VRW Driver Auctions Complete, Ramsden and Wise Top Salary Drivers, Cup Auction Recap
- NR2k2
- Published ()
- Virtual Racing World
"The VRW is Drama" was the common phrase heard on PalTalk through out the 6 rounds of Season Two driver auctions. The diverse distribution of salary levels should prove a interesting lesson in team economics at all levels. Over the next week SimAutoRacer.net will recap the driver picks made by team owners in the Cup, Grand National, and Sportsman VRW divisions.
The major headline of the Cup auction was the news that "The Dominator" Chris Shearburn would not be available to make a run at the title for Season Two. While this surprised many it also provided a little relief to those drivers who lost to Shearburn a record 4 times in Season One.
As expected, the first round of VRW Cup division auctions was dominated by bids to retain the services of previously successful team drivers. Many VRW insiders were surprised more by the dollar amount spent on the top-level drivers in the VRW's highest-level division. While many expected salaries upwards of $150,000 as the top salary amounts, two Cup team owners set the highest successful bid at a tie for $117,000.
Defending VRW Cup owner Jon Nelson retained the services of Mike Ramsden and added former Long Pedel Racing driver Dustin McGrew in to drive the #4 Team Cyclone entry. It should be interesting to see how McGrew adapts to a team with such high expectations of success.
Ostrow Racing also retained the driving skill of Shawn Wise in the #98 car and balanced it's balance with Jeff Eiland in the #99 car for $7000 per race.
VRW Magazine chief editor and VRW season one super sub driver Gilles Mourette got the respect he deserves and landed a ride with Bill and Shannon Fuller of Fuller Racing. Gilles will be paired with $16,000 man Rick Everett.
After successfully qualifying several cars last season only to be replaced with a team driver on race day, driver CW Webster's talent was finally recognized by Slowpoke Racing boss Jason Bolton with a bid of $70,000. Bolton also picked up veteran driver Mike Bonoffski for $55,000.
Jeff 'Cow' Farmer played the retention game, bringing proven winner Jay Taylor back to the wheel of the #21 Farmer Racing entry. His teammate will be the often-overlooked Dave Brown for $22,000. Brown showed true ability in the season finale at Homestead by qualifying and racing up front for much of the race.
Team owner Scott Holmes showed just how thrifty he can be by bringing both Darin Gangi and Chris Moses on board at Team Gulf Holmes for a basement price of $5,000 a piece.
DeadWrinkle Racing team boss and key VRW Cup PalTalk announcer Blake Kilcrease brought in Jeff Fritscher and for $61,000. Teaming up with Frischer in the #2 car will be Josh Smathers for a mere $5,000.
Donnie Ellison brought the tough Shannon Whitmore back to Ellison Motorsports for $91,000, a 1500% markup over Whitmore's previous salary from season 1. That's what winning and running up front can do for a driver's pocket book. In an effort to offset any ego that Whitmore may have over his salary, Ellison then hired proven VRW team wrecker (and VRW founder) Nim Cross in at an astounding $99,000. The combination of Whitmore and Cross will cost the team approximately $190,000 a race in driver salary and could possible put the team under if history is any indicator of the future.
Down on his luck team owner Tim Doyle reached deep into his team's pocket book to bid $5,000 for each of Tyler Hudson and Brad Rosenbaum. With just over $480,000 left in the teams bankroll expect Doyle to be watching the budget like a hawk to keep the team out of receivership this season.
Cybertech Racing owner Jay Pappas put the consistent Scott Hieronymus into the #13 ride for the minimum salary, matching him with Chad Rogers at the pricey level of $35,000.
The luckless Nelson Rivera landed a seat with Steve Scott's Assimilation Autosports, pairing himself with the highly regarded Billy Murphy.
Many of the VRW Cup owners who did not get their first picks were kicking themselves for not bidding on real life stock car driver Darrin Stevens, who last season was one of the most consistent and fastest drivers in the league. No owner picked up Stevens in the first round, meaning that a minimum bid of $5,000 would have landed the veteran racer. In the second round Weidner Racing pulled Stevens back into their stable with a the second highest bid of round two of $93,000. Go figure. Taking over Stevens #5 ride is Mike Blackstock with a salary of $17,000.
Smokin Joe Motorsports grabbed the talented Roger Voss for $44,000 in round one and landed Jeff Frank for only $7,000 in round two.
Cup series newbie David McPherson's team brought it the skilled Garry Cooper for $40,000 and promptly suffered a set back after round one when his other first round pick annouced his departure from the league do to connection issues. McPhearson brought in Thomas Noll during a special agreement made with the VRW to allow him a pick from the division 3 draft. It should be interesting to see if Noll shows all those owners who overlooked him in previous rounds that he can race with the best.
Team USA Motorsports and Jonathan Frey brought in the services of Geoff Burke and Billy Price to drive the most patriotic cars in all of sim racing. The drivers will be earning $15,000 and $10,000 respectively.
Derek Ablamsky returns to the sports highest level with a ride at Southern Motorsports for $25,000. Team owner Tracy Fritzsching also brought in Chuck Keller who also was a VRW regular last season.
Matt Schiller must have been impressed when real life driver TJ Majors brought him a victory at Martinsville last season as a substitute driver. So impressed that he managed to grab the talented young driver for the minimum salary amount in the second round. Proving he knows his team could run out of money this season Shiller Racing also picked up Jeff Shell for $5,000.
The team formerly known as Ford Performance Online Motorsports has brought in Mark Brister to help with team management and has renamed itself as Team Warp Force Racing. Team owner (and sometimes SimAutoRacer.net editorial columnist) Andy Small brought back the rising star of the VRW community, the talented Brett Rupert for a whopping $65,000. Small must have a lot of faith in his main driver, as the team faced financial struggles until Rupert began driving for them during mid season one. TWFR also brought on RD Wagner for $6,000.
Oscar Mathews knows how to save money and hired Patrick Severs and Bud Stewart to drive for Full Throttle Racing for $6,000 a piece.
Last but not least, Chris Horst and Long Pedal Racing got a steal in former Team Cyclone driver Tom Oliver at $6,000. To counter balance that low salary Horst brought in Cornel Schuler, Jr. for a whopping $47,000. Look for Oliver to show that he is capable of winning races when he is not stuck behind his teammate. [Ed: What a giver!]
That's it for the Cup division. We'll cover the VRW Grand National and Sportsman division in detail in the upcoming days see keep an eye out here at SimAutoRacer.net.