Interview with Ken Schrader Racing Driver Matt Kurzejewski

Recently, Ken Schrader Racing announced that Matt Kurzejwski would be behind the wheel of the #52 car with sponsorship from Ansell and Menards for this upcoming ARCA Racing season. This past week, I was given a chance to talk to Matt about his roots in racing, the deal with Ken Schrader and his hopes for the upcoming season.

 

Kurzejewski testing at Daytona; Kurzejewski ended up 34th on the speed charts out of 64 cars

Reese Nobles: Matt, growing up in Pennsylvania how did you get involved in racing?

Matt Kurzejewski: I am a second generation to my father, Daniel. From the time of birth, my father was involved in local and regional NASCAR modified racing which at the time was the NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour (now Whelen). From the time of birth, I have always been attracted to anything with an engine. I can remember pictures of me as a toddler with a little go kart my parents gave me to drive around the yard. I could never get enough of it. As a child, there wasn’t anything else I’d rather do than ride four-wheelers, dirt bikes, go karts, etc. At the age of 4, I started racing 1/4 midgets at a local track called the Southern Tier Microd Club. I was hooked. I can remember trying to get it started on my own to drive it around the driveway and lawn when dad wouldn’t be home, all I wanted to do was race and drive – I was fascinated.

Reese N: A few years back you raced a couple races in the Camping World Truck Series, what do you feel you learned from your time in the trucks?

Matt K: I had the opportunity to drive two truck races for Bobby Dotter and SS Green Light Racing in 2013. This was the same time period I only raced 2 ARCA races per year (Daytona and Talladega) for fun and as a hobby. When the opportunity to drive a NASCAR Camping World Truck developed, I jumped at it. Not everyday does someone get presented with that opportunity. Not many people know that I took a brief absence from pursuing a professional racing career until last season, 2015 – this was that time period. The difference between now and then – I would say I have matured as an individual both on and off the track which has lead to my success related to both on and off track activities. One of the best lessons I took from my truck experience would be the importance of the people you surround yourself with in order to be successful is crucial.

Reese N: How did your ARCA deal with Ken Schrader come about?  Did you know Schrader before the deal came together?

Matt K: The best way to describe it is that it was a joint collaboration between myself, Ansell/Menards and Ken Schrader Racing. It was a bunch of people coming together to make something happen and I couldn’t be more honored to drive the No. 52 for KSR and Ansell, Menards and Federated Auto Parts.

Reese N: This will be your fifth season in ARCA but your first full-time season, how are you preparing for the challenges that a full season in the series will bring you such as the variety of tracks in ARCA?

Matt K: I have always put a solid effort towards staying physically fit. Example, last season I kept a bike in the hauler so I could stay physically active outside of the race car while on the road. This offseason I have devoted a good amount of time towards my health along with finishing up my Pilot Certificate. Once I knew this deal was coming together, I needed a better mode of transportation to efficiently increase my use of time both at the track and at home. Many people do not know that I manage the family owned company in Pennsylvania which requires my presence. Over the past two years, I have assembled a great management team that could manage NASA if they had to – they’re that good. This allows me to focus on my dream and progress of becoming a professional race car driver but in the same note, I stay true to my roots and my people and will continue to help and support them in every way I did before the Menards and Ansell opportunity was presented to me. Kenny Schrader assembled a great group of people on his ARCA team starting with Donnie Richeson. From what little I have already worked with them, I couldn’t ask for better. The confidence I have in the #52 KSR team is unmatched. Although I have not been to a handful of tracks the ARCA Series will be visiting this season, I believe we will still be at the top of the charts.

Reese N: What track are you most excited to visit this season? What track are you most worried about?

Matt K: I love Pocono and Iowa, I am also excited to go to New Jersey Motorsports Park. I have had a pretty good track record at road courses and I’m confident in our chances of getting a W at NJ. I wouldn’t say worried is a good term to use, and concerned is still a stretch, when it comes to new tracks I haven’t been to. Throughout the past few years I have become increasingly and progressively better at picking up on new tracks somewhat quickly. Although, I believe DuQuoin and Illinois will be the most challenging due to my lack of dirt racing experience.

Reese N: What do you think it says about your potential as a driver when a sponsor like Menards decides to hop on and sponsor you after they sponsored Frank Kimmel for so long?

Matt K: I wish I had a good answer for this question, but I don’t. It is truly humbling. I can remember playing NASCAR video games and choosing Frank Kimmel as my driver. A good analogy would be, “these shoes that I’ve been asked to fill still feel pretty darn big on me”. Frank is a staple to the ARCA Racing Series and I feel I haven’t only stepped into fulfilling his sponsor roll but also as an Ambassador to the ARCA Racing Series. I truly am blessed and lucky to have this opportunity. I will do everything in my power to make sure it is a success.

Reese N: Every driver wants to get a win but when you sit down at the end of the upcoming season, how will you define “success” and what do you and Donnie Richardson, your crew chief, think it will take to get to that point?

