Thursday NASCAR Notes
Seize the DEI
DEI announced several organizational changes this week. The company has lost several long time employees in recent months, but some of the announcements are notable.
One of the biggest moves involves Kevin Buskirk. He will now head up research and development and is widely considered one of the best engineers in the garage. He was a key piece in Elliott Sadler winning two races and making the Chase in 2004, and also got a lot of credit for RCR’s resurgence last season. He left RCR earlier this season, returned to Yates only to quickly leave for DEI in July.
One of the other moves involves the revolving door to the crew chief’s office of the #15 car. Doug Randolph joins the #15 team as the crew chief after the 2007 season ends. Driver Paul Menard has remained on the same team since 2004, but Randolph will be his fourth different crew chief since last season. Dan Stillman was replaced with Tony Eury Sr, then Eury left for JR Motorsports, and now Randolph will replace Dave Charpentier. Charpentier will fill the technical director position vacated by Steve Hmiel. Will Randolph make a difference or is it another case of simply shuffling things around for change’s sake.
Et tu Bruton
Bruton Smith announced over the weekend that he has purchased New Hampshire raceway.. The immediate reaction was that Smith would take a race date away from Loudon and shuttle it to his Las Vegas track. It’s no surprise, he’s never hidden that ambition. On one hand Las Vegas is a huge destination for lots of fans. It makes a lot of sense to have two races in a place that A) fans want to go to and B) has desirable and consistent weather. There are several tracks that currently have two spots that don’t deserve a second date (one rhymes with Kokomo). The flipside of Smith and SMI taking over is the Northeast NASCAR fans. Not everyone can or wants to fly to Vegas to see a Cup race. It also reduces the chances for other tracks or potential sites like Kentucky, New York, Canada, Denver or the Pacific Northwest to get a track and/or Cup race. Nothing will happen until at least 2009, but it’s a story worth watching.
Movin’ on Up
Petty Enterprises are making like the Jeffersons and moving on up to the eastside. After nearly 60 years in Level Cross, NC, the Pettys are moving their shop closer to Charlotte in Mooresville. The positives are obvious. A bigger shop can better accommodate the newer technology that is now a requirement for any Cup team. A location closer to almost every other NASCAR team also aids in recruiting and retaining personnel. Of course the loss of history and Richard Petty’s birthplace certainly makes it bittersweet for the first family of stock car racing. I’ve said it numerous times, but anything that helps Petty Enterprises stay competitive is in the best interest of anyone involved in NASCAR, including fans.
Haas-CNC Money Factory
Finally, owner Gene Haas was sentenced to two years for tax fraud. He also had to pay $75 million in fines and back taxes. Think about that for a second. That much money could almost build two rolling wind tunnels. All that money and Haas cars still can’t crack the top 20 on a weekly basis.
November 8th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
Hate to see Randolf leave the #43. He and Bobby L seemed to have a good thing going there.
November 9th, 2007 at 7:38 am
Hey-Ya forgot about Tony Gibson, who was Pauls 1st crew chief when he first came to DEI. Paul and the 15 team are searching for that chemistry that teams like Hendrick’s and RCR have…that magic.
November 9th, 2007 at 11:34 am
Charlie, you’re right about Labonte. In two years at Petty he has been through several crew chiefs too.
Dave, I had forgotten about Gibson. Menard has been with DEI since 2004, but the crew chief turnover has really increased in the last year.