Any bets somebody is having second thoughts about that decision?
One of the more interesting, if trivial things that came out of Loudon was a comment from one of the Merry Henchmen that NA$CAR uses the TV broadcast to watch what’s happening on the track. That’s rather funny because I seem to recall them saying that they had their own cameras that they watched to make their calls on the race. If they’re depending on the TV cameras to show what’s happening, then how are they seeing Ms Terry DeBris on the track? So which is it Your Highness? Do you have your own cameras or don’t you? It’s not a trick question.
Terry made an interesting observation about Loudon and the Ms Terry DeBris cautions. It seems that a hot dog wrapper qualifies as a piece of debris and is enough to bring out a caution but the 3500 lb #44 car sitting in the middle of the track doesn’t.
First Sorenson was driving for free and now Allmendinger was driving for free? You know that would never fly in the stick and ball sports.
Aric Almirola, formerly of Chip and Dale Racing, appears to have a deal worked out with Billy Ballew to drive one of his trucks full time next season once the sponsorship is secured. I don’t know where that’s going to leave Ickler and Shrubbery but at least Almirola will be able to get more seat time than he did in his tenure driving the #8 car.
Funny how the Truck series ratings were up for Loudon by 40% over last year’s race but the Cup series was down by over 20%. That should tell somebody down in Daytona Beach flying a bar stool at the Chart House and hunting palm trees in the Palm Tree Assault Vehicle which series is the more exciting. Providing he has a long enough moment of sobriety for it to sink in.
One of the best things Speed TV did was replace the Co-Owner of Motormouth Motorsports with Johnny Benson in the announce booth for the Truck Series races. It almost sounded professional again. No screaming over the real announcers to get a plug in for his sponsors or manufacturer. What a delight it was. Now if they would continue doing that for the rest of this season and next season, Speed TV might get even higher ratings for the Truck Series.
I was looking over the names of the inductees for the racers Reunion-Memory Lane Hall of Fame and must say it looks like a pretty good group. Unlike NA$CAR, they’re inducting 10 living and 5 deceased folks from the racing community. The 2009 inductees are former Busch Series champ Sam Ard, Dink Widenhouse, Buddy Arrington, still racing at 70-something years young James Hylton, Marvin Panch, Paul Goldsmith, Mr. Wingtips himself Dave Marcis, former crew chief Suitcase Jake Elder, Paul Lewis, and Neil “Soapy” Castles. Herman Beam, Gene Glover, former racer and pace car driver Elmo Langley, Wendell Scott, and G.C. Spencer will be inducted posthumously. This a pretty decent sized induction group. Too bad NA$CAR couldn’t have done something like that for their initial induction group. There’s a $40 admission fee for the induction ceremonies and museum and it’s limited to 250 people. Tickets can be obtained from Racers Reunion. Send checks or money orders made payable to Racers Reunion, to Racers Reunion, 9501 Maison Court, Myrtle Beach, SC 29572.
You have to question the mental competence of His Royal Highness when he says he’s not worried about the TV ratings. During Year 1 of his reign, the ratings stayed the same as when his dad was running things. During Year 2, the first hiccups appeared. During Year 3, the downward slide started. Year 4 brought a steeper slide. Year 5 the ratings went into a dive. And here it is in Year 6, and despite a 4 week upsurge, the Cup races been averaging double digit losses on most race weekends. What comes to mind is a picture of His Royal Highness as the Mad magazine character Alfred E. Newman saying “What? Me Worry?”. If the races were a regular network show, they’d have been cancelled and we’d be watching a mid-season replacement right now.
Talk about one hand not knowing what the other hand is doing. First we hear from one of the Royal Henchmen that they’re considering more 2-day race weekends and then His Imperial Ineptitude says they won’t have more 2-day race weekends next year. No wonder things are so screwed up. Nobody knows what’s going on and nobody’s making a real decision on anything. Just knee jerk reactions. Talk about leadership by example. No wonder things are so screwed up.
