Opinions and observations on racing while announcing out on the road (so far!)

               Racing has begun for the 2009 season under somewhat of a dark cloud.  The sluggish economy has hit all forms of motorsports but especially NASCAR, where sponsorship can mean the difference between racing—or NOT!  Thus, mixed emotions set in as my announcing schedule kicked in starting with Daytona.  But there were some bright spots as well…

·          Toward the end of last season, NASCAR went around the garage and asked the team owners their opinions as to how to lessen the effects of the bad economy on the teams.  The overwhelming response was to eliminate testing; Michael Waltrip was quoted as saying that Daytona testing alone cost his team $1.1 million.  NASCAR agreed and banned testing by all three NASCAR top division teams (Cup, Nationwide and Trucks) at all tracks where any of those events are held.  For the last 9 years or so, Daytona has started the season with “Pre-Season Thunder”, NASCAR test sessions which were required for the teams to attend and were open to the public as well.  Thus, my announcing schedule would start in the first week of January and last 7 weeks through the running of the Daytona 500.  Because of the testing ban, three weeks work was lost and my schedule didn’t start until January 20^th, the week of the Rolex 24 at Daytona Grand American season opener.  Still, I was extremely pumped up as this year marked my 10^th anniversary of working at the “
World Center of Racing”.   It’s hard to believe I have been working there that long and it just serve to remind me just how fortunate and privileged I am to actually announce there.

·          The Rolex 24 at Daytona generated some great story lines.  David Donohue put the #58 Brumos Porsche Daytona Prototype on the pole, just .001 ahead of Timo Bernhard in the #16 Penske Racing Daytona Prototype!  But history was waiting in the wings.  The 1969 winner of this race was the late Mark Donohue, David’s dad.  He drove the #6 Team Penske Sunoco Lola to victory that year so both the front row qualifiers had a potential 40^th anniversary win to celebrate.  In addition, Chip Ganassi racing had won the previous three years but no team had ever won 4 in a row, which gave the Target teams something to shoot for as well.  Racing twice around the clock is a very grueling test for any team and its equipment and this year’s race was no exception.  In recent years, though, this race has taken on less of an endurance race feel and seems more like several shorter sprint races run back-to-back.  The best was yet to come as 4 cars were still on the lead lap in the final hour.  The last pit stops were made and now the race was to be settled out on the track.  Donohue had the final driving stint in the #58 and despite being pressed hard by Juan Pablo Montoya in the Ganassi #01, Team Brumos Porsche prevailed by the shortest margin of victory in Grand Am history.  A very emotional win for the team for at least two reasons:  David won on the 40^th anniversary of his father’s victory in the same race and the team won its first race since losing its leader, the late Bob Snodgrass last season. 

·          Once the Rolex 24 was completed, the schedule called for 9 days off, which turned out to be a good thing as a bad sinus infection set in.  The symptoms were there during the race weekend but thankfully, the voice held out.  Despite using many over the counter solutions, there was no improvement.  So it was off the to infield medical care center which is staffed by several members of the Halifax Medical Center of Daytona.  Antibiotics were prescribed to take care of the infection but during a routine blood pressure screening, the nurse discovered that it was too high (no surprise there as it runs in the family).  So I took another mid-life crisis in stride and began medication for that as well.  The staff insisted that I visit the center often so they could make sure that it was under control.  An appointment was also made with my normal GP so here we go…

