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Carroll Shelby and the Avengers

by Charlie Turner

Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. The best NASCAR and IndyCar news and opinion, exclusive pictures and video. I'm Charlie Turner. Follow me on Twitter @onpitrow

May 16, 2012 10:08 am EDT No Comments

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One of my heroes passed this past weekend. Carroll Shelby died at age 89.

I don’t want to recap Shelby’s life in this post. Others have written that story over the past several days. The truth is, I’m a little late to be writing an epitaph on the man. From the moment that I heard the news of his passing though, I’ve known I had to write about my feelings.

I was a kid in the late fifties and sixties. I loved all sports but auto racing was a magnet for my attention. I’ve written before about how tough it was to get timely racing info back then. Especially so for the things that happened mostly in Europe, like Formula One and Sports Car racing. Lucky for me, that my dad subscribed to Sports Car Graphic and Road & Track. There I found coverage of men who became, and remain, my heroes.

F1 and endurance racing was then, as it is again today, dominated by European manufacturers. Ferrari and Porsche in sports cars, Lotus, Cooper, BRM and Brabham in F1. But a handful of Americans - and man, did they ever look the part of All-Americans - went over there and competed. When they had the right ride, guys like Dan Gurney, Roger Penske, Richie Ginther and Carroll Shelby won, against the best in the world.

For a few of them, winning in someone else’s, some other country’s, car wasn’t enough. They must have heard the comments like; “yanks can only build cars that go in circles”. I think they got pissed.

Shelby, Penske, Gurney and Jim Hall are my Avengers.

They built cars here, in the states, and went to Europe and beat the best in the world. I can remember to this day, how proud I was when Shelby’s Cobras won and Hall’s Chaparrals and Dan Gurney’s Eagle Westlake F1 car won at Spa. That Eagle was the first, and only American F1 winner until The Captain, Roger Penske went back to Europe with his own car.

The greatest achievement, most significant anyway, may have been when Shelby lead a team of Ford MK IVs to victory in the 24 hours of Lemans, beating the best of Enzo Ferrari’s 330 P4s. Glorious.

In the Avengers comics, Tony Stark is Ironman. He designed his famous suit of armor to protect a damaged heart. He did more with it than that.

Carroll Shelby was one of the longest lived recipients of a heart transplant. He accomplished much after, and lived an amazing life.

When I heard of Shelby’s death, I texted Steve and asked that he try to get Dave Despain On Pit Row this week to talk about ‘Ol Shell. Here is the highlight of Daves interview. I hope you enjoy it.

Photo credit: Sports Illustrated

Filed under: Formula One, NASCAR & the Media, SPEED TV

Tagged with: Carroll Shelby, Dan Gurney, endurance racing, Jim Hall, Lemans, Roger Penske, Sebring, sports car racing

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Hamlin, Stewart Showcase Market For Late Model Championship For The Pros

by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary and driver pictures, 2011 NASCAR schedule, video, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

I do weekly Fantasy Pick'Em columns here at OPR, as well as the occasional opinion and analysis piece. I also provide the IZOD IndyCar Series coverage. For more on that, head to my site, OpenWheelAmerica.com. My Twitter handle is @christopherlion.

April 26, 2012 8:32 pm EDT No Comments

Sometimes I think I need to stop dreaming so much.

As I write this, the Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown is on the Speed Channel, and through 25 of 75 laps, Greg Edwards is leading the late model race. Right now, the Langley (GA) Speedway legend is doing a good job of holding the lead, though he’s got another car filling his mirrors.

Did I mention that that car is being driven by Tony Stewart?

Sprint Cup stars dabbling in late model racing has become a hot, and very entertaining, trend in the past few years, as many drivers look to run as many races as they can. The Prelude to the Dream, held at Stewart’s own Eldora Speedway, has become a major pay-per-view event. The Hamlin event also gathers some attention as local drivers get the opportunity to prove themselves against stock car racing’s best. But these races mean just as much to the Sprint Cup drivers as they do to the locals with something to prove.

Some drivers even go all out to build their own cars. Kyle Busch, of course, fields his late model out of his own shop. Guys like Kenny Wallace, Ken Schrader, and Bobby Labonte have been doing it for years. Jeff Burton spent his own money to build a brand new late model out of his own shop just for Hamlin’s event, with the goal of handing it over to his son in due time.

That got me thinking - with so many great opportunities for late model races, why isn’t there a de facto late model championship for top NASCAR drivers?

Hear me out. For one, these races aren’t about winning money, they’re about winning over competitors, making them a perfect candidate for charity benefit. Plenty of people will be willing to show up for a bunch of exhibition races between top NASCAR drivers, especially for a good cause.

