No I in NASCAR Team

DECEMBER 5 – Even in New York City, it is still sometimes possible to be overwhelmed. Cipriani is that kind of place.

Located just off 42nd street, the bank-turned-restaurant has the grandeur of a church. The Italian Renaissance style building comes complete with marble columns, a 65-foot ceiling, inlaid floors and massive chandeliers.

It can make a person feel very small. But NASCAR does love a challenge, and has a knack for rising to the occasion. Show them something big, and they’ll find a way to make it bigger.

On this particular day, the occasion in question was the annual NASCAR NMPA Myers Brothers Media Luncheon. Banners bearing the names of the top 12 drivers of 2008 – the guys who made the Chase for the Sprint Cup – covered those soaring columns floor to ceiling. Huge video screens played memorable moments from the racing season.

The room – and in case I haven’t made myself clear, it is absolutely huge – was packed with representatives from race tracks, NASCAR and its sponsor organizations, media members, and other invited guests. If someone wanted a “Who’s Who in NASCAR” photo opportunity, this was it.

Just to give you some idea of what I mean, seated at one table were Jim Hunter, vice president of corporate communications for NASCAR; Bob Bahre, former owner of New Hampshire Motor Speedway and his family; Humpy Wheeler, former president and generally manager of Lowe’s Motor Speedway; Gene Monahan, head athletic trainer for the New York Yankees; and two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Tony Stewart.

And me, but I’m pretty sure that was just some mix-up in the seating assignments. I chose not to point the error out to anyone, for obvious reasons.

Next to the awards banquet itself on Friday night, the Myers Brothers luncheon is the biggest event of Champions Week. It’s like the special ceremony held the week before the Academy Awards telecast, where they give out the Oscars for things like technical achievement.

The difference is that for the technical Oscars, you know Russell Crowe is not going to be there to pay his respects to the guy receiving the award for best achievement in lighting, or best zombie makeup.

NASCAR, on the other hand, knows that without even the smallest piece of the engine, that machine just won’t roll. So everyone from 2008 Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson to NASCAR president Mike Helton to Brian France, chairman and CEO of NASCAR, was present to celebrate the achievements of those being honored.

One of my favorite moments each year at the Myers Brothers luncheon comes when the top 12 drivers are introduced and come out onto the stage one by one, until at the end they’re all standing there in a line for a group photo.

Obviously this takes some time, since there’s a nice round of applause for each guy. The 11th and 12th place finishers – this year, Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. – wind up having to stand out there for a pretty good while. Every year, the guys start talking to one another, and each driver that comes out joins in the conversation. Inevitably, something strikes them as funny.

By the time the champion comes out, everyone’s sort of standing there, a lot of them with their hands in their pockets, grinning and carrying on like school kids. They look like the Little Rascals. You can’t help but smile. It’s great reminder of how much they enjoy what they do out there on the race track every week. Because they have fun, we have fun. I love that.

Bob Bahre was the recipient of the Buddy Shuman Award, which honors individuals who have made significant contributions to racing. Mr. Bahre was one of the few award winners in the building who was honestly surprised by the recognition, which he credited not to himself, but to NASCAR supporters. “We might have built the thing, but it’s been the fans and drivers who have made it what it is,” he said.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. gave some more love to the fans when he picked up his sixth consecutive Chex Cereals Most Popular Driver Award. No big surprise there. Junior received 1.2 million votes this year. I wonder how his new, full beard would fare if we put that up to a fan vote?

Team owner Richard Childress was the recipient of the NASCAR Home Depot Humanitarian Award, for his work in helping to establish a center for pediatric trauma at Wake Forest University.

The coolest looking trophy was the metallic glove presented to the No. 48 team for winning the Mechanix Wear Most Valuable Pit Award. Those guys might want to consider keeping that thing under heavy security; I couldn’t help but think about Michael Jackson and that famous glove from his career heyday. The 48 team stole that thunder this year. Especially during the Chase, they gave a whole new meaning to the term “Thriller”.

The day’s most emotional moment came when Jim Hunter accepted the NMPA Myers Brothers Award on behalf of the late – and truly great – photographer Thomas Taylor Warren. “T. Taylor,” as he was called, was a much-loved motorsports photographer who succumbed to Lou Gehrig’s disease in October of this year, at the age of 83. His loss has been keenly felt by the entire NASCAR community.