Matt K: Success will be defined in a few different tasks such as did we win the championship? How many races did we win? How many races “fell through the cracks”? Of course, there is a part of me that is caught up in experiencing the once in a lifetime opportunity I have been presented with to represent Menards and Ansell but also, I’m focused on winning. I want to win, it’s as simple as that. There are a lot of different tasks that I will be faced with throughout this upcoming 2016 season that I may not even realize now so I believe I will have some more colorful answers to provide you with at the end of the season.

Kurzejewski will make his Ken Schrader Racing debut on February 13th, in the Lucas Oil 200 from Daytona. The race is set to start at 4 pm and will be carried on Fox Sports1. Good luck to Matt and all of Ken Schrader Racing.

17 Facts for Brady-Manning 17

Two legends will meet at the AFC Championship Game in Denver, for the 17th and possibly, the final time in their illustrious careers. Five Super Bowls between the two of them and a shot for one to get another is on the line. Of course, I am talking about New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, these two gridiron legends have defined greatness under center for the last 18 seasons. Here are 17 factoids about the duo in honor of their 17th meeting.

 

1. Among NFL coaches, only two coaches have more than five wins against Peyton Manning Patriots coach Bill Belichick is one while Jeff Fisher is the other
2. Since the 2006-2007 season when Peyton led the Colts to their Super Bowl win, Brady is 0-2 in the playoffs vs. Manning.
3. In college, both  Brady and Manning won the Citrus Bowl. Brady won in 1999 and Manning won in 1997.
4. Both quarterbacks have over 400 career touchdowns and have thrown 50 or more in a single season.
5. Tom Brady is the only one of the two to never have a losing record in the regular season, Brady’s worst record in 9-7 in 2002 while Manning has had two losing seasons, 1998 and 2001.
6. Both quarterbacks have thrown for 5,000 yards in a single season only once. Brady in 2011 with 5,235 yards and Manning in 2013 with 5,477 yards.
7. While Brady has obtained more playoff success, Manning has the highest completion percentage in the postseason between the two at 64.0%.
8. In the 10 seasons between Brady’s Super Bowl wins, Manning led his team to the Super Bowl three times, winning one.
9. Prior to the season, Manning led the Colts to the Super Bowl he was 3-6 the playoffs.
10. Between the two, only Peyton has a playoff run where he threw more interceptions than touchdowns.
11. Both Brady and Manning have won NFL Comeback Player of the Year. Brady in 2009, Manning in 2012.
12. Wes Welker is the only player to catch a touchdown pass from both Brady and Manning.
13. No two quarterbacks in the history of the league have faced each other more times (5) than Brady and Manning.
14. Only two other quarterbacks can claim five wins over Manning. Those are Drew Bledsoe and Jay Fielder.
15. At age 39, Peyton Manning will become the second-oldest quarterback to start a playoff game. Brett Favre was oldest at 40.
16. Only 12 players have winning records against Brady: Eli Manning, Drew Brees, Jake Plummer, Kyle Orton, Brian Griese, Patrick Ramsey, Colt McCoy, Kevin Kolb, Cam Newton, Colin Kaepernick, Aaron Rodgers and Brock Osweiler.
17. This is probably the last time you will get to see this matchup so enjoy it.

Chase Format Announced for Xfinity, Trucks; Caution Clock Implemented in CWTS

Well, it has been rumored for a while and now it’s official, NASCAR fans just can’t escape the Chase for the (Enter Series Name Here) as NASCAR CEO and Chairman Brian France has announced a Chase like format for both the Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series’ starting this season among a plethora of other changes.

In his usual state-of-the-sport address to kick off the 34th annual Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour, France introduced the new format, with both formats consisting of seven races, setting up a four-driver battle at the Series finale at Homestead-Miami and both consisting of two elimination rounds. With this change, none of the 16 Chase for the Sprint Cup drivers from 2015 will be allowed to compete at the finale of the other two series this season.

The Chase for the Xfinity Series title will consist of 12 drivers, beginning with the Sept 24 race at Kentucky Speedway. The field will be rounded down to eight drivers after the first round, made up of the races at Kentucky, Dover, and Charlotte. After this round, there will be a second round made up of the following three races at Kansas, Texas and Phoenix before the final battle at Homestead-Miami with the remaining four drivers.

Xfinity chase grid

 

 

On to the Camping World Truck Series side, where the Chase for the Truck title will begin at eight drivers and be rounded down to six after races at New Hampshire, Las Vegas, and Talladega before the four are determined after the next three race series at Martinsville, Texas and Phoenix before the finale at Homestead-Miami.

