Busch, Johnson and Car-litics on my mind

By Mike Harper

Finally it’s happened! I said in my column (1-2) from May 06 about Buschwacking, "I know realistically nothing is going to change (in the Busch Series) unless the elite media begins to make it more of an issue to get it through the heads of those running NASCAR and the Busch Series."

Well, someone from the elite NASCAR media has jumped on my Busch Series bandwagon and is singing my same tune. Chalk one up for the little media guys!

On July 6, 2006, Marty Smith from NASCAR.com basically mirrored my opinions about the Busch Series in his column "Busch Series needs a complete overhaul –now."

Just in case you didn’t read our columns, here is a quick summary:

In May I said, "In my opinion, the current structure of the Busch Series is in the need of an overhaul."

In July Marty said, "The series is on the brink of trouble and needs an overhaul."

In May I said, "I believe the Busch Series is out of control in allowing Nextel Cup Series drivers and owners to take over the series."

In July Marty said, "NASCAR has lost its grip on the series."

In May I said, "It would also encourage Cup owners to invest in development drivers instead of using the Busch Series as a test session."

In July Marty said, "It is less about driver development and more about information-gathering."

And lastly in May I said, "I say put the debate of allowing Cup Series drivers behind us, because the fact is it sells tickets."

In July Marty said, "The more Cup stars there are in the field, the more ticket stubs get ripped."

Welcome to right side Marty and preach it brother! The big boy media dogs should make this more of an issue and hopefully with Marty on board we’ll begin to see a change in the Busch Series format.

Before I move on to the next topic, I feel Brian France’s recent comments about tweaking the chase format will include a complete points system change for the Busch Series. With ABC/ESPN taking charge of the Busch Series broadcasts, look for the "Chase for the Busch Cup" coming to a town near you!

No " i " in team, but there's two in Jimmie

We know Jimmie Johnson is a talented racecar driver. But is he a good teammate?

I ask this because of what he did to Brian Vickers at Talladega earlier in the year and last weekend at Daytona, instead of falling behind Vickers and pushing him to the front, Johnson dove underneath him and left him out in the cold.

Also at Michigan, Johnson upset his boss/teammate Jeff Gordon by putting Gordon into a three-wide situation. Gordon said, "I'll definitely talk to him about it. I didn't understand why the second he got a chance to take me three-wide when I was trying to pass somebody. We had a good car, and we were taking our time, making some passes, and he got inside me, made it three-wide twice. I just didn't think it was necessary at the time, and I was just asking for him to give me a little bit of a break and explain to me what was going on."

Talented? Yes.

Good teammate? You tell me.

Car-litics

No. Not politics, car-litics.

How many times do we hear the boos when Toyota is mentioned? However, Dr. Z and his Dodge commercials can promote the German portion of their company and we hear nothing? No boos, no columns, nothing.

They both build cars in America so what’s the difference?