It’s the Wednesday before the season officially kicks off at Daytona, and we’ve got a surprisingly light “Ask The Insiders Wednesday.”  I’m curious if you (the readers) think we should continue doing this post now that the season is starting back up.  If you want to give your two cents, the poll question below on the right is your chance.  On to the questions…

1. From Neon:

Two parter here: What made the two of you decide to start this blog? and speaking strictly from an “insiders” perspective, do you (Journo) often see the mainstream media interviews and write-ups as pure fluff and only “pc”.  Not really getting to the good stuff? Maybe only, made-4-TV? Not that you have the liberty to actually do interviews, while protecting your anonymity.

TC and I’s interest in starting the blog was mainly two things. First we wanted to have a venue for expressing our opinions, telling stories and every now and then rumors that we heard. Our goal was to do all this from a mostly unfiltered insider’s perspective. Second we saw a void in the marketplace for something like this. There are a ton of sites where you can get news and rehashed press releases, and of course if you want rumors you go to Jayski. Lacking though was a place where fans could a little inside view of what it is like to live and work in the world of NASCAR. Likewise there is not a place where fans can ask questions and get real life responses in a reasonable amount of time. We both hope we have been living up to that.

As far as your second question goes I would say a lot of the news that comes out of the sport is white washed. Unlike other sports the NASCAR press corps spends 36+ weekends a year in a very small bubble with these drivers, owners and team members and subsequently they form relationships and friendships. As a result I think there are many instances where journalists in the business straddle the line of ethics. I also think this is the main reason why you rarely see hard hitting or overly critical pieces coming out of any major news outlet in the business. Certainly the story lines come up, but no one wants to lose access which is a very real possibility. In instances where you have seen reporters going after things that are controversial they are criticized and accused of the bad kind of muckraking or creating sensationalist story lines. Being careful is a necessity in any type of journalism, but especially in this one. – Journo

2. From Kaoscapt:

Have you heard anything about 2009 and BAM Racing? I would think that with the car counts going down after Daytona that this would be a great opportunity for them to return.

Last year, after they shut down, they said they would try and return towards the end of 2008 and into 2009.  But from what I understand they let all of their employees go at that time and haven’t started back up since.  It’s really a matter of putting the money together to do it.  It’s too expensive to run these teams out of pocket, and without solid backing there is no point in even trying to come back.  Hopefully they are working to secure sponsorship and maybe we’ll see them in ’09.  But I wouldn’t hold my breath. – T.C.

3. From Ryan:

Nascar is now requiring the occasional use of “sealed” engines in the Truck series.  So just what exactly is a Sealed engine?

A sealed engine means that after a race, NASCAR will look over an engine and place a seal on certain engine parts.  The team is then not allowed to work on any part of the engine.  If those seals that NASCAR placed are broken, the engine is no longer deemed “sealed” by NASCAR. – T.C.

4. From windowlicker:

You were talking about changing tires in a puddle of fuel. I have seen some night races when cars or trucks are leaving their pit stalls & you can see sparks behind the rear tires. An announcer said the sparks were from driving over the lugs.  I would think these sparks & leaked gas combination would mean trouble. I can also imagine lugs run over while the rear tires are spinning would fly out like bullets but you never hear of people getting hit by flying lugs or see too many fires in the pits. Why is this?

You don’t see a lot of fires because most gas guys in the three NASCAR series are pretty good and don’t often spill a lot of gas.  And when a little gas is spilled, it evaporates very quickly.  You will see an occasional fire though.  In terms of lugnuts flying off spinning wheels, they certainly do hit people.  The catch can guys usually get it the worst because they are in the line of fire, but I have been hit before.  If you get hit in the right places, it can definitely get your attention. – T.C.

A couple of years ago, at Nashville I believe, during a truck race, one of the teams spilled a lot of fuel during a pit stop. As the truck left, a sparking lug nut caught that fuel and either the catch can guy or gas man on fire. He jumped over the wall which is not usually a good idea because of the flammable materials on the other side. Someone was able to quickly put the fire on pit road and on the crew guy out and he was ok. It is not too common, but like TC said, it does happen. – Journo

And that brings yet another “Ask The Insiders Wednesday” to a close.  Thanks to everyone who sent in questions.  And remember, if you’d like to be a part of next week, click on the ”Ask the Insiders” tab at the top of the page and send your question in!

No related posts.