NASCAR CEO Brian France speaks out

I had the opportunity Wednesday to spend about 20 minutes interviewing Brian France, NASCAR's chairman, about the state of the sport. We'll have a big story in Thursday's Charlotte Observer about this. (You'll also be able to access it on our excellent racing website -- thatsracin.com).

To whet your appetite, though, here's a taste of what France said in this exclusive interview in which he answered questions from myself and Mike Persinger, The Observer's executive sports editor:

-- France believes that David Pearson should have gotten in to the hall of fame’s first class.
“I thought David Pearson should have made it in,” France said. Pearson didn’t make it into the hall – which will open in Charlotte in May 2010 -- but France’s father and grandfather did (Bill France Jr. and Sr.), along with former drivers Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Junior Johnson. France wouldn’t divulge the other four names on his ballot, which was one of 51 cast.

-- NASCAR may have Danica Patrick running races in one of its series as early as February at Daytona. Although Patrick has not publicly made a commitment to stock-car racing, France said: “My sense is she probably will.”

-- The struggles of Dale Earnhardt Jr. are part of NASCAR’s current set of problems.
“It’s sort of like when the NBA doesn’t have the L.A. Lakers or Boston – a couple of their key historic franchises – in the race,” France said. “That impacts the league. We’re in the same boat.”
France then smiled and said that if Dale Jr. had a resurgence that “the world would be a better place.”

More to come in Thursday's newspaper and online.

Davis ACL injury -- ouch!

Remember 2008?

The Carolina Panthers' 12-4 regular season was keyed in part by an extremely stable defense. It was if the Panthers had sprayed "Off -- the NFL version" all over their D, in which all 11 starters started the first 14 games in a row.

Not this year. Carolina's run of great injury luck in 2008 has caught up with it in 2009, starting with losing DT Maake Kemoeatu 10 minutes into training camp and continuing today with the announcement that linebacker Thomas Davis has a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee and will miss the rest of the season.

Davis -- called "T.D." by his teammates -- was having a Pro Bowl-type season. An amazingly fast linebacker, he had thrived in the "Tampa Two" system installed by new defensive coordinator Ron Meeks much like Derrick Brooks used to thrive in the same system at the same outside linebacker position at Tampa Bay.

Here's a small excerpt of a column I wrote about Davis earlier this season:
"For my money, Davis has made a greater impact this season for Carolina than anyone on the squad. On a team that has too often during the past month seemed that the key players are either too old or too young, Davis, 26, stands smack in the middle of his prime.
"Davis has played well all season - a fact somewhat lost with Carolina's 1-3 start. He had an astonishing 18 tackles in the season opener against Philadelphia, which is about two games worth for most good linebackers....
As coach John Fox said... "Thomas is having an excellent season. Unfortunately, the Panthers aren't. It hasn't been his fault."

To lose Davis halfway through the season is perhaps even more significant than the Kemoeatu injury, which Carolina didn't really recover from until signing self-proclaimed "fat guy" Hollis Thomas to eat up space in the middle. Carolina did have two super-speedy linebackers to erase a lot of mistakes and make a lot of plays on the field in Davis and Jon Beason.

Now it's down to one. No matter how the Panthers reshuffle the linebackers, Davis isn't really someone you can replace. It's just another sad signpost in a 3-5 season that seems headed straight toward oblivion.

5 things I didn't like in loss to New Orleans

I wasn't in New Orleans for The Observer this time. Columnist Tom Sorensen and I split coverage of the road games while our two beat writers, Charles Chandler and David Scott, attend all of them. But here's how it looked in front of the TV to me as I count up the traditional postgame "5 things I didn't like."

1. Fumblin’ and bumblin’. DeAngelo Williams’ fumble at the 2 that resulted in a Saints TD late in New Orleans’ 30-20 win over Carolina was the game’s most egregious error.

Williams has had a serious case of fumble-it is this season compared to past years: No.34 lost only one fumble in his first three seasons and now has lost three in 2009. (And Williams also had two passes in his hands right around the goal line against the Saints and dropped both of them -- ouch).

But DeAngelo – who to be fair also scored both Panther TDs, gained 149 yards rushing and has clearly surpassed Steve Smith as the Panthers' best offensive player -- wasn’t the only one having trouble with the ball. Jonathan Stewart lost a fumble, too. And Jake Delhomme, on a fourth-down play with three minutes left when you absolutely have to get rid of the ball, instead held it too long, got sacked and lost a fumble.

2. Clock management on the Panthers' final drive. After Williams’ fumble, Carolina was down 30-20. The Panthers got a gorgeous 46-yard pass from Delhomme to Smith, who had done little until then.

But then, on first-and-goal from the New Orleans 8 with less than a minute to go and no timeouts, the Panthers actually called a running play. DeAngelo didn’t score and Jake had to spike the ball on second down with only 25 seconds left. Then, he threw two incompletions and it was “Game over.”

