Right Click on the photo and view to see just how good a save Pastrana is making here.

What I was excited to see was X-Games star Travis Pastrana drive a stock car. He was running in both the K&N Series and the Nationwide Series.

Before the K&N race Pastrana said, “It’s definitely been a really long time coming. We felt like we were fairly prepared last year coming in. Just really was looking forward to getting that first start at Indianapolis (Lucas Oil Raceway) and hurt myself and it’s been…since that race, it’s all I’ve been thinking about is just getting in here and starting the Nationwide and seeing what’s going on. The K&N (NASCAR K&N Pro Series East) has been great — been learning a lot. Doing a lot of testing with the Nationwide car now with RAB (Racing with Brack Maggard) in conjunction with all the guys that have been really helping out still through Michael Waltrip (Racing) and Matt Crafton. It has been a long road of, ‘Hey, how are you going to do? When are you going to race?,’ and I’m like, ‘I really don’t know.’ And you know what, we’re going to go out here and I finally get a chance to have some fun tomorrow, so I’m really pumped.”

One thing that Pastrana brings to the sport is fans. He’s quite popular with the younger kids and many hope that like Danica Patrick fans will come in droves. Pastrana was asked what his fans were saying and he said, “Completely mixed reaction. Obviously, NASCAR — for everyone saying, ‘Oh, NASCAR needs younger audiences,’ and that might be true, but you guys still have — your demographic is so much bigger than anything that we have in action sports. It’s just action sports is just a younger demographic. It was cool — I was actually at a Subway and a guy came up and was like, ‘Hey, my son was always action sports and I’ve always been trying to get him to watch NASCAR and now we something we can do together,’ which is, for me, that goes a long way. That’s a pretty neat thing. It’s not I wouldn’t say a matter of fans not liking NASCAR. It’s a matter of fans not understanding NASCAR. When it started back when David Pearson and even (Dale) Earnhardt and whatever, it was just rowdy. These guys they were racing. They were wild. They were whatever. It’s become much more of a — as it needs to be with money and sponsors and everything that comes in — it doesn’t get that 16-year-old going ‘I’m going to go peel the tires and cause some havoc and go fast.’ It doesn’t have that same imagine anymore, but it’s still at the core of it racing. It’s still fast. It’s still fun. It’s still exciting.”

Pastrana’s K&N race was going pretty well until there was some contact with another car and he spun out taking him out of the top 10.

Bill Elliot’s son Chase finished second in the K&N series race and almost won the thing losing by less than 1 foot. He also ran in Denny Hamlin’s charity late model race and I will tell you, from what I saw the kid can wheel a car around pretty good. I wonder who he is slated to replace at Hendrick Motorsports. anyone have any ideas?

Look for my column in this weeks paper and my thoughts on the ludicrous position that everything that is broken in NASCAR can be fixed by tinkering with it.

There was big news this week as we left Bristol and head to California. As I sit typing this there a lot of discussion surrounding, what is wrong with Bristol Motor Speedway. I am still trying to figure this out because I don’t understand how people could say that the racing in this past Sunday’s Food City 500 was not.
If you scroll down just a few entries in this blog you will see that I have gone through and written about this before. Bristol Motor Speedway is one of the premier motor racing facilities in the world. After an early crash on Sunday I stood in turn 3 wondering how much fun all the people complaining about the “boring” racing were having watching the cars circle the track at 35 miles per hour. I was bored to tears.
Now Bruton Smith is taking comments about the track from fans. Kevin Harvick said today, “Well, I think if I had the input, I think for me, all you have to do is look up…and we can debate it all day, whether it’s economy racetrack, whatever the case may be. I feel (Bristol) was one of our most popular races on the circuit, I feel like the old-style track brought what the fans want to see, and whether it’s what the car owners want to see or the drivers, and whether you’ve got to run into each other or you don’t, the old-style racing was more to the appeal of the fans. And if I had millions of dollars to spend and had spent the money on the racetrack to make it what it is today, sometimes when you take something that’s really good, and you try to make it better, sometimes it doesn’t work. Obviously they put a lot of effort into a lot of things trying to make it even better for the fans, and for the drivers, and for everybody involved. Sometimes things don’t work out and you’ve got to go back to what worked before, and I think what we had there before was what the fans want to see and it was an exciting race. You know, beating and banging like we all grew up racing, so that’s what they want to see.”
I sort of disagree with Harvick. I still consider myself a fan of the sport and I don’t like wrecks. Bumping and banging at 140 miles per hour causes calamity for many that were not involved. I’m not sure I want to continue beating this drum.
Why do I think the stands are half full at Bristol? There’s a multitude of reasons why, not just one.
1. There’s no where to stay but camp grounds. That means you are carrying everything with you there and dealing with the comforts of camping. For the folks that came with me we left on Thursday afternoon arriving after 3AM Morning. We left a couple hours after the checkered flag, drove through some bad storms, slept about 3 hours and arrived home about 4 PM. That’s a lot of work for a race weekend. Does anyone wonder why people might wait for the night race?
2. The economy- throw in the price of gas, food and a camping spot and it becomes expensive. What about the time off necessary to attend the race? Many people don’t have the time of money to attend a race.
That’s all I got folks. To me the racing is awesome. It reminds me of Richmond where there’s room to race yet they can still lean on each other. Didn’t we have the multi-car wreck early? What about two popular drivers, who were also team mates, racing hard but bumping for room causing one former champion to cut a tire and wrecking?
Yet the race was boring? Not for me.

