Author: Trixie

Million Dollar Man!

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smoke.330I had a post pretty much planned out for the All-Star Race Weekend, but that was all thrown out the window after the last 10 laps.  And yes that was me and the rest of us Stewart fans yelling and cheering as our man took the checkered flag tonight!!

CONGRATULATIONS TO TONY STEWART!!!!

We all knew it was just a matter of time before Mr. Stewart finished first.  That was a great pass by Tony to take the lead from Matt Kenseth.  It looked like Kyle Busch was going to be a factor in the last 10 laps and he was until he went three wide with Jeff on one side and  Newman on the other.  But there was that #14 lurking right behind them.  When Tony Stewart decided to leave Joe Gibbs Racing after 10 years with the team and start his own racing team, people were wondering what was he thinking.  I for one was unsure how this year would go.  All I knew was that Tony was going to be successful with this new team.  I felt bad for Newman because he had Kyle in his sights, but when you try to go three wide with Kyle Busch you better be prepared for some beatin’ and bangin’.  But Tony took them all to school and showed them how to do things.  Wow…what a birthday present! (Tony’s birthday is May 20).

All I have to say is…watch out boys that’s the #14 in your rear view mirror and that was the #14 passing you.

Pit Crew Challange & NASCAR Day

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PCC_664I have to say I love the Pit Crew Challenge.  It’s great to watch these guys do what they do best and last didn’t disappoint.  I was very proud of the #14 team reachign the semi-finals.   I so much wanted them to win last night, but a couple of  penalties cost them.  It was a tough break for these guys, but you have to these things happened on pit raod they could cost tony the lead and/or penalty.    It was cool to see the wives and girlfriends fo the drivers get into the pit crew challenge.  Fro example, Kim Burton steering the #31 car for the competition.  I mean this women is there at the track atop the pit box every week supporting her husband.  I don’t know if I have ever seen a more passionate spouse.  The same could be said for Delana Harvick.  It was kind of cute to see Kevin standing at the a sort of pit box watching his wife and crew memebers compete.  But in the end, it was the #31 team who smoked the competition.  They were up against the underdog team of the night the #43 team of Reed Sorenson.  As I told my husband last night, it was the “Battle of the Richards”.  I wanted both of those teams to win, but unfortunately you can only have winner.  CONGRATULATIONS #31 TEAM!!!

Today is the 6th annual NASCAR day…do you have your NASCAR gear on as well as your NASCAR day pin?  I do.  But I don’t need a special day to wear my NASCAR attire, but as with any special observation, you make a special effort to let people know how you are passionate about NASCAR.  Of course NASCAR day isn’t all about declaring your passion for NASCAR, it is a time to make a difference for the NASCAR charities.  There are several driver foundations that you can contribute to these days.  You can also look at all the charities Speedway Charities helps out.  You can make a difference.  Even buying a $5 NASCAR Day pin is making a contribution.  Yes it may be only $5, but what if 100, 000 people bought just one pin that is $50, 000 that could help make a difference in someone’s life.  I bought three pins this year…one for myself, Postman and Little Smoke.  I would love to give more this year, but things are a little tough for this NASCAR fan, but I just wanted to show my support for NASCAR and it’s charities.

The Bullet List

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Sorry about not posting in awhile–this is my busiest time at work and I am lucky to get out with some kind of damage like at Talladega. So with that being said here is my bullet list for the past couple of weeks.

