jerrycook2Humpy Wheeler without a doubt has what it takes to get NASCAR on the road to recovery because of vast experience with the Speedway Motor Sports, Inc. public company and manager of the Charlotte Motor Speedway for several decades.  We don’t mean that Wheeler should just come into NASCAR as a consultant. We feel that Brian France has to go and Humpy Wheeler has to replace him. We also think that Humpy would be up for the challenge. He’s been on the shelf for a few years since he got dumped by Bruton Smith when he stood up to him just a week before his planned retirement.

Wheeler has the experience to get NASCAR out of the doldrums. Humpy needs to set the objectives and follow up on them until the France crowd can come up with another member of the family that can take over NASCAR.  We think that one possiblity  could be Ben Kennedy, eventually.  Ben is Lisa France Kennedy’s son and is currently driving  a race car in the development division-the NASCAR K&N Series East. Because the France crowd wants to keep control of the sanction in the family, Wheeler could also be a mentor to Ben Kennedy.
Obviously this is a big job for the France family to move Brian out of the picture. Not to mention that the payout would be enormous, like $800 million to a billion.  We feel that Brian would be much happier leaving on a high note in view of the fact that he got a 48 percent increase in the TV rights money. All of that kicks in at the beginning of the 2015 season.  Over the past years Brian spends limited time at the NASCAR events which has the appearance that he’s losing interest. Compare that to the fact that his grandfather, Big Bill France and, father,  Bill, Jr. attended most all of the NASCAR races and were there to get input week-to-week from the race teams and the host tracks.
Brian said previously that he didn’t intend to stay at the helm of NASCAR forever. We think that now is the time and many others share our opinion. Brian also indicated that he’d like to bring back a NFL team to southern California. The cost to pull that off, though, would be staggering, roughly about $2 billion. One billion would have to be split up among the other NFL team owners to let Brian and other partners buy into the NFL. Then another billion would be needed to build a new venue like the state-of-the-art stadium which the Dallas Cowboys call home.
Brian already has ties with LA crowd as he owns a company that represents many of the Hollywood stars who have brands of jewelry, colognes, perfumes, clothing and other retail products.
Another looming problem for the France crowd to deal with is the emergence of the Race Team Alliance. We don’t feel that Brian France has the stomach to deal with this new major challenge. This is another reason for the France family to bring Humpy Wheeler into the loop. Wheeler has the intellect to deal with this new organization effectively. While the RTA is treading lightly at the moment, you don’t have to be a Harvard B School grad to figure out that the RTA wants a bigger piece of the new TV rights money. The RTA has scared the hell out of NASCAR, the France family as well as Bruton Smith who owns Speedway Motor Sports, Inc., one of the other major players in the NASCAR sanctioned tracks that host Sprint Cup races.
One other issue the RTA could also be looking at to cut costs at the beginning of the NASCAR season. There’s a lot of races that are held in the Sunbelt during March and April due to the fact that weather in the northern US isn’t conducive to motor racing.   The schedule during those two months of the early season could be rearranged to group all of the NASCAR races on the west side of the Mississippi River in a sequence that would save travel time and fuel costs for the race team truck haulers. The RTA charter, for now,  is to save money for all of the NASCAR teams that are members.
It won’t be long before we get into the last ten NASCAR races know as The Chase.  That’s another concept that was the creation of Brian France.  It has not done what he intended, that is to draw more fans and TV viewers   Although we like the idea of The Chase but the ticket buyers, the fans, don’t like it. They’ve been voting against it with their wallets and TV remotes. (end)