Mike Mulhern

November 16 2008

November 16 2008

Black Monday? Crewmen are worried. So crew chief Brad Parrott says drivers should now take a pay cut

Veteran crew chief Brad Parrott says NASCAR drivers are overpaid and should take a pay cut so team owners won’t have to fire so many crewmen this week (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images for NASCAR)

By Mike Mulhern

HOMESTEAD, Fla.
Black Monday is looming, and NASCAR crewmen are awaiting expected widespread job cuts this week, now that the stock car season is finally over.
So here’s veteran crew chief Brad Parrott with a suggestion: “I’m going on the record and say the drivers make too much money.  They need to feed some of that money back to the team owners so they can pay the people that are out of jobs, because without the teams the drivers wouldn’t be anything. 
“I know the driver does a good job, and he does hard work in the car.  But if you look at his pay compared to the average crew member…..
“If one driver can give up 10 percent of his salary, that would keep a lot of people in jobs.
“I know drivers don’t want to hear that, but I think there are some drivers out there who understand that.”
Hard times are hitting NASCAR like an economic hurricane, and NASCAR’s new total testing ban has car owners and crewmen scratching their heads about what to do next.
First, the off-season suddenly began a lot shorter, and December may be filled with unexpected testing, as teams rush to get in laps before the ban becomes effective Jan. 1.
Toyota’s field boss Lee White says he is in favor of the testing ban: “Given the global circumstances, given the economy, NASCAR had to do something dramatic.
“Even if it’s just for effect, they had to do something dramatic, and this is dramatic. No testing at Daytona? That’s pretty dramatic. We all figured even if they banned testing, they’d still have testing at Daytona, because it’s the kickoff to the season, it’s the Super Bowl.
“That tells me they mean business.
“But the beauty of this is the mystery: What is really going to happen?”

Toyota’s Lee White: Limiting Cup teams to just five race cars might be a good cost-cutting move for NASCAR next (Photo: Toyota Motorsports)

And NASCAR’s new testing ban may just be the start of something bigger, in the way of cutting costs. So how about this as food for thought, while NASCAR is considering cost-cutting rules:  Why not limit teams to just five race cars, instead of the 15-to-20-car fleets they currently carry?
That, says White, might help close the gap in this sport a little between the Haves and Have-nots.
White says that during mid-season discussions about how to handle the planned Nationwide tour car-of-tomorrow (whose introduction has now been pushed back to probably 2010), the issue of limiting teams to just five cars was raised: “NASCAR is already putting holograms on the frame-rails of every car, so just tell the teams ‘You only get five cars. And when you start testing, design a car that can be adjustable to running speedways, intermediate tracks, short-tracks and road courses,’” White says.
“And I think that process would probably work on the Cup side too.
“Now I’m not the crew chief, and they’re going to say ‘I can’t do Texas and Phoenix back-to-back, or California and Vegas back-to-back, and still get back to Atlanta if I only have five cars….and we’re criss-crossing the country.
“So five might not be the number. But I don’t think 20 is the number either. It’s somewhere in between. Seven, eight or 10.
“But you know these teams: if they can get by with 50 people, they’ll have 100. If they can get by with five cars, they’ll have 15.
“If the owners don’t say ‘no.’”

Now will NASCAR’s moves dramatically change any dynamics in this sport? Probably not. The Haves will still usually outperform the Have-nots. But maybe, though random acts of over-achievement, some of the Have-Nots might be able to pick off a win or two.

Len Wood, of the legendary Wood brothers, says NASCAR’s testing ban is a good move (Photo: Autostock)

That NASCAR is making moves to cut costs sits well with Len Wood, who says he’s happier today than he’s been in a while. “I feel okay about our direction for next year,” Wood says with a smile.
First, Bill Elliott, who just can’t stay retired, says he might be back next year to help the Woods out again. Elliott finished 12th in Sunday’s Ford 400: “This is important for these guys, fighting for sponsorship.”
Second, Wood, who runs one of NASCAR’s smallest operations, though one of the sport’s most legendary, says NASCAR’s decision to cut testing is a good one for teams like his single-car operation.
Wood remembers when the Wood brothers, then one of the top teams on the NASCAR tour, ran their whole operation with just a handful of crewmen, basically all family: Glen and Leonard, Len and Eddie, Delano, Clay….
And Dale Earnhardt and Richard Childress won a lot of championships with only a seven-man crew.
But the sport of NASCAR racing has expanded so much the past few years that 100-man teams are almost the standard, and four-car teams carry 400-plus on their roster.
So running a major NASCAR Cup team today requires an annual budget of $20 million to $30 million, with maybe half a dozen teams in the $30 million range, and at least one well over that.
In perspective, Alan Kulwicki won the 1992 NASCAR Cup championship on a budget of $1.8 million…admittedly an underdog then, up against teams with budgets of $5 million or so.
And NASCAR CEO Brian France says he would like to open up the opportunity for a new Alan Kulwicki.
Budgets of $30 million a Cup team? Six teams like that? “That’s probably a fair statement,” Wood said.
But how much should one of these Cup teams really cost to run, competitively?
“There are a lot of variables, like how much your driver costs, how much your crew chief costs, but just assume it takes in the neighborhood of $20 million,” Wood says.
“But then look at Major League Baseball. The Arizona Diamondbacks have a payroll around $46 million….while the New York Yankees have a payroll of $230 million. How does that balance out?”

