 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Not Suprising
There are some in the Don Schumacher Pro Stock pits that wish they had a knife right now. No, not to cut anyone, but to slice through the tension following the team’s second consecutive DNQ in Phoenix. Some in the community allege sabotage while those within the team say the problem is nothing more than driver seat time in the car he's driving. Newly appointed pilot Shaun Carlson just doesn’t have enough of it and that appears to be creating the headaches.
Carlson is very much aware of the shortcomings lately and makes no excuses. His driving time has been minimal since winning the job in a test session the week before Pomona. He admitted the unrest was pretty evident in the early going after he got a job that many said crewchief Bob Glidden wanted for one of his sons. Glidden was unavailable for comment on Sunday afternoon following the second round of eliminations in Pro Stock. “Most of the tension early on was because a decision had not been made as to who would be driving,” Carlson said of his first experience with the team three weeks ago in Las Vegas. “The outing wasn’t benefiting the team because there was no experience to draw from. The real focus was on seeing who would get the job. At the time we were there, we didn’t gain anything that would benefit the team and that created some animocity.” a
d v e r t i s e m e n t
Carlson says Glidden and the crew have all worked with him a lot more lately on what he is doing wrong and he thinks that his crew realizes that he’s giving an honest effort to make it work. Still the stress remains and will until things start falling into place. Teammate Richie Stevens has witnessed a lot of the scenarios play out. While Carlson plays off the internal rumbling being present Stevens will readily admit it’s there. “I’d say it is still there,” Stevens said. “The whole deal put us behind the eight ball because it was last minute. The way it played out there were bad vibes coming from Bob that he didn’t necessarily dislike Shaun but just didn’t agree with Don’s decision. “But Bob accepted Shaun and moved on. I just think Bob is frustrated and knows that Shaun needs some time behind the wheel. It’s hard for him because that car qualified at all the races last year.” When it comes to diagnosing, Schumacher says the best place for each one on the team to look is in the mirror. “We are creating our own turmoil,” Schumacher said. “We are bringing this internally on ourselves by the lack of accomplishing the goals we have expected to achieve. I think it all comes back to the point that Shaun needs more seat time. We’ll be fine in Gainesville.” Stevens sympathizes with the extreme amount of pressure that rests on Carlson’s shoulders. “He’s been under pressure since the first time he sat in the car,” Stevens said. “Besides having Bob looking over one shoulder and Don looking over the other, he has the pressure of the fans and Mopar. I can’t speak for him, but I know all of that has hindered his focus.” Stevens pointed out that Carlson doesn’t exactly fit in the car like a glove and that hasn’t exactly helped the situation. “They have had to make adjustments to the car,” Stevens said. “Shaun was a little bit taller than Jeggie and he’s kind of cramped in there. You have situations where he lets off of the clutch and his leg hits the steering wheel and he has to abort a run. I think the more seat time he gets this won’t happen. a
d v e r t i s e m e n t
“There’s no doubt in mind that he can drive this car. I think he proved that when he filled in for Darrell Alderman a while back two years ago in Pomona. These cars change every year. In the little time I was away it changed drastically.” Carlson qualified 14th during his first outing subbing for Alderman in 2004. Ironically, that was two places ahead of Mike Corvo, Jr., the driver he battled for the Schumacher driving gig. Not only did Carlson qualify but won the first round when Jason Line fouled and bulbed Warren Johnson in round two. Stevens compares Carlson's situation with that of a baseball player that enters the batter’s box with two strikes against him. “You just have to give him a chance,” Stevens said. “Everyone is entitled to a chance. Just give him a shot and he will be alright in the long run.” Carlson doesn’t exactly agree with the two strikes assessment, but he doesn’t disagree either. “I think once they [his crew] saw that I was willing to learn and I wasn’t going to show up at the race with my helmet, it changed the mindset,” Carlson said. “I know there are a lot of other drivers out there that are better than myself. You look around here and there are thousands of better drivers than myself. Fortunately, I have a good overall package and I can learn. a
d v e r t i s e m e n t
“The major thing for me is to get rid of the things, and I wouldn’t say it was bad habits, but the way I drive is different than I do with a turbocharged front-wheel drive car. We make almost 1,400 horsepower and over 1,000 foot-pounds of torque in them. If you look at it with these engines, it is relatively the same. This is totally different though. I have to get rid of a lot of things and switch over to what Bob wants me to do. The more that Bob tells me, the more I can learn. “I’ve only had eight passes in this car.” Stevens feels the major difference will be Carlson’s participation in the upcoming Eastern Spring Test Nationals presented by Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com in two weeks. “He will be able to get a lot of seat time in there,” Stevens added. One person that has been critical of Schumacher has been Glidden’s son Billy through posts on the Nitromater message board. The second-generation Glidden was brought in for the Las Vegas “drive-off” and has even offered assistance in training Carlson. He also alleges in a message board post that he was misled into thinking he would be employed with the team in some capacity. a
d v e r t i s e m e n t
Schumacher admits that he puts little credence into Glidden’s posts on a message board, he says those opinions create little if any friction between himself and crewchief Bob Glidden. “I don’t even get into that,” Schumacher said. “Billy and I get along fine. Bob and I get along fine. We are all black and white with each other. I haven’t even seen his posts so I don’t concern myself with it. He can reference whatever he wants to with the whole operation but then again, it’s not his operation to run. There are decisions that I have to make that aren’t exactly the popular one.” Carlson admits that at first he felt like a red-headed stepchild under the tutelage of his crewchief Glidden. “I think Richie will tell you that it was tough at first for him,” Carlson said. “He had a learning curve to overcome too. I know there are a lot of people who have been negative of me getting this ride. I’m here. Bob is here and we are all here to win. We can either work together or work against each other. “It may sound corny and cheesy, but we want to win.”
Got a comment? Drop us a line at comppluseditor@aol.com.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
|
|
|||||||||||||||
© Competitionplus 2005
|
|