the person is working on it, or driving it. Nor does it care. 

So neither should we.  Congratulations to Bubba Wallace Jr, racecar driver on your win at Martinsville.

Radford Returns to the Pro Mod Wars.

Dennis Radford

Radford Returns to the Pro Mod Wars.                      

Veteran Pro Mod driver Dennis Radford will return to the NHRA Pro Mod Series driving a second IDG back 2013 Chevy Camaro. Radford’s return will take place at the 13th annual NHRA Toyota Nationals, October 24-27, 2013 at The Strip of Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Radford who has taken a sabbatical from driving to concentrate on his business interests and over see his wife Judy, racing endeavors.

Radford still holds the fifth fastest speed ever recorded by a nitrous pro mod at 243.94 mph at Charlotte, North Carolina in 2011.

“I am looking forward to getting back into the seat of a great car prepared by Rickie Smith with the backing of IDG”, stated Radford from his home in Baker City, Oregon.

 IDG is the Market Leader for Industrial Distribution and Supply Chain Solutions.

Is there room for common sense in Pro Mod racing.

This week’s blog has to deal with safety in drag racing. I have and always will be a big proponent for safety, safety equipment and rules that promotes safety.

The focus is on the class of Pro Mod. The past two NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series races have seen two devastating crashes.  These two events along with crashes that have taken place at ADRL, XDRL, and other independent Pro Mod races along with some Top Sportsman racers. This also includes the crashes that took the life of two racers.

Why is the occurring?  I have many contacts with in the Pro Mod community and I spoke with some of them about these occurrences.  I had a suspicion to the cause of these accidents. However, to my surprise the response I got was not what I completely expected.

The consensus of these drivers and crew chiefs that I spoke with the cause of these incidents were attributed to two different factors.  Lack of down force and OHS.I will explain OHS later.

Speaking with a couple of drivers they said that first off there is a lack of down force on these cars, as in many instances on the pro stock cars. One driver told me  “These cars need to run more wing in them, but if you do that it slows the car down, so they (driver) trim it out to get the car faster.”  The lack of down force will make the car faster as long as it is in the grove and can stay stuck, but once it gets out of the grove the lack of down force and traction makes the cars skate around.

When I asked the crew chiefs if the speeds were too fast for cars with suspension?  To a man, they said no. Technology has made suspension cars more stable. Many of the pro mod cars do not run the electronic shocks; most have gone to the Penske shock package that seems to make the car more forgiving.

So what is the other contributing factor?  A very grizzly Army warrior explained it to me many years ago when I served in the Army, he called it OHS. So what is OHS?  Operator Head Space, according to this Army warrior is, and I will edit it somewhat. It is when an individual’s posterior overloads their capacity of their cranial cavity. Lack of common sense.

One of the drivers stated it somewhat in the same vernacular. “ When drivers, drive over their heads that is when they get into trouble. Another crew chief stated  that “ It is hard sometimes to get it through their ( a drivers) heads that if the cars starts moving around, just shove the clutch in and come back to fight another day.”

This same crew chief stated that “ The competition has gotten so tough that if the car doesn’t make a perfect run that it doesn’t make sense to try and pedal the car to save a run.”  He went on to say “ is it really worth that $1000.00 in round money to risk wadding up a $120,000.00 dollars race car?”

However, all of these arguments make sense, but racers will be racers and when these drivers get into the cars their only thought is to get to the other end under power no matter what. I have personally seen this attitude develop from the time the driver steps into the car till they get out at the other end. It is like a thousand meter stare. “I will do almost everything to get the car to the finish line.”

Therefore, we know racers will be racers and some of them will put their brains into neutral when they go down the racetrack. It is how they are wired. So is there anything which would assist drivers in having better control of the car or do something to the cars to help the drivers if the car gets into trouble.

I think so. First, the sanctioning bodies need to work with car builders and racers to come up with a rear wing and front air dam package to make the cars more aero-stable.  Therefore, when the cars start to move around out of the grove it will help the driver to get control of the car. However, many drivers and crew chiefs say that aero really does not start to effect the cars till about the 1/8 mile.  Which is what the ADRL, XDRL and other outlaw bodies run on.

 The other thing is that since the NHRA has no problem taking other ideas that NASCAR has come up with, and bend it into something that will help the NHRA.

 The NHRA should take the NASCAR idea of roof flaps and makes those mandatory on all Pro Mods, Pro Stock and Top Sportsman cars. Therefore, when the cars get turned around as the air gets under the rear wing and tries to lift the car, the roof flaps will help fight that tendency. I would use the Gen Six style roof flats as they have a larger surface area and the small “parachute” side areas on the flaps.

