the decals on the Crummy Old Toilet since we know the bodylines won’t change? Or will Fiat race under their own name?
And with the bankruptcy of GM, formerly General Motors now Government Motors, and the President’s push towards green and smaller vehicles thanks to pressure from the Green Machine, will there even be an Impala or anything in the same size class come next race season? If not, then the Chevy teams will have another two race seasons using that label until they have to find something new to borrow decals and engines from, providing His Royal Highness doesn‘t bring in crate engines and turn this into a totally spec racing series like IROC was.
And just what all will happen to both Dodge and GM as far as their racing efforts go not just in NA$CAR, but also in all other forms of auto racing that they participate in? If the President uses the bully pulpit to push the Green Machine’s agenda, the owners, drivers, and us fans may be seeing our favorite drivers in only one of two makes of car unless the Palm Tree Hunter decides to take money from yet another foreign owned manufacturer to allow them to enter NA$CAR. This could be a very wild ride over the next few years folks or a very boring one.
Since the rumors have it that McMurray will be going to Yates next season and Kvapil is still under contract, will McMurray be running the #26 still or will it be the #28? Will he take the Crown Royal sponsorship with him or will it stay at Roush? It will be interesting to see how this deal shakes out.
Since Focks didn’t bother doing a follow up on Robby Gordon after his wreck at Dover, we didn’t know that he banged up his knee and is having to wear a knee brace. Luckily it doesn’t appear to be a serious injury but because Focks only does a half-a$$ed job of covering the races, you’d never know he was injured or to what extent his injuries were. Thanks again for nothing Focks. This really makes you wonder just how “good” Focks is because if I can find this out a day after the race, how come they can’t find it out right after he was released from the infield care center? They’ve got a lot more assets than I do and theirs are at the track while it’s happening.
Was anyone really surprised that the overall ratings for the Focks part of the race season ended up being a double digit drop? Was anyone really surprised that the Dover race was also a double digit drop from last year? One thing I noticed on Jayski was the comment about the start times. Something that didn’t get mentioned in that was the change by Focks to include their pre-race garbage as part of the actual racing time slot. So this makes the start times look consistent or even earlier than what they should be. And as we all saw, not every race started when it was supposed to. Focks and the rest of the networks need to cut out their pre-race refuse and start their coverage when the chaplain,/minister/priest/rabbi says the Invocation. Use the slot that would normally be used for the pre-race trash to run commercials. Then run the race without any commercials. They’ve been doing it in Europe for years and don’t have any complaints from the advertisers. But as this makes sense, you know for sure that neither NA$CAR nor the networks will even consider it. So let’s just pray that they finally implement the split screen coverage.
Will Lance McGrew become the permanent crew chief or will he be replaced? And if so, by whom? Will they take the suggestion of bringing Pops in? Or will they go outside the organization? The old #8 crew isn’t doing anything right now. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind being reunited with Jr.
I thought it interesting that Hendrick ended up spending more time answering questions about Jr. than he did about Johnson’s win. What does this say about the lamestream media? They really are like sharks smelling blood in the water.
I want to recognize Jamie McMurray for paying a visit to the troops at the McGuire VA Hospital in Richmond Virginia. And big thanks to Mary for letting me know about this. Mary visit’s the VA hospital with her dog Chip who is a therapy pet. You know that if Jamie was a Chosen One, the lamestream media would’ve been all over it. But as Jamie isn’t a Chosen One, he doesn’t get the media attention they do. So Jamie, two thumbs up to you for a job well done and some recognition for being there for the troops.
TNT returns to Pick-Your-Nose. That explains a lot.
The only thing that will make the TNT infomercials interesting is if they can actually broadcast the Firecracker 400 as scheduled. The high point of the TNT infomercials will be Kyle Petty followed by the occasional lap of racing shown and a rare decent comment from Dolly Wallinback. The rest? Not worth a comment.
The King already had some cash flow problems but with Fiat now being the owner and the bankruptcy proceedings going on, the cash flow coming in may be even slower. You may want to talk to Ford there King, like you did in 1969. You can be assured that Ford won’t screw you around the way they did back then.
Wow. It’s been 10 years since NA$CAR started their Diversity Program. And what has it accomplished? Well, it chased off the only African-American driver they had at the time, Bill Lester. An up and coming African-American driver got dumped by one of the big name teams despite him doing rather well. The only minority driver NA$CAR really got behind was a driver who was already well established in the racing community, JPM. So is the Diversity Program as successful as they’d lead you to believe? You decide.
