NASCAR and The Brickyard; A Perfect Match
When stock cars first graced the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1992 for a Goodyear tire test, the hallowed grounds of the speedway were rocked with a sound never heard before. Drivers were excited as were crews, fans and dignitaries from the speedway and NASCAR alike. Every driver wanted to be able to say, “I was the first driver to turn cross the yard of bricks, in a stock car!”
[media-credit id=22 align=”alignright” width=”225″]
[/media-credit]The drivers were sent out onto the speedway in numerical order, and since there was no number one car, Rusty Wallace in his number two Penske Pontiac was the first car to hit the speedway. Thinking that the warm up lap was going to be an easy cruise, Wallace never expected to see a car catching him. “I looked up in my mirror and saw this black car getting closer” Wallace said. That car was none other than the late Dale Earnhardt Sr.
Earnhardt passed Wallace down the front stretch and right then and there, is where the stock car competitiveness began at Indianapolis.
In 1994, NASCAR graced the grounds once again, but only this time, there was a race taking place. On Saturday August 6, 1994, the tradition began with the Inaugural Brickyard 400. The race was filled with a record number of lead changes for the speedway at the time, and some of the most side by side battles at the speedway. The race was won by none other than a driver that called Indiana his home, Jeff Gordon.
While the win was special for Gordon, drivers like Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Tony Stewart, had some extra incentive placed on winning at the Brickyard.
Earnhardt, a seven time cup series champion, wanted nothing more than to be the first driver to roll into victory lane at Indianapolis in NASCAR. After a lap two pounding of the turn four wall, Earnhardt wanted to become the first “man” to win the Brickyard 400. When the second annual Brickyard 400 finally got underway, Earnhardt began to show what kind of driver he really ways. After a late race pit stop, then leader of the race, Rusty Wallace, had troubles on pit road due to cars in front of him and multiple scares with loose tires. Wallace tried desperately to get out first, but when he got to the backstretch, that black car that passed him back in 1992, was right there again, and just like that time, he blew right passed him.
Dale went on to claim the victory indeed becoming the first “man” to win the Brickyard 400.
Growing up in Indiana, Tony Stewart had always dreamed of winning the Indianapolis 500 in an Indy Car. Never in his wildest dreams did he think he would be racing at the Brickyard in a stock car. Stewart, who was one of the member of the Indy Car world who did not like stock cars coming to Indy, was in the middle of a successful Indy Car career when he was signed by Joe Gibbs Racing for 1999. Always being one of the favorites to win, Stewart placed even more pressure on himself. In 2005, that dream was finally a reality after holding off Kasey Kahne in a late race shootout to win his first Brickyard 400. Taking in the moment buy hanging on the fence, and grabbing a Coke from his family, Stewart had finally lived his lifelong dream of winning at the Brickyard.
Many other drivers have graced the checkered floor of victory lane in the Brickyard 400. Names such as; Elliott, Harvick, Jarrett, Johnson, Labonte and McMurray. Indianapolis is a place where the cream rise to the top more than any other racetrack on the NASCAR circuit. You cannot fluke your way into a good run here.
You must put the whole package together to be among the greats, as an Indianapolis winner.
With the vast amount of history the speedway brings, and how far the sport of NASCAR has come in just over sixty years, the two are a perfect match for each other. They both show the fruits and labors of the racing world over the years better than maybe any other combination out there.
While the racing may not be stellar by any standards, the element of winning at Indy is probably the most difficult. History takes center stage when you come to the Brickyard.
Will This Years Brickyard 400 Have Last Lap Drama Like In May?
Earlier this May we saw JR Hildebrand play the fuel strategy perfect. He had the Indianapolis 500 pretty much won and 2005 winner Dan Wheldon was well behind, but going into Turn 4 there was a lapped car and Hildebrand came into the turn way too fast and not to mention way too high and probably purposefully because this is the Indy 500 after all, you have to look sexy coming out of that last turn.
[media-credit name=”Kirk Schroll” align=”alignright” width=”240″]
[/media-credit]Unfortunately, the only thing sexy and probably painful about Hildebrand’s choice was his date with the wall. He almost won the race on two wheels, but he gave the win to Dan Wheldon, who had finished second two years in a row prior to this epic disaster.
In six days, NASCAR heads to the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Jamie McMurray is the defending winner of this race, but he has been struggling mightily as of late and as careful as he is, he continues to be finding the wall or someone else. His teammate Juan “Flamboya” Montoya either runs well and wrecks, wrecks altogether, wrecks someone else, or barely squeezing in a Top-10 here and there. Both the Earnhardt-Ganassi cars sit 17th and 29th in the points respectively. The only way I see Montoya making the Chase is if he repeats at the Glen, but if that doesn’t happen, he’ll have to wait until 2012.
