Steve Parker, Motoring Journalist

NASCAR SERIES TITLE SPONSOR MAY BE SOLD; GM CUTTING WAY BACK IN NASCAR

Like the rest of us, NASCAR has been having all kinds of financial problems. Some large organizations, including well-known huge businesses and some which are not companies but rather are connected to the Pentagon, are leaving their multi-million dollars sponsorships of teams, races and racers as soon as the current deals run out. (Dale Earnhardt, Jr., in his National Guard-sponsored Chevy leads the Toyota of ex-open wheel star AJ Allmendinger in a Sprint Cup event).

Now we come to find out that NASCAR's most important sponsor, the title sponsor of the entire series, Sprint Nextel, is apparently not only open to acquiring some partners by selling parts of itself, but might even allow Sprint Nextel to be taken over by a South Korean company. More on that a bit later, but first some background:

Just last week, the US Navy announced they are dropping their multi-million sponsorship of the #88 Chevrolet in the Nationwide Series, driven by Brad Keselowski, after the contract runs out at the end of this season. JR Motorsports is a first-year team in the series, owned by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Both Earnhardt and Keselowski have worked hard for their Navy money, the military service going so far as to create a "Dale Jr. Division" an 88-person boot camp division at Recruit Training Command.

General Motors announced cutbacks this morning amounting to more than $10 billion, and no motorsport will be immune from cutbacks. GM has already notified two racetracks that run NASCAR events that their current contracts will not be renewed as part of an overall $10 billion cost-cutting program. And no one likes to cut racing from their budget because ... apart from the potential marketing and promotional boosts, it's so much fun! The execs are not sitting in some Detroit office when they're at the track. (Dale Jr., and his mother, Brenda, after one of Junior's wins).

"Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday" was for decades the non-stop mantra of car-makers and their hotshot marketing departments. But the facts are that motor racing, especially in the US, doesn't have that kind of direct influence on the public anymore.

GM's cuts are just the first in what could be a huge drop in support by GM, Ford and Chrysler for tracks and teams in NASCAR, the NHRA and more in the face of the weakest US auto sales in a decade. Speedway Motorsports Inc., which owns eight tracks that hold NASCAR events, already has been told GM will not renew contracts at two tracks — New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway. Bruton Smith is CEO of Speedway Motorsports, and, like International Speedway Corporation, which was created by the France family, both are public corporations and answer to stockholders above all else. (With tobacco thankfully gone from almost all motorsport sponsorship and advertising in the US and worldwide, NASCAR decided to accept advertising from hard liquor distillers and distributors; a family sport?).

GM has contracts with 12 of the 22 tracks where NASCAR's top Sprint Cup series races and is the title sponsor for the fall race at Richmond International Raceway. GM and the other American car companies will to continue purchasing hospitality, suites and track displays, although perhaps not at the same level. Which probably means more potato chips and pretzels and fewer shrimp cocktails in the hospitality suites of NASCAR (GM prides themselves on always having the largest shrimp at their numerous cocktail receptions). All of the Detroit Three and other companies paying the way for racing in NASCAR and other American series will be forced to make cuts before long if the economic downturn continues. The way things are going with the economy and the value of the dollar versus the Euro, it might be cheaper for Formula One to run their entire series in the US for the foreseeable future.

The Navy says about the newly-formed division: “Everything JR Motorsports does is centered around excellence, teamwork and professional development, and that squarely places them in that number one seat – and that’s where the Navy sits in the defense of our nation." They also have a cool website with a talking Dale Jr., kind of like one of those audio-animatronic characters at Disneyland, and you can visit by clicking anywhere on this line ... And oh, when you visit there, remember: no flash photography, please. At least that's what they always say at Disneyland, just before "Mr. Lincoln" gets up from his chair and speaks ... (Brad Keselowski is driving his Nationwide Series Chevrolet, with big-time US Navy sponsorship, to a possible series title; they're dropping the sponsorship at the end of this season. The Army, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and US Border Patrol have all been major sponsors in NASCAR over the years. If the US public knew how much the Pentagon and Homeland Security were spending on NASCAR alone, do you think they'd be surprised, or shocked or want to see more of it in the sport?).

A couple of ironies here: Keselowski is a good bet to win the Nationwide Series this year, meaning that Navy is losing a pretty good chance of next season sponsoring the series champion. Also, while JR is losing the Navy, team owner Earnhardt, Jr., driver of the #88 Chevy in Sprint Cup, appears safe for next season with the National Guard ... yes, the National Guard ... as his primary sponsor. These are not coincidences, these are ironies. You should know the difference, especially at your age ... (And yes, that is a Dale Jr., Barbie).

Click below to find out more about NASCAR's financial problems and the possible impending sale of the Sprint Cup series title sponsor to a South Korean company.

SIRIUS/ XM MERGER NEAR; MONOPOLIES ARE GOOD, RIGHT? WELL, MAYBE FOR THE PHONE COMPANY ...

In a somewhat surprising and sudden occurrence, the acquisition of satellite radio's XM by rival Sirius appears much closer to being a sure thing. Senators, members of congress and consumer advocates have, for the most part, been against the merger, saying it would create a monopoly of just one single satellite radio service, and of course they are right; the government slated room in radio frequencies for Sirius and XM and no more. But the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, a Republican political appointee of George W. Bush, Kevin Martin, said in a statement released this past weekend that "I am recommending that with the voluntary commitments they've offered, on balance, this transaction (XM and Sirius merger) would be in the public interest". (Photo, above and below - Corvette and Corvette Z06 come from its Bowling Green, KY factory with XM satellite radio).

Politicos making pronouncements on weekends normally do so because TV, radio, print and Web news-gatherers are usually "off," and their words will receive less attention than if they held a weekday press conference.

