July 20th, 2009 
T.C. Recently here at TNI, you’ve seen us profile a few young drivers and some driver development programs. It seems that because of some of the topics dominating the current headlines that the young, upstart drivers often have their stories pushed to the back burner. And it’s these younger guys that need the exposure as they are suffering the most because of the economic downturn. Sponsorship dollars are becoming increasingly tougher to come by for all teams, but it’s especially bad for unproven and untested drivers.
After the 2008 season, many opportunities for young drivers went away. Nationwide and Truck seats either dissolved or were taken up by Cup drivers and the few funded drivers that were looking. That left many unfunded guys wondering what the future held.
This season, guys have employed varying strategies to try and remain sharp and keep their names floating around in hopes that when the economy does turn around, that owners remember who they are and know where to find them.
Some drivers have taken the opportunity to return to their roots and add to their resumes. Hendrick Motorsports driver Landon Cassill can be found most weekends on short tracks throughout the Midwest and Southeast running ASA Late Models and IMCA Dirt Modifieds. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Bryan Clauson and Michael Waltrip Racing’s Josh Wise have returned to open wheel competition and are running USAC Midgets, Sprint cars, and Silver Crown cars. Each of these three have picked up wins this season.
A few other drivers have chosen to remain in the NASCAR garage areas taking whatever opportunities come their way.
While it may be hated by some, start-and-park rides have been one way for drivers to be at the track and earn some income. Kelly Bires, Willie Allen, Kevin Hamlin, Chase Miller, and Chad Blount are a few of the young drivers doing this. It might not be glamorous, and it might not actually be racing, but it allows them to keep their names on the results sheet and put food on their tables.
Another option has been to turn in firesuits and helmets for wrenches. Shane Huffman and Cale Gale are examples of drivers who have turned to working in the shop. Huffman is currently the car chief for the #62 NNS car for Rusty Wallace and Cale Gale builds shocks for Kevin Harvick’s teams in between his chances to race.
Hopefully for these guys, and the sport in general, the economy will start to turn around soon. When it does, owners will need young, talented drivers to maintain their programs for the future. But until that happens, survival is the name of the game. And for their sake and the sake of the sport, hope they make it work. It would be a shame to lose so much young talent.
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What happened to Crissy Wallace and her ride in the truck series? Is she still racing? I was sorry to see her name missing this year.
Isn’t it funny (not really) that there wasn’t a single post in response to yesterday’s good article about up and coming drivers and their struggles? And here again this morning but a single post by ella (although it’s still early yet…especially on the WC) concerning the young crop?
But yet Carl Long, Jeremy Mayfield and Danica seem to draw the massive feedback. Hmmm are we guilty of just wanting to argue and be heard vs a constructive discussion of who we want to see go fast?
TC and Journo: Personally, I like it better when you jump in head first and throughout with the “Insider perspective”. That’s why I stop here daily.
ella: I’m not sure where Chrissy Wallace is racing this season. I know she wanted to return to the Truck Series, but couldn’t find sponsorship.
Neon: We have noticed the same things you pointed out. But would you rather we wrote the Mayfield/Long/Danica type stuff, or posts like these?
TC – posts like these. There are dozens of sites that we can go argue about Mayfield. But there are few sites that attract pretty knowledgeable race fans. In a lot of other sites, you cannot have a discussion without the standard….racin ain’t no sport!
Neon: the Danica, Carl, Jeremy topics are controversial & can easily be debated. Everyone has a side & an opinion.
These posts about the young drivers don’t leave much to discuss. The content is what it is. Just an update on what some of the young guys that disappeared are doing. It’s good to see someone keeping their names out there.
I like the “informative” posts with no comments more than the “controversial/opinionated” posts with 90 comments. I’m frankly sick of hearing about Jeremy Mayfield, NASCAR drug testing conspiracies, & who is the most reliable tinkle tester.
Uh oh, did I just agree with knobcreekfan again? This has got to stop.
As was mentioned in the Buschwacker post the other day, developing young talent is a negative side effect of cup guys running the lower levels. The cup guys have helped the tracks and nascar in the short term. However, I think in the long term, this is going to hurt.