·          NASCAR teams and drivers arrived toward the end of the first week of February and because of the testing ban, no one knew what to expect.  Several changes had taken place over the off-season like normal but some of them were striking.  Some teams had merged:  DEI and Ganassi had merged to form Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing (EGR), forcing Ganassi to change from Dodge to Chevys.  Paul Menard left DEI and took the Menards sponsorship with him to Yates Racing, changing from a Chevy to a Ford.  Gilette-Evernham Motorsports (GEM) had agreed to merge with Petty Motorsports to form Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM).  Ray Evernham is no longer a part of this team and neither is Kyle Petty, a somewhat strange situation.  Penske Racing took on Bill Davis as a minority owner and formed Penske Championship Racing, giving the #22 Davis owners points to Sam Hornish, Jr.’s #77 team.  Richard Childress has a new minority owner in the form of Bobby Ginn, who left DEI and brought the #01 owner’s points over with him.  He is now listed as the owner of the new #33 Cheerios team driven by Clint Bowyer, who switched rides from the #07 Jack Daniels team now driven by Casey Mears.  Jeff Burton still has the #31, now in Caterpillar colors and Harvick’s team is unchanged for ’09.  Mears was replaced as driver for the Hendrick Motorsports #5 team at the end of last season by Mark Martin; the other Hendrick teams were unchanged, other than a new paint scheme for Jeff Gordon and the #24.  But there were some interesting new teams that surfaced as well.  How about the debut of Stewart-Haas Racing???  Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman both had great runs in practice and qualifying in their new Chevys but an unfortunate practice crash took out both drivers’ primary machines which had Tony once again criticizing Goodyear for bad tires.  Just a few weeks before, veteran crew chief Tommy Baldwin decided to start up a Cup team, securing Scott Riggs as driver for the #36 Toyota.  The team arrived at Daytona with NO sponsor but that changed quickly as Riggs got the car qualified for the race.  Another team which formed late but still made the race was the #41 of Jeremy Mayfield, whose ride was sponsored by All Sport energy drink.  Yet another new team was formed by Larry Gunselman, a journeyman Nationwide Series owner/driver who got Geoff Bodine to drive the car for the race.  (All of these teams had purchased ex-Bill Davis Toyotas to run the race).  Mike Wallace drove for TRG (The Racers Group), formed by Grand Am GT team owner Kevin Buckler.  TRG fielded two truck series teams last year (getting one victory by Donny Lia).  They formed an alliance with Richard Childress racing, buying one of their spare cars to enter the race but came up short.  Boris Said and James Hylton entered two cars as a team but neither qualified.  Joe Nemechek, out of the #78 ride, came to Daytona the old-fashioned way with his own #87 cars for both the Cup and Nationwide races. (I talked with Joe’s mom, Martha, in the garage and she was hopeful sponsorship would be found soon as she had to buy tires for the team!).  Other changes were in the mix as well so there was plenty to talk about.  Kevin Harvick took the Bud Shootout win but it was qualifying for the 500 the next day which delivered some intrigue.  The front row starters were “Martin and Martin”, with Truex Jr. on the pole and Mark Martin right beside him.  The rest of the qualified field formed the starting lineup for the Gatorade Duel races, held later in the week…

·          Before the Bud Shootout, the ARCA ReMax season opener was held and I had the privilege of working for their new webcast as well as PA duties.  Among the entries was a very familiar team from Western New York.  Todd Hoddick came down to try to qualify for the race and it was really great to see both Karl Hehr and Dennis Petrie among the crew members helping Todd.  Some last-minute rule changes regarding carburetors caught the team off-guard and they never quite found the speed to make the race.  They deserve a lot of credit for trying to qualify and even though they left disappointed, the experience gained and lessons learned from this trip will make it easier for them the next time.  Another “feel good” story came in the form of a local female racer and her great qualifying run.  Alli Owens grew up in Daytona, racing at several local tracks over the years including nearby New Smyrna Speedway.  She qualified for last year’s race but was mid-pack at best.  This year, she had much better equipment in the form of an Eddie D’Hondt Toyota and she nearly got the pole, settling for the outside of row 1.  Bobby Gerhart, the veteran PA driver who has dominated this series at Daytona over the last few years, struggled a bit and qualified 5^th.  Unfortunately for both, neither one of them had a good race:  Gerhart had a tire issue which sent him into the wall hard and sent him to the hospital overnight for observation.  Owens got caught up in one of several big accidents not of her own doing but she was OK.  The crash fest also produced one of the scariest moments of Speedweeks as Patrick Sheltra got caught up in a big wreck.  As he was coasting to a stop after already being involved, Larry Hollenbeck had nowhere to go and T-boned Sheltra’s almost stationary machine hard at nearly full speed, causing Sheltra’s car to go into several sickening spins.  Both drivers had to be assisted out of their cars and were put on backboards as a precaution before being taken to the infield care center at first, and then transferred to Halifax Medical Center.  Both drivers were eventually released the next day with Sheltra getting the worst of it with a compression fracture in his 4^th vertebrae.  His racing schedule is obviously now on hold as he recovers…

