Diehards Fan Editorial
Why race car drivers are in their own league to other athletes
While I am probably going to get some people responding to me about this one, it’s that matter of opinion thing, you know, the right to say what comes to you? There are all kinds of athletes in this world, football and baseball players get the most credit for being the better athletes while racers tend to take the least amount of credit because many people think that it is all about the car. But this is of a different matter. Drivers are different, they come from a total different breed of people, and we experienced why yesterday. There is a major risk when you get behind the wheel of one of these high speed vehicles, whether it is in a stock car or an open wheeler, danger is racing, racing is danger, no matter how you want to word it.
I listened to IRL champion Dario Franchiitti last night after his friend Dan Wheldon was killed in that terrible crash at Las Vegas, and he said it best.
“Days like today is it worth it? Absolutely not,” said Dario Franchitti, . “But we’re race car drivers, it’s what we do
“We can put so much pressure on ourselves to win races and championships, and that’s what we love to do,” Franchitti said. “It’s what we live for.
”But on days like today, it doesn’t really matter.”
I am a fan of all forms of auto racing, I’ve been called an addict by many others because I watch it all, stock cars, Indy cars, F1, and road course sports car racing. But when something like yesterday’s incident comes around, it makes you think how these men and women do it. As I said you can say that these people are not athletes all that you want, but they are. They are in their own league. Yes there are death’s and many career ending injuries in other sports, but when it comes to racing nothing stands out to be even close as I said last night unless you look at bull riding or even boxing.
“But it’s part of our sport. He knew the risks; we all know the risks when we get in the car.” Michael Andretti stated on Sunday. “ It probably touches me a little more because of everything that was going on. It’s a terrible thing, but unfortunately in our sport we’ve had a lot of days like these. They suck, but that’s the way it is.”
When something like this happens, it brings these guys back down life and it makes them realize the chances that they take each race. I think that there are so many people that think it is a simple thing to learn to wheel a race car. Not everyone can do it. It is totally different than a game of football, and a lot more dangerous. When on the track these people are dealing with competitors surrounding them, they know at any moment that something can happen. It is something they put in the back side of the mind, and try to forget that there are dangers in their cars.
“We don’t think about things like this,” Indy car driver Tony Kanaan said. “As race car drivers, we have to block out that possibility. Unfortunately when it happens it’s really hard.
”But what we do is dangerous and we face that every day,” Kanaan continued. “It’s been happening for years, for decades. It’s just hard to swallow, but we have to move on. We’re racers; we love what we do. Eventually we’re going to have to turn the page and remember him with the great memories we have. I know exactly what he would say if I told him I was going to quit: He’d say he was going to take my place.”
NASCAR and Indycar drivers are of the same mold, no matter who would want to debate it. It takes a special person to race and do it successful, it takes an even bigger person to handle these tragic moments and still race. It was two years ago that I seen Carl go airborne in Talladega when he was tagged by Brad Keselowski and seen him walk away from that incident. It has amazed me how stock car racing has turned the innovation of safety around since 2001 when Earnhardt was killed at Daytona. We have grown so comfortable to the fact that these guys have ran safely since 2006 without a death in either series that we had forgotten what it does to drivers. We’ve seen crashes that happen and wonder how they still do it, it is that different mindset, that drivers have inside of them.
I’ve seen drivers get behind the wheel with broke hands, arms, eyes taped from an injury the week before, torn ACL’s, and broken ribs. These guys do what other athletes cannot. So the next time you question them as athletes think again. They are more so an athlete than any other sport you see. I just think a day after tragedy on the track it is said that many people from other sports were emailing me and telling me that racing needed to be banned, that it wasn’t a sport and needed to be taken off the air because kids did not need to see such horrible stuff on tv.
Take into consideration that yes it is that dangerous game that these guys’ play, but they do it because it is what they love and it is what they do for a living. These people are certainly in their own league in the sports world.
Three late race rallies have put Edwards on top
Race teams have to be in it to win it, but they always have to be able to rally in the darkness. In three races this season, Carl Edwards, crew chief Bob Osborne and the rest of the No. 99 Aflac Racing team has provided each other encouragement in the first four races of the season, including three rallies in the late part of the events to score two top-fives, and three top-tens. They are the only team in the Chase to score four top-ten finishes in the first four events going into Charlotte this weekend.
And it seems to be becoming a habit on Edwards for these late race comebacks. Edwards had a bad handling race car in New Hampshire, at what he considers to be one of his worst tracks on the schedule and finished in eighth place. At Dover, a miscue by himself with a speeding penalty had many thinking that his chances were over with, however, the driver overcame the issue and finished 3rd at Dover. Last weekend could very well, however, be called the comeback of the season for this team. A call in the garage area on Saturday to make a gamble on the front chassis setup did not prevail for the 99 car.
