The Frontstretch Newsletter: The Penalties Are Announced
5 views
Skip to first unread message
Frontstretch.com
Jun 4, 2015, 12:29:03 PM6/4/15
to The Frontstretch
THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
June 4, 2015
Volume IX, Edition XC
~~~~~~~~~~
What to Watch: Thursday
-
Today, the Camping World Truck Series will have both of their practice sessions for Friday night's WinStar World Casino 400k at Texas Motor Speedway. They are scheduled to run from 4:30 - 5:25 p.m. and 6:30 - 7:55 p.m. Neither session will be televised.
Top News
by the Frontstretch Staff
Trevor Bayne, Jennifer Jo Cobb Among Penalized Teams After Dover
On Wednesday, NASCAR announced penalties in all three National Series stemming from last weekend's events at Dover. Most notably, Trevor Bayne ($20,000) and Jennifer Jo Cobb ($5,000) were fined for inappropriately leaving their race cars following crashes. However, Obaika Racing drew the biggest penalty of the weekend, a P3, for ballast falling out of Peyton Sellers' No. 97 in practice. That ballast went through the nose of Carl Long's No. 13 and caused him to crash. Sellers' crew chief John Monsam has been suspended for a race as a result. Read more
by the Frontstretch Staff
Trevor Bayne, Jennifer Jo Cobb Among Penalized Teams After Dover
On Wednesday, NASCAR announced penalties in all three National Series stemming from last weekend's events at Dover. Most notably, Trevor Bayne ($20,000) and Jennifer Jo Cobb ($5,000) were fined for inappropriately leaving their race cars following crashes. However, Obaika Racing drew the biggest penalty of the weekend, a P3, for ballast falling out of Peyton Sellers' No. 97 in practice. That ballast went through the nose of Carl Long's No. 13 and caused him to crash. Sellers' crew chief John Monsam has been suspended for a race as a result. Read more
Have news for The Frontstretch? Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at phil.a...@frontstretch.com with a promising lead or tip.
~~~~~~~~~~
Today's Featured Commentary~~~~~~~~~~
by John Potts
I can’t take a lot of credit for this little tale. I’d heard it before, but the gist of it comes from my long-time friend Frank Scott, a historical guru for racing in the Kentucky and southern Indiana area.
This is like the old reporter’s guideline in the days of real journalism – always try for independent corroboration. Like I said, I’d heard it, but with Frank’s account I have the corroboration (and there are more stories like this, folks).
Charlie Glotzbach of Edwardsville, Ind. wasn’t a particular favorite of NASCAR during his best days as a driver, and this story kind of points out the attitude that existed between he and the sanctioning body…
The ‘Edwardsville Express,’ as he was so appropriately called, was the 1978 New & Late champion at the old Fairgrounds Motor Speedway in Louisville. He got his start in the late 50s at the Sportsdrome across the river in Jeffersonville, Ind. and went on to the ARCA series and was always a hit with fans, particularly on the banks at Salem (so close to home), Winchester, and Dayton. I was a pit crewman on some of those deals – very exciting time.
A big break came for him when Earl Balmer recommended to Harry Hyde that Charlie be given the chance to drive the K&K Insurance backup car in selected NASCAR races.
His performance apparently caught the attention of a few car owners, because he was the first driver when Junior Johnson brought back Chevrolet, and eventually made his way into a Ray Nichels Dodge. Most notably the No. 99 Charger Daytona.
He had numerous poles, and won four major NASCAR races.
However, there were more than just a few disputes with the NASCAR powers-that-be, and as Frank puts it, to say he and the sanctioning organization had less than admiration towards one another would be putting it mildly.
(I remember one specific incident at Charlotte, before pit road speed limits, when NASCAR warned him he had to slow down on pit road. I don’t know how fast he was going, but he was barely keeping up with Petty and Pearson on one stop.)
Eventually, about the last time the factory support fell out of NASCAR, the rides dried up. Only drivers who had sponsors like STP, Purolator, and Coca-Cola got the good rides.
Charles came back home, and had a picnic on the area tracks for a few years.
By 1990, he was a test driver for Richard Childress Racing. Something about his driving style and that of Dale Earnhardt being similar.
At that time, a man who owned a muscle car collection had a recently built Richard Childress Chevrolet Lumina which Dale Sr. had once driven on the superspeedways. This car no longer fit the NASCAR rules, but did meet ARCA specifications.
I can’t take a lot of credit for this little tale. I’d heard it before, but the gist of it comes from my long-time friend Frank Scott, a historical guru for racing in the Kentucky and southern Indiana area.
This is like the old reporter’s guideline in the days of real journalism – always try for independent corroboration. Like I said, I’d heard it, but with Frank’s account I have the corroboration (and there are more stories like this, folks).
