Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Sorry For Not Posting More

My mother just passed away after a long and difficult illness, and that's the main reason I haven't been around for a while.  I hope to be back soon, and in fine form.

I've got quite a bit of analysis about the NASCAR season that I'll get to later.

I hope each and every one of you who reads this will check back in with me later, probably after Homestead.

Thank you,

Jimmy C

Monday, October 11, 2010

Things That Make Me Say 'Huh."

There is a show called LA Ink on the TLC channel, which I’ve had the chance to see on and off over the last couple of years.  It’s about a lady named Cat, who does tattoos professionally.  I didn’t know this, but apparently, the latest thing is to get a tattoo on your throat, at least in LA.  Letting someone stick a needle in your throat, marring your skin for life, is apparently the ‘in’ thing now.  At least in LA.

Now, I suppose I’m pretty backward.  I don’t even suppose that anymore, I know it.  It’s not just because I live in SC, which, in this case, doesn’t stand for ‘Southern California,’ but because in my case it means ‘South Carolina.’

I’m not much embarrassed about it.  Even here, in the belt buckle of Baptism, people get tattoos.   I don’t really mind.  I think that most of the people that do get tattoos are idiots, and will one day be sorry they got them, but I don’t mind.

Back when I was young enough to be impressionable enough to even think about getting a tattoo, the only people I ever saw with them were old Navy veterans who had basically an ink spot on their forearm or shoulder, and by the time I saw them, it was pretty hard to figure out exactly what they were.  It wasn’t until lately that I really associated tattoos with what they now are:  A part of youth culture.

Unfortunately, I see more and more people my age or older getting tattoos now, and to me, that’s more than a little sad.

Clint Bowyer got penalized 150 points by NASCAR for basically having the back of his car jacked up by a track wrecker when he ran out of gas and was being pushed into victory lane.  That kind of stuff makes me scratch my head.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. seems to be stuck in some time-space continuum, from which he cannot escape, running almost as badly as the guys with no real sponsors.  Heck, sometimes he even runs worse than some of them.  That makes me wonder.

I know that Bobby Labonte will be released from his present position, which means running laps and finishing 37th or so every week, and will be running in the 47 car next year.  That seems like a decent step up for the 2000 champion, but I’m wondering how Marcos Ambrose will fare at Richard Petty Motorsports next year.  Hmmmm.

Kasey Kahne will be driving a Toyota next year, I suppose, for Red Bull.  Kasey might be setting a record for the most brands driven in the shortest amount of time by a Cup driver.  Kasey Kahne started out in a Dodge, is now driving a Ford, and supposedly will be driving a Chevrolet in 2012, after driving a Toyota in 2011.  That dude gets around, that’s for sure, and it’s really no fault of his own.  Technically, he’ll only be quitting one job and taking another, but things in NASCAR are strange sometimes.

Martin Truex Jr. left the #1 Chevy at Earnhardt-Ganassi last year, and so far has no wins in his new ride in the #56 Toyota with Michael Waltrip Racing.  Jamie McMurray, who replaced Martin in the #1, has won the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis this year.  I like Martin Truex a lot, but wonder how he’s feeling about that deal right now.

Do woodchucks really chuck wood, as depicted on the Geico commercials?  Hmmm.  I don’t think we have any woodchucks here in SC, which, of course, stands for South Carolina, not Southern California Tattoo Country.  Since that is the case, I think I will wait until some furry varmint chucks wood at me before I chuck it back at him.

Does this Chase for the Cup seem more interesting than usual?  Like, uh, let’s say, maybe it’s because a guy named Johnson hasn’t come along to dominate all of a sudden?  I don’t dislike Jimmie Johnson by any means, but four in a row is becoming kind of boring.  Let’s see someone new win it for the first time and be genuinely excited about it for a change.

Is it normal for a cat to like hot dog wieners?  I have a cat who loves them.  He’s even stolen one from me when I wasn’t looking.  He likes steak too, which was not such a surprise to me.  I know he doesn’t need to eat like this all the time, but I figure a treat once in a while is OK.    Does that make me a terrible person?

Does anyone think that Rachael Ray is overextending herself?  She’s seems a little scatterbrained on 30 Minute Meals lately.  She also seems to be losing her voice at times.  I like her a lot, but wonder if becoming the next Oprah isn’t taking it’s toll on her.

I’ve got too much time on my hands, I think.  How about you?

Monday, September 20, 2010

Things I've Noticed

I’ve been around for a while  There’s actually quite a few things I’ve noticed.  Bear with me here, please.

I’ve noticed that old men who do play by play for college football are sometimes bleeding idiots.  Not specifically, but generally.  But that’s just me.

I’ve noticed that NASCAR seems to have bent over backward to allow dirty play back into the mix as far as winning championships go.  I Also just noticed that my chances of getting hired by NASCAR are about zero.

I’ve noticed that Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans are not respected very much.  I think that’s a shame.  I’m a Dale Jr. fan, but I’m also a Smoke fan and a Happy fan.  I assume that I’m still disrespected, but I’ve only got one thing to say to you haters.  Hammer You.   Thank you.  I feel much better now.

I notice that most people in the reporting business don’t take NASCAR very seriously.  But, seriously, how can one run at 200 MPH and throw the races, like most of the geniuses seem to think they do.  Does NASCAR have a master OFF switch that just cuts off a car that’s getting too competitive?  Strangely enough, some people will believe that.  Maybe I have some ocean front property in Oklahoma to sell them too.  Call me.  We’ll do lunch and talk about it.  Just imagine it.  You could be the first on the beach in Elk City.  Wouldn’t that be a kick!

Is it possible for people from certain parts of the North East to pronounce the letter “H?”  There’s a very good guy on the radio down here who pronounces words such as “Huge” as “Uge.”  I know it’s a regional thing, but it still bothers me.  God put 26 letters in the alphabet, so let’s use them, please!  I don’t want Sesame Street to be telling me that “H” is feeling left out.  That would probably make me cry.  You don’t want to see me cry.  It would be ugly and humiliating.  Or maybe, Umilitating. 

Is it possible for a guy named Brent, who’s been on ESPN for way too long, to quit calling the color guy “Herbie?”  Even I, sitting here at home feel embarrassed for this guy.  If you listen to ESPN or even other guys on the radio or TV, you’ve probably heard of him.

I notice that “Herbie’s voice gets shrill when he’s passionate about something.  Like when Auburn makes a mistake.  As I write this, I’m watching Auburn play Clemson.  So far, the score is 17-3, in favor of the Clemson Tigers.  So far, some Tigers are more equal to others.

I’ve noticed that most of the Kyle Busch Fans hate Dale Earnhardt Jr..  Huh.  I’m a genius, aren’t I?  Probably the reverse is true as well, but I’ve not met many true Kyle Busch fans.  I’m not saying that there aren’t any, I just haven’t met many.

On that note, I’ve also noticed that lately, the media types have been referring to Kyle Busch as the bad boy of NASCAR, but it seems to me that Carl Edwards has been involved in far more incidents lately.  Mostly with Brad Keselowski, which are the most popular incidents, but also with Denny  Hamlin as well, which happened most recently in Sunday’s New Hampshire race.  Speaking of New Hampshire, I can remember lying on the couch with my soon to be step daughter, who was about five years old at the time, watching a New Hampshire race.  She kept saying “New Hamster“,  I thought it was pretty cute, so I didn’t correct her.  Later, I found out that she had been quizzed at school, writing the names of the states down in their proper places.  I saw the big red X beside the word scrawled just above Massachusetts.  It said “New Hamster.”  Had I not had so much confidence in myself, I might have felt a little embarrassed.  I thought it was actually pretty funny, until I made the mistake of relating the story of  “New Hamster” to her mother, who was by then my wife.  For some reason, she didn’t think that was so funny.  I was then properly embarrassed.  Actually, it would be pretty cool to have a state named for some little furry animal, I think.  Maybe “New Poodle?” 

I’ve noticed that Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a fourth place finish in Sunday’s New Hamster, I mean Hampshire race.  I hope he can keep up that kind of performance for the next nine races.  It’s way better than 30 something, 3 or 5 laps down.  I’ve got some more things to say about Dale Earnhardt Jr., but I’ll wait until a future column to say them.

I’ve noticed that the South Carolina Highway Patrol has some officers assigned to this general area who seem to have way too much time on their hands.  I was recently in a convenience store on state Highway 81, which is a fairly major road leading from Anderson, South Carolina, to Greenville, South Carolina.  I was working on a computer problem for the owners of the store, and when I walked in at 10:00 AM, there was a trooper sitting at one of the tables eating donuts and drinking coffee while he read the newspaper.  I left the store at 1:30, and the trooper hadn’t moved, except to buy more donuts and coffee.  I work for myself, but even by my standards, that was a long coffee break, or lunch break or whatever it was.  I’ve also noticed that there are often as many as four or even five State Troopers on a certain stretch of Highway 81, often all within a 5 mile stretch.  I know, because I’ve asked, that there are no such things such as ticket quotas for these officers, but I was once told there are such things as “performance standards.”  Why one certain stretch of a state highway holds so much interest for these officers is rather mystifying to me, except for the fact that the speed limit changes quite a bit over this particular part of the highway.  I suppose it’s better to catch mom and pop in the family Buick doing 7 mph over the speed limit, than to catch possible drug smugglers out on Interstate 85, which is very nearby, and possibly take a bullet in the chest or head.  I’m not brave enough to do what they do, so I suppose catching speeders on Highway 81 makes sense when you think about it that way.   Whatever it is, it’s our tax dollars at work.  If you think I live in Hazard County, from the old Dukes Of Hazard show, you’d be just about right, I suppose.


I notice that even though it’s more than half way through September, it’s still hot here in the South.  I’ve lived here for 47 years, so you would assume that I’m used to it.  I don’t think I am.  Right now, I’d rather be in Minnesota, preferably in the northern part, on a lake, fishing for northern, or muskies or something.  It would probably be cool during the day, and pretty darned cold at night.  I would consider that good weather to sleep in.  Eventually, we’ll have our winter here even in the South, and we’ll probably have our ice storms, and occasional snow storms even.  Then I’ll be complaining about the cold.  I’ve noticed that I’ve done that before.

