Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie

Blast off - the new OnPitRow.com is live!

Consider this fair warning.  If you have been kind enough to link to this blog, I'll be pestering you soon to update your link to the new BenchRacing.OnPitRow.com.  In fact, this is your first official pester.

The redesign of our websites, while probably never done, is far enough along to where the switch has been thrown.  Out with the old and... well you know.  We would not have gotten here without the talents and inspiration of Luke, commander of the Thunder Lounge.  Luke doesn't just run one of the best sites in the NASCAR web-world, he is an elite code-monster.  We needed a pro and we got one.  Check out Luke's comments on the new OnPitRow.com here.

This has been a big week for ON PIT ROW in general.  Tuesday's show featured a live interview with Boris Said, who confirmed that he is indeed, very close to finalizing a ride for the Bathurst 1000 and perhaps more, races in the Australian V8Super Car Series.  Thanks to Marc for the heads up on that. 

Daren Fauth of OneBadWheel.com joinded us to talk fantasy NASCAR and his new game "Champs, Chumps and Sleepers".  Steve and I are proud to be sponsors of Champs, Chumps and Sleepers and it will be the official fantasy NASCAR game of ON PIT ROW for the 2008 season.  Check it out and sign up today.

Finally, starting next Tuesday, February 5, 2008, you'll be able to listen to ON PIT ROW live, on the new website.  To stream or not to stream has been a debate at the show for a couple years.  We just, plain had too many requests for live streaming to ignore any longer.

I would appreciate your comments about the new OnPitRow.com.  There are still some bugs to work out and not all of the pages are up as yet, so bear with us.  I'll be updating our blogroll over the next few days so if anything has changed for you, let me know.  If you have a link to the Fast Lap blog - and why wouldn't you? -  please update that one as well.  Thanks.

Boris should be given a shot at the big time

We've moved the home of Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie to the new OnPitRow.com site.  We'll continue to post over here for awhile, but please check out the new site and change your bookmarks. Thanks.

Boris Said can flat out drive--anything.

Got a Grand-Am Daytona Prototype you need raced?  How about a GT car, or a bobsled?  Are you a big time NASCAR owner with a couple of hot shoes who can't run the road courses and need some tutoring?  Who ya gonna call?

Why, Boris Said , of course.  So why is it that when there are rides to be had on a full time basis, nobody is calling Boris?  He's no spring chicken, after all, but then again neither are most of the current rookie class.

Boris is everything a NASCAR team owner should be  looking for; a racer's racer, glib, unassuming and willing to have fun doing what he loves to do almost as much as race--talk.  It's no wonder there are so many "Said-heads" at the track when Boris is behind the wheel.

He paid a visit to ON PIT ROW on Tuesday night and gave his views on NASCAR and the top 35 rule.  A rule he is not too crazy about, but accepts that it is here to stay and is willing to live with--even when it bites him in the butt as it did at Daytona last July.

Boris can't seem to figure out why everyone is wearing the Said fro wig at the race track; after all  he was born with that mess.

To hear the entire interview with Boris Said, tune in to  the rebroadcast of ON PIT ROW at www.racetalkradio.com on  Thursday , January 31 at 7pm ET.

image: BethAnne Heisler / ON PIT ROW / Bench Racing Productions

Sixty mile per hour NASCAR tests at Vegas

We've moved the home of Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie to the new OnPitRow.com site.  We'll continue to post over here for awhile, but please check out the new site and change your bookmarks. Thanks.

The Sprint Cup Series headed for Las Vegas Motor Speedway for test session on the fast mile-and-a-half track.  Most of the talk on the Speed TV coverage of the days events centered on the 60 mph speeds.

That doesn't seem all that fast, though.  Unless your talking wind speeds - which the Speed boys were.  It was interesting that apparently the regular stock car Cup drivers found the heavy wind to be a relative non-factor while the former open-wheelers like Franchitti thought the wind greatly affected their cars.  I'm thinking, just wait until you're in the middle of that 25 car pack at Daytona in the qualifier, Dario.

Also of interest was the fact that the winter of thinking and tweaking by the best minds in racing has turned the chronically tight CoT suddenly LOOSE!

Denny Hamlin was fast in the morning and his teammates, Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch topped the charts in the afternoon.  I'm not sure that it means anything, except maybe to put more pressure on the other Toyota teams to try and keep pace.

Picture credit: Rusty Jarrett - Getty Images

Pruett and Montoya kiss, makeup and win at the Rolex 24

We've moved the home of Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie to the new OnPitRow.com site.  We'll continue to post over here for awhile, but please check out the new site and change your bookmarks. Thanks.

NASCAR sometimer Scott Pruett again teamed with Cup sophomore Juan Pablo Montoya to win the Rolex 24 hours at Daytona.

