Latest Headlines

Comments

Sections

Is Ricky Rudd in your NASCAR Hall of Fame?

by Charlie Turner

I'm Charlie Turner co-host of the syndicated, mostly NASCAR radio show On Pit Row. Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. Oh yeah, Steve is an idiot. Follow me on Twitter @onpitrow

August 30, 2007 8:07 pm CDT 4 Comments

Ricky Rudd will start his 900th career NASCAR Nextel Cup/Winston Cup race this week end at California Motor Speedway. At the end of the 2007 Nextel Cup season he has said he will retire.

Is Ricky Rudd in your Hall of Fame?

Known as the Ironman for his record 788 consecutive Cup series starts. Rudd shares the record for most consecutive seasons with at least one win - his run from 1983 through 1998 - with Rusty Wallace. Barring a miracle in the last 12 races, he’ll finish with 23 Top series wins.

No one knows how NASCAR will choose their Hall of Fame inductees - or how fast or slow they will build the numbers of members. In any case, Ricky Rudd will not be included in early classes.

Even down the line, the 23 wins alone would be on the low side of the margins of my qualifications. But taking the whole body of work into account, Ricky Rudd deserves to be in the NASCAR Hall of Fame some day.

Picture credit: Beth Anne Heisler - ON PIT ROW

Filed under: Nascar Legends, Nextel Cup Series, Robert Yates Racing

Digg This | Save to del.icio.us

Bristol in the mirrors and postus interuptus

by Charlie Turner

August 29, 2007 6:45 pm CDT 2 Comments

It seems for most of the past week that the blog-gods are against me. Stormy weather and stubborn work complications kept me from watching the Friday Busch race and blogging anything for a couple days. Little did I know then that the chicken I ate Saturday would seek it’s own revenge. Four days worth. Enough.

Opinions about whether the re-pave of Thunder Valley improved or wrecked the track seem to be unanimously positive. The fact that the Saturday Cup race proved a relative snoozer to the excitement of the Friday Busch clash is likely more the fault of the Ugly Little Freakin’ Toad (read CoT) than the new surface.

That opinion seems to be shared by David Poole, NASCAR writer for the Charlotte Observer and one of the hosts of The Morning Drive on Sirius. David’s blog about the race puts it better than I could. My favorite line from the post though is this…

I don’t know a whole lot, apparently, but I do know that the more
drivers like racing at a place the less likely fans are to want to
watch races there.

Think about it. The drivers all weekend seemed rapturous about the new Bristol. Saturday’s race - at least at the lead - sucked. Drivers like Mark Martin and others, love Chicagoland. The races are yawners to watch. Most of these guys profess to hate restrictor plate racing - yet plate races are often the most compelling and exciting to watch, as a fan. Watching and driving ain’t the same thing.

David Poole was our guest ON PIT ROW Tuesday - and can be heard Thursday at 7:30 pm EDT on RaceTalkRadio.com. Talks with Poole are always good and last night’s is worth a listen.

I asked David what he thought of the rumor that Robert Yates Racing had applied for the right to transfer the #38 to….eh…some other team. He said that he had heard - as had we - that it probably wasn’t going to happen. He went on to say that someone had suggested that he check the trademark records to see if Hendrick Motorsports had made any recent applications. Brilliant - why didn’t I think of that? Other than the fact that I am not brilliant.

He checked. They had. HMS has apparently made copyright applications for the #38. They have also, according to Poole, applied for the #81, #82, #08 and the #58.

Steve has been betting on the#81 for a while and I the #08. David Poole thinks the #58 is intriguing. What say you Red Nation?

Picture credit: Jeff Kluss/SIT - I think

Filed under: Car of Tomorrow, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports, NASCAR Rumors, On Pit Row The Fastest Two Hours on Radio

Digg This | Save to del.icio.us

Edwards “flippin’ sweet” at the new Bristol

by Charlie Turner

August 26, 2007 11:43 pm CDT 5 Comments

It looked for much of the night like Kasey Kahne would pull off the double win at Bristol.

Carl Edwards used a pick from Micheal Waltrip to pass Kahne with 166 laps to go in the race to post his second win of the 2007 season. Edwards picked up 10 more bonus points to begin the Chase for the Championship in three weeks. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was only able to gain five points in his quest to make the Chase.

Bristols new concrete coupled with the new banking configuration led to much side by side racing. More so than ever there were three distinct grooves for the cars to utilize.

The Buzz ON PIT ROW is:

Did the resurfacing of Bristol ruin or enhance the racing?

The Fast Lap this week asks:

1) Will a Mark Martin/Aric Almirola tag team effort keep the fans from booing the #8 next year?

2) Jacques Villeneuve will most likely join Juan Pablo as non-US born drivers in Cup cars in 2008. Is this what NASCAR had in mind with its diversity program?

3) Should NASCAR come up with an appeals process during a race to keep from making mistakes like happened to Rowdy in the Busch race?

4) Will there be any changes to the top 12 with 2 races to go or are we set?

Let us know how you feel; about these questions, or anything else that happened during the short week at Thunder Valley. If we like your comments, whether we agree or not, we could use them on the air during Tuesday’s ON PIT ROW. Leave us a comment on the blog or call the show–toll free at 1-877-502-8255 between 5-7pm edt on Tuesdays.

photo: BethAnne Heisler–ON PIT ROW

Filed under: Car of Tomorrow, Carl Edwards, Chase for the Cup, Diversity and NASCAR, Formula One, Joe Gibbs Racing, NASCAR Rumors, The Busch Bros

Digg This | Save to del.icio.us

Busch-wackers a hit in Thunder Valley

by Charlie Turner

August 25, 2007 4:25 pm CDT 4 Comments

Hello? Is this Bench Racing with Steve and what’s his name? Good - I’m what’s his name. I apologize for missing the last couple days. Work related chores and Mother Nature have conspired to limit my meager contributions. Not no mo.

