After watching the tire test news conference it was time to decorate the Christmas tree. As I hung the last brightly colored ball and strung the last of the garland I laid down in the floor and closed my eyes. My mind began to wander as I drifted off to sleep. Suddenly there before me was ole DW sitting in front of a group of children all dressed in the brightly colored driver’s uniforms. What in the world was this, I wondered. I quietly approached the group and sat down to listen. To my amazement ole DW was reading the very young drivers a Christmas tale. Well a version of a Christmas tale anyway. As I shifted in the chair to get comfortable, this is what I heard.

Twas The Night Before Christmas – NASCAR Style

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the sport

Not a person was stirring, not even pit support;

The bodies were hung on the chassis with care,

In hopes that Daytona soon would be here;

The drivers were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of victories danced in their heads;

And Denny and his crew chief and all in their caps

Had just settled down for a Post Season nap,

When out on the track there arose such a clatter,

They sprang from their beds to see what was the matter

Away to the window like Rocket Newman they dashed,

 Tore open the shop doors and threw back the sash.

The moon on the breast of the newly paved track

Showed not a pot hole in sight not even a crack

When what to their wondering eyes should appear,

But a COT sleigh with 800 horses and a very low gear,

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,

They knew in a moment it must be St. Mike

More rapid than corvettes his coursers they came,

He whistled and shouted then called them by name,

Now, Jimmie !  Now, Jeff !  Now Tony and Ryan !

On, Clint, On Kevin, On Junior and Carl

To the top of the track! Stay out of the wall!

Now race away! Race away! Bring back it all!

And like jets after the anthem these babies did fly

And if they meet with an obstacle, paint and body will cry,

So off to the race track the haulers they flew,

With a COT full of tools, and St. Mike on board too.

And then in a twinkling, they heard on the track

Roaring and spinning, NASCAR’s Horses were back.

As they drew back their heads and were spinning around,

Across the track, St. Mike came with a bound

He was dressed in a suit, from his head to his foot,

His white shirt was free from ashes or soot;

A bundle of trophies he had flung on his back

He looked like a promoter promoting the track.

His eyes – how they twinkled. His dimples how merry!

He was the pres for sure, this St. was no cherry!

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow.

He’s happy to tell you, “We have the chase here you know.”

Victories they mounted though some have a beef

The smoke from the burnouts circle his head like a wreath.

He had a kind face and a fire in his belly,

And when he talked people listened even on the telly,

He was gracious with class an impressive old elf

And I gasped when I saw him in spite of myself

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head.

Soon put me at ease I had nothing to dread

He spoke a few words and went straight to his work.

He polished the trophy and turned with a jerk

With a wave of his hand and a smile from his face

He gave a quick nod and across the track he did race

He jumped in his COT, to his the teams gave a whistle

And away they all flew like the bullet from a pistol

But I heard him exclaim, as they raced out in to the night

Merry Christmas y’all, Daytona’s in sight!

I would like to take a second to wish a very safe and happy Holiday season to all the NASCAR fans, officials and track employees you make our trips to your facilities a holiday all year long, so at this time of the year, I hope that Santa makes your holiday as wonderful as you make ours all season long.

And to all the competitors in all the series Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, thanks for giving us everything you have to give, you are our heroes. Most importantly, thanks to all the families who shared their loved ones with us so we could cheer our favorite driver and favorite teams. You are the true heroes of the sport and we are forever in your debt. May you be blessed with the peace and happiness of the holiday season.

Everyone changes. People grow up. Some become more mature. The highs and lows strike and test the true character of individuals.

Nothing can ever stay the same, that’s just how life is.

[media-credit name=”Simon Scoggins” align=”alignleft” width=”300″][/media-credit]For 39-year-old Jeff Gordon he knows change all too well. Gordon has gone through quite a few changes in his career as one of the sports most successful drivers. Like going from the kid champion of NASCAR to raising his kids in NASCAR.

Days when Gordon walked into the garage carrying a briefcase, containing a Nintendo GameBoy, a cell phone, a racing magazine and a jar of peanuts, seem long ago.

There was also that thing sitting above his upper lip. The mustache.

A puny mustache, a reminder Gordon was just a kid trying to make it in a grown mans garage. Except, through the late 90s it became Gordon’s garage as he rose to multimillionaire and multi-time champion. Of course, Gordon had the trophy girl permanently on his arm and in the pictures.

But the picture wasn’t perfect. Gordon wasn’t a driver others could hang out with; Brooke to effect stole him from the NASCAR world. He came to the track, did his job, and left. For Hendrick Motorsports it worked out well, he went to the top of the sport and dominated, but for friends they saw less and less of the champion.

