April 27, 2009
- Fans injured in Edwards wreck UPDATE: Seven spectators suffered injuries at the end of the Aaron’s 499 Sunday when the #99 Ford of Carl Edwards went airborne and slammed into the catchfence on the frontstretch. “None of the injuries are dangerous or life-threatening,” said Dr. Bobby Lewis, medical director at Talladega Superspeedway. “It’s mostly bumps and bruises with possible minor fractures.” Two women were airlifted to an area hospital, but Lewis said that was for traffic concerns and not because of the severity of their injuries. “One has a lacerated lip and possible broken jaw,” Lewis said. “The other person was not injured, but has unrelated medical problems.” When the car hit the catchfence, pieces exploded off the car as catch fencing bent back severely, but did not break. “I’m not sure if it was pieces of car or pieces of debris from the fence that hurt the spectators,” Lewis said.(ESPN)(4-26-2009)
UPDATE on fan: A woman who was injured during a wreck at Talladega Superspeedway is listed in fair condition at UAB Hospital. Another woman who was taken to Brookwood Hospital in Birmingham for treatment of a medical condition after the wreck was discharged Sunday night. Her name was not released. A spokesman for UAB Hospital said the fan still being treated, Blake Bobbitt, was in fair condition Monday afternoon. Seven fans sustained minor injuries caused by flying debris Sunday when Carl Edwards’ car went into the safety fence on the final lap of the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. The other injured fans received treatment at the track and did not have to go to a hospital.(ESPN/AP)(4-27-2009) - Talladega Catch-fence to be evaulated: Talladega Superspeedway officials will evaluate to see if the catch-fence system involved on the spectacular last-lap crash in Sunday’s Sprint Cup race needs to be heightened, track president Rick Humphrey said Monday. #99-Carl Edwards’ car went airborne into the fence after a nudge by winner Brad Keselowski coming off Turn 4, leaving seven people with non-life threatening injuries. Two women were airlifted to area hospitals. One was released on Sunday night and another remained hospitalized on Monday in “fair condition” with a possible fractured jaw. Humphrey said the poles and cables, while bent, did not appear to come unattached. That left him to speculate that those injured were struck by pieces from Edwards’ car. Humphrey said the track will evaluate whether the height of the catch fence needs to be adjusted to prevent debris from reaching the stands. The Talladega fence was approximately 14 feet from the ground to the top. The distance from the track to the top of the fence at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte is 21 feet. LMS went from a catch-fence system that was 15 feet tall with three feet of hangover to 21 feet with six feet of hangover after parts of an IRL car went into stands during a 1999 race. Three were killed and eight injured in that incident. “We certainly will look at that and see if any of that needs to change and if it would have made any difference [Sunday] … what would have happened had the fence been higher,” Humphrey said. Humphrey said the fence is in the process of being reconstructed in time for a weekend driving school. He said no decisions will be made on whether the system needs to be adjusted until officials have looked at it from all perspectives. “The system in place did its job,” Humphrey said. “It is designed to put the race car back on the track and it certainly did. But we’ll certainly continue to look at videos and all that we have to see if there is anything else that needs to be done.” That includes looking to see if fans need to be moved further from the racing surface. “We’ll look at everything to see what we can do to prevent this,” Humphrey said. “Let me just say how fortunate we feel and how blessed we are that nobody was really hurt seriously.” Humphrey understands there are concerns about safety concerns in general at Talladega. He has read comments from drivers and media members, some suggesting the track should be blown up and rebuilt from scratch. “Racing is a dangerous sport in general,” he said. “Certainly, Talladega has created some very exciting racing and exciting finishes and along the way there have been some incidents that people have been rather outspoken about. “We’ve had several caution-free races here, too. The racing here is unique. I don’t think anything drastic needs to happen,” he said. Humphrey said NASCAR officials, who plan to address the finish later in the day, appeared satisfied that the system in place worked. “We’ll continue to have discussions to see what, if anything, needs to be done,” Humphrey said. “The answer is not to blow the place up and start over.”(ESPN)(4-27-2009)
- Talladega Overnight TV Ratings down: NASCAR on Fox earned a 4.5/11 Sunday for racing from Talladega, FOX’s best NASCAR overnight in seven weeks but also -13% lower than last year’s 5.2/11 for the same race. In the overnights the Talladega race tied with ABC’s Cavaliers-Pistons game as the highest-rated event of the weekend. The race rated a 4.1/10 at green flag, which is just -7% off last year’s initial tune-in (4.4/10). Yesterday’s exciting race peaked at a 5.8/13 at 5:30. That’s -11% lower than last year’s peak of a 6.5/14. Season-to-date, NASCAR’s 4.9/10 average in the metered markets trails last year’s 5.7/11 by -14%.(4-27-2009), see race-by-race chart and more on my 2009 TV Ratings page.
