Working around the clock for your enjoyment. Oh, wait, that's a lie!😂
Stay with me. We'll get there. I promise, and this time I mean it.
Friday, September 25, 2020
Tuesday, August 25, 2020
This is an all new blog. I apologize for it's rough look right now, but that will come along in time. It's great to be writing again, and I look forward to doing this.
About me? I'm the guy who ran the Jimmy C blog for a few years. I'm still Jimmy, or Jim, or just plain old James if you like. I moved to my current house 4 months ago, and I'm still settling in. I still enjoy NASCAR, but am not as invested in the sport as I used to be. Too many changes, many of which I consider to be idiotic, but I have to give kudos to the sport for trudging onward through the pandemic. NASCAR has provided a template which is being followed by other sports, and I'm glad to see that.
I'm going to try to provide commentary on this site that hopefully will be pertinent to today's issues. I'm a conservative, not a Republican. I don't belong to a party, but am open to new ideas, but I'm seeing many old hatreds being rekindled by both sides lately. It's truly sad to see.
I lost my wife back in February of this year. We had not been together for years. We reconnected in November of last year, but she died of cancer. It's a horrible, ugly disease, and I'm glad she's not in so much pain anymore.
This is the reason for the new name. I'll leave it to you to figure out the rest. I'll be back with many more changes and improvements soon, God willing.
Take care. Take your time. Life is too short to screw it up.
Goodbye for now.
Wednesday, September 6, 2017
Saturday, July 29, 2017
Greetings, my friends. This site is most definitely under construction. Not only is the name changing, but the focus is as well.
NASCAR fans, don't worry. We'll still talk racing. I'm just working on getting this site running again and branching out into different areas as well. As was before, I'll never publish anything you would not want your kids or your grandma to read.
Stay tuned while I get this 🔥 lit!
Thanks,
James Crooks
NASCAR fans, don't worry. We'll still talk racing. I'm just working on getting this site running again and branching out into different areas as well. As was before, I'll never publish anything you would not want your kids or your grandma to read.
Stay tuned while I get this 🔥 lit!
Thanks,
James Crooks
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Not Nascar Related. Not much, at least
I'm now back in what I consider my home, a place about 10 miles north of Greer, South Carolina. There is no town here, but we call it Blue Ridge, since Blue Ridge High and Middle Schools are located nearby. I graduated from Blue Ridge High School in 1981. The building in which I attended school no longer exists, but the new middle school stands on the site. When I was in school, there was no middle school in the area.
The area in which I live is not considered the mountains, but neither is it considered the Piedmont area, which stretches from northern Alabama to Virginia. Where I live is the foothills. The Piedmont is south of here, where the land gradually gets a little flatter.
Foothills they are too, no doubt. I can see the Blue Ridge Mountains from here clearly. It's not steep, but it's hilly. Roads are generally winding up and down, left and right. I probably live on one of the few straight roads in the area, and it's a small two lane road about 2 and a half miles long. It's not flat, but the rises and valleys are gentle.
When I was a kid, we played football, basketball, and baseball. Our favorite sport on TV though was stock car racing, in the form of the Grand National Series, which later became the Winston Cup Series, which is now the Sprint Cup Series.
We watched drivers such as Richard Petty, David Pearson, Bobby Isaac, Ned Jarrett, Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough, and many, many others that partook of the various tracks that abounded all around the nation in those days. The racing was door handle to door handle, and we were always on the edge of our seats, or had our hands dug into the rugs or carpet as we watched the races unfold. Often the race was at least a week old, but we didn't care. If it was on TV, it was new and exciting to kids like me.
I didn't grow up in a poor family, as many did around this area at the time. My dad was an engineer and made good money. He always provided us with everything we ever needed. My dad grew up in the 1930's though, and he was the 6th of 7 children. He WAS poor when he was a kid, and he taught my brothers and sister and me to pinch pennies from an early age. In between jobs, I've had the opportunity to hone those skills over the recent years.
In my family, Nascar was not a way of life. Getting up and going to school, and later going to work and making a living were the norms. I seemed to be the only child of a fairly normal family to become infected with Nascar fever.
A turning point in my life occurred in 1993, when Davey Allison died. I was driving to Atlanta, Ga every day, and for several days after I heard of Davey's crash at Talladega Speedway, I looked to the west, and thought I saw Davey in the clouds far off in the west of Atlanta. I never met Davey Allison, but felt like I knew him, even in those far off days before Twitter and Facebook.
Another turning point was on February 18, 2001. Dale Earnhardt died. I didn't mourn for a day. I mourned for probably a year. Maybe more. Maybe I still am mourning. Of course I am. To me and millions of other fans, Dale was the man who could never die. He did though. I never really met Dale Earnhardt either, but I was a fan of the man who could never be underestimated.
These days, I'm mostly a fan of Dale Earnhardt Jr. I'm also a fan of Kevin Harvick, and Kasey Kahne. I'm a fan of Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart, and even Danica Patrick. I'm even a grudging fan of Kurt Busch. In the Nationwide series, I love what Casey Elliot is doing.
I've been lucky enough to attend several races, and even meet a few of my heroes, which is basically anyone who has ever driven at the highest level of stock car racing. For a boy from the hills of the Blue Ridge, it's an honor.