Second, there are plenty of tracks on the NASCAR schedule that either already hold late model races, or could easily establish one. Hamlin’s race is at Richmond in April, while Bristol used to hold late model races for old-timers in March and New Hampshire has an ACT late model invitational in September. Rockingham could serve to add a race as a warm-up for its Truck event in April, while Lucas Oil Raceway Park could use an event in July to replace the Nationwide and Truck events. Throw in affiliations with Eldora for the Prelude to the Dream, Oxford Plains for its annual 250-lap event, and Five Flags Speedway for the Snowball Derby in December, and you have a 10-race schedule.

Lastly, there’s the hope - maybe a small hope, but still a hope - that a series like this would get some of the Cup drivers out of the feeder series and into their own exhibition races. Most of the reason they run those races is for the sake of racing, anyway. Plenty of stars have said that they want to contest the Truck race at Rockingham after watching Kasey Kahne win it this year. But if they choose to return to their late model roots rather than race in the bigger events, maybe it cracks the door open a little wider for some development driver to run once or twice more and impress somebody.

I’m sure a bunch of drivers would sign on, especially with charity involved. Stewart, Busch, and Hamlin would undoubtedly headline it, while Wallace and Schrader might even make it their primary goal to win the title in any given year. The races would make for great television, which the sponsors love, and running for points that determine how much each charity benefits adds an extra layer of motivation beyond bragging rights.

You’d watch it. I’d watch it. A lot of folks would.

Hamlin’s race is now in its intermission, setting up a 25-lap dash for the checkers. Edwards has fallen to third place, with Stewart now in the lead. For Smoke, this could be just another victory won for the love of racing. But for some other driver, a win could be the realization of a dream - beating what may be the sport’s best driver.

Some things may just be pipe dreams, but someone ought to make this dream come true.

Filed under: Denny Hamlin, Eldora Speedway, Prelude to the Dream, Richmond International Raceway, Tony Stewart

Tagged with: Denny Hamlin, Eldora Speedway, Late Models, Prelude to the Dream, Richmond International Raceway, Tony Stewart

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Early Season Struggles Threaten Kahne’s Hendrick Debut

by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary and driver pictures, 2011 NASCAR schedule, video, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

March 30, 2012 10:07 am EDT No Comments

What do you do when your season ends before it really starts?

That’s what Kasey Kahne might be asking himself after a difficult start to the 2012 Sprint Cup season that sees him a mediocre 27th in points, worst among the four Hendrick Motorsports drivers in his first year with the team. Last week’s 14th place finish at Fontana was his best run of the year, and before that, the team was scarily close to the top-35 owners’ points cutoff that could have enabled them to miss a race.

It’s not what Kahne was hoping for after contract issues forced him to spend an up and down year in a holding pattern at Team Red Bull last season. A gutsy win in that organization’s second-to-last race at Phoenix in November suggested that good times were ahead for the Washington native. But what had been expected to be a winning, Chase-contending combination at the onset of the year now looks every bit like the team that Mark Martin took to 22nd place in points in 2011.

Granted, stranger things - and greater comebacks - have happened in NASCAR’s premier series. Jimmie Johnson went from last in the world (even I had more than -23 points coming out of Daytona) in the standings to ninth coming into this weekend’s race at Martinsville. In this same car, Martin went from 34th place through four races in 2009 to make the Chase and finish second overall. All hope is not lost.

But Kahne has shown an incredible ability this season to beat the one driver that no driver should ever beat - himself. He crashed out at Daytona, walled it in Phoenix, and made an overly aggressive move early at Bristol to effectively end his race before it could even start. At Las Vegas, he qualified on pole, but couldn’t even manage to lead a lap; despite spending over 95% of the race in the top 15, he drifted back to a disappointing 19th at the finish.

That doesn’t do too much to inspire hope in the legions of Kahne-iacs who expected the move from Red Bull to Hendrick to take his career to the next level.

For his part, Kahne is doing whatever it takes to turn this season around. It may seem counter-intuitive to enter the Camping World Truck race at Rockingham on April 15, the day after a night race at Texas for the Sprint Cup boys, but for Kahne, it could serve as a major confidence builder. He’ll be with Turner Motorsports, which qualified its three trucks 1-2-3 at Daytona and fields Kahne in a handful of Nationwide races every year. Kahne has never finished worse than second in four career Truck starts. The combination has every shot at success.

But if Kahne really wants to get it together quickly, he may have no better opportunity than Sunday’s race at Martinsville. In 174 combined starts, Hendrick Motorsports cars have taken 18 wins, most recently in spring 2009 with Jimmie Johnson, and 100 top-10s, including six of eight possible last year.

It would be a great way for Kahne to establish himself at the track, where a pedestrian 20.7 average finish makes the paper clip-shaped short track his fifth-worst track on the schedule. It would also be a great way for Kahne to make his mark at Hendrick; the team has been stuck at 199 wins since October 9, and scoring the organization’s 200th would help build momentum for the rest of the season.