While Clint Bowyer started out running a part-time Busch schedule sharing time with Harvick, I do not know of any other driver that started by ride-sharing and succeeded. That certainly hurts driver development in the long run.
When you look at some of the reasons for the downfall of the IndyCar series, one thing people point to is that within a fairly short time span they lost drivers like Al & Bobby Unser, Mario, Mears, Foyt, Johncock, Sneva, etc. All of their household names were gone. And while left with talented drivers like Emmo, Nigel, Arie, Raul, Fabi & Guerrero….they were not the same.
I was trying to convince a company to get involved in the sport a few years ago. One driver we proposed to them was Denny Hamlin. Their response in the meeting was, “Denny who? WHY in the WORLD would we want to sponsor him?! We’ve never HEARD of HIM. Let’s stick with someone people have heard of.”
Along those line, the marketing & finance folks at the sponsors have/will figure out that they can achieve the same/similar results if they just sponsor Burton, Kyle, Carl, Harvick, Kenseth, etc… on saturday and spend 1/3 the $$ as if they did a full cup sponsorship. They still get the use of his name/likeness in advertising, on package, in-store promotions, appearances, etc… Hmm, so why do we need to sponsor on sunday?
There are plenty of other negatives, but I will not ramble on. But neither of those are good for the sport in the long run.
Oh…and I did want to comment on the guys that are taking start & park rides. That is risky. While I understand they are wanting to stay in the garage and keep their name out there, put food on the table, etc… They are not truly showcasing their talent. Is it better to go run USAC and win races and run up front? Or run in the back during practice, maybe DNQ and park by lap 10?
Sometimes you have to take a step back to go forward.
I like to know what’s going on in the “race track trenches” and “garage bubble” from an Insiders perspective. The Carl Long saga was quite interesting until the legalism issues overcame the fairness of the fines discussion. As did with Mayfield. I’m done at that point.
Just food for thought: I bet if me, Knob, Window, TC & Journo (both w/ masks on of course) were sitting around a Daytona Beach table or bar one night, the crux of our conversation wouldn’t be about whether Jeremy does Meth or limited liabilities. I would hope it would be a heated racing based brawl!
In reference to the struggling young drivers looking for money and rides it makes me think that this phenomena (although nothing new) is but a microcosm of current society’s economic situation. Young fiery job candidates competing for only a few good job openings with relatively little experience vs. some mediocre performing players albeit with money backing butts filling seats.
It also reminds us that, as in any sport, drivers may be locked into racing, and there aren’t many other fields to go into. Making enough money to feed a family can be tough, and few of the people you mention will ever be Jimmie Johnson or Jeff Gordon. I sure can’t say for certain that a youngster will do better financially running local tracks than building shocks or driving a start and park car.
TC/Journo – ok, going off-topic and maybe this is better left for an ATIW, but while we are going to away from legal issues and suspensions….I have not seen you guys discuss the management changes at IMS. First Tony getting fired and now Joie resigning. Obviously, those changes are going to lead to lots of changes within that organization. And while not strictly NASCAR, I am curious what fallout you see from that.
Neon said: Just food for thought: I bet if me, Knob, Window, TC & Journo (both w/ masks on of course) …
Funny you should mention that. Check out this cool pic of Licker, T.C. and Journo!
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41812000/jpg/_41812906_mexican-wrestlers416.jpg
So TC you are actually Paul Tracy? Case closed!
http://alexintoronto.wordpress.com/2006/10/12/paul-tracey-cape-mask/
Mr. Ross – too funny.
I’m busted… You caught me Neon.
And knob, it’s Ms. Ross…
TC Journo I also much prefer these, I am so over JM and all that mess.
I really feel for these up and coming racers. Does anyone really think Lowes would have gone with Jimmie Johnson in this economy based on his steller (sarcasm alert) Busch series results. There are probably other Jimmie’s out there who we will never see even NW or trucks.
I know fan perception of start and park drivers is not the greatest but does the garage think the same or do most understand that feeding the family takes presedence?
I am a Chad Blount fan. He has gotten some bad breaks with sponsors pulling out and races drying up. Al he needs is some decent backing, and a good ride and I think he can run with the BIG dogs with no troubles! But money is the bottom line and right now money is tight. I can only hope next year is better all the way around for ALL the drivers.
Keep ‘em running!