The Wide A$$E$ - taking part of the name from the sponsor and how some fans feel about them invading the lower series, I came up with this proposed name. But would it get past the network sponsors or the leadership who’s hind ends match the proposed name?
Nationwide Nitwits - I had thought about this but it might be easily confused with the Network Nitwits in the broadcast booths. So I canned this one.
France’s Favorites - Since His Royal Highness only likes to be seen with the Cup guys because of all of the publicity they garner and wouldn’t give the time of day to any of the remaining 6 regular teams in the former Busch Series, this one was under consideration. But then, some folks might mistake them for certain Cup teams that His Majesty likes so I nixed it.
The Invaders - I didn’t consider this one very long as some folks might mistake it for the ‘60’s TV sci-fi show of the same name.
The Intruders - A good possible name since they are intruding on the lower tier series. But then there was a band by that name back in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s and they might want rights payments for that name, so ixnay on that one.
Mongol Horde - Good historical reference since these outsiders have come into the series like a Mongol Horde and swept any opposition from the series regulars out of their way. But that might be insulting the Mongols, so forget it.
Bill, one of our readers from NC, came up with a few ideas for a new name for the series formerly known as the Busch Series:
Mike -
I used to call the big leagues the "Cup" races, and the Busch league the "Can" races because Busch beer comes in a can (some of it anyway).
Now (this week anyway) that "Busch" is going to "Nationwide" (this week anyway) we might try;
1) "Wide Crackers" but (butt?) that has a nasty connotation. Too much "seat" time I reckon.
2) I think that the cup drivers who race in the can races should have a separate "Tally" kept on their scoring so the junior members of the club can race against their peers and visa versa, but the name that comes to mind for that deal would never make it past the censors.
3) Now if Safeway Stores had taken the primary sponsorship it would have been much easier with the "Safe Crackers".
4) Firestone would'a been easy too - "Fire Crackers".
5) The Nabisco folks could have offered up the "Ritz" or "Saltine" brands, but again, too easy.
6) The Johnson Farm or Oscar Meyer meat folks could have offered a brand, but "Weenie Whackers" would also be a definite tough sell with the censors.
I have a brilliant idea, since we all know what a "Busch Whacker" is to start with, why not just keep calling them that and lets stop trying to reinvent the wheel. At least that is a term that doesn't have to change and it probably digs at the Nitwit son every time he sees it anyway! If you do find a new moniker, it won't last - the "Craftsman Truck" series is giving way. If honestly relabeled it would probably have to be the "Indonesian Tool Line" truck series, or the "Chinese Tool Factory" tool series, and that will only last a year or two anyway. Don't worry about "Friggin Old Rebuilt Dodge" or "Forget On Race Day" or "Bowtie" - by 2009 it will be Toyota, Honda, BMW, Mercedes, etc. The "greens" will have drivers racing Suzuki 1.25 liter recycled peanut oil drinking spring water mountain valley legume sprig pedal cars anyway.
In other words the only chance we the fans have to keep up with the various levels of racing is for the fans to find labels that the Nitwit & Co can't screw with every other year and stick with those.
I like Bill’s ideas and got a good chuckle from them. I’m sure they’ll eventually come up with a new nickname to replace Buschwackers. And as I’m one who enjoys getting their digs in with the current regime of mismanagement ruining things and doing away with racing traditions, I think I’ll take Bill’s suggestion and keep calling them Buschwackers. After all, it’s another one of those racing traditions that‘s been around since King Brian was eating the paste in school.
Since I was mentioning the former Busch Series, Davis Racing, the #0 car sponsored by Race Girl, (remember this team?) is selling off all their equipment. Looks like another Busch team bites the dust. And Brewco is now under new management. Will they be as successful as they once were or will they follow other teams and have to close their doors because of the Cup guys invading the lower series? Only time will tell.
