Monthly Miscellanea from the Marbles

Actions Have Consequences:

The internet has been rife with commentary about Tony Stewart and his various altercations with other drivers. So many times, we hear from Tony that 'it was someone else's fault', or that 'someone does not know how to give and take', or that 'it was not intentional.' One wonders how often he told his buddy Kevin Harvick that it was indeed intentional. Kevin is still not happy with Tony, and as of this writing, had not answered Tony's phone calls. One can only claim innocence for so long, before even the best of friends start questioning the motives.

In fact, this is the second 'friend' Tony has had an issue with. Denny Hamlin was not running to fall back into Tony's good graces, and indeed Coach Gibbs had to be called in to break up the battle.

Tony should understand that espousing the philosophy of 'give and take' requires some giving before the taking. When one is handing out the BS, one should expect that the people who know you the best to recognize the BS when it is directed at them.

Tony Stewart, the day after:

A few fan boards have reported that Tony Stewart, on the Monday after his Indy/Brickyard win, was trying to prepare for his Sirius show. There were some technical difficulties, and he and Matt Yokum supposedly were talking while assuming they were having a private conversation. The microphones were 'hot', and Tony was said to have commented on how 'effing' hungover he was, and that he was peeved he had to attend his fan picnic that day. Since I quit listening to him several weeks ago, I cannot verify this. I did try to tune in to the beginning of the replay on Tuesday, but they were replaying a "Best of..." show. That in itself is unusual, as I was told that "Best of..." Show was specifically for the off week. I will say, there was some hysterical stuff going on with a Carl Edwards interview and the happenings at a bowling alley in South Carolina! (THAT was Tony at his best!)

Merger Mania

The DEI/Ginn deal is still having far reaching repercussions. Marty Snider interviewed Dale Earnhardt JR, and replayed a portion of that interview on Sirius this week. Dale Jr commented that 300 employees in Mooresville would be out of jobs. Some boards are reporting that Claire B. Lang's XM show claims the layoffs have started. There are some serious issues reported about Ginn's level of debt. One hopes that DEI used Due Diligence to research the debt load.

Ironically, some of the 'net flak has been targeted at 'leader' of TEI as being the person who is the evil boss screwing the workers. And yet, if TEI...oops..DEI had not had the merger, there would be a whole race shop shut down. This way, some of the workers do get to keep their jobs.

Yates/Newman/and whoever else....
Newman! *sigh* Hey, has Robert Redford ever wanted to be a sponsor? I am heading to a race this fall just to hopefully stalk Paul Newman! Stalking Redford would make it a perfect day for me!

Other than a gorgeous Senior Citizen, what other benefit does the Y/H/N/L deal create? I can see that Yates can use the engineering. And now, they may need the sponsor support. But what does the N/H/L part of the deal get? One hears that a certain grandson of a certain 'first name of IRL' may be the biggest beneficiary!

Sponsor Merry-Go-Round!

M&M/Mars is receiving almost as much buzz as Budweiser. Ironically, both of these icons are swarming around Ray Evernham! Go figure! Evernham is having the crappiest of seasons, and yet the sponsors are knocking on his doors!

There are many, many Sadler fans that may have to eat their words, as well as some M&Ms. They were so quick to holler "I will never eat M&Ms again! " Wow, enjoy some Crow with those candy covered chocolates? Does Crow melt in the hand? Hmmmmm!

One has to wonder what in the world is going on with the Powers That Be at Mars. Their former driver has broken not one but two contracts. This same driver received many complaints in the last year as not being known to treat his fans especially well. (Expired Tylenol was the only noteworthy item in an expensive Fan Club Pack.) The other driver under consideration has been noticed by me in a previous blog, and now members of the media, as having little grace under pressure. His negative comments about other drivers have soured some of his fans, even if he can move his butt enticingly in commecials.

Other message boards wonder why a family owned company would even pursue a team whose owner 1) admitted to having a personal relationship with an employee and 2) verbally and publicly threw one of his employees under the bus for job performance. One wonders about potentially far-reaching splatter from impending lawsuits from the Wronged Girlfriend or the Jilted Engineer. It would not be the first law-suit experienced by Ray. Any publicity from such a lawsuit could splatter right back onto the sponsor.