The final thing is that maybe drivers need to step back and evaluate their situations. If the car starts doing something silly, shove the clutch in. It is one thing to wreck your own stuff , but it is another to wreck your opponents stuff in your moment of stupidity.

These are suggestions and I would gladly love to hear what others have to say about this.

I just hate seeing race cars tore up and more so, drivers hurt or even killed over a lack of for common sense, and driving over their heads. No I am not calling for a nanny state, but I am calling for an injection of common sense.

NHRA and its Teams Needs to Capitalize on Mistakes Made in NASCAR

Business, especially big business is not for the faint of heart.  Therefore, if you are in business and you see a competitor possibly having some difficulties, it is perfectly understandable for to capitalize on those your opponent’s difficulties to help enhance your own position.

This is the position that NHRA seems to be in. There is a possible chink in the armor of the monster of motor sports NASCAR.

Nationwide Insurance has decided to pull sponsorship from the second level of NASCAR series known as Nationwide Series at the end of the 2014 year. 

 NAPA has pulled its support from the Michael Waltrip Racing organization after the debacle that occurred at the Richmond event involving Waltrip driver Clint Bowyer and the MWR Executive Vice President of Business Development and General Manager Ty Norris.  

Bowyer’s action of spinning with eight laps to go and bringing out a caution along with Norris telling MWR driver Brian Vickers to pit, which would put Vickers a lap down and then put NAPA driver Martin Truex Jr. into the NASCAR “Chase to the Sprint Cup.”

NASCAR penalized the NAPA driver Truex fifty driver points as well as the other MWR drivers. NASCAR also penalized Waltrip 50 owners’ points along with 300 thousand dollars.

This effectively put Truex out of the Chase, which cost MWR nearly 3 million dollars in lost revenue.

This action caused NAPA to pull its two remaining years of funding of MWR estimated at nearly 18 million dollars a year.

NAPA in a press release last week stated, “NAPA believes in fair play and does not condone actions such as those that led to the penalties assessed by NASCAR.”

Now this past weekend Five Hour Energy, the sponsor for MWR driver Clint Bowyer, company president Scott Henderson in a statement regarding NASCAR and NASCAR President Brian France stated that,” "There's a lot of talk about integrity," he said. "When the guy who's in charge can say, 'I can do whatever I want and I'm going to do it and I just did,' I wonder about integrity. I want to make sure we can win in this sport, OK?"

There is some sentiment that Five Hour will walk from MWR at the end of the 2013 season.

With all of this said, I would hope to think that people who work in the marketing department at the glass palace in Glendora, along with some of the marketing people working for the NHRA teams would be burning up the phones to those agencies handling some of these NASCAR marketing partners accounts.

If Five Hour Energy does pull out of MWR over lack of integrity, then the NHRA should be talking to Coke in Atlanta about the exclusivity clauses Coke has in place not allowing other drink companies to be marketing partners with NHRA teams.

The NHRA must capitalize on this opportunity to exploit and opening and bring more money and new marketing partners to the sport of drag racing.

Now I know that NAPA has a presence in the NHRA with DSR, however, it might get NAPA to expand on that platform and activation.

However, Five Hour Energy would find a great home in NHRA if Coke would allow it, and Five Hour could do a three-year deal with a NHRA team for the less than the cost of one year in NASCAR.

With ESPN losing their NASCAR, deal at the end of 2014 and possibly as early as the end of this year as being speculated by some. I see this as an opportunity for NHRA to leverage ESPN to get better coverage and air times.

All of this would require the NHRA to get motivated and be aggressive with some of its partners to take advantage of these situations.

I understand that this is pie in the sky kind of thinking; however, if these two sponsors are not very happy with NASCAR, there is a possibility that others might be not overly happy with NASCAR and with what has happened over the past two weeks.

Therefore as I stated before, it might behoove NHRA and their teams to start working hard on some of these opportunities.

It would take a lot of back end work, such as getting a better television package, and maybe some expanded programming on ESPN, or MAV TV by doing pre and post-race coverage of national events.

Alternatively, look at doing something with Sirius XM radio to provide coverage of the national events on satellite radio to expand the drag racing media presence. The NHRA already steams its events from the announcer’s deck, on the internet; they could do the same with Sirius XM radio

In concluding, I understand that I am not in any of these marketing people offices at NHRA or at the respective drag racing teams. So maybe some people who are employed in these offices might be working on these opportunities.

 If so I feel the NHRA needs to put out the word, they are going to be aggressively seeking to expand their marketing profile to expand the sport and take advantage of these mistakes made by NASCAR.

ESPN disrespects NHRA fans or did they?