The area in which I live is not considered the mountains, but neither is it considered the Piedmont area, which stretches from northern Alabama to Virginia. Where I live is the foothills. The Piedmont is south of here, where the land gradually gets a little flatter.
Foothills they are too, no doubt. I can see the Blue Ridge Mountains from here clearly. It's not steep, but it's hilly. Roads are generally winding up and down, left and right. I probably live on one of the few straight roads in the area, and it's a small two lane road about 2 and a half miles long. It's not flat, but the rises and valleys are gentle.
When I was a kid, we played football, basketball, and baseball. Our favorite sport on TV though was stock car racing, in the form of the Grand National Series, which later became the Winston Cup Series, which is now the Sprint Cup Series.
We watched drivers such as Richard Petty, David Pearson, Bobby Isaac, Ned Jarrett, Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough, and many, many others that partook of the various tracks that abounded all around the nation in those days. The racing was door handle to door handle, and we were always on the edge of our seats, or had our hands dug into the rugs or carpet as we watched the races unfold. Often the race was at least a week old, but we didn't care. If it was on TV, it was new and exciting to kids like me.
I didn't grow up in a poor family, as many did around this area at the time. My dad was an engineer and made good money. He always provided us with everything we ever needed. My dad grew up in the 1930's though, and he was the 6th of 7 children. He WAS poor when he was a kid, and he taught my brothers and sister and me to pinch pennies from an early age. In between jobs, I've had the opportunity to hone those skills over the recent years.
In my family, Nascar was not a way of life. Getting up and going to school, and later going to work and making a living were the norms. I seemed to be the only child of a fairly normal family to become infected with Nascar fever.
A turning point in my life occurred in 1993, when Davey Allison died. I was driving to Atlanta, Ga every day, and for several days after I heard of Davey's crash at Talladega Speedway, I looked to the west, and thought I saw Davey in the clouds far off in the west of Atlanta. I never met Davey Allison, but felt like I knew him, even in those far off days before Twitter and Facebook.
Another turning point was on February 18, 2001. Dale Earnhardt died. I didn't mourn for a day. I mourned for probably a year. Maybe more. Maybe I still am mourning. Of course I am. To me and millions of other fans, Dale was the man who could never die. He did though. I never really met Dale Earnhardt either, but I was a fan of the man who could never be underestimated.
These days, I'm mostly a fan of Dale Earnhardt Jr. I'm also a fan of Kevin Harvick, and Kasey Kahne. I'm a fan of Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart, and even Danica Patrick. I'm even a grudging fan of Kurt Busch. In the Nationwide series, I love what Casey Elliot is doing.
I've been lucky enough to attend several races, and even meet a few of my heroes, which is basically anyone who has ever driven at the highest level of stock car racing. For a boy from the hills of the Blue Ridge, it's an honor.
Monday, July 14, 2014
Lazy, Crazy Days of Summer
As the remaining "regular season" races begin to wind down, the scramble begins in earnest for the teams on the outside of the Chase trying to break their way in. So far, Brad Keselowski and Dale Earnhardt Jr. have virtually clinched Chase berths with multiple wins and points. It's safe to say that probably anyone who has won a race so far in 2014 will be in the Chase as well, but there are no real guarantees.
I have complained loudly about NASCAR's ability to screw up a perfectly good thing by monkeying around with such things as points, the Car of Tomorrow, the infamous splitter, and numerous other changes that have taken place since Brian France took over the reigns of my favorite sport.
This time, though, I think NASCAR got it right.
The complaint in the past has been that not enough emphasis was placed on winning races. That's changed. You pretty much have to win to get into the Chase now. Even one win does not necessarily guarantee a Chase spot.
Consistency is also important in the road to the Chase. Putting together a good string of top 5 and top 10 finishes definitely increases your ability to get into the Chase early. A team that is assured of a spot early can afford to experiment more, and get set up for the actual Chase for the Cup. A team that's fighting their way in has to protect itself at all costs and not have a bad finish, or else their hopes for a championship may go down the drain.
I don't often compliment NASCAR, but I see the new points structure as one of the best changes they've made in recent years.
A shout out to my new favorite writer, PattyKay Lilley at Racefansforever.weebly.com Click here for PattyKay's latest.
On to Indy after a weekend off!
I have complained loudly about NASCAR's ability to screw up a perfectly good thing by monkeying around with such things as points, the Car of Tomorrow, the infamous splitter, and numerous other changes that have taken place since Brian France took over the reigns of my favorite sport.
This time, though, I think NASCAR got it right.
The complaint in the past has been that not enough emphasis was placed on winning races. That's changed. You pretty much have to win to get into the Chase now. Even one win does not necessarily guarantee a Chase spot.
Consistency is also important in the road to the Chase. Putting together a good string of top 5 and top 10 finishes definitely increases your ability to get into the Chase early. A team that is assured of a spot early can afford to experiment more, and get set up for the actual Chase for the Cup. A team that's fighting their way in has to protect itself at all costs and not have a bad finish, or else their hopes for a championship may go down the drain.
I don't often compliment NASCAR, but I see the new points structure as one of the best changes they've made in recent years.
A shout out to my new favorite writer, PattyKay Lilley at Racefansforever.weebly.com Click here for PattyKay's latest.
On to Indy after a weekend off!
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