tattooed fans could salvage their 8’s. 4. His new colors suck. Now, move along. Nothing more to see here.
Thanks to Racing One for posting their Preseason Thunder Web Cam. I tuned it a few times throughout the day and the sound of V8 racing engines running in a pack was medicine to the ears. Over on NA$CAR.com I get recorded videos but no live action. Why? They used to have garage cams but I couldn’t find them. To my way of thinking it should have been the NA$CAR site providing this innovation with speedway support.
Kasey Kahne led the rain shortened final day of testing with five Dodges in the top ten and three Toys. Only one Ford and one Chevy clocked in the top ten. Junior had the fastest single car run. Come qualifying time for the 500 these speeds may prove to be meaningless but at least they can say they were fastest for one day. Another thing some teams are worried about is engine life and NASCAR is considering a different rear end gearing to try and extend engine reliability. I haven’t heard the cause of DEI’s engine failures last year.
I find it ironic that Mad Mikie and I don’t talk to each other about what we are going to write yet, time after time we both hit upon the same point at essentially the same time. On the Wednesday articles I mentioned above his posting pointed out the roughness of the track at Daytona. My last article was written before Mikie’s was posted and that was one of the main points of my article. Great minds think alike and our priorities, excepting the COT, are pretty much in line.
Speaking of the COT, many are struggling with what to call it. It has been referred to as the Can Of Tuna, POS and other non printable expletives. How about the CON or Car Of Now? That can be extrapolated by some to con as in NA$CAR done conned us into its acceptance. Regardless of what it’s called, we’re stuck with it and the sooner we accept it as being here to stay the better we’ll all be. Even Jeff Gordon has, to a great extent, come around and Kyle Busch is strangely silent. Don’t forget all the complaints back in the day when the cars were downsized from 115 to 110 inch wheelbases and the way they evolved to the twisted sister freaks that NA$CAR could no longer control and no one but the leader could drive. Hopefully, the CON will eliminate that dreaded word AERO from our vocabulary.
Here we are, essentially one month from the drop of the Green Flag at Daytona and they are still advertising that plenty of good seats are available. This is essentially our Super Bowl and should have been a sell out last November if not the previous July. Are the suits in their dirt smudged ivory tower down at the beach paying attention? With all the hype about this being the fiftieth anniversary of The Great American Race I would think the tickets would be on Ebay for over $1000 a pop. So far, this ain’t happening. Is there a story lurking here?
I Tivo’d the 1979 Daytona 500 replay on ESPN and watched it the next night when regular programming sucked. What memories that brought back. The simple presentation of the race and the lack of any gimmickry made this a real pleasure. The one gimmick was Benny Parson’s in car camera which, for the time, was really unique while not of the best quality. CBS was a true pioneer in our sport which led to the once great coverage by ESPN. CBS covered the major races and left the secondary ones to ESPN who did a superb job of developing the appeal of our beloved sport. Let’s hope ESPN is looking at how the races used to be covered with wide angle shots instead of the close ups of the leader(s) and Junior. I don’t know how many cameras CBS used but they missed very little compared to all the current day TV crews miss on a regular basis while touting how many cameras they have not covering each event. As Bob Hope sang, “Thanks for the memories.”
Watching the rerun of that racing classic brought to mind something else that has changed with time. Back In The Day, Chevy CUP drivers only drove Chevies or GM products. Ford drivers only drove Fords or Mercury’s. Dodge drivers only drove Chryslers, Plymouths or Dodges. Now we have Toyota drivers driving Chevies in the Truck Series. We have Ford drivers in CUP running limited schedules in the Nationwide Series in Chevies. We have Chevy drivers in CUP running limited races in the Trucks in Fords. One of the big draws of stock car racing used to be brand loyalty which created the old saying of win on Sunday sell on Monday. I was a huge DW fan for years. My first attraction to him was his driving the 88 Gatorade Chevy and beating up on the Fords, Plymouths and Dodges. When he finally ended up in a Ford my support for him went away with his loyalty to GM. What happened? Am I supposed to now drive my Lincoln Town Car on weekends, a Toy Tundra to Home Depot and a Chevy Malibu to the grocery store? That really makes a lot of sense or does it? Of course, we all have three car garages and unlimited budgets to fulfill this nonsensical thought. As I bemoaned Coach Gibbs lack of loyalty, what about the rest of the teams and drivers? If this is a sign of the times I don’t like the times were in.
Let me see if I understand this. I can vote at 18. I can serve in Iraq and Afghanistan with the extreme threats of imminent death at 18. (I joined the Navy at 17 with parental consent) I can get a driver’s license at 16 and compete at many levels of racing. Now NAZICAR wants to raise the age for CUP contenders to 21? King Brian and his minions down at The Beach must have gotten hold of a bad batch of whacky weed. I see no other reason to go off the deep end on this matter. This almost seems like a direct assault on Joey Logano who is simply sensational. Their first target was Kyle Busch when they upped the age to 18 for
Trucks. Granted there are some drivers who
could have used more development time before
moving up to the next level but that, to me, is up
to the owners and sponsors. Let’s not forget that
many of the seventeen year old drivers already
have ten years racing experience under their belts
and on their resume. When Jeff Gordon came
into the Busch Series he wrecked everything but
the pace car and look at him now. Here’s a
thought. If the age limit for CUP is twenty one
then any CUP driver over twenty one can’t
compete in the Nationwide Series. Works for me.
Just a note for those who have expressed
thoughts and prayers about my health. So far all
my numerous tests have shown I’m actually in pretty good shape for my age. The only negative is that I have mild sleep apnea which I haven’t yet received treatment for. Surprisingly, the one big factor seems to have been my smoking. I quit on December 4th and my blood pressure top number has dropped from 192 down to 116 over 84. This is the lowest it’s ever been in my entire life. I don’t know if my bad spell back in August was caused by blood pressure, heat exhaustion or a combination of both. The docs have no explanation so far. I humbly thank those expressing concern and offering prayers.
The foregoing is my opinion based on my observations and experiences. You may disagree but never be disagreeable.
It is my hope and prayer that a loving God may bless you and yours, our great nation, all who serve to protect and defend and all victims of terrorism. I also hope and pray that you never forget the tragic events of 911 and the loss of 3,000 innocents guilty only of showing up for work.
Always Remember: We Are the Land of THE FREE Because of THE BRAVE.
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