Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie

A look at 2007--ON PIT ROW style

Life isn't always kind. 

As I take a look toward 2008 and all the possibilities that exist for ON PIT ROW, I have to take some time and think about the year that was 2007.  The year got off to a very rocky start.  My father always calls me on New Years Day.  The tradition is for him to tell me that the previous year sucked and the new year is going to be MUCH better.

He was way off base when it came to 2007.  January 2, 2007 was the day that I got fired from my "day" job.  After 7 years of building a business for an absentee owner, he walked in and told me he didn't want me any longer and to leave--NOW.  This was a devastating blow as I had left a job that I had been at for 19 years to build this business and I'm not big on change.  First of all, I'd never been fired from a job in my entire working life.  Not even from a Mickey D's or BK for slacking as a teenager.

It has taken a toll on me not only financially but emotionally.  But the change in life style has  allowed  for a more concentrated effort to bring ON PIT ROW to where  we want it to be.  It still isn't  all it can be, but we are working harder at it than ever.

Charlie has done a huge job in making our website better and getting our name and site before everyone's eyes.  There is no way I could have done what Charlie has done with the web portion of our show.  Thank you partner.

2007 was the best year ever for guests to appear ON PIT ROW.  We have a great list of "regulars" whom we call on, sometimes on very short notice, to be on the show.  Jeff Hammond, Lee Spencer, David Poole, Dave Despain and Matt Crossman have all been great friends to ON PIT ROW and we hope to expand these relationships in 2008.  The list other guests to be on the show has read like a who's who of NASCAR. Rusty Wallace, Joe Nemechek, Kasey Kahne, Junior, Clint Bowyer and on and on. 

What will 2008 bring?  I don't have a clue except to hope for continued growth of our show. Live streaming is coming soon, so everyone in the world with Internet access can hear the show live and participate.  We also are looking to expand the show package, to include more work with ARCA.  Lets just believe that 2008 will far surpass 2007 for positives.  I'm waiting for the phone to ring.  Dad make the call.

Image: turcopolier.typepad.com

Shopping for some NASCAR answers

Its good to see that many of the ARCA ReMax Series teams have been to Daytona to do some testing over the past weekend.

It gives the feeling of warmth and things to come as we in the great white north sit through a snow and ice storm.

Congratulations to Erik Darnell and Roush Fenway Racing for setting the pace during the 3 day test session in Florida.

This week the Fast Lap asks:

1) Should NASCAR allow team owners to transfer points from one team to another?

2) Jeff Hammond says the proposed new Nationwide Series car will hurt the series. Yeah or Nay?

3) Has the Craftsman Truck Series surpassed the Nationwide Series has the second best show in NASCAR?

4) NASCAR has a minimum age requirement.  Should they have a maximum ?

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 edt on Tuesdays.

photo: Roush Fenway Racing

The votes are in--OPeRs have been awarded

ON PIT ROW's OPeR awards were held on Tuesday, December 11, 2007.

Some surprise winners received their first OPeR while others, including SPEED-TV, continued on a win streak.  Jeff Gordon was shut out of an OPeR for the first time in memory. Here are the results as voted on by the ON PIT ROW staff:

Best and worst driver:

Best driver award goes to Jimmy Johnson for his late season drive to the championship.
Worst driver award goes to the transport driver that got caught trying to sneak his girlfriend into the race track and being snagged by NASCAR and his bride.

Best and worst crew chief:

Best crew chief is awarded to Chad Knaus for making all the right decisions when it counted most.
Worst crew chief is David Hyder for his ill fated attempt to add rocket power to the Michael Waltrip stable.

Best and worst owner:

Best owner OPeR goes to Rick Hendrick for not only providing the best equipment to the best teams but also bringing in the biggest name in the sport for 2008.
Worst owner goes to, hands down, Bobby Ginn for promises not kept and his ability to "big time" a major sport.

Best and worst team:

Best team is a given.  I said the #24 and #48 garage as a combo.  Charlie lobbied for just the #48 team for obvious reasons. I finally succumbed.
Worst team was the #10 team with Scott Riggs at the helm most of the year.  This was a team with high hopes on a team that was on a roll in 2006.  Expectations were not met.

Best and worst post race interview:

Best interview goes to Matt Kenseth as he was able to talk to reporters while teammate Carl Edwards was trying to clean his clock.
Worst post race interview was actually no interview at all.  Kyle Busch wins for his "walk away" as Junior was getting into Kyle's wrecked car.   Foreshadowing at its finest.

Worst attempt at "adjusting the the rules":

NASCAR's insistence on not doing anything about the ridiculous Top 35 rule gets the OPeR for sheer stupidity.

Best Jr. High School-like Drama:

The entire Dale Earnhardt Jr. saga played out like the best he said-she said drama of all time.  The parties that be, played the public for all they were worth with the multiple press conferences and the never ending speculation in regards to numbers and sponsors.  The whole thing played out like an episode of Hanna Montana.