What do Busch the Elder and Denny Hamlin have in common? Neither knows how to give the flag the proper respects. What did the races at Las Vegas and Dover have in common? Neither had the National Anthem sung properly. Both had singers who had to “make it their own”.
The only good thing about the Spec Car was shown at Dover when Logano’s car rolled down the track and he came out of it scared but unharmed. Any bets he had to change his drawers and driver’s suit before he did his post-wreck interview?
Something that I pointed out before that some of the lamestream media is finally catching on about is how the Kit Car was supposed to eliminate the need for a special car and yet we see the teams cranking out special cars just like they did with the old template racer. It didn’t eliminate the special cars. It just made a more expensive version of them. $150,000 for the template racer versus $250,000 for the Kit Car. Oh yeah, it’s saving the teams lots of money.
John brought up a good point. The start and parks are having to run more laps now before they park their cars. I’ve got an idea. Why don’t they have a 500 mile race for the start and parks (S&P) and they could call it the S&P 500. The trick would be would any of the start and parks actually have enough tires to make it 500 miles.
It appears NA$CAR is upset with IBPN over an upcoming “Between the Lines” in which they interview Jeremy Mayfield, NA$CAR honchos, and a bunch of other folks. Why would NA$CAR be upset? Because it’s actually a balanced piece which doesn’t make Mayfield look bad or make NA$CAR look like God.
Funny how Jerry Punch called Logano's car a Camry and yet when you saw the pace car, which was a Camry Hybrid, Logano's "Camry" looked nothing like Camry Hybrid on the track. This is what happens when you have the National Association for Spec Car Auto Racing. They all look the same.
After reading this article, I’m glad to see some drivers have a new appreciation for what our troops are doing and the sacrifices they’re making. Roy Exum: NASCAR’s Awakening
Amazing that Badyear is finally looking at producing a tire that will actually fit the Can of Tuna. Too little too late if you ask me considering their impending bankruptcy. I know, nobody asked me. But should they survive their bankruptcy, you have to wonder just how much more money it’s going to cost the teams to beef up the car to handle the additional weight and size of the tire. Not to mention how much money the teams will have to lay out for new rims. Does the France family own the rim manufacturing companies that the teams use or do they just get some “extra special presents” from the rim manufacturers when the Frances make a decision like this? I know the economy stinks right now but keeping people working by making the teams lay out even more money for this “sows ear” that will never be a “silk purse“? Oh yeah, the Camry of Today is really saving the teams a lot of money and gave them some real parity on the track too.
We’re not even at season’s end and already Pocono and Kansas are advertising for next year’s races. Does that tell you anything about how poor ticket sales are?
Hello? Would somebody please wake up the
Imperial Inebriate and have him actually watch
what we’re watching? Bad commentary, bad
coverage, and a flood of commercials make for a
very boring race presentation. Then add in the
poor performance of the Car of Tedium to the
mix. No wonder the ratings are sinking faster
than the Titanic. If the coverage that is being
served up is the best there is, then somebody
down in the Ivory Towers better pray for a miracle
because the races are going to end up being
shown on tape delay about the same time as the
infomercials are.
Funny how when a Chosen One isn’t leading, we have Ms Terry DeBris cautions out the ying-yang with 10 laps to go and yet at Dover, no Ms Terry DeBris cautions with 10 laps to go. Interesting coincidence isn’t it?
Despite all the fancy wording, that Dover ratings were down by 12% over last year. Yet another double digit decline. Hello? Is anyone in the Ivory Towers sober and/or awake?
They’ve been running some radio ads here about the local VA hospital and they close it out by saying, “If you enjoy your freedom, thank a veteran”. I agree with that, but I would say, “If you enjoy your freedom, thank a service member and a veteran”. The veterans kept us free in the past and the current service members are keeping us free today. God love them all.
Motherhood, Apple Pie, and John Wayne
Mad Mikie, Curmudgeon at Large
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