Bleacher Report - Articles by Greg Engle

7 Up: Discussing Jeremy Mayfield and NASCAR

Greg Engle — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 07:06:34 -0400

Shaun Murphy writes for, among others, the National Examiner on the subject of performance-enhancing drugs. He’s an endurance athlete who, while never having taken a PED himself, became disillusioned with professional sports after seeing more and more athletes cheating by the use of PED’s.

He’s now a nationally known writer and blogger on the subject of PED’s and the impact they have on sports.

Recently, Shaun and I discussed several questions on the current affair concerning NASCAR driver Jeremy Mayfield.

1. What was your reaction to NASCAR's first Mayfield methamphetamine positive test result? MORE-->>

The Difference Between NASCAR Bashers and NASCAR Critics

Greg Engle — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 05:48:28 -0400

My parents owned a retail furniture store when I was growing up. I learned a lot from my wise old dad. One thing he used to ensure his salespeople did was call their customers after their furniture was delivered.

“We obviously want to make sure that the customer doesn’t have any problems with their new purchase,” he said. “But just as important, it’s a good morale boost for the salesperson.”

I, of course, had to ask how the salesperson got a morale boost. “Because 99 percent of those phone calls will have a happy customer on the other end. And that makes the salesperson feel good.”

He went on to add, “Happy people will hardly ever say anything. Sure they are happy, they may love us to death, but they will never take the time to call and say so. The people who do call though, who will yell the loudest, are the ones who claim to have a problem. And most of the time, the problems they are shouting about don’t really exist, they just need to yell about something.”

Welcome to the world of NASCAR. Just as in society, NASCAR, as do a lot of major sports, have an element of people who seem to spend most of their time yelling about how bad the sport is. How terrible the racing is, the fans are, the drivers, the officials, you name it. These "bashers" will argue until the sun goes down. You say the sky is blue and they will argue the sky is pink.

Recently a former ‘journalist’ now firmly in his senior years, wrote and published a ‘scathing’ ‘tell-all’ book that ‘exposed’ the dirty secrets of NASCAR. Well gang, truth be told most of the ‘secret’s he ‘exposed’ aren’t really secrets at all. Most of what was "revealed" has been around in some form for years.

Sometimes the names change over the years, but the stories, none of which have any basis in fact, have been talked about and laughed at for the most part—for years. But don’t tell that to the ‘ashers. To them, suddenly this old mans’ musings are taken as the Gospel and prove how evil the NASCAR empire is.

Among the stories was that NASCAR was somehow controlled by the mob at one time and even involved in the drug trade. And according to the book, the current CEO was a drug abuser and even busted for drug possession and that the charge was somehow hushed up.

But when NASCAR took a race away from the state where the offense allegedly occurred, officials there were ready to "expose all." Well, one phone call to a police information officer last week, who could find no record of such offense, made that even more laughable. MORE-->>

Will The Real Kyle Busch Please Stand Up?

Greg Engle — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 08:17:55 -0400

He’s the most controversial driver on the NASCAR circuit at the moment, brashly outspoken and able to divide NASCAR fans that either love him or hate him. But Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Kyle Busch did something that surprised many: He apologized.

Busch became the object of several drivers’ ire after triggering a multi-car crash on lap 175 of the Lenox Industrial Tools 301. As the field came to take the green flag after the seventh caution of the race, the No. 88 Chevy of Dale Earnhardt Jr. appeared to slow, suddenly causing the cars behind him to stack up.

It looked as though Busch got into the car of Martin Truex Jr., causing Truex to spin. The ensuing melee took out the cars of Jamie McMurray, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton, Casey Mears, David Reutimann, Brian Vickers, and David Ragan.

As the field circled under caution, Truex, out of his car at that point, walked towards Busch’s Toyota as it went by and motioned as if to throw his helmet at it. Truex didn’t, however, but his anger at Busch was evident.MORE-->>

Winning Hasn't Always Been the Goal in NASCAR

Greg Engle — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 08:51:54 -0400

Winning is the goal for any competitive athlete or sports team, and while the same is true in NASCAR, it’s also a sport where winning hasn’t necessarily always been the goal.

‘Big Picture’ racing is something practiced by many drivers and teams. During a race, sometimes fewer chances are taken in order to finish well enough to protect points in the overall season championship standings.

There was a time not too long ago when ‘Big Picture’ racing was the norm nearly every week. With NASCAR’s Chase the Championship, the season-ending ten-race playoff, getting into the top-10 and then later the top-12 has been the goal all season and ‘Big Picture’ racing was part of that strategy. But NASCAR threw teams a curve ball of sorts last year when they began awarding bonus points for wins and seeding drivers based on victories.