What is significant is that after doing that last year they went to Mexico City and put on one of the most entertaining Busch races of the year.  Pruett was steamed at Montoya for running into him at the conclusion of the race and did everything but question JPM's ancestry.  But it did show us what we could expect from the former F1 star all season long.  Montoya is a racer and he isn't going to back down to anyone--not even arguably the best North American road racer there is.

Lets hope 2008 has as many or more of this type of fireworks.

This week the Fast Lap asks:

1) Chip Ganassi Racing's three-peat at the 24 hours is unprecedented.  Why isn't he as successful in Cup as he is in sports cars or open wheel?

2) What is more impressive -- sharing a forth of the driving duties of the Rolex 24 or doing 4 hours of restrictor plate racing solo?

3) There is quite a seasoned group of rookies along with some young hot shoes running in Cup in 2008.  Who will win the ROTY?

4) DJ or Rusty in the booth?

Let us know how you feel about these questions, or anything else that happened since last February in Daytona.  If we like your comments, whether we agree or not, we may use them on the air during Tuesday's ON PIT ROW.  Leave us a comment on the blog or call the show--toll free at 1-877-502-8255 between 5-7pm ET on Tuesdays.

photo: autosport.com

Ganassi guys are good at the Daytona Rolex 24

We've moved the home of Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie to the new OnPitRow.com site.  We'll continue to post over here for awhile, but please check out the new site and change your bookmarks. Thanks.

Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.  In auto racing - and especially endurance racing - it's really better to be both.

With an hour to go in the 2008 version of the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway, the #01 Lexus Riley driven by Juan Pablo Montoya, Dario Franchitti, Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas has about a four lap lead and is coasting towards Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates Racing's third straight Daytona Prototype victory at  America's premier sports car race.

Speed TV is doing a great job covering the event that - probably - only geeks like me have watched for hours on end.  They just showed an image of Brian France - yes, the Prince of the France Republic -  up on the pit box with Chip himself.  Pretty cool, actually.

The Ganassi/Sabates cars have led more than half of all the laps contested in this race the last three years.  That's lucky and good.

Picture credit: Randy Stevens Photography

Geeked over the Rolex 24

We've moved the home of Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie to the new OnPitRow.com site.  We'll continue to post over here for awhile, but please check out the new site and change your bookmarks. Thanks.

25 Daytona Prototypes will start the 46th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway tomorrow. That should give some comfort to NASCAR fans who are nervous about the future competitiveness of the Racer Formerly Known as CoT.

Daytona Prototypes were introduced to skeptical sportscar racing fans in 2002 by, basically the same folks who are force-feeding you that other car.  The field for the 2002 Rolex included only a handful of DPs - and they weren't very fast - or very pretty. 

The Grand Am Series' new-at-the-time stewards - that would be the Family France - said many of the same things about DPs back then as they have been telling NASCAR fans about CoTs.  They'll save teams money.  It's a safer car.  We won't permit any cheating.  You'll grow to think they're cute.

Whether or not the new NASCAR-car makes for better racing is up in the air.  Way up there, in fact.  But there is really no argument that the DP saved big league sportscar racing in this country.  That field tomorrow is big, competitive and - with the sponsor decal-friendly broad sides, hoods and tops - colorfully NASCAR-like.

And....and.... it will be a real race -  Finally

Picture credit: John Raoux/Associated Press

Brian's new NASCAR vs Humpy's old NASCAR

We've moved the home of Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie to the new OnPitRow.com site.  We'll continue to post over here for awhile, but please check out the new site and change your bookmarks. Thanks.

Who would you rather have in charge of promoting your race track - Brian France or Humpy Wheeler?

Prince Brian is known for statements like the following - which was in answer to the question....

"Would you agree that NASCAR has been a little too heavy-handed in administering punishments? Going forward, will you be perhaps less inclined to fine for points and money for transgressions like shoving or swearing?"

Brian France " Well, I would certainly agree that we're relooking and making sure that our policies of enforcement don't make it where our drivers can't express themselves. There are lots of characters in our sport. There's lots of emotion flying fast and heavy at the events.

If you were in our position, what you're always worried about really isn't necessarily the specific incident, it's really escalation. That's what commissioners and officials in any sport are mostly concerned with."

OK, thank you Brian.  Now for Humpy - aka The PT Barnum of auto racing...

We need to make this car of tomorrow work ... [Do] whatever NASCAR's got to do to make it work, and get us back to racing, [to] where we were putting black donuts on the side of the cars and not making felony offenses out of 'em.  And when we do that, it's all going to change and turn around and we can do all of the other stuff ... ."

I don't want to get into dissecting the whole State of NASCAR address from early this week.  Darren Fauth and others have done a fine job that.  Besides, Steve and I argued about the whole thing for too long ON PIT ROW.

It's pretty obvious -  despite the France Republic's spinning of things -  that NASCAR sees problems within the kingdom.  I live in a city that seems to always be paying some consultant big dough to identify problems or quantify opportunities - or benchmark this or evaluate that.  Guess what?  They keep finding that the city has problems - just as NASCAR has issues.