Charlie Glotzbach of Edwardsville, Ind. wasn’t a particular favorite of NASCAR during his best days as a driver, and this story kind of points out the attitude that existed between he and the sanctioning body…
The ‘Edwardsville Express,’ as he was so appropriately called, was the 1978 New & Late champion at the old Fairgrounds Motor Speedway in Louisville. He got his start in the late 50s at the Sportsdrome across the river in Jeffersonville, Ind. and went on to the ARCA series and was always a hit with fans, particularly on the banks at Salem (so close to home), Winchester, and Dayton. I was a pit crewman on some of those deals – very exciting time.
A big break came for him when Earl Balmer recommended to Harry Hyde that Charlie be given the chance to drive the K&K Insurance backup car in selected NASCAR races.
His performance apparently caught the attention of a few car owners, because he was the first driver when Junior Johnson brought back Chevrolet, and eventually made his way into a Ray Nichels Dodge. Most notably the No. 99 Charger Daytona.
He had numerous poles, and won four major NASCAR races.
However, there were more than just a few disputes with the NASCAR powers-that-be, and as Frank puts it, to say he and the sanctioning organization had less than admiration towards one another would be putting it mildly.
(I remember one specific incident at Charlotte, before pit road speed limits, when NASCAR warned him he had to slow down on pit road. I don’t know how fast he was going, but he was barely keeping up with Petty and Pearson on one stop.)
Eventually, about the last time the factory support fell out of NASCAR, the rides dried up. Only drivers who had sponsors like STP, Purolator, and Coca-Cola got the good rides.
Charles came back home, and had a picnic on the area tracks for a few years.
By 1990, he was a test driver for Richard Childress Racing. Something about his driving style and that of Dale Earnhardt being similar.
At that time, a man who owned a muscle car collection had a recently built Richard Childress Chevrolet Lumina which Dale Sr. had once driven on the superspeedways. This car no longer fit the NASCAR rules, but did meet ARCA specifications.
There was an ARCA 500K race at Talladega, so the owner sent the Lumina to Childress to be prepped for the big race. As the story goes, Richard suggested that since Glotzbach had done all the testing with that car, he would be the perfect choice to drive it. The owner agreed.
The ARCA race was held on the same weekend as a NASCAR 500-miler at Talladega. This was pretty well after Bobby Allison’s horrendous accident , and the restrictor plates were on the NASCAR engines.
Again apparently, NASCAR didn’t have as much influence over ARCA in those days, merely trying to set a good example in the way of organization and ethics. They also knew Childress had brought a rocket to the track, and knew who was going to drive it.
This led to a meeting between Charlie and Mike Helton in the big trailer, where Helton explained that the NASCAR drivers were the stars, and “highly recommended” that Glotzbach keep the car under 195 so he didn’t upstage the NASCAR boys.
Charlie left the trailer, suited up, got his helmet, and climbed in the car to qualify.
He ripped through all the gears down pit road, redlining the tach and heading out. After the green flag, the car took a perfect set going through the first and second turns, hunkered down on the backstretch, rips through turns three and four, and roars through the tri-oval and across the start-finish line.
Again, as Frank so eloquently puts it, we’ll probably never know if it was the black flag he got in 1968 for running over a floor jack, the one in 1969 for running over an air line, or in 1970 when he left the pit without a gas cap. All valid reasons for black flags, of course.
It may even have been the belief that in 1969 Lee Roy Yarbrough had a “bogus” tire compound in the Daytona 500 that allowed him to nip Charlie at the checkered flag.
Whatever, Charlie brought the car across the start-finish line, and the MRN announcer on the public address system said, “…and the speed for Chargin’ Charlie Glotzbach, 201.456 miles per hour.”
Never did hear what Helton had to say about that.
However, from personal experience, when Charlie was doing more driving in ARCA, I heard Junior Johnson ask somebody for advice on a driver, because he needed “…somebody who can beat Charlie Glotzbach” at Atlanta.
They recommended Dick Trickle.
I watched that race. Dick didn’t win it, but neither did Glotzbach. Trickle went out with mechanical problems, and Charlie went out the same way shortly after. I kind of figured that Dick ran him so hard he blew the engine.
John Potts is a Senior Writer for Frontstretch. He can be reached via e-mail at john....@frontstretch.com.
~~~~~~~~~~
The Critic's Annex: Buckle Up 200 presented by Click It or Ticket
by Phil Allaway
Saturday brought the XFINITY Series back to Dover International Speedway for 200 miles of concrete action. Unlike the Sprint Cup Series, which is done with FOX for the year (the remaining FOX Sports races will be on FOX Sports 1), Saturday's race was on FOX, allowing for a larger audience to view the event since it was outside of the grasp of the ongoing At&t U-Verse conflict.
Pre-race coverage was very limited. Yes, FOX had Larry McReynolds and Danielle Trotta in the Hollywood Hotel at the beginning of the broadcast to talk a little about the race and the duel in points setting up between Ty Dillon and Chris Buescher. However, there were no pre-race interviews or anything like that. After the Buescher-Dillon discussion, they went straight to opening ceremonies. Admittedly, that's a little weak, but Saturday was rather stacked sports-wise for FOX. The FA Cup Final immediately preceded the race telecast, so a full pre-race show was not really possible unless it aired on FOX Sports 2.