  • I was ok with the result of the Richmond race.  I was hoping for a Denny Hamlin victory or at least closer to the front so it would have given me a bigger lead in my fantasy league, but I came out leading the points after that race.  Not too shabby I must say.  Congratatulations to Kyle Busch for yet another win this year.  Say what you want, but this boy can drive that car.  With the win at Richmond that gave him 4 wins so far on the season.
  • How ’bout that race at Darlington?  That’s the second win for Mr. Mark Martin this year.  It’s 2 wins in the last four races.  He is now up to the 11th spot in the standings with 20 bonus points.  He has one more win than teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson.  And 2 more than Junior.   I believe I heard this was his first multiple race win season since 2000, but I am not sure on that stat.  I was half listening at times and I think it was on the radio and not tv. 
  • Thanks Jeff Burton for a decent finish for me.  You allowed me to keep my lead in my fantasy league.  Granted it’s a small one, but a lead nonetheless.
  • I listen to quite a bit of NASCAR on Sirius.  No matter what the topic somehow, someway, talk will turn about Juniors’s performance or lack there of this season.  Normally when the talk turns to Junior I usually switch channels because frankly I really don’t care about it, but the other day one of the callers made a decent point.  He said perhaps Junior doesn’t know how to communciate to Eury Jr. about how this new car reacts or what needs to be done.  This is a different car than the old one.  I mean all you have to do is look at how Jeff has struggled with the car.  I have watched Junior drive the wheels of the Nationwide car.  However this car is similar to the old car.   I just think Mr. Hendrick is going to have some tough choices ahead of him.  I mean think abou this…Mark Martin just joined HMS this year and he already has more wins with HMS than Junior has with HMS.
  • I am excited about the results Stewart Haas has been putting up lately.  Tony and Ryan finished 3rd and 4th respectively at Darlington.  Both drivers are in the top 12 with Tony sitting 2nd just 29 points right behind Jeff Gordon.  While Ryan is sitting 8th in the points.   I am excited about the rest of the season.  Both drivers are so close to that first win for Stewart Haas.  I would love for Tony to get the first win for his team, but I would take a Newman too.
  • How ’bout them rookies?  Brad K finished 7th and Joey Lagano finished 9th. 
  • I have to say I was a little disappointed about the suspension of Jeremy Mayfield from NASCAR especially since he was tryign to make a go of it with his own team this year.  This is a no-tolerance policy.  I can’t say I blame NASCAR for having such stringent policies.  Does a driver want to be out on the track driving 150 plus mph with another driver who may be under the influence.  Will Jeremy be able to come back into NASCAR at some point?  I can’t answer that.  But it is going to be interesting to see how this all plays out.  Jeremy has named his wife Shana as the owner and tagged JJ Yeley to drive his #41 car.
  • It’s all-star week in NASCAR.  One of my favorite events takes place tomorrow–the pit crew challenge.  I love to watch this event.  This is the time these guys get to show what makes them best out there.  Many times these guys get no recognition unless they  make a huge mistake, but if it wasn’t for these guys doing what they do best soem of these drivers would be able to do what they do best.
  • Have you voted for your favorite driver?  I have a couple of times, but that’s about it.  I will go and vote a couple of more before the deadline.  So if haven’t voted…go vote!
  • Don’t forget about NASCAR Day on Friday May 15.  Wear your favorite NASCAR gear to work, home, or whereevery to let everyone know what NASCAR means to you.  Of course, for those who are friends and family memebers of a NASCAR fan, you already know what NASCAR means to them.

One More Time

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Mark Martin will return in 2010 to run another full year for Hendrick Motorsports. Initially when Mark decided to come out of semi-retirement, he was going to run a full season in 2009 and a partial season in 2010. Looks like Mark may be having a good time and signed up for the full season next year. Of course this news didn’t surprise me in the least. Mark seems to have a renewed desire and energy it didn’t have after he left Roush. I mean look at this year so far…one win, 3 poles, and 5 top tens in 10 races. And who knows what the rest of the season holds for Mr. Martin. There is quite a bit more racing left. Watch out boys….Mark Martin is back.

Dang

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I just love this commercial…it’s a PSA that is running here in Texas.  There isn’t much dialouge except, DANG (must be said with that twangy accent).

Post Dega

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Personal note…I can’t believe I went by I didn’t acknowledge April 12.  No it wasn’t my birthday…that’s June 15 or my wedding anniversary that’s June 9…but the anniversary of The Park.  I can’t believe it has been 4 years already.  What started out as a way to just share my randomness in my life as well as my passion obsession, has turned into a place where I have meet some wonderful people who love to blog just as much as I do.  At one point I thought about giving up on The Park, but it has become a part of me.  I may not have the traffic or the readers so people do with their blogs, but I like to think I can brighten someone’s day out there with my efforts.  Thank you to all those who stop by and comment and for all those lurkers out there.  I hope you continue your travels through The Park.

I was planning on posting my thoughts about the race at Talladega on Tuesday, but with the sudden passing of David Poole, I wanted until today.

