JAMIE MC MURRAY. #1 EARNHARDT-GANASSI RACING, PRESENTED BY FELIX SABATES, CHEVROLET.
CREW CHIEF: KEVIN “BONO” MANION. ENGINES: HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS.
Let’s face it, this team had a disappointing season in 2012. Their best efforts all season long only netted three top ten finishes along with an average finish ratio of 20.0. In addition there were often highly noticeable horsepower problems that hampered McMurray’s presence on the speed charts. Adding to the frustration was an announcement that said Bass Pro Shops, the team’s longtime primary sponsor of 18 races, was departing to join Stewart-Haas Racing.
In early November team owner Chip Ganassi addressed the engine situation with a surprising announcement that said his two Sprint Cup teams would no longer be using power plants from Earnhardt-Childress. That announcement further stated that Ganassi had signed a lease agreement with Hendrick Motorsports who will be providing engines in 2013. That could not have been very good news for Teresa Earnhardt, who is both a co-owner of the two Sprint Cup teams and the engine manufacturing shop. The ECR engine shop was actually created as a joint engine building venture to provide engines for both Earnhardt-Ganassi and Richard Childress Racing among other customers. Following the announcement, Richard Childress said he wasn’t surprised regarding Earnhardt-Ganassi’s decision and had known for quite some time that their departure was eminent.
The sponsor profile for this team turned up some good news for EGR. Long time sponsor McDonald’s Restaurants announced they will be returning in 2013 and will place their golden arches on the hood of the car for 15 races. Then, in recent days, the team announced a sponsorship program from Cessna Aircraft for ten races. Cessna is owned by Textron Inc who will place two of their other business enterprises, Bell Helicopters and E-Z-GO Golf Carts, on the hood of McMurray’s car.
Also on the team’s sponsor profile is Bass Pro Shops, who reportedly really likes McMurray, who will remain with the team as the primary sponsor for two races. Lift Master and Banana Boat are also lined up to sponsor one race each. During the recently held Media Tour, Chip Ganassi said there were only four unsponsored races remaining on the team’s schedule for 2013. That’s quite an improvement in just a mere matter of months.
As they continue to prepare for the start of the 2013 racing season, there appears to be some very positive elements for Jamie McMurray and his team. The combination of the driver and crew chief Kevin Manion remaining intact is certainly one of them. The arrival of Cessna/Textron to help ease sponsor concerns is another major positive. The switch to Hendrick Motorsports power plants could turn out to be huge for this team.
However, the 2013 season is a major “GO” time for this team if they’re going to keep their program intact. They’re well aware of that.
The 2013 campaign opens up this month with its pre-season events, including the Shootout and the Duels at Daytona in less than three weeks’ time. So, what is the big story coming into the new year?
It is the car, stupid. Coming into the new Sprint Cup season, the big selling point is the new Gen 6 as the Car of Tomorrow became so yesterday after just six seasons. Moving away from a design that made the COT look nothing like the showroom model vehicles you and I could buy, the new auto more closely looks like a real Chevrolet SS, Ford Fusion and Toyota Camry. Their designs prevent two car tandems at tracks like Daytona and Talladega, and that is a good thing. However, will they somehow make the races at the 1.5-mile cookie cutter tracks more visually stimulating, or will we get more boring events with nicer looking cars?
While we are quick to blame the racing, it is up to the announcers to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. Most just remind us that we are watching a pig. There is something majestic about a great announcer. I could never tire of listening to the Dodger’s Vin Scully, or Danny Gallivan of the Canadiens, while NASCAR boasted Chris Economaki and Ken Squier. Iconic voices that drew you into the action, voices who knew how to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, if need be.
Still bummed that Dodge is gone. Sure, I may have driven Dodges over much of the past twenty years, but more than anything I was looking forward to seeing something that actually looked like a Charger this season. It looks like I’m back to watching reruns of them Duke boys.
Big team switches for this season has Ricky Stenhouse Jr in the #17, as Matt Kenseth is now in the #20, while Joey Logano moves on to the #22. Kurt Busch continues on with the #78 while Danica Patrick runs full-time in the #10.