Camping World Truck Series chase grid

 

 

While many fans will not be in favor of this change, France believes it can do nothing but help as he said while making the announcement “I think it’s important the (young drivers) understand how difficult it’s going to be when they get to the Sprint Cup level,”

One other announcement made today and probably the most stupid decision in the history of motorsports, the beginning of the “caution clock” implemented in the Camping World Trucks Series. This is designed to dumb down the races so that those who have shorter attention spans can keep watching. It boils down to this:

At the beginning of the race as well as on restarts a 20-minute clock will be set, once the clock runs out, a caution flag will be thrown and then reset for another 20 minutes period.

Once the race is down to the final 20 laps, the clock is turned off with the exception of Eldora where there is no clock as well as Canadian Tire Motorsports Park and Pocono where it will be turned off with 10 laps left.

Caution Clock

 

Folks we have seen it all, NASCAR at least as far as the CWTS is concerned has gone straight into the toilet. I don’t know who is telling Brian France that these are possibly good ideas but it sure as hell is not the fans, at least not this fan and I’m sure a majority of others agree. Please feel free to vote in the poll in this article on whether or not you think the caution clock is a good idea. At least, we still have our local tracks where we can see some real racing and not whatever this is.

 

Larry Murphy Wins Scouts 200, Carlton Parked After Altercation

Cody Carlton came into the Arena Racing League Scouts 200 riding a three race Top Dog winning streak but was denied a fourth after being parked following an altercation between him the spotter for the #17t of Camden Testerman resulting from a crash in the a-main between the two drivers which saw the two get into each other in turn four on la. Carlton got out of his car, ran to Testerman’s car on the backstretch and attempted to kick the side of the #17t. Enraged, Carlton then ran up to the spotter stand and threw a punch, resulting in the police separating the two and detaining Cody Carlton before releasing him later during the event. When talking to Camden about what happened all he had to say was “He (Carlton) pushed me down to the concrete and we slid into the wall, Carlton did kick my car and hit my spotter, hopefully, he will cool down.”

Other than this incident, the a-main was somewhat quiet but with a few incidents such as the one involving John Nickens on lap 20 when Nickens lost a wheel and hit the turn four wall hard but still rolling into turn one where he hit the wall once again, dropping debris as he rolled, Nickens was running second at the time of the crash. At the end of the a-main, Camden Testerman won followed by Garrett Manes in only his second week in the Pro Series. Larry Murphy, Howie DiSavino and Savannah Nickens rounded out the top five. Testerman also had the hot lap in the a-main with a time of 7.861 seconds.

The b-main was a little more eventful as Robbie Allison started outside pole and led the first handful of laps until he was got loose while racing Cullen Roberts in the #27 and ended up spinning while working around the #21 of Johnny Shonk who was a lap down.The field restarted with Jim Grady Jr inhis #74 leading the #54 of Matt Sanders, #18 of Branden Sanders, #07 of Shane Zupo and Robbie Allison in the #28. The field would not be green long though, as Allison got into Branden Sanders, causing Sanders to flip in turn two while the field worked lap 23. After this restart, things were calm until Shonk and Allison got together again on lap 38, bringing out the fourth caution. About seven laps after the restart from this most recent caution, the two Sanders cars were involved in a scary incident when Matt Sanders got into Branden Sanders causing Branden to flip his car for the second time and send debris flying on the front stretch. As soon as the green flag flew to restart the race, Johnny Shonk had a flat tire, sending him into Shane Zupo and bringing out what would be the final caution. With five to go the top three cars were Jim Grady Jr, Cullen Roberts and Robbie Allison. As the field took the white flag it looked like Jim Grady Jr was on his way to winning the b-main until Cullen Roberts spun him out coming off turn four to steal the win. Roberts was followed by Grady Jr, Robbie Allison, Matt Sanders and Shane Zupo to round out the top five in the b-main.

 

Finally, the Top Dog race, now down to a 13 car field was ready to begin. The starting lineup was as follows:

1. #55-Howie DiSavino
2. #04-Larry Murphy
3. #91-John Alford  Did Not Start
4. #17-John Nickens  Did Not Start
5. #27-Cullen Roberts
6. #54-Matt Sanders
7. #74-Jim Grady Jr
8. #28-Robbie Allison
9. #17t-Camden Testerman
10. #71-Savannah Nickens  Did Not Start
11. #1-Garrett Manes
12. #07-Shane Zupo
13. #11-Conner Medeiros

 

Cautions in this one came early and often with the first being on lap six when Robbie Allison and Matt Sanders wrecked in turn two, ending what could have been a promising night for  both drivers. The top five on the restart were DiSavino, Roberts, Murphy, Testerman and Manes. Within three laps, DiSavino pulled out to a .866 second lead and on lap 17 with an obviously dominant car, began to lap the field until a caution on that same lap erased his lead. The caution was for a solo spin by Shane Zupo in the #07. Once the field went back green with only seven cars left it did not take long for Garrett Manes to take third from Camden Testerman via the high line of the track but running the high line at this track is a double edged sword as Manes found out on lap 27 when he got a little too high and smacked the wall off turn four.