I’m still reading about the bastardized COT/POS being used for the second tier series. And here I thought they wanted to go to pony cars to help discourage the cross-over from the Cup Series. Makes me think of that Star Wars Movie, “Attack of the Clones” and in more ways than one. And I can already hear the “official excuse”. “It’s to help save the teams money”. Yeah, just like the approximately $80 million the Cup teams are “saving” from having to sell off their old cars for pennies on the dollar and replace them with a car that cost more than the one it‘s replacing. At this rate, the teams might finally start saving money about my 75th birthday.
I read about Germain Racing not renewing Ted Musgrave’s contract. I think that is a big mistake on their part. Granted, Ted didn’t have one of his best seasons, but he still finished in the Top 10 in the most competitive series under the NA$CAR banner. Hopefully Ted will get picked up by another team soon and be back next season.
And while I’m not surprised that the mainstream media hasn’t bothered to mention them much if not at all, a lot of us web folks continues to praise the Truck Series because of its action and excitement. No artificial additives or preservatives here. Just honest-to-goodness racing with drivers of all ages and backgrounds being able to race and express themselves without all the politically correct garbage we see coming out of the Cup side of the NA$CAR operation. The only thing that needs to be done to improve the coverage is to go back to the 2 original announcers and get rid of the 3rd announcer that is a disruptive influence in the booth. I want to hear about what’s happening on the track and not about the sponsors and manufacturer brand of Motormouth Motorsports or whether or not a driver is cute.
I have to wonder when some folks say the races need to be shortened to accommodate the short attention span crowd. Come on now. Would we really want to have a World 400 instead of a World 600? Or a Daytona 300 instead of a Daytona 500? It might be merciful, in a way, to shorten the races at tracks that have become annual snooze fest. Fontana comes to mind first. But what about the races that have normally been exciting from start to finish? And what about the road course races? I happen to like them because they actually test a driver’s skill and because it goes back to the roots of the sport and the moonshine runners. These races are short enough as it is and they want to make them shorter to keep the short attention span crowd happy? But then you’ve got to expect this sort of thing when His Royal Highness has managed to alienate and chase away the fans who actually have an attention span that can handle more than 30 second sound bites at a time. Of course, if you shorten the length of the snooze fest races, you’ll be depriving some fans of the naps they usually take during the snooze fest. Nothing worse than waking up Grumpy because of a shortened nap.
One of the other things I’ve been noticing out of the “Official Mouthpieces of NA$CAR” has been them complaining about the fans complaining as if it’s something new. The only reason it’s getting any attention now is thanks to the internet. Race fans have been complaining about racing since it began. They talked around the water cooler at work, at bars, while barbequing, or while listening to it on the radio. So to say it’s something new is very misleading. And the way they label us folks who aren’t part of the card carrying, Official Mouthpiece crowd is sort of disturbing too. I have yet to see any writer who has labeled King Brian as The Anti-Christ. This would be doing a disservice to Christ. A clumsy, bumbling, egotistical, greedy, half-wit maybe, but nobody has labeled him as the Anti-Christ. They’ve also mentioned that some of us who aren’t Official Mouthpieces are like the National Perspirer. I have yet to see a web site or articles that say for example, “Jeff Gordon Gives Birth”, “Tony Stewart Uses a Pacifier”, or any other type of headlines or lead stories like the National Perspirer is known for. So the Official Mouthpieces are once again misleading.
You’ve got professionals, like John Daly at The Daly Planet, giving his opinions based on his years of experiences within the broadcast industry and allowing fans to give their opinions on the articles and on what‘s happening. You’ve got the folks at AutoExtremist who have been inside the auto industry for years giving their view points. So these guys are like the National Perspirer? Then you have folks like my fellow curmudgeon Don Hamm, who has been somewhat intimate with the racing industry. You’ve got the folks like Matt McLaughlin, who’s been an advocate for driver safety and a thorn in the side of NA$CAR. Jeff Meyer, who has poked fun at some of the things going on, doesn’t exactly write stuff that you’d find in the Perspirer. So I think these Official Mouthpieces are way off base.
