The 2015 Sprint Unlimited is behind us, Matt Kenseth won the event, and it was a great race. Something I’m disappointed about is that there aren’t more special schemes for the Sprint Unlimited. There were 25 teams in the Sprint Unlimited, only Danica Patrick ran a special scheme this year. I would love to see every driver have some kind of special scheme for the Sprint Unlimited and the All-Star Race.
Paint schemes aside, I love the Sprint Unlimited. As it does every year, the format changes, and this year, the eligibility changes as well. I do like the 25 car format, and it did lead to some great pack racing. The racing was great, and what I love about the Sprint Unlimited is that it starts around the same time as Truck Days in baseball, which means spring is around the corner.
It’s a great day to stay inside, drink tea, and write. I live in Chicago, and as of right now, 8:11 am, it’s 9 degrees outside, and there is a fresh coating of snow. Winter sucks! It’s cold, waiting for a bus is horrible, and there isn’t much to do anyways. Chicago has a lot of great things to do, especially on a holiday, but if it’s too cold to go outside, you can’t do them. So I’m gonna spend this day off writing, doing laundry, playing with the cats, and drinking tea.
I’d like to talk about something that has been on my mind for a while. We all encounter certain design aspects in life that have explanations, but those explanations are not readily available. One of these examples is why are Italian restaurants always dimly lit?
Chain restaurants aside, every Italian restaurant I have ever eaten at was dimly lit. Normally, the way it works is that the more expensive the restaurant, the dimmer it is. I have yet to eat at a dimly lit McDonald’s. But every Italian restaurant, from the cheap ones to the high end ones is dimly lit. Every one is dimly lit…Why? What I’d like to know is why. I have to believe there is a reason every Italian restaurant across the country that I have eaten is is dimly lit, but why is it that way?
Jamie McMurray #1 Sherwin Williams Chevy SS-Red, white and blue is a great scheme, the fade looks pretty good, and I do like the reverse fade design. The front does need some work, so I’ll give it a B+
Denny Hamln #11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry– New look for the FedEx Camry and it is a great one! It has a smooth look with a great color scheme, and it works very well. A+
Denny Hamlin #11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry– New look for the FedEx Camry and it is a great one! It has a smooth look with a great color scheme, and it works very well. A+
Casey Mears #13 Geico Chevy SS-Good color scheme, but -The blue is too bright, as is the yellow. The car is overdesigned, and the whole car looks like a mess. D-
Chase Elliott #25 NAPA Chevy SS-Similar to his Nationwide scheme, this design is a bit overdesigned on the side, but the good color scheme makes up for it somewhat. I’ll give it a B
David Ragan #34 KFC Ford Fusion-Great color scheme, and I love the new design, with the KFC red stripes on the back, and all white front. A+
David Ragan #34 CSX Ford Fusion-This is a very solid scheme, with great colors, great design and an overall great look. CSX did this scheme very well and it gets an A+
Kyle Larson #42 Target Chevy SS-The scheme looks decent, I like the white on the back, though I do not like the Target logos at the bottom. That takes a scheme that was an A grade to a B-
“It’s very nice to go trav’ling, To Paris, London and Rome, It’s oh, so nice to go trav’ling
But it’s so much nicer, Yes, it’s so much nicer to come home.” Frank Sinatra sang that, and I tend to agree. This last week, I spent the week in Tucson Arizona, with my family. It’s nice to get out of the deep freeze and snow of a Chicago winter, but I do love coming home, reuniting with my cats, and writing for my readers.
I hate flying, so I take Amtrak. Amtrak runs the Texas Eagle from Chicago to Los Angeles three times a week. The trip on Amtrak is a lot of fun. It takes 2 and a half days from start to finish. I boarded the trip to Tuscon at Union Station in Chicago, and we left. The weather on the trip was great, though there was some rain in New Mexico. We have a 4 hour delay in San Antonio when we change trains.