Best and worst Radio/TV personality:

The best TV personality for 2007 was the newcomer--Kyle Petty.  Kyle was glib, refreshing and willing to give true insight into what drivers are thinking.  We can't wait to hear more from Kyle in 2008.
Bill Weber wins the worst Media Personality award for his lack of personality.

Best and worst Nascar Network:

SPEED-TV wins again.  They consistently put on a great show.  Their pre and post race shows are the best.  Combine those shows with the qualifying and race coverage of the Craftsman Truck Series and ARCA and you have a winner.
ABC/ESPN was the big loser.  Again great expectations from fans and NASCAR were not met on any level.  They need to step up and get it done in 2008.

Best guest to appear ON PIT ROW:

This was the hardest award to give because of all the great people who have made ON PIT ROW so much fun to do.  Charlie took Lloyd Moore; the oldest living NASCAR and ARCA winner.  I took Jeff Hammond from the sheer number of times that Jeff made time for us.  Not only is he always entertaining, but there were several times that Jeff went above and beyond to get to a phone to be on the show.  Special honorable mentions go to Lee Spencer from Fox Sports and to David Poole from Sirius and the Charlotte Observer.

Photo Credit: Jonathan Fickies / Getty Images for NASCAR)

ON PIT ROW--your live, local look at NASCAR

More changes are in the works for ON PIT ROW--the radio show, which may necessitate changing that local only angle.

It was just announced this week that our long time home radio station, and flagship, WCWA-1230 in Toledo, OH will become the flagship station for the Toledo Mud Hens AAA baseball team.  With most of their games starting at 6:30 or 7:00 pm; when you figure in their pre-game show, it pretty much ruins our 5-7 pm live broadcast time.  We'll see what WCWA has to say during a meeting with us on Monday, November 5.  The other sports station in town is committed to the Detroit Tigers and a third quasi-sports/news station is set to air Cleveland Indians games.

ON PIT ROW may be looking to break out of the live on-air constraints of local radio.  We will be looking at a bunch of alternatives before the baseball season starts in April.  Including a new non-sports flagship; possibly a local country station that is part of the MRN and PRN networks.  Anyone from WCKY-FM looking at this?  There is also the live netcast streaming alternative, which we will look into and give over the air stations a chance to play the show whenever they want.

There have been plenty of changes in our show over the past few months and there are many more to come as we look to expand and grow Bench Racing Productions, which itself is a new venture for us. A couple of months ago we changed from a three person show to just Charlie and me.  So far reviews have been favorable.

Everyone always says the thing about a door closing and another opening.  We'll see if they are correct.  One thing is for sure Charlie and I have put too much time and energy into this deal for us not to keep going--no matter what. 

Stay tuned for updated news and hopefully an exciting announcement about a new, additional racing show from us coming soon.

PRN, MRN, Sirius--we'd be glad to sit down and talk about adding ON PIT ROW to your lineups. 

Picture credit: BethAnne Heisler - ON PIT ROW

ON PIT ROW gets a scoop

Young and talented Michael McDowell joined us ON PIT ROW tonight.  Steve had been working on getting the young gun ever since the ARCA ReMax wind-up at Toledo Speedway a couple weeks ago.

At first he was busy testing with Michael Waltrip Racing.  Last week, he was busy in meetings with MWR.

We got him tonight and he taped a liner for us before his appearance.  In the liner he described himself as such:

"Michael McDowell, driver of the #00 NAPA Toyota Camry for Michael Waltrip Racing."

He went on to tell us that he will  indeed drive that car this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway and for the rest of the Busch Series this year for MWR in the NAPA Auto Parts sponsored Camry.  In 2008, he will drive Nationwide Series races in the same car until David Reutiman moves to the #44 UPS Camry.  At that time McDowell will move into the - as yet sponsor un-named - #00 MWR Nextel Cup Camry.

Michael McDowell might be a bit of an unknown to NASCAR fans.  Don't be surprised if he enters the Cup Series with a Nationwide win in his pocket.  He has already won on every kind of track imaginable , including Mexico City , where the Nationwide Series travels early in 2008.

Joe Gibbs Racing's Logano shines again

It won't be long before the talk about who will drive Joe Gibbs Racing's fourth Toyota in the Sprint Cup Series. 

JGR development driver and child prodigy Joey Logano won the NASCAR Toyota All Star Showdown at Irwindale Speedway Saturday night.  There isn't much left for Logano to prove in the feeder series.  After winning the Busch East title this year, he only needs to wait for his 18th birthday in may of 2008 before jumping Gibb's Nationwide Series program.  The fourth Sprint Cup Series Camry will be warm and ready, not long after that.

Michelle Theriault didn't fair as well in the All Star Showdown.  She wrecked out and finished at the back of the field.  When last we saw Michelle, she was driving the wheels off her No. 37 GLOCK Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS at Toledo Speedway in the ARCA ReMax season finale.  We will ask her about both as she joins us ON PIT ROW this Tuesday.  If you can't listen live go to RaceTalkRadio.com on Thursday and catch Michelle's interview and visits with Jeff Hammond and another surprise guest.

As they say in the race promotion biz...BE THERE!

