stealing from they’re stealing from the Busch regulars. Tim, down at Robins AFB, thinks they should be called the “Nationwide Deductibles” since deductible means “excess”. Ann nearly spewed her coffee over Bill’s proposed name regarding keeping a separate tally for them. So we’ve hit on something here.
I also got an e-mail from Cheryl over at Speedcouch.com which had some history in it regarding the origin of the term Buschwacker. It was coined by a member of her original internet race group named Craig Witkowski from NY. So Craig, thanks for coining a great term. Cheryl also thinks that we should leave the name as Buschwackers because why should there have to be a brand new cutesy nickname just because the sponsor changed and she‘s right. We get enough of that with every time NA$CAR changes something.
On to some other stuff. Latest and greatest on the bastardized Can of Tuna/POS for the second tier series is a difference in the front end suspension. Big deal. Same chassis, etc. So this is supposed to make a difference between the cars and discourage Buschwacking? I have no problems with incorporating the safety aspects of the Can of Tuna. Those are pretty good at protecting the drivers and keeping them safe. But there has to be a big enough difference between the two cars to make Buschwacking not worth the effort. Put some stock pony car metal on them and run them. If there’s no aero built into it, better luck next year when the manufacturer changes the body’s sheet metal to give them some aero. If it comes from the factory with a front and rear end spoiler, then run the stock front and rear end spoiler. If they don’t have any spoilers, then that’s the way they run. Run what ya brung. None of this clown, I mean clone car stuff where all the cars look and handle the same (*cough* IROC *cough*). Give the manufacturers an incentive to build speed into the body lines of their cars. Oh, wait. We can’t do that. Toyota doesn’t have any pony cars or anything even close to be considered a pony car. Boo Hoo. After all, they did “pony up” $93 million to His Royal Highness, so we can’t have them being left out of the racing series loop now can we.
How fast was the template racer or the now “old style” car? My buddy Don Good sent me a link to an article about a car that was built to NA$CAR specs and ran at the Bonneville Salt Flats (the real world center of speed). It clocked in officially at 244.9 mph. www.arringtonengines.com/news_article Nobody in the NA$CAR mainstream media seems to know about it or the fact that Bonneville even exists. But the number that was put on it was a sentimental one. #71.Of course, this isn’t the first time a Dodge with that same number ran there. Racing legend Bobby Isaac ran there in one of the old Dodge Daytona’s. aerowarriors.com/bv.html
Too bad the new car wasn’t that same orange as the old one. That really would’ve been great from a nostalgia standpoint.
And speaking of the “winged warriors”, I remember reading last year in a few places where some of these official NA$CAR mouthpieces were saying that the wing on the Car of Tedium was harkening back to the days of the Superbird and Daytona. Wrong answer there Buckwheat. The street versions of the Daytona and Superbird both came from the factory with a wing that resembled the one on the actual race car. Just ask Dr Don Tarr since he owns a Daytona and raced the stock car counterpart. The wing on the Car of Tedium isn’t anything like the wing on the old Superbird or Daytona. Plus the street version of the car they’re installing them on doesn’t come with a wing at all or a wing that even resembles what they’re running on their race counterparts. It’s a wing used by the Fast and Furious wanna-bee, the IRL, and various sports car racing series. And from an aesthetic standpoint, it doesn’t even come close to pleasing the eye like the wing on the old Superbird and Daytona. If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then that wing on the Car of Tedium is as ugly as sin.
Latest and greatest on the “officially licensed products” list. An official NA$CAR first aid kit. Oh boy, makes me want to run out and buy a dozen. Do they come in driver color schemes? And just what is their content? Some fans might consider a six pack to be first aid, so does it come with a six pack and cooling packs? Does it come with officially licensed water or sports drink to help re-hydrate fans that have spent too much time in the sun? Does it come with ear plugs to help preserve the hearing of race fans? It seems like more and more products are getting that NA$CAR branding on them. And considering what NA$CAR is doing to the fans and the teams, maybe they should start marketing condoms. Lubricants and kiss not included. Just a thought.
And to go along with official products, my old racing buddy Dave, down in Texas, asked me when they’d be having an official toilet paper. Well, they already do. It’s called NA$CAR Press Release.
Apparently things are changing at the newspaper in Orlando. Long time reporter Ed Hinton has been dropped by them so they can devote more time covering local news. Ed’s a good guy and has been known to call things the way he sees them. If you’ve ever seen Ed on Wind Tunnel, you know what I’m talking about. So could this be the start of a new trend? Newspapers dropping or reducing their coverage of NA$CAR? It’ll be interesting to see how this pans out over the long term. One less outlet for His Highness to make himself look good in. That’s gotta hurt the Imperial Ego just a tad.
