Tag Archives: Racing

Where will June Bug Land?

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Dale Earnhardt Jr, son of the late, great, iconic “Big E”, is leaving the team and company his father founded, to seek his NASCAR fortunes with another team. I’ve read all kinds of punditry about what he could/would/should do, and offer a few unsolicited observations of my own, typed here into the internet:

  • It would be a mistake for him to attempt Nextel Cup with his own team, JR Motorsports. He wants to win races and championships now, not manage a race team. This would be a last-ditch option, and won’t happen right now. I’d trade my paycheck for the worst of the many offers he will get.
  • Hendrick Motorsports has been eliminated out-of-hand. Hendrick has four teams, the maximum NASCAR allows. But, this is Dale Jr, and contracts from existing drivers can be bought out. Hendrick’s #25 car, currently piloted by Casey Mears, ran the Budweiser livery back in the late 80′s-early 90′s. Still, Hendrick is a long-shot.
  • Richard Childress Racing has an opening, since RCR currently fields only three teams. RCR is a sentimental favorite to win the Dale Jr derby, since Big E won 6 of his 7 championships with RCR. And any race fan1 would get goosebumps at seeing the #3 car back on the racetrack. Still, I think the timing isn’t right for that to happen; Dale Jr said he’d have to mull that one over for a while.
  • Joe Gibbs Racing currently fields three teams, and good teams at that. There’s been trackside punditry that casts JGR as the outsider in this free agent landing game. I think the move to JGR makes a lot of sense. Here’s why:
    1. Dale wants to win now. JGR is a winning team.
    2. Joe Gibbs coaches for Redskins owner Dan Snyder. Dan is not opposed to celebs, marketing, and selling tickets. Junior is a huge ‘Skins fan. And Budweiser is not averse to any type of sports marketing.
    3. The Car of Tomorrow is here today. JGR is very close to having the COT figured out. Mastering that will be a key to winning.
    4. I think that Tony Stewart will retire in a couple of years. JGR will need a senior guy. Junior will be 34-35 in a couple of years.
    5. After a 3-5 year gig at JGR, we’ll see the return of the #3, as Dale returns to RCR to finish his behind-the-wheel racing career.

When this all comes true, I expect heartfelt congratulations on my prescience. When it doesn’t, I’ll be pondering, analyzing, and blogging anyhow. So there. And, in the last analysis, NASCAR isn’t about racing as much anymore. Kyle Petty said on a TV interview a week or two ago, “NASCAR is a sport on Sunday; the other six days, it’s business.” And I agree with that, and wish all the best for Dale Jr. His hardest decision is behind him now, and I’ll be looking for him in victory lane.

-k-

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1 myself included

Talladega Memories

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They’ve been racing NASCAR Cup cars at Talladega Speedway since 1969. And I’m plenty old enough to have seen them all. I haven’t, because consistent teevee coverage didn’t arrive until 1979. But that old 2.66 mile, high-banked monster has brought some memorable moments:

  • In the mid 70′s there was a hellacious crash on the backstretch; it took out the majority of the field. I think it was either Benny Parsons or Buddy Baker who later remarked “It looked like a 747 had crashed on the backstretch.”
  • In 1988, Bobby Allison’s car became airborne, pivoted multiple times on an axis from the roof of the car to the floorboards, and came perilously close to entering the grandstands. This ushered in restrictor plates at Daytona and Talladega for the next season.
  • Somewhere in the 80′s, a “fan” who is the poster child of the “Whiskey for Breakfast Bunch”, stole the pace car, and made nearly a lap around the track, before several of Alabama’s finest took him into custody coming off turn three.
  • The late, great Dale Earnhardt won his last NASCAR race at Talladega in 2000. He came from 20th with 2 or 3 laps to go, to win the event. Today, he would have celebrated his 56th birthday. Racing still isn’t the same without him.
  • What other track could spawn such jokes as “What has 50,000 legs and 100,000 teeth?” A: The infield at Talladega.

Maybe SWMBO’s and my “Search for America Tour” should head to Alabama someday. I think that would be great.

-k-

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Historic Old Martinsville

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The NASCAR Nextel Cup traveling circus and road show comes to Martinsville Speedway for the running of the Goody’s Cool Orange 500 this afternoon. They’ll be returning there in the fall for another race.

SWMBO and I love Martinsville, we like the travel down, the track, and nearly everything about the experience. We’d leave on Saturday and take the Skyline Drive or the Blue Ridge Parkway on our way down, and sometimes coming back. Speed limit 35-45. Two lane winding roads. Awesome views of mountains, trees and valleys. Plenty of observation areas and scenic overlooks, where we could gaze out over majestic valleys, and contemplate our individual smallness in the grand scheme of things. Overall, the Blue Ridge Parkway has more historical markers, so I think we like that segment best. But they’re both beautiful. In any event, we seemed to meander into Roanoke, and our hotel, about the time the bar opened for happy hour. Timing is everything. We’d spend Saturday night with a few Bud Longnecks, some pub grub, oftentimes in the company of other race fans who happened to be staying there.

