So here we are, coming into the wint...uh, summer. Sorry about that, Southern Hemisphere and all that. Let me start again.
Here we are, coming into the summer stretch of races for the season and we have the situation where the Busch guys won't be racing at the same tracks as the Cup guys for the next three weeks. So what does that mean for them? A chance to gain points mainly.
As it stands, the top 10 drivers is dominated by Busch-whackers who fill up eight spots (including Regan Smith since he subs for Mark Martin). There's only 2 drivers who are Busch-regulars and the one leading the bunch is the rookie, and Aussie, Marcos Ambrose...uh, hang on a tick, how did that happen? This is a guy who is currently 16th in the NASCAR.com driver rankings for the Busch series.
My North American friends will probably be scratching their heads trying to figure out how a...a road racer can possibly be doing this well on ovals. Well, I'll let you in on a secret; I wondered the same thing six years ago.
The only difference is that I wondered how he could make racing tin-tops look so easy.
Let's wind the clock back to the year 2000. Marcos had just won the European Formula Ford Championship as he chased his dream of Formula 1. He raced in the French Formula 3 series before switching mid-season to British F3. By seasons end, his money had dried up, forcing Marcos to come back to Australia.
Accepting an offer to race in a support race to that years Gold Coast Indycar event was a bit of a risk; for Marcos wasn't used to racing anything with a roof. Didn't affect him much, he won anyway and Stone Brothers Racing decided to sign him up for the V8 Supercar category starting from 2001.
Marcos showed his politeness by offering to pick everyones jaws up off the floor when he stuck his AU Falcon on pole position in his first ever race (the non-Championship round at the Aussie F1 race in Melbourne). Proving this wasn't a fluke, he did the same at Eastern Creek, Queensland Raceway and on the hallowed tarmac of Bathurst, Mount Panorama. He finished the year as top rookie and 8th in the points.
2002 saw him gain his first win and ending the year in third place overall. Season 2003 brought changes as Ford Australia launched the new BA Falcon for the category...and it fitted Marcos like a glove. He managed consistancy along with wins and assured that his car would be carrying the number 1 on its hood for the next year as he picked up the title in just his third season. Along the way, he led home a Ford 1-2-3 in a round, their first since 1997.
2004 was even better; five round wins and the Championship was all but done and dusted before they unloaded the car for the final round. Not that he backed off...he won the round anyway. It was the first time Ford had won back-to-back titles since 1988-1989. His teammate, Russell Ingall backed him up as the Stone Brothers finished 1-2...just in case anyone thought they were a one car team.
Season 2005 began amid rumblings that Marcos would be heading across the Pacific, unable to resist the lure of NASCAR. He confirmed this in a press conference in March, at the Aussie GP for the non-Championship round. This did slow him down...he "only" managed to finish third, behind both his teammate and fellow Ford driver Craig Lowndes.
On to 2006...he was forced to miss the first few races of the Truck series as he awaited NASCAR to offically give him approval to run the season. Despite that, he still finished 21st in points, was the first rookie to win a pole and finish in the top 3 of a race and the only rookie to win the "laps led" award.
Moving up a class this year and he sits inside the top 10 a third of the way through the year...now where to from here? Assuming Marcos stays where he is, he'll no doubt gain some interest from Cup owners who are either looking to expand their team or wondering if their current driver/s are all they're cracked up to be.
So what will 2008 bring? I would like to see him stay where he is for another year, getting more experience on ovals before maybe going for a fulltime drive in the Cup series for 2009. If he does stay in Busch for 2008, it wouldn't surprise me one little bit if he wins a race or three along the way...his history at least says he will anyway.
i had a girlfriend once who's mother was from New Zealand. She would regale us with quirky stories from her home country, such as on Christmas the tradition is to go to the beach and eat lobster. that seems so foreign to me here in Canada where we stay in (it is usually so cold) and eat turkey. but i digress...
what about this Ambrose character. is he not signed or affiliated with any cup team? it says he is in the wood brothers car? i would like to see him a Busch title, it would look good on his resume going into cup but to do that he may need to get with a better team.
Last edited by williamwilman on June 8th at 5:26 PM.
I'm not sure about his contractural issues, william. I think his loyalty would just lie with Ford for giving him the opportunity...but if Jon Wood keeps having these headache problems and they want to blood in a new driver to take over from Ken and Bill then Marcos would be the obvious choice I suppose.
Also, Ricky Rudd came out of retirement to race the #88...that might be a decent option if he wants to stay with Ford. Rousch is pretty much out since I can't see Jack getting rid of anyone he has since they're all going pretty well.
As for Christmas, yeah, the closest we get to having a white one is if it hails!
Yeah, I think foxsports said that there's 9 Cup guys racing at Nashville...way less than usual, lol
I wasn't really an Ambrose fan until last year to be honest...I just didn't like his attitude he had here but he's totally changed since he's gone over there.
Ta, Falcons. A second car would make sense since way more info can be passed on in multi-car teams...we'll see how he goes at Sonoma in a couple weeks I suppose.
its funny. brett hearn is a northeast dirt driver that every one around here hates on but when he went to daytona (like a life time ago) he was a hero. he comes back and all the fans are against him again. go figure.
Excellent article on Ambrose.. Good points of interest in his career.. Don't know about his attitude before but he seems to keep a low profile in Busch and let his driving skills speak for him.
Tez is a rare creature; an Australian who was living in New Zealand before moving to Canada. He's also a Civil Engineer who is hoping to spend his Monday to Friday sitting in front of a computer surfing the inter...uh, working hard for an Engineering Consultant or Contractor when he finds a job. His heart is torn between his two loves; F1 and NASCAR.
Due to his high interest in those, his blogs will likely focus on them with the occasional foray into sports that don't get much (if any) mention on this website. All blogs and/or comments will more than likely have his usual dollop of sarcasm and general Aussie spin on them.
Amazingly, he also managed to score 2 MiB nominations on consecutive days (August 5 & 6, 2007) after announcing he had been keeping track of them...he's considering hiding under his bed as a result.
