Esteban Guerrieri Scores Second Indy Lights Pole in a Row at Iowa
For the second straight week in a row, Esteban Guerrieri will start from the pole as he won the Sonoco Pole Award for the Sukup 100.
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[/media-credit]”It is very important at this track to do the right thing in qualifying because it is difficult to overtake during the race,” Guerrieri said. “We are in really good shape for tomorrow and I am pleased to start in the front.
“I was able to maximize the short amount of time I had on the track (one practice session), and that is basically what motorsports is in Europe. It is all about making the most of the little time you have on the track. I try to be accurate and visualize what my position on the track will be. This strategy has been working for me so far, but it wouldn’t work if I didn’t have a good car. I have to thank Sam Schmidt and the team because without them I couldn’t do it.”
Last week at Milwaukee, Guerrieri transferred his pole start into his first ever Firestone Indy Lights victory. Guerrieri’s average speed of 160.787 mph puts Sam Schmidt Motorsports on the pole for the forth consecutive week.
Gustavo Yacaman qualified second at a speed of 159.520 mph for his first front-row start.
“It took me three years to get there, but I made it,” Yacaman said. “We were the second car out and that didn’t help us because the track was very dirty from the USAC Silver Crown and Midget cars. When I was out there I was able to work my bars and my weightjacker enough to get a good lap.
“I think if we would have drawn something a little later we would have had a better run. I want to thank my team because this is my best qualifying attempt so far and this is the first time I am starting on the front row. I think we are looking good to run for pole position in the next few races. This is a really hard track to race on and I think we can get it done and hopefully get our first podium of the year and build momentum from there.”
Bryan Clauson qualified in the third position (159.434), followed by Josef Newgarden and Duarte Ferreira.
Victor Carbone qualified sixth, followed by Stefan Wilson and Brandon Wagner.
The green flag for the Sukup 100 at Iowa is set to be drop at 6:30pm EST tomorrow and can be seen on VERSUS.
Kurt Busch Leads Opening Sprint Cup Series Practice at Sonoma Raceway
In opening practice at Sonoma Raceway, one of the most underrated road course racers in the series led the way. Kurt Busch took the top spot in the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge with a speed of 93.014mph (77.021 seconds).
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[/media-credit]“We’ve definitely had some chances of winning on the road courses in the Cup cars through the years,” Busch said. “We started third and had a strong top-five run going at Sonoma (Infineon) last year before the late-race run-in. We came back and really threatened for the win last August at Watkins Glen. To race with (Juan Pablo) Montoya and (Marcos) Ambrose like we did there was definitely a confidence-builder. Those two guys come from a different world when it comes to road course racing. We got by Ambrose at the end and were closing in on Montoya.
Once qualifying hits the track later today, Busch will go for his fourth consecutive Coors Light Pole Award at Sonoma, to go along with the four top-five finishes and seven top-10s he has scored on his 20 road course starts to date.
Denny Hamlin drove his No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota to second on the charts at 92.559mph.
After Red Bull Racing has been in the media all week, Kasey Kahne drove his No. 4 Red Bull Toyota to the third spot at 92.546mph. Kevin Harvick (92.361mph) and Martin Truex Jr. (92.359mph) rounded out the top five.
A.J. Allmendinger was sixth, followed by Jamie McMurray, Tony Stewart, David Gilliland and Marcos Ambrose.
Points leader Carl Edwards, meanwhile, was 37th, 2.052 seconds off the pace set by Busch.
Road Course Veterans Lead First Nationwide Series Practice at Road America
At the end of the first Nationwide Series practice at Road America, it was a bunch of road course ringers leading the charts.
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[/media-credit]Billy Johnson, driving the No. 60 for Roush-Fenway Racing, was at the top with a speed of 108.050 mph (134.871 seconds). RFR brought Johnson over from the Roush Racing Grand-Am Sport team, where he competes in the No. 61 Ford Boss 302R Mustang with Jack Roush Jr. The last race ran was at Walkins Glen, where they led 30 laps in route to victory.