Awesome Bill from Dawsonville might be finally done. After 828 races over 37-years, including 44 wins and a Cup title in 1988, 57-year old Bill Elliott figures he might have run his final race on the circuit. He was in just two last season and hasn’t run a full campaign since 2003. Voted NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver a record 16 times, Elliott plans to spend his time assisting his boy Chase chase some driving dreams of his own.
Juan Pablo Montoya was the finishing driver for Chip Ganassi’s Rolex 24 at Daytona victory recently. I mention this only because I can happily report that no jet drivers were harmed in the running of that race. The Columbian signed a new deal with Earnhardt-Ganassi, but gone are their own engines, to be replaced by the tried and true brand from Hendrick.
Jet dryers might be on their way out, too. Drying with compressed air could be the new thing, at least at Daytona this year. It should cut down on the flames if you know who does you know what again.
In 2013, the Top 36 cars in qualifying make the race no matter where they are in the standings. The next six or seven will make it on points, with one provisional reserved for a past champion if one should need it. At least that comes into play after the first three events, where what they did last year might help save someone’s bacon.
Track owner Bruton Smith would like to get rid of the start-and-park entries, but how? One suggestion could be to alter the payout to cars to better reflect the number of laps they ran. Start and park after twenty laps, and you might lose a chunk of change. As for being wrecked early, well that would sure suck for somebody. What do you think?
Some owners try to pick up a few bucks in Cup, with no intention of actually racing. This does not include the Wood Brothers or James Finch, who do not enter every event but try whenever they do. You got to respect teams like that.
Start and park outfits are merely striving to strike gold, we are told, so that one day they might actually be able to run with the big boys. However, can anyone remember a single such under funded team that actually made it over the past twenty years? I don’t. Robby Gordon at least tried, but as time went along his involvement dwindled to the point he only ran three races last season. This year he is expected to run none.
At this moment, Dale Earnhardt Jr is unsponsored for 13 races. If even Junior has trouble getting sponsors to pony up, imagine how some of the others might be fairing.
There are upgrades planned for Daytona. That is good news, as I can tell you the washroom facilities haven’t changed much over the past 50 years. We still are not certain if the drip, drip, dripping we saw coming down as we went up into the stands was fresh water or the recycled variety. All I know is what goes into the trough does not stay in the trough.
I know, you probably thought coming into the 2013 Sprint Cup season, the big story in NASCAR was going to be the Patrick – Stenhouse romance. Yah, right. Why do some care? Well, Danica Patrick is a 30-year old beauty (31 in March) who, in a seven year IndyCar career, had a win in 2008, claimed three poles, finished third in the 2009 Indianapolis 500, and holds the record for 50 straight races still running at the finish. Did I mention she is also damn good looking? She and her husband of seven years are in the midst of divorce proceedings, making her a free agent. Enter two-time Nationwide champion Stenhouse. Of course, nobody gives a damn about Stenhouse in this story, unless he happens to run much better than his paramour in their rookie Cup seasons. From what we’ve seen thus far, my money would be on the guy with the good looking girlfriend.
NASCAR likes to brag about how popular it is…or was. Averaging 100,000 fans for each of its 39 days of action is pretty impressive (including the Shootout and Duels in February along with the All-Star events), but that still averages out to just one race per week over 39 weeks. In fact, the 3.5-million fans it attracted in 2012 is down about a million (or more than 20%) from what is was in 2005. Then compare it to the 2430 game schedule in baseball, the 1230 games basketball and hockey (720 this lockout season) offer, and the 256 for NFL football, and those boys are able to provide us with a lot more highlights and thrills any given week. Major League Baseball attracts nearly 75-million fans annually, the NHL usually is over 20-million, and both the NFL and NBA are over 17-million. In short, NASCAR can not afford to continue to bleed off fans.
Revenues is another measurement, maybe even more important than warm bodies. Television has sure helped in that department, as along with marketing and sponsorship the NFL generates $11-billion in revenues, MLB $7-billion, the NBA $4.3-billion, and the NHL $3.3-billion. I have not seen any definitive totals for NASCAR, but $3-billion seems an accepted number, with about half a billion of that coming from television. It is said that in North America, there are four major sports. I might amend that by saying there are two, football and baseball, with three other significant pro entities. NASCAR would rank fifth among the five.