Len Wood (R) and brother Eddie are glad to see NASCAR make some cost-cutting moves (Photo: Autostock)

The hotly debated testing ban could help here, Wood says: “As long as they cut testing out, it’s fair for everybody.
“Originally we had 15 days of official testing, and then we’d also go to say Nashville and Iowa and Memphis and Milwaukee, and we’d end up doing 22 or 23 days.
“But most of that was two-day testing.
“Then when they started talking (over this past summer) about expanding it (in 2009) to 24 days, then it became like 24 tests….and the travel all of sudden went through the roof – instead of seven travels, we were all looking at 24 travels.
“And then if you’re making it just a single-day test, you’re in more of a hurry, and you’re trying to pack more in, and you get in a hurry to get more miles in, with more tires, and more everything…
“Two single-day tests are more than just two days of testing.
“All that, plus the way the economy is going, I think NASCAR is making the right decision to step in and say ‘You can’t do this.’
“And NASCAR has done a good job of defining what they want.

len Wood (L) and Eddie Wood figure NASCAR’s cost-cutting moves should make 2009 a little easier on their racing budget (Photo: Autostock)

“We’ll still use simulation programs, and Ford has a seven-post-rig we have access to, and that’s what we’ll be doing more with. It doesn’t involve nearly as many people, not nearly as many tires, and not near the travel.
“I think it’s time to save some money.
“Yes, we can still go to Caraway and Rockingham, and I think Andy Hillenburg’s stock (he owns the Rockingham track) just went up.
“North Wilkesboro? Well, I don’t know about testing there, because I don’t remember that track having grip even when we were there racing.”
Besides, testing, Wood says, can be highly overrated: “We’ve tested at places like Kentucky Speedway and leave wondering just what you’d really learned. It didn’t help.
“For us this year, most of our on-track testing was done in the first half of the year…..and we performed at our worst.
“Then we brought David Hyder back in as crew chief, and we started spending more shop-time fixing our cars like they needed to be, and did less testing. And our performance, though it hasn’t been stellar, has clearly been better the second half of the year.
“We needed to get our cars better prepared, and it didn’t require track testing to do that.
“It’s not the end-all not to have testing.
“But in this sport, it’s monkey-see, monkey-do.”

Crew chief David Hyder’s shop-work organization, Len Wood says, has been more important for his team this season than all that testing (Photo: Autostock)

However NASCAR’s surprising decision to eliminate all January testing at Daytona has stunned most teams. And now the question is how to prepare for the sport’s biggest event.
“I’d be in favor of going to Daytona a day early to get some more testing there, because that’s the place that starts off the season…and if you start off badly, it can carry on for months, like happened to us,” Wood says.
“I don’t really want to get into going to every track a day early, with data acquisition on the cars, because then you’re also bringing in test motors, and stuff like that, and you wind up being less prepared.  I don’t think all that would be a good idea.”
And Toyota’s White agrees with Wood that Rick Hendrick’s suggestion of Fridays as at-track test days, with full computer instrumentation, is a non-starter: “That doesn’t work, because to be able process that information overnight and be able to use it the rest of the weekend requires another 20 guys,” White says.
“And those 20 would have to fly all over the country.
“That doesn’t save you any money.”

Car owner Rick Hendrick, here with Jimmie Johnson, says NASCAR should use Fridays for at-track testing with data acquisition computers. Ford’s Len Wood and Toyota’s Lee White both say that would be too expensive (Photo by Marc Serota/Getty Images for NASCAR)

The testing ban White says is intriguing “because my experience in this sport is that results are so sensitive to the smallest changes – any little change, like in the relationship between the driver and the crew chief, and suddenly everything is upside down and they’re not winning any more.
“This sport is so sensitive to stuff like that.
“So my feeling is the best thing about this testing ban is the mystery – for you and me and all the fans out there – about how this is really going to turn out.
“Look at what happened this year – the Gibbs guys had their stuff together early in the year, and they executed flawlessly, and they won a bunch of races.
“But Jimmie Johnson was just kind of lost.
“Then all of a sudden Jimmie and his guys decided to go testing three days a week, and look at what happened: it completely changed the whole complexion of the season. Testing has worked for them; they took the test driver out and plugged in Jimmie Johnson, and it’s worked for them, and they deserve the championship for that.
“No wonder Jimmie wants to keep testing – you don’t want to lose something that’s working for you.
“So the mystery of what is going to happen next year is the most exciting thing.”
But the last time NASCAR tried to limit testing, it all backfired. Teams began testing at other non-NASCAR tracks, buying non-Goodyear tires, building computer simulation machines.

