So, our long national racing nightmare is over, and NASCAR and IndyCar got back to racing. Long-time listeners to the show know I have an affinity for Watkins Glen International, so I was happy to see NASCAR back in action, all three top series, running there…still wish they would use “The Boot” to run the complete race course, but that’s another story.

Then there’s IndyCar in Nashville. They used a very scenic street course path, which went over the Korean Veteran’s Memorial Bridge, and Cumberland River, with the nice scenery of downtown and Broadway in many of the camera shots that NBC used in their coverage of the event.

There was the situation of trying to get the race going. The first ten laps were marred by over half of them being under caution.  The driver who actually led the most laps of the event was not the winner, Marcus Ericsson, but the pacecar driver, former IndyCar driver Oriol Servia, who made sure to use the C8 Corvette Stingray for all it was worth.

This is not a massive problem, as the racing was quite good, Colton Herta was the class of the field until he locked up his brakes with five laps to go and hit a tire barrier, and then the wall, ending his bid for the win. Good to see Ericsson getting his second win this year, the first coming in Detroit, and besting his six-time champion teammate Scott Dixon to do it.

But, for next year, and for the “Big Machine Music City Grand Prix” I certainly hope there is a next year, the course, while overall good, needs to be widened a bit as it goes over by Nissan Stadium, home of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans. It was just too tight through that section. Not much can be done at the other end of the bridge, unless they lengthened the course, which might not be an all-together horrible idea either, by only a block or so, should do it.

Nashville, other than stringing SMI along when it comes to the historic Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, is doing a fine job of becoming a racing hub, so, tweak the course just a bit to create a better race circuit, and you’ve got a winner.

Along with that and Dover Motorsports un-mothballing Nashville Superspeedway, and things in the capitol of the Volunteer State will rival that of any state in the country.

If they’re only reading this.

If you have listened to our show for any length of time, you have come to know the three of us, John Myers, dedicated producer of the show and overseer of the site you’re currently on. Matt Nicholson, the show’s “resident driver”, who brings the behind the wheel perspective. Then there is me. For those new to the show, and/or me, I have been in the radio business in some way, shape, or form, since 1985, when I was a senior at the now defunct W.A. Berry High School in Hoover, Alabama.

That year I was an intern for what is now WJOX, or the sports station, JOX 94.5…back in 1985/1986 it was a hit-making radio station playing the likes of Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Ratt, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Journey and much more. I was honored to be an intern there, as it stoked what had been a candle of an idea to get into broadcasting, into a raging blaze that has not been abated at all despite some really bad owners, general managers and/or program directors that I have met and worked for over that time.

But one thing keeps coming back to me when it comes to the business, and this is where the Kyle Larson lesson comes in. My first paying gig, an intern was not a paying position for me back then, I was doing it to learn and get school credit, was at a station in the small town of Arab, Alabama. One night, while doing the 7pm to Midnight shift, I thought I was all alone in the building. 

I had not heard the afternoon driver jock re-enter the building, make his way quietly, to me, down the hall, and poke his head into the studio, with door open, and catch me off guard. I was so caught off guard that I yelled back, “What the (edited) do you want?!?!” He laughed and went about his business.

It was then that I looked at the control board and realized that I had not turned the microphone off from my last time talking on-air. While likely muffled by the song being played on the air at the time I yelled, it no doubt went over the airways, and some eagle-eared listeners no doubt heard what I had yelled. Luckily one of them was not the PD/GM/Owner, and I was not fired.

However, that taught me two things, be aware of what is going on around you at all times while in the station, and secondly, and more importantly, act as though the microphone is always on, even if you know you just cut it off. That lesson is especially prudent in this day and age when every Tom, Dick and Harriett with a cell phone is seeking to make the next “viral video”…always suspect someone is watching and has a camera and/or microphone on you.

