Last week, when I first heard that a US Airways jet headed from New York to Charlotte had crashed into the Hudson River, my mind immediately began to think about my NASCAR cohorts and whether or not any of them were on board.
In fact, the first person I thought of was David Poole, who is the co-host of The Morning Drive on Sirius Satellite Radio and the NASCAR beat reporter for the Charlotte Observer. I was pretty sure that I heard him on the radio that morning and he was in the Charlotte area, but that didn’t mean that someone else from NASCAR might not be on that plane. Since everyone survived and there were no “Breaking News” alerts coming from any of the 10 million public relations people in the sport, I wasn’t too concerned.
Then, early this week, I received my weekly bulletin from ThatsRacin.com — The Observer’s blog/Web site. Anyway, I found out that there was someone from NASCAR on board and Poole interviewed her. I won’t go into the details but if you want to read it the address is www.thatsracin.com/commentary/story/21774.html.
The story is not long or drawn out and it gives a glimpse of what it was like on that plane. But it did something else for me. As someone who frequently flies to races around the country, it made me stop and think about what could happen.
When most people think about NASCAR they just think about the action on the track or their favorite driver; they aren’t thinking about what it takes to get everyone else to the event.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick — probably every driver in the NASCAR garage and most of the NASCAR hierarchy — get on a private, luxury jet each week to get to the track. But that is not the case for the rest of the people in the sport. Nearly everyone else boards a commercial airliner and goes through the same security nightmare as you trying to make their next connection. My only hope is that this is the last time that they have to worry about whether or not one of their own is on a flight that didn’t make it to its destination.
Around the garage
There are big things happening in the Sprint Cup Series, Nationwide Series and the Camping World Truck Series garages this week.
First, Kevin Harvick Inc. just announced that veteran motorcycle ace Ricky Carmichael will pilot the KHI No. 4 Chevrolet Silverado in 14 races in 2009 with sponsorship from Monster Energy Drink.
Ron Hornaday Jr. will fill-out the rest of the 25-race schedule.
In the Nationwide Series garage, the deal has been inked to switch the sponsorship that Alltel had in No. 12 Penske Racing Sprint Cup Series Car to the No. 12 Nationwide Series car. In case you missed it, Verizon completed its purchase of Alltel and because of the insane exclusivity clause that NASCAR granted Nextel prior to its change to Sprint, the sponsorship for Alltel couldn’t transfer to Verizon. Think AT&T.
Anyway, it’s a done-deal and a stroke of luck for rookie-to-be Justin Allgaier, who is the 2008 ARCA RE/MAX Champion. By the way, it’s not his first time behind the wheel of a Nationwide Series car. He did have four starts last year.
In other Nationwide Series news, Scotts Miracle Grow has signed a 16-race deal with Carl Edwards to be on the No. 60 Roush-Fenway Racing Ford. And Yates Racing driver Paul Menard will race in 16 events for the Roush-Fenway Racing camp. And I also received a press release that Tony Stewart will drive a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in the season-opening Nationwide Series race next month in Daytona.
Now, in the Sprint Cup garage. The deal between Gillette Evernham Motorsports and Petty Enterprises has been made official. The new organization will be call Richard Petty Motorsports, or RPM for short. The new team will field the 9, 19, 43 and 44 cars. Obviously, Kasey Kahne is in the No. 9 Budweiser car. The No. 19 car will be driven by Elliott Sadler with sponsorship by Best Buy and Stanley Tools. Fielding the No. 43 Dodge with sponsorship from McDonalds will be Reed Sorenson. A.J. Almendinger will drive the No. 44 in at least five outings this season with additional races possible, if sponsorship can be found.
And the new Earnhardt Ganassi Racing organization has announced that Target will switch its sponsorship from the No. 41 car to the No. 42 car that will be driven by Juan Pablo Montoya.
Well, that is about it for this week. But before I go, I can tell you that I just secured the deal with Texas Motor Speedway for The Examiner’s 2009 NASCAR Weekend Getaway. It’s huge. It’s something that we have never done before and it’s something that no other media outlet in Southeast Texas has done before. Sure, we send several people to the races at TMS each year and our grand prize winner always receives luxury hotel accommodations, but this year that person will get even more.
Check back next week or look on www.kickinthetires.net for all of the details and how you can enter to win an unforgettable NASCAR VIP experience.
Jerry Jordan can be reached at (409) 832-1400, ext. 225, or at jerry@theexaminer.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment