The Driver Suit Blog

By David G. Firestone

The Contender Round is behind us, the Eliminator Round is upon us, and to my great surprise, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Jr., Kyle Busch, and Kasey Kahne were eliminated, and Ryan Newman, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth remain. When it comes to these drivers, I’ll give you Denny and Matt, they are both hard nosed drivers with a lot of talent, granted Toyota does not, for whatever reason, seem to have the horsepower it needs. Carl is the only non-Penske Ford left in the Chase, but I don’t think he can win it all, I just don’t think he has the horsepower either. My bet at this point is either Joey Logano or Brad Keselowski, since Penske has gelled as a team, both drivers are great friends, get along well, and work well as teammates. I can’t wait until Homestead to see how this ends.

I don’t pay attention to TV ratings when it comes to racing. I say this as I have a degree in media studies, and I focused on TV production in college. That said, I’m going to be paying attention to the TV ratings on November 2 for the AAA Texas 500 and the US Grand Prix. I’m fascinated by the fact that F1 and NASCAR are racing in the same state at the same time. I don’t know who pulled the trigger on this, but F1 will never be able to win a popularity contest against NASCAR in the United States. It’s just not going to happen. F1 didn’t race in America between 1981-1988, 1992-1999, and 2007-2011. They never had a fan base in the US to begin with, and now, for some reason, Bernie Ecclestone now thinks that F1 can beat NASCAR in a ratings battle, good luck with that.

Formula 1 is used to being the big shot in every country they race at. The minute they come to the US, they are a second banana to NASCAR. They aren’t publicly stating that, but that’s what they are thinking. You know it and I know it. Every other country they go to in a season is a major event. At the Grand Prix of Russia, Vladimir Putin was in the audience. Hell, he gave the trophies to the podium. If F1 expects a politician to attend the race, they’d better expect someone like Anthony Foxx, the Secretary of Transportation, because that is the best they can expect. F1 is irrelevant in the United States. They expect to be the big racing story in the country, they won’t even be the biggest racing story in their state! Above that, both the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans are playing at home so at best they will be the fourth biggest sports story in Texas. Also, the NHRA is having Eliminations from the Toyota Nationals in Las Vegas, thus dropping F1 down to the third biggest racing story on November 2. I want to see the TV ratings for both races to see who won this battle for viewership, and I’m willing to bet it’s going to be NASCAR.

Do I blame F1 for wanting to be more aggressive in the American market? No, F1 wants to tap into American market to boost the sport, add new fans and increase the bottom line. Give Bernie Ecclestone credit for trying because he is very aggressive in forcing his way into the American market. You’ve got the US Grand Prix, there are plans for a street race in New York City for 2015, and he just announced this week that he wants to hold a street race in Las Vegas. Again, he won’t win the battle against NASCAR but give him credit for trying. One reason a lot of Americans don’t like F1, is that we have no vested interest in the sport. No American drivers or teams, so we have nobody to root for. Ask yourself this question, why would you follow a sport where you have no one to root for, and you are not represented? Can’t answer that? I thought so. F1 should focus more on the European and South American markets, where it is huge, and gets great TV ratings and grow the sport more with huge fan bases rather than try and fail to win a country that doesn’t care about it.

I’d like to say something else before I go. I’m a huge Dale Jr. fan, I was a fan of his father, and he is my favorite driver. That being said, can I just say to Junior Nation right now…SHUT UP! Although I like Dale Jr. I’m not myopic enough to expect him to win the Sprint Cup Championship this season, or any season for that matter. Junior is not a championship caliber driver. I will say that publicly, for the record, and I will not apologize or back down from that statement. Junior is the equivalent of the Chicago Cubs, the Cleveland Browns, the New York Knicks, and the St. Louis Blues, all these teams have great fan bases who are dedicated to their teams and follow them and support them, but these teams will never win championships, not now not ever. I’m tired of hearing Junior Nation cry about not winning the championship every year, get over it.

By David Firestone

In the spirit of my recent additions to The Driver Suit Blog, I’m gonna start writing “My Thoughts on The Racing Weekend” articles on Mondays. These will be pretty straight forward articles, where I recap my thoughts on the racing of the past weekend. If there isn’t, I will comment on any and all announcements made concerning racing and racing news. That said, let’s get started.

Let’s focus on F1 first. The first Russian Formula 1 Grand Prix took place at the brand new Sochi Autodrom in Sochi Russia. The race itself was not without controversy, given the recent events between Russia and the Ukraine. It should be noted that the circuit is a street circuit, with some public roads as part of it. What shocked a lot of drivers was the lack of grip. The surface itself was very nonabrasive to tires, which given that it is brand new does not come as a shock, but the lack of grip made strategy much more complicated. I was wondering which tire compounds Pirelli would bring to the race, and the white mediums and yellow softs did come as a shock. I thought for sure that the red super softs would be used, as did many teams. The racing itself was good, the track is long and it is a really good track.

