Bob Jennings

Dale Earnhardt, "the man in black," wins the prize. From a generic, all world point of view, Earnhardt has gone from driving number 3 on the race track to being number one in the hearts of the American public. I've been looking at the racing scene since 1955,closer than I look in the mirror each day, as hair covers less of my head and wrinkles cover more. Earnhardt's death, last February, coming through the final turn on the final lap of the "Daytona 500" was the biggest racing story I've seen during my time. I'm not just talking about 2001 either. I'm talking about forever. 

If it hadn't been for September 11, the passing of Dale Earnhardt would've been a reasonable choice for news story of the year. The only times I can think of someone's death being a bigger deal was President Kennedy's assassination in Dallas on November 22, 1963 or when Elvis Presley left this world  in August 1977, sitting on the toilet at Graceland. 

Can you imagine Dale  Earnhardt's expression if he heard his name mentioned in the same paragraph as John F. Kennedy and Elvis Presley? I can visualize as Earnhardt's eyes narrow as he smiles in his teasing way while his nose wiggles and his caricature bushy mustache twitches with amusement.

Night after night last February, Brian Williams talked about Earnhardt's fatal crash at the top of the news on MSNBC. The story pushed George W. Bush, the Clintons and Al Gore (remember him) off the front page of the nation's newspapers for days. Fans with flowers and mementos gathered in tearful groups to proclaim love for their fallen idol. It was a time of sadness and controversy. 

Newspapers and websites unsuccessfully tried to obtain access to the Earnhardt autopsy photos. Teresa Earnhardt went to court to block them and Florida governor Jeb Bush became involved on her behalf.  NASCAR safety practices came under fire as Earnhardt's death was the third in NASCAR in less than a year. NASCAR claimed the seat belt broke in Earnhardt's Chevrolet Monte Carlo when it crashed at Daytona. Safety equipment manufacturer Bill Simpson went to war with NASCAR over the  allegation. Safety related issues and controversies plagued NASCAR officials and provided a backdrop for the entire 2001 season.    

I thought Earnhardt's death might mean a drop in popularity for NASCAR. However the opposite occurred. Attendance at early season Winston Cup races at Rockingham, Atlanta and Darlington swelled. Earnhardt fans raised three fingers in salute on the third lap of each event. Grandstands filled to capacity nearly every Sunday. TV ratings for NASCAR races rose 34 percent from 2000. However it should be noted that even with high ratings, NASCAR's new television partners, Fox, NBC and TNT lost money on their investment. Much of that can be attributed to start up production costs however. Otherwise the NASCAR monster continued to grow, threatening to devour everything in its path despite the loss of the biggest star in American racing.

Recently I was turning south on to College Avenue from 106th Street, at the corner of what we locals call Home Place. As I looked left, I spotted a Coke machine with a large image of Tony Stewart smiling at me in front of a neighborhood "beer joint." Rich guys like Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon became  richer when Dale Earnhardt's time came last February 18, because the national attention drew more people to the NASCAR circus with even more money to spend. Incidentally that same Coke machine with Tony Stewart's smiling face used to feature a photo of Dale Earnhardt celebrating a NASCAR victory. 

NASCAR fans voted Dale Earnhardt the most popular driver in 2001 for the first time. The award has gone to Bill Elliott for years. Before Elliott's rise to prominence, the NASCAR "most popular" award  more or less belonged to Richard Petty. Does anyone want to bet that Dale Earnhardt Jr. won't be voted the most popular driver in NASCAR for 2002? 

I can remember when Dale Earnhardt was the least popular driver in NASCAR. This was around 1986 when Earnhardt's career was beginning to take off and Dale was on the way to his second Winston Cup championship. The number 3 RCR Chevy carried the Wrangler jeans blue and yellow colors during that time.

The Earnhardt style of bumping and "bruising" his way to the front wasn't popular with fans or competitors in 1986. "Anybody but Earnhardt" was an expression heard often when talking about potential NASCAR winners in those days. Earnhardt and Geoff Bodine spent most of the 1986 season banging into each other and the racing became so rough that both drivers were called to NASCAR headquarters in Daytona Beach to be reprimanded. Long time NASCAR racer Coo Coo Marlin (Sterling's dad) commented that someone ought to take Dale Earnhardt behind the barn and whip the hell out of him or something along those lines.