- Bye-Bye Pontiac? UPDATE gone: General Motors Corp., surviving on $15.4 billion in federal loans, is expected to announce Monday that it will kill the Pontiac brand but keep GMC as part of a tougher restructuring plan being overseen by the government, sources familiar with the automaker’s plan said Friday. GM has started reaching out to Pontiac dealers ahead of a public announcement about the brand’s future, when the automaker likely will also outline permanent plant closures, more job cuts and a tougher offer to bondholders to slash the automaker’s $28 billion in unsecured debt.(Detroit News)
BUT: As General Motors Corp. races to come up with another turnaround plan, there has been growing speculation that the Detroit automaker will drop its Pontiac brand. The company tried to pat down those reports Friday with a statement saying it has not yet announced any changes to its long-term viability plan. “GM is continuing to review its restructuring plan to go further and faster and best ensure its future success,” the company said in a statement. “Additional information will be released as any decisions are finalized.”(Detorit Free Press)(4-25-2009)
UPDATE – gone: General Motors Corp. will cut an additional 7,000 to 8,000 factory jobs in the United States, kill the Pontiac brand and shed 2,600 dealers by 2010 under a revised business plan developed with the Obama administration and announced today. GM Chief Executive Officer Fritz Henderson said the Pontiac brand would be closed by 2010, calling it an “extremely personal decision.” In addition to speeding up decisions on Saturn, Saab and Hummer, GM will be left with four brands – Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac.(Detroit Free Press)(4-27-2009), Pontiac ran in many Sprint Cup races, winning 155 races before leaving the sport after the 2003 season. See past news on my Pontiac News Page. - Rookie’s run well at Talladega: #82-Scott Speed scored a fifth-place finish in the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway, his best finish in 13 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts. #20-Joey Logano grabbed a ninth-place finish, his best effort in 12 Sprint Cup Series starts and his first top-10. #13-Max Papis was credited with an 18th-place finish, his best in five Sprint Cup Series starts and first ever lead lap finish. All three Raybestos Rookies scored their best career Sprint Cup Series finish in today’s race at Talladega: Speed, Logano and Max Papis. Logano claimed a ninth-place finish while Papis was credited with 18th-place. All three drivers finished on the lead lap. Speed grabbed Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors for the third time this season. Logano leads Speed by eight points (98-90) in the Raybestos Rookie standings. Speed became the first Raybestos Rookie to score a top-five finish since David Ragan placed third in the 2007 Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway, a span of 54 races. Speed became the first Raybestos Rookie to score a top-five finish in the spring race at Talladega since Kurt Busch placed third in 2001. Speed and Logano became the first pair of Raybestos Rookie to finish in the top-10 in the spring race at Talladega since 1980 [Lake Speed (no relation) and Jody Ridley](Camp and Assoc PR)(4-27-2009)
- Did Not Finish Streak and stats: #33-Bowyer has been running at the finish in 82 consecutive races [the team fixed the car after the wreck at Talladega and Bowyer finished the race], the longest current streak and the new modern era record [he was tied with #29-Harvick at 81], next up is #78-Regan Smith at 46 [but has not run all the races]. The all-time record for the longest streak of NOT having an DNF is 84 races held by Herman Beam from April 30, 1961 thru March 10, 1963 [Beam didn’t run all the races, but didn’t DNF in 84 straight consecutive races that he ran]. Kevin Harvick holds the modern era (1972-present) record at 81 [he also has the 3rd longest at 58], then Jeff Gordon at 56 and Dale Earnhardt at 53 [Indy in 1996 thru Martinsville in the spring of 1998.(4-27-2009)
- #47 crew member returns after suspension: The crew member who chased a tire across pit road has returned from a four-race suspension and is in the pits at Talladega Superspeedway. Jimmy Watts returned on Sunday as the gas man on #47-Marcos Ambrose’s crew. He is still on probation through the end of the year. Watts chased a rolling tire across pit road and into the infield grass when it got away from Ambrose’s stall at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He put on his apron required of all gas men and went to work shortly before the green flag dropped at Talladega. NASCAR had suspended Watts under a rule that prohibits crew members from going onto the racetrack while cars are racing or while cars are running under yellow or red flags.(Associated Press)(4-27-2009)
- Quickest wins by a driver: When #09-Brad Keselowski won the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway, it was in his 5th career start. Jamie McMurray holds the modern era record for fastest to win when he won in his second start at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Oct 2002, and John Rostek won in his 2nd career start in April 1960 at Arizona State Fairgrounds. Kevin Harvick won in his third start, when he won at Atlanta in March 2001 as did Dan Gurney in 1963. Three drivers won in their first start: Johnny Rutherford won a Daytona Qualifying race in his first start back in 1963, back then the Qualifier races counted as wins and the championship and points. Jack White won in his first start in 1949, the 5th race of the season and of course Jim Roper won in his first start, the first race ever held by NASCAR in 1949.(4-27-2009)
- KHI will host Walter Reed patients at Richmond: Kevin Harvick Inc.’s business-to-business partner initiative comes full circle as Rheem Manufacturing and Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) team up to co-host a hospitality event Friday night at Richmond International Raceway to entertain clientele from Rheem and 100 wounded soldiers recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. The hospitality event is also made possible by donations from Longhorn smokeless tobacco and Nationwide Insurance. These organizations have provided everything from items for gift bags to monetary donations to help with transportation and food.(KHI PR)(4-27-2009)
- Nationwide Series Racing Under the Lights at Richmond : The NASCAR Nationwide Series was born on short tracks racing at night, and the series returns to its roots for the Lipton Tea 250 at Richmond International Raceway on Friday night, May 1, at 7 p.m. ET. ESPN2 will have a live, high definition telecast of the 250-lap race on the 0.750-mile track beginning with NASCAR Countdown. ESPN2 is the home of the NASCAR Nationwide Series all season, with selected races on ESPN and ABC. The race re-airs Saturday, May 2, at 11 a.m. on ESPN Classic.
Dr. Jerry Punch will be the lap-by-lap announcer for ESPN’s coverage from Richmond, joined in the booth for analysis by Rusty Wallace and Andy Petree. Dave Burns, Jamie Little and Shannon Spake will report from the pits, while Tim Brewer will be in the ESPN Craftsman Tech Garage.
Allen Bestwick will host the pre-race NASCAR Countdown program with analysis by Wallace and Brad Daugherty in the ESPN pit studio.(ESPN PR)(4-27-2009)
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