Storms in my area last night killed our power and kept me from watching the Busch race at the new Bristol Motor Speedway. Sounds like I missed a good one.

I hear there was two and sometimes three wide racing (I’d wager the latter didn’t last long) on top of the usual Bristol bangin’. Great finish, I’m told, with Kasey Kahne holding off the Toyotas of Leffler and Reutimann and the Dodge of Flyin’ Ryan. Wish I could have seen it.

I did see, in the recaps of the race, that Brad Kesolowski, driving the #88 Navy Chevy for JR Motorsports, finished seventh. Brad’s opportunity to drive the #88 is shaping up as one of the real feel good stories of 2007. He is regularly beating many Busch-wackers and looks like a real find for JR/Hendrick.

The power’s back on and with a little luck I’ll get to actually see tonight’s Cup race in Thunder Valley. Bristol is getting the full test this week - what with the Trucks, Busch cars and now the CoTs all running on the new concrete. Ought to be fun.

Picture credit: Beth Anne Heisler - ON PIT ROW

Filed under: Craftsman Truck Series, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kasey Kahne, Nextel Cup Series, Ryan Newman

Digg This | Save to del.icio.us

Michigan International Speedway staff beats the odds

by Charlie Turner

August 23, 2007 10:01 am CDT 2 Comments

What do you do when you throw a party for 75,000, or so, people and much of your staff that you had put in place is no longer available?

According to Sammie Lukaskiewicz, Director of Communication for Michigan International Speedway, you use all the full-time staff to fill in where needed. Sammie said ON PIT ROW Tuesday, "Everyone from the PR office was doing jobs that our huge volunteer staff usually perform. I was driving a tram, others were working concessions and we had PR staff selling tickets."

Most media attention was focused on the drivers and what they did to pass the time while waiting for the rains to subside at MIS. Little attention was paid to the countless volunteers that Sammie and the staff assemble for each race. That group of volunteers, including ushers, ticket takers and maintenance workers had a Sunday race programmed into their schedules. And while many were able to stick around for a Monday makeup race, when things got pushed to Tuesday, much of that group had to return to their regular lives.

One of Sammie’s normal tasks during the year is to provide credentials for media. The two NASCAR races at MIS gets coverage, not from just the traveling national wags, but the local media turns out in droves to get some "real time" with the NASCAR stars or with a local boy made good. This year was particularly challenging with each additional delay; as media from all over wanted to know the status of events. They needed to adjust their schedules and Lukaskiewicz was the one they turned to for answers.

Sam Hornish Jr. ran the Busch race on Saturday and most of the local Ohio media made the hour long drive to see how he fared.

When asked about the loss of the IRL race for next year, Sammie told ON PIT ROW it may only be a short hiatus for that series as they expect them to return within a year or two. What can MIS do to better utilize the facility? According to Lukaskiewicz, the return of the road course that Stirling Moss designed and was in use in the early 70’s could make a return to host a Rolex Grand-Am Series event and more.

Sammie gave credit to all the fans that hung in at MIS this past week and despite some make shift staffing those fans had a great time, were well behaved and saw a great race.

Thanks Sammie; and the entire staff, for giving the fans, race teams and media a great event in the worst of circumstances.

Sam Hornish Jr. photo: BethAnne Heisler–ON PIT ROW

Filed under: NASCAR Bidness, Nextel Cup Series, On Pit Row The Fastest Two Hours on Radio

Digg This | Save to del.icio.us

The Chase is changing NASCAR race strategy

by Charlie Turner

August 21, 2007 2:32 pm CDT 3 Comments

With about twenty laps to go today in the gloom of the Irish Hills, Jeff Gordon’s team made a choice to fore go a final pit stop for tires - in effect going for broke for the win, and the ten bonus points that count in the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

A few laps later, maybe inevitably, the Dupont #24 slid back through the pack and eventually spun out of the lead lap and win contention. Gordon’s team had nothing to lose. Their points position is way safe. Now it’s all about the wins - and bonus points.

In the final laps of the race that was really dominated by Kurt Busch, several Chase qualifiers were hangin’ it out trying for the win. In the old days, drivers in the top five or six in the championship might have been a bit more conservative and run for points - or not to lose points. Not any more.

Other than Martin Truex Jr, who is hovering around the 12th spot and needs all the points he can get, the other front running Chase contenders were after it. Jimmy Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart all contributed to exciting, fast racing at the finish.

Congratulations to Kurt Busch for another pressure performance. He’ll be dangerous if he makes the Chase. We have a nice interview with Kurt from Friday on tonight’s ON PIT ROW. If you miss the show, check out the re-broadcast Thursday at 7 pm on RaceTalkRadio.com.

Gordon’s gamble didn’t pay off today. On to Bristol. The last 50 laps of the night race may to be better than ever.

The painting is another of Rob’s. See them all at Car a Day.

Filed under: Chase for the Cup, Jeff Gordon, Martin Truex Jr., Nextel Cup Series, The Busch Bros

Digg This | Save to del.icio.us

« Previous Articles