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Get Over It: Gossage Does It Again, Media Whines

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.

March 31, 2010 5:07 pm CDT 3 Comments

Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage is widely known in NASCAR circles as one of the most notorious promoters since Humpy Wheeler. From promoting races like boxing matches between two feuding drivers, to offering Dale Earnhardt Jr. a large sum of money to race IndyCars at the track, Gossage always finds a way to put himself in the news as the next Texas race approaches.

This time, however, he’s found a sure-fire way to ruffle the feathers of the media, when a planned April Fool’s joke went awry.

Gossage offered a local DJ $100,000 on March 30 to legally change his name to “TexasMotorSpeedway.com” for one year, and to get a tattoo of the URL somewhere on his body. The track’s Twitter account even posted a photo of the check that Gossage was ready to hand out upon the DJ’s acceptance of the offer.

On March 31, Terry Dorsey, the Dallas DJ in question, accepted the offer on his radio show. The track sent out a press release detailing the deal, and posted it to its website. Multiple journalists within the racing community did their jobs and wrote about the deal.

Hours later, however, word began to spread that the whole thing was an April Fool’s hoax. Numerous journalists well-known within the sport, like Terry Blount at ESPN.com and Jeff Gluck of SBNation.com, began complaining about the stunt, citing the usage of official track letterhead to send out the press release and the date on the calendar.

I have three words of advice for the press corps: Get over it.

I’m pretty sure that Gossage and Dorsey were planning to announce tomorrow that the whole thing was a fake. It seems clear to me, if nobody else, that the plan for this stunt was to do it over three days: the offer on March 30, the acceptance on March 31, the admission on April Fool’s Day. It was meant to be a joke of extraordinary magnitude, and, well, it was.

Blount quickly deleted his post on the subject, and called the prank “inexcusable” and “a huge blow to TMS credibility.” Gluck said the event left “a bad taste in (his) mouth” and responded to Red Bull’s congratulatory tweet to TMS with “Uh, no. WRONG.” But many of their media colleagues aren’t so bothered.

Blount’s cohort at ESPN, David Newton, asked a very good question on his Twitter account: “Did anybody bother to talk to the folks at Texas Motor Speedway or the radio host before the hoax got this far?” Nate Ryan of USA Today echoed those sentiments, and brought up the 2008 TMS prank, which suggested the track would build a $900 million retractable roof.

Blount and Gluck should be well aware of Gossage’s history, each having covered the sport for a while now. They just appear to be upset because their serious coverage of the event has hurt their own credibility. Gluck’s final comment, “Maybe if Texas used its energy to improve the racing instead of tricking people into coming to the track, everyone would be better off,” was exactly the personal kind of comment that seemed out of line in the situation.

It’s not as if this prank was designed to maliciously wound NASCAR reporters’ credibility. It got all of us going. And even if it was, I’m not too bothered by it. I’m sure it’s annoying as sin for these folks to have to field the same questions from different people every day for two weeks before their event, and to play a joke makes it interesting. I want to go into the business for a living; I’ll take my bumps and bruises and occasionally look stupid. (I certainly have reported things that were totally untrue before.) It also reminded us journalists of the cardinal rule of reporting: always, ALWAYS verify your sources.

Happy April Fool’s Day, everybody. Look out for pranks… and my exclusive interview with Michael Schumacher on why he’s joining Richard Childress Racing for the 2011 NASCAR season. You heard it here first!

Filed under: Texas Motor Speedway

Tagged with: April fools, Jeff Gluck, Journalists, Terry Blount, Texas Motor Speedway

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IndyCar Race Review: Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

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

March 30, 2010 9:32 pm CDT No Comments

Making it two for two in 2010, Will Power won the rain-delayed Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, the second event on the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series schedule. It was his third career IndyCar win, all of which have come with the mighty Team Penske, and all of which have come on street courses.

The race was run on a Monday after standing water on Sunday prevented the race from being run safely. The rain delay affected many businesses in the area, keeping them shut down for an extra day. Emergency scheduling meant that the event had to be run in the morning.

Power had taken pole in qualifying, and started the race alongside Tony Kanaan. It was no surprise, as Power dominated all three practice sessions before qualifying, posting the fastest lap in all three. Of ten drivers to post top-five laps in the three sessions, Power was the only one to post such a hot lap in all three.

Unlike last year, the race went off to a clean start through the first turn, but separate incidents involving Mike Conway and Dario Franchitti put the race under caution. Marco Andretti, desperate to make up for a disastrous turn at Brazil and driving like a bat out of hell, took the lead from Power on lap 5 with a daring move, but Scott Dixon usurped the point on the very next lap, holding it until lap 27. Dixon’s race, however, ended on lap 74 when he put his car in the turn 9 wall.