Those "voluntary commitments," which apparently the companies could not be held liable for if they did not occur after the merger, include a pledge to make 24 radio channels available for noncommercial and minority programming,  and the companies would agree to cap prices, provide interoperable radios (can pick up both sat radio "products") and offer programming on an "a la carte" basis (which, we guarantee, will only make buying, activating and using the systems more confusing ... and generate even more desperate e-mails asking us for help; after someone spends $42,000 on a pick up, for instance, they don't want to be jerked-around for another few hundred bucks they have to pay for a radio system they might not even understand).

Martin's decision could, though, remove the last regulatory hurdle in a lengthy and heavily criticized move to combine the companies. Antitrust authorities at the U.S. Department of Justice approved the merger in March after concluding it would not harm consumers, and you know how much the Bush Justice Department has been concerned with making certain there be no "harm to consumers".

We remember throughout most of 2007, after announcing the wished-for merger of the two sat radio   services, Sirius honcho Mel Karmazin made the rounds of all the talk shows, major, middling and minor. He talked-up the merger, but it seemed every time he (very) publicly promoted the idea, opposition to the proposal seemed stronger and more vocal from political types. So they came up with a better, more insidious plan: Lobbyists!

Interest in traditional commercial and public radio has cooled in the few months since the sat radio merger deal was publicly broached in February of 2007. Both XM and Sirius eventually muted their public marketing push while lobbying regulators, instead, who can approve the deal; which makes sense in the traditional, DC-style of "marketing" ... Paying big-time lobbying firms to "get to" the people who really matter, and that's certainly not we, the people. But as the number of cars with built-in satellite radio has increased (almost all GM cars and trucks come with it, as they use their OnStar service to also receive XM), both services are still adding subscribers, who pay about $13 a month for more than 100 channels of music, news and talk programming. XM ended the first quarter with about 9.3 million subscribers, vs. 8.6 million for Sirius.

And of that total, about half of them, it sometimes seems, have written to this website asking for help in buying satellite radio, activating satellite radio they've already purchased, wondering if their new car or truck is pre-wired for sat radio and whether they can receive XM on their Sirius radio, and vice versa.

Click below for more on satellite radio, the proposed merger between XM and Sirius and another new radio technology, free and already available, something called HD Radio.

EARTH DAY! PRESIDENT BUSH LOOKS "GREEN AND MEAN" BEFORE HE'S ESCORTED OUT OF TOWN

US President George W. Bush is eager to appear busy as he marks time until the next president is sworn-in this coming January (and it can't come soon enough, for me or our nation). He has recently included meeting the Pope, appearing on NBC-TV's "DEAL OR NO DEAL" and planning the coming US attack on Iran into his "busy work". On a day when the Democratic candidates fought the latest round of their true Heavyweight Championship, John McCain defended NAFTA to a town-hall-style meeting at Youngstown (Ohio) State University full of union workers that, "Last time I checked, NAFTA was a five-letter word, not four," and was ridiculed by the crowd for doing so, the White House decided to roll-out new Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards (those much talked-about CAFE standards) while, basically, no one was listening. But these new numbers, while tougher than the Detroit Three would like them to be, nevertheless were a little bit stronger than some expected. But, hey! It's Earth Day! (Photo Above --- Well, just write your own caption!)

As reported by McPaper (aka USA TODAY), cars and light trucks would have to be 25% more fuel efficient by 2015 under a proposed rule announced April 22nd, by the Transportation Department. Under the proposal, automakers would have to speed up the timetable for achieving an average fuel-efficiency standard of 35 miles per gallon by 2020. Today's car and truck fleets average about 25 mpg.

The proposal would require each automaker's car fleet to achieve an average of 35.7 mpg by the  2015 model year. Light trucks, which include pickups, SUVs and minivans, would have to meet a 28.6 mpg average by 2015. (Photo Below --- Wonder what the MPG is of the all-new Popemobile? This snazzy new model, with Benedict XVI on his glass-enclosed throne, uh, seat, appears to be built on a Mercedes-Benz M-type or G-type chassis.)

The federal proposal is tougher than the fuel-economy requirements passed by Congress last year, which called for a 3.3% annual increase in gas mileage. The federal plan calls for a 4.5% annual increase from 2011 to 2015. If those increases are achieved, Transportation Department officials said automakers would need to increase fuel economy by only about 2.1% a year from 2016 to 2020.

The CEO of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the lobbying arm of the auto industry, said, "Automakers are prepared to meet that challenge."

In the interest of full disclosure, and your own edification, Alliance members include: BMW Group, Chrysler, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, USA, Mitsubishi Motors, Porsche, Toyota, and Volkswagen of America, Inc.

To us, the Alliance's positive comment about the proposed new standards is a major red light. Whenever the lobbying arm of this nation's auto industry (including Germany's Porsche) agrees so fully and so publicly with any government standards ... fuel types, safety, emissions, mpg, whatever ... Then those standards deserve a long, hard look by all sides involved. Our 35+ years of experience covering the auto industry tells us that only when all sides involved are upset with new or proposed standards that they might possibly be good for everyone involved ... including this country and all its citizens. Right now, with the White House trying to look "tough on the car-makers," it only looks laughable. These proposed standards are still nowhere near where they should be, not even what the car-makers could achieve practically tomorrow with just a few simple re-settings of the CPUs in every car and truck built after 1974 (a lot of vehicles could get these updates by a quick trip to their local factory service center, putting the vehicle online with the factory computers, and having the engines re-set for better mileage and even cleaner emissions in a few micro-seconds).