BIG NEWS ROUND -2 Chad Knaus and Jimmie Johnson got a pardon. Violations that had Knaus and his car chief suspended, monetary fines levied and points taken away were over ruled on appeal. This puts Johnson in 11th for points.
Afterwards Hendrick said, “I’m glad this is over. I appreciate the fact that we had the opportunity to present all the facts. I’m happy with the outcome to see the points reinstated and Chad reinstated.” Hendrick and Knaus maintained that the car had been previously approved and that no modifications were made. Apparently the appeals officer agreed with Hendrick after hearing the second and final appeal.
I don’t have enough information to form an opinion on this. I’m not clear on what the violation was. What I do know is nothing’s changed. Johnson’s back in the hunt.

There I am in the Pocono Media Center with the red Gater News shirt to the far left, while Dr. Joseph Mattioli (background, sitting and red Pocono shirt), known to all of us as “Doc". He came into the media center and let us all know that he was calling an impromptu press conference. It was August 5, 2011. Note, he is surrounded by many generations of his family who work at the track.

“50 years went by damn fast,” he started out. Then came the announcement, “Today this is sort of special to us. My wife and I felt that it’s about time that I got the hell out of here. In either case, as of today, I’m resigning all my positions here at Pocono Raceway. We’re going to take it a little easy and as I say get the hell out of here. We’re very fortunate that we have some great grandchildren and as of today my oldest grandson, Brandon (Igdalsky), who’s already president, is going to become president and CEO of Pocono Raceway.”

At that time I started to recall all the interactions I have had with Doc. It was all race related interactions but it never felt that way. Doc made it a point to always make you feel welcome and appreciated, something that I must say is missing at some facilities.

Doc would host a media get-together every year and he would always ask questions and engage most people that attended.

Pocono Raceway is close to my home and there’s such a huge feeling of loss right now. Doc’s history with NASCAR, the love and dedication that he showed to his family and friends is legendary.

The track press release said:

He served in the Pacific during World War Two as a Navy medic. Using the G.I. bill, he enrolled in the dentistry program at Temple University (where he met his soon to be wife, Rose.) Upon graduation, he developed his dental practice into a very lucrative business by working 12 to 14 hour days, six and sometimes seven days a week. He then began investing in and developing properties in Philadelphia and Northeastern Pennsylvania where he became involved in the start up of Pocono Raceway.

Dr. Mattioli is survived by his wife of 63 years, Dr. Rose, daughters Louie and Michele and son Joseph Mattioli III, seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. His passing leaves a void in the NASCAR community and especially to his family and extended “Pocono Raceway” family.

Service Arrangements for Dr. Joseph Mattioli are incomplete at this time.

God Speed Doc- You will be sorely missed.

The guy that accomplished the big win was the least likely of champions in 2011, especially when he was pretty certain that he and his team did not deserve a spot in the championship battle due to their regular season performance. Tony Stewart was pretty ornery in Richmond this past September and I wonder if Kurt Busch’s melt down there, both on and off the track didn’t detract from the attention Stewart’s behavior should have gotten. However, the guy then went out and won the first two chase races and it was on. The 2011 Chase would not have been close if Stewart did not have bad days at Dover where he finished 25th and at Kansas the next week where he finished 15th.
Homestead-Miami was definitely something that will be remembered for a long time. Stewart did everything he had to do to win that race. He passed 4-5 cars at a time, sweeping from outside to inside with reckless abandon. It was certainly something to see. As I reflected upon that championship battle for a radio interview I did realized how perfect a storm there was that day. The pressure on those guys driving, changing tires and making the calls was immense.
What about Darian Grubb? We all found out as we headed to that race might that he may well be a lame –duck crew chief. Yet, they did it. What fans need to realize is that not every race can have that much on the line, so the feeling really just won’t be the same, I was asked why they can’t all have that much riding on it but I thought it was an absurd question, akin to asking why can’t every baseball game be a Game 7 of the World Series.
What we all hope for is that it spiked some interest, not only in fans but sponsors who remain sorely needed in 2012. Many quality teams seek sponsorships to run all races. We’ll see how it pans out but right now no new deals are being announced.
I’d like to thank all my readers for a great 2011 season. I apologize to all who think that this was selfish self promotion! I hope that your holiday season and New Year’s celebrations are all joyous.