So just how tough will NASCAR president Mike Helton be in enforcing this new testing ban? Who will be the first to step up and start fudging? (Photo by Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)

So how will – how can – NASCAR police this ban? How will NASCAR deal with anyone fudging?
“They will be like the little Dutch boy – putting the finger in the dike to fix it,” White insists. “If you do something like that, it’s not going to work out for you (with NASCAR officials).
“I hope nobody does anything to try to get around it, because that would be unethical, it wouldn’t be right.
“And I can’t imagine anyone who has the resources to go build his own track. Now maybe Jack Roush has a bulldozer and he’s going to play like Bill France did in building Daytona and bulldozer himself a race track, but I don’t think so.
“And once you take Kentucky out of the picture (for testing), and Iowa and Nashville, you’re getting pretty constrained as to find tracks that will have any real benefit for you.”
Detroit itself does have huge test facilities, like GM’s track in Arizona, and Toyota’s track in Arizona, and Ford and Chrysler also have big test tracks. “You can do some aero-work there, some straight-line testing….. but it’s pretty hard to simulate banking,” White says.
“And I’m not sure NASCAR is done tweaking this testing thing yet. Maybe some of the guys who aren’t in the top-35 will get some extra practice time each weekend,” White says.  “There are lots of ways NASCAR can be benevolent to those guys.”

Car owner Chip Ganassi (L), here with Dario Franchitti, may finally have gotten Chevrolet’s official okay to merger with Teresa Earnhardt’s DEI, after several days of wrangling (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images for NASCAR)

THE NASCAR NOTEBOOK

More meetings are set for this week in the continuing negotiations surrounding the planned merger between Teresa Earnhardt’s DEI Chevy team and Chip Ganassi’s Dodge operation.
The two announced merger last week but left numerous questions unanswered, principally the questions of which manufacturer the new operation would race for, and how much money General Motors’ Chevrolet division would be willing to put into the proposed four-car Earnhardt-Ganassi operation.
The issue of engines is naturally also a topic, and how the Earnhardt-Childress Chevy engine department might fit into the equation.
GM executives have continued to avoid answering any questions on the situation. Chevrolet already has 10 solid teams for 2009, four Rick Hendrick teams, four Richard Childress teams, and the Tony Stewart-Ryan Newman operation.
There has been the decided sense that GM executives are less than pleased with Teresa Earnhardt’s business moves lately, and it appears that the one thing that could make the Earnhardt-Ganassi merger work – perhaps the only thing – would be Richard Childress’ okay.


Denny Hamlin heading to Japan for a big Toyota marketing venture at the end of the season (Photo by Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Denny Hamlin will be a late substitute for teammate Kyle Busch at next weekend’s Toyota Motorsports festival in Japan at Mount Fuji.
Busch was scheduled to drive one of his NASCAR stockers at the festival, do some burnouts, and pop out of the smoke. And there will be maybe 100 journalists from Tokyo and the Pacific Rim. “So we thought it would be good for NASCAR in general, considering the economy and sponsorship challenges, to get some exposure like this over there,” Toyota’s Lee White, the company’s NASCAR field boss, said. “When you consider that Jack Roush had an Hitachi sponsorship earlier this year for one of Doug Yates’ cars….it’s not bad for this industry to expand its horizons.”
And Busch was, in turn, going to do a test drive in an F1 car. But Busch is sixth Nationwide points and he has won more NASCAR races this year than anyone else, so he’s expected to garner some awards at the NASCAR awards banquet in Orlando next weekend. And that blew the Japanese marketing trip.
So Hamlin now gets the marketing nod by Toyota.
Southside Denny Hamlin? Yep. Test-driving not an F1 car but rather a 1500-horsepower Japanese turbo-charged GT monsters.
“And you’ve seen that FedEx ad with Denny on the Shinkansen?” White says, referring to the renowned Japanese bullet train. “Where he’s trying to get the engineers to go faster….
“That was all done in the studio, and now they’re trying to get him on an actually train. That could be cool.”

Agree? Disagree? Don’t just brood. Express yourself here, and make your voice heard clearly in NASCAR headquarters in Daytona and Charlotte and in NASCAR race shops throughout North Carolina and the rest of the country.
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Daytona testing cars in primer paint: Kasey Kahne, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Eric McClure. NASCAR is really cutting Daytona 500 testing? Teams are stunned. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Saturday, November 15, 2008

So when will Dale Earnhardt Jr. win a NASCAR championship? Is that now a question for Rick Hendrick?

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings leader Jimmie Johnson watches on as his crew works on his car. Johnson is looking to become the second driver in history to win three straight championships. (Photo Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR)

By Mike Mulhern

HOMESTEAD, Fla.
While Jimmie Johnson takes his championship victory laps this evening around Homestead-Miami Speedway, for the third straight season, teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be closing out his first season with car owner Rick Hendrick in probably a much more quiet fashion.
Now all things considered it hasn’t been a bad first year for Earnhardt. He made the championship chase, he became a more consistent driver, and his work ethic is even stronger. And Earnhardt has laid a good base for 2009.
But Hendrick is NASCAR’s king of championships, with this one number eight. Earnhardt, at 34, knows he needs to get cracking on winning a title. His father won seven. And Earnhardt is certainly with the right guy now to get it done.
But, gosh, darned, if even Jeff Gordon can’t match up that well against the awesome Johnson, well, Earnhardt has his work cut out next year.
In reflection, Earnhardt says he’s satisfied with 2008: “I was super-excited about the way the season was going to start. I couldn’t wait to get to work.
“Then it was a long year; we worked really hard. It went good at times; sometimes it went poorly. I need to do a little bit better in the summer. There are a bunch of tracks in the summer we don’t run good at.
“But for the most part I was real proud of just getting the season in the bank, getting it done and looking forward to next year.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and crew chief Tony Eury Jr. Time for some hunting, once the season is over Sunday night (Photo: Getty Images/NASCAR)

However Earnhardt himself wasn’t much of a headliner this season. He did win that gas mileage run at Michigan in June, but otherwise he was usually out of the limelight….rather odd perhaps, considering he’s the most popular driver in the sport. And his driving style clearly changed – less confrontational, more efficient, less dramatic….and considerably less exciting to watch.
The big Earnhardt story of the season, rather, has been over at DEI, where Teresa Earnhardt has struggled too keep her four-team operation up and running. And now there’s a planned merger with Dodge’s Chip Ganassi – a deal which has a lot of still unanswered questions.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. says the planned DEI-Ganassi merger is interesting to watch—from the outside. But now, nearly eight years after his father’s death, and after several not-so-comfortable seasons working with Teresa, Earnhardt says he’s now watching it all as a rather dispassionate observer on the sidelines.
As far as DEI goes in general, “I just don’t have much to say about it anymore,” Dale Jr. says.
“I did. But I am past it…and a little farther removed from it.
“I don’t have any knee-jerk reaction about it no more when things happen to them.
“I was interested. But I am more on the sidelines with everyone else now, where I just view it from a distance.
“I still have emotional connection with it, where I want it to work, I want it to do good.
“But a lot has changed, a lot has changed. And it is difficult to feel any real close connection.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: “Everything’s changed” (Photo by Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR)

And what would Big E have to say about this merger, and the way things have gone at DEI lately? “I don’t know,” Earnhardt says. “Your guess is as good as mine.
“But he would had better luck at securing sponsorships.
“When my Daddy died, all of that changed. Everything about everything changed.
“If he was here, he would be sad. But he is not….and everybody has to go do their own thing and make their own way.
“Everybody has got to take care of themselves.
“He ain’t here to take care of everybody. So you have to do your own thing, take care of yourself.
“They’ve got to do what they’ve got to do.
“That said, I ain’t got nothing to do with it…and I don’t really have an opinion about it.
“I want them to succeed…I want them to be happy….I want it to work.
“But I can’t exhaust any of my emotions over it, because of what I’ve got going on myself.
“I have to get my own thing going. I’ve got to do better. I’ve got things I could do better.”

Mr. Popularity: And when will it be Mr. NASCAR Champion? (Photo: Getty Images/NASCAR)

So when he considers the DEI-Ganassi merger, it’s from a distance: The merger, Earnhardt says, “is good for both teams, to try to do that.
“It gives those guys a good opportunity to try to get through the season financially.
“Chip Ganassi is a racer; they really need somebody like that.
“I just hope they can move forward and make something happen.
“It is tough, especially for all the guys trying to find money. That is the biggest problem.
“There are some great people at Ganassi’s. Steve Hmiel (as competition director) will be reunited with a bunch of old buddies at DEI; they need a racer around there, over top of things, really making hard decisions.
“It will be interesting to see how that works.
“I am happy for Martin Truex Jr. and Aric Almirola (DEI’s two drivers surviving for 2009). It will be good for Juan Pablo Montoya (Ganassi’s only driver at the moment) to work with them guys. Juan is really going to enjoy working with Martin.
“It is great, for Ganassi to give his company a boost.
“It is really good for both.”

