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SILVER FOX, VOTE FOR BILL, FORCE PARTY, BUYIN’ CARS
Dearborn, Mich. — You know—you just know—that when Ford Championship Weekend rolls around in November, there will be an appropriate number of Ford drivers in the runnin’ for the 2009 series championship.
Matt Kenseth, who won a title in 2003, will be there. Carl Edwards, who won a series-best nine races last year, will be there. Greg Biffle, who’s already won titles in the Camping World Truck series and Nationwide series, will be there. And, David Ragan, who a couple of weekends ago in the Nationwide race at Talladega scored his first-ever NASCAR win, will probably be there, too. Who knows, maybe another guy will be as well.
That’ll mean that the ’09 season will have started out great and finished great.
But, right now, it’s lookin’ a lot like the Ol’ Sparkster: a little soft in the middle.
For a while there it sure looked like ’09 was goin’ to be, at the very least, the Year of Matt Kenseth, if not the Year of Ford Racing. And, by “for a while,” the Sparkster means “the first two races.” Ol’ Steady Matty certainly did his part, didn’t he? After goin’ winless last year (which snapped a six-years-with-at-least-one-win streak), he opened the year by winnin’ the prestigious Daytona 500 for the first time. He followed that up with a win the followin’ week at Fontana.
But then somethin’ really, really weird happened: the series went from Fontana to Las Vegas, and ever since, it’s been nothing. Zero, zilch, nada, zippo, goose egg.
Nothing.
It must be true: What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. So, the Sparkster has absolutely no idea why it all went south, because, apparently, it happened in Vegas.
Maybe that’s it: the series didn’t head south; it headed east, from the west.
Maybe Ford didn’t lose direction; there were just too many directions to follow.
SENSE OF DIRECTION
This week, the series heads south—literally, not figuratively—from Virginia to South Carolina, site of, perhaps, the most demandin’ race track there ever was or will be.
Darlington Raceway.
As far as the drivers are concerned, Darlington is a reputation builder. If you can win there, you must know how to race. You are a Racer. With a capital R. Shoot, if you can survive there, you must know how to race.
Darlington is where racers earn their stripes.
Buh-dump-bump!
That egg-shaped 1.33-mile track is so difficult to maneuver. On most tracks, racers want to hug the bottom, but at Darlington, the fast line is the high line. How high? Right about where the right-rear quarter-panel brushes the outside wall. Hence, the Darlington stripe.
Plus, the surface of the track has the characteristics of sandpaper. Or, a cheese grater. So, in other words, those four fresh tires start wearin’ out right about the time the jackman puts the car down.
No kiddin’.
Darlington has been called The Track Too Tough to Tame, and The Lady in Black; neither of which brings to mind happy thoughts.
They should make T-shirts: “I raced at Darlington and all I got was four worn-out tires. And a stripe on the right-rear quarter.”
But, it was and is a great place for the truly great drivers. David Pearson, for one, comes readily to mind.
There have been so many tremendous things said and written about Pearson’s abilities, but the two that stand out for the Sparkster came from the giants: Richard Petty and the Wood Brothers.
The Spark has no doubt told this story before, but during a race weekend a few years ago, The King walked over to the 21 hauler (okay, they were parked next to each other) and was talkin’ about the old days. When the talk turned to close racin’, The King said he always found comfort in seein’ Pearson nearby in the wanin’ laps because he knew nobody was goin’ to get wrecked. (Okay, except for that whole 1976 Daytona 500 thing.) He trusted runnin’ close to Pearson, and Pearson runnin’ close to him. The Woods have often talked about Pearson’s ability to always move his way toward the front of the pack at the end of the race and put himself in contention for a win, somethin’ he did 105 times in his career. He was kind of like the 1960s and ’70s version of Ol’ Steady Matty Kenseth in that gettin’-better-throughout-the-race thing.
All the Spark knows is that when he met Pearson for the first time and shook hands, it felt like every bone in the Sparkster’s right hand and arm—up to the shoulder and perhaps including the collarbone—was crushed to dust.
Yes, Mr. Pearson is that strong.
Still, to this day.
And, oh, yeah, on a track where one win will gain you the ever-lastin’ respect of your peers, Pearson won 10 times.
Ten.
Let that sink in for a while.