There are many that would take great joy in seeing the current bearer of the M to end up ahead of the previous bearer. If Ray does not get his group of drivers together, it could happen. In the meantime, David Gilliland is slowly but surely building a fan base. He is also still in inferior equipment, and yet slowly but surely gaining on his scores. He is even being noticed by some 'Hot Sheet' and other gambling odds sites as a prospect!

Can he ever...?

Can Kyle Busch ever get through a race without controversy? He plays the "I am a bigger man and can apologize" card, and then he peeved Jeff Burton. The good thing is, Jeff is a behind-the-scenes type of guy, when it comes to driver relationships. Kyle's saving grace is that he can driver the wheels, and the decals, off of his cars.

NASCAR broadcasts:

TV: So far, after one Cup race, and a half season of Busch races, I am not impressed with ESPN. The 'draft track' was silly. Tim Brewer had some great tools at his disposal, but was thrown under the bus over the placement of Jimmie Johnson's fuel pump. There were a lot of commercials, but then, when the $$ are thrown out there, you have to expect that. I am not yet ready to go Pay Per View.

Trackpass gives me the 'fill-in coverage' I need. Radio scanners and Race view give me at least 85% of the picture, even when my driver is up front for a bit, and ESPN forgets to talk about him. Uh oh! I just realized, that I am paying, in essence, a pay-per-view to get the coverage I need!!!! Hmmm!

Best Broadcast Bang for the Buck: Sirius Radio channel 128

• The day starts off with the Misfits, aka The Morning Drive...Marty Snider and David Poole. Their discussions quite often jump into the argument stage, but always make you think!
  

• The Driver's Seat, with John Kernan as host, is fabulous! John is so knowledgeable and comforting to listen to, and has such good rapport with Buddy Baker (love love LOVE Buddy's stories!)and also Ricky Craven, John Andretti, and a cast of thousands!

• Sirius Speedway has the most longevity of the group, and has the most fun! Regular reports from Juan Pablo Montoya, Ray Evernham, and Brendan Gaughan give me targets of tuning. I will listen to each of them each week! Dave Moody and team have me giggling hysterically at least 5 times in each broadcast! This group has a knack of bringing out the real driver in their interviews!
  

Congrats to Brendan Gaughan, our Las VegasNCTS driver who is going to be walking down the aisle this month. It is a special woman who can tolerate his zaniness, but those of us that have met him know that he is a special person. Best wishes for a happy happy life, Brendan! And Mrs. Brendan!

Speaking of gambling....what is going on with the drivers enticing fans into gambling or poker sites? How long can the fans really expect the drivers to really show up! What kind of profit do the drivers receive? Hmmmmmm!

We will wait with anticipation to see what the next month brings! In the meantime....Happy Racing!

Tony Stewart, Again and Again!

The July race at Daytona has traditionally been a 4th of July extravaganza, complete with wonderful fireworks as the winner enters Victory Lane. This year, there were fireworks of a different nature starting in turn 4 of the 15th lap.

Denny Hamlin was leading, and team mate, Tony Stewart, ran into the rear of Denny. Both cars wrecked, and caused secondary wrecks involving Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Reed Sorenson. The melee was startling enough, but what happened in the garage later is where the fireworks show really started.

The media was waiting for Tony, and they got exactly what they wanted! Dave Rodman, of NASCAR.com reported Tony's tirade against Denny.

"The No. 11 just stopped for no reason, right in the middle of Turn 4," Stewart said. "I'm sure he was getting tight because for three laps in a row we were catching him through the center and the exit of the corner.

"All of a sudden he just stops on the exit of [Turn] 4 in front of 42 cars and I guess expects all of us to drive around him. I don't know. It's tore up two really good racecars."

While the above statement was hauntingly similar to Tony's comments about David Gilliland at Michigan, Tony decides to add fuel to the fire by stating:

Stewart said Hamlin had "tried to crash us on Friday in practice and didn't get it done so he finished it off [Saturday]."

Now, it is eerily similar to what Tony has said about other drivers, including Gilliland.

Rodman even reports:

Stewart's frustration was doubly evident, as, when his crew told him over the radio that Hamlin's No. 11 crew was going to help push Stewart's car toward the garage, he said "don't let them touch this [expletive] thing."

Tony takes it a step further when holding court with a camera crew from ESPN's Nascar Now.