Kyle Larson had not learned that lesson as of Sunday night, but I can guarantee you he has now after using “the n-word”, over iRacing communications. The ramifications came swiftly, as Chip Ganassi Racing, then NASCAR, then iRacing all suspended him. McDonald’s, Credit One Back and more sponsors terminated their deals with him, Chevrolet suspended, and then ended their personal services contract with him, leading Chip Ganassi Racing on Tuesday to fire Larson, who was going to be a free agent after this year anyway, to fire him effective immediately. 

Larson will recover, slowly, and with a lot of work rehabbing his image, and I believe he will return to Cup Series racing, likely in 2021. I don’t know with what team, but, pending what he does through the remainder of 2020, he may, once he goes through NASCAR-mandated sensitivity training, and is reinstated, get lucky and sign with a Hendrick Motorsports, or with his Chevy deal terminated, potentially a Stewart-Haas Racing, as Tony Stewart has said he really likes Larson’s driving style. Or he may go the route of Kurt Busch, who dropped to a then almost unheard of Furniture Row Racing when he not only burned, but nuked the bridge that was his relationship with Roush Fenway Racing. It humbled “The Outlaw”, who rehabbed his image, helping him join SHR, and interestingly enough, is now with Chip Ganassi Racing.

So, Kyle Larson, this is your teachable moment. Take the lessons from Kurt Busch and myself, rehab your image, get yourself back into NASCAR’s good graces, and get back to driving, what you do best…but also remember, always suspect that a microphone and/or a camera is on you at all times.

A lesson not just for me, but Kyle Larson, Kurt Busch…and you, the reader. Learn it well.

NASCAR has had its ebbs and flows, big times with big audiences and money rolling in, and times like now, where NASCAR is trying to figure out how to stem the downward trend in viewers on TV and in many cases, at the track.

Two tracks have really shown this downward trend in the people attending, Bristol and Indianapolis. If you watch “Hot August Nights”, what they used to call it at Bristol, that was a ticket that was much like getting season tickets to the Green Bay Packers, you had to go on a waiting list, at times three or more years long.

When NASCAR and Indianapolis Motor Speedway came to terms on bringing the top motorsports series in America to, arguably, the most famous race track in the world, for 1994, there was such a buzz about it. The top auto racing series coming to the legendary Indy! I was part of that, I watched as these big, lumbering stock cars worked their way around a course where only IndyCar had dared tread before.

Before you argue that Formula 1 did, remember, they raced on the road course, not the 2.5 mile long rectangle that makes up the “Indy 500” and “Brickyard 400”.  Also, NASCAR arrived before Formula 1, which ran for a few years that ended in 2007.

Jeff Gordon won that first race and NASCAR, even before that time, had been seeing their fortunes on the rise, television numbers were up, people were lining up for tickets (remember what I said about the Bristol night race) and tracks began expanding their seating, Bristol up to 160,000, Talladega up to 125,000 and that is just the grandstands.

Well, at Indy, 400,000 stuffed themselves in for the “Indy 500”, but, those numbers include temporary seats. Those seats were not put in for NASCAR, for reasons understood within the racing world as Indianapolis Motor Speedway understands that IndyCar (or whatever name they’ve used in the past) is their bread and butter, and these old moonshiners in “taxi cab” racers aren’t going to put more butts in the stands than our series. OK, that’s fine.

The furor continued as, the next year, Dale Earnhardt wins, and then the other big names claim “Brickyard 400” titles, up to and including home-town/home-state guy Tony Stewart winning two of those races.

Since about 2010 however, the numbers are dying off, and if you watched Sunday, September 8, 2019 and the most recent version of “The Brickyard 400”, you saw a lot of empty seats. Well, Indianapolis has problems, first and foremost being sight lines, but that is true of any series racing on the 2.5 mile rectangle, not just NASCAR.

Even if you sit in say, turn one, you can see the cars coming off turn 4, down the front straight, across the start-finish line, through turn 1 and into turn 2, but, you cannot see the backstretch or turn three. Major problem? Not really, but it is a problem that people talk about.