Once the Chase begins, drivers are seeded according to the number of wins earned in the first 26 races, which pretty much eliminates ‘Big Picture’ racing.

Kyle Busch and Mark Martin are in the driver’s seat headed into Sunday’s LENOX Industrial Tools 301. Both lead the series with three wins apiece in 2009, which means 30 bonus points for each.MORE-->>

Clint Bowyer: Mark Martin Needs To Retire

Greg Engle — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 08:47:04 -0400

Is it frustration or simply good-natured trash talking among competitors?

Clint Bowyer is usually known as a relatively quiet, non-controversial driver. He’s the defending NASCAR Nationwide Series champion in his fourth full Sprint Cup Series season driving for Richard Childress Racing.

Mark Martin has competed full-time in the Sprint Cup Series for over 20 years. He’s one of the most respected drivers in the sport and is currently in position to contend for the series championship driving for Hendrick Motorsports. Martin has three wins so far this season, making it his best season since 1998 when he won a career-best seven races.

Part of the respect that Martin has earned from fans and the competition has to do with the fact that he turned 50 this year and is still very competitive. MORE-->>

Road Course Ringers Not a Sure Thing in NASCAR Anymore

Greg Engle — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 09:31:36 -0400

There was a time not too long ago that road course races, like this Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway, were almost ‘throw away’ events.

Most divers, used to turning left around the ovals, knew that they weren’t going to finish well and looked forward to the next race. The road course races were the bastions of the road course specialists, the so-called road course ‘ringers’.

That was then, but this in now. In today’s NASCAR every race is important, every point gained is valuable and the highest finishing position is the goal each and every week.

The road course ringers will still be in evidence this weekend, Boris Said, Ron Fellows, Max Papis, Patrick Carpentier and Brian Simo are expected to be in attendance. But their dominance is no longer a sure thing.

Jeff Gordon leads the list of NASCAR’s all-time NASCAR Sprint Cup winners on road courses with nine victories–four at Watkins Glen International and five at Infineon Raceway. MORE-->>

Danica Patrick Will Not End Up in NASCAR

Greg Engle — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 09:27:56 -0400

For all the open wheel and NASCAR people who are putting forth the conspiracy theories that Danica Patrick is coming to NASCAR, sorry to burst your bubble, but she will not be going stock car racing.

Patrick has become less of a driver over the last few years and more of a marketing machine. She’s more famous for her looks then her driving and no doubt makes more money from her outside efforts then her racing. Yes, she has won an IndyCar Series race and continues to be competitive in that series, but her talent behind the wheel seems overshadowed by her talent to smile for the camera.

Danica’s contract with Andretti-Green Racing is set to end after this season, and suddenly the rumors are flying that she is considering a jump to the world’s premier stock car racing series, NASCAR. Oh wait, that’s the same line that was written back in 2006 when she was in the same situation.

In 2006, Patrick dropped subtle hints that she might consider defecting to NASCAR. Her father even made a nearly covert visit to Chicagoland Speedway during the NASCAR weekend, allegedly to speak with officials from Roush Racing. Turns out that Patrick did not come to NASCAR and her father’s visit was just that, a visit to a NASCAR race as a guest of Roush; in fact he never even spoke with any Roush execs.

When the dust settled in 2006, Patrick re-signed with Andretti-Green, at a much larger salary no doubt, and life went on. MORE-->>

GM Pulling Support from Sprint Cup? Tell Us Something We Didn't Expect

Greg Engle — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 09:24:12 -0400

General Motors said this week that they are scaling back factory support from NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series only days after they announced they were ending support with the Truck and Nationwide Series.

Wow, tell us something we didn’t expect.

GM pulling their support, even partially, has been the biggest non-secret for months. The financially troubled automaker filed for bankruptcy recently after months and months of trying to stay afloat.

This past April first a respected media outlet reported that the Obama administration-who is overseeing the automakers government bailouts- would require the automakers to pull their support from NASCAR. Turns out the piece was written as an April Fools joke. It created a swirl of controversy and the publisher had to eventually pull the piece and issue an apology.

Well guess what? What started out as a joke is now becoming a reality. Not to toot my own horn too much, but I predicted that it would. I reasoned then that once the automakers were taken over by the bean counters that only the bottom line would matter.

And with motorsports it’s hard to find any tangible concrete evidence that spending money in the sport will pay dividends to stockholders. Right now the biggest stockholder are the taxpayers of the United States and they aren’t buying it.