Sunday, up early, by 6AM, and on to Martinsville, about an hour’s drive1 Breakfast, grabbed to go, from the Collinsville McDonalds. Sitting in race day traffic. Parking at the track is free, but the wait in traffic got worse, so we found a place for 20 bucks who would park your car, and not block you in. Made for easier egress from the track, too. Thence, to the Racing Electronics Trailer, where they will program your scanner with the current day’s driver channels. And a few stops by our favorite driver’s trailers, to verify our race day wardrobe is complete.

Then, to the grandstand, for pre-race ceremonies, the prayer, the Anthem, and the fly over. Then, 500 laps of beatin’ and bangin’ on a half-mile track. After the checkered flag falls, to the car, where SWMBO navigates the post-race traffic, and takes us back to Roanoke. A nice steak, back to the hotel bar for a nightcap, and to bed.

Head home on Monday. A Cracker Barrel breakfast, and a stop or two at some farmer’s markets on the way back.

Damn, that’s fun. So much fun that I took a break from writing this post, and bought tickets to the fall race. Se ya’ there!

-k-
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1 discounting race day traffic, which makes it much longer than that.

Nailing Threes and Making Laps

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March is a great month. The NCAA basketball tournament and the roar of NASCAR engines have always been near and dear to my heart.

This year, it’s even better: I’m sitting atop my NCAA Pool after the first two rounds, and my Fantasy Racing team is still #1 in my league. I say this, not to boast about my enlightened prognostication prowess, but to mark a moment in time where my name is up in lights.

I’m gonna savor it while I can, because on Monday, it could be a fading memory.

-k-

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A Minnie Pearl Moment, Racing Hat Edition

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Yesterday, I took SWMBO to breakfast at the closest Cracker Barrel. Having recently acquired some new Nextel Cup finery, in the form of a Jack Daniels Old No.7 racing hat (driven by Clint Bowyer, from Emporia KS), I decided this was the perfect time to break this thing in. I dutifully removed the tag that was held in place by one of those little plastic strings; I removed the cardboard liner that makes the crown stand up, formed up the brim so I wouldn’t look like a complete dork, and we headed out.

After our Uncle Herschel’s favorite breakfast, we returned home, and I dozed off in my chair for a bit. Then it was time to run a few errands. I grabbed my hat, only to discover that there was still a sticker affixed smack dab in the middle of its bill certifying that this was a bona-fide “Chase Authentics Pit Cap”. I asked SWMBO if she’d noticed that when we went to breakfast. Yep, she did; she thought it was part of the hat.

How-Dee!

-k-

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Busch Racin’

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The NASCAR Nextel Cup guys have the day off, but the Busch Series heads to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City for the running of the Telcel-Motorola Mexico 200 on the road course. This will be the third race there for the Busch Series; the enthusiasm of the Mexico City race fans is on a par with their counterparts on more northerly venues. Over 100,000 are expected to be in the grandstands.

On a more down-to-earth level, the Nextel Cup off-weekend means that my fantasy racing team maintains its hold on the #1 positiion in my league for another week.

Whoop-ti-do!

-k-

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Your Regularly Scheduled Drollery

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In all the hubbub and hand-wringing about moving the blog, I neglected to mention by best ever performance in my Fantasy Racing League last weekend.

My humble race team is #1 in my league. Granted, the leagues are smaller this year, 25 teams each. What I’m most tickled about is I’m #49 nationally.

Let me savor the moment; for this weekend I may fall.

To California Speedway this weekend.

-k-

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Daytona 500 Pre-Race Hype

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NASCAR and the NFL are a lot alike. I wrote here about the pre-game hypage for SB XLI. Not to be outdone, here’s the pre-Daytona 500 coverage, all times EST:

  • 10:00 – 11:00 ESPN2 – NASCAR Now
  • 11:00 – 12:00 ESPN2 – Michael Waltrip Racing: A New Era
  • 11:00 – 2:00 SPEEDtv – NASCAR RaceDay
  • 2:00 – 7:30 FOX – The 49th Daytona 500

    • The FOX coverage also includes about an hour of pre-race hype; the green flag flies around 3:15. Also not included was ESPN2′s airing of the movie 3 at 8:00 this morning, as well as SPEEDtv’s marathon 70+ hours of broadcasting from Speed Weeks.

    I plan to ass up and watch all the action on the new big teevee, and tune to one of the NASCAR HotPass channels (794 – 799 on DirecTV), to see a race as never before.

    And, on this date in 2001, Dale Earnhardt was killed on the last lap of the 500. Another reason the racing’s not the same.

    -k-

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    One for One

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    I’m batting 1.000 for the nascent NASCAR season, after predicting that Tony Stewart would win tonight’s Budweiser Shootout. And Tony had a great run, as he motored to a close victory tonight.

    Does this mean that the Fantasy Racing folks can just now hang it up, and send me the trophy money for winning the Spring Challenge?

    I doubt it. But old guys dream, too.

    -k-

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