The Jules Bianci situation was a heavy topic of conversation. He is still in critical condition, but he is in stable condition. Every team and driver had their own tribute, and even F2 and F3 teams wore decals to commemorate him. Mariussa brought his car, and put it in race trim as their tribute. This was a shocking accident in a race that should have been canceled and I am waiting for an explanation as to why the race had to be held.

As for NASCAR, the race at Charlotte was a good one. A rain storm mandated a competition caution, which I don’t like but I accept, and Toyota showed some horsepower in their cars for the first time in a while. Kevin Harvick was putting together a winning effort, but for many similar efforts he put together this year, he came up short. But the major story was a disagreement between Matt Kenseth and Brad Keselowski, and I’ll let the footage speak for itself…

It’s emotion, plain and simple. Kenseth and Keselowski are two passionate drivers. Kenseth suffered the heartbreak of being eliminated from the Chase in the Challenger round. Keselowski had a disagreement with Denny Hamlin, and accidentally ran into Kenseth. Kenseth had his seat belt and some of his safety equipment off, and could have been seriously hurt. I don’t blame Kenseth for what he did, I would have done the same thing. I think Keselowski was being very brash, but you don’t win championships without being a little brash. What will happen penalty wise we will find out later in the week.

As for me, I spent the day yesterday with my best friend Matt and we went to Zizzo Racing to pick up some memorabilia, but more on that on Sunday. I will be back on Wednesday with the Paint Scheme Tracker and on Friday with Paint Scheme Grades. I’m gonna try something I’ve been wanting to do for a while right now. I read and am a huge fan of Uni-Watch, and on Saturdays, they run a piece called 5+1. Written by Catherine Ryan, 5+1 ranks the top 5 college football games in terms of attractiveness of uniforms, and the +1 is the worst. So I’m gonna try this for the race at Charlotte.

5 Jamie McMurray #1 McDonalds Monopoly Chevy SS Smooth look, great color scheme, and I like the use of Big Mac on the name rail.

4 Landon Cassill #40 Hillman Racing Chevy SS Less is more…a lot more. White works well as a background color, and you can’t go wrong with a good shade of red!

3 Kyle Busch #18 Double Mint Toyota Camry While green has traditionally been an unlucky color for race cars, it has been used very well here. The rather simple clean design works well too.

2 Brad Keselowski #2 Detroit Genuine Parts Ford Fusion If the lettering had a black outline, it would have been more visible, but even still, the baby blue works well, as it usually does. The simple design works very well too.

1 Jimmie Johnson #48 Lowes Chevy SS Perfect design and color schemes combine for an awesome scheme!

And the +1 Danica Patrick #10 Go Daddy Chevy SS Pink for October is usually bad, but Go Daddy likes to use a really bad shade of pink. Combine that with an already bad color scheme, and design scheme, and it just looks horrible.

By David G. Firestone

John Monsam is a NASCAR Camping World Series crew chief. While he has limited experience in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series, he has 8 wins in 14 seasons. He also has 2 wins in the ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series. His most impressive season came while he was the crew chief for Mike Bliss in 2002 when they won the Craftsman Truck Series Championship, with 5 wins, 13 top 5’s and 18 top 10’s. In 2003, Jon Wood took over for Mike Bliss and they had two wins, 10 top 5’s, and 20 top 10’s. They wound up finishing 5^th in the points standings.

Starting at the 2003 O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas, Jon Wood picked up Bob Graham’s Presidential bid as a sponsor. This lasted until the 2003 Advance Auto Parts 200 at Martinsville on October 18, almost two weeks after he dropped his bid for the Presidential ballot in 2004. Monsam wore this firesuit, since the threat of fire on pit road is great, and fire does not care who you are.

I’ve complained about politics in racing before, and that complaint is still valid. But as a collector, and a researcher, I don’t pass up something like this. A race-used crew chief suit is not easy to come by. So I will discuss its traits like I would a driver suit. It is a single-layer suit, SFI certified.  The chest has a CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES, FORD, and ROUSH RACING logos on the right side , and a WILDERNESS FOUNDATION logo on the left chest. The torso has BOB GRAHAM RACING TEAM sewn into it. It has full arm gussets, no design on the shoulder epaulets, and has no television logos. The legs have an odd design in that they say Bob Graham’s racing motto on the side, “Workday Bob Graham, Racing For America” which is the first time I have ever seen a motto on the legs. Monsam’s name is on the belt, but on the back as opposed to the front. On the back is a JR’S GARAGE logo, WWW.ROUSHRACING.COM, and the same BOB GRAHAM’S RACING TEAM logo that is on the front.