 

By lap 31, DiSavino had opened up a 1.096 second lead over Cullen Roberts but Roberts slowly brought the lead back as on lap 36, the lead was down to only .763 seconds. The third caution cam on lap 43 when Testerman and Roberts got into each other causing Roberts to go on his side before bringingthe car back down on four wheels. The caution resulted in Roberts and Testerman starting at the rear on the restart, a restart that was led by DiSavino, Manes, Murphy, Medeiros and Grady Jr. The green flag didnt stay out long though, as the same lap they restarted Manes got into DiSavino, putting DiSavino on his side before also collecting Conner Medeiros. This ended the race both Medeiros and DiSavino after DiSavino had led from the green flag and was possibly on route to his first Top Dog win of the season.

 

The green flag came back out for a seven-lap dash to the finish with only five cars left, led by Larry Murphy, Jim Grady Jr, Cullen Roberts and Garrett Manes. In the final dash to the finish, it was all Larry Murphy who scored his first Top Dog win since coming back to Arena Racing last weekend after a seven-year hiatus. After the win I asked Murphy about the win and why he came back he said: “It was basically an itch that needed to be scratched and I’m not getting any younger.” The Italian Stallion, a former Arena Racing League champion also won the a-main last weekend and now wins his first Top Dog race since coming back. 

 

1. Larry Murphy
2. Cullen Roberts
3. Garrett Manes
4. Camden Testerman
5. Jim Grady Jr

 

 

 
Mark my words, Garrett Manes is going to win one of these before the season is over. He has no fear and it shows when he uses the high line, something many drivers in the series do not do. While replacing his father, Jason who is out with a concussion as a result of a crash in the Holiday 200 the youngers Manes has two straight third place finishes in Top Dog races and almost won the a-main tonight.

Rico Abreu to drive for ThorSport full time in 2016

Sprint car sensation and 2015 Chili Bowl Nationals winner Rico Abreu will be driving full-time for ThorSport in the Camping World Truck Series in 2016, piloting the #98 Toyota Tundra alongside two-time Truck Series champ Matt Crafton.

Abreu comes to trucks from the NASCAR K&N East Series. Last season, in only his seventh race in the K&N East ranks Abreu notched his first win in the series at Columbus Motor Speedway. Last November, Abreu started his first two CWTS races with a best finish of 13th at Homestead-Miami in the season finale. Abreu is being paired with veteran Crew Chief Doug George who will be on the pit box for his 12th season in the CWTS, George has five wins and 32 top-five finishes over the course of his career.

In the official press release from ThorSport, Abreu said  “This is one of the best opportunities I have been given,” said Abreu. “I appreciate the support and the hard work that everyone at ThorSport Racing and Curb Records has put into all of this for me to live my dream. I’m thankful to be a part of Duke’s (Thorson) team and am excited to race with all my ThorSport Racing teammates and crewmembers.

Abreu also went on to thank the people behind his success “My team, sponsors and fans will know that I’m giving 100% effort every time I’m at the track and on the track. My goal is to get the most out of every lap and every opportunity this season. I’m looking forward to meeting new fans and representing ThorSport and Toyota well.”

I expect Abreu to struggle some as any rookie would but at the end of the season Abreu to morph into a top 10 driver with the support of his new team at ThorSport. Abreu is a fine young talent as he has shown not only in the K&N Series but also in dirt where he will be defending his Chili Bowl title this weekend in Tulsa, OK

 

Don’t Just Call It NASCAR; An open letter to misguided sports fans

With a new year upon us, that also means a new racing season around the world in all forms of motorsport. Now, from an outsider’s point of view, it may all look the same and some may be naive to the differences between series, some may lack the intelligence to tell the difference and some may just not care and lump it all together as “NASCAR.” All fans of motorsports have these friends, often the type of people who complain about their lack of entertainment once their favorite sport it over or maybe they still think this whole racin deal is for us southerners. I am here to explain the differences between the three most common types of motorsport so that you may use this article to teach them and hey, who knows maybe even you will learn a thing or two about different types of motorsports.

 

1. National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR)- This is the most common motorsport in North America and unlike ball-sports kicks its season off with its biggest event, the Daytona 500 at the birthplace of NASCAR Daytona Beach, Florida. Personally, my favorite form of motorsports (though I do not discriminate) this series runs from around Valentine’s Day til a week or so before Thanksgiving. The series was founded by Bill France Sr in 1948, as a way to help stock car racing grow away from unscrupulous promoters who would often leave with the prize money before drivers were paid. France established a set of rules and a governing body with a regular schedule and an organized championship during a meeting in December of 1947 at the Ebony Bar and Streamline Hotel, both located in Daytona Beach, Florida with the official announcement of the formation of the series on February 21, 1948 (also the date of this season’s Daytona 500). NASCAR runs its races on a plethora of different tracks ranging from 2.5-mile banked ovals to .5 mile short tracks and even a few road courses.