Let us be honest the sport of professional drag racing is treated like red headed stepchildren in the arena of sports and in particular motorsports.   This was very evident last Sunday evening, when ESPN decided preempt the NHRA broadcast to show the conclusion of the rain delayed NASCAR event from Chicago.

The NHRA telecast was the switched to ESPN news or HD. This is not found on most basic cable or satellite subscriptions. Therefore, many fans could not watch the remainder of the event.

Now as I understand it, and it is possible my information is not accurate, ESPN pays NASCAR in the hundreds of millions of dollars for the rights to show “Cup” racing. The NHRA pays ESPN to show the drag races.

Now so it seems as though the management team at ESPN is more concerned with taking care of those they pay money too rather than take care of those who are a profit center for them.

However, I can see from a business standpoint that ESPN sees paying to broadcast NASCAR as an investment and ESPN must to do whatever possible to achieve a return on investment or better known as ROI.

Therefore, since there was MLB game Yankee’s verses Red Sox on the “mother ship” ESPN, and the millions of viewers tuned in to see that game on the Eastern Sea Board. There was no way ESPN is bumping that game.

Therefore, ESPN management saw NHRA drag racing as being “expendable” and who is bumped? The drag races to ESPN News, to make way for NASCAR on “the duce”. 

The problem is that not all the basic cable and satellite programing packages have ESPN News as an option.  Thus, those fans that waited all day to watch drag racing from Charlotte were “bitch slapped” by ESPN because of economic reasons, and demographics.

Is this entirely the fault of ESPN? No.  Why you ask?  Let us go back to that word demographics.  More people watch NASCAR. It is a basic fact.  More people who watch means more money is charged for advertisements on the broadcasts and there you have a return on the investment.

 Advertisements that are part of a racers marketing partner’s (sponsors) activation plan. So, the more people who watch, the more marketing partners get views of their branding and the more people will go out and act on the impulse to purchase from those partners. And the marketing partners see a return on investment.

NASCAR racing’s format one race with 43 cars running at the same time, allows ESPN to produce a live telecast.

NHRA’s format, of having many different classes of cars and focus strictly being on the  professional cars during the event, does not allow a live telecast to take place, because the focus of the event is on the professional categories,(top fuel, funny car, pro stock and pro stock bike)  so it has to broadcast on a  live/ tape delayed. 

The other thing I have noticed is that broadcasters at the NASCAR events will work in a team’s marketing partners into their descriptions of the action. I have heard many times pit reporter Dr. Jerry Punch describe a pit stop by Jimmy Johnson by saying. “Jimmy Johnson brings the “Lowes” “Chevrolet” to attention of Chad Knaus”.

I feel this practice has to happen more on the NHRA broadcasts to help promote those marketing partners who have decided to use NHRA drag racing to promote their products. “Tony Pedregon’s American Racing Wheels/ Toyota approaches the water box”.

One last thing, while having the drag race broadcast preempted and moved to another part of the ESPN family of channels, was a slap in the face to the drag racing fans, we as fans need to know that at least they are showing the events.

There is not a lot of other sports channels clambering to broadcast NHRA Drag Racing events. 

How can that change. In my humble opinion, a few things would help:

One- The NHRA must open up the market place start allowing more marketing partners to come into the sport by stopping the practice of exclusive advertising practices.  For example since Coke is the umbrella sponsor of the series, and under the NHRA/Coke sponsorship agreement,  there can be no other soft drink sponsorships can be brought into the sport.  

If this agreement is modified it would allow, for example other, drink companies come on board with teams needing marketing partners.  The possibility of more and diverse companies coming to drag racing is enhanced and expands the field with more teams.

Two- When a new company does come into the sport, the NHRA needs to keep their hands in their pockets and not try not get “theirs” too.  If the new company wants to expand their activation to the NHRA side then great. The NHRA needs to capitalize on those opportunities, only when offered.

Three- Teams need to do a better job of taking care of sponsors.  Do not give away the car just to have a name on the side of it. Team need to prepare handle the activation of the sponsorship, and under promise and over deliver on the expectations given to the marketing partner.

Learn a lesson from Kenny Bernstein, how he took care of Anheuser- Busch and Budweiser for nearly 30 years.

Four- TV must do more to promote those partners who are in the sport or those new partners who have decided to use NHRA drag racing to promote their products and services. Not concentrate on just a few of the “major” players such as JFR and DSR.

Five- NHRA needs to examine the pricing structure for event tickets so that more people and their families can afford to come to the races. Give the fans a great value.

Six- Fans need to do their part by going to the events marketing partners love to see a racecar in front of full grand stands. Fans need to interact through social media with teams and marketing partners, to show their engagement with the sport and the event.

Seven- Fans must become engaged, and support those who support drag racing. Moreover, tell those marketing partners why you use their service or buy their products.

