Go fast…turn left…don’t crash!

Lookie there…Jeff Burton on the pole for Sunday’s race. That’s number two for Mr. Burton.

I turned over tonight to watch Mr. Sadler on Trackside tonight and to my surprise he wasn’t there…of course, he was doing the real job…practicing his Busch car. I did get to see a little of his appearance, but had to jet with Postman for some grub. However, I did Tivo it so I can watch it later without commercials.

Tony was presented with his winner’s ring for the 2005 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard by Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Joie Chitwood, at the speedway’s Hall of Fame in Indianapolis.

Here’s Tony with the ring on (more photos can be found on Indy’s website). LOOKS GREAT TONY!

From what I can tell they have quite a few things on display, including 5 of Tony’s cars that helped Tony be the driver he is today.

I would love to see Tony make it two in a row come August 6.

Background: I love my Hyndai Santa Fe aka the Beast. Unfortunately I think it has a car jinx. I have had two accidents since purchasing the thing in 2004. The first one…some idiot broadsides me and then doesn’t stop…SOB! This occured about a week before the November 2005 race at Texas. Welcome to 2006–I sideswiped a car–my fault entirely…DAMN blind spot…when do you say…one week before the April 2006 race at Texas. Are you sensing a pattern here? Let’s just say I have been banned by Postman from driving the Santa Fe come October–a week before this year’s November race.

Current: I want a Ford Fusion. One, I will save on gas. I have to feed the Beast once a week which runs about $45-$50. Second, so I can say Ford Fusion like Elliott. I can’t type the way he says it, but for those who are in the know…know what I am talking about. I have also found it would be cheaper than what I am paying for the Beast. Here’s a picture of it–in red….woo hoo!

Why not a Monte Carlo like Tony drives? I mean after all Tony is my #1 man. I don’t like the Monte Carlo model. I have seen several around Raiderland and I just don’t like them. I am trying to save money too..they are a little more $$$…might as well keep the Beast. Of course, if I could find a Home Deport orange one with the #20 on it and my own personal driver, I might could be persuaded to purchase one.

Go fast…turn left…don’t crash!

This weekend was somewhat relaxing for me. Sometimes you need those kind of weekends.

I was able to watch the Pepsi 400 with a NASCAR Newbie. I find it quite amusing to watch a race with someone who doesn’t follow NASCAR. This was my chance to “recruit”. You know we are ALWAYS looking for new members. NASCAR Newbie asked a lot of questions which I don’t mind–that’s how we get ya. I wasn’t alone in my quest to “recruit” Newbie…I had a fellow NASCAR nation, Elliott Fan along side me. Newbie may not have been “recruited” as of yet, but Newbie will come over to the “Dark Side” as Elliott Fan put it. Newbie even purchased Elliott Sadler merchandise for Elliott Fan. Baby steps I say…baby steps!

Newbie–Sorry I couldn’t be of much help during the race trivia portion of the night. Elliott Fan kicked my butt on some of the questions. Also thanks for the Elliott DVD!

Go fast…turn left…don’t crash!

Sometimes pictures speak volumes…



Saturday night was AWESOME!!! Orange never looked so good!

Sorry I didn’t get a chance to post yesterday I still have Smoke in my eyes. Tony dominated the field–what else can I say. For awhile the HMS brigade had four cars up near the front, but it was still early. I was going to be throughly digsuted if one of those cars won the race, but I knew in my heart Smoke would not let that happen.

Of course when you go to restrictor place races, there is the big one. I, myself, saw a few little ones–of course when wrecks take out Princess Jimmie and Jeffie Poo–it’s a big wreck. I was a little upset when the last “big one” took out Mark Martin. Postman didn’t see the wreck, but I yelled loudly enough for both of us. Yes–that was me doing the happy dance when Jeff crashed. Of course we all knew when they interviewed Jeff there would be some of his traditional whining…and yep we weren’t disappointed. I was ticked when Jimmie got into Bobby Labonte. I think Bobby is a good racer and deserves to have a decent run, but he has just had some bad luck this year.

I sooooo loved Tony’s fence climbing!! After all he has been through over the past month or so, this was definitely worth it all. And what was he thinking when he dove into the crowd??? That was some crazy stuff! Of course I probably would have been there too with all the other Tony fans! You rock Mr. Stewart.

I was also excited that Elliott finished in the top ten!!! Elliott needed a run like that. Maybe things are turning around for Elliott–a top ten at the road race and now a top ten at Daytona. I thought he had finished 5th, but after NASCAR looked at the scoring loop when the caution came out it showed Matt K. was 5th and Elliott 6th. Things are looking great for the Candyman. I was hoping Fox would interview Elliot because he did finish in the top ten, but alas they didn’t. But Trackside took care of things for me. I will never be able to hear the words “Ford Fusion” again without thinking of Elliott ( I just love the way he talks!). That smile on his face said it all Saturday night!

Congrats to Matt K for finishing 5th. See, Matt and Tony can play nice at Daytona…of course it does help when they are being watched by Trixie and Babs.

I have to give some major props to Boris Said. He got the pole for the Pepsi 400 and he finished
4th. Not bad my friend! Of course it would have been kind of cool to see you shave all that curly hair off like you promised Dick Berggren.

I do like this picture, but I am a little distrubed by the big Pepsi case sitting Smoke’s car. I am aware it was the Pepsi 400. We all know Tony drinks Coke and he even made a comment to take effect. Yes, I know Pepsi was the sponsor, but ugh!!!!

