September 30, 2009
Riding the Razor Blade with the COT
(There Goes the Neighborhood and Hey Jack)
By Dennis Michelsen
I have spent way too much time watching NASCAR racing over the years and sometimes I think I have this thing figured out. If you want to decipher why certain guys are better than others in this new car design all you need to do is get out old race tapes or tune into ESPN Classic and watch an old race from the 80s. Today when you look at the in-car camera shot if you see a driver turning back to the right the least bit the announcers go wild about how hard he is working the wheel and they tell us the car must be evil handling. Back in the day when television coverage showed us the leader ahead by 10 seconds he was still sawing on the wheel as if the car was evil handling. The reality is that the car WAS handling evil on the old bias ply tires! Flip on a World of Outlaws Dirt Late Model race and you will see drivers with elbows up man handling the cars every lap! Is it any surprise that given the same equipment the guys with experience man handling the old cars or dirt cars are doing better than guys used to a better driving car? It isn't that these guys are better drivers they just know how to work a bad handling car better than the other guys and that talent is more important in this car design. How many times have you heard Crew Chiefs talking about making very minor adjustments to keep up with a changing track and the car goes from almost perfect to awful? Crew Chiefs say getting the car set up right with this design is like balancing on the edge of razor blade. It can be done but the margin for error is much less! Since the Crew Chiefs find it harder to hit the exact set up with the new car is it any wonder some guys that were great with more down force struggle with the new car? This might also explain why some drivers can be superman one run and drop like a rock through the field on the next fuel run. Young drivers strapping into a car for the first time with NASCAR dreams should get some dirt racing on their resume.

There Goes the Neighborhood
The news that a member of the Saudi Royal Family was planning to buy into Richard Petty Motorsports took me by surprise. Earlier this summer a news article in the New York Times indicated that documents linking some members of the Saudi Royal Family to extremist groups including Al Queda had surfaced during trials by families victimized by the 911 attacks on this country. While nothing has been proved yet it shouldn't come as a shock that links could exist. After all 15 of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia and members of the Saudi Royal Family have donated money to groups that have been accused of supporting terrorist groups.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/world/middleeast/24saudi.html?_r=1

The agreement signed yesterday includes the development of a NASCAR racing circuit and Richard Petty racing schools in the Saudi Kingdom. Richard Petty never imagined that his name and likeness would be owned by the Saudi Royal Family! Maybe NASCAR should look into the links between the Saudi Family and terrorism before they allow this purchase to go through. Team owners in NASCAR have to be approved for a license to avoid the involvement of unscrupulous types in the sport. Fans went nuts when Toyota entered the sport despite the fact they have five manufacturing plants in the USA. Can you imagine how upset they might get now with ownership in Richard Petty Motorsports going overseas? There goes the neighborhood!

Hey Jack
This has been a strange season for Roush-Fenway Racing. It started so great with Jack Roush in Victory Lane at the Daytona 500 for the first time ever. After having Carl Edwards win more races in 2008 than any other driver it looked like this might be a magical season for Roush Racing. But a funny thing happened when the season moved along. Jack Roush has been missing from Victory Lane since week two! Yes he still landed two drivers in the Chase but both guys are winless and not likely to have much of an impact already behind by over 100 points each after two rounds of the playoffs. Jack is back to his favorite subject of Crew Chief swapping next season to shake things up. But Jack the problem isn't with the Crew Chiefs it is with the cars. How can I be so bold in saying that? Just look at the statistics and you will see that each and every driver in the Roush stable has a worse average starting position this year versus last. David Ragan leads the way with a drop of 9 starting spots on average with Carl Edwards 7 spots worse and Matt Kenseth 4 ½ spots worse on a weekly basis. This can't be attributed to bad luck or a lack of communication between driver and Crew Chief it is all about a lack of speed. Hey Jack it isn't the Crew Chief/Driver combos that have kept you down this year it is all about a lack of speed and the qualifying statistics don't lie!

It's a special event Wednesday night at East Lincoln Speedway in North Carolina. It's being touted as "Real Drivers Wear Pink" - NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers Kasey Kahne, Elliott Sadler and AJ Allmendinger will face off against each other on the dirt to benefit the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and will appear on RaceTalkRadio! The 51 boys & gal will be there for help kick off the program with a live radio broadcast of the event, as part of its Dirty Talk and Speed 51 Radio programs. It all kicks off Wednesday at 6pm on RaceTalkRadio.com. For more information on the event, please visit elspeedway.com. Then join Lori Munro and Dennis Michelsen on Quick Change at 8pm ET.