When the Charlotte Media Tour first started, almost 30-years ago, the period between the last race of the season and the opener at Daytona International Speedway was a virtual black hole of racing news.
The Media Tour was an instant success with the media and fans hungry to read about the latest team developments and see the new “paint jobs” (which are now mostly a full-car decal).
With about 200 of my colleagues in the print and “electronic” media we’d ride buses to various race shops from the Wood Brothers, in Virginia to a shop in South Carolina. There was no internet with its’ voracious empty stomach for news waiting to be filled.
Recently fan festivals and Daytona test days (now another fan festival) have been an incubator of news, news leaks and rumors leaving slim pretty slim pickings for “breaking news stories.”
Because of the state of the economy there were no major driver changes in the most successful team, no mega-buck/blockbuster sponsorships coming our way, so the first day on the Media Tour was a little light in the hard news department.
Today’s biggest news came out of the Joe Gibbs Racing group with founder, Joe Gibbs, and president, JD Gibbs – his son, announcing that the team had come to a long-term contract extension with Kyle “Wild Child” Busch.
Coach Gibbs, a three-time Super Bowl NFL coach, is a study in perfection dealing with large groups of journalists. We ask how long is the extension? He replies with a winsome grin and a laugh, “I may not see the end of it. I’ll put it that way.”
We learned that one piece of the Kyle’s compensation is assistance with equipment for his start-up Camping World Truck team. Coach Gibbs likes the fact that Kyle is now a team owner for maturity’s sake. He’s hoping it has a calming effect on his enfant terrible’
"Tony Stewart drove us crazy for years. We wanted to choke him every week. He becomes a team owner, and he's a model citizen," Gibbs says optimistically.
This writer learned, from a tweet by a colleague at the Charlotte Observer that the “multi-year,” contract is for less than seven years.
In other tidbits we learn that Busch’s teammate, Denny Hamlin will be opening a nightclub in the Charlotte area - called Butter. And, Hamlin’s on-track nemesis Brad Keselowski is not on the opening night guest list.
Speaking of Keselowski, who signed a full-time deal to drive Sprint Cup cars over at Penske Racing, Kyle Busch said that his older brother, Kurt Busch, the lead driver there had not yet spoken to Brad. Makes you wonder where that teammate relationship is going.
The Media Tour was an instant success with the media and fans hungry to read about the latest team developments and see the new “paint jobs” (which are now mostly a full-car decal).
With about 200 of my colleagues in the print and “electronic” media we’d ride buses to various race shops from the Wood Brothers, in Virginia to a shop in South Carolina. There was no internet with its’ voracious empty stomach for news waiting to be filled.
Recently fan festivals and Daytona test days (now another fan festival) have been an incubator of news, news leaks and rumors leaving slim pretty slim pickings for “breaking news stories.”
Because of the state of the economy there were no major driver changes in the most successful team, no mega-buck/blockbuster sponsorships coming our way, so the first day on the Media Tour was a little light in the hard news department.
Today’s biggest news came out of the Joe Gibbs Racing group with founder, Joe Gibbs, and president, JD Gibbs – his son, announcing that the team had come to a long-term contract extension with Kyle “Wild Child” Busch.
Coach Gibbs, a three-time Super Bowl NFL coach, is a study in perfection dealing with large groups of journalists. We ask how long is the extension? He replies with a winsome grin and a laugh, “I may not see the end of it. I’ll put it that way.”
We learned that one piece of the Kyle’s compensation is assistance with equipment for his start-up Camping World Truck team. Coach Gibbs likes the fact that Kyle is now a team owner for maturity’s sake. He’s hoping it has a calming effect on his enfant terrible’
"Tony Stewart drove us crazy for years. We wanted to choke him every week. He becomes a team owner, and he's a model citizen," Gibbs says optimistically.
This writer learned, from a tweet by a colleague at the Charlotte Observer that the “multi-year,” contract is for less than seven years.
In other tidbits we learn that Busch’s teammate, Denny Hamlin will be opening a nightclub in the Charlotte area - called Butter. And, Hamlin’s on-track nemesis Brad Keselowski is not on the opening night guest list.
Speaking of Keselowski, who signed a full-time deal to drive Sprint Cup cars over at Penske Racing, Kyle Busch said that his older brother, Kurt Busch, the lead driver there had not yet spoken to Brad. Makes you wonder where that teammate relationship is going.