(Balancing the business of racing?)
by Jeff Gluck
The following is a commentary from Steve Michalik of Beaver, Pa.:
On Dec. 13, former F1 driver Nelson Piquet Jr. announced he would be coming to NASCAR on a full-time basis, running behind the wheel of a Kevin Harvick Inc. truck in the Camping World Truck Series.
Like many before him, he will attempt to make the jump from open wheel to stock car racing. Unlike many of his recent predecessors, his transition follows the more traditional path of entering NASCAR through one of the lower national touring series rather than making the jump straight to Nationwide or Cup.
This decision prompted the following Tweet from SB Nation's Jeff Gluck:
"Piquet probably could have gone and brought money to some Nwide team (or maybe even Cup), but he wants to do it the right way. Bravo."
Many NASCAR fans, including myself, thought something similar upon hearing the news. That led me to wonder why many consider entering NASCAR through a lower series as the "right way" to do it.
Is it because it triggers our sense of having to pay our dues before achieving success? Perhaps it is due to this method being the traditional path for those wanting to drive in the Cup series. Maybe it feels like the "right way" because for drivers, NASCAR, sponsors and fans, it is the best way for a driver to come into the sport.
Currently, in order to compete in NASCAR, a driver must apply to and be licensed by an approval committee. The decision is supposed to be based on the driver's on-track record, but in many cases, the amount of money a driver can bring to the sport seems to trump their accomplishments – or lack thereof – behind the wheel.
I propose that the NASCAR licensing policies should be based on experience and a minimum standard of performance in NASCAR-sanctioned stock cars. Any driver, no matter how impressive their resume, should be required to begin their national touring experience in the Truck series. Drivers should have to achieve a certain amount of seat time and a certain level of success in that series before being considered for the Nationwide series.
Once graduating to the Nationwide series, similar criteria would apply before the driver could be considered for a Cup license. For example, if Piquet Jr. finishes over 75 percent of the Truck races in 2011 and has a finishing average better than 20th, he can then be licensed for the Nationwide series in 2012. If he does not meet either one of these criteria, he must remain in the Truck series until he can achieve the requirement in a given season.
This merit/experience-based criteria would have a positive effect for the drivers, as they would be allowed to gain experience without getting in over their heads. Could Sam Hornish have avoided his growing pains and kept a full-time sponsor with two seasons of experience in the lower series? Would Scott Speed have been closer in performance to Juan Pablo Montoya if he had more time to develop before entering Cup?
This process would benefit the struggling lower series of NASCAR as the Truck and Nationwide garages would contain promising young drivers and popular drivers from other racing series that could not simply jump into a Cup ride. If large teams cannot take their groomed drivers and place them straight into a Nationwide or Cup car, they will have to invest time, effort and money in the lower series. The Truck series, for example, would benefit from an influx in money and technology from the likes of Hendrick, Childress, and Gibbs.
Finally, the Cup series would benefit from this process. Every driver behind the wheel would have been seasoned in the lower series. They would have displayed the talent required to compete at the highest level, and the competition at the Cup level wouldn't be watered down by a driver that only qualified to be in Cup because of a built-in sponsor.
This concept is not unprecedented in sports. This would be similar to the practice of requiring players to be 2.5 years removed from high school before they can be eligible for the NFL draft.
I can foresee two major objections. First, in some cases NASCAR would take someone with amazing talent and hold them back for two years in the lower series. This may discourage some talented drivers from making the move to NASCAR.
Second, there are financial issues that will likely stop this plan from ever becoming reality. A sponsor like Go Daddy isn't going to get excited about sponsoring Danica Patrick in the Truck series, which airs to a limited audience on Speed. Nationwide races on ESPN have a much wider audience, and I get the feeling that if the sponsors had their way, Danica would have been in a Cup ride in 2010.
Still, by requiring talented drivers to first participate in the lower series, the overall talent level, prestige and value for sponsors of those series would be improved.
So how about it, NASCAR? You would have a better development system for the drivers, better racing for your fans, a financial shot in the arm for your struggling lower series, greater exposure for sponsors in lower series and drivers entering Cup that are qualified to compete at the highest level.
That looks like a winning situation for everyone.
Steve Michalik / Beaver, Pa.
On Twitter: @stevemichalik
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Holmes Looking for Back-to-Back Wins at Phoenix International Raceway
It is the last race of the 2010 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West next weekend at Phoenix International Raceway. So bittersweet because even though the No. 20 NAPA Toyota team will win their 5th series championship, things will change.
All three of the teams from BMR did an awesome job this year. The competition in this series was really at the top of their game. On November 13th the season ends and on November 14th, the 2011 season will begin....
Eric Holmes captured his first career win at the one-mile dog-legged oval of Phoenix International Raceway in April. Piloting the no. 20 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry for Bill McAnally Racing, Holmes walked away with this sought after victory but found himself third in the point standings after a disappointing finish in the season opener at All American Speedway.
The No. 20 NAPA Toyota team led by crew chief Matt Goslant continued to focus on winning races and achieving their goal of giving their race partner, NAPA AUTO PARTS a fifth series championship. Holmes and the NAPA team put the No. 20 in Victory Lane at Douglas County Speedway. They took over the points lead after taking on the road course of Infineon Raceway with a top-five finish. At Toyota Speedway they garnered a top-ten finish, a second place finish at Portland International Raceway and then recorded the team’s third season win at Montana Raceway Park demonstrated that they were the team to beat. Next up was Colorado National finishing with an additional victory. The NAPA team recorded a strong 6th place finish at Miller Motorsports Park only to follow it up with their fifth win of the season in front of their hometown fans at All American Speedway.
Holmes and the No. 20 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota team return to Phoenix International Raceway for the 2010 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West season finale; the 3 Amigos Tequila “125”. With a 156 point lead, Holmes will only have to take the green flag to secure the 2010 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Championship.
There will be a Fan Open House at PIR on Friday November 12th from 11:30 – 5:00 pm. Come out and meet your championship winning NAPA team. Ticket information for the 3 Amigos Tequila “125” can be found at www.phoenixinternationalraceway.com. The green flag for the race will drop at approximately 6 pm on November 13th following the NASCAR Nationwide Series race.
The 3 Amigos Tequila “125” can be seen on SPEED Channel on November 18th at 3 pm pacific from Phoenix International Raceway.
The celebrating will start that Saturday and really hit it's stride in Charlotte, NC on December 11th when NASCAR holds it's Touring Series banquets. Congrats to all of the teams and to all of the officials, track owners and promoters for all of their efforts this year. Special thanks to the media and sponsors. Without them we couldn't do our job.
All three of the teams from BMR did an awesome job this year. The competition in this series was really at the top of their game. On November 13th the season ends and on November 14th, the 2011 season will begin....
Eric Holmes captured his first career win at the one-mile dog-legged oval of Phoenix International Raceway in April. Piloting the no. 20 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry for Bill McAnally Racing, Holmes walked away with this sought after victory but found himself third in the point standings after a disappointing finish in the season opener at All American Speedway.
The No. 20 NAPA Toyota team led by crew chief Matt Goslant continued to focus on winning races and achieving their goal of giving their race partner, NAPA AUTO PARTS a fifth series championship. Holmes and the NAPA team put the No. 20 in Victory Lane at Douglas County Speedway. They took over the points lead after taking on the road course of Infineon Raceway with a top-five finish. At Toyota Speedway they garnered a top-ten finish, a second place finish at Portland International Raceway and then recorded the team’s third season win at Montana Raceway Park demonstrated that they were the team to beat. Next up was Colorado National finishing with an additional victory. The NAPA team recorded a strong 6th place finish at Miller Motorsports Park only to follow it up with their fifth win of the season in front of their hometown fans at All American Speedway.
Holmes and the No. 20 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota team return to Phoenix International Raceway for the 2010 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West season finale; the 3 Amigos Tequila “125”. With a 156 point lead, Holmes will only have to take the green flag to secure the 2010 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Championship.
There will be a Fan Open House at PIR on Friday November 12th from 11:30 – 5:00 pm. Come out and meet your championship winning NAPA team. Ticket information for the 3 Amigos Tequila “125” can be found at www.phoenixinternationalraceway.com. The green flag for the race will drop at approximately 6 pm on November 13th following the NASCAR Nationwide Series race.
The 3 Amigos Tequila “125” can be seen on SPEED Channel on November 18th at 3 pm pacific from Phoenix International Raceway.
The celebrating will start that Saturday and really hit it's stride in Charlotte, NC on December 11th when NASCAR holds it's Touring Series banquets. Congrats to all of the teams and to all of the officials, track owners and promoters for all of their efforts this year. Special thanks to the media and sponsors. Without them we couldn't do our job.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
A BEHIND-THE-SCENES LOOK AT ESPN'S LIVE NASCAR COVERAGE
This I found very interesting. What does it take to put the race on air?
Posted 10/14/10 at 2:22 PM PDT by
By JOE DONATELLI and CHRIS M.
