Click on the name to Email the Girls:
Maryann Toomey
Sheree Woodington
Arianne Hegeman      
Kimmie Carlino            

Give Me Five Volume 23

By Arianne Hegeman
February 22, 2008

 1.       All the major players with the Indy Racing League and Champ Car are once again sitting at the bargaining table. When first reported an agreement sounded more promising than in previous years.  A merger between the two makes perfect sense and the feeling seems to be unanimous.  But current obstacles lie within race schedules and which venues should be forced to give up or move their date.  It is a lot to ask venues to give up dates after contracts are already signed for the year.  Putting the merger together over the next season, leaving ample time for track owners to plan for the new series could be a happy medium.  Everyone involved in both series needs to look at the big picture.  If the IRL and Champ Car continue under current conditions, racing venues like Motegi won’t have to worry about future dates because there may not be an IRL or Champ Car in existence. 

 2.       Some race fans believe that NASCAR is doing whatever they can to hurt “the little guys” who are struggling to make it as new or one team organizations.  Arguments can be made for or against the idea.  When it comes to penalties, NASCAR isn’t doing much to quiet the disgruntled fans. Last year, NASCAR bombed Michael Waltrip Racing with a 100 point deduction and did little to other teams who clearly broke the rules.  This year, Robby Gordon was slammed with a 100 point deduction while Hendrick was docked 50 Nationwide Series championship points and the crew chief was suspended.  They continue to think that suspending a crew chief is detrimental to the team, which just does not seem to be the case. In fact, the process seems to motivate the guilty team right into victory lane.  In Gordon’s case, he had less than a week to prepare his cars for Daytona after switching manufacturers and forming an alliance with Gillette Evernham just days before practice.  Should NASCAR ease up on the little guy?  You tell me…email me HERE.

 3.       After several engine failures hit both Hendrick and Gibbs during speedweeks, some tv personalities commented that the teams succeeded with back ups that were “short track” cars dedicated to running races at Richmond or Bristol.  As I’ve been informed, the Car of Tomorrow (or Today, or whatever we’re calling it this week) has all but eliminated “short track” and “superspeedway” cars. In fact, that was one of the major reasons NASCAR developed the car to begin with.   So which is it?

 4.       Planning a trip around a NASCAR event this season?  If so, check out Girlsgarage.com for their weekly advice on race travel.  

 5.       I thought it was funny to hear AJ Allmendinger explain that even he didn’t understand the process of qualifying for the Daytona 500.  Even though the process makes for an interesting speedweeks, is it really fair to the competitors, sponsors, and team owners?  Kyle Petty doesn’t think so.  Check out his point of view.  KYLE PETTY ARTICLE  I happen to agree with him.