 

Chase Elliott’s 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car

Its highest level, the Sprint Cup Series runs a 36 race schedule with its Chase for the Sprint Cup (NASCAR’s attempt at playoffs) consisting of the final ten races. The Sprint Cup Series runs twice on road courses with the first time being in June at the Sonoma Raceway in southern California and it’s second being at Watkins Glen in New York, often in the first weekend in August. The series runs select night races as well with the most notable being the annual Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, capping off what many motorsports fans call their favorite day of the year with the Indianapolis 500 in the IndyCar Series as well as the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix all in the same day. A few legends of this series include names you may have heard before such as Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty and Davey Allison.

 

Eric McClure’s 2015 Xfinity Series car

In its second-tier series, the Xfinity Series the drivers run a 33 race schedule comprised of many of the same tracks as the Sprint Cup Series although the series runs the most road courses of NASCAR’s three main series, it does not stop at Sonoma but does run at Watkins Glen, as well as Road America and Mid-Ohio with races in previous seasons at road courses in Canada as well as Mexico. The Xfinity Series is the middle step in the NASCAR ladder, with many drivers racing here before moving up to Sprint Cup so they can get time in the seat and see many of the same tracks they will see in Sprint Cup, however, some Sprint Cup drivers like Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, and Kyle Larson will also race in this series for fun on many occasions throughout the year. The Xfinity Series often only races at a track once per year with the exception of tracks like Daytona and Charlotte where the Sprint Cup Series often makes return trips to tracks throughout its schedule.

 

Matt Crafton’s 2015 Camping World Truck Series truck

The third tier series of NASCAR is the newest one, founded in 1995 and the last one we will go into detail about is the Camping World Truck Series. Besides the obvious differences such as the vehicle being a truck as opposed to a stock car, this series is also the only one of NASCAR’s top three series to race on dirt with the now annual race at Eldora in July and is also the only one of NASCAR’s top three series to run a weekday race with the Eldora race also being on a Wednesday. This series also runs a smaller schedule, with only 23 races on its calendar with their lone trip to a road course being the race at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. The Truck Series also runs at Iowa Speedway on the same weekend as the Xfinity Series and is the only one of NASCAR’s top series to run at Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Illinois. Drivers often come to the Truck Series as a way of gaining seat time at many tracks also used in the Xfinity and Sprint Cup Series before heading up to those series with names like Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon and Greg Biffle making stops here before heading up the ladder.

 

NASCAR sanctions other series in other countries as well with the NASCAR Pinty’s Series in Canada, NASCAR Mexico Series in Mexico and the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series in Europe. NASCAR sanctions a variety of lower series in the United States as well with the K&N East and West Series serving as feeders to the top three series as well as weekly races at various tracks throughout America and the Whelen Modified and Southern Modified Series

 

2. IndyCar- This is the first of the open-wheel series we will discuss and is often the most popular in North America. Home to the annual Memorial Day weekend classic, the Indianapolis 500, this series has been in existence since 1994 when the term was coined due to the link between the cars and the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway, sanctioned by the CART Series. In 1996 however, the name became the subject of a court case when IMS president Tony George founded his own series using the same cars as the CART Series but with a new name, the Indy Racing League. Since the end of the CART Series, the two have become one, now known as the Verizon IndyCar Series. The Series will run a 16 race schedule this season, with its crown jewel the 100^th running of the Indianapolis 500 right in the middle of it as well as road course races on the streets of Boston as well as a nice mix of oval course races such as Texas Motor Speedway and Iowa Motor Speedway. Names like Helio Castroneves, Danica Patrick, Juan Pablo Montoya and Dan Wheldon are just a few of the many drivers to have competed in this series. Lately it and the other open-wheel series I will be discussing have been at the center of a slight controversy on how to better protect drivers after the untimely death of Justin Wilson in an IndyCar race at Pocono this past fall when Wilson was struck in the head by a piece of debris off the car of Sage Karam after Karam hit the wall, this debris which was the nosecone of the car careened off into Wilson, sending him head-first into an exposed wall, killing Wilson. Many suggestions have been made by various manufacturers but a plan has not been agreed upon quite yet. Apart from this series, the sanctioning body also governs over the Indy Lights, Pro Mazda and the Cooper Tires USF2000 series which serve as feeder series much like the Xfinity and Truck series discussed in the NASCAR portion of this article.

Juan Pablo Montoya’s 2015 IndyCar Series ride

 

3. Formula One- This is by far the richest series we will be discussing in this article with races throughout the globe in such exotic locations as Monaco, Abu Dhabi, and Sochi. This series often runs early in the morning here in America, often making it viewed less by people here in the states. You won’t find a Ford or Chevy here like in NASCAR or a Honda like in IndyCar, instead, these drivers have the pleasure of driving Ferraris, Mercedes and Jaguars among a host of other manufacturers. Making only one annual trip to the states makes it a must attend event for any motorsports fan. Governed by the FIA, this series has been in existence since the 1950s and has been dominated by names like Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, Sir Jackie Stewart as well as, in more recent years Lewis Hamilton. The FIA also runs a series with a similar body style as the F1 cars but powered by electricity rather than gasoline, this series is called Formula E and completed its inaugural season in 2014-2015 running an 11 race schedule in 10 different cities, its inaugural champion was former NASCAR Truck Series driver Nelson Piquet Jr.

