M&M's, Pedigree, and Weapons of Mass Disgust, Oh My!

Richmond International Raceway - a race track that inspires drivers to claim it is the penultimate racing experience. Fans claim the same, and I must say I would be included in that claim. I visited RIR 4 years ago, and reminisce fondly on the whole experience.
The fans attending the race on May 3rd received a more exciting show than the value of their tickets implied. This race will compare to the most memorable races in the annals of NASCAR history, only because of the quirkiest of events.

First, Kudos to my favorite driver, David Gilliland! While Freecreditreport.com has extended their agreement with Yates, it is widely speculated that the car decorations are 'gratis' until the next big-time sponsor can be found. "Gratis or not, I am grateful for the logo's and I will be wearing purple and black as long as the FCR pirate hat continues to adorn the quarter panels.David had a marvelous run, starting from the 40's (when will the Yates cars start qualifying better?) and ran as high as 14th. Sadly, he was involved in the lap 230 fiasco that sent several cars to the garage. David's car was one of three that never returned to the track. His team mate, Travis Kvapil, finished 16th, and is now 19th in driver points with David sitting 20th. Not bad for two teams that are sorely underfunded! I am sure there are some big dollar sponsors out there who want some exposure! At any rate, this driver will continue to show the promise that came from his Cinderella-like win in the Busch series a few years ago.



Denny Hamlin certainly appeared to be the class of the field. Every restart had the hometown hero charging away from the pack, and he seemed to be unstoppable. Disaster struck for the 11 team when a tire was going down, and Denny stopped the car on the track, forcing a caution. Parked two laps by NASCAR for the infraction, he would certainly have gone down as many laps, if not more, with a green flag stop or a tire blow-out.

Denny's forced caution set the scene for one of the most talked about events of the last two days. Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. were racing side by side, when a 'racing deal' caused Jr. to spin, backing into the outside wall. The anger from the fans was evident in single digit gestures, booing, and the traditional "Jr got dumped" rain of beer cans, aka Weapons of Mass Disgust.



A Sunday afternoon spent browsing the internet shows there are three sharply divided camps on the Jr. vs Kyle subject.

• Group one is made up mostly of media, and a few fans who 'have no dog in that hunt.' The opinion's seem to agree that a racing deal happened. The members of this group are pretty sure that Kyle did not intend for it to happen, and should not be penalized by the Jr. Nation.
  

• Group two is the "I hate Jr and will now love Kyle" faction. Any driver that is involved in a battle with the scion of the man called Senior is automatically moved to the top of their list! They dismiss 17 Cup wins as a fluke in their sureness that Jr. is over-rated.
  

• And the third group is the one that will cause this event to never, ever be forgotten. Fans of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. will not forgive this one easily. Already nicknamed Vile Kyle on more than one message forum, an arrogant attitude will force this driver to endure boo's and catcalls during driver intros for years in the future.
  

Many fans are already busy writing a plethora of emails and letters to every media venue available, to Gibbs racing, and are busy creating a hate-mail campaign to Mars, Inc., the sponsor of Kyle Busch. The anger directed to Kyle Busch will overflow to Mars being instructed on the sanity of sponsoring such a controversial driver, with threats to never ever purchase any of the products ever.

Kyle's attitude reared it's head in the Richmond Nationwide race on Friday. A post-race scuffle with Steven Wallace caused Kyle to mouth some pretty self-damning statements. Kyle is showing the world his attitude with statements such as

...he's probably not even driving Ritchie Wauter's Super Late Models anymore either.

and

We've got a lot of things that go on, but this is just a little piece of the pie. I race in the Sprint Cup Series...

The most amusing quote though, was

"That's Rusty Wallace's kid so I'm not sure you're going to be able to talk to him much and get through his head...

One cannot help but reflect "Mr. Pot, meet Mr. Kettle!"

One also wonders if Mars got more than they expected. With the announced intent to acquire Wrigley, they may well have two of the most despised drivers on the NASCAR series driving cars under their banner. Oh my! Kyle Busch and Juan Pablo Montoya as 'mates! Who would have thought! And oh, by the way....congratulations to Clint Bowyer, the forgotten winner!

ROCKINGHAM: Show Up or Shush Up

North Carolina Speedway, also known as "Rockingham" and "The Rock" is a storied racetrack that held some of the most exciting stock-car races for decades. Holding its first Winston Cup race in October of 1965, it saw its last NASCAR Cup-level race in February of 2004.

