Retro Racing: There was a time Petty wasn’t involved in NASCAR (NASCAR.com)
November 30, 2010
Still wanting to race, Richard Petty took his No. 43 Chrysler to drag racing
This week’s announcement that Richard Petty, along with two investment firms, purchased the assets of Richard Petty Motorsports should guarantee a continuation of a team that has competed full-time in NASCAR since 1949, with the exception of much of the 1965 season.
Still wanting to race, Richard Petty took his No. 43 Chrysler to drag racing
When NASCAR chairman Bill France outlawed Chrysler’s hemi engines—as well as Ford’s single overhead camshaft engines—on Oct. 19, 1964, Petty Enterprises was one of the teams which boycotted the decision. That left the family-owned operation to find a different avenue to express its need for speed.
Still wanting to race, Richard Petty took his No. 43 Chrysler to drag racing
The idea of hemispherical combustion chambers was nothing new when Chrysler engineers began to design a 426-cubic inch V8 engine sometime in 1962. Some of the first automobiles featured cylinder heads with a hemi design, and Harry Miller’s cars won several Indianapolis 500s in the 1920s. And Lee Petty won five races in 1953 with the Dodge Red Ram 241-cubic inch hemi engine.
But the redesigned hemi was perhaps more powerful than anything Chrysler had ever assembled to that point. The first hemi engine was constructed in November 1963 and was put on the dynamometer one month later. The dyno used in the test only registered up to 400 horsepower, and the new engine was off the scale.
With the new hemi engine and a streamlined body design, the Plymouths and Dodges dominated the 1964 Daytona 500, finishing 1-2-3 with Richard Petty leading all but 16 laps en route to the victory. But Ford wasn’t about to back down from the fray. While winning many of the short-track events, Ford engineers were busy designing an engine just as powerful as the hemi: a 429-cubic inch monster that incorporated overhead cam technology.
About that time, France had seen enough. He was vehemently opposed to purpose-built racing engines and escalating costs. His vision of what NASCAR should be now differed significantly with where the manufacturers were trying to take the sport. And he lowered the boom with sweeping rules changes for the 1965 season, effectively eliminating the new Chrysler and Ford engines with a single penstroke.
Chrysler Racing execs were outraged. Ronney Householder blasted NASCAR and France, and threatened to boycott the season unless the hemi was allowed to race. France refused, and Ford basically had the series to itself, with the top 12 cars in the 1965 Daytona 500 all running under the Ford banner.
With limited options, many Chrysler teams ran in USAC’s stock car circuit, but Petty Enterprises took a different route. That fall, the team built a 1964 Plymouth Barracuda super stock dragster with the idea of running it in match races and American Hot Rod Association events.
Painted in Petty blue, the car featured the word “Outlawed” on its doorpanel and the number 43 Jr. In addition, Petty placed a bumper sticker on the car that read, “NASCAR: If you can’t outrun ‘em, outlaw ‘em.”
Petty and fellow NASCAR expatriate David Pearson held a match race at Islip Raceway near the end of 1964, although both borrowed cars for the event. The 43 Jr. made its debut in January 1965, as the Pettys towed it to Bee Line Dragway in Arizona, where Petty’s Barracuda turned in a run of 10.38 seconds to beat a 427 Chevy in the Super Stock/Experimental class finals.
But things turned tragic a month later at Southeastern Dragway in Dallas, Ga. While racing against Arnie Beswick, the Barracuda suffered a front suspension failure just as Petty hit the gas. The car went out of control, leaped over an embankment, over a fence and into the crowd. While Petty walked away with minor injuries, seven people were more severely injured and an 8-year-boy was killed.
The car was hauled back to the Petty Enterprises shop and left to rust in the woods. A second car was built—without the “Outlawed” moniker—and Petty drove it for most of that spring and summer without further incident.
With Ford dominating NASCAR—and Dodges doing the same in USAC—but neither drawing crowds nor interest, France finally relented and the two sanctioning bodies issued new rules on June 21, 1965. The hemi engine would be allowed in the Dodge Polara and Plymouth Fury on superspeedways, and in the Dodge Coronet and Plymouth Belvedere on short tracks.
Petty Enterprises returned at Bristol, only to suffer issues with the differential, eventually finishing 17th. However Petty won the following race at Nashville and would go on to win three more times that season.