The trip home had an amazing incident. 5:45 in the morning, the San Antonio police were conducting standard interviews of the passengers, and the guy sitting behind me babbled incoherently, and couldn’t keep his story straight. He said he only had one bag, but was instantly proven wrong. The cops pull him out of the train, and pull all 3 of his bags out, had their dogs sniff them, and found 6 pounds of marijuana, a few pounds of hash, and one pound of heroin. Needless to say, he didn’t leave with the train, but rather with the cops.
One of the things I did was go to the Pima Air and Space Museum. Davis-Monthan Air Force Base is located 5 miles outside of town. The Pima Air and Space Museum is located nearby. You can explore the third largest air and space museum in the US, and for an extra fee, take a tour of the Air Force Materiel Command’s 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG), the aircraft boneyard for all excess military and government aircraft. Some of my photos are below.
The AMARG houses the Boneyard, which is the storage space for United States Air Force aircraft that are not in use. Most of the aircraft stored at the facility are useable, just not needed, so they have a coating placed around openings, and are stored for as long as needed. For a fee, you can take a tour on a bus, some photos from the tour are below.
The Penske Racing Museum is located in Phoenix Arizona, in a group of Penske auto dealerships. It has an amazing collection of Indy 500 winning race cars, Stock cars, and some other gems. As a bonus, it has free admission. They have a massive collection of trophies as well, including a Harley Earl trophy, a Nationwide Series Owner’s Championship trophy, and several gold replicas of cars. One thing I did run into with the museum is the fact that I was not able to photograph “orange and white cars” which refer to Marlboro sponsorship, due to “legal reasons” so there are a number of photos that have been edited to reflect this.
It was an amazing experience, and as an added bonus, I got to check out the Ferarri Dealership next door, lots of good stuff over there too. I loved looking at the change of design of IndyCars over the years, and the design of stock cars that were on display. I was disappointed that the boutique was closed, but you can’t win them all. I could have spent much longer there than I did. If you are in Phoenix, and love racing, you have got to check out that museum!
Our last night, we had dinner at El Corral in Tuscon. Built in 1926 as the first restaurant east of Oracle Road. It’s a steakhouse that has great prime rib, and steaks cooked over wood fire, and they have some cowboy memorabilia on display, a Tom Mix worn suit,A Chill Wills hat, pair of boots, and other memorabilia,A pair of Monte Montana boots,
and a pair of Roy Rogers boots, with a written letter included. It was a great trip, and I can’t wait to go back.
I think I’m forgetting something…oh yeah…The Sprint Unlimited is tonight.
The format for the Sprint Unlimited is as follows: A competition caution at lap 25 will separate the segments in the non-points event, The field of 25 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers will include 2014 Coors Light Pole Award winners, former Sprint Unlimited race winners and Daytona 500 pole winners who competed full time in 2014, and all 16 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers from 2014. I’m looking forward to seeing this formant, and it’s always fun when NASCAR returns in the cold winter. I’m watching, and I hope you will too.
Jamie McMurray #1 Sherwin Williams Chevy SS-New sponsor for 2015, Red, white and blue with a red line down the center, with the top fades blue to white on top, and white to blue on the bottom.
Danica Patrick #10 GoDaddy/TaxAct Chevy SS-New sponsor combo for the Sprint Unlimited, front of the car retains traditional GoDaddy design, whereas back quarter panel is TaxAct
Danica Patrick #10 TaxAct Chevy SS-One race sponsor, will run at Martinsville in March, red, white and black scheme, with diagonal design up the doors.
Jeff Gordon #24 3M Chevy SS-New design for 2015, silver, with red accents and numbers, with a white hood design that extends over the roof and deck-lid.
Editor’s note: I’m on vacation this week, so this is just a quick post, but it is an important one.
The crisp air hangs low, as the sun slowly rises. The employees scurry about their busy affairs, some cooking, some repairing, some preparing. The fans take their seat, as they await the sound that has eluded them since late November. The National Anthem is sung, the flyover happens, and then that sound echos throughout the land in an unmistakable signal. That sound is two 10,000 horsepower engines, the location is Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, the event that fans have waited so long to see is The NHRA Winternationals.
