DIRTY LAUNDRY

Didya ever notice that TV "news" leads with "Our top story . . ." but within the very same broadcast "sports" more often than not delays its high-importance story for a late or final segment.

Now, that's entertainment.

KNOWING WHEN TO SAY NUH-UH

"It's an issue bigger than my pay grade allows me the latitude to discuss. You're going to have to ask Bob Stallings about that one." - Jon Fogarty, in an on-air response to a question posed by an MRN pit-road reporter following the No. 99 GAINSCO Racing Corvette DP's early race hard right into the Rolex Series' Indy paddock.

VERY NEARLY SAILING INTO THE SUNSET

Bob Stallings' Official Take:

"We came here hoping to win the inaugural Brickyard Grand Prix; put a very strong effort into not only today but in the various earlier Indy tests. Our practice session today went well and qualifying went extremely well but during the race a variety of things did not go well. Some were self-inflicted wounds that prevented our drivers from getting the most out of what was very good car, but in addition to that there were some highly questionable officiating calls which contributed to our problems for the day. The team, car and drivers could have overcome these hurdles but we simply concluded, taking everything into consideration, we would be better off retiring the car and preparing ourselves for the final four races of the year.'"

Whew!

One wonders what might've occurred if Stallings had been aware of a quick pit-road survey taken of team principals shortly after the No. 99 Red Dragon took it to the garage (okay, "paddock").

When approached, fully one-half said either, "I definitely understand and would like to do the same" or "I don't understand but I still wish I could do the same" while one-third of the remaining respondents said "I don't understand but wish I could understand"; the next third of the last half (yes, one can do that) said, "Ah, hah, hah, hah, hah!" which left a final third of the one-half of the respondents to look at the questioner and reply, "Huh!?"

BUT ONE GUY BID ADIEU

Leaving behind all chances of scoring a darn fine bust of Jim Trueman (likely handing it to John Pew, who'll no doubt be angry because it was handed to him) Starworks Motorsport's "Sportsman" driver (a euphemism for "money man") Enzo Potolicchio made like a sewer pipe and got the crap out; made like a bird and flew; a tree and leaved; a ball and bounced; a cheese wheel and rolled; a mile of asphalt and, uh, er, well okay, that one didn't work . . . but you've probably gotten the idea by now, right?

"I tried just about everything I could to keep him in the series, man," Peter Baron said of Potolicchio, "But he was madder than heck over (co-driver) Ryan (Dalziel) getting run off the course by (Juan Pablo) Montoya.

"Enzo probably would've stayed had Grand-Am simply have conceded the situation could've been handled better. They didn't even have to say the 'M' word ('mistake'). But they didn't and (Enzo's) gone" (reportedly to another series).

FADE BACK TO RED

It's probably fair to say that more than one, or in this case, two things contributed to Stallings becoming so bummed that he'd pull the No. 99 at Indy.

Remembering Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás' admonition against forgetting the past, the GAINSCO team's on-track Rolex Series genesis came in 2005 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca but really didn't start firing on all cylinders until Stallings -- who really ain't too shabby with his own lead foot -- voluntarily unbuckled his No. 99 driver's harness for the last time after 2006's carrera Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, having co-driven with Alex Gurney to 13th-place finishes in each of that season's first two races.

Sometimes incorrectly credited with having instituted the "all-pro" DP driving team, Stallings instead was likely the first DP team owner to fully recognize an all-professional, full-season Daytona Prototype driving team was becoming necessary to claim championships; his farsightedness rewarded in 2007 and again in 2009 when the GAINSCO Express (with no intended slight to The Lizard) ran on rails and kicked bootie.

"It's not something I necessarily wanted to do, because I enjoy driving, but something based on recognizing what you've got to do. Sponsors like exposure and the best, safest way of getting seen is up front, winning," Stallings would later convey about the decision that ultimately led to Jon Fogarty getting into the car in Stallings’ stead (after Rocky Moran Jr. met an immovable object at Long Beach).

And yes, 'tis true, Stallings is very high on the GAINSCO corporate totem pole – at which lofty place he must also answer to a board of directors.

That those who race will mortgage souls for an acquisition of the "next-best" mechanical device, two darn good hot-shoe drivers are sometimes cheaper than forever chasing those hot new "go-faster" race car parts (the latter being a never-ending story) because, mainly, you'd still have an amateur, no matter how good, in the car at some point.

Believe it, professional race car drivers really are that much better (though Pew has yet to figure out that one, bless his pea-picking heart).

Nevertheless, Stallings understood a pro/pro combo was to a pro/amateur combo as the latter was to an amateur/amateur combination, especially in a series that at the time of Stallings' 2005 Rolex Series entry had 18 professional drivers who by that season's end had competed in each of its 14 races.

An additional five professional drivers in 2005 -- for reasons ranging from injury to suspension – missed only one of those 14 races.

When all was said and done, two amateur/professional driving combinations that year won just two of the 14 contested races (Milka Duno/Andy Wallace with Max Crawford atop the pit box at Mont Tremblant; Tracy Krohn/Nic Jonsson with TRG (Kevin Buckler) in the WGI Sahlen’s Six hour).

With the benefit of retrospection and, especially, end-of-season points reports, the best season for the pro/am driving combo came in the Daytona Prototype's first (2003), when Texan Forest Barber teamed with Terry "Pool Cleaner" Borcheller in a Jim Bell-managed Chevy/Doran JE4 DP to take home six wins in that season's 12 races -- and absent from two of which, resulting in a win and a second-place for Borcheller, was Barber altogether absent.

In 2004 the Rolex Series got GASR (Ganassi And Sabates Racing. Of course, "GASR" isn't the organization's true moniker -- it still being "Chip Ganassi Racing With Felix Sabates," a title just as unwieldy today as when introduced in 2001 over the fence in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Yet, beyond economy of words and space, GASR's got potential, like, "GASR and go!" and "He's a real GASR!" or, even, "GASR passer").

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE NOW PAST

Pairing Scott Pruett and Massimiliano Papis in the No. 01 CompUSA Lexus-Riley, Pruett made clear the team's focus at the conclusion of the season's second race, during which Jan Magnussen and Papis banged doors severely and repeatedly enough to end any chance of either claiming high, race-end finishes.

Visibly angry as he walked to the GASR hauler, Pruett was very, very clear in his disgust: "We're here to win championships and we're not going to win any if we keep finishing at the back because of a lack of emotional control."

A reminder is in order: Folks, Pruett's thoughts were expressed at the 2004 season's and GASR's second Rolex Series race, held at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

(It was at the very next race that Pruett became the team's "permanent" sprint-race closer, by the way. It was only at Indy just past when it looked as though maybe, for the first time since, Pruett wouldn't close but still did so.)

Another of Stallings' issues coming to a boil at Indianapolis were frustrations over Grand-Am officiating in general -- not just those unloaded at The Brickyard Grand Prix.

Bless his heart, Stallings tends toward stoicism and probably not the type of guy with whom one would care to play much poker.

However, life nevertheless has its "straws" (a.k.a., "hay," Zube, and not the thing through which one sucks).

On the flip side of that stoic coin, however, is "Vesuvius."

Patented by Kevin Doran's long unchallenged mastery of the pit-box frustration eruption (even though his practice of such has since considerably waned, supposedly attributable to Doran's adopting "Zen Golf"), all humans are prone to letting 'er rip when maximum snootfulls have been reached -- the main difference from one human to the next being the degree of tolerance and/or amount of annoyance encountered over various time periods.

Largely freeing his mind in 2006 of solely focusing on a driver's primary goals of "Go Fast" and "Then Go Faster," Stallings had the opportunity to think.

No, such isn't intended as a slap nor, even, hinted as a "bad" thing; Stallings long ago proved he could capably put mind to work and succeed.

Still, it's likely his "thinking too much" is that which drove Mrs. Stallings to send Mr. Stallings to a race-car driving school where Mr. Gurney was met, fast friendships followed and, well, the product of which today is in the pits.

If nothing else, in the intervening years Stallings felt he demonstrated exemplary public control of feelings while, for sure, the behind-the-scenes action wasn't nearly as cheery.

