
Roush-Fenway’s marketing arm is free to seek sponsorship for Yates entries. But the question is whether the sponsors already affiliated with Roush-Fenway paid additional money to be on the Yates cars, or whether any of that sponsorship money came from existing contracts with Roush-Fenway. And if so, would diverting those funds count as one team underwriting another, thereby violating the rule?
A Roush-Fenway spokesperson said that issue should be addressed by Yates Racing personnel. And Yates Racing’s response through its PR staff was, “We do not disclose any terms of our sponsorships to media nor other teams,” later adding, “All of our activities with Yates Racing are in compliance with NASCAR rules.”
But what exactly are those rules?
Unless some of the Saturday night hot-shots start getting some time in the IndyCar feeder series we are soon going to see the Indy Car TV ratings and attendance numbers go the same direction as the zipper on Danica’s firesuit.
Fulfilling the sponsor obligations of the current contract can make inking the next one darn near impossible.
“Absolutely. If you can’t get to the office, there’s no way you can sit down and work out details,” said Biffle, who added that the deal might have gotten done this week if not for the trip to LI. “So that’s been one of our things. In May, I had one day off in May. We had something going every day. So it makes it difficult to actually get to sit down and think about it and look it over.”
Six months ago, during the negotiations between Indy Car and Champ Car to merge the two series, many were saying “don’t get your hopes up” because unification would not result in some “magic bullet” that would instantly catapult American open-wheel racing back to the prominence of yesteryear. And while that still might be true, two things we now know for sure is unification has already shown significant positive results and the people at the Indy Car Series offices are feeling very good about their prospects for the future.
Let’s look at a few of the positive trends that are shaping American open wheel racing since “the split” ended:
As much as NASCAR leaves the National Hockey League it its (brake) dust, there is one rulebook item in the land of puck that stock car racing needs to adopt. Hockey, like NASCAR, markets itself on its physical, take-no-prisoners play. It doesn’t want to feminize the sport by not letting the players police themselves. But in hockey there’s a difference between toe-to-toe fisticuffs and something that is considered an “attempt to injure.” The NHL has drawn a clear line between dropping the gloves and parting someone’s molars with a stick. NASCAR has not done nearly as good a job at defining what is aggressive and what is egregious.
You Tube
Funny Car driver Scott Kalitta, 46, died June 21 from multiple injuries suffered after his car went out of control and crashed in a high-speed racing accident at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park during the fourth and final round of qualifying at the Lucas Oil NHRA SuperNationals.
NHRA
Four wheels or two, no problem for Antron Brown. After a decade as one of the elite riders in the Pro Stock Motorcycle category, Brown was tabbed to drive the David Powers-owned Matco Tools dragster. Making an unprecedented move, Brown earned the pole at the 2008 season-opener at Pomona, Calif. and won in just his fourth Top Fuel start by edging two-time series champion Larry Dixon in the final round at Houston Raceway Park on March 30. Brown didn’t look back, advancing to three consecutive final rounds where the Matco Tools driver earned the trip to the winner’s circle twice. After 12 of 24 races on the 2008 NHRA racing schedule, Brown finds himself trailing only five-time champion Tony Schumacher in the Top Fuel standings. In this Q&A, the former college track star discusses his move to Top Fuel, what it’s like working with his crew chief, Lee Beard, and teammate, Hot Rod Fuller, and the second half of the ’08 NHRA racing season.
Q: You’ve made the transition from Pro Stock Motorcycle to Top Fuel appear seamless. Has it been that easy?
BROWN: No, it hasn’t been that easy. What made things so smooth was the great chemistry our Matco team has. Starting at the top with Lee Beard and all my team, the way we jelled, made the transition very smooth. We took things one step at a time and tried to minimize common rookie mistakes. I didn’t have to learn to race, I just had to learn to drive the car and that helped make us more competitive early on. …
Mark Martin, a 35-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race winner and the all-time leader in NASCAR Nationwide Series victories, has signed a two-year agreement to drive for Hendrick Motorsports beginning in 2009.
McLaren
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes drivers Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton finished Friday’s second Free Practice for the Santander British Grand Prix in Silverstone, the first of the team’s two consecutive home Grands Prix, in first and third positions respectively.
Shell
A rather niggly Friday for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. This morning there was Felipe Massa’s accident, when he lost control of the car under braking going into turn 7, because of oil dropped on the racing line by Alonso’s car. It ended with Massa’s car in the barriers and while fortunately the driver was uninjured, the car suffered heavy damage.