A lighter moment came when Chad Knaus, winner of the Champion Crew Chief Award, told a great story about a football coach team owner Rick Hendrick brought to the shop to serve as a motivational speaker. When asked if the No. 48 team would win the championship in 2008, Knaus replied, “We’re going to do our best”.

The coach’s rejoinder was that sometimes one’s best isn’t good enough. “I told Mr. Hendrick that coach had better be glad the 48 team doesn’t play football,” Knaus said.

Most of the day’s awards went to big NASCAR names. Others were given to folks you might not immediately recognize. Each NASCAR official, for example, all those men and women who work in the pits during races to ensure that all goes well, were listed by name.

In a week basically set aside to honor one exceptional driver, the NASCAR NMPA Myers Brothers luncheon served as a nice reminder of the battery in the bunny, that one component that truly drives this great sport.

Teamwork.

– Cathy Elliott, LIVE from New York

Foley's Serves Up Spirits, and NASCAR Spirit

DECEMBER 4 – When NASCAR visits New York City each year for the annual awards banquet and other related activities, a day is set aside for the Sprint Cup Series champion to have lunch with media members from the Northeast.

This year, it also served as a reminder that there is at least one significant sports story happening in New York this week, other than Plaxico Burress.

Generally held at upscale restaurants like the 21 Club, for 2008 NASCAR decided to loosen things up a bit, and moved the event to a place called Foley’s Pub and Restaurant.

I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to find Foley’s; frankly, I still have trouble finding my way through the hotel. But the smallish building, located almost right across from the Empire State Building on 33rd Street, was so noticeable it was impossible for even navigationally-challenged me to miss. Its color makes it stand out. It isn’t green; it is painted bright, fire engine red.

No banners advertising the impending arrival of Jimmie Johnson, his crew chief Chad Knaus, his team owner Rick Hendrick, and Raybestos Rookie of the Year Regan Smith flew over Foley’s. No crush of paparazzi waited in the street.

Only a small chalkboard with the words “Welcome NASCAR” and someone’s drawing of a Keystone Cops-looking car with a small number “48” on the side propped up on the sidewalk acknowledged the event at all. I opened the door and went inside.

In case you’ve never been in an Irish pub before, they’re usually kind of small, rather dark and not much given to big, rowdy crushes of people. The clientele tends to know one another, and the atmosphere is almost an extension of your own home and family.

But not today.

Foley’s was the most crowded Irish pub, or any other type of pub for that matter, I have ever seen. It wasn’t just crammed full of people, but of stuff. The place is a Mecca of sports memorabilia. Walls are lined top to bottom with baseballs signed by celebrities ranging from Joe DiMaggio to Derek Jeter to 2003 Cup Series champion Matt Kenseth. There are bats and hats, magazine covers and stadium seats. It’s like a museum. A really cool museum with free beer nuts.

In keeping with the fact that Academy Award-winning actor and director Kevin Costner is the special guest at this year’s banquet, the sports maniac in me was compelled to make a little joke to myself: Is this Heaven? No, it’s Foley’s.

There were plenty of media folks at the luncheon, and the public relations team from NASCAR, and, unusual for an event like this one, fans. Lots of fans. Some lucky members of NASCAR’s Members Club were allowed to attend; one group from Staten Island was particularly happy to be there, if you know what I’m saying.

Jimmie Johnson entered the room to a huge round of applause and made some nice remarks before lunch was served. The most popular comment he made was completely impromptu. As soon as he walked through the door, he announced that he had bought a round of drinks for the house.

I’m not sure what Johnson’s background and cultural heritage is, but on this day he offered up the famed luck of the Irish to everyone in attendance.

We all know NASCAR knows how to give fans a great experience. On this day, that same experience was extended to those who cover the sport rather than just watch it. Yes, it’s true – a good time was had by all.

I went back to Foley’s later in the afternoon after everyone was gone. I wanted another look at all that cool stuff.

I enjoyed checking out the 1,200 signed baseballs, the 130 jerseys hanging from the rafters, the 40 used game bats. I admired the montages filled with tickets and programs and score sheets and such. As always, the bobbleheads made me smile, and there are about 300 of them at Foley’s. There seemed not to be a single inch of space for one more thing to be displayed.

And then, I noticed a new piece of memorabilia. Hanging in the back, stretching floor to ceiling, is a banner that simply reads, “Jimmie Johnson, Reigning Champion.”

