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VIEWS FROM THE GRANDSTANDS KAY BELL Crown Jewels Want to increase interest in NASCAR? Give fans a chance to see drivers compete to win three of four races on the sport’s toughest, most historic tracks M emorial Day Sunday was a great day for motorsports. Chip Ganassi got the Borg-War- ner Trophy from the Indy 500 to set next to NASCAR’s Harley J. Earl Trophy he won in February at Daytona. Thanks to the checkered flags that Dario Franchitti took in May and Jamie McMurray grabbed in February, Ganassi became the first car owner to win Indy and Day- tona in the same year. Can you say historic? Roger Penske is the only other owner to win both races, though in separate years. And this year, Penske was close behind in the holiday hardware race. His No. 2 Dodge drove into the Coke 600 victory lane at Char- lotte on Memorial Day evening, LOOSE LUGNUTS NASCAR demo- graphic disaster NASCAR apparently needs to do something to generate excitement. A recent SceneDaily.com report says the sport’s 2010 television ratings have decreased slightly from last year’s lows. Even worse, the biggest drop was in the most-coveted TV demographic: Viewership among males ages 18 to 34 is down 29 per- cent from last year alone. Teammate turmoil Some of the hardest racing this year has been between teammates on both sides of the Atlantic. U.S. race fans are well aware there’s no love lost between Gibbs Racing drivers Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin. The internal feud came to the forefront during the Sprint Cup’s all-star week- end when the 18 and 11 tangled and Busch got the worse end of the deal. Sniping between the boys has since ensued. Then came the Turkish Grand Prix, where the Red Bull duo of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel was expected to solidify that team’s control of F1. But the competitive spirit proved too strong; the two crashed into each other late in the race. Webber salvaged a podium finish, but fingers continued to be pointed. Red Bull Team principal 38 TRUCKERS NEWS AUGUST 2010 Christian Horner told Autosport.com the crash “has not done irrevocable damage to the intra-team relation- ship.” Maybe someone should give Joe Gibbs’ phone number to Horner, just in case. More U.S. open- wheel venues It’s been a great summer for open-wheel fans. IndyCar confirmed it will race in the streets of Baltimore next season, and Formula 1 is returning in 2012 with a new facility in Austin, Texas. The Charm City race will be on the schedule for at least five years, starting next August with a 2.4-mile temporary street circuit incorporating landmarks such as the Inner Harbor and Oriole Park at Camden Yards. As for F1, Bernie Ecclestone said he hopes the Lone Star State is the series’ permanent U.S. home. Tavo Hellmund of Full Throttle Productions, the group behind the project, told the Austin American-Statesman that the state capital is a perfect fit: “The geog- raphy, the tech money, the nightlife, the music. It all just fits with what Formula 1 is all about.” As an Austin resident and F1 fan, I hope Hellmund and Ecclestone are right, but I’ll believe it when I hear those vehicles actually start their engines. while his Indianapolis drivers did OK earlier in the day with two of them finishing in the top 10. These cross-series accomplish- ments thrilled racing fans, even those of us cheering for other driv- ers. And it makes me ask: Why should owners be the only ones who get to have such fun? We may one day get a deal between IndyCar and NASCAR that again will let drivers try to com- pete in both big Memorial Day races. But until then (and even after), NASCAR can spice things up by bringing back its Crown Jewels competition. Between 1985 and 1997 series sponsor Winston offered drivers a shot at a $1 million bonus. All a driver had to do was win three of the sport’s four Crown Jewel races in a single year. They were NASCAR’s biggest race, the Daytona 500; its fastest, the sea- son’s first race at Talladega; the lon- gest, the Coke 600 at Charlotte; and the sport’s oldest superspeedway race, what was then the Southern 500 on Labor Day at Darlington. It was this special event’s first year of existence that gave Awe- some Bill from Dawsonville another nickname: Million Dollar Bill. The fan favorite solidified that standing by promptly going out and taking the cigarette manufacturer’s money. Don’t you know R.J. Reynolds exec- utives were freaking out, thinking they’d be on the hook for the cash over and over and over! They didn’t have to worry. For SHERRYL CREEKMORE/NASCAR