By 1966, the hemi was offered as a production car option, and Pearson would win 15 races on his way to the first of his three Cup championships. The hemi would stay in production for six more races, and Petty Enterprises would be a staunch supporter of Chrysler—with the exception of a foray with Ford in 1969—until 1978.
The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.
Growth biggest issue facing NASCAR (Yahoo! Sports)
November 30, 2010
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Welcome to the penultimate edition of Happy Hour in 2010.
(You have to whip out penultimate whenever possible, because it’s such a great word.)
We’ll deliver the mail one more time this year, because, well, we have to comment on the champion’s banquet, don’t we?
More From Jay Hart Johnson is dominant, but most dominant? Nov 23, 2010 Johnson dominates like no other Nov 21, 2010
So with that, let’s get to it:
Looking ahead at 2011
Jay, now that the season is over, what do you feel are the two biggest issues facing NASCAR for next year: lack of competitiveness among the Big 5 teams and the rest of the teams, apathy among fans as evidenced by low TV ratings and low attendance, teams getting sponsorship money, or NASCAR’s seeming lack of transparency regarding the rules and addressing issues for on track calls?
Join Happy Hour Got a question or comment for Yahoo! Sports NASCAR editor Jay Hart? Want to be a part of Happy Hour? Email Jay
Michael KoltuniakPlymouth, Mich.
Number 1 through 100 is trying to grow the fan base. As the TV ratings stand now, NASCAR isn’t going to command anywhere near the reported $4.5 billion it got in its last TV deal, which expires after the 2014 season. NASCAR has, what, two seasons to increase TV ratings before they head back to the negotiating table. They’ve got no ammo now. They need some.
It’s because of this that Brian France is desperate for dramatic moments. He made this abundantly clear in his state-of-the-sport news conference on the Friday before the season finale when he all but said the Chase needs tweaking in order to guarantee a close (read: dramatic) finish.
You can’t fault him for wanting the drama. He’s in the business of gathering an audience, and the only race in the Chase where ratings were up was the finale – when the championship was on the line.
Create drama, grow your audience, get more out of your next TV deal. That’s how it goes.
Now, don’t get me wrong – this isn’t all about putting more cash in their pockets; it’s also about sustaining the sport. There’s no guarantee that Fox, Turner and ABC/ESPN re-up for 2015 and beyond, even at a discounted rate. This should grab the interest of every fan, especially those who don’t have cable. Because if you couldn’t find the races before, try doing so when NASCAR is relegated to Versus or some other channel way down the dial.
Fans love to rip Brian France, but the reality is if he doesn’t get what he wants, fans might not get what they want either. Because at the end of the day, what’s good for NASCAR is usually good for the fans.
Shakeup at Hendrick
Got to wonder if Dale moving into the shop with Jimmie is to help Dale or reduce the team conflict between the 24 and 48, and tensions between Jeff and Jimmie. Think about it. Jeff and Jimmie had issues on the track, with Jeff calling Jimmie “Mr. 4 time” on the radio during a race. The 24 team was taken away and given to Jimmie so he could win the championship. During the post-race celebration you saw Tony Stewart, and Rick Hendrick, but where was Jeff, the other owner of the #48. In previous championship wins Jeff ran to the celebration and said his congratulations.
Kelly JessopAmericus, Ga.
It’s a fun theory, but I don’t buy it, Kelly. First off, Jeff did congratulate Jimmie. TV cameras must not have caught it.
The real reason for the shakeup was because Hendrick as an organization struggled in 2010. Gordon, Mark Martin and Dale Jr. didn’t win a single race, and though Johnson won another title, it was a struggle.
Gordon needed a change. So did Junior. Moving the drivers was a lot easier than moving the crew chiefs, because doing it this way meant maintaining the chemistry between chief and crew. Had Hendrick kept Gordon in the 24/48 shop, it would have meant bringing Alan Gustafson over, then asking him to figure out how to work with an entirely new group, all in a span of two months. The same would have been for Letarte in the 5/88 shop.
It will be a lot easier for the driver to figure out a new crew chief than it would have been for a crew chief to figure out an entirely new shop.
Whether or not it works out, I believe it was the right move, because the status quo was not working.
I just read the story regarding the “shake-up” at Hendrick. I have a way to silence all the critics once and for all. Rick should swap the 48 and 88 teams. This way we’d get a chance to see how good, or bad, both drivers really are.