The 2009 NASCAR tour champions? Dale Earnhardt Jr. talking with car owner Rick Hendrick (Photo: Getty Images/NASCAR)

Well, unless you’re one of the 100 or so crewmen getting laid off in the merger. And more layoffs are expected.
DEI and Ganassi together fielded seven full-time teams at the start of the season…and right now the two have only 2-1/2 teams to run, though they insist they’ll have four next season – despite major issues about what Dodge and Chevrolet officials might have to say.
The layoffs at DEI, Earnhardt says, “were going to happen regardless of whether they merged or not, I’m pretty sure.
“They weren’t going to run four teams…or three.
“You can’t blame a single individual for the layoffs.
“The sport is going to have a lot of those—hopefully only for the short term.”
Earnhardt himself just had to pink-slip a number of his own Nationwide tour crewmen, when he couldn’t land enough sponsorship: “It always is difficult to fire anybody, especially when you have to do it in a big chunk.
“It is tough; it is not easy.
“It was 20 percent of our shop force, maybe about 17 people.”

But Earnhardt’s gone through with all that now, and the end of the season is only hours away, and then it’s time for a break, some hunting with the Eurys.
Then January looms, and the start of 2009.
At least, Earnhardt says, NASCAR’s decision to cancel Daytona testing should make January an easier month for him to deal with:  “January is awesome now.
“January is just going to be so much easier. We used to have back-to-back tests at Las Vegas and California, and then you had three Cup days at Daytona, and two days in the Nationwide car at Daytona, and possibly Kentucky, and a whatever in there too.
“Now we’ll just go to Nashville and sign autographs, and go to Daytona probably and still have the FanFest deal --- Without the testing going on, we can make those events more exciting for the fans, and more exciting for the drivers and everybody involved.
“It would be good to look at that opportunity to really turn that event into something special, like it used to be back when it was in Winston-Salem.”
Ah, yes, the good ol’ days….when nearly every year there was an Earnhardt smack in the middle of the NASCAR championship battle.
And next year, finally maybe again….


The best crew chief in NASCAR history? Chad Knaus is making a great case for that, here he chats with Jimmie Johnson during practice for the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. (Photo Credit: Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR)

THE NASCAR NOTEBOOK

NASCAR’s sudden testing ban has Cup team owners and crew chiefs scrambling, and the latest report is that one major NASCAR Cup owner is now negotiating to purchase North Wilkesboro Speedway to use as a test track.
The uphill/downhill five-eighths-mile track has been idle for more than 10 years since Bruton Smith and Bob Bahre bought it and took its two Cup tour dates to Texas Motor Speedway and New Hampshire International Speedway.
The Wilkes County track has been used at times by car owner Jack Roush for driver tryouts, but it would likely need some major refurbishing before it could be used for serious Cup testing.

The backdrop to this Sunday’s NASCAR season finale are the clouds hanging over the U.S. economy, particularly up in Detroit, where every dollar is being questioned, including NASCAR dollars, and where car makers are asking for NASCAR’s support – from the sanctioning body, the teams and the drivers – in making a plea for government support.
And hundreds of NASCAR crewmen are braced for what they expect will be a Black Monday this week, with layoffs that could top 1,000.
Car owner Rick Hendrick:  “I’m in the automobile business, and nobody is immune from what is going on in the economy. And it’s been not only in our country but in the world. 
“Charlotte has been more stable than any other state I do business in, and I’m in 14 or 15 states.  So Charlotte has survived that part well. 
“But one of the problems for our industry is we’ve been on a steady growth cycle, with manufacturers coming in and new teams coming in.
“A couple of years ago we were probably at an all-time high.
“Now all of a sudden the economy is forcing people to do things because of sponsorship. 
“So much of what we do is driven by sponsors…and if you happen to be one of those guys whose sponsorship ran out this year, you were in an uphill battle.
“There are so many different businesses around Charlotte that depend on our sport. I think a lot of the guys (being laid off) will move into different areas. 
“It’s no different than Wachovia or any of the other deals.
“I hate the whole economy is going through this, but I feel we’ll survive…and I think we’ll come out of this, hopefully, by the spring or summer.”

