The Hunt For 43...

This will be one of the previously mentioned special series which will happen today along with four other Mondays: December 19th, January 9th, January 23rd, and and February 6th. What The Hunt For 43 is is an update on how NASCAR is doing trying to fill the 2012 Sprint Cup Series field based on Cup teams that have recently announced plans for next year. So without further ado, her is this week's The Hunt For 43!

Many teams will not be around next year, opening up opportunities for new teams to run full time. That doesn't mean they will though. Let's face it, team entries have been down. In 2007, 61 teams attempted the Daytona 500, another 11 ran at attempted at at least one race, or 72 overall, 45 of which attempted the full schedule. This year, those numbers were much less. Only 48 were at the track in February, and while another 17 showed up later in the year, that's still only 62, and only 41 of those teams went full-time. Now, with an economy failing even worse than before, a large shortage of team are expected. Currently, that is true.

As of most recently, it appears as only 28 teams will officially be full time. Hendrick Motorsports is the only four car team, with #5 Kasey Kahne, #24 Jeff Gordon, #48 Jimmie Johnson, and #88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Many teams will run three cars next year. Joe Gibbs Racing continues with #11 Denny Hamlin, #18 Kyle Busch, and #20 Joey Logano. Only one three car team is expanding, which is Michael Waltrip Racing. The team will keep Martin Truex Jr. in car #56, but have released David Reutimann and replaced him with a series of co-drivers. Mark Martin will run 25 races, Michael Waltrip will run five, and the remaining six run a driver or drivers to be determined at at later date. In addition, the team adds Clint Bowyer to their stable.

This season, two four car teams of 2011 will drop to three car teams. Roush Fenway Racing and Richard Childress Racing don't have sponsors to run, so they drop a team. With both teams' competitive drivers, Roush's #16 Greg Biffle, #17 Matt Kenseth, and #99 Carl Edwards, and Childress's #27 Paul Menard, #29 Kevin Harvick, and #31 Jeff Burton, both look to have more competitive equipment by raising the budget for each car.

Continuing on, many team will have two cars in their stable. Teams like Earnhardt Ganassi, Penske, Petty, and Stewart Haas all will have two full time cars. Add on Germain, JTG Daugherty, Furniture Row, and new full timers Inception Motorsports, plus part timers from Stewart Haas and Hamilton Means, adds up to 30 cars on track next year

TEAM CHART

FULL TIME CARS (28 Cars)

Hendrick Motorsports (4 Cars)
#5 Kasey Kahne
#24 Jeff Gordon
#48 Jimmie Johnson
#88 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Kahne replaces Mark Martin, who goes to Michael Waltrip Racing. Farmers Indurance is the new #5 car sponsor. Dale Earnhardt Jr. has a new sponsor in Diet Mountain Dew.

Joe Gibbs Racing (3 Cars)
#11 Denny Hamlin
#18 Kyle Busch
#20 Joey Logano
Despite rumors, Busch keeps his ride at Gibbs. Only major change is addition of sponsor Dollar General.

Michael Waltrip Racing (3 Cars)
#15 Clint Bowyer
#55 Mark Martin (25 Races) Michael Waltrip (5 Races) TBA (6 Races)
#56 Martin Truex Jr.
Bowyer will run #15 with sponsor 5-Hour Energy. David Reutimann is released from driving car #00, and Martin, Waltrip, and another will replace him in the renumbered #55 car.

Roush Fenway Racing (3 Cars)
#16 Greg Biffle
#17 Matt Kenseth
#99 Carl Edwards
Roush drops David Ragan and car #6 due to lack of sponsorship. Many new sponsors at RFR, but none for Matt Kenseth, who needs a lot.

Richard Childress Racing (3 Cars)
#27 Paul Menard
#29 Kevin Harvick
#31 Jeff Burton
Clint Bowyer heads over to Michael Waltrip Racing, and the General Mills sponsors is given to Jeff Burton. Wheaties will be featured on Burton's car. The #33 car is shut down.

