NASCAR 2010

Texas

/ Trixie / Leave a comment

I have been incognito of late.  It has been a rough ride the last couple of weeks, but I am still hangin’ around.

I have been enduring the wrath of Mother Nature again.  What’s up with her?  It has been raining non-stop in Raiderland, well it seems like it has, for the past several days.  I believe I saw Noah in Home Depot the other day purchasing lumber.  I hope not.  Now she has taken her wrath to my beloved Texas Motor Speedway.  I was all set to watch the Nationwide race today and lo and behold…there’s a delay because of weather!  I guess she and the race gods are having some kind of “issue”.  Whatever the “issue” she needs to get over herself and move it on out of Texas.  I may not be at the race, but I don’t appreciate her taking things out on my fellow race fans out there in Ft. Worth!  But luckily TMS does have lights and Eddie Gossage will do everything in his power to get the race underway for everyone.  Go get ’em Eddie!

I was absolutely, positively, undeniably THRILLED that Tony will be starting on the pole Sunday.  Not only will he be on the pole Sunday, he will be making his 400th Cup start on Sunday as well.  I wish I was there watching him take the green flag and leading the pack on Sunday, but alas…I am here in Raiderland.   But I will be watching tomorrow…do you hear that Mother Nature?  There will be racing tomorrow!!!!!

The big news this week in NASCAR is the announcement Kasey Kahne will be ending his time in the #9 at the end of 2010 to head on over to driver for Hendrick Motor Sports.  That’s all we know at the moment.  We don’t know how Kasey will fit into the HMS family, but if history has shown Mr. Hendrick will take care of things for Kasey.  If I was a driver and Mr. Hendrick said, “hey, why don’t you come on over and be a part of our team?”  I would need to have my head checked if I said no.  Mr. Hendrick knows what it takes to build a championship team.  But what the driver and team do with all the resources is another matter.  Some think one team will be moved over to Stewart Haas racing–who is considered to a somewhat satellite team of HMS.  Whatever Mr. Hendrick decides it will be the best for HMS and Kasey.  I am going to be watching this closely.  Will Stewart Haas Racing be playing a role in all of this?  I think so…how?  I am not sure.  It’s still too early…it’s only April and we have quite a bit of racing left in 2010.  I can’t wait and see what happens.

Update…Mother Nature must be REALLY pissed.  Nationwide race postponed until tomorrow.  Looks like a doubleheader tomorrow at TMS.   We will get to see the Cup race first and then the Nationwide race.  That is if Mother Nature gets over her issues with NASCAR!

Open Letter to Mother Nature

/ Trixie / 1 Comment

Dear Mother Nature,

I just wanted to let you know that I am not happy, I repeat, not happy with you at the moment. Apparently you had other things to do today other than spending time watching the NASCAR race that was scheduled in Martinsville, Virginia. I guess you do not care that the rest of us scheduled our errands and/or outings on other days that does not have racing scheduled. Because the race has been delayed until Monday, I will not be able to enjoy it as much as I would have if it was today. I now will not have the luxary of watching Tony race his #14, but instead listening to the race via NASCAR.com. Do not get me wrong at least I will be able to listen to the race, but it is not the same. There are those who I work with who do not understand my passion for NASCAR and always look at me as if I have some kind of weird mental condition. I hope the next time the fancy strikes on a Sunday morning…stop and think about what your actions. If you must do things on Sunday, please wait until the race is over to do your business.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

A NASCAR fan.

A Few Rants…

/ Trixie / Leave a comment

I was going to write about this past weekend, but I was disappointed that Jimmie won again that I just couldn’t put my heart into a post about Bristol.  Before I depart from Bristol, I will say Bristol racing hasn’t been Bristol racing (well in this race fan’s opinion) for a couple of years.  Every time the prerace shows talk about the beatin’ and bangin’ as well as the tempers flaring during and after Bristol, but it has been a little tame compared to previous races at Bristol.  Congrats to Jason Allgaier for his first win in the Nationwide Series.  I have to give props to his teammate Brad K. for not trying to dump him like some other driver (who shall remain nameless) did to another driver.  But on the flip side, would Brad K. been up on the bumper a little more if it had not been his teammate?