Rick Hendrick is winning NASCAR championships with Jimmie Johnson. Now Hendrick needs to get Dale Earnhardt Jr. winning championships too. (Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)

The first major move by NASCAR has been to ban testing, though there are loopholes to consider.
Car owner Rick Hendrick, who wouldn’t be celebrating this year’s championship if his drivers and teams hadn’t put in so many extra weeks of testing, says he’s suggested to NASCAR that each Friday at the week’s tour stop practice be with cars hooked up with full testing computer programs, as a cheaper alternative to midweek testing.
“I said if we’re going to be there anyway on Friday, why not instrument the cars and have the data acquisition,” Hendrick says. “You put that on the cars, have two sessions Friday, qualify Saturday, without the data acquisition, and then race.  That way you’ve got the tires, and you should be able to figure out what you’ve got.
“That’s what I vote for. But they haven’t told me what they’re going to do.
“But that’s what I think would work.”
And Hendrick, who is bringing up rookie Brad Keslowski, points out without testing “I don’t know what you do with a young guy that you’ve got that doesn’t have any experience or very little experience.”

Johnny Benson, here celebrating winning the 2008 NASCAR Craftsman Truck series championship with his team, is moving on at the end of the season, so what can team owner Bill Davis create now for 2009? (Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images for NASCAR)

The crisis in Detroit is becoming so severe that General Motors is calling on its NASCAR teams to put out the word that it needs major league support.
One letter this week from GM to NASCAR men:
“Dear Partners,
“I’m writing you today calling on your collective role as both an influencer and valued business partner.  I’m asking you to recognize the importance of the U.S. auto manufacturers to this nation’s economic well-being and to support a call for Federal assistance to help the U.S.-based carmakers weather this historic downturn.  It is clear to us that moderate levels of government support are a prudent investment in an important industry and, indeed, in America itself. 
“Next week, Congress and the current Administration will determine whether to provide immediate support to the domestic auto industry to help it through one of the most difficult economic times in our nation’s history.  Your elected officials must hear from all of us now on why this support is critical to continuing the progress we began prior to the global financial crisis.
“Our nation today faces economic challenges that have not been seen since the Great Depression.  In conjunction with that, I’m sure you’ve read about how dire the situation is for U.S. auto manufacturers due to the fragile economy, severe credit crisis and lack of consumer confidence.  Although our aggressive restructuring and global growth has demonstrated our commitment to reinventing General Motors, industry auto sales for October (adjusted for population growth) haven’t been this low since the post-World War II era.  As a result, the U.S. auto industry – and GM in particular – is confronting one of the most difficult economic periods in our nation’s history.
“Chevrolet is a key component to GM’s overall success. It’s ironic given the current economic environment that we have an extremely strong product line-up top to bottom, a commitment to green technology including the Chevy Volt and a sustainable global business plan.  Chevrolet has eight models in its lineup that get 30 miles per gallon or better including three hybrids and that all our cars and trucks are backed by the GM 100,000-mile warranty.  In short, we’ve responded positively and quickly to address rising fuel prices and the perception of poor quality.
“To think that the difficulties faced by the U.S. automotive sector would only impact the industrial Midwest would be a critical mistake.  U.S.-based carmakers have 105 plants in 20 states, including California, Texas, Kansas, Tennessee, Louisiana and Maryland.  They support 14,000 dealers across the country, and these dealers in turn employ 740,000 people, with a total payroll of $35 billion a year.  The companies buy $156 billion in parts and services from suppliers in every state.  The auto companies provide pensions for 775,000 people and health care benefits for 2 million.
“Because carmakers are so tightly woven into the fabric of the U.S. economy, the collapse of this industry would reach far beyond Detroit.  The Center for Automotive Research, an independent research firm in Ann Arbor, predicts that a collapse of Detroit carmakers would lead to widespread failures of supplier companies.  This in turn would shut down the transplant factories owned by Toyota, Honda and other non-U.S. companies ultimately putting up to 3 million people out of work.  The ripple effects of this would be felt by virtually every industry in the country.
“We are requesting your assistance to contact members of Congress to ask them to support America’s domestic auto industry.
“Talk to your friends, neighbors, and colleagues to ask for their support, as well.  Consider using your platforms to spread the message by bringing to bear the unique influence the motorsports industry can have on your consumers.  Leverage your websites to support the messaging, post a blog or agree to be interviewed by the media. 
“At a minimum when you’re ready to buy a new car or truck, buy American!
“Thank you in advance for your support and action.”

controversial pit stop: Crew chief Rick Ren called Ron Hornaday Jr. in for a four-tire pit stop with 11 laps remaining, while Johnny Benson stayed on the track to hold off Hornaday by one position to win the Truck series championship. (Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

Notes from e-mailbag:

From ‘the old man’ in Georgia:

