12/01/02……… TRAC, the new stock car racing series that was supposed to be making its 2003 debut this coming spring, is now projecting a 204 start-up. The Team Racing Auto Circuit announced recently that due to “adverse business conditions” it was postponing it’s emergence into the stock car racing world until the second quarter of 2004.

As iffy as the cut-throat business world is today, many have speculated that the powerful NASCAR organization is running adverse interference in TRAC’s bid to make an entrance into the sponsor and TV markets. One of TRAC’s major setbacks is its inability to obtain a television broadcasting package. It’s hardly feasible that NASCAR can offer any problems for them in that department, they turned their backs on a lot of the networks that made them successful. But when it comes to sponsorship, there is where NASCAR can crack the whip over TRAC.

NASCAR has had a standing association with most of the major corporations in the country, plus some overseas, for several years. Even though some of them are no longer associated with NASCAR, they still have solid contacts with the organization, and track records of proven advertising success. TRAC is having a tough row to hoe breaking into this business. Not only are they attempting to compete against NASCAR, they have several other racing series to contend with. The IRL and Formula 1 Series have been operating for years, as well as other open wheel, dirt, drag racing, and sprint car organizations.

I’m sure that everyone realizes by now that one of the main problems facing the business world today is the demise of the stock markets worldwide. Lots of folks tend to think that the demise in the business world began with the 9/11 attacks, but that isn’t the way it is. The stock market and business world started its downward spiral as soon as it was announced that George W Bush had won the race for the U.S. Presidency. Proponents of the Bush administration will deny that, but it won’t do them any good, the facts are the facts. That’s when the economy really took a major downturn, regardless of who the current administration blames it on. Although, we all know that the terrorist attacks did harm the economy even worse, taking the Bush administration proverbially off of the hook.

Not withstanding any faults connected with the demise of the business atmosphere, TRAC is going to have a tough row to hoe, even with a debut scheduled for 2004. I had high hopes at one period in time that they were going to be a viable future alternative to NASCAR racing, but that may have just been a pipe dream. NASCAR needs some sort of competition to hold it in check. The dictatorship attitude that it enjoys has been known to get out of hand. After all, they are the main and best paying stock car racing vehicle in the United States. We all know that they have taken advantage of their power over everyone involved with stock car racing, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to change anytime in the near future.

12/9/02……… Talk about big bucks, Tony Stewart couldn’t have picked a better year to have won the championship. The points fund paid $4.3 million to Stewart, who along with his season’s winnings ended up with $9.16 million for his 2002 efforts. That’s not a bad haul! That put Stewart’s total to over $20.9 million for four seasons in Winston Cup. If he keeps it up he may very well top Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Sr. in career earnings. I was surprised to find that NASCAR adds the money it collects in fines and penalties during the season to the point’s fund. That’s a good deal, they way it should be!

Another surprising aspect of 2002 is that three drivers behind Stewart, Mark Martin, Kurt Busch, and Jeff Gordon, each got over a million dollars for their efforts. The banquet wasn’t nearly as impressive as the racing during the season, with the exception of Sheryl Crowe’s performance. That kind of made it worth while to watch. Stewart’s act with the camera was also refreshing. For someone who doesn’t like media and the spotlight, he’s quite the showman.

The Fans Choice Awards were also refreshing. To me, that’s one of the highlights of the year. What the mainstream of fan think is what tends to drive the sport. That’s what the media moguls rely on when they are setting up their programming and broadcasting plans for an upcoming season.

Another good aspect of the Fans Choice Awards is that Dale Jr. ended up with a quarter of the awards. He was picked for having the best TV commercial for the skipping CD, and for providing the most emotional moment in 2992 racing for rushing up to Steve Park after the wreck on the first lap at Pocono. He was also picked for the best quote: "Damn (Robby Gordon) racing the leaders with about 10 to go, that's why it takes three or four times for him to get into the Winston Cup Series, cause he don't pay attention and he don't know what he's doing."

He was also picked as the driver that most of the fans would like to hang out with. Although I said he was picked four times, he was also picked with Robbie Gordon when fans were asked which grudge match they’d pay to see. I think I’d pay to see that one myself! Although, it wouldn’t take much for Dale Jr. to make an idiot out of Gordon, because he’s an egotistical idiot to begin with.

One question was “Driver you’d least like to see in your rear view mirror?” It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand why Jimmy Spencer was picked for that one. Although, there are a couple more that I could add to it, which include Todd Bodine, Kurt Busch, and Jeff Gordon. We all know that if Dale Sr. were alive he’d have been picked for that one, but for an entirely different reason.

