over and he’s not the spring chicken he used to be. But he will be at 24 races this year. Glad to know there’s at least one veteran journalist who’s going to be there calling things the way he sees them.
Here’s one of those things you have to ponder about. Maybe it’s just me or maybe it’s just one heck of a coincidence, but have you ever wonder. During the All Star race, one of the drivers was being told to “take it easy” and “save it for later” during the last 10 laps of the race by his spotter. You would think he’d be telling him to go like a bat out of hell. And then it gets stranger. The spotter says, “Did we get the fan vote boys?” to which the driver replied, ”Nah, they're gonna give it to Kasey; it's a politic game. Good job guys.”. Now let’s take this statement on face value. Politics and giving the fan vote to a driver? Would NA$CAR actually sink to such depths? Yes, they would. Think back over the years and how many times the rules for the Shoot-Out and All Star races were changed to accommodate one specific driver and/or his sponsor.
We all know greed is what drives HRH Faux King Brian and his henchmen. It’s not the sense of competition or the thrill of racing. Toyota bought their way into NA$CAR by coughing up some big bucks to His Majesty. I’ve mentioned it before, so I won’t get into it. The only reason they’re racing in Mexico is because Mexico greased the Royal Palms with some big bucks. The only reason certain drivers can get away with some of the things they do is because of the money lining the pockets of those on high.
Right after the “coronation ceremony”, the media was told to only mention HRH, his Court Jesters, and the sport in a favorable light or else face the loss of media credentials. Several reporters lost their credentials for questioning the “infinite wisdom” (read stupidity) of the Emperor of All Things NA$CAR. Bob Dilner proved that things weren’t right in Brian’s Big Top and was pretty much shut out by the Royal Jesters even though Bob was right and was proven so a year later when all the facts behind his story surfaced despite the official denials from Faux King Brian’s Court Jesters.
I’ve mentioned in the past some of the history in which drivers lost races to accommodate other teams/drivers/manufacturers or Big Bill himself. I’ve also mentioned some of the deals in which certain rules were bent in order to garner media coverage and to make headlines for specific events. So you really have to wonder if any of these voting deals and their results are real.
After all, even though the fans gave a resounding “NO” to the dreaded 3 B’s, we’re still stuck with it after a flimsy excuse. So what happens in the future when we once again have a resounding vote against the dreaded 3 B‘s? We’ll be offered yet another flimsy excuse. This time it was there was something fishy about the voting. Next time it could be the “Lucky Dog” ate my homework. Or the Shill-mobile sucked it into the intake thinking it was rocket fuel. Or Larry Mac tried using it for a toupee and it rained. Anything but the truth will be given as justification for keeping the dreaded 3 B’s around. Which leads back into the whole voting thing.
Let's look at a theoretical situation. If Driver A is popular and gets more votes than Driver B, then Driver A should, in theory, win the vote. However, Driver B’s sponsor spends hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising. And as we know, money is what makes Faux King Brian’s panties go up and down. So, would Driver A actually win the vote or would Driver B? Think about that for a while and look back at sponsor money, who won the votes, all the media hype for a specific driver, and the whole vote thing over the last 10 years.
You’ll also notice the actual numbers of votes and who they were for are never released. So even if an underdog should happen to win the vote, which would is pretty neat in its’ own way, we’ll never really know because the numbers aren’t released to us fans to see just how close or real the voting actually is. Tony could be closer to reality with his statement about the WWE than we think.
Speaking of Tony, you have to wonder if Tony has a nice little clause in his contract which allows for him to bail out if there is a major equipment change. Changing car makes is a major equipment change. And considering the timing of the change, it’s quite possible Tony didn’t have enough notice or was kept out of the loop which prevented him from exercising that clause. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how this saga plays out.
Along those same lines, I read where Dale Jr. said that it was costing him about the same amount of money to run his Busch team as it cost a Cup team to run. So, it’s quite possible that he could continue to have Navy as a sponsor for Brad Keselowski when he and Tony start their racing operation.
In case you were wondering why I didn’t write about Darlington, I had 6 type written pages done up and wasn’t even close top Lap 250. So it would’ve been a small novel by the time I had finished. We had a power outage tonight which wiped out my notes on the All Star race, so I’m not happy with the power company right now.
It looks like the stork is heading the way of Robby Gordon. Congratulations to Robby and his better half. Now I’m wondering since Jeff’s baby had a lot of coverage, how much coverage will Robby’s baby rate?
And while we’re at it, it seems there have been some changes at Robby’s shop which seem to be improving his on-track performance. Hopefully him passing 15 cars during the last 10 laps of the All Star race isn’t a fluke. It sure will make things more interesting up front.
Hopefully I can answer a few questions regarding engines. I had several regarding the new engine Ford is supposed to be coming out with under the name of “The Boss”. The Boss involves a major difference in the actual casting process for the engine parts. This will allow the weight to be shifted to what is considered to be an optimal position. It will also be lighter, which is something Ford has been avoiding since the 1980’s when they worked with Cosworth on engines for their Indy cars. And it will have something in common with the engine Dodge is hoping to get approved. Better cooling. Both the new Ford and Dodge engines will have some new designs in them to help improve air, water, and oil circulation to improve cooling and get some more horsepower and durability out of them.
Along the lines of engines, apparently the
Japanese manufacturer has been doing
something that’s not exactly legal with theirs.
They’re running the same engine in all 3 series.
While the rules allow the same block to be used,
it has specific technical rules on what can be
run in each series and this has been violated.
But since they paid $93 million for favors to be
named later, they’re being given til next season
to develop specific engine packages for the two
lower tier series. How come we don’t hear their
Chief Shill and Cheerleader saying something
about this or the Kool Aid drinking propagandists
of the NA$CAR controlled media?
While I normally don’t mention much about the NHRA, I want to give NHRA driver Phil Burkhardt two thumbs up for being part of the USO tour that Jeremy Mayfield was on in Iraq. Once again I ask, if these drivers can visit the troops and bring a little piece of home to them, why can’t the Beach Boy Bubbas?
And a big salute to the folks of the US Pacific Command who are flying in food, water, and medical supplies to the people of Burma in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. So far, the U.S. Air Force has delivered 142,102 kilograms of supplies to the international airport in Rangoon. And the Navy has helicopters standing by to help deliver supplies inland if the government there will give them permission. So whether it’s war or a natural disaster, our military folks are there to help out those who need the help.
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Motherhood, Apple Pie, and John Wayne
Mad Mikie
Curmudgeon at Large
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