Crew chief Bob Osborne made the calls and it worked to give Edwards a top-five finish after many thought it would result in a very bad points day in Kansas. This weekend the series is going to Charlotte and there has been good and bad to come from races at Charlotte. Edwards has gone four races without a top-ten finish at the mile and a half oval in Concord, NC., however, he has had success including a win in the All-Star race in May. The team will be taking the car that finished ninth at Bristol in August, and hopes that they are able to add to their series points lead.
Yet there is one edge that Edwards has. This is a intermediate oval and he has been the best at these tracks in 2011. Of the eight tracks on these 1.5 mile venues, Carl Edwards has scored a top-ten in seven of the events. The only event he didn’t? Was Charlotte in May. Yet, some people forget that some tracks change over a six month period and some drivers run better when it is completely cool and dark. Edwards dominated the All-Star race under those circumstances in May, and I compare this race more to the All-Star race than the Coca-Cola 600 conditions.
These late rallies have been good for the 99 car, and going into Charlotte they’ve provided the team with a 1-point lead over Kevin Harvick. Erase the rest of the season, and put up the four races for the Chase and Carl Edwards has the best average so far of fifth. He’s scored a 4th, 8th, 3rd and 5th place finish in this season’s four Chase events. Remember before the Chase started? We had some very harsh critics among fans and our media. No one was picking this bunch because of their fall off in the summer and I made that call “Don’t count these guy’s chances out.”
In the summer stretch from May to August, Carl Edwards fell off. He lost the points lead to Kyle Busch after a bad spark plug in Michigan caused the team a solid finish there, and many fans were thinking that he was heading to Joe Gibbs Racing. Edwards baffled the media when he turned everything around and announced that he would be staying put at Roush and things have come back to the way they were during the early part of the season. Wins are good, but I do believe that it was Harvick that said it best that he’d take a fifth-place average to win this season’s championship over the wins that he already had. Edwards has been the one that has kept the fifth place average up and he’s still flying below radar to the media and some fans.
UPS heading to the 99?
UPS announced on Friday that it could be cutting its full-season sponsorship on the No. 6 Roush Fenway Ford Fusion and rumors formed that they would be moving to a 4-8 race sponsorship on Carl Edwards No. 99 Ford. UPS has been a sponsor for David Ragan’s No. 6 car since 2009, and earlier this season there was talks of UPS leaving Roush Fenway Racing all together and moving to Clint Bowyer’s No. 33 car in 2012. UPS wants a driver that promotes their name, plain and simple, to the point, and Ragan has not been able to do it. There was talk earlier this season that UPS was happy with Ragan, however, now it appears they want the bigger name piloting cars sponsored by their company.
Comparing Carl Edwards and David Ragan is like comparing apples to oranges, there is a huge difference between the two. Edwards has had a successful career and has been a prime advertiser for many huge name companies in the sport. Just this past Wednesday, Fastenal announced that they would be moving up to the primary role for 17 races, however, that still leaves 19 races left to fill the blank for. Now those that want to get disgusted with my opinion on this I recommend you stop right here and exit the article.
When you are a major Fortune 500 company (Ranked 48th) like UPS is, you want the rock star style driver who is going to get your companies name out in the open. While UPS is a well recognized delivery company, they still want someone that can get their car up front every weekend. Ask yourself this question – If you were UPS, would you want the guy that has a career average finish of 13.4 or the guy that has an average finish of 21.1?
Carl Edwards has the personality and the talent to please a huge company like UPS. He is a household name himself, and his name is very marketable just by itself, but throw a sponsor in there and he is a huge money maker. Who can do it any better than the Missouri native? No other driver will go into the booth after being crashed out of an event, no one else takes the sun glasses off of his head in respect to the media and gives that perfect interview and mentions every sponsor, even when its a mid-pack finish. People question why companies were wanting on Edwards’ car and not the 6 and 16 cars this season in Nationwide? He is a proven winner, he can market his sponsors products, and he does it well.
Just remember finishing up front does matter. It pleases a sponsor and it gets their company ad team when that car is shown leading a race, and in the last three seasons the UPS car has not been seen that often running front, with the exception of restrictor plate events and its one win at Daytona in July. Marketing matters folks, and you have to run up front and get the logos shown to market and Carl can do it for UPS.
There is “shopping” and then there is “buying”
I have gotten several emails about what I think Carl Edwards will be doing next year. Well I discussed this with a good friend of mine and she came up with the best definition of what is going on right now with Carl.