So this week’s revelation that GM has told Sprint Cup teams they will be reducing their support shouldn’t be a surprise.

But what is it exactly that teams get from GM? They get technical along with financial support estimated to be between 10 to 20 per cent of the teams' budgets. MORE-->>

NASCAR Corona Series Driver Dies in Late Race Crash

Greg Engle — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:32:40 -0400

A driver in NASCAR’s Corona Series in Mexico died Sunday after crashing while leading on the last lap during an event being held at the Autodromo Miguel E. Abed Amozoc in the Mexican state of Puebla.

Carlos Pardo, 33, lost control after being hit by another driver. His car was sent careening into a barrier. After being extricated from the car, Pardo was airlifted to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead about 45 minutes later.

Pardo had competed in 74 NASCAR Mexico Series events with a record of 10 wins and eight poles and won the 2004 series championship. His career also included six Camping World East Series starts and the 2006 Nationwide Series race at Mexico City.

Sunday’s race was called due to time constraints. Officials reverted to the previous completed lap and Pardo was declared the winner.

MORE-->>

Terrible Weekend at Kentucky and Michigan? Hey Kyle, It's Karma

Greg Engle — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 07:52:27 -0400

I don’t believe in the supernatural, ghosts or paranormal junk. What’s real is real and what’s not is not.

Except when it comes to one thing: Karma.

I’m a huge believer in karma. Sure, it’s not tangible and you can’t buy it in a store, but to me, the "do unto others" philosophy is very real—just like the cheesy commercial for the insurance company that shows someone helping someone, who’s seen by someone else who then helps someone and is seen by someone until it comes full circle back to the first scene.

MORE-->>

Do GM and Chrysler Bailing out Spell the End of NASCAR? Not Hardly

Greg Engle — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 07:47:54 -0400

General Motors made it official this week what they have been denying since last season. GM, only days after filing bankruptcy, is pulling their support from NASCAR’s Nationwide and Camping World Truck series.

With some estimating that automakers spend nearly $150 million to support auto racing, it was a financial liability that was ripe to take a hit. No matter that the automakers spokespersons and executives continually voiced their public support for NASCAR; in the end it wasn’t it up to them, it was up to people who look at only one thing—the bottom line.

Without publicly admitting it, Chrysler has already quietly withdrawn most of its support and don’t be surprised if GM announces in the near future that they will also withdraw from the Sprint Cup Series.

MORE-->>

Eight Questions with NASCAR's Favorite Fowl: The Aflac Duck

Greg Engle — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:31:51 -0400

He started out on January 1, 2000, as a brand ambassador for Columbus Georgia-based Aflac, quacking the company’s name, and is now well on his way to becoming an American commercial icon.

Aflac, formally known as the American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus, has used him in a starring role in over 30 commercials to date, working alongside such celebrities as Chevy Chase, Yogi Berra, the US Olympic synchronized swim team, and Wayne Newton. He now has his own line of merchandise, including clothing and plush dolls with the proceeds benefiting the Aflac Cancer Center and Blood Disorders Service at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta—considered one of the largest childhood cancer treatment and research centers in the US.

He came to the attention of the NASCAR Nation when Aflac began to provide sponsorship first on an associate basis, and this season as the primary sponsor on the Roush-Fenway Racing Ford Fusion driven by NASCAR star Carl Edwards. Now he spends his days filming ads and many of his weekends at NASCAR tracks across the country.

He is the Aflac duck, and he recently gave me a rare interview…

MORE-->>

Your Turn: Was Carl Long Treated Fairly?

Greg Engle — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 06:34:45 -0400

Carl Long is living the life most NASCAR fans can only dream about.

He works as a crewmember for a Sprint Cup Series team, as a spotter for Nationwide teams, and has competed in 45 NASCAR events. He’s never really been a contender but he has done more than most in the sport all on a shoestring budget.

On May 16 however Long’s world began to slowly come apart. During practice for the qualifying race for the All-Star event, the engine in Long’s racecar failed. As they are supossed to do, after changing it the team handed the engine over to NASCAR inspectors who found that the engine Long’s car was too big.

According to NASCAR the engine was 0.17 cubic inches beyond the 358-cubic inch limit spelled out in the rules. Later that week they gave Long a 12-week suspension from all NASCAR competition, docked him 200 points, and fined both him and crew chief Charles Swing $200,000—the largest amount in NASCAR history.

For a guy who makes his living as a journeyman in NASCAR, not being allowed to go into a NASCAR garage was a huge blow to Long.

Long naturally appealed the punishment.

MORE-->>