Well I have been neglecting the blog for a bit, trying to focus on my daunting job search, and getting my school work done. Luckily the school work has been going great, but the job search continues. Anyways, this post is about some randomness from the end of the NASCAR season, and I am going to touch on a little bit of all of it.
Crossfit athlete Christmas Abbott warming up. Check out her ink... Photo from Tumblr.
Today while thumbing through my twitter feed, I come across a tweet from Ashley Parlett (@Just_AP) that says if I haven't googled Christmas Abbott yet, then do it. She has good insight and opinions of the sport. She is a former road mechanic, currently works for Speed on the show Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain, and was touted by Matt Clark (@MattClarkMC) as the woman in line to break the barrier of a female Crew Chief in NASCAR. If that isn't enough street cred, then I don't know what is. Anyway, when I find the pictures of Christmas, this was the first one I came to below.
Christmas Abbott is working her way into NASCAR with Turner Motorsports. Photo courtesy of Corey Lowenstein from thatsracin.com.
Here is the article that this picture was pulled from by Scott Fowler. "Is NASCAR ready for Christmas?" In the article, Christmas has an awesome quote when asked if she wants to be the pit crew version to pit crews as Danica is to NASCAR drivers. “I’m going to say no,” she said, “because I want to be the best and she hasn’t proven to be the best yet. I don’t want anything given to me because I’m female. I go in there and I have to work twice as hard just because I am female and because I look a certain way. I want this because it’s an opportunity that intrigues me.” She has competed in Crossfit in the past, and you can tell that by her making it this far that she is serious about the sport. I am all for it, she is certainly easy on the eyes, covered in tattoos, and in my opinion is on the verge of having the one of the best jobs in the World. Good luck to Christmas.
Alexander Rossi is the closest American driver to making it to F1. Photo courtesy of theaustingrandprix.com.
With the Grand Prix of the United States concluding Sunday, and Lewis Hamilton taking the win in the successful return of the series to America, Alexander Rossi comes to mind. He is working his way up the ladder on his way to race in Formula 1, and proudly represent the United States as the only driver in that series. Scott Speed was the last American to compete in the series, but was released because of performance. That leads me to this interesting point. Through one of my random searches of Kyle Busch the other night, it led me to articles about him trying out an F1 car. I guess I was under a rock when all this happened, but I was astonished and actually saddened that he never got the chance in one of those cars. His initial test with Toyota in 2010 was stopped by NASCAR, when they ordered him to the Nationwide banquet instead. The US F1 team that wanted to have him in their car ultimately folded and he is still successful in NASCAR. I like Formula 1, but having an American in the series to cheer for would make it that much more exciting to watch and follow.
Kimi Raikkonen won the Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi Sunday. This was his first win since 2009. Photo from Speedtv.com.
This isn't going to be a normal post about how NASCAR should change, and do something different as far as the racing is concerned. This post is about the actual good that goes on in NASCAR, and how the fan looks for the bad so they can continue to hate certain drivers. After procrastinating from my homework all day Sunday by watching the Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi on my DVR, then immediately switching over to the Sprint Cup race at Texas, I was fairly successful at putting that off.
Anyway, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was one of the most exciting races I have seen from F1 this year. It had plenty of rough racing, wheel to wheel, bumping, cars flying, and so much controversy. Sebastian Vettel, the championship leader was penalized and had to start from the pit lane, in 24th position. Somehow throughout the race he ended up on the podium in 3rd place. Even though that was such a great drive, it was overshadowed by Kimi Raikkonen taking his Lotus to victory lane, his first since returning to F1, and first victory since 2009 in the sport. He held off a hard charging Fernando Alonso, which made for some exciting final laps. Here is how all this comes into play.
Kimi Raikkonen making his Craftsman Truck Series debut for KBM at Charlotte in 2011. Photo from bleacherreport.com.
Kimi Raikkonen on his hiatus from Formula 1 dabbled in NASCAR for a few races. He was thinking about making the jump, but wanted to run some races first. He shopped around for a ride, and ended up landing with Kyle Busch Motorsports to run 3-5 Craftsman Truck Series races. The deal was for $100,000 a race, but by the sounds of how everything went down it was more on a handshake contract. Kimi finished 15th in his first truck race at Charlotte, and decided to try the Nationwide Series out. KBM built a car, and partnered with Joe Nemechek to field the car for Kimi, but he finished a disappointing 27th. Kimi had a horrible time in that race, and decided he would hold off on any more races, especially since he was competing in the World Rally Car championship at the time. Kyle Busch felt cheated by this, and went to the media with his displeasure with Kimi. Well Kimi came back and said it was a misunderstanding, and that Kyle had been paid in full for what was raced. The fans had already made up their mind.