But the mood changed. When "outsider" Jeff Gordon began to kick NASCAR  butt on a regular basis in 1995,  Earnhardt became the best hope for the "old guard" and Dale went from being the bad guy to a revered hero. Now Dale Earnhardt has become even larger than life in death. The one that really gets me is the rear window sticker on cars with a halo over the Earnhardt trademark reverse slant number 3. That symbol speaks of Earnhardt worship more than anything else.

The mourning period for Dale Earnhardt continues as the 2002 season approaches. Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway is only two weeks away. When activity begins for the "Daytona 500," I'm willing to bet the biggest story will be the Earnhardt crash. I feel sorry for Dale Earnhardt Jr. for how many times he'll be asked about his father. But I also lament the loss of Dale Earnhardt Sr. He will be missed the most amidst all the ballyhoo surrounding the "Daytona 500." During so many Februarys the big story was "the Intimidator" and his quest to win "the Great American Race." It won't be the same.    

Another big story in racing in 2001 had to be all the problems experienced by CART. It was like that bunch was bent on self destruction. I can hardly believe how many times CART officials and competitors screwed up last year. It was an Indy Racing League fan's dream. The best way to recap the dismal year for CART is to list the disasters in chronological order.

Let's not forget that in addition to all the things I listed above, attendance at CART races fell substantially at Milwaukee, Cleveland, Michigan, Chicago, Laguna Seca and Fontana. Also don't forget that TV ratings continued the same downward spiral as the value of CART stock. The only time large  crowds came in 2001 was at the street race parades the CART competitors and shareholders love so much.

My favorite part was when the media began speculating whether CART would be around after this coming season. That was great! Around Christmas time I figured there was about a 40 percent chance CART will still be around this time next year. I may have been a bit optimistic that CART would go away however. They brought Long Beach Grand Prix impresario Chris Pook in to run the show. Robin Miller wrote that Pook is CART's last chance. 

We'll see how good Pook is but he does seem like a savvy character and might be able to keep CART afloat. Recently Pook talked about moving CART headquarters from suburban Detroit to Indianapolis, which makes sense in terms of dollars and logistics. Real estate values are lower in Indianapolis than metropolitan Detroit and most CART teams operate within a short distance of each other, near the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. 

John Lopes, who was former team manager with Team Xtreme in the IRL, is the new CART technical "biggie." Lopes appears to be gently leading CART to a lower cost IRL type machinery which appears to be a wise move in this economy, especially in view of the large reductions in sponsor support which are expected throughout CART. Lopes is also looking for other ways to reduce the cost of racing.  Perhaps Pook and Lopes will have enough good sense to save CART's butt from the history books after 2002. However I still think it's touch and go at this point.    

There have been a few good things happening for CART recently. FedEx extended the agreement to be title sponsor for CART and Bridgestone agreed to be exclusive tire supplier for the series in 2001. At the same time, car counts for most CART events in 2002 are expected to be between 18 and 20 cars which is a violation of the sanctioning agreement CART has with most of its race promoters who are already unhappy about over priced sanctioning fees.   

The most positive development in 2001 for CART came at the "Indianapolis 500." CART teams cleaned up in the "Indianapolis 500," with CART drivers taking the top five spots at the finish, led by Roger Penske's twins from Brazil, Helio Castroneves and Gil de Ferran. It was Penske's first run in the "Indianapolis 500" since Al Unser Jr. drove the Marlboro Penske, powered by an Ilmor Mercedes pushrod turbo V8 engine, to his second Indianapolis win in 1994. Penske called the eleventh Indianapolis win by one of his racing cars his happiest moment.    

The Marlboro Penske team followed up Castroneves' "Indianapolis 500" win with a second consecutive CART championship for Gil de Ferran before leaving the series. For most of the 2001 season, former "Indianapolis 500" winner and Indy Racing League champion Kenny Brack led CART points. Brack had four wins during the year, each coming on an oval. de Ferran's Marlboro Reynard - Honda caught and passed Brack's Shell Lola - Ford for the lead in the final corner on the final lap of the race in England to win. It was almost like a symbolic passing of the CART title. Two weeks later de Ferran won in the streets of Houston and that was pretty much it for the championship battle with Brack. 

