Kind of unrelated...but you know what I think is awesome?

In the many years since I first heard of Bryan Clauson I have never ever not once seen or heard one bad comment about him.

I saw him win an open class micro race in a stock class legal car at Pittsfield, IL just minutes after he almost won the feature in the stock class....he was probably a 12-13 year old kid that day racing against a field full of adults who were some of the fastest in a micro in the Midwest at the time. Watching him work traffic that night made me think he was something special. Talking to him and Tim in the pits that night confirmed it.

I was at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, MO the night he went cage first into the catchfence and had his neck injury at a USAC sprint show. He was in Keith Kunz cars that season. Before the races started I told Keith that he had a heckuva shoe in that car. Keith said "I have a bunch of good shoes in my cars, but yeah this kid is something special." The fact that he not only came back from that injury, but came back possibly faster than he was before it speaks volumes about the talent and desire he has.

Tell me how many racers out there have been as successful as BC without ruffling lots of feathers of other drivers and fans. Tell me how many youngsters have come on the scene at that level without having hordes of people screaming about daddys money being the reason he is successful. I can't think of very many that fit either case, and until Larson and Bell popped up I darn sure can't think of anybody who fit both.

The fact that BC has done as much as he has and we still never see any keyboard commandos talking smack about him is something rare.

Hey Tim....you've done a great job raising that boy.

I hope BC has a Indy car ride. Would love to see him on pavement!

Donny's car is in the same shop with all usac and Tony's cars. Steve is the only one not in the Brownsburg shop.

It is interesting to see all of this go down. Just in the last week I have seen pictures from Tony Stewart's twitter account of him at the TSR Christmas party. In fact, in one of them BC was standing right behind him. This may have all gone down in the last week, possibly. The accident with Kevin Ward this summer has calmed down a lot, as time has passed. I'm happy for Tony, in that sense. He seems to be getting back to his old self. I'm sure any kind of civil suit will be done quietly without anyone really knowing. I can only hope that is not affecting is open wheel operations, but who knows!

According to interviews with Steve Kinser all his TSR equipment has been moved to the TSR shop and in 2015 the TSR shop will prepare and maintain the #11 winged car. I don't work there but just what I have heard.

I would think (and hope) that if Tony had a big enough beef with USAC to make him just drop out of the series, that he would have said something to them. Then, if they were not responsive to him, he would have been a little more vocal about why he would leave USAC instead of just leaving without a word to anyone.

Meat: You actually think an Outlaw team can support itself. It takes at least a million dollars to fund a good outlaw team. That would mean they would have to win 100 races to break even. They can not do it without sponsors. Why do you think Kinser stop running his own team. They are all money pits without sponsors.

But from a marketing standpoint you can get sponsors easier for a wing car and you get more exposure. Makes it easier to get the bigger sponsors. Then you have more merchandise sales with the outlaws etc etc. I traveled with an outlaw team. Makes more sense to go outlaw racing from a financial and marketing standpoint if you can acquire the funding.

Mark, I was referring to TSR's Outlaw teams. Based upon sponsorship dollars, purse money, the Outlaw platinum agreement, the Outlaw point fund, and other benefits involved with TSR and their Outlaw teams, I would say the 11 and 15 are in a better fiscal position than the 20 USAC team. I don't think the USAC operation was getting near the sponsor dollars that the Outlaw teams were to begin with, in addition to a third of the races for half the money and very little help from the sanctioning body and a point fund that doesn't cover the tire bill.

All these cup guys who own dirt teams; Stewart, Kahne, Dillons, and Bowyer all have a lot of smart people around them managing their money and brokering sponsors. I am sure if they were hemorrhaging money year in and year out the fun would stop. They all have some pretty significant marketing partners involved though that keep those cars running up and down the road in their rolling billboards without too much exposure to the owner.

Now, if you want to talk Outlaw teams in general, I would agree with you. However, Bobby Allen's grandkids busted their ass all year and went to all the shows on I am sure a lot less than a million dollars. I admire what those guys did with a couple cars and motors and a lot of heart. I hope they inspire others to take a chance.

Amen to that!! Scruffy, Logan, and Jacob were dedicated to running 100 plus shows this season counting the WoO shows and other open shows! They are great, down to earth people! I wish them the best in 2015!