which prohibits any racing in there that would exceed 10,000 people. In other words, eliminate any potential threat as a competitor to an I$C track in the Denver area. But as this new track won’t be an I$C owned property, I don’t see them getting a shot at a NA$CAR race outside of maybe a Truck and/or Cup Lite race. It’s not nice to upset His Royal Highness and the Royal Family of Daytona. Maybe if they planted some palm trees there His Majesty might change his mind?
Back to the Carl Long engine saga. Jules the Engine Guy checked in with me and was wondering just how did NA$CAR measure the engine? Did they measure from the cylinder to the cylinder wall? Did they measure the ring clearance? There were a lot more questions than answers. One thing Jules pointed out is that during the procedure of rebuilding the engine, the cylinder walls are bored out to remove any ruts, burrs, or scratches that might be in the cylinder wall. The resulting work would increase the bore of the cylinder wall requiring larger rings to compensate for the size increase to keep the pistons in proper alignment. There’s a lot of work that goes into rebuilding an engine and for Ernie Elliott to say it just slipped through doesn’t hold water with me or anyone who knows something about rebuilding engines. Plus Jules also pointed out that none of the mainstream media folks don’t seem to be asking the right questions about the engine inspection. Especially the ones who are supposedly mechanics.
And since when has NA$CAR ever bothered to check an engine that “lunched” during practice or a race from one of the big teams much less a low budget team unless somebody tipped them off? They never checked the engines that Jabber Jaws blew up after winning a race and they never checked the engine Jeff Gordon blew up while celebrating his win at North Wilkesboro. The oil from his blown engine still stains the Victory Platform at North Wilkesboro to this day. So why the sudden interest in blown engines? There’s more than meets the eye with this deal and it reeks worse than a certain governor accepting kickbacks for a political appointment to the US Senate.
Speaking of North Wilkesboro, there was supposed to be a race being run at North Wilkesboro this weekend which The Bruton hadn’t heard about and not much of the media had heard about either. I had heard a rumor that there was going to be a race but that it had been cancelled and rescheduled for later on. I guess this means a road trip is on the agenda to check into it.
The end of Jabber Jaws, his parrot, and that danged Goopher rapidly approaches. After this weekend of Ben Dover, we only have to put up with the 6 weeks of infomercials for TNT’s fall line-up being briefly interrupted by Webhead, Jabber Jaws parrot, Kyle Petty, and the Victoria’s Secret red panties wearer and maybe a few seconds of racing here and there before returning to the new fall line-up on TNT. Then it’ll be the home stretch and the Chase for the Chumps with E$PN/ABC before heading into the peace and quiet of the off season and a new Chump who may or may not be marketable, depending on who the Chump is. Then the whole cycle will start up again in February, unless NA$CAR decides they’ve lost too much money and return to the pre-season testing at Daytona. Then we might hear something before then outside of the normal silly season stuff that occurs during the off season.
In light of the recent mandatory meeting at the super secret R&D facility, a lot of folks are saying that NA$CAR needs to listen. Not the mainstream folks, but the unwashed and unannoited folks like myself. I’ve been saying for quite a while now how NA$CAR could improve things. But it’s fallen on deaf ears (or is it blind eyes since it’s on the internet?). The people NA$CAR really needed to have a meeting with is us fans. We’re the ones who buy the tickets, buy the souvenirs, watch the races on TV, and travel great distances to see these races at some expense getting there. But no, as we’re merely fans (who are paying NA$CAR’s tab) we have no voice or say in what’s happening in the sport except to maybe get NA$CAR’s attention by not watching the races and not buying the souvenirs. And it’s NA$CAR’s unwillingness to listen to the drivers, owners, AND fans that is hurting them. I hope that there are some real changes brought about and soon because what once was a great sport has become a shadow of it’s former self. It’s gone from racing to racer-tainment. Maybe if the top brass in the Ivory Tower and His Royal Highness can consolidate their fecal matter, they might be able to return this motorized version of the WWE back to the sport of auto racing. Otherwise, the downward spiral will continue, more fans will leave, less money will fill the Royal Bank Vault, and the ratings will keep going down quicker than re-runs of the Banana Bunch.
Several folks have written that the way to improve the BOW WOW is to go to smaller engines. Well, every time they’ve tried smaller engines, somebody has figured out a way to get more horsepower out of them and thus blow the Bell Curve out of existence. When NASCAR went from the big block V-8’s to the small block V-8’s, it didn’t take long to get the horsepower back up to where it was before the change. Some folks have suggested going to V-6’s with fuel injection to slow things down. That won’t happen because NA$CAR is stuck on carburetors with the official excuse of fuel injection is too easy to cheat with. As long as the auto manufacturers make V-8’s, that what NA$CAR will run with carburetors. Although they did try V-6’s many moons ago in the Busch series. The cars sounded like a pack of angry hornets going around the track. I’ve said many times what would improve the BOW WOW, so enough said.