I’ll probably do it again too.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

A Few New Pet Peeves

I know, I should shut up about this, but I just can’t.  This is my site, so I guess I can get away with it this time.

What is it about people, of all ages, apparently, with the tattoo thing?  When I was a kid, the only people I ever saw with tattoos were old Navy veterans, and they had something on their arms that might have been a portrait of their mom, or maybe a portrait of Waylon Jennings when he was smoking a lot of dope.  We couldn’t really tell, to tell you the truth.

Now, it seems like everyone under the age of 35 has got to have a tat of some kind or other, and a lot of people my age, or even older have jumped onto this bandwagon.  I guess I’m just a little bit too old school for this entire deal.  I wouldn’t get a tattoo, any more than I’d get my ear pierced.  I’m watching a show on TV about tattoos.  Most of the people here are getting them to show friendship for their friends.  What ever happened to just being friendly to your friends?  Bake them a cake, or some brownies.  Watch their pets, collect their newspapers and mail when they go on vacation.  I’ve had a lot of friends in my life, but I never had the desire to have their names permanently attached to my epidermis.  I guess I just don’t get it.  Call me an old whatever, but I really don’t get that.  Had I gotten my wife’s name tattooed to my butt back in ‘94, I’d really feel like an idiot now.  There is a song that Duane Allman did back in the late 1960’s, and the first words of the song are “I ain’t seen my wife for two or three years, I’m a happily married man.”  In my case, try for 5 or 10 years.  I’m very happy I haven’t seen her during that time.  I hope I never see her again, to be honest about it.

I’m guessing that the tattoo removal business must be just about as lucrative as the tattoo installing business.  How many guys have had a few too many and had the name of some girl tattooed on their arm, chest, or whatever?  How many girls  have probably done the same thing?  6 months later, the Yellow Pages are out, and tattoo removal is probably the topic.  Like I said, I’m old, apparently, at 47.  I just don’t get the tattoo thing at all.

Another thing that irritates me is sports media, in general.  Yesterday, the entire world, it would seem, waited breathlessly while Brett Favre walked up to the podium, and said yes, indeed, he would play for the Minnesota Vikings in 2010.  Duh.  I knew he would.  So did the rest of the world.  Big deal.  Great for the Vikes, bad news for the Packers, probably.  Whatever.

Tiger Woods has been a major irritant to me this year as well.  Not so much that Tiger cheated on his wife, etc.  That’s his business.  I’m not in a position to judge him.  I do get irritated by the fact that most people who are supposedly in the know are writing off Tiger as a future winner in the PGA or any other golfing event, ever.  Tiger is the best golf player I’ve ever watched, except maybe for Jack Nicholas, but Tiger has had a pretty rough year.  I think he’ll be back, but I don’t see why there has to be 24 hour a day coverage on how bad Tiger’s season has sucked this year.  Tiger knows he sucked this year.  Anyone who watches golf knows that.  I don’t watch all the events, but even I know that.  I think Tiger will be back though.

I also get irritated by all the know it alls that have deemed Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s career as being “done, like a Christmas turkey.”  I actually heard that on the radio today.  I suppose it’s a tribute to Dale Jr.’s fame that the only thing that the usual stick and ball sports guy can say about stock car racing is that Dale Jr.’s done.  Dale Jr. isn’t even very close to being in the Chase right now.  Nobody on any of the radio stations I’ve listened to have talked about Kasey Kahne’s move, or Mark Martin’s dilemma, or the fact that Kevin Harvick has been the leader in the points race just about all season.  The only thing that the stick and ball guys can talk about is how Dale Jr. sucks.  It makes me want to ask myself why A-Rod didn’t suck when it took him about a month to hit his 600th home run.   What’s the matter, A-Rod?  Need a shot of steroids?

Speaking of Kevin Harvick, he’s one of the major unsung heroes of NASCAR this season.  Quietly, he’s been building up a substantial lead in the Cup series by scoring a lot of top 5’s and top 10’s.  That’s how it’s done.  A couple of wins doesn’t hurt either.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has won 18 Cup races in his career, and more Nationwide races than that.  Dale Jr., in my humble opinion, doesn’t need to explain a darned thing to anyone.  He’s proven he can do it.  If you know Babe Ruth’s stats, year by year, by heart, but have never been to a NASCAR race, and yet you have a job on TV or radio talking about sports, please, quit talking about NASCAR, when you don’t have a clue about what you’re talking about.  Stick and ball dudes, most of really don’t have a clue:  Shut up.  Live it, learn it, earn it, and love it, and then I’ll listen to your idiocy.

I love NASCAR, and won’t apologize for it.  I had a client a couple of years ago that ridiculed me for being a fan.  She was a fan of Indy League Racing.  Her sport raced “real cars.”  I said “What the heck are you driving home?”  She didn’t answer, after she’d given me a pretty dirty look.

Let’s give NASCAR another chance.  It’s worth it.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Go to Bristol!

There is a place on the Tennessee - Virginia border that is about the only place in the world where you can see awesome racing while sitting in a football stadium setting.  I’m talking about Bristol Motor Speedway, obviously.  Bristol is absolutely awesome, and for years you couldn’t get a ticket there, because they were all sold out.  Every race, every year.  This year, you could have a chance to go to what I consider one of the greatest tracks on the NASCAR circuit.

If you’ve never been to Bristol, I’d encourage you to go, if there is any way at all you can make it there.  I was lucky enough to get to go to the night race there a couple of years ago, and it was one of the greatest racing experiences I’ve ever had.

The track itself is spectacular.  It’s banking looks very intimidating, and the speeds the cars drive around the track look pretty much impossible.  You quickly understand why the  best drivers in the world race at this track, because very few other folks could last a lap here.

The seating, as I said before, is like a giant football stadium.  With 160,000 seats, it’s simply about the largest sporting event I have ever seen, and if you go, you will probably feel much the same way.  The racing is intense.  There is no drafting at Bristol, such as would happen at Talladega or Daytona.  Bristol is completely at the other end of the spectrum from those storied tracks.  If you watch a Bristol race, you’re watching what I consider to be stock car racing at its best.  These guys will beat and bang all day, rub and bump.  That’s how racing was born, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s how racing is meant to be.  If I could drive my truck around any track that NASCAR races on, Bristol would be my first choice.  I have a feeling that my Toyota Tacoma would probably roll over going through the turns though.

Bristol, at night, is simply spectacular.  If you live within 500, or maybe even 1000 miles, I’d advise you to get your derriere to the track this weekend.  I guarantee you won’t be sorry.

Bristol has been around for a long time.  It’s short track racing at its best.  It probably has been, and always will be, with apologies to Martinsville and Richmond.  The only thing missing for Bristol is the famous hot dogs at Martinsville.  You can buy those, by the way, at least the actual wieners.  Just look at your local grocer and specify pink.  Mention Jesse.  That will do it.

I’ve only been to Bristol once, but as far as I can see, there’s not a bad seat in the house.  That’s pretty impressive, considering that there are 160,000 seats there.  It’s a stadium, and you can see all from anywhere you sit, as far as I’ve been able to tell.

Bristol, Tennessee is almost middle America, but not quite.  Like I said before, it’s on the Tennessee border with Virginia, though it’s not that far from places like Cincinnati, Columbus, Atlanta, Charlotte, even Washington, DC.  You can easily get there in less than a day from all those places.

Bristol is worth every penny, as far as I’m concerned.  If you have to opportunity, get to it.  Do it.  You really won’t be sorry.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Stick and Ball Sports Versus Stock Car Racing

I, like many racing fans, was much more aware of baseball, football, basketball, and probably even soccer before I became a fan of racing.  I didn’t grow up in a racing family, and didn’t know anyone who went racing when I was a little kid.  Somehow, I discovered racing though.

My childhood friend was a kid named Thomas, who was the only kid who lived near my home in the rural Blue Ridge area of northern Greenville County in Upstate South Carolina.  We played all the regular sports, the aforementioned stick and ball sports, and had a pretty good time doing it.  We also rode our bikes, enjoying carving out off road trails where we could skid, slide, and maybe catch a little air from time to time.  We hiked, we went camping, and like all little boys, we went through our hatchet and BB gun phases.  There wasn’t a tree we wouldn’t chop, and there wasn’t a target that wasn’t suitable for our ‘rifles’ as we called our BB guns.  Well, maybe we wouldn’t shoot out our mother’s windows or put dimples in their cars, but pretty much everything else was fair game.

Somewhere along the line, when we weren’t out playing our own games, we would sit down in front of a TV on weekends and watch ABC’s Wide World of Sports, which was a weekly digest of all that was good in the sports world on a weekly basis.  Both Thomas and I enjoyed the NASCAR segments that highlighted the previous week’s race.  We became Petty fans, and also Pearson fans, and Yarborough fans, and maybe even Allison fans.  This was in the early 1970’s, and nobody around my neck of the woods had really ever heard of a kid named Earnhardt, or his old man.

Not all of the Upstate South Carolina area was as ignorant of the name Earnhardt though.  Ralph Earnhardt had been racing at Greenville-Pickens Speedway for years, had won some races there, and had developed a bit of a fan following even here in South Carolina, which is a tribute for a former mill worker from Kannapolis, North Carolina.  Ralph brought his kids to the track on Saturday nights, and often the kids would play with the kids of other drivers, and even the kids of the owners of the track, a family who’s name was Blackwell.  Later on, I worked for American Federal Bank in Greenville, South Carolina.  There was a guy in the mail room named Gary Blackwell.  When I knew Gary, his father was the owner of Greenville-Pickens Speedway.  He had played, as a child, with kids he knew as Danny, Randy, and Dale.  Dale was the oldest, and often lead the younger kids into trouble with their parents, it would seem.  As Dale grew older, he spent more time with his father in the pits, helping to set up the race car, learning what he could about racing.

I became a racing fan early in my childhood, I guess you could say.  There was not much coverage of the sport on TV when I was a kid, except for Wide World of Sports.  I found out that David Pearson was from nearby Spartanburg, South Carolina, and I began pulling for David.  He did not disappoint.  I still think that had David Pearson raced as many races as did Richard Petty, Pearson would be called the King, not Petty.

Over the years, I have followed all manner of sports.  I used to love baseball, but the doping era made it not as exciting as it used to be for me.  A couple of strikes also helped dim it’s charm for me.  I read in a Robert B. Parker book about how baseball was well suited to radio, or at least it used to be.  I feel like it is better suited to radio than TV.  I love to watch the sun going down, and listening to the Braves game on the radio.  Baseball, unfortunately, has lost much of it’s prestige for me though.  I don’t count the efforts of drug enhanced players to the legendary accomplishments of players like Mays, Mantle, Jackson, and others.  Baseball had it’s chance, but it blew it with me.

I love college football.  Next to stock car racing, college football is probably my favorite sport.  I live about 20 or so miles away from Clemson University, which won the national championship in football in 1981.  I graduated high school in 1981, so I was very aware of that January day in 1982 when Clemson did what was before and since considered the impossible.  Clemson’s head coach, who is originally from Alabama, and played under the legendary head coach Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant, led the 1981 squad to the ultimate victory in 1981.  His name is Danny Ford, and he’s retired from coaching now, but only lives a few miles away from me here in Anderson County.  Coach Danny’s got a farm here, and enjoys living here.  He’s a neighbor, of sorts.  He’s regularly seen around Anderson and Pickens counties, and is a nice guy.  Just a regular guy, taking care of his farm.

The National Football League is probably the most popular, and most watched sport in the USA.  I enjoy the NFL to a certain extent, because for the last few years I’ve been playing in a fantasy league with some of my former co-workers.  It’s fun, and it keeps up the interest, but for the most part, watching guys who get paid mega bucks to play football just doesn’t do it for me as much as college football does.  I know, these are the best football players in the world in the NFL, but I get tired of all the scandals that seem to plague these guys so much.  Ever hear of Michael Vick?  Ever hear of Chad Ocho Cinco?  I get tired of some of this stuff, pretty quickly.  Posturing, flaunting their affluence, seems to be the mark of professional athletes.  Some of these guys go a little overboard though doing it.

I loved the NBA back when Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were playing for the Lakers and the Celtics, respectively.  I used to enjoy the finals when it seemed that the NBA really mattered, at least to me.  Lately, I’ve gotten tired of all the ghetto thug aspect of the NBA.  I followed the Lebron James saga with some interest, but the fact that he’s trying to build a mega team with the Miami Heat just doesn’t get me excited anymore.  I could care less about the NBA, though I might tune in sometimes during the finals.  Other than that, the NBA holds absolutely no interest for me.

I know there is a small contingent of what the rest of the world calls ‘football’, but which we here in the USA call ‘soccer’.  I hate watching 90 minutes of anything that ends up in a 0 - 0 score.  I know, I don’t really appreciate the intricacies of the game.  I don’t really get hockey either.  To me, it’s the same as soccer, except played with sticks.  But I’m just a dumb Southerner who doesn’t know any better.

My passion, at least for the last few years, has been stock car racing.  I was a huge fan before Dale Earnhardt’s death in 2001.  I was a fan of Dale Jr. since about 1998.  I was a fan of Davey Allison when he died at Talladega in a helicopter accident.  I was a fan of Ron Hornaday when he came to Cup, and remembered that he had been the original driver of Dale Earnhardt’s Truck series team.  Ron went back to Trucks and has been awesome, driving for Kevin Harvick Inc.

NASCAR salutes the military.  NASCAR fans as a whole are patriotic.  Probably fans of other sports support the USA as well, but never so much as in NASCAR.  Where else do you see men and women in uniform so publicly praised as in any NASCAR event?

I get so tired of stick and ball sports guys on the radio and TV claiming that racing is not a sport.  It’s so old.  I get tired of hearing that Dale Jr. can’t drive a race car.  On a certain sports show based out of Charlotte, NC, it was announced that a certain NBA star beat Dale Jr. on the race track.  In fact, that was not true, though the stick and ball dudes at this station crowed about how inept Dale Jr. was on the track.  The fact is, there where two races.  The first race was five laps.  Dale Jr. started a lap down.  Five laps to make up a lap and beat the leader.  Dale Jr. did it, and whooped the NBA star’s fanny.  The next race was ten laps, and they started even, though the NBA star just had to drive the car as fast as he could.  Dale Jr. had to make two four tire pit stops, and adhere to the 35 MPH pit road speed while doing so.  Dale Jr. again whooped the butt of the NBA star.  Whoever reported the idiot comment on the Charlotte radio station should have his butt fired for being a complete idiot, if nothing else.  But as always, on the day those races happened, everyone joined in the bashing of  Dale Earnhardt Jr.   Nobody checked the facts.  But you know what?  Very few in the news media checks facts anyway.  They just report, and the more sensational the story, the better.  It’s better to report lies than it is to take a few minutes and find out the truth.  It’s easy to ridicule Dale Earnhardt Jr., but it’s hard to report the fact that he’s actually a pretty darn good race car driver.

Stick and ball guys always say that NASCAR isn’t a sport because anybody can drive a car around a track.  That’s true.

But can you drive a car around that track at 180 or 205 miles per hour, for 500 miles with 42 of  your best friends, who might be annoyed with you after the move you put on someone last week at another track?  To me NASCAR is the ultimate sport.  People die playing it.  All the drivers know in the back of their minds that they could die doing what they do.  They’ve all seen it happen.  Nobody wants it to happen, but it does, sometimes.  In the NFL, what’s the worst injury?  Maybe a broken leg or arm, or a torn ACL.  Baseball?  Probably the same.  NBA?  Sprained ankle or maybe a concussion when a player’s head hit’s the floor.  Or the backboard, or the hoop.  What ever.

Stock car racing involves the very real possibility of death.  Stock car racers feel like they are never going to die doing what they love to do, but in actuality, some of them do every year.  Not athletes, eh?  Try doing something you love, knowing that you might die for it.  NASCAR doesn’t have a hold on that deal, but stock car drivers are given a bum rap by the media in this country, most of whom simply sneer down their noses at a sport that people risk their lives in.

Shame to the media that doesn’t understand how brutal death can be, even in sports.  Shame to the so called experts that don’t understand what putting one’s life on the line in the pursuit of one’s job can be like.  Sit in your air conditioned studios and tell me that racing isn’t a sport.  Get in a car and try it sometime.

Then tell me that racing isn’t a sport.  If you’ve got any wind left, tell me that racing isn’t a sport after you’ve been four inches from the wall going 200 miles per hour.  Tell me that it was easy, that you didn’t sweat at all.  Tell me that you weren’t in fear for your life.  Racing isn’t a sport, right?  Seriously, go try it out and give me your opinion after you’ve actually done something besides talk into a microphone for your money.



Postscript:  My friend Thomas died on July 24th, 2010.  This one’s for you, buddy. 

Lip Service To NASCAR

It’s not big secret that for the most part, most of the networks that cover NASCAR really don’t care that much about the sport.  It’s easy to pay lip service once a week or so, but it’s not hard to figure out that most of the networks don’t really care about it.

ESPN does a heck of a job covering every sport from soccer to lacrosse.  They cover NASCAR, and do an admirable job.  But, if you listen to anything but Sports Center, or the one daily show, you’d never know NASCAR existed on ESPN.  That’s just on TV.

On ESPN Radio, you hear even less, except for the periodic Sports Center breaks.  Sporting News Radio is even worse.  Many of the personalities on both networks don’t even consider NASCAR a sport, and couldn’t name most of the current drivers, though they can recite Mickey Mantle’s statistics year by year throughout his career.  Most of these commentators weren’t even alive while Mickey was playing either.  That’s dedication, I tell you.

I know that stock car racing isn’t for everyone, but I can literally listen to the two sports radio stations on the radio here in the Upstate, South Carolina for 24 hours, and will never even hear a NASCAR mention, except on ESPN’s Sports Center, about every half hour.  Only the results of the latest race, and that’s about it.  If not for SPEED TV, I’d be basically lost when it concerns NASCAR most of the time.  ESPN does a credible job on its one daily show, but for the most part, nobody seems to give a fig about my favorite sport.

A week or so ago, I couldn’t sleep.  ESPN Radio apparently only takes phone calls from actual civilians such as me only late at night.  Listen to or watch Mike and Mike In The Morning, and notice that they only take a few e-mails from civilians.  Most of the other daily shows do as well.  Late at night, things can be a little different.  I called a couple of weeks ago to discuss NASCAR, and was told, rudely, by the call screener that not only did he, but also the host of the show, considered all car racing to be bogus.  “It’s not even a real sport.  It’s just dumb asses driving in circles.”   Next, I heard the click that every boyfriend has heard once or twice.  I’d been hung up on.

I find it interesting that ESPN and SPR pretty much only talk to their own reporters or columnists.  I’m sorry, but that makes for some pretty boring radio, as far as I’m concerned.  Who gives a crap about what the fans think?  It’s not like the fans are important anyway, are they?  Oh wait, don’t they buy the tickets?  Don’t they give the sport ratings on TV?  But by no means should they major networks answer more than a handful of questions from the fans, which are edited down to only the few that the dudes in front of the microphone can actually answer without embarrassing their particular network.

If you’re a network star, you probably don’t have to talk to too many people you’d rather not talk to.  As a fan, some of us have to talk to people we don’t want to talk to every day.  You know, people like bill collectors, people threatening to revoke your power, phone, or cable or satellite TV.  But can you get through to the stars, except a very occasional e-mail or text message?  When you hear your name on TV or radio, you probably feel like you won the lottery.  And in a way, you did.

All the networks have websites, and usually they have polls going 24 hours a day.  That’s the networks’ way of saying your voice will be heard.  Great.  I’m one voice among the other 38 thousand people who have responded.  Dang, I feel lucky tonight.

Getting back to the original topic, I say that if the NFL  has its own channel on cable TV, so should NASCAR.  Put all the races, Cup, Nationwide, Trucks, even regional series on your channel.  Hire the best in the business, only show exclusives on the other networks when the networks meet NASCAR’s demands.  Make it basic cable, but sell the crap out of it.  I’d pay for it.

Oh yes, I would, because I’d round up all the pennies and nickles in my house to do it.  NASCAR deserves it’s own channel.  SPEED TV does a great job, but NASCAR deserves better, because it is better than most other sports, in my humble opinion.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Stick and Ball Sports and Stock Car Racing



I, like many racing fans, was much more aware of baseball, football, basketball, and probably even soccer before I became a fan of racing.  I didn’t grow up in a racing family, and didn’t know anyone who went racing when I was a little kid.  Somehow, I discovered racing though.

My childhood friend was a kid named Thomas, who was the only kid who lived near my home in the rural Blue Ridge area of northern Greenville County in Upstate South Carolina.  We played all the regular sports, the aforementioned stick and ball sports, and had a pretty good time doing it.  We also rode our bikes, enjoying carving out off road trails where we could skid, slide, and maybe catch a little air from time to time.  We hiked, we went camping, and like all little boys, we went through our hatchet and BB gun phases.  There wasn’t a tree we wouldn’t chop, and there wasn’t a target that wasn’t suitable for our ‘rifles’ as we called our BB guns.  Well, maybe we wouldn’t shoot out our mother’s windows or put dimples in their cars, but pretty much everything else was fair game.

Somewhere along the line, when we weren’t out playing our own games, we would sit down in front of a TV on weekends and watch ABC’s Wide World of Sports, which was a weekly digest of all that was good in the sports world on a weekly basis.  Both Thomas and I enjoyed the NASCAR segments that highlighted the previous week’s race.  We became Petty fans, and also Pearson fans, and Yarborough fans, and maybe even Allison fans.  This was in the early 1970’s, and nobody around my neck of the woods had really ever heard of a kid named Earnhardt, or his old man.

Not all of the Upstate South Carolina area was as ignorant of the name Earnhardt though.  Ralph Earnhardt had been racing at Greenville-Pickens Speedway for years, had won some races there, and had developed a bit of a fan following even here in South Carolina, which is a tribute for a former mill worker from Kannapolis, North Carolina.  Ralph brought his kids to the track on Saturday nights, and often the kids would play with the kids of other drivers, and even the kids of the owners of the track, a family who’s name was Blackwell.  Later on, I worked for American Federal Bank in Greenville, South Carolina.  There was a guy in the mail room named Gary Blackwell.  When I knew Gary, his father was the owner of Greenville-Pickens Speedway.  He had played, as a child, with kids he knew as Danny, Randy, and Dale.  Dale was the oldest, and often lead the younger kids into trouble with their parents, it would seem.  As Dale grew older, he spent more time with his father in the pits, helping to set up the race car, learning what he could about racing.

I became a racing fan early in my childhood, I guess you could say.  There was not much coverage of the sport on TV when I was a kid, except for Wide World of Sports.  I found out that David Pearson was from nearby Spartanburg, South Carolina, and I began pulling for David.  He did not disappoint.  I still think that had David Pearson raced as many races as did Richard Petty, Pearson would be called the King, not Petty.

Over the years, I have followed all manner of sports.  I used to love baseball, but the doping era made it not as exciting as it used to be for me.  A couple of strikes also helped dim it’s charm for me.  I read in a Robert B. Parker book about how baseball was well suited to radio, or at least it used to be.  I feel like it is better suited to radio than TV.  I love to watch the sun going down, and listening to the Braves game on the radio.  Baseball, unfortunately, has lost much of it’s prestige for me though.  I don’t count the efforts of drug enhanced players to the legendary accomplishments of players like Mays, Mantle, Jackson, and others.  Baseball had it’s chance, but it blew it with me.

I love college football.  Next to stock car racing, college football is probably my favorite sport.  I live about 20 or so miles away from Clemson University, which won the national championship in football in 1981.  I graduated high school in 1981, so I was very aware of that January day in 1982 when Clemson did what was before and since considered the impossible.  Clemson’s head coach, who is originally from Alabama, and played under the legendary head coach Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant, led the 1981 squad to the ultimate victory in 1981.  His name is Danny Ford, and he’s retired from coaching now, but only lives a few miles away from me here in Anderson County.  Coach Danny’s got a farm here, and enjoys living here.  He’s a neighbor, of sorts.  He’s regularly seen around Anderson and Pickens counties, and is a nice guy.  Just a regular guy, taking care of his farm.

The National Football League is probably the most popular, and most watched sport in the USA.  I enjoy the NFL to a certain extent, because for the last few years I’ve been playing in a fantasy league with some of my former co-workers.  It’s fun, and it keeps up the interest, but for the most part, watching guys who get paid mega bucks to play football just doesn’t do it for me as much as college football does.  I know, these are the best football players in the world in the NFL, but I get tired of all the scandals that seem to plague these guys so much.  Ever hear of Michael Vick?  Ever hear of Chad Ocho Cinco?  I get tired of some of this stuff, pretty quickly.  Posturing, flaunting their affluence, seems to be the mark of professional athletes.  Some of these guys go a little overboard though doing it. 

I loved the NBA back when Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were playing for the Lakers and the Celtics, respectively.  I used to enjoy the finals when it seemed that the NBA really mattered, at least to me.  Lately, I’ve gotten tired of all the ghetto thug aspect of the NBA.  I followed the Lebron James saga with some interest, but the fact that he’s trying to build a mega team with the Miami Heat just doesn’t get me excited anymore.  I could care less about the NBA, though I might tune in sometimes during the finals.  Other than that, the NBA holds absolutely no interest for me.

I know there is a small contingent of what the rest of the world calls ‘football’, but which we here in the USA call ‘soccer’.  I hate watching 90 minutes of anything that ends up in a 0 - 0 score.  I know, I don’t really appreciate the intricacies of the game.  I don’t really get hockey either.  To me, it’s the same as soccer, except played with sticks.  But I’m just a dumb Southerner who doesn’t know any better.

My passion, at least for the last few years, has been stock car racing.  I was a huge fan before Dale Earnhardt’s death in 2001.  I was a fan of Dale Jr. since about 1998.  I was a fan of Davey Allison when he died at Talladega in a helicopter accident.  I was a fan of Ron Hornaday when he came to Cup, and remembered that he had been the original driver of Dale Earnhardt’s Truck series team.  Ron went back to Trucks and has been awesome, driving for Kevin Harvick Inc. 

NASCAR salutes the military.  NASCAR fans as a whole are patriotic.  Probably fans of other sports support the USA as well, but never so much as in NASCAR.  Where else do you see men and women in uniform so publicly praised as in any NASCAR event?

I get so tired of stick and ball sports guys on the radio and TV claiming that racing is not a sport.  It’s so old.  I get tired of hearing that Dale Jr. can’t drive a race car.  On a certain sports show based out of Charlotte, NC, it was announced that a certain NBA star beat Dale Jr. on the race track.  In fact, that was not true, though the stick and ball dudes at this station crowed about how inept Dale Jr. was on the track.  The fact is, there where two races.  The first race was five laps.  Dale Jr. started a lap down.  Five laps to make up a lap and beat the leader.  Dale Jr. did it, and whooped the NBA star’s fanny.  The next race was ten laps, and they started even, though the NBA star just had to drive the car as fast as he could.  Dale Jr. had to make two four tire pit stops, and adhere to the 35 MPH pit road speed while doing so.  Dale Jr. again whooped the butt of the NBA star.  Whoever reported the idiot comment on the Charlotte radio station should have his butt fired for being a complete idiot, if nothing else.  But as always, on the day those races happened, everyone joined in the bashing of  Dale Earnhardt Jr.   Nobody checked the facts.  But you know what?  Very few in the news media checks facts anyway.  They just report, and the more sensational the story, the better.  It’s better to report lies than it is to take a few minutes and find out the truth.  It’s easy to ridicule Dale Earnhardt Jr., but it’s hard to report the fact that he’s actually a pretty darn good race car driver.

Stick and ball guys always say that NASCAR isn’t a sport because anybody can drive a car around a track.  That’s true.

But can you drive a car around that track at 180 or 205 miles per hour, for 500 miles with 42 of  your best friends, who might be annoyed with you after the move you put on someone last week at another track?  To me NASCAR is the ultimate sport.  People die playing it.  All the drivers know in the back of their minds that they could die doing what they do.  They’ve all seen it happen.  Nobody wants it to happen, but it does, sometimes.  In the NFL, what’s the worst injury?  Maybe a broken leg or arm, or a torn ACL.  Baseball?  Probably the same.  NBA?  Sprained ankle or maybe a concussion when a player’s head hit’s the floor.  Or the backboard, or the hoop.  What ever.

Stock car racing involves the very real possibility of death.  Stock car racers feel like they are never going to die doing what they love to do, but in actuality, some of them do every year.  Not athletes, eh?  Try doing something you love, knowing that you might die for it.  NASCAR doesn’t have a hold on that deal, but stock car drivers are given a bum rap by the media in this country, most of whom simply sneer down their noses at a sport that people risk their lives in.

Shame to the media that doesn’t understand how brutal death can be, even in sports.  Shame to the so called experts that don’t understand what putting one’s life on the line in the pursuit of one’s job can be like.  Sit in your air conditioned studios and tell me that racing isn’t a sport.  Get in a car and try it sometime.

Then tell me that racing isn’t a sport.  If you’ve got any wind left, tell me that racing isn’t a sport after you’ve been four inches from the wall going 200 miles per hour.  Tell me that it was easy, that you didn’t sweat at all.  Tell me that you weren’t in fear for your life.  Racing isn’t a sport, right?  Seriously, go try it out and give me your opinion after you’ve actually done something besides talk into a microphone for your money.



Postscript:  My friend Thomas died on July 24th, 2010.  This one’s for you, buddy.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

A Few Errant NASCAR Thoughts

Personally, I think the “Let the boys race philosophy that NASCAR has adopted this year has meant better racing.  I’m not too happy about the current Brad Keselowski vs. Carl Edwards feud, because it seems to be coming very dangerous, but overall, I’m pretty happy with the racing I’ve seen this season.  Some of the Carl and Brad stuff is a little over the top, and I just pray and hope that nobody gets hurt in this quarrel.

Can Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s luck get any worse?  He had a decent top 20 going at Indy, but got caught up in Juan Pablo Montoya’s debacle with trying to make up spots because of going with four tires instead of two.  I’m not faulting Juan, he should have won that race, but pit strategy raised its ugly head and effectively ended the day for both drivers.

I make no apologies for being a Junior fan.  I’ve been a fan of his since 1998.  I was a fan of his father, whom I still refuse to call Dale Sr., even though that may be technically true.  To me, the father was Dale Earnhardt.  The son will always be Dale Jr.  I’m happy with that, but I’m getting tired of the ‘senior’ tag, though I know it makes it easier for the media types to designate between the two.

I miss the Dale Jr. Pit Stop.  I still read it from time to time, but I haven’t been able to get my password to work on there in almost a year now.  Jim, if you read this, have mercy on me!  I only get online a couple of times a week now, and never on Sundays, but I miss the prayer before the race, and the check in after the invocation.  It was fun seeing people from all over the country, and even all over the world joining in the fun of watching the race and talking about it.  Happy days, all over for me now, I guess.

I’m glad that NASCAR seems to be at least one major sporting event in the country that respects God, our country, and our military brothers and sisters who protect our freedom.  Where there’s NASCAR, there seems to be hope for our country, and our world.

Is it just me, or has Kyle Busch mellowed out a little this year?  I’m actually finding myself enjoying his commercials this year.  For the most part, Kyle’s face after a race is a perfect mirror for his emotions.  When he doesn’t win, he shows the disappointment, very visibly.  That’s not a bad thing.  It’s way better than the tantrums of yesteryear, or the on-track retaliation.  Maybe engagement is agreeing with our favorite driver to dislike.  I have to admit, I dislike him less this year that I ever have.  That’s not exactly glowing praise, but it’s a lot better than my opinion of him last year.  We just have to take this a race at a time, I suppose.  Kyle is still a spectacular driver, but like his brother, eventually anyone can mature, it would seem.  Personally, I’m glad to see it.  I don’t like to hate anyone, but two years ago, I hated Kyle Busch.  This year, I find myself only feeling a slight dislike for him.  Every day in every way, we’re all getting better and better!

Are you excited about the count down to the Chase?  I am.  I can’t wait to see who’s in, and who’s out.  I don’t know that I like the idea of knockout racing, and I’m still not exactly sold on the Chase itself, but it is what we have.  It is what it is.

As I write this, I’m watching the Nationwide race at Iowa.  That is a great track.  I’d love to see the Cup guys on this track one day.  I’d also like to see them racing at Kentucky, but, well, you know, that’s how it goes.

Does it irritate you that many convenience store workers have no grasp of English, and an even less grasp of mathematics?  I just went down to the local gas station and the dude tried to charge me $29.95 for a 16 ounce Pepsi.  I argued with him for a while, but gave up when it became apparent that he didn’t speak English.  I walked away, and bought one for a buck at the store across the street.  Dale Jr., Jeff, Jimmie, Mark, your street level sales staff suck.  Why put someone on the counter of a store that doesn’t even understand the most common language in this country?  I’m not saying that we should all speak English, but it wouldn’t hurt in a retail environment.  Screaming at me in your dialect really didn’t help your overall sales model.  Just saying, dude.

I know that the above mentioned drivers didn’t really have a part in this.  It could be Pepsi, Coke, whatever.  It’s just kinda sad when you can’t understand the guy who’s trying to sell you something, because he doesn’t speak my language at all.  I know, I know, I should make myself bilingual.  Right.  I was born here, and it is necessary that I learn how to speak Spanish, Hindi, and whatever other languages that are spoken in the local BP gas station.  Bull bumkis.

The dude in the BP station was pretty smooth.  He even offered to pour the Pepsi over a Styrofoam cup full of ice.  Oooooohhhhhh.   How could I resist?  Somehow, I managed.

While I was walking out the door, I was treated to what can be called a profusion of Hindi curses.  I didn’t mind too much.  I’m more or less a Baptist.  Or maybe a Methodist.  I went to an Episcopalian school too.  Does that count?

Elliot Sadler is out of t he 19 car at the end of 2010 and going to exactly where?  Mark Martin is in the 5 car for Rick Hendrick, but will he be there in 2011, or will Kasey Kahne be in that car?  Some of you feel that Dale Earnhardt Jr. should be the sacrificial lamb in this deal, because he hasn’t performed up to expectations thus far.  Should Rick Hendrick let Dale Jr. go to provide space for both Kahne and Martin in 2011?

If I had the answers to any of these questions, I’d be living in Palm Beach, and you’d never hear from me again.

Bobby Labonte will be driving the 47 Toyota which will be vacated by Marcos Ambrose at the end of 2010.  Ambrose will reportedly be driving either the 9 or 19 car for Richard Petty Motorsports, which may or may not be a lateral move.  I’m still trying to figure out the advantages and disadvantages involved with this move.

It’s August, and it’s time to roll!  Let’s go!

Friday, June 25, 2010

The World’s Most Popular Sport, or Does NASCAR Need the Red Card?

Of course I’m talking about football, as it’s called in the rest of the world.  Here, in America, we call it soccer.  The World Cup is happening in South Africa, and that’s a pretty great thing.  From what I understand, the USA just advanced to a round in the Cup that they haven’t been able to do since 1930 or so.

I don’t really understand soccer.  I played it in high school, during PE.  It turned out that I was a much better goalie than I was a field player, because I could never overcome the instinct to catch the ball with my hands when it came hurtling towards me.  Only goalies can do that in soccer.  I grew up playing with an oblong ball with my friends where the entire idea was to catch the ball with my hands.  I played with a small stitched ball that I caught in a glove.  I played with a rather large orange ball that I bounced off the floor and used my hands to propel it towards a hoop 10 feet high.  In other words, I grew up playing typical American sports as a kid.  Here in the South, at least when I was a kid, hockey was rarely seen or heard about.  Basically, it seems to me that hockey is just like soccer, except it’s played with sticks and much more violence.  The players are on skates.  To me, that makes more sense than kicking a round ball around for 90 or so minutes and ending up with a 1-1 tie.

There is a famous line in some movie that states “There is no crying in baseball!”  Apparently that is not so in soccer.  Teams that lose, or players that make a mistake routinely throw themselves on the ground, put their hands over their faces, and cry.  I suppose that’s acceptable for the world’s most popular sport.  Heck, it sometimes even happens in American sports, but not very often.  Here in America, you’re more likely to see a person cry because they win, rather that being the loser.

But \football, or soccer, as I call it has it’s uses.  Soccer uses a yellow card to denote a foul.  If it’s a really bad foul, the player is shown the red card, which means expulsion from the event.  And supposedly the next event as well.  Should NASCAR use the red card?

Actually, NASCAR does.  It’s called the black flag.  But it’s just to get a guy to pit when he has committed a horrible crime like leaving equipment outside of his pit stall, or for running to slowly on the track.  The black flag can also be used to call in a driver who has committed an egregious foul upon another driver.  NASCAR can park a driver for bad behavior, NASCAR can do pretty much any darn thing they want to.

Think about it.  NASCAR basically can and has done, but rarely, the same thing that football, or soccer does.  They can park a guy for the rest of the race.  Kevin Harvick got parked one time for something he supposedly did in the Busch series, and it cost him a Winston Cup race start.

In effect, NASCAR always has the option of imposing what soccer would call the red card.  Should they?  If a driver is out to wreck another driver, I’d say that NASCAR has that right  Park the guy, sit him out for a week.  Let him know that he needs NASCAR much more than NASCAR needs him.

What do you think? 

It Hurts And It Hurts So Bad

Marcose Ambrose lost the race at Sonoma at Infineon last week because he shut down the engine to save fuel.  To be more accurate, he lost the race because he couldn’t get the engine fired before about 7 cars passed him.

I feel for Marcose.  He’s got to feel so close to getting a win, which he was at Sonoma, but so far away because of his dismal finish, which compared to other drivers was a great finish.

Take Dale Earnhardt Jr. for instance.  He was probably pretty happy with an 11th place finish after struggling with the road course and his car all day.  Ambrose is an accomplished road racer, so his disappointment must have been almost palpable after Sunday’s race.

Ambrose’ day is coming.  He’s far too good a racer to not win in the near future.  Watkins Glen is coming up, and that’s probably the next best chance that Ambrose has to get into victory lane in the Sprint Cup.

Marcose Ambrose, you’re ship is coming in.  You were that close, but you failed to collect the cigar.  You’ll get there, and it might be this year, or next year, or the next, or even the next.

You’ll get there though.

I’ve got faith in you Marcose.  You’re a winner that just hasn’t won in Sprint Cup yet.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Things That Irritate Me, But Don't Let That Bother You

It looked to me that Kevin Harvick wrecked Joey, but not intentionally at Pocono. What irritates me? Joey Logano’s dad. If the boy can drive a race car, let him stand up for himself. And he did. Kevin is Kevin. Joey is Joey. Why make it more complicated than that?


NASCAR broadcasters in general irritate me. Why throw in your two cents just because you have that much in your pockets? Just because you’ve got a microphone in front of you doesn’t mean you have to say some of the inane stuff that you say.

I’m so irritated by people on the news trying to explain Dale Jr.’s problems on the track. Lance McGrew is a great crew chief, I’m sure, but he and Junior rub each other the wrong way. That is what they call bad chemistry. I say bring Pops (Tony Eury Sr.) in and let’s get some of that old magic back. Heck, Pops works for Dale Jr. now, so I don’t see that being a problem, at least logically. But Pops doesn’t want to do the full Cup series tour, and I understand why, because it’s just hard to watch it all on TV, and I don’t blame anyone for not wanting to travel the insane schedule that Cup follows, and I don’t blame Pops. Face it though, Pops was the best crew chief Dale Jr. ever had.

I get irritated by FIFA World Cup Soccer. Of course, the rest of the world calls it “football”, and I suppose that that’s an accurate term. Men strike the ball with their feet, chests, foreheads, and sometimes their noses, which provides the most enjoyment, because then they bleed a little bit. Oh get off of it people. I’ve personally had a broken nose at least 3 times in my life. It’s not pleasant, but it’s not that bad either. Could those idiots quit blowing those dad gum horns for at least a minute? I suppose not. The stupid horns are ruining it for me. If they sounded like the sound of an 850 HP racing engine…… Well, that would be a different story.

I’m irritated by most rap music. I say most, because there are a few songs that get under my skin, and Lord help me, but I just can’t help myself but I have them ringing around in my brain for a few weeks or months. I really despise the music that preaches hate for police or authority. Some rappers are a little more mellow though, and actually do some funny stuff. I don’t mind that.

Kyle Busch irritates me. Maybe not quite as much as he did last year, but he still irritates me. He’s a very annoying young man. I know he wants to win every race he’s in, but you can only carry stuff like that so far. Kyle needs to learn how to control his emotions and talk to the TV and radio crews. Kyle needs to learn a little about humility. One day, Kyle may maybe be the grand old man of NASCAR, much like Mark Martin or Bill Elliot are today. He’s got a long way to go though.

You Said What?

Down here in the South, we have a special way of saying things sometimes. The same is probably true for the rest of the country, as well as the rest of the world, but here in the South, we seem to really do things differently sometimes.


I used to play, and still have friends who hit a little white ball with a stick called “goff” or “gawf”, depending upon how many beers the player has had. I think the real word is “golf”, but it seems that if you pronounce it that way, you’re either from the North or totally sober.

I used to have a boss in North Carolina who once said that he was basically a “farfarter, I put out fars all day.” I think he meant “firefighter”, but with bosses, who knows what the heck they’re talking about sometimes?

NASCAR certainly has it’s share of Southern residents involved in the sport, though not in many of the driver’s seats anymore. Many of the crew chiefs, and even some of the owners are as Southern as they can get. Many of them have managed to lose the Southern accent, but often you will hear some things that must be almost incomprehensible to people, say, from the great state of Minnesota.

“This dang ole back end keeps tryin to tarn on me!” “Just keep ‘er up thar, bud. Keep a hittin yore marks!” “OK, guys. Four tars and a half round a wedge in the rot rear.” “Keep a gittin it!”

I’m certainly not being critical of these folks. Heck, I’m about as Southern as I can be. I particular love hearing Bill Elliot talk. Now folks, when you hear Awesome Bill talk, you know exactly what a North Georgia mountain boy sounds like. I really miss Ward Burton, because he exemplifies the sound of Southern Virginia. “Mah name is Wah Button.” I miss that so much.

No, folks, I’m the last person to be critical. People have complained over the years that Dale Earnhardt and Dale Jr. were pretty much speaking a foreign language, or so it sounded. I understand that accent perfectly, because I’ve got the same one. I’ve lived most of my life within 100 miles of Mooresville, North Carolina, so to me, it’s the way most people talk around here.

“I’ll be dad gummed” is one you hear often during NASCAR races. I can forgive Larry McReynolds for saying it, because he’s from Alabama. But Ole DW? Darrell is from Owensboro, Kentucky, which is right across the river from Indiana. Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman are both from Indiana, and I’ve never them “dad gum” anything.

I enjoy how some drivers seem to be becoming “Southernized.” Kevin Harvick, who is from Bakersfield, California, does not have a Southern accent, but occasionally he will pronounce a word or two with a distinct Southern flavor to it. Part of that is from living in North Carolina for quite a few years, but I give most of the credit to his wife, Delana, who is a pedigreed Southerner. Way to go, Delana!

Sometimes I wonder how driver Jimmie Johnson and his crew chief Chad Knaus can even understand what anyone says in their transplanted home state. To me their not hard to understand, but in the NASCAR of the 1970’s, I doubt that they would have had the success that they’ve had.

Most of the crew wouldn’t have been able to understand most of what they said!

Denny Hamlin Has Arrived

It would seem that the winner of the blade battle is Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin. At least so far. 5 wins since NASCAR restored the blade, or the rear spoiler, if you will, cannot lie.


It’s curious why JGR seems to have such a handle on the blade and nobody else can seem to figure it out after all this time. I think I have the answer though: Denny Hamlin has arrived.

“All we do is win” has been the number 11’s battle cry over these 5 wins. The team is on track. The cars are great. Right now, the driver’s great too. It would seem that Denny Hamlin has experienced a few sophomore seasons, and he has finally come into his own.

It’s not a matter of whether you like Denny Hamlin or not, but he’s a lot like Kyle Busch or Jimmie Johnson in the last couple of years: You cannot deny what he’s done. He’s a winner, and he seems to keep on winning. When it comes right down to it, winning is pretty important, if not everything.

Denny Hamlin rubs some people the wrong way, but so does every driver.

That’s what NASCAR is all about. It’s favorites and least favorites. That’s the way it’s always been.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

What Makes A Great Driver?

Since this is an opinion column, what you are going to read here is totally my opinion and nothing else.  I’ve been watching this sport for quite a while, and I’m more than happy to give you my opinion.  I’d be interested in hearing your opinion too.

In the old days, most NASCAR drivers came from the South, and literally grew up racing.  Some started in go carts and eventually graduated to full sized race cars.  Some came from other areas of racing, driving various types of open wheel race cars, and made occasional forays into NASCAR.  Some got  hooked on stock cars, some just dabbled in the sport.

Since about 1990 or so, NASCAR has experienced an invasion of drivers from other parts of the country who have made it big in the sport.  Jeff Gordon came to NASCAR from California by way of Indiana.  Tony Stewart came directly from Indiana, as did Ryan Newman.  Juan Pablo Montoya came all the way from Colombia.  Guess what?  It’s all been good for the sport.

A great driver obviously must have talent.  Talent is why you and me aren’t currently employed driving in NASCAR’s top series and earning millions of dollars and flying around in our own private jets.  Talent isn’t always the only part of the equation however.

A truly great driver must have somewhat of a personality that people either love or hate.  Richard Petty was a great driver just on his wins alone, but he was and is an genuinely nice guy, always happy to sign autographs for the fans.  Dale Earnhardt was a rather polarizing driver, who while he was alive angered many fans and also grabbed the admiration of many others.  Since Dale’s death in 2001, he’s mostly been remembered in a positive way, as the man who changed the sport forever.

There are a few young guns in NASCAR who could certainly be considered potentially great drivers.  I would include Kurt Busch and Kyle Busch in that list.  I would include Kasey Kahne.  History will dictate just how great these drivers will be remembered when their driving days are done.  All three of these drivers exhibit a ton of talent, and Kyle Busch alone has enough personality for all three.  There are certainly other drivers who may eventually be known as great drivers as well.  I’ll leave that list up to you.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Trust But Verify

Over the last few years, I’ve noticed that there are far fewer reporters than there are editors.  The Columbia School of Journalism cranks out scores of qualified journalists every year, yet most of them seem to be trying to change the world rather than simply reporting the news.

I readily admit that I write an opinionated column, not news.  I could provide statistics all day and discuss them with you, but I don’t.  I give you a fan’s opinion here, nothing more, nothing less.  It’s my site, so I can do what I want, within reason.  This is a site that your kids can read if they want to.  No bad language is tolerated here, mostly because I consider NASCAR to be a family sport.

There are plenty of places that you, the NASCAR fan can find stats and whatever you want.  I don’t do that here.  I won’t apologize for it, because this is just what I do.  www.jayski.com can tell you pretty much all you want to know about anything regarding NASCAR.  Jay does it better than I ever could, so all you get here is my opinion.

That being said, I have noticed that there are quite a few ‘journalists’ out there who apparently consider themselves editors with editorial license.  That’s a shame, because I would rather hear the raw news, not some reporter’s spin on things.

This obviously happens not only in the NASCAR world, but also in the political world as well.  It’s a shame that people will behave as sheep and believe everything that some airhead on TV tells them.  All I can say is that I believe that if you want to be well informed, you should read widely, think about what you read, and never, ever believe the first thing you hear on TV.  It’s just not healthy, folks.

Try to understand that most reporters are not very objective, and that they will try to spin news to reflect kindly on their personally favorite subjects.  Reporters will also put a little negative spin on stories that deal with people they don’t like, or have been taught not to like.  Way to go, Columbia U.!

In other words, you get lied to every time you watch TV.  I’m sorry, but it’s a fact, but any so called facts you hear on the news, especially in late breaking stories should be taken with a grain of salt.  It’s easy to do when your purpose in life is to change the world, not simply report the news.  This can also be said of most of the newspapers in the country.

Your local TV newscaster or newspaper columnist might be trustworthy to you, and if you trust them, you’re lucky, especially if they really tell you the truth.  Around the area that I live in, I can’t trust anyone who calls themselves a journalist.  Even the weatherman lies to me.  Just joking.

There is an old saying:  “Trust, but verify.”  In other words, do your own research.  Find the facts for yourself.  Don’t trust anything a talking head or so called reporter tells you unless it’s a fire or a traffic accident.  Even then, don’t trust them.

Trust, but verify.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Random Thoughts Before Charlotte

Is It My Imagination Or What?

First of all, I want to apologize for not posting more lately.  I’ve had some problems which I’m not able to discuss here, but I hope that I’ll be back on a regular basis soon.

Am I imagining things or has Joe Gibbs Racing figured out the spoiler much faster than anyone else?  Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch have won most of the races, it would seem since the re-introduction of the spoiler.  So far, the Hendrick guys haven’t been able to get the handle on the spoiler, so the fact is that the JGR guys have shakes things up a little.  That’s not a bad thing.  Let’s light this firecracker!  We’ve  now got some legitimate claims to end Jimmie Johnson’s  claim to his 5th Sprint Cup title.  Jimmie and Chad Knaus are the most incredible team in recent history, but it would be interesting to see another JGR or RCR team break the streak.

Kevin Harvick still leads in points after the 12th race of the season, and he’s only won one race this season.  That’s how the points system works, folks.  It’s not wins, it’s top 5 and top 10 finishes.  That’s how championships are won.

What the heck is going on with the 88 team?  Dale and Lance snipe at each other on the radio and Dale has a horrible finish at Dover.  Is there a new crew chief in Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s future?  Dale is obviously not the easiest guy to work for.  It’s hard to figure out why a guy who has won so much in the past is running so poorly in the last few years.  I’ll let you experts figure it out.

It’s almost time for the races at Charlotte, and I’m looking forward to it.  I’ve been to the 600 a few times and it’s incredible.  If you really want to see a really good race, go to the Coca Cola 600 at Lowes Motor Speedway.  The race starts under the sun and ends at night.  It’s the longest race of the season, and you will not be disappointed by the quality of racing.  This is old home week for the teams and the drivers, because most of them all live in the Charlotte, NC area.  Drivers and crew will all have lots of friends and family there, so they’ll be putting on the show of the year.

Don’t worry about Hendrick.  Sooner or later Jimmie or Jeff or Mark, and hopefully Junior will be winning races again.  If you’re a Junior fan, lookout, fireworks are going to happen.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

It's Time For NASCAR TV

First of all, congratulations to Kevin Harvick, who ended the longest winless streak of his Cup career last week at Talladega.  Is it now fair to call Kevin a super speedway specialist, since his last two wins have come at Daytona and Talladega?  Just kidding.  Kevin Harvick is a great race car driver, and I think we all knew he was going to win this season, it was just a matter of when.

Now, to the meat of this article.

The NFL has it’s own channel, though I’ve never seen it.  It costs extra to get the NFL channel, assuming it’s even available on your cable or satellite network.  There is also a golf channel, which I used to get on basic cable (Charter).  I think it’s time for a NASCAR only, 24-7 channel.

Sure, SPEED TV does a great job with it’s NASCAR coverage.  To a certain extent, so does ESPN.  But don’t you think that NASCAR has gotten big enough to have an exclusive TV channel?

I’m certainly not faulting SPEED TV or ESPN, but they’ve both got bigger rows to hoe than just NASCAR.  ESPN does a brilliant job of trying to cover virtually all sports on the planet, and that’s certainly no easy job.  SPEED covers not only NASCAR, but also everything from motorcycle racing to monster trucks.  They do a great job of it too, but for the true NASCAR purist, I think it’s time for a NASCAR only channel.

The NASCAR channel could do live updates on news several times a day.  You know, kind of like a televised version of Jayski.  I don’t know what they do about the current contracts that FOX, ESPN, and TNT have for televising the actual races, because I think it’s important that people without cable or satellite have the opportunity to watch at least some of the races.  Right now, only FOX and ESPN, through ABC can do that.  I think it’s important to bring the sport to the masses.  Perhaps NASCAR could reserve the right to simulcast the races on their own channel as well.  Or, they could put together their own crew and broadcast the races the NASCAR way.  Either way works for me, as long as Mom and Pop can sit and see at least some of the races with that Channel Master antenna on the roof.

The NASCAR channel should be basic cable.  Enough advertising could be sold to fund the network, just through the myriad of NASCAR sponsors.  Team sponsors could jump in on the deal just to sweeten it and get extra exposure on a NASCAR exclusive network.  There is a hardcore base of fans who would probably watch that channel all day and all night too.  You know who I’m talking about.  Yes, you!

Other than the news updates, the NASCAR channel could fill time by broadcasting earlier races, from all it’s various series.  Go back to the 70’s or 80’s, and there is a wealth of good stuff there.  Televise races live from the various regional series and give these drivers a little exposure.  It’s all good.

The NASCAR channel already has a core group  of veteran race broadcasters.  Remember MRN?  MRN stands for Motor Racing Network, which is owned by International Speedway Corporation, which in turn is owned by the National Association for Stock Car Automobile Racing.  Recognize that name?  Of course, it’s NASCAR.  I love listening to the MRN guys on the radio, and they would be great on TV as well.

It’s time for NASCAR TV.  We, the fans, well, we really want it. 

Really bad.  I know I do.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Things I Wonder About

Things I Wonder About


Do people recognize that Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the most popular driver in NASCAR because of his looks and personality rather than his record as a driver?  He’s proven himself as a driver, but he hasn’t delivered much in the way of wins in the last few years.  Dale’s a great guy, but it’s rather unreasonable to expect that he will deliver his father’s numbers in races wins or championships, because probably no one will, except maybe Jimmie Johnson.  The problem is, Jimmie’s just not a very interesting person.  That’s probably Jimmie’s secret to success, and Dale’s problem is that he talks, just like his dad did. Both Dales make great news, Jimmie Johnson just doesn’t.

Do the news people understand that most of the American public is tired of the entire Tiger Woods story? Let the dude play golf, which he is really good at, and then we’ll talk after the Masters Tournament.

Does Richard Childress understand that Kevin Harvick is probably the most talented driver in his stable?  If I were RC, I would do everything I could to keep KH under the corporate banner.  Kevin Harvick is a very talented driver, and has the perfect personality to replace the driver he replaced, who is of course, the late Dale Earnhardt.  I know Kevin has been frustrated, but Richard needs to step up and give Kevin what he needs to get the job done.  Kevin has been doing that for himself in the Truck series and in Nationwide, but for some reason, Richard isn’t giving Kevin quite what he needs in the Cup series.  Kevin is a great driver, and he deserves the best of the best.

NASCAR has gone through great lengths to make the sport more fair, more accessible, more competitive.  Do you think NASCAR will issue me a hard card out of the goodness of their hearts?  I kind of doubt that.  It would be really cool if they did, though.  I love NASCAR and I cannot lie!

Has anyone noticed that Reba McEntire has almost the same eyes that Dale Earnhardt did?  I have.  For years, Reba has reminded me of Dale.  It’s just something about the eyes.  Next time you see pics of them, look at them and tell me I’m wrong.  Maybe it’s not the eyes, it’s the expression with the eyes.  Reba reminds me of Dale Earnhardt every time I see her.  Not many people can look like Dale did when he was focused.  Reba can.  I don’t know that anyone can ignore that stare. Reba has that stare.  Long live Reba.

Ever noticed that the Weather Channel people can be wrong more than half of the time?  I’d like to have a job like that.  Oh wait!  I already do!


Happy week, everyone!

Monday, March 22, 2010

That's Bristol, Baby!

I think it is clearly evident that we now have a great driver that defines the NASCAR era since the year 2000.  That driver is, ladies and gentlemen, none other than Jimmie Johnson.

Fifty wins.  That’s a lot in the decade of parity in stock car racing.  Why is Jimmie Johnson not NASCAR’s most popular driver?  I’ll leave the answer to that question to you, the ultimate experts.  What?  No, I’m not being facetious by saying that.

If you’re reading this, chances are that you’re a NASCAR fan.  You may have been a fan for 6 weeks, or for 40 years.  You may not know much about the sport, but if you watch the races every week, you already know more than a lot of people who should know better.  Fans drive this sport, and always have, and if you’re a fan, you’re the dude or lady in the driver’s seat.  You, the fan, have the ability to call the shots simply by making your voice heard, and NASCAR is listening.

Getting back to Jimmie Johnson, because I digress, which I often do, I’d like to say that JJ is a great driver, and he and the science project named Chad Knaus, who is Jimmie Johnson’s crew chief, are truly achieving magic numbers in the sport of NASCAR.  Jimmie has won 50 races in only a few over 200 starts.  OK, maybe more than a few, but you get my point.

Personally, to me, Jimmie Johnson is just a blank page, in terms of personality.  He is the perfect driver, because he always quotes the company line, always praises his sponsors, and never says much of anything to start arguments.  Yes, and I’ll say it here, Jimmie Johnson is the greatest boring driver ever.  He really is.

In this sport, boring is not a bad thing, because Jimmie Johnson is married, has a child on the way, but he’s apparently never cheated on his wife, had a child out of wedlock, never did drugs, or beat up a hooker.  Actually, I’d say he’s probably a pretty good guy, though I don’t know him personally.  But, in a world where celebrity is everything, Jimmie Johnson is pretty boring.  That’s where we are as a culture, I suppose.

Give us some meat to chew on, and we’re happy as fans.  Do something to prove that you’re human.  I laugh at the detractors of Jimmie Johnson because what they hate can be explained simply.  He’s just a nice guy.  Don’t you just hate that?

A tip to the wise:  Buy some Jimmie Johnson merchandise.  It’s the cheapest it will ever be, and if you don’t, one day you’ll be sorry.

News of the day:  Tiger Woods gives an exclusive interview to ESPN.  Enough already.  Tiger Woods didn’t sleep with my wife.  He doesn’t owe me an apology.  Get over it, people!  Tiger said he screwed up, and he admits to it!  What else does the world of golf want?

Why does Jimmy C know that his wife didn’t sleep with Tiger Woods?  It’s simple.  Jimmy C doesn’t have a wife, and if he did, he doesn’t know where she is.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Off Week Reflections

Though this space is not devoted to Dale Earnhardt Jr, I have never been shy about being fan of Dale’s, and I can definitely say that I  am a proud member of the Junior Nation.  OK, maybe not the various websites or message boards out there, but I am a proud Dale Jr. fan.

That being said, what the heck is going on with the 88 team this year?  After a little show of brilliance at Daytona, Dale Jr. appears to be mired back in the back once again in 2010.  Business as usual, you could say.

As a fan, it’s terribly disappointing.  The Junior detractors gleefully say that the 88 team’s 2010 performance just backs up what they’ve been saying all along, which is that Dale Jr. is overrated, and basically has way less talent than the blind Junior followers think he has.

I still say, and will continue to say that any driver with 18 Cup wins and two Nationwide (Busch) series championships under his belt has to have more going for him than having a famous daddy.  Folks, you simply don’t get those numbers without talent as a driver, and there’s no way you’re going to convince me that I’m wrong about that.  I would say the same thing about Jimmy Spencer, if he had the numbers to back him up.  But Jimmy Spencer doesn’t. 

I like Kyle Petty too, but he does not have numbers as favorable as does Dale Jr.  The fact is, Dale Jr. has just had some really horrible luck, and there are obviously still some major problems on the 88 team as a whole.

It’s beginning to appear that the move to Hendrick Motorsports just isn’t working out for Dale Earnhardt Jr.  Perhaps I will be proven wrong in the next few weeks, and no one could be happier about proven wrong than I would be.

Speaking of drivers needing to turn their fortunes around, how about Kevin Harvick?  Kevin his charging hard, getting good finishes, and currently leads in points.  The only thing left in Kevin’s turnaround is a win, and that can’t be too much longer in coming.

This weekend the NASCAR traveling show moves on to one of my favorite tracks, Bristol.  With little to watch over the weekend but basketball and the F1 face in Bahrain, or where ever the heck it was, I’m ready to seem some good, hard short track racing.