Jacques Villeneuve, driving the No. 22 for Penske Racing, was second with a speed of 107.996 mph (134.938). Villeneuve has driven road course in a variety of different cars, including F1, Le Mans Series, Speedcar and TRV6. He has also raced in NASCAR before, as he has made a total of five Nationwide Series starts, dating back to 2006.
“Road America is one of my favorite tracks and I’m super excited to be returning there this weekend to race in the NASCAR Nationwide Series,” Villeneuve said coming into the weekend. “I was fighting for the win in last year’s race so I have some unfinished business at this event, for sure. This will be my first event both in the No. 22 Discount Tire/Ruby Tuesday Dodge Challenger, and with Penske Racing, so I’m really looking forward to getting in the car and seeing what we can achieve together. It’s a track I know and love, having won the Indy car races there in ’94 and ’95, so we should be very competitive.”
During those past five starts, he has three top-five starts and three top-10 finishes.
“Road America is the longest track on our schedule with long straights and big braking zones that give one of the best road racers, Jacque Villeneuve, lots of opportunities to get the Discount Tire Dodge out front,” crew chief Todd Gordon said. “We have tested with Jacques a couple of times and had good speeds as a result of the testing. We feel we have a good package to unload with and build from for this circuit. The challenges of having to turn both ways and stop well are something this whole No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge team looks forward to.”
Sprint Cup Series driver and past road course expert Michael McDowell (driving the No. 18 for Joe Gibbs Racing) was third (107.972 mph, 134.968 seconds) with Max Papis fourth (107.641 mph, 135.384 seconds).
Papis will driving the No. 33 for Kevin Harvick Incorporated. They teamed up last year for Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, where Papis qualified ninth and second. Papis has previous experience at Road America through the Champ Car Series, where he collected several podium finishes.
“I am really looking forward to racing this weekend at Road America,” Papis said in the team preview. “This will be my first NASCAR race there so I will be considered a rookie, but it will not be my first race at the track. I spent a lot of time at Road America and in the Milwaukee and Green Bay area when I raced in the Champ Car Series. It is a great track and the area is beautiful. They have awesome fans. I can’t wait to get there and race.”
Elliott Sadler was the highest series regular in fifth (107.566 mph, 135.478 seconds), followed by Ron Fellows, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Jason Leftler, Trevor Bayne and Justin Allgaier.
The Nationwide Series has another practice at 4:30pm EST today with qualifying slated for Saturday at 3:05pm EST. The race will follow on Saturday at 5:30pm EST.
MEMBER OF CONGRESS STILL CONTINUES TO QUESTION THE U.S. MILITARY’S RELATIONSHIP WITH NASCAR
U.S. Representative Betty McCollum, a Democrat from Minnesota, last week vowed to continue her fight to drastically slash, if not even eliminate, the portion of the Department of Defense’s budget that is being spent on advertising with professional sports organizations and their events. The Congress woman said she will not give up this cause despite the fact that there seems to be very little support from her Congressional colleagues many, of whom, agree with Pentagon officials in the belief that these sponsorships actually bolsters military recruitment stats.
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[/media-credit]While McCollum’s proposed Congressional amendments references military sponsorships of all major sporting events, her focus seems to be aimed at NASCAR racing. She points out that the Pentagon spent a staggering amount of money during the 2010 NASCAR racing season. Currently the U.S. Army, the National Guard and the U.S. Air Force are involved in sponsorship programs with NASCAR Sprint Cup Racing teams.
This issue first made the Congressional news back in February when McCollum proposed an amendment that would ban military sponsorship in professional sports. The proposed amendment fell to defeat following a committee vote.
However, prior to the vote, there was some lively debate representing both sides of the issue. According to an official transcript, provided by the U.S. Office of the Clerk for the U.S. House of Representatives, McCollum presented her argument for the amendment’s passage by saying “my amendment ends tens of million of taxpayer’s dollars from being wasted on the sponsorships of NASCAR race cars by the Department of Defense. With trillion dollar deficits, this amendment is where the rubber meets the road for my Republican Tea Party colleagues, who want to cut wasteful spending. We have the Army spending $7 million for a decal on a racing car. Talk about taxpayer sticker shock.”