It seems like just yesterday that I was so bummed that the end of the drag racing had just happened, but here we are! Tony Schumacher, Matt Hagan, Erica Enders-Stevens, and Andrew Hines look to defend their titles. John Force Racing looks to stage a comeback after some 2014 woes had some impact on their overall performance. With new sponsors and a new manufacturer, John Force has high hopes. I also wish Don Schumacher the best of wishes, as it was recently revealed he is dealing with cancer.
The Winternationals history dates back to 1952, when a group of young drag racers, the “Choppers of Pomona” were able to convince LA county to allow a parking lot to be used as a drag strip, to avoid racing on the street and traffic fatalities. The strip itself was not ready until 1953, but that April, the first NHRA event took place, and with 15,000 attendees, it was a success. In 1961, the NHRA season was changed so that the first NHRA event took place at the place where it all began.
The first race of the season is always interesting, as while there is testing and practice over the winter, the first event of the year is the first chance the teams actually compete against each other. Obviously there is some rust, not with the cars, but with the teams. I haven’t heard any significant changes to rules this season, so that will help things.
This is one of a number of events where Pro Stock Motorcycle won’t be racing, so I’ll miss them, But Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock will run. While I will be on a train from Tuscon to Chicago, the DVR will be working, and I can’t wait!
Looking at the whole season, I’m looking forward to it. One thing I have to wonder about dates back to what happened with V Gaines at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte in September, at the Pep Boys NHRA Carolina Nationals. The track was impassable, and the event had to be canceled. This is not the first time track issues have plagued events at zMAX, it happened in 2013. Is the track ready for racing? That is the $1,000,000 question. I would hope changes of some kind have been made. I know the fans were disappointed, and the drivers were upset. We can only wait and see.
On November 15, 1992, the Sprint Cup changed forever. The event was the Hooters 500. Bill Elliott, Alan Kulwicki, Davey Allison, Kyle Petty, Harry Gant, and Mark Martin were all battling it out for the Championship in what has been called the greatest series finale in NASCAR history. Richard Petty, The King of NASCAR, the greatest driver in Sprint Cup history, the greatest athlete to use #43 ended his career with that race with a crash, fire and a 35th place finish. At the end of the race, Kulwicki became championship, Petty drove around the track one last time to honor the fans, and Elliott won the race.
Something that was overlooked in all of that would change the face of NASCAR forever. On that day, A fresh-faced 21 year old made his first start in the Sprint Cup. 23 years, 92 race wins, and 4 championships later, Jeff Gordon has established himself as a true legend in auto racing. His 2015 season will be his last full-time season in NASCAR. This announcement came this week. This is not an easy decision, Gordon loves what he does, but all careers must come to an end.
I had a feeling that he would run one last full season in 2015 for the sole reason that he wants the Iron Man award. That would put him in line with some hardcore guys. Richard Petty had 513 consecutive starts from 1971-1989. In 1996, Terry Labonte started his 514th race at North Wilksboro in a silver Kellogg’s Corn Flakes Chevy SS, a race which he won. Labonte would end up starting 656 consecutive races. In 2002, Ricky Rudd would start his 657th race, the 2002 Coca Cola 600. Though he only finished 4th, he would claim the title of Iron Man that night. If all goes well, Gordon will secure the Iron Man record at the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire, and finish his career with 796 consecutive starts. He wants that award.
I also am looking forward to the Quicken Loans Race For Heroes 500 at Phoenix, because that race will take place on November 15, 2015, exactly 23 years after his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Start. Then will come on November 23, 2015, the end of an era. It’s always sad when a legend retires. Basketball was never the same when Michael Jordan finally retired. Baseball wasn’t the same when Babe Ruth retired, and hockey wasn’t the same after Wayne Gretzky retired. NASCAR really wasn’t the same when Richard Petty retired, and won’t be the same when Jeff Gordon retires.
