Posts tagged Martinsville at FanHouse

The red color scares off some, and the remnants of it may find their way to a poor soul's shirt, but the "Famous Martinsville hot dog" is a true relic of the "good ol' days" of NASCAR racing.

The hot dog, a trademark at the half-mile paperclip track since who-knows-when, is one thing you don't mess with at a track known for heated tempers and bent sheet metal. The dog even has a Youtube video about it, which you can catch below the jump.

After all, $2 will get you a hot dog that easily clears most of the major food groups.

The dogs start with boiled Jesse Jones hot dogs, wrapped into what is more of a roll than a hot dog bun, and then topped with chili, mustard, onions, and vinegar-based slaw. The concoctions are then then wrapped in some wax paper and left in a steamer to keep in their warmth.

Fans, drivers, crew members and -- most naturally, of course -- media members dig the famous creations and a few years ago, disdain over a change to the normal recipe caused the top levels of NASCAR to get involved.

Five races into the 2008 Sprint Cup season, the Fanhouse recaps the Top-5 lessons learned in 2008. Check back each day to get revved up for Sunday's Goody's Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

Five weeks into the first full season with the next-generation race car in the Sprint Cup Series, and its hard not to surmise that the reaction is still quite mixed.

At Daytona, it was a great race car, creating more drafting and passing opportunities while also returning much of the handle to the drivers.

Since then, there really hasn't been much difference in the way the car races with the exception of Atlanta. However, the tire combination was also a significant factor in the race car there, so defining its performance at AMS would best be described as a "crapshoot".

Otherwise, "bland" might be a little better of a word for the car.

Due to the fact that Sprint Cup Series was off last weekend for Easter, the Fanhouse is digging deep for some past highlights from Martinsville Speedway, site of this Sunday's Goody's Cool Orange 500.

In this one from 1999, Tony Stewart and the late Kenny Irwin have their share of run-ins on the half-mile paper clip. Apologies in advance for the European broadcast commentary, I couldn't find the ESPN version.



The conflict got started early in the day when Stewart spun out Irwin in turn 4.

Tony would later call that a mistake, and with good reason.

Five races into the 2008 Sprint Cup season, the Fanhouse recaps the Top-5 lessons learned in 2008. Check back each day to get revved up for Sunday's Goody's Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

Can we blame probation? Toyota? Subway commercials? A new girlfriend?

I don't know which one to pick exactly, but for some God-awful reason, Tony Stewart has given up on his barber.

As you can see to the right, Stewart's hair has gotten to unbelievable levels. It looks waxy, unkept, and straight out of an Italian crime drama. And it could very well be part of the Tony Stewart we've seen in 2008.

One week, he's ripping Goodyear for its tire selection at Atlanta. He's the only one, so he says, that is willing to take such a decisive stand on a issue in the garage area.

The next, he's giving one of the oddest interviews of his career after getting out of his wrecked race car in Bristol. Instead of being livid, mad, and otherwise Tony Stewart-like, Driver No. 20 had a strange sense of sarcasm and a cool head, despite being wrecked with 2 laps to go.

For once, Stewart wasn't snappy with a reporter, didn't throw anyone under the bus, and played off a disappointing finish with a cool approach.

What does that have to do with his hair?

Five races into the 2008 Sprint Cup season, the Fanhouse recaps the Top-5 lessons learned in 2008. Check back each day to get revved up for Sunday's Goody's Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

NASCAR on Fox has had a better start to its broadcast season over 2007, and no one is completely sure why.

The ratings have jumped 5.7% on average -- including the rain-plagued Auto Club 500 -- over last year's numbers. There isn't much that has changed in the sport that I'd think would increase ratings. A new car? More foreign drivers at the back?

Those don't seem like plausible reasons. Maybe it has something to do with Hendrick Motorsports being winless so far, or even the fact that Dale Earnhardt Jr. even has a legitimate shot to win races right now.

People tire quickly of watching the same winner in each race especially when its Jimmie Johnson winning two of the first five in 2007, or Jeff Gordon starting from the pole in two of those races.

Sure Carl Edwards has won two in 2008, but he's penalty after winning at Las Vegas kept people involved, not bored.

Former Cup champion Jeff Gordon had more than 10 laps to move his teammate out of the way for the win in Martinsville Sunday but couldn't get the job done.

Is Jimmie Johnson that good? Or did Gordon go soft on him?

The announcers intimate that Gordon took it easy on Johnson because he's his Hendrick Motorsports teammate--not to mention Gordon is also an owner in the #48 team.

Gordon's post-race tears quotes imply that if it had been anyone but a teammate out front that he would have put the driver in the wall and if any other driver besides Gordon had been in 2nd, he'd have also taken Johnson out.