If 2001 was a bad year for CART, it was a terrific year for the Indy Racing League and not just for the reasons listed in the table above. The IRL had some good days on its own, without considering CART's  troubles.

As usual the racing was outstanding. People can say what they like, but there's no denying the IRL has the best racing in the world right now. Watching a pack of open wheel Indy cars run within inches of each other at 200 plus mph lap after lap is what it's all about. Tony George knew what he was doing when he came up with the IRL formula. He created a high speed masterpiece. The fans finally began to realize it in 2001.

The crowd at Phoenix for the season opener was larger than usual but still disappointing. At Miami, the same number of people turned out as had come for the CART race in 2000, which is to say there weren't many there. Despite enough of an increase in attendance for the IRL race at Atlanta Motor Speedway in July, 2000 to justify another race in 2001, the crowd was disappointing for IRL's return last April and Speedway Motorsports decided to drop the IRL race. That's too bad. I would've gone back. 

The crowds for practice and qualifications in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway were surprisingly small. Tony George even expressed disappointment about the small turnout for pre-race activities after there was so much local buzz about the return of the Penske team, Michael Andretti, Arie Luyendyk and Tony Stewart to the "Indianapolis 500" going into May. However despite rain before and during the race there was another huge sellout (probably between 350,000 and 375,000) crowd at the Speedway on May 27.

After Indianapolis the crowds began to come to see the IRL in bigger numbers. More than 70,000 came to Texas Motor Speedway in June for the night race which compares to 58,000 tickets sold for the ill-fated CART race in April. The crowd one week later at Pikes Peak International Raceway was close to 40,000, noticeably larger than in recent years. 

I was especially impressed with the crowd for the IRL debut under the lights at the 3/4 mile oval at Richmond International Raceway on June 30. The grandstands along the front part of the tri-oval were packed and there must've been well over 45,000 people in attendance. The following Sunday July 8 was another big day for the IRL, perhaps the biggest of the season. With temperatures over 105 degrees, more than 75,000 people packed the seats at the brand new Kansas Speedway to watch the Indy Racing League. The crowd for the race in Kansas was a positive for the IRL. There was a standing room only sellout at Nashville Superspeedway for the IRL race under the lights on July 21. I planned to go to the Nashville race before they announced the race was sold out.

There was a reported crowd of 61,0000 for the first IRL race at Kentucky Speedway in August 2000. I was at that race and I'd say the crowd was closer to 55,000. There was a noticeable drop in attendance last August for the IRL race in Kentucky. There was still a good crowd (something like 47,000) but I'm not sure why it was smaller than the previous year. Perhaps it was due to the economy.

Indy Racing League officials must've been disappointed with the crowd at Gateway International Raceway for the race on August 26. There were probably only 25,000 to 30,000 people at Gateway, but the crowd was still noticeably larger than in September 2000 when CART last raced at the track. But things became upbeat again when the IRL raced before a 3/4 capacity crowd (probably 60,000 to 65,000) at the new Chicagoland Speedway one week later on Labor Day weekend Sunday.

Although the race was postponed three weeks because of the September 11 tragedy, the season finale at Texas World Speedway was another good day for the Indy Racing League. The University of Texas Longhorns were playing Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl in nearby Dallas at the same time. But more than 60,000 came for the IRL race on Saturday afternoon. That's impressive, especially when you consider more than 70,000 people came to the IRL race in June. The Indy Racing League sold 130,000 seats at Texas Motor Speedway in 2001 and that has to mean a lot. For the sake of comparison, the crowd for the Winston Cup race in April was something like 210,000 people. Obviously the IRL has lots of work to do to catch up, but the series enjoyed very positive growth in 2001 at the ticket office and that helped spur opportunities to strengthen other commercial alliances. 

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the ABC Network have a long standing association which began in 1961 when filmed segments from "Indianapolis 500" Pole day qualifications were presented on Wide World of Sports. ABC coverage of the "500" race began in 1965 with filmed highlights appearing on Wide World of Sports. In 1971, ABC began presenting same day prime time replays of the "500" and "500" qualifications were covered live on ABC. The live network telecasts of the "Indianapolis 500" began in 1986. With the advent of cable TV, ABC increased its "Indianapolis 500" coverage via its subsidiaries ESPN and (later) ESPN2 to include practice and qualifications activity. Until the current NASCAR TV package began last year, ABC also presented a live telecast of the "Brickyard 400" each August.

From the start of the Indy car split in 1996, ABC emphasized their continuing loyalty to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But the network also continued its CART coverage too. The IMS-ABC business partnership nearly came apart in 1999. The Speedway's television agreement with ABC was up for renewal and the network indicated it was only interested in being at the "Indianapolis 500" and a couple other IRL events leading up to May. Tony George made an agreement with Fox to cover the remaining IRL events in 1999 and also began looking for alternatives to ABC for the future. 

Tony George is a cool operator. He must be a great poker player because he never shows his hand. He keeps his emotions deep below the surface, stays calm and follows a patient, deliberate course of action. George played a good game with ABC and by May 1999, IMS had a brand new five year contract with ABC for the entire Indy Racing League schedule with higher fees than before.

The Speedway and ABC took things one giant step forward last August. The "Indianapolis 500" - IRL TV package was extended with higher broadcast fees for IMS. In addition to that, ABC agreed to cover the U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis in September. But the really big part of the deal was that ABC was going to drop CART from its programming after 2001. That meant the IRL had exclusive Indy car coverage on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 and CART had to scramble for a new TV deal.

In the first five IRL seasons, the only connection with Bill France's International Speedway Corporation was the race at Phoenix International Raceway. Instead Tony George tried to build an alliance with Bruton Smith's Speedway Motorsports tracks. Races at Texas Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway were placed on the 1997 IRL schedule. A race at Atlanta Motor Speedway was added for 1998 as well as a second IRL event in Texas. When Speedway Motorsports purchased Las Vegas Motor Speedway, that meant five of ten races on the 1999 Indy Racing League schedule were held at Bruton Smith tracks.

But the IRL relationship with Speedway Motorsports began to deteriorate in April 1999 at the IRL race at Lowes Motor Speedway (Charlotte) when the race was cancelled after 79 laps due to three spectators being killed by debris from a multi-car crash. Lowes Motor Speedway boss Humpy Wheeler decided to drop the IRL race. The crowds began to get smaller at Atlanta and Las Vegas and Speedway Motorsports became unhappy. However IRL attendance at Texas Motor Speedway continued to be good and Bruton Smith and company wanted to maintain ties with Tony George's series. In order to keep nine races on the 2000 schedule, the IRL leased the tracks in Atlanta and Las Vegas for races. The crowd in Las Vegas in April 2000 was bad and the track was dropped from the 2001 IRL calendar. However crowds increased for the IRL race in Atlanta in July 2000 and another race was scheduled for 2001. The IRL race last April in Atlanta was another disappointment and now the only Speedway Motorsports venue presenting the Indy Racing League is Texas Motor Speedway, although that association is tight and Texas general manager Eddie Gossage is one of the most enthusiastic IRL supporters.

At the same time, Tony George was nurturing his alliance with Bill France and NASCAR. The track management in Phoenix has always remained loyal to the IRL despite small crowds at IRL races each spring and in the face of continuing proposals offered by CART to return to the Arizona oval.

Another one of Tony George's visionary moves was to form a partnership with International Speedway Corporation to build a 1.5 mile oval in the metro Chicago area. When the venture was put together in 1997, John Menard was the third member of the partnership. But Menard was later replaced by Dale Coyne who built the Route 66 combination dirt track, drag strip on a tract of land near Joliet, Illinois, about 40 miles southeast of Chicago. Coyne had the commercial rights to an adjacent property on which Chicagoland Speedway was built and he was brought in on the deal. 

Of course having the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as one of the owners of the new Chicago facility ensured the Indy Racing League would be the only open wheel series to race at the new track. The Chicagoland Speedway deal also guaranteed the IRL would be the sole Indy car series to race at a new ISC track near Kansas City. 

From there the ISC - IRL alliance grew. When International Speedway Corporation purchased all of Roger Penske's race tracks in May 1999 the prospects for the Indy Racing League to build its relationship with Bill France improved. ISC wasn't happy with the small crowds CART was bringing to its new race track properties in Miami, Nazareth and Michigan or the increasing CART sanctioning fees. ISC dropped the CART race at Miami-Homestead Speedway for 2001 and added an IRL race to the schedule. An added bonus for the IRL was the surprise addition of another ISC oval, the 3/4 mile Richmond International Raceway to the 2001 calendar. 

