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.

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!

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.

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.