FONTANA, Calif. _ Living in Los Angeles, we’ve spent a little time on the sets of television shows. You can always count on a few things at TV tapings, and one of them is the punishing heat of studio lights. Those lights are the reason why, when audience members attend their first taping of, say, The Late Show with David Letterman in New York, they are surprised at how cold the room is. The director keeps the temperature low because no one wants to watch actor Jonah Hill sweat his way through an eight-minute interview – at least not anyone normal.
Inside the ESPN Pit Studio, which has come to Fontana for the Pepsi Max 400, you can stand two feet beneath dozens of studio lights without breaking a sweat. That’s because the lights are LED. They emit no noticeable heat. This is important. The studio is a modified big rig trailer. Less heat in the studio means a smaller air conditioner, which means a lighter load, which is necessary when your truck weighs 78,000 pounds and there is an 80,000-pound legal road limit.
LED lighting is just one small detail, among many thousands, that someone deemed necessary in order to make possible the weekly production that is ESPN’s traveling NASCAR broadcast. This show is on the road 10 months a year, is comprised of 11 mobile units, lays out 20 miles of cable at each track, has enough portable power to run a small town, captures video and audio on 60 to 75 HD cameras and 100-plus microphones, rents 150 hotel rooms in every city and credentials 225 people for every Sprint Cup event. The Worldwide Leader granted All Left Turns a tour of the ESPN Pit Studio, its production compound and the ESPN Tech Garage. The setup, in a word, is impressive.
The ESPN Pit Studio
Situated at the entrance to pit road at Auto Club Speedway, the mobile ESPN Pit Studio is the weekend home for Allen Bestwick, Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty. The studio is the size of a big rig trailer and is raised on stilts. The interior is only about 12 feet wide and its close quarters hold five members of the production crew, three robot cameras and the on-air hosts of NASCAR Countdown, ESPN RaceDay and the post-race show.
Bestwick, Wallace and Daugherty have an excellent view of pit road, the start/finish line and have the ability to call up any of the more-than 50 in-race cameras as well as a live stat feed from NASCAR. As is usually the case in tight quarters, dark humor abounds. While the cameras only film the on-air talent from the waist up, the production staff noted that the studio has a strict "Pants-On" policy. We did not get the story on the inciting incident that caused the creation of this policy, but our guess is that Rusty Wallace is responsible for it.
The tour of the studio also left a much deeper appreciation for the work Bestwick does. Not only does he sit next to Daugherty, but Bestwick works without a teleprompter while anchoring ESPN's studio coverage all weekend. Bestwick's thorough research allows him to work without a net, referring only to his notes during NASCAR Countdown, the race coverage and the post-race show.
Driver Carl Edwards drops by the ESPN Pit Studio every week for the post-race show. The studio also has welcomed an array of celebrity guests. Brent Musburger once offered Stevie Wonder a chance to drive a Cup car. Wonder accepted, noting that it would be easy because he only had to turn left.
The Pit Studio also lands the occasional freelance gig. In 2008 the unit was used as home base for ABC News coverage of the New Hampshire presidential primary. The production crew worked 20-hours days playing host to Good Morning America and Primetime. We were told that the exterior of the studio was wrapped in white plastic, so as not to betray the truck’s real identity, but that whoever did the redecorating missed a logo and keen observers could see that ESPN’s NASCAR team – sans Bestwick, Wallace and Daugherty – was covering the primary.
To make the most of small space, there are no dressing rooms. Wallace, Bestwick and Daugherty do their own hair and makeup at a small mirror affixed to the wall just off camera. (Just let that image of Wallace putting on his own makeup settle into your head for a bit.) In an area the size of an office cubicle, a small team of professionals -- statistician, lighting director, stage director, audio technician and robotic camera operator -- run each broadcast. We spoke with Ryan Axemear, the team's robotic camera operator, who manages three state-of-the-art cameras from a console that resembles NASA's shuttle controls. Axemear pointed out that the one-of-a-kind mobile studio is equipped with top-notch technology and an experienced crew who travel from different parts of the country to put together the broadcast every week. Many in the crew are so talented that they could have their pick of sports assignments, he said, but they choose NASCAR, because they love it.
The Compound
“The Compound” is the piece of real estate at every track where television networks such as ESPN, Fox, SPEED and TNT, the NASCAR Media Group and third-party companies park the trailers, haul in the portable offices and erect the tents where the television production, or production support, takes place. This is where you find the ESPN audio truck, its tape truck, its servers, the ESPN wardrobe tent, the Craftsman Tech Garage, ESPN’s operations center, a community mess hall, the in-car camera truck, power generators and an EMT helicopter, among other things.
Every track requires a different setup. ESPN public relations representative Andy Hall said that updated tracks have fiber-optics and hard-wired positions for the cameras while older tracks like Pocono require a team to run camera cabling all the way out through the wilderness to each turn. The crew has to battle the elements and, sometimes in Pocono, snakes, to make long cable runs.
Nestled in a cluster of big rig trailers is the ESPN control truck. From the outside, it looks like a hauler with ESPN branding on the side. Inside, it looks like CTU from the TV show “24.” The truck is arrayed with 19 flat-screen televisions that offer a variety of camera angles. In the center of the room director Rich Basile decides which camera angles the television viewer will see. The most popular angles are Camera 1, “the leader,” and Camera 2, “best battle.” Producer Jill Frederickson chooses where the broadcast’s attention is directed – the track, pit row, video replays, audio replays, the tech garage, the pit studio, the garage, commercial breaks, and so on. “Our producer makes more decisions in a three-hour broadcast than most people make in a month,” Hall said.
Are you among those fans frustrated with ESPN’s coverage of NASCAR? We have some news for you. The networks’ executives are aware of your frustration. Hall reads The Daly Planet, too. We asked the ESPN broadcast PR honcho about a couple of common coverage complaints.
Q: Why doesn’t ESPN ever show the debris from debris cautions?
A: ESPN’s cameras actively scan the track for the debris during every debris caution, Hall said. Sometimes they can’t find it. In NASCAR’s defense, the spotters aren’t always sure whether something shiny on the track is a loose part or a liquid or what, Hall said, and the spotters tend to err on the side of caution. When they can find it, Hall said, they put it on the screen.
Q: Why does ESPN always take commercial breaks at the wrong time?
A: Hall said that ESPN tries to frontload races with commercial breaks so that it can show as much of the end of the race as possible. Go back and watch old races, Hall said, and you will see commercial breaks on lap 6 back then, too. (Our own Jay W. Pennell recently backed this up.) Racing is different than stick-and-ball sports that have planned timeouts and quarter and inning breaks. Frederickson has to decide, on the fly, when to take a break. It’s a gamble. Sometimes she loses.
Q: How come ESPN misses restarts?
A: Rule of thumb: The smaller the track, the shorter the caution period, the easier it is to miss a restart. No one, Hall said, gets more upset at missing a restart than the personnel in the production truck.
Q: Can ESPN break into a commercial if something big happens?
A: Yes, it can, but only during national commercial breaks. ESPN can’t break into local commercial breaks.
Inside the truck, looking at 19 televisions, some of which offer multiple angles on one screen, makes you realize that the idea of covering 43 cars driving 200 mph for 11,000 laps a year with 75 cameras and 100 microphones and hundreds of personnel in any type of consistent fashion is as noble as it is absurd.
The Tech Garage
Contrary to what some people believe, the Craftsman Tech Garage is on the grounds at the track, and not in Bristol, Conn., ESPN’s headquarters. Tech garage guru Tim Brewer watches the race from inside the garage with a cameraman. He gets about 30 seconds of notice before he is live. Brewer supplies a lot of the gear in the garage himself thanks to his relationship with various race shops. The cutaway engine, for example, is from Richard Childress Racing.
There has only been one time in the history of the tech garage that Brewer failed to use the cutaway car to explain an incident. In Phoenix in 2007, the producer asked Brewer to show viewers what happened to David Gilliland’s front left fender. “The cutaway car doesn’t have a front left fender,” Brewer famously reported back.
The garage must be broken down and reassembled exactly the same way every week, so that Brewer knows the location of every piece of equipment, which he may have to grab rather quickly. Among the more interesting items in the garage is a Disney-built digital replication of an engine, which can be explored via touch screen. Next to it lies a block of tungsten, which the teams use to weight the rails on the cars. It was incredibly heavy. The tungsten block is one of those things you never see, but is part of every race, much like 99 percent of the television production that happens behind the scenes every week.
Posted 10/14/10 at 2:22 PM PDT by
By JOE DONATELLI and CHRIS M.
FONTANA, Calif. _ Living in Los Angeles, we’ve spent a little time on the sets of television shows. You can always count on a few things at TV tapings, and one of them is the punishing heat of studio lights. Those lights are the reason why, when audience members attend their first taping of, say, The Late Show with David Letterman in New York, they are surprised at how cold the room is. The director keeps the temperature low because no one wants to watch actor Jonah Hill sweat his way through an eight-minute interview – at least not anyone normal.