One thing a lot of folks have been talking about has been the problems plaguing NA$CAR. Another factor that seems to have been missed by a lot of folks has been loyalty. Loyalty works both ways. For years, fans were loyal to NA$CAR. They ate it up and in return were given what they wanted. Great racing. Now, under the regime of His Royal Highness, the loyalty factor has become a one way street. Fans have been loyal but they’re not getting the return loyalty. The loyalty the fans were getting is going to big business instead of to the folks who helped to bring what was a regional sport to where it is today as a national sport. Unfortunately, with the loyalty to the fans gone and the sanctioning body being little more than a high priced shill (I was thinking of high priced hooker, but that would insult the hookers), the racing has become a shadow of its former self bordering on a cross between the WWE and a spec car racing series.
Speaking of WWE, once again they were off to the combat zones to help entertain our troops during the holiday season. Even Vince McMahon, the owner of WWE, was there with our troops. Uh, King Brian, if you want to copy the WWE like you‘ve been doing, when are you and your boys going to entertain the troops in the combat zones? And along the lines of WWE, the recently released Richard Glover, former head media guru for NA$CAR, is an alumni of Titan Sports, aka WWE. No wonder folks were drawing such a comparison between the WWE and NA$CAR when it came to the races, scripting, etc.
Here’s a math formula for you. The quality of racing is inversely proportional to the amount of hype it receives. Poor races (Fontana and the cookie cutter tracks) receive tremendous amounts of hype where as Bristol and Darlington receive very little hype. Something to ponder.
One writer was saying that ticket prices would come down once there are more empty grandstands. The old supply and demand theory. Well, one thing that needs to be added to that equation. Even if the prices do come down on the tickets, the prices on hotel rooms and other expenses associated with a race weekend need to come down too. And yes, this can be done through pressure by various business groups and state representation. If some of these hotel chains that are team sponsors or associate sponsors would give fans the same room rate that they normally give during the year, they could build up a loyal clientele. Repeat business does wonders for a company over the long haul. Gouging fans only encourages them to leave.
To answer a question that some folks have as to what’s Ward Burton doing right now, last thing I heard was he was chopping wood. Not exactly what some folks might call exciting, but it’s something folks here in Virginia do in the fall and winter to keep the house warm. Plus it’s a good way to keep the muscles toned and work out some frustration. Other than that, not much else to report.
To piggyback on something that Don Hamm wrote about Robby Gordon and the Dakar rally. We’re talking about millions of dollars that went into preparation for this event. And while some folks may not like Robby, he is one of the more fan friendly drivers doing autograph sessions longer than are scheduled, getting his picture taken with fans, and even showing up at some fans’ camp sites. Plus add in the various forms of racing he does and has done in the past. Not a bad resume. Better than some of the current crop of drivers and even some drivers from the past. For somebody who enjoys the various forms of racing that Robby does, it’s got to be something of a heartbreaker to have the Dakar Rally cancelled even though I understand the reasoning behind it. You can replace a car or a truck, but you can never replace a human life.
And to go back to what I wrote about these official mouthpieces saying that the non-credential carrying folks are like the National Perspirer. Take a look at some of the headlines, lead stories, and titles that the mouthpieces use for their articles. If anyone is being close to being like the National Perspirer, it’s the official mouthpieces based on some of the titles they use for their articles and columns. I’m still waiting on a “Man Bites Dog” lead story. Maybe it’ll be somebody turning down the Lucky Dog.
The Sam Ard Fundraiser is approaching
(Jan 19th) and for all you folks who can make it,
you won’t be disappointed. Last year, they
raised a decent amount of money to help out Bill
Connell and hopefully this year there will be an
even bigger turn out to help out Sam. So if you
can make it, great. If not, and you want to help
out Sam, there is a fund set up to help him out
that you can donate to. You can find more info
there cussing and discussing things with some
of these greats during the event, so be sure to
say “Hi”.
The recent caucuses revealed several things about some of the candidates and I hope you were paying attention to them. Keep informed on what these folks are saying and doing, look at their past records, and check out their experience levels. When it’s time to get out and vote for who you want to be president, make sure that person is the best qualified in your mind, not just voting for them because everyone else is. Our government is supposed to be of, by, and for the people. So do something to reflect that. To quote Thomas Jefferson, “Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.”
And a tip of the hat to the US Army Corps of Engineers in Iraq for installing some 36 miles of sewer pipe and pumping stations in Kamaliya. While a lot of us take sewer systems for granted or don‘t even think about them, they’re not available everywhere and go a long ways towards keeping folks healthy. They’ll eliminate a lot of raw sewage that’s in the streets right now making for healthier living conditions and maybe even making a few folks happier that they’re not having to use slit trenches or going outdoors exposing themselves to some hazards much worse than raw sewerage.
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