The question in the survey that kind of gets my hackles up was, “Rule you’d like to see implemented.” The majority of fans chose, “No race may finish under caution.” While I can understand this logic perfectly, I don’t like the way NASCAR is addressing the situation. Hey, I’d like to see all races end under green flag conditions too, but when there are five or six laps or less remaining, the red flag does more harm to the race than good. I do not like to see the red flag stopping a race just so it can end under green flag conditions. NASCAR needs to wake up and smell the roses. They need to lengthen the race so it will end under green flag conditions, like they do in the Craftsman Truck Series. They should give all competitors a fuel and tire stop where they will come out of the pits in the same position that they went in, so as not to interfere with the way the race was winding down. Then, they need to keep racing until the race finishes under the green flag. This red flag business has got to stop. It actually takes away from the race, the cars either cool down, or overheat, and the drivers get impatient or despondent, along with the crews and fans. Either race, or go home, don’t stop the cars. Oh, I can see if there is a bad wreck where it is going to take a long time to clean up the track, that’s what the red flag is for, but it’s not for just stopping the race at a whim.

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8/15/02……… This is the time of the year when everyone wants to know where the money went. Believe me, there was a lot of it to go around in Winston Cup this year!

1. Tony Stewart

Driver’s points/Bonuses = $4,305,606.80

Total Season Winnings = $9,163,761

2. Mark Martin

Driver’s points/Bonuses = $2,721,988.00

Total Season Winnings = $7,004,893.00

3. Kurt Busch

Driver’s points/Bonuses = $1,304,347.00

Total Season Winnings = $5,105,394.00

4. Jeff Gordon

Driver’s points/Bonuses = $1,086,706.00

Total Season Winnings = $6,154,475.00

5. Jimmie Johnson

Driver’s points/Bonuses = $939,065.00

Total Season Winnings = $3,788,268.00

6. Ryan Newman

Driver’s points/Bonuses = $801,425.00

Total Season Winnings = $5,346,651.00

7. Rusty Wallace

Driver’s points/Bonuses = $693,784.00

Total Season Winnings = $4,785,134.00

8. Matt Kenseth

Driver’s points/Bonuses = $549,155.00

Total Season Winnings = $4,514,203.00

9. Dale Jarrett

Driver’s points/Bonuses = $485,160.00

Total Season Winnings = $4,421,951.00

10. Ricky Rudd

Driver’s points/Bonuses = $434,230.00

Total Season Winnings = $4,444,614.00

The figures don’t lie, the top ten drivers in the 2002 Winston Cup season grossed over $54.7 million, and that’s not even mentioning what the other 30+ regular drivers in the series made. There are usually 43 cars on the starting grid for every Winston Cup race, so we can easily figure in at least another $50 million for other 33 main drivers. As a general rule, the drivers usually get to keep from 40 to 60 percent of their race purse money and bonus money, added to their contracted salaries. Driver’s salaries have been kept a close knit secret since day one. There are those who know, but this is something that has been regularly kept from media sources.

Recent revelations have shown that a Winston Cup race driver makes much less than other major sports figures. It is believed that the highest paid driver this season was Tony Stewart, and that his 2002 base salary was in the neighborhood of $3 million dollars, a far cry from that of a baseball or football star.

A Newsday story revealed that drivers in the top three NASCAR series collected roughly 18% of the $1.8 billion dollars generated by NASCAR this season. Other major sports venues top stars get 50% of the money generated from their collective bargaining processes. NASCAR drivers do not have a union like other sports stars do, and that is where they are coming up short. NASCAR is getting the majority money that the driver’s skills and personalities are bringing in.

12/22/02……… One would think that Winston Cup drivers are getting a break during the so called “off season.” But alas, that isn’t really the case for the top drivers on the circuit. The top drivers make the best money, have the best sponsors, and get their faces plastered all over the TV and print ads.

Making the best money and getting the perks and bonuses is only one aspect of it. Most of the top drivers are busy as the dickens now, filming commercials and posing for still shots for sports cards and fan club photos. It’s a long hectic day for most of them, and they have to spread out their time and schedules between their major sponsors and associate sponsors as well.

Usually, when a major sponsor agrees to enter into a contract financing a team, the driver is a crucial part of the deal. You’ve all seen the UPS commercials with Dale Jarrett and several other stars, along with the Budweiser and rental car commercials with Dale Earnhardt Jr. Home Depot has a few commercials with Tony Stewart. Jeff Gordon does commercials for both his major sponsor Dupont, and his associate sponsor Pepsi. Although the drivers make a lot of money out of these commercial ads, the time that they have to put into filming these ads is time away from their families and other things that they would rather be doing.