Old Man PoconoEffort, Pa.
San Francisco Giants pitcher Brian Wilson celebrates the Giants' World Series victory.Getty
Top story of 2010
Which would you consider the top story line of 2010: Johnson’s run for five, or the San Francisco Giants’ improbable run to a World Series title?
PS: if Johnson plans on keeping his beard this offseason, he better take some notes from Brian Wilson.
KellyLos Gatos, Calif.
Neither. For me, the two top stories of 2010 were the fall of Tiger Woods and LeBron James taking his talents to South Beach. These were the stories people were reading/talking/obsessing about, and still are.
If you’re looking for the top championship story, you gotta go with the New Orleans Saints winning the Super Bowl. Not only were they huge underdogs, but it was the rebirth of a heretofore moribund franchise known mostly for fans wearing shopping bags on their heads.
As for Jimmie’s beard, is there anyone outside of ZZ Top that shouldn’t be taking notes from Brian Wilson?
Disrespecting Jimmie
Don’t any of you consider the fact that Jimmie Johnson is working steady for 3, 4, or 5 hours straight in a car going 100 to 200 miles an hour in extreme heat. He had to do it 36 times a season. How many of these other sports people work that long and under stress. It takes men that race the Sprint Cup Series to take that physical and mental abuse. Yes Johnson is one of the best, if not the best athletes.
Dick BoveeAurora, Minn.
You can’t argue with some people on this point, Dick. The only way to convince them is to put them in a race car and show ‘em what it’s about. After a few laps anywhere, even Pocono, I think you’ll find them more convinced that drivers are, in fact, athletes.
Jimmie Johnson is only most dominant at the 10 final tracks of the season. Most of these tracks were 2nd visits and also the same track year-after-year. How about a road course, switching of the tracks yearly or even a new track not on the schedule (Mexico, Montreal etc.). JJ is the best, but only since the new “race for the chase” rules.
Dan RamosVacaville, Calif.
I know that all roads lead to Vacaville, but come on, Dan, didn’t you make the 30-minute drive to Sonoma to see Johnson win there in June?
Is he good at the 10 Chase tracks? Sure, but there’s a reason for this, and let me see if I can make this clear: HE’S GOOD EVERYWHERE!!!!!
The only tracks where Johnson hasn’t won are Chicagoland, Homestead-Miami, Michigan and Watkins Glen. That leaves 18 tracks where he has won. His lowest average finish among active tracks is Indianapolis, and he’s won there three times.
Face it: Shuffle the tracks around and Johnson and Knaus will just gear their season toward those 10 tracks – and still be the team to beat.
Flawed system
I haven’t seen anything on this, but how would Kevin Harvick have finished this year under the old points system. He did dominate the entire year.
Ken SmudzinskiCrestview, Fla.
I could tell you, but it’s irrelevant. Everyone races the season the same – to be the leader after 36 races, not 26, so that’s how they strategize.
That being said, if NASCAR would do the right thing, they would give a 50-point bonus for being the points leader at the end of the regular season. Had they done that, and had Harvick been the leader, he would be your 2010 Sprint Cup champion.
Hi Jay. I enjoy your columns. Now that another season is over, do you think that it’s time to rework the chase to give some reward to the regular season champion? When you look at the season as a whole, Kevin Harvick had the most championship worthy season. While he had 3 fewer wins, he had 3 more Top Tens.
But these are the numbers that jump out most to me:
• Finished 20th-29th – Johnson: 4, Hamlin: 3, Harvick: 0
• Finished 30th-43rd – Johnson: 6, Hamlin: 5, Harvick: 3
When the Chase started, Harvick started in the hole, and Johnson had no repercussions for his many bad finishes.
Other sports offer byes or home field advantage. Kevin Harvick gained no advantage. While I’m okay with rewarding wins, there should be some reward for how you finish leading up to the playoffs.
Pete H.Pennsylvania
You’re preaching to the choir on this one, Pete. There are 100 good arguments why a points leader should get a bonus at the end of the regular season, zero good ones to the contrary.
I don’t care what changes NASCAR makes to the Chase. To me this is the single biggest problem with the format, and until they address it, the Chase will remain flawed.
Last call …
Well the title of King is already taken, but we might consider granting the title of Emperor to Jimmie Johnson.