As we say good-bye to 2008, the reality of NASCAR in 2009 looms large.
Will there be enough teams each week to fill the field? Will the Woods Brothers be back next year? How about Petty Enterprises or Bill Davis racing?
In fact, will GM or Ford even be back next year? I’m pretty sure that Dodge is gone. If not now, surely by the end of 2009.
How will Chip Ganassi change his cars from Dodge to Chevy? Change the decals and put those RCR/DEI engines in them. It’s that simple.
The sport that I’ve known and loved for more than 50 years is, I’m afraid, on its last leg. By 2010, there probably will only be Toyotas running. Since Toyota doesn’t have the retired healthcare burden that the US manufacturers have, it can still make money making cars in the US, and they will be the only manufacturer that can afford to go racing.
When was the last time you actually saw a Ford, Chevrolet or Dodge on the Cup circuit? How long ago did NASCAR introduce the “common template” car? Well, that’s how long it’s been.
What we’re seeing today are not stock cars. Heck, they’re not even actually Fords, Chevys, Dodges or Toyotas. They are the creation that came to pass after the deaths of Dale Earnhardt, Kenny Irwin and Adam Petty. In the name of safety, we’ve sterilized a once great sport.
And the worst thing of all is it is no longer about the racing: it’s about the “Rock Star” status of the drivers.
NASCAR will never see another Alan Kulwicki or another Junior Johnson. No more Smokey Yunicks, Bobby Allisons or J. D. McDuffies.
While I’ll still watch racing, as I do not care for stick/ball sports, I will no longer enjoy it the way I did from 1955 through the early 90s.
There’s an old saying that describes today’s NASCAR to a “T”: While all progress requires change, all change is not progress.
ciao`

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From Charleston, S.C.:

Mike,
I assume you were being sarcastic in your title “France Rips ABC”.
No way would 75 percent of the problems going on in NASCAR today be happening if Bill France Sr. or Jr. were still alive.
I am not going into all the things Brian France has done since his ascension to power, but suffice it to say we are witnessing the decline of NASCAR to a 2nd or 3rd tier sport.
I have been a fan since Cotton Owens won Daytona in 1957, so I have seen and do know a little history of our sport so I speak not out of total ignorance.

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From Broomfield, Colorado:

Why doesn’t someone just “up front” Brian and tell him he has no clue on how to run a business? For fear of what? If enough people of substance stood up to him, and called him out on a national stage, i.e Jimmie Johnson, Rick Hendrick, Richard Petty, you, and a handful of other respectable journalists, then he might just realize that his Disney World is a little different than the REAL world.

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From Nebraska:

Brian France: just like him to blame everything on someone or something else, instead of the product on the track. The only competition is how fast NASCAR can suck up all the sponsor dollars for themselves.
Wall Street = NASCAR
GREED IS GOOD.

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From Wakefield, Ma.:

Incredibly, the one idea that other pro sports has seen work isn’t even mentioned here - a hard spending cap.  Limit teams to a $30 million annual budget for a three-car team. Put it into all entry blanks that teams must open their books to NASCAR to verify that they are conforming to the cap, or else their entry will not be allowed until such verification is made. 
The cap entails anything racing related - engineer salaries, parts, wind-tunnel time, driver salaries, everything invested into the racing.
I hear over and over that “it can’t be enforced in racing,” never mind that NASCAR enforces everything else. And with control of the entry blanks, NASCAR can make it work, having already done so in the early 1970s in stopping a second Talladega-style boycott and also in disallowing the entry at Watkins Glen of a fifth DEI car. 
The problem is not way, it’s will - the will to enforce it. 
Given that the sport’s insane economics now leave no other choice, a spending cap must be the foremost program put forth to the sanctioning body and the race teams. 
Also necessary is inter-team revenue sharing, which works in all the other sports.  Why Hendrick and Petty and Davis and Teresa Earnhardt and Roush and company can’t share revenue is mystifying.

Actually NASCAR got what it deserved with ABC’s cutaway (the final miles at Phoenix) - the sport is so poorly run and uncompetitive that cutting away the finish is the slap in the face they need to finally get real about fixing things right.

“Diversity” has always been a dead-end and NASCAR needs to stop pretending otherwise.

The chase needs to be dropped altogether and replaced with the Bob Latford Point System, but with 125 bonus points for the win and 100 bonus points for most laps led, so there is no alternative to going for the lead no matter what race it is or what lap is.

The problem is not over-saturation of the market, though there are some markets - Chicago, Fontana, and, yes, Vegas - that are not racing demographics. Don’t buy the hype about Vegas sellouts; SMI pads the attendance with corporate bulk-buys from Bruton Smith’s other businesses. Plus the credit crunch will vacate a lot of Vegas properties if it isn’t doing so already. 

The problem is lack of different winners and lead changes in these races.  Gillian Zucker’s recommendation to make Fontana a restrictor plate track is the only short-term solution that’s there right now, and not just for Fontana.

As far as the sport’s economics go, the time has long been here for a mandatory spending cap on race teams - $30 million for a three-car team, and no higher.  The “bottomless pit of spending” has to stop.

