penske racing – CaptainBlowdri

April 25, 2009

Is A Bankruptcy Imminent?

Is Chrysler imminently close to a chapter 11 filing? What affect will there be on the Dodge teams? Will that have a domino affect on those race teams scrambling to align themselves with either a GM or Toyota factory sponsorship?

There are several reports that the bankruptcy filling for Chysler is as close as possibly next week. The New York Times is reporting that the government has started drawing up documents for the Chapter 11 filing. In earlier negotiations, the federal government gave Chrysler until April 30th to devise a restructure plan.

On a similar note, GM has announced that it will shut down many of its North American plants for “several weeks” in the summer. This does not bode well for General Motors. It appears that just possibly GM may be heading down the very same Chapter 11 road!! It appears that GM may be feeling the pressure from many sides, including the federal government to file for reorganization. The U.S. government has given General Motors until May 31st the have its plan ready to go.

It is also been leaked to the presss today, that General Motors will eliminate the Pontiac brand. That announcement looks like will be forth coming as soon as Monday. That would give GM time to talk to their Pontiac dealerships to discuss the future, or lack thereof!

Neither the Chrysler nor the possible GM chapter 11 filing is going to be good for NASCAR. The filing of chapter 11 by Chrysler will be felt to a far lesser degree than a possible chapter 11 filing by General Motors. Nonetheless, in either of these instances, the NASCAR community will be forced to scramble quickly to realign themselves with the surviving auto manufacturers and keep their sponsors intact!

There is an interesting article in The Wall Street Journal today about Fiat’s position in both the bidding war or lack thereof for Chrysler. It also lays out Fiat’s interest in GM’s Opel division. The plot thickens with regards to Chrysler’s future!

Just how is all this going to play out at NASCAR? One would think that both Penske Racing and Richard Petty Motorsports are huddling at their perspective headquarters trying to desperately get a “backup operations plan”!

For Roger Penske, it is reported that he owns the largest Toyota dealerships in the US. So maybe the obvious isn’t so obvious, but it seems logical that quite possibly the Penske organizationhas already gotten some of the wheels greased with Toyota!! You think?

As in the picture above, it just might be that some of these NASCAR race team’s futures are going to go up in SMOKE!

What is your take on the affects of the impending Chrysler collapse?

REMEMBER, I LOOKED IT SO THAT YOU WOULDN’T HAVE TO!

March 8, 2009

Back To Back Bushwacked!!

THE STORY LINES:

1. KURT BUSCH LEADS 235 OF 330 LAPS:

2. TRUEX PASSES KIDNEY STONES SAT. NIGHT:

(foxsports) (AMS pit notes)

3. NASCAR CREATES FORMULA FOR SETTING RESTART

ZONES:

4. NASCAR SCRUTINIZING “START & PARK”:

5. FAIRGROUNDS SPEEDWAY @ NASHVILLE OFFERS TESTING:

(middle tenn. racing news)

6. OL KYLIE (TLVW) WINS THE TRUCK RACE:

This is the second time in as many years, that the Busch Brothers, ol Kylie aka TLVW and Kurt aka EARS LAID BACK (ELB), have won successive races at the Cup level. To say that the “Blue Duece” was thoroughly dominating at Atlanta Sunday, was a huge understatement! Kurt Busch led 235 of the 330 laps of the race!!

In the off season, NASCAR granted Dodge a new engine and some modifications on their nose cone. It appears that the new nose and the new Dodge engine are paying dividends for Penske Racing. FYI, Penske is the only Dodge team currently using the new Dodge engine, Richard Petty Motorsports is still using the old engine.

The #24 National Guard Chevy of Jeff Gordon ran up front all afternoon, as well. But in the end neither he, nor Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick, and Brian Vickers had anything for “The Blue Duece”!

Kurt (ELB) was even more dominating in the Cup race, than ol Kylie (TLVW) was in Saturday’s Truck race. TLVW showed those boys the fastest way around AMS on Saturday. On the last restart, TLVW was leading them to the green, but only had two gears 1st and 4th left in the trannie. So he dropped back as far as 9th with 8 laps to go. But he roared back to the lead with 3 laps remaining and won the race!!

COMMENTARY:

This just in from the definition of tough! Saturday evening Martin Truex, Jr. was taken to the hospital with lower back and abdominal pains. Around 10pm Saturday evening, he passed a kidney stone, and by 1pm Sunday he was sitting in his race car ready to go 500 miles!! He was not allowed to take any pain medication and race. Now that is TOUGH!!!!

