January 29, 2012
By Kim Roberson
Kim Roberson
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This week marked the “official” kick-off to the 2012 NASCAR season, as teams and media gathered in Charlotte, North Carolina to preview the upcoming season.
Press from across the country essentially went “door to door” at team shops and NASCAR facilities, seeing what everyone has in store for the upcoming season. It is the first chance for the teams to share what they have been working on in the off season, and for media to ask questions about what the teams have up their sleeves, how testing has gone, and even uncover a few surprises that folks didn’t see coming.
I can’t cover everything that has been happening this week, but I thought I’d share a few of the highlights with you so you can get a peek “behind the scenes” as we count down the remaining 28 days between now and the 2012 Daytona 500.
We'll start with last year’s Sprint Cup Champion, Tony Stewart, and his new crew chief, Steve Addington. Tony was asked how things have changed around the shop with the amazing finish to the season they had last year, and the fact they have their first Championship trophy as a team in the display case.
This was Stewart’s third title, and he noted that the title was a bigger deal for those he works with than for him -- and it has allowed the team to have a good time as they have prepared for 2012.
"It hasn't changed (my life) at all, honestly,” he explained. “I think the first time (you win a Championship) it changes a little bit because you've accomplished that goal. But after the first one, it really doesn't change your life so much the second and third one. Like I said, it's kind of been business as usual. We've enjoyed the whole off season with the team, and it's been fun being at the shop to see how excited the guys are. Guys that three years ago had never won a race, and now they're celebrating their first championship together.
It's been fun to be at the shop around those guys and see how excited they are to have Danica (Patrick) come on board and Zippy (Greg Zippadelli) and Steve. It's been fun to watch everybody have fun in the off season. You've got these two guys to the right that are always keeping you on your toes and making it fun, too.”
On to an announcement of one of the biggest fiascos of 2011 will be fixed in 2012. Kentucky Speedway had long looked to the day they could host their first NASCAR Sprint Cup race, and after years of legal wrangling and new ownership, they finally got that chance. Track owner Bruton Smith boasted about how memorable that first race at Kentucky Motorspeedway was going to be because he was going to put on a hell of a show.
Well, it was memorable alright, but certainly not for the ways Bruton had planned.
Traffic nightmares led to thousands of fans sitting in traffic for hours and not even making it to the track on race day. For those that did make it to the track, parking was a chaotic nightmare, with handicapped parking lots being used by non-handicapped race fans, and shuttles taking hours to get fans to and from their cars.
Rain caused camping areas to be sloppy mud bogs where trailers sank into the mud and had to be pulled out by tow trucks.
This week, in an effort to try and make a bad situation slightly humorous in hindsight, construction barrels and excavation equipment surrounded the stage at Kentucky Speedway’s NASCAR Sprint Media Tour announcement. Smith, chairman and CEO of Speedway Motorsports Inc., which owns Kentucky Speedway, and who owns many of the tracks that International Speedway Corporation does not, says he likes to think of this year as a “do over.”
“I think we should do it over and have the second inaugural race this June. We will do everything we can to get back to what we have always called being fan friendly and we will work hard to prove ourselves.”
“While we had some very positive things from our first year, we recognize that we had a very large negative,” added Kentucky Speedway President Mark Simendinger. “We are here to make sure that never happens again and we are committed to a comprehensive solution.”
Some of the steps that Kentucky has taken to make the 2012 event better.
They purchased more than 150 acres of land to be used for additional parking. A tunnel is currently being built under Highway 35 to allow fans to get from the new parking area to the facility. They have also resurfaced several previously unusable areas to add even more parking options.
To alleviate traffic getting to the parking lots, the main road leading to Kentucky Speedway, Highway 35, is being expanded to seven lanes. Additionally, Interstate 71, the primary interstate near the track, is being widened to three lanes for the southbound exit ramp. An increased role by the Kentucky State Police and a computerized simulator of traffic patterns will assist speedway officials in judging traffic plans better for future events.
2012 will also be the year where if a NASCAR driver is fined by the sanctioning body, everyone will know about it. In years past, there have been what have been called “super-secret fines”, where NASCAR has handed down punishment to a driver that wasn’t put out in a press release, and sometimes never heard of by the public unless brought up by the driver himself.
This week, NASCAR issued the following statement about fines and penalties: “NASCAR will no longer issue fines that are undisclosed. We looked at this issue from every angle and gathered feedback from the industry. While there are always sensitivities related to sponsor relationships and other leagues may continue issuing disclosed and undisclosed fines, NASCAR has decided that all fines moving forward will be made public after the competitor or organization that has been penalized has been informed.”
