Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing’s start-and-park is height of hypocrisy

June 7, 2011 5 Comments »

Apparently, the rules aren’t the same for a supposed trailblazer and a regular old owner.

The trailblazer in this case is Jennifer Jo Cobb, whose dustup with 2nd Chance Motorsports owner Rick Russell over whether or not to start and park at Bristol in March led to her walking away from the car just before the race started.

“I have made a commitment to my sponsors, my fans and NASCAR that I’m not a start-and-park driver,” Cobb told SceneDaily.com at the time. “I am really serious about this and I have to really work hard to prove to people that I’m serious about this.”

Cobb made a bold move, one that earned her the respect of many. Only thing is, when you take that kind of a stand, you can never, ever be a part of a start-and-park effort in any form or fashion.

At Bristol Russell claimed he was up against the wall financially and just couldn’t afford to wear out his engine or wreck.

Subsequently, driving her own car, Cobb ran 42 laps at Darlington (clutch) and 43 laps at Darlington (axle), running just a handful more laps than many of the start-and-parkers. Call those races whatever you want.

But there’s no doubt about what happened at Chicago. With Cobb having landed a ride for the Truck race at Kansas, Rick Crawford stepped into her Nationwide car at Chicago and promptly ran just 22 laps before leaving the race due to the dreaded “vibration,” which in start-and-park land translates to “Take the money and run.”

Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing started and parked at Chicago because they wanted to conserve funds to live another day. In other words, exactly the spot Russell says he was in at Bristol. What makes Cobb more special than Russell?

Cobb has one career top-10 finish, at the truck opener in Daytona. Other than that, her biggest career accomplishment was playing Ginger when the SPEED Truck TV crew did its “Gilligan’s Island” Halloween theme at Talladega last year. She signed to appear on a pilot for a motorsports-themed TV drama. And all of that is fine. Just as Chad McCumbee learned by playing Dale Earnhardt Jr. in “3,” there’s a lot of ways to jumpstart a NASCAR career, and it’s not all about wheel-turning.

Cobb knows how to play the game. But considering what she’s had to do recently, it strikes me curious that she couldn’t have any empathy for Russell’s position at Bristol just a few months ago.

Walking away from Russell’s car earned Cobb quite the soapbox, reminiscent of Michael McDowell’s fame following his qualifying wreck at Texas in 2008.

Was Cobb really that offended at Russell? Or did she merely see an opportunity?

  • Phil Dirt

    You left out one important part of the story:

    Did Jennifer Jo Cobb the owner tell Jennifer Jo Cobb the driver that the team would not be start-and-parking, and then change her mind a few minutes before the green flag?

    Yeah, it does make a difference. And Russell’s actions in Chicago show that there is a pattern to his actions that is missing from Cobb’s.

  • rldinkle

    No doubt you have heard of Russell’s must recent problems when he fired the entire team at chicagoland, locked the van and refused to let the team members get their belongings and personal property. The police had to be called before the team could take what was rightfully theirs. Russell refused to bring any of the crew back to NC – left them stranded at chicagoland – luckily they were able to hitch a ride to the airport and rent a van to drive home.

    Whatever transpired between JJ Cobb and Rick Russell was much more about Rick Russell than JJ Cobb. If Cobb SnP’ed every race for the rest of the year, she still did the right thing by walking away from Rick Russell.

  • Kevin

    I can see the reason for your skepticism. I understand the doubt. I’m wondering if you contacted the crew chief of JJCR’s effort in that Nationwide race driven by Rick Crawford to determine what caused the vibration and why it wasn’t repairable? Perhaps it was the driveshaft and they didn’t have a spare and didn’t have the money to buy one from another team. Perhaps something in the motor was out of balance and they decided to shut it off and fix it rather than have it blow up and need to replace it. Have you asked Rick Crawford for an interview to determine if there indeed was an order to start and park?
    I must say that I don’t find it all that suprising that an organization without much sponsorship or much money doesn’t have premium equipment with which to race, and therefore experiences equipment failures early in a race.
    It is one thing to sit and speculate on items that possibly might make a story. These speculations belong in your notebook of questions to follow up on prior to writing a solid fact filled article. Not unverified conjecture and drivel.

  • http://bumpdrafter.blogspot.com NASCAR Blog

    I think JJC should have maintained her position as a racer’s racer and stayed away from start and park no matter what. With that said, she gained plenty of fans by doing what she did, and for anyone who has interacted with her in anyway (requesting autographs, memorabilia, or just communicating with her via Twitter) she keeps her fans happy! Hopefully she can keep herself on the track in the future.

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