Inside the ESPN Pit Studio, which has come to Fontana for the Pepsi Max 400, you can stand two feet beneath dozens of studio lights without breaking a sweat. That’s because the lights are LED. They emit no noticeable heat. This is important. The studio is a modified big rig trailer. Less heat in the studio means a smaller air conditioner, which means a lighter load, which is necessary when your truck weighs 78,000 pounds and there is an 80,000-pound legal road limit.
LED lighting is just one small detail, among many thousands, that someone deemed necessary in order to make possible the weekly production that is ESPN’s traveling NASCAR broadcast. This show is on the road 10 months a year, is comprised of 11 mobile units, lays out 20 miles of cable at each track, has enough portable power to run a small town, captures video and audio on 60 to 75 HD cameras and 100-plus microphones, rents 150 hotel rooms in every city and credentials 225 people for every Sprint Cup event. The Worldwide Leader granted All Left Turns a tour of the ESPN Pit Studio, its production compound and the ESPN Tech Garage. The setup, in a word, is impressive.
The ESPN Pit Studio
Situated at the entrance to pit road at Auto Club Speedway, the mobile ESPN Pit Studio is the weekend home for Allen Bestwick, Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty. The studio is the size of a big rig trailer and is raised on stilts. The interior is only about 12 feet wide and its close quarters hold five members of the production crew, three robot cameras and the on-air hosts of NASCAR Countdown, ESPN RaceDay and the post-race show.
Bestwick, Wallace and Daugherty have an excellent view of pit road, the start/finish line and have the ability to call up any of the more-than 50 in-race cameras as well as a live stat feed from NASCAR. As is usually the case in tight quarters, dark humor abounds. While the cameras only film the on-air talent from the waist up, the production staff noted that the studio has a strict "Pants-On" policy. We did not get the story on the inciting incident that caused the creation of this policy, but our guess is that Rusty Wallace is responsible for it.
The tour of the studio also left a much deeper appreciation for the work Bestwick does. Not only does he sit next to Daugherty, but Bestwick works without a teleprompter while anchoring ESPN's studio coverage all weekend. Bestwick's thorough research allows him to work without a net, referring only to his notes during NASCAR Countdown, the race coverage and the post-race show.
Driver Carl Edwards drops by the ESPN Pit Studio every week for the post-race show. The studio also has welcomed an array of celebrity guests. Brent Musburger once offered Stevie Wonder a chance to drive a Cup car. Wonder accepted, noting that it would be easy because he only had to turn left.
The Pit Studio also lands the occasional freelance gig. In 2008 the unit was used as home base for ABC News coverage of the New Hampshire presidential primary. The production crew worked 20-hours days playing host to Good Morning America and Primetime. We were told that the exterior of the studio was wrapped in white plastic, so as not to betray the truck’s real identity, but that whoever did the redecorating missed a logo and keen observers could see that ESPN’s NASCAR team – sans Bestwick, Wallace and Daugherty – was covering the primary.
To make the most of small space, there are no dressing rooms. Wallace, Bestwick and Daugherty do their own hair and makeup at a small mirror affixed to the wall just off camera. (Just let that image of Wallace putting on his own makeup settle into your head for a bit.) In an area the size of an office cubicle, a small team of professionals -- statistician, lighting director, stage director, audio technician and robotic camera operator -- run each broadcast. We spoke with Ryan Axemear, the team's robotic camera operator, who manages three state-of-the-art cameras from a console that resembles NASA's shuttle controls. Axemear pointed out that the one-of-a-kind mobile studio is equipped with top-notch technology and an experienced crew who travel from different parts of the country to put together the broadcast every week. Many in the crew are so talented that they could have their pick of sports assignments, he said, but they choose NASCAR, because they love it.
The Compound
“The Compound” is the piece of real estate at every track where television networks such as ESPN, Fox, SPEED and TNT, the NASCAR Media Group and third-party companies park the trailers, haul in the portable offices and erect the tents where the television production, or production support, takes place. This is where you find the ESPN audio truck, its tape truck, its servers, the ESPN wardrobe tent, the Craftsman Tech Garage, ESPN’s operations center, a community mess hall, the in-car camera truck, power generators and an EMT helicopter, among other things.
Every track requires a different setup. ESPN public relations representative Andy Hall said that updated tracks have fiber-optics and hard-wired positions for the cameras while older tracks like Pocono require a team to run camera cabling all the way out through the wilderness to each turn. The crew has to battle the elements and, sometimes in Pocono, snakes, to make long cable runs.
Nestled in a cluster of big rig trailers is the ESPN control truck. From the outside, it looks like a hauler with ESPN branding on the side. Inside, it looks like CTU from the TV show “24.” The truck is arrayed with 19 flat-screen televisions that offer a variety of camera angles. In the center of the room director Rich Basile decides which camera angles the television viewer will see. The most popular angles are Camera 1, “the leader,” and Camera 2, “best battle.” Producer Jill Frederickson chooses where the broadcast’s attention is directed – the track, pit row, video replays, audio replays, the tech garage, the pit studio, the garage, commercial breaks, and so on. “Our producer makes more decisions in a three-hour broadcast than most people make in a month,” Hall said.
Are you among those fans frustrated with ESPN’s coverage of NASCAR? We have some news for you. The networks’ executives are aware of your frustration. Hall reads The Daly Planet, too. We asked the ESPN broadcast PR honcho about a couple of common coverage complaints.
Q: Why doesn’t ESPN ever show the debris from debris cautions?
A: ESPN’s cameras actively scan the track for the debris during every debris caution, Hall said. Sometimes they can’t find it. In NASCAR’s defense, the spotters aren’t always sure whether something shiny on the track is a loose part or a liquid or what, Hall said, and the spotters tend to err on the side of caution. When they can find it, Hall said, they put it on the screen.
Q: Why does ESPN always take commercial breaks at the wrong time?
A: Hall said that ESPN tries to frontload races with commercial breaks so that it can show as much of the end of the race as possible. Go back and watch old races, Hall said, and you will see commercial breaks on lap 6 back then, too. (Our own Jay W. Pennell recently backed this up.) Racing is different than stick-and-ball sports that have planned timeouts and quarter and inning breaks. Frederickson has to decide, on the fly, when to take a break. It’s a gamble. Sometimes she loses.
Q: How come ESPN misses restarts?
A: Rule of thumb: The smaller the track, the shorter the caution period, the easier it is to miss a restart. No one, Hall said, gets more upset at missing a restart than the personnel in the production truck.
Q: Can ESPN break into a commercial if something big happens?
A: Yes, it can, but only during national commercial breaks. ESPN can’t break into local commercial breaks.
Inside the truck, looking at 19 televisions, some of which offer multiple angles on one screen, makes you realize that the idea of covering 43 cars driving 200 mph for 11,000 laps a year with 75 cameras and 100 microphones and hundreds of personnel in any type of consistent fashion is as noble as it is absurd.
The Tech Garage
Contrary to what some people believe, the Craftsman Tech Garage is on the grounds at the track, and not in Bristol, Conn., ESPN’s headquarters. Tech garage guru Tim Brewer watches the race from inside the garage with a cameraman. He gets about 30 seconds of notice before he is live. Brewer supplies a lot of the gear in the garage himself thanks to his relationship with various race shops. The cutaway engine, for example, is from Richard Childress Racing.
There has only been one time in the history of the tech garage that Brewer failed to use the cutaway car to explain an incident. In Phoenix in 2007, the producer asked Brewer to show viewers what happened to David Gilliland’s front left fender. “The cutaway car doesn’t have a front left fender,” Brewer famously reported back.
The garage must be broken down and reassembled exactly the same way every week, so that Brewer knows the location of every piece of equipment, which he may have to grab rather quickly. Among the more interesting items in the garage is a Disney-built digital replication of an engine, which can be explored via touch screen. Next to it lies a block of tungsten, which the teams use to weight the rails on the cars. It was incredibly heavy. The tungsten block is one of those things you never see, but is part of every race, much like 99 percent of the television production that happens behind the scenes every week.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Owner McAnally doing it the right way
By Mark Billingsley
Special to The Bee
Published: Saturday, Oct. 16, 2010 - 12:16 am
Eric Holmes said there are three types of team owners in auto racing. There's the guy who's selling his home to keep the race car on the track; there are the rich guys who can't buy a clue and there are owners like Bill McAnally, a team boss who knows racing as well as the drivers he employs and who runs his team like a business.
And it's big business, too. McAnally's annual budget exceeds $2 million.
"Bill is the hardest working guy I know," said Holmes, who leads NASCAR's K&N Pro Series West standings with two races remaining. "We're not the highest funded team and certainly not the lowest. But I always know that whatever I need, Bill will get it for us."
McAnally will field three teams tonight for the annual Toyota/Napa Auto Parts 150 at Roseville's All American Speedway. Joining Holmes in McAnally's stable is 2009 K&N Pro Series West Rookie of the Year Paulie Harraka and Moses Smith. Harraka is third in the standings, 47 points behind David Mayhew. Smith is in fourth, 52 points behind Harraka, who won the Toyota/Napa Auto Parts 150 last season.
