On to Michigan

Nascar's top series visits Michigan International Speedway this weekend for the LifeLock 400.  Few drivers will be riding higher going into this weekends race than Tony Stewart, who scored his first victory as a team owner last week at Pocono.

One driver who has to be hoping for a major turn around in his season has to be Denny Hamlin, who basically was out of the Pocono race before the oil got hot in the engines last week.  Another driver who wishes he could catch a break is Kevin Harvick.

Team Joe Gibbs has two drivers catching all the publicity, mostly in good ways, in the names of Kyle Busch and Joey Logano.  Busch, though continuing to be controversial for his antics on and off the track, has been winning.  Logano has showed a marked improvement over the last few weeks, and appears to be destined to get his first Cup series win before the year is over.  Denny Hamlin, on the other hand, seems to be cursed.

Richard Childress Racing seems to have problems of a different sort.  Though the RCR cars have run well at times, they've had relatively little to show for their efforts, both in the Cup series and the Nationwide series as well.  RCR cars, which have seemed so dominant in recent years in the Nationwide series, have yet to score a single victory in 2009.  In Cup, it's worse.  RCR seems to be falling behind the curve more and more as the season goes on.  It doesn't appear that it's equipment all the time, it just appears to be bad luck, or in other words, being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Another driver who would very much like to turn his season around is of course the much maligned Dale Earnhardt Jr., who this week returns to the scene of his one and only points win in a Hendrick car.  Still trying new crew chief Lance McGrew on for size, Earnhardt Jr. feels the pressure to perform as he probably has never felt it before.  Changing crew chiefs is not likely to solve all the 88 team's problems, but it's a start, I suppose. 

Michigan could be an important turning point for several drivers in 2009.  Time is running out for the guys trying to make the Chase, and winning at Michigan could go a long way toward turning a lackluster season around.

Stewart-Haas Racing is now on the Map!

Congratulations to Tony Stewart, winner of the Pocono race.  

Tony did what he needed to do, holding off the Roush Fords, and making himself the first owner/driver to win a race in more years than I want to think about.

Who would have thought, just one year ago, that the new Stewart-Haas team would be in victory lane in a points race in 2009?

I would and did.

Tony Stewart has taken the old Gene Haas company and given it a total kick in the pants.  It needed it, and Tony provided it.  

Tony Stewart is a true super star in NASCAR.  He's won in every endeavor he's ever attempted, and now, as an owner, he's won again, proving that even owner/drivers can win.

Smashing the Race Trophy You just Won = No Class

I watched Kyle Busch lead practically every lap at Nashville on Saturday night.  For me, it was a rather boring race until I watched the victory lane celebration.

Nashville has long awarded a custom Gibson Guitar as a trophy for the winner of it's biggest NASCAR event.  This particular guitar was hand painted by popular artist Sam Bass.

Kyle Busch took the guitar and smashed it to smithereens.

I'm beginning to realize the genius in Kyle's sometimes bizarre behavior.  Acting the way he does keeps him in the news.  Even bad press is still press, and Kyle Busch appears to be using all the press he can to perpetuate the legend that Kyle Busch seems to have running through his head.

When I was a kid, I had a neighbor who was possibly borderline psychotic.  He was a nice kid, but he kept up a running radio show in his head about his own exploits, and would often recite them, as would a radio announcer, while he was playing various games.  "And here comes Jack [not his real name] to the plate.  Jack's been batting .765 this season, and has 400 home runs.  Can Jack hit number 401?"  In his head, Jack was the greatest athlete that ever lived.  In reality, Jack couldn't hit even a very slow underhand pitch.  

Jack ran his own radio show playing football or basketball as well.  Jack often tackled himself, simply getting his feet tangled up while trying to run.  Jack often busted himself in the mouth trying to dribble a basketball.  But in Jack's mind, he was the greatest.

I have this mental image of Kyle Busch pretending he is the biggest rock star in the world, and smashing a guitar on stage is a dream of his that he finally fulfilled last night.  He said on his radio that he wanted every member of the team to have a piece of that guitar.  

Even after smashing the custom Gibson to the asphalt 3 or more times, the guitar was still mostly intact.  

I'm a guitar fan.  I currently own a Fender Stratocaster with a sunburst finish, and it's one of my prized posessions.  I can't play it worth a darn, but I do love to look at it.  To me, it's a work of art.

I would love to own a Gibson Les Paul, any year, any model.  To me, the Gibson LP is one of the sweetest sounding guitars ever made.

Watching Kyle smash that beautiful guitar last night was a little like watching a mother drown her own child.

Personally, I wonder what the people who worked so hard to put on the show at Nashville Super Speedway thought when they saw their carefully crafted trophy smashed.  That the beautiful guitar was going to get beer, Gatorade, Coke, etc. on it during the victory celebration was a given, but how did they feel to have to watch that beauty smashed on the asphalt?

I'm a Mouthy Piece of Something!

It's true, because someone commented on an article I wrote over a year ago about Kyle Busch.  You can go back through the archives and see the comment, because I left it there as a monument to the ultimate stupidity amplified by Kyle Busch fans.

When you're blessed with a low IQ and an apparent lack of knowledge when it comes to the English language, and an apparent lack of wits, you attack by using four letter words.  This is what Anonymous posted on my blog, on an article I wrote over a year ago.

Normally, I don't entertain garbage mouth words such as Anonymous uttered, but I leave it up here, with apologies to folks who might be offended by such words, as proof as to what it takes for some folks to be a Kyle Busch fan.

