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Mark Martin, who is 108 points behind NASCAR Chase Leader Jimmie Johnson (who won another race last Sunday in Phoenix) enters this Sunday’s finale in the 10 race Chase To The Nextel Cup as a long shot. It’s pretty much Johnson’s deal. Unless something very unusual happens, this Californian will take his fourth straight Cup title which is phenomenal considering the fierce competition in the so-called NASCAR modern era. While Johnson and his crew chief Chad Knaus are expected to capture a unprecedented fourth title, lots of fans seem to be tuning out the NASCAR Cup races as the following will attest. |
For the eighth straight race in the Chase, NASCAR was faced with some troubling audience numbers when the overnight TV ratings came out on Monday. The Texas event drew just a 3.2, down 8.8 percent from a 3.4 rating the race posted back in 2008. It’s also 24 percent lower than the 4.2 final rating for the Talladega race held that Sunday. Of note is a paltry 1.6 number in the critical adults 18-49 demographic that was pulled in the 7:00 - 7:30 p.m. timeslot — the last half-hour of the race. That was dead last among the four major networks during that time period. On the bright side, the Texas crowd gave the sport some of its highest at-the-track attendance numbers this season. The final count for both the infield and grandstands was estimated at 167,000. This report came from StockCarGazette.com.
All of this makes Sunday’s Cup finale a ho-hum event for the NASCAR Cup fans who pay big money to travel to the cup shows between travel expenses, tickets, lodging and tickets. The so called Chase was designed to inject excitement into the final ten Cup races during the highly competitive Fall season when NASCAR has to go up against the behemoth NFL.
According to AutoRacingSport, Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) has shut down their engine shop and over 47 people working there will be laid off. More in the car shop located in Statesville, NC are also expected to get the axe. It’s all part of the merger of RPM and Yates Racing. Yates will be supplying engines to RPM. Another source told us that on the way back from the Modified North/South Shoot Out in Concord, NC a team principal stopped a popular shop that sells second hand NASCAR type race parts looking for some bargains. He was told to wait another couple of weeks because there are going to be some good parts coming into the pipeline. We guess that the layoffs in NASCAR Land racing last year that took out over 1,000 employed in that sector apparently were not enough. Now the NASCAR teams have to downsize even more to keep afloat. It doesn’t sound good.
ARCA has added a second road course race to its 2010 national touring series schedule, officials announced today. The ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX will compete at Palm Beach International Raceway, a 2.034-mile, 11-turn road course in Jupiter, Florida on Saturday, February 27, 2010.
“We’ve been working with officials at Palm Beach Int’l Raceway for well over a year, and today’s announcement has been highly anticipated by everyone at ARCA,” said ARCA President Ron Drager. “The PBIR venue and market represents a key addition to the 2010 schedule and we certainly look forward to working with Jason Rittenberry, Ron Dixon, Emily Brown and everyone at PBIR. We expect a large number of our teams to visit the facility based on common travel over the next couple months with the Performance Racing Industry trade show in Orlando Dec. 10-12, the ARCA sanctioned open test at Daytona Int’l Speedway Dec. 18-20, and the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 race at Daytona Feb. 6.”
PBIR joins the previously announced August 15 race date at New Jersey Motorsports Park as one of two road course venues on the 2010 schedule. Long recognized as the most versatile sanction in motorsports, ARCA has toured more than 200 racetracks in the U.S. and Canada since its inception in 1953. The 2010 schedule, which is expected to be released in full in the coming days, features a diverse combination of road courses, superspeedways and short tracks on both paved and dirt surfaces.
Boasting an 11-turn, 2.034-mile design and FIA Grade II certified, PBIR’s state-of-the-art road course features some of the fastest and most challenging corners, elevation changes and straight-aways offered by any track in North America and is currently approved as an IndyCar testing facility. Technologically superior, the road course showcases a seamless table-top smooth finish, full lighting, S.A.V.E. soft barriers and run-off areas.
“We are excited to host the ARCA Series on the road course in 2010,” stated Jason Rittenberry, CEO and President of Palm Beach International Raceway. “It is a milestone for PBIR since this event will be the first-ever stock car race at the facility. We look forward to a long-term relationship with ARCA, their staff and the competitors in the series.”
The February 27, 2010 ARCA race date marks the sanction’s inaugural appearance at PBIR and the 13th time that the nationally touring stock car series has contested a road course race. Most recently, ARCA raced on New Jersey Motorsports Park’s 2.3-mile Thunderbolt Course in 2008 and 2009, with a third ARCA race planned at NJMP in 2010. ARCA made its road course racing debut in 1958 at the now defunct Meadowdale Raceway in Carpentersville, Illinois.
