Here's the post being referenced....
by the insider
First let me say that anybody who wants too try Cup and has the equipment too pass inspection, pays the "inspection" fee and further more holds a Cup licsense owes no explanation too any fans or media as to what they are doing there. Like it or not...that's the way it is. They only need too answer to NASCAR.
Nobody was making noise about Joe Ruttman when he was driving in the Truck series a couple of years ago. And the media bad mouthing Ruttman for not having a crew at Rockingham need a clue. Talk to James Finch about that deal. He runs that show. Ruttman is just the shoe.
Now on to Andy Hillenburg. It has already been said that he drove in the Indy 500. When he drove in that race it was his 1st, yes I said FIRST IRL race. How many drivers make an IRL debut in the Indy 500 WITHOUT making starts elsewhere with the series OR going thru extensive testing and not just at the Brickyard? He also has had other Cup starts in the past and was always been a non issue as far as his qualifications as a driver. He was hired by Stan Hover (another nice guy) too do a job. Was he hired with expectations of winning the race? Probably not. Case closed.
Safe too say most of the bashers on these types of sites NEVER get any type of seat time that means anything. Recliners with a Playstation controller or Richard Petty school cars do not count. It is easy too talk when you have no idea what it takes (and I dont mean money, team or equipment) too drive a car off into the corner at some tracks approaching 200MPH. It is always acceptable NOT too agree with others and opinions are welcome but try and be realistic. A few of you really need a dose of reality as far as what really matters in life.
Now, let's discuss the person who has brought us to this site, Andy Belmont. I am not a card carrying, Verizon shirt wearing memeber of his fan club and he probaly could not care less. But I respect him. Not as a fan cheering for an underdog but somebody who has dealt with him in the garage. Let me share he following from his column dated 12-16-03.
Andy writes the following,
Once the realization of our place in the grand scheme of things was clearly understood, action was pretty simple. First and foremost, the recognition that the top level of performance at the Cup or Busch level is pretty well out of reach for a driver that is 46 years old and has 5 kids. Second and easily the most important, my family and spending time with them is far more important than any racing program of any kind. Ego, pride, call it what you want. It is the fact. Quite frankly, I am proud and extremely comfortable with the thought that we are an ARCA RE/MAX Series team with a home in that division.
ARCA RE/MAX is home.
22 races a year and a handful of tests leave plenty of room to go to baseball games and tackle our latest endeavor or quarter midgets for the kids. I guess it was inevitable and we tried to avoid it like the plague. But the kids are resilient and I learned a valuable lesson here in the last couple seasons. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Christi Passmore drive our cars in 2002. Then this year Travis Geisler drove one of our cars to a great run at South Boston in his first ever ARCA RE/MAX start. Realizing that there is more to this deal than just driving has been a pretty cool revelation. It really is exciting to teach the younger ones how to get it done. Something that I always wondered that I would be able to handle or not.
So the goals have changed a little. Of course we would like to have a couple more good runs before we hang up the shoes and helmet. But it isn't going to be the end of the world. For a long time I never got that.
When I made my first Winston Cup start in September of 1989, man I thought I had arrived. The yellow brick road was headed straight to OZ and we were just going to dance our way to stardom. Then the cold hard reality that yes, you can do this, but it takes far more money than it does talent and drive. It takes far more butt kissing than I ever intended to stand for. So my time to be Dale Earnhardt came and went.
Being a career Cup backmarker just wasn't the hot ticket for old AB! Roughing up some key players along the way simply made the rainbow nothing more than a lesson in frustration. I always had it in my mind that I would do it my way and I am not a career politician, so I call most of the shots. They're our cars and motors and so on. At the end of the day it might be a pile of junk, but it's my junk.
Career wise, it has been awesome. Sure King Richard was winding down the career in 1992. But how many people in this country can say they raced door to door with THE KING for lap after lap at Dover? My very first start the Intimidator ran over us just because it was how it was done. How many got a real driving lesson from DW? DW would come up in the trailer and we would just shoot the bull. He took me around Darlington and I will forever be grateful for the lesson. It taught me a bunch that has stayed with me a long time. Yeah I still make the bonehead mistakes and get people po'd, but not nearly as much!
Sounds like Andy had put the Cup and Busch deal on the shelf. But in Feb. it was obvious too most that Cup was going to fall short on entries. The window of opportunity had opened ever so slightly and Andy is taking his chance as most would. So is he doing it for the money? It does not matter. That is his and his familys buisness and nobody elses. Some may say he is going back on his word but I don't see it that way.
The thing that everbody seems too overlook is that if NASCAR did not want these fillers then they would deal with it in a way that would give them the drivers they want every week. If a team can not get the car through inspection they do not get on the track. No track time means no qualifying attempt and your loading on Friday afternoon and taking yourself too the house. The Sadler Bros. (Andy B. listed as the shoe) entered the Daytona 500... never made inspection and went home. That was a huge financial loss considering expenses and that they where kicked out of the ARCA garage when the car failed post qualifying inspection. If this happened to Shepherd, Belmont, Shelmerdine, or Long a few weeks they might get run off for financial reasons. Hopefully none of them will experience this. The point is that in Cup it is their way or take your stuff and go home. No favors are give out to anyone.
What is coming down the road in the not so near future is that NASCAR will sell car numbers like a franchise. Talking big money here for a franchise and probably no more than 40 teams and that will be it. Then the big money teams will no longer have to answer to sponsors as too why they are spending $20M per year when another team is running a race unsponsored.
Have some fun with this site and tell others about it. Remember the true reason for it is too jab the media. I remember when little coverage was given to racing and now they have just have got too big for themselves. The media is there to simply cover the show and not make themselves part of it.