Enough talk about it already.  What NASCAR needs is a good ol', car-smashing slobberknocker.  Big Bill France and Bill France Jr. were brilliant, visionary businessmen.  Maybe Brian will prove to be one as well.  But the elder Frances were elite promoters - and Prince France has yet to make his mark in that category.

Auto racing is a promoters business. I think I'd be listening to Humpy.

Picture credit: Newsrecord.com

NASCAR scribes - to your corners...

We've moved the home of Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie to the new OnPitRow.com site.  We'll continue to post over here for awhile, but please check out the new site and change your bookmarks. Thanks.

Racing season is heating up--behind the mike.

There are already some "he said--she said" confrontations heading up the NASCAR 2008 season.  But surprisingly enough the combatants have centered around the radio broadcasting scene.

Former ESPN RPM 2Night host John Kernan and Charlotte Observer, Sirius Radio and ON PIT ROW raconteur, David Poole, have been sniping at one another for a couple of weeks as was chronicled on The Daly Planet blog.  Kernan's gig for Sirius Radio has gone up in smoke. And he seems to think it has to do with the current crop of radio personalities who do nothing but "tow the NASCAR line"  He was/is unwilling to be a "shill" for NASCAR and intimates that others, including Poole, have lost their journalistic edge.

This week the Fast Lap asks:

1) Should NASCAR raise the minimum age for drivers in any of their top three series to 21 years of age?

2) Is NASCAR relying on Dale Jr. to single handedly rejuvenate the sport?

3) Was all the 2007 worry about Toyota taking over the sport; just one year too early?

4) Kenny Wallace or Jimmy Spencer?

Let us know how you feel about these questions, or anything else that happened since last February in Daytona.  If we like your comments, whether we agree or not, we may use them on the air during Tuesday's ON PIT ROW.  Leave us a comment on the blog or call the show--toll free at 1-877-502-8255 between 5-7pm ET on Tuesdays.

What's up with Yate's sponsorship woes?

We've moved the home of Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie to the new OnPitRow.com site.  We'll continue to post over here for awhile, but please check out the new site and change your bookmarks. Thanks.

It was sad news last week that Morgan-McClure Motorsports was closing up shop and leaving NASCAR Sprint Cup competition.  It has been a long time now since the MMM #4, in bright yellow Kodak livery, was one of the iconic car-number-sponsor combinations at the Daytona 500.

Fox Sports and Speed TV's Jeff Hammond was a guest ON PIT ROW last week and we asked him if any of the other longtime teams were in imminent danger of giving up the ghost.  The question had been one of our Fast Lap debate questions early in the show.  Both Steve and I had speculated that BAM Racing might be the team most in trouble. 

Surprisingly - maybe shockingly - Hammond brought up Yates Racing.  He said that you have to look at the fact that one month short of the Daytona 500, neither of Doug Yates' Ford Fusions has a primary sponsor. 

Now, the Yates teams aren't the only NASCAR teams looking for money.  But they should be an easier sell than most.  Yates Racing, under the Robert Yates Racing banner has a history of success.  So did Morgan McClure.  Doug Yates is bringing back one of the great, historic - iconic - car numbers in the history of NASCAR by putting the #28 on Travis Kvapil's car.  But the #4 didn't seem to help McClure.

The thing that should worry the suits in Daytona and Charlotte though is the fact that both Yates Fords are solidly in NASCAR's top thirty five in owners's points and are guaranteed starts in the first six races of 2008.  If a team with those assurances can't find backing, what will happen when those teams and sponsors without the owner's points sky-hook, start missing races?

Picture credit:  Rusty Jarrett - Getty Images for NASCAR

Big night for Tony Stewart at Barrett-Jackson

We've moved the home of Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie to the new OnPitRow.com site.  We'll continue to post over here for awhile, but please check out the new site and change your bookmarks. Thanks.

The Barrett Jackson Auto Auction raised almost half a million bucks last night for the Darrell Gwynn Foundation with a big assist from NASCAR's Tony Stewart.

Stewart brought one of his Joe Gibbs Racing - Home Depot Monte Carlos to be auctioned off for the benefit of the official charity of Barrett Jackson and the NHRA.

The Darrell Gwynn Foundation exists to prevent and ultimately cure spinal cord injuries and other debilitating illnesses.

They help improve the quality of life for those already afflicted with injury or illness by providing necessary equipment or special services.

Terrific cause and terrific TV as well.  Smoke started it off doing a burn-out onto the auction stage and then as the price of the bidding climbed, stoked the fires by adding a helmet, driver's suit and finally the ring that he was wearing.  The car brought a cool $300,000 and additional contributions brought the total proceeds for the foundation to a reported $495,000. 

Nicely done Mr.Stewart.