Carl Edwards, Mike Beam and Jack Roush talk at Michigan International Speedway - Stacey Massel
Right now I think what is going on is Carl is shopping around to find out what kind of deal he can get from someone else and take it over to Roush and get a better deal than already has. I read a comment from Edwards on Sunday that told me he was looking to stay put at Roush and work on a new contract there.
The grass always seems greener. That’s how human beings are,” Edwards said Sunday morning prior to the race at Michigan where he finished 5th and padded his points lead. “But what I’m doing is working really hard (With) Steve Newmark and Jack Roush and Evan Lyle (president of Roush Industries) and all the guys, we’re working really hard to get all our contract stuff done behind the scenes. We really didn’t plan on talking about that here today, but we’re working really hard on it and hopefully we’ll get something done soon.”
I think Bob Dilner had the best explanation that as long as Carl isn’t signed the rumors are going to be flying and you will see the domino’s fall when he is signed this year. I just do not see him leaving Roush for Gibbs. And all you Gibbs fans that like to read my blog, I am going to be the first to say Gibbs isn’t no where near Roush when it comes to the success level. I would be much more worried if this was Hendrick Motorsports he was talking to and not Gibbs, because Hendrick in my book is the only team that has the same “caliber” operation Roush does. Yes, Gibbs is Toyota’s top organization, but with the relationship that Carl Edwards has had with Ford and Roush; I just do not see it happening.
I’ve been told by numerous “inside” sources that Carl wants to re-sign with Roush. Let us put this up, if you were the face of an organization and its manufacturer would you want out of it? If you were sitting on top of the points standings for more than half of the season so far and been in place to win several races; would you leave? I don’t think I would and I will say this, Carl is a student of the sport and he knows what he is doing, so I do not doubt one bit Carl is going to stay put at RFR.
So back to the subject just because your shopping for it, doesn’t mean you are going to buy it!
Did NASCAR not throw that caution because of biased acts?
In the final laps of the Coca-Cola 600, many drivers were feeling that the caution flag should been thrown for the incident that had Jeff Burton sitting in the middle of the race track. Burton himself, even screamed over the radio that the flag should have been thrown by NASCAR, but it wasn’t. Just look at who was leading the race.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., has gone over 100 races without a race victory. We all know who is NASCAR’s most popular driver, plain and simple, and we know that they want him to win a race to bring its popularity up. I listened to Jimmy Spencer last night on Race Hub and heard him discussing the issue and I agree with him, I do feel that the head man in the tower told the flag man not to throw the flags to hurt Earnhardt’s chances of winning the race. Knowning the car probably would not make it on another restart, however, about a 1/4 mile from the finish line he ran out of fuel anyway.
I then went and read several remarks from Earnhardts fans. They placed several comments on a forum that were much like this “NASCAR Should have thrown the yellow when Junior crossed the line and he would have won.” I just think some fans don’t get the fact their driver is treated like a spoiled little rich boy because of his name. If his name was Joe Jones he would be racing in the back with the likes of the go or go homers each weekend and probably would not have as much hoopla about him that he does now. But he has that last name Earnhardt.
I am sure I will probably get a lot of comments from his fans for making those statements but I do deal with the likes of his fans on a daily basis. So the debate goes on, did that race not get slowed because of the guy that was out front? My opinion is yes. Others are going to be feeling different but I feel this race should have been put under caution.
Fan Editorial – Gateway Nationwide Event
There’s a lot of misinterpretation of Carl’s post-race comment about not apologizing.
Carl never said that he intentionally wrecked Brad. He would have been better advised, had he had the time to think about it, to explain that all he did was not lift or back off when Brad implemented his too-late slide job. Nobody has evidently taken the time to view the incident from all the views available and in super-slow motion, which is what NASCAR did immediately after the race.
The rest of the media are simply running their mouths based on what they think they saw, and then Carl’s “admission”.
Brad simply wrecked himself when Carl didn’t lift.
The thing that really PO’s me is that people that should know better (Like Dave Despain) are making comments about Carl “turning deliberately into Brad’s quarter panel. That never happened, and makes it obvious that they “saw” things that didn’t happen and didn’t bother to look further.
All Carl did was correct to his left when their bumpers came together. That “left turn” was completely limited to the back of the car until Brad went around. Carl’s fender damage was from driving through what was already debris on the track (the 22).
Carl could have lifted; he didn’t. …repeat of ‘dega last year.
It’s a fine line, but it’s not “intentionally taking him out”. It was simply intentionally choosing not to lose the race.
Carl didn’t, and shouldn’t apologize; he no reason to apologize for not choosing to lose.
If Brad was fast enough to have won the race off the corner, there wouldn’t have been any contact or opportunity for contact; it was an unsuccessful attempt to block, plain and simple.
Carl Edwards Diehard Fan,
Buz