If we depended solely on the Official Mouthpieces for news or what’s going on inside the garage area, we’d be lacking a great deal of information and honest opinions. Folks have gotten tired of hearing how everything is wonderful and there’s nothing wrong with the sport they grew up with when it’s obvious that there is definitely something wrong. They want open, honest opinions that aren’t made under the threat of Article 4. They’re not drinking King Brian’s Kool Aid. Fans have developed a more critical eye and want more information about what’s going on. They want to know about the backroom deals that are going on. They want to keep the sport honest. They want the history and traditions that the sport has, not the revisionism they’re being served up. Race fans aren’t sheep, like the Kool Aid drinking, rose colored glasses wearing crowd would like you to think they are. They’re independent thinkers who have their own opinions and ideas. And if these ideas run contrary to the “official doctrine according to The Emperor of All Things NA$CAR”, then so be it. Dissension and discussion are things that have made American sports and politics a great thing. We have the ability and freedom to be able to make our own opinions and to let them be heard. And if these Official Mouthpieces have a problem with it, then maybe there really is a problem and the Official Mouthpieces for His Highness’ Royal Ministry of Propaganda is a part of it. I hate to sound cliché here, but if you’re not part of the solution, then you’re part of the problem. So maybe these scribes of the “Sport According to Brian” need to take a real look at what’s actually happening and look at themselves and they might find that the ones they’re labeling as being like the National Perspirer have actually done more in keeping folks informed than they themselves are.
They finally did release the figures on the financial losses over the souvenir sales. According to I$C, they’ll lose between $25-$50 million in sales. And yes, once again, their scapegoat is Dale Jr., whom they mention by name. Since they seem to be blaming Jr. for everything that’s going wrong, what next? Will they blame him for the poor attendance at Fontana? They’ve already done that in a way by saying attendance was off because he wasn’t in the play-offs. Will they blame him for the revisionism that’s been going on since King Brian took over? Not yet, but I’m sure they’re looking into it. And who will they blame if King Brian’s better half comes up pregnant with more spawn for the nepotistic succession?
While there have been a couple mentions here and there about the health of Sam Ard, former Busch Series great, the Legends Helping Legends of Racing group is doing something to help Sam out. Last year, they had a fundraiser to help out former NASCAR racing announcer Bill Connell. This year, they’re going to help out Sam. They estimate they’ll have over 50 racing celebrities at the event to do an autograph session and chat with the fans. And once again, the Beam family, who own and run the Memory Lane Museum in Mooresville, have stepped forward to host the event. Weather permitting, like last year, there will also be a number of cars on display outside the museum for folks to check out with one of Sam‘s cars on display. Admission will be $8. Food will be provided by John Boy and Billy’s Grillzilla. There’s also a 50-50 raffle, auction, and door prizes planned during the fundraiser. Don Tilley is organizing a special motorcycle ride once again this year. Harry Gant, Don Tilley, and Buddy Parrott lead last years ride. If you’re interested in participating in the ride, contact Vickie Kress at Don Tilley’s Harley Dealership. Call 704-872-3883 for details. There’s a partial list of who will be there for the event on the Memory Lane Museum web site and it’s impressive. Check it out.
I was there for last year’s event and had a great
time and plan to be there this year also. It’s a
great opportunity to meet some of the legends
of the sport face to face and hear some great
racing stories. And not to worry. If Rex White
says taking a picture of Slick Owens will break
your camera, he’s just joking.
I like to mention our folks who are serving in the
Armed Forces and as usual, I’ve got something
good to say. I don’t know how many folks
caught it on the news, but the U.S. Navy came
to the aid of a young girl on a cruise ship. They
flew her by helicopter to the USS Ronald
Reagan and performed emergency surgery on her for a burst appendix. Contrary to what some folks would have you believe, our military does have a very humane side to it and here’s another shining example of it. Anchors away!
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