Q&A

Bestwick: From old-time racing to Danica

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By Kurt Knapek - kknapek@thesunnews.com

Allen Bestwick has become as recognizable as any of the drivers you watch every weekend in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Bestwick, 46, has been involved in NASCAR for more than 20 years as a radio and television broadcaster. He currently hosts "NACAR Now" and "NASCAR Countdown," which will air at 7 p.m. tonight. Bestwick recently spent some time with The Sun News sports writer Kurt Knapek to answer questions about himself, who he would pick to start his NASCAR team, Danica Patrick's future, his memories of Myrtle Beach and more.

Q If you were a car owner and could choose one driver to start a new team, who would you choose?

A "If I could pick anyone it would be Dale Earnhardt Jr. First, I know I'm going to have solid sponsorship and the funding that I need. Second, he is a heckuva race car driver and doesn't get the credit for what he's accomplished because of the name. If you gave him some other last name and looked at what's he's accomplished with the number of wins he has and the Daytona 500 win and the two Nationwide Series championships, the kid's OK. Every week this season, he's in the top 10. It's all you can ask if to put your car in position to win. Sometime or another he's going to win."

Q You've seen what a newly paved track has done for the racing at Talladega. What do you think it will do for Darlington Raceway?

A "Fast. I don't know if it's too fast. It might be. It might take away the ability to run side by side. Part of the magic of Darlington, to me, has always been the slipping and sliding. When cars are slipping and sliding and drivers are manhandling them around that creates passing opportunities. I hope the speed and pavement doesn't take away from passing opportunities. It may. If it does, it's only temporary. Because we know a year from now the track will give up some grip and be back to more of what we saw before. I hope it doesn't make a wreck-fest."

Q With only one race now at Darlington Raceway and no more races at Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway, has the old-time feel of the sport in the South gone away?

A "It has to do with demand. The old-time feel of the sport has gone away with the time demands of these race weekends. When I started doing this 23 years ago, all we did was broadcast the Cup race on Sunday. We might show up at the track Thursday and we were on the air for that. We had time to hang out in the garage with the drivers and their schedule was much less compressed and had time to hang around with the drivers. Now, the compressed weekend and the number of sponsors the drivers have to satisfy, the number of fans looking for a piece of everybody's time and the amount of television we're doing ... we have our foot to the floor from the time we got off the airplane until the time we get on the airplane. To me, the demands of the business and popularity of the business have taken away a little bit of the old-time feel. Now, that's a problem with success. That's what's changed the feel of the business more so than where the races are, I think."

Q We've heard rumblings about Danica Patrick talking with Roush Fenway Racing. Do you think we'll ever see Patrick or any woman behind the wheel of a Sprint Cup car any time soon?

A "Specifically her, I don't know. If I'm her I'm trying to win the Indy 500 before anything. I'm trying to win an IndyCar championship and a few more races before I even consider this. She does not have a background in this kind of racing like she does in open-wheel racing. If I were her I would try to maximize what I'm doing there. If you look at the guys who have come to NASCAR from open-wheel racing, they've maximized what they could do in open-wheel racing first. They won the Indy 500 or won championships and say 'OK, what's left for me to do here? and it's time for my next challenge.' She has all of that in front of her to try to do. I do think someday there will be a successful woman driver. I think there will be a successful minority driver. It takes time."

Q I noticed on your biography that your father was a car owner at a Massachusetts Speedway near your family's home in Rhode Island. Did you ever have hopes of becoming a driver?

A "I've done some limited racing, very limited. I got into the business when I was 15. My dad got out of the racing business before I was old enough to really be involved with him. It kind of seems like what I'm supposed to do. I'm sure I probably wouldn't be a good race driver. I'm not really good at painting things. When I try to make something out of wood it's a disaster. I'm not a real good accountant. But I can talk."

Q How cool is it to be able to work with the best of the best like Rusty Wallace, Dale Jarrett, Bennie Parsons, Ray Evernham and so on?

A "It sounds corny when I tell people how cool it is. But I'm a kid that grew up a race fan. I grew up wanting to be a broadcaster. I'm a fan of all sports. For me to be at places like Daytona and Indianapolis and Darlington, and not just to be there but to make a darn good living to be there, and to be there with these people, it's pretty damn cool. It's hard to beat. The downside of the job is, while other people are at home with their families on weekends, we're not. There is a price to pay for having that great job. And your family pays that price."

Q You covered many races in the former Busch Series at Myrtle Beach Speedway as a radio announcer. What do you remember about the track and the area?

A "I miss those kind of races. The competition was always great. It was short-track racing on a Saturday afternoon or Saturday evening. You knew you were going to see a good race. And it was low key. My kids were younger then and we always went to the beach and tried to make a family weekend out of it. The beach was always a fun place to go. The last time I was there was in 2002 with my wife and kids. Weird Al Yankovic played a concert at Broadway at the Beach. I was a huge Weird Al fan."