For decades, Nascar has, and I believe rightly, held some of the
starting positions as provisionals.  Provisionals allow the teams that
show up week in and week out to have starting spots in preference to
cars that might have qualified faster, but weren’t here last week, or
the week before, or the week before that.

Provisionals are a key ingredient to the success of Nascar.

It’s a pity, then, that Nascar seems to have abandoned the concept —
because if *anybody* was due a whole set of provisionals, it was
ESPN…  

It’s also a pity that Nascar rushed the signing of the deal to be
before this weekend’s races.  If Bill France and Mike Helton had only
suffered through those two broadcasts first, they might not have been
quite so willing to stiff ABC/ESPN and CBS/TNN.

By the way, about half-way through that long feature NBC chose to show
instead of green flag racing, I started to wonder how many of today’s
NBC decision-makers have even heard about the Heidi game.

Matt Thul
[to reply via email, please delete 'dont.spam.' from my address]

I like Allan Bestwick, but that had to be the worst television coverage of a
Nascar event I’ve ever seen.

I hate it when people only interested in making gobs of money tell me their
making more money at my expense is good for the sport.

I want my ESPN, Bob Jenkins, Benny Parson and Ned Jarret.

Bill France take note!

Nobody is more disgusted with the apparent direction of Winston Cup
racing than I am. Like I’ve said several times before, this is the 90′s,
and WC is "IN". That leads us to the TV deal. Yes, Virginia, we all
think it sucks. That’s because most of us are old time cooler and bucket
of chicken in the stands race fans. We’re not the people who the next
generation of France’s will make their next billion from. When’s the
last time you went to Bristol or Atlanta? Or for that matter,
Rockingham, Talladega, or the Brickyard? You can only get X number of
people in and out of these facilities efficiently. Then you start to
take "parasitic" losses. How many more state troopers? How many more
buses? The new wave of money is in a new television audience. Not US,
because we’ll listen to Eli Gold on the front porch and be happy. We’re
basically screwed, folks. Curtis Turner, Joe Weatherly, Tim Flock: all
gone. The King runs a multi squillion dollar conglomerate. Old Junior
and his overalls have faded into oblivion. 5 years from now, if you
stood up and said "this sport evolved from a bunch of moonshine runners
in North Carolina arguing about whose car was the best", you’d probably
be laughed out of the building. I hate it, folks, but here we are.
Anybody got any ideas?

Does anyone have the same feelings I do for Mark?  He has performed so well
over the last ten years and still has not gotten that championship.  He has
ben more consistent and out performed alot of the other drivers.  I’m
looking forward to 2000.  I think Mark is finally going to put an end to
this "almost but not quit" reputation he has gotten.

May the family know that all the racing fans are with them in their prayers.
Diana

In rec.autos.sport.info motorsport.com <pr…@motorsport.com>  wrote:

>    The five new members will continue their same responsibilities for
>the No.88 team, as they have carried out in the past with Hendrick
>Motorsports, pitting the No. 24 car, driven by Jeff Gordon. Muse –
>jackman, Trower – front tire changer, Gilman – rear tire changer, while
>Knight and Jolly are tire carriers.
>    Rob Cappetta, Robert McInnis and Jason Burdett will remain as the
>gas man, second gas man and catch can, respectively.

2000 should be interesting for Gordon.  I wonder how many more of his crew will
leave after Evernham did?

Eric

Eric O. Troldahl, E…@Troldahl.com, http://www.troldahl.com/racing.htm
Moderator, rec.autos.sport.nascar.moderated — http://rasnm.carracing.com

#5, #18, #20, #6, #12, #66 — And Kat Teasdale!
I cheer for a lot of drivers in a lot of series, especially female drivers.

If you are planning on attending a Winston Cup race, and would like to
share refreshment and conversation, sign the banner, and put names to
faces, please feel free to reply to me with your intentions, via
e-mail, and I’ll include you on the list. If you’d like to host the
reunion, or help get the banner to the races, let me know that too.

#########     IMPORTANT      ########

**Please send me your reunion times and locations *at least* a week
before the race. Don’t be shy to e-mail other rasner’s, pick a time
and location, and forward it to me. I’ll post the details as they come
available.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………..

 Date     Race                    Location     Time            Network
——————————————————————————————
——————————————————————————————

 Nov. 7 Dura Lube 500K     Phoenix    2 pm                    TNN

 Tony Johns (t…@johnsnet.com)

 Nov. 14  Jiffy Lube  400  Homestead Fla.   12:30        NBC

Julie Jahn <omaj…@aol.com>

 Nov. 21  NAPA 500         Atlanta        1 pm                   ESPN

Jerry Holmes<jlhr…@wrq.com>, Bonnie Cowart
<bonc…@smathersnt2.uflib.ufl.edu>

(tent) means attendence is tentative. VC or VH means volunteer banner
carrier or volunteer host. Times are Eastern.

 _ __/|    John D. May
 \`O.o’    Info Speedway Roadkill
 =(_ _)=   Manotick, Ontario, Canada    
    U      * 94! *  33! *  ABTSN! *

nice69…@hotmail.com wrote in article <3821b2cb.6794…@news.njcc.com>…
[snipped]

> Was on Inside Nascar yesterday and ESPN last night…. it’s real….

> Mass exodus does make you wonder.

Makes me think…. discontent in the Hendrick camp. I doubt it’s money
since Rick can arguably afford to buy anyone in the Garage area. (Hendrick
Automotive group had gross sales of over 2.1 BILLION dollars last year.)

> Guess next year we get to see whether Jeff is the real thing

Some of you guys never cease to amaze me. Gordon had over 600 open-wheel
wins before he ever drove any stock-car, yet you still question if he is
"the real thing". If he never wins another race, he’s still won 49 more
than most of the field! Couldn’t at least 3 or 4 of those wins be the
driver?

Gary

time Busch Champion……………..Dale Jr!!!!  Diana

I’m not at hoome and don’t have my bookmarks so if anyone has reunion info
for the rock could you please post it and I’ll check the group tomorrow
night.

      Thanks>>>