Holmes can all but clinch the series title with a win tonight. He leads Mayhew by 141 points. Holmes won the title in 2008, one of four series titles for Bill McAnally Racing.
"I raced against Eric when he first started racing and he has always been a driver with a lot of ambition and who always worked hard," McAnally said. "Plus he can drive his butt off."
McAnally, 45, grew up in Ukiah but moved to Roseville at age 17 to attend Sierra College. He got a job at All American Speedway as a sound meter operator, making sure the decibels didn't exceed the limit. The racing bug bit him, he said, and in 1986 he and a friend, Chris Alexander of Newcastle, bought a car and were co-drivers in the Bomber division.
In 1990, McAnally bought a Late Model and won the track title. In 1998 he got the opportunity to become a car owner and hired Gary Smith to drive for him. The team finished third in the Winston West Series. Sean Woodside would give McAnally his first championship in 1999, wrapping up the title while racing in Motegi, Japan – the only NASCAR championship ever clinched outside the United States.
McAnally fielded two cars in 2000 and 2001 and Brendan Gaughan won back-to-back titles. With Gaughan as the pilot, BMR spent the 2002 season on the Craftsman Truck Series and won two races. Gaughan won Rookie of the Year honors and now drives in the Nationwide Series.
"I liked seeing the country and seeing all the famous tracks back East, such as Daytona," McAnally said. "But the constant travel got to be too much with young kids, and I quickly realized I wanted to stay closer to home."
McAnally took the team to three cars in 2004. One car was driven by Clint Bowyer, who is now on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit. Other drivers who have been BMR team members include Brian Ickler (Camping World Truck Series) and Kerry Earnhardt, the eldest son of legendary NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt.
McAnally said he'll wait until his two children, Hailee and Alex, a senior and freshman at Woodcreek High School, respectively, both graduate before he entertains any offers to join a major NASCAR team or to consolidate BMR and enter NASCAR as a team owner.
For now, he said he's content guiding BMR to another season of success and perhaps its fifth series championship.
Special to The Bee
Published: Saturday, Oct. 16, 2010 - 12:16 am
Eric Holmes said there are three types of team owners in auto racing. There's the guy who's selling his home to keep the race car on the track; there are the rich guys who can't buy a clue and there are owners like Bill McAnally, a team boss who knows racing as well as the drivers he employs and who runs his team like a business.
And it's big business, too. McAnally's annual budget exceeds $2 million.
"Bill is the hardest working guy I know," said Holmes, who leads NASCAR's K&N Pro Series West standings with two races remaining. "We're not the highest funded team and certainly not the lowest. But I always know that whatever I need, Bill will get it for us."
McAnally will field three teams tonight for the annual Toyota/Napa Auto Parts 150 at Roseville's All American Speedway. Joining Holmes in McAnally's stable is 2009 K&N Pro Series West Rookie of the Year Paulie Harraka and Moses Smith. Harraka is third in the standings, 47 points behind David Mayhew. Smith is in fourth, 52 points behind Harraka, who won the Toyota/Napa Auto Parts 150 last season.
Holmes can all but clinch the series title with a win tonight. He leads Mayhew by 141 points. Holmes won the title in 2008, one of four series titles for Bill McAnally Racing.
"I raced against Eric when he first started racing and he has always been a driver with a lot of ambition and who always worked hard," McAnally said. "Plus he can drive his butt off."
McAnally, 45, grew up in Ukiah but moved to Roseville at age 17 to attend Sierra College. He got a job at All American Speedway as a sound meter operator, making sure the decibels didn't exceed the limit. The racing bug bit him, he said, and in 1986 he and a friend, Chris Alexander of Newcastle, bought a car and were co-drivers in the Bomber division.
In 1990, McAnally bought a Late Model and won the track title. In 1998 he got the opportunity to become a car owner and hired Gary Smith to drive for him. The team finished third in the Winston West Series. Sean Woodside would give McAnally his first championship in 1999, wrapping up the title while racing in Motegi, Japan – the only NASCAR championship ever clinched outside the United States.
McAnally fielded two cars in 2000 and 2001 and Brendan Gaughan won back-to-back titles. With Gaughan as the pilot, BMR spent the 2002 season on the Craftsman Truck Series and won two races. Gaughan won Rookie of the Year honors and now drives in the Nationwide Series.
"I liked seeing the country and seeing all the famous tracks back East, such as Daytona," McAnally said. "But the constant travel got to be too much with young kids, and I quickly realized I wanted to stay closer to home."
McAnally took the team to three cars in 2004. One car was driven by Clint Bowyer, who is now on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit. Other drivers who have been BMR team members include Brian Ickler (Camping World Truck Series) and Kerry Earnhardt, the eldest son of legendary NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt.
McAnally said he'll wait until his two children, Hailee and Alex, a senior and freshman at Woodcreek High School, respectively, both graduate before he entertains any offers to join a major NASCAR team or to consolidate BMR and enter NASCAR as a team owner.
For now, he said he's content guiding BMR to another season of success and perhaps its fifth series championship.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
DON'T BLAME THE MAN UPSTAIRS A NASCAR spotter's job is to sense trouble before it happens, from more than a half a mile away. Results may vary. by Ryan McGee
Did you miss this one from ESPN?
Charles Lindbergh swore that voices saved his life.
In 1927, deep within the loneliest moments of his 33-hour transatlantic flight, Lindy's plane was blanketed by heavy fog. He was tired, cold, hungry and unaware that his aircraft was in a downward loop toward the North Atlantic. Then the pilot realized he was not alone. "At times, the voices come out of the air itself," he recalled in his memoir, The Spirit of St. Louis. "Clear yet far away, traveling through distances that can't be measured by the scale of human miles, familiar voices, conversing and advising on my flight, discussing problems of my navigation, reassuring me … " Those voices may have been imaginary, but they were the difference between Lindbergh's finding the coast of Europe and splashing down somewhere south of Iceland.
Five years ago, on a fall afternoon at Talladega, Elliott Sadler felt a lot like Lindbergh. His No. 38 Ford Taurus was airborne at 195 mph, spiraling toward the ground while the disoriented driver hung on for dear life. Then Sadler was reminded he was not alone. "Hang on, bud … You'll be all right … " Lindy never knew who or what spoke to him during his flight. But as Sadler's car finished its sixth and final flip and came to rest on the infield, he knew exactly who had talked him through his brush with death: "Brett Griffin, a Gamecock-loving redneck from Pageland, S.C." Off the track, the 33-year-old Griffin is Sadler's business manager and close friend. On the track—or, more accurately, high above it—he is Sadler's spotter, a second set of eyes and ears in a sport so fast and unforgiving that one pair is no longer adequate. Quite simply, Griffin's job is the most underappreciated, invaluable job at the track.
A NASCAR spotter watches his assigned car and protects it as his own. He lives in his driver's earbuds from Friday's first practice through Sunday's checkered flag, helping him tiptoe through traffic and stay focused on the task at hand. While a crew chief chimes in over the radio about fuel strategies and tire changes, the spotter's words are a driver's best friend. Consequently, a spotter is equal parts shrink, motivational speaker, messenger, seer, treaty negotiator, driver's ed instructor and life preserver. "There isn't a single driver out there who wants to mess around three-wide at 180 mph without a spotter," Sadler says. "The car is in my hands, but my career and my life are in Brett's."
No pressure.
"It's like being a referee or an offensive lineman," says Griffin, who has spotted for Sadler since 2000 and can collect up to $1,500 for a weekend's work. (Like Griffin, most spotters have a separate job with their team or driver.) "You do it right, nobody notices and you go home. But screw up, and everybody knows you're up there. When you climb down after a wreck, people are lined up to either point you out or punch you."
"Up there" is a platform high atop the track known as the spotter stand. It's little more than an aluminum riser bolted to the roof of the speedway's press box. Every track has one, but while newer venues feature spotter decks with plenty of room to roam, the stands at older speedways, like Darlington and Martinsville, can feel like chicken coops. Enclosed by guardrails, the 43 Sprint Cup spotters group-shiver their way through winter and sweat all over one another in summer. For four straight hours on race day they must never let their guard down. There are no bathroom breaks, and spotters have to bring their own provisions. Peek into the backpack of Shannon McGlamery, Jeff Gordon's spotter, on his way up to the stand, and you'll find it jammed with wide-angle binoculars, two radios (with extra batteries), two headsets (in case one craps out), bottled water, a handful of cereal bars and plenty of Goody's Headache Powder. It's the toolbox he needs to paint a verbal picture of everything his driver can't see.
Drivers' blind spots have multiplied considerably since 2001, thanks to the post-Earnhardt safety revolution that's crammed the cockpit with larger headrests, bulkier seats, extra padding and head and neck restraints. Although the Car of Tomorrow's huge rear wing has added downforce, it has also nearly blacked out the entire rear windshield, meaning nary a pass is made without asking for advice from upstairs first. A spotter's dream is guiding his car through the pass that wins the race; his nightmare is causing the wreck that ruins it.