Dale Jarrett is getting a new crew chief again. This move was attempted last season, when Yates hired Jimmy Elledge to take over the crew chief duties for the No. 88 UPS Ford. Todd Parrott was moved up the ladder at Robert Yates Racing, but he couldn’t keep his nose out of Elledge’s business, and ended up forcing Elledge out.

This time, Brad Parrott is going to be crew chief for the No. 88, moving up from the Busch Series where he has been Crew Chief for Jeff Burton on the No. 9 Gain Ford for Roush Racing. Brad Parrott had been with Yates from 1996 to 2001 as a chassis specialist and assistant crew chief in Winston Cup.

It remains to be seen if Todd Parrott can actually give up his crew chief duties and stay out of the way so the new crew chief can do his job effectively. He has been moved up to director of competition at RYR, and will be over both the No. 88 UPS team, and the No. 38 M & M’s team with new driver Elliott Sadler. Look for some problems with the No. 88 team early on in the season. It will take Jarrett some time to get used to another crew chief, that’s the way he started out the 2001 season.

NASCAR’s new body rule for 2003 is said to only be the beginning. Look for the sanctioning body to mandate a lot more aerodynamic and style changes in 2003 at the untold expense to the race teams. That’s been the main problem with NASCAR in the modern era all along, they don’t give a hoot about creating exorbitant costs to the teams, they are only concerned with making themselves look good.

Following this pretense, you can expect to see the richer teams with the major corporate sponsors continue to lead the way in technical development, while the smaller struggling teams continue to struggle unsuccessfully. It’s kind of a catch 22 situation with NASCAR. On one hand they claim to want to open up the circuit for new owners and teams, and on the other hand, they are making it financially tougher and tougher for the teams they already have.

This talk last season about creating a positive minority presence in Winston Cup was nothing but a bunch of hype to pat make-up on the face of NASCAR. How can they attract new minority teams when they constantly strap their current teams with ridiculous mechanical costs to make their mandated changes several times throughout any given season?

12/29/02……….According to the media, Jeff Gordon may as well have won the 2002 Winston Cup Championship. Gordon seems to be in the news a lot more than Stewart. So Gordon didn’t get to grab the brass ring this season, big deal. He is certainly making up for it with media announcements and guest appearances in an effort to dwarf the accomplishments of Tony Stewart.

In all fairness to Gordon, he is and always has been the quintessential news topic since making his way into NASCAR during the 1990’s. I remember when Bobby Labonte was Winston Cup Champion, Gordon was in the news more than Labonte was. He’s amicable with the press, and has his own press people who strive to keep him in the spotlight.

But still, enough of Jeff Gordon stuffed down our throats is enough! Not all of us stock car racing fans are Gordon fans, and I think it’s high time that the media recognized that. What do we care if Gordon is making TV commercials or hosting Saturday Night Live? I’m sure the only ones who will tune in to watch are his fans. I know I won’t be one of them.

This is probably the style that our new champion will embrace for the coming season. It looks as though he’ll follow in the footsteps of 1999 champion Dale Jarrett and 2000 champion Bobby Labonte by not making a spectacle of himself in the media like pretty boy Gordon does.

Probably the only time we’ll see Stewart other than some TV commercials is when he’s on the race broadcasts or racing programs. You can’t blame a guy for wanting to stay out of the limelight for a while, especially a private type person like Stewart. These drivers have to have some time to themselves, even though some of them (like Stewart) spend a lot of that time racing in venues other than NASCAR. Now that the world knows that Stewart has raced anonymously as “Smoke Johnson” he’ll have to change his alias so that he can enter races without drawing a lot of attention to himself.

Who would you hire if you were starting up a new race team? I got a big kick out of the poll that they had on NASCAR.com asking that question. The answers were Casey Atwood, Bobby Hamilton, and Jimmy Spencer. With close to 79,000 people taking the poll, 39% of those idiots chose Casey Atwood. Bobby Hamilton (my choice) got 28% and Jimmy Spencer got 33%. Hey, are people really that daft, or is it just me?

Casey Atwood? He has been a failure in Winston Cup for two years running. So much so that Jim Smith and Atwood’s own standby Ray Evernham dumped him by the wayside as a lost cause. So what makes people think that he would be the best choice to drive for a new team? Maybe they want the new team to fail?

Then you have 33% of these daft individuals thinking that Jimmy Spencer would be the right choice. There are those who might tell you that Jimmy Spencer couldn’t win a race if he were the only one in it, and I might be one of them. Jimmy Spencer? When was the last time Spencer won a race, and who was he driving for? Ancient history.