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May 31, 2007
Just Shut Up!!!
By Mark Young
It's been a quiet couple of weeks regarding JSU. Nothing to get me riled up enough to talk about one particular issue so what I have decided to do is make this a little bit of a rant about the things that are bothering me lately. It might even help with the grumpy attitude I have had lately, so buckle up blog-heads, the gloves are off.
U WANT SOME??
JSU - Denny Hamlin. You went off to the media about the performance of your pit crew and how it cost you a win. Did anyone go off on you in front of the TV cameras when you got caught speeding on pit road and it cost you a win? Team sport bud, remember that.
JSU - Anyone who said "These tires suck" at Charlotte. Everyone had the same tire, not everyone crashed or blew tires. Could they have brought a softer tire? Sure but people would have complained that they sucked because of blistering.
JSU - To the media that spends more time reporting about Dale Junior than the racing. "He ate lunch at Burger King yesterday, could he be headed to Michael Waltrip Racing?" Come on people, stop making up stupid rumors, he will tell us when he knows.
JSU - To anyone who complains about how bad the COT handles and then complains when the menagerie of a car they run the rest of the time handles bad. Your team Engineers have spent hours in the wind tunnel giving your twisted-bodied race car all of the aerodynamic down-force possible, don't whine about aero push when you get behind the leader, you got what you asked for.
JSU - Jack Rousch and your whining about all of the time and money spent on testing and how you were following the rules. Nobody told you that you couldn't go to tracks the series doesn't run on and test. Nobody said you couldn't buy Hoosier tires either. Other owners beat you to the punch so you had to cry foul. Wanna go faster? Spend the money those guys did, NASCAR will change things soon enough and when they do you will whine about how unfair their decision was......careful what you wish for.
JSU - And quit worrying about Michael Waltrip not making races, the world isn't going to end. I have never seen so much attention paid to a team that is performing poorly in all my days as a race fan. MWR is either going to figure it out or they will close. I personally think that Mikey will get it figured out sooner or later but we shouldn't be surprised that he is running bad. He may have bit off more than he could chew.
You know what? I feel much better now, I should do this more often.........
That's what I think, what say you?
May 31, 2007 | Permalink
Comments
Ahh, Mark Young! You just might have written the perfect post. Would you mind taking on the crappy television coverage next?
Posted by: ron | May 31, 2007 2:25:11 PM
Thanks Ron. The TV coverage has been much better than before, and I am going to wait until TNT and ESPN have gotten into the game before I make too much noise.
Posted by: Mark | May 31, 2007 2:28:18 PM
Been reading Turn 3 for a long time and this is the first time I've felt I had to respond. GREAT POST!!!
You nailed everything on the head. When you decide to take on the television coverage would like to hear your take on the end of the races. Only showing the leader coming across the finish line was a new low for Fox.
Posted by: cheerio | May 31, 2007 3:28:37 PM
Great post. Laura and I loved your JSU. See ya. Wise
Posted by: Don Wise | May 31, 2007 4:30:12 PM
AMEN Mark!...I'm waiting for Tony and his "Mini-Me" Hamlin's heads to explode, Today's drivers are JUST that...you need to be Wheelmen! Today's set up are too radical...If you KEEP blowing tires and pounding the wall...DON'T blame Good~Year, Blame the Monkey ontop of the warwagon! Dale Jr has already signed a deal...or so goes the rumor in the garage this past weekend...Yes Jack SHUT THE HELL UP!...Be afraid, be very afraid Toyota is coming, NAcar guido's are trying there best not to let them run off with another Truck Championship...which they built their motor according to nascar's rules...NOW Nascar doesn't like it, However progress is being made on the Cup side PLUS rumors of other teams coming on board next year...My prediction is Jack Roush will have an aneurysm when he finds out...you heard it here...Toyota is coming boys, better bring your "A" game, Remember Tundras took like 13 races to "get it"...now it's Git R done!
Posted by: Fan #5 | May 31, 2007 5:15:56 PM
Mark,
LOL, I see you used the Jack email I sent. Jack, the man who once said, "Well, the rulebook doesn't say I can't own half the field." Get's snookered by other teams that can read the rulebook too...Priceless!
