March 25, 2009
By Larry Van Zandt
Hello again, gang.
Well, I’ve probably enraged thousands of Dale Jr. fans with the title of this editorial, but I am sticking with it; something is going to have to change, or otherwise, it ain’t gonna happen. As it is, I think the COSHAT has gotten away from Tony Eury, Junior, and quite possibly most of the NASCAR teams forced to run this piece of crap.
Whatever the cause of Dale Jr’s misfortune, and his inability to put together consistent finishes, Mark Martin just may unintentionally make Dale Jr. and Tony Eury Jr. have to answer some serious questions, especially if Mark Martin shakes off the bad luck of the first four races of this season, and starts finishing up front like he did at Bristol on Sunday. Martin’s nailing two poles in a row (the first time he’s done so, since 1989 or so) I think shows that the ‘old man’ is serious about making a move for what’s supposed to be his (final) final run for the ‘Champeenship of da Werld’ in Sprint Cup.
Keep in mind, Bristol was race #5 of Mark Martin’s first 5 runs while driving for Hendrick Racing. In addition, poles aren’t everything. Dale Jr. has had just a bit more seat time in the #88, and has only won one race in the car….not really finishing that well before or after that one win in the Amp Energy/National Guard Chevrolet. Martin, had he not had the bad luck he experienced in the first four races….I think he was honestly on his way to giving race winner Kurt Busch a run for his money at Atlanta before he had a right rear tire fail. I think Martin finally has the equipment to run up front; however, ‘racing luck’ often lays waste to the best-laid plans of Kings. Should lady luck decide to give Martin a break this season, I see him making it into the Chase, and quite possibly being a long-shot to win the Sprint Cup for 2009.
Dale Jr?
Something is wrong in the #88 garage, and I don’t think it’s either Dale Jr’ or Tony Eury Jr’s fault. I think the COSHAT (Car Of Some Hideous Alternate Tomorrow) is either getting away from Eury and company (as it is for 75% or so of the rest of the Sprint Cup teams), or Dale and Tony need to be split up and paired with other drivers, to determine if it is either of them personally that are the problem.
Don’t get me wrong, Dale Jr. is seriously one of my favorite drivers. This is why I’m not pulling my usual insult routine and saying he wears women’s underwear, or something else just as inflammatory. However, there is too much money being casually tossed in the direction of the #88 team, and not have them run somewhat consistently towards the front. Whether it be mistakes in the pits, or driver error, or tuning mistakes….I’m afraid that Rick Hendrick is only going to put up with failure for so long….
I don’t think Dale Jr. is ever going to allow himself to be parted from Tony Eury Jr. And unless something drastic changes….I’m still sticking with my original assessment; Dale Jr. will never go the Waldorf Astoria as champion.
In other news…..
While I appreciate ESPN News for covering what might be considered obscure news bits…this got my attention: 2011 at earliest for bigger tires
This story was also posted here at Insider Racing News.
If you go through previous editorials that I’ve written while here at IRN, you will notice one that relates to this story from ESPN: /Writers/LV/102208.html
Yep, I talked about this same issue, last year. What’s even more interesting? This editorial was posted on a Wednesday, and oddly enough, during the following race on Sunday, the entire announcing booth was talking about this very topic, and even addressed some of the problems I spoke about. It was a little weird, really, and a subsequent search afterward revealed no other stories that week or before discussing the wheels and tires being too small for the COT, nor did I see any afterward.
This story from ESPN helps to shed some light onto the tire problems facing NASCAR team owners (NASCAR doesn’t seem to be too worried about it…), but the technical information is sorely lacking, as the last time I checked, there weren’t any ‘fifteen-inch-tall tires’ being used in NASCAR. However, the standard wheel diameter is 15”.
The story mentions that the new ‘wheel’ diameter of the tire that’s being developed is now at 17”. It’s a definite improvement, as it reduces a bit of wheel weight from my original idea of going with an 18” wheel, but my proposal creates the maximum amount of room between the brake caliper and the wheel itself, which drastically reduces the amount of brake heat transferred into the inside tire bead. This problem that popped up, hardcore, at Martinsville last season, and I think it happened again at Bristol on Sunday with Kevin Harvick’s #29 Shell Chevrolet; a report after the accident stated that the tire blew out around the bead….the only thing I can think of that would cause this is, once again, the front calipers being too close to the freaking wheel.
And now that we’re going right back to Martinsville next week….I think we are going to see the same tire bead problem pop up once again, or the racing speeds are going to drop off to below normal, where the brakes aren’t being abused….either way, the fans are going to get the short end of the stick for the sixth race in a row.
Want to know what’s even more disheartening?
NASCAR’s comments in this ESPN article about Goodyear making a taller/wider/shorter sidewall height tire reeked a bit of arrogance.
Oho, we don’t need what Goodyear is trying to make? The tire problems are ‘solved’? No, it’s quite apparent that NASCAR thinks it knows more than the tire manufacturer about what kind of tires that the failed COSHAT should be running. If you want my opinion, whether Goodyear is the primary cause of the tire problems or not, this company is growing weary of looking like they are going to continue to look like they make a crap product, hence the ‘new’ tire. I look at this move by Goodyear to be a bit of a revolt against the morons at NASCAR who thought that it would be a great idea to continue to run mid-1990’s tire and wheel technology on a car that’s a heck of a lot more abusive to the tires than the cars the current batch of Goodyear tires were originally designed to be ran on.
I think this situation borrows heavily from a particular metaphor which involves the infamous Dixie Chicks more focused on making anti-war comments (which alienated millions of fans), instead of paying more attention to entertaining:
“Shut up and Sing”.
I think what Goodyear is finally doing here, in designing a new tire that NASCAR didn’t ask for, is telling NASCAR to shut up and let Goodyear do its job.
See you next week….and if at first you don’t succeed, call it the ‘Car of Tomorrow’.
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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