Let's examine some facts here.  I have a blog.  I write on it.  Of course I'm mouthy!  Why would I not be when I have a forum on which to write?

I have opinions.  Anonymous did too.  I invite Anonymous to get his or her own blog and dispute me.  Or just use the options on my own blog to prove me wrong, in a logical way.  Calling me bad names really means that not only do you not like what I say, but you don't have a constructive argument as to how I'm wrong in what I say.

Kyle Busch is an immature punk.  His actions prove my words.

Be back soon.

I've had some health problems that keep me away from the computer, at least for a while.  I'll be back soon, hopefully.

David Poole. We'll Miss You.

I just learned of David Poole's passing, and we'll miss him.

David wrote for the Charlotte Observer, and sites such as That's racin, and was into many other endeavors, including satelite radio.

David will definitely be missed among the people who write about and debate NASCAR issues.

From what I understand, he was instrumental in the lives of many who write or have websites dedicated to NASCAR.  

David and I corresponded from time to time.  He was kind enough to read my blogs, and he very kindly offered advice to an aspiring NASCAR writer, some of which I followed.  I was not a friend of David's, but I consider him to be one my main influences.  I never agreed with all of his opinions, but I certainly respected what he said and why he said it.  To say that I'll miss him understates my feeling greatly.

My prayers will go out to his family and friends.  I will miss what he's been bringing to the NASCAR table for over 13 years.

David, you will be missed.  I know I'll miss you.

Talladega: Love it or Bulldoze it

Since all the cars and fence parts flying at Talladega on Sunday, a lot of pundits, as well as a lot of fans have sounded off on whether or not arguably the the season's most exciting race should continue in the future as it did on Sunday.

There are a lot of arguments for both sides.  People actually got hurt on Sunday when Carl Edwards went flipping through the air into the retaining fence.  What makes things worse, Carl actually sprinted, on his own feet to the finish line, apparently unhurt in the slightest.  The people who were hurt were fans.  That has to be NASCAR's worst nightmare: Fans buying tickets and ending up in the hospital.  

Not that it's bad that Carl was unhurt.  Most of us, as fans, never want to see drivers, crew or anyone else associated with racing get hurt.  I know I never do.  Driving race cars is a dangerous pastime, and we all know the danger is there, which I suppose is one of the reasons we like it so much.  People who appear ordinary doing extraordinary things usually creates a fan base.  

My heart goes out to the people who were injured in the stands at Talladega.  They got a little more excitement than they were banking on.  I hope this won't influence their decisions about whether or not to remain as NASCAR fans.  I suppose it might make them want to choose different seats if they attend races in Alabama again though.

Talladega has been a controversial track since the very beginning.  There are many who say that the track is just too big, that the speeds achieved are just too excessive for the equipment that the racers are using.  A lot of drivers boycotted the inaugural race in 1969, including Richard Petty.  The first race in the old Grand National series ever run by several drivers was at Talladega in 1969 because of the boycott.  One of those drivers was a young guy, racing on a wing and a prayer, named Richard Childress.  Richard didn't win the race, but it was that opportunity that led to bigger and better things, which eventually included stepping out of the car and allowing another young driver to step into it.  That man's name was Dale Earnhardt.  Would Richard Childress have made it without Talladega?  Would the track's eventual driver with the races most won, Dale Earnhardt, have made it without Talladega?  Would history have been altered if Talladega was just another run of the mill track?  I suppose we'll never really know, but we do know what we have.

Richard Childress got his start there.  Dale Earnhardt had great success there.  The son, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has also had great success there.  History has already been made.  We can't take it back.

If Talladega can be made safer, I'm all for it.  I visited this track in 2004, and saw one of Dale Earnhardt Jr's wins there.  The track itself, is, well, huge.  It's 2.66 miles in length.  I've been to quite a few race tracks, but never one that made me think I was instead at a rather large airport, instead of a race track.  If seen from the air, the track actually dwarfs the actual airport next to the track.  It's like the Godzilla of race tracks.  I'm not sure we don't need at least one Godzilla in the circuit.

The drivers all know the risks.  If the fans have any kind of knowledge of the sport, they know that if they sit on the front row, stuff can happen.  Bobby Allison in 1987.  Now it's Carl Edwards in 2009.  There have been quite a few others as well over the years.

It can be said that Talladega is inherently unsafe.  Even with restrictor plates, the speeds down the straights can easily top 200 mph.  My guess is that even though the roof flaps help the cars from becoming airborne when they're turned around, their effect might be somewhat negated by the fact that NASCAR now mandates this huge wing on the back of the car, which means when the car is going straight ahead, it provides down force for the rear of the car.  But, turn one of these cars around at 200 mph, does not that wing become an air foil, much as the wing on an airplane?  Does it not provide lift when the car gets turned around, instead of down force?

NASCAR, I'm sure, will endeavor to set things right before we see another Talladega race.  I'm guessing that even probably before we see another Daytona race in July, for that matter.  Safety is good, especially for the fans.  Few of them make anywhere near the money that the drivers make to take the risks that they do.  Fans pay to see the races.  Drivers get paid to put on the show.  It's logical that the drivers should take the majority of the risk, rather than the fans.

Whatever NASCAR decides to do, their decision will be met with equal praise and scorn.  I'm guessing NASCAR probably knows that by now.  They probably don't care too much either way.

But fans in the stands getting hurt is a hit NASCAR definitely doesn't want to take right now.  As a fan of the sport, neither do I.  As a human being, I hate seeing fans of any sport getting hurt just because they are fans.