An Open Letter To Jack Roush

Dear Mr. Roush,

First of all, I have been a fan of yours since the days when you and Wayne Gapp were the scourge of the Pro-Stock circuit in the NHRA! then you went into road racing, then to NASCAR. I have followed your teams week after week! Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards, and anybody else who climbed into one of your stock cars were the ones I cheered for! And I bought their diecasts! You see Mr. Roush, I have approximately 900 diecasts, of which 700 or so are NASCAR, and of those, about 80% are of your drivers. Oh, those Team Caliber cars were so detailed! Better than anything Action could produce! The Owner's Series were second to none! And even the Preferred Series were far superior to the Action Elite Series! Then there were the "special finishes". The steel finish and gold finishes of 2001. The dark chrome finishes of 2002 and 2003. The pearl finishes of 2004. Then you outdid yourself. You brought out those nickle finish cars in 2005 and the copper finishes in 2006! You even threw in a few "colourchrome specials" along the way! Yes, you should see my collection, Mr. Roush! I even have one car that you personally autographed for me at your museum in Livonia last year! I guess since you took over Team Caliber, it stood to reason that these diecasts would be the best.

Then came the sale of Team Caliber to Motorsports Authentics in 2005!

Well, Mr. Roush, as I began to acquire any 2006 cars, including those beautiful copper-finish cars, I thought that it wasn't as bad as I thought. And I thought it was going to be pretty bad! I mean, anything that Brian France, half-owner of Motorsports Authentics (Bruton Smith of Speedway Motorsports Incorporated is the other half-owner), gets involved with usually ends up as a joke of its former self. Take NASCAR for instance. But, the name "Team Caliber" was still there, though later in 2006, that slowly disappeared, being replaced by the Motorsports Authentics name. But, thankfully, the quality was still there.

Then came the "seasonal specials" in December 2006!

Mr. Roush, I acquired both Mark's and Carl's Christmas cars, and I also received the "Christmas Special". Now, this particular car was a colourchrome special Owner's Series in 2002, 2003, and 2004. It was slightly demoted to the Preferred Series in 2005, but it was still a colourchrome car, and it was still highly detailed, and still a high quality diecast! But, these three 2006 Christmas cars were so disappointing! No colourchrome finish, no great detail, very poor quality! I can't begin to tell you how disappointed I was in those cars, and I was not looking forward to 2007, collecting-wise. To date, I only have 1 single 2007 1/24th scale diecast, and it's of Carl Edwards' #99 Office Depot car. And yes Mr. Roush, I was totally disappointed. I mean, by now, I would have acquired at least half the cars out there for your teams! I do have a number of 1/64th cars, but it's not the same anymore. Even the selection is pathetic! There are hardly any Busch cars available, and the 1/64th cars are becoming few and far between. Many cars are only available in the 1/24th size!

But wait! I happened to see one of the cars from Checkered Flag Motorsports! And Mr. Roush, I was impressed! Apparently, this company was started up by some of the people who were responsible for Team Caliber when you owned the company! The detail was there! The special finishes were there, though somewhat buried, giving you a random change of acquiring one! The cars are worth buying, though the only drivers available are Mark Martin, Sterling Marlin, Robby Gordon, and Kenny Schrader.

And this brings me to the purpose of this letter...

Please, Mr. Roush, could you give us collectors some very serious consideration and sign a contract with Checkered Flag Motorsports to create and distribute your team cars? All of your team cars! All of your Busch cars! All of your Cup cars! And please, Mr. Roush, your Trucks! And do it in both scales! The 1/24th scale cars in the Preferred Series, and the 1/64th's even if the 1/64th's were "Pit Stop" only, as they were since 2004, they were still a quality product! Then I would gladly be ordering the cars in! after all, then they would be worth collecting! And if you rememeber, the Team caliber boxes had the saying, "Anything else is just a toy!". Well, Mr. Roush, I hate to say it, but the Motorsports Authentic diecasts are just that, toys!

Would you at least think about it for 2008, Mr. Roush? Please?

Thank you,

Just sign me,

Ken, An avid, although disappointed lately, diecast collector

You Call This Team Work?

Unless you've been sleeping for the last few days, by now you must have picked up some of the many conversations that came out of last weekend's Daytona Firecracker 400. One of the more popular topics was about team work, or in the case of Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports, the lack thereof. Now, if you work at a place similar to the one I do, being a team player, and being able to work together, is an important part of success for a business. That goes for any company. Obviously, there seems to be a lack of team work at Joe Gibbs Racing. By now, you must have heard Tony's rant about Denny, and the resulting crash between the two. Let's face it, Denny was in front, and obviously Tony thought that, because he's the senior member of the team, Denny should have gotten out of his way (out of everyone's way!). The result was two good cars taken out of the race by an ego that's way too big! The crash was completely Tony's fault. To add insult to injury, "Mr. Perfect" didn't have the guts to admit that he's a goof, and apologize for what he did. Instead, he chose to throw his teammate under the bus! Come on, Tony! Be a human being for once, lose that ego, and admit that you made a totally dumb mistake! That's what being a team player is all about!