Earnhardt Ganassi Racing (2 Cars)
#1 Jamie McMurray
#42 Juan Pablo Montoya
After 21st and 27th place finishes in points for their drivers, these two teams have a long way to go. Montoya gets Chris Heroy as his crew chief for 2012.

Penske Racing (2 Cars)
#2 Brad Keselowski
#22 TBA
Best season in while for Penske. Both teams qualify for the Chase, and combine for five wins. However, due to a rampage with the media, Kurt Busch is released from car #22.

Richard Petty Motorsports (2 Cars)
#9 Marcos Ambrose
#43 AJ Allmendinger
After both drivers nearly made the Chase this year, it appears this team is headed in the right direction.

Stewart Haas Racing (2 Cars)
#14 Tony Stewart
#39 Ryan Newman
After Tony Stewart ends Jimmie Johnson's championship streak, and wins his third, this team looks great. A number of new sponsors have joined.

Germain Racing (1 Car)
#13 Casey Mears
Despite this team struggling in the Camping World Truck Series, they plan to run a full Cup schedule, and with a new manufacturer.

Inception Motorsports (1 Car)
#30 David Stremme
After a part time schedule for one of the most joked about teams, Inception Motorsports goes full time in 2012.

JTG Daugherty Racing (1 Car)
#47 Bobby Labonte
With a couple more sponsors, and a couple less, this team leaves the Michael Waltrip Racing shop and move into their own.

Furniture Row Racing (1 Car)
#78 Regan Smith
After a great year that saw Smith and the #78 team win a race and run in the All-Star Race, this team will be back in 2012.

PART TIME TEAMS (2 Cars)

Stewart Haas Racing
#10 Danica Patrick
Patrick finally fully leaves IndyCar and will run full time Nationwide and part time Cup in 2012, with full time Cup in 2013.

Hamilton Means Racing
#52 TBA
Former Cup Series Owner/Driver Jimmy Means returns to Cup Series competition as co-owner of the #52 car for 2012.

As it can be seen, we have a long way to go for a full field, but let's hope we get there!

A Look At What's To Come

Next week, FlyingTurns.Com will relaunch on a regular basis, with new articles, race previews and reviews, special articles, three new weekly series, and updates on how Silly Season is going. So without further ado, here's a preview of what will be on FlyingTurns.Com during the 2011-2012 off season.

Weekly Articles

End Of My Line
Every Wednesday, you'll get a taste of what I think in the weekly opinion article, "End Of My Line." It will have everything for a decent opinion, both offense and defense. My ideas, and facts to back them up.

What's In A Number?
The next day, on Thursday, will be "What's In A Number," a series about, you guessed it, car numbers. Is there any such thing as a "lucky number" in NASCAR? We'll find out every Thursday.

The Final Turn
Finally, at the end of the week, on Saturday, will be "The Final Turn." This will be a weekly wrap up of all the week's action and news, both in racing and on here.

Finishing up, a number of other articles will show up occasionally, so keep an eye out for them, other than that, see you all on Monday.

The Rathmanns

I was planning on taking Thanksgiving off, unless something came up. Well, something did come up.

I remember hearing stories about the Rathmann brothers, Dick and Jim. Long before we had interesting tales about the Busch brothers, or the Labonte brothers, or the Wallace trio, the Rathmann duo had probably one of the most interesting stories around. You see, Dick and Jim were actually Jim and Dick. As teenagers, they liked to switch names. So when they each started racing, they used each others names. And both, no matter what name they use, found success. Dick Rathman (notice he took an "n" off his last name) found his success in NASCAR. In five years, Dick had accumulated 13 wins. Jim Rathmann, on the other hand, went to open wheel racing. In 1949, while his brother Dick was driving into Victory Lane, Jim was racing in the Indianapolis 500. And he ran for many years too. In fact, from 1949-1963, Jim only missed one Indy 500, in 1951. Dick on the other hand, ran NASCAR until 1955, and then made the jump to open wheels. And for a few years, Dick and Jim ran in the Indy 500 together. In 1960, however Jim did something Dick would never be able to do: Win the Indy 500.