We got one team mate here that is a superstar and he wants to be his own one man band and he is about to succeed at it.

It is obvious that something is bothering Tony to the point of pain. Is it that he is the only driver in the top ten to not have a win? Is it possible that his team mate, Denny, won before Tony won? Is it possible that Tony has surrounded himself by folks who reinforce his bad behavior and in fact, encourage it? Is it possible that the 'fix' of moving back to Indiana was only a band-aid? It could be any, all or some of that, or none of it.

What we do know is Hamlin took the high road.

"If he wants to blame it on me I'll be the bigger man -- I'll take responsibility for it. He's been around this sport longer than I have and he probably knows more than I do, so I'll just take it for what it's worth."

Coach Gibbs tried to defend the actions of his drivers.

"The two guys are very competitive, we're running up front and we've got real good cars and that's something that can happen," Gibbs said after visiting the garage with his son, team president J.D. Gibbs. "That's really what happened -- it's just one of those unfortunate things.

"Both guys are going as hard as they can and I think both of these guys are real competitive. I think they're good teammates and I think it's just something that happened [Saturday night]."

However, Rodman writes that Gibbs had not seen the incident, nor had he heard Tony's comments.

As I review much of the reporting about the incident, I am struck that some of the media are not as much on Tony's side as in the past. One wonders if the "Tony is Tony" attitude is wearing thin on the media, much like it is wearing thin on fans.

Some fans still staunchly defend their driver. Many emails remind me that he has a big heart, and gives generously to all around him. I will concede that the Good Tony is indeed good. It is just that the Evil Tony is so rotten.

Frankly, I would love to have one month were his grade-school antics are not the highlight of the news. However, Tony continues to make a target of himself. One wonders how long it will be before Home Depot steps in and sanctions him again.

More Miscellanea from the Marbles

Penalty's Painful Penance:

Tony Eury, Jr, Crew Chief for the DEI #8 Budweiser team, was said to have been parked in the motorcoach lot during NHIS weekend, in spite of still serving a 6-week suspension. While on the top of the motorcoach watching practice, he was said to have removed his shirt due to heat. At the end of the day, he discovered he was sunburned to the point of blistering. Ouch!

That may be the most pain any member of the 8 team felt while Tony was serving his sentence. In fact, that may be the most pain felt by ANY of the Suspended Chiefs. It has been noticed by many that the teams with Probational Crew Chiefs have not failed as much as expected. The truth has come out, that the crew chiefs have been violating the spirit of the suspension, and are still at the track, and participating in team decisions during the weekend.

Look for NASCAR to restrict those shenanigans! Brian France, during a teleconference stated
that NASCAR was looking into it. My personal suggestion is to send those crew chiefs out into Short-Track Land, and have them join the inspection team. Then on Cup day, they should be joining David Hoots in Race Control, unable to use cell phones or any other device to contact their teams. Keep them busy on race weekend, far too busy to get into trouble. After all, it works for many teen-agers that are grounded!

Grace Under Pressure

There is a certain cachet to winning races. It is easy to be gracious with fans, media, and other drivers when one is on top of the world. It takes an extra amount of maturity to show grace when your world has turned upside down.

Kasey Kahne? Went from winning 6 races last year, and this year has been struggling to get past his single Top 10. When he is frustrated, he blames the other drivers around the track, complete with cheap shots. (David Gilliland and David Stremme were targets, for example.)

Tony Stewart? Well, I have already been vocal about him. He will occasionaly admit to being in the wrong, rarely. It is sad that he is a two-time champ.

Juan Montoya? The instances of his arrogance are too numerous to mention. Great driver, but lacking in social skills.

Denny Hamlin? Thank heavens he finally got a win! The look on his face was rapidly assuming the same dark thunderous expressions worn by his Two-Time Champ team mate!

Kyle Busch? He leaves the Texas race while his team is still trying to fix his car. At Atlanta. after clashing on track with his brother Kurt, refuses to address the media. Word in the garage is that it was rather 'frosty' in the Busch family for quite awhile. And let us not forget how he dissed his car while standing in Victory Lane.

How many times have we heard bad things about Jeff Burton over-reacting under pressure? Bobby Labonte? Terry Labonte? And for heaven's sake, even Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Dale Jr have not expressed such extreme lack of class. And on the rare occasions they have been wrong, they are the first to acknowledge they were wrong.