Picture credit: Michelle Theriault.com

McDowell graduates Magna cum laude in ARCA finale

If the rumors are true that the #00 Toyota Camry of Michael Waltrip Racing will be at least shared by young MWR development driver Michael McDowell, the guy certainly graduated in style.

He dominated the Hantz Group 200 Sunday for the ARCA Championship Weekend at the fast, half mile Toledo Speedway.  McDowell led from the pole and, despite some significant looking damage incured while negotiating lapped traffic early on, stayed out front.

A bit of a bobble in traffic with less than 30 laps to go cost him the lead to James Buescher.  A major leagur move at the end added a first short track win to the three other ARCA ReMax series victories from earlier in the season.

"When James (Buescher) got by me, I figured we could get the lead back in short order but he owned that bottom line and I wasn't sure if moving up one groove would work or not. I didn't want to get into the back of him, but that move was my only chance to do it. He's going to be an outstanding driver and he raced me clean, which I appreciate. I had a blast today. It was such an awesome race. I love this track and this is one last memory I'll hold on to from this year." more...

I watched McDowell in pre-race interviews and at a fan autograph session.  He has the poise and easy manner of a natural.  A driving resume that includes experience and  wins in the Star Mazda Series and the Rolex Grand Am Series and the Champ Car World Series (he is the youngest starter ever) indicate that he is ready to move up.

Michael is scheduled to test for MWR this week.  ON PIT ROW hopes to have him as a guest in the next couple weeks. Stay tuned.

Photo credit: Beth Anne Heisler - ON PIT ROW

Lloyd Moore ON PIT ROW

Steve and I are honored that for our Tuesday, October 9th show we will be joined by Lloyd Moore, NASCAR's and ARCA's oldest living driver.  Thanks to a heads up from Oldschool59  at NASCAR.com we have an interview set with Lloyd and I can't wait.

You can read all about Lloyd Moore and the early days of NASCAR and ARCA at the Legends of Nascar site.  It's fascinating stuff.  If no stations in your area carry ON PIT ROW -  why the hell not? - you can listen to the re-broadcast of the show Thursday night from 7-9pm edt on RaceTalkRadio.com.

Check out the ON PIT ROW Crew site in NASCAR.com's community area. The NASCAR.com community is a great place to meet up with other race fans.  Being somewhat social-site and HTML challenged myself, I find the simple interactivity of the NASCAR.com site a relief.  ON PIT ROW has already benefited from our involvement there, as this opportunity with Mr. Moore shows.

Nascar.com has a nice piece on Lloyd, and he has a champion in our new friend, Oldschool59.

Chase to the Nextel Cup round four - ding ding

NASCAR's version of the prelims are now over.

It started with talk.  Talk about the controversies of the Kansas race and squawk about Jacques Villenueve's debut.  Who's still in the Chase and which drivers have taken the count. 

The ARCA RE/Max race Friday was entertaining as they always are and gave a preview of coming Cup attractions, Dario Franchitti and Scott Speed.  There were other future cupsters in that race as well - we just don't here much about drivers coming up through the stock car ranks much anymore.

Nextel Cup practice didn't tell me much - other than these CoTs are going to wear out some bumpers and splitters during 500 miles of "aggressive driving".

Qualifying was an upside down affair with the Go-or-Go Homers finally hitting on the right set-up - for qualifying anyway - and filling the front rows for a change.

But the battle is for real today.  A four wide restrictor plate race.  Car of Tomorrow's first time out on one of the big tracks.  Desperate Chasers trying to claw their way back into contention. Championship front-runners attempting to avoid the big wrecks . The spectacle of Talladega.

When it's over, the talk will start again.  Until then, I'm going to enjoy this one.

Now Kahne and Earnhardt Jr can focus on winning

Just win baby.  That is the famous saying of Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis.  It's been awhile for old Al and Raider Nation.  It has been too long for two of NASCAR's most popular and talented stars, as well.

Two days of press conferences, sponsor and number talk are over.  Dale Earnhardt Jr and Kasey Kahne have announced their liveries for 2008.  A summer of rumors and tumult can now settle in to an autumn of racing, at last.

The blogatorials will redirect focus on the Chase to the Nextel Cup Championship, the crowning of Carl Edwards as the last Busch Series champ and tight and interesting Craftsman Truck Series and ARCA ReMax Series stretch runs.

I wonder if either Earnhardt or Kahne can get it together enough to win a race this year. 

Kahne was a six time winner in 2006.  His Evernham Motorsports team  fell behind the curve early in 2007.  Recent strong qualifying runs and a near dominating performance at Bristol in the night race -  if it wasn't for that #99 car -  have had Kasey close.

Dale Junior drove desperately in the closing races of the Race to the Chase for the Cup.  He seemed always to be running in the top five, only to be taken out by engine problems or a dominant drive by someone else.

With the pressures of the business end of NASCAR reduced a bit, I look for both of these guys to get a win in somewhere in the final nine races.  How about Kasey at Charlotte and Martinsville for Junior?

Picture credit: Beth Anne Heisler - ON PIT ROW