Turn 3

TV Announcer Changes.......For The Better?

By Mark Young

ESPN announced yesterday that Dale Jarrett would be joining their broadcast team directly following his brief six race farewell tour.  To many this is a big deal as from what we learned last year from fellow blog-heads Rusty Wallace left a lot to be desired.  In addition to the announcement of Dale Jarrett, the network also announced that Allen Bestwick returns to the booth to host the pre-race show as well.  Is this all for the good?  I guess we will have to wait and see but I give ESPN props for making changes, almost as if they actually listened to the fans.

So it appears to be another new era in brodcasting of races at ESPN while the FOX team remains as it has been for several years.  My question to you all is this; Will ESPN's changes make a difference?  And secondly, what is the best TV broadcast team ever?  Lastly, if you could build your own team for TV broadcasts who would you use?

Bring it on people, I wanna hear what you think.  Comment on the blogs or e-mail me at uwantsome@racetalkradio.com.  I will use some of your comments on the next show of U Want Some? Wednesday night on racetalkradio.com.

U WANT SOME?

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

By Keith Ott

Turn and face the strain (of changes)…Is what David Bowie says.  While, he certainly did not mean NASCAR, could that be what Pope Brian is doing?  Is it enough?  I don’t know, yet.  Ok, ya got me.  Maybe, I think he could have done better.

On the plus side…They made no major changes.  This in itself is a major improvement.  Brian’s only major accomplishment in NASCAR, thus far, is making longtime knowledgeable “old-school fans” just as confused about what was going on as the neophyte "new fan base" he sought to install.  Maybe, he wanted us to bond.  I mean, I could be drinking my beverage of choice next to the newbie sipping champagne and we’d both be going wtf is that all about!  Now that's bonding!

On the negative side…They made no major changes.  Not new changes to make NASCAR more complex, but rather changes to correct past mistakes.  Pope thinks traditional fans are disillusioned because of too many changes too fast.  My personal “Think,” on all of his changes, is that they make NASCAR and the rich, richer, at the expense of the fan and competition.

Change 1- Oh boy, non-T35 get to qualify in one group.  Who the Heck cares?  It doesn’t address the unfairness of the T35 rule.  It’s fairer within that group, but it doesn’t address why faster cars go home.  The T35 needs to go.

Change 2- Raising the age.  Already adequately covered by Kathy and Mark, I’ll be brief.  Age is neither a sign of nor a guarantee of maturity.  BTW, did anyone look up what age Petty, Earnhardt, BP, Waltrip etc. started?  NASCAR doesn’t need to mandate an age for maturity…They need to control immaturity on a case by case basis. 

Pope Brian gets an A for non-effort.  Maybe, more declining TV ratings and attendance will get his attention.  I doubt it.  He will stick his head in the sand once more and say, “It’s the economy, ratings are down everywhere, or we don’t understand.”  Sorry, Brian, we do understand and just as age doesn’t equal maturity; money doesn’t equal smarts.

Just my warm-up for the regular season…jump in any time.       

New Age Limits In NASCAR? Good!!

By Mark Young

News out of Daytona following Sprint Cup Series testing is that changes are coming.  That is nothing new, the rules are always changing whenever someone builds a better mouse trap.  But this time it is a rule that could effect drivers who haven't even set foot in a NASCAR Cup Series vehicle.

A few years ago NASCAR made changes to the rule surrounding the age requirements to drive in NASCAR races.  This effected Kyle Busch (briefly I believe) when the age limit was raised to 18.  But now rumors are swirling that the limit will again be raised from 18 to 21 for Cup Series events, all but locking our soon-to-be 18 year old phenom Joey Logano.  On the same day Logano told Sirius satellite listeners that he would be making a Cup Series debut at Dover in May, shortly after his 18th Birthday, news broke of this age change.

I like this move.  These kids might have the talent, or questionably the lack of fear, to drive these cars like they have never seen.  But sometimes they lack the common sense to know when to make certain moves.  Now that the Young Gun movement has subsided and been replaced by the Open Wheel Invasion perhaps some of the kids will have a chance to grow in the Truck or Nationwide Series before coming to the big show.  Like I said, these kids might have talent but big brass Kahunas, lots of cash, and exposure like a rock star doesn't provide experience.

I can't believe I am saying this but good move NASCAR.