Dave GarnettLufkin, Texas
Jay Hart is the NASCAR editor for Yahoo! Sports. Send Jay a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.
FIA releases entry list for 2011 F1 season (PA SportsTicker)
November 30, 2010
PARIS(AP) —Formula One’s governing body released the official entry list for the 2011 season Tuesday, with only six teams having set their lineups.
Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes, Sauber and Lotus confirmed their drivers, with Sauber’s Sergio Perez Mendoza of Mexico the only newcomer. Perez Mendoza will team up with Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi.
The list confirmed Lotus would retain current drivers Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen.
Robert Kubica’s teammate at Renault has yet to be announced after the team ended negotiations with former world champion Kimi Raikkonen.
Williams, which has agreed to a new deal with Rubens Barrichello, has yet to confirm its second driver after Nico Hulkenberg left the team at the end of the 2010 season.
Four teams have no drivers entered for 2011: Force India, Toro Rosso, Virgin and Hispania.
Taking a flier on next great frontier in racing safety (NASCAR.com)
November 30, 2010
In a laboratory at the University of North Carolina Charlotte, student researchers using scale-model NASCAR vehicles are exploring the next great frontier in auto racing safety. Using those same models in a water tank, they’ve already discovered a potential reason why roof flaps may have been less effective on a Sprint Cup car with a rear wing versus a spoiler. Other students are doing similar experiments in a virtual world, some of it at the request of a team that chooses to remain anonymous, all of it with the goal of preventing race cars from becoming airborne.
Every driver in NASCAR’s national divisions wears a head-and-neck restraining device, every race track is coated in an impact-absorbent wall material, and the latest version of the race cars used on the Cup tour may very well be the safest on the planet. And yet, every year, cars still go hurtling up into the air and come crashing down again, evidence of an issue that continues to plague NASCAR and other motorsports series even in an era of safety advances on other fronts. It happened several times this past NASCAR season—Brad Keselowski flipping onto his roof at Atlanta, Ron Hornaday and A.J. Allmendinger going end-over-end at Talladega, Kasey Kahne lifting into the air at Pocono—just as it’s happened for decades.
NASCAR races at restrictor-plate events have become infamous for their ability to toss vehicles into the air like children’s toys. But this is far from just a NASCAR problem—perhaps the most horrifying airborne crash this year came in the Indianapolis 500, when Mike Conway lifted off in an accident that left him with fractures in his left leg and lower back. Marc Webber flipped over and slid into a tire barrier in a harrowing Formula One crash in Spain. Airborne crashes have become such a concern across all racing disciplines that the subject has drawn the attention of researchers who operate outside of formal sanctioning bodies, some of whom are speaking as part of a Safety and Technical Conference at this week’s International Motorsports Industry Show in Indianapolis.
“I don’t think anybody’s going to say, ‘We’re going to have this solved for next year.’ Nobody’s willing to stick their necks out like that,” said Ray Leto, who heads U.S. efforts for the motorsports aerodynamics consulting firm TotalSim. “But I think quietly, in the background … it’s out there. People can see it. People, fans and drivers, are talking about it. It’s another thing to incrementally move forward in safety in motorsports. Whether it’s crash testing or safer walls or even fences around race tracks to keep cars on the tracks, all these things have evolved over the last 100 years of racing. You push the envelope, and somebody has to come up with the next solution.”
Everybody, from NASCAR to the FIA to the sanctioning body of LeMans-style sports cars in Europe, wants to keep vehicles on the ground. And yet, the effort to do so is so complex that even testing carries with it a host of questions that are difficult to answer. How do you recreate a car spinning at such a rate of speed that it lifts into the air? How do you replicate a unique series of events on a race track, often involving multiple vehicles, that sends one car airborne? The HANS (Head and Neck Support) device and SAFER (Steel And Foam Energy-Reduction) barrier, the two most important life-saving devices in modern motorsports, came about through years of testing—of slamming sled after sled into wall after wall, again and again, until developers got it right. But how do you prevent something you can’t even test?
That’s the quandary facing those battling airborne crashes, scientists like Leto and Mesbah Uddin, the latter an associate professor of motorsports at UNC Charlotte. Uddin’s group uses tools like scale modeling and computational fluid dynamics (CFD)—a virtual method of analyzing air flow—to determine what causes a NASCAR race car to lift off. Some of their work is proprietary, being done for a team Uddin cannot identify. But some of it has also been published, including investigation into why roof flaps perhaps deployed less reliably on a winged car than one with a rear spoiler.
