The Sounds of Sadler!

Well, I’ve waxed musical for a good bit – time to get back to hashing over the Holy Oval. No lack of “material” in the NASCAR world of late! Having spent a week or so hanging out in person with my OTHER group of online buddies (Who-heads, Attic-addicts, Bumpband-buds, Baba-brethren), I’ve noticed many similarities between the online communities that seem to spring up where and whenever a message board, blog, and a celebrity is involved! As diametrically opposed as intellectual/spiritual British rock-n-roll and American stock car racing appear to be – the FANS are much the same. As much of Pete’s work of late reflects the desire to see CONSTRUCTIVE relationships between fans and artists – it stresses equally the importance of the development of HEALTHY relationships between the fans themselves (that’s US, gang!) You can’t weave a complete tapestry with all warp and no weft, now can ya? I’m a lucky gal to have such delightfully engaging and spontaneous friends in TWO disciplines!

OK, nuf philosophy – let’s talk about Sadler!

Once again, technology has given us perhaps a bit TOO MUCH contact with our driver. No longer faced with having to “vote” each week for the privilege of listening to raceday radio contact between driver, spotter and crew chief – we have now have Raceview, Trackpass, DirectTV and other services beaming audio into our heads each Sunday. No longer satisfied with armchair critiquing what we SEE – we have now become experts at shooting holes in what we HEAR! Consquently, folks have been lambasting the communication skills of the #19’s driver AND crew chief – and the justifications run rampant!

Where do I sit? Simple answer here: I have no freaking idea! LOL!

What am I hearing? To a casual listener (i.e., NOT an insider) – sounds to me like decisions on adjustments might be a bit vague and unfruitful. Sounds like Sadler is giving good information AT FIRST, but when adjustments fail to correct the problems he describes – he becomes frustrated and blows off steam with such things as “you’ve killed the car!” (NOT a succinct description – but then again, I don’t think it’s MEANT to be)! I hear Josh “mulling” over changes out loud, asking Sadler his opinion in many cases – usually when Sadler “has his hands full” trying to control an unruly car. Is this a good time for him to mentally diagnose the car? I doubt it.

BUT…..

Josh Browne has CC’d exactly TWO races this season after returning from his controversial suspension. Prior to that, we had Mr. Evernham himself (who had NOT CC’d a race in a month of Sundays). Is it too soon to level blame after 4 races? Perhaps. Have they had time to “get their communication” roles straightened out? One would think so, now wouldn’t one.

On the other hand, we have folks out there in the cyber-ether who have been privvy to radio convos between Sadler and his assorted CC’s for several YEARS. Some report that they are NOT hearing anything new. That Elliott has worked with CC’s who are able to be decisive, respond with quick changes, and take charge. The result? Loose in, tight in the middle, loose out.

I think it will take a bit more time to tell. In the meantime – I can manage to keep myself from NASCAR nervous breakdown by rejoicing in the fact that Elliott has managed NOT to DNF, that he’s stayed OUT of big ones, that he’s sitting “respectably” in the points standings – far above his team mates and OTHER “biggies” on the track who have found themselves in the garage early on. “Attababy’s” help my racing mental state, too! We’ve had some good Attababys even tho we’ve complained about the other conversations. Nothing has happened yet that makes me give up on the season – BUT…..

This weekend is Bristol. Will the COT be a plus or a minus for the #19? Will we be calling it the “Car of Tomorrow” or “Clusterf$%#$ of Today” come Monday? THAT’S the $64 question!

HERDING CATS.......

….is what it’s like attempting to make sense to today’s penalty bomb dropped on several key competitors in NASCAR. I’ve yet to be able to draw a logical line between question(a) and answer(b) without taking a detour into the bizarre. This will be an interesting journey in several parts. Care to join me?.....

Who got penalized?

Well, the obvious answer is “the cheaters!” But if we can’t define the difference between cheating and innovation – what’s the point? We’ve seen that we cannot discourage innovation unless we want to dump Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford AND Toyota (and their $$) and have a nice little 36-race IROC season. If I understand NASCAR history correctly (which I may not – and I’m up for correction) – past “innovations” were either handled by creating a rule after the fact to prohibit a repeat –OR- the innovation was deemed a “good idea” and it’s progenitor was forced to share it with the rest of the class. OK – this means that I know who was SUPPOSED to be penalized – but my question remains unanswered. Dead end. Let’s try another path.

Was the Crew Chief penalized?

OK, we see that the crew chiefs responsible for the infractions were hit the hardest. Stay home for 2-4 races and fined a chunk of change. Since I doubt “infractions” are going to occur WITHOUT the crew chief’s knowledge – I think we’re onto something here. BUT, past history tells me that it’s entirely possible to win the Daytona 500 and even the Nextel Cup while your wunderkind crew chief is at home in his recliner. Today’s technology can put pinpoint GPS in a car and broadcast it to my sofa, can install a high resolution camera on a 1000+ degree brake rotor on a vehicle going over 150 mph. Do we think a crew chief can’t “direct” remotely as well? Well, I think we’ve found a “cheater” – but did we really penalize him? And was he the ultimate source? A lone operator? Sorry – that road is still too bumpy to try.

How about the greenbacks? I’m not entirely sure on this one, but if I’m a crew chief – I’d make sure my contract had a clause that says “Team owner pays all fines.” No, this road is too poorly lit. No more answers here.

The Driver?

We ALSO see that the drivers have been penalized driver points. OUCH! Big question here: Did the driver know? If he did – could he have stopped it? Well, let’s give a couple of these poor drivers the benefit of the doubt, and allow them to KEEP their qualifying order position (in a field of 30 or so cars) during a non-standard, made for TV quasi-qualifying race for starting position in the REAL race -- but let’s TAKE away driver points (which, btw – he can take with him to an entirely different team/crewchief)! No – this isn’t even a ROAD – it’s the driveway at the nuthouse!

Mr. Owner?

Alas, the poor Team Owner also lost points. Now THAT’S gotta hurt (but it’s gonna hurt your crews, drivers, employees and fans – THEY’RE the ones who suffer from a loss in owner points by having to live with the “go or go home” monster). If you have a great team that consistently finishes well (without cheating) – are you really worried about falling out of the Top-35? If your team is truly good – losing 50 owner points is no penalty at all!

Isn’t the Team Owner ultimately responsible for the “infractions” of his employees? $50,000 is a drop in the bucket if Mr. Owner is covering recliner-chief’s fines – but that’s not even a wiggle in most owners’ bottom lines (unless your sponsor is ALREADY ticked off). No, if this road leads to a penalty – it only does so in certain circumstances. Not good enough for me.

OK – So we still haven’t quite reached our destination – UNLESS you ask:

Who REALLY pays this penalty?

I have found at least ONE answer: The Fans, that’s who.

Tomorrow, we’ll tackle the 2nd leg of our journey and see how much we’ve been fined. In the meantime, I’ll be cat-wrangling.