FireHead Posted May 19, 2007 Report Share Posted May 19, 2007 I also heard that DEI is going with FORDS, Dale Jr. basically said "I ain't drivin no Ford" lmao.. Anyone here been to the DEI Building? Some sweet cars in the main lobby, and RCR has some sick cars as well, went last year and did that Petty experience in Charlotte, NC. But the ford thing made me laugh when i heard that, Jr's my boy! :biggrin: Chevy for Life Eric DEI may very well be going to Ford engines, though with the new R07 engine block designs, there will be very little difference between Ford and Chevy anymore. Mopar will still be doing their own thing, which has been to traditionally field the highest tech engine in the Cup series even though that may be up for debate these days. If you were to sample all of the Cup engines that are out there right now, the TRD engine is the highest tech engine out there. This is/was a major issue in allowing Toyota in to the Cup and Busch series, thus NASCAR granted the R07 engine block design to Ford and Chevy who were using a 30 year old engine block design. To the best of my knowledge, Mopar did not put their hat into the ring for the rule change as their engine is so different and their factory support is so minimal, that it just wouldn't make any difference for them politically or otherwise. What the DEI deal really boils down to is them securing an engine supplier. They have been using Hendrick engines since their engine shop fell apart a couple years ago. At the moment DEI's does not have an internal engine program and their ability to develop an engine is non-existant. On top of that, the Hendrick engines they get are never the best Hendrick has to offer as they are still a competitor of DEI no matter what their contract is with them. The Yates engines (who is the actual builder for Rousch) are a better deal for DEI at this point, though the spectator brand allegance and the politics that go with it may wind up killing that whole deal. If you were to put engine programs in a head to head shoot out your competitors would be Hendrick, Yates, and TRD. No one else is doing a much worth talking about otherwise. RCR will be the engine program to watch in the future if you follow such things. They have some of the best personel out there at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireHead Posted May 19, 2007 Report Share Posted May 19, 2007 Jr's crew chief was suspended 6 races and fined 100 grand for using the wrong brackets on the COT car's rear wing. Nascar hands these out on thursdays before inspection. The ALL-STAR challenge is Saturday night. 1 million bucks for first place. everyone else takes home nothing. Negotiation rumors. Last night Joe Gibs football plane pulled up to Jr's airplane hanger in North Carolina no one saw anybody, but why was that plane there??? Joe Gibbs does have room to field another car in the Nextel cup series, Tony Stewart and JR allready practice drafting together at the big tracks. Gibbs is anti-alchohol and doesn't want the Bud sponsor, JR doesn't want to give up the SPONSOR of sponsors. Here's a little something I was reading about DEI & Budweiser reactions to this whole thing: http://aolsvc.sports.aol.nascar.com/2007/n...dtjr/index.html With regard to the fine for the Dale's crew chief, that sort of thing happens all the time and it is usually a communication error that is the cause of it. However, some times it is someone massaging a rule and some times it is retardation that is the culprit. I doubt you will see Dale with Gibbs any time soon. As for the Gibbs plane showing up in Mooresville, I wouldn't let that give you many ideas. Several teams use each others airport facility setups and it is sort of a general courtesy thing. I think it's a part of the NASCAR good 'ol boy tradition. Whatever happens, you will see Dale's car with his traditional number, and Budweiser as a sponsor for years to come. No matter how well Dale is doing at the track, his madia value is almost unprecedented. You can't beat a young, seasoned, good looking, english speaking, somewhat educated guy to have as your racing poster boy. There just aren't that many of those out there these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireHead Posted May 19, 2007 Report Share Posted May 19, 2007 I would'nt doubt that alot of companies are biding for Jr to race for them, to get him in your camp would gurantee alot of $$$$ in marketing. You are correct, marketing, product placement, and corporate benefits are what drives NASCAR. If you are not in it for the advertising cash then you are in it from a car dealership side of things. That is where all the actual money is that you can take to the bank. I mean look at how many car dealerships Hendrick and Evernham own. This sort of thing is also where Toyota is stumbling as they aren't handing out dealerships to buy there way into the sport. They are trying to do it the old fashioned way with engineering and management excellence. While that works in many race series, that is not really what flies in NASCAR (the Truck series is kind of a different deal as there isn't as much money involved there and winning in the truck series still actually sells new cars the way NASCAR used to in the '60's). An illustration of the Toyota game plan is show cased by comparing the Bill Davis Truck program to the Waltrip Cup program. BDR is out there doing it without a ton of big names and they are killing everyone. Waltrip is out there spending money left and right on people, but at the end of the day, since they are the "big name" group that Toyota is using on the CUP front, it is pretty clear that Toyota was trying to go for the most economical solution for their CUP debut. I suppose I have a bias as I know who, what, when, where, and how much about everything Toyota has done in the past several years, but come on, the Waltrip organization sucked when they were allied with another manufacurer and there is no way Toyota was going to sort that out with engineering. The Waltrip drivers aren't so great, their image is not top shelf, their sponsors are not top shelf, and the team personel should be selling used cars instead of racing as they aren't worth much. In summary Toyota went to the dollar store to buy a race team and they got what they are paying for. The people in that camp that are on my turd list and the amount of ridiculous stories I have from dealing with them will probably boggle your mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClimbAnyHill Posted June 10, 2007 Report Share Posted June 10, 2007 Check out Dale Jr's new line of rims: http://www.americanracing.com/dej/index.asp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireHead Posted June 12, 2007 Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 Check out Dale Jr's new line of rims: http://www.americanracing.com/dej/index.asp I don't think I like any of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dajogejr Posted June 13, 2007 Report Share Posted June 13, 2007 I saw on the ESPN ticker at lunch Jr. is driving for Hendrick's next year... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClimbAnyHill Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 I don't think I like any of them. They're for cars n' trucks not banshee lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClimbAnyHill Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 I saw on the ESPN ticker at lunch Jr. is driving for Hendrick's next year... Yeah, he's on Gordon's team now. I think they booted Kyle Bush, maybe DEI will pick him up :shrug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireHead Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 Yeah, he's on Gordon's team now. I think they booted Kyle Bush, maybe DEI will pick him up :shrug: Is he driving for Hendrick or did he just make a deal to use their engines? I am not sure and I haven't talk to any of my buddy's this week. I suppose if it really got down to it we could just call Dale and see what I can shake out of him :geek: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dajogejr Posted June 15, 2007 Report Share Posted June 15, 2007 Is he driving for Hendrick or did he just make a deal to use their engines? I am not sure and I haven't talk to any of my buddy's this week. I suppose if it really got down to it we could just call Dale and see what I can shake out of him :geek: He's driving for Hendricks...and Kyle Bush is out... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireHead Posted July 5, 2007 Report Share Posted July 5, 2007 He's driving for Hendricks...and Kyle Bush is out... All these shenanigans may not be over yet. He may move again, but this information is from the same source that didn't give me real good information on this topic before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClimbAnyHill Posted July 6, 2007 Report Share Posted July 6, 2007 Is he driving for Hendrick or did he just make a deal to use their engines? I am not sure and I haven't talk to any of my buddy's this week. I suppose if it really got down to it we could just call Dale and see what I can shake out of him :geek: No shit??? I know you're all in the Nascar biz.. but can you really pick up the phone & call Dale?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireHead Posted July 6, 2007 Report Share Posted July 6, 2007 No shit??? I know you're all in the Nascar biz.. but can you really pick up the phone & call Dale?? Well, now I am a little removed from the NASCAR business, but racing of some sort is where most of my good friends are. It just happens that there are a bunch of boys my age that get locked in the track every night just like the track support engineers (we can leave if we really need to, but we were ususally working) (also, this is essentially what my job was on race days when I wasn't doing rotating assembly design when I first got out of school). The guys that are my age are the gargage/pit crew and the drivers. To try andcut a long story down................here goes: I grew up with Kasey Kahne. I have known him since he was about 12 years old and we aren't best friends, but good enough that we call each other on the phone just to talk (not many of othermy guy friends don't really do that. they would just assume show up at your place with beer than calling to give any notice they were coming over for example). So, since I knew Kasey that was sort of an in with his group of friends at the track, that and alot of the other drivers thought he was kind of pretty to be in the pits dealing with his own car. My ex also wound up being really could friends with Kasey's significant other. It's a little weird since my ex became my ex shortly before I bailed out of SoCal. Anyways, Dale, Tony, Kasey, and I would spend spare time doing stupid stuff in our little free time we had after everything would wind down for the night and the pit entrance would lock down. Possibly you saw the picture of me, in my straw cowboy hat and headset in the NASCAR Today newpaper thing in the week after Daytona this year. It was a few pages in, and it was basically a color photo of Tony, tripping me, Dale, pushing, and Kasey pointing and laughling as I went head over heals into a kiddy swimming pool. Rental car drag racing at Fontucky was always alot of fun as well..................that's what I miss about my old job, not much else. If you look at any pictures of the pits from any major racing function that my old company had even the slightest to do with in the past 5 years or so, you will probably see a guy in a white straw cowboy (if it was sunny) standing somewhere in or around the telemetry towers or pit row during race time. So, I gues that was a longer story than I care to reread, but the upshot is that there are several personalities in many motorsports that I am actually really good friends with. Dale, I know well enogh to screw around with. I could call him and ask him about alot of things, but at the time itwouldn't have appropriate to ask about what he was doing. My info on this deal came from the technical director at RCR. There are atleast a few people in the industry I never got along with, but most of them were in the drag racing business. There is alot more penis measuring that goes on in that sport. :biggrin: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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