·          Once the final days of Speedweeks kicked in, everything seemed to go by quickly.  The Gatorade Duel produced wins for both Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch, increasing both drivers’ chances to win the “Great American Race”.  For the third year in a row, a driver from Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports each won the Duels.  Camping World stepped in as series sponsor for the Truck series and their first race was a good one.  Colin Braun took the #6 Conway Freight Ford out first in qualifying and his lap was good enough to take the pole.  (I can’t remember the last time a driver went out first and his time held out through all of qualifying!)  Todd Bodine went back-to-back as winner of this race, despite no sponsorship on the sides of his truck…

·          Despite his troubles with his Cup team, Tony Stewart got another win in the Nationwide Series season opener, driving for the first time for Hendrick Motorsports.  Both he and owner Rick Hendrick seemed to really enjoy this victory as Tony had the car to beat for most of the race…

·          Daytona International Speedway was able to announce a sellout for the Daytona 500, although track president Robin Braig said he wished to put an asterisk next to it as many of the seats sold at reduced prices.  Then, Mother Nature came in uninvited with a forecast calling for 60 percent chance of showers later in the day.  Weather radar verified the worst fears:  wide areas of precipitation formed off the Gulf of Mexico and headed east, making a bulls-eye on the track.  Thus, the 3pm starting time for the race didn’t look so good and the overcast skies threatened for most of the race.  But the race produced some huge drama and controversy before any bad weather arrived.  Dale Earnhardt, Jr. had his day go from bad to worse—he was racing a lap down because he completely missed his pit stall on his first stop, then got penalized on the second for being out of the pit box.  Both he and Brian Vickers were racing one lap down for the “Lucky Dog” down the SuperStretch just before turn 3 with many of the leaders on the high side.  Jr. made his move to the inside of Vickers, who threw such a huge block, it forced Jr. down below the yellow line.  Struggling to get his car under control, Jr. came back onto the track and nudged Vickers.  The resulting hit turned Vickers’ car to the right, producing the “Big One” which took out several lead cars in the process.  Some blamed Vickers for the severity of the block; others blamed Jr. for the severity of the contact.  Then, just past lap 150, the skies opened up, forcing the red flag and the field came down pit road.  Facing the threat of more heavy rain and needing nearly 3 hours to dry the track once the rain stopped, NASCAR came to the conclusion it had no other choice but to call the race.  Matt Kenseth had made a nifty move down in turn one some 5 laps before the rains came to pass then-leader Elliott Sadler and it turned out to be THE move of the race.  Thus, Kenseth got his first 500 win and amazingly, the first Daytona 500 for Jack Roush.  (Sure, he had been successful at Daytona previously in road racing but over 20 years had never gotten a 500 victory).  Even more amazing was the win for crew chief Drew Blickensderfer—his first time on top of the box in Cup racing and he gets NASCAR’s biggest prize.  No one likes having a race end this way unless you’re the one out front when it happens but Matt’s team deserved this one.  Once again, I got to MC the Champion’s Breakfast the next day with Matt, Jack and Drew…