Which brings us back to the Gen 6 car. Will it prompt closer racing, will its design help make the product more visually appealing to both long time fans and those new to the sport? The last I heard, Rusty and Brad will be back so we can forget about an upgrade in the announce booth. There is a reason NASCAR has responded to fan criticism, as they want them to return and bring new blood with them. It was not going to happen the ways things were. Better cars for better racing for better entertainment for better attendance adding up to better revenues. That is the storyline for NASCAR going into the 2013 season. Enjoy the build up.
Jarett Andretti may have a famous racing last name and racing in his blood, but for now he is simply enjoying the ride.
And for this third-generation driver, grandson of Aldo and son of John Andretti, the ride not only includes pursuing a college education but also racing sprint cars for the company owned by second cousin Michael Andretti.
“It started last year,” Andretti said. “Me and my dad were talking about what we wanted to do in the 2012 season.”
“And he said we should do dirt sprint cars,” Andretti continued. “And at that point, I had never even been in a dirt sprint car or driven too much on dirt.”
“We acquired different cars and we put together our best car to run,” Andretti said. “We didn’t run as good as we hoped to run.”
“So, this year we really knew what we were going to do,” Andretti continued. “We hired our crew chief, bought cars and a motor and Superior Auto came on board as a sponsor.”
“Everything fell in line to do 30 or 40 races this season in Indiana.”
Andretti’s new sponsor, Superior Auto, is also excited about partnering with the young driver as his career blossoms.
“Jarett is the next line of great racers in the Andretti family,” Chad Melchi, President of Superior Auto, said. “He’s proving himself to live in the footsteps of his great family name.”
“All of us at Superior Auto want to be a part of his journey as he continues to grow.”
Andretti actually has a unique racing resume, especially since he did not even start racing until he was 17 years old. Prior to that, he was a devoted soccer player and would have played in college except for being bitten by the racing bug.
“I played soccer for a long time and then my dad bought a go kart,” Andretti said. “He thought it would be fun to spend some time together but he might regret it after all this.”
“We didn’t know what the next step was but decided to go dirt sprint car racing,” Andretti continued. “I also got an opportunity to run Oswego Speedway in a super-modified class and won Rookie of the Year last year.”
“My career is like my father’s in a sense because I drive whatever I get the opportunity to be in,” Andretti said. “That’s why we wanted to do dirt sprint car too.”
“In Indiana you can run three nights a week,” Andretti continued. “So, when I’m not running on pavement, I’ll just get in the dirt sprint car and that will be great experience for me.”
In addition to racing whatever he can get his hands on, the young Andretti is also a sophomore at North Carolina State University, where he is studying business administration and marketing. And of course, his is all in at school where he participates in the honors program.
“It’s alright,” Andretti said about his classroom career. “On Thursday and Friday, I take online classes so I can go racing on the weekends.”
“But it’s tough to get back Sunday night or Monday morning and go to school and keep up with it all,” Andretti admitted. “There’s homework and studying during the week so I can go racing.”
“It balances out,” Andretti said. “You care about school and you want to go racing.”
“It’s a challenge to make it all work but it’s worth it.”
What also motivates the young racer is the support of his family, especially since they have allowed him to find his own way in the sport.
“There was no pressure about racing from my family,” Andretti said. “In fact, my mom has been quoted as saying “I kept him out of it this long.” So, that was her accomplishment.”
“But my family has been nothing but supportive,” Andretti continued. “My father has been supportive and has given me guidance.”
“My mom is supportive as well with me being away at college and then away racing too,” Andretti said. “She takes care of my two younger sisters and they have been supportive as well.”
“So, it’s a family effort, even with my grandfather Aldo, who comes to the track and is over there washing the car,” Andretti continued. “Mario, Michael and Marco are also supportive as well.”
“Michael let me test in October so it’s all a family effort like most things.”
So what does the future hold for the youngest Andretti racer?
“I think it’s tough to answer because it’s where the opportunity falls,” Andretti said. “I’d be happy to run Le Mans and Daytona and run dirt the rest of the year.”
“I’m not picky about where I go,” Andretti continued. “I think the opportunity will be something with fenders, either in sports cars or NASCAR.”
“IndyCar right now doesn’t seem to have many opportunities for young kids and that’s disappointing,” Andretti said. “But that’s the way it is.”
“Really, I just want to win races,” Andretti said. “And I just like to drive race cars.”