I have been watching NASCAR for a few years now.  I know it is probably not as long as some of you, but I feel I have invested quite a bit of time to the sport.  People still wonder why I follow this sport (and yes, IT IS A SPORT).  A sport that has 43 cars going round in circles at high speeds for hours.  It’s hard to describe sometimes to those stick and ball fans exactly my passion, but every once in awhile someone gets it.  I have been ridicule and poked fun at because of NASCAR, but it’s been mainly by my friends, family, and coworkers.  But as you know, it is all done in love and friendship so it doesn’t bother me.  What does bother me is when people who don’t take the time to understand me and the sport I love that gets me all riled up.  I have been “accused” by the misunderstood that the only reason I watch NASCAR is because I want to see the crashes.  That would be far from the truth.  I hate crashes.  Who really wants to see drivers crash into one another at high rates of speed just for entertainment value?  If you like cars crashing into one another, I would suggest you attend a demolition derby.   If that is the reason you come to NASCAR fine, but step back for a moment and give NASCAR a chance. 

Just got from reading one my other fellow NASCAR fans blog.  And the recent post (as written by a guess blogger) made some excellent points about competition and the sport of NASCAR.  It is a sport and a sport is competitive.  There are winners and losers.  We don’t always like who wins and we root for some to even lose.  We thrive on rooting for certain drivers to have a bad day.  Case in point–Jimmie Johnson.  I said I wasn’t going to mention anything, but the post I just read triggered all these lingering feelings about Jimmie Johnson.  I make no bones about the fact that I have never been a fan of Jimmie Johnson.  I do give him credit for the job he has done over the past four years.  He and Chad have this Zen lke thing going on that is scary, but I am tired of seeing the #48 in victory lane. 

 On Sunday, Kurt Busch said it best after finishing third…losing to the 48 sucks (or something to that affect).  It does suck.  The other drivers know what they need to do–driver faster and better than Jimmie.  But sometimes you have the better car and have good runs, but sometimes Jimmie still finds a way to win.  I have seen Jimmie come into a race with a piece of junk and finish first or in the top 5.  I have seen luck go his way and you wonder, WTF…and wonder if some other force is at work.  But bottom line is the #48 has found a way to win and dominate the series over the past four years.  I belive the other drivers are stepping up to try and challenge Jimmie, but the #48 team always seems to be one step ahead of the game.  It’s getting to the point where I find myself rooting for anyone else to win (and yes that would include Dale Jr.).  I know the boys are in Martinsville this weekend and well, we all know how the #48 loves Martinsville.  So I beg of you of  Mr. Stewart, Mr. Gordon, Mr. Busch, or any other driver out there–bring it…beat the #48.  If not, he will win.  He will leave Martinsville with 40 bonus points.  If Jimmie is leading in The Chase…well…you know the rest of the story.

As NASCAR Turns…

/ Trixie / Leave a comment

I wasn’t going to post anything else with regards to the whole Carl and Brad incident, but I have had some time to digest things.  I even went back to read what I posted yesterday and I feel the same way.

Someone once said to me, “the only reason you watch NASCAR is because you want to see wrecks”.  That is far from the truth.  if you are coming to watch NASCAR just because you want to see wrecks, then I don’t want you as a part of NASCAR Nation.  Wrecks are ineveitable in NASCAR.  You have 43 guys racing in 3400 lb cars at 170-200 mph all trying to finish first.  There will be beating and banging, trading paint, and rubbing.  But I don’t want to see ANY driver crash.  I don’t want another driver killed at a race track.  I think that is what bothers me about this whole incident.  I want drivers to be racing each other hard and aggressive, but I don’t want it get to the point where they start using their cars as weapons.  If you have a beef with another driver, park your 3400 pound weapon, get of the car, and take care of it in the pits or behind the haulers.  

I am not naive here either.  I know this goes on in NASCAR and I can point to several incidents in which drivers (my favorite drivers is not immune to this activity) have paid back each other on and off the track.  I have to agree with Amy over at Amy’s Bad Groove.  This wasn’t your classic bump-and-run as we have seen Dale Earnhardt Sr. peform with little effort, this was an, to quote her, “all-out crash and burn”.   I don’t want the sport that I love and obessess about 365 days a year to turn into a demolition derby.  What I do want is NASCAR to allow drivers the freedom to race each other hard on the track, allow the banging of quarter panels, and bumper rubbin’ and maybe that is what NASCAR was saying yesterday. 

I just don’t know.

Seriously????

/ Trixie / Leave a comment

As they say on Sirius’ Morning Driver, “I’m Standing Up!”.

NASCAR has laid the hammer down to Carl Edwards today for his actions on the track Sunday. There was great outcry for suspension, fines, probation, removal of points, etc., but I never saw this one coming. Carl Edwards received a 3-race probation for his actions. That’s it my fellow NASCAR fans. No loss of points, no loss of money, no suspension–just probation for three little bitty races.

