Updated Sept. 4
The less-than-exciting Labor Day weekend race in Fontana and Jimmie Johnson's complete domination headlined this week's edition of letters from our readers, who were also interested in Dario Franchitti's return to IndyCar from NASCAR, David Stremme's new job at Penske Racing and the IRL championship battle.
From: timb24
Wow, you hit it right on the head. I live on the east coast. I fell asleep watching the race. Boring. NASCAR is blowing it. Unfortunately, they're so big, they'll never get the message.
I think they may have finally gotten the message that Fontana won't support the Labor Day weekend race when it was moved to Atlanta, beginning next year. The next message to be delivered will be during next year's Chase, when the track hosts its first October date in the middle of the championship season. If that race doesn't come closer to a sellout, NASCAR will be forced to realize only one race a year in Southern California works, and my guess is it'll take the second date to Kansas.
From: Charles Jackson
Pete, you are so correct, the Labor Day Race should go back to Darlington! This demoting the Southern 500 was the worst mistake NASCAR has made and also I think they underestimated the effect it had on its grassroots fans! I didn't miss a Labor Day race at Darlington from 1963 to 2003 in a row! Never rained it out, but was shortened because of rain! In the 60s winning at Darlington was more important than the Daytona 500! I also remember getting Tiger Tom Pistone's autograph when he drove a 1964 Ford at Darlington! Thanks for your article!
Thanks for the nice words, Charles, and remembering my uncle's NASCAR career. Ironic that Darlington hosted a historic racing festival last weekend and I've heard reports of maybe 30,000 fans showing up for the event. I bet if the Southern 500 were back where it belongs and run Sunday night of Labor Day weekend under the lights, the grandstands would be packed.
From: mikol
Why did the open wheels guys who came over this year do so poorly? I was surprised that Franchitti headed back to the IRL because even though Ganassi was forced to shut down his Cup ride because of sponsorship, he was making strides in Nationwide starts.
I don't think Franchitti ditched his open-wheel career to run in NASCAR's No. 2 division. It was clear that Sprint Cup rides for 2009 were drying up and he did what was best for him to stay in a highly visible arena and one he has been successful in before. There were rumors he was headed for the American LeMans Series, but Chip Ganassi offered for him to stay with the team and just move from stock cars to open-wheel cars. As for the rest of the open-wheelers who came this year, I think Juan Pablo Montoya made things look too easy a year ago and the reality is making the transition from Indy Cars to stock cars is much more difficult these days.
From: Bobsd45
David Stremme washed out in his previous Cup opportunity with Ganassi. What makes Roger Penske think he'll be better this time around?
Stremme's tenure at Ganassi was marred by what most drivers with that team have had to endure -- lack of funding, good personnel and competitive cars. He never really had a chance to be competitive there. But since going back to the Nationwide Series with Rusty Wallace's team and being the primary test driver for Penske's Cup operation, Stremme has shown the promise that many believed he had when he made the step up from short-track racing to the NASCAR big time.
From: smitty7
The Indy Car championship is going down to the wire again and only 30 points separate Scott Dixon and Helio Castroneves. But it still seems no one cares. Why?
I wouldn't say no one cares, as the television numbers for the first season of the merger have been up -- although you could argue they couldn't go any lower. The IRL is suffering from the lack of marketing its stars that the Indy Car cold war caused. Danica Patrick -- who after winning in Japan back in April hasn't done much this year expect get into hissy fits with other drivers -- is still the lightning rod for publicity and when she doesn't do anything, the sport falls off the national radar, for the most part. It also doesn't help that the season finale and the title will be decided in the middle of the NFL's opening day. It will take much more time for open-wheel racing to claw its way back to the public's consciousness.