CART threatened to leave Nazareth Speedway for a few years. When Nazareth was taken off the CART calendar for this year and the IRL agreed to take over in Pennsylvania, Bill France decided to make another change. France kicked CART out of its spiritual home at Michigan International Speedway in favor of the IRL. Then to kick more mud in CART's face, ISC awarded the Indy Racing League a date next March at California Speedway. Does anyone want to bet that CART's days are numbered in Fontana? 

The first four events on the 2002 15 race IRL schedule are at International Speedway Corporation venues; Homestead-Miami Speedway (March 2), Phoenix International Raceway (March 17), California Speedway (March 24) and Nazareth Speedway (April 21). Then comes four more races at ISC tracks. Richmond International Raceway (June 29) is followed by IRL races at Kansas Speedway (July 7), Michigan International Speedway (July 28) and Chicagoland Speedway (September 8) which is, of course, a partially owned International Speedway Corporation property in partnership with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  

Bob Reif came to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in late 1999. By the time of the 2000 Indy Racing League season opener at Walt Disney World in late January, Reif secured a series sponsorship from Northern Lights, the Internet search engine firm. Reif is also credited with creating the momentum the IRL carried into 2001 when he helped put together the Midwest strategy which added a number of IRL races within a day's drive of the series' natural audience in Indianapolis. 

Perhaps it was optimism over Reif's Midwest strategy, the prestige of having Al Unser Jr., Chip Ganassi, Roger Penske and Michael Andretti return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway or CART's shrinking popularity and rising costs which brought it about. The official reason given was that Toyota  wanted to race in the "Indianapolis 500" when it was announced last April the Japanese auto maker was coming to the Indy Racing League full time in 2003 with a new V8 engine. Toyota's announcement was a huge gain for the IRL when it was made in early April 2001 and it seemed to be the action which set most of the other positives in motion that would follow as the season progressed.

General Motors is pulling the plug on its Oldsmobile brand. I'm not sure when it happens. Have they already stopped producing Oldsmobiles? I don't know about American cars. I drive a Toyota. Anyway when GM announced Chevrolet would take Oldsmobile's place as the primary source of power for the IRL that was another very big deal for the Indy Racing League.

The biggest thing to happen for the IRL started in summer 2001 when it first became known more or less that Roger Penske was going racing full time in the Indy Racing League. That was confirmation  the IRL won the Indy car war with CART at long last. When the official announcement was made in early December that Penske Racing was going to compete exclusively in the IRL in 2002, it rocked the racing world almost like it was a surprise. Who would've ever thought Roger Penske would leave CART?

Sam Hornish began his second season in the Indy Racing League like a bolt of lightning, by winning the two opening races at Phoenix and Miami. The youngster from Northern Ohio became the hottest driving sensation to hit Tony George's series since Tony Stewart came to the first IRL race at Disney World in January 1996. At Atlanta Motor Speedway, Sam had to settle for fourth place but he came away with a large points lead.

Hornish's yellow Pennzoil Panther Dallara ran into an obstacle in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He wasn't among the leaders in practice and qualifications and Sam made a colossal mistake early in the "Indianapolis 500." He lost grip with cold tires and spun on a restart, losing four laps and taking Al Unser Jr. out of the "500" in the process. Thanks a lot Sam. It's really too bad because once Hornish got back in the race, he had perhaps the fastest car on the track the rest of the day.

Two weeks after Indianapolis, Hornish managed to avoid the high speed carnage in the IRL race at Texas World Speedway to finish third. Sam finished second to Buddy Lazier at Pikes Peak and was second to Lazier again in the inaugural IRL race at Richmond. In the next race at Kansas Speedway, Hornish battled Eddie Cheever to the finish for another second place. Hornish finished sixth at Nashville while Buddy Lazier won his third IRL event of the season.

Lazier became a legitimate threat for a second consecutive Indy Racing League championship when he became the first driver to win seven races in IRL history and also the first four time race winner in a single season at Kentucky Speedway. Although Hornish finished third, momentum appeared to be with Lazier and the Hemelgarn team.    