Kevin Harvick returned to the broadcast booth as the guest analyst for the first time in quite a while. Harvick brings a lot of insight to the broadcast, especially since the race was right after Happy Hour. Makes you wish that he was a little more forthcoming about his own runs in Sprint Cup (and to a lesser extent, the XFINITY Series). He's articulate and willing to explain issues on XFINITY broadcasts. However, he's also very emotional. Yes, he's leading the points in Cup, but every time you see him if he's not in Victory Lane, he's all huffy and ticked off. The responses are often something along the lines of "We just weren't good enough today." While yes, that shows that Harvick wants to win, it doesn't do anyone any favors.
My main gripe with the race broadcast is that it really wasn't all that inclusive. Yes, you had good commentary from Harvick, who Michael Waltrip seems to be more than willing to take a backseat to (mainly because Harvick's better than he is). However, there were only a few storylines that got covered much during the race. If you saw the race, you could probably rattle them off just as quick as I could. The entire second half of the race saw almost no action except for the coming together between Buescher and Wallace. It was just fuel mileage and setting up the last pit stops. That final run was 95 laps under green. I'm sure that there were other things going on during that time.
In the first half of the race, the big story was Brian Scott's wreck with Ryan Blaney and Jamie Dick. FOX caught the wreck live from Scott's roof cam. Maybe not the best view, but I'm pretty sure they weren't expecting Scott to bin the car. Of course, given the circumstances, Blaney and Scott blamed each other. FOX took a methodical process to figure out what caused the incident and took multiple replays before determining that Blaney may have come down on Scott. I personally believe the opposite. Overall, the coverage of this wreck was almost comprehensive. We got no input from Dick's point of view (the innocent victim's viewpoint). Granted, it could be assumed what he saw, but having Dick's quotes as well would be beneficial.
Post-race coverage was quite extensive due to the fact that the race ended early. The main story after the race was the Buescher-Wallace on-track contact and that was covered extensively. Wallace was obviously ticked, while Buescher acknowledged that things might be a little touch between the two of them. There were plenty of other interviews as well, in addition to post-race analysis.
Overall, the commentary on Saturday was quite decent. Problem is that the commentary was for a broadcast that was far too hyper-focused for its own good. There were a lot of great stories that didn't get any airtime. Jeremy Clements' run is just one example. Heck, they barely even mentioned Chase Elliott during the race, who finished sixth. Just way too zoomed in for my taste.
I hope you enjoyed this look at the Buckle Up 200. Next week, we'll be back with more motorsports critiques. Until then, enjoy this weekend's action at Pocono, Texas and Montreal.
~~~~~~~~~~
Frontstretch Line of the Week
From Beyond The Cockpit: Brett Moffitt on Admiring, Advancing & Adjusting"With him, you really can’t take too much of it because he gets mad at everyone, every race. So I apologized to him after the race but after that, it’s just trying to stay out of their way. At the same time you need to race them as hard as you can if it’s for position and just know that if it’s not your day it’s not your day." - Brett Moffitt, on dealing with an angry Tony Stewart, an all too often scenario these days.
TODAY AT FRONTSTRETCH:
by Beth Lunkenheimer
by Matt McLaughlin
by P. Huston Ladner
by Toni Montgomery
by Joseph Wolkin
by Becca Gladden
~~~~~~~~~~FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: Jason Leffler had a rather miserable first trip to Pocono back in 2001. First, he got caught up in a multi-car crash exiting turn 2. Later on, he ended up making a visit to the garage after another incident. What happened?
Check back Friday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Wednesday's Answer:
Wednesday's Answer:
Q: Since Pocono has never hosted an XFINITY Series race, rookies have often never seen the track in person prior to their first Cup weekend there. Trevor Bayne is in that boat, hence why he's running Saturday's ARCA race. Jeff Gordon didn't do that, but still qualified fourth for his first Cup race on the triangle. However, he didn't last very long before he found trouble. What happened?
A: Early on after a restart, Gordon got hit from behind by Hut Stricklin entering turn 3. The contact spun Gordon, who backed into the wall. The crash can be seen here. Gordon was ok and ended up finishing the race 87 laps down in 28th after extensive repairs in the garage
COMING TOMORROW
In The Frontstretch Newsletter:
We'll have a recap of Thursday's breaking news for you.
On Frontstretch.com:
Matt Stallknecht will have four burning questions to consider heading into Pocono.-----------------------------
Talk back to the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Got something to say about an article you've seen in the newsletter? It's as easy as replying directly to this message or sending an email to edi...@frontstretch.com. We'll take the best comments and publish them here!
©2015 Frontstretch.com
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages