Two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion Tony Stewart landed in Sydney Tuesday. (Photo: BAM Media/Paul Carruthers)

The Morning Memo best story of the year award will not be going to Johnson. It will be going to the NHRA’s Tony Schumacher.

Schumacher won his sixth-straight Top Fuel championship this year. But numbers have little to do with good stories. Hey, the Mighty Casey struck out in his big at-bat.

Schumacher 2009 is a great one because of the Hollywood-like back story of his championship: He loses his crew chief, who is given part ownership of a new team. The crew chief, Alan Johnson, takes all of Schumacher’s guys with him. Schumacher uses it for motivation, as does his new crew chief and crew.

Schumacher and Johnson, who hires Larry Dixon to drive his car, duke it out all season. They trade points leads again and again. They head into the final event at historic Pomona with just a point separating them.

Schumacher wins by two points.

Memo to self: What a story.
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And Finally…

…Why is it so hard to find a good television racing announcer? You know, a play-by-play guy who knows the sport and cares about the sport. Somebody who knows the nuances and catches the small things. Somebody who does not practice the ugly art of condescension.

Against that backdrop, I think ESPN made a good choice in Marty Reid. Here’s hoping The Worldwide Leader got their world-class voice…

…You’ve got to wonder how the morale is down at the USF1 shops in North Carolina this Christmas. A couple days ago, Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone said in a magazine article that he thinks there is no way the American team will have a car on the starting grid when the season opens. This from a guy who has ran F1 into the dirt. Happy Holidays to you too, Bernie.

RacinToday writer Jonathan Ingram recently spent a day at the USF1 shop. Initially a skeptic, Ingram now says America’s return to the sport is a go…

…G’day, Tony Stewart, and good luck down there. We expect full report on that thing about toilets flushing backwards in Australia

Jim Pedley is a veteran, award-winning sports journalist who has worked at, among other places, the Boston Globe, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Kansas City Star. Pedley spent more than 10 years covering auto racing for the Kansas City Star. Jim Pedley can be reached at jpedley@racintoday.com

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