Stallings has long worked for changes within Grand-Am's business plan -- those which he thought best, of course -- but stayed with Grand-Am even when others within and soon without chose different paths.

On the racing side, the No. 99 GAINSCO Automobile Insurance car was the only real hope in the Rolex Series paddock that countered the juggernaut known as GASR, but which began to falter after its 2009 championship, falling ever shorter in the pursuit of a third Rolex Series championship.

Following their 2009 championship season, 2010 wasn't exactly an unexpected "off" year" for the Red Dragon squad, at least from this onlooker's present day retrospection, given that champions for whatever reason rarely repeat.

Other than a lack of wins going into 2010's ninth race at New Jersey Motorsports Park, where it would claim its first 2010-season win, the No. 99 team nevertheless was a top-10-finishing model of consistency despite one mid-April,13th-place bobble at Barber Motorsports Park.

(All things needing to be squared: In the 2010 championship Fogarty would finish third in the championship, Gurney fourth due to their 13th-place BMP finish, a DNF, at the end of which Gurney was denied points equal to that of his starting co-driver because Gurney fell short of getting a then-required "30-minutes driving time" as specified under Grand-Am General Sporting Rules 10.5 -- an inequity later deemed subject to modification by one of two exceptions presently listed in the rules section, but just one example of many rules that, well, didn’t seem quite right to Stallings in the first place.)

By 2011's ninth race (a 12-race schedule, as was 2010), the team had scored six top-five finishes, among which were five podiums and one win. Sitting third in points the team eventually finished fourth in the championship, despite a DNF at the final of three 2011 WGI races.

All in all not that bad . . . except if one expects only to win, win and win.

An odd thing, having thought of those two seasons as "poor," but to instead see that they were good enough that still others, having finished lower still, would've gladly accepted.

Arriving at Indy -- the ninth race of the current season -- Gurney, Fogarty and GAINSCO had beforehand this season only thrice finished in the top five and sat 10th in points. Safe to say the GAINSCO team wasn’t, hasn’t been terribly thrilled with the season as it went into Indy.

TRACK OUT

About the time the now-defunct Lola Daytona Prototype was nearing production, Jeff Hazell looked to build a better mousetrap, euphemistically speaking of course, and have it at the ready for the new DP.

In the simplest of explanations, car windows "fog," Hazell wished to defeat such.

Put another way: Water vapor condenses on a surface separating two dew points, whether that surface is on the interior of a windscreen (as those speaking the Queen's English would recogniz . . ., um, "recognise") or atop a bonnet, where one might place, say, a cold beverage, Hazell wished to defeat such.

Well, he probably didn't much care about the cold beer can -- unless atop his Ferrari Daytona 250 GTO, that is -- but he did wish to give his team an edge in a car-racing class where one needed to gain or at least retain every possible millisecond.

His work would later prove itself at a wet 2009 New Jersey Motorsports Park race when Krohn Racing drivers Nic Jönsson and Ricardo Zonta won going away -- in a car whose windscreen did not fog, even once -- by more than 44 seconds over the second-place SunTrust car of Max Angelelli and Brian Frisselle (man, if anyone wishes to talk about a darn good driver without a ride, try either of the Frisselle brothers). Already noted as being well behind, the race's three second-through-fourth DPs were covered by fewer than 10-seconds. Zonta’s margin of victory remains among the largest as yet seen in Daytona Prototype racing.

Surely, Jönsson and Zonta had the ability to drive in the wet -- as one is sure does also Gurney and Fogarty -- but seeing the road course helps, like, big time. No?

Frankly, it blows the mind that others haven't since beat a path to Hazell's door for his magic but humans undertake still more confusing behavior in matters of even greater importance.

In the driver's seat at Indy during one of the race’s various downpours, Gurney could hardly see beyond his car's windows when he realized his position relative to then pit-in entrance and dived for a pit road he'd been seeking and leading to his pit, ironically having a principal thought to rid his car of the vision-obscuring fog and making safer his windows. So, in the middle of a downpour, with windows fogged and literally in unfamiliar territory, Gurney erred and gave a few folks, including those watching, a pucker-up moment. But’s that’s all; “Pucker-up buttercup.”

Thus incurring penalty No. 1 and, inasmuch the second followed the first, penalty No. 2 and, inasmuch as it followed penalties Nos. 1 and 2, Bob Stallings ire.

There always being three sides to every story -- yours, mine and the “whole darn truth” -- someone needs to recognize that each side has a gripe. That each side's gripes now have been exacerbated by years of an ever-building number of gripes held by sides having solely heard their side and no one really, ardently or earnestly listening to the “other” side nor, even, a third angle's whole darn truth.

Like a marriage counselor who from one of the partners hears "he leaves hair in the sink" but knows the true difficulty lies elsewhere and is far deeper, each side in this matter will be best served by understanding that the now-manifested difficulties won't be superficial in understanding nor simply solved in their resolution.

But resolved they must be.

ANOTHER DOOR OPENS

"It's pretty amazing, but evidently there are enough people out there who think highly enough of us that we've been able to scrape together enough money to be at The Glen this weekend," Peter Baron said Thursday before the race.

Burning the telephone lines and email servers for the last couple of weeks, enough of the right folks learned about Enzo Potolicchio leaving Baron's Starworks Motorsport that the team owner has been able fund at least one more race for Scotland's best, Ryan Dalziel.

Who knows with whom he'll co-drive (Sebastien Bourdais or Lucas Luhr would make it a heckuva team, huh?). But even otherwise a chump, clearly established back in the days when Dalziel won at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca with co-driver Henri Zogaib was Dalziel’s capability of successfully following a poor “opening hand.”

Beside Zogaib's clear lack of being able to speedily drive, Dalziel was able to take to the front a lapped car when he jumped in.

Insofar as Potolicchio is concerned, Baron insists the Venezuelan isn't in same sub-league as Zogaib.

"He (Potolicchio) was really bummed and angry over the Indy thing. I mean, I can understand because I'm still bummed over it," Baron said. “It’s really pretty tough to be mad at Potolicchio.”

"He and Ryan (Dalziel) had a legitimate chance at winning the North American Endurance Championship as well as the Rolex Series DP championship but those balloons were pretty well popped when (Juan Pablo) Montoya ran Ryan off the road."

"Enzo went out taking care a couple of full-season expenses” (which Baron felt he wasn't at liberty to specify) but Potolicchio couldn't or wouldn't cover all of them.

"I've been in similar situations so many times over the years that, you know, I pretty well know what to do," Baron said somewhat dejectedly but a moment later perked up with, "But it's really cool that people have jumped in to help in all sorts of ways that I didn't imagine would happen. That really touches me deeply."

Later,

DC

CAN YOU SAY "OVERKILL?"

10,600-some-odd.

That's the number of occurrences, as determined by a Google search undertaken over the past weekend in which were included the terms "Allmendinger," "NASCAR" and "stimulant, defined as amphetamine, methamphetamine, Ecstasy (MDMA), Eve (MDEA), MDA, PMA, Phentermine, and other amphetamine derivatives and related compounds."

Whew!

Frankly, your correspondent thought the last in-quotation-marks "object" would've contained enough and specifically ordinal words so as to be the search's death knell, perhaps then only returning a few hits and, more likely expected a, "Huh!? 'Sup wit you, dude?"

Instead returned in the results were the equal of one story appearing on The Web every minute for seven consecutive days' worth of ‘round-the-clock hours, with leftovers.

Yet, the requested oldest of the 10,600-some-odd stories originated only four days prior to the performed search.

Granted, some of the stories may have solely arisen from one source, like the Associated Press, so there weren't 10,600-some-odd stories anew.

But there were 10,600-some-odd times the search terms simultaneously appeared within stories, along with a heckuva lot of cutting and pasting of that last defined search term.

As much as this author may think himself a speed-reader (as compared to, say, a literate tortoise of some sort) he wasn't going to even attempt reading a sizeable fraction of those 10,600-some-odd stories. Yet, a spot check revealed very rare in-story references to NASCAR's ability, as stated in the same NASCAR Sprint Cup Series substance abuse chapter (specifically, 19-4-B), that the program administrator, medical review officer and "NASCAR" can theoretically deem any substance as abused, dangerous, detrimental to the sport and so on.