Will all of these suggestions work? Will any work?  I honestly think that some of these suggestions will help expand the sport and keep the fans who love to watch drag racing on television from being “bitch slapped” again.

The first round of Nostalgia qualifying is in the book here at Rocky Mountain Raceway, in Salt Lake City.

In Junior Fuel four cars made the trip. On the point is Scott Parks  with a 7.11

In A Fuel the same number of cars made the trip to RMR and Kin Bates is the leader after Q1 with a thundering 6.57.

In 7.0 Pro six cars have made the voyage to the Salt Lake area.  Chuck Roark from Great Falls, Montana is on the point at 7.10

In Nostalgia Funny Car there are 10 cars running for the eight spots.

On point is Kris Krabill with a  5.97, followed by Dan Horan with a 6.06, third is Robert Overholser at 6.186.  Reigning series champ Jason Rupert is fourth at 6.187, Tim Boychuk is fifth at 6.23.  Number six is Dennis LaCharite at 6.24, in seventh is local hero Scott Stanger with a 6.37 and rounding out the top eight is Bob Godfrey with a 6.43

On the outside looking in is Mark Sanders at 8.35 and Nathan Sitko.

The next session is scheduled for 3:00pm

Robert Overholser #3 after Q1

Mark Sanders had engine problems in Q1

Jason Rupert is number 4

Dan Horan is 2nd after Q1

Kris Krabill is number one after Q1 with a 5.97

Salt Lake City-

Well it is raining off and on. However, the pro do not run till eight oclock tonight therefore it appears we will soldier on.


7:17pm MDT  We are racing, Well bracket racing decision was made to forego the Heritage Series for the evening and pile it on tomorrow.

NHRA Heritage Series Event- Rocky Mountain Raceway- Salt Lake City, Utah

Just arrived on site, and the sky's are overcast and dark.  The wind is blowing like crazy, teams are looking to find ways to secure awning, and the like. I will make a walk through the pit area.

2013 Pepsi Nightfire Nationals

The Pepsi Nightfire Nationals- Day One watch for updates through out the day.

Drag Racing Needs to Get into the Lemonade Business

Drag Racing Needs to Get into the Lemonade Business

This last week the NHRA and professional drag racing felt the blow when out of the blue, Ford decided that it would terminate their contract with the NHRA as the provider of service vehicles and stop the support of professional drag racers in the Funny Car and Pro Stock Classes. However, Ford is not getting out of drag racing completely.

In a statement released by the Dearborn, Michigan-based company stated, “Ford is not getting out of drag racing. We are fully committed to continue our support of grassroots sportsman drag racing with our Mustang Cobra Jet, parts support and contingency programs.”

It can be analyzed that Ford was not seeing a Return on Investment with the professional side of the NHRA.

 Ford is aligned with John Force Racing arguably the most powerful team in NHRA racing; Bob Tasca Racing, a mega-Ford dealer in New England, and Tim Wilkerson, and unofficial teammate  to Tasca.

These teams have won races over the past five years and garner  a good deal of airtime on the ESPN coverage, especially Force, who gets a lion’s share of it.

So why would Ford pull these deals from the funny car team?  From this perspective, the bodies on the funny cars don’t look like Mustangs.  They do not resemble the Mustang setting in the show room of the local  Ford dealership.  Why do these companies get into racing? “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday”. 

Therefore, if Tasca’s “Mustang” wins at Seattle, a fan cannot go to Kendall Ford and buy one that looks like Tasca’s. There seems to be a lack of product identity with the funny cars.  But fans can buy a Mustang which is just like the stock or super stock  on Monday morning.

Sound familiar from another major motorsport a couple of years ago.

Here the lemonade comes into play.  This is a terrible situation for these teams; however, they have time to react and as my mother is fond of saying, “when you get handed lemons, make lemonade “.

There are two suggestions for the Gang from Glendora and for team of JFR and BTR/TWR to turn this situation from a negative into a positive.

x One, the NHRA needs to look at this as NASCAR did a few years ago, make a bold change. In 2015, all funny car bodies will have to resemble the streetcars the bodies are based on.  This will accomplish two things. A) This will give product identity back to the cars for those manufactures still supporting the teams and possible bring other including Ford back to drag racing.

 B) This would slow the cars down and make them safer because of the the lack of aerodynamic enhancements allowed on present-day funny car bodies. Eliminate the shovelnoses and reduce the size of those dump truck style rear deck spoilers.

Suggestion Two: The NHRA and the teams need to start getting serious and propose working with other manufactures such as Honda/Acura and Hyundai.

 Why you ask?  Simple. These companies build cars here in America. These cars are what the younger generation is driving, and this will start to bring new younger fans to the sport.  Both Honda/Acura and Hyundai are progressive, forward thinking companies.