Congrats to Brian Scott on his first win in the Truck Series race at Dover. It would’ve been a little more interesting if the Trucks had been using truck tires instead of the Cup car tires.
Oh where oh where have the real racing tires gone? Oh where oh where could they be? They shred they blow and they cause big wrecks, oh where could the real tires be?
In a recent article on The Daly Planet, John Daly reported that NA$CAR is reaching out to the unwashed and unannoited.
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) today announced its intention to invite the top independent NASCAR-related websites to join a newly-formed “NASCAR Citizen Journalists Media Corps.” NASCAR is providing this group of new media access to cover the sport while maintaining their independence. The initial list of Citizen Journalists will be formally announced in the coming weeks.
The media landscape has changed dramatically in recent months especially for sports coverage. As the newspaper industry adjusts to a new age of information, NASCAR fans and former traditional media have taken it upon themselves to report, cover and opine on the sport. Today there are thousands of NASCAR related websites. Many of these sites cover the sport on a daily basis and offer unique and fresh perspectives to a large audience.
The Citizen Journalists will be selected as part of a review process including: professionalism, reporting and commentary, use of social networking tools.
“Many of these outlets have covered NASCAR from afar for many years, but now they have the opportunity to cover the sport up close and personal,” said Managing Director of Corporate Communications, Ramsey Poston. “The Citizen Journalists will have the very same access as the traditional media including credentials to race events, access to media centers, press boxes, press conferences, teleconferences, news releases, video, audio, photos, stats and graphics. We expect the Citizen Journalists to maintain their journalistic independence and continue to provide unique points of view,” said Poston.
Citizen journalist? That sounds a lot like the National Guard who are described as “citizen soldiers”. Am I skeptical of this? You bet you sweet patootie I am. You can bet that this is either just a PR move or that NA$CAR is trying to quiet the most effective form of criticism against them and that’s of we, the unwashed and unannoited fans who give our two cents worth. Notice this line:
“The Citizen Journalists will have the very same access as the traditional media including credentials to race events, access to media centers, press boxes, press conferences, teleconferences, news releases, video, audio, photos, stats and graphics. We expect the Citizen Journalists to maintain their journalistic independence and continue to provide unique points of view”.
The key thing here is the word credentials. According to the legal paperwork that the card-carrying lamestream media members have to sign to get their credentials, there’s a nice little codicil called Article 4. Article 4 basically states that the media can only report or photograph that which NA$CAR approves. This means that the normal criticism which myself and others apply to NA$CAR would be effectively silenced because you know NA$CAR will never let themselves be openly criticized on a continuing basis by somebody they can control. If you read any of the “big media names” (i.e. E$PN.COM, NA$CAR.COM, FOCKSSNORTS.COM), you’ll notice the bulk of them are the Kool Aid drinking crowd. The rare exception to the card-carrying crowd are Monte Dutton, Ed Hinton, and Mike Mulhern who let NA$CAR have it square between the eyes. Luckily Robin Miller covers the IRL because he lets NA$CAR have a black eye every so often.
Don’t expect to see yours truly getting an invite to this party. Even if they waive the normal credential cost. Also notice they didn’t say anything about access to the race shops. Access to the press box, media center, etc. but not the race shops. At the shops, you’re away from the ever vigilant eyes and ears of the NA$CAR Media Police who control access to the drivers, owners, and crew chiefs which means that a lot of things could be said in total confidence which couldn’t be said at the track where the Media Police keep an ever watchful ear open to what’s being said. There’s more to this invitation than meets the eye.
An update on the closing of the rest stops here in Virginia. It seems our half-governor, who only works half the time for the state and full time for a political party, has proposed that the highway rest stops which do not service the Richmond area will be the ones shut down. That means any folks who go to Martinsville or Bristol wouldn’t have any public rest stops to use. They’d have to stop at normal gas stations or truck stops which are scattered along Interstate 77, Interstate 81, and HWY 220 and HWY 58 which goes to Martinsville. So far, it hasn’t been approved. I’ll try to keep you race fans updated when I hear something new about it.
It’s good to see that the Prelude to the Dream was sold out. It’s great that the drivers can go there and not have to worry about the normal garbage they have to at the Cup races and can speak freely and openly.
Badyear is still tire testing at Indy. And I can’t say as I blame them after last year’s fiasco. Six test so far with no results. Will they have to go to Lucky #7? I don’t care if they do 1,000 tire tests just so long as they have some decent tires this year so the fans that paid big bucks to be at Indy will actually get to see a race and not just 10 laps parades for 400 miles.