This observer of the situation believes the distinction important, because commonly encountered drugs like "nicotine" -- arising from a chemical class known in general as alkaloids and in which cocaine is likewise chemically classified, if not "statutorily," BTW) -- and in which fully a quarter of the U.S. population many times daily, um, "indulges," easily is among those drugs which in its "abused" usage is considered a "stimulant."

(Nicotine is a widely available drug absent of prescription requirements.)

An excerpt from Section 19-1 of the NASCAR substance abuse policy specifically states: "NASCAR prohibits the misuse of alcohol, prescription drugs, and any other substance used in a manner that affects safety or impacts the integrity of the competition, including -- but not limited to -- illegal or performance enhancing substances." (italics added)

In Section 19-4: "Prohibited Substances - For the purpose of this policy, prohibited substances are those substances that, in the PA's (program administrator) and MRO's (medical review officer) determination, in consultation with NASCAR (nascar), may adversely affect the safety and well-being and performance of a NASCAR Member at a NASCAR Event, including without limitation illegal drugs." (italics and parenthetical notes are added)

Notice the preceding citations pretty well cover the bases on the legal and illegal sides. Thus, the reason 2012 NSCS Rulebook Section 19 is partially entitled "substance" and not specifically "illegal drug" abuse. It's a catch-all that can nail a competitor, theoretically, for having eaten too much ice cream.

"Outlandish!" you enjoin?

Not if the driver may have a contrary or "allergic" reaction to milk fat. Imagine such occurring in the middle of Daytona International Speedway's 31-degree banking.

"Stupid!" is the rejoinder.

Not should a negative reaction lead to the carnage of innocents.

This writer, hisownself, as a youngin' went into anaphylactic shock after ingesting alpha S1-casein protein. We're talking ambulances, sirens, flashing lights, hospitals and edge-of-death stuff that afterward led to years of goat-milk drinking. All from a simple swig of cow’s milk. (BTW: the preceding condition and “lactose intolerant” aren’t the same.)

"C'mon! How many times might that happen!?"

Few, if the percentage of milk-triggered negative immune-system reactions is measured against a population's whole, but one cannot entirely rule out something merely for the sole reason of a probable rare occurrence -- especially when such may involve great risk to participants and fans, alike.

Can you say, "commercial aircraft" and "World Trade Center?"

Somebody did not at one time.

How about "commercial aircraft" and "no firearms allowed" when, in the case of 9-11, razor-sharp box cutters got through airport screeners, legally?

In short, that which a general citizen may routinely employ to effect an end result -- such as grabbing a cigarette (nicotine) just after silencing an end-of-sleep alarm clock -- may no longer fly insofar as NASCAR is concerned, especially should a member of that organization fail to precisely discern such on paperwork accompanying an annual request for membership or, put more commonly, a "hard card."

The Allmendinger camp probably was ill-advised to release, even though having done so in good faith, anything that connected him and "stimulant" because its greatest "stimulation" was to cause a rush to judgment by those who were quick to place Allmendinger in some crack shack -- instead of otherwise awaiting the whole deal's conclusion.

What else is new in a society that impolitely taps its foot when someone else is using the break-area microwave for all of 90-seconds?

Later,

DC

A GIANT IS GONE

It is said that good things are built on the backs of giants.

If such be the case, the racing community lost one of its giants Wednesday -- albeit a quiet one.

Motorsports has been built through those who have stepped forward and said, "I'll do it," regardless of whatever "it" may be, have been or will be.

Many, if not most have done it not for the pay, but because of the sport. A love, perhaps an even inexplicable love for the sport.

Indeed, if not for those "volunteers" -- a descriptive word that falls way short of describing the feeling inside of those performing the service -- it's doubtful the sport would exist today, absent of some stray traffic light or back-road country lane challenge (indeed, it would be reasonably argued, it's probable far fewer of those dangerous activities occur because of organized motorsports).

One of the most interesting aspects of motorsports -- and this writer believes sportscar racing is heads-and-tails above any other activity -- is its attraction to a broad socio-economic, demographic cross section of its participants, whether in the cockpit or pit lane.

In the Rolex Series -- about which this writer writes because he knows no other as well -- just about every professional discipline, and specialists within a larger discipline are found not only in the car but toiling in sportscar racing's pits.

Indeed, your correspondent knows a doctor who has for at least a decade worked for one prominent team, taking time, multiple days, away from his practice each time a Rolex Series race is scheduled. He does whatever is needed to be done, grunt work included.

Another of those "elsewhere" professionals in the 1990's began his sportscar involvement working for Bob and Bill Riley after following in the footsteps of his older brother.

The two brothers were so doggone good at their jobs that they've seen very nearly every major worldwide racetrack from where most sportscar fans would give much to be -- from the inside.

"It's a dream-come-true," the little brother said earlier this year when asked by a reporter about working in a pressure-cooker environment, the Rolex 24 At Daytona, with his family.

"We're truly fortunate because we get to do something together, as brothers, and with my son, Ian. We're a tight-knit family."

Mark Menego, little brother to Jim Menego and a very proud father of Ian Menego, unexpectedly passed on Wednesday, July 11.

Technology sales director for Herr-Voss Stamco at the time of his death, the Penn State grad remained true blue. Period.

So "blue," though, that he also wore the color on race day while in the SunTrust pits -- his last race being this month's Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen.

This pit wanderer, who has known the Menego family for but a few years but who feels as though a decades-long part of that family, can remember Mark Menego not smiling about two or three times.

Always a smile on that man's face. Always.

It's an odd thing, but on Wednesday past, this writer, sitting before his laptop with fingers poised above the keyboard, suddenly thought of the three Menegos simultaneously, thinking "what a truly wonderful family they are."

And then he learned of Mark's death.

Three guys; all family; one following the other, all deeply dedicated to racing -- and to each other.

A family now one less, such seems so implausible when one considers Mark was all of 54 years; vibrant, youthful.

Such age seems, like, forever or, perhaps, "ancient" to someone half that age.

Myself well above that age, one almost expects everyone should live through it. Especially one of the world's genuinely good guys, from whom this person never, ever heard a bad word spoken.

May God rest your soul, Mark Menendez.

Later,

DC

ROAD TO RECOVERY, Duex

Should the reader be otherwise divorced of shocking, damn-near unbelievable motorsport news: A.J. Allmendinger has been nailed for having in some manner violated NASCAR's Substance Abuse Policy.

Before someone starts with the "crystal meth" stuff, someone else hollers back "crack" or still some other person goes ape with "Δ9-THC!" please take the time to consider that NASCAR's Substance Abuse Policy isn't quite as simple as Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No!" because there easily exists more than a few ways one can violate the "policy."

Otherwise, exactly why, pray tell, does one need to explain "Just Say No!" using roughly 6,000 words?

Yep, six big ones.

THE FACTS, JACK

An otherwise unannounced "bodily fluids" sample was taken at random from Allmendinger (and, by inferred practice, four additional drivers, 10 crewmembers and five NASCAR Sprint Cup Series officials) while NASCAR was hanging at Kentucky Speedway (June 30, give or take).

The generally accepted sampling procedure includes capturing a sufficient bodily fluid quantity so as to enable a second test if demanded by a believed policy violator.

About one week later at Daytona International Speedway, NASCAR competition vice-president Steven O'Donnell told those who would tell the world of Allmendinger's failed test and NASCAR's rendering an immediate "temporary" 72-hour suspension.

The suspected substance abuser can within that time period ("three days," Menendez) exercise a number of options, including the aforementioned secondary test (not "retest"), to executing an admission agreement and entering into treatment, Aegis Sciences Corporation "Road to Recovery," which NASCAR's Substance Abuse Policy states as being "tailored to the needs" of the inculpated ("accused" seems, well, "damning," no?). All things considered, Hosni Mubarak is more likely to reemerge as Egypt's leader than will the original test results be overturned.

One supposes also available to Allmendinger is his letting rip a rendition of a particular Johnny Paycheck song, though doubtful would be its execution given the sheer weight of involved money, reputations and that prima facie evidence -- Jeremy Mayfield -- points to futility in successfully fighting a NASCAR suspension, especially given that Mayfield's fight has succeeded to the equal extent of tossing across a room NASCAR's Mike Helton.

EXCUSE ME, BUT WHERE AM I?

Who on God's Green Earth hasn't seen "Vacation," the 1983 National Lampoon masterpiece starring Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Randy Quaid and "Aunt Edna" (Imogene Coca)?

Still, somewhere along the "Griswold" family's journey to fictional Walley World, patriarch "Clark" (Chase) makes the first of many seriously wrong turns into a ghetto, within moments changing a fresh-off-a-dealer-lot "Family Truckster" automobile into an everyday graffiti-riddled, hubcap-less ghetto chariot.

The incident merely served as an introduction to many more, um, uncomfortable moments to come inasmuch as announced on the eve of his 72-hour response period's end -- and probably not before tens-of-thousands in attorney fees were already spent -- was Allmendinger's desire to have the second sample tested. Allmendinger was described as "dumfounded" and "shell-shocked" in the aftermath of NASCAR's action, Allmendinger's business manager, Tara Ragan, told the AP's Jenna Fryer late Monday.

"Vacation" kinda reminds of where Allmendinger is now; somewhere between the ghetto gangstas and the, er, "enhanced" Truckster's return to earth after later launching from an asphalt highway's abrupt termination.

For sure, the Griswold car's axle-bending, suspension twisting impact wasn't the end of their "adventure" any more than the end of this week -- presumably when the B-sample results are made available -- will close Allmendinger's woes. The sad part about the comparison of the two is that "Vacation" was fictional but Allmendinger's is a bad, bad dream to which he'll repeatedly awaken in the real world for an indeterminate time – one that’ll time and again feel like an eternity to he and those around him.

And before Allmendinger's blind-faith defenders get in a wad, there really is a moment in time when it's best to accept reality and move along -- which Allmendinger is hopefully doing while the second test is being undertaken in the lab.

If played correctly, Allmendinger's exercise of the second-test option will allow a fuller exploration of his options and, most importantly, a cooling of emotions because that initial three-day "temporary suspension" period hardly affords sufficient time to catch one's breath when life itself has suddenly jumped from one lane to another quicker than a race car heading northeast at full-tilt-boogie on Daytona International Speedway's SuperStretch.

POLICY MATTERS

Section 19 of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 2012 Rule Book is the part dealing with substance abuse and tells its readers a number of things over its nearly 10 pages of figurative and literal "fine print." (By the way: "Grand-Am Substance Abuse Policy 2012" is found here.)

Sub-section 19-3 defines those who are subject to the policy, stating that, "Although this Policy is intended to apply principally to drivers, mechanics and crew members (hereinafter 'Competitor' or 'Competitors') as well as NASCAR Officials as determined by NASCAR … all other NASCAR Members are required to adhere to NASCAR's Substance Abuse Policy and are subject to reasonable suspicion testing . . ." (italics added). In short: Those who hold NASCAR hard cards beware.

Add to the above Section 19-3A, which adds that "NASCAR will regularly test any Competitor or Official whose performance at a NASCAR Event potentially affects the safety of themselves, other NASCAR Members, spectators and guests, including but not limited to: NASCAR Officials and Competitors . . ."

More or less continuing the theme is Section 19-3-B, but which slightly switches gears and provides for "the testing of those competitors ". . . whose use of illegal or performance enhancing drugs (PED) or substances could alter or enhance . . ." a competitors ability " . . . to create an unfair advantage or impact the integrity . . ." of the competition. (italics added)

Well, given the inclusion of not necessarily illegal "performance enhancing drugs," there goes the steroids or, perhaps, available-almost-everywhere milk thistle. Really. Milk thistle is a herbal product touted, among 23,437 other things, as “enhancing brain function.”

How can NASCAR ban an otherwise licit substance along with the illicit or, for that matter, any substance at all?

On the simplest level -- the one at which are found those whose life goal is to damn any capitalistic enterprise for any number of reasons -- because NASCAR allows itself sufficient latitude to do as it will so as to protect and defend the "franchise."

Oh, NASCAR will at times use the term "stakeholder," here, or "stakeholders," (the plural form, Menendez) there, but it's "the business" as a whole that is and should be getting protected.

"Stakeholder," though, has a stuffy feeling to it when the folks who have an interest in NASCAR's success go well beyond just Richard Childress, Jack Roush, Coach Gibbs or the capitalist's capitalist, Roger Penske.

All things considered, NASCAR not only has the right but responsibility to protect its business because of the tens-of-thousands, if not hundreds-of-thousands and, probably, millions of people dependent on those cars making left turns at the sanctioning body’s points-paying races each year.

Yes, the Family France makes money. Good money at that. But so, too, do a lot of others: hoteliers, restaurateurs, the grocery stores who supply food for those who wish not to eat at the restaurants, or the campground owners who cater to those who like to "rough it" in $250,000 RVs purchased from some dealer somewhere and built by men and women who, in turn, wish to attend the very same race as that made possible by the expertise of the Family France.

The whole gig is one seriously huge circle and one guy shouldn't be allowed to screw it up.

Now, such is not to say that Allmendinger has attempted to do so, consciously or subconsciously; whether with malice and forethought or entirely absent of malice and having no forethought of anything other than showing up and racing.

However, there are a whole bunch of folks who, after having recklessly caused a life-ending accident, invariably will say, "I didn't mean to" or "I didn't know . . ."

Those words, however true -- and they certainly can be -- or sorrow filled and deeply felt, have ever repaired damage incurred before having been said.

Maybe NASCAR is wrong here . . . but maybe it isn't.

Those who aren't disposed of finding conspiracies around every corner will likely think it altogether doubtful that someone within NASCAR or its "drug police" awoke on or about Saturday, June 30, and said, "Let's take out A.J., today! He's such a likeable guy!"

In the end, NASCAR is trying its best to do the right thing. In the end, all will work out if those with good intentions -- and, thankfully, there are many in this world having such -- will focus on doing the right thing by helping those who not only need help, but who sincerely want that help.

Remember: May he who has never missed a shift cast the first transmission.

Later,

DC

ROAD TO RECOVERY, Part One

MOSTLY QUOTES

AN UNPARALLELED PERSON

"A.J. has driven for me for seven years, I stand behind AJ 100-percent . . . I . . . I . . . just don't how to put it," said an emotional Mike Shank (at far right, below, with Allmendinger behind) who was trying his best to put into just a few words all of what flooded his mind about a friend, a driver and, at still other times, a business associate.

A.J. Allmendinger, who with Shank, Ozz Negri, John Pew and Justin Wilson earlier this year teamed to win the 50th Rolex 24 At Daytona, is in trouble of a kind that only would a true friend care to belly-up and help shoulder a burden, whatever that burden may be.

"He's been a vital part of my business for seven years and a large reason behind our winning the 24 hours," Shank continued, talking about what is the most important win to date in Michael Shank Racing's history.

"Time after time, for years we came so close to winning that race only to come up short, but A.J. was loyal, wouldn't leave the team. Even when I told him there wouldn't be any hard feelings if he left. A.J. stayed with me. He not only stayed with me, he bucked me up when I was down, said we'd get it someday.

“Well, I don’t care what’s going on, I’m not leaving him."

But did A.J. at any time give any reason to believe, any indication that he was somehow transgressing?

"No. And I say it with 100-percent certainty, and I have been around him a lot; I mean a lot," Shank parsing and emphasizing each of his four preceding words.

"I've been around him in all scenarios, from race day to flat-out having fun on a Friday night, and I've never, ever, ever seen A.J. do anything, overtly or otherwise, that would even remotely give me any sort of suspicion or clue that A.J. was doing anything wrong. This guy has never, ever lived anything but a clean life, in what I've seen, in what I've heard, in what I personally and professionally know about him."

"A.J.'s made a huge positive contribution to my business, to my personal life and to the lives of those he's known."

"No matter the outcome he will always be my friend. Always."

LOOK AT ALL THE PEOPLE

"AJ's an amazingly talented guy. I'm not sure what happened or why," John Pew, reached while in British Columbia, said.

"But I can't help but think about all the people who are hurting right now because they love A.J. because of what he's done for them. He's done a lot for me, taught me a lot, helped me win the biggest race in my life," Pew said, recalling the 50th Rolex 24 At Daytona and the winning Michael Shank Racing entry the two shared (pictured above flanking Rolex 24 trophy: Pew nearest left; Allmendinger, nearest right) along with longtime co-driver Oswaldo Negri Jr. (far right) and open-wheel, IndyCar Series star Justin Wilson (left).

"A.J.'s got a wonderful heart and remembers where he came from, a working-class background with parents who sacrificed a lot to help get him into racing's highest ranks. You know, to that end A.J. set up his Walldinger (Racing) scholarship to help those in similar situations.

"Kyle Kirkwood (recipient of an A.J. Allmendinger Karting Scholarship) was in Indiana for the MKP Nationals this past weekend because of A.J.'s help. I know his family, too, they're all wonderful people. They just think the world of A.J., as we all do. A.J.'s got a lot of people in his corner."

"I care a lot about A.J., he's a great guy and I would do whatever I can do to help him.

"Right now only A.J. truly knows what's going down. But if it's really as bad as it appears, if it turns out that the test was accurate, then when he comes out of the other side Roger (Penske) should give AJ another chance. I know I won't hesitate to do it."

HE AIN'T HEAVY, HE'S MY BROTHER

"First and foremost, I'm nobody to judge anybody. Second, I am a friend and a fan of A.J.," Ozz Negri (pictured at far left with John Pew, right) said from his Miami-area home.

"I'll will never drop a friend because I am a friend both in good times and bad.

"That does not mean I agree with all the things that a friend may do, but I am here to help my friends because my friends help me. That's what friendship is all about. It's not about (being) 'convenient.'”

"There are some people who can, who are able to bear a heavier cross than others; people who can tolerate stress better than others. It's not to say that I believe A.J. is in such a situation, but we don't know, we just don't know what kind of situation he's going through.

"I know I'm sad, not for myself, but for A.J. and what he's having to go through. I'm not talking about who is right or who is wrong, but the situation itself. I wish A.J. didn't have to go through it, no matter the reason.

"When you don't know the circumstances it's very hard for me to judge others. So, we cannot judge; we can only help."

"The thing that makes relationships stronger, any relationship whether marriage, or family or friends, true friends, isn't the good times, it's being able to get through the bad times as a husband and wife, as a family and as a friend.

"Third, and this is one of the highest compliments, I think, I can pay to anyone: A.J.'s a guy I would have in my car at any time.

"I've known AJ (above left with Wilson, right) since he first jumped into Karting. I watched him and came to like and admire him; his ability; his love for racing.

"A.J. has a talent few others share. One of the things that I most worry about now is A.J.'s love of racing. If racing is taken away from him, well, I just don't know what'll happen . . .

"But A.J. is my friend. He is my brother. I am here for him."

                 

Later,

DC

THROUGH THE NOTEBOOK DARKLY

 

DOUBLING UP

The Watkins Glen International post-Sahlen’s Six-Hour media-room news conference was positively bubbly, darn-near giddy when was the subject of tires arose.

Usually dreaded by some and feared by others, the rote question inevitably comes when a tire manufacturer’s PR flak arises to ask those present a question whose answer is specifically intended to generate positive comments no matter how poorly a race car’s tires may have performed.

In defense of tire manufacturers, much of a tire’s (or shock absorbers or widget’s) performance, good or bad, is found the manner in which the tire is used: an engineer can establish right or wrong numbers; a mechanic can set the wrong numbers; one driver may be particularly adept with a setting, while his cohort may hate it. Like the drag-racing, brake-stomping wannabe street racer who complains his purported 70,000-mile tire got only 10k (or that his gas mileage isn’t anywhere close to CAFE standards), one doesn’t know what a driver will say until it is heard. Of course, the odds of something positive coming out are vastly improved when faced is a winning race car driver. (At above left: Gratuitous Patrick Dempsey picture. But, really, he is a handsome chap.)

Much like a revolver’s spinning cylinder in a game of Rooskie Roulette, when the tire company’s PR flak puts the subject on the table by pulling the question’s trigger, one doesn’t quite know what the report may bring.

Usually disposed of giddiness whether from too much carbon monoxide, the lingering aftereffects of massive testosterone dosages or having actually consumed champagne between sprays, winners have been known to become whiners when the subject of tires is broached and the simple task of getting positive tire comments rarely goes beyond monotones that, when actually heard and not read (rhymes with "red"), sound something akin to a dental patient’s moan.

At The Glen, the question quickly turned into an orgy of, "I wanna answer first!" the comments, coming fast and furious (oops, now a bad phrase, huh?) as everyone on the podium wanted to answer at the same time, were effusive in praise of Continental Tires having often lasted two stints, having grip and so on - none of it being trash talk or monotone praise.

For Sheri Herrmann, The Glen ‘twas a good day. Then again, just about every race day is a good day this year for Herrmann.

BIG HEARTS BEWARE

Crusty and proud of it is Brad Francis, a motorsports hall-of-famer who has been overseeing Jack Roush Junior's racing efforts since the chip off of "senior's" block got deeply involved in the sport.

After the heavily penalized (not points; just an ability to gain those points) Roush Performance No. 61 Ford Mustang Boss 302R (below, left) fell well short of taking the checkered flag in the CTSCC race at The Glen a week after scoring a second place at Road America, Francis noted that this sport can have its ups and, especially, downs.

"Don't be in racing if you don't have a big heart," Francis said when nearly all around him were wailing the blues.

SEE THE FUTURE

Speaking of Roush Performance . . .

Billy Johnson is a name some may have heard by now and, likely, even more haven't.

Such condition really shouldn't last long, especially since Will Turner started using Johnson services at this year's Rolex 24.

Things kind of went awry at the Rolex 24 when Johnson's car, shared with Bill Auberlen and Paul Dalla Lana (who as an "amateur" ain't that bad) died hardly after sundown Saturday.

A rarity for a BMW (unless it's a BMW-March GTP) or, more so, a Turner-prepared BMW, the threesome came back at Watkins Glen in the second leg of the inaugural North American Endurance Championship, at the end of which (Indy, in fact) some serious money will divvied between the top finishers.

Scoring a third place in GT,

Before that, however, Johnson's been teamed in a Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge GS Ford Mustang Boss 302R with Jack Roush Jr. since middle-2009.

If you need any proof of this Cal-Tech degreed youngster's abilities, just take some time to watch the No. 61 Roush Performance Mustang sometime, usually during the second shift of the CTSCC race.

There are some in this business who have a pretty good track record of identifying talent and, to a person, they like what they see in Johnson.

CHALLENGING PEW

Now that Enzo Potolicchio, who with Ryan Dalziel,co-drives the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Ford-Riley, has overtaken John Pew in the race for the season-long Jim Trueman Award for the best "amateur" race car driver.  Pew, who along with Oswaldo Negri Jr., drives Michael Shank Racing’s No. 60 LiveOn.com Ford-Riley and is the awards defending recipient, even if he doesn't wish to be. (Below right, L-R, Negri, Pew, Shank)

Pew's an odd soul who doesn't want, doesn't like to be compared on an amateur level as much as a professional level.

“I could go elsewhere and drive something that has some level of competitive compensation or, put another way, that gives amateur drivers an advantage a pro doesn’t have (such as tires having more grip) but I’m not interested in competing on a ‘special’ level. To me, a win is hollow if I get different equipment than the others get. I want to be able to compare myself, to test myself directly against a Scott Pruett or an Alex Gurney,” Pew said.

Yet, for the preceding two seasons Pew kept winning those doggone Trueman Awards -- a nagging reminder that he made his financial mark other than in a race car's driving seat.

As of the Watkins Glen checkered flag, though, Potolicchio is 72 points ahead in the 2012 contest.

Readers might recall the Pew v. Potolicchio Mid-Ohio door-to-door action that, on the race's first lap, put Pew and Negri in a huge hole from which they wouldn't, really couldn't escape.

Over on the Bob Akin side of the awards spectrum, Emil Assentato is leading second-place Wayne Nonnamaker by a hefty 227 points.

Driving the No. 69 FXDD Mazda RX-8 to the 2010 championship, Assentato has been there before, along with co-driver Jeff Segal, who joined Assentato this year in switching from SpeedSource's all-but-2011 team championship dead Mazda RX-8 to an AIM Autosport-prepared and fielded Ferrari 458 Italia (at lower left) of the same number and sponsorship.

In their successful 2010 GT points championship season Assentato and Segal would lead the championship early then yield mid-season and, in the season's last race, could only watch as fate took command of other contestants’ steering wheel in that season's final race at Tooele; winning the championship by five points over SpeedSource's Sylvain Tremblay.

CHARLES ATLAS CANDIDATE

This writer a once-heavy consumer of comic books (yes, it’s supposed one could say such is the reason this writer is warped), one of the most frequently seen advertisements of decades ago was that of former world-champion bodybuilder Charles Atlas suggesting insisting he'd make a man of anyone who wasn't.

No, it had nothing to do with Renée Richards (ask your great-grandfather) but it did have everything to do with the now iconic "99-pound weakling."

You know, the skinny dude at the beach who was bullied (yes, true, 'tis not a new thing) by a, well, bully who, in his zeal to win the affection of the skinny dude's accompanying "hot babe," kicked sand in the aforementioned skinny dude's face.

It was all just hoo-hah, of course, excepting those possessed of too much testosterone and too little matching muscle mass.

Which brings us back to race car drivers (um, just kidding lads, heh, heh).

Mark Wilkins (left), who made a rare Rolex Series appearance as third-man-out with Scott Mayer and Colin Braun in Starworks Motorsport's No. 7 Ford-Riley DP2 (at right, below), was assigned various other duties besides driving.

In an imaginative way to gain time from a presumably slower Gen-2 DP (owner Peter Baron's mind is, well, really, really unique), when not sweeping the pit (heh, heh, just kidding again, Mark) Mr. Wilkins was assigned the task of quickly extracting one driver so as to make room for the incoming fresh driver.

In the case of the No. 7, Mr. Mayer was the outgoing driver; Mr. Braun the ingoing.

So, here's Mr. Wilkins, all 145 or 150 pounds of him (and such probably is giving him a stone or two) (ask Jeremy Clarkson) trying to yank a fellow who easily had 50 or 60 more pounds on his frame than did Mr. Wilkins.

We're talking, well, a serious thrash as "David" thrice mightily pulled "Goliath" (it's all relative, gents, no offense intended).

Wilkins is due an "A for effort," though.

GT GONE?

In theory, a sanctioning body can have a class full of available spots for manufacturers and teams but if no one shows up to race then, in practice, the class doesn't really exist.

The above is a bottom-line opinion for a few GT teams and at least two manufacturer representatives who are chafing under the results they claim are thus far exhibited in the Class of 2012.

A close 2011 championship fight that went down to the wire and a final four-point spread over the top-3 spots containing three different car builders this year has yielded a "blow-out" and "those two teams (champs Brumos and runners-up Autohaus) are nowhere close today to where they were then" insisted one team owner.

"One team can screw up and not do the same (a following year) like they did (in contending for a championship) but to have both do it (tank) at the same time (the following year) just isn't something that happens."

In 2011, Brumos Racing's Andrew Davis and Leh Keen got off to a rough start in their No. 59 Porsche but started clicking with a third place at Lime Rock and a win the following week at The Glen.

Autohaus' Camaro did similarly, scoring a first at Virginia International Raceway, followed by consecutive second-places at Lime Rock and The Glen.

In all, though, team and driving championship winners Brumos finished on the podium all of three times in 2011, with Autohaus claiming but one additional podium in 12 races.

Third-place 2011 team championship winner SpeedSource snared four podiums, total. Currently holding fourth place in the 2012 team championship standings, it already has three podiums through eight races with five to go.

"All we want is equal footing," one source said while refusing to be publicly identified, insisting retribution would likely follow otherwise.

"Let the teams fight it out," the manufacturer representative continued. "If a driver or a pit crew member screws up, so be it! But just leave the fight to the individual teams. That's all we want."

Still, one can't help but wonder if those complaining would be inclined of such if they be on top?

For complaining most often is reserved for those who always would if only could.

Later,

DC

Images by Brian Cleary, who retains copyrights. See more, buy some of his work at http://www.bcpix.com/.

GOBS AND GOBS

Though one suspects upper management likely prefers otherwise, at present two different worlds evidently exist in NASCAR.

For the sake of brevity and ease of reading, let's just call 'em -- and your scribe has thought long and hard about it -- "Good Old Boys" (GOB) and "Wine And Cheese Crowd" (WACC).

(Cool, huh? Note to self: secure trademarks.)

The GOBs, in which Richard Childress (at left) is firmly ensconced, started with hardly a nickel in their respective pockets or, perhaps, even spread among themselves.

Unlike the GOBS, the WACCs who raced, also known as SOTRMITW (Some Of The Richest Men In The World), started with millions before racing and had still more millions after racing, like Rolex Series Trueman winner Mark Patterson.

For the SOTRMITW WACCs, staying in the race game wasn't, still isn't the end game and didn't require something on the order of Bill France Jr. once buying Childress, as he hisownself once stated, an engine, at Jon Hall Chevrolet, so as to facilitate a full Daytona race field.

Imagine, if you will, someone sitting down at a King Louis XIV-era desk and, pen in hand, cut a seven-figure check (that's seven digits LEFT of the decimal point, JJ) for about 10 months of racing fun. Throw in a brand new Riley as part of the deal and pretty soon we're talking money most folks have never and will never see.

A goodly number of SOTRMITW WACCs will do the same year after year.

When the GOBs started racing -- any racing -- they employed few people, if anyone at all.

SOTRMITW WACCs write checks that immediately employ tens, if not hundreds of others to make that racing thing happen.

This isn't, hasn't been a recent thing in sports car racing; it is woven within the sport's DNA.

BUT KNOW YOUR PLACE, BOY

Surfing the Web while 10,000 ft.- high-or-more in the air (on an airplane, JJ) and returning home following Road America, seen were a few blurbs in motorsports news about Nelson Piquet Jr. having been the first Brazilian . . . well, here it is, straight from NASCAR Media itsownself:

"Nelson Piquet Jr., driver of the No. 30 Qualcomm Autotrac Chevrolet for Turner Motorsports" . . . "made racing history on Saturday, becoming the first Brazilian to win a NASCAR national series race" at Road America.

In short, according to the folks so empowered, the first NASCAR national series race winner isn't the Brazilian who was the first Brazilian to win in Grand-Am, Oswaldo Negri Jr (at right).

Then again, maybe the Rolex Series isn't a national series. Well, what exactly makes a "national series?" One that competes outside of local, state or regional boundaries?

One might think the splitting of hairs to be operable, herein, one such being Negri having won his first Grand-Am race in 2005 when the sanctioning body wasn't a "Company of NASCAR."

Then again, Negri did win the 50th Rolex 24 At Daytona, not that the Rolex 24 is of any consequence whatsoever to anyone.

Well, after hearing a certain NASCAR series bellyache to no end about wanting more attention than a certain other NASCAR series, the subject now passes into air's thin wisps, which is where it would've gone, anyway.

IS BREAKING UP EASY TO DO?

By this reporter's give-or-take count, over the last three races -- Belle Isle, Detroit, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Road America -- something on the order of four or more A-frames, have fractured or, put another way, failed in three or four Daytona Prototypes during that three-race period.

None of those failures were in Riley DPs.

For what it's worth, hitting walls -- more "glance" than "hit" in at least one case -- isn't exactly a healthy thing. Or, for that matter, neither is impacting another car but, truth be known, DPs -- whether Riley or otherwise -- have been doing such things for years and have, more often than not, continued the race in which such blows were struck or undertaken.

It just seems that one particular but still unnamed DP is presently a tad more "fragile" -- a condition not unknown to, ahem, prototypical race cars.

A seemingly logical extension of the above would include the possibility, if not probability, of that particular suspension piece to be more likely to fail as usage (cycles) increases, thus possibly and unexpectedly breaking when otherwise regular and expected stresses are induced, say, when scrubbing tires.

Just saying.

EARNING IT

Saturday at Road America, Emil Assentato, Jeff Segal (at left, respectively) and Toronto-based AIM Autosport won their third race of the 2012 Rolex Sports Car season in the No. 69 FXDD Ferrari 458 Italia.

As of the tents being stricken at Road America, Segal and Assentato lead the GT driver-points championship, thus far having compiled 220 points to Stevenson Motorsports' Robin Liddell's 199 points.

Segal is the team's "professional driver" while Assentato is the (pick one) "Gentleman," "Sportsman," "Bob Akin" or "amateur" driver.

It's familiar territory for the two drivers who, in 2010 and driving a SpeedSource Mazda RX8 bearing the same number and sponsorship as today's car, won that year's Grand Touring championship in an admitted year-end squeaker at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah.

The competition was wickedly thick during the whole of the Rolex Series' 12-race 2010 GT schedule, as 18 drivers would help capture one or more race wins. There still were 16 winning drivers that season when dropped are the two additional drivers, Nick Hamm and David Haskell, from the Rolex 24-winning SpeedSource No. 70 Castrol Mazda RX-8 regular-season team of Sylvain Tremblay and Jonathan Bomarito. Heck, the now estranged Andy Lally and TRG team alone accounted for three wins.

A tight points race the whole of that 2010 season, Assentato and Segal hardly ran away with the title, even though the pair twice won while, on the flip side, twice failed to finish within the top five. Between those extremes, the pair scored eight top-four-or-better finishes.

The team didn't have to finish as the best for each race, "just good enough" worked perfectly fine to score two Rolex championship "timepieces."

Assentato, beginning with the 2009 season and through the Road America race, has scored 17 podium finishes in 43 races.

On track in 2012 to be one of Assentato's best seasons yet, Assentato this season already has surpassed 2011's four podiums and has equaled his 2010 career-best five podiums.

As Assentato readily notes, the 2010 championship win -- by five points over sole second-place finisher and SpeedSource owner Tremblay -- came as a result of other championship contenders' carelessness or, perhaps, uncontrolled testosterone.

Yet, serving as a metaphor for "how life works," one often wins, whether on a race track, business or, even, love because others err.

As is the case for yours truly, Assentato is an admitted "old guy" but, unlike yours truly, Assentato doesn't wince upon gazing into an early morning bathroom mirror, being unsurprised at the sight of a non-25-year old guy returning his gaze.

Like most of those who are in their, um, "advanced years," Assentato has an ache or two which, in his case, is manifested by a slight but noticeable left-leg limp in his walk.

"It was the least serious of my injuries," which came when Assentato did what a lot of race car drivers do at one time or another: wreck.

Only this decades-ago wreck wasn't at all pretty, especially when doctors decided Assentato's seriously busted left leg would not receive anything but cursory treatment and was the very least of Assentato's medical woes.

"I was in my early 20's," Assentato said. "I loved racing and was good at it, too. I was fast.

"But the recovery time gave me a chance to think, it gave me pause and made me think about what I was doing, what I wanted to do and how I should (note: not "could") get there.

"I wanted to return to racing, but I was going to do it on my own terms. The only way to do that was get an education and a job."

"Fate" is a curious thing, often suggestive of a secretive "Mr. Wizard" hiding behind a curtain somewhere, throwing levers, pressing pedals and spinning dials that are the determinants of individual lives.

So, was fate at the root of Assentato's wreck? Had that wreck not occurred, would have a young Assentato excelled sufficiently to become a star and later revered race car driver? Or, had Assentato not wrecked, would he today be at the helm of one of the world's largest, privately held securities dealers?

"Getting back to racing took a little longer than I would've liked, but it is what it is," Assentato said.

Later,

DC

Excepting that of Richard Childress, the above pictures are the work of photojournalist Brian Cleary, who retains all rights of usage. To see more or get copies of his work, go to http://www.bcpix.com

TAKING THE MEDICINE

Given that Action Express Racing's opening-day focus at Detroit's Belle Isle Rolex Series race was learning that breaking up isn't really "hard to do," it only seems fitting the race itself would boil down to a 1-2 finish between the Action Express Racing boys.

Like a blossoming "overnight" movie star suddenly in a spotlight after years of toil, Saturday's Chevy Grand Am 200 finish actually started on "lucky" 13 Aug., 2011, at the end of the Watkins Glen 200.

At The Glen, the AXR Porsche (Cayenne) Riley Daytona Prototypes finished sixth and seventh; the Double Ds' (David Law and David Donohue) No. 5 finishing ahead of the Double J's No. 9 of João Barbosa and J.C. France.

"We looked at the data from the race and noticed that Darren and João had a lot in common," former NASCAR Sprint Cup Muckety Muck-turned-consultant Gary Nelson, of Gary Nelson and Associates, Inc., said Saturday in Detroit while killing time before the late-afternoon Belle Isle Chevrolet Grand-Am 200 race start.

His curiosity piqued, Nelson began the task of analyzing year-over-year driver data and, perhaps more importantly, associated and integrated his drivers' thoughts within the context of that data.

Yet, it's likely Nelson couldn't have at all traveled that particular road if the AXR team hadn't "been professionals," as AXR's race team operations director Elton Sawyer put it Sunday morning.

"The Action Express guys have worked their fingers to the bone to put competitive cars on the grid. Throughout this deal they've been professionals through and through, man. I'm proud of 'em for digging deep; for never giving up."

"They (the wrenches), none of us really know where this driver-change thing would go but they never stopped putting out cars that could win. The race Saturday proved they prepared cars that could win and that meant a lot to me."

COMPARING THE APPLES AND ORANGES

Even if maintained by dedicated team members and even if the two (or three) Riley DPs in AXR's possession were made by the brilliant folks over at Riley Technologies, they weren't identical; not even close.

Whether curse or genius, every engineer working on every car nearly everywhere thinks his "the better solution" to making a car go faster. Sometimes change can be effected with the application of a wrench; other times with a new "widget." With enough widgets and wrench turns, before long one Riley really isn't like another Riley.

AXR lead engineer, Iain Watt, presently on his second Rolex Series' duty tour (the first with owner Eddie Cheever and, mostly, drivers Christian Fittipaldi and Antonio Garcia), spent the better part of the 2010-2011 offseason taking two Rileys and making them one or, actually, two.

Confused? Of course you are. Still, you should see this brain. So we'll try it again.

Thus, becoming Watt's principal mission was to take two (or three) cars and bring them closer together insofar as baseline configurations were concerned.

"Why didn't AXR just buy new Rileys?" you ask.

For a California boy, Nelson has turned into one of the best Southerners around. Southerners hate wasting stuff (the reason for their junk piles; cars on cement blocks in front yards, etc.).

Recently, Nelson's spare time has been devoted to building a Café Racer. Proud of that still-under-construction but nearly finished bike, stored in Nelson's cell phone are pictures taken from more angles than those found in a porn star's portfolio. His proudest pics? The junk he's turned into viable parts.

Heck, had Nelson lived in the Middle Ages, he would've been an alchemist -- you know, the folks who tried converting everyday metals like lead into gold. Nelson, though, probably would've succeeded.

Thus, spending money when old parts will do is sorta woven into Nelson's DNA and the AXR team was tasked with putting a couple of Humpty Dumpties together again.

Yet, unlike the King's Men and HD, Messrs. Watt, Sawyer and Nelson, with a big assist from the rest of the AXR guys, succeeded and, best of all from Nelson's viewpoint, he could effectively compare data generated by the AXR drivers.

"Generally" arising at the same time was a delicate political matter involving a "minimum purchase" and, before you can say "cookie cutter," AXR had two brand-spanking new identical DP chassis that offered a bonus: new comparative data from an entirely different baseline.

At first having Watt's "identical" Rileys through 2011, then for 2012 the Pratt and Whitney, er, "Miller," um, "Coyote" Corvettes (if one can't dazzle with brilliance, then baffle with B.S), the two distinct platforms from two different constructors afforded accurate comparisons.

At race tracks "we'd unload identical cars and the drivers started taking them in different directions; sometimes on the same car!" Nelson said.

All of that's fine and dandy, even wonderful had the multiple drivers and two teams produced wins -- something expected from two-car teams -- but AXR kept coming up short in the "wins" column.

In 2011, after what would prove their season's worst finish of 9th in the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Donohue and Law would not finish worse than sixth place -- four of those, consecutively at that -- and combined for a remaining seven top-5 finishes, of which three were podiums but none were a first place. They finished third in the championship, three points ahead of a 4th-place Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty, who didn't record any championship points whatsoever in the second Watkins Glen race but who recorded two wins.

In the 2009, 2010 and 2011 seasons, Barbosa finished 9th, 13th and 5th, respectively -- the 5th-place season coming mostly with a three-person team including J.C. France and Terry Borcheller, excepting that season's final three races for which Borcheller sat out.

Clearly, the contributions of Watt and Sawyer were beginning to show, but they couldn't get over the hump that kept all of them from scoring a 1st-place.

According to Nelson, some of the drivers wanted to go in the same direction -- mechanically and/or aerodynamically -- but Nelson saw they weren't in the same car for the same race.

"One driver would take the car one way, another driver would take it another way. Then their respective partners would try to tune it a little more to their liking and, before long, each car was different for the race and just about every driver wasn't really happy with the setups."

"We started noticing that the preferences of one driver in one car were a lot like the preferences of another driver over in the other (sister) car."

For the most part in sports car racing one accepts the premise of "compromise" when it comes to driving teams. The problem with a compromise is that it is just that.

Though two drivers might be demonstrable championship winners while driving individually or for different teams, they may well fail to perform equally well with each other while in the same car.

With data in hand after the New Jersey Motorsports Park race, the AXR brain trust had a sit down and made the decision to switch the drivers around.

"It was a team decision," Nelson confirmed. "It wasn't just one guys decision."

It had all boiled down to a difference in a driver's preferences behind the wheel and tweaking a formula that no longer could be inviolate.

"That's what we needed for the cure," Nelson said.

That "cure" may well have been found.

Later,

DC

SCOTT TUCKER

DETROIT (02June2012) – For what it's worth -- in case most everyone hasn't already, learned, discerned or been told -- the male human tends toward the lineal.

So, yes, Part IV of this writer's diatribe concerning "prototype" racing is in production but, first, let us depart from the rote and ponder something that hasn't much to do at all with "prototype" racing or, for that matter, racing at Belle Isle (besides, there are more than a few hours to go before Rolex Series competitors will be disposed of avoiding risk within the concrete canyons hereupon the isle). But this post is topical and at least is tangentially associated with racing and "prototypes."

Straight up: This motorsports writer doesn't much care to associate with Scott Tucker. Attributable to personal disquiet, it's not a business nor legal thing.

Mr. Tucker is a quiet, perhaps "shy" man who at times proves difficult if not impossible with whom to converse. Put only he and me in the same room at the same time and we'd probably both become psychopathic from a lack of human interaction.

From this perspective, and given sufficient failures to do otherwise, why try to overcome that to which another doesn't seem any more inclined than oneself?

Life has served many examples of those who are disposed of quiet demeanor and thought to be egocentric. Yet, as once noted by late American entrepreneur Bernard Baruch, one is far more likely to learn when listening than when talking, anyway.

One shouldn't, most probably won't think a lack of desire to associate with Tucker is exactly earthshaking news; Tucker apparently is well short of a paddock's popularity meter’s high end, anyway, if conversations with other paddock types prove accurate and which insist Tucker as one who likely thinks a certain Carly Simon "song is about" him.

Unless a Ken Swan, Christophe Bouchut, João Barbosa, Charisa Cobb or tens-of-other racetrack support personnel directly connected to or peripherally involved in Tucker's Level 5 Motorsports racing program, the driver/owner hasn't been winning many popularity contests over the last few years -- whether Ferrari Challenge, where he's a champion; or, SCCA, where he's also a champion; and, ALMS, where he's, yep, a champion, too.

Indeed, one can fairly say Tucker and championships seem often to be in the same time zone if not zip code -- hell, even on the same neighborhood block -- and that particular personal attribute itself often is enough to invoke others' considerable contempt.

"Well, he's bought those wins!" comes a rejoinder.

Um, and exactly who hasn't? Unless this observer's grossly overlooked a major point on the subject over his six decades of racing involvement, even a local bullring race team spends big money relative to its pursuit of fireplace mantle accoutrements -- even at the local racing level more money flows to parts vendors than a family often likely would wish to spend.

"Well then, he's spent ungodly sums of money doing it!"

You mean like that which Henry Ford II spent in the middle 1960's? Or Roger Penske? How about Chip Ganassi? Heck, wanna bet Audi doesn't spend more on wind tunnel time, alone, than Tucker's cumulative racing expenditures since 2006?

For what it's worth and largely because its topical: a certain block of politicians in very recent times have spent vast, mind-boggling sums of money, too -- the principal difference being Tucker actually has achieved that which was pursued.

No, one shouldn't see this as Ol' DC apologizing for Mr. Tucker; if nothing else but for the fact that Mr. Tucker likely doesn't need anyone but himself to do such, if at all.

"But Tucker's done wrong!"

Exactly what "wrong" might that be? At this point don't get nebulous and all; be specific. Be exact with the claims. If one is insufficiently educated as to the specific legal areas in question, then personal motives need to be examined.

"Well, 'the government' said he's done wrong!"

The Federal Trade Commission in April asked a federal judge to stop certain practices undertaken by a company, AMG Services, which is controlled by Tucker.

The FTC is also undertaking various actions, investigations and opposes practices by the likes of Google, the North Carolina General Assembly (legislature), Facebook and, give or take, hundreds of others at any given moment.

To say that Tucker is "guilty" merely because "the government says so" is to say the government is guiltless in anything and everything it has ever undertaken. Surely, no one reading this is that damn dumb and, if so, there exists more than sufficient case law to demonstrate government has all too often done what it shouldn't.

"Well, Tucker's making usurious loans!"

In the opinion of this writer, so too was the pawnshop which provided DC The Younger a loan on a handgun used as collateral on a fully amortized $70 loan.

At a time when DC The Younger was still earning his UHK (University of Hard Knocks) degree and at the time having had little more than a couple of nickels in his pocket, that $35 in cash he received was a badly needed gap loan.

Yes, DC The Younger, perhaps the beneficiary of a pawn shop owner's pity, needed to repay only twice that which he borrowed inside of 30 days to retrieve his precious handgun -- one that Ol' DC retains to this day, he adds.

Yes, the overall loan cost stung a might. Yes, it was an eye-opening, lesson-filled experience for DC The Younger. And, no, neither DC The Younger nor Ol' DC ever again turned to a pawn shop -- at least for a loan.

Nor has he turned to a "payday lender," such as Mr. Tucker's business is purported to practice with a bunch of Indians (who, in Ol' DC's humble opinion, aren't "indigenous" to the Americas when the Bering "land bridge" crossing is taken into account).

Those "Indians," who likely are financially benefitting as a result of Mr. Tucker's supposed business relationship, also are finally "getting" what has too long been due to them and, absent from participation therein, one which the government itself might be envious and, through its actions, now is seeking a piece. Such pursuit wouldn't be the first it has undertaken when first "in the cold."

Bottom line: Presently, Tucker has not been adjudicated of running afoul of any action that is deemed contrary to federal statute or regulation.

There are hundreds, if not thousands of people who depend on paychecks generated by Mr. Tucker's undertakings -- whether profession or avocation.

Whether George Zimmerman or Scott Tucker, finding someone "guilty" without benefit of a thorough examination of the particulars in a legal proceeding is entirely at odds with what so many of us hold and speak about so highly: The Constitution.

Does the lack of adjudication suggest anyone who knows or freely associates with Tucker shouldn't be cautious or, perhaps, even altogether review an ongoing association with Tucker? Of course not. But such prudence and vigilance should at all times prevail regardless of who, what or where, anyway.

The scariest part?

Uncle Sam's purse is far deeper than yours, mine or, even, Scott Tucker's.

Anyone who can attach himself to the public purse and who seeks to grind a personal axe for whatever purpose can be a very scary thing.

Later,

DC