about any subject that deals with the IRL can be complete without a mention of The Bimbo. In 2012, Wheldon was going to have a full season ride in the car that she is driving this year, and will abandon to race in the Danica Series. Soon, the conversation became "okay, so somebody died; big deal, we gotta talk about The Bimbo!". When her name was mentioned 4 times in less than 20 seconds, I couldn't take it anymore and changes the station. Jeez, it just never ends, does it?
And This Might Be Even Worse
Some authors of on-line NASCAR-related articles took the occasion of Wheldon's death Sunday to whine and moan about those fans who cheered Saturday night in Charlotte when the 48 car hit the wall hard. Some of these guys (and gals) really got their panties in a wad over this. The general tone of these articles was "IF YOU CHEERED WHEN JIMMIE JOHNSON HIT THE WALL, YOU WANTED HIM TO DIE!!!". One guy even told his readers that if they cheered the crash, they can go to hell. Okay, let's see if we can unwad those panties before they really start to cut off blood flow to the brain (even though it seems like it's too late for some). First of all, nobody at the race was cheering for Johnson to get hurt. Nobody goes to the track thinking "man, I hope somebody DIES tonight. It won't be a good race without a fatality". If somebody DOES think that way, they shouldn't be going to races. They've got WAY too many problems.
Anyway, race fans have their most favorite and least favorite drivers. They cheer for their most favorites, and wish bad luck upon their least favorites. Yeah, somebody (like me, for instance) could say "I hope the 48 hits the wall tonight, early" and it doesn't mean we wish any kind of bodily harm to the driver. We wish bodily harm to the CAR. I don't want the drivers of the 48, 18, or 42 cars to experience injury of any kind; but I'd sure like to see their cars wadded up against the wall on lap 3, getting towed back to the garage for the rest of the night. Let's face it: after 5 straight years of the same guy winning the title, fans want to see somebody else on top of the standings at the end of the year. So, when the 48 encounters misfortunes on the track, fans cheer. They cheered when he went sideways and even when he hit the wall, but they were cheering that his car was out of the race, not that the driver might be hurt. There might be an element of complacency involved, too.
After the last few years of seeing some horrific crashes, and the drivers walking away with minor (or no) injuries, fans have come to expect that the driver will be fine. Anybody who saw Michael McDowell's crash during qualifying at Texas in April of 2008, when the car barrel-rolled about a bazillion times (give or take 10) and seemingly left no piece of the car bigger than a slice of bread, was probably amazed that McDowell emerge unscathed. After that, some fans undoubtedly figured that there was no way a crash could seriously hurt these guys. So, a final message to those on-line pontificators who sought to exploit their (possibly phony) indignation at the barbarians in the stands: your ride upon the moral high horse is over. Aim that indignation somewhere else, because we're not listening anymore.
A Glutton For Punishment?
Rumors have been swirling around the garage that Steve Addington, the crew chief for the Double Douche, will leave the team, and Penske racing, at the end of this year. The rumors were denied by Addington himself, among others. Penske does own the option to keep Addington there for 2012, but if you're S.A., why would you stay? So you can be verbally abused over the radio every race by a pathetic, whiny punk? You'd think he would have had enough of that during the two years he was Shrub's crew chief. I guess there's nothing like tag team douchebaggery from two of the best. It's a good thing that there's not another Busch brother out there...
Speaking Of Shrub...
He's now 0 for 45 in Chase races that count. However, one national NASCAR writer made a pathetic attempt to give him some credit where it was absolutely not due. He said that Shrub has won one Chase race, at Phoenix in the fall of 2005. One problem with that: Shrub wasn't in the Chase that year, so in my mind that win doesn't count as a Chase race win. It counts no more than a win in May or June or July. There was no pressure on him to win when he wasn't in the Chase. The only ones that count are the ones when something is actually on the line, and so far he's batting .000 in those.
Down Is Up?
A wildly popular NASCAR-related website had this headline on a story from October 18th: "TV Ratings up for Charlotte". If you bother to read the body of the story, it contains these two quotes: "ABC's live telecast...earned a 3.2 U.S. rating. The rating is even with the rating for last year's race..." and "ESPN2's live telecast of the Nationwide Series race...earned a 1.1. Last year's race...earned a 1.3". So, the ratings for one race were the same, and the ratings for the other race were down, and yet the ratings, according to the headline, were up? On which planet does that make any sense, because it doesn't make any sense on this one? More disinformation from NASCAR's chuckleheads-in-charge, I suppose.
Team Orders, Revisited
With Jeffy and Junior pretty much eliminated from title contention, and Mark not even in the Chase, will The Felon issue orders to the 5, 24, and 88 teams to do anything they can to help the 48 try to win another title? My guess would be "yes". Don't be surprised if, in the last 5 races of the year, one or more of these three are involved in some dubious behavior to try to get Bent Sh!tcan to the top of the standings by the time Homestead rolls around. I hate to say this, but I wouldn't be surprised.
Gotta comment, question or want to say hey there...email Mike
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