“What happens is, in the case of a spoiler, when we looked at extreme yaw, when the car is completely reversed, going in a 180-degree motion, the most extreme case found that the wake behind the car gets attached so there is no low pressure region right near the roof flaps, which sort of prevented the roof flaps [from deploying],” said Uddin, a former CFD analyst at Chrysler. “In the case of the spoiler, there was a huge low pressure region in vicinity of the roof flaps, so it helped in deployment of the roof flaps. … I’m not saying this is the conclusive reason, I’m saying this is likely the cause. It needs further investigation.”
This sort of experimentation isn’t perfect. “The phenomena at the race track is way more complicated,” Uddin admits. But CFD technology has progressed to the point where researchers can apply almost any force to a simulated car at any attitude, trying things that would be impossible to attempt in the real world. Computational simulation also allows scientists to create scenarios involving multiple vehicles, typically the kind of situation that produces spectacular airborne crashes at places like Talladega, with the goal of figuring out ways to prevent them.
“Obviously, it’s difficult to conceive of every scenario there might be,” said Leto, a former engineer in IndyCar racing. “You take like last year at Talladega, it’s how the car was entering the banking and where it exactly spun and how many cars were in front of it. You can’t simulate everything exactly. But I think the ideas people are thinking of is, coming up with a generic set of parameters where you could do some flat spins on tarmac or pavement, you can spin off into the grass and see what happens when the friction changes, you could do it with one or two cars in front on a progression of bank angles as well. You can do that through simulations over and over again.”
NASCAR does its own research into the airborne issue, and has done so since the early 1990s, when high-flying crashes at Talladega and Michigan led the sanctioning body, with the help of car owner Jack Roush, to design the roof flaps that are now standard on all vehicles. “They were out front with this stuff,” Leto said. The problem is, the roof flaps don’t prevent all airborne crashes, something that’s become quite evident with a spate of liftoff accidents at big, fast NASCAR tracks in recent years. Mike Fisher, managing director of NASCAR’s Research and Development Center, says that’s because most airborne crashes are the result of what he calls “assisted spin”—another car pushing the vehicle through the acceleration process.
“That’s especially challenging for us as well,” Fisher said, “because the aerodynamic devices we have in place, they need a little bit of time to work. When the flaps deploy, they need a second or two to do what they need to do, which is to catch the air from the roof of the vehicle. But when you immediately go from straight down the race track to 180 degrees backward, or if you go through that rotation too quickly, a lot of the devices don’t get the full opportunity to work, and that’s why in some of those occasions we have liftoff. You’ve basically spun the car so quickly that you’ve put it at the liftoff point before it’s been able to scrub speed or catch air. That’s a problem, I wish I had the magic answer to that. But I don’t think anybody would like to see us race cars by themselves.”
Fisher, who is attending the IMIS event, said NASCAR works with manufacturer partners every year to try to raise liftoff speeds as part of its standard vehicle development process. High yaw testing—rotation of the car past 90 degrees—is part of that, and evident in moves like changing from the wing to the rear spoiler on the Cup car, or rolling out the new Nationwide models. The goal of preventing airborne accidents is “specifically baked into our vehicle development process,” Fisher said.
But the testing challenges remain, and it’s here where NASCAR differs somewhat from researchers working outside of sanctioning bodies. Modeling and CFD, Fisher said, provide one piece of the technical solution, one NASCAR doesn’t want to rely solely upon in making decisions. NASCAR—which, thanks to its partnerships, has some assets at its disposal that outside entities don’t—prefers to test the actual cars themselves, which can present its own hurdles given the size of the vehicles and the somewhat hazardous nature of the subject matter.
“We’re somewhat limited in the number of wind tunnels available that are both large enough and where the operators are willing to let us test for cars lifting off, because obviously the thought of a car lifting off in a wind tunnel can be a little unsettling to the organization that owns that tunnel,” Fisher said. “They don’t want to damage it. But we fortunately have some partners, Dodge in particular has helped us in recent years, also General Motors, who allow us to turn our cars around at pretty high speeds in their tunnels to evaluate that. Modeling is one tool we can use to understand that, but you really have to back that up with physical testing.”
Within NASCAR, there is what Fisher calls a “somewhat restrained level of confidence” in virtual testing, given that not everything on the computer screen correlates to the wind tunnel as perfectly as hoped. But as computer modeling becomes more savvy, Fisher didn’t rule out NASCAR eventually utilizing some of the other efforts going on within the industry. For now, they’re content to work along parallel fronts, each with the goal of learning a little more about what it takes for race cars to keep all four tires on the ground.
“I don’t think any of these rules, whether it’s IndyCar or NASCAR, have come about through people just guessing,” Leto said. “Just like the roof flaps that NASCAR did 20 years ago, there’s a purposeful process to going out there and testing these things. … Everybody’s working on it, I think.”
The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.
Pocono Raceway making track safer
November 30, 2010
Pocono Raceway expects a safer track in 2011 and beyond.
The NASCAR track expects to be finished by the end of this year with significant safety upgrades that include a soft-wall barrier and catch fence. Work on the multimillion-dollar project started in October.
The new fence will run from the end of the front stretch and connect with the existing catch fence in Turn 2. The fence will now surround the entire 2.5-mile race track.
The soft-wall barrier will run on the entire length of the inside of the track from the exit of Turn 1 to the entrance of Turn. Pocono Raceway already has soft-wall barriers at each of the track’s three turns.
Track President Brandon Igdalsky tells The Associated Press on Tuesday the improvements are overdue.
One Menz Opinion: Petty back in control, and that’s a good thing (NASCAR.com)
November 29, 2010
So Richard Petty Motorsports lives to race another day—or at least for another Sprint Cup season and hopefully many, many more.
It’s good to have Richard Petty, NASCAR’s all-time winningest driver and a member of the inaugural Hall of Fame class, remain actively involved in the sport. It’s important.
But perhaps the larger message that should not be lost in Monday’s announcement that Petty and two investors had completed purchase of all assets of the company bearing his name is that it’s important for those owning race teams in the sport to be folks who know the sport and remain actively involved in the sport.
George Gillett and his nervous, jittery son Foster Gillett did not subscribe to that theory. After purchasing controlling interest from what previously was Evernham Motorsports and then later merging it with what little was left from what previously was known as Petty Enterprises and renaming it Richard Petty Motorsports, the Gilletts attempted to run their race team at arm’s length. Well, more like at jet plane’s length.
They just weren’t around very much, and that was even before all their financial problems became so public. Yet they still tried to call many of the most important shots, much to the chagrin of racing veterans who knew better.
The writing was on the wall very early, according to Ray Evernham—who initially sold them controlling interest in the race organization he founded with the idea that they were going to work together to build something bigger and better.
“The reason I took on a partner was that I couldn’t compete on my own, and I could see that I needed more resources. And we were going to grow the thing,” Evernham said. “Pretty much right off the bat, we had a smaller budget to work with—and that didn’t make me happy.”
The merger era
Evernham recently told the story of his sale to the Gilletts in the form of a racing parable. Follow along, if you will …
“It’s like if I bought your car and said, ‘I’m going to drive you back to North Carolina. But you’re going to be the driver and you’re going to drive all the way there. And when we get there, we’re going to get a new car and do some different things,’ ” Evernham explained.
“And we started driving and I gave you some directions, and you said to me, ‘Well, they’re not going to work.’ And I came back with, ‘Well, you’ve got to go that way.’ And you said, ‘Look, I told you it’s not going to work.’ And then they said, ‘Well, you’re not driving anymore then. You’re going to ride in the back.’
“And as you’re riding in the back, pretty soon you realize we’re not headed to North Carolina anymore. We’re headed into the ocean. And you start screaming, ‘I don’t want to go into the ocean! You guys are going to drive right into the ocean!’ And they were like, ‘Shut up or we’re going to lock you in the trunk.’ And then when the car crashes into the ocean, someone unlocks you from the trunk.”
So not only did the Gilletts try to run their team from long distance, but they frequently ignored the advice of those closest to the situation who had the most experience in the sport. They didn’t listen to Evernham, who was supposed to stay on as a consultant. Petty, truthfully, was little more than a figurehead on the company that now bore his name—and soon his great reputation began to take withering fire from critics and angry creditors alike.
