January 5th - 9th, 2009
Monday: 2008 Driver Reviews return to the Frontstretch, as we ring in the New Year with a look back at the seasons of Casey Mears and Paul Menard.
Tuesday: Juan Pablo Montoya and current free agent Joe Nemechek go under the microscope as our look back at last season continues.
Wednesday: It's back! With the new season just a month away, some of your favorite writers return to check in on the offseason news and offer their take in the latest edition of Mirror Driving.
Thursday: Tony Raines and David Reutimann have their last 36 races sliced apart as our Driver Review Series trudges on.
Friday: While Elliott Sadler figures out his next move, we figure out how he put himself in position to be released by GEM with a look back at his 2008 slump.
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Amidst D.E.I. Turmoil, France Sells NASCAR to China Virtually Unannounced...And No One Cares
Voices From the Heartland · Jeff Meyer · Wednesday May 16, 2007
A few weeks ago, I reported in this column that Brian France and other NASCAR Party members spent a week in Communist China to "discuss possible projects with government, sports, and business officials in Beijing." Well, it appears that Brian had some good discussions.
Barely three weeks after the Great Leader's return to the States, it was quietly announced, in a two sentence paragraph on usatoday.com, that a Chinese owned company would sponsor a car in Nextel Cup competition. The company is Haier (pronounced Hi-er) America, a subsidiary of Haier Group, China's number one company amongst "Top Ten Global Brands" of the country. The car they sponsored is the No. 13 Ginn Racing Chevy driven by Joe Nemechek, with the company making their debut at Darlington Raceway this past Saturday night.
As I asked in my column a couple of weeks ago, before the Ginn / Haier sponsorship was announced, where is the outrage amongst the fans about this move? More specifically, where is the outrage that is and / or has been directed at Japanese-owned Toyota when they announced they were getting in the Cup Series in the first place?
Granted, the Chinese involvement isn't on the scale of Toyota, but a person would think that if there was such an uproar about NASCAR "selling out" to a foreign car manufacturer, one that is from a friendly country, no less, surely the sponsorship of a Cup car by a Communist-owned company would be unthinkable.
One would also think, seeing as how NASCAR is all fired up for diversity and world dominance, that a big announcement would be forthcoming from the King himself. Something along the lines about how his trip to China was a rousing success and that the NASCAR Party was all set in place to bring about the end to all wars and global warming; but that was not the case.
Unfortunately for Brian, he was upstaged by some kid who announced that he just can't get along with his stepmother any longer and will soon be moving out. Turns out that kid has more worshippers than the King…no wonder he was docked 100 points!
One thing that I find especially ironic, sadly enough, is the fact that the guy that now drives a Communist sponsored car used to drive the car sponsored by the United States Army! Only in NASCAR can an owner get sponsorship monies from not only his own government, but a Communist one as well! Ain't life grand!
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Before I end this little informational episode, I do want to pose a question to the fans out there about NASCAR’s decision to dock Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 100 points, moving him out of twelfth place and into fourteenth in the current standings…
Do you think NASCAR would have dared the same move if was immediately after Richmond and the penalty would have removed Junior from the Chase? I don't.
Stay off the wall,
Jeff Meyer
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