In the midst of all the Chase drama this weekend was a story that went largely under the radar. The Arizona Republic reported on Saturday about possible changes coming to Phoenix International Raceway.
The article quoted PIR President Bryan Sperber as saying the track had put together a request for money to repave (the first time since 1993). In addition the article went on to talk about the possibility of the track adding progressive banking – something similar to what ISC did with Homestead several years ago – widening the track and opening up the turns. Any and all of the above changes could very obviously drastically alter the track.
Say what you will about the racing at Phoenix, I think anything other than repaving would be a mistake. The things that are great about Phoenix are all the things that are on that list for changing.
I like that everyone gets bottlenecked on the front stretch. And I like that turns one and two are different from each other and turns three and four are different from turns one and two. I like the weird shape and the flat surface. I like Monument Hill (not that this is going anywhere) and the dogleg. And I like the history of this great track. There’s really not much about Phoenix I don’t like.
I know ISC is considering making changes in the best interest of the track and by extension the sport – but it makes me a little queasy to think about them molesting this track to the point of unrecognizability.
And let’s be honest, ISC doesn’t exactly have the best track record of late for preserving historic race tracks. From the North Carolina Motor Speedway to Darlington Raceway they’ve managed to get rid of some great facilities, or diminish them. I just hope whatever they do decide to do doesn’t do that to this great track.
The end of the article quoted Tony Stewart and his feelings about the track.
They removed the Goodyear pedestrian bridge, and that was pretty historic. And what used to be a really cool, unique corner – the old Turn 2, where there used to be a gap between the end of that wall and where the wall to the dogleg along the backstretch started – that’s all been eliminated. I didn’t want to see those changes. And if more changes are coming, I’m pretty sure I don’t want to see them, either.
I couldn’t agree more.
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Filed under: A.J. Allmendinger, Carl Edwards, Roush Fenway Racing, Chase for the Sprint Cup, Sprint Cup, NASCAR
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When the Truck Series heads to Phoenix in another week, look for there to be yet another female racer on the entry list. Caitlin Shaw, a 21 year old driver from New Mexico, will attempt to make her second (yes second) career Truck Series start driving for Mario Gosselin’s DGM Racing. She will join Jennifer Jo Cobb, Johanna Long, Angela and Amber Cope, and Michelle Theriault on the list of women drivers who’ve driven in the Truck Series this season.
If you might remember, Shaw made her Truck Series debut last season at O’Reilly Raceway Park driving for Red Horse Racing. She qualified 32nd and brought her truck home in one piece, finishing a respectable 24th. Besides the lone CWTS start, her racing resume also includes quarter midgets, mini sprints, and a stint in a USAC midget.
Outside of driving, Shaw has spent the 2010 season working in the marketing/PR department for Michael Waltrip Racing. Her responsibilities including doing PR for Ryan Truex during his championship run in the K&N Pro Series East. (See a great recent interview with her here).
Shaw’s DGM Racing truck is being backed by The Oil Medics, a truck services company based out of Texas.
The recent run of female drivers attempting to break into NASCAR, like Shaw and Johanna Long, shows there is no shortage of qualified women racers out there. And Danica Patrick’s super star popularity is evidence that race fans are very eager for a woman to finally make it into the Cup Series. If Patrick doesn’t break through though, our odds for finding a woman who is capable are certainly getting better.
Here’s to hoping Shaw has success at Phoenix, and to more women drivers getting involved.
Filed under: NASCAR Tracks, Sprint Cup, Joey Logano, NASCAR
Filed under: Denny Hamlin, Chase for the Sprint Cup, Joe Gibbs Racing
RAB Racing announced Tuesday that Jason Bowles would be taking over the #09 for this weekend’s Nationwide race at Phoenix. Bowles is the reigning West Series Champion and will be making his second start in NASCAR’s number two series.
This move of course displaced the guy, albeit temporarily, who had been in the car all season, Scott Riggs. Since Daytona, Riggs has been on a race-to-race deal with the team, keeping the car in the top-30 (meaning a guaranteed starting spot), but doing so without any major sponsorship.
The driver change certainly didn’t appear, to me at least, to be a controversial move, but boy was I wrong. The linked announcement on the team’s Facebook page has gotten a lot of comments (some of which have been deleted), and unfortunately most of them have been quite negative.
Here were some of my favorites:
Wow! While you are stabbing Scott in the back, you may as well kick his ass too! Your logic wreaks of stench like that of a sewer.
Wow! While you are stabbing Scott in the back, you may as well kick his ass too!
Your logic wreaks of stench like that of a sewer.
Now I understand fan loyalty, but this is far beyond the pale. That fans would attack a team that put their driver in a car unsponsored is beyond me. As we’ve said here many times racing is a business, and as we all know it takes money to run a business. Unfortunately Scott isn’t bringing any to the table.
While I know they both wish they were, the team’s two owners aren’t made of money either. Robby Benton and Brack Maggard are not Roger Penske and Rick Hendrick. At this point they are funding a team out of their own pockets for Riggs. If you ask me, and I’m sure if you ask Scott too, this is a pretty generous thing to do.
Beyond their own financial well being though Maggard and Benton have employees who depend on them every month for a paycheck. The money that Jason Bowles is bringing to the team means they will be able to keep going for an extended period of time. That means these guys will be able to pay their bills and feed their families. It also means the team will live to fight another day potentially with Riggs behind the wheel.
While I’m sure RAB would love to keep Riggs out on track (especially with the way he’s been running), if money comes along from some other driver they have to take it. Certainly the generous donations of some very loyal fans helped, but that $30,000 wasn’t even enough to fund the full weekend at Nashville let alone keep him running for more races (not that they’re complaining).
Robby Benton told the AP:
“The amount we were able to raise was unbelievable,” Benton said
I think too often we let our loyalties cloud our judgement of situations. For five races this season (four he qualified for) RAB has put Scott Riggs in a car and asked nothing of him, but to drive (I challenge you to find another small team that would do the same). For that they are getting harangued by select Riggs fans on the Internet and I’m sure through other forms of communication. I find that distasteful and mind-boggling to say the least.
Filed under: Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Chase for the Sprint Cup, Sprint Cup
Championship-Worthy Seasons Not Enough for Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:20:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Chase for the Sprint Cup
FanHouse Warmup: Checker 500 originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:23:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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