To be fair to the Gilletts, they entered NASCAR at a time when there was a real merger craze going on. Michael Waltrip Racing took on investment whiz Rob Kauffman, who lives in London and has little to do with the day-to-day operation of MWR. Jack Roush aligned with the Fenway Sports Group led by John Henry, owner of the Boston Red Sox and other fine things, and became Roush Fenway Racing. Again, Henry and his associates left the racing decisions up to Roush.
What once was proud Petty Enterprises seemed to be merging with someone new every six weeks for a while, in a futile attempt to remain a major player. Eventually, that led the Petty operation to the Gilletts, who were thought to have deep, inexhaustible pockets.
Instead their pockets proved to be stuffed mostly with paper statements that said they had money and their heads filled with ideas of how to make more on paper—with little regard to what kinds of real-cash investments it might take to improve performance where it mattered most to potential sponsors: on the track.
What’s next?
Who really knows if the new Richard Petty Motorsports can thrive in this era? Many seem to think they can as a scaled-back, two-car team with quality drivers in A.J. Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose.
But what are we really talking about here? What is their definition of thriving? Simply surviving?
The two race teams have solid sponsorship funding behind them for at least the time being and should have plenty of quality personnel to assist the aforementioned drivers. Of course, both Allmendinger and Ambrose, though highly competitive in stretches during their short careers, remain precisely 200 wins behind Petty in race victories. In other words, they have yet to win a single Cup Series race between them.
To expect the pair to suddenly emerge next season as legitimate threats to rise up and challenge the likes of five-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson is unrealistic.
But at least RPM will be part of the weekly show, and that is almost as much of a relief as the fact that the shadowy Gillets no longer will be part of the NASCAR landscape with which they were so unfamiliar—and for which they were so woefully unprepared.
“This is a unique sport. You can’t just come in here and think you’re smarter than everyone in the sport,” Evernham said. “It’s still a great sport. I think it’s an investment, but it’s something that has to be left up to the people who know where they’re going. It’s just like that car deal. Now it’s not only if it gets messed up because they don’t follow your directions, but it’s also that if it breaks down, they don’t know how to fix it.”
For now, the best fix for Richard Petty Motorsports was simply to get it back into the hands of the man who lent his legendary name to the organization in the first place. At least now everyone will know who’s really behind the wheel, and that there are no dark secrets locked away in the trunk.
NASCAR pursues more action sports stars (NASCAR.com)
November 29, 2010
NASCAR executives have cozied up to action sports stars as it looks to generate new interest among “millennial males” during the 2011 season.
NASCAR chief marketer Steve Phelps has worked behind the scenes the past few months to assist former motocross stars Travis Pastrana, Brian Deegan and Ricky Carmichael as they look to join the Nationwide Series and eventually the Sprint Cup Series.
“We’re thrilled Pastrana is coming to race, we’re thrilled Deegan is coming over and we’re excited they could be racing against Ricky Carmichael again,” Phelps said. “We’ll help them build a new fan base and hope they bring a new fan base to us.”
Phelps said 18- to 34-year-old males are a major focus for the sport in 2011, and he sees the addition of action sports stars to NASCAR as one way to reach those males. He said he hasn’t actively courted Pastrana or Deegan but has assisted them after being approached for help. He previously worked at Wasserman Media Group, which represents Pastrana.
“We over-index in the 18-to-34 male segment, but it’s down,” Phelps said. “We need to be sure to stay relevant in that demographic and action sports is one way to do that. That’s why we’ve tried to help.”
WMG principal Steve Astephen, who runs the agency’s action sports division, said Pastrana was just the first of several of his clients who will look to transition into NASCAR. He said skateboard star Ryan Sheckler, who grew up racing go-karts, plans to test next year.
“Steve Phelps and the NASCAR family have been nothing but supportive of this idea,” Astephen said. “This can be great for the sport.”
Related:
Daredevil Pastrana has ‘huge’ potential in NASCAR
Pastrana to run seven-race ’11 Nationwide schedule
Deegan making the move from bikes to NASCAR
Close championship made NASCAR product heavy (NASCAR.com)
November 29, 2010
The closest points battle in the Chase’ seven-year history meant NASCAR had to be prepared to offer one of three championship product lines at the conclusion of the season finale.
It had 70 products designed to commemorate Jimmie Johnson’s potential fifth consecutive title, and it had 50 products ready for contenders Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick.