Kyle Busch losing his cool with Ron Hornaday after a racing incident. Fall 2011 Texas Craftsman truck race.
Kyle Busch was known as the bad boy of NASCAR by ruffling more than a few feathers that was until his brother Kurt took the crown. Kyle had issues with Richard Childress stemming from a truck race when Kyle roughed up Joey Coulter. That led to blows, and Childress getting someone to hold his watch, so he could teach Kyle a lesson. That incident led to Kyle getting into it with Kevin Harvick at Darlington. Harvick drives for Childress in the Sprint Cup series. Both were put on probation, but that didn't stop Kyle from punting Ron Hornaday at Texas and ultimately getting sat for the rest of the weekend. This incident led many to become worried about Kyle Busch's future at Joe Gibbs Racing, and in NASCAR as a whole. There are plenty of other incidents with Kyle I could go into, including numerous times this year he has refused comment after a bad race. One race I will say that he was available for comment, but the reporters were too worried about getting interviews with the chasers, and left Kyle out.
Kyle Busch in his KBM Monster Energy Camry at Texas where Kyle finished 3rd. Photo from therepublic.com.
This is what the article is really about. Thumbing through twitter after the Texas race, I came across this article from Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) on sbnation.com. Here is a link to the article, click here. Kyle has been trying all year to get a win in his Monster Energy Camry in the Nationwide series. It looked like it was going to happen at Texas, up until the end when Harvick's car took off, and young Ryan Blaney passed Busch late with fresh tires to relegate Busch to 3rd. Last year, Kyle would have been angry, and would have said something he probably shouldn't have. He has shown a lot of maturity this year, and the feel good part of this story is with Ryan Blaney. Ryan is only 18, even though he is racing in the big leagues now close to Sprint Cup, these guys are still his idols. Kyle got out of his car, and before he even took his helmet off, walked over to Blaney and gave him a bro hug, and congratulated him on the great finish. They both joked about it after the fact in the media center, but these are the stories that need to be written about Kyle, and many others. The good sportsmanship, and comradery between the drivers. Even though we as fans see the bad week to week since that is reported, these drivers have big hearts and give back to a lot of people. I will leave you with video proof of Kyle and his wife Samantha's heart of gold from ESPN. Kyle Felver is an eight year old who loves racing his go-kart, but is in a battle with illness. His one wish was to meet Kyle Busch. Take a look at the video it will shine some better light on both Kyle Busch, and Kyle Felver. If this video doesn't make you tear up, then you should probably get checked to make sure you have a heart still. After seeing this, Kyle will always receive the benefit of the doubt from me from now on. Kurt Busch along with his girlfriend Patricia do a lot of work with wounded soldiers. This year I have found myself rooting for Kurt more, because of the equipment he has been in. I hope he can turn Furniture Row into a contender week in and week out. While both Busch brothers are misunderstood by most, they still use what they have been given to ultimately give back. Until next time.
ESPN Sportscenter special My Wish with Kyle Felver meeting his favorite driver, Kyle Busch.
Mark Martin has four poles in the Sprint Cup series this year. Photo from cbssports.com.
While watching NASCAR Race Hub today on Speed, an interesting point was brought up. In the Overdrive segment with Bob Dillner (@bobdillner), and Matt Clark (@MattClarkMC) were discussing the fact about giving bonus points for qualifying. I had thought about this a while back, and adopting more of a points system along the lines of Formula 1. With them, there is a high premium on qualifying, and they only give point down through 10thplace. A typical field of cars for them would be 25. But anyway, back to the segment on Race Hub.
It was stated that maybe three points should be given for pole, two for second, and one for third starting position. Well I wasn’t sure how much of a change it would have had on the points, so I did some research. I will highlight some of the battles instead of just throwing out a ton of numbers. After the Atlanta race, Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin would be tied with 833, instead of Keselowski having a nine point lead over Hamlin. Harvick would leap frog Bowyer, and lead by four points. The most interesting part of the point system would have to deal with the battle between Kyle Busch, and Jeff Gordon to get into the chase.
Kasey Kahne also has four poles this season in the Sprint Cup series. Photo from the Chicagotribune.com.