Change.

Never going out as much, spending much of his time in his motorhome. Afraid to speak his mind, even get a haircut and constantly working to make Brooke happy. The couple even moved away from the NASCAR capital by going to Florida. And Gordon stopped using his stepfather, John Bickford, as his business manager.

The once thought of fairy tale marriage ended in 2002 and by the following year he met a woman that would help him change again. This time the change came in the best possible way.

No more distance between him and fellow competitors or strained family matters. Today’s Gordon is all about family.

It’s about three people actually: Ingrid, Ella Sofia and Leo Benjamin.

The fierceness which won him four championships and 82 races will never die, when the driver of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger/DuPont Chevrolet is on the racetrack he won’t shy away from moving you out of his way.

Finding comfortness in his own skin has Gordon no longer afraid to stand up and address an issue he feels important.

When the checkered flag falls however, he wants to get home as quickly as possible. Ella is waiting, ready to run into Papa’s arms. Life and time are much more valuable.

“Especially when you start having a family, I think it really kicks in because you look at how valuable your time is and how important it is to spend time with your family,” Gordon said at the conclusion of the 2010 season.

“You can go out there and work, work, work, and work to try to capitalize on the opportunities while they’re here, but there becomes a point where peace of mind and relaxing and enjoying your time becomes important,” he continued.

“I think when you’re young like most of us, we feel like, lets take advantage of it. As you get a little bit older, you start thinking about which ones are important and just being a little bit more efficient with your time and enjoy your time to yourself or with your family more.”

Racing gets Gordon excited. The blood flows or boils and brings out a different side in the four-time champion. It just can’t make him light up like he does when talking about his children.

In a sport where motivation isn’t hard to come by, Gordon’s children have become his biggest motivators. You won’t find him hungrier for wins than right now, not even when he was trying to win all those titles and races.

Championships have become an afterthought in a way. Have no fear, he wants another one, but getting back to the winners circle is more important for more than just the sake of winning: he wants his family to go there with him.

Ella hasn’t been to victory lane since she was four months old at Talladega in 2007. Neither she nor wife Ingrid was with Gordon when he won Texas in 2009, his last win to date.

After Ella was born Gordon’s change was evident; it just became more prominent when Leo was born this year. Holding his children on pit road or smiling for the camera as they sit in his car. Joking about changing diapers and racing for different children-related causes is the life Gordon now lives.

Happiness. True happiness. For the first time in life he has everything he’s ever wanted and you won’t find him smiling, laughing or having more fun than what these last two years have produced.

Ever think you’d see Gordon driving a racecar designed by his daughter? Or that it would come at the same track where Gordon had made his debut 18 years ago. The Atlanta Motor Speedway will forever have a place in Gordon family history.

When Kyle Busch drove a pink car at Richmond a week after Gordon’s “Papa’s Car,” Gordon poked at Busch asking, “my three-year-old designed mine, what’s you’re excuse?”

Ever think he’d appeared on an episode of Sesame Street? This is a new, changed Gordon. It’s hard to believe sometimes. But a constant change of good doesn’t hurt anyone.

Looking in the rearview mirror no longer applies to blocking Dale Earnhardt. It entails seeing his children’s faces as he plays driver of another kind. “We’re a foursome now,” Gordon said of his family.

The other family, Gordon fans who have come to intimately know him since the start of his career, have had to adapt to change of their own.

The fourth championship in 2001 wasn’t supposed to be the last. Back then, easy to say since it’s coming upon 10 years, it looked as though Gordon was going to keep going and going.

The fans were going to, all the way to the souvenir haulers as everything involved with Gordon went up. But once Jimmie Johnson entered the picture in 2002 things changed again, for Gordon and NASCAR.

Perhaps those hit the hardest with Johnson’s dominance are Gordon fans. After winning title No. 5 Johnson said he didn’t think about overtaking his friend, foe and boss in championships.

Gordon fans are well aware of the numbers and most aren’t happy with them.

There are those who feel Gordon had had to sacrifice himself for the now five-time champion. Their driver was to be the one compared and challenging the marks of The King and The Intimidator. They’re all on the backburner now, not seriously contending for a championship since 2007.

Besides championships, they’ve had to adapt to Gordon not winning races near as frequently. Or what they hope doesn’t become a recurring theme in revolving doors or crew chiefs: Evernham, Loomis, Letarte, and now Gustafson.

What Gordon fan thought they would ever have to ask themselves when the day would come that Gordon went back to the top?

The paint schemes have changed too. It might sound minor, but they too heard all about the rainbow jokes hurled their driver’s way. Rainbow to flames to a complete different sponsor.