Jeff Gordon has referred to retirement as “the r-word” and refuses to use it to discuss his current situation. Certainly it seems that he will run in races in the future, just not full-time. It’s also more or less confirmed that he will become a TV analyst, as this was announced by FOX Sports for Xfinity Series broadcasts as part of a series or rotating analysts including Brad Keselowski, and Kevin Harvick. Could this become a permanent role? It seems likely, Gordon is really good in front of the camera, and he would be a great choice, at least in my opinion.
Jeff Gordon has had a great career, and while I, as well as many fans will miss him behind the wheel. That #24 Chevy just won’t have the same allure, the same mystique with another driver behind the wheel. I wish Jeff the best of luck with his future endeavors.
Next week, I will be taking a vacation to Arizona, so I won’t update the tracker or issue paint scheme grades. I’ll have something ready to go on Friday, and I may do something on Monday, but I haven’t decided yet. I’ll return to normal once I get home.
Danica Patrick #10 GoDaddy/TaxAct Chevy SS-New sponsor combo for the Sprint Unlimited, front of the car retains traditional GoDaddy design, whereas back quarter panel is TaxAct
Danica Patrick #10 TaxAct Chevy SS-One race sponsor, will run at Martinsville in March, red, white and black scheme, with diagonal design up the doors.
Jeff Gordon #24 3M Chevy SS-New design for 2015, silver, with red accents and numbers, with a white hood design that extends over the roof and deck-lid.
So after watching all 24 hours of The Rolex 24 at Daytona, first off, I’m exhausted, second off, it was a great event! The “Star Car” of Chip Ganassi, a Ford EcoBoost powered Daytona prototype with Scott Dixon, Tony Kannan, Jamie McMurray, and Kyle Larson won the overall event, as well as as the Prototype class. The GT Le Mans class was won by Corvette Racing’s Jan Magnussenm, Antonio García, and Ryan Briscoe who finished 5th overall. Prototype Challenge was won by PR1/Mathiesen Motorsports with Mike Gausch, Andrew Novichm Andrew Palmer, and Tom Kimber-Smith in an Oreca FLM09 with a Chevy engine. GT Daytona was won by Riley Motorsports in a Dodge Viper with Ben Keating, Dominik Farnbacher,Kuno Wittmer, Cameron Lawrence, and Al Carter at the helm.
I don’t watch the Tudor United SportsCar Championship or Endurance racing that often, I watch Sebring and Le Mans and Daytona, but normally and I watch NASCAR IndyCar, and NHRA so it’s a really odd transition. It gets kind of confusing with 4 classes running on the track at the same time. Also, the pit stops are slow compared to NASCAR or IndyCar, but that is understandable as the race is 24 hours long. But when you haven’t had a sport to follow for 2 1/2 months, it’s a small price to pay.
A couple of design things struck my eye. Since half this race is run at night, spotters need to be able to see their cars at any given moment. As such, many cars are outfitted with custom light designs on the roof. Many teams opt for lighted car numbers as well. What I also noticed, and I don’t know why I didn’t notice this before, the cars have number setups to tell indicate where they are position wise, based on class. Cars that feature all professional drivers have red numbers, cars with professional and amateur drivers have blue lights. This is represented in the car numbers. Red boxes around the numbers are professional, blue boxes are professional and amateur drivers.
One thing I didn’t know about prior to this race was the existence of The Delta Wing. This is a car designed to have lighter size and engine power, but with much less drag than traditional race cars. It looks like something out of a Batman comic. Sadly, transmission problems kept us from seeing how well it could really do.
There have been a lot of odd incidents in racing in the last few years, and this race was no exception. At 5 AM, Andy Lally, while driving the #44 Magnus Racing Porsche 911 hit a possum with his car it went through the radiator, and wound up in the front trunk of the car. Porsche 911 is a rear engine car. It wound up knocking Lally, a dedicated vegan, out of the race.
After a brief nap and some dinner, I tuned into the Pro Bowl, or as I like to call it, the Who Gives a Damn bowl. The NFL has done so much to get fans to watch, and they just don’t care at all. This week, the NFL announced that the goal posts would be narrower, and the point after touchdown lines would be moved back. This led to a challenge for kickers, and a number of missed PAT’s. Rarely if ever do you see that, so it did make for an exciting game. the uniforms were awful, but that is the norm now.