The day started out with close battle between the brothers. Jim started second, Dick started fourth. Except Dick's brakes gave out shortly before a quarter of the way through the race. He would finish 31st. By this point, Jim had already led thirteen laps. For the rest of the race, while more and more cars lost a shot at the win, including Indy 500 legend AJ Foyt, and pole sitter Eddie Sachs, Jim kept going, and for the second half of the race, it would be a fight between Rathmann and defending race winner Rodger Ward. Rathmann began the second half with the lead, and lead for over twenty laps. Ward passed him, but Rathmann didn't give up, and passed back. The two exchanged the lead fourteen times. But in the end, it was Rathmann who was victorious.

Rathmann won two other races in open-wheels, but never won Indy again. In 1963, Rathmann competed in his last Indy 500, and remained competitive throughout. Jim and Dick Rathmann's careers may have ended but their place in the history books would forever stay. Dick Rathmann died in 2000, and sadly, we lost Jim Rathmann yesterday, but we can only imagine that their going it on the race track in the sky.

Jim, you will be missed. Enjoy yourself, and we'll see you soon.

Royal Richard "Jim" Rathmann
1928-2011

Relaunch of FlyingTurns.Com

After a long hiatus of almost a year and a half, I've decided to relaunch FlyingTurns.Com for this coming off season for NASCAR, mostly because I'll have a lot of free time on my hands. I've got a couple ideas of what will get posted here, but I should have an official timeline ready in a couple weeks. With a 13-week off season, I've got some time to have fun on here, and I'm hoping to get more people reading.

Start-And-Park

Starting later today, each week I will do a weekly start-and-park update. This will for Cup, Nationwide, and Truck. It will list finishing positions, owners points, and money earned. There will also be a leader board for which team has the most points and the most money.

Indy 500

I've been following IRL all year, and I have a couple points I want to make.
First, Alex Lloyd, who in the first five races this season, had finishes of 18th, 23rd, 23rd, 19th, and 19th, earning him a total of 60 points and placing him 130 behind points leader Will Power. And then in the Indy 500 he finishes 3rd? Big burst of luck for him, as unofficially he four spots in the points, from 21st to 17th.
Second, if there was ever an up and down team, it was Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Four cars, and all of them got in the Indy 500 on the day of qualifying. Three of their four cars led laps, and led with less than 25 to go. Disappointingly, two of their cars crashed on the last lap, but a good fight put up by their team.
Third, blocking penalties. They did seem a little ridiculous this year. In my opinion, penalties for should not be between two lead lap cars. However, John Andretti, Graham Rahal, and Townsend Bell, were all black flagged for blocking a fellow lead lap car.
Finally, Marco Andretti being angry about being passed. He thought it was illegal to pass under caution, but Alex Lloyd, Scott Dixon, and Danica Patrick all passed him and he dropped from third to sixth. The question is, will he stay in sixth or not?

2010 All Star Events

As we approach another year of All Star racing action, it occurs to me that it is easy to get lost in all the chaos, so I will provide coverage for All Star Week 2010.

Wednesday starts the action with the 6th Annual NASCAR Pit Crew Challenge. 24 teams, locked by either being in the All Star Race, being the defending champion of the Pit Crew Challenge, or if the field is not 24 cars, being the highest up in owners points. This year, all five defending champions, the #9 Evernham, the #1 DEI, the #12 Penske, the #83 Red Bull, and the #31 Childress teams are all in the field.

Friday is the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race. This has the biggest entry list of the season, at 42 cars, so six will go home.

