Author: Trixie

Fireworks!

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I can’t believe I haven’t been here in The Park for a few weeks.  It has been somewhat crazy in my life.  I am still adjusting to a new little one in the house, but it has been fun. 

I have been watching quite a bit of NASCAR lately that I haven’t ignored.  There has been some greating racing over the last few weeks and last night was no exception.  I didn’t get a heck of a lot of race watching in because we had some friends over for the 4th.  As we all racing at Daytona doesn’t disappoint the fans.  Because there was a rainout of qualifying and by virtue of the rules, Tony was once again sitting in the cat bird’s seat at the start of the race.  But Daytona is one of those tracks where starting up front doesn’t necessarily give you an advantage. However, it doesn’t hurt.  From the part of the race I did get to watch Tony had everything dialed last night.  After shooting off fireworks outside with friends, family and a few neighbors, I came back in to watch some more fireworks. Tony was clearly headed for his second win of the season in my book, but with a late caution and the laps winding down it looks like it wasn’t going to be easy.  With the double file restarts that put Kyle Busch on the outside of Tony on the front row.  As the green flag dropped they were off.   Klye go around Tony and took the lead and the white flag, but this IS Daytona.  It ain’t over until the checkered flag is flown and the car in lead crosses the finish line.  Tony got behind Kyle in order to make his move.  As Tony moved out from behind the #18, Kyle went to block and that’s when this went crazy.  Kyle clipped Tony’s front bumper and well, into the wall went Kyle as Tony crossed the finish line victorious.  Unfortunately, Kyle got the worse end of it courtesy of Kasey’s #9 and a few other cars.   I was so excited and yes that was me and the rest of the Smoke fans cheering.  Congratulations Tony!

For those out there who may think Tony took Kyle out for the victory are just plain wrong.  It was racing.  We all knew something was going to happen.  Would I have been upset if it was Tony hitting the wall?  I am sure I would have been, but I would hope after seeing the footage I would have seen it was just a racing deal.  I hope that I would have had the objectivity to see that it was racing deal if the tables were turned.  Even in the post race interview with TNT, Tony seemed bothered by the end of the race.  TNT of course didn’t show much post race coverage, but I wonder what Kyle was thinking about the results.  I would hope he would understand like Tony it was racing.  That’s it…racing!  When you have two passionate racers like Tony and Kyle challenging for the win they would understand how things work.  Now matter what they put on a good show.

Now for the last couple of weeks…

  • I loved how the road race turned out.  I would have loved Tony to have one, but I was happy for Kasey.  I mean when you hold off one of the better road racers towards the end, you deserve the win. 
  • Congratulations to Joey Lagano for his first NASCAR win last week at New Hampshire.  I know there are those who think it wasn’t fair to get your first win on a rain shortened race, but who cares.  A win is  a win.  I am sure Joey would have like to continue the race and caputre the win a different way, but Mother Nature had other ideas.   Isn’t part of racing out thinking the other teams?  The leaders had the same opportunity to start out, but they chose to pit.  It’s not like Zippy hasn’t seen a few of these situations before.  I mean he has two championships under his belt.  Besides, Joey would have had to pit if the race had continued.  I thought it was very classy of Tony to come over and congratulate Joey and Zippy. 
  • Doube file restarts have brought a little excitement back into the racing and are going to start playing into some teams’ strategies if they have already.  I still want to see how the double file restarts would fair in trucks.  The trucks already put on some of the best racing around.  Can you imagine what double file restarts would do?
  • Jeremy Mayfield…this is going to get messier before things all settle out.  As I have said before this is going to be interesting to see if NASCAR’s drug policy stands up to scruntiny.  I haven’t said too much about the whole Jeremy saga in The Park, but the only thing that bothers is the fact he didn’t tell NASCAR about the prescription he was taking prior to the drug test.  If anything that can come out of all is that NASCAR can step and reexam it’s drug policies and procedures, then so be it.

I hope to get back on track with things here in The Park now that I have a handle on things on the home front.  I hope everyone had a great 4th of July.

Sleepless in Raiderland

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It has been a rough 48 hours for me lately.  If you are a regular reader to The Park you know that Postman and I are foster parents.  We adopted Little Smoke in November 2008 and have been having a blast.  By the way Little Smoke turns 6 in a few weeks.  At the beginning of the year we thought Little Smoke’s half brother was going to be joining our little family, but things just didn’t go through like we thought.  But sometimes things happen for a reason and we just have to let God lead the way.  With that being said, we have a new little addition to our brood…a 6 month old little boy.  That’s what I said 6 months.  And I am a little tired.  He is only a week older than Little Smoke’s  half brother.  He is a cute little boy and has the contagious smile.  Sorry folks…can’t post due to legal issues, but you are going to have to trust me on this one.  So right now my posts may be all over the place.  Trust me I am still watching NASCAR and keeping up with things, but for the next few weeks until the routine gets going I will be in and out. 

Congratulations to Brian Vickers for earning his second pole in a row.  I wasn’t sure who I wanted to choose this week on my fantasy teams.  There are so many good choices, but I have to go with who I think can get me the most posts.  In “One and Done” I have chosen Juan Pablo Montoya.  He is a pretty good road racer and I am thinking…points racing…but also since I am mired in the pack what the hell.  This will allow me to keep some of the other high profile drivers for later racers (i.e. Tony Stewart for Brickyard).  I adjusted my other two teams on ESPN and Yahoo.  It’s all about maintaining position this week for me.

Happy Birthday!

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tony avatar

Yep…I turn 39 today.  I am actually working today (shocker I know).  I usually take my birthday off because well frankly one shouldn’t have to work on one’s birthday.  But here I am sitting at my desk tyring to push some paperwork around.  I will however celebrate my brithday with Little Smoke and Postman tonight.  I haven’t decided where I want to go to dinner, but you can bet I will have a grand old time.