Brad Keselowski is this week's winner of Grace under Pressure, How to Be Bigger Than The Situation. After having the race of his life, and being spun out on the final lap, he only expressed disappointment for himself, without casting blame. During radio interviews in the week after, he told us he knows that it does no good to get angry. Good for you, Brad!

Silly Season in Full Swing!

So far, we have seen the high-profile driver switch-abouts from the high profile Dale Earnhardt Jr and Kyle Busch. Other rumors abound with David Reutimann and Ryan Newman. The whole set of drivers from Evernham Motorsports have been the subject of rampant rumors. Those rumors persist, even though Ray declared, due to the pending merger with Canadiens owner Gillett Jr., that all of his drivers have committed to EMS. And yet, the rumors persist as the teams continue to struggle.

In addition, Sadler's Team Director has stepped off of the pit box, and Ray has committed to being on the box with his interim TD for the next race.

Drivers in Need of Parking?

When I heard that Ted Musgrave had been parked for a race in NCTS, I was astounded, as it seemed so far unreal when compared to past penalties. I especially wondered why the NCTS seemed to have so little trouble with parking a driver, and yet the NEXTEL Cup seemed to be holding back. Then I read the following quote from TMS promoter Eddie Gossage "But the day you park a popular driver is the day I'll be demanding money back from my purse and sanctioning fee from NASCAR because there will be some people not showing up because their favorite driver isn't at the track. It puts NASCAR in a bind. It really does." Enough said! Parking a Cup driver will be one of the last steps that NASCAR will ever take.

We are now approaching the 'crossed-flags' of the 2007 racing season. Look for a report card in the near future!

Aric Almirola: When is a Win not a Win?

Saturday night at the Busch Race, in Milwaukee! It should be a fun time with good racing. But, just like the race at Infineon, and like the Truck race the night before, this race is also fraught with controversy.

Denny Hamlin originally was not going to run this race. However, Rockwell Automation is based in Milwaukee, and according to various reports Rockwell wanted their star to make the trek from California to Wisconsin, in hopes of a win. As a reminder, the day started out poorly for our hero, Denny. He overslept, and missed part of first practice. He had to skedaddle to catch a plane, one that for some reason has to be refueled twice during the trip.

Denny's helicopter could not land on the heliopad, and he asked for permission to land at the track, and was refused. (Rightly, I might add!) He finally lands, declares he will respect Aric Almirola's efforts and won't get in the car.

By lap 60, that had changed. Denny was in the car, and Aric was out. Denny went on to win the race, but there was a great deal of discomfort in Victory Lane.

At this point, all of the finger pointing says that the sponsor, Rockwell Automation, made the decision to pull Aric out of the car. It could well have been Gibbs making the decision to placate the sponsor. We know both the driver or the crew chief claimed to have not been a part of the decision making process.

What a shame for Aric! He was in great equipment, he won the pole, and he was running top 3 at the time. AND, he would not have had to fight from a lap back. We will never know what he could have done. And he gets his a win that he did not 'earn.' It is easy to not find pride in that kind of win.

Denny drove a good race, and we cannot take that away from him.

Whether the decision was made by JD Gibbs, Coach Gibbs or the sponsor, Rockwell got their win, but at what cost? If they indeed insisted that Denny get in the car, then they may need to revise their Standards of Ethics.

Who We Are

You Expect High Standards

You expect your partners and suppliers to adhere to high ethical standards. Working with Rockwell Automation means you are engaging a partner that considers honesty, fairness, quality and responsiveness as guiding principles; and integrity an underlying value in every business transaction.

Our commitment to responsible business practices is absolute. Our employees, officers and directors behave with integrity in all interactions with customers, partners, shareholders, consumers, and governments, and comply with the mandates of our extensive ethics program and conflicts of interest statement.

Somehow or other, I don't think Aric Almirola will believe the truth of those Ethics statements. It looks like the one about 'fairness' did not apply tonight. If I were an employee of Rockwell, I would be embarassed, no matter WHO made the decision.


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I just wanted to add one more thought, that I already posted as a response on another blog:

And this cannot be good for NASCAR's diversity effort, either. A Cuban-American gets pulled from the car so that an All-American, Apple-Pie Southerner can get the win.

Edited 06/24/07 at 9:50 AM