"People ask me all the time what's the hardest part of the job," Griffin says. "It's saying the word clear. It's the word we say the most, and the most important thing we say. If I say 'clear,' that means he's made the pass and has room to slide it back up the track. If I screw up, I cost my driver the race, and a couple of teams a lot of money and a hell of a lot of man-hours at the shop. All because I was off by a few inches on something I saw for a split-second from a half-mile away."
A quarter of the way into the Pocono 500, on June 8, Kyle Busch was easing his Toyota around the left of Jamie McMurray's Ford. Thinking the pass was finished, Busch whipped his ride to the right, inadvertently smacking McMurray and sending both cars into the wall. The move not only sent Busch to the pits for the rest of the race, but it also sliced 121 points off his lead in the Cup standings. In a TV interview from his trailer afterward, Busch explained that he'd been racing with a broken rearview mirror, then aimed his cannon at the spotter stand: "I couldn't clear myself. The spotter didn't say anything. It sucks."
"Did it suck being called out? Of course it did," says Busch's spotter, Jeff Dickerson, who also serves as his agent. "But on the flight home, Kyle and I always break down the race. We did the same thing after Pocono. We watched the tape and agreed that we wrecked, and we were cool again. If I'm going to get thanked in Victory Lane for helping him win a race, I need to be prepared to be ripped if I lose him one."
On the Monday morning after Pocono, several other spotters called Dickerson to tell him to shake it off. "We're way more tight knit than the drivers," says Joel Edmonds, a 10-year vet who has been with Greg Biffle since 2002. "We eat dinner together, talk on the phone. There are only a handful of people who really know what it's like to be up on the spotter stand, to know that feeling in your stomach when you cause a big wreck. By the way, I haven't caused a wreck in a long, long time. Make sure you write that."
Spotters are an eclectic bunch, and surprisingly few have driving experience. Of the 43 who work Sprint Cup races, only nine have logged laps behind the wheel in one of NASCAR's top three series, and only one—1994 Nationwide Series champ David Green, who moonlights as a spotter for several drivers—has a significant Cup résumé. The others are a mix of mechanics, business managers, buddies and family members who, through friendship or kinship, feel duty-bound to serve as a driver's guardian angel. David Reutimann races with the help of first cousin Shawn Reutimann, while Ryan Newman is guided by the oldest resident of the spotter stand, his 55-year-old father, Greg. "I didn't want to do it," says the elder Newman. "I thought it'd be too emotional. Then I heard other spotters explain things to him and realized I could explain the same things a lot quicker. I speak his language." The spotter stand, like the paddock, comes with a hierarchy. In the middle of the bleachers, with the best view, reside the old-timers: 49-year-old Eddie Masencup (Casey Mears' No. 5 Chevy) and 39-year-old Rocky Ryan (Jeff Burton's No. 31 Chevy) are known as The Mayors, with decades of spotting experience between them. Those of mid-tenure, like Griffin, fan out from there, preferring to stand next to the spotter of their team's other car for quick access to pit or drafting strategies. The newbies, who are often hired on a race-by-race basis, grab bleacher space wherever they can find it. Predictably, their nervous tics annoy the vets. "Those guys do a lot of shouting and tapping you on the shoulder to ask questions in the middle of a race," Dickerson says. "Eventually you have to turn to 'em and say, 'Damn, dude, I'm a little busy here.'"
In a 60-year-old sport, spotting is still a relatively new art form. The first known use of spotters came during a 1952 Sportsman Division (now Nationwide Series) race on the treacherous 4.1-mile Daytona Beach and Road Course. Driver Al Stevens, a radio man during World War II, stowed a handheld Army walkie-talkie under his seat and used it to communicate with pals scattered along the course. "Extra eyes were a good idea that day," says NASCAR Hall of Fame historian Buz McKim, "because there were 118 cars in the race."
Over the next three decades, the idea failed to catch on. Old-school racers viewed spotting—a borrowed military term used by drivers who'd just come back from WWII—as cheating. "I think I was the first guy to use two-way radios to win a race, at Riverside in 1971," Bobby Allison says with a wink and a smile. "As far as I know, the only guy I was talking to was my crew chief. If someone else was on that frequency, I couldn't have helped that."
By the mid-1980s, teams were using spotters in the open; by the '90s, the practice was mandated. Up until a few seasons ago, it was common for spotters to walk back and forth along the stand, making deals with one another to help their drivers move up. But nowadays, as the sport has become faster and more dangerous, spotters like to bunker in, listening to rivals via second radios and stepping out to negotiate only when the situation grows dire. The extra concentration has helped reduce crashes. "Of the 43 guys who are up there now, 36 are great at what they do," Edmonds says. "Ten years ago, we had maybe 10 really good ones."
Like a rock star's roadie, anyone attached to a top-flight NASCAR driver gets to enjoy the wake—and weight—of his celebrity. Race fans eavesdrop on their favorite teams' radio conversations via frequency scanners, online streaming, pay-per-view and satellite radio. As a result, no secrets are safe, and Joe Fan gets to second-guess the decisions made by the man on the spotter stand. "I guess fans think, I can't be a driver and I can't be a crew chief, but I bet I can spot!" says T.J. Majors, spotter for Dale Earnhardt Jr. Majors grew up in New York State, dreaming of being a NASCAR driver. Without a ride, he honed his skills in the world of online gaming, where he befriended a rival player living in Mooresville, N.C., a guy who goes by the name of Junior. Impressed with Majors' skills in the DMP Online Racing League, Earnhardt hired him as a prospective driver. Now the 28-year-old Majors lives on Junior's farm and has spotted for him in Cup since last fall. "I've done enough racing, online and in real life, to know spotting is a helluva lot more stressful than people think," Majors says.
That stress doesn't end with the checkered flag. Most spotters can't sleep after a big race. Their eyes are sore for days, worn out from hours of staring through binoculars and not blinking. Their knees are swollen from the nonstop standing. "We're totally wired after a race," Majors says. "Dale and I will start yelling at each other on the way to the airport. He'll be like, 'What the hell were you thinking when you told me I was clear on lap so-and-so?' And I'm like, 'You didn't wreck, did you?' Eventually we apologize. It's like we're married."
Like any marriage, the driver-spotter relationship is based almost entirely on trust. "Trust and a crystal ball," Edmonds says with a laugh. "A good spotter has to be able to predict what's going to happen three laps into the future. And there's no real way to practice it. You learn by spotting for practice sessions and lower-level races, by sitting in with a veteran or by listening over the scanners to what other spotters are saying. It doesn't matter what your background is, because when you put on that radio, your driver knows instantly if you know what you're doing." The final lap of this year's Daytona 500 is a case in point. All day long, Greg Newman had been tracking trends—which cars were drafting well together, which line was the fastest, who couldn't be trusted. He made notes, written and mental. Then, one-and-a-half miles from the checkered flag, and with Ryan Newman several spots back, the father saw all the cars in front of his son line up just right. He frantically radioed down to his boy as the Red Sea suddenly started parting in front of the No. 12 Dodge. "Stay on that high side … "
Greg remembered that a year earlier Kevin Harvick had come from behind to win by riding the high groove. "Ryan, you've got the 2 behind you, with help behind him … " He knew that Kurt Busch, his son's Penske Racing teammate, wasn't above attempting a goofy last-lap pass, but he also knew that Busch had been feuding with race leader Tony Stewart all week, and the opportunity to push Newman past him would be too delicious to pass up. "This is going to open up here … " He knew from watching Stewart all night that he would grab the low line as soon as he could get it, especially with teammate Kyle Busch coming to push him.
"Here it is … clear all around … go … go … GO!"
"When I hit the back straightaway, his voice picked way up," Ryan says with a smile. "I knew something good was about to happen. As his excitement went up, it calmed me down."
A voice out of the air itself, clear yet far away, conversing, advising and reassuring. All the way to Victory Lane.
Charles Lindbergh swore that voices saved his life.
In 1927, deep within the loneliest moments of his 33-hour transatlantic flight, Lindy's plane was blanketed by heavy fog. He was tired, cold, hungry and unaware that his aircraft was in a downward loop toward the North Atlantic. Then the pilot realized he was not alone. "At times, the voices come out of the air itself," he recalled in his memoir, The Spirit of St. Louis. "Clear yet far away, traveling through distances that can't be measured by the scale of human miles, familiar voices, conversing and advising on my flight, discussing problems of my navigation, reassuring me … " Those voices may have been imaginary, but they were the difference between Lindbergh's finding the coast of Europe and splashing down somewhere south of Iceland.