I’m OK with the decision to try to get the TD there rather than kick the field goal and hope for both an onside kick and a Hail Mary. But a running play with no timeouts? C’mon. (And why did Delhomme run the last two drives from under center rather than in the shotgun? Just doesn't make sense to me).

3. Julius Peppers was completely nullified by the Saints after a month-long explosion. He had no sacks and really was no factor. And, as we all know, he got paid $1 million for those 60 minutes.

4. Delhomme’s short leash. OK, so John Fox is interested in resurrecting Jake, not benching him. But for three quarters Fox mostly tried to work around his QB (much as the Panthers did successfully last week against Arizona). Jake had only thrown 12 passes in the first three quarters.

I know the Panthers like to run the ball, but this isn’t college football and they aren’t Navy. You can’t hide your quarterback forever. Even though the third-and-10 draw play worked a few times, Delhomme needed to get a chance to throw the ball a little more. If he's going to play, let him play.

5. Second-half pass defense. The Panthers’ D played a wonderful first half and was the main reason whhy Carolina led 17-6 at halftime. New Orleans’ vaunted offense got to the red zone three times and only got two field goals out of it, and Carolina’s defense set up one of those TDs with a Jon Beason fumble recovery at the New Orleans 11.

But in the second half, the Saints' long pass plays started to multiply, and Drew Brees (330 passing yards) looked like the best player on the field again. Carolina got outscored 24-3 in the second half, faltering down the stretch like an average team does against a very good team and wasting a whole lot of good plays in this 10-point loss that really was a lot closer than the final score indicates.

Butler-Indy: what a game!

I went to cover the Butler-Independence game tonight at Independence -- here's my column about it -- and it was definitely one of the sports highlights of my year so far. Butler's 31-24 win wasn't decided until Independence fumbled the ball away inside the Butler 20 with about two minutes to go.

The game was chockful of big plays -- 3 touchdown passes of 65 yards or longer, a key turnover about every 5 minutes, one or the other team close to scoring on just about every play.

For the 4,250 fans lucky enough to get a $6 ticket to a game where no tickets were sold at the door, this one was worth a lot more than that. In fact, I saw Bruce Springsteen perform earlier this week in Charlotte and I'd even say that this game was...

OK, I'm getting a little carried away here. It wasn't better than Springsteen.

But for high school football, it was just about as good as it gets. Butler was stronger, more balanced on offense and more disciplined. Independence was down 24-7 and 31-10, but Independence QB Anthony Carrothers had a wonderful second half after throwing four interceptions in the first and nearly got the Patriots all the way back.

Indy coach Tom Knotts told me after the game: “I hope we play them once more in the playoffs. Because they won’t beat us again. I’m sure of that.”

I'm not sure of that at all -- Butler head coach Mike Newsome and his staff had a team with more discipline and more overall talent Friday. But I'm with Knotts on part of that statement: I sure hope the two of them play again -- and at a much bigger venue next time. Because that was something.

My Saints-Panthers prediction

A few pregame thoughts on New Orleans and Carolina, who play at 4:05 p.m. Sunday:

-- I love watching Saints receiver Marques Colston play. He’s not that fast, but he’s big and strong and just goes up and gets it over shorter defensive backs. He’s everything, in other words, that Dwayne Jarrett should be but hasn’t been for the Panthers. And Colston was a seventh-round pick; Jarrett a second-rounder.

-- The key for Carolina in this game: a lot of 10- to 12-play drives on offense. That means running the ball effectively, as usual. I think Carolina’s only chance at an upset is to gain 200 yards on the ground, which likely would translate into 35 minutes of possession time, which would give New Orleans a couple fewer shots than the Saints are used to in terms of scoring.

-- Don’t discount the confidence factor in this one with Jake Delhomme. He’s never lost a game as a starter in the Superdome. For a quarterback whose confidence has been on-and-off all season, that’s big. He’s comfortable there – the city has long been a home away from home for him, personally and professionally.

-- There isn’t a more fun offense to watch this season than the one that Drew Brees runs for the Saints. I mean, 39 points per game? That’s ridiculously good. The Charlotte Bobcats often don’t get 39 in a half.

-- The Saints are 7-0, but they aren’t going to go undefeated. I think they will ultimately lose 2-3 games this regular season. But despite their lack of previous success at home against Carolina, they are clearly the hotter team and their defense has finally stopped being so much of a liability. It will be entertaining, but ultimately: New Orleans 34, Carolina 24.

The stats: After starting 4-1 picking Panthers’ games this season, I’ve faltered the past two weeks on Panther predictions and now rest at a mediocre 4-3. Before the 2009 season began, I picked Carolina to go 7-9, and I’ll stick by that one until it’s no longer statistically possible.