Montreal does not belong in NASCAR, period.  It’s a foreign market and the sport doesn’t need them.

Greg Biffle need to shut up: Take Talladega out of the Chase because it’s too much of a wildcard?  It’s what racing is SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT - nothing but lead changes, no choice but to go for the lead, dirty air pulling cars forward instead of pushing them back. 

Why is it being asked “What would Earnhardt do?” Earnhardt isn’t relevant to anything here. He didn’t make rivals choke, he just stroked to his last three titles.

The problem, contrary to Junior, is not too much, it’s too little - too little lead changes, too little competitive depth. Where are the first-time winning teams, the comebacks by Yates, Petty, Davis, and others?  Where is the competitive depth?
Too little substance.

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From Dawg:

NASCAR is supposed to be fan driven.
In a perfect world, fans are supposed to support not only their favorite drivers’ sponsor or sponsors but the other sponsors. Because they make racing possible.
I think that thinking has broken down. Just how many M&Ms the Jr. Nation buys is debatable. In fact with Shrub (Kyle Busch) being the most disliked driver in the garage, I wonder how much candy or dog food any fan buys, just because Mars supports racing?
This brings me to Denny Hamlin. I was sort of predisposed to like the guy. Then when he mixed it up with Tony Stewart, his stock went way up. However, the more I’ve seen and heard of him, the less I like him. Not that I ship much with Fed Ex, but their commercials are some of the most annoying on TV, at least to me.
I guess my point is that the people who put up the money are probably going to have to quantify and justify every dollar in today’s economy.
Some things just defy understanding. Like how Cal Wells was able to lure McDonalds away from Bill Elliott for a new and untried team.

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From Greenville, S.C., about Cale Yarborough:

Now that’s an article Mike. Great stuff. Way better than reporting Kansas last year that Greg Biffle ran in the grass to win—way better.
At one point I thought you were getting too NASCAR-jaded to write objectively; then this piece. Good job.
Cale was a son of a gun in his day—a tough old bird like Harry Gant.
And I wonder what those guys would think of the car-of-tomorrow. Because we all gripe about this COT, and you report highly paid athletes moaning and groaning about this COT, what would these young whipper-snappers of today be like in a 1975-77 Boat, aka Monte Carlo? Or any other of those Boat cars Cup used to run. By today’s standards they really do look beautiful.
Hey, let’s do retro cars with COT safety! Now there’s an idea.
I don’t know where this COT is headed—maybe for the cot. But sometimes I wonder is the thing trash or is it a throwback to the old days?
The tire situation makes me wonder how bad NASCAR got this. Maybe they ought to put a downforce nose on it and put a spoiler on the back of it and let it go at that. Oh, and get rid of bump-stops.
Your article does get one wondering about the old days. Many times the old days weren’t as good as we romanticize. But many times they are. And as an oldie I do romanticize about the “good ole days”. It does seem to me there was better racing...Then again Petty by seven laps at Bristol ain’t all that “racy” either…

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Homestead: Round 10 of the championship chase (Photo: Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Were it not for his now famous 2005 ‘milk and cookies’ showdown with Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus, Rick Hendrick might not be celebrating a third straight championship with them this weekend.

“I’ve seen this happen many times—drivers and crew chiefs start to irritate each other, and the communication goes away,” Hendrick says. “One day they love each other, and one day they hate each other. 
“It was getting to the point where Chad and Jimmie were having more bad days than good days. 

“I called them into my office, and we had some of these plates that had Mickey Mouse ears and some cookies and milk, and said ‘If we’re going to act like kids, we’re going to have cookies and milk, and we’ll talk about what you don’t like about each other….’ because they really weren’t opening up. 

“Usually you can’t fix those deals. But we talked about it, and what irritated them, and I’m really glad they both made steps to fix it—because it takes both people to want to make it work. 
“There are still times, but they have learned to live with each other. So that was a big turning point.
“…Actually the meeting was supposed to be how we split the two guys up and which team they were going to go to….
“I’ve been down that road so many times. I can remember sitting down with Harry Hyde and Geoff Bodine….
“Most of the time when it gets to a point of conflict, you can patch it up but it always erupts again.

“But in this meeting these guys really put their hearts on the table. Instead of holding it in, they were able to become closer friends, and still respect each other’s professional position. 
“I’m real proud of them, because I would have bet money we couldn’t fix it. 
“They’re professional enough that they fixed it.”

Agree? Disagree? Don’t just brood. Express yourself here, and make your voice heard clearly in NASCAR headquarters in Daytona and Charlotte and in NASCAR race shops throughout North Carolina and the rest of the country.
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Mr. Blue Toenails himself, Scott Speed, is all smiles after qualifying second for the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Not bad for a raw rookie. (Photo Credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR)