My Two Cents Worth for 8/06/04
By Todd Berger, LGR Staff Correspondent
Since I’m already a couple of days late with this, let’s skip the blather and get right to this week’s issues.
Was it just me, or were any of you actually disappointed that Kurt and / or Kasey DIDN’T wreck Tony? And, to that end, were any of you mad when Kasey got damaged in that deal? He went on to finish 3rd for the race, but still…
I thought Bobby Labonte was very classy after he was wrecked (although inadvertently) by a very loose Brian Vickers. By the way, do you think Brian went down and reached into Bobby’s car, yelled at him, and then struck him while he was still strapped into the car? No? Me neither. I bet Brian made a point of apologizing to Bobby before he did anything else after that race.
I am not a big Jimmie Johnson fan, but I am much less of a fan of the Chase for the Championship or the Chase for the Chase, or whatever NBC is pimping every five minutes now. Jimmie Johnson is having the kind of year that Kenseth had last year, and the fact that he is 232 points ahead of second and 620 ahead of tenth is a testament to his driving, the team’s efforts, and everything falling into place at the right time.
My hope right now is that between now and race 26, Jimmie win a couple more races and have a lead of about 500 over second and 1,000 over tenth. After that, I’m torn. On one hand, I want him to win the title going away so he isn’t penalized by this idiotic Chase.
On the other hand, I hope Johnson gets taken out in a race or two by Brendan Gaughan and Newman somehow wins the title, which he would never been able to do since he’s almost 600 points out at this point in the season. Then maybe someone will say “this Chase thingy just doesn’t smell right.”
Another thing about NBC’s coverage here. They keep shoving down our throats the fact that 8th thru 15th place (and their sponsors) are actually getting more coverage under this new system instead of less, as some people had predicted.
Fine. But wait until race 27, and you won’t be able to find the car 11th in points with a laser pointer and a GPS device. Literally. 11th and back will only make the broadcast if they win or if they wreck a C4C contender. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Well, while there are a lot of other things we could talk about this week, I think we should focus on what is obviously the biggest story of the week, and that is the ridiculousness that is this Powerade – Gatorade stuff.
For those of you that live under a rock or have just stumbled on NASCAR in the last two weeks, here’s the deal.
NASCAR sold sponsorship of their victory lane to Gatorade (a Pepsi product) at ISC tracks. Other tracks have a deal with Powerade (a Coke product). Powerade is also the “official sports drink of NASCAR,” as Coke is also the official soft drink / cola of NASCAR.
Add to that the fact that many or most drivers have their own personal contracts for a soft drink or a sports drink or a team affiliation with some beverage.
Now, in recent weeks and months, drivers have taken it upon themselves to subtly (Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon or Matt Kenseth) or not so subtly (Tony Stewart) remove the offending drink / beverage from the roof of their racecar when exiting the car in victory lane, and I totally agree with this.
NASCAR and Mike Helton then came forward and told the drivers to “be respectful” of those sponsors, be they race sponsors or victory lane sponsors or whatever.
So Sunday afternoon, Jimmie Johnson, a Pepsi driver with an individual contract with Gatorade (see the Johnson – Mark Martin driver’s ed commercial), pulls into NASCAR’s Gatorade Victory Lane, and climbs out to see Powerade bottles all over the top of his car. So what does he do?
He gets out, moves far away from the car, forcing TV cameras away from his car and the offending materiel. Then, after a little high-fiving, he goes back to his “people,” gets a Lowe’s standup, and places it on top of his car in front of the Powerade labels.
He didn’t knock anything off the car. He was “respectful” of the Powerade stuff. He simply created a way to make everyone happy and show some class. And how did NASCAR react to this?
They fined Jimmie Johnson ten grand. For honoring his sponsor and not theirs (except they are partly NASCAR’s sponsor as well), he was fined. Johnson tried to get some screen time for his sponsor and Gatorade (who is also someone that pays NASCAR to be their official something for about half the race season) and NASCAR fined him.
Confused yet? Angry yet? I am both.
NASCAR has never made their money grubbing a secret. They were smart to work the tobacco advertising issue to their advantage to grow the sport thru the 70’s, 80, and 90’s.
But recently, the leadership (new asylum-running inmate) Brian France has made less solid decisions. He told Roush racing that Crown Royal could not sponsor the 99 car since associations with hard liquor companies made the sanctioning body uncomfortable. Then, when the Cup series showed up at Daytona for July’s Pepsi 400 (owner of Gatorade), they found the track had banners from Crown Royal and heard that Crown Royal was now a track sponsor for Daytona. We also found that Crown Royal was allowed to sponsor the IROC series, which is run in conjunction with NASCAR Cup races.
What? I thought they had a problem with hard liquor? Well, it seems that their only problem with hard liquor sponsorships is when someone else snatches one away from them.
Now, with the season winding down to the C4C and sponsors more desperate than ever to make sure that they get their camera time, drivers are in the uncomfortable position of doing things that will get them fined, and possibly worse depending upon the offender and the situation. What should they do?
My answer is simple. Johnson won over a quarter of a million in purse money Sunday. Ten grand is chump change and I am sure was gladly paid by Gatorade. If I’m him, I do the same thing next time, or else I just stay in the car so the networks have no choice but to stay close in and avoid the car top sponsors.
But what if NASCAR stiffens the penalties? I shudder when I ask this because it’s so completely absurd, but what if they started penalizing drivers points for victory lane sponsor infractions? Mark Martin lost the 1990 title by 26 points to Dale Earnhardt after Martin received a 46-point penalty late in the season, and 15 years later that is still talked about by fans, drivers, and owners.
Imagine this scenario. Thanks to the ridiculous C4C, Johnson’s previously insurmountable 500+ point lead was gone, and the 48 team struggled a bit in a couple of races. With two to go, he wins the Darlington race to take a 5-point lead in the Championship chase. However, after winning the Mountain Dew Southern 500, he climbed from the car and slipped a Lowe’s apron around or put a slip-on Gatorade cover over the Powerade bottles. NASCAR says “sorry Jimmie…that’s no good” and fines him, say, 50 grand and 46 points. Then, in the last race, he finishes 10 spots behind the guy second place in points and loses the title.
Or better yet, say Jeff Gordon wins Darlington, does the same thing I mentioned above, and gets a 5-point penalty for it. The next week, Johnson wins the Ford 400 at Homestead, wins the title by 1 point and knocks the Ford thingy off the top of his car and replaces it with a big bowtie. To be consistent, NASCAR has to hit Johnson for 5 points too, and now, thanks to their greed and shortsightedness, NASCAR is in the position of having to penalize someone and take their title away because of the sanctioning body’s greed.
Ludicrous? Absolutely. Absurd? Of course it is. And quite possibly life threatening to some or all of the fans in the stands due to the riots that would follow. This could happen, and if it does, you may need the National Guard.
But this is what NASCAR wanted…right?
Article copyright Todd Berger 2004 and the sole property and opinion of Todd Berger. Published by Lets-Go-Racing.com with permission. Contact Todd at nascarnews@charter.net.