(Photo Below --- Fuel conservation made history this past week. Danica Patrick became the first woman to win an open-wheel Indycar race, her victory coming April 20th, 2008, in the "Honda 300" at the Twin Ring Motegi race track in Japan. Patrick's win came about through her judicious use of fuel conservation "tricks", including one as simple as slowing her racing speed while her competitors all needed to make a pit stop with only about 10 laps to go to fill their need for fuel; Patrick and her pit crew stayed in-communication via two-way radio all through the race, and her crew chief outsmarted all the competition when it came to being forced to make fuel stops during the race.)

Click below to read more about these new "proposed" White House goals for improving your vehicle's "miles per gallon" and how they might affect us all.

JAGUAR, LAND ROVER SAY "TA-TA" TO THE UK; NOW MERE "JEWELS IN THE CROWN"

After several months negotiations, the US' Ford Motor Company and Tata, a gigantic Indian car- and truck-maker, also the world's fifth-largest steel producer, jointly announced today, March 26th, that two prestigious Ford luxury automotive brands, Land Rover and Jaguar, have been purchased from Ford by Tata for $2.3 billion. Ford is expected to net somewhere around $1.3 billion. Ford purchased Jaguar in 1989 for $2.5 billion and they purchased Land Rover in 2000 for $2.85 billion. A $1.3 billion expected net on products which Ford bought for nearly $5 billion ... pretty rotten rate of return, don't you think? (Photos - Above, Important logos of record; Jaguar XKR; Below, late-model Rover at auto show).

Incidentally, Tata also gets the rights to some other well-known Brit-type names, including Rover  (by itself), Daimler (not the Teutonic one, the UK variety) and Lanchester, which I thought was a British WWII-era bomber, or an old-school Brit actress, first name Elsa. Turns out the name Lancaster is correct for both the bomber and Elsa. Lanchester-the-Brit-car produced its first model in 1895 and hasn't been heard from, new model-wise, since 1956; the name was owned by Jag, most-recently. Rover, the singular version, has had a round-about life since BMW bought the Rover group some 15 years ago, and then it came to be owned by Shanghai, China's SAIC car-making firm. Just to be safe, Ford bought back the rights to the Rover name to 'nip in the bud' any possible confusion over future models. (Photo - 1921 Lanchester 40-horsepower saloon, or 'sedan' to we Yanks; 1970 Daimler built for the Queen Mother; 2008 Land Rover).

Daimler, of the UK since 1896, and pronounced 'Dame'-ler', as opposed to Germany's 'Dime'ler', makes what looks to most of we Americans as the really big, really ugly and nearly all-glass versions of Rolls-Royces in which the "Royal Family" rides ... Well, they're not Rollers, they are Daimlers. Jaguar in the UK also used the Daimler name for their even more up-scale sedan versions known in the US as "Vanden Plas" or "Super 8" editions. The name does go back to some still-confusing business dealings between Gottlieb Daimler, who patented the first car in 1889, and Emil Jellinek, Daimler's most successful dealer (and whose daughter, "Mercedes," has gone onto great renown). OK, got all that? So Tata got five for the price of two. And remember --- We Americans are "citizens," while all Brits are mere "subjects."

The purchase should be complete by the end of 2008's second quarter. Tata said they foresee very few, if any, changes to the two companies in terms of the number of employees and the location of production, at least in the near-future. Tata recently came-on the world scene with their introduction, at the recent Delhi Auto Show, of a five-passenger, four-door car called Nano, set to sell for near $3,000 (dealer price in India: $2,500).

Jaguar, founded in 1922 as the Swallow Sidecar Company (hence the "SS" designation on some models throughout the years; though after WWII, with a large part of the German military also identified by the initials "SS," that part of the company's nomenclature was dropped for many years). The company's product was, as stated, motorcycle sidecars.

Two motorcycle enthusiasts, William Lyons and William Walmsley, created Swallow Sidecar, and the "SS Jaguar" name first appeared on a 2.5 litre sedan in 1935. The Jaguar name was given to the entire company in 1945. The "SS" confusion was similar to a problem the UK had with dogs called for many years "German Shepherds". The problems with the name were obvious; but from reading this post, you now know that the dog brand, uh, we mean breed, "Alsatian," was created as a replacement breed name for the "German" dogs.

Jaguar merged with the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and that holding company was eventually known  as British Motor Holdings (BMH) in 1966. After merging with Leyland, which had already taken over Rover,  all of that became British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC) in 1968. In 1975, under what amounted to a forced nationalization of the company under Prime Minister Mrs. Thatcher, it became British Leyland Ltd (later simply BL plc). In 1989, Ford bought Jaguar for $2.5 billion. Jaguar has never turned a profit for Ford. Jaguar Cars also holds "Royal Warrants" from both Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles. (Photos --- Range Rover, inside and out, the high-end of the Land Rover brand).

Originally, the term "Land Rover" referred to one specific vehicle, a pioneering civilian all-terrain utility  vehicle launched on April 30, 1948, at the Amsterdam Motor Show. "Land Rover" was later used as a brand-name for several distinct models, all four-wheel drive, and all heavily dependent on the use of alu-min-ium, as our Brit cousins say. Why the "industry-first" heavy use of aluminum? Because there were hundreds of wrecked carcasses of airplanes throughout the UK; the planes were British, American and German, and most all of them were made mostly of aluminum. Call it smart minds thinking alike, call it early recycling, but it resulted in the manufacture of these mostly-aluminum Land Rovers, something which happens to this day, though the aluminum comes from other sources, but it remains a vehicle feature which contributes to its high price.

Starting out as part of The Rover Car Company, Land Rovers were designed and manufactured as a range of four-wheel drive vehicles under a succession of owners, much like Jaguar was, including British Leyland, British Aerospace and BMW. In 2000, the marque was sold by BMW to Ford, and both Jaguar and Land Rover became part of Ford's Premier Automotive Group (PAG). (Photo - Jaguar "Super 8" rear interior).

