I’m one of you. Long before my first article or big name interview and for as long as I can remember, I’ve been a stock car fan. So for that reason, my name doesn’t matter and neither does my photo. It’s more like we’re just sitting here in the grandstand before the race, talking about Chevys and NASCAR. Hey, you want a cold one? --JC
Whatcha Gonna do, Smoke?
Let’s talk hardware. With Joe Gibbs Racing (JGB) dropping Chevy like a bad burrito, there are likely some time bombs just waiting to go boom. The biggest one we see started with a Chevy press release we got back in the summer. It said that Tony ‘Smoke’ Stewart had made a deal to use nuthin’ but Chevy motors for all that racing he does (and he does a bunch!) outside of NASCAR. That was the first clue that things between Chevy and Gibbs were kinda like me and the ex toward the end of our love/hate/maim/kill relationship. That release seemed odd but we had nothing else to hang it on.
Then along comes the release that Hendrick signed with Chevy for their immediate NASCAR future followed by a ditto with Richard Childress. Well, logic says the next one should come from JGR, but it never did. Then the hot and heavy Gibbs-to-Toyota rumors started a-flyin’. And now we can all go bargain hunting at the Gibbs/Chevy dee-vorce sale.
Here’s more logic. Toyota started in trucks with teams that were either lacking in experience in the crew chiefs, owners and drivers’ positions or just plain time in service. The second year, they ran off the new car demons and buddied up with some more experienced people and teams. The results were nothing less than whoop-ass. Now Toyota’s fixin’ to start off their second year of Cup racing and they got themselves a top team. Sound familiar? Does that mean they’ll start winning? Bet the farm!
But where does that leave ol’ Smoke? Well, the last we hear, he was under contract thru ’09 with JGR. But contracts have a shelf life shorter than my attention span. So the question might just be, ‘Will Smoke make the jump to Japan or will he head on back home to the Chevy barn?’ On the one hand, he can’t get as good a deal on all his short track stuff as Chevy-–Toyota don’t make nuthin’ like that for Saturday night racers. And have you seen Smoke’s Eldora Speedway? Racers there can’t spin a right rear without hitting a Chevy billboard with the dirt. How long do you think Chevy (or Toyota) will tolerate this liberal ‘open marriage?’ On the other hand, Smoke can stay put and help drive Toyota to Victory Lane. Don’t forget there’s a whole lotta money in Toyota’s racing program and I’m thinkin’ the first stud that brings them home a trophy would get most loved for long time, dig? Either way, he’s gonna need to hire someone just to make sure he’s wearing the right shirt when he leaves the house.