With that being said, there will not be a repeat winner at the Brickyard this season. The biggest shock we saw last year was how badly the 24 and the 48 finished. Those two finished 22nd and 23rd. It came as a bigger shock to Jeff Gordon, who had never finished outside the Top-10 at the Brickyard since his rocky 2000 season.
For my pick this weekend, I will have to go with Jeff Gordon to become the first man to ever win 5 races at the Brickyard. I know last year didn’t go as planned for the 24 team, but just look at how well they have been performing lately. Without the battery issues that plagued him at Loudon, I believe he would have at least finished in the Top 3.
For dark horses, you have to take a good look at the RCR cars. These guys came to Indy last year on a mission and it definitely showed with two of their three cars finishing inside the Top 5. Harvick finished 2nd and Bowyer 4th. Burton topped off a great weekend by finishing 6th. If a Hendrick car does not win this weekend, I bet someone from RCR will be hoisting the Brickyard 400 trophy.
I believe this race will come down to some last lap antics and it’s going to be hella exciting to watch. I hope I’m not disappointed.
What do you guys think? Email me at rosharppromotions@gmail.com to send me your thoughts or leave your comments here. Thank you.
IndyCar – Power holds off attacks from Castroneves to win at Edmonton
(RacingWire) – Will Power held of his Penske Racing teammate Helio Castroneves to win the Edmonton round of the IZOD IndyCar Series.
Win up to $1,000,000 or a new truck with DIRECTV’s NASCAR Head 2 Head Knock Out!
[media-credit name=”DirectTV Rount 1 Bracket” align=”aligncenter” width=”400″]
Get ready for the second annual DIRECTV’s NASCAR® Head-2-Head Knockout competition, where you have chance to win the ultimate prize of $1 million!
32 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series™ drivers will be split into four regional brackets. Drivers will go head to head against a new competitor each week in a single-elimination format. Drivers advance by finishing higher than the driver they are matched up against.
[/media-credit]The competition kicks off at Pocono on August 7th and runs for 3 weeks until the “fastest four” are left and compete for DIRECTV’S NASCAR® Head2Head Knockout Championship at the August 27th race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The fan with the most accurate picks will win a brand new truck from the manufacturer of the winning driver. (i.e. Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins the contest, thus the fan who “wins” gets a Chevy Truck since Earnhardt Jr. drives a Chevy). The trucks available include the 2011 models of the following vehicles: Ford F150, Chevy Silverado, Toyota Tundra, or Dodge Ram.
Drivers will be competing on behalf of their favorite charities, with a total of $400,000 being awarded to help great causes.
A perfect bracket results in the chance to win $1,000,000.
First Prize: A brand new truck from the manufacturer (Ford, Chevy, Toyota, or Dodge) of the winning driver’s car.
Second Prize: A brand new Panasonic 3D TV, Bluy-Ray player, and a pair of 3D glasses.
Third Prize: Two tickets to a 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.
Each week during the competition, DIRECTV NASCAR HotPass™, available only on DIRECTV, will feature four different driver matchups. You can watch dedicated channels for each featured driver. Check back each week to find out which drivers will be featured in the next round of the competition.
Brackets & Schedule
Round 1: August 7 – Pocono Raceway
Round 2: August 14 – Watkins Glen International
Round 3: August 21 – Michigan International Speedway
Fastest Four: August 27 – Bristol Motor Speedway
The contest starts on August 7th so be sure to get your entries in soon!
Click here to get set up!
HOORAHS AND WAZZUPS: NASCAR STARS AND SAM BASS GUITARS IN MUSIC CITY
With NASCAR’s Sprint Cup teams taking the weekend off, it was an opportunity for the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series to shine on their own at the Nashville Super Speedway. Over the previous weekend we watched the grandson of a NASCAR legend make a very strong showing in Music City even though his victory splat in the grass didn’t quite work out. We watched a NASCAR veteran, with a very bad cold, prove why he’s one of the best in the business even when he’s not feeling well. Oh yeah, during one of the best NASCAR themed pre-race invocations we’ve ever heard, a Baptist minister thanked the Lord for his “smoking hot wife.” With those thoughts in mind let’s begin with:
[media-credit name=”Joe Dunn” align=”alignright” width=”209″]
[/media-credit]HOORAH to Austin Dillon for an outstanding performance that led to winning the Lucas Deep Clean 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race. The grandson of legendary team owner Richard Childress, made his winning race move with 23 laps to go in his Bass Pro Shops, black number 3, Chevrolet Truck owned by “Pop Pop.” The young driver earned his third series win after starting from the pole position. 24 hours later he drove a Kevin Harvick Inc Chevrolet, in the NASCAR Nationwide Series event, and finished a strong third.
HOORAH to crew chief Danny Stockman for that gutsy two tires only final pit call that gave his driver the track position to make that final race winning move. Stockman, just like his young driver, is also garnering a lot of well deserved attention in the NASCAR world.