PAG, headquartered in a "made-to-order" five-story office building designed and owned by Ford in Irvine, California, about 50 miles south of Los Angeles, has been gutted, personnel-wise,inside and out. Any Ford employees, blue- and white-collar, have been either let go from the company, been bought-out by the company, or, if they are lucky enough, were able to keep their jobs, but were severely punished, having to move back to one of the coldest environments in the USA, lovely, downtown Dearborn, Michigan.

BUSH ORDERED TO FORCE THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY TO DO ITS JOB

Recently, it's been said that the "hot" cars and trucks of tomorrow will be those which feature the latest hardware gadgets and software updates to make driving safer, more enjoyable and go much farther on a gallon of gas (or use no gasoline at all). Experts and analysts in the industry (including this one) think the "musclecars" of tomorrow may still offer horsepower, but their real "beauty" will be reflected in the vehicle's design and styling, inside and out, and online capabilities, as much as in the size of its engine.

We thought you would be interested in reading the following Sunday, February, 17, 2008 NEW YORK TIMES editorial about the Bush Administration, which has been ordered by both the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and the Supreme Court, no wild-eyed radical bunch, to force the Environmental Protection Agency to obey the law and take action to control mercury emanating from industrial smokestacks and to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles. (Photo - The Environmental Protection Agency's headquarters building is in Washington, DC's "Federal Triangle" area, which is just off what's sometimes called "the nation's front yard", the National Mall).

Car Nuts want to know, and indeed need to know, that the government, and especially the EPA (whose creation was by Richard Nixon, of all people, working together with the US Congress), has, by law, specific obligations which it needs to uphold. This editorial from the NEW YORK TIMES defines just some of the problems facing industry, specifically the auto industry.

February 18, 2008

Editorial

Judicial Rebukes on Clean Air

The federal courts have been a bulwark against the Bush administration’s relentless efforts to weaken 40 years’ worth of environmental law, including statutes protecting the nation’s forests, wetlands and endangered species. The courts have been especially important in resisting the administration’s assault on the 1970 Clean Air Act, which began with Vice President Dick Cheney’s 2001 energy report and continues to this day. (Photo - A gold 1964 Pontiac GTO; GTO was, and still is, touted as the "first musclecar" and perhaps doomed due in an oil-less future).

In 2006 and 2007, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and the Supreme Court ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to follow the law and require utilities to install pollution controls when upgrading power plants. Another Supreme Court decision last year held that the Clean Air Act required the E.P.A. to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles, an obligation the agency continues to duck.

This month, the D.C. Circuit ruled that the E.P.A. had once again ignored the law by failing to require deep and timely reductions in mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants. Like most clean air cases, this one was mind-numbingly complex. The gist of it was that the E.P.A. — seeking as usual to please industry — had approved a weak set of regulations that would let many plants off the hook for emissions reductions that would be required under any honest reading of the law. (Photo - "Tri-Power" was stock in 1964 GTOs; it was a 389cid V8 with three carburetors, hence the Tri-Power sobriquet).

The D.C. Circuit, by no means a radical group of judges, has become so exasperated that it has taken to quoting Lewis Carroll. In 2006, in a reference to “Through the Looking Glass,” the court said that the E.P.A.’s reading of the law would make sense “only in a Humpty Dumpty world.” This month, invoking “Alice in Wonderland,” the court said the agency’s reasoning recalled “the logic of the Queen of Hearts, substituting the E.P.A.’s desires for the plain text” of the law.

Desire still burns bright at the E.P.A., which reportedly intends to make one last-ditch effort to weaken the rules requiring new pollution controls on upgraded plants. Our advice to the agency would be to take a dispassionate look at its losing streak in the federal courts and, for once, leave the law alone. (end of editorial)

ILLEGAL STREET RACE KILLS 8 IN MARYLAND

The scourge of illegal street racing, which this website has been attacking since its inception, and which we've been very vocally against for decades (and which has not always been welcomed among certain people in the auto industry), has resulted in an "accident" so terrible, so horrifying and wasteful that we're simply going to reprint the entire NEW YORK TIMES story about the incident and let it stand as is (photos are from the NY TIMES, KTLA/TV5 Los Angeles and the LOS ANGELES TIMES).

We'll just repeat what we've been saying for many, many years: Unless and until local civic, religious and community leaders, businesses and governments make available safe, sane and well-managed sites where 1/8-mile and/or 1/4-mile straight-line, classic head-to-head drag racing can be held on a regular basis, these stories will be repeated, again and again and again ... These sites must also be used for proper "driver instruction", which has fallen by the wayside in our nation's high schools as budget cutbacks have done away with other popular programs, such as sports and music instruction.

Every other industrialized nation promotes driver training; in those countries, driving is considered a privilege, definitely not a right, and people are proud of their driving skills. In many European and Asian nations, a single incident of driving while impaired in any way can result in that person's driving privilege taken away ... for life. In America, attorneys specializing in DUI cases advertise freely, turning impaired driving into a "sport" which is won or lost in a court room, no matter what may have happened on the highway.

EXXON/MOBIL POSTS BIGGEST ANNUAL PROFIT BY A US COMPANY --- EVER

Well, now here's a big surprise: Associated Press reports that: Exxon Mobil has posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company — $40.6 billion — as the world's biggest publicly traded oil company benefited from historic crude prices at the end of 2007. And, Exxon also set a U.S. record for the biggest quarterly profit, posting net income of $11.7 billion for the final three months of 2007, beating its own mark of $10.71 billion in the fourth quarter of 2005. The previous record for annual profit was $39.5 billion, which Exxon Mobil had in 2006. (Photo - "Now, hold your breath and bend over").