·          Once Speedweeks ’09 was over, I flew back home and rested a few days, and then it was back out on the road for race #2 on the NASCAR schedule at Auto Club Speedway of Southern California.  Once again, there were dire predictions of how the economy was going to affect this race as well.  Neither the qualifying day on Friday nor the doubleheader Camping World Truck Series and Nationwide race on Saturday was well attended.  That’s too bad because history was made on Saturday as Kyle Busch became the first driver to win back-to-back NASCAR top division races on the same day at the same track.  He also had the chance to become the first driver ever to win all three NASCAR top series races on the same weekend.  The crowd turned out to be better than expected for the Cup race despite (once again) the threat of rain.  Although it sprinkled somewhat during the early laps, the heavier stuff stayed to the north and east, allowing for a great race.  Several celebrities attended the race which is commonplace for the track located just outside of LA:  Billy Ray Cyrus sang the National Anthem at the Nationwide race and was Grand Marshall for the Cup race.  “Little Big Town” sang the National Anthem for the Cup race.  Jason Seahorn, former NFL player, threw autographed footballs to the crowd while accompanying his actress wife, Angie Harmon (Law and Order) as she had Honorary Starter duties for the Cup race.  She is a HUGE NASCAR fan as evidenced by the fact she never got down off the starter’s stand for 25 laps, cheering wildly each time the pack came around!  “Mr. October”, Reggie Jackson, who has a huge automobile collection, was in attendance as well.  Back to the race, Kenseth once again had the car to beat and went to Gatorade Victory Lane, the first time a driver had won the season’s first two races since Jeff Gordon did it in 1997.  After the race, I took my first ever “red-eye” flight back home, leaving just after midnight Pacific time and getting back home at noon eastern time on Monday.  Thankfully, “jet lag” never set in and although I was tired, I came home still pumped up from the races.  It won’t last long, however as my next NASCAR announcing gig won’t be until April in Phoenix. But that will also be the start of three weekends in a row out on the road announcing races.  Until then, I’ll keep busy with college and high school basketball announcing, which I still enjoy very much…

Mike Paz, Motorsports Announcer

It is a place like no other in racing (save for maybe Indianapolis).  When you mention its name, even to non-racing friends, they KNOW what it is.  The more you know about racing, the more you know how BIG this place truly is.  If you’re a fan, a crewmember, a crew chief, an official or an owner, but especially if you’re a driver, THIS is the ONLY place you want to be.  Daytona International Speedway–”The World Center of Racing”.  That title was earned every step of the way, ever since “Big” Bill France Sr.  dreamed of a place bigger than anything else back in the late ’50’s.  Having already formed NASCAR some 10 years earlier, France realized that racing stock cars on the beaches at Daytona Beach had to come to an end and a purpose-built facility was badly needed.  But just like everything else in his life, it had to be big–REALLY big.  Not content to build a 1/2 mile or even a ”super-speedway” (a mile in length) that were the norm of the day, France’s big dream was to be 2 1/2 miles around.  To help acheive even greater speeds, the turns HAD to be banked, in this case an unheard of 31 degrees.  To make that happen, huge amounts of dirt was scooped out of the infield to make the base of the banking.  What to do with the giant hole that was left afterward?  Simple–fill it with water!  Thus, Lake Lloyd was created and added even more mystique to the place.

Mike Paz, Daytona International Speedway PA Announcer

IT’S THAT TIME ONCE AGAIN!!!  PAZ OFF TO DAYTONA FOR SPEEDWEEKS ‘09!

Just Pazzin’ Thru…My 4th annual wish for Christmas Holiday Season for local, regional & national race personalities:

Because of the times we find ourselves going through this year, my annual Christmas wish list is down to only two:

Mike Paz, Motorsports Announcer

Some random thoughts about Ford Championship weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway:

• History was made in all three NASCAR Championships decided at Homestead-Miami Speedway.  Of the three, the closest points margin going in and coming out of the race was for the Craftsman Truck Series title.  Ron Hornaday Jr. was shooting for an unprecedented fourth series crown and, for most of the early going, it appeared that he was running well enough to drive around points leader Johnny Benson, Jr., who was looking for his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship.  Unlike the previous race in Phoenix which had the two combatants overcoming early damage from wrecks, this race was very clean.  At the end, Todd Bodine won the race–he claimed in victory lane that he didn’t feel his truck was good enough for the win but they got it somehow!  This one went down to the last lap and even then, the #23 team was unsure at first if the title was theirs.  Sure enough, it was Benson becoming only the second driver in NASCAR history to earn both a Truck and Nationwide Series Championship and Bill Davis getting his first NASCAR championship.  It appeared to be a slightly subdued Championship celebration for the Bill & Gail Davis owned team with Benson moving on in ‘09 and uncertainty surrounding the Bill Davis organization. 

