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Thoughts Coming to the Line

I've asked more than one winning driver what thoughts were, well, racing through his mind, in the seconds just before crossing the finish line. The answer often has been along the lines of a confident, "I did it!" Sometimes, in extra candid moments, it more like a surprised, "I can't believe I did it!"

Now we're coming to the finish line of Motorsports 2009. So, I have a few lines of my own to offer:

• Mike Helton should have walked with Rick Hendrick to some unseen and quiet spot, wrapped his arm around Cup racing's gold-standard of an owner, and said that, for the good of NASCAR and the industry, Hendrick needed to make Chad Knaus Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s crew chief.
• On the other hand, to be honest, I'm not convinced Junior's problem is sitting atop the No. 88's war wagon.
• Jimmie Johnson will, of course, start the 2010 Daytona 500 as the Sprint Cup championship favorite. The question is: Who has the best chance to overtake him? It says here that name is Tony Stewart.
• If you give the IRL every possible benefit-of-the-doubt, I guess you could just say the League is unlucky. Latest example: On the eve of its new series sponsor announcement, all the talk was Danica teaming with Junior in NASCAR. I hope there's enough money in the new deal for a dentist to fix all of those gnashed teeth at 16th and Georgetown.
• It's not good for NHRA that, for many people, the most memorable moment came in the Funny Car semifinals at the U.S. Nationals.
• It would be terrific if Mark Martin got to fly with "Sully" Sullenberger. Why hasn't some crackerjack PR person already made that happen?
• The most important story of the year, hands-down, was the Hulman-George family removing Tony George from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's seat-of-power. Besides Tony's breath-taking fall, it cast doubt on the ownership future of the Speedway and an American sporting tradition.
• I am sorry to say this, but Jeff Gordon's days as a big winner in NASCAR are over. He just might be the new Jeff Burton.
• Linking a casino to the Kansas Speedway is a natural. Both involve high levels of risk, gambling - and money.
• The greatest loss for racing, overall, this year has been the continuing decline of coverage in daily newspapers. Those stories, in times past, helped build NASCAR to national prominence. And sell tickets.
• After the overbuilding boom of the late 1980s/early 1990s, watch for this to be the next trend: Racetracks increasing the width of grandstands seats in the name of spectator comfort. That's true, but what it also does is reduce seating capacity, which is OK, since lots have been going empty anyway. Looks better on TV, too.
• Since Talladega is not going to knock-down the banking, it's time for NASCAR to take a fresh look at how to balance fan entertainment vs. driver safety. That means bringing in experts from other fields and talking to people who don't have their fingerprints on the CoT. But, please, invite Ryan Newman to the meeting.
• Not that she'll ever admit it, but the happiest person to see Ashley Force Hood lose in the first round in the next-to-last drag race of the season was Danica Patrick. Ashley getting the national media attention as Funny Car champion just wouldn't do.
• The coolest sight at any racetrack, anywhere, next year just might be the new Nationwide series Ford Mustang at Daytona.
• Honda, Toyota and BMW are out of Formula One, replaced on the grid by the likes of Campos, Manor and USF1. That's not the world championship I grew up knowing and caring about. What's next? Bernie Ecclestone serving hot dogs in his suite?

[ Next column: November 30 ]

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(I.N. Sider is the pen name for an independent motorsports business-person who has a quarter-century of professional experience working in almost every major North American racing series. The writer is not an employee of Valvoline or Ashland Inc. The column is intended to inform, entertain, and stimulate thought on the contemporary motorsports scene. The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of Valvoline or Ashland Inc.)