These figures, and those posted by some of the world's other, smaller, not-as-successful oil companies, should serve to the public as a resounding crescendo to the Bush administration's last year in office --- along with this news, the nation is on the verge of recession, or may already be in one, unemployment is at its highest rate in years, the value of the dollar has collapsed around the world, China and other countries are propping-up the dollar by buying into our Treasury, Toyota has surpassed General Motors as the world's biggest car-maker and car-seller; a record GM held for 77 years and will probably not regain soon, if ever, bankruptcies and home foreclosures are at record highs and probably will go higher this year, the nation's homebuilding, real estate and mortgage industries have essentially collapsed, we're in a possibly illegal war on the other side of the world, a war we got into based on lies from the President, and the respected Boston Globe newspaper reports on the same day these oil profits are announced, "A new congressional analysis shows the Iraq war is now costing taxpayers almost $2 billion a week -- nearly twice as much as in the first year of the conflict three years ago and 20 percent more than last year", and almost 4,000 American troops have died so far in Iraq alone.

So we think that every American needs to look at history, and the fact that in the past century, it took a Democratic president to fix the problems left by almost every Republican administration (check "Great Depression, 1929"). Also, we all need to know these figures and then ask ourselves, "If the nation's economy is in such terrible shape, and we know it is, then why are the oil companies reaping such huge, almost unconscionable profits, while other American companies and whole industries are failing and/or leaving the country for China, India and other points way west? Could it have anything to do with the fact that America's current President and Vice-President have both served as top oil company executives? And why are gasoline prices allowed to go so high?" Repeat all the above three times every morning and take two aspirin, and then read the rest of this news, as reported by the AP (and keep a bucket nearby in case you feel the need):

Seems these oil companies are competing only with themselves --- But there are other oil companies doing their best to screw the publi...uh, trying their best to make us all proud of the world's free and open marketplace. Crude prices reached an all-time trading high of $100.09 on Jan. 3 but have fallen about 10 percent since then. But, the US is nothing if not dependable. Our young men and women are being sent to serve as mercenaries for the world's nations which don't have the gumption to send their own --- And most are not doing anything to develop new energy technologies, guaranteeing that our troops will be necessary in Iraq, and elsewhere in that area, for some time to come (possibly for "100 years or more", according to John McCain).

Also extraordinary was Exxon Mobil's revenue, which rose 30 percent in the fourth quarter to $116.6 billion from $90 billion a year ago. For the year, sales rose to $404.5 billion — the most ever for the Irving, Texas-based company — from $377.64 billion in 2006.

Want to feel a bit more ill? Then read this: Exxon Mobil produces about 3 percent of the world's oil. That's all it takes to make these kind of obscene profits.

Refining and marketing, or downstream, earnings were $2.3 billion, up from nearly 2 billion in the year-ago quarter, as improved refining operations offset lower U.S. refining margins. Keep in mind, though, that an oil refinery facility has not been built in the US in over 30 years, and low refining capacity is often cited as one of the main reasons behind rising gasoline and heating oil prices.

Now, let's hear from some of the other oil companies ...

ConocoPhillips has said record oil prices at the end of 2007 helped it post a 37 percent increase in fourth-quarter profit, even as it produced less crude and natural gas than a year earlier. Its quarterly net income rose to $4.37 billion versus $3.2 billion a year earlier. ConocoPhillips is the nation's third-largest integrated oil company behind Exxon Mobil and Chevron Corp.

Chevron reported this week that its profit rose 29 percent in the fourth quarter, as surging prices for crude   oil offset weak results from its refining business. It earned $4.88 billion, or $2.32 per share, from $3.77 billion, or $1.74 per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 29 percent to $61.41 billion from $47.75 billion.

And, last but not least, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Europe's largest oil company, posted a 60 percent gain in fourth-quarter profit  to $8.47 billion on asset sales and higher oil prices. Shell said full-year net profit was a company record $31.3 billion, up 23 percent from the prior year.

And we mere mortals stupidly wonder who is buying all the Rolls-Royces, 7-series BMWs, Bentleys, S-class Mercedes, Lamborghini Murcielagos, Ferrari Enzos, A8 Audis and that ultimate expression of too much money, no taste and definitely not enough brains, the Maybach. Any Maybach.

2008 HONDA CIVIC MUGEN TYPE RR MAKES 260-HP AT "TOKYO AUTO SALON"

The "Tokyo Auto Salon" is not a place where people can get a drive-in hairdo, but, held annually, is sort of Japan's version of the SEMA Show, held each November in Las Vegas, albeit about 10%, if even that, of SEMA's size. It focuses on the automotive aftermarket in Japan and elsewhere, and has become a pretty reliable predictor of what might be shown, in some small part, at the next SEMA Show, or pop-up in enthusiast magazines worldwide. This "Civic Mugen Type RR", made by Mugen, a Japan-based high-performance and appearance specialist, is fairly typical of Mugen's work, if any car which looks and goes like this one can be called "typical". Tuners worldwide look to both the Tokyo Auto Salon and Mugen for what "the next big thing" in tuner cars just might be.

This Type RR from Mugen  features carbon fibre replacement pieces on many of the body panels, if not all of them (specific information on this car, especially in English, was very sketchy, even on the Web) and 260 horsepower and 173 lb.-ft. of torque. Getting all that out of a 2.0 liter Inline-4 is no easy trick.

"Mugen" is one of those words that, if you're speaking with someone about cars and use it in a sentence, and they recognize the name, then both people know that the other  might really know what they're talking about. The Japanese word "mugen" translates into English as "without limit" or "unlimited power", so it's appropriate that what started out in 1973 as a Honda "tuning" shop, founded by Hirotoshi Honda, son of Honda founder Soichiro Honda, should now be known worldwide, in many different forms of racing.