Five years ago, on a fall afternoon at Talladega, Elliott Sadler felt a lot like Lindbergh. His No. 38 Ford Taurus was airborne at 195 mph, spiraling toward the ground while the disoriented driver hung on for dear life. Then Sadler was reminded he was not alone. "Hang on, bud … You'll be all right … " Lindy never knew who or what spoke to him during his flight. But as Sadler's car finished its sixth and final flip and came to rest on the infield, he knew exactly who had talked him through his brush with death: "Brett Griffin, a Gamecock-loving redneck from Pageland, S.C." Off the track, the 33-year-old Griffin is Sadler's business manager and close friend. On the track—or, more accurately, high above it—he is Sadler's spotter, a second set of eyes and ears in a sport so fast and unforgiving that one pair is no longer adequate. Quite simply, Griffin's job is the most underappreciated, invaluable job at the track.
A NASCAR spotter watches his assigned car and protects it as his own. He lives in his driver's earbuds from Friday's first practice through Sunday's checkered flag, helping him tiptoe through traffic and stay focused on the task at hand. While a crew chief chimes in over the radio about fuel strategies and tire changes, the spotter's words are a driver's best friend. Consequently, a spotter is equal parts shrink, motivational speaker, messenger, seer, treaty negotiator, driver's ed instructor and life preserver. "There isn't a single driver out there who wants to mess around three-wide at 180 mph without a spotter," Sadler says. "The car is in my hands, but my career and my life are in Brett's."
No pressure.
"It's like being a referee or an offensive lineman," says Griffin, who has spotted for Sadler since 2000 and can collect up to $1,500 for a weekend's work. (Like Griffin, most spotters have a separate job with their team or driver.) "You do it right, nobody notices and you go home. But screw up, and everybody knows you're up there. When you climb down after a wreck, people are lined up to either point you out or punch you."
"Up there" is a platform high atop the track known as the spotter stand. It's little more than an aluminum riser bolted to the roof of the speedway's press box. Every track has one, but while newer venues feature spotter decks with plenty of room to roam, the stands at older speedways, like Darlington and Martinsville, can feel like chicken coops. Enclosed by guardrails, the 43 Sprint Cup spotters group-shiver their way through winter and sweat all over one another in summer. For four straight hours on race day they must never let their guard down. There are no bathroom breaks, and spotters have to bring their own provisions. Peek into the backpack of Shannon McGlamery, Jeff Gordon's spotter, on his way up to the stand, and you'll find it jammed with wide-angle binoculars, two radios (with extra batteries), two headsets (in case one craps out), bottled water, a handful of cereal bars and plenty of Goody's Headache Powder. It's the toolbox he needs to paint a verbal picture of everything his driver can't see.
Drivers' blind spots have multiplied considerably since 2001, thanks to the post-Earnhardt safety revolution that's crammed the cockpit with larger headrests, bulkier seats, extra padding and head and neck restraints. Although the Car of Tomorrow's huge rear wing has added downforce, it has also nearly blacked out the entire rear windshield, meaning nary a pass is made without asking for advice from upstairs first. A spotter's dream is guiding his car through the pass that wins the race; his nightmare is causing the wreck that ruins it.
"People ask me all the time what's the hardest part of the job," Griffin says. "It's saying the word clear. It's the word we say the most, and the most important thing we say. If I say 'clear,' that means he's made the pass and has room to slide it back up the track. If I screw up, I cost my driver the race, and a couple of teams a lot of money and a hell of a lot of man-hours at the shop. All because I was off by a few inches on something I saw for a split-second from a half-mile away."
A quarter of the way into the Pocono 500, on June 8, Kyle Busch was easing his Toyota around the left of Jamie McMurray's Ford. Thinking the pass was finished, Busch whipped his ride to the right, inadvertently smacking McMurray and sending both cars into the wall. The move not only sent Busch to the pits for the rest of the race, but it also sliced 121 points off his lead in the Cup standings. In a TV interview from his trailer afterward, Busch explained that he'd been racing with a broken rearview mirror, then aimed his cannon at the spotter stand: "I couldn't clear myself. The spotter didn't say anything. It sucks."
"Did it suck being called out? Of course it did," says Busch's spotter, Jeff Dickerson, who also serves as his agent. "But on the flight home, Kyle and I always break down the race. We did the same thing after Pocono. We watched the tape and agreed that we wrecked, and we were cool again. If I'm going to get thanked in Victory Lane for helping him win a race, I need to be prepared to be ripped if I lose him one."
On the Monday morning after Pocono, several other spotters called Dickerson to tell him to shake it off. "We're way more tight knit than the drivers," says Joel Edmonds, a 10-year vet who has been with Greg Biffle since 2002. "We eat dinner together, talk on the phone. There are only a handful of people who really know what it's like to be up on the spotter stand, to know that feeling in your stomach when you cause a big wreck. By the way, I haven't caused a wreck in a long, long time. Make sure you write that."
Spotters are an eclectic bunch, and surprisingly few have driving experience. Of the 43 who work Sprint Cup races, only nine have logged laps behind the wheel in one of NASCAR's top three series, and only one—1994 Nationwide Series champ David Green, who moonlights as a spotter for several drivers—has a significant Cup résumé. The others are a mix of mechanics, business managers, buddies and family members who, through friendship or kinship, feel duty-bound to serve as a driver's guardian angel. David Reutimann races with the help of first cousin Shawn Reutimann, while Ryan Newman is guided by the oldest resident of the spotter stand, his 55-year-old father, Greg. "I didn't want to do it," says the elder Newman. "I thought it'd be too emotional. Then I heard other spotters explain things to him and realized I could explain the same things a lot quicker. I speak his language." The spotter stand, like the paddock, comes with a hierarchy. In the middle of the bleachers, with the best view, reside the old-timers: 49-year-old Eddie Masencup (Casey Mears' No. 5 Chevy) and 39-year-old Rocky Ryan (Jeff Burton's No. 31 Chevy) are known as The Mayors, with decades of spotting experience between them. Those of mid-tenure, like Griffin, fan out from there, preferring to stand next to the spotter of their team's other car for quick access to pit or drafting strategies. The newbies, who are often hired on a race-by-race basis, grab bleacher space wherever they can find it. Predictably, their nervous tics annoy the vets. "Those guys do a lot of shouting and tapping you on the shoulder to ask questions in the middle of a race," Dickerson says. "Eventually you have to turn to 'em and say, 'Damn, dude, I'm a little busy here.'"
In a 60-year-old sport, spotting is still a relatively new art form. The first known use of spotters came during a 1952 Sportsman Division (now Nationwide Series) race on the treacherous 4.1-mile Daytona Beach and Road Course. Driver Al Stevens, a radio man during World War II, stowed a handheld Army walkie-talkie under his seat and used it to communicate with pals scattered along the course. "Extra eyes were a good idea that day," says NASCAR Hall of Fame historian Buz McKim, "because there were 118 cars in the race."
Over the next three decades, the idea failed to catch on. Old-school racers viewed spotting—a borrowed military term used by drivers who'd just come back from WWII—as cheating. "I think I was the first guy to use two-way radios to win a race, at Riverside in 1971," Bobby Allison says with a wink and a smile. "As far as I know, the only guy I was talking to was my crew chief. If someone else was on that frequency, I couldn't have helped that."
By the mid-1980s, teams were using spotters in the open; by the '90s, the practice was mandated. Up until a few seasons ago, it was common for spotters to walk back and forth along the stand, making deals with one another to help their drivers move up. But nowadays, as the sport has become faster and more dangerous, spotters like to bunker in, listening to rivals via second radios and stepping out to negotiate only when the situation grows dire. The extra concentration has helped reduce crashes. "Of the 43 guys who are up there now, 36 are great at what they do," Edmonds says. "Ten years ago, we had maybe 10 really good ones."
Like a rock star's roadie, anyone attached to a top-flight NASCAR driver gets to enjoy the wake—and weight—of his celebrity. Race fans eavesdrop on their favorite teams' radio conversations via frequency scanners, online streaming, pay-per-view and satellite radio. As a result, no secrets are safe, and Joe Fan gets to second-guess the decisions made by the man on the spotter stand. "I guess fans think, I can't be a driver and I can't be a crew chief, but I bet I can spot!" says T.J. Majors, spotter for Dale Earnhardt Jr. Majors grew up in New York State, dreaming of being a NASCAR driver. Without a ride, he honed his skills in the world of online gaming, where he befriended a rival player living in Mooresville, N.C., a guy who goes by the name of Junior. Impressed with Majors' skills in the DMP Online Racing League, Earnhardt hired him as a prospective driver. Now the 28-year-old Majors lives on Junior's farm and has spotted for him in Cup since last fall. "I've done enough racing, online and in real life, to know spotting is a helluva lot more stressful than people think," Majors says.
That stress doesn't end with the checkered flag. Most spotters can't sleep after a big race. Their eyes are sore for days, worn out from hours of staring through binoculars and not blinking. Their knees are swollen from the nonstop standing. "We're totally wired after a race," Majors says. "Dale and I will start yelling at each other on the way to the airport. He'll be like, 'What the hell were you thinking when you told me I was clear on lap so-and-so?' And I'm like, 'You didn't wreck, did you?' Eventually we apologize. It's like we're married."