And they’ve seen their driver go from soft spoken and polished like a Ken doll, to pushing and shoving – see Matt Kenseth (both Bristol and Chicago and Jeff Burton – and bluntly saying on TV “I’m pissed right now.”

Gordon though doesn’t believe anything on the track has changed, saying, “Well the one thing that I want everybody to understand is that I have not changed. I’ve not done anything different today than I did 10 or 15 years ago. I race people they way they race me and when somebody pushes and shoves, I’m going to push and shove back.”

Gordon may not feel it, but everything has changed and continues to. Life moves on with some left trying to keep up. Things change in NASCAR as well. Nothing ever stays the same.

Drivers though, aren’t thought of as ones to go through such dramatic changes. Even when change does arrive it doesn’t always stick.

Yet, here’s Jeff Gordon who has gone through every change life can throw a guys way.

And he’s not done yet; the next change has already comes as Gordon leaves the only shop he’s ever known and gets a fresh start with a new team and equipment.

So, it’s that time of the year again. The time for rewinding the 2010 racing season and taking a second look at all of the fun, and in some cases exasperation, we had during the previous year. Recapping the entire season’s highlights is a daunting enough challenge. I soon discovered that the task of picking just one story was almost impossible.

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignleft” width=”300″][/media-credit]Let’s face it, NASCAR racing fans were treated to a very exciting 2010 season. There is a huge list that would easily qualify for favorite story of the year. Some of them include:

Jimmie Johnson’s historic fifth consecutive championship.

January’s announcement from NASCAR that said “have at it boys.”

The aftermath of that announcement which gave us “Bad” Brad versus “Cousin” Carl.

The boxing match between Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton although I still say I’ve seen better fights between girls in cocktail lounges.

There is of course Kyle Busch versus just about anyone you want to name. From threatening to kill his team mate, at the All Star Race in Charlotte, to his one finger salute at a NASCAR official, at the Texas Motor Speedway, NASCAR’s rowdy one was frequently the source of Monday morning water cooler conversations.

Again, the list of potential favorites is lengthy. But it was the source of inspiration that led me to choosing just one favorite story that completely surprised me. During a recent trip to a Walmart store, to do some Christmas shopping, I happen to notice a young lady wearing a T-shirt that read “I WEAR THE FIRE SUIT IN THIS FAMILY.”

It was, of course, the creation of DeLana Harvick the wife of Sprint Cup driver Kevin Harvick as well as the co owner of Kevin Harvick Inc which fields racing teams in NASCAR’s Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series. Seeing that shirt was a reminder of how much I admired the story behind it’s initial creation and marketing.

The details behind this special T-shirt dates back to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held at the Pocono Raceway this past June. In the final moments of this race there was contact between the cars being driven by Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano The Logano Toyota went into a long slide and a top five finish turned into 13th. Harvick kept his Chevrolet under control and finished fourth.

After the race a remarkably calm Harvick said “he just races without giving people and respect and not much room. So, we just wound up getting together. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the way it goes.”

Needless to say Logano had an entirely different point of view. The angry young driver parked his car alongside of Harvick’s on pit road. At the encouragement of his father, Tom Logano, he attempted to lunge towards his adversary but that effort was blocked by a member of Harvick’s pit crew.

During the course of a live television interview, Logano said “I don’t know what his problem is with me but it’s probably not his fault. His wife wears the fire suit in the family and tells him what to do. It’s probably not his fault.”

Like many of you I was watching the broadcast and my immediate reaction to Logano’s comments was “that’s low and extremely out of line.” It’s understandable that Logano was upset but you keep the focal point of anger at the individual who caused it. To lash out at another driver’s wife, who had nothing to do with the situation, is highly inappropriate.

Logano had to endure both criticism and teasing in the aftermath of his remark. That included a rather humorous “Twitter” message from Kevin Harvick who wrote “after his TV comment I don’t know if he wants to fight me or DeLana. My money’s on her.”

Regarding any possible response to Logano’s comment, DeLana Harvick certainly had options. There were plenty of media members at Pocono that day with television cameras, radio microphones and tape recorders. Everyone of them would have loved to record her thoughts on the matter.

But DeLana Harvick had a much different approach and it turned out to be a move steeped in brilliance. She contacted a T-Shirt manufacturer and commissioned the creation of the now famous “I wear the fire suit in this family” logo. The shirts were sold, through the Kevin Harvick Inc website, at $15 with proceeds benefiting the programs supported by the then recently established Kevin Harvick Foundation. The response from female NASCAR fans was immediate. The initial run of the T-shirts, reported to be in the hundreds, were sold out within a period of 48 hours.

