NASCAR and MLB Go Hand-In-Hand
April 10, 2008 by Tim Zaegel
Filed under Racing
Last September, Arizona Diamondbacks owner Jeff Moorad joined a group that bought controlling interests of Hall of Fame Racing from its original owners, Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach. Now, with NASCAR heading to Phoenix International Raceway this weekend, the dual-sports team owner is striving to bring his two products together.
On Wednesday, Cup Series star and HOF Racing driver of the no. 96 DLP HDTV Toyota Camry, J.J. Yeley, drove his car out of the right field bullpen and along the warning track at Chase Field in Arizona. This Saturday night during the Sprint Cup Series’ running of the Subway Fresh Fit 500, Yeley will also feature the Diamondbacks’ “10th Anniversary” logo along his wheel wells. Drivers from at least eight different NASCAR teams will also attend the games throughout the weekend as honorary guests of the Diamondback organization.
Moorad is fairly new to the NASCAR world himself, but his partner and COO of the Diamondbacks’ organization, Tom Garfinkel, was the Executive Vice President for five years at Chip Ganassi Racing before leaving the organization in 2006 to pursue his opportunities in the MLB. With racing still in his heart, however, he joined Moorad in the HOF business venture in purchasing ownership of the race team.
In Other News:
- With all the mumbling and grumbling that’s taken the garage area by storm every week following NASCAR’s trips to the mile and a half oval tracks, Lowe’s Motor Speedway president, “Humpy” Wheeler, has asked the NASCAR commission to incorporate a testing session at Lowe’s sometime prior to the running of the All-Star Race and the Coca-Cola 600 in May. Wheeler is determined to deliver exciting races in both events next month that can appeal to both the fans and the drivers.
- Officials at Firestone have recently expressed their interest in taking over as NASCAR’s premier tire supplier should Goodyear pull out from the sport, though Goodyear’s contract is good through the 2012 season. Firestone Executive Director, Al Speyer, stated, “There’s a lot of people in our organization that would love to be running NASCAR. Our engineers can do a very good job there.”
t.z.
ITs about time a track owner stood up ang said they need to do something humpy has been around the sport forever and seems that a guy like him who has to put fans in the seat a few times a season with the bad economy they have to put on a good show cause nobody feels like spending the hundrends of dollars to go see a boring race.
As for firestone I hope nascar sticks with goodyear they will get the tires program together and nascar and goodyear seem to be a good combo.
I agree 100% that its great to see these track owners stepping in and sorta ‘fending for themselves’ so to speak. The more these guys get the chance to test out these cars the better they’ll get used to the new configurations.
It’s also pretty cool about the deal with the Diamondbacks. I woulda figured that they’d advertise on more than just the wheel well though.
Roc and James, I couldn’t agree more on the testing issue. Tires? I could care less to be honest. Just give me whatever works!