NASCAR has finally come up with a policy for the restart zone at all the race tracks. They have been toying with the idea for the first four races of the season. Now they are going to double the speed on pit road,convert that to feet, and that is the restart zone. For instance, if the pit road speed is 55 MPH, then the restart zone would be 110 feet prior to the start/finish line.

What is wrong with what has worked for 60 years?? The leader sets the pace and GASSES WHEN HE IS READY!!

Lastly, NASCAR is looking closely at “start and park”. This reporter is holding out on judgement on this subject pending further evidence and discussions. However, your opinion is invited!

AGAIN, I LOOKED IT UP SO THAT YOU WOULDN’T HAVE TO!!

Here is another poll that I encourage you all to weigh in on.

November 13, 2008November 14, 2008

One To Go At The Line!

THIS WEEEK’S STORY LINES:

1. AIR FORCE LEAVES WOOD BROS. FOR GEM #10: (jayski.com)

2. DEI-GANASSI MERGE OPERATIONS:(espn.com) (gannassiracing)(AP)

3. BB&T SPONSOR #33 RCR CHEVY IN ’09: ( RCR pr)

4. RED BULL TEAMS SWAP DRIVERS FOR LAST RACE: (redbullracing pr)

5. BRIAN FRANCE’S TAKE ON SWITCH TO ESPN2 FOR FINAL MINS. OF PHX RACE: (jayski)

6. KESELOWSKI TO RACE @ HOMESTEAD

7. AAA SPONSORS HORNISH IN ’09: (penske racing pr)

8. FURNITURE ROW RACING RUNS A LIMITED SCHEDULE IN ’09:(furniturerowracing)

No I haven’t completely gone off the deep end! There really is a corelation between the NYC Naked Cowboy and NASCAR. How can that be, you say?? Well folks, take a closer look at that picture. He is standing all alone on the island in the middle of Times Square in New York City for everyone to see!! He is unique and has no peers! He is vunerable yet he journeys on with total disregard to personal security!!! That, my friends, is just exactly what the new NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion is!! He is unique, has no peers, extremely vunerable, yet he sojourns on with total disregard for his own personal safety! And in December, he will in fact be on a stage for all to see at the NASCAR Banquet at the Waldorf-Astoria!!!

It is very obvious that the last man standing for this year’s Chase will be Jimmie Johnson. He has but one race left before he marches into NASCAR history. All the #48 Lowes Chevy has to do is finish 35th or better and he has the 2008 Championship lock, stock, and barrell!! In the 60 years of NASCAR racing there has been only one individual to win three consecutive championships in a row, that being “the Timmonsville, S.C. Tornado”, William Caleb (Cale) Yarborough. That feat was accompolished in the period of 1976-1978 with the car owner and crew chief, Junior Johnson!

COMMENTARY

This reporter has been following many forms of racing, Indy Car, NHRA, local short tracks dirt and paved, as well as NASCAR for more than 45 years. What the entire #48 Lowes HMS Chevy team is about to accompolish is of historic proportions! It is a dynasty pure and simple, similar to the NY Yankees in baseball. You might remember those days with “the Mick” Mickey Mantle (my boyhood hero), Yogi Bera, Whitey Ford, Elston Howard,”Moose” Skowron, Roger Maris, and Bobby Richardson. The Boston Celtics with “Big” Bill Russell, Bob Cousey, K.C. Jones, and Sam Jones were equally a huge dynasty in the NBA. These two sports franchises stand head and shoulders above all the rest in “stick and ball” sports!! They are what legends are made from! So observe this weekends event, soak this up, because it may not come our way again for another 30 years!!!

The one thing that we, as fans, learned this season was a reinteration of the old story of “The Hare and The Tortise” Just because somebody starts off the season fast and dominates for 2/3’s of the season, doesn’t necessarily mean that they are going be there in the end!!! Ol Kyle Busch started off “smokin”hot”, but completely fell apart in the Chase! It was bound to happen, a team just absolutely cannot dominate all 36 races in the season, PERIOD!!! Somewhere, someplace, somehow, mistakes and bad luck will come to haunt you!! It happened just as the Chase started for the #18 M&M’s JGR Toyota this year. Will ol Kylie, aka TLVW, be a factor next season, you better bet on it! That team will be better next year than they were this year, if for no other reason than “SPERIENCE”(a DWism for experience)!!!

This off season will be a time of great turmoil and upheaval in the garage. It started this week with the announcement of the DEI-Ganassi “merger”. The sponsorhip dollars are tight and the teams are feeling the pinch. There are still rumblings in the garage of Petty and GEM looking to merge. There are even Penske merger rumors!!! The possibilites are truely endless!!!!

GOD SPEED, JIMMIE JOHNSON!

Stay tuned, ’cause God knows it is going to get interesting!!!!