Well,that does sound like todays racing.I would not be surprized if the next driver was younger and more "marketable",stats not withstanding.Racing has one thing in common with trucking,drivers are cannon fodder.

I was kinda surprised by this as Baze to me seemed to keep his nose clean and a fairly low profile during the year.  I also would have never thought the 1st year out of the box in TF that he would have made the countdown.  As said, you don't know what happened behind the scenes either but David Powers early on had a handshake agreement with Whit and DP would never solidify that agreement in writing with Whit.  When Matco left Schmacher Racing, it was Matco's request to have Whit come over to DPR and it appears now that Matco will remain with DPR and allow Whit to move on. 

Westernstar may be correct in the cannonfodder dept. but there may also be something else out there that we aren't aware of.  But now the speculation of where Whit will end up and in the release report Whit said he's getting calls and the potential he's in the driver seat at Vegas.  Which car you think?

Oh God, you want believe this one but here goes.

The seat of John Force's FC!  Yeah, they were bitter rivals with Whit more bitter than John (LOL) but John in his own words "respects that kid" and considers him one of the top tier drivers.  It just makes to much sense to me if Castrol and JFR want that car on the track for the last 2 events and I think they do.

JMO!

OK, I've read the news release again on NHRA.com and although I have no real evidence to back this up, WesternStar's "cannonfodder" comment did have me kinda reading behind the words.  It appears nowhere that I see other than the usual "we want to move in a different direction for the future" that Whit was released "for cause" being some contractual breech.  Now, there was no written contract and this IMO is where it gets interesting.  Ironic this happens now when over the last several months Whit was pushing for a written contract.

For most of the year, Hot Rod Fuller's car was run out of pocket rather than sponsor money and from what was said, right before Cat came on board, the well was about dry.  Now Whit is no new comer to driving and good or bad he does command name presence and that does come at a price for a team owner making payroll.  I'd also guess that coming in new to TF that instead of commanding a nice upfront salary, that a lesser salary was agreed and then built in incentives were in place if certain levels of performance were met. 

No one back in Pomona expected much from Whit this first year as he was an unknown element to the TFer and most expected a learning curve.  Whit had his bumps but was a fast enough learner to everyone's surprise to make the Countdown.  Did that trigger certain incentives to kick in but contingent that he complete the entire year?  Ah-Ha!  See where I'm going with this. 

DPR had it's pockets drained fielding an unsponsored car for the bulk of the year and Whit may of in effect by his performance priced himself out of a job.  Had he made the Coundown to 2, it's possible he may have stayed in as his potential at worst a 4th place finish in the points may have paid the difference in the incentives areas, etc.  Now that this option is gone, the money to pay Whit for a completed year may not be there and thus the reason DPR pulled the trigger.  And it appears Matco is in the boat on this too.

Again, this is absolute pure speculation on my part and may in reality have nothing to do with the facts but in the business world that is drag racing and for that matter all forms of motorsports, this may indeed be the sad truth.  Drag Racing since the beginning has been about performance and putting the best car, driver and crew out there to win races.  Other racing venues have seen plenty of "also ran" cars with absolutely no chance of winning and in some cases marginal chances of qualifying but the driver either had name standing because of past performance or they were excellent public spokespersons or they had eye candy appeal and there are both male and female examples of this so don't think I'm pointing fingers at a specific gender.  Racing has become as much if not more so about advertising and making a buck based on  a business plan than it is about winning races and setting records.  It's become a rolling billboard sport and they either move in circles at 200 mph, make left and right turns or in our case go in a straight line.  If you can't step up and fit into that mold and show a sponsor real return on investment, then do not dare venture out onto that track because you'll disappear faster than a John Force FC with a Austin Coil super tuneup in a race for all the marbles!

Again JMO.

PR from  David Powers Racing (on Drag Race Central):

PITTSBORO, Ind. -- Veteran NHRA Top Fuel driver David Baca has been tabbed to fill the recently-vacated Matco Tools dragster seat at the final two events on the 2007 NHRA schedule team owner David Powers announced today.  ..... http://www.dragracecentral.com/DRCStory.asp?ID=148393#indextop

It says it's a 2 race deal for David Baca.  New driver TBA for 2008.  (And it doesn't mention that Whit was the "vacated" driver, but that's SOP.)