Like many modern day NASCAR personalities, the Harvicks wanted to share the blessings from their racing endeavors by championing worthy social causes. That was the catalyst behind the creation of the Kevin Harvick Foundation which they launched earlier this year. The foundation’s creed states: “dedicated to the support of programs that positively enrich the lives of children throughout the U.S.”

A prime example of their work was presented last October. Visiting his native Bakesfield-California, Kevin Harvick set up a full academic scholarship fund to benefit one student-athlete at Cal State Bakersfield College for the next 12 years.

Yet another example occurred on the evening of December 16th when the Harvicks, along with a local radio station, presented the Christmas For Kids Concert at a Winston Salem-North Carolina night club. The evening featured country music star Sara Evans along with singer Bridgette Tatum and NASCAR personality Kyle Petty. The special evening was a charity toy drive benefiting area foster children in conjunction with the Foster Friends of North Carolina.

For more information regarding the youth orientated activities of the foundation, including how to purchase the fire suit T-shirt, dial up their official website at www.kevinharvickfoundation.org. I think you’ll be as impressed as I was.

Finally a tip of the racing hat to that Walmart shopper for reminding me how much I loved this story and why it’s my favorite for the 2010 season.

The new pavement at Daytona was completed earlier than expected and NASCAR and Daytona International President Joie Chitwood III wasted no time in checking out the success of the project. Chitwood said, ” We spared no expense in the repaving project. When you think about the elements you need to put on a race for your fans, and the teams, asphalt is definitely high on the list.  For us we think it’s important that our fans know the asphalt we put down is going to provide a great racing surface.”  

[media-credit name=”Motorsports Images and Archives” align=”alignleft” width=”300″][/media-credit]Lane Construction, which repaved other ISC race tracks including Talladega Superspeedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway, Richmond International Raceway and Darlington Raceway, used an estimated 50,000 tons of  specially formulated asphalt to repave more than 1.4 million square feet of Daytona International Speedway.

It’s dark black color against the stark white walls in this weeks Goodyear tire test seemed to increase the excitement of fans and drivers a like. The first car to test the new pavement was fan favorite, Dale Earnhardt Jr. He was followed into the frey shortly by 17 other drivers. All of the drivers gave the new surface a thumbs up. Kurt Busch, driver of the number 12, Shell Pennzoil Dodge for Penske Racing commented that the surface was impressive and gave the track a new attitude. “It’s an impressive surface. There’s been a lot of hard work done. Everybody should be proud of what they’ve accomplished to resurface it, give it a new look. It’s just a new attitude. This is what 2011 will bring to start off our Sprint Cup season. Big, exciting time.” Jeff Burton added, “Daytona is still Daytona. they didn’t change the character of the track. It’s a smoother surface with more grip but it’s still Daytona.”

All drivers agreed that the new surface would have the cars running in tighter packs throughout the course of the race. “The Shootout is going to be crazy. It’s going to be nuts. It’s going to be wide open every lap, every time. When you decide to go, what hole you decide to go into. Yeah, I’m not going to say you’ll have more wrecks because you never know, but the possibility to have more big wrecks is certainly looming.” All drivers agreed that the chances for the “Big One” were increased by the new surface and it’s packing of cars in draft lines. Former Champion Bobby Labonte, said, “The spotters are going to be even more important with the new surface.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr, stated there was no fall off within the fuel run which would keep cars running in tight packs. Burton took it further saying there will be almost no way to lose the draft unless you have something happen in the pits or that causes you to have lift completely out of the gas.

Robin Pemberton, NASCAR’s Vice President of Competition was asked about the need to change the restrictor plate for the Daytona 500. He stated that at this time he didn’t see a need but there were a lot of considerations that would have to be taken in to account. He stated the top speed that they had seen so far during the test was 197 mph. He didn’t attribute that to any one team. If there were a need he stated he would only anticipate the change being small and in the range of 1/64th of an inch. The teams tested with the same plate that was used in Talladega.

Mark Martin was very impressed with the new tires that were used for the test. The tire Goodyear head of competition, Greg Stucker, said was the left side tire from Talladega and the right side tire was a hybrid mix of a compound used for intermediate tracks combined with the Talladega compound. Martin, stated he never thought that he would see the day that one set of tires could be used for 500 miles but this tire was close. But  Strucker said that,” I think there’s a little bit of over exaggeration. That was early on. Once people get dialed in, they’re going to start stressing tires a little bit more. ”

Pemberton, stated that not all the teams were using the new E15 fuel engines but some were. ” Being that it’s 2010 still, we weren’t officially starting that fuel till 2011. So it was an option. Some teams had last year’s engines that they didn’t want to make sure to take them apart, do any up-fit for them in case they needed to for the new E15. Other teams have taken this opportunity to bring their latest and greatest and get some miles on it and see how it looks when they get it home and take it apart.”