But, I'm sorry to have to say these tires do suck. Maybe they suck for a reason. And, maybe they suck for everyone all the same. But, these tires just plain suck. Drivers should control the car and not be mandated by a NASCAR tire decision. Give'm a choice of tires and they will pick the racing tire vice whatever it is they got last weekend. I don't care if they all hit the wall...racing is about risk and risk management. It isn't like the brick hard tires helped anything at the 600.
Posted by: Keith | May 31, 2007 6:18:26 PM
Mark,
Enjoyed the post. I believe you drove this one home!
Steve
Posted by: Steve H. | May 31, 2007 7:13:14 PM
Mark -- what a variety of subjects of your wrath! Comprehensive. The only one I take issue with is the meltdown of Waltrip's team. This is a disaster of 1964 Philadelphia Phillies proportions -- no, it's much worse than that, because the Phils did lose a grip on the National League pennant by losing 10 of their last 12 games in a major league-record collapse. Until they stumbled, at least they were in first place.
I've been watching racing a long time, and I have never seen ongoing poor performance from anyone, let alone a two-time Daytona 500 winner, to compare to this. That is news. Every time MW fails to qualify, it is news. When (if) he breaks the DNQ streak, it will be news. It's gotten quite uncomfortable for me to watch it, and I take absolutely no joy in it, but it is still news.
Is it possible for coverage of legitimate news to go overboard or hysterical? Sure. But that's the norm. That doesn't mean MW's travails shouldn't be covered or are not news. I don't think coverage of this has been out of proportion to the story.
(Apologies to Phillies fans for picking this scab. I confess I'm a St. Louis Cardinals fan -- and, of course, it was the Cards who benefited from the Phils' collapse, and then went on to beat the Yankes four games to three in the '64 World Series. Your distress was my joy. Such is the dichotomy of sports -- the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, as Wide World of Sports so perfectly phrased it.)
Posted by: David Green | May 31, 2007 8:03:26 PM
I have three questions before deciding if I agree with David on the Waltrip situation. I think it's three. First, when the deal was made for Waltrip to head the Toyota effort, what was the status of the COT project? Having to bring both COT and COY up to speed with a startup operaton is brutal. Second, when did Toyota find out that they could not put their (very successful) truck engine into its Cup car? If Waltrip went into this knowing both of those things, then he made a bad decision or, rather, Toyota made one. Were I Toyota, I would have deferred the whole thing for as year and concentrated soley on the COT, maybe even running part-time (COT only)this year. Third, what was the status of the top 35 rule when the deal was sealed between MWR and Toyota?
If Waltrip signed up not knowing about the timing of the COT (and he certainly didn't know it would be full-time in 2008), and if he didn't know about the top 35 rule, and if he inked the deal assuming they could use the truck engine, then he simply got screwed. If he did know all of these things, then Toyota either got screwed or made a bad call by not holding out for a year or so until the COT became the only car.
Maybe the conspiracy theorists have it right here: NASCAR protecting Chevy?
I think this timeline would help before judging this experiment too harshly.
Posted by: Doug in CA | May 31, 2007 8:50:01 PM
Doug, Originally Toyota was suppose to run in 6 races at the end of the 2006 season, BUT for unforseen obstacles (unable to get Nascar to approve the 2006 Camry in a timly fashion) and not being able to bring the Truck motor up to Cup Spec(althought Dodge ran it's truck motor it first season back in Cup)...So having to start from scratch with a new engine Toyota has been behind the "Eightball", Engine, COT/Current NEW bodied Camry, Top 35 rule...all Toyota teams have had to adapt, BDR should be high on the list since they where devlopmental in get the program started, But I think 2008 will be a breakout year for Toyota with a couple of suprises thrown in for good measures...Just a bit of info the Toyota logo represents the head of a Bull...be nice Keith...and I hear them pawing the ground in High Point!