Follow Scott at Twitter.com/scott_fowler

Should Panthers have hosted Butler-Independence?

In my column today on the Butler-Independence showdown Friday night, I briefly raised an issue that deserves more explanation.

Because 24,000-seat Memorial Stadium is closed for repairs (and believe me, that place needs it), this game will be played in the 4,250-seat stadium at Independence. It is already sold out -- I'd advise you not to show up without a ticket.

Obviously, this game could draw far more than 4,250. Probably 15,000-25,000, depending on the venue.

There was a campaign to get the game moved to the Panthers' stadium, but the Panthers said they wouldn't host the game.

Why? Panthers spokesman Charlie Dayton told The Observer recently: "There are several considerations that prevent Bank of America Stadium from being the site of the Butler-Independence game, including fairness to other area schools. There is also the consideration of field damage if we were to have three days of (bad) weather as we (experienced a couple of weeks ago)."

Butler coach Mike Newsome -- who I really like and respect -- was vocal in my interview with him about his displeasure that the Panthers wouldn't host the game.

“With the season they’re having right now,” Newsome said of the Panthers, “I think it would have been a big community gesture for them to allow this to happen…. What if Clemson would have said years ago, ‘No Panthers, we don’t really want you tearing up our field?’ What if every other college had said that, too?”

The Panthers played their home games in 1995 at Clemson while their privately-owned stadium was being built.

Newsome also said about the issue -- and I didn't have room for this in the column: "It really bothers me as a community that we couldn’t have come together and allowed that to happen. When you look at how many other NFL stadiums allow high school and college teams play at their place…"

Then the coach cited as examples the University of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Steelers sharing Heinz Field and sometimes playing on the same weekend. The same thing happens in Tampa, with the University of South Florida and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers sharing Raymond James Stadium. Other NFL stadiums occasionally have been used for high-school state title games and the like.

Those stadiums are generally public venues, however -- the Panthers' stadium is primarily owned by the Richardson family. The Panthers have traditionally not let the grass be used for much of anything except Panthers' games, which means the stadium seats are vacant close to 350 days a year (and the field is routinely ranked very high in NFL Players' Association of best fields in the league).

Long ago, the stadium hosted a highly successful Billy Graham crusade and the Rolling Stones. It still has an annual college football bowl game right after Christmas and a smattering of other college football games (including the ACC football championship in Dec. 2010) on the horizon.

But I would agree with Newsome to a point -- the stadium is under-utilized. The grass certainly isn't going to tear up with a few more events per year, and it'd be nice to see a couple of high school games played there every season.

Then again, you can see the Panthers' point. Let's say Friday night's game is played there and Butler wins. That means Butler would be the higher playoff seed. In 3-4 weeks, the two teams could very well meet again -- this time in Butler's 2,500-seat stadium! Do the Panthers have to host that one, too?

It's a slippery slope -- there are dozens of very good high school football teams around here. All would clamor loudly for a chance to get into the stadium if the door was ever opened.

With all that said, though, I really wish the Panthers would have made an exception for this particular game.

The weather is going to be beautiful Friday night. The field would not have torn up. And about 20,000 more people could have seen live what could well be the best high school football game of 2009 in the state of North Carolina.

Follow Scott on Twitter.com/scott_fowler

Springsteen rocks Charlotte

Bruce Springsteen played the entire "Born to Run" album at his concert in Charlotte Tuesday night.

A few of you have noticed that I am moonlighting occasionally as a concert reviewer for The Charlotte Observer and asked me why. Music has always been a passion of mine -- can't play it well, can't sing it worth a darn but can enjoy the heck out of it as a fan. I've probably attended close to 100 concerts in my lifetime at this point -- like the best sporting events, I find them to be great entertainment.

The Bruce Springsteen show Tuesday night in Charlotte was the fourth I've covered for the newspaper (following the Eagles, Jewel and Jimmy Buffett) and was undoubtedly the best of that quartet. Springsteen is a legendary live performer for good reason -- here's my review of the show. At 60, it's remarkable what he can still do on a stage, and that gravelly voice is still so commanding.

I'd be interested in the thoughts of any of yall who attended The Boss's show in Charlotte. Please post below if you saw it (or have been to any of his concerts on this most recent tour).

I had seen him in concert a couple of times before -- once in the old Charlotte Coliseum with the full E Street Band and another time in Ovens Auditorium in a much more intimate, stripped-down show. I like the big shows better with the full band, and my personal highlight Tuesday came when Springsteen played the full "Born to Run" album, in order, early in his set.

"Thunder Road" is my favorite song on that album (and also my favorite rollercoaster at Carowinds, incidentally) and I thought he did that one beautifully. Be interested in what yall think, too, about Springsteen, whether you've seen zero "Bruuuuce" shows or 100 or more of them.

Springsteen crowd-surfs Charlotte Click here for a slideshow of Charlotte images.