Hyundai has the Genesis Coupe and Acura is getting set to rerelease the vaunted NSX. 

Both of these cars would make excellent flopper bodies.  The cars are already swoopy without making it look like a giant bubble. 

Making the bodies more stock appearing would help Toyota, and Dodge as well, in getting product identity back into the funny car class.

From this perspective, this could be the best thing to happen to the NHRA if they handle it correctly.

 This is an excellent opportunity for the sport, if the NHRA and these professional team leaders and managers would take a few moments and read John Kotter’s book “A Sense of Urgency.” Then apply the principals involved.

From behind the lens

Brian Losness

For Charlie Leffler

There is nothing that hurts our community of motorsports more than when we lose a driver to a crash or fire.  Last night in New Jersey we lost one of our stars Jason Leffler in a sprint car crash.

If I said I knew Jason Leffler, that would be a lie, although I did get a chance to meet him once.  He was polite,kind, and very much a gentlemen.

Lefturn as he was know by his friends seemed to be on the fast track several years ago to rank of Sprint Cup racing, coming from the ranks of open wheel racing, the same way Stewart, Gordon, and Newman made their way into the sport. Leffler had made it to cup in the FedEx ride for Joe Gibbs, however that deal went south just after 21 races.

But never daunted he continued on driving in the Nationwide series for Braun Racing as well as Kyle Busch Motorsports, however, bad luck seemed plagued him in those ventures.

Leffler persevered and continued to race going back to his roots in open wheel, where his career and life were cut short last night.

Now, I know I am taking the long way around the tree, but here is the point to this blog. All of us, who are around motorsports, no matter what level it is know there is danger involved in being around it.  And we all know that sprint cars can be dangerous even deadly.  Now don't get wound up, I am not calling for Sprint Car racing to be banned.  Far from it.

What I am putting out there, is that it is time to look at how sprint cars are constructed and start bringing some innovation from other forms of motorsports to the table. Drag Racing, NASCAR,  look at how those cars are built. Maybe a hi-bred type of funny car style roll cage along with a variation of a NASCAR type seat, in the drivers area. As a suggestion.

Sprint car chassis for the most part have not changed in 30 years. There are some minor things here and there, however, there has not been a radical change in chassis design since the down bar cars. From the photos I have seen of the car Jason Leffler drove last night, that thing was used up bad after the crash.

I am also not asking to go as far as the Silver Crown cars did years back, those things were hideous.

What I would like to see happen is we take something from Lefturn's accident, and find a positive and make a change to help make drivers safer. It should be done for not only those who race sprints locally but those on the national tours.It should be done for the drivers and for their families.

 After Dale Sr's. accident  at Daytona, NASCAR got on the stick and made changes to the rules, safety equipment, and eventually the cars themselves. It can be done, that is for sure, as long as people are motivated.

 I feel it is what the sport owes a five year old little boy who loved his daddy very much and who's daddy loved him even more to be motivated; to look at making changes in sprint cars in the area of safety so it might keep what happened to Jason and Charlie from possibly happening again.

Jason and Charlie Leffler at Charlotte.

Well, after spending Sunday doing what every other gear head wanted to do, watching three major motorsports events on the tube, it was clear to me that, The F1 race from Monoco  was really nothing more than conveyor belt racing. Two the Coke 600 was more like a super late model race and three surprisingly the Indy Car race was spectacular.

Has the Izod Indy Car promoters hit upon something with this very unique looking car? ( I still can not get used to it, but I am coming around.) Has Formula 1 just out teched themselves? Even though NASCAR has the Gen Six car which is the closest thing to the "stock cars" the sport represents, it appears they still have the same problems as the COT.

The Formula 1 race at the very picturesque circuit in the Principality of Monoco is one of those motor races which are steeped in tradition and pageantry and fanfare. It is a place where people do have more money than God. However, even with all the money the F1 teams spend each year, and that continues to rise, the racing is as I stated earlier, conveyor belt racing. No body passes any body and if you get two cars close together they seem to run into one another, break a one hundred thousand dollar nose piece or bend an upper suspension wish bone, and the car is retired.

The cars are cool, F1 races are a place for beautiful people to be seen, but the racing needs to get more exciting. The venues are in exciting and exodic locations. However,when the on air talent get excited when there are two passes for second place, well then it is time for a make over. Bernie Eccelstone, the Chief Cook and Bottle Washer for Formula One has made is gazillion dollars, and if he can take care of his latest scandal dealing with reporting paying a German banker 28 milliion pounds (British Sterling) in bribes. Maybe he could sit down with the manufactures to look at a way to make the racing a bit more competitive.  Teach the drivers not to run into one another when they get close together. That would be a good place to start.