http://community.nascar.com/nascar2000/blog/2011/11/23/jonathan_birchfield_holds_off_south_carolina_governor_nikki_haley_for_2011_celebrity_chase_tracker_title

Both Photos By Ed Coombs

I left Watkins Glen Sunday not knowing whether I would return or not for the 10 AM scheduled start time on Monday. The reason I did not know was because the weather forecast for Monday looked worse than it did for the already delayed Sunday race. I contacted a local meteorologist and one on the internet and they believed that they would get “the race in before it rained”. However, with the legal disclaimer that “there is going to be rain and a low ceiling, anything can happen.” So, I made the trip and the biggest obstacle I had was not the weather but traffic. I spent almost an hour getting up the hill towards the track and then ran into a parking lot attendant who threatened to have my car towed because my pass, that was good the day before, was apparently not any good and I needed to move my car outside the track! Mind you, the race was now GREEN!
A walk into the media center and a brief discussion saw me getting the right parking pass and I was on my way. I went up to the infamous “esses” and started my work. As I move down the track towards turn 1 I decided that would be my home for the day. The cars were fast and they were racing hard. I walk between turns 1 and 2 for most of the race.
Out of the corner of my eye I see a flash of black and notice that Denny Hamlin is without brakes and headed to the wall at a very high rate of speed. He tags the wall with a thud that I can still feel. The photos don’t give it justice, a replay on television or youtube should be looked at to understand just how hard it was. Thankfully, Hamlin walked away under his own power.

Then at the end of the race there was another horrific crash going into turn 2 that saw David Regan hit the outside retaining wall and then come back onto the track where David Reutimann slammed into the car and then head on into the wall, flipping across the track and into the opposite catch fence. This is the same area where there was a huge pile-up during the Nationwide Series race. Neither driver were injured.
However, neither Regan nor Reutimann were pleased with the safety features of the wall. “It’s a shame that a race track we go to in 2011 doesn’t have a better wall design all the way around the race track,” Ragan said. “Hopefully they’ll look at that. I’ve been to some dirt tracks that have better walls than that, but our cars are safe.”
“I’m thinking where I hit would probably be a good place for SAFER barriers,” said Reutimann.

Hamlin mentioned the safety equipment in his car, specifically the safety belts. Can’t say enough for all the safety precautions NASCAR takes,” he said. “Really encourage all these drivers to go to seven-point safety belts. I had those and it just really softened the blow quite a bit. A lot of these guys run five-point and it’s just not enough.”
I believe it was last year when Jeff Gordon had an incident that saw the track make some improvements in the walls. Gordon notes how much faster they race there than at Sonoma (the other road course they run on).

After hearing those comments I decided to ask the winner of the race if he had any concerns about the tack, the walls and safety at the track. Ambrose replied, “The track itself is a first-class facility. It’s a great race track. I think they’ve done an awesome job in some of the safety features they’ve already implemented around this place. I don’t drive around this place looking at any one spot saying, ‘Ooooh, that looks nasty to me.’ I think they’ve done great with what they’ve got.” He then noted with a grin, “If you don’t have a guard rail off of turn two, you end up going down a bank, so that’s not good either. I think the track itself is fine, I think we just have to keep working on safety. All of the drivers walked away. I have no complaints about this place. I think it’s a safe race track.”

Ambrose credited the hard crashes with how hard they run now. “We’re just driving these cars flat-out and it creates problems,” he said. “I think all the accidents today were mechanical issues, mostly, apart from maybe the last one. I didn’t see any of them, so I’ll have to look at the TV when I go back, but cut tires and failing brakes, that’s pretty much what started it. But I think the track is a classic road racing circuit. You don’t want to make it too sterile. You’ve got to have bumps and lumps and change of camber and roughness and all that kind of stuff that makes it what it is.”
I’m not an engineer so I can’t help with designing a new safer wall/ guardrail system for Watkins Glen International Speedway. What I do know is that where Denny Hamlin and Kurt Busch hit the wall, the wall had a tire barrier that held together and in the case of Hamlin his car pushed the wall back. I’m not sure that the SAFER barrier with a concrete wall would have helped anything out. As far as Regan and Reutimann are concerned their crash was nasty but again, what’s the solution? If you narrow that section up with concrete walls and a SAFER barrier it won’t solve the possibility that it’s a very, very fast part of the race track (in many cases they’re shifting as they enter the turn, gaining speed rapidly after the 90 degree turn behind them).