• Carl Edwards came into both the Nationwide Series and the Sprint Cup Series races with a chance to go for the championship in both series.  Coming into the Nationwide race, the gap was 56 points between the defending series Champ and series points leader Clint Bowyer, going for his first ever NASCAR Championship.  Carl did what he had to do–win the race–but Clint also performed well enough to put his name on the first-ever Nationwide Series trophy.  The championship stage also featured J. D. Gibbs receiving the first ever manufacturers’ trophy in the series for Toyota and the Gibbs team getting their first series Owner’s title.  The Joe Gibbs team had four different drivers–Kyle Busch (who earned a record-tying 10 regular season series wins, 9 of which were in Gibbs machines), Tony Stewart (setting the tone early in the season by winning back-to-back races out of the gate), Denny Hamlin and even new sensation Joey Logano–all contributing to the 19 wins out of 35 races.  Even Richard Childress, whose team picked up 13 wins enroute to their owner’s trophy last year, was duly impressed by JGR’s team performance.

• Edwards has to be commended for his “never-say-die” attitude and gritty performance all weekend.  Despite losing the Nationwide Series title even though he won the Ford 300, Carl went out and again did all he could to put his team into a position to win the Championship.  He led the most laps, picking up 10 bonus points (5 for leading a lap, 5 for the most laps led) and again took his car to Victory Lane, becoming the only driver ever to sweep both a Nationwide and a Sprint Cup series race weekend at this particular track which has been dominated by Roush-Fenway over the years.  It still wasn’t enough to prevent the #48 Lowes team juggernaut from getting their date with destiny.  With a commmanding points lead coming into the race, all Jimmie Johnson and crew needed to do was to finish 36th or better, no matter what Edwards did.  They could have coasted all day (some would argue that’s exactly what they did).  Not quite–they only qualified 30th, moved up to 19th by lap 15 and even held the lead at one point in the race, thus getting back 5 points.  In the end, the term “points racing” had been given a different definition this past season, with more emphasis placed on the “racing” part.  The #48 team hit their peak just as the Chase for the Sprint Cup began and nothing could stop them–not even Edward’s 3 wins out of the last four races.  Thus, Jimmie Johnson joins Cale Yarborough as the only drivers in NASCAR history to get 3 consecutive Championships.  Interestingly, Chad Knaus became the ONLY crew chief in the sport’s history to claim a third title–when Cale did it, he had two different crew chiefs on the way to his third crown.  Once again, I had the privilege of being the emcee of the Champion’s flag raising ceremony following the trophy presentation.

• As he was all year, Kyle Busch was a big factor in all three weekend races.  Though he didn’t win any of them, he led for many laps in two of the three races, Trucks and Nationwide.  True, many fans don’t like Kyle for one reason or another but his 21 NASCAR victories spread across all three series speak loudly about his driving prowess.  His future is limitless if he can continue that kind of on-track performance.

• Tony Stewart, in his 356th and last race for Joe Gibbs racing, also led dring the running of the Ford 400.  He was greeted during the pre-race ceremonies by a “card stunt” performed by the fans and paid for by sponsor Home Depot.  The entire front stretch crowd held up cards which read “Thanks Tony for 10 Great Years”.  He leaves both the team and sponsor which has been synonymous with his entire NASCAR career for a chance to own and race for his own team in ‘09 with fellow Hoosier Ryan Newman, who also drove his last race for team owner Roger Penske and long-time sponsor Alltel.

• Jeff Gordon failed to win the race, his last chance to extend a streak of 14 consecutive seasons with at least one win.  Despite that disappointment, the team has been strong this year but with his teammate Johnson’s outstanding season, Gordon and his team have been forced out of the spotlight at Hendrick Motorsports.  At least he gets to share in some of the glory as co-owner with Rick Hendrick of the #48 team.

• Most people thought I was crazy to take a jacket with me to South Florida for the weekend.  Though nowhere near as cold as it gets around Western New York, the weather changed dramatically between Saturday and Sunday.  The temps were near the upper 40’s early Sunday morning and combined with a gusty NW wind, many people were wondering where all the sunshine and warmth went.  By the end of the race, many fans were “bundled up” as if they were watching a football game up north.  Hey, it IS late fall in the northern hemisphere!
  

Mike Paz, Motorsports Announcer