The list of former ARCA road course winners is impressive, including Fred Lorenzen (Meadowdale 1958), Nelson Stacy (Meadowdale 1960), Curtis Turner (Virginia Int’l Raceway 1962), Elmer Musgrave (Meadowdale 1964), Jack Bowsher (Mid Ohio Sports Car Course 1965), Bob Schacht (St. Louis Int’l Raceway 1986), Ken Schrader (Heartland Park Topeka 1991), Darrell Waltrip (Heartland Park Topeka 1992), Scott Lagasse, Sr. (Streets of Des Moines 1994), John Finger (Watkins Glen Int’l 2001), Justin Allgaier (New Jersey Motorsports Park 2008) and Patrick Long (New Jersey Motorsports Park 2009).
It was Mission Accomplished at the Coronado Speed Festival. Fleet Week San Diego’s marquee event was held at Naval Air Station North Island, and hosted over 22,000 people over the course of the last weekend in September. Active duty military and their direct dependents were again admitted free this year, and the weekend had over 8,000 individuals come through the gates. Highlights included 9 race groups on the tarmac, with over 240 cars racing – including stock cars on track racing this year, drifting exhibitions, military flyovers and the Navy’s Leap Frogs parachuting onto the tarmac and delightful entertainment and shopping in Vendor Village. The Navy’s Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) fund will receive a donation from Fleet Week to support their programs in San Diego.
At the recent gathering of the various champions for NASCAR’s Whelen All American Series in Charlotte, NC, George Silbermann updated the competitors on the 2010 television packages. SPEED and TSN will once again return to broadcast the Camping World Series and Canadian Tire Series, respectively. And NASCAR is working on final details of coverage of a select number of Whelen Modified races with Versus and SPEED.
Tony “The Sarge” Schumacher, who pilots the U.S. Army Top Fuel dragster, captured his sixth straight NHRA Full Throttle world championship last Sunday in the Auto Club Finals at Auto Club Raceway. After Larry Dixon was eliminated in the semifinals by Spencer Massey, Schumacher clinched his seventh career crown despite his loss to teammate, Antron Brown, also in the semis.
Upon receiving his championship trophy, Schumacher quickly announced it was heading for Fort Hood (Tex.) where 13 people were killed more than a week ago. “We’re going to give this trophy to the families of the victims,” said Schumacher. “Hopefully, they’ll know how much we’re thinking of them when they see it on display. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with them.”
Schumacher’s march to the 2009 title on Sunday was actually put into place after he grabbed the pole position on Saturday following a near record 3.772-second 1,000-foot pass. It enabled him to go into race day with a two-point advantage over Dixon. “That was definitely huge,” he offered. “We ended up putting a round of racing between us. I can’t say enough about my crew chief (Mike Green) and my team. They stepped up and got the job done just like our Army Strong Soldiers do all of the time. It was a classic example of a bases loaded, bottom of the ninth situation. We needed to come up with the big hit and that’s exactly what happened.”
For Green, who replaced Alan Johnson at the end of the record-setting 2008 season, it was his first title as a crew chief. “I’m so happy for him, you just can’t imagine,” said Schumacher. “It was great to see his big smile when I got back from the top end of the track. I’m pretty sure he’ll have that smile permanently displayed for quite some time.”
During the ‘09 campaign, Schumacher recorded five wins in seven final round appearances. He now has 61 career victories to his credit. “Of all of the championships, this one ranks pretty far up there,” he said. “Nobody expected us to win a race no less a title. Boy, did we prove them all wrong. I’m already looking forward to the 2010 season.” Schumacher will officially took delivery of his championship trophy as well as a $500,000 check at the NHRA’s awards banquet Monday night in Los Angeles.
The 2009 season finale for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is this weekend at Florida’s Homestead-Miami Speedway as the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup ends with the crowning of the champion. ESPN’s live, flag-to-flag coverage of the Ford 400 airs Sunday, Nov. 22, on ABC and ABC HD beginning with NASCAR Countdown at 2:30 p.m. ET. The race’s green flag is at 3:30 p.m.
Also from Homestead, ESPN2 airs coverage of NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying on Friday, Nov. 20, at 3 p.m., as well as coverage of final practice on Saturday, Nov. 21, at 3 p.m.
Dr. Jerry Punch will be lap-by-lap announcer for ESPN’s coverage, with analysis by 1999 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Dale Jarrett and two-time NASCAR champion crew chief Andy Petree. Reporting from the pits will be Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Shannon Spake and Vince Welch, with two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion crew chief Tim Brewer in the ESPN Craftsman Tech Garage.
Allen Bestwick will host the pre-race NASCAR Countdown program with analysis by 1989 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Rusty Wallace, Brad Daugherty, co-owner of a winning team in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, and three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion crew chief Ray Evernham in the ESPN pit studio.
ESPN’s flagship program SportsCenter will present a 90-minute special from Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday, Nov. 22, at 1 p.m. ET, following NFL Countdown on ESPN. The telecast will lead up to NASCAR Countdown on ABC at 2:30 p.m.
SportsCenter presented by AutoZone at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship will be hosted by Allen Bestwick and will give NASCAR fans the opportunity to see things that go on prior to a race that they normally don’t get to see.
Mike Rowe, host of Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel, will be a special on-site reporter for ESPN and look at some of the dirty jobs of NASCAR. Rowe’s voice has been heard by NASCAR fans as the narrator of segments during ESPN’s coverage of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup this season.