Taking The Good With The Bad

There has been a tremendous amount of controversy concerning the incident at Atlanta between Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski.  The details have been reported many times in many other places, so I won’t bother going over the details.  Suffice it to say, Carl Edwards punted Brad Keselowski, and Brad wrecked in spectacular fashion, with the car flipping upside down, and Brad was obviously peeved at his colleague for his efforts.

The wreck was eerily similar to Carl Edwards’ wreck at Talladega last year, which, of course, occurred at the hands of Brad Keselowski.  I’m not talking about who was at fault there, because we all have opinions, but it appeared that Brad had the line at Talladega, and Carl was trying to block on the last lap of the race.  Remember, however, that last year we saw this spectacular crash on the last lap of the race, with both Edwards and Keselowski going for the win.

At Atlanta last Sunday, the crash occurred near the end of the race, but not on the last lap.  Carl Edwards was 150-something laps down, with no hopes for a win, but he definitely was trying to take Brad out.  In that, Carl Edwards was hugely successful.

Carl Edwards was parked for his part in the wreck, but he basically had nothing to lose.  Brad was driving a lead lap car, so Carl’s actions cost Brad quite a bit.  Had this incident happened last year, Carl would likely have been parked a race, fined, what to most of us would have been a huge amount of money, and placed on probation until the Chase portion of the season, if not for the entire year.

This year, of course, is different.  NASCAR has said they were going to relax the rules, and we, as fans, for the most part cheered.  We were all happy to see NASCAR letting the drivers race, and that’s pretty much what we’ve seen so far this year.  Carl Edwards’ actions at Atlanta were a little over the top, and he got penalized, a little bit.  Three weeks of probation?  In a way, I don’t see much wrong with that.

In other ways, however, I see a lot wrong with this situation.  Carl Edwards, many, many laps down, used his car as a weapon to take out a lead lap car.  I doubt that even Carl envisioned Brad’s car flying through the air, possibly ending up in the catch fence as did Carl’s car did last year at Talladega.

Remember the fall race at Talladega last year?  We were introduced to a young woman who happened to be sitting in the front row at ‘Dega in the spring race, and caught a piece of metal in the face when Carl Edwards’ car shredded itself in the catch fence.  Drivers getting hurt is one thing, but fans getting hurt is NASCAR’s worst nightmare.

We wanted to see a kinder, gentler NASCAR as the rule makers in the sport.  We apparently have been given exactly what we wished for.  Now, we all have to live with the bad as well as the good.  We’re seeing better racing, but at what cost?

Hopefully, NASCAR’s new attitude won’t cost a fan’s life.  I applaud what NASCAR is doing, but risking hurting fans by relaxing the rules is in no way going to help this sport.  I know, any one of those 43 cars could have flipped upside down during the Atlanta race, because NASCAR still has those stupid, dangerous wings on the cars, but hopefully that will all change at Martinsville.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Cautious Optimism

Dale Earnhardt Jr. won his first pole position since 2008 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and the Junior Nation is jacked up.  They ought to be, because maybe this means the 88 team is finally getting the wheels back on the track.

Poles do not make race wins, however.  Dale Jr. has won at Atlanta before, so he knows how to do it.  For all of those who think Dale Jr. is a shoe in to win the race today, I would advise against it.  Not that cautious optimism is wrong, but don’t be horribly disappointed if Dale Jr. gets a top 5 or top 10 finish today.  Either of those would be fine.

Dale Jr. needs a good finish today, because even though he finished well in 2 out of the 3 first races of the season, he needs to finish consistently in the top 10 if he’s going to be a contender this year.  Whatever handling problems seem to plague the 88 team need to go away, and they need to go away fast.  Hopefully, the return of the spoiler will alleviate at least some of the handling problems.

Personally, even though he’s starting from near the back of the field, Kevin Harvick is one of my favorites for a win at Atlanta.  Harvick has been there basically in all three of the first few races, and he’s due, and you can tell he wants it pretty bad.  Of course, I wouldn’t count out either Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, or Mark Martin, because they’ve all looked pretty good in practice this weekend.

Even though Greg Biffle is going to a backup car, he showed that he has maybe the winning line down, and that’s up high on the race track.  Greg could win this race as well if they can get the backup car working right.

This might be the week that Martin Truex Jr. breaks out of the doldrums as well, because in Happy Hour on Saturday, Martin seemed to have something going on with the car.  Personally, I’d like to see Truex get his first win for Michael Waltrip Racing.

Today’s going to be exciting, folks.  Atlanta always is.  I pray we have a good race and everyone walks away safely today.

Answering Reader's Questions

As part of the routine of writing on this site, I often am asked questions by readers.  Sometimes they come as comments posted here, but more often than not, they come in the form of an e-mail, which, of course is OK by me.  My e-mail address is jimcinsc@gmail.com.

I’m not an expert on anything, and I can only tell you that anything you read here is purely my opinion.  With that in mind, I decided that maybe I should put some of the questions and answers here, where all can read.  I only use the reader’s name and location if they consent.  So far, all the folks I’ve corresponded with have not had a problem with that.

So here goes.  If you like this type of stuff, let me know, and I’ll be happy to do more of it.

Jayson from Milford, Delaware asks “I saw on TV that Jamie McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya were friends.  What was that stuff at Vegas all about?”

I can only say that I don’t know exactly what kind of relationship that Jamie and Juan have, but I think it was a racing deal.  Jamie would never have taken out his teammate on purpose.  Jamie McMurray not only took out Juan as a contender in the Las Vegas race, but he also took himself out.  I think it was a total accident, and Jamie apologized for it.  It was a big blow to the Earnhardt-Ganassi team, but they will recover and both will probably be strong contenders at Hampton, GA this weekend.

Sarah from Lansing, Michigan asks “What is going on with the 24 team?  I thought Steve Letarte was supposed to be a genius, but that last call for 2 tires instead of 4 hurt Jeff (Gordon’s) chances of winning.  I’m so sick and tired of seeing Jeff lose races because the team can’t get it together.”

Sarah, all I can say is that Steve blew that call.  They had 35 or so laps to go, and they needed most of a full tank of gas, so they had time to put on 4 tires.  I know that Steve Letarte is beating himself up over that call, but he was trying to keep Jeff out front, and he did, but we all know what happened after Johnson, Knaus, and company put 4 fresh Goodyears on the 48.  When I saw that the 24 only took 2 tires, I knew that the race was pretty much over.

Steve Letarte is a good crew chief, and the fact that he’s been with Jeff Gordon for so long says a lot.  Chad Knaus, on the other hand, has an almost paranormal ability to make the right calls in the pits.  Is Chad a better crew chief than Steve?  Statistics sort of prove that, at least over the last few years.  Jeff will win more races.  He should have won on Sunday, but he didn’t.  Jeff Gordon will win some races this year.

Jonathon from Gallup, New Mexico asks “Do you think the COT (Car Of Tomorrow) is good for NASCAR?  If so, why?”

Jonathon, my personal jury is still out debating that particular question.  The COT is a safer car, for sure, and I’m always for safety.  As dramatic as crashes are, I never want to see a driver get hurt, or God forbid, killed.  I think all true fans of the sport feel the same way.  I do think that the COT has made for some lousy racing lately, however.  The wing was a horrible idea, and the sooner we get back to the rear spoiler, the better.  Personally, I’m not a huge fan of NASCAR’s penchant for evening up the playing field to the extent that they have.  I’d like to see innovative crew chiefs figure out ways to beat the competition on the track, just like they used to do back in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s.  To me, the COT was NASCAR moving one step closer to the old IROC series, where each competitor was given a car that prepared just exactly like all the others.  IROC is dead.  There’s a reason for it.

Bring back the spoilers, relax the rules a little, and NASCAR will be just fine.

LJ from Medford, Oregon writes:  “You stupid redneck Dale JUUUUUNIIIOORR  lovers are idiots.  That boy can’t drive a racing car.  The sooner you stupid (expletive deleted) figure that out, the sooner you will find a driver who ACTUALLY can drive a tractor, much less a racing car.  All this love for the Jr nation is totally stupid, dude”

LJ, you know what?  I’d like to find out how many tractor races you’ve won.  If you’ve won 2 championships in the 2nd level tractor racing series, and 18 tractor races in the premier tractor racing series, you and me can talk.  You don’t win the races that Dale Earnhardt Jr. has won without the ability to drive.  He’s won the Daytona 500, dude.  He’s won at Bristol, Richmond, Atlanta, Phoenix, and Chicago.  LJ, that dude knows how to drive a tractor!  Go fix your mommy a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and have a good day, dude.

Finally, Rich from my home state of South Carolina asks:  “Why do you write?”

It’s really simple, Rich.  I don’t know how to do much of anything else.

Let me know what you think, or ask me your own questions either by commenting here, or you can leave me an e-mail at jimcinsc@gmail.com.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Dale Jr. What's The Deal, Dude?

After finishing 2nd in the 2010 Daytona 500, Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 32nd at California, many laps down from the leader.

I have purposely not read the message boards.  I’ve not even read most of my e-mail, because I really don’t  want to prejudice my opinion because of what other Dale Jr. fans say.

What I saw on Sunday was a driver with an ill handling car, who broke his left axle on a pit stop, and the pit crew wasn’t ready to deal with it.  During qualifying on Friday, I saw a guy with a fast car but no brakes, and that basically screwed his attempt to get a good starting position.  What the heck is going on with the guy that’s supposed to be getting major attention by the engineers, and the owner of the car, Rick Hendrick?

Crew chief Lance McGrew was very vocal about it, even over the radio on Sunday.  Not being ready to go with a replacement axle was a huge mistake.  Broken axles are not very common during a race, but it is a part that can be replaced on pit road, and apparently, the 88 crew wasn’t ready to deal with that particular circumstance.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. made the switch to Hendrick to run with the best equipment, the best possible personnel, and win races and championships.  What’s wrong here?  Seriously, I want you to tell me.  Has the driver just forgotten how to drive?  Is there a mismatch in crew chiefs?  Do they need to fire them all and start all over again?

Let me know what you think.  Your guess is at least as good as mine.  For a driver like Dale Earnhardt Jr., this is not going to work.  This situation has to improve drastically.