As I have mentioned here before I like racing at Talladega.  I like the sitting on the edge of your seat kind of racing and Sunday was no exception for me.  Of course the face of the race took a different look on Lap 7 when the Big One happend.  I mean it took out several of the race contenders in one fell swoop.  it shows how one itty bitty wiggle/bobble can cause a massive pileup.    This race took out Jeff Gordon, the points leader as well as Mark Martin who had managed to climb to 13th in the points standings.  I felt bad for Mark. He was gaining  momentum and to have it all taken away just plain SUCKS.

I make no bones about the fact I am not a fan of Dale Jr.  I won’t go into all the horrendous details and detailed explanation of why, but on Sunday I found myself wondering where he was on the track.  It wasn’t because I was thinking of becoming a member of Junior Nation…the reason I picked him as my driver was for one of my fantasy leagues.  I was in the lead coming into Talladega and I wanted to maintain my lead as well increase my lead, plus Junior was still on the block for me to pick so why the hell not?  I mean I am not a fan of his, but I am not going to let that come between me and winning.  I mean look at the numbers at Talladega for Junior.  His best starting position is 3rd and well his best finish is first and he has done that 5 times.  It’s all about winning in my book.  And with the finish on Sunday I am have maintained my lead and stretched it out. 

Now on to The Crash…

We all know the best part of the race usually happens within the last 25 laps.  This is where those who have a possibility of winning begin to make their moves and find their drafting partners or better yet who they call follow to the front until they can pull out to take the lead.  Just like they did in the Nationwide race on Saturday, Newman and Junior hooked up nose to tail as they made there way to the front.  Plus you couldn’t count out David Ragan either since he was just about in the same spot after the last restart on Sunday as he was on Saturday.  But as we all know, this is Talladega…anything can happen.  Since Tony had a rough go on Sunday and to be honeset I thought he was going to make it interesting near the end, but as luck would have it no.   But there was the other SHR car driven by Ryan Newman.  If Tony couldn’t get the first win for Stewart Haas Racing, it was perfectly fine and dandy that Newman get it.  I was thinking Dale would make his move around Newman sooner than he did on Saturday, but the next thing you know he comes Carl Edwards being pushed by Brad Keselowski.The two of them passed the Newman/Earnhardt Express like they were standing still.  There was Carl I grimmaced.  He pretty much rode around all day until he needed to make his move…of course this was nothing new.  I have seen other drivers do this as well.  You have to do what you have to do to WIN. 

In my opinion, the incident between Carl and Brad was a racing deal.  Brad held the bottom line and did not go beyond the yellow as he was instructed by NASCAR during the driver’s meeting.  If he had gone below the yellow when Carl came down on him, it would have cost him the victory (see Fall 2008 Dega race).  It was a horrific accident.  Every piece of safety equipment did it’s job from the fence to the Hans device.  Carl was able to walk away and make his way to the start finish line.  I believe if Newman’s car had not been there when he started flipping I don’t think he would have ended up in the fence.  From what I could tell he was headed back down to the track surface when he hit the front of Newman’s car which accted like a catapult.  Eight fans were injured because of debris from Carl’s car.  This begs the question…should NASCAR car look at ways to prevent something from this happening in the future?  That I can’t answer.  NASCAR considers safety of the drivers, crewman, and fans priority number one and I am sure NASCAR will be disccussing these things in the near future.

Congratulations Brad for your first win in the Cup Series.  I think you have a might bright future in NASCAR!

David Poole

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david-pooleDavid Poole, co host of Sirius Morning Drive and writer for the Charlotte Obeservor passed away suddenly today. He was 50.

As a NASCAR fan, I respected his insight on the sport of NASCAR. There were times that I didn’t necessarily again with his opinions, but I respected him for them. I would hope he would Just I would think he would have respected mine if I ever got a chance to meet him. It saddens me to think I was just listening to him this morning on The Morning Drive as I made my way to work.

The NASCAR community has a lost a friend today. He will be missed by those who he knew both in and out of NASCAR. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends as the grieve the loss of this wonderful person. It will be a sad day tomorrow morning as I tune into the Morning Drive and not be able to hear David and Mike banter with not only each other, but with all of us NASCAR fans.

God Bless You David.