Which brings me to Kyle Busch. According to poor Kyle, his teammates Mr. Gordon and Mr. Johnson, abandoned him at the end of the race! But, according to Mr. Gordon's substitute crew chief, when it comes down to the last 10 laps, it's every man for himself. I think any driver, or crew chief, will say that! So, despite the fact that Kyle was in the position to win, again, the egos took over, and neither Jimmie or Jeffy offered any help to give Kyle a chance to not only sweep both the Cup and Busch race that weekend, but to do it on the same day (thanks to Mother Nature). Instead, Kyle had to rely on his brother for help, and there really wasn't a lot that Kurt could do for Little Brother! Well Kyle, before you get your shorts in a knot, think back to who was leading at the last restart. Seems to me it was your other teammate, Casey Mears... and what did you and Jeffy and Jimmie do? You all hung Casey out to dry! At least you three got a top-10! Casey wound up, what, 19th! So Kyle, don't complain too much! After all, there is no such thing as team orders at Hendrick's, is there! Ya, right!

Now, this brings me to Roush-Fenway, and in particular, Carl Edwards. First of all, Jamie McMurray truly deserved that win! He has been running well this year, and is not far from taking Junior's place in the 'Race For The Chase'. During those last few laps, Jamie must have felt like he had a Roush bulls-eye painted on the back of his car! First, he gets pushed ahead by Kenseth. Then, The Biff gives him a shove to push him further ahead. Then, when they are coming down to the line, it was Carl's turn to give Jamie a shot in the behind to give him a push to get ahead of the previously mentioned Mr. Busch! Next thing you know, the Roush guys are lined up on the outside, and Jamie beats Kyle by the closest margin since they started electronic scoring at Daytona! The only thing that could have made it more perfect would have been to have David Ragan move from 12th to at least 10th! Imagine if all 5 Roush cars finished in the top-10!

Carl said it after the race: had he tried to go for the win himself, he would have gone three wide with Jamie and Kyle, and there would not have been a Roush car in Victory Lane! Carl, as well as Greg and Matt, did what they could to win themselves. When it appeared that none of them could win, they all did what they could do to help out their teammate win the race and Jamie won his first race since October of 2002. This wasn't the first time Carl has helped out his teammates. Does anyone remember the Truck race at Daytona in February? Well, Carl had some transmission trouble at the start and lost about 10 laps. Once he got back into the race, first he helped Travis Kvapil get to the lead and then he helped Eric Darnell get up to the front. Had that late caution not happened, and there wasn't a single-file restart with Carl shuffled way back, I think he would have hung onto Travis' bumper, and Travis would have won that race instead of Sprague! As luck would have it, however, Travis was snookered right at the end and wound up 3rd.

Anyway, I think that last weekend's race showed us a lot about who knows how to work as a team, and who are just out there for themselves! Obviously, Joe Gibbs and Rick Hendrick believe in 'every man for themselves'. Now, I know Jack Roush has said that he doesn't care who wins, as long as the cars come home in one piece. From what I saw Saturday night, at least his drivers know how to work together. During the end of the last race, they didn't show off their egos! Tony, Kyle, Jeffy, and Jimmie could take a lesson from Carl, Matt, Greg, David, and Jamie.

My Introduction

Well, this is my first blog! I am calling this blog Krabby Ken's NASCAR comments because, first, I've been a fan of NASCAR since the days when Fred Lorenzen and Fireball Roberts were rubbing fenders together, and second, I can't say that I really like what's happened to "my NASCAR" since Brian France has taken over from his father, Bill France Jr. NASCAR has become too bland these days. The cars are all similar, the drivers have become too "vanilla", and the races are not as competitive as they once were. Or are they? Well, the races are quite competitive compared to what they used to be! Look back at the races from forty years ago. For example, when Ned Jarrett won the 1965 Southern 500, he finished 14 laps ahead of the second place car. 14 laps! Today, it's not uncommon for 25 to 30 cars to finish on the lead lap, unless it's a demolition derby at Bristol, or a no-passing-allowed track like Martinsville. As for the drivers, are they as bland as I think? Yes they are, and I blame both NASCAR and Corporate America for that. Let a driver show too much emotion and wham! Here's a nice penalty for you. Can you just imagine what Brian France and Mike Helton would have done to Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough if they had been in charge when the 1979 Daytona 500 was run? And don't even think about criticising NASCAR, or you will be losing points. As much as I can't stand Tony Stewart, at least he makes it somewhat interesting as we wait to hear him shoot off his mouth.

Which brings me to "The Car Of Tomorrow". As much as many say they don't like this monstrosity, I say, give it a chance. After all, a race car fashioned after the Craftsman Truck can't be all bad! And let's face it, the most competitive NASCAR series is the Truck Series. But, yes, this new car is different, but, overall, it takes the control out of the crew chief's hands and puts it back in the driver's hands. And while that rear wing looks kind of dorky, is that any more so than what you see kids putting on the back of their hopped-up Hondas these days? The only criticism I have for the new car is the splitter. It sticks out way too far. I'm sure that Tony or Jeffy have figured out that it would be so easy to just slide up and lean that splitter against someones rear tire enough to cut the tire down. in fact, wasn't at Phoenix where Jeffy tried to do just that to Tony? Anyway, that splitter should follow the profile of the front end of the car and extend out no further than the upper part of the fenders and grill area. And for now, I'll reserve any further judgement on this car until I see it up close when I get to Richmond in September.

In the C.O.T. races so far, it has definitely been a Hendrick benefit, but that's quickly coming to an end. The one team that appears to be behind is Roush. However, looks are deceiving. Matt Kenseth has had good runs in the car, as had Carl Edwards, Jamie McMurray and Greg Biffle, with Edwards gaining the most ground lately. Sure Johnson and Gordon have won the most C.O.T. races, but both of them better look over their shoulders. There's a red and black Ford, or a yellow and black (or whatever scheme Matt's running) Ford that's about to change the running order. Once Roush gets that first C.O.T. win, look out!