This is positively the worst sports time of the year. Sure, the NFL is trotting out anything they can. And I’m a new NASCAR fan. But NHL playoffs aren’t started yet (okay, there’s one Game 7 tonite and the 2nd round starts next), and baseball is, well, in April. NBA? Puh-leeezzze… If a basketball hits a wooden floor and nobody is around to hear it, did it really happen?
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As I wrote earlier, Ameriquest has formally asked to be released from the final two years of its three-year deal to sponsor Greg Biffle’s #16 Ford Fusion. I guess we can infer that they’re on board for the rest of 2007 - maybe they paid up front, otherwise presumably they would bail now and save the incremental cash. Anyway, Biffle’s sponsors seem to have the life expectancy of Spinal Tap drummers, so prospective replacements, consider yourselves warned. And Biffle’s other main sponsor is Subway, so let’s none of us be shocked the morning we read about Jared dying in a bizarre gardening accident.
A few disparate items and the mosaic they form:
1) Greg Biffle won’t be the only driver to lose a sponsor if Ameriquest fails - another subsidiary of the company sponsors Danica Patrick in the Indy Racing League. I don’t know how the economics of the IRL work but I’d hazard a guess that they’re dominated by that event that precedes the Coca Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend, by which time Danica’s primary sponsor may well have gone the way of all flesh.
2) Props to Juan Pablo Montoya for his first Nextel Cup top-5 finish in Atlanta last weekend. Evidence that success in NASCAR is attainable for F1 drivers, and that notwithstanding the affinity of some infield denizens for the Stars and Bars, foreign drivers are welcome. Relax, Juan Pablo, they’re just Skynyrd fans.
3) Defending Indy 500 champ Sam Hornish is toying with participating in the “other” Indianapolis race - NASCAR’s Brickyard 400.
What does it all mean? NASCAR’s higher profile and, more to the point, higher purses, are drawing talent away from other top-tier racing formats. Indy car racing never really recovered from the CART-IRL split that, at least temporarily, took the most famous drivers out of the Indy 500. The less said about the attempt to bring F1 racing the the US, the better. The long and short of it is that while alternate racing leagues may have had a fighting chance to displace NASCAR during the 1990s, they opted for self-immolation and now may be doomed to cede talent, popularity and money to stock car racing. It is easy to imagine the IRL (and to a lesser extent, F1) reduced to the status of developmental programs, if indeed they remain economically viable at all.
Greg Biffle’s new primary sponsor this year, replacing the National Guard, is subprime lender Ameriquest Mortgage. But in the past three weeks the subprime mortgage business has imploded, and lenders like Ameriquest are finding themselves hard pressed to maintain enough credit to stay in business. Ameriquest just bailed out of its 30-year naming rights deal for the Texas Rangers’ stadium, and they were only paying around $2.5 million per year for that. Primary sponsorship of a Nextel Cup team runs about 10 times that figure, so its hard to believe their NASCAR deal will long outlive their MLB deal. The bright side, such as it is, is that this is happening to a driver for Jack Roush, who of course is now a partner of the Boston Red Sox ownership, so their misfortune pleases me mightily. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA
is the creeping gentrification of NASCAR. Time magazine details the trend this week. I don’t mind wine. And I can certainly understand its popularity at Sonoma, a county associated much more with wine than with the road race NASCAR holds there annually. And I can even understand Jeff Gordon producing his own label of the stuff since he’s, well, a pussy. I guess I just find it a shame that NASCAR’s prosperity has reached the point where growth can really only come from increased corporate dollars, with the inevitable effect that traditional fans are crowded out by more casual but wealthier fans. It’s good that the sport evolved from its origins among outlaws running moonshine, but a big part of the sport’s appeal is the sense of community - drivers remain connected to fans in ways baseball and football players have long ceased to be. Dale Jr. spends hours every week personally autographing items mailed to him by his fans; even Mickey Mantle just paid bat boys to do that (in fairness, Mantle was probably more hung over than lazy). Watching a race while drinking chardonnay rather than PBR is just emblematic of NASCAR becoming more like the other major sports, where the athletes are now members of a quasi-priestly caste who rarely deign to walk among the mortals who ultimately pay their salaries. Stay gold, Pony Boy.
Okay, maybe it’s because my hands are still shaking. Maybe it’s because I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather, caught something from my sick daughter. Alas I fear it is because of my wife. But the TV has been tuned to NASCAR both Saturday and Sunday, for TWO WEEKENDS IN A ROW!!! WTF is going on here? OMG, I’m even writing a post about NASCAR in this blog.
For so many years, there were four major sports in the US - baseball, football, basketball, and hockey. From year to year, and definitely from city to city, it was some ranking of those specific four… and then everything else came after. But now, NASCAR’s popularity boom is undeniable - and many would suggest it’s passed hockey (at least) amongst the list of “most popular sports in the US”. But how do we measure that?
The finish to Daytona was nothing if not exciting - at the Tank Family Compound we were all hoping Mark Martin would hold off Kyle Busch and never saw Harvick coming on the outside until well into the final lap. And while Harvick won fair and square, we were in the same camp as probably everyone other than Richard Childress and Mrs. Harvick in being disappointed that Martin didn’t take the checkered flag. Class act that he is, Martin seemed to take the change of fortune far better than I did.
My guy, Tony Stewart, did indeed have the car to beat - going to last place after a pit row speeding penalty but working his way back to lead the race yet again before he wrecked. Did anyone else think they should check his trailer for pods based on the equanimity he displayed after getting taken out? Is it the new girlfriend? The personal trainer? Either way, it seems like big bad Tony is sweet Anthony now. If he keeps it up I may have to switch allegiance to Robby Gordon; no risk of him getting his head on straight. Still, this crash was one case where I think Kurt Busch was way too hard on himself. Once Tony got loose in front of him, there was no Earthly way for Kurt to be able to steer clear.
Overall, a good race albeit without any really spectacular wrecks except on the last lap. The #07 did flip over and catch on fire, so I guess that’s something. More importantly, the season is at last underway. On to Fontana.
I know nothing about NASCAR, and I’ve never watched a race. I understand the fever is sweeping the nation (and of course, if I get the fever… there will only be one cure… more cowbell - but I think that’s just common sense). I’ve actually been asked a few times of late who “my driver” is? Initially, I was confused by this. Who am I… Richie Rich? Do I bear a striking to resemblence to some rock star or Hollywood denizen? Then I realized… it’s NASCAR-speak.
Well… my driver is Dale Earnhardt Jr. The reason? His answers to the questions posed in a recent Sports Illustrated article. To wit:
Kevin Harvick started the 2007 Busch season the same way he spent most of last season - in first place, after winning the first race of the season, the Orbitz 300. Look, I like Kevin Harvick. He’s a good guy who doesn’t take himself too seriously, and everyone respects the dignified way he took over Dale Earnhardt’s ride six years ago this weekend. But in finishing 800-odd points ahead of Carl Edwards last year, he is emblematic of what is killing the Busch series - full-time Nextel Cup drivers competing in what is ostensibly NASCAR’s developmental series. In today’s race, 12 of the top 15 drivers were guys with Nextel Cup rides. I can understand why sponsors would prefer to have their Busch cars driven by guys like Harvick and Tony Stewart instead of actual up-and-comers, but to me, as a fan, it undermines the credibility of the series. It’s as if Peyton Manning still spent his Saturdays quarterbacking Tennessee, or Lebron James pulled double duty with his old high school when not playing for the Cavaliers. If it were up to me there would be a window of, say, 2 or 3 seasons, after which guys who move up from Busch to become Cup regulars are barred from competing in the Busch series.