Posted by: Fan #5 | May 31, 2007 9:06:07 PM
first time poster:
first, let's talk MWR. michael has been running his own team in the busch series for years & has been a middle-of-the-pack car at best(with DEI assistance for some of those years). what made him or anyone else think he could compete at the cup level with himself, an over-the-hill former champion & an untested rookie, who, at last look, is out running the "veterans".
secondly, NASCAR favoring chevy, i don't think so. if Hendrick, Gibbs & Childress were running yugos the results would be the same. they spent the money, hired engineers & have championship quality drivers under contract. plus, they don't spend any time whining about other teams testing too much or a new manufacturer spending too much money.
i wonder if this is the same NASCAR that favored fords when Roush had five cars in the chase.
Posted by: RCR fan | May 31, 2007 10:03:08 PM
Thanks, #5. I guess that if I wanted to boil it down, there was a point in time where Toyota committed to Cup and a point in time when Waltrip committed to Toyota. Those may have been the same date or not. I don't know. My question is, given those two dates, when did the Rule of 35 appear? Without that rule, I bet there would have been a lot more Toyotas making races, even if not Michael himself.
And RCR fan, I think Waltrip saw this as his future, not as his big chance as a driver. If his gamble to introduce Toyota to Cup pays off, well, I can think of another driver who didn't do much on the track, but who built a pretty good life as an owner. Guy by the name of Childress.
Posted by: Doug in CA | Jun 1, 2007 1:52:39 AM
David I see your points. However, would the media be making such an issue of it if the team was the Wood Brother? I seriously doubt it.
Posted by: Mark | Jun 1, 2007 7:19:14 AM
doug in ca:
you are correct, however, when Richard realized he was not a very sucessful driver, he quit driving & started a one car team, on his own, with an unproven driver.
i realize at the time this was the only avenue for him to explore....chevrolet didn't give him millions to start a three car team.
if michael wants to be an owner, fine, but he needs to get out of the car, be an owner & hire a young driver to build a team around.
how would you like to be dale jarrett, down side of your career, 5-6 crew chiefs in last few years, & your only worth is for the past champions provisional?
Posted by: RCR fan | Jun 1, 2007 8:22:50 AM
doug in ca:
another comment on your post, the COT is a project probably 5-6 years old, long before Toyota made their debut on the track.
what really screwed MWR is the rule change limiting a team to 6 past champions provisional.
Posted by: RCR fan | Jun 1, 2007 8:27:44 AM
RCR fan,
The past championship provisional needs even more revision. It should belong to the past seasons Champion, period. It's been abused beyond belief. It was never meant to be a springboard into NASCAR. It was meant to honor past champions. Waltrips failure is more a product of organizational growing pains than because of the "Top 35." Which, btw, is another rule that needs modification.
BTW, if you can't get solidly into the show with 6 provisionals, then you obviously, at this stage, don't belong in the show!
Posted by: Keith | Jun 1, 2007 8:53:04 AM
I agree Mikey needs to quit driving and be an owner. And there should only be 1 maaaaaybe 2 provisionals, for the top guy or guys in points that don't make the show on speed. The top 35 rule sucks, and the past champ provisional was only started because of Richard Petty and he doesen't race anymore so trash it.
Posted by: another joe | Jun 1, 2007 9:34:39 AM
Mark, I think the MWR situation is unique because of a lot of things -- Mikey's long drought before getting a first victory, his one-dimensional winning record (plate tracks only), his television personality, and so forth and so on. Michael has made himself into a larger-than-ordinary winner of four Cup Series races. So, the attention he gets -- positive and negative -- is magnified. That's the flaw in a comparison to the Wood Brothers or to any other team, for that matter. Then, throw in the cheating scandal for the team's first race, and you have an even greater interest level. I still don't think the attention his team has been getting from fans and media is inordinate.
Posted by: David Green | Jun 1, 2007 10:27:42 AM
I agree with just about all criticism of the past champ provisional (and the top 35 provisional and the chase.) My own preference would be to put a cap on it, maybe 6 races per season, expiring five years after the championship or something like that.
As for MWR, the past champ deal screwed him, but did he know of the top 35 rule? If he didn't, then I think that screwed him far more than the past champ rule. Maybe there's some stat freak out there who can tell us how many times this year a Toyota has posted one of the 35 fastest qualifying speeds, only to lose out to the top 35 rule.