The NASCAR race The Coke 600 held at Bruton Smith's Charlotte Motor Speedway had action, had drama, but one thing is that stock car racing is still being hampered by phenomenon organic to stock cars. The cars need to be in clean air to be fast on the 1.5 mile tracks which are predominate on the NASCAR schedule. Which means that the lead car has the best operating conditions, cars back in the pack in "dirty" air are not as capable of running fast as the car leading in clean air. We heard many times Sunday night, by drivers who said, I could get so far on restarts but once the cars got up to speed then that was as far as they could go because they could not get into clean air.

It gonna take some more massaging on these Cup cars to get the to be not so aero-dependent. I hope NASCAR does this, especially on the 1.5 mile tracks and larger.

The most exciting event was surprisingly enough was the Indy car race. A third of the field lead the race, and there were sixty-eight lead changes.  Are you kidding me, at an open-wheel Indy Car race. The race was exciting, for the entire event.  The cars still take some getting used to visually moreover, they allow for more close quarters racing. Which at the Brickyard meant just the most exciting Indy 500 in many,many years.

I think that many of us who love motorsports, were absolutely thrilled to see what happened at Indy, and I would hope that both NASCAR and Formula 1 take a page from Indy car and make the racing more competitive.

 

Stuff to get off my chest. Karma and Sportsman Racers

Karma, there are many aspects, and definitions for the word. Basically be nice to people, do good things for people and it will come back around to you.  Another term we hear a great deal is paying forward.  Example, if you see an elderly man or woman buying a few things in a grocery store, offer to pay for them if you have the resources. Don't expect anything in return but a thank you and a smile. You never know when some stranger will help you out some day.  I am a big believer in karma. Many people have done great things for me with out even asking.

  However, karma can bite you too and when you willingly venture to the dark side.  I think that is what happened this weekend in Atlanta to the NHRA.  My reason for this is simple. Last weekend the NHRA in Houston at the running of the O'Reilly Auto Parts Spring Nationals. The event was plagued by rain rendering the sportsman pits which are situated in a grassy field impassable.

Houston was the debut of "live" racing. Well kinda live racing, it was the final two rounds of racing which were run live.  Which for drag racing is better than a sharp stick in the eye. So I understand the pressure those at NHRA and ESPN were under when the decision was made to not post-pone, but straight up cancel the event all together for the Sportsman racers (outside the Alcohol cars, which were pitted on asphalt with the pro cars. That was harsh.

Why not just tell the pro cars to pull out Sunday evening after the event,  and move the Sportsman racers to the pro pit locations and run the Sportsman cars?  I know easy to say from 1500 miles away, and I am not saying "Why didn't the NHRA think of that?"  Because I don't know if they did or not. However, it inform the racers and inform the fans.

So the next weekend Mother Nature more than made up for the Sportsman racers when the whole event was washed out in Atlanta. Is that Karma or not.  I'm not sure, it might be.

Speaking about Sportsman racers Bobby Bennett has posted a very interesting story about Sportsman racers and how they are treated by the NHRA, and the perception of two very high profile Sportsman racers. One  spoke about how the NHRA and I am paraphrasing here, treats the Sportsman racer like a red headed step child.

This year at Las Vegas there was the tragic death of Derek Sanchez in his Super Gas car. There is talk that the track was not safe to run on. There was talk he wasn't wearing a HANS device. I don't know about either. I have read where some Sportsman racers had pulled out of line before he ran. At other events Sportsman cars are pulled out of line due to unsafe track conditions.

That is a true statement. I too have seen super comp cars pull out of the staging area and drive back to the pits at Phoenix during a national event.

