There’s Gold On Them Thar Wheels

February 19, 2008

By Brian Watkins

Brian Watkins

Seeing shiny wheels on the 55, 44, and 00 Camry’s of Michael Waltrip Racing as they turn the track is nothing new. All the cars of MWR have run with chrome rims since the start of last season. However for the inaugural Sprint Cup points event of 2008, the 50th running of the Daytona 500, Mikey and company did something a little different. They upgraded their wheels from chrome to gold. While Daytona 2008 is a far different (and better) world for Michael Waltrip than Daytona 2007 was, the gold plated wheels weren’t there as an image upgrade. They were there for a good cause.

The team rode their golden wheels until the first trip down pit lane when the wheels where removed during routine tire changes and then set aside. So where are the gold wheels now? The wheels from all 3 MWR cup cars are to be auctioned off one at a time on NASCAR’s auction site. The tires mounted to the wheels will be signed by all the drivers that participated in the 2008 Daytona 500.

When asked about the wheels and the auction, Waltrip said "The Daytona 500 is a race that means as much to me as it does to anyone in the world," "This race defined my career. For the 50th anniversary of The Great American Race, I really wanted to do something special to honor this historic event." Michael also added “I am very thankful that my sponsors, NAPA, UPS and Aaron's allowed us to do this,"

That something special involves donating 100% of the proceeds of the wheel auctions to the NASCAR foundation which will then donate the funds to charities close to the NASCAR family.

If you’d like to own a pretty unique piece of Daytona 500 history, head to nascar.com and follow the link to the MWR wheel auction, but keep in mind that to buy a gold wheel you might just need a platinum card. The price for the first of the 12 wheels is currently (as of this writing) up to $2600 and is still below the reserve price.

Show Me The Cars!!!

Overall I must say that the coverage of the 500 that Fox provided was pretty darn good. Their only “trick” of the race was their “Gopher Cam”, which aside from the accompanying cartoon graphic, added an interesting new view of the cars thundering by. My only complaint about the entire broadcast was that during pre-race, Fox deprived their viewing audience of one of the most interesting aspects of the 50th Daytona 500 celebration.

The Fox Sports website touts their Sprint Cup race coverage package, which includes:

• 20 manned cameras
• 2 super slow motion cameras
• 10 robotic race cameras
• 3 robotic pre-race cameras
• 4 Gopher Cams
• 12 in-car camera packages, each featuring three different camera angles
• 4 wireless roving pit/garage camera crews

With all due respect to Mr. Chubby and the obvious impact he has made to the American music scene, not 150’ from the stage during his and subsequent music performances, what can only be classified as the biggest parade of historic stock cars ever rolled down the front stretch and into the history books with nary a shot on our TV screen.

I understand there was a lot going on with all the flag twirlers and fake guitar playing and what not, but it was the parade of past winners cars for goodness sakes- a much more historic and relevant part of the Daytona 500 celebration than a half-hearted concert ever could be. The only car we got much of a look at was Dale’s 500 winner. It was a nice surprise to have it roll out from under the stage, but I think it would have been a much nicer surprise to see it turn a lap with either Dale Jr., or Richard Childress, or even Larry McReynolds behind the wheel.

I’m sure it was discussed and it’s one of those things that would probably have upset as many people as it would have inspired. Rolling it out from under the stage was most likely the safe thing- I’m just not so sure that doing the “safe” thing is what Dale would have done.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.

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