(Sidebar: For those of you who didn’t know, I have been on this quest to find Orange Powerade with Tony’s picture on the front. I have had no luck the last few weeks. But that has all changed…as of last night (thanks to an awesome friend) I have acquired said Powerade. )

With this win, Tony moves back up in the standings to 5th. Matt is still behind Princess, but only 8 points behind. Do you see us coming Princess???? With Jeff’s little mishap, it drops him out of the top ten.

On to Chicago and a new broadcast team and channels–TNT and NBC or as I like to call NBC…Nothing But Commericals. I hope Chicago will be Tony’s kind of town.

Good Luck Boys!

Go fast…turn left…don’t crash!

Congratulations to Junior!

(Was that Tiredawg doing the happy dance last night??)

This is his first win at Daytona since winning a Busch race “back in the day” on February 16, 2004. He took the lead early in the race and never looked back. He led 88 of the 103 laps. This gave him his 21st Busch victory tying him with Harry Gant and of course, his father Dale Sr for seventh on the all time list. Not bad company Junior. Junior had a tire going down, but luckily there were a few late cautions that helped him. Even with the cautions, he drove away from the field. That was some nice blocking to keep back the rest of field.

After crashing the finish line, Junior breaks his transmission doing a burn out. So he didn’t get to drive the #8 car to Victory Lane.

The race was clean for about 50 or laps…no cautions…and then after the announcers make note of this…BAM…our first big caution. And as we all know cautions breed cautions. Of course there was a little bump drafting last night and Michael Waltrip fell victim to Cousin Carl’s bummper hello. Cousin Carl got served wtih a one lap penalty for agressive driving. Mikey didn’t seem upset, but I think off camera he might have been pretty steamed. I would have. If I was running good and had a chance to compete for the win and then BAM someone else takes me out…definitely would be pissed.

Here are some pics from the carnage last night.

Tony looked good and was moving up through the field, but alas he finished outside the top 10 in 12th place. That’s alright. He will be sitting pretty come Saturday night. And speaking of Saturday night…props go out to Boris Said for winning the Pole for the Pepsi 400. Not bad for someone who is generally considered a road race ringer. Of course, who is next to him on the front row???? MR. TONY STEWART. The NASCAR gods do have a little sense of humor. For those who have forgotton, Boris and Tony had a little meet and greet last week at Sonoma.

Well, on the main event…Daytona under the lights. Hopefully it won’t go into the wee hours of the morning like last year. I would LOVE to see the same result as last year too. A couple of things…Matt and Tony…behave yourselves…both Babs and I will be watching you two. There’s a lot of laps…use your heads and don’t do something stupid early. Finally watch the bumper hellos…NASCAR is watching…just ask Carl.

See ya’ll Saturday night!!!!

Go fast…turn left and right (IROC version)…don’t crash!

That’s two baby…count ’em…TWO wins in a row for SMOKE!

What a way to bounce back from last week’s road race woes. drove away from the competition on lap 4 and never looked back. It was if he was out for just a Sunday drive. This win put Tony on top in the IROC standings just ahead of fellow NASCAR driver Matt Kenseth (sorry Babs).

There was a little bit of “off road” racing last night for several of the drivers. Steve Kinser had some problems, but hd did remina right side up and finished the race a lap down. There were a few “meet and greets” on the track and that was me screaming obscenities late in the race when Matt and Mark decided to go synchronized spinning.. It looked lit is just onf the lose log jame things that happened. And I felt sorry for Martin Truex Jr–he slid of the track and into a wall of tires. I don’t know if thsoe watching the race saw that goober taking pictures of him…but I don’t think that’s how Truex wanted his picture taken. All in all it wasn’t a bad race.

It was strange to see the IROC cars with headlights and taillights. The commentators were discussing how the IROC people had to take the cars and modify them in order to race last night. Plus now they have to remove the modifications and get them ready for the last race in Atlanta. Props go out to these people.

I would LOVE to see Tony add an IROC championship to his list of accomplishments. I do ilke the idea of IROC on dirt. Of course we all know who would probably win that race. My only gripe about last night…well two…I wanted to see Tony climb the fence (he didn’t) and there was no coverage of the celebration in Victory Lane. Speed interviewed him sitting in his car which was great, but come on people. I know it was late, but I stayed up past my bed time to see Mr. Stewart celebrate in Victory Lane!!!!
According to this SI.com article (6/15/2006), there are 10 reasons to love Tony Stewart. Just 10?? I can think of a couple more, but it probably would be a little creepy coming from Mark Zeske who wrote the article (he looks old enough to be my dad). But here they are.
1. He’s fun loving
2. He’s competitive
3. He’s passionate
4. He cares about history and tradition
5. He can see the big picture
6. He’s consistent
7. He’s tough
8. He races whenever and wahtever he can.
9. He doesn’t always shave
10. He takes good care of his mom.

That about sums it up…and I would like to add one more…i think he is downright sexy (sorry Postman–that’s just the way it goes). The picture above is one of my favorites of Tony right now…you can’t go wrong with a guy who works on his car.

Well, next up the Busch race tonight and then we go Saturday night racing–WOO HOO! That’s TWO chances to see Mr. Stewart race and climb that thar fence at Daytona.

Good Luck Boys and Watch that Bump Draftin’! Note to Tony and Matt—let’s play nice boys!