Charlie's Blog (8)

NASCAR’s version of March Madness probably happens this Sunday on the half mile high-banks of Bristol Motor Speedway. But at Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie, we couldn’t wait. I mean, why should round ball fans have all the bracket bragging rights? We started with the list of the 50 Greatest NASCAR Drivers that NASCAR came up with during NASCAR’s 50th Anniversary season in 1998. Then we added 14 more of our own choosing. That gave… Continue

I was reading an article in MotorSport, one of my favorite mags. The piece was about the 1958 Formula One World Championship…….That gap is to let all of you get in your “old guy” jokes. The author, Nigel Roebuck, starts off the story with a quote from F1 Czar, Bernie Eccelstone… For him” the World Champion each year should be the driver who had won the most races, and only in the event of a tie on victories, should places (points) come into reckoning” Now that would be radical, huh? Even for… Continue

Sometimes things just feel right. Today, ARCA and our company, Bench Racing Productions are announcing the launch of a cause marketing effort to be known as ARCA Angels. The program will run for eight weeks in conjunction with ON PIT ROW and INSIDE ARCA sponsored by Team Glock Racing, the two radio programs that are co hosted by Steve Wronkowicz and Charlie Turner from the Toledo Speedway Bar & Grill each week. “We are just trying to help,” said Mark Gundrum, Vice President of Marketing an… Continue

The Race to the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship is down to two short tracks and a big, two mile intermediate. That’s thirty, potentially huge, Chase bonus points up for grabs. Carl Edwards snagged the extra ten points for winning the Michigan race. And MIS is the clone of one of the three tracks remaining - Auto Club Speedwayin Fontana, Fruitland. Edwards is also the defending race winner of the Bristol night race, which just happens to be the next stop on the NASCAR Sprint Cup tour. Ra… Continue

Maybe the only question left for Kyle Busch to answer is whether he and crew chief Steve Addington can win a fuel economy race. They will likely get a chance this week in the hilly cottage country of Southeast Michigan. Dale Earnhardt Jr won the June race at MIS with what seemed at the time, the ultimate gas gamble. It worked and Junior broke a long winless streak in the Sprint Cup Series. But the win had a “great taste - less filling” feel for many of his fans. Much as we hope for victories b… Continue

If you haven't seen this, you need to. BenchRacers hereby announces it's official support of this candidate for president! Continue

For a long time I thought the trips to Chicagoland for NASCAR races felt odd. You just don’t think of NASCAR when you think the Windy City. But I’ve changed my mind. Stay with me now. Chicago of the 1920’s was the home of one of the most notorious gangster-bootleggers of all time - Al Capone. I don’t know if any of Scarface’s drivers ever aspired to take their Duesenburgs and Packards to the race track or not. But not much more than a generation later, bootleggers of a different sort took to th… Continue

I wonder if those fortunate rains that fell on, and brought the win to, Kurt Busch at New Hampshire International Speedway yesterday will be the start of KB 1’s resurgence? In case you forgot, Busch the Elder finished second - right on the rear bumper of Ryan Newman - the last time NASCAR saw Daytona. Just because Kurt won in unconventional fashion, by playing the rain game, doesn’t mean this won’t start a streak. Kasey Kahne got rolling after being VOTED into a race. Kurt’s competitors may reg… Continue