Many people assume that Mugen is owned wholly or in part by "dad's company", but it has always been a company totally separate from Honda Motor Corporation, but naturally has very close ties with Honda. Since his father's death in 1991, Hirotoshi Honda has been the major shareholder in Honda Motors, adding to the confusion about "Who owns Mugen?"; Honda generally disdains taking on partners of any kind, so Mugen remains independent of the car- and engine-making business.

Now, if someone says "Mugen", you won't say "Gesundheit!" to them, because now, you're "in the know".

Quick story about Soichiro Honda: When he came to the US to see the then-new and still palatial American Honda headquarters campus in Torrance, CA, when Mr. Honda walked into the lobby for the first time, he went to the reception desk and asked the woman working there for a visitor's pass. A bunch of American Honda execs tried to steer him away as he was filling out the company's Visitor's Log and getting his pass and asked him why he was doing that. "This is American Honda," he said, "and here, I am a visitor". Talk about humility!

Mugen also tunes and races Honda vehicles in the Super GT championship, and sells aftermarket parts to  we "amateur enthusiasts" around the world, by catalog and of course through the Web. Mugen parts can also be found at some auto parts stores in the US which specialize in the small, quick "tuner cars" which come from the US, Asia and Europe. There are many online discussion groups dedicated to Mugen parts and their care and feeding ... and price. Mugen was also a part of partnerships that won the Formula 3000 championship in 1990 and 1991, and that led to Mugen's involvement in F1 from 1992 to 1999, and up to 2005 Mugen the exclusive engine supplier to Formula Nippon, a Japan-based "spec" road racing series.

MEXICAN TRUCKS HAVE FREE ACCESS TO ALL OF THE USA --- STARTING NOW! SEE IMPORTANT UPDATES HERE

BUSH ADMINISTRATION OPENS
ALL AMERICAN ROADS TO
MEXICAN TRUCKS

Until September 6, 2007, the law said that Mexican-owned trucks entering the US were required to unload their wares at US CUSTOMS PORT OF ENTRY warehouses within 20 miles of the US/Mexico border. That was as far as the Clinton Administration would allow the Mexican trucks to come into the US, even after the signing of NAFTA. Then after inspection and US CUSTOMS approval, US-owned trucks picked-up the inspected goods and delivered them to their US destinations.  (Photo --- Mexican trucks enter the US at Mexico/US border crossing).

Starting today, that’s over ... Officially. The Bush Administration, utilizing the North American Free Trade Agreement, now allow Mexican trucks to cross the US/Mexico border (any of the crossings along the border, from small towns with little in the way of inspectors, to larger cities) and have complete, unfettered access to US highways and cities. No more restrictions of any kind. The Bush Administration interpreting this part of NAFTA in this way is wildly out of line with common sense, national security, and all manner of potential safety and public health problems.

Michael Chertoff, incumbent Secretary of Homeland Security, was in front of a Congressional Committee today, speaking against these changes in the trucking laws. (Photo --- Truck undergoing inspection at a Mexico checkpoint).

According to REUTERS: "The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco  late on Friday (9/6/07) denied an emergency petition sought by the Teamsters union, the Sierra Club and consumer group Public Citizen to halt the start of a one-year pilot program that was approved by Congress after years of legal and political wrangling.The Transportation Department welcomed the decision and said in a statement that allowing more direct shipments from Mexico will benefit U.S. consumers.

The 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement approved broader access for ground shipments from both countries but the Clinton administration never complied with the trucking provision. A special tribunal ordered the Bush administration to do so in 2001.

"This is the wrong decision for working men and women," Jim Hoffa, president of the Teamsters, said in a statement after the court ruling. "We believe this program clearly breaks the law." The Teamsters represents truckers that would be affected by the change.

The emergency stay was sought on grounds the administration's pilot program had not satisfied the U.S. Congress' requirements on safety and other issues. But the appeals court ruled otherwise." (end of Reuters story quote)

Now, the "test period" which starts today runs for just one year and the Feds are calling it  a “trial” time. But you know how the government is … The first Federal Income Tax was supposed to be “temporary”, too, to be in effect just until after World War I was paid for … Once these things get started, they are near-impossible to stop.

US Congressman Peter DeFazio of Oregon (Democrat), said at a news conference today in washington, DC: "The powers behind this bill won't be satisfied until every truck driver in America is a non-American, working for less than the American minimum wage".

I had our local State Senator, John Benoit, on my radio show as a guest just a few months ago. Before his election, he ran the California Highway Patrol in this area, and he stated flatly that there is no way the trucks coming from Mexico could possibly be inspected unless they were literally falling apart at some checkpoint or border control point.

He has interesting insight into all the potential problems with these rules changes because both California State Highway 86 and Interstate 10, which Benoit oversaw in his CHP position, are major thoroughfares which bring goods from Mexico and Central and South America into the USA.Benoit told us that the only Mexican trucks which will stand any chance at all of actually  being inspected (or of having their loads inspected) are those which are clearly and obviously "falling apart". If their re-capped tires are coming unglued, if their brakes are falling off in chunks from the wheels, if the lights are not working or any other number of safety and quality problems we probably can't even imagine, then, maybe, the truck will be ordered to the side of the road and inspected at some length. But clearly, the CHP is already overtaxed when it comes to all the duties they are supposed to perform in this part of the nation (Southeast California) and adding the inspection of untold numbers of Mexican-owned trucks might precipitate some sort of disaster.

And often, those goods range from cocaine to marijuana to methamphetamine. Recently, a car from Mexico stopped on Highway 86 by law enforcement was found to have six pounds of Fentanyl, a powerful pain-killer used mostly in surgeries and given to cancer patients suffering unrelenting pain from that disease. (Photo --- Man in favor of new NAFTA rules drives truck in Texas --- And where is his seat belt?).