Despite it's storied history in the annals of racing, The Rock suffered from lagging attendance. The last race was short by 10,000 fans, a huge loss when the stands are filled at capacity with 60, 000! Logistically, it made sense to move the dates to other tracks that have greater attendance figures for Busch or Truck series races that for the Cup level attendance at Rockingham. Emotionally, the loss of that track to the NASCAR circuit has grated on fans and drivers both. The track remained dormant until it was auctioned in 2007 to racer Andy Hillenburg.



Now, the fans of the Rock have racing appearing again in May of this year. The Carolina 500 ARCA race is scheduled for May 4th, the day after the Richmond Sprint-Nextel Cup race. Hillenburg has been working hard to rebuild parts of the facility that suffered from disrepair. He knows he won't have it all done, but he is hoping to have the most important parts completed in time for racing.

A recent Press Release shows that Hillenburg is pulling in all connections to bring fans to this race. NASCAR two-time Cup champ Tony Stewart will wave the green flag. Other announcements have country singer-heartthrob Josh Gracin performing the Anthem. Racers Bobby Hamilton Jr and Kenny Schrader have entered the race itself.

The race will have a large field and will sport old-school style of double qualifying. The ticket prices are very reasonable, and there is plenty of campground parking available.

For all of the fans who have persistently lamented the loss of the Rockingham from racing, it is time to put your money, time, and energy where your mouth is. The Rock will once again be alive with the sounds of roaring engines. But it will only continue to live if you the fans continue to support it. Remember, it died it's first death due to lack of attendance. Don't send this track back to it's coffin by your apathy.

Show up or Shush up! I mean it!



For more information, go to Rockingham Raceway Park

Sponsor for Yates and Gilliland?

NASCAR fans of Yates Racing today received a jolt of excitement, all due to one Mr. Dave Moody, kingpin of the Sirius Speedway show. Those who were listening today heard a fan call in, waxing poetic over the attributes of both Yates Racing drivers, David Gilliland and Travis Kvapil. Then Mr. Moody dropped some information that had me all agog!

As many know, Yates Racing has been a study of perseverance and tenacity. With next to nothing in the way of sponsorship, both Gilliland and Kvapil have carefully driven their cars into the midpack of the points. Many times, the cars were bare white, with numbers and 'SponsorYates.com' on their quarter panels. Many in the NASCAR world have marveled that these 'plain white wrapper' cars are outperforming many cars that have big name, and presumably big buck sponsorship.

Meanwhile, back to Sirius Speedway. The fan who called in talked about how great the two cars are driving. Dave Moody piped up with commentary that, while he was unable to pin down Doug Yates at last week's race, he had heard some interesting rumors that Yates may have sponsor decals on the quarter panels in the near future. He did emphasize that there was nothing finished, and no guarantees until the check had been received and cashed!

While I won't be holding my breath waiting for confirmation of this news, I will be keeping an eye on Jayski, and the other rumor sites. I will now be sure to listen to ALL Sirius shows, to hopefully hear trickles of news.

And if a sponsor deal is indeed around the corner, I applaud the sponsor. I want that 'mythical' sponsor to KNOW that fans of David and Travis will be thrilled to throw their support behind that sponsor! A sponsor will get an outstanding deal with those two!

And if there is no truth to this rumor, then I am sure that there are sponsors out there who would be a perfect fit with Yates Racing. And if you are a sponsor in the process of looking, then what the heck are you waiting for?

NASCAR Sponsor Roulette!

What do all of these NASCAR sponsors have in common?

Caterpillar
Target
Red Bull
Valvoline
United States Air Force
Motorcraft
UPS
Microsoft

And what do the above teams have, when combined with the following NASCAR sponsored teams?

Menards
Napa
State Water Heaters
DLP
Mobil One
Aarons Rentals

Both groups are behind the two UNSPONSORED Yates Racing cars in points. And even worse, the first group of sponsors are on cars that are not locked into the Top 35 in points, and have a chance of not even being seen in a race.



photo credit Snafam



photo credit MMSMama via DavidGilliland.com


What is wrong with that picture? Either picture?

Potential Sponsors..... please go to SponsorYates.com. This is your perfect chance to get in at the entry level.

All of the above listed sponsors need to take a long look at their own programs right now. As witnessed by General Mills moving to Richard Childress Racing, it is not too early to start your plans for next year.

After all, today at Texas Motor Speedway, those Yates cars finished 15th and 18th, and outran over half of the field. They will produce for you, too!