Takuma Sato hit a tire barrier with his new Lotus car on lap 25, after complaining for the previous five laps that his left front was no longer in order. It was just one part of an overall bad day for KV Racing Technology; Mario Moraes, after causing a logjam behind him by refusing to yield his lapped car, had his day ended by an out-of-control Dan Wheldon after 46 laps, and E.J. Viso, after briefly leading, lost his gearbox late in the race and fell three laps down.

Conway also had a strong run ended when a daring move in the fifth turn went awry. Trying to follow another car past Raphael Matos for position, Conway attempted to force the Brazilian onto the curb from the outside. Instead, Matos refused to yield too much, causing Conway to bounce over Matos’ wheel and send himself into the fence. Matos wound up eighth.

Vitor Meira led a good chunk of the race while on an alternate pit strategy, as he was one of the few drivers to start the race on the standard black-sidewall tires. His 12 laps led were third-most of all drivers, as eight took turns at the point. Unfortunately for Meira, his strategy put him at the back of the pack when it counted, and he wound up a disappointing 15th, the last car on the lead lap.

The race also marked the return to IndyCar of American Graham Rahal, whose search for a ride this offseason was torpedoed by a lack of sponsorship. Cleaning up for Sarah Fisher in her own car, he finished ninth, but turned rookie darling Simona de Silvestro in the first turn late in the race, spoiling her solid run. De Silvestro finished 16th, one lap down.

Also on the podium were Justin Wilson and Ryan Briscoe, Power’s teammate at Team Penske. Briscoe partially redeemed himself for a stupid error that cost him the win in Brazil, and Wilson repeated his podium finish at St. Pete last year. However, it was the first time in three starts that Wilson did not lead a lap at the track, as he led 18 circuits in 2008 and 52 last year.

Power will head to Barber Motorsports Park with a 44-point lead over Franchitti, Wilson, and Ryan Hunter-Reay. In a stroke of luck, none of the other drivers who finished in the top five in Brazil were any better than eighth in St. Petersburg. Meanwhile, the best Brazil finish for a driver who finished fifth or better in St. Pete was seventh.

Filed under: Indy Cars

Tagged with: Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, IZOD IndyCar Series

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Return of the Spoiler

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

March 28, 2010 9:53 am CDT No Comments

NASCAR shows off the new spoiler for Sprint Cup cars with a cool graphic.

If you want to actually see what NASCAR’s techies have been talking about for months regarding the new replacement for the much hated wing on the New Car, here you go. The 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule may now proceed.

Thanks to NASCAR Media for the graphic.

Filed under: Car of Tomorrow, Martinsville Speedway, NASCAR, NASCAR Tech, Sprint Cup Series

Tagged with: new car, spoiler, wing

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IndyCar Race Preview: Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

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

March 28, 2010 1:13 am CDT No Comments

The IZOD IndyCar Series runs its first stateside race of the season this Sunday on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida. The Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will be run as an IndyCar event for the sixth time. Ryan Briscoe won the event last year.

Briscoe has been fast in two out of three practice sessions, posting the third-quickest time in sessions 1 and 3. The biggest story of the young season, however, continues to be his Team Penske teammate, Will Power. Power, coming off a win in Brazil two weeks ago, has paced the field in all three practice sessions, won the pole, and will clearly be fast in the upcoming race. In the second session, his best lap was an astounding seven tenths of a second faster than the next car. Power almost seems like a lock to take home the checkered flag this weekend, based on both practice speeds and momentum carried over from two weeks ago.

Over the three practices, nine cars besides Power’s have turned laps good enough to put them in the top five in at least one session. None, however, have been up there in all three sessions, or nearly as consistent as Power. The Chip Ganassi Racing teams, as well as Penske’s other cars, have also been fast most of the time. Other than Penske, only Ganassi has had a car in the top five in all three sessions, but neither individual car has been fast in all three.

A surprise towards the top of the charts in the third session was E.J. Viso, whose lap of 1:02.3615 was good enough for second place in the session, about a quarter of a second behind Power. Viso was sixth in the second session as well, a marked improvement from his first session pace, where he was a second and a half off the pace. Viso’s best career IndyCar finish came at St. Petersburg in 2008, when he placed fourth.

As for the Firestone Indy Lights cars, Martin Plowman paced the field in the Friday’s practice session in preparation for tomorrow’s race. He was followed in that session by James Hinchcliffe, who was about .12 seconds off the pace. On Saturday, however, they swapped spots at the front of the field, with Hinchcliffe holding a .16 second advantage over Plowman, and the man they call “Hinch” eventually took the pole. Look for the two, widely viewed as the top contenders for this year’s Indy Lights title, to battle for the win this weekend.

