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For Blaney, NASCAR is twice as nice now
Photo
Dave Blaney
By JOHN BASSETTI
HIGH POINT, N.C.
Dave Blaney thought his NASCAR Sprint Series racing was done for the year when he quit his association with Prism Motorsports before the Michigan race Aug. 15, but the crankshaft gods had other plans.
The Hartford native didn’t skip a beat as he joined two racing teams to finish out the remaining 12 dates on the 2010 schedule.
“I guess I just got to the point where I thought I wasn’t going anywhere,” Blaney said on Tuesday, a few weeks after parting ways with Prism. “It finally wore me down. I was going to be OK being done and not going back to any races this year, but then drivers started moving around a little and a couple seats opened up. So, I’ll finish out most of the year and see what happens.”
Just when Blaney thought he’d use the down time watching the racing career of his son, Ryan, Dave got a call from Tommy Baldwin of Tommy Baldwin Racing.
“We tried to run Bristol [Aug. 21], but didn’t make the race, but, between Baldwin and the 38 of Front Row Motorsports — those two cars — I’ll probably run the majority of the races left.”
As Blaney spoke, he was en route to Statesville, N.C. to finalize his plans with the Front Row team that will run Dave in six races.
He’ll run five or six others in Baldwin’s 36.
“I’ll jump back and forth between the two teams,” Blaney said of his latest arrangement.
While the 38 team races every week (no start-and-park gimmick), Baldwin’s will be a mix.
“I might get to race [full distance] the majority of them [the 12]. I don’t know for sure, but looks like I’ll, at least, have something else to go run. That may lead to something down the road or maybe not.”
With Prism, Blaney knew the start-and-park plans, but was under the impresssion that the team owned by Bill Parsons and Randy Humphrey would race full-distance once in a while.
“I feel like they had good intentions — when they could get money — but they never could. I wasn’t going to finish out the year just starting and parking, so, before Michigan I just quit.”
Blaney said he would have been content if Prism would have raced once a month or once every six weeks.
“We just never seemed to put enough [money] together to race [full distance] at all. I just didn’t want to finish the year out like that. I knew what it was going in - I knew it was mostly start and park, so it wasn’t a surprise, but I’d hoped that we would have raced a few more times. I just thought it was time for something different - whether it was Sprint car racing or watching my kid. But now these other cars have come up, so I’ll do that.”
Blaney drove the #66 Toyota for Prism, while Michael McDowell was with Prism’s other team.
Dave felt he left Prism on good terms.
“Those guys [Parsons and Humphrey] were good to me. I knew that’s what it was going to be most of the time. Nothing bad happened, I just wanted something different.”
The Front Row seat opened on Aug. 13 when Kevin Conway and the #38 lost its ExtenZe Racing sponsorship. Conway was the leading 2010 Cup Series rookie of the year driver.
“It sounds like I’m going to run six races and Tony Raines will run the other six,” Blaney said of his schedule split with Front Row.
With Baldwin, Blaney assumes the seat vacated when Baldwin lost Casey Mears, who jumped in the #13 car that Max Papis was in.
“I got a couple chances to jump in here and there,” Blaney said.
In NASCAR, networking helps.
Baldwin was a crew chief for Blaney in 2007-2008 when Dave drove the Caterpillar car owned by Bill Davis.
“We worked together quite a bit. We’ve known each other for a long time. We were both comfortable with each other and we know what to expect, so that part makes it easier.”
Of Blaney’s newest teams, Front Row is the better funded, running three cars fulltime.
“Most weeks, either Long John Silver’s or Taco Bell is on the #38,” Blaney said.
Sponsors for Baldwin aren’t as steady.
Front Row’s other two teams are the 34 of Travis Kvapil and the #37 of Dave Gilliland.
Blaney believes that he fulfilled his commitment to Prism before reaching the saturation point.
“All the guys who do start-and-park will tell you it’s hard on you. But you’re there for a reason: trying to raise money or trying to raise sponsorship or trying to be there to jump in someone else’s car if an opportunity arises.”
Although Blaney’s latest association with Front Row and Baldwin to complete the 2010 Sprint Cup season isn’t ideal, he’s not complaining.
“Front Row’s #38 races every week and I’m looking at around six with Tommy and three so far are racing [full distance]. If we can raise more money, we’ll race. It’s almost a last-minute thing. It’s hard to tell. I hate to put a number on how many will go full distance. Right now, we’ll plan on racing them all (12).”
How does Blaney’s family feel about the change?
They’re OK with it. They want me to be happy and doing what I want to do. I was kind of looking forward to going to all of Ryan’s races, but I guess I’ll go back to work.”