2015 Ferrari F1

 

 

Now that you have been educated at least a little bit on different forms of motorsport you can pass this knowledge onto friends and family that may be naive about racing or just simply think everything is “NASCAR” because as you now know, this is not true and NASCAR is not just a blanket term for all forms of motorsports. There are many more forms that you may encounter at a local track. View the photo gallery in this article for pictures of all discussed forms of motorsport and a few lesser known forms as well.

2015 Ferrari F1

Whelen Modified Series Car

Tony Stewart’s Winged Sprint Car

Matt Crafton’s 2015 Camping World Truck Series truck

GT Class Car in the WeatherTech United SportsCar Championship

LeMans Prototypes ran in the WeatherTech United SportsCar Championship

Andretti Autosport Formula E

Indy Lights Series Car

Rico Abreu’s Sprint Car

Chase Elliott’s 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car

Juan Pablo Montoya’s 2015 IndyCar Series ride

Eric McClure’s 2015 Xfinity Series car

Noah Gragson’s Late Model Car

 

 

Cody Carlton Wins Again

After a long holiday break the on track action in the Arena Racing League heated back up as they honored the brave men and women of the fire and police departments this past Saturday with the Guns and Hoses 200. Cody Carlton came into the event winning two of the first three races of the season after winning the ARL title in 2014-2015.

In final practice it was revealed that there would be a few changes to the lineup for this, the fourth race or the season. Garrett Manes replaced his father Jason in the Pearson Mazda #1 after Jason had a scary flip in the Holiday 200 before the break for the holidays. Former series champion Travis Wall sat in the Essex Concrete #28 in place of Robbie Allison, Allison was in Alabama attending the funeral of his grandmother, Judy who passed over the holiday break and he was sorely missed by  fans and drivers alike. Another former champ Larry “The Italian Stallion” Murphy made a return to the ARL after a prolonged seven year absence in the #04 car and Shane Zupo was racing the #07.

The A and A mains were set by final practice as per the usual for the ARL and was dominated by none other than Chesapeake, VA’s Cody Carlton with a lap time of 07.757 seconds followed by Camden Testerman, Murphy, Wall and Conner Medeiros.

The 50-lap a-main race kicked off the night and consisted of the the aforementioned top five qualifiers as well as  #17-John Nickens, #1-Garrett Manes and #18-Scott Prillaman. The racing in the first half of the a-main was uneventful for the most part as by time lap 15 came Prillaman, Testerman and Carlton pulled out to a one second gap over the rest of the field. By the time the field began to work lap 27, Prillaman has begun to lap the rest of the field and at lap 30 the top five were Prillaman, Testerman, Carlton, Medeiros and Murphy with Medeiros taking his car to the infield and ending his a-main only three laps later as the field worked lap 33. All was calm until Camden Testerman spun in turn one while the field ran lap 39, bringing out the first caution of 2016. The field restarted led again by Scott Prillaman with Cody Carlton second, Larry Murphy third, Travis Wall fourth and John Nickens rounding out the top five.

Once the field got going again, the cautions flew often as Carlton and Prillaman crashed in turn one and then again in turn four, ending Prillaman’s a-main but not his night as Scott would go on to race in the Top Dog race later but more on that later. This incident sent Carlton to the rear as ARL state that any car involved in the caution must lineup in the rear, something we would be reminded of again tonight. On the restart, Murphy led Wall, Testerman, Carlton and the lap down car of Nickens.

The race was caution-free and Larry Murphy, in his first ARL race in seven years took the checkered flag in the a-main over #28-Travis Wall, #17-John Nickens, #94-Cody Carlton and #17t of Camden Testerman.

 

The next race on the schedule for the night was the b-main, consisting of the slower cars from qualifying. #54-Matt Sanders, #91-John Alford, #74 Jim Grady Jr, #55-Howie DiSavino, #21 Johnny Shonk, #71 Savannah Nickens, #07-Shane Zupo, #4-Brad Davis and #27-Cullen Roberts.

The field jumped the start not once but twice before they finally got in off cleanly and Alford took the lead on lap two. By lap 12, Alford had extended his lead out to 1.360 seconds but only three laps later the caution flag flew when Savannah Nickens almost flipped her car off turn four, ending her b-main and bringing out the yellow flag which eventually led to the officials throwing the red flag to clean up some fluid off turn four.

As the field restarted, leader John Alford got loose in turn four, allowing Howie DiSavino to take the lead in turn four as the field worked lap 16 and in just four laps time, DiSavino opened up a 1.313 second lead over Alford and extended that lead to 1.711 seconds by halfway. The caution flew again on lap 27 as Alford got spun by Cullen Roberts in turn three and Matt Sanders got caught up in the crash and brought out the second red flag of the b-main.