Posted by: Doug in CA | Jun 1, 2007 11:59:59 AM
Just for general information, they had the top 35 rule last year and Michael knew about it because he purchased car owner points from the #77 team. Also, the fact that he is not making races still doesn't mean we should have to listen to non-stop MWR coverage when he is not even in the race. I don't like the top 35 rule and I don't like the chase - but it appears we're stuck with them.
As for the past champion's provisional - it is outdated even with the 6 race limit. The rule may have been put in place for Richard Petty, but Darrell Waltrip made everyone detest it by running 80% of his final season using it.
The end of last week's race and the coverage of only the winner being shown by Fox is no surprise to me. I can't wait until I don't have to listen to Chris Meyers, Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Hammond. Mike Joy and Larry McReynolds are the only two people who should talk. My ideal race would be one where all the drivers get mentioned at least once and no features or listening to the announcers' toot their own horns.
Posted by: Sammy in ID | Jun 1, 2007 3:11:59 PM
Sammy, I recall MW buying the points, but that was a desparation move IF he and Toyota were committed to Cup before the Rule of 35 was initiated. Put more simply, there was a point in time when MWR and Toyota were locked into Cup racing in 2007. At that moment, did the top 35 rule exist?
And I note that he's in the field for Dover, along with four other Toyotas - that's 5 of 7. Odd that Reutimann, who was carrying the ball for a while, has missed two in a row while Allmendinger and Mayfield, who sat on the sidelines early on, have now made two straight.
I tell you, folks, Toyota will do just fine.
Posted by: Doug in CA | Jun 1, 2007 6:42:47 PM
David--I live in the Philly area but was a Baltimore Orioles fan before Angeloser took over...trust me, the collapse was great for Philly fans. They can't handle winning, they don't have anything to bitch about then.
As a Cardinals fan, you know the value of a Scott Rolen. Athletes who have a sensitive nature don't last in Philly, no matter how great they are. If Mike Schmidt could have left I'm sure he would have.
I could go on for hours about the psychological makeup of the town's sports fans...someday I'll share that.
By the way, I'll be seeing the new ballpark in St. Louis in late July.
Posted by: Kurt Smith | Jun 2, 2007 9:32:20 AM
Kurt -- I'm chuckling about your summation of Philadelphia as a sports town. Well done. I sure do appreciate Scott Rolen. I'm sure you'll enjoy your visit to StL. I have not yet been to the new ballpark, but it's a great baseball town. Fans in N.Y., Boston and Chicago would disagree, but I'd rate it the best.
For what it's worth, and since this is after all a racing blog, StL has some pretty good motorsports heritage. There's a healthy assortment of grassroots short tracks in the area on both sides of the river, and of course Gateway International Raceway. I really like that track. If I were running the circus, Gateway would be on the Cup and IRL schedules.
I have to add that, on the TR.com coverage of Dover qualifying, the subhead reads, "Waltrip will make a rare appearance in Sunday's show, start from 23rd spot." As I said, when a driver with a profile as prominent as Mikey's goes through an 11-race DNQ streak, it is news. And when he snaps the skid, it is news.
Good for Mikey, by the way.
Posted by: David Green | Jun 2, 2007 12:52:55 PM
David,
I did like the phrasing the media chose to use though, "A rare appearance."
"If I were running the circus," hmmm Brian/NASCAR do do their best to make it seem like a circus sometimes.
Posted by: Keith | Jun 2, 2007 9:02:27 PM
Doug in CA
The top 35 rule was put in place for the 2005 season.The reason they did that was because they had decided to make almost all races impound races(I think only 2 races were not impound races).The top 35 rule was to protect the bigger teams from the field fillers,who might concentrate on making the race,only to run a few laps.Hence,start and park.
They found out that impound does not work,for a number of reasons,and did away with it in 2006(we maybe still have 2 impound races).They just forgot or liked the top 35 so well,they left it in.
Now,to answer your question.I would say Michael had started his Toyota deal pre 2005.I have heard that DW's truck team was always owned by Michael.What ever happened,Toyota will be fine,perhaps finer,than this Ford fan wants them to be.JMO
Posted by: Short Lady | Jun 3, 2007 4:00:04 PM
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