For this I commend him and his belated honesty. I in no way condone what he did but he deserves due credit for admitting his problem and cleaning up his life and should be given a second chance after an appropriate amount of time remaining clean and sober.
I’ve heard and read numerous comments about NA$CAR’s drug policy or the lack thereof. One excuse I’ve seen repeated numerous times is the prohibitive cost of thorough drug testing. Bull hockey. The last three jobs I held before retirement all required a drug test and was paid for by the company. I had no reservations about that requirement and I, of course, passed. The race teams spend tons of money for every gadget and gimmick that they think will give them improved performance. NA$CAR could easily implement a rule that all drivers and crew chiefs be drug tested at least twice a year and team members randomly selected for testing at least once a year. The team owners should pay the costs as with any other part of their doing business. NA$CAR should have a traveling medical team to attend to driver health and well being and the same team could supervise those tests being done by an outside, independent lab. NA$CAR’S insistence that they use local medical teams because they are more familiar with the areas in which we race and the facilities that are available to them is only half true. The docs need to travel with the teams and local paramedics and ambulance drivers used as support. Damn the cost. We are the only major racing series that doesn’t have traveling medical teams and that’s inexcusable. I seriously doubt Alex Zanardi would be alive today if F1 depended on paramedics instead of trauma specialized doctors. I nominate Dr. Jerry Punch to head our team.
I don’t like boo birds but one big boo hiss to Sprint and Charlotte for those ugly yellow walls. The cars and the track don’t contrast with that color which reminds me of what my little ones used to deposit in their diapers.
Now out to Phoenix. Flyin’ Ryan once again captured the pole in his Dodge. Elliott Sadler was second in another Dodge with Case of Bud Kahne’s Dodge fifth. The Cuz was third in the Duck car with Mark Martin a strong fourth for the Army troops. Jamie McMurray seems to be on the rise with his eighth place run. The Pony Tail heaped more embarrassment on PE and Andretti didn’t show well for Front Row. Not making the race isn’t exactly front row. The 45 car missing three races in a row can’t be good since the 43 is qualifying and up in the points at twenty first. Same team, different drivers. Draw your own conclusions. I’ve previously expressed mine. Bill Elliott had to take a past champion provisional to get the Woods Brothers car in the field. I hated the Woods Brothers back in the David Pearson days. Nothing personal. They were just guilty of whupping up on my Chevy guys. They and the Pettys simply failed to keep up and they and all their devoted fans are now paying a sad price.
The Cup Lite race only had forty three entries, eleven of which were claims jumpers, so no one had to go home. It looks like another week of six or seven run and parkers. Qualifying is meaningless except for determining pit selections. How stupid is it to qualify for an impound race in the heat of the day and run the race at twilight into the night? As might have been expected, Rowdy ran to the pole with Brad Kesolowski outside. We saw nine run and parkers with Morgan Shepherd running the longest at 127 laps. Scott Gaylord ran a whopping two laps. I had hopes my Navy car would contend for the win but Kevin Havock decided to spin him out and he could do no better than twelfth. Stephen Leicht was the highest finishing regular in seventh. During all the interviews I heard the drivers all referred to the series as Busch instead of Nationwide. What’s Nationwide garnering for their investment? I don’t like naming the various series after sponsors but so long as they pay the big bucks they deserve respect from the drivers collecting their funds.
Mike Helton and Brian France need to take an intensive course in common sense. As I’ve often stated, NA$CAR and common sense is an oxymoron. Having the second off weekend is totally senseless when it could be better utilized during the hot summer stretch of racing. The schedule currently in force is absolutely ridiculous and very hard on the teams with three out West swings in the first eight races. Time to get off the Kool Aid and fancy bottled water and take a swig of common folk’s tap water.
While waiting for the CUP Lite race to start they had a round ball game on that was running late. I grew up in Indiana where round ball was king. The thing I saw on TV looked more like a commercial for the local tattoo parlor and the support your local gang bangers. What a disgusting display of good players looking their worst.
We move on to Saturday night and the CUP race. If practice Friday evening is any indication, Jeff Gordon is in deep doo doo. Bill Elliott anchored the Happy Hour practice session and several top drivers were mired at twentieth and back. Mark Martin in his Army colors lead practice but will that hold up come race time in the twilight? Well, first off, after too much Chris Meyers in the Hollywierd Hotel they cut away to a rain delayed Boston-Yankee baseball game. Why is it that we have to take a back seat to the stick and ball crap? I must admit, it was interesting to see a Boston relief pitcher throwing 97MPH fast balls past them damn Yankee hitters.
Finally, the race gets underway and let’s see what happens. You wanna bet this weeks pay check that the 48 car received extra special scrutiny during the post race tear down and inspection? Did Smokey Yunick arise and install special fuel lines in JJ’s car? How many of you drifted off to sleep and missed the surprising outcome of the way too late running of the 312 laps that make up a race at Phoenix? How many of you had difficulty in telling the difference between StewPot’s Toy and Jeffie’s Nicorette scheme while they were back in the field? How many of you are willing to give Cheater Knaus a break and acknowledge that he’s brilliant? How many of you are sick and tired of the useless Chris Myers ruining an otherwise interesting telecast? How typical is it for Flyin’ Ryan to start first and finish last?
Congratulations to JJ getting Hendrick their first win of the season. Kudos to the Ancient One giving the Army Chevy an outstanding run. Hats off to Junior and team for a well run race and another great finish. Two thumbs up for Clint BowWow’s runner up finish and Jeff Burton’s rally from a thirty ninth start to a sixth place finish after an early race spinout. Could the Cuz have brought home a win if he’d let the duck drive or would there have been too many debris cautions for all them feathers?
How ironic would it have been for the 8 and 88 to have came to the checkers side by side? I can only imagine the crowd reaction. The Junior Nation would have loved it but I don’t think anyone would have been upset to see Mark pulling the Army Chevy into victory lane. As I’ve often said, I don’t care for Phoenix but that was one whale of a race and only serves to reiterate my stance on slowing them down to make for better, side by side racing and green flag passes for the lead. We had six Chevies, two Toys and two Fords finish in the top ten. The Dodges qualified well but weren’t a factor in the races outcome with Bobby Labonte in twelfth the highest finishers for that badge.
JJ’s win put him in more familiar territory with a
fourth place in the standings. Junior moved up
one to third while Rowdy takes second in the
points. It seems quite unusual to see Jeff Gordon
being the lapee instead of the lapor. His finish of
twelfth wasn’t good enough to break into the
vaunted top twelve but he’s only eight points shy
of being there. Ten cars were running the lead lap
while forty were still running at the end.
With the CUP and Truck series both off this week
all we’ll have this upcoming weekend is the
Mexican misadventure with the CUP Lite gang.
This, to me, is ill advised from a security
standpoint alone. Additionally, it puts a heavy
burden on the financially strapped Nationwide regulars. I have no problem with running in Canada but can you just imagine one of the teams being hijacked by the banditos down there?
Take care and God bless you and yours. Watch over those little ones and always remember who attacked who on 911.
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