Once the field restarted, Howie DiSavino led Jim Grady Jr, Brad Davis, Johnny Shonk and Shane Zupo, only two laps later however, Davis passed DiSavino for the lead and the duo opened up a 1.052 second lead over the rest of the field. With 10 to go, DiSavino tried to make a pass on Davis for the lead in turn one but got loose and had to back of, this was not the end of DiSavino’s problems as he brought out the final caution when he got loose in turn two with five to go.

As the field restarted for the five lap dash to the finish, Davis led Grady, Alford, Sanders and Shonk, before the restart Shane Zupo’s day ended when he had to take his car to the infield after one of his tires went flat. On the actual restart, Shonk took advantage of the option to line up outside of the leader. With three to go, Cullen Roberts was shown the black flag for going onto the cement infield and passing cars off of the track surface.

When the checkered flag was shown, Brad Davis won his second b-main of the season followed by Jim Grady Jr, Johnny Shonk, Matt Sanders and John Alford to round out the top five.

 

The main event, Top Dog race concluded the night, the field was reshuffled and lineup as follows: 1-#54 Matt Sanders, 2-#1 Garrett Manes, 3-#27 Cullen Roberts, 4-#21 Johnny Shonk, 5-#17 John Nickens, 6-#18 Scott Prillaman, 7-#94 Cody Carlton, 8-#28 Travis Wall, 9-#11 Conner Medeiros, 10-#74 Jim Grady Jr, 11-#04 Larry Murphy, 12-#4 Brad Davis, 13-#17t Camden Testerman, 14-#91 John Alford.

Garrett Manes quickly pulled out to the lead and he and Prillaman were beginning to separate themselves from the field until the first caution on lap two when Cullen Roberts experienced an unspecified technical difficulty and was forced to retire from the race.

The field restarted with Manes leading Prillaman, Sanders, Wall and John Nickens. Upon taking the green flag, Manes slipped back to third before yet another caution on lap four as Alford and Shonk collided on the backstretch, forcing both to the rear.

The field took the green again with Prillaman leading over Wall, Carlton, Manes and John Nickens but Carlton wouldn’t stay in third long as he quickly passed Wall for second. The race was once again interrupted by caution on lap eight when Travis Wall hit the backstretch wall and got ran into by Camden Testerman, sending Testerman’s car underneath the 28 and carried the two to turn four while Sanders hit the inside wall on the backstretch and the #18 of Prillaman was pinned between the top of the backstretch wall and the #21 of Johnny Shonk. As a result of the incident, Testerman, Prillaman and Wall all retired from the race, Prillaman was leading at the time but Carlton and Manes snuck by. The red flag was displayed while the track officials cleaned up the accident.

On the restart, Carlton inherited the lead followed by Nickens, Manes, Medeiros and Davis before yet another caution in a race that many called a crashfest later on as Larry Murphy spun on the backstretch and collected Alford, ending both of their nights. The duo was running ninth and tenth respectively at the time of this, the fourth caution.

The top five on the restart were Carlton, Medeiros, Nickens, Grady Jr and Manes. Carlton began to pull away as he usually does and began to lap the rest of the field at lap 36 and with ten laps to go he led over Medeiros by 1.265 seconds. The final caution flew with five laps to go after Shonk hit the wall in turn two, ending his race.

The field restarted with Carlton leading Medeiros, Nickens, Manes and Grady Jr and Carlton held on to win his third Top Dog race in a row. Your top five were

1. Cody Carlton
2. Conner Medeiros
3. Garrett Manes
4. John Nickens
5. Brad Davis

After the race Cody commented on the win “Well, I wasn’t really very confident on it at first but after we got around the 28 i guess they all got together behind me and it was smooth sailing from then.” When asked if he truly knows how dominant he has been this season, winning the last three Top Dog races, Carlton replied ”I wouldn’t go that far,we try our best, we work hard on these cars and we probably work harder on them than anybody else out here. It just pays off when you come out here and do stuff like that.” Cody recently posted his ArenaCar, yes the one he currently uses online for sale. I asked him if this was really his last season in the Arena Racing League and he said “ It’s still up in the air, I love racing these cars it’s a blast to race them, i just can’t say what i am doing yet for next season.”

Nationals Trade Storen to Blue Jays for Revere

 

It is official in Washington, Jonathan Papelbon will be the closer for the Nationals after Drew Storen was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for outfielder Ben Revere after much trade talk throughout the day centered around Nationals starter Gio Gonzalez.

This trade gives the Nats an extra outfielder to go with the trio of NL MVP Bryce Harper, Jayson Werth and Michael A Taylor fresh off of an outstanding rookie season. The Blue Jays get a player who was plucked and raised by Washington as Drew had been with the Nats since they used the 10th overall pick on him in the 2009 amateur draft. Storen has 95 career saves to go along with a 3.02 ERA and 21 wins. Storen dropped the ball however in the Nats two playoff series with a combined postseason ERA of 8.44 over 5 ⅓ innings.