In the meantime, we can only imagine how ‘safe’ all these trucks are as far as  their road-going abilities … that famous world-class Mexican quality, second only to (maybe) China … and their operators’ driving skills … and the solid financial strength of their insurance companies … etc.

Update 9-7-07 -- US trucks receive reciprocal rights to Mexican roadways in this deal. CNN reported today that, daily, 2,000 Mexican trucks cross into the US at the San Diego/Otay Mesa border, and 3,000 more cross into the US at the Laredo, TX US/Mexico border, for a total of 5,000 Mexican trucks entering the US every day.

Update -9-12-07 -- Congress on Tuesday moved to block the Bush administration from allowing Mexican trucks to travel throughout the United States, setting up a collision with the White House and possibly straining relations with Mexico. Senators from both parties, citing safety concerns, attached a measure to a transportation spending bill to block funding for the cross-border trucking program. The House earlier this year approved a similar measure, virtually ensuring it will be in the final bill. Bush has threatened to veto the bill over its price tag, and the White House issued a statement Tuesday saying it "strongly opposes" any effort to delay the program.

The action comes just days after U.S. transportation officials gave a green light to the first of as many as 100 Mexican trucking companies that would be allowed to operate throughout the United States in a one-year demonstration period. Until now, Mexican trucks have been restricted to a narrow zone north of the U.S.-Mexico border where they transfer their cargo to American big rigs.

On Monday, the first Mexican truck delivered a load of steel to North Carolina.

The action came despite Bush administration assurances that Mexican trucks and their drivers would undergo rigorous safety checks, including a "39-point, front-to-back inspection" of trucks and drug testing for drivers.

The Mexican government has allowed the first of as many as 100 U.S. trucking companies to operate south of the border. The measure drew the support of an unusual coalition, pitting some Republicans against their usual business allies, underscoring the intensity of the opposition.

After NAFTA's approval, the Clinton administration refused to let Mexican freight-haulers operate throughout the United States, citing safety and environmental concerns. A NAFTA arbitration panel ruled in 2001 that the United States was violating the agreement.

In 2004, the Supreme Court set aside a lower court ruling that had required U.S. officials to study the environmental impact before allowing older Mexican trucks into the country, ruling that the president had the power to enforce NAFTA.

Opponents highlighted a fiery collision that occurred Sunday in Mexico between two trucks, one of which carried several tons of highly combustible chemicals, that killed more than two dozen people. But supporters noted that Mexican trucks are prohibited from transporting hazardous materials in the United States.

   Six explosions believed to be the result of sabotage ripped apart natural gas pipelines for Mexico's state oil monopoly early Monday, the company said. There were no reported injuries. Mexican state oil monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, issued a statement saying it believed the explosions, which forced the evacuation of 12,000 people, were deliberate.
   It said the six blasts at about 2 a.m. (3 a.m. EDT, 0700 GMT)
caused four fires. At least five pipelines were affected.  A small, left-wing guerrilla group claimed to have attacked a major Pemex gas pipeline in July, forcing at least a dozen major companies, including Honda Motor Co., Kellogg Co. and The Hershey Co., to suspend or scale back operations.
   The July explosions affected sections of a major pipeline extending from central Mexico City to Guadalajara in western Mexico.

"NEW", PRIVATIZED CHRYSLER APPOINTS A TOP EXEC --- A PUBLIC CORPORATION LOSER CEO RUN OUT OF HOME DEPOT EARLIER THIS YEAR

Ah, yes, let the fun (and the firings and sell-offs) begin! Chrysler's new owner, Cerberus, wasted no time in hiring a chief for the newly-private automaker. Robert Nardelli was named Chrysler's president and chairman, while long- time Chrysler chieftain Tom LaSorda (not the Dodgers baseball team ex-manager), a popular executive who many thought deserved the top title, will be president and vice-chairman. At least as long as he remains at the company.

And, according to the LOS ANGELES TIMES, Nardelli's pay package will be completely performance-based, to the point that he will receive compensation only if and when Chrysler returns to profitability.

Cerberus recently paid $7.4 billion for Chrysler; In May, 1998, Daimler paid $46 billion for Chrysler, in an attempt to merge the two companies' perceived strengths in larger and luxury cars (Daimler Benz) and fuel-efficient smaller cars (Chrysler); both companies were and are still strong in truck production.

Also, a merger of the companies' dealerships world-wide was seen as a possibility. Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep suddenly had access to the many Mercedes car and truck stores throughout the world; Daimler could sell new, smaller cars, developed with Chrysler's design and production help, through their huge world network and at the many Chrysler dealers in the US and Canada. The Mercedes-Swatch developed Smart car (photo below) might have been a good experiment for owner Daimler to sell at Dodge stores, for instance, but now they will be sold exclusively at dealerships owned by Roger Penske's "Penske Automotive Group", the second-largest auto dealer chain in the US.

After the merger, execs from both Daimler and Chrysler said that Mercedes parts would never be used on Chrysler products, and vice-versa; that pledge was broken almost immediately (Chrysler's Crossfire, for instance, is a thinly-veiled version of a small Mercedes convertible, and the Chrysler version comes with a manual convertible top, not the neat-o automatic one on the Benz).

What was the outcome of Daimler's purchase? Many key Chrysler executives, especially in manufacturing, quit the new company, and the combined market value of the two companies took only nine years to drop 50%, or $45 billion. The two might have done better had they simply shut their doors for those years and re-opened as the "new and improved Daimler-Chrysler!"

Nardelli is perhaps best-known to the general public for his being the chief exec at Home Depot, where his enormous pay package, including $210 million in a severance package when the Board of Directors essentially fired him, and his attempt to thwart union members, Home Depot stock shareholders and even his own top execs from speaking at the company's annual meeting, gave him a reputation near on a par with other recently-disgraced corporate executives.