Also, Indy, being a rectangle, means you have two long straightaways with two short-chutes to combine them. With the holes the Cup cars punch into the air, if you’re out front, you can cruise, but if you’re behind, you are experiencing massive “dirty air” and passing becomes something of a premium, and if NASCAR is known for anything, it is passing.

So, without the passing, what is one to do? Well, the call has been coming for a couple of years now that we need to get out of Indianapolis, and that call seems to be getting louder each year.

I, for one, disagree. While IndyCar and the NHRA are on the rebound, in viewers on television and people at the races, NASCAR still leads the US in motorsports viewers, in both TV and at the race dynamics. Indianapolis is still, with respect to Daytona, the premiere race course in the United States, and the two belong together.

So, what to do? Well, NASCAR is slowing beginning to understand it, and have stated the desire to ensure that the upcoming Generation 7 stock car at least looks a bit more like the car you would buy at your local Chevy, Ford or Toyota dealership. That’s a start.

However, there is no real compelling rivalry, and that may be a bigger problem. When NASCAR first came to the Brickyard, we were coming off a DW vs. Dale rivalry and moving into the Gordon vs. Earnhardt rivalry. Before DW vs. Dale it was DW vs. Bobby Allison, Bobby Allison vs. Richard Petty and the most noted Petty vs. Pearson rivalries to look at and choose sides.

Now, we have the one we can root against…anytime Kyle Busch is announced in pre-race ceremonies, he is roundly booed, at least as lustily as Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and/or any other “black hat” personality in NASCAR had ever been.

But there isn’t that one we all want to root for. We like Chase Elliott, but to create a rivalry in auto sports, or any sport for that matter, when the one we all root against wins, the one we want to root for must win too, and Chase has not answered Kyle punch-for-punch yet. That is what NASCAR needs, not to leave Indy, but to have that driver we all root against, but more importantly the one we all root for.

Do not leave Indy…develop that driver that becomes the answer to Kyle Busch. Kyle Busch, like him or not, is good for NASCAR, but we don’t have his opposite, and that is what is hurting NASCAR, not Indianapolis.

I’ve been thinking about this for a while now, and if you listened to the show this morning (August 3, 2019), you heard a bit of what has gone right with F1 in the States to this point.

But, let’s refresh your memory, or fill you in if you missed the show.

Formula 1 is on the most available cable sports network out there, the ESPN family, with their parent network, ABC, willing to air three of those races, something NBC didn’t do when they had the rights to Formula 1 the past few years, leaving all of them on the NBC Sports Network. 

So, that’s a good plus, on top of two other factors. Prior to the move to ESPN/ABC, the first American-owned team came into the series, 2016 was their first season actually running, and, up until this season, had actually improved their points scoring each season.

Just before that Formula 1 got a proper Formula 1 race course, Circuit of the Americas, near Austin, Texas. Before that they had to race on a not quite ready for prime-time Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in the middle of the famed rectangle, and prior to that trying street courses in places like Detroit, and for a while a nice run at Long Beach, pioneering the course IndyCar runs on now, and they even ran at Watkins Glen for a few years.

So, Formula 1 has almost everything they need to gain a sincere foothold in the US, a proper F1 course, an American-based F1 team and a proper television outlet for fans in the United States to see the races.

What’s missing you ask? An American-born driver to root for. For the record, there are some American-born drivers that are attempting to climb the ladder through the Formula 1 feeder series ladder, but none of them are quite ready yet.

Since Haas F1 is having a down year, and looks to be in need of a sincere change at a lot of levels, now might be the time to bring on a American driver.

So, who to go after you ask? Well, Alexander Rossi would have been an obvious choice, but he just re-upped with Andretti Autosport, so that’s out.

Josef Newgarden would be my next choice. The Tennessee-born driver already has one IndyCar title under his belt, and as of this posting, is in prime position to gain title number 2, with Alexander Rossi the main hot on his heels at the top of the standings. 