Like any marriage, the driver-spotter relationship is based almost entirely on trust. "Trust and a crystal ball," Edmonds says with a laugh. "A good spotter has to be able to predict what's going to happen three laps into the future. And there's no real way to practice it. You learn by spotting for practice sessions and lower-level races, by sitting in with a veteran or by listening over the scanners to what other spotters are saying. It doesn't matter what your background is, because when you put on that radio, your driver knows instantly if you know what you're doing." The final lap of this year's Daytona 500 is a case in point. All day long, Greg Newman had been tracking trends—which cars were drafting well together, which line was the fastest, who couldn't be trusted. He made notes, written and mental. Then, one-and-a-half miles from the checkered flag, and with Ryan Newman several spots back, the father saw all the cars in front of his son line up just right. He frantically radioed down to his boy as the Red Sea suddenly started parting in front of the No. 12 Dodge. "Stay on that high side … "
Greg remembered that a year earlier Kevin Harvick had come from behind to win by riding the high groove. "Ryan, you've got the 2 behind you, with help behind him … " He knew that Kurt Busch, his son's Penske Racing teammate, wasn't above attempting a goofy last-lap pass, but he also knew that Busch had been feuding with race leader Tony Stewart all week, and the opportunity to push Newman past him would be too delicious to pass up. "This is going to open up here … " He knew from watching Stewart all night that he would grab the low line as soon as he could get it, especially with teammate Kyle Busch coming to push him.
"Here it is … clear all around … go … go … GO!"
"When I hit the back straightaway, his voice picked way up," Ryan says with a smile. "I knew something good was about to happen. As his excitement went up, it calmed me down."
A voice out of the air itself, clear yet far away, conversing, advising and reassuring. All the way to Victory Lane.
NASCAR's Unsung Heroes, Spotter Series: Mike Calinoff, Matt Kenseth's Spotter
This was a great interview from Ashley McCubbin posted on the Bleacher Report. Check it out.
Mike Calinoff spots for 2003 Cup Champion Matt Kenseth. Calinoff owns Active8, a media relations company that works with drivers to get their name out there, and to promote them to future owners/sponsors.
Mike Calinoff spots for 2003 Cup Champion Matt Kenseth. Calinoff owns Active8, a media relations company that works with drivers to get their name out there, and to promote them to future owners/sponsors.
Ashley McCubbin: How many years have you been spotting?
Mike Calinoff: I have been spotting at a NASCAR level since 1996.
AM: What do you think makes a good spotter? Any certain requirements/recommendations?
MC: I think the ability to predict certain scenarios is key. A lot has to do with knowing whom you're racing around. Having good eyesight really helps!
AM: Best and worst tracks for spotting at?
MC: I like just about every track on the circuit, with the exception of Pocono and Phoenix. I don't like tracks that start with "P"... I'm just kidding about that... Both of those tracks have spotters stands that make it difficult to get a full view of the racing
AM: What do you think of the criticisms that spotters get immediately when it comes to incidents?
MC: It really depends who's saying it. If it's coming from a driver then I think it's usually valid. If it comes from a crew member who can only see the frontstrech or the media, I give the criticism less value.
AM: How do you get along with the other spotters?
MC: Really well. We all understand that we're not driving the cars and that makes it a lot easier.
AM: What's the hardest part about your job?
MC: Well, being away from home is pretty tough—but it's part of it. I guess standing out in the hot sun for 500 miles is what I like least about the job.
AM: During the race, in general, what is your job?
MC: My job is to give as much information as possible to help the driver make decisions; and, of course, keep him safe.
AM: When it comes to pit stops, what does your job entail?
MC: Basically I will remind the driver of his pit road speed and let him know when he is ten stalls away from our pit stall.
AM: If you have worked with different drivers, what are some certain things that one driver prefers over another?
MC: Some drivers like more talk and some like less. That's pretty much it.
AM: What do you do if you ever have to go to the bathroom in the middle of a race?
MC: Why does everyone always ask that question!? I try not to drink too much during the race. I typically chew a lot of gum.
AM: What do you do before the race, food/drink wise, to prepare?
MC: I've been on a diet so I have been eating very light!
NASCAR competitors ready for Roseburg race
ROSEBURG, Ore. - NASCAR comes to Roseburg Saturday night June 5th, and drivers and promoters were at the track Friday. Preparing for the event. They were doing some test laps, checking out their cars to make sure they are operating properly, and to just get familiar with the one-third mile Douglas County Speedway track.
Chris Walker with NASCAR Marketing said most of the major tracks are on the east coast, so races like the one in Roseburg are vital to the sport.
"NASCAR wants to be on the west coast. It is a very important market for them to have a NASCAR presence in the state of Oregon. It's not only huge for NASCAR, but the citizens and residents of the state of Oregon," said Walker.
This is the 9th year of the NASCAR Pro Series in Roseburg. Driver Eric Holmes, who raced in the first event in 2001 said the Roseburg track has become one of his favorite tracks on which to compete.
"It was just a tremendous amount of people that we had, a beautiful part of the country, and then I didn't come back again until "07 and '08, and just every year it's a lot of fun. I really like the people in this area," said Holmes.
Promoter and team owner Bill McAnally said the short track makes for interesting race conditions. Holms, who is McAnally's driver, has won two years in a row, and McAnally says he knows other racers will be gunning for Eric.
"So he has a big bulls-eye on the side of his car and you come out here to the Douglas County Speedway on Saturday night you are going to see short track racing at it's best, banging and pounding and rubbing, and Eric's got the mark on his car," said McAnally
Anyone who buys a ticket in advance from NAPA Auto Parts gets half off.
The race is set for Saturday June 5th at the Douglas County Fairgrounds Speedway, and the gates open at 3:00 p.m.
Chris Walker with NASCAR Marketing said most of the major tracks are on the east coast, so races like the one in Roseburg are vital to the sport.
"NASCAR wants to be on the west coast. It is a very important market for them to have a NASCAR presence in the state of Oregon. It's not only huge for NASCAR, but the citizens and residents of the state of Oregon," said Walker.
This is the 9th year of the NASCAR Pro Series in Roseburg. Driver Eric Holmes, who raced in the first event in 2001 said the Roseburg track has become one of his favorite tracks on which to compete.
"It was just a tremendous amount of people that we had, a beautiful part of the country, and then I didn't come back again until "07 and '08, and just every year it's a lot of fun. I really like the people in this area," said Holmes.
Promoter and team owner Bill McAnally said the short track makes for interesting race conditions. Holms, who is McAnally's driver, has won two years in a row, and McAnally says he knows other racers will be gunning for Eric.
"So he has a big bulls-eye on the side of his car and you come out here to the Douglas County Speedway on Saturday night you are going to see short track racing at it's best, banging and pounding and rubbing, and Eric's got the mark on his car," said McAnally
Anyone who buys a ticket in advance from NAPA Auto Parts gets half off.
The race is set for Saturday June 5th at the Douglas County Fairgrounds Speedway, and the gates open at 3:00 p.m.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Moses Smith Geared up for Showdown at Toyota Speedway
Bill McAnally Racing’s No 16 Hasa Pool Products Toyota team and veteran NASCAR Camping World Series West driver Moses Smith are ready for the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown. BMR is very proud to have Hasa Pool Products returning as the primary sponsor and race partner on the No. 16 Toyota Camry for the fourth season.
“I am looking forward to racing in this very prestigious race event,” said Moses Smith. “Hopefully this year’s showdown will yield us some great results.” Smith finished the race in 12th last season in the showdown’s main event. “I’m looking forward to working with my crew chief Mario Isola. Our team really came together last season with Mario taking lead. This race will give us the momentum we need to be a contender in the chase for the 2010 championship title in the West Series.”
With years of experience in the swimming pool and water treatment field and superior production capability, HASA, Inc. remains dedicated to helping its customers enjoy clean, clear, and safe water for many years to come. Hasa has been a green company for over 45 years. HASA has taken the lead with thousands of Hasa customers attending West Series race events over the past three seasons. BMR is proud to have them return to sponsor the No. 16 Hasa Pool Products Toyota Camry with driver Moses Smith.
The NCWS race, the “NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown” will be on January 29-30 at the Toyota Speedway in Irwindale, California. The seventh running of the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown, which brings together the top racers from across North America, will be highlighted by the 225-lap Camping World Series all-star race. Each race winner during the 2009 Camping World Series season is eligible for a protected starting spot, as are the 2009 champions from each of NASCAR’s six regional touring series and the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national champion.
In addition to eligible 2009 race winners and series champions, the starting lineup will be determined through time trials, limited provisionals for Camping World Series regulars, and the last-chance "Open" race that provides drivers one final chance to make the grid.
The 2010 NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown schedule also includes 100-lap Whelen All-American Series Super Late Model and 75-lap Late Model races. Both nights of racing will air live on SPEED.
For more information on Bill McAnally Racing and our race partners, please visit our website at www.billmcanallyracing.com. BMR is also home to the BMR NAPA AutoCare where customers can have their vehicle serviced by a championship winning team. Check our website for our latest discount coupons and to make an appointment for service.