One of the saddest announcements made this past week was the passing of Dr. Joseph Mattioli, founder of Pocono Raceway.
Mattioli was a World War II veteran who became a successful dentist, post-war, with a tireless work ethic, often assisting patients seven days a week if needed. In the mid-60’s he had done well with his dental practice and investments, and decided to invest in a plot of land outside of Pocono, Pennsylvania and build a race track, even though he wasn’t really a race fan. From the first day until last fall, “Doc” Mattioli was on the job at Pocono every day, overseeing everything surrounding the track’s activities.
Ill health led Mattioli to hand over the reins of the track to his grandchildren, and he succumbed to that illness this week. NASCAR CEO Brian France had the following to say about the passing of a man that has left such a large impression on our sport. "The entire NASCAR family is saddened by the loss of a true icon in our sport, Dr. Joe Mattioli. Doc’s relationship with my family reaches three generations, all the way back to my grandfather. His passion for the sport will live on in the hearts of his family and our fans. His contributions to our sport are wide-spread. We have lost a great leader -- and a great person.”
One of the most surprising announcements of the week came from Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing (RCR), and brought to light the reason that he and his wife, DeLana, decided to sell off Kevin Harvick Incorporated (KHI) last fall: there will be a baby Harvick arriving sometime in late July 2012.
"There were a lot of factors that went into the KHI decision, but when your wife tells you she's not starting a family unless you get out of the race team business, that's a pretty big factor in things that are going on," admitted Harvick this week. He explained that he and DeLana were lying on a beach while on vacation last August when she essentially drew a line in the sand: if Kevin wanted a family, they couldn’t do it AND operate KHI at the same time -- and if he wanted to start a family, they needed to start soon, because her clock was ticking. Harvick said that as soon as they returned from vacation, he put the wheels in motion to start dissolving KHI.
Harvick told SiriusXm’s Claire B. Lang on her show “Dialed In” this week that the final straw on joining the recent NASCAR “baby boom” was in part because of Ryan and Krissie Newman’s baby daughter, Brooklyn. “Brooklyn was the final piece that finally pushed DeLana over the edge because DeLana absolutely loves Brooklyn.”
Harvick had tears in his eyes as he discussed the prospect of being a dad for the first time. "It's going to be great. I've been so excited. You get a little bit emotional about stuff like that. DeLana and I are happy to finally let the cat out of the bag, and we're looking forward to the new experiences that it leads to in life."
In the category of “I didn’t see that coming” is the announcement that Ward Burton is returning to NASCAR.
The 2002 Daytona 500 Champion dropped out of NASCAR in 2007 when he couldn’t find a full-time ride in the Sprint Cup Series, and has been focusing his time and attention on his Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation, and the up-and-coming racing career of his 19-year old son, Jeb. Since he left the sport four and a half years ago, fans have asked -- “When is Ward coming back to NASCAR?” -- Burton, older brother to RCR driver Jeff Burton, has always been a fan favorite, both for his friendly personality and his distinct, slow drawl. (A drawl not shared by Jeff, who has joked that he grew up on the north side of the family house while Ward grew up on the south side.)
Interestingly, Ward has never driven a NASCAR Camping World Series truck, so he will be jumping in a bit at the deep end when he attempts to make the NextEra Energy Resources 250 at Daytona next month. He will be racing the No. 27 Chevrolet prepared by Mike Hillman, who was the crew chief for Todd Bodine when he won his two Camping World Truck Series titles.
Jeb Burton, who has raced primarily in modifieds, has only raced on short tracks and hasn’t qualified to race on a superspeedway, so his father saw an opportunity to dip his toes back in the sport and also get some exposure for the team -- which will hopefully lead to more sponsorship, and thus more money to support the team’s effort. Regardless of the reason, it will be good to see Ward back at the track and in the race.
Finally, one of the funniest quotes of the week seemed to sum up the end result of all of the changes that happened in the off-season. Darian Grubb, who was the Championship winning crew chief for Tony Stewart last season, has moved over to Joe Gibbs racing and the No. 11 team of Denny Hamlin. When asked what the biggest challenge of the off-season move was, Grubb answered “The hardest part of the transition so far has been getting my three-year-old son to say Denny Hamlin is his favorite driver.”
Follow Kim on Twitter: @ksrgatorfn
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