The NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship celebration left some New Yorkers with a sour taste and attitude after Manhattan traffic became gridlocked. Several streets had been blocked for the Wednesday morning parade of race cars and for a Christmas tree lighting and what was fun for some turned into early-morning nightmares for others.
Those blocked streets quickly complicated the routine of thousands attempting to get to their offices in the area. Lengthy delays and short tempers made the stock car parade the talk of the day. The mayor of New York would later question why the permit was issued for a morning rush hour parade, leaving some with the impression that plans for the Times Square drive might be altered before NASCAR return next year.
The television clips and photos I saw of the event didn’t show any signs of disgust and disapproval. The pictures I saw showed fans lining up to get autographs and leaning over the barriers as far as they could to get a closer look at the sheet-metal chariots that was vibrating the sidewalk and windows.
2007 Nextel Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson could certainly afford to make a little noise in the Big Apple, because he left town with big money. Johnson’s winnings for the season, including his championship bonus, totaled over $15,300,000.
His boss/part-owner/teammate/buddy, Jeff Gordon, was credited with collecting $10,936,687 for his efforts during the season. Johnson and Gordon were the only drivers to earn more than nine million bucks this year.
Johnson has also set some high marks to match in the record books. It is the 14th time in the history of the series that a driver has posted back-to-back championships, including the only three consecutive championships by Cale Yarborough. Yarborough won the title in 1976, 1977 and 1978.
He is also establishing a pattern of being in the top-five every year since his rookie season. He has been in the top five of the final point standings in each of his six full-time seasons, including back-to-back runner-up positions in 2003 and 2004. Johnson finished fifth in his rookie year and in 2005.
Jimmie Johnson posted four consecutive victories on his way to the championship and tied the modern era record for consecutive victories held by seven other drivers. Richard Petty holds the all-time record for consecutive wins with ten victories in 1967. There were 49 races run that season.
It was the first time a driver had won four-in-a-row since Gordon did it in 1998 and it is also the first time it has been done during the ten-race Chase playoffs.
Johnson led 1,290 laps during the season. The only other driver to led more than a thousand laps was Gordon. He led ten more laps (1,300) than Johnson this year.
Gordon led more laps, had more poles (7), had more top-five (21) and top-ten finishes (30) and finished all but one of the 36 races, but fell behind in the ten playoff races when Johnson passed Gordon in the number of wins.
Johnson won the championship by 77 points, entering the Chase with a 20 point advantage over Gordon. During the playoffs he out-pointed Gordon by another 20 in lap leader bonus points.
The four checkered flags Johnson racked up during the Chase brought him to ten wins for the season. Gordon only had six victories in 2007.
It was the first time since 1998 that a driver has won more than six races in a season. Gordon had 13 wins on his scorecard when he claimed the 1998 title.
Richard Childress Racing seemed to have just one advantage over the Hendrick operation this season and that was in completing laps. Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer were the drivers ranked at the top of that list. Harvick completed 10,481 of the 10,582 laps run this year.
There were 16 different race winners this year. Johnson and Gordon were the only drivers with more than three wins. Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards won three races each. Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch had two wins and were the only other repeat winners this year. There were 13 different race winners last year.
There were four first-time winners this year. Casey Mears, Juan Pablo Montoya, Martin Truex Jr. and Clint Bowyer added their names to the winner’s list in the history book. There are now 174 names on that list that was started in 1949.
The season-opening race for pole winners will have a few more cars in it at Daytona in around 70 days. There were 18 different pole winners during 2007, three more than in 2006.
Four races were won from the pole position and that was one less than in 2006. Gordon won from the pole twice. Clint Bowyer and Johnson were the other two drivers winning from the pole position.
Seven races ended under the green-white-checkered flag rule and that is exactly how many races ended that way in 2006. The number of races ending under caution flag conditions (5) also remained unchanged from last year.
Busch Celebration: The Busch Series Awards Dinner will be Friday in Florida. Carl Edwards will get the last Busch Series Championship trophy. The racing league will become the Nationwide Series next year.
Richard Childress won the Car Owner Championship with the No. 29 team in the Busch division and Georgia native David Ragan will pick up his Rookie of the Year Award during the Orlando festivities.
The ceremony will not be shown on television until Dec. 11. ESPN2 will air the awards at 7:00 p.m. that night.
? Truck Series: A for sale sign has been staked up in front of NASCAR’s truck racing division. 2008 will be the last year we will call the racing trucks by the Craftsman name.
Sears, owner of the Craftsman brand, has decided to look at other NASCAR sponsorship opportunities and will relinquish the first name of the series following the 2008 season. The trucks have been sponsored by Craftsman Tools since the division was formed in 1995.
The names of the other two premier divisions have already been changed for the 2008 season. The Nextel Cup will be called Sprint Cup next year and the Busch name is being replaced by Nationwide Insurance.
Georgia Toys: Don’t miss the last broadcast of the season for the WSB 120 NASCAR program Saturday. WSB will be collecting donations for the U.S. Marines and their Toys for Tots campaign at The Bar-B-Que House, 571 Thornton Road in Lithia Springs from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.
NASCAR show cars and other race cars will be on display and autographed items from drivers Reed Sorenson, David Ragan, Mark Martin and Bill Elliott will be among the prizes up for grabs for folks donating new toys to the Marines.
The collection effort will begin with a special broadcast of Dave Baker’s Home Fix It Show at 10:00 a.m. The racing portion of the broadcast will begin at noon.
For more information visit our website www.captainherb.net or call 770-941-1155.
High Speed TV:
Friday December 7
9:00 p.m. Craftsman Truck Series Awards—Speed
10:30 p.m. Bobby Hamilton Special—Speed
Sunday December 9
7:00 p.m. The Speed Report—Speed
Tuesday December 11
7:00 p.m. Busch Series Awards—ESPN2
Saturday’s WSB 120 racing program will air from noon until 1:30 p.m. on Newstalk 750 WSB Radio and www.wsbradio.com. For more race information visit our Fastcar Newsdesk at www.captainherb.net.
This is our final column for 2007. We will return in February 2008 for the new season. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and God Bless America.
We New Yorkers were thrilled to have NASCAR back for another Champions Week. Don’t listen to the whiners. I was at the Victory Lap for the 3rd year in a row. It never disrupts traffic that much. New Yorkers just like to honk… and cuss.
I just want to let the NASCAR top guys know that , as just one, of the many millions of fans, I did not watch the big show from the Waldorf, and will not be watching any more in the future years. I have decided to find better entertainment on Sunday afternoon. NASCAR has finally chased me away after some 20 + years. I hope they can fix it, but I really doubt they do!
the parade lap is way less disruptive to the nyc traffic then when there is a major event at the UN
those who complained will get over it
its fantastic to see and hear in the heart of nyc
heidi