I can truly understand why the Sportsman racers feel the way they do. There is a double edged sword in my opinion and will try to explain from my perception what it is.
1.  The NHRA for years have used as part of their marking packages. "Come to the XYZ NHRA Nationals over  400 race cars and drivers rocketing down the quarter mile."  There are maybe on a good weekend 48-55 "Professional" teams at the event, the rest are Sportsman Racers. So what sounds better " Come see  48 race cars and drivers or 400.
2. If  National Event were just  "Professional" cars? Well then you think some of the "Professional" teams were bitching about a 50-55 minute turn around, try  15-20 minute turn around in order to keep the crowd entertained. (There needs to be something to run between the "Professional" cars and that is the Sportsman racers.)
3. What does the NHRA do that no other sport, let alone Motorsport do? The allow and encourage the spectators to come into the pits during the running of an event. So when the "Professional finish running what happens? The crowd runs back to the Pro pits to watch the "Professional" teams get their cars ready for the next round. Good and bad. One great for the marketing partners on the Professional teams, Bad there is nobody left in the stands to watch the Sportsman racers compete. What about their sponsors? ( Should the NHRA think about limiting fans accessibility to the pit area to the time before cars go down the track and after the conclusion of the racing for the day?)
4.  Speaking of that, when it comes to Sportsman racers and Divisional events the NHRA in my opinion turns their back on both the title sponsor and the racers.  You go to most Divisional races there is no crowd there. I point fingers at both the tracks and the NHRA.  I have spoken to divisional directors at the NHRA and they basically say that it is up to the track to promote their event. Some track owners I have spoken with say it is an NHRA event and the NHRA should promote it.  So what happens, no body does anything and the Sportsman racers, race in front of  NOBODY.  Now there are tracks who are still owned by promoters and they take the bull by the horns, promote the event and put butts in the seats. However, those promoters are few and far between. (Tracks and the NHRA and the people at Lucas Oil should put their heads together to get more people at these Divisional races.  It is a win-win for everybody.
5. From this perspective in Sportsman racing there is nothing more exciting than watching Stock, Super Stock and Comp Eliminator racing. Wheels up launches very fast cars, lots and lots of technology and innovation. Conversely Super Comp, Super Pro and Super Street, is not quiet as exciting. There are great looking cars in these classes however, there is a great deal of monkey see-monkey do.  For some of us you can only watch so many rear engine big block Chevy dragsters on throttle stop. Or Convertible Corvettes on throttle stops. (Take throttle stops off the "Super" classes and make them run with out the stops. Could make for more entertaining racing.")

So what does all this mean?  Nothing, unless people who have the ability to leverage these issues make it a point to do something about it. It has to come from all perspective and all parties must work together or there will be another Derek Sanchez, or worse. We as a racing community can't let it happen.  Drag Racing needs the Sportsman racers just as much as the Nitro burners.  Both categories are relevant  to the sport. Both need to be treated with respect.

I'm out of breath, and if you took time  to read this small version of War and Peace  God Bless you.

                  I Saw This One Coming

Only a matter of time.  The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing  tour this week is smack dab in the,middle of NASCAR country in Charlotte, North Carolina, for the running of the very unique 4 Wide Nationals at Zmax Dragway. This very interesting and out of the box thinking format, which 4 cars  to be run simultaneously , instead of the two-by-two fashion equated with traditional drag racing.

This make for very interesting and exciting racing.  The noise level is incomprehensible. The location of the track it relatively low elevation and huge abundance of trees in the area mean that there is an abundance of oxygen in the air. This means that crew chief can and do get very aggressive with their tune-ups.

What has been seen here since they started running this race is plethora of body shedding runs by those in the funny car contingent.

Matt Hagen was the first of many to experience these very spectacular and expensive engine explosions where the concussion of the explosion sends a one hundred thousand dollar carbon fiber body sky ward. Up to this point the damage, and danger of the body coming back to earth from it low level orbit has been confined to the track and the owners wallet. Moreover, it was inevitable before one of these bodies would makes its way either close to or into the grand stands.

Yesterday (April 20, 2013) in Q4 Robert Hight of John Force Racing experienced one of these body shedding engine explosions.  However, the body did not land back on the track or the side of the track, the body ended up in the grand stands. There are some excellent images,by famed photographer Roger Richards and article on Bobby Bennett's Competition Plus site showing this event transpiring. (http://www.competitionplus.com/drag-racing/news/24811-hight-explodes-engine-sends-carbon-fiber-body-into-spectator-area)

NHRA Behind The Curve.  Is the NHRA whom's motto has been "Dedicated to Safety" fallen behind the curve in this safety matter? At the last event held in Las Vegas, funny car driver Johnny Gray had a similar instance happen when and engine explosion sent his body high into the Vegas sky. The wind took the body and nearly sent it into the spectator side bleachers. It was almost divine intervention that kept Gray's carbon fiber body out of the stands.

If the NHRA is truly "Dedicated to Safety" then should not Graham Light, Glen Gray, Danny Gracia, and Timothy White put their heads together with racers and engineers like Jim Head and devise and implement a way to tether these funny car bodies. Therefore in the event of a catastrophic engine event, where these carbon fiber shells are pitched into the air they are not coming back to earth in a spectator area or worse yet,  in a viewing area where those watching have limited mobility and cannot escape and become injured by this debris.

From this perspective motor sports  and moreover, the NHRA can not afford to deal with such a PR nightmare of having spectators let alone special needs spectators injured from debris coming off a race car and getting into the spectator area. Especially when there is a way to prevent it from occurring.