Bump and Run

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It’s been a crazy week.  I haven’t had time to even think about things or even stop long enough to take things in.  But I am still here plugging away as I always do.  So this post is basically a bump and run, so hang on folks.

  • What an ending today in Michigan, fuel mileage?  Who knew?  That’s three for Mr. Martin.  Who would have thought at the beginning of the season Mark would have three wins and Tony would be leading the standings?
  • Had an awesome fantasy racing day.  THANK YOU MARK MARTIN!
  • NBA and NHL champions have been decided congrats to the Lakers and Penguins.
  • Best wishes to Johnny Benson on a speedy recovery.
  • I turn 39 tomorrow.  That means the Big 40 is next year…yuck.
  • WTF—enough with the hail people.  Rain is fine…hail?  Hell no.
  • Recovered from last week’s vacation, by actually being productive at work.
  • Freshmen entering college this fall were born in 1990.  I already had two years of college under my belt.
  • Back problems suck.  No matter what you do sit, stand, walk, lay down I hurt.  Going to doctor this week maybe he will give me some good medications to ease this pain.
  • Dealing with foster parent stuff…may have some good news in the next few weeks, but you never can tell…more to come.
  • Signed up Little Smoke for flag football.   That’s right…I said football.  He is from Texas.  Enough said.

Celebrating my 39th birthday tomorrow on June 15.  I haven’t had time to really think about it.  Spent the day with Postman and Little Smoke who were trying to find me a birthday present.  I love my husband and my son.  They just know what to do to make my day special.  Sometimes it isn’t about the big production, it’s about the simple things.  Sometimes I forget about those things but today is just one of those days where you realize how the crap you go through isn’t worth worrying about.  Because in the end that’s just what it is…crap.

Pocono

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I was able to catch most of the race on Sunday.  We got home from our little tour around Texas about 50 laps into the race.  I have to say I do like the double file restarts.  I don’t know if it made that big of a difference at the 2.5 mile track, but I can’t wait until the boys return to Bristol, Martinsville and Talladega.  I have never like the lapped cars sitting in the front of the lead lap cars especially when the leaders are sitting 3 or 4 rows back.  It can get quite confusing at times, plus the leaders don’t have to negotiate around cars that don’t have a snowball’s chance to be a factor in the race.   Plus the lapped cars can create more issues at the beginning of restarts.  But for now I like them.

Now on to the best part of the weekend.  Congratulations to Tony Stewart for getting his first win of the season (technically it’s his 2nd one), but as we all know it’s the points races that matter.  This is the first win by Stewart Haas Racing and I am sure this is not going to be the last.  I didn’t realize it until I read one of my favorite blogs, Tony won his first race at the 14th stop of this year’s season.  Coincidence…I think not.  Tony earned the pole by virtue of owner’s points due to the rainout of qualifying on Friday.  But his luck would be short lived when he crashed in practice and had to go to a backup car.  This meant instead of starting first, he would be delegated to the 43rd spot.  Of course it didn’t take long before Smoke was leading the race.  As it always seems to fall Pocono came down to a little gas mileage.  Kudos to Tony’s crew for taking advantage of the money stop and getting Tony out in front of Carl.  And here is where Tony and Darian rolled the dice.  I was holding my breath hoping and praying that Tony was saving enough gas to get him to the checkered flag.  It was sweet to see that #14 cross the finish line in first.  It was cool to see Tony’s dad get excited about his son’s victory and how touching to see him congratulate him in Victory Lane.   What a great early Father’s Day present.

Other notes from this past weekend

  • The boys on to Michigan.  If Junior doesn’t pull away with a victory it will mean he has gone a full year without a victory.  I guess all the broadcasters will be making note of this fact a little bit more.  Oh well…
  • I have been listening to the “talk” about Danica Patrick coming over to race in NASCAR.  I think she has the skill set, but I don’t if she can  take on all that is NASCAR.  I don’t know how the fans are over there in IRL, but here in NASCAR we can get a little passionate about a sport.  Time will tell. 
  • Kyle Busch smashing his guitar trophy after the Naitonwide race.  My opinion…it’s his trophy, he earned it and he can do what he likes.  I like Kyle Busch.  He has put a little spice back into NASCAR.
  • I guess TNT did okay on the broadcast.  I didn’t really pay attention all that much because after touring Texas for a week you have quite a few things to unpack and wash.

Only in Texas

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Greetings from somewhere in Texas…

The family is headed back to Raiderland since our vacation is coming to an end. We all had a wonderful time enjoying our time together on our first family vacation.

I just had to take a picture of this store sign. While traveling down to see my father we passed by this store. I just had to share it with everyone out there. I thought only in Texas would you see a sign like this.

guns and liquor

Still on the road

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Still on vacation…only a few days left.

  • Qualifying for Pocono has been rained out…bummer, but that’s ok Tony has the pole for Sunday’s race.
  • Speaking of rain, the Prelude to the Dream even at Eldora was also rained out this year.  What is it with Mother Nature?
  • Double file restarts…love them, maybe it will put some excitement into Pocono
  • Carl Long situation, you know the rules of NASCAR and you know what happens if you don’t abide by the rules.  Is it fair?  Not always, but you can’t have two different rulebooks..talk about opening a can of worms.  I hope message was sent and received to ALL the raceteams big and small.  Don’t monkey with things.
  • Little Smoke loves the surf and the ocean.
  • Tired of not being able to sleep in my own bed
  • Forgot how easy it was to catch up on soap operas…haven’t watched them in several years…and forgot how cheesy some of them can be
  • Tired of people not carrying their weight
  • Summer time is here and I am ready for school to start already for my five year old