It didn’t have a thing to do with baseball or hockey, but at Foley’s, a place that appreciates sports excellence, NASCAR looked right at home.

– Cathy Elliott, LIVE from New York

Talk is Not Cheap

DECEMBER 3 – When you watch awards shows like the Oscars, the Grammys or the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series banquet, do you ever wonder how “prepared” those prepared speeches really are?

The answer is both a lot, and a little.

Speech practice for the drivers, sponsors, celebrities and NASCAR industry spokespeople begins in the middle of Champions Week, but the real work begins long before that.

The speech rehearsal room is one of the suites at the Waldorf=Astoria hotel, but you’d never recognize it as such. Headed in that direction, the only reminder that you’re in the one of the most famous hotels in one of the most glamorous cities in the world comes when you spot movie star Leonardo DiCaprio strolling through the corridor, on his way to a press conference promoting one of his new films.

Yes, really.

But then, you enter the rehearsal room itself. It looks more like the control room of the starship Enterprise than a fancy hotel suite, full of wires and cables and screens and monitors and the like. At any moment, Captain Kirk could come strolling in to demand that Scotty beam him up somewhere – and with the high tech equipment in this room, you actually believe it could happen – while Bones reminds Kirk that he’s a doctor, not a race car driver.

Sometimes, the superstar drivers of NASCAR garner a little negative feedback when they speak. Critics claim it sounds as if the words of others are placed in their mouths to come perfectly spilling back out at the appropriate moment. Even victory lane speeches, some people say, can be so predictable they sound as if they’re scripted.

This is where I begin to take issue. I mean, most of are still lucky enough to have jobs, right? But how many of us just show up at work in the morning and wing it? And how much job security would we have if we did?

Life is about preparation. Primary school prepares us for high school, which in turn prepares us for college, or for entering the work force. We make preparations when we take a vacation, or get married, or have a baby. Even the girls among us (my hand is up) have embraced the tenet of the Boy Scouts of America : Be prepared.

So, if this is the rule we apply to our own lives, why would we criticize others for doing exactly the same thing? Doesn’t that seem kind of two-faced?

Enter the ultimate professional, four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon.

Gordon arrived right on time for his speech rehearsal. He ran through his remarks, which he had prepared –there’s that word again – and practiced in advance, with nary a hitch, altering a word here and there so things would sound more natural. He was concerned that his sponsors, his team and anyone else who had contributed to his once again earning a spot in the top 10 driver standings be duly acknowledged.

Wow. Someone very recognizable in corporate America and in NASCAR who makes a point of giving credit where credit is due. What a concept. Who could be critical of that?

After Gordon came Chad Knaus, the only crew chief in history to pilot his driver to three consecutive Cup Series championships. Earlier in the week, Knaus had considered a speech based on bullet points and extemporization, but instead showed up for rehearsal with prepared remarks. They were entertaining, riveting, heartfelt and funny all at once. Knaus explained that he feared being overcome by emotion during his live speech, and felt a written version would give him more focus.

Any father who ever made a toast at his daughter’s wedding, or shared a dance with her, probably knows exactly how Knaus felt.

The most highly lauded, Tony Award-winning Broadway plays have regular dress rehearsals, where the kinks are ironed out and any wrinkles removed in order to present a beautiful, unmarred face to the public when the lights go on, the curtain rises and show time comes at last.

There are two important things to note about perfect worlds, however. One, they don’t exist, and two, even if they did, they couldn’t be perfect, because nothing ever can.

Thank goodness for that. It allows us mere mortals the luxury of feeling just a tiny bit better about ourselves.

So when the time comes to publicly thank all the appropriate people and organizations and sponsors for their support during generally troublesome times, who wouldn’t want to be prepared? Who wouldn’t feel the need to go the extra mile, or show up at the extra speech rehearsal, to make sure everything was just right?

Sometimes, talk isn’t cheap at all. In some instances, it can be worth several million bucks.

That’s something you would definitely want to be prepared for.

- Cathy Elliott, LIVE from New York City

Annual Banquet for Billie Hardee Home for Boys

7 p.m. Tonight @ Central Baptist Church Fellowship Hall
Staff, board members, volunteers and major supporters will be recognized. Keynote speaker: fromer Gov. David Beasley.