Tall me what you think!!  Comment here or e-mail me, uwantsome@racetalkradio.com is the address and your thoughts might be on the radio Wednesday night on U Want Some? 8:00 on www.racetalkradio.com

It's a Great Start, But Is It For Real?

By Mark Young

OK, Daytona testing is the official start of the 2008 Sprint cup Series (man that sounds bad), and a lot of things remain the same.  Hendrick cars are fast, including newcomer Dale Earnhardt Junior, but surprisingly so are ALL of the Toyota teams.  Taking into consideration that the teams are NOT required to go through the ROOM OF DOOM, ie: tech inspection, does this really mean that much?

U WANT SOME?

OK, let's set things straight.  After two months of not having any racing to talk about every race fan is excited about the first round of testing at Daytona.  New faces, new sponsors, drivers to new teams, this is where it all starts.  The first time the Car Of Today (COT) is the only car to work on added to the mix only adds to the excitement for the 2008 season.  Who cares that most of the cars are primer in color with just sponsor logos on them, this is the dawn of a new season, the dawn of new expectations for we the fans.  People like fellow blogger Shirley and friends from Infield Parking like Willie make the trip to NASCAR's birthplace of speed make the pilgrimage to see the cars on the track for the first time this year full of anticipation.  Speeds are tracked, the media drools over drivers who show up unscheduled, the anticipation is bigger than even them media can report.....if you can believe it.

BUT...let's all recognize one thing.  It doesn't count.

NOBODY had to go through tech inspection.  Granted, the Toyotas are VERY fast and the Hendrick teams are STILL fast.  But it doesn't matter.

Wait a few weeks when Ryan Pemberton and the boys with the templates, tape measures, and the dreaded "Etch-A-Sketch" of a rule book show up things are gonna change.  How much I don't know but it will be different.  All jokes aside about Mikey's trouble last year, how do we know that TRD didn't have packets of Sterno for the intakes of the Toyotas?  Maybe the cars Hendrick tried to pass at Sonoma with the tricked out fenders weren't there.......All I am saying is don't put too much merit into these speeds my friends.

I e-mailed TR.com's David Poole last week to confirm that the Engineers had telemetry on the cars to gage down force, chassis travel and who knows what else, maybe driver "excitement factor" on the cars.  His reply to me was that there was more stuff on the car that "You could hit while spinning a dead cat with".  These guys are throwing more stuff than Lowe's has in isle three at these cars to get a leg up on everyone else.  What matters is in three weeks when inspection takes place.

So you tell me.....are the Toyotas that fast?  Are the RCR cars that slow?  Is Ford sandbagging?  I want to know.  Tell me what you think.  Either by comment, or by e-mail at uwantsome@racetalkradio.com   my first live radio show is on Wednesday, January  23rd @ 8:00 on www.racetalkradio.com.  I am going to devote part of the show to what you have to say.  Tell me what think, tune in, and you might here your comments on the air-waves!!

That's what I think, what say you?   

Race Car Driver Or Rock Star........You Decide.

By Mark Young

Testing began today at Daytona officially kicking off the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Season.  Half of the field is in stock car racing's palace of speed to shake down their race cars and get the ball rolling.  Media arrived in droves in anticipation of the upcoming season.  How will Gibbs do in Toyotas?  What about the open wheelers?  Driver changes, crew chief changes, the normal things to see for the first time but once again, like last year, Dale Earnhardt Junior stole the show.  And he wasn't even supposed to be there.

Junior isn't scheduled to be in Daytona until next week when the other half of the Sprint Cup teams are to continue testing for the Daytona 500 but he surprised everyone by showing up today to watch.  When asked why he made the trip to Florida a week early he replied "I didn't have anything to do today," Earnhardt chuckled. "And I don't have any teammates in the test next week. It's Daytona. It's the Car of Tomorrow. I didn't know what hurdles there would be with the car here for the first time, but it looks like everything is going great."  (Fox Sports online)  Funny what a change of scenery and a new team will do to a person isn't it?

Last year Teresa Earnhardt was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal that was published on December 14th, 2006.  In David Poole's article on TR.com last weekend he mentioned a quote from Teresa that questioned Junior's commitment to racing and that he "needed to decide whether he wanted to be a rock star or a race car driver."  Well Teresa I think he may have just proved a point by showing up when he wasn't expected or really needed to be there.

