NASCAR Chairman and CEO has heavy foot

Yeah, so what. Kasey Kahne found his was to victory lane and gave Richard Petty Motorsports its first win since 1999. Well, that is not exactly true.
Kahne did win … and it was a win for Petty. But I am having a hard time buying into the notion that Richard Petty Motorsports is the same organization as Petty Enterprises. You see, in 1999, PE was a single operation that was built off the works of The King. With the bastardization of Gillette-Evernham Motorsports and the original PE, I just don’t think that what is parked in the garage is the same operation.
Now, is that a bad thing? I don’t think so. Let’s face facts — PE struggled for years and even had trouble making the field sometimes. The former PE teams were back-of-the-field operations with nary a chance to win a race, much less a Sprint Cup Championship.
At least now there is hope, which is something that many fans had lost in PE’s lean years. The new Richard Petty Motorsports has proved that it can run at the front. It has proved that it can win. Sure, there are times when they still run in the back and Kahne’s win is obviously a first but with any luck this is the beginning of something great.
Yeah, I figure I will catch some flack for my opinions on the new organization but, hey, it’s my column. And it’s my opinion.
I just don’t think anyone can make a legitimate claim that the Petty of today is the Petty of the past decade or more. Let’s all hope that Richard Petty Motorsports makes a quick return to victory lane.
As we move on to another topic, I would like to point out that I usually don’t cover news in this column but this week, I just can’t help myself. On a whim last week, I decided to run a background check on NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France. In all honesty, I am working on another story and was trying to find out which other corporations France is involved in. But along with the corporate affiliations, I found out that France has a lead foot.
Apparently, France was doing 80 mph in a 60 mph zone and got busted by North Carolina State Highway Patrol Officer H.L. Dorty. The ticket was written on March 31 in Mecklenberg County. For those that don’t remember, that was the Tuesday before the race at Texas Motor Speedway.
First, I have no room to be judgmental when it comes to traveling at speeds above the posted legal limit — just ask any of my “close friends” in the traffic division of the Beaumont Police Department. And that doesn’t include my own “personal experience” with the North Carolina State Highway Patrol in 1991.
You see, in North Carolina, going 80 mph in 60 mph zone is considered a Class 2 misdemeanor, which can result in a suspended license.
According to Mecklenburg County court records, France had a trial date set for June 5 and his case was disposed of on June 15. The record shows that France’s speed was reduced from 80 mph to 65 mph and he paid only a $10 fine along with $121 in court costs. That’s a pretty good deal, if you ask me.
Do I think that France used every trick in the book to get his penalty reduced? Yes. Do I know for sure? No. I do think that every one of us would have done whatever it takes to save our driver’s license. Besides, how would it look if the guy who runs NASCAR had his license suspended?
In other news, it appears that the Nationwide Series and the Camping World Truck Series are going to be the biggest sufferers from the disaster that is our nation’s economy. With talk swirling that both series were looking at moving to a Crate or spec motor that is the same for everyone, now teams are will have to cope with losing financial support.
Toyota announced this week that it was joining with Chevrolet and Ford in yanking its financial support of the two lower tiered series. I could be wrong but I think it is safe to say Dodge is also in that camp. They will still provide some engineering and technical support but the cash flow is cut off from what I understand.
And that also appears to be the case on the Cup level where several teams, including Richard Childress Racing and Richard Petty Motorsports are owed millions of dollars by the manufacturers. Childress and Rick Hendrick of Hendrick Motorsports said they were still behind GM but they have to be feeling the pinch. I wonder what they were in such an intense discussion about his past weekend at Infineon Raceway.
The other rumors around the garage center around which drivers will end up where in 2010. The biggest speculation is surrounding the future plans of Martin Truex Jr. and Kahne. Both have options available to them, so their decisions should be interesting. It also appears that Kevin Harvick might be willing to leave RCR. I don’t see that happening at this time but if he does, I would look for him to show up at Stewart-Haas Racing.
There is also speculation that Danica Patrick will land at Roush Racing. She has publicly said that she is looking at NASCAR for her future and I think she would be a great asset to the sport. And finally, it looks like Brad Kesolowski and Stephen Wallace could be racing in the Sprint Cup Series next year.
It’s only June and Silly Season has barely begun but I can assure you things won’t calm down until we get to the final few races of the season. So just sit back and watch what happens.