Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie

Nationwide Series gets some Curb appeal

Longtime NASCAR participant Mike Curb is back in the game having partnered up with Gary Baker to form  Baker Curb Racing.

Recording industry vet Curb has long been tied to racing and is known as the onetime owner of Richard Petty's #43 STP Plymouth when the King captured his 200th and last Cup Series win. Curb was also a sponsor of Dale Earnhardt's 1980 Championship winning #2.

Baker Curb Racing took over ownership of the former Brewco Motorsports and will field former Joe Gibbs Racing property, Brad Coleman, full time in the 2008 Nationwide Series.   Coleman's opportunities at JGR  were sure to dwindle with hot-shoe, Joey Logano on the 2008 horizon.  With an all new, Nashville based facility, it sounds like Baker Curb Racing is ready for a run at the non-Busch-Wacker (still haven't heard a good alternative name) title.

The five things you'll need for the boss's NASCAR party

No matter where you hide NASCAR is going to find you.

I have a friend who has as much interest in auto racing as I do in lemon flavored cockroaches.  She works for a firm that represents a firm that does some kind of marketing for another firm that has ties to NASCAR.  And her boss had a party. You know, just a casual barbecue attended by all  the variously powered reps of all the associated entities with the central theme of, the live TV broadcast of The NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Richmond International Raceway.

She called me.  Worse yet, she found me.  And I am her friend.

She " What do I do?  What do I say?  What should I wear?

Me " Don't worry about what you wear.  It's a NASCAR party.  If ya got nothing else, at least have beads.

This alone, sadly, did not rid me of pending obligation. She persisted.

I told her, ya know, people who don't get Dale Earnhardt Jr or restrictor plates, think NASCAR people are simple.  And some of us are.  But NASCAR isn't easy.  If you act like you know what you're talking about,  and someone at the party actually does, they'll make you look dumber than a NASCAR blogger.

My five tips for surviving the boss's NASCAR barbecue are as follows.

1. The Richmond race is a Car of Tomorrow race.  I know you don't know what that means.  What you need to know is you hate the Car of Tomorrow.  And you should be able to recite three different synonyms for the CoT. (That's one. CoT)  Use your creativity here.  Impress the client.  Suggestions:  Car of Eventually, Car of Right Now (C.O.R.N.) or Ugly Little Freakin' Toad all work.
2. Keep your sense of humor, because these NASCAR geeks don't have one between the whole load of them.  Make one gay joke to the wrong party goer and you'll have a world of Jeff Gordon heat coming right down on your head.
3. Be extremely cautious if you are asked who is your favorite driver.  This is always a set up.  If you say I don't really have one, they'll know you don't belong.  Yet, if you pick a name you recognize, at least half the attendees will hate you.  Immediately.  They may even throw things, like beer, at you.  Not a bad thing if you like beer, but it probably messes up the boss's house.  And he could be a tosser, too. The safest choice is a retired driver.  Go with Dale Earnhardt or Dick Trickle.
4. You hate restrictor plates but you love to watch restrictor plate races.
5. Know your nicknames.  Richard Petty is the King.  Dale Earnhardt the Intimidator.  Darrell Waltrip is Jaws.  Junior is not Junior Johnson.  And there is only one Dick Trickle.

Enjoy the race.  The party's just icing.

The inspiration to write this post came from Darren Rouse's terrific blog Problogger.net.  I submitted it to a group writing project that seems a bit of a challenge for a relatively fledgling NASCAR blog but it is fun check out Darren's blog and read some of the other project submissions.  It is very cool.

Picture credit: Thunderlounge.com

Earnhardt in a Ford? Next you'll have Roger Clemmons in a Yankee Uni.

Earnhardt wins in the #8 Budweiser Ford Fusion!



Are you feeling a little queasy there, buckwheat?  Do you expect thunderheads to form and lightning to crackle in the skies?  Is your bow-tie a little tight?

A merger, or maybe a buy out of one team by the other, is being bandied about, at least in the media, regarding Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Robert Yates Racing.  Five years ago, these were two of the top, probably, five teams in the sport.  DEI was winning everything on a plate track, including  a couple NASCAR Super Bowl 500s and Yates was the premiere engine building shop on the circuit.  Yates had two real good drivers, solid sponsorship, was Fords co-number one team and had a  history.  DEI had engines, a tradition with Chevrolet and Junior.

Things haven't been that good for a while, for either organization.

There is talk that the two might merge.

The talk says that, if it happens, the new team will be a Ford team.  And the talk makes sense.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. in a Ford.

Wayne Gretsky became a Los Angeles King.

Roger Clemmons pitched for the Yankees.

Joe Namath played for the LA Rams

I think, if this thing happens, and the emergent team is competitive and Junior can win, consistently, fans will come around.

After all, Richard Petty, the ultimate MOPAR guy, raced a Ford too.

Petty and Hammond Have COT Answers

It's good to be ON PIT ROW.

On the March 6, 2007 episode of our show, Steve, J.P. and I were fortunate to be joined by our friend and regular guest, Jeff Hammond, from Fox Sports and the Speed Channel.  Jeff always has great insight into whatever is happening in the NASCAR world. Whether he is answering another Daryl Waltrip question or clearing up a technical issue for us, his sincerity and his passion for the sport are always evident.

One of our Fast Lap segment questions was on how similar, sort of, the new Car of Tomorrow is, to the cars of the late seventies and early eighties.  We brought this up to Jeff, thinking he would laugh us off, and he actually thinks that there are many similarities and went on to list several.  He also told us that many of the teams, during testing, are finding that old notes on setups for the cars from  years past are proving to be valuable in setting up the COT.  The following is a bit of Jeff's blog on the subject.

At Daytona, Kyle Petty told me that the COT's handling characteristics were similar to cars that he's had experience with in the past. He's pulling out old notes to try to understand something that's totally new here. Petty may have the right approach, and having the history that they have in the sport could help him. more...

There has been too much grousing about this new car.  Just shut up and drive.

Picture credit Getty Images.

Moldy Orca sucking kayak huggers

If you watch network news programming on TV at all, you had to see the feeding frenzy Thursday featuring interviews with those pillars of taste and arbiters of what is popular and acceptable, I mean of course the residents of the great Northwest territory, Stupidland.  Television coverage went out of it's way to show people who are probably Seattle Mariner fans or Portland Trailblazerites slamming  NASCAR fans as "redneck losers, drunks, trailer trash ... " you get it.  Some forgettable politician referred to The King, Richard frickin' Petty as that drunk guy who runs in to people! 

The King responded, if you missed it, by saying, in a very dignified way, "I don't drink. I'm not sayin' I never ran into anybody when I was sober, but I don't drink." Paraphrased.

I heard that Darrell Waltrip, upon learning that the legislatures of the bergs that NASCAR was negotiating with, were turning up their collective noses at the prospect of helping fund a 300 plus million dollar speedway development, said that he would fund the thing hissownself.

D W, those moldy, Orca sucking, stuck up kayak huggers don't deserve any further attention.  Greg Biffle must be a kidnapped orphan from Kansas.  Build the track in Mississippi.