Say what you want about Junior's move to Hendrick but it is this race fan's opinion that he spoke millions today by showing his commitment to the Hendrick organization, his teammates, his fans, and to his former employers that he means business.

That's what I think, what say you?

Still gobsmacked, after all this time

By DAVID GREEN

I saw a Tony Stewart T-shirt in the local Wal-Mart the other night, and I have to admit -- the "CAMRY" on the front of the orange car made me do a double take.

Yeah, sure, I knew Gibbs Racing has switched to Toyota. I'm getting old, but I hadn't forgotten. And yes, Toyota has its first season under its belt in Cup Series racing, so this is hardly breaking news. But the fact that I stopped in my tracks and muttered under my breath, "Holy excrement!" or something to that effect, shows what a change the presence of a Japanese marque represents.

If anybody responds to this, I hope we don't get too far off tangent with a rehash of the status of Toyota. I live in Kentucky, so I'm reminded frequently about the Camry assembly plant over in Georgetown and I know the Toyota model is the only Cup Series entry based on a production model that is built in the U.S. I understand (a little bit, anyway) about the global economy.

But image and perceptions are so important, and I suppose my reaction means that I'm a little slow in fully accepting a non-traditional competitor in American-style stock car racing.

And Tony Stewart seems, to me, like such an American-car guy.

I don't know why I feel that way, really. Stewart excelled in Indy-car racing, where the cars long ago took on more of an international (read: European) flavor, and he's at the top of my list of American drivers who, given the right opportunity and the motivation, could take his talents to Formula One and be a serious competitor.

Maybe it's the dirt- and short-paved-oval, open-wheel background from which Stewart comes that makes him seem like such an old-school American racer.

Of course, non-American brands have carved their niches in other forms of U.S. racing. Stewart won the "Rumble in Fort Wayne" feature last Saturday night in a Volkswagen-powered midget. And Toyota has "official vehicle" status with USAC, sanctioning body of that event.

No offense to Michael Waltrip, Dale Jarrett, Dave Blaney, et al, but Stewart is exactly the guy Toyota needed -- not only to put them into victory lane in the Cup Series, which I predict Stewart will do, but he's probably their best bet in helping them gain anything resembling widespread acceptance among U.S. race fans like me.

Some of us are not opposed to Toyota. We're merely having trouble getting used to seeing the brand in an unfamiliar place -- such as a Tony Stewart T-shirt.

A New Year And New Beginnings

By Mark Young

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!  Sorry I missed you guys during the Holidays, after a long season I needed to get a breather.  With only 45 days until Daytona and a new season I thought I would fill you guys, my fellow blog-heads, my friends, in on something I am going to be doing new this year at another website.....

Now I am sure a few of you out there jumped up and down or ran outside to scream thanks to the heavens above.  "He's leaving!!!"  NOPE.  I am not going anywhere, I will still be here in Turn 3 to share with you my thoughts on the happenings within our favorite sport, and sometimes stuff outside of the sport of NASCAR racing.

What's new is that I will also have a 1-hour Internet radio show on www.racetalkradio.com on Wednesday nights.  The start date, start time, and how long my show will be is still to be determined but that isn't what I am most excited to announce.

My show will be called.......U WANT SOME?  I know, nothing new to you long-time readers, I have used that phrase to challenge you for a while.  The best thing about this show, in my opinion, is that each week I plan to have one segment that strictly talks about my posts here on TR.com.  That means I am not only going to talk about the stuff you already have read, me and my occasional guests will include the comments posted by you the readers within Turn 3!!  It is going to be hard-nosed, honest, in your face, and no-holds-barred NASCAR talk.  I want to use this show to be the voice of the fan.  I read what you say, what you post, and what you write to me during the season and I want other fans out there to hear our voice about what we like and what we don't like.  Heck, maybe Pope Brian might listen....doubt it, he is likely out trying to find new media markets to "expand" the sport.

I want to thank Bob Henry, the Editor here at TR.com for allowing me to integrate my blogs into my new venture in broadcasting.  And for Dennis, Mike, and Lori at racetalkradio.com for giving me this chance.......I hope I don't screw it up.

Stay tuned, I will let you know when this all starts.  Let's start this season with a bang!!