Just yesterday (August 4th) it became official --- Chrysler Corporation once again became an American-owned company (as far as we know) and, perhaps more importantly to hundreds of thousands of Chrysler Corporation employees and retirees, and the families they support, it also moved off the world's stock exchanges into private ownership, where answers from management are legally few and far between. (Logo above -- That of Cerberus, whose name comes from ancient Greek, that of the four-headed dog which is said to guard the gates of hell. Sounds like a fun place to work, huh? Bet their holiday parties are a blast! Below, new Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli, smiling, which he does often. Three guesses why ...)

And at Cerberus/Chrysler, Nardelli will not have to deal with those nasty little "shareholder meetings" and other things which, let's face it, only get in the way of "big boys" like Nardelli from making the real money; that is, firing employees, cutting back retirement and health care packages (even those already agreed upon by the company) and, ultimately, selling-off chunks of the company, getting rid of dealers who have been with the company for generations and focusing on increasing production and sales in India, China, Asia, Africa, eastern Europe and South America, until that flowing red ink starts to turn black ... if that ever happens.

We say "as far as we know" when referring to Chrysler's new American ownership, which is going to be heavily hyped in their advertising, because when all is said and done, we don't really know who owns Cerberus. The company can claim all their investors stepped off the Mayflower, but, legally, there is little which the company needs to make public. And least of all, they don't need to make Nardelli's pay package public (nor that of any other Cerberus/Chrysler exec) because it is now a privately-held outfit.

Nardelli becomes the second CEO of a Detroit Big Three operation to come from outside the industry.  Ford hired a top executive from Boeing to run their North American operations, Alan Mulally. Ford indeed showed an unexpected profit in the last quarter, and big kudos to them. However, the announcement of the "recall which just won't end," that of various FoMoCo cars and trucks having cruise control systems which can catch fire, might take up all of that profit and a lot more. they "mutually agreed" to the resignation, which took effect Tuesday. Under the terms of a separation agreement negotiated when he joined the company in 2000, Nardelli, 58, is to receive about $210 million in cash and stock options, including a $20 million severance payment and retirement benefits of $32 million." (end of Washington Post quote)

Here's how THE WASHINGTON POST covered the story of Nardelli's resignation from Home Depot in January, 2007:

"Robert L. Nardelli has abruptly resigned as chairman and chief executive of Home Depot, pocketing a lavish severance package and leaving shareholders with a stock that has languished even as sales have nearly doubled during his six-year tenure.

In a statement released yesterday (January 3, 2007), Home Depot's board of directors and Nardelli said

Sounds like just the kind of guy America's auto industry needs, huh? At the very least, he is not the kind of chief executive which unions, workers, retirees and even the white collar execs he may be firing by the (Dodge?) truckloads need in these times.

THEY ALWAYS CRASH AND BURN! DR. LAURA'S SON IN POSSIBLE BIG TROUBLE

First off, this has nothing to do with cars. But it's heart-warming, in a perverted kind of "Memorial Day Weekend" kind of way, and I thought we should share it with everyone. We all get some sort of satisfaction out of seeing the self-righteous among us crash and burn. The list of those who have preached to others and then fell into their own garbage is too long for even this BLOG. And they almost always do fail --- These folks are usually "strict with everyone but themselves", as a good friend of mine once put it. Dr. Laura Schlessinger (photo, being strict at the lectern and the right hand of god), the infamous (and, many think, obnoxious) "I am my kid's mom!" radio host who spends her days taking calls from bored housewives who can't decide whether to go to the bathroom or not without getting Dr. Laura's opinion on the situation, has had her share of troubles through the years. She got her first radio job after calling into a radio host who had one of the first "lifestyle" shows on-the-air, a man named Bill Ballance (Google it ... it's fun!). Ballance liked her calls and invited her to the radio studio. They slept together the first night they met (Ballance was married at the time) and thus was a radio career launched. When Dr. Laura, years later, wrote books, made speeches and gave newspaper and magazine interviews, she would sometimes mention her personal "thanks" to those who helped her create a career which supposedly nets her over $15 million annually. But she never thanked Ballance. Laura must have forgotten that Ballance had taken nude photos of her and he posted them on the Internet. So much for "Go out and do the right thing!", huh? Anyway, the good doc now goes on and on about her son, Deryk, who is in the Army serving in Afghanistan, which we think is all well and good. But apparently Deryk was out of the room the day his mommy was teaching values ... Because ... Well, read this (full story at: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-drlaura25may25,0,2920422.story?track=mostviewed-storylevel):

Radio talk-show host Laura Schlessinger is appealing to news media outlets to respect her son's privacy   amid an Army investigation into whether he is behind a lurid personal Web page that featured cartoon depictions of rape, murder, torture and child molestation.

The posting on MySpace.com drew the Army's attention after the Salt Lake City Tribune reported this month that the Web page was credited to and included photos of Deryk, the 21-year-old son of the outspoken radio personality known to millions as "Dr. Laura." She can be heard locally (in southern California) on KFI-AM (640). (Photo - Perhaps son Deryk has a collection of the nude photos of his mother, like this one, which were splashed all over the 'Net by a friend who got her started in radio --- And whom she dumped and never publicly thanked).

According to the Tribune, the Web page, which has since been taken down, included a photograph of a bound and blindfolded detainee, accounts of illicit drug use and a blog entry headlined by a series of obscenities and racial epithets.

Laura Schlessinger's publicist issued a statement Thursday stating that the Army "is investigating who is the actual author of the MySpace website." Army spokesmen in Afghanistan, where Deryk reportedly is stationed, could not immediately be reached for comment.

CHRYSLER: LET'S START THE BIDDING!

Well, it's official: DaimlerChrysler chieftain Dieter Zetsche (photo), has  announced that the company had talked to potential buyers of its U.S. division. And this is one auction which you won't s