When the race went down to the final 50 laps, NASCAR officials stacked boxes of hats, T-shirts, towels and flags commemorating a championship win for Johnson, Hamlin or Harvick on the edge of the championship stage. With two laps to go, they pushed the Hamlin and Harvick merchandise off the stage and unpacked the boxes of Johnson merchandise.
Commemorative hats and towels were given to not only Johnson’s pit crew but also Jeff Gordon’s, which worked on Johnson’s No. 48 car during the final two races of the Chase.
Johnson historically has been one of the best-performing drivers in merchandise sales, and his fifth title is expected to extend that streak as licensees produce a number of commemorative collectibles.
“There’s something about five that’s pretty intriguing, and licensees are excited about that,” said Blake Davidson, NASCAR’s managing director of licensed products. “People recognize now that you’re watching this guy make history.”
Loeb gives up on competing in Formula One (PA SportsTicker)
November 29, 2010
PARIS(AP) —Seven-time rally world champion Sebastien Loeb of France has given up on competing in Formula One.
Loeb secured a deal last year with the Toro Rosso team to drive at the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but motor racing’s governing body refused to grant him a license because of his lack of experience.
Loeb told the website of French sports newspaper L’Equipe that “Formula One is over for me.”
He said he would drive for fun if the opportunity arose, but doesn’t seem himself competing in a race.
The 36-year-old Loeb said his age would be a problem and that he needs to “think about something else” when he ends his rally career.
Loeb will drive for Citroen in the world rally championship for an eleventh season in 2011.
Petty to control race team in new ownership group
November 29, 2010
CONCORD, N.C. (AP)—Richard Petty will once again run his race team and participate in day-to-day operations as chairman of the new ownership group that was announced Monday.
The assets of Richard Petty Motorsports have been sold from George Gillett Jr. to an investment group that consists of Petty, Medallion Financial Corp., and DGP Investments.
“Today is a great day for me, my family, our fans and our wonderful sponsors,” Petty said in a statement that listed 10 partners that “have supported me through thick and thin and I thank them from the bottom of my heart.”
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RPM will field cars for AJ Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose in 2011.
The transfer of assets has been in the works for several weeks because of Gillett’s ongoing financial problems. Debt-laden English soccer club Liverpool recently was sold despite the objection of Gillett and business partner Tom Hicks. And a U.S. hedge fund is suing Gillett over what the firm says is more than $117 million in debt he racked up investing in Liverpool.
Petty owned just a small take in the organization during Gillett’s two-year ownership run of RPM. The seven-time NASCAR champion seemed at times to be nothing but a figurehead, while the Gillett family ran the team.
But Petty worked the final two months of the season to regain control of the team, and the new ownership group was revealed Monday.
Medallion Financial is a publicly traded investment company that has Hank Aaron among its key board members.
“We could not be happier to be able to acquire these assets together,” said Andrew Murstein, president of Medallion. “Richard is one of the greatest names, not only in NASCAR, but in all sports. His name and image are a world recognized brand with unlimited potential to grow and expand in racing.
“Ample working capital has been invested in the company to ensure this great team and legend will not only continue to perform, but will thrive and be back in the winner’s circle.”
DGB Investments is a company owned by Douglas Bergeron, the CEO of VeriFone Systems, Inc.
“With Richard Petty’s unmatched name and reputation in the motorsports industry, I know this investment is well-timed to succeed,” Bergeron said.
It’s Petty’s second partnership with investment groups. In 2008, he gave up majority control of the team his family had run since 1949 to Boston Ventures. That move gave Boston Ventures employees the roles of chairman and CEO, while Petty was relegated to a participant in the day-to-day operations.
The move was necessary because the team, then known as Petty Enterprises, had fallen so far behind the competition both on the track and on the business side.
Medallion was believed to have been one of the investment groups interested in Petty at the time Boston Ventures completed its deal. But Boston Ventures time with the team was short-lived: Just six months later, Petty was working on a merger with Gillett’s race team.
The merger at the start of 2009 was necessary to keep both Gillett-Evernham Motorsports and Petty’s team afloat after the economic collapse months earlier.
Although the new team—what’s now known as RPM—returned to Victory Lane with Kasey Kahne, the financial issues were never resolved and the organization operated on a week-to-week basis the final two months of this season.