McCollum’s defense of her proposed amendment was immediately followed by a rebuttal from Representative Patrick McHenry, a Republican from North Carolina, who claimed that his colleague from Minnesota was “simply misinformed” and her proposed amendment will not save one single dime. McHenry also pointed out that the media impressions, from the Army’s campaign alone, could be easily measured and the results were highly positive.
“Let’s be clear, this (Army) sponsorship is about recruiting. The vast majority of NASCAR fans, one out of five NASCAR fans, have served or are currently serving in the U.S. military. It’s a target rich environment for the Army’s recruiting message and a target rich environment for military and the military message,” McHenry said.
Yes, it’s certain that it was duly pointed out that Congressman McHenry represents a state that plays host to many NASCAR sanctioned events as well as being the home of the majority of the Sprint Cup race shops as well as NASCAR’s Hall of Fame.
Sadly, in mid February, this issue hit a very serious note. According to reports, first published by “My Fox Twin Cities.Com”, McCollum’s office received a faxed letter alleging a death threat over her proposal to terminate military sponsorships in NASCAR.
While no author’s name of the fax was mentioned, this letter reportedly contained some inappropriate language that suggested McCollum should “shut her (expletive) pie hole.” The fax also contained a cartoon drawing of “President Obama’s head being pulled behind a truck in a noose.” The Fox report also stated that this letter “called for the deaths of all Marxists and referred to the President, McCollum and Attorney General Eric Holder as Marxist thugs.”
Undaunted, McCollum continued her cause and in recent days submitted another amendment to the Department of Defense appropriations bill. According to reports from “The Hill.Com”, McCollum’s newest effort would have “required the military to submit to a 30 day Congressional review period on any contract larger than $250,000 to sponsor a motor sports racing team, driver, event, a professional fishing team or tournament, a professional wrestling event or an ultimate fighting event.” This latest effort was also denied following a committee vote.
According to Pentagon figures, obtained and released by McCollum’s staff members, the National Guard spent approximately $20 million with Hendrick Motorsports, during the 2010 season, for sponsorships on race cars driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr and Jeff Gordon. In all fairness, it was pointed out that this figure was considerably down from the $32.7 million spent during the previous year. Meanwhile the Army spent $7.4 million last year which was trimmed down from $11.6 million in 2009.
The question remains: is there an accurate way of measuring tangible results from these advertising campaigns? Actually there is. It’s a service provided by a civilian company named Joyce Julius and Associates. Headquartered in Ann Arbor-Michigan, Joyce Julius and Associates Inc is regarded as the sports and entertainment industry leader in accurate measurement and evaluation of sponsorships and promotional programs. They generate their figures based on broadcast television exposure monitoring, full media measurements and fan/consumer perception analyses. They also back that elaborate procedure up with 27 years of experience.
Let’s just look at one example from a race team with military themed sponsorship: Dale Earnhardt Jr and his #88 National Guard/Amp Energy Chevrolet. The following stats, from Joyce Julius and Associates, was compiled during the first one third, or 12 races, from the current 2011 season:
Sponsor exposure time: 5 hours, 36 minutes and 54 seconds. Verbal mentions, (during a NASCAR live and repeat broadcast): 18 Driver interviews: 8 Interview durations: 13 minutes, 7 seconds. Driver mentions: 1,140 Recognition Grade, (RG) exposure value: $21,835,475.
That’s just for the first 12 NASCAR races of the current season. With Earnhardt seemingly on his way to a starting berth in the 2011 Chase, imagine what those numbers are going to be at the end of the season.
This level of brand exposure calculation is also a ringing endorsement for the beliefs of military and Congressional figures who truly believe that the taxpayers are getting more bang for their buck with these sponsorship campaigns.
However Congresswoman Betty McCollum apparently remains unconvinced and is reported to be laying the ground work for her next move towards reducing Pentagon spending in NASCAR.
According to a June 20th report, from “The Hill.Com”, Bill Harper, McCollum’s chief of staff, said “the lawmaker will likely offer an amendment on the House floor to the 2012 Pentagon appropriations bill that would limit the funds the military could spend on sporting events.”
