Benson on Fuel Mileage, Bristol
Benson on Fuel Mileage, Bristol If there is ever a chance fuel mileage won’t be a factor in a NASCAR Winston Cup race then it is Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway where the frequent cautions on the half-mile concrete high banks allow plenty of opportunity for pitting under yellow. Fuel mileage is becoming as big a part of racing as driver skills, aerodynamics, shocks, springs, and drafting. #10 Valvoline Pontiac driver Johnny Benson has been on both sides of the fuel mileage game this season. At Sonoma he led 8 laps before running out of gas in the final moments of the race. On Sunday at Michigan Benson stretched the fuel mileage and ended the race in 10th. Benson On Fuel Mileage: “(Crew Chief) James (Ince) and I start thinking about fuel mileage about half way through the national anthem. Actually it starts a lot earlier than that. We think about it Saturday in practice. We try to get a reading on fuel consumption and we talk about what kind of gear we want to use.” Are Fuel Mileage Races Good For The Sport? “I don’t know. I let the fans and media decide that. Frankly, we don’t even think about that. Fuel mileage is a reality of current racing and it does you no good to complain or even talk about it. Building an engine that gets good fuel mileage is just as important as building an engine with good horsepower. It’s reality, we just deal with it.” “Yeah I’d rather have every race decided with a last lap battle between drivers, but I have no idea how you change that.” Benson On Bristol: “The thing about Bristol is the first three or four laps you end up feeling kind of dizzy because of the banking and the speed. But, by the end of the day, after you get racing you get pretty used to it. As one driver put it, it’s kind of like flying fighter jets in a gymnasium. “I like it. It’s fast, its fun and you don’t have to worry about aerodynamics or anything like that. It’s just race as hard as you can for 500 laps.” Benson On Racing At Night: “I like racing at night. We all grew up Saturday night racing and that’s what we like. It’s cooler, there is less glare and the track stays more consistent, but it’s really the atmosphere that makes night racing so much fun. The fans seem more intense than normal, the crew guys are hyped up and all that transfers to the drivers. Bristol might be the most exciting place we race.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------- Valvoline Informed Sources - Story Ideas On Fire Monday through Saturday Jimmy Watts is a captain with the Charlotte Fire Department. On Sunday he goes over pit wall just inches away from 43 swarming cars to gas Johnny Benson’s #10 Valvoline Pontiac. Watts helped pull Benson out of his car at Talladega last year and is a good authority on firefighting techniques in racing. Attention Radio Broadcasters: Johnny Benson audio is now available. If you would like a MP3 file of Johnny Benson previewing an upcoming race or talking about a specific subject please email me and I will send you the audio file of Benson. If you would like weekly pictures of the #10 team and Benson please email me and I will give you the pass code so you can download pictures every Monday. Media only please. What's the owner doing at testing? At testing events, the car owner normally would be as ignored as a busboy at Hooters. Why are Valvoline representatives a key part of pre- and in-season testing for the No. 10 Valvoline Pontiac and No. 9 and 19 Dodge Dealers Intrepid R/Ts? That's because Valvoline uses the Nascar Winston Cup tests to try out its new qualifying oils, gear oils, radiator wetter that go into the engines of Johnny Benson, Bill Elliott and Jeremy Mayfield. The Business of Racing is Business: Half of the stories written about Nascar Winston Cup racing are business related these days. Jim Rocco - Senior Vice President at the Valvoline Company - is one of the listed car owners of Johnny Benson's #10 Valvoline Pontiac and an excellent interview for stories dealing with team owners, sponsorship or economics of racing. For Sale? Want to know how much it costs to be on a Winston Cup racer? Valvoline