The E15 fueling system, according to Jeff Burton is slower than the normal high test system. The reason for that is that the alcohol fuel burns cooler and thus slower. Although the engine produces more horsepower with the E15 because of higher compression ratings, it is harder on the internal engine parts. This should not according to Engine builders at Childress Earnhardt Racing Engines pose an issue with the engines in terms of longevity during races.

What’s wrong with NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series? Some would say nothing. In fact, like the country we live in, many are willing to leave things as they are with no changes. Others, and I believe it’s the majority from what I have witnessed, think there should be changes. It’s a split decision between those who want to go back to the past and others who want to make changes for the future.

[media-credit name=”CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignleft” width=”300″][/media-credit]That’s where I come in. I think NASCAR’s top series can be fixed with a little common sense. For those who think that things are all perfect, might I remind you that attendance at the races has tumbled and television viewership keeps declining. If nothing is wrong, the sport will become the equivalent of Roller Derby in a few years.

Here are my humble suggestions:

1. Quit concentrating on the Chase Championship. We’re stuck with the Chase. The powers that be and many fans love it because it creates a playoff like baseball, football, and basketball. Funny that these stick and ball sports can relate to a series where winning the race used to be the ultimate. So we start counting points from Daytona to Richmond and the winner is an afterthought.

2. Do away with the Lucky Dog and the Wave-Around. I understand the logic in this. Racing back to the line to gain a lap was a dangerous situation in many cases, and having cars at the front of the field that are nearly a lap down is confusing, but it’s part of the tradition of the sport. It’s the same for racing to gain a lap. A great injustice has been done in going away from those traditions in the name of making things more exciting. Going back to the stick and ball sports, have the fathers of those sports gone away from the fundamentals to make things more exciting? No.

3. Change the All-Star race. Once upon a time, the race once known as …well many names was for those who won a race in the prior season. When multi-car teams became the rule, there weren’t enough winners to make out a field, I imagine, so they went to making the field larger by adding all kinds of rules so that more cars could compete. Then they added a “wild card,” just like the MLB and NFL to make more things interesting. The result has been a ho-hum event that just adds an extra weekend to Charlotte Motor Speedway. One year, Michael Waltrip won. He hadn’t won a race. How can a non-all –star participant win an all-star race? You tell me. The Bud Shootout at Daytona used to be the Busch Clash, made up of poll winners of the previous season. Someone figured out that there had to be more cars, so all kinds of rules had to be made up to make the field better. Change that, too. Let’s go back to the purity that made the sport special.

4. If we have to have a Chase, let’s forget about giving bonus points for wins because the usual suspects always get an advantage in this situation. It was a noble idea to reward drivers and teams for wins, but a system that allows a driver to jump several places for the final ten races based on wins, in a system based on consistency points is flawed. Of course, the crux of this opinion is my disdain for the Chase or playoff system. Change the points system to reflect winning as important is one thing, but manufacture an advantage within a consistency-based system is simply wrong.

5. Wake up and smell the coffee. The economy has been blamed for the attendance problems at tracks the last two years, but does that explain the drop in television viewership? No. And yet we get the same song and dance about the economy. It has a lot more to do with the genetic Car of Tomorrow and other issues mentioned here than the economy. Yes, the economy has had a part in the sport’s decline, but some of the things I’ve mentioned play a bigger part.

NASCAR rolled along with a good formula. Fans came, attended races, watched in record numbers on television for nearly 30 years. All of a sudden, someone somewhere decided that things needed to change. A car was designed for safety, mainly because of the death of Dale Earnhardt (which was Nobile and needed), and a championship system was based on a champion that only won one race during a season (Matt Kenseth). It was kind of a knee jerk reaction. Though the decline of the sport cannot be blamed on a couple of events, it all started there. As the solutions have been early and often, none of them have worked. So what do we do? I’ve laid out a plan that might or might not work. I don’t think it’s perfect, but it is an attempt to really address the problems, something I do not feel the sanctioning body has done, only trying to tweak a system that is not working, or least not bringing more fans to the sport. Discuss. And whatever happens, for the good of all, I hope someone figures out what should be done to stop the decline.

 As of today, eliminations in the Chase and more bonuses for wins are not the answer. Holding on to flawed plans with tweaks is a recipe for more failures.