The balance of power shifted from Lazier back to Hornish in the IRL event at Gateway International Raceway on August 26. Buddy's number 91 Tae-Bo/Coors Light/Delta Faucet Dallara experienced some problems as soon as the green flag fell. Lazier finished 13th, ten laps off the pace and was out of the championship fight for all intents and purposes. Hornish engaged in a torrid battle with Al Unser Jr. and ended up third at the finish behind Unser and Mark Dismore, after making a stop for fuel with only a few laps remaining.                       

While Buddy Lazier floundered again in the next IRL race at Chicagoland Speedway to finish eleventh, Hornish finished second to Jaques Lazier. Sam finished up his championship season with a win (by inches) over Scott Sharp and Robbie Buhl at Texas Motor Speedway. The pass Hornish made on Sharp within yards of the checkered flag was awesome. Sam beat Sharp by .0188 second with Buhl only .0468 second behind the winner at the flag. It was the closest finish in Indy Racing League history.

The big question now is how much the Marlboro Penske team is going to change the personality of the Indy Racing League. The next question in some peoples' minds is how badly will Helio Castroneves and Gil de Ferran dominate competition in the IRL this season. Both questions are legitimate. It seems as if IRL officials are trying to keep a level playing field by limiting testing and the number of tires each car can receive in a season. Whether the new measures are enough to restrict the Penske team remains to be seen.

No doubt the quality of competition will increase with Marlboro Penske cars racing full time. The veteran  IRL teams like Panther, Kelley, Hemelgarn, Menard, Cheever and Foyt are going to have to get better to beat Roger Penske's crew. Any advantage the IRL regulars gain from experience will disappear as quickly as "the Captain" makes major decisions. But I'm not convinced the Penske guys are going to roll over everyone else in the IRL. More likely, the Penske drivers will win their share of races along with the regular group of IRL winners. That's the way it's always been in the Indy Racing League and I don't look for that to change. 

Despite the banner year in 2001 for the Indy Racing League, Tony George and company face some challenges. For one thing, there is no title sponsor for the IRL series. Northern Lights did a fine job of promoting the series during the 2000 season. Last year Northern Lights ran out of money and curtailed their involvement back to the bare minimum called for in their IRL contract. This year Northern Lights is calling it quits because like so many other technology firms, they are hurting. Tony George was  gracious in remarks to the media about the Northern Lights departure, thanking the Internet company. But it still has to be a source of embarrassment, especially when so many other things are going his way. That the IRL has no series sponsor while CART held on to FedEx despite all of its problems can't make the Indianapolis Motor Speedway staff  happy.

Then too, there is that matter of sponsorship (or lack thereof) for racing teams in the Indy Racing League. There must be someone out there who can sell corporations on the value of becoming involved in the IRL. It remains a major problem despite all the other good things that have happened recently. Rick Galles looks likely to fold his operation because he can't find backing. Fred Treadway is scrambling for enough sponsor money to run Arie Luyendyk in three or four races and his kid Rick in a few races here and there. It looks like Heritage Motorsports has to step aside after one season. Team Xtreme is also pulling out of the IRL because they don't have enough money.

Without sponsor support drivers have a difficult time finding rides. Among those who don't have anything for 2001 so far are IRL regulars Jeff Ward, Mark Dismore, Airton Dare and none other than Al Unser Jr. That's right folks. Right now Little Al doesn't have a ride for the 2001 Indy Racing League season. Sponsorship is a big problem and the IRL has to find a resolution. With the economy still in a mess, things are only going to become more difficult.    

Remember when people were saying Jeff Gordon was done without Ray Evernham? Forget that. The number 24 Dupont Chevy got a new paint job for 2001 - sort of. They repainted the car without the rainbow color scheme, which everyone was tired of anyway, and replaced it with flames. Whether that motivated Jeff Gordon to his fourth Winston Cup championship, I don't know. Whether it was Robbie Loomis coming on to lead the 24 Dupont crew, I don't know. Whatever it was, it was good enough.

In the year when NASCAR lost its "main man," it's John Wayne substitute, whatever it was that Dale Earnhardt represented, who should step in to fill the void but the very driver who displaced Earnhardt as king of NASCAR? 