Folks keep getting all wound up about Danica coming to NA$CAR. It ain’t happening folks. She’s using the “threat” of moving to NA$CAR to ensure she gets a ride next year in the IRL. What better way to get the interest of the IRL head honchos than to have “The Face of the IRL” threaten to leave for the greener pastures of NA$CAR. She’s already said she’s not interested because of the long schedule NA$CAR runs every year. We’ve already got one Face of NA$CAR, so we don’t need a second one. We’ve also already got a male version of Danica, so we don’t need another one even if she is female. It’s bad enough having one driver throwing a hissy fit when he doesn’t get his way. We don’t need two. And has anyone seen any of the Super Teams making any sort of major move to get Danica into NA$CAR? Nope. Even my sources in high and low places have said she’s not coming. So folks need to move on and cover a real story. News Flash, more palm trees have been assaulted in Daytona Beach. Film at 11.
Last year, we heard His Royal Highness say everything that has gone wrong with NA$CAR was Jr.’s fault. I wonder whose fault it will be this year? It sure isn’t Jr. He can’t control souvenir sales, track attendance, or declining TV ratings. All he can do is control a car on the track. Who has the big say on how to improve NA$CAR and admit that he’s at fault for everything that’s going wrong with NA$CAR? Well, you won’t get the Emperor of All Things NA$CAR to admit he’s at fault. So I guess Mafia Mike will have to take the fall for His Highness.
John brought up a good point about the crew chief change for Jr. Rick Hendrick said he’d back Eury Jr. as Dale Jr.’s crew chief. Could it be that some outside power (like the Ivory Towers of Daytona) put some pressure on Hendrick to try to salvage the year for Jr.? With his being the blame for all of NA$CAR’s woes last year and all the time, money, and effort spent by NA$CAR hyping him to high heavens since he first entered the NA$CAR arena, could they be trying to ensure they get a return on their “investment” in a year which is financially trying for everyone? We’ll never know for sure because none of the mainstream media will ask neither Rick nor NA$CAR. But it’s a good point to ponder.
Another point John brought up was the Chase for the Chumps. Will NA$CAR change the Chase for the Chumps to ensure that certain Chosen Ones make it into the play-off system? Well, they’ve already changed it once to do just that when they went from 10 to 12. They’ve changed the rules for the Shoot-Out and All Star Races to ensure that certain Chosen Ones are in those events. So will they change it to include 20 drivers instead of the current 12? I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if they do change it and as they like changing rules faster than rabbits mate and at any time during the season, don’t be surprised if it comes as a last minute change this year.
Bob brought up a good question about car ownership. He wanted to know how Hendrick could run 5 cars at some races when His Royal Highness had decreed that teams could only have 4 cars, with Roush being the exception because of sponsorship commitments through the end of the 2009 season. The exception to the rule is part time teams. Any team can run a part time team in addition to their regular teams. So Brad Keselowski is listed as a part time Cup driver which allows Hendrick to run the 5th car because it’s only a part time operation. This is being done despite the fact that the old rule about two car ownership is still in the rule book and the way that teams get around that rule is by using somebody else’s name as the owner. Does Margaret Hass really own Tony Stewart’s car? Does Teresa Earnhardt really own the 1, 42, and 34 cars? Does Mary Hendrick really own the 5 car? Does John Henry really own the 6 and 17 cars? You can bet your sweet patootie they don’t. But because of the worship of the almighty dollar by His Majesty and his Royal Henchmen, a blind eye is turned to a rule which was established by Bill Sr. and helped eliminate the Kiekafer team from dominating NASCAR. I may not like how the rule is being manipulated, but if this rule is being manipulated, how many other rules are being manipulated in the quest for the almighty dollar and hurting the sport?
