the cars for him. Kenny’s using Hendrick equipment for his team. So while Ginn has pretty much gone the way of the dodo, Ricky’s career is back on track thanks to Schrader. Way to go Kenny!
Last year there was mention of a Beer War starting between Budweiser and the Molson/Coors conglomerate. First blood was drawn by the Coors group. They have the pole award. To add insult to injury, they’re also a sponsor on the #8 car which had been sponsored by Budweiser for so many years. That’s gotta sting Budweiser somewhat. Now you have to wonder just how much longer Bud will stick around.
You’ve got to wonder how much longer Sprint will be around as a title sponsor. They just posted a quarterly loss of $29.45 billion, that’s BILLION with a B. They’re not paying out any dividends either. How long it’ll be before the stockholders start screaming about trimming unnecessary expenses, like bonuses for the execs, and sponsorship programs they’re involved in? I wonder if Faux King Brian has a contingency plan for a pull-out by Sprint?
I’m not sure how many of you folks attended races at the Nashville Fairgrounds back in the good old days. The King, David Pearson, my buddy Rex White, Bobby Allison, and even motormouth DW himself raced there. But after NA$CAR decided to move their race date, it’s been a long, hard struggle for them. Now, this historic racing venue is in danger of being closed down. The owner is talking about being “green”. Housing is encroaching on the area where the track is, ala Riverside. But the true reason this famous old venue is being considered for sale is “green”, as in the color of money. If you still go to the “old girl” and enjoy the racing there, you might want to give the owner a call or send him a letter and let him know how you feel. Joe Weatherly won the very first Grand National race there and Geoff Bodine won the very last Cup race there.
I don’t know how many folks have visited Benny Parson’s Rendezvous Ridge, but they recently relocated to their permanent facility. I had the chance to visit there last year when they were in their temporary facility. As much as I enjoy a good wine, I was impressed with all of Benny’s memorabilia that was on display there and the tour I was given. There’s a lot of history there folks. From Benny’s report cards, to some of his racing gear, to a letter of condolence from the President. The staff is great and Terri Parson’s herself is a wonderful lady with a great sense of humor. For you folks who are interested in go there, here’s the link with the web address with the directions:
There’s still a lot of stuff being written about the Fontana Fiasco. More negative than positive. And while I can appreciate NA$CAR wanting to get the race in (although it was for money reasons and keeping the networks happy), I still can’t forgive them for wanting to do it at the expense of putting the drivers and crews at risk. Sorry, that’s unforgivable.
Las Vegas was really quick to announce they had a sell-out. Congrats to them for that. But what they didn’t really want folks to know was that the temporary grandstands that seated 10,000 people that they’ve been using the last few years were taken down. A little “slight of hand” as it were. Siegfried and Roy would be proud. The hotels aren’t giving the tickets away as “comps” like they did in the past, but you can get a weekend room deal which includes the cost of tickets. One casino was giving away the $20 qualifying tickets to those that had earned their players’ cards there. Sounds like the new car smell has worn off.
Be very weary of Bruton wanting to work a date swap between his tracks and Fontana. While it would be great to have the old Darlington Labor Day date back in the south, he still wants that second date for Vegas. And as we all know, it’ll probably come from Loudon based on the current scheme of things. I lived in Southern California for a few years and it was just as hot in October during the day time as it was in September. So the temp excuse doesn’t hold water. The grandstands for the second race will still be as empty as the current race date. They might be emptier if the performance of the Uni-Car doesn’t live up to its’ hype.
Great quote from Brad Keselowski. “That’s the most fun I’ve ever had while I was vomiting”. It seems Brad got to ride in the back seat of one of the Blue Angel jets. And as is something of a tradition with aviators, the pilot succeeded in making Brad puke in the back seat. Some traditions never change.
While the new qualifying procedure seems to work, it still creates an intense and excruciating vacuum. Get rid of the Top 35 and go back to the old 2 day qualifying procedure. That was a heck of a lot fairer than what the teams are suffering through right now.
I’m not sure what’s happening with the Wood Brothers this year, but they sure seem snake bit. They haven’t had any luck so far this year. They miss Daytona, didn’t have a great finish at Fontana because they got banged up somewhat, and after seeing what happened at Vegas during qualifying, you have to think Jon Wood made the right decision by sitting the Vegas race out. Hopefully Atlanta will be a little kinder to them.
Last season, Kevin Lepage said he’d like a full time ride in either the Busch or Truck Series. Over the winter, there wasn’t much news about Kevin. Hardly anything. Kevin showed up at Daytona in the #61 Specialty Racing Busch series car and although they missed the race, they’ve been slowly working that car up in it’s finishes. They started 37th at Fontana and finished 23rd place. At Vegas, they started 33rd and finished 17th. So while they don’t have the financing that the Buschwackers do, they’re making progress. Go underdogs!
Hard to believe that Morgan Shepherd got held for making changes on his Busch Series car just prior to the Vegas Busch race. He did better than a start and park. He finished 40th because he had handling problems. I just wish somebody would throw some money his way so he could get his cars right and run an entire race. He did look good on those skates at Fontana though.
I was rather surprised that the Network Nitwits actually mentioned Morgan’s charity work. Every year, Morgan raises funds for folks that are less fortunate and gets some other drivers involved, like Kenny Schrader, the Jarrett family, Kyle Petty, and others. He may not finish 1st on the track nowadays, but he’s still a winner in my book. To quote Morgan, “We saved 100 souls that day”.
As much as I was hoping for a return of the pony cars, Chevy has chickened out. They’ve said they won’t field the Camaro in the Busch series. They’ll probably use the Malibu instead. Bad marketing move fellows. Ford is hem-hawing around. While they’ve said they’re considering bringing back the Taurus (renamed Ford 500), they haven’t totally ruled out using the Mustang either or a car that‘s on the drawing board. Dodge has said that they will go with the Challenger. Of course, some of this is going to depend on what Uni-car design NA$CAR settles on for the second tier series. I still think they need to run stock sheet metal on whatever
car makes are finally selected in order to set
them apart from the Cup cars in appearance and
handling.
Now, to go along with this, I pose a question. If
folks, according to Faux King Brian, show up at
the Busch races to see the Buschwackers, why
are there so many empty seats? After all,
shouldn’t it be sold out if the Cup drivers are as
popular as the PR releases keep saying they
are?
Normally, I like to say a little something about
our troops and what they’re doing that’s not being
covered by the mainstream media. But this time,
I want to recognize a group in Michigan called “Operation Never Forgotten”. They gotten 500 billboards across the US to show thanks, support, and recognition of our troops while managing to stay politically neutral about the support. While folks may not agree with the Commander-in-Chief and his decisions, you’ve got to love or at least respect the troops for doing a job so few will ever do.
Motherhood, Apple Pie, and John Wayne
Mad Mikie
Curmudgeon at Large
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