has a color graphic in jpg form that gives rough costs estimates of every spot on a Winston Cup car. Home Grown Racing Valvoline as well as Benson and his Crew Chief James Ince value local racers across the country. Benson races a pavement late model and Ince owns and races with his dirt team in the Midwest. Valvoline supports local racers by giving money through a competition called the Valvoline Cup open to all American racers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------- Benson Record At Bristol Race Year S F First Race 2003 20 19 Second Race 2002 6 12 First Race 2002 28 39 Second Race 2001 29 36 First Race 2001 28 26 Second Race 2000 29 13 First Race 2000 33 2 Second Race 1999 39 33 First Race 1999 42 29 Second Race 1998 23 33 First Race 1998 8 5 Second Race 1997 22 18 First Race 1997 33 31 Second Race 1996 29 28 First Race 1996 1996 DNS Benson 2003 Record S F Daytona 40 19 Rockingham 2 13 Las Vegas 16 12 Atlanta 23 11 Darlington 22 25 Bristol 20 19 Texas 13 32 Talladega 17 41 Martinsville 28 32 California 32 36 Richmond 13 15 Charlotte 10 24 Dover 30 5 Pocono 25 24 Michigan 26 25 Infineon 25 30 Daytona 22 27 Chicago 36 18 Loudon 26 26 Pocono 29 20 Indianapolis 40 13 Watkins Glen 27 27 Michigan 35 10 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------- THE RACE: Sharpie 500 Winston Cup Race #24 of 36 for the 2003 Winston Cup season Race: Saturday, August 23, 2003 in Bristol, TN TV: TNT - 7:30pm/et Pre-Race Show: TNT - 7:00pm/et - hosted by Bill Weber Scheduled Race Re-Air: NOTE: Speed Channel one-hour recap [called Fast Forward] of the race on Wednesday, August 27th at 7:00pm/et and again on August 28th at 1:00am/et; a full three-hour race show will re-air at 3:00pm/et on Thursday, August 28th Announcers: Allen Bestwick, Benny Parsons, Wally Dallenbach Pit Reporters: Bill Weber, Matt Yocum, Marty Snider, Dave Burns War Wagon: Bill Weber and many guests Purse/Race Awards: was $4,598,287 in 2002 2002 Race Winner: Jeff Gordon, 77.097mph, started 1st Track Race Record 1st Race: Cale Yarborough, Apr 1977, 100.989 Track Race Record 2nd Race: Charlie Glotzbach, July 1971, 101.074 Slowest Race Record: Ned Jarrett, July 1965, 61.826mph Worst Starting Spot to Win: Elliott Sadler, March 2001, started 38th Track/Race Length: 0.533-mile concrete oval, 500 laps, 266.5 miles Pit Road Speed: 35mph Practice Practice: Friday, August 22nd, 11:20am - 1:20pm/et; and 4:45 - 5:30pm/et Happy Hour Practice: Friday, August 22nd, 6:15 - 7:00pm/et on TV-TNT at 7:00pm/et via tape. Qualifying Qualifying Draw: Friday, August 22nd, 10:20am/et First Round Qualifying: 2 laps for positions 1-36, Friday, August 22nd at 3:05pm/et, TV-TNT live Race/Event Qualifying Record: Rusty Wallace, August 2000, 125.447mph Track Qualifying Record: Ryan Newman, March 2003, 128.709mph Last Year's Pole Sitter: Jeff Gordon, 124.034mph, finished 1st. Track Specs: 0.533-mile concrete oval Degree of banking in corners: 36 degrees Degree of banking in straights: 16 degrees Straightaways are 650 feet long. Concrete racing surface is 40 feet wide. Seating capacity: ~160,000 Bristol has two pits roads: 21 pit stalls on the front stretch and 21 on the back stretch(1 must be shared) Pit Stall Size: 25.5 feet long, 15.5 feet wide See below for special Bristol pit road rules. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ 10 Valvoline Pontiac Team Television Information Pit Contact: James Ince or Drew Brown Owners: Valvoline (Jim Rocco)/MB2 Motorsports (Tom Beard, Nelson Bowers, Read Morton) Crew Chief/Car Chief: James Ince Engine Builder: Hendrick Motorsports Spotter (Race Day) Jay Guy Spotter (Practice Only) Russell Hoekwater Engine Tuner John Kendrach Over The Wall Pit Crew Front Tire Changer Rick (Fuzz) Burgdoff Front Tire Carrier Shane Cooke Rear Tire Changer Greg Burkhart Rear Tire Carrier Steve Genenbacher Gasman Jimmy Watts Tire Specialist Skippy Johnson Catch Can Steve Mann Jackman Brian Perry Other Crew Members Truck Driver: Jerry Hess Mechanic: David Baum Shocks: Mike Cluka Tires: Jeff (Skippy) Johnson Engineer: Tim Turner Computers & Gas Runner: John Hayes Scorer: Terry Lane Pit Stop Coach: Gary Smith PR Rep: Drew Brown