But what was really going through Gordon's mind those last few laps were Talladega flashbacks:

"We're out here to win a championship and by wrecking him or myself or both of us trying to go for that win which Rick Hendrick has seen before and I've heard about those Monday morning meetings and I don't want to be a part of that."

Fair enough. But does anyone really believe that Gordon didn't do everything he could to win?

Could Mike Skinner be having more fun?

He misses the money of Nextel Cup, but says he wouldn't trade his truck for anything.

And what a truck it is.

His #5 Bill Davis Toyota Tundra is "hooked up." So far in the 2007 NCTS season he's sat on two poles and had three wins--the third consecutive one coming in Martinsville.

Martinsville is a special place for him since that is the place he finally got his future wife's attention after he'd been chasing her for awhile. The first meal he and Angie shared was a Martinsville hot dog. He's says then she couldn't even cook a hot dog. But now she has her own cookbook, Race Day Grub (Recipes from the NASCAR family).

Skinner talks about the Martinsville "rectum rockets," his season, IRL driver Helio Castroneves and college basketball in this really fun SpeedFreaks interview (audio).

One of the designs of the NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow project that has seemingly stayed under the radar has already played a large role in the outcome of at least one race for this new design.

Jeff Gordon banged, slammed, and brushed Jimmie Johnson's rear bumper in nearly every corner Sunday with about ten laps to go. One would have expected Johnson to eventually slide up the track and Gordon to slide right on by for the victory. But he didn't, and Gordon didn't.

The CoT is sporting a newly designed front end and almost fits with the rear end of another car like matching puzzle pieces. The front bumper is flatter and taller, allowing it to bump the car in front of it -- not lift it up.

Brett Bodine, a former driver and now NASCAR's Director of Cost Management, couldn't be happier with the design.

"The thing that's really impressing me is that with the bumpers being lined up, cars aren't spinning each other out when there is nose-to-tail contact. That's what the whole bumper design was about."

Jimmie Johnson sure benefited from the design Sunday at Martinsville. He feels its going to improve racing.

"The guy behind you can't just go in there and knock him out of the way. You've actually got to drive the car past him."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had the same comments last week at Bristol, saying "it was kinda cool" that "when you hit them, it just throws them forward".

The CoT has now passed the short track test except for a few issues with foam padding and tailpipes. Those will be fixed and are relatively minor. However, the true test lies with Phoenix and beyond, as the cars start to hit speedways with more speed. For now, though? This car has run well, raced well, produced nothing drastically surprising, and things are only looking up.

Count me in as one of those CoT fans.

After last week's complaints about the car of tomorrow exhaust systems, I expected we'd have more air quality complaints by the halfway mark of today's Goody Cool Orange 500.

I wasn't the only one. The drivers have the oxygen tanks ready to go.

Jimmie Johnson even tried to preempt any potential problem by preparing for today's race with oxygen therapy:

"Everybody has different beliefs with it, and it hasn't scienced out to a T yet. But the schedule I have been on is Friday for an hour, Saturday for an hour, Sunday morning for an hour. And then if I can, Sunday afternoon after the race; that is really when you can feel it the most. If you can get on some oxygen, it helps you out a lot."

But being short on oxygen at Martinsville isn't exclusive to the COT.

Check out this video from 1998 when race winner Ricky Rudd suffered a broken air conditioner in 90 degree heat. He gave his post-race interview lying on the ground in victory lane with oxygen in hand:

As is often noted on any television broadcast in the past few years from Martinsville, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has hit just about everything -- including the tow truck. And you can bet that Sunday, Darrell Waltrip or Larry McReynolds will keep that streak alive when the camera pans over to that 8 car.

However, will Junior be getting the attention for being near the front?

He sure hopes so, and definitely needs it to get this season headed in the right direction.

Last week at Bristol and the week before at Atlanta, Earnhardt has improved markedly. Posting finishes of 7th and 14th respectively, the DEI flagship car has started to make a little bit of noise. A finish at Las Vegas -- in which he led his only lap of the year -- started that trend. He's been consistent, but just not quite hitting full stride.

As a result, the Budweiser Chevrolet still sits 17th in points, 279 marks behind leader Jeff Gordon. A wreck at Daytona and a engine failure at California will do that.

Saturday, though, was a good sign for Earnhardt and crew chief Tony Eury Jr. The 8 car paced the final practice session and even had the best average practice speed over his 56 laps. Junior starts 8th today.

He seemed pretty content with the car after practice.

"We tried a lot of different stuff, made it better, made it worse, made it better, made it worse. Just hopefully tomorrow we roll out the good car for the race."

And the Bud Nation is putting a lot of hope into that hopefully -- both today and the rest of the year.