Reports over the weekend indicated that the track was looking to repave the track so that Sprint Cup and others could run the rain tires instead of delaying the race for a day. Michael Printup said the improvements were very expensive, somewhere around $15 million. There was no mention of replacing the powder blue guard rails that line the track during that discussion. Printup will do the right thing for both the drivers and the fans.

Last week at the Pocono Raceway I accompanied Speedway Media’s Mary Jo Buchanan on an interview with Regan Smith. I interviewed Smith a few years ago at Watkins Glen when he was racing for DEI and he was part of the Mark Martin mentoring program (remember those days, when Mark Martin was actually retired?). I found Smith to be rather well polished for being in the position that he was in at the time and found myself rooting for the guy that was born less than 50 miles from my home (Cato N.Y.).
So this time when I saw him he had won his first NASCAR Sprint Cup race a few months earlier at the Darlington Raceway. Look a few posts below at what I write then, it was one for the “good guys”.
At Pocono Smith had just come off a great run at the Indianapolis Speedway where his very good friend Paul Menard won the Brickyard 400. “We were real excited,” Smith said about his finish there. “We felt like we had a ninth or tenth place car. You know strategy is always going to play a part of these races. That’s why the crew guys and my crew chief really had to pay a little of attention. My crew chief did a really good job on the box, we were fortunate we were able to save enough fuel and came away with a strong run. It’s not like we’re backing into them anymore, which is the cool part.”
Clearly Smith isn’t backing into them anymore, he racing well. Smith finished 7th in the 2011 Daytona 500, 8th in the Coca-Cola 600 and 3rd in the Brickyard 400. Unfortunately the rest of the season has not gone that well in regards to how well Smith finishes races. He is qualifying very well and is regarded as one of the best qualifiers in the sport right now.
While he’s been regarded as a “big race” driver Smith said, “I’d like to be the every race driver because they all pay 47 points to win. But if you only have to pick big ones to do good at, that’s not bad either.”
Smith said of Watkins Glen, “That’s one of the races that I highlight on my schedule. We talk about the ‘big four’ or whatever but that’s the fifth one for me just because it’s my home track. I told my guys from the start of the year, if we can’t win one of the ‘big four’, then Watkins Glen is the next one for me. It’s the one I’m putting the most emphasis on.”
Then he realistically described his chances, “Certainly road racing has not necessarily been my strong suit but we did run pretty good last year until we broke a track bar of all things, which is a rare thing to have happen”, he said. “But in Sonoma, which is an even worse road course for me, we ran really well this year, led some laps and had a shot at a top ten. That gets me really motivated to go to the Glen. I feel like we’re going to be really strong there. We’ve been strong for quite some time and I think it’s going to continue there. It certainly doesn’t hurt to have the hometown fans on your side. It’s the one place we go each year where I get one of the louder ovations and that’s a good feeling.”
Smith was involved with a local newspaper’s website chat (Syracuse.com) on Thursday and took fans (and one of mine) questions. I asked him what he thought of his chances and if he was doing anything around the track on the weekend. “I feel good about them,” he wrote. “Road racing is something that I’ve personally been working on getting better at, and at the Infineon race we had a strong car and were able to lead some laps, and I look to do the same at the Glen.” He wrote about where he would be at the track for fans to see and possibly meet. “I will be at the Sprint Zone Sunday morning for a Q&A and will sign as many autographs as I can while I’m there,” he wrote.
I’ll share something else. If you’re camping around the track you might see him there as well. We discussed the infield campers and possibility of him venturing out at Pocono last weekend. So don’t be too surprised if you see him. Maybe he’ll bring other drivers with him, like the lottery, you never know.

See everyone at the Glen, tickets are available!!

There’s lots that happened today and the main thing that I have found is that its never good when the media thinks they have been lied to and that is exactly what has happened with the reports that Ryan Newman was secretly fined after reportedly hitting Juan Pablo Montoya in Darlington during a meeting with NASCAR. NASCAR officials were asked if there were any fines other than the Harvick and Kyle Busch fines. The media was told there were none. Not good NASCAR.

Richard Childress spoke about his passion for his teams but never apologized for hitting Kyle Busch in Kansas.

Kyle Busch spoke of a general perception issue of his actions after the truck race in Kansas and that his actions were “congratulatory” not malicious.

Look for an update in the print edition of Gater for questions for the drivers regarding fuel mileage and how difficult it is.

Finally, teh weather is iffy for the rest of the weekend but we hope to get the race in Sunday. The worst day is tomorrow, according to forecasts with the rain supposedly ending Sunday morning. Are weathermen ever right??