January 14, 2009
By Chuck Abrams
OK, enough of this silliness.
Elliott Sadler and GEM have patched up their spat. Good for ESad, bad for Wallemndinger. Now AJ will only get to race the 10 car if he has sponsorship -- instead of being guaranteed a 36 race season.
For what it is worth, I think ESad should move on from GEM. He is obviously not driving well and while his sponsors may love him, I think they might love winning even more. Not that Wallmendinger is going to notch a win in 2009, but he probably stood as good if not a better chance than Esad. Sadler has not done very well since his move from Yates and may benefit from a new environment. But he may also have run out of talent.
Now, on to January 26 – the start of the racing season for me with the Rolex 24-hour race at Daytona. I am not much of a GP guy, although it is still cool, but I love the Daytona Prototypes. I wish there were more of these DP races televised.
Ganassi Racing comes in as the defending champion as well as winning three straight in the DP class. They are coming loaded for bear once again with Juan Montoya as his lead driver.
Other big names in the Rolex race are Jimmie Johnson, Jimmy Vasser, Casey Mears, Danica Patrick, Scott Pruett, A.J. Allmendinger, Max Papis and Dario Franchitti. Many teams have still not announced their starting drivers. I would love to see Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch back in this race. I would also love to see Kyle Busch in this to see if he can win here as well.
If you have never seen this race, tune in. It is a bit of a commitment as it lasts 24 hours, but not all of it is televised. The night racing is very cool and the cars run in nearly all weather. I think only snow may prevent them from running. You will also have to get used to the fact that two classes of cars are running at the same time. While the DP are the show, the GP guys are awesome and many are part time drivers, leaving open the fantasy that even you and I could drive at Daytona. In any case, you won’t be disappointed.
Ganassi better hope that this race will set him up for the 2009 NASCAR season. The DEI-Ganassi camp seems to be in a bit of disarray right now. Max Siegel may be leaving, the driver lineup seems to be shifting leaving Almirola without a full-time ride and even Montoya does not yet have a full season sponsorship program in place.
So what is going on?
There are several influences at play. First of all the economy has sponsors looking at every dime they spend. NASCAR TV time and attendance is flat or down and neither the Chase nor the new car have produced the desired affects in racing. Add to that the seemingly constant shuffle of drivers in the series and it is getting harder to relate to the sport these days. New drivers are entering the sport before they ever have a chance to make a name for themselves to the race fan in the truck series of the Nationwide Series. What happened to trying to win a championship or two in the Nationwide Series before entering the Cup series? Now these guys run a partial Nationwide Series and then are thrust into the Cup spotlight to sink or swim.
Race fans are very aware of the media hype surrounding these new drivers and have a “prove it to me” attitude. Old school fans know the way it used to work and have yet to see anyone of any significance come along and wow them.
Of course this does not prove out all the time. Jimmie Johnson ran 91 Busch races with only one win. Ryan Newman started only 40 Busch races but garnered 7 wins. Now Johnson has three straight Cup titles.
On the contrary, wunderkid Joey Logano started one truck race and only 19 Nationwide races last year with just 1 win. He averaged a 37th place finish in his three Cup starts last year. And I am supposed to believe all the hype?
You have to go back to 2005 and Martin Truex, Jr. to find a full time Busch driver who won a Busch title before making the leap to the Cup series. And Truex won the title in 2004 and 2005.
Any wonder why I am looking forward to the Daytona Rolex 24?
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