For Revere, Washington is nothing new as he is a former member of the Phillies before being traded to Toronto last season. Revere provides speed on the base paths with a career 176 stolen bases and is an outstanding contact hitter with a career .328 Avg  and in the outfield he has a career .990 fielding percentage. With Taylor fresh off of a 63 RBI, 14 home run rookie season in the outfield, I expect Revere to be a valuable piece of the Nats bench and give Jayson Werth days off as needed and become a DH in interleague play. With the addition of former Met Daniel Murphy and former Yankee Stephen Drew, the Washington Nationals will have a different look come April when they hopefully start to rack up curly w’s.

Outrage in Cooperstown

Yesterday, Ken Griffey Jr was elected into the the National Baseball Hall of Fame on his first time on the ballot but that isn’t the big story here. The big story here is the fact that Griffey and his 83.6 career Wins Above Replacement did not get unanimously voted into the hall.

Out of the 440 total voters, 437 voted for Griffey to get into the hall, which yes is a record and does indeed make him a hall of famer like he should be but it should have been unanimous. For the three voters who said no to Griffey, how could you? The man played 22 seasons, was cooler than the other side of the pillow, hitting for an average of .284 while also knocking 630 balls out of the park and amassing 1,836 RBIs. While yes, Griffey never won a World Series and of course you can’t possibly be great if you never won a World Series although we all praise Clayton Kershaw and Mike Trout, both of whom also haven’t won a World Series, Griffey did go to a whopping 13 All-Star games and won the 1997 American League MVP.

Griffey is not the first player to be robbed of a unanimous decision however, Tom Seaver when he got in with the 1992 class only had 98.84% even though in Seaver’s 20 year career, he won 311 games and had a 2.86 career ERA while also winning three Cy Young awards and the 1969 World Series with the New York Mets, he was not unanimous. Neither was Nolan Ryan, the GREAT Nolan Ryan widely considered to be the best pitcher in the history of baseball, the same Nolan Ryan who won 324 games over a massive 27 year career including a MLB record 5,714 strikeouts and seven no-hitters but Ryan only got 98.79% of the vote.

I would love to know who the three voters who voted against Griffey were but to say it is surprising is a stretch, baseball is heavy in tradition and that extends out to the writers who will never let anyone in unanimously. In the next 10 years we have Jeter, Mariano Rivera and it wouldn’t shock me if Yadier Molina retires in the next few years so throw him in also. We will never know who the three against Griffey were, due in part to cowardness but also because they know that baseball fans from all over the nation would instantly hate on them on social media and social media is of course the most important measure of how much someone is liked these days.

The Evolution Of Jameis

In 2014, when you asked people at Florida State what they thought about Jameis Winston you could get a plethora of different replies ranging from “misogynistic star athlete”, “nice guy, great player”, “star athlete who got off easy” and of course “future NFL star.” If you said the last one you are right so far.

Winston having head shaved during Cut for a Cure charity event

Jameis, the first overall pick in the 2015 NFL draft by Tampa Bay was at times a distraction in college and many critics and NFL fans alike said that he couldn’t effectively lead a team and even I said that I believed he would be a bust. Many thought his off field issues would trump the on field talent and that had every right to think so. From Jameis’ sexual assault accusations to his yelling obscenities in the student union to the crab leg issue whether he stole them or they were given to him, this is what many fans based their criticisms off and had every right in the world to do so.

Others in the NFL-universe believed however that he could be a great quarterback and that once he matured he would turn into an outstanding leader, Jameis is charismatic and you certainly cannot doubt the fact that he gets players around him fired up for games and that he can lead a team on the field but again the question was “could he lead them off the field?”

In his first season in Tampa Bay, Jameis has not only quieted the doubters but also is providing  Tampa Bay with something they have not been given from their football team in about a decade, something more powerful, something called hope. Jameis led the team to a 6-10 record and while that may not seem like a great feat for a highly touted rookie it becomes greater when you realize that in one single season, Jameis led the team to the same amount of wins as the previous two seasons combined and led the team to its highest point total since 2012. Jameis did not start out strong, however, over the course of his first four games in the NFL his statline was what you would expect from a rookie: 73-133 965 yards 6 TD 7 INT but over the course of the final 12 games, Jameis showed great improvement finishing with 4,042 yards 22 TD and 15 INT to go along with a completion percentage of 58.3. Jameis also helped his team when rushing, amassing 210 yards and 6 TD on the ground.

Jameis still has a lot left in his progression towards being an elite NFL quarterback and while one season cannot be an accurate measurement of a player’s future success (remember RG3?) Winston gives Tampa Bay fans some real hope for the future and gives the community a young man who seems to have matured into a fine young starting quarterback but also a future pillar of the community.