That would be: Respect x 10.
And then some.
CALL TO VOTE!
But, alas, the Wood Brothers will not be competin’ in this weekend’s Southern 500 (which, if it’s goin’ to be the Southern 500 should be Labor Day Weekend, but now’s not the time for that). The Woods are runnin’ a limited schedule this year, just like the old days, and are next scheduled to be at the track at Charlotte.
Charlotte in the spring means two race weekends—one that’s fun and one that counts. Bill Elliott will be there, and racin’ the Wood Brothers’ No. 21 Ford Fusion. And since Bill Elliott is runnin’ in the Sprint Showdown qualifyin’ race on May 16, he is eligible to be voted—by you, the fans—into the NASCAR Sprint Cup All-Star Race that night.
What? Vote for Bill Elliott?
Of course, vote for Bill Elliott. The fans have always voted for Awesome Bill from Dawsonville, so, really, why stop now? C’mon, Bill Elliott is the most popular driver in the history of NASCAR, and that’s not the Sparkster just sayin,’ it’s the fans. It was the fans who voted Elliott the Most Popular Driver a staggerin’ 16 years in a row. Most careers don’t last that long.
Bill Elliott is so popular with the fans, that NASCAR named its Most Popular Driver Award after Bill Elliott.
He’s more popular with the fans than a losing NFL team’s backup quarterback.
Now, that’s popular.
To vote for Bill Elliott one more time, this time to ensure him a spot in the NASCAR Sprint Cup All-Star Race, all fans have to do is go online, and, uh, Vote for Bill.
HE’S HOW OLD?
Here’s a thought: If John Force were just gettin’ started nowadays, would he be gettin’ started at all?
Huh?
Let’s try that a different way: Is there a place in the 21st Century for a racer to get started at an, uh, let’s say, advanced age?
Particularly on the NASCAR side of things anymore, if a driver has been around the track more’n once, he’s considered too old. What, oh, what must they have thought about John Force when he was tryin’ to get started those years and years and years ago?
In case you missed it, John Force turned 60 years old this week. But, somehow, on John 60 seems more like 30. Maybe 35.
The one thing about John Force above all other things—the 126 career victories, the 14 championships, the ability to talk in full chapters without takin’ a breath—is this: John Force did not win his first race until he was 39 years old.
You’ve got to wonder if he’d even get a chance nowadays.
John Force was just gettin’ started when most are thinkin’ about windin’ down, and even then put together the greatest drag-racin’ career in history. And, he’s still goin’.
Truly amazin.’
Ol’ Sparkster would go shake his hand and congratulate him, but that would mean gettin’ out of the rockin’ chair.
Uh, the Sparkster, not Force.
THAT’S A LOT OF FUSIONS
It’s difficult—maybe impossible—to say how many Ford Fusion Hybrids will be sold because one got over 81 miles to the gallon last week in that three-day test of fuel economy that took place in and around Washington, D.C. That 81 miles to the gallon translated to more than 1,445 miles on a single tank of 87 octane gas—a huge improvement over what a group of Ford engineers were aimin’ for. It probably helped to have noted hypermiler Wayne Gerdes drivin’ some and offerin’ tips. And, his contributions weren’t even cancelled out by the existence of NASCAR star Carl Edwards, who is better known for drivin’ fast—very fast—despite havin’ won more than his share of so-called fuel-mileage races.
That bein’ said, Ford announced that it sold more than 18,000 Ford Fusions in April, a record month for the model. Perhaps not coincidentally, April was the first full month that the 2010 Ford Fusion was available. And, April was the sixth month out of the last seven that Ford gained market share.
Just somethin’ to think about.
While continuin’ to tell himself that one race a year at Darlington isn’t enough but is certainly better than none, Ol’ Sparky went through this week’s mailbag.
Hey, Sparky:
What’s Andrew Caddell up to these days?
Norman,
Oklahoma
Winnin’, Norman, and generally doin’ well. In fact, he won again just last week, gettin’ to the checkers first in the Ford Racing Mustang Challenge event at New Jersey Motorsports Park. That was his second victory of the season, and the fifth time—in five races—he’s had a podium finish. He’s just one of a bunch of good racers pounding the pavement with their FR500S race cars. Spark highly recommends you stop by and see them race next time they’re in your area.
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