On Racing's Biggest Weekend, Take a Minute to Slow Down

This is the biggest weekend in motorsports. The Grand Prix of Monaco in the morning, the Indianapolis 500 in the afternoon and the Coca-Cola 600 at night will make up a day that race fans dream about all season long.

But as we embark on racing's longest day, it is also important to slow down and reflect for a moment and remember a few heroes.

This will be the first time in 66 years that the defending Indy 500 winner will not be in the field to go for a repeat. This year's defending champ is Dan Wheldon, whose life was tragically cut short due to a vicious crash in last year's season finale at Las Vegas. Wheldon, known simply as "Lionheart", won last year's centennial edition of the Indy 500 in spectacular fashion, passing the wreck car of leader J.R. Hildebrand in the final corner of the speedway. This was also the Englishman's second victory in the most storied race in motorsports.

A picture of Wheldon from last year's win will be on all of the tickets for this year's event. Wreath around his neck, milk in his hand and a bright smile on his face, just how race fans everywhere will remember "Lionheart."

The other reason to pause this race day is to remember the reason why we are racing at all.

Memorial Day weekend is not only a time to watch racing, barbecue and go to the beach. It is a time to remember all the brave men and women who have given their lives in service to our country. It may sound cliche, but freedom does not come free and without the sacrifices that our soldiers and their families make, we would not have the freedom and liberty we enjoy on a daily basis.

This weekend is all about spending time with family and enjoying some burgers, some hot dogs and some racing but let us not forget why we are able to do these things.

God bless Dan Wheldon, his wife Susie, and his sons Oliver and Sebastian. This weekend cannot be an easy one, seeing all the tributes and footage of Dan's Indy wins. May they finally have some sense of closure when this year's race is finished.

And God bless the servicemen and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the United States and all of their families. Without them, there would be no Indy 500, no Coke 600, and no family get-togethers.

"...that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that Government of the people, by the people and to the people shall not perish from the earth."

-Abraham Lincoln

Johnson Backs into All-Star Victory

The 2012 Sprint All-Star race started out with a bang. Drivers raced side-by-side throughout the field, feathers were ruffled and the recent changes Nascar made to the side skirts on the cars made the cars jumpy and hard to handle. The million dollar prize was anybody's to grab.

Then the final segment started.

The latest changes made to the race's format meant that the drivers who won the first four segments would line up 1-2-3-4 for the final pit stop. All they had to do was stop in their box, go and try to hold their spot. The crews didn't even need to service their cars.

But this new format came with an unforeseen issue. Once a driver won a segment, they would lag back the rest of the race to save their tires and equipment for the final 10-lap "shootout."

Jimmie Johnson won the first segment of the race and knew he would get that lead back when the No. 48 team came in for their final stop. Matt Kenseth won segment two and followed Johnson suite. Brad Keselowski was the third driver to win a segment and disappear to the rear of the pack. Sprint Showdown winner Dale Earnhardt, Jr won the fourth segment and looked like he would be the third driver to ever win the All-Star race after transferring in from the preliminary forty lap heat.

These four inherited the lead for the fifth and final segment. Despite challenges from Keselowski, Junior, and Marcos Ambrose, Johnson waved goodbye to the field and led the final ten laps and won his third All-Star win.

The race was not bad. Earnhardt, Jr and A.J. Allmendinger transferred in through the Showdown, started from the rear of the field and were contenders for the win the big money by the end of the race. Ambrose was also a strong contender throughout the race and it looked like the Aussie road racer-turned-stock car driver would finally shake the stereotype that he is only a road course ringer.

But in the end, the fans watching on television, and especially those who laid out their hard-earned money to see the race live, were sorely disappointed when a select few drivers decided not to give 100% Saturday night. Johnson, Kenseth and Keselowski didn't circumvent any rules. They merely took advantage of their situation. But that doesn't mean the fans have to like it. Johnson and his fans should be ashamed. Running half a lap down most all night, only to lead the final 10 laps and win the $1 million prize, is hardly an All-Star performance.

This race was almost perfect. If Charlotte Motor Speedway and Nascar would simply tweak the format and make it so all the drivers had to race all out for the entire event, like going back to eliminating drivers at the rear of the field at the ends of the segments, the race would be perfect. After what the No. 48 team pulled Saturday night, it's clear that something must be done before next year's race or the All-Star race will be at risk of becoming Nascar's equivalent of the NFL Pro Bowl.

2013 Chevy Stocker Will Be SS



First look: The 2013 Chevy SS

Just as predicted, General Motors announced Thursday that their Chevrolet brand will campaign a new model on the 2013 Sprint Cup Series tour. It will be based on the V-8 powered, rear-wheel-drive Holden Commodore that is currently produced in Australia and be called the SS.

Chevy's move will hearken the return of a V-8 powered, rear-wheel-drive sedan that the automaker has not offered the American public in 17 years. It will be the derivative of the Holden Commodore, which we have already seen stateside as a Pontiac G8. The SS will be exported to the US as a 2014 model that will arrive in a showroom near you in late 2013.

