Bench Racing: Patrick Reynolds On "Buschwhacking"

I created the headline to get your attention. Patrick is too much of a gentleman to use the term, but for those of you who have been a race fan more than one season- you now know exactly what issue former Germain Racing mechanic Patrick Reynolds is addressing today. As Reynolds heads for Daytona, he gives us something to ponder…..

NSI Daytona: Nationwide Series Investigated

When forming my predictions for the recent Fearless Forecast I found myself making a guess that, in the spirit of motorsports, I wish I didn’t really have to think about. I predicted a Nationwide Series team to win a Nationwide Series race. That doesn’t make much sense if you write it down and read aloud. Isn’t it a given that a Cup team will win a Cup race? Or an Indy Car team to win an Indy Car race? How about an NFL team winning an NFL game? The Nationwide Series has evolved into its little niche in motorsports.

In today’s day and age the series is dominated by NASCAR Cup Series organizations that field their own teams in the Nationwide Series. They have access to the upper level sponsorship dollars, engineering, marketing platforms, and drivers. Each one of those proves to be an invaluable asset in any form of motorsports. The race teams that field entries exclusively in the Nationwide Series face an uphill fight for top finishes let alone event wins. The series’ condition, pro or con, was not always like the current state.

In my earliest years as a fan, I read all I could on all forms of auto racing. With this time frame being the latter half of the 1970s, there were three types of reading material available to me. First, the program from the weekly Saturday night track I attended, second was weekly motorsports trade papers, and third were monthly newsstand magazines. By reading the latter two, I was able to learn about star drivers and local heroes beyond my area of the country. My mind became familiar with Richard Petty, David Pearson, and some new kid named Darrell Waltrip. But beyond those gentlemen, the sport offered superstars such as Jack Ingram, Butch Lindley, and L.D. Ottinger. Those were three of the big draws in the Sportsman division, the precursor to today’s Nationwide Series.

At the time, many of the grassroots level speedways in the southeastern United States featured the Sportsman cars on their weekend bill. A Saturday night main event could range from fifty to 200 laps. Weekly Friday and Sunday races were also common enough that fans and competitors had to choose which track to support on a given evening. Combine that with some mid week special events, a driver had to compete on the upward of eighty to ninety events per season to clinch the National Championship.

As history of all motorsports shows us, expense eventually comes into play. By the end of the 70s the Sportsman cars had grown and were elevated to NASCAR’s second tier division. Several events were held as a Saturday undercard to the premiere Grand National, now Sprint Cup, race on Sunday. The cars were outgrowing their four and five night a week fare and were ready to become a touring class. The idea was less races with bigger purses. This formula was working well with Grand Nationals and in 1982 the Late Model Sportsman series was created.

Several series events were still contested at traditional southeast speedways like Hickory, NC and South Boston, VA. Those tracks and others who hosted the Sportsman cars on a weekly basis now turned to the less expensive late model stock car class as their weekly division. The inaugural Sportsman season included a mix of weekends paired with the Winston Cup Grand National series and stand alone events at short tracks.

The schedules were not as complimentary of one another either. Television packages were still years off in the future. Today practice, qualifying, and race starting times are carefully staggered to not overlap one another. There is never a televised NASCAR competition being broadcast while another is taking place. For instance in June 2009, if fans tune in to a Cup practice session at say Michigan International Speedway, there is not a Nationwide Series race taking place at Kentucky at the same time. This is not an accident.

In the infancy of the series this was not an issue. A majority of the Cup schedule was still fighting for television time. The newly organized Sportsman tour was not on any network’s radar.

This gradually changed over the years as all things do. Slowly a few more Cup companion events were added year to year and the sport as a whole demanded more attention from the media. Winston Cup was leading the NASCAR growth curve, but the Sportsman cars were enjoying their own influx of attention, but also at their own pace.

As more races were staged together with their higher profile counterparts, it became easy for a driver to compete more often in two races providing he had the resources.

The complaints of top level drivers stepping down into the Sportsman cars and grabbing headlines and purse money have been heard for many years. In 1982, the first event in the newly formed tour was held at Daytona International Speedway and won by none other than Dale Earnhardt. Already a Cup Series Champion in 1980, he drove his own Robert Gee prepared car to victory lane. Earnhardt had a regular ride with Bud Moore for Cup competition. The sportsman machine had Wrangler jeans sponsorship, like Bud Moore, and an identical paint scheme. But it was not housed in Moore’s shops. This program may have been the seed from which later sprouted DEI.