Kyle Busch had 746 points compared to Gordon’s 734, but with the bonus for qualifying Busch would have 758 to Gordon’s 739 after Atlanta. Gordon would receive two bonus points under this system for his 2nd place starting position, so the gap would close from 19 to 17. You have to account for the change in racing, because changing the points like this would change a lot throughout the season. Besides that, if we played out Richmond like it happened, Kyle Busch would have led Gordon by two after the race. Kyle Busch would be in the chase if this format was adopted. The last race was exciting already, but if Gordon knew that he needed to win that race, what else would have happened? Would we have another Paul Menard incident, but instead of Childress, it was Hendrick quarterbacking a caution? We will never know unfortunately.
I think this would be a good thing for NASCAR to look at, as well as Matt Clark’s thoughts about a chase mulligan, even though Bob Dillner is totally against that idea. What you didn’t see about the points system other than what I talked about above was how it tightened everyone. Changing those few of points could mean the difference in two-tires, fuel only, or no pitting. The excitement level would go up for the racing just by giving incentive for an event that is struggling for our fans to watch anymore. Just think about how different this chase would have been had Kyle Busch been there. Until next time.
Buddh International Circuit in India, site of round 17 of the Formula 1 season.
While watching the first practice of the Grand Prix of India, this turn caught my eye. This is the best picture I could find, but it has many different variations of orange and white in differing patterns. It just looks wild when they go to the helicopter shot while the cars are blasting around the double apex turn. Well back on topic.
I have started to watch a lot of Formula 1 coverage this year, namely because I finally came into the 21st century, and got a DVR. No more trying to stay up late when getting home from the bar, and passing out before the standing start. But anyway, I could always tell that there was a lot of money in F1, but it wasn't until last month that I really started to look into it. @JennaFryer broke the news about Lewis Hamilton moving from McLaren-Mercedes, to Mercedes for a cool amount of three years, at $100 million dollars. I couldn't believe it, I knew they made good money, but $33.3 million a year is nuts! Well during one of the races on Speed, there was a big deal made about Marissa-Cosworth displacing Caterham-Renault for 10th place in the Constructors standings. The way they did this, is Timo Glock finishing 12th at Singapore. Even though none of the teams at the bottom of these standings have any points, Marussia-Cosworth holds the spot with this finish. The part that really blew my mind though, is that the top-10 teams in the Constructor Standings at the end of the year, split 700 million dollars... Yes that is correct; almost 1 billion dollars are paid out at the end of the year. Let me redirect you into how this plays into my post and NASCAR as well.
There is no doubt that Formula 1 reaches more fans worldwide, than the traditionally Southeastern sport of NASCAR racing. I know what you are thinking, but NASCAR has races in Canada, and North of the Mason Dixon line, hell they even have made it to the West of the Mississippi too. Well, if they want to continue to grow the sport, and reach younger fans, then that isn't enough. NASCAR was doing a good thing, even though it was just with the Nationwide series in trying to grow the sport. The Nationwide series held a race in Mexico City, and Montreal. The Montreal race is no more, even though NASCAR keeps dropping hints about racing at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park next year to replace Montreal. NASCAR quit taking the Nationwide Series to Mexico City in years.
Just based on the money that Formula 1 teams operate on, and what is generated, there are a ton of fans out there that could learn to love NASCAR. I feel that on road courses, and even some ovals that NASCAR puts out a good product, with more parody, passing, and drama than F1. They do this either at the track, or sitting on the couch at home. Formula 1 racing at times for me is boring, because if you don't start within the first 5-6 positions, and get a good start or some extraordinary circumstance, you are not winning the Grand Prix. In the top three series of NASCAR, you can start from up front, to back in the 30's plus, and still through pit strategy, fuel mileage, or just getting up on the wheel have a chance to win the race.
NASCAR has a golden opportunity to align itself with Formula 1 without having to take the sport overseas. That was a big factor in NASCAR ceasing to take the sport to Mexico City anymore. The new Grand Prix of Austin at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA), and the Grand Prix of Canada at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. The France family needs to try to work on something with F1, so that they could partner in a weekend with the worldwide love of many. Play second fiddle, because other than the small sector of the Southeast of the United States, that is what will happen anyway. NASCAR needs to swallow its pride, and open their eyes to what is going on in the World of racing. Our guys in the overweight rumbling bumbling V8 powered cars put on a good show, just take the three way battle between Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, and Marcos Ambrose at Watkins Glen late this summer. That was the highlight of the season bar none, let’s give them some more chances to replay that, and have it be seen on the World stage. Let me leave you with the highlight video from NASCAR's YouTube channel of the battle I talked about between Ambrose, Busch, and Keselowski from the end of the race at Watkins Glen. Until next time.
