March26th2007

THE WEEKLY SMACK BY DJ RADANOVICH
MARCH 26TH, 2007

Kyle Busch edged out Jeff Burton to win the Food City 500 and the inaugural race for the Car Of
Tomorrow. After the race however one would have never guessed that he had won. In victory
lane Busch told reporters " I said I wanted to win this race so I could tell everybody how terrible
this thing is to drive. I can't stand to drive them. They suck." Busch couldn't leave it at that and
continued to say "It just doesn't turn. For me, it's just not very much fun to drive. It's hard to
race around on the track with other competitors because it doesn't have a lot of maneuverability.
With this thing, when you start to slide the front tires it continues to slide, sort of like you're on
skis." I like the idea behind the COT, a less aero friendly car that puts the racing back into the
hands of the drivers. Oh well Kyle, you better get used to the COT. Tony Stewart dominated the
first half of the race before a faulty fuel pump sent him pit side on lap 288. Following Busch and
Burton to the finish was Jeff Gordon, Harvick, Biffle, Jeff Green, Earnhardt, Jr., Bowyer,
McMurray, and Casey Mears. Kudos to Jeff Green for running a good race coming home sixth.

Over the weekend we travelled to Sandusky to tour the ThorSport garage that houses the
Nascar Craftsman Truck teams of #88 Matt Crafton and #13 Willie Allen. I have never been to a
Nascar shop before and this was certainly a treat for me. Being the only Nascar shop in Ohio I
wanted to bring you folks a nice review of what we saw. Our friend from Akron Dan Lemasters
took us on the tour and kind of explained what he and several others do during the week to
prepare and the challenges they face on race weekends. It would most certainly be a fun job but
there is a ton of work involved and as Dan says "Forty hours is a short week here."

Since the Nascar Craftsman Truck Series is my favorite of the Nascar divisions I really enjoyed
this tour. I was amazed by how intricate these trucks are and the ingenuity needed by each
employee at the shop. Not only does Dan fabricate during the week but he is also the tire
carrier for the #13 of Willie Allen. Dan showed us some of the work he's done and I was quite
impressed with it. Each truck goes through a strict inspection process at the track and Nascar
makes sure every truck is exactly to spec. As seen below (although its not a great picture) each
truck must fit every template on the rack. Dan said "Sometimes we'll spend a couple of hours at
inspection, and they don't care if it's a 1/32nd off, it needs fixed." Aside from the inspection
process, they are constantly working on other things at the track. "Take Martinsville for
example, Willie will run a few laps, he'll come in and we'll change our set up around a couple of
times until he feels comfortable with the truck. And to boot, we don't even get a garage at most
tracks. We have to unload our hauler and work where ever we can. If we forget something in
the hauler, we'll have to walk all the way back to it and bring things back that we need." Even
though that doesn't sound like much fun, Dan is pumped about Martinsville this weekend.
"Willie is a short track ace and we feel pretty good about this weekend." The #13 crew was
getting ready to test at Sandusky Monday weather permitting.

Not only do they have to prepare the trucks for the upcoming races, the crews must also
practice pit stops 8 times a day. "We do four in the morning and four before we go home. After
we complete our four stops which are video taped (as seen above), we review the tapes to see
where we are losing time and see what works best for us." I asked Dan how in the hell he can
get the tire to mount up on the studs every time and he showed up the hubs like the one above.
"The mark on the hub is a guide, and the hub itself acts like a guide (note the cone shape).
Once you do it for a while it becomes second nature." When we asked Dan if he ever gets
nervous on pit road he stated "Hell yeah, there's some goofy drivers out there. But once your
over the wall it's show time and that all goes away." We watched a few pit stops recorded on
video and I was amazed how quick Dan was to point out a few mistakes made that the average
race fan would never catch. As he said "These are the things that make the difference between
a 13 second stop and a 15 second stop." Pretty damn cool.

As for the ThorSport teams, both trucks are coming off of their best performances of the year,
as Matt Crafton finished third and Willie Allen finished 13th at Atlanta. Currently Matt Crafton is
sixth in NCTS points while Willie Allen is 19th, 54 points behind fellow rookie Aaron Fike. I would
really love to see Willie win the Rookie of the Year honors and even a top 10 in points would be
cool. Not to mention a couple of wins for ThorSport in general would be nice to see. Even
though Matt and Willie are not from Ohio, they still represent this state as ThorSport remains
the only Nascar racing stable in Ohio. Best of luck guys, we here at bentfenders.com will be
cheering for ya all the way!

And finally, I have been waiting to do this all week but time is not on my side. The Kail
Motortsports #10 is finished and the car looks spectacular. Chris and crew did an amazing job,
as Gabe Pringle worked some magic as well with some great vinyl. Excellent job guys, can't wait
to see this hot rod run! The updated pictures can been seen at Kail's Korner.

Hopefully Mother Nature will be kind to us Ohio race fans as the Federated Auto Parts Wayne
County Speedway will open their doors Saturday as will Midway Speedway in Crooksville, OH.
We plan on being at one of them this weekend. As usual folks, get out and SUPPORT YOUR
LOCAL RACETRACK! See ya at the races!

UPDATE!!!!
Ok, I've been reading a bunch of NASCAR hub-bub and it's pissing me off. I've seen these Power
Rankings and they are so damn biased they make me sick. Now I'm not going to shove Juan
Pablo Montoya down your throat and tell you what a wonderful season he's had, because he
hasn't. So, I say F.T.W. and here's my top 20 Power Rankings for NASCAR:

1. Jimmie Johnson - Great year so far but he still needs to shave the uni-brow.
2. Jeff Gordon - Consistency wins championships.
3. Jeff Burton - Hey Childress, give this guy a few more ponies under the hood.
4. Matt Kenseth - Someone else would have dumped Jarrett because he's in the way.
5. Kyle Busch - Arrogant little bastard with foot in mouth disease.
6. Mark Martin - Older, Budweiser. Can't keep a good man down.
7. Clint Bowyer - Other than a bad race at Vegas, he's managed 3 top 10's.
8. Kevin Harvick - Ok, he won Daytona and a 4th at Bristol, but nothing real sexy beyond that.
9. Denny Hamlin - Quietly off to a solid start to the season.
10. Tony Stewart - A fuel pump and Daytona placed him here, but a decent start.
11. Carl Edwards - Still reminds me of Mr. Ed.
12. David Stremme - A superb start for someone that looked like shit last year. Hang in there kid!
13. Elliott Sadler - Caught the Kasey Kahne bug, has silly issues ruin his race.
14. Bobby Labonte - A little fire in his panties? I think he's hungry again!
15. JJ Yeley - Certainly a better start than last year. Plus JJ's got some skills.
16. Greg Biffle - Atlanta hurt him but he made a nice come back at Bristol. Will it continue?
17. Jamie McMurray - After bad finishes at Daytona and Atlanta, he's managed to stay composed.
By the way Jamie, how's Rusty's daughter?
18. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. - See Jamie McMurray comments. P.S. Dale, tell Teresa that it may be
beneficial for her to actually attend the races because DEI isn't looking like the racing stables the
old man envisioned.
19. Juan Montoya - Good Atlanta race, but mediocre at best beyond that.
20. Robby Gordon - I know what your thinking right now, but please think about what your going
to read here. The man is an independent team owner with hardly any sponsorship and he's not
doing so bad. As a bonus I would like to see Robby stick the Motorola flag up the ass of you
know who and light it! Give Brian France some Tucks!

Alright, I feel much better now. I little food for though and I think these rankings may be a little
more accurate that the other crap I read from journalists that have no clue what racing is or is all
about.