I hate to say I saw this coming, but I did,  The NHRA  was fortunate to have dodged a bullet on Saturday,and from all accounts it appears that thankfully nobody was injured in when Hights funny car body landed in the stands at Zmax. However, lets hope those powers to be at NHRA see fit not to rest on their laurels and deal with the situation after it occurs  and some spectator gets injured the next time a body is blown off a funny car.  And trust me it will happen again. 

Lets hope that the NHRA will live up to its brand and be dedicated to the safety of not only the racers, but that of spectators as well. Devise a system to tether funny car bodies so that spectators can continue to enjoy the most exciting type of motor sports on the planet.

Smoke's clouded reality and interesting perspective.

Perspective is an interesting thing. A person's perspective can and does cloud reality and their perception of reality. That perception is, in their own world, their own reality. 

This is what took place this past weekend at the NASCAR race in California. If you are going to be, or are a communications scholar, as technically I am now, watching Tony Stewart's post-race interview after the Sprint Cup race at Fontana was the prototypical case of clouded perception becoming reality.Stewart in his own perspective thought Joey Logano had done him wrong by blocking the three time Sprint Cup Champion on a restart with a hand full of laps to go. This put such a burr under Stewart's saddle that during a post-race interview with Fox the Champ issued a veiled threat to kick Logano's behind the next time they met.

This is the point that bares examining.  Stewart was so angry at the fact that somebody had "blocked" on the restart that he would want to physically assault Logano.

This is the same Tony Stewart who back last October while leading the final lap of the Sprint Cup race at Talladaga basically did the same thing. A huge pack of cars was coming through the fourth turn, Stewart and Matt Kenseth were battling for the lead and the win.  As the pack navigated the fourth turn,  Micheal Waltrip and Casey Mears hooked up and had a huge run on Stewart's left flank,  forcing Stewart to make a choice.  Either deal with Waltrip and Mears or Kenseth who was a car length behind on his right hip.

By his own admission, Stewart moved down to " block"  Waltrip who with the help of  Mears had a huge run towards the front of the field, a run which by all accounts would have pushed Waltrip or Mears to victory. However, Stewart’s logic or lack thereof, was to block a two car tandem which was running nearly ten miles per hour faster than Stewart was in order to keep his position at the front of the field.

This tact did not work and the result was  nearly  the entire field wadded up in a big ball on the exit of turn four, giving Kenseth the win, and ultimately costing Dale Earnhardt Jr. to miss two races in the Chase due to a concussion. Nearly a dozen teams ended up writing off perfectly good race cars due to Stewart's clouded perspective and judgment.

Stewart's response after the crash at Talladaga was one of " Oh well"  had to do what I had to do to win. The block was something that needed to be at least tried, damn the consequences.  However, when blocking happens to Stewart, his perspective changed  to the aspect of "he cost us a good day and sent Denny to the hospital" and Smoke is ready to "beat Logano's ass" for doing the same thing Stewart had done to Waltrip and Mears a few months previous.

The results of Logano's actions  were not as catastrophic to the field as Stewart's.  Logano did get together with Denny Hamlin on the last lap and Hamlin ended up finding a piece of inside guard wall at California that did not have any SAFER barrier.  He hit it head on and sustained a back injury.  Hamlin will reportedly miss up to six weeks due to a compression fracture of the L1 vertebra, a very painful injury.This is something that Stewart was quick to put the blame on Logano as well. Once again his perspective clouded, and his memory fleeting.  The fact that his actions at Talladaga sent Dale Earnhardt, Jr. to the hospital a few days after the October race, and caused Junior to miss two races in the chase with the after-effects of a second concussion somehow had disappeared from Tony’s memory banks.

Stewart is undeniably one of the greatest race car drivers to ever walk the planet. Many think of Stewart as the second coming of AJ Foyt, complete with the talent and the temper of Super Tex. Stewart is one of those types of people who has such passion for his profession because God has touched him with the talent that very few people possess. This talent much as Foyt's allows Smoke to drive any type of race vehicle, not just competently, but at the highest levels imaginable. Moreover, Stewart has a temper to match his talent.

While Stewart's tirade was great for television ratings, and will more than likely increase viewership of the race at Martinsville, it was without cause. Stewart was quick to place blame on Logano for blocking him on the restart and in Stewart's mind costing him a win. (Stewart ended up 22nd, due to the fact that those drivers who stopped at the last caution and took either two or four tires, was able to over come many of those who did not stop including Stewart.) What  would be interesting is to hear what Waltrip and or Mears would have to say about Stewart's rant on Logano's actions.

Perspective can cloud a person’s judgement and reality, however in the case of Tony Stewart another more classic cliche' would fit Stewart's actions after California, "People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones." More simply said, don't get angry at somebody for doing something you have done in the past, which resulted in an epic failure.