After campaigning the Impala in Nascar full-time since 2008, bringing the SS to the United States might be just what the sport needs. Fans being able to purchase a production car with the same V-8 powerplant and rear-wheel-drive platform as Dale Earnhardt, Jr or Jeff Gordon may not only boost ticket sales, but sales for GM as well. The SS badge has always been reserved for Chevrolet's most storied models. Names like Chevelle, Camaro, Nova, Impala, Monte Carlo and El Camino have all been emblazoned with the infamous "Super Sport" emblem at one time and that fact will not be lost on longtime fans of Nascar racing.

"As a passionate race fan and performance enthusiast, I am thrilled that Chevrolet will deliver a true rear-wheel-drive Nascar racecar in the SS that is closely linked to the performance sedan that will be available for sale," said Mark Reuss, President of GM North America. "The Chevrolet SS is a great example of how GM is able to leverage it's global product portfolio to deliver a unique performance experience that extends beyond the track. I am personally looking forward to driving it."

Toyota will unveil their new body style in the next week or so, but there is no time table for when Chevrolet will unveil their new model. For now, all we have is a photo of a camouflaged version used in a test. But while the major details of the body styling are still a corporate secret, one thing is for sure. This thing sure looks like a racecar.

Are Stewart, Truex Trying to Ailienate Fans?

Last season was one of the best Nascar seasons in recent memory. Drivers like Trevor Bayne and Regan Smith finally breaking into victory lane, drivers getting into heated rivalries and close, exciting, side-by-side competition and a championship that was decided in a winner-take-all tiebreaker. Fans loved it and they showed up to the track in droves.

But this year, aside from the towering inferno midway through the first prime time Daytona 500 in Nascar history, the racing has been anything but exciting.

There have been very few cautions and torn up sheet metal this year. Tempers have remained in check and the on-track product has been more like Formula 1 and less like the rough and tumble spectacle fans have come to love.

So after Sunday's Aaron's 499 at Talladega, when drivers raced in a pack again and there were several wrecks, just like every other race at the Alabama speedway. But this time, after the race ended, there were a couple of drivers who decided to open their big mouths about the racing that had gone on and chastise the fans for questioning the racing that they are being provided.

First, Martin Truex, Jr took to Twitter to fill fans in on what his team's day was like, as drivers often do. After trading barbs with some Jeff Gordon fans, the New Jersey native posted "Guess the fans got the cautions they wanted today. Goodnight."

Tony Stewart chimed in as well, but he had much more to say.

"We didn't quite crash half the field which is what we normally look to do here," quipped Stewart. "I was excited about it. I thought it was a pretty good race. I made it further than I thought I would before I got crashed. I call it a successful day."

He went on to criticize Nascar and their minimizing the grille openings on the race cars and downsizing the radiators to five gallons. With the temperatures around 90- degrees most of the weekend, drivers were forced to monitor their gauges and manage their engines in a pack instead of racing in tandems, as had become the routine.

"It's fun to race and watch the gauges at the same time," Smoke went on to say. "It makes us drivers have to do so much more. Being able to make yourself run on the apron and everything else to try to get clean air, it makes it fun." The Stewart-Haas Racing owner later said the sanctioning body "...ought to just tape (the cars) off solid and run them until they blow up. I think it would make it a lot more exciting for the fans." He also cracked, "I feel bad if I don't spend at least $150,000 on torn up race cars going back to the shop. We definitely have to do a better job with that. I'm upset that we didn't crash more. I feel like that's what we are here for."

In closing, Stewart said the race should be extended until half the field is wrecked and for the next race, that the track should be reconfigured into a Figure Eight "and/or we can stop at the halfway point make a break and turn around and go backwards the rest of the way. Then, with 10 laps to go, we split the field in half. Half go the regular direction and half of them go backwards."

Drivers opinions do matter, but why do they feel the need to express them in a way that alienates longtime fans of the sport. Texas, Kansas and even Richmond at times featured nothing but single-file, green flag racing with little or no change in the running order and only fifteen or twenty cars on the lead lap. Race tickets are not cheap and, when coupled with high gas prices and hotel rates, fans spend a small fortune to come and see these drivers race. Without the fans, these 43 racers would have to get real jobs like the rest of us.

While, Stewart's comments were mostly a jab at Nascar's lack of flexibility with the rules at plate tracks now, the words wrecks and excitement were used interchangeably. Both he and Truex were no doubt referring to fans wanting to see wrecks, not the racing they are providing.

Calling fans names and making it sound like they only show up to watch drivers take their best shot at knocking down the wall is unfair and it's a great way to turn even more fans off a sport struggling with television ratings and low attendance. The NFL has not blamed their current issues with the New Orleans Saints on bloodthirsty fans because they realize that the fans are what make their sport possible.

If the fans want to see drivers race backwards in a Figure Eight, then that is what they should see on Sunday afternoon.

If we are not going to see bent up sheet metal and tempers during a race, then Nascar really needs to change their commercials for the All Star Race next week because it is nothing but wrecks set to Blake Shelton's hit "Kiss My Country Ass." Given how racing on the "cookie cutter" tracks has been this year, a more fitting ad would be footage of cars racing single file, set to Leroy Anderson's "The Syncopated Clock."

All these comments will do is make fans angry and drive them, especially the longtime ones, away from the sport. When television ratings drop even further and once packed grandstands are covered by tarps, we will see what the sport's elite have to say about the on-track product then.