Backstretch Motorsports

TOPEKA, Kan. – It must have felt a bit like proving themselves all over again.

In 2006, Melanie Troxel reached a stunning nine final rounds with two wins in her first year of fulltime competition in Top Fuel, good enough for a fourth-place finish on the year. Then she followed that with another two-win season in 2007, firmly establishing herself as a contender in Top Fuel.

Meanwhile Dave Connolly, one of the youngest drivers on the NHRA POWERade Series Pro Stock circuit, quickly picked up a good reputation as one of the fastest leavers at the starting line – drawing comparisons to established starting-line dominator Jeg Coughlin. After finishing 18th in the points his first season on the road, Connolly turned in four consecutive top 5 finishes – three of which were third-place seasons.

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Tony Stewart’s Home Depot Toyota started in the rear of the All-Star field because of an engine change, the rowdy one had checked out and was running in a different time zone in the first two segments and lost, Denny Hamlin was comfortably leading in the last segment when his engine expired.

For some, the way of thinking may be there’s a chink in the seemingly impenetrable JGR or TRD armor.

Not so and here’s why.

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There’s so much importance on quals at Indy. Weather being not very cooperative this week and a lack of track time has made teams more desperate to make the most important pass on the race.

That being the qualifying position.

The easiest pass a driver can make is having one less car in front of you on the starting grid.

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BRISTOL, Tenn. – Mike Neff raced to the provisional top spot in Funny Car Friday as he looks to collect the first No. 1 qualifier of his career at the eighth annual O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.

Neff drove his Old Spice Ford Mustang to a 4.783-second pass at 321.04 mph to become the provisional top qualifier at Bristol Dragway.

Tony Schumacher and Kurt Johnson (shown at left) were also No. 1 qualifiers in there respective categories at the eighth of 24 events on the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series.

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“…they were just racing so hard there and you knew it was going to happen. I just took advantage of a misfortune right there.” — Clint Bowyer

“…he is going to need some security.” — Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the Jr.Nation’s feelings toward Kyle Busch

It just writes itself, this racing biz. Last night being the prime example. It was Richmond, the little track that provides — for it’s fans, for the drivers, for the teams — it provides good racing and it provides the “more than occasional” controversy.

Nobody is guaranteed anything — not even Dale Jr.

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(Ed. note: this one is a little more personal, Cristiano is a great driver and a great person to know)

Sunday at VIR held one the most pleasant surprises I ‘ve had in a while. Walking through the garage area I saw Cristiano da Matta standing near the Bob Stallings/GAINSCO Racing hauler with headset on, watching as Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney made final prep to compete in the Bosch 250 Grand-Am race.

He had a huge smile on his face. Being around racing has been the best therapy.

I immediately went to talk to the young Brazillian. “The accident is like a blur to me, many things I don’t remember about it” he said, “it was an unfortunate thing, but it is behind me. Now its time to race.”

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First it was Danica Patrick and Japan, Now there’s Ashley Force , and there’s Antron Brown following JR Todd from last season.

Diversity is alive and well in racing. At least in the IRL and NHRA.

Scott Speed not only took the Red Bull team to an ARCA win at the Kansas Lottery 150, he scored another top ten finish in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event there.

Speed is acclerating the learning curve with style. Watch for seat vacancy to both appear and be filled with Speed before Cup seasons’ end over at Red Bull NASCAR. I don’t think there will be a third car.

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“In recognition of Danica’s talents, she did a good job. She passed me fair and square. I didn’t have enough fuel, even if I wanted to, to fight with her, and today I guess it’s part of history again. Last race in this car, and now she wins the race.
She was very competitive. Any driver that comes with a good package and a good organization, they can put a good job and they’ll be competitive.” ~~ Helio Castroneves on Danica Patrick’s win at the Japan 300.

A huge part of auto-racing is strategy. One of three key elements , equipment, personel and execution of plan. Any crew chief or race strategist will tell you that end of a race is a chess game, thinking backward from the checkered flag to the final pit stop. Knowing how and when you could and should make your move for the best possible finish position.

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Race fans are a not a fickle bunch. They chose drivers to follow, cheer for them and buy the swag at amazing proportions.

They latch on to winners. And they display their allegiances with conviction.

It is easy to not like winners. Listen to the boo-birds at any session of driver intros at any given event. Wait till somebody that is a proven winner takes the stage. They boo because it’s not their winner.

They consider themselves to be hard-core.

I submit that they are not.

Read on.

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In American auto racing, both in the business of racing and the science of racing, there are only a handful of names you can call on for understanding.

To my way of thinking, among the best of the best, there is Roger Penske, Doug Fehan of Corvette Racing, Dave Maraj of Audi Sport North America, Les Unger of Toyota Motorsports and Jack Roush, to name a few.

From these individuals, if you have the privilege of getting time to talk with them, you can learn everything from the upper-most advances in tech, marketing and performance to the street-level gut instincts of competitive motorsports.

And no one better represents these attributes more than Jack Roush.

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