Michael up in Canada brought up an interesting question about how Carl Long got fined $200,000 for something outside of his control and Robby Gordon only got fined $50,000 for something that was under his control. It all boils down to the unequal enforcement of the rules. I know of two drivers who ran illegal gaskets at Daytona and NA$CAR official Mr. Magoo gave them both the magic wand treatment which made them legal. I know of a driver who ran a totally illegal car many years ago with Bill Sr.’s insistence and blessings. One very popular driver nowadays ran illegal parts in his engine at Chicagoland which were discovered by Mr. Magoo and another official during an engine teardown after he won the race and nothing was ever said or done. This same driver’s car was modified right under the noses of Mr. Magoo and his inspection team with the inspectors laughing while the modifications were being done. Fireball Roberts was disqualified at Bill Sr.’s insistence so that the win could be given to the Kiekafer mega-team (that he would later screw with the 2 car ownership rule) in order to keep them in NASCAR. The very first race winner ever in NASCAR was disqualified because Bill Sr. didn’t want a bootlegger being the first winner and tarnishing the image of the newly founded organization. Recently, we’ve seen two cars with the same violations get different penalties and fines. We’ve also seen two cars get the same penalties and fines for violating the sacrosanct body of the BOW WOW. There is no consistency to the doling out of fines or penalties. And that is one of the many gripes race fans have with NA$CAR and it’s ever changing interpretation of the rules and favoritism amongst the teams.
Folks have insisted on enforcing the two car rule. I don’t have a problem with that. Some folks have said they need to go back to single car ownership. I don’t have a problem with that either. The more teams the merrier. No more Super Teams. Every team gets a better shot at the sponsorship pie rather than having only a few teams grabbing the few sponsors that NA$CAR doesn’t. We might actually see some real racing because ownership points will mean more. No team orders, like we’ve seen at least once in the last two seasons. Both cars would get the same amount of attention when it came to building and preparing them. None of this experimental car garbage which hurts drivers’ careers. Nobody gets assigned a rotten team or equipment to bolster the other two or three teams chances of winning a championship. Both cars would have the same shot at it. It might actually revitalize the TV broadcasts, providing Faux King Brian rescinds his coverage dictates. Wouldn’t it be great to see Carl Long or Robby Gordon getting the same exposure that Dale Jr. and the Shrub get? But none of this will happen because NA$CAR won’t listen.
Some upcoming events. The Cherry bomb 200 will be held at The Rock on July 4th. This is a fundraiser by the Old Timer’s Racing Club, the folks who have been helping out Sam Ard and others with medical problems that NA$CAR has tossed on the scrap heap. For each $10 ticket that is sold, Andy Hillenburg will donate $2 to the Old Timer’s Racing Club Medical Fund. The Old Timer’s will be returning to The Rock on October 11th for another event, so if you can’t make it to Daytona or don’t want to swim down the back straight there on the 4th with the bass, catfish, and sewer trout, give The Rock a try on the 4th. It’s for a good cause.
The 3rd Annual Cruise-In and Car Show at the old Occoneechee Speedway is coming up. The cruise-in will be held on the evening of Friday August 28th with the car show on Saturday the 29th. They seem to have a great turn out for their events and have some really great legends there. Cotton Owens, David Pearson, my good friend Rex White, Ned Jarrett, and other racing greats from the past have been there and will probably be there again this year.
On Sunday August 30th, the Old Timer’s Racing Club will be having their annual banquet there after a church service. This is being done to save the members some cash and because of the bad weather that normally comes in November.
On September 12th, the Augusta International Raceway Preservation Society (AIRPS) will be having their 6th Annual Augusta Vintage Nationals. This year, they’re working with the Racers Reunion group to help bring in even more drivers, cars, and fans than ever. I’ve attended this event the last 3 years and have always had a blast. It’s a great place to get some opinions and hear some great stories about racing both past and present.
On October 10th at the Memory Lane Museum in Mooresville, the first induction of the Racers Reunion-Memory Lane Hall of Fame will be held. There will be a limited number of tickets available for the induction ceremony but the festival and other attractions will be open to the public. No information is available yet on the ticket cost or contacts to obtain the tickets.
October 24th will be the annual NASCAR Day in
Randleman NC. The Old Timer’s racing Club is
hosting the event and will be showing off their
cars and selling whatever they can to help raise
funds for their various causes and charities. In
case you don’t know, Randleman NC is the
home of The King, Richard Petty.
Lots of events coming up for us race fans, so if
you aren’t interested in what the current
generation is doing on the track, you’ve got some
good opportunities to see and meet the legends
who helped make stock car racing into a sport
and actually drove stock cars.
I know some folks aren’t real fond of Bill O’Reilly
of Fox News, but he’s done a lot to help out our troops and raise funds for the Wounded Warrior
Project. So I want to recognize him for his efforts in helping out our troops. Two thumbs up Bill for
being a good guy in helping out both our wounded service members and our troops in the field.
Motherhood, Apple Pie, and John Wayne
Mad Mikie, Curmudgeon at Large
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