It’s not too late for Kahne to turn his season around. If he can contend for race wins and climb into the top 20, he has a shot at making the Chase as a wild card driver. But the time to turn it around is now, not later. And if Kahne can’t put together a string of strong finishes by Memorial Day, last year’s motto - “wait ’til next year” - may be the phrase of the hour once again.

Filed under: Hendrick Motorsports, Kasey Kahne

Tagged with: Hendrick Motorsports, Kasey Kahne

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Charlie’s Racing Pics

by Charlie Turner

March 25, 2012 9:34 pm EDT No Comments

We have a small staff of real talented photographers On Pit Row. I am not one of them. I leave the important work to BethAnne, Glenn and Jordan. But that doesn’t stop me from taking my camera to the track. I don’t try to take serious pics. I mostly goof around. But sometimes, I like what happens. Here are a few of my favorites.

Photo credit: Charlie Turner - OnPitRow.com

Filed under: NASCAR photos

Tagged with: racing pictures

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Would You Rather be NASCAR Driver Kyle Busch or Dale Earnhardt Jr?

by Charlie Turner

March 21, 2012 2:34 pm EDT 1 Comment

NASCAR debate: Would you rather be Kyle Busch with a whole bunch of wins AND haters galore, or Dale Earhardt Jr, with adoring fans and…….?

Filed under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch, NASCAR, Nascar Legends, On Pit Row The Fastest Two Hours on Radio

Tagged with: NASCAR debate, Would you rather?

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Hendrick, Knaus Need To Know When To Let Go Of NASCAR Appeals Process

by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary and driver pictures, 2011 NASCAR schedule, video, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

March 13, 2012 8:27 pm EDT No Comments

chad knaus jimmie johnson chandra and baby on pit road

Perhaps it’s time for Rick Hendrick to just let it go.

After losing today’s appeal to the National Stock Car Racing Appeals Panel, Hendrick will continue to pursue the overturning of NASCAR sanctions imposed against Jimmie Johnson’s team on opening day of Daytona 500 inspection. The infraction in question, unapproved C-posts that didn’t fit NASCAR’s template, cost Johnson’s team 25 points, crew chief Chad Knaus $100,000, and Knaus and car chief Ron Malec six weeks of track appearances.

Today, a three-person appeals board decided that those penalties were just. Hendrick, unsatisfied with the decision, will take the issue to the board’s chief appellate officer, once again deferring any adjustments to Johnson’s team in the process.

Now, Hendrick’s case, if entirely accurate, might suggest that NASCAR’s handling of the car was a bit off. Hendrick claims that the C-posts, which were taken at Daytona before going through tech, had passed through NASCAR inspection 16 times previously (four times in each restrictor plate race last year) without fail.

The only problem is, proving something like that makes NASCAR look pretty bad. And if Johnson, Knaus, and Hendrick ran unapproved pieces all year in 2011, it’s pretty unlikely that they’re going to get any sympathy from anyone.

Knaus, meanwhile, wouldn’t be a likely recipient of any leniency from the board, no matter the significance of the infraction. He’s frequently been suspended, particularly in Johnson’s peak years. In both 2006 and 2007, the team’s two first championship years, Knaus found himself suspended at one point or another. In fact, his history of “bending the rules” (or cheating, if you’d like) started before he even joined Hendrick; back in 2001, an unapproved window net on Stacy Compton’s car drew NASCAR’s ire for the first time, and Knaus has been “innovating” ever since.

That’s not the kind of reputation that you want to have going into a visit with the head honcho of appeals.

Granted, under the highly unlikely scenario that the penalty is completely overturned, Johnson’s road to the Chase becomes much easier. With -23 points coming out of Daytona, Johnson has successfully climbed back to 23rd in points through Las Vegas, but he would jump into a three-way tie for 13th if he gets the 25 points back. Six weeks with Knaus and Malec at the track would be six less weeks of (likely) working with Lance McGrew, whose results as a crew chief with multiple Hendrick drivers have been so-so.

But the odds are stacked against them.

Without Knaus, Johnson will have to climb back into the top part of the points without the crew chief he’s won most of his races with (remember, Knaus was suspended for the 2006 Daytona 500 win). He’ll be in a situation he hasn’t had to deal with since running Busch races in the early 2000s - working with an average crew chief. We’ll have an opportunity to see just how good of a driver Johnson is without his biggest aide.

Maybe that’s why Hendrick is pursuing this so much. Maybe he doesn’t have faith in his top team to fully climb out of the Daytona hole without Johnson and Knaus working together, especially not with Malec (who served as crew chief for the four races that Knaus missed in 2007) unavailable. Maybe the season is as good as over if this fails. Maybe Johnson will have to work so hard in the early part of the season just to get back into Chase contention that they’ll have nothing left in the tank for the Chase itself.

Maybe going all the way makes a little more sense than we thought.

Filed under: Hendrick Motorsports, NASCAR officials, jimmie johnson

Tagged with: Chad Knaus, Hendrick Motorsports, jimmie johnson, Ron Malec

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