Filed under: Indy Cars

Tagged with: Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Indy Lights, IZOD IndyCar Series

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NASCAR Shark Fin Soup: Denny Hamlin’s Basketball Blues

by Charlie Turner

March 27, 2010 8:39 pm CDT 2 Comments

If NASCAR’s 2010 Sprint Cup Season schedule were a tournament, Denny Hamlin would have been one of the number one seeds.

Just like Kansas. And Syracuse. Kentucky (who are losing with 2 minutes to go) were in the NCAA B-Ball tourney.

Hamlin was the guy most of the NASCAR experts called on to unseat 4 time Sprint Cup Champ Jimmie Johnson. But Denny was flawed.

For the second time in his short, but meteoric, NASCAR career, Hamlin hurt a knee playing pick up basketball. The first time it was a strain or something. This time, a torn ACL.

There were off-NASCAR-season comments that “all will be well” and such. And if Hamlin played pick up basketball for a living it probably would have been fine.

But he’s trying - they’re all trying - to overcome one of history’s greatest teams. The no 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy of Johnson and Chad Knaus. You need all of your guns for that.

And both healthy knees.

Hamlin will have reconstructive surgery on that knee Monday. Good guy, and good driver, Casey Mears will stand by if a fill-in driver is needed for the Fed-Ex Toyota Camry.

And Jimmie Johnson just says…”Next.”

Photo credit: Round girl Jen by BethAnne Heisler for On Pit Row

Filed under: Casey Mears, Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing, NASCAR, Sprint Cup Series, jimmie johnson

Tagged with: Fed-Ex no. 11, Lowes no. 48

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Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Goody’s Fast Relief 500

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

March 25, 2010 12:49 am CDT 1 Comment

The Sprint Cup Series is beginning to hit its stride, five races in and heading to Martinsville Speedway for the Goody’s Fast Relief 500. It’s the first race of 2010 where drivers and teams will be guaranteed in based on 2010 owners’ points, meaning we’ve run enough of this year to nail down who’s on top and who’s in a hole.

Clearly, Jimmie Johnson is on top after winning his first career race at Bristol. I didn’t have in the column at all last week, judging by his abysmal record at the track the past few years. My pick, Kyle Busch, wound up ninth, while dark horse Marcos Ambrose had a poor day and wound up 33rd. Kurt Busch had the best day of anyone I mentioned, finishing third, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. placed seventh and Kevin Harvick finished 11th.

I’d be picking Johnson to win Martinsville even without the momentum of three wins in five starts, and the latest coming at his worst track. He’s also won five of the last seven run at the paper clip, six in his career, and you don’t expect any less from him barring catastrophe.

As for a dark horse, check out Juan Pablo Montoya. Until he wins an oval race in Cup, I think this is a fair place to categorize him. He led 37 laps here in the fall, and has a career worst Martinsville finish of 16th, in his track debut in spring 2007. Montoya has only failed to complete one lap in six starts, a key fact at short tracks where cars can easily fall laps down under long green flag runs.

Don’t like what you see? Three more:

Denny Hamlin won the two races out of the past seven that Johnson did not, which basically guarantees him a place in the column. Yes, he’s 19th in points, and I bet that bum knee’s got something to do with it. That might even spell disaster for him at the track, where he has a strong 7.2 average finish and only one finish outside the top 10 in eight starts. But the Virginia native, barring that one poor finish (a crash in spring 2006), has always run well here. I’m going to give him a break.

Jeff Gordon has seven wins, 22 top five finishes, and 28 top-10s in 34 career Martinsville starts. He hasn’t been outside the top 10 at the end of a Martinsville race since 2002. If you took Gordon’s Martinsville track record and tallied up the points, he’d have enough to win the championship in almost any pre-Chase season.

Finally, in an attempt to make this column interesting (and not just pick the four drivers with the best four average finishes at Martinsville), Ryan Newman is a choice that many might overlook. Like a handful of other drivers worthy of consideration, Newman has a 50% top 10 rate; unlike many of them, he hasn’t won at the track. But Newman’s 2009 record at the track, with finishes of 6th and 7th and a pole in the fall race, merits strong consideration for this weekend.

Filed under: Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon, Juan Pablo Montoya, Martinsville Speedway, One and Done NASCAR Fantasy Racing, Ryan Newman, jimmie johnson

Tagged with: Goody's Fast Relief 500, Martinsville Speedway, One and Done NASCAR Fantasy Racing

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