I don’t know what to say about the “punishment” handed down today. I am utterly speechless (and that doesn’t happen) very often. When the season started NASCAR decided to let the drivers take care of things or “have at it”. It was just a matter of time before this new philosophy by NASCAR would be tested. I thought it would be sooner than race 4, but here we all are today pondering the decision by NASCAR.   On one hand we fans have been asking NASCAR to allow the drivers to take care of their business between themselves instead of NASCAR stepping in at every little turn.  NASCAR listened and changed things.  Flash forward Sunday when Brad tags Carl and sends him up the track and into the #20.  Carl is upset and decides to take care of things between him and Brad.  Brad ends up spinning and flipping to the surprise of us all.  This is where everything gets a little muddy. 

I for one was expecting a little more punishment from NASCAR–perhaps a fine and loss of points.  But just probation?  I wanted to see what others around NASCAR thought of the punishment so I headed on over to Twitter to see some of the people I follow.  I have to say they are very interesting and some are quite funny.  It’s a mix bag.  I even found myself responding to fellow Tweeters as well as on Facebook and as always here in The Park. 

I am not a fan of Carl Edwards.  I would have liked to have seen Carl get more than just a three race probation.  Carl was several laps down when he decided to turn his #99 car into Brad K. to get back for the earlier race incident.  The race was almost over and Brad was on track to have a finish in the top 10.  I guess in Carl’s mind since Brad messed up his day, Carl should mess up his.  Sounds like a plan to me.  If I can’t have a good day, why should you.  Maybe that is what he was telling himself as he was logging laps around the track all day.  The more he circled Atlanta Motor Speedway, the more time he thought about it, the more angrier he got and well…here we are.   Carl intentionally wrecked Brad–plain and simple.  If you have seen the video, you know this is true and besides I knew the minute he got into Brad, I felt it was payback.  It’s one thing if Carl’s car was actually loose and it was a racing deal, but it wasn’t.  It was intentional.  I don’t think the early incident was intentional.  Should Brad haven’t given a little bit of room early in the race, yes.  Did Brad try to give Edwards room and by the time Carl was there, he couldn’t lift?  Maybe.  I wasn’t in the car with Brad to know exactly what he was doing at the time.  I was at home in my recliner.  

I am not as angry as I would have thought (probably because it doesn’t involve any of my favorite drivers).  Maybe I am becoming a more objective race fan–at least that’s what I would like to think.  When the whole “have at it” mantra was issued I wondered where the line was going to be drawn before NASCAR said that’s enough boys.  I guess we now have our answer race fans.

Tony Interview

/ Trixie / 1 Comment

Last week in Vegas one of my blogger buddies had the wonderful opportunity to interview Tony Stewart.  Man what a thrill that must have been.  I would have been a nervous wreck, but she did a great job and brought back with her a great interview.  Prior to her interview she put out a call for questions that we might want to ask Tony if we were interviewing him.  Wow..this was a hard request for me, but I wanted to give a least one question for her.  I know Tony is a racer who respects the history of his sport and so I thought this is where I want my question to go.  I mentioned this opportunity to Postman and told him what question I submitted and he thought he would be a good question.  So without further ado…my question and Tony’s answer.

Amy: If you could go back in time, what decade would you be a racer in?

Tony: Oh man. I would say….probably the sixties and seventies. It was a pretty cool era in the sport because there wasn’t all the technology involved. It was really about car owners that sat there with a piece of paper and came up and drew ideas. There weren’t the computers to create the ideas for them. Just racing was a lot simpler then. I mean guys would race Indy and run Daytona. To get to race with someone like AJ Foyt and Mario Andretti and guys like that would be pretty cool.

It sounded like he was intrigued by the questions.  Of course as a die-hard Tony fan, he answer did not surprise me.  AJ Foyt is his racing idol.  I would have loved to have seen Tony race against AJ and Mario.  Wow…what a race that would have been.

If you want to see the entire interview, hop on over to Amy’s Bad Groove.

Thanks Amy for a little more insight to our favorite driver and also for using my question.

BK Toys

/ Trixie / 1 Comment

Update…on Monday I posted about the new Tony cars at Burger King and how I was unable to acquire one.

Wonderful news…I went to get a sausage croissant sandwich this morning and there it was…the Tony cars. And yes, I did purchase one and it now sits in my office for everyone to see. I know it sound a little crazy, but I am sure I am not the only Tony Stewart fan who is scouring the Burger Kings across this country looking for the Tony cars.