The Final Word – It is weird & different, but I like the Daytona-Talladega two car two-step

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July 4, 2011

[media-credit id=22 align=”alignright” width=”255″][/media-credit]Have you ever noticed that what goes on in NASCAR has a lot of similarities to regular life? When I was a boy, sometimes my daddy would come up behind me and gave me a sharp tap. It made me go faster, something like bump drafting did out on the track at Daytona. Today, the bump has become more of a massage, including the use of lubricants, and it involves a lot of sliding around. No question, it sure is different, it raises things to a certain level of excitement, and I like it. At least, I do when it comes to discussing the racing applications.

The reason is simple. There is no way in God’s creation that you or I could pull it off. Saturday night, we saw Brad Keselowski send Trevor Bayne to the promised land when he got too far inside and spun his partner. I could have done the same thing at 30 mph. Driving up to 190, with only the car you are pushing in your sights, with only him and a spotter keeping you from disaster, takes a lot of skill and guts. There is very little room for error. Do it right, and the pair of you can go from the back to the front in a hurry. Do it wrong, and one of you ends up sitting with Trevor Bayne…or Carl Edwards. As they thunder to the line, we have two partners who may or may not stick it out together to the end racing against two or three other teams who are wondering the same thing. It is different, it might be what Dale Earnhardt Jr calls “weird racing”, it might even make you feel a tad uncomfortable, but you can’t say it is not pretty exciting.

Thanks to a push from Matt Kenseth, David Ragan and UPS finally got to stick it to Denny Hamlin and Federal Express, who finished 13th. It marked the first Cup win for the 25-year old, lifting him into the Top 20, and even placed Ragan in the final wild card spot for the Chase with nine to go. All-in-all, a rather successful day. Not so for Ryan Newman (23rd) and Mark Martin (33rd), a pair of boys who have been sliding as of late and have yet to find some solid ground to rebound with.

Maybe that will come on Saturday as the boys make their first Cup visit to the 11-year old facility in Sparta, Kentucky. It is about 3-hours away from the hometown of the Waltrip brothers, with Michael making a return to the track in a car with his Hall of Fame brother’s mug on the hood. As you can tell, there are a lot things in life that can make you feel uncomfortable than just lubricated bumpers being massaged by the guy behind. Enjoy the week!

NCAT: Scott Steckly Carries Momentum and Points Lead in Toronto

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SM Staff

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July 4, 2011

Scott Steckly testing at Sunset Speedway last season

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[/media-credit]The beginning of the 2011 NASCAR Canadian Tire Season couldn’t had gone any better for Scott Steckly as so far he sits first in points, 48 points ahead of J.R. Fitzpatrick.

“It’s a great start to the season that we’ve had so far,” he said. “We have a win, two seconds and a fifth place finish, which is very important to get off to a good start in our series, which only has 12 races. One or two bad races can take you out of the points so to get out off to a good start is very important and that’s what we’ve done.”

The win, which came in the first race of the season at Mosport Raceway, opened up the gates to a season that has been full of success for the driver of the No. 22 Canadian Tire Dodge. The win was followed by a pair of second place finishes at Circuit ICAR and Delaware. The last race for the series was last month back at Mosport, though on the road course, which resulted in a fifth place finish after starting on pole.

This weekend, the Canadian Tire Series will be running the Exhibition Place course located in Toronto, as part of the Honda Indy Toronto weekend.

“It’s a very important race for us,” he said. “There’s going to be a lot of cars at Toronto so we definitely don’t want to get a DNF. The road courses attract a lot of cars so we need a good solid finish here at Toronto. We definitely are going to try for a very first road course win. It’s definitely very important for our sponsors to be in Toronto racing at the Indy so we’re looking for great things this weekend.”

For Steckly, his first start in Toronto came last year in which he finished 11th after starting 10th. Though for the most part, road courses aren’t the better area of emphasis for the driver from Milverton, Ontario as he grew up racing on ovals. However, the current Canadian Tire Series schedule has five road courses with a total of 12 events.

“I would rather have more ovals,” Steckly commented. “That’s just because I grew up racing on oval tracks. We get better results on oval tracks, that’s for sure. We do decent on the road courses. We’ve had four or five second place finishes. We can normally run in the top five, but we’ve never got a win on a road course. We getting closer every year so we’re putting a lot of emphasis on the road courses this year and trying to get a win.”

Steckly got into racing originally through some friends, which saw them build a street stock and have him as the driver in 1992. From there, he progressed through the local ranks till he joined the CASCAR ranks in 1999, winning rookie of the year his first year out. He continued to compete in CASCAR till it was renamed the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series in 2007.

Since the series has been called the Canadian Tire Series, Steckly has won one championship, which came in 2008 after winning four races and having four second place finishes that season.

Throughout the years, there have been many memorable highlights, though a win in 2009 at Auto Clearing Speedway in Saskatoon is the highlight.

“I would say my most memorable win is Saskatoon in 2009,” he said. “We blew a motor in practice. We had to borrow a motor from another competitor and we started at the rear of the field and we came from the rear of the field to win the race. So I’d say that’s my memorable win.”

There also have been many lessons learned behind the wheel, but the one that still stands out is respect.

“The biggest lesson I’ve learned is to treat the other competitors and people the way you would like to be treated. Its not like anybody is going away in this sport. I’ve raced against the same guys for the past 10 years so I think its really important to be yourself and treat people the way you would want to be treated.”

Notes From The NASCAR Nation: Is Danica Patrick The Secret Sauce?

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SM Staff

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July 4, 2011

Is Danica Patrick the “secret sauce” in a highly successful marketing concept. It recently became apparent that the answer is a resounding yes.

Over the years it has been very well known that “Go Daddy.Com” has been the primary sponsor for Danica Patrick’s racing career both in the Indy Racing League and her proposed transition to NASCAR. Let’s face it, the fact that this very attractive race driver has been the face, and in all honesty the body, of the Internet domain company’s advertising campaign has become a marketing marriage made in heaven.

[media-credit id=22 align=”alignright” width=”258″][/media-credit]However there was some brief speculation regarding the future of this marketing relationship, following a report initiated by “The Wall Street Journal”, that said “Go Daddy.Com” had been sold. The story confirmed the fact that the company’s founder and CEO, Bob Parsons, had indeed sold his company to a trio of investors that included KKT and Company, Silver Lake Partners and Technology Crossover Ventures. The sale price of the ultra successful company was a whopping $2.25 billion.

It turns out that Danica Patrick fans have no reason for concern here. First off no has a stronger belief in her future in motorsports than Bob Parsons. While he will no longer be the “Go Daddy” owner, he has to agreed to stay on as the company’s CEO. He’s also made it crystal clear that the sale of the company he founded will not have any impact on “Go Daddy’s” relationship with his favorite race driver.

In a comment made to “ESPN” following the announcement that “Go Daddy” had been sold, Elizabeth Driscoll, the company Vice President of Public Relations, said: ” I can tell you that Bob’s been very vocal about how well Danica Patrick has fit into “Go Daddy’s” marketing efforts. The new investors have specifically said they don’t want to mess with “Go Daddy’s” secret sauce.”

If you’re like me then you probably found yourself wondering why Patrick was being referred to as “secret sauce?” Driscoll’s statement became just a little bit more clear when it was revealed that she meant Patrick was the magic ingredient in the company’s customer service and marketing and they were “very much looking forward to the future on the Internet and the race track.”

At least we’re now sure that Danica Patrick is going to have full sponsorship for her future racing endeavors. We’re just not exactly sure at the moment where these endeavors will take place.

But seriously, secret sauce? Isn’t that something they put on hamburgers at fast food restaurants?