Racin' With Russ
By Russell Schmidt

Cup Champs Pick up BIG Checks
Monday, December 3, 2007

After a busy week of making live appearances on network TV and radio, this year's top Cup drivers collected some big money at the annual banquet at the Waldorf Astoria in New York.

Topping the list, of course, was this year's champion, Jimmie Johnson, awarded more than $15 million for the season's work. The six-year veteran now has nearly $60 million in career earnings. Not too shabby, eh?

Although, when you think about it, it took $15 - $20 million to get there (win title) with sponsor backing.

The old expression being, 'how do win a million dollars in racing?….start with $3 million.'

This year's runner-up, Jeff Gordon picked up a $3 million dollar check, bringing his 2007 total in excess of $10 million and his career earnings to over $90 million, more than double Dale Earnhardt's career numbers.

Even second year driver Clint Bowyer wound up with $6.5 million for the season, his 'racing stock' surely raised from late season performances.

The overall banquet was the usual black tie affair, often stiff in audience response to comments made on stage. This year's comedic talent, David Spade and singer Kelly Clarkson were a step up from years past.

Most of the drivers appeared more comfortable than prior years in accepting their accolades and financial rewards. Tony Stewart in particular got a few more laughs for clever comments than others.

I found it a little odd that superstars Stewart, Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards attended the event, sans lady friend of some kind. For Kyle, I guess after last year's naming his brother's wife instead of his girlfriend at the time, had something to do with it.

The Busch series driver's awards banquet takes center stage this Friday night at the Portofino Bay Hotel in Orlando, FL where Carl Edwards will pick up his first NASCAR championship.

The rest of the Busch pack will pick up their awards as well, including Jason Leffler, Stephen Leicht and so on.

Being the No. 2 premiere series, don't expect the kind of 'over-the-top' ceremonies the Cuppers experience, but it is worth watching on TV Tuesday night….yes, that's right, Tuesday, not Friday as it is shown in a tape delay format. We'll compare notes next week.

From Rumorville

I'm still hearing some talk about pony car bodies for the Busch, I mean Nationwide series starting in 2009. Ford is all excited about the possibility of running their famed Mustang, Dodge is cool with using the new retro Challenger, yet Chevy is reluctant about the new Camaro and Toyota's Solora might not be around by 2009.
I think the idea of creating a car that is very different than a Cup car is definitely the way to go. For the manufacturers, the idea of 'win on Sunday, sell on Monday' could come back in vogue. Stay tuned.

For the fifth consecutive year, Dale Earnhardt Jr won the fans most popular driver award…no surprise. This driver will surely be under the microscope next year and be expected to win races and at least make the Chase. If he does not, the 'excuse train' has left the station. He has joined the best organization right now in Cup and even managed to take along his favorite crew chief, Tony Eury Jr.

Kyle Busch and multi-winner Steven Wallace will not exactly be welcomed back to the famed annual Snowball Derby in Florida after this weekend's happenings. It appears both drivers' cars were found to be illegal and their reactions were not of a professional racecar driver. Busch expressed his displeasure in only ways he can, spouting off at the mouth and Wallace's car was found light across the scales. He was later caught attempting to put sockets in his pockets to add weight. Talk about juvenile….Rusty must be so proud.

Did you know?

With all this talk about what today's Cup drivers have earned for just one season, do you know what some of the all-time greats amassed during their storied careers? Like….Richard "The King" Petty put together 35 years of racing with seven titles, only to earn $8.5 million…TOTAL! Or David Pearson with 105 wins earned a meager $2.8 million for 27 years of racing! How times have changed!

That's it for this week. Next week's RWR will review the Busch series banquet from Florida and start to discuss the 2008 team rundowns for the Cup series along with more racing news from around the globe.