Edition 18, April 4th- 2008

A Strange Start to the 2008 Race Season

I think the word “strange” would never cover the type of conditions that we have faced as we not to patiently await the start of the racing season at Rockford. The winter has been too long; so watching racing on television has been our escape from snow piling up around the front door. But this is perhaps the strangest beginning to a race season that I have ever experienced. When we look at some things that have happened this year and we listen close, we might hear Alan Kulwicki rolling over in his grave. Let me point out a few strange but true incidents that have transpired already in 2008.

• Wood Brothers Racing, for decades a strong team that was always been looked up to for innovation, has not qualified in 4 of the first 6 races this season.
• Tire Gate, with Tony leading the charge calls for Hoosier or Firestone to come forward and provide a safe and reliable tire to race on. Surprisingly after a meeting with “management” he felt that things would get better.
• Toyota is suddenly the strong car to beat on a weekly basis. Of course having the Gibbs stable running the iron has certainly helped.
• Kyle Petty misses the Martinsville race and turns the keys over to his development driver to push the team into the line up. Perhaps this is not such a shock to the younger race fan, but for those who were with Kyle and the Mello Yello generation, this is certainly the beginning of the end.
• General Mills announces that it has been great to be with the Petty team; but they will move to Childress Racing in 2009. The 43 car will need new paint, which has carried the Gen. Mills colors since losing STP as sponsor.
• King Richard Petty meets with financial backers from the New York area in search of alternate financing to keep the Petty legacy going.
• Yates Racing runs two teams but one car is plain white valiantly searching for a sponsor. This also was a ride that drivers in past years wanted, and when Robert called, it was an honor to sit in his racecar. Davy Allison would be amazed at this fall from dominance.
• And if you watch the Nationwide Series, you cannot keep up with the driver changes since the beginning of the year. The Phoenix race team is already on their third driver. (Good luck to Johnny Sauter finding a new seat)
• Only 44 Craftsmen trucks showed up at Daytona (the super bowl of racing) and only 36 entered Martinsville. How many will come to Milwaukee? Is the luster of truck series at an apex? (good to know Mid Am has a strong base of teams)
• What else will go awry?

And This Past Tuesday...

My cell phone rang this past Tuesday just before lunch, and a despondent Adam Berge stated; “I have a headache, and I am going to share it with you.” We usually can work these things out, so I said go ahead tell me what is wrong. “James Swan has an opportunity to go racing in Midwest ASA and he wants to know if he should do it, and whether or not the sponsors will go with him?” Well this rocked our world, and I asked what about the Berge crew, the car, and what would he (Adam) do with less than two weeks before the race season. “Sell the car, because I have already lived my dream with two championships” he said. “James is free to pursue his dream”.

Ten minutes pass and Adam calls again. “Do you know what day it is? April Fools Day and I will get to the bottom of this”. Ten more minutes pass and a laughing James Swan calls to admit that he has pulled off one of the greatest gags ever, and he has no plans of leaving the Berge Racing entry. This team keeps (me) a mature race fan young at heart.

See you in Rockford...

Racing to the Checkers,
Jim