Jeff Gordon is the number one competitor in NASCAR whether you like him or not. I think Tony Stewart is closest to Gordon in terms of possessing the talent to race a stock car. But Stewart hasn't polished his game to the extent Gordon has. Tony is the most intense competitor in American racing but he hasn't learned as many ways to win NASCAR races as Jeff Gordon. The current issue of Racer magazine features Tony Stewart on the cover, looking mean and determined, with the caption "is Tony Stewart man enough to take on Jeff Gordon?" A Jeff Gordon - Tony Stewart head on fight for the 2002 Winston Cup championship could be a lot of fun to watch.

Jeff Gordon's fourth Winston Cup championship was unlike his three previous titles. In 1998 Gordon won 13 Winston Cup races on the way to his third season title. There were ten Cup wins, including Gordon's first "Daytona 500" victory during Jeff's second championship year. On the way to his first Winston Cup championship in 1995, Gordon won seven races. The 24 car only won six times in 2001 although it was still a season high total. 

But Jeff Gordon won his three previous championships with Ray Evernham calling the shots. This time it was Gordon who was running the show. Jeff hired Robbie Loomis and many of the crew members who prepared the Chevy Monte Carlos that carried Gordon to the title. It had to give Jeff a great sense of satisfaction.     

Jeff Gordon's former mentor Ray Evernham led the return of Chrysler to Winston Cup racing. As the chief architect for DaimlerChrysler's NASCAR invasion, Gordon's former partner had to feel good too. Dodge Intrepids won a total of four races during the 2001 season, including Bill Elliott's win in Miami in Evernham's number 9. Given the problems associated with a new manufacturer coming into any racing series, let alone Winston Cup, the accomplishment by Evernham and the rest of the Dodge personnel and competitors was monumental.

As good as Jeff Gordon, Sam Hornish and Gil de Ferran performed in 2001, I can't call any of them race driver of the year. I have to go with Michael Schumacher on that one. Who else was better? For that matter who else is better?  

Schumacher's eleventh Formula One season may have been his most memorable from the perspective of performance. Michael won a record tying nine Formula One races in a single season for the third time in his career. He clinched his fourth World Championship in Hungary, with four races remaining in the season, while also getting the 51st career Formula One victory which placed him in a tie with Alain Prost as the all F1 winner. In the next race at Spa - Francorchamps, Schumacher broke his deadlock with Prost to claim the all time winning record. After an unusual two race slump in which Schumacher admitted his heart wasn't in racing after the terrorist attacks on September 11, Michael came back to blow away the competition and win the season finale at Suzuka and solidify his career win total at 53.     

Let's see what else happened? Oh yeah. The World Of Outlaws champion for the year 2001 wasn't named Kinser. Danny Lasoski won the series title driving a car owned by Tony Stewart. 

In winning the 2001 USAC National Midget title, Dave Darland joined Pancho Carter and Tony Stewart as the only drivers to win championships in all three major USAC divisions. 

Goodyear made a proposal to the Indy Racing League to be the sole suppliers of tires to the series for 2003, but Tony George turned them down in favor of Firestone. 

Mika Hakkinen won the second annual SAP U.S. Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and then left F1 at the end of the season to take a one year sabbatical from racing. 

Blaise Alexander was killed in an ARCA race at Lowes Motor Speedway in October. Former Formula One winner Michele Alboreto lost his life testing an Audi sports car in Germany last April. 

Three new racing facilities opened for business in the U.S. Chicagoland Speedway, near Joliet, Illinois, opened in July to Winston Cup racing. Kansas Speedway, sister track to the 1.5 mile Chicagoland oval, started presenting competition in July as host to the Indy Racing League. The new 1.333 mile concrete Nashville Superspeedway was opened by the Dover Downs organization in July and there was a standing room crowd at the new oval for the IRL race. 

Finally, last May I learned in an e-mail from his son that Steve Schern died in 1994. Steve would've only been 48 or 49 at the time of his death, which came from bone cancer as I learned later. The news made me very sad. As I've written previously on this website, I grew up with Steve Schern in Carmel, Indiana and it was his influence which made me fall in love with racing. For that I owe him a debt of gratitude. My only regret about Steve Schern is that I did not keep up with him too much after the mid 1960's.