Newgarden currently drives for Team Penske, and I’m sure “The Captain” doesn’t want to see a driver who is a major title contender walk away, but, Formula 1 is something that Newgarden has said does interest him. As for his contract status, when he signed on with Team Penske, the terms of the deal were not released, so it is not truly known how much longer he has left.

But, if Haas F1 wants to make a splash in the United States, I would be calling Newgarden’s agent and finding out as much information about that contract as I could. If you saw the fan turnout at Circuit of the Americas in 2018, or watched the Netflix “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” series, you saw that there is a big Haas F1 fan-base that turns out at COTA each year, and they would love to root for an American driver, on the American team, at the American track. 

That’s the splash Formula 1 needs, and Haas F1 should want, and should go for.

If you’re like us here on the show, and if you’re reading this blog post, I know you are like Matt, John and myself, you’re getting prepared for the best day of racing. There’s no doubt in my mind that Sunday of Memorial Day weekend is the best day in racing, beginning with Formula 1 running the crown jewel race that is the Monaco Grand Prix, then to the US with one of the crown jewel races in all of racing, not just IndyCar, the “Indy 500”, and then in the evening, NASCAR’s Cup Series “Coca-Cola 600”.

However, don’t forget that NASCAR has the Xfinity Series at Charlotte on Saturday, a day that begins with Formula E running in Berlin. Let’s not forget the NHRA, which will run on Memorial Day itself, the “Route 66 Nationals” in near Chicago, Illinois. There are other great weekends of racing, where you get a lot of good races in, but this weekend marks the biggest weekend of them all, considering that of the series we cover on a regular basis, only the Gander Outdoors Truck Series won’t be in action.

I’ll be going to church in the morning, which means I’ll miss Monaco live, but, I’ll be back home in time for the Indy 500, the replay of Monaco which ABC will air between Indy and then the live action of the “Coca-Cola 600”, and I’m sure you’ll be doing a lot of that too, if you’re anything like us on the show…deja vu right? If it isn’t, re-read the first line of this blog entry.

So, as we have mentioned on the show a number of times since the “Talladega Transformation” project was first announced that 2019 is the fiftieth anniversary of the first-ever race at NASCAR’s longest and fastest track. That is certainly worth celebrating, and will be, both in the spring and in the fall. However, a bit less known was that, just this past weekend, we celebrated ten years of IndyCar Racing in Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park. That is equally as laudable, especially considering that, other than Florida, IndyCar has little to no other presence in the southeastern part of the United States.

When the race was first proposed at Barber, many people scoffed, claiming that Alabama is in the heart of NASCAR country, and would not be acceptable to race fans who prefer, some said, to wear cut-off tees, jean shorts and who have, some said, questionable tastes in food and drink. While at its peak Talladega could, and still can, fit about 250,000 people in the stands and in the infield, the people showing up at Barber have been reliably estimated to be at least 100,000. Remember that Barber is a road course, so there is really no place any race fan can sit that shows them the entirety of the 2-plus mile-long course, but for a decade, people in Alabama and surrounding states have come out in droves to see the IndyCar drivers compete.

Then there are the IndyCar drivers themselves, who, to a driver have applauded the Barber family for the wonderful facility they’ve built just east of downtown Birmingham, and have been more than complimentary of those who come out, year over year, and pack the hill-sides and grassy areas around the track to see the action each April.

I was happy when I first heard IndyCar was coming to Alabama, went to the first race, and have been to many of the ten events since, and it just keeps getting better and better in my mind. The drivers love it, the fans seem to as well, and for those who questioned IndyCar coming to “the heart of NASCAR country”, it has been proven the two series can co-exist.

Now, if only NASCAR and IndyCar would get together on the scheduling, and allow Barber and Talladega to run on back-to-back weekends again, bringing back “Alabama Speedweeks”.