ESPN’s Dave Burns will spend the program shadowing the #48 Lowe’s Chevrolet of Jimmie Johnson, taking viewers behind-the-scenes as the car goes through final race preparation and NASCAR inspection. And ESPN’s Marty Smith will shadow Johnson himself in the hours before he attempts to make history as the first driver to win four consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup championships.
The program also will include a heartwarming story of how the building of Homestead-Miami Speedway in 1994 and 1995 helped bring the Homestead area back from the devastation wrought by Hurricane Andrew, one of the worst natural disasters in history, on Aug. 24, 1992.
Joining Bestwick in the ESPN Pit Studio will be analysts Rusty Wallace, Brad Daugherty and Ray Evernham. Several NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers also are expected to stop by the studio during the course of the program.
ESPN2 completes its season-long coverage of the NASCAR Nationwide Series this weekend as the series concludes 2009 with the Ford 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The live, flag-to-flag telecast airs Saturday, Nov. 21, at 4 p.m. ET, with the green flag at 4:45 p.m. ESPN2 is the home of the NASCAR Nationwide Series all season, with selected races on ESPN and ABC.
Marty Reid will be lap-by-lap announcer for ESPN’s coverage, with analysis by 1999 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Dale Jarrett and two-time NASCAR champion crew chief Andy Petree. Reporting from the pits will be Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Shannon Spake and Vince Welch, with two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion crew chief Tim Brewer in the ESPN Craftsman Tech Garage.
Allen Bestwick will host the pre-race NASCAR Countdown program with analysis by 1989 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Rusty Wallace, Brad Daugherty, co-owner of a winning team in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, and three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion crew chief Ray Evernham in the ESPN pit studio.
NASCAR Now, ESPN2’s daily NASCAR news and information program, will close out its 2009 season with four shows originating from Homestead-Miami Speedway, site of this weekend’s final races of the NASCAR season. Allen Bestwick will host the programs with analysts including Rusty Wallace, Brad Daugherty, Ray Evernham and Dale Jarrett, and reporters Mike Massaro, Nicole Manske and Marty Smith.
The first program from Homestead airs Friday, Nov. 20, at 12:30 a.m. ET (late Thursday night), with another airing Saturday, Nov. 21, at 12:30 a.m. (late Friday night). The one-hour weekend edition airs Sunday, Nov. 22, at 10 a.m. with a preview of that day’s NASCAR Sprint Cup finale at Homestead, with the final NASCAR Now of the season airing at 10 p.m. Sunday.
Massaro hosts half-hour editions of NASCAR Now from ESPN’s high definition studios in Bristol, Ct., on Wednesday, Nov. 17, at 1:30 a.m. (late Tuesday night), and Wednesday at 6 p.m. Smith will report from Miami for both programs.
With long-dormant North Wilkesboro (NC) Speedway scheduled to re-open late in 2010, ESPN Classic will bring NASCAR fans back to the 0.625-mile short track with a look at the 1989 Holly Farms 400, a NASCAR Winston Cup race. A one-hour highlights program airs Monday, Nov. 23, at noon ET.
The NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series will air Sunday, Nov. 22, at 11 p.m. ET on ESPN2 with coverage of series action from the event held at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, Calif. Featuring race vehicles that range from 5-second Top Alcohol Dragsters and Top Alcohol Funny Cars to 15-second Stockers, the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series is the premier Sportsman series in drag racing. Eight categories are included in the series, which is showcased at selected NHRA national events. ESPN’s Dave Rieff will anchor the coverage from Pomona.
Here’s what else is happening on TV this final week of live motorsports action courtesy of RaceFanTV.com. On Monday Speed airs NASCAR Race Hub at 7:30 p.m. and again on Tuesday. Also on Tuesday VS offers Quest For the Nextel Cup at 11 p.m. On Wednesday it’s VS with a replay of Quest For the Nextel Cup at 5 p.m. then Speed airs NASCAR Race Hub at 7:30 p.m. Thursday offers a Speed airing of Truck Practice from Homestead. Friday ramps up the coverage starting at 11:30 a.m. with Cup Practice from Homestead on Speed then Nationwide Praftice at 1 p.m., Truck Qualifying at 5 p.m. then Final Practice at 6:30 p.m. and finally the Truck race, all of that from Homestead.
On Saturday Speed airs RaceDay at 11:30 a.m. from Homestead. Sunday has another RaceDay espisode on Speed at 11:30 a.m. At 8 p.m. HD Theatre offers taped coverage of World Rally-Poland. Speed comes back with Victory Lane at 8 p.m. then Wind Tunnel at 9 p.m. while the Speed Report goes with a very late edition at 10 p.m. due to a Homestead wrap-up. (END)
NOTE: INFORMATION FOR THIS COLUMN CAME FROM VARIOUS REFERENCED SOURCES, PRESS RELEASES, NOTES AND OTHER SOURCES.
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