The line from Grand National/Sprint Cup participation and the Sportsman/Nationwide series has always been gray at best. Several big name drivers with star power fielded their own Sportsman entry. Darrell Waltrip, Bobby Allison, and Harry Gant were often seen racing double duty on major NASCAR weekends. Where did, say, Junior Johnson’s help end and Waltrip’s effort begin? Were chassis setup notes shared? How about a good over the wall fueler? A talented pit stop man used by a Sunday team was surely valuable on a Saturday crew. Today’s Sprint Cup team’s efforts in the Nationwide Series are extremely visible.

The drivers are what actually first caught my attention at the birth of the series as my knowledge started to expand. The Grand National stars had their place at the top of the motorsports heap. But the Sportsman division had a group of heroes they could call their own. Lindley, Ingram, and Ottinger mentioned earlier were only three. Some NASCAR legends fill the record books. Tommy Houston, Tommy Ellis, Larry Pearson, and one of the best the tour had ever seen, Sam Ard.

These men were not development drivers or guys using the series as a stepping stone to another level. This was their home. Their series. The place where they made their living and enjoyed being there. Yet most of them do have Grand National starts to their credit.

One could buy a ticket to a Saturday race at then-called Charlotte Motor Speedway and see a division with its own identity. There were a sprinkling of Grand National stars racing, but most of the lineup had its own individuality. It had heroes that were there to win in their series, and nothing more. On a personal level, I miss that.

There were grumblings in editorials and from some competitors that the big names were coming in and taking the larger purses at the superspeedways while the regulars were left to fight for a $2,000.00 winner’s check at a standalone short track event. Times have changed, but the debate hasn’t. Should drivers be allowed to cross over?

Identity has changed with age. The 1982 Budweiser Late Model Sportsman Series became sponsored by Busch Beer in 1984. The Sportsman name was dropped for the Grand National title in 1986. A few more years and a few more tweaks and eventually the simple Busch Series were used. In 2008 Nationwide Insurance signed as the tour’s backer and is now referred to the Nationwide Series. I agree with giving a supporter the most bang for the buck. But a basic recognition problem now exists.

If Nationwide were to end their funding tomorrow what would you call one of these cars? In other words, the NASCAR modified division has a title sponsor in Whelen Engineering. That is marketed as the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. If Whelen were to end their backing, the NASCAR Modified Tour could still be promoted. It applies to the Truck Series, a World of Outlaws Sprint Car, or a Top Fuel Dragster. They all have sponsors for their series. If the sponsorship ended we still know what kinds of racecars are being discussed. Not so in NASCAR’s second tier. Without sponsorship, what do any of us call these cars?

Some teams run a full schedule with a rotation of drivers. This is prevalent with Cup teams and multiple sponsors. Can you tell me who is driving Roush-Fenway racing’s number sixteen for the next three weeks? Or the sponsor? I would honestly have to look it up. A racing website has two sponsors and four drivers being rotated during the season. In Cup I am pretty sure who the driver and sponsor are for the sixteen on the Cup side. Identification goes a long way to strengthening a series. That is why backers contribute dollars to begin with.

There are only a handful of teams that exclusively compete on the Nationwide Tour. The Cup affiliated teams win a majority of the events and dominate the top ten finishing positions. An argument can be made that if the Cup teams didn’t show up where would the car count be, and what size crowd would show up to watch? On the other hand, without Cup teams would that open the door for new teams to start and for new stars to be developed? So many then-Busch Series teams are no longer in business. Would they return without Cup involvement? Where is the next John Paul Linville or Bob Pressley?

The competitor in me believes in basic principles and integrity in motorsports. Anyone should be allowed to enter any race as long as they meet the qualifications of the sanctioning organization. If a car is presented for technical inspection and the group’s officials pass it, then it should be allowed to run.

The race fan in me believes if I were to go to a Cup/Nationwide weekend, I would like to buy tickets to two distinct classes of car and see two distinct groups of drivers. I enjoyed seeing some additional big name stars in the preliminary races I viewed as a kid in the stands. I don’t have as big an interest with most of Saturday’s top fifteen being in the Sunday headliner. I would probably pick one or the other.

It is certainly not the series that it started out to be. Arguments can be made for this being good, bad, or indifferent. I feel I want my cake and eat it too.

Patrick Reynolds is a NASCAR mechanic, most recently employed by Germain Racing on the team of Mike Wallace and the #7 Geico Toyota. Reynolds is an aspiring writer/broadcaster living in the Mooresville, North Carolina. Reynolds also contributes for Race Talk Radio, dot com and Spin Out Zone dot com.

PHOTO CREDITS- Sam Ard  and Tommy Ellis car by dalezoom. Butch Lindley car by tinkfan. More of their work may be found at flickr.com.