Saturday is all the All Star action, with the Pennzoil Victory Challenge. This years Burnout Victory Challenge has defending champion #29-Kevin Harvick facing six challengers. The All Star qualifier, the Sprint Showdown, has a 29 car entry list. Three cars, the top 2 finishers, and a fan vote move on to be the last three cars in the All Star race, which will have 21 car in the field total.

Sunday is the induction day for the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Bill France Sr., Bill France Jr., Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, and Junior Johnson are the first five men to be elected into the Hall of Fame.

Fantasy Series Update

The last 4-5 months, flyingturns.com has had some problems and I have been unable to post the Race 1 results. However, the site is now working, and results will be posted sometime next week. Also, there may be a second series coming out this summer with a few more available spots.

Drivers Drafted

Here is who everyone got from the random draft for my series:
First my 3-Car team.
#2-Rusty Wallace
#9-Bill Elliott
#32-Ricky Craven
Now, I will announce the results but in a special way. That is by giving awards for who the best draft pick in each round. I will post the full order though. I am excluded, because I just took the three drivers that were left over.

Best 1st Round Draft Pick
#48-Jimmie Johnson (solidsnake1934)
#12-Ryan Newman (k3nnyisa3som3)
#99-Jeff Burton (RunerRacerPeniguin5)
#31-Robby Gordon (jeremycharge1994)
#10-Johnny Benson (TheBurtonGuy)
#55-Bobby Hamilton (TAH2719)
#21-Elliott Sadler (a14umbra)
#7-Casey Atwood (DFDSFUEIFH)
#26-Todd Bodine (KylePettyFan45)
#63-Shane Hall (thenascarghost)

Best 2nd Round Draft Pick
#88-Dale Jarrett (TAH2719)
#18-Bobby Labonte (jeremycharge1994)
#22-Ward Burton (TheBurtonGuy)
#15-Michael Waltrip (KylePettyFan45)
#43-John Andretti (RunerRacerPeniguin5)
#45-Kyle Petty (DFDSFUEIFH)
#46-Frank Kimmel (thenascarghost)
#25-Jerry Nadeau (solidsnake1934)
#16-Greg Biffle (k3nnyisa3som3)
#37-Jeff Purvis (a14umbra)

Best 3rd Round Draft Pick
#20-Tony Stewart (TheBurtonGuy)
#24-Jeff Gordon (RunerRacerPeniguin5)
#28-Ricky Rudd (DFDSFUEIFH)
#6-Mark Martin (k3nnyisa3som3)
#17-Matt Kenseth (jeremycharge1994)
#29-Kevin Harvick (solidsnake1934)
#5-Terry Labonte (thenascarghost)
#1-Steve Park (TAH2719)
#98-Kasey Kahne (KylePettyFan45)
#49-Shawna Robinson (a14umbra)

Best 4th Round Draft Pick
#40-Sterling Marlin (a14umbra)
#8-Dale Earnhardt Jr. (KylePettyFan45)
#97-Kurt Busch (TheBurtonGuy)
#30-Jeff Green (RunerRacerPeniguin5)
#31-Robby Gordon (jeremycharge1994)
#19-Jeremy Mayfield (thenascarghost)
#27-Jamie McMurray (k3nnyisa3som3)
#36-Ken Schrader (solidsnake1934)
#4-Mike Skinner (DFDSFUEIFH)
#23-Scott Wimmer (TAH2719)

Best Overall Teams (Based on a points rating for each pick. 10 for 1st, 9 for 2nd, 8 for 3rd, etc.)
TheBurtonGuy (31)
RunerRacerPeniguin5 (30)
jeremycharge1994 (28)
k3nnyisa3som3 (22)
solidsnake1934 (21)
KylePettyFan45 (20)
TAH2719 (19)
DFDSFUEIFH (18)
a14umbra (16)
thenascarghost (14)

Those are the teams. Good Luck to everyone!!!

Announcement Regarding FlyingTurns.com

I'd like to announce that FlyingTurns.com will be used for a series I've started on Youtube. Results and Points will be posted here.