BMR would like to thank the continued support of our race partners. For more information on Moses Smith, please visit www.mosessmith.com. You can visit our sponsors’ websites at www.hasapool.com, www.whiteflyer.com, and www.tcitransportation.com .
“I am looking forward to racing in this very prestigious race event,” said Moses Smith. “Hopefully this year’s showdown will yield us some great results.” Smith finished the race in 12th last season in the showdown’s main event. “I’m looking forward to working with my crew chief Mario Isola. Our team really came together last season with Mario taking lead. This race will give us the momentum we need to be a contender in the chase for the 2010 championship title in the West Series.”
With years of experience in the swimming pool and water treatment field and superior production capability, HASA, Inc. remains dedicated to helping its customers enjoy clean, clear, and safe water for many years to come. Hasa has been a green company for over 45 years. HASA has taken the lead with thousands of Hasa customers attending West Series race events over the past three seasons. BMR is proud to have them return to sponsor the No. 16 Hasa Pool Products Toyota Camry with driver Moses Smith.
The NCWS race, the “NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown” will be on January 29-30 at the Toyota Speedway in Irwindale, California. The seventh running of the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown, which brings together the top racers from across North America, will be highlighted by the 225-lap Camping World Series all-star race. Each race winner during the 2009 Camping World Series season is eligible for a protected starting spot, as are the 2009 champions from each of NASCAR’s six regional touring series and the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national champion.
In addition to eligible 2009 race winners and series champions, the starting lineup will be determined through time trials, limited provisionals for Camping World Series regulars, and the last-chance "Open" race that provides drivers one final chance to make the grid.
The 2010 NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown schedule also includes 100-lap Whelen All-American Series Super Late Model and 75-lap Late Model races. Both nights of racing will air live on SPEED.
For more information on Bill McAnally Racing and our race partners, please visit our website at www.billmcanallyracing.com. BMR is also home to the BMR NAPA AutoCare where customers can have their vehicle serviced by a championship winning team. Check our website for our latest discount coupons and to make an appointment for service.
BMR would like to thank the continued support of our race partners. For more information on Moses Smith, please visit www.mosessmith.com. You can visit our sponsors’ websites at www.hasapool.com, www.whiteflyer.com, and www.tcitransportation.com .
Sunday, January 3, 2010
HOLMES HUNGRY FOR WIN AT NASCAR TOYOTA ALL-STAR SHOWDOWN
DAYTONA BEACH, Florida — A date marked above all others on the racing calendar for Eric Holmes is the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale (Calif.) on Jan. 29-30.
"Definitely this year I want to get back in Victory Lane and get a West Coast victory for us." — Eric Holmes
The postseason event is often referred to as the ‘Daytona 500 of short-track racing.’
“It’s the biggest and best race of the year,” said Holmes, a two-time champion in the NASCAR Camping World Series West. “I look forward to it every year.”
Holmes knows what it’s like to taste victory at the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown. He won the Elite Division portion of the event in 2004, while competing in the former NASCAR Southwest Tour.
“That was the biggest win of my racing career,” said the 35-year-old driver from Escalon, Calif. “Getting your name on that trophy and all the stuff that goes with it made it a pretty special night for me and my team and everybody involved in that. Every year I look forward to going back to regain that feeling that we had that night.”
Although he has come close, Holmes has come up short in his attempts to win the Camping World race in the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown.
“In 2006, I came within about half a turn of winning it,” Holmes recalled of a fierce three-way challenge he was involved in. “Sean Caisse, Matt Kobyluck and I were battling right to the end.”
Holmes ended up turned around on the final turn of the final lap, however, while Kobyluck beat Caisse to the finish line to score his first of two wins in the prestigious event.
Holmes thought he might also have a shot at the win a year ago, but a broken part took him out of contention.
“I think last year I had a good shot at winning it, too,” he said. “We had worked really hard. We kind of struggled the last two seasons at Irwindale and we really hit on something last year and had a really fast car, with the limited amount of practice that we had.
“I felt that Brian Ickler and I, along with Trevor Bayne, had the cars to beat,” Holmes said. “We were just kind of riding. We made some really good changes at the break. When we came back out, we broke a sway bar arm. It was really disappointing.”
Meanwhile, there is some added incentive to go for the win this year, according to Holmes.
“Those East guys have been beating us up there,” he said of the all-star event. “Definitely this year I want to get back in Victory Lane and get a West Coast victory for us.”
The No. 20 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota that Holmes and his Bill McAnally Racing team plan to take to Irwindale is the same car they raced in last year’s event.
“We’ll take the same car, it’s pretty much our workhorse car we’ve driven the last year and a half,” Holmes said. “They’ve totally re-freshened it and are getting it all ready to go. I think we’ll have a real good shot at winning it.”
Beyond the bragging rights and large winner’s purse, Holmes is also considering the idea of having his name on a second NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown trophy.
“It would be a special night,” he said. “And another special trophy on my mantle would be really cool.”
Holmes, who won NASCAR Camping World Series West championships in 2006 and 2008, is coming off a season in which he finished second in the point standings. He has nine career wins and 12 career poles in 49 series starts.
The seventh running of the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown, which brings together the top racers from across North America, will be highlighted by the 225-lap Camping World Series all-star race. Each race winner during the 2009 Camping World Series season is eligible for a protected starting spot, as are the 2009 champions from each of NASCAR’s six regional touring series and the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national champion.
In addition to eligible 2009 race winners and series champions, the starting lineup will be determined through time trials, limited provisionals for Camping World Series regulars, and the last-chance "Open" race that provides drivers one final chance to make the grid.
The 2010 NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown schedule also includes 100-lap Whelen All-American Series Super Late Model and 75-lap Late Model races. Both nights of racing will air live on SPEED.
"Definitely this year I want to get back in Victory Lane and get a West Coast victory for us." — Eric Holmes
The postseason event is often referred to as the ‘Daytona 500 of short-track racing.’
“It’s the biggest and best race of the year,” said Holmes, a two-time champion in the NASCAR Camping World Series West. “I look forward to it every year.”
Holmes knows what it’s like to taste victory at the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown. He won the Elite Division portion of the event in 2004, while competing in the former NASCAR Southwest Tour.
“That was the biggest win of my racing career,” said the 35-year-old driver from Escalon, Calif. “Getting your name on that trophy and all the stuff that goes with it made it a pretty special night for me and my team and everybody involved in that. Every year I look forward to going back to regain that feeling that we had that night.”
Although he has come close, Holmes has come up short in his attempts to win the Camping World race in the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown.
“In 2006, I came within about half a turn of winning it,” Holmes recalled of a fierce three-way challenge he was involved in. “Sean Caisse, Matt Kobyluck and I were battling right to the end.”
Holmes ended up turned around on the final turn of the final lap, however, while Kobyluck beat Caisse to the finish line to score his first of two wins in the prestigious event.
Holmes thought he might also have a shot at the win a year ago, but a broken part took him out of contention.
“I think last year I had a good shot at winning it, too,” he said. “We had worked really hard. We kind of struggled the last two seasons at Irwindale and we really hit on something last year and had a really fast car, with the limited amount of practice that we had.
“I felt that Brian Ickler and I, along with Trevor Bayne, had the cars to beat,” Holmes said. “We were just kind of riding. We made some really good changes at the break. When we came back out, we broke a sway bar arm. It was really disappointing.”
Meanwhile, there is some added incentive to go for the win this year, according to Holmes.
“Those East guys have been beating us up there,” he said of the all-star event. “Definitely this year I want to get back in Victory Lane and get a West Coast victory for us.”
The No. 20 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota that Holmes and his Bill McAnally Racing team plan to take to Irwindale is the same car they raced in last year’s event.
“We’ll take the same car, it’s pretty much our workhorse car we’ve driven the last year and a half,” Holmes said. “They’ve totally re-freshened it and are getting it all ready to go. I think we’ll have a real good shot at winning it.”
Beyond the bragging rights and large winner’s purse, Holmes is also considering the idea of having his name on a second NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown trophy.
“It would be a special night,” he said. “And another special trophy on my mantle would be really cool.”
Holmes, who won NASCAR Camping World Series West championships in 2006 and 2008, is coming off a season in which he finished second in the point standings. He has nine career wins and 12 career poles in 49 series starts.
The seventh running of the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown, which brings together the top racers from across North America, will be highlighted by the 225-lap Camping World Series all-star race. Each race winner during the 2009 Camping World Series season is eligible for a protected starting spot, as are the 2009 champions from each of NASCAR’s six regional touring series and the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national champion.
In addition to eligible 2009 race winners and series champions, the starting lineup will be determined through time trials, limited provisionals for Camping World Series regulars, and the last-chance "Open" race that provides drivers one final chance to make the grid.
The 2010 NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown schedule also includes 100-lap Whelen All-American Series Super Late Model and 75-lap Late Model races. Both nights of racing will air live on SPEED.
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