That got me to thinking…was this a testing ground for future goal post changes? The fact that the NFL would use such rules might indicate that. Sports thrive on change, and the goal posts haven’t had major changes for a long time. I think that the NFL might be thinking about changes to the goalposts in the future. This might be the first in a series of experiments in that line.
I also caught the late telecast of the NHL All-Star Game, and I hated the uniforms. I also hate this new system of selecting teams. This also applies to the NFL. I like the idea of conference vs conference. I like the idea of AFC vs. NFC in the NFL and Eastern vs. Western in the NHL. But while I can defend having the captains pick the teams in the NHL, the Pro Bowl draft is unacceptable. If it were up to me, I would redo it so that one of the player captains picks the teams. I have nothing against Michael Irvin and Cris Carter, but why not have Team Luck vs. Team Sanford? That would, in my mind, be a better system. But I’m just me, what can I say?
I’m gonna be going on Vacation on Friday, I’ll run the tracker and paint scheme grades as normal, but I may or may not do a My Thoughts On article next Monday, I haven’t decided yet.
Jeff Gordon #24 3M Chevy SS-I was wondering what 3M would do with Gordon’s Chevy, as all of their schemes last year were horrible. I was pleasantly surprised with the simple design. The silver and red reminds me of the Silver-wrench scheme from 1995, and the design works very well, earning a A+
Winter sucks. It’s cold, there’s snow on the ground, and the worst part is that there isn’t auto racing…until 2 pm tomorrow! Yes! It’s the Rolex 24 at Daytona. This year’s field will feature 53 teams from around the world. I’m not a fan of Sports Car racing but I’m looking forward to this. Using the road course configuration, 53 different cars, with 3-4 drivers will race over the course of 24 hours. The goal is to run the farthest in the 24 hour time. In the event of a red flag, the time count will not stop, but the race will.
The history of the event dates back to 1959, when a 1000 km, or 621.371 race was held. In 1962-1963, it was changed to a 3 hour long format, and then to a 2000 km or 1242.742 mile race from 1964-1965. In 1966, the race became a 24 hour long race, which it was until 1971. In 1972 the race was shortened to 6 hours, then returned to 24 hours from 1973 on wards.
If racing has a true “all star race” this is it. Mario Andretti, AJ Foyt, Bobby Rahal, Al Unser, Al Unser Jr., John Andretti, Scott Prutt, Arie Luyendyk, Max Papis, Christian Fittipaldi, Scott Dixon, Casey Mears, Dan Wheldon, Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Sharp,Graham Rahal, Sébastien Bourdais, Justin Wilson, and Charlie Kimball have all won, and the roster of drivers who have raced in the series is legendary. From NASCAR, Rusty Wallace, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, Kyle Petty, AJ Allmendinger, Mark Martin, Jamie McMurray, Kevin Harvick, Brian Vickers, Marcos Ambrose, Clint Bowyer, Michael Waltrip, Robby Gordon, Nelson Piquet Jr.,Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Dale Earnhardt Sr. have raced. From IndyCar, Buddy Rice, Hélio Castroneves, Sam Hornish, Jr., Dario Franchitti, Paul Tracy, Michael Andretti, Marco Andretti, Danica Patrick, Jimmy Vasser, and James Hinchcliffe. Celebrites who love to race show up, including Tim Allen, Frank Beard, Robert Carradine, Patrick Dempsey, James Garner, Gene Hackman, Bruce Jenner, Perry King, Lorenzo Lamas, Phil Mahre, Craig T. Nelson, Paul Newman, Dan Pastorini, Brian Johnson, and Jason Priestly.
This year’s race looks to be a good one, and I’m tingling with excitement. It starts at 2:10 ET on Fox, moves to Fox Sports 2 from 4pm-8pm, then to Fox Sports 1 from 8pm to 10 pm, moves to IMSA.com from 10pm to 7am, and from 7 am to 2:30 will be back on Fox Sports 1. I’m looking forward to it, and I’ll see you there!
The Driver Suit Blog 