Having said all that, WAZZUP with that Major League Baseball slide into home plate the race winner tried to do in the middle of the speedway’s grassy infield? After climbing out of his winning truck, Dillon ran towards the infield and attempted a head first slide through the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series’ painted logo. He soon discovered that the thickness of the infield grass, intensified by the heavily lacquered paint, was not conducive for sliding. It turned out to be one of worst belly flops ever seen on live television. By the expression on the driver’s face when he got up, it may have been a slightly painful belly flop as well.
All he wanted to do was add something different to the post race celebration. This extraordinarily talented young driver is going to win a lot of races in the future and they’re going to need something different than what we witnessed to celebrate those wins. Perhaps Stockman and company can place one of those water powered slip and slides over the infield grass for their driver’s next celebration. Even break dancing on the start finish line would have been better than that belly flop.
************
HOORAH to “Concrete” Carl Edwards for winning the Federated Auto Parts 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series event in rather convincing fashion. Edwards has a phenomenal record on concrete covered race tracks and proved it by leading 124 of the race’s 225 laps around the Nashville Super Speedway’s 1.333 mile concrete oval.
Edwards’ strong performance came despite the fact that he was suffering with a cold prior and during the race. But once he parked his Roush Fenway Racing Ford Mustang in victory lane, he said “I’m feeling a lot better now.” The win also came despite a huge loss of track position when Edwards was penalized for speeding on pit road during a yellow flag pit stop. He restarted 14th. after serving the penalty, and regained the lead approximately 37 laps later. That’s how strong this driver and car was during this race. Edwards also surpassed 1,000 laps led in the Nationwide Series and scored his sixth career Nashville win including five Nationwide Series wins in only 13 starts.
WAZZUP with that horrible luck experienced by Elliot Sadler during the Nationwide Series race? Following a pit stop, during the final yellow flag period of the race, Sadler’s Kevin Harvick Inc Chevrolet came off of the jack and began rolling down pit road when the driver announced over the radio “we’re done guys.” It seems that the tires were spinning when they came off of the jack and hit the ground. The result was a broken gear as well as a 30th place finish. Sadler and company also took a hit in the series’ points profile falling from first to third.
HOORAH to Sadler’s team for repairing the problem in the garage area and sending their driver back to the race. He returned 31 laps down with virtually no hope of gaining an extra finish position or the points that might have came with it. So, why bother to return at all? The team knew that an effort like this was going to draw the attention of the ESPN broadcast team. That meant some extra national television exposure for their sponsor One Main Financial. The effort also sent the message: “you can’t keep us down, we are going after the Nationwide Series championship.” This is how high quality professionals think and work.
************
The final WAZZUP of the week goes to the dog owner who let that cute little beagle get away and onto the infield grass of frontstretch area while the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series were conducting their practice session. NASCAR officials made quick work of presenting the red flag so the track crew could remove the puppy from the racing area.
WAZZUP with no fewer than five members of the speedway’s safety crew having that much trouble catching this high speed canine? There was a point when these track officials actually resembled an old classic movie starring “The Keystone Cops.” The little dog finally grew weary of all this merriment and simply laid down to rest. That’s when it was retrieved and returned to its owner.
HOORAH to this very cute puppy for turning faster laps than some of the start and park teams entered in the race. Or should that be start and bark?
Who says there is no “Chase” in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series?
***********
HOORAH for those very beautiful. and very special, trophies presented to the Nashville Super Speedway winners. They are of course those beautiful guitars customed painted by Sam Bass, the official artist of NASCAR. Over the years I’ve spend a significant amount of time making my living in show business. I fully understand the feeling of owning and playing one of those fine, hand crafted, Gibson Les Paul Guitars. Add to that the beauty of a Sam Bass painting and it’s no wonder these guitars are the most sought after trophies in NASCAR racing.
A double final HOORAH goes to Pastor Joe Nelms, of the Family Baptist Church of Lebanon-Tennessee, for delivering one of the most memorable invocations, prior to a NASCAR race, ever heard. With a special prayer, heavily tinged with a NASCAR theme, Pastor Nelms thanked the Lord for all of the mighty machines on the race track and specifically thanked him for the Dodges, Toyota’s, Chevrolet’s and the Fords. In a comment that must have made Jack Roush smile, Nelms thanked the Lord for the partnership between Roush and Doug Yates that created all of that engine power. He also thanked the Lord for the Goodyear Tires and Sunoco Race Fuel.
It’s basically against human nature for us to start laughing during a prayer, but when Pastor Nelms reached the end of his invocation we just couldn’t help it. He actually said “Lord I thank you for Lisa, my smoking hot wife, and for the blessings of our children Eli and Emma, (making a reference to the famed Earnhardt Racing family), our very own Little E’s. It’s in your name that we pray, boogity boogity boogity, amen.”
Just as the invocation ended, the ESPN live television cameras caught Carl Edwards standing on pit road nearly doubled over with laughter. He was later overheard to tell team owner Jack Roush “I want that guy to do my funeral.”