I exchanged a series of e-mails with Charles, one of our readers, and he had a great suggestion about making the races more interesting. Exciting racing is about passing and how do you make sure there are more passes for the lead? You offer them an incentive. Here’s Charles idea:
The simplest thing I think they need to experiment with is start paying points or money to lead laps! Say let each lap pay a point then total up and give the winner a bonus! This would help make better racing in the early and mid portions or a race that are usually boring!
A variation of this was tried back around 1970 with the leader at every 100 lap mark getting paid lap money. Richard Petty and David Pearson would lay in wait until they neared the 100 lap marks and then rush to the front to lead that lap, whether it was lap 100, 200, 300, or 400 just to collect the lap money and then fall back some and then do it all over again at the next 100 lap mark. It did liven things up a bit. But once NA$CAR figured out what was going on, they stopped it. Charles idea is worth a try. It would definitely give more drivers an incentive to race for the lead instead of what we have now. Of course, the money paid out would have to be a sizeable chunk of change to really grab the drivers’ interest since some of them only seem to be interested in points racing and not going for the win just to ensure they make the Chase for the Chumps.
One of the other things Charles and I discussed was the branding of the cars. Contrary to what some folks may think, there is more of a tie to a particular brand of car than what the lamestream media claims there is. A good example that Charles mentioned was when there was talk about DEI going to Fords in a possible merger with RYR back when Jr. was still there. Fans came out of the woodwork saying that DEI needed to stay with Chevy. Fans were ecstatic when Dodge came back and Petty Enterprises went back to driving MoPars. So there is a higher level of brand loyalty than what’s given credit for. This led us into a discussion of the current car and its lack of identifiable body lines.
Folks, contrary to what you may hear from His Royal Highness and his Ministry of Propaganda,
there is not a level playing field with the current car. So why not bring back the stock sheet metal at least? The safety aspects of the car are decent enough except for that damnable wing which is a safety hazard because it blocks the drivers’ rearward view. So put some stock sheet metal on the cars. Give the manufacturers a definite body line that they and the fans can identify with. Give the Ford fans something that looks like a Mustang. Give the Chevy fans something that looks like a Camaro. Give the Fiat, I mean Dodge fans something that looks like a Cuda. It would bring back the brand identity that both the manufacturers and fans want. And if the manufacturer doesn’t build in the aero, too bad, so sad, better luck next season. And as a side benefit, it would get more folks into the showrooms to check out the street versions of what‘s on the track. It may not increase the sales of those particular models, but it would create a little more interest in them and maybe increase the sales of some of their other models. Just because they’re racing the Fusion name on the track doesn’t mean that folks aren’t going to buy a Taurus, F-350, or Focus. Just because they’re racing an Impala named vehicle doesn’t mean they won’t buy a Cobalt or Corvette. The mantra of “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday” may be close to extinction, but it doesn’t mean that the cars on the track don’t have an effect of some sort when it comes to folks buying a new or used vehicle.
Along with this Charles and I discussed the “one
size fits all” spec cars and series and their lack
of success and/or eventual failure. There is a
definite track history there folks. It happened to
the midget cars, it happened to IROC, it
happened to the ASA, it happened to CHAMP
CAR, and the IRL and NA$CAR are both
suffering from the spec car problems. So brand
identity and definitive body lines are an important
part of racing to the fans. Just because NA$CAR
might have to use a multitude of templates again
if they used stock sheet metal for the bodies and
put up with the manufacturers whining about
every other brand’s advantage is something
that’s been going on since the beginning of
stock car racing and it’s made for some very
lively discussions between drivers, owners, teams, the media, and fans. So get off your Jello-like backsides NA$CAR and give the manufacturers, teams, and fans something they deserve even if it means you might have to actually work again.
Here’s another one of those stories you won’t hear on CNN or MSNBC. The Coast Guard Cutter Confidence conducted humanitarian assistance in Nassau as part of the Exercise Tradewinds 2009.The crewmembers volunteered for the humanitarian assistance project at the Bahamas Association for Social Health or BASH. BASH is a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in Nassau, Bahamas. This is a lot different from the rescues we occasionally hear about the Coast Guard performing. It just goes to show that no matter what branch of service it is, all are capable of performing humanitarian aid and assistance. And this one was closer to our shores than most humanitarian efforts we here about. So to the good folks of the Coast Guard, Semper Paratus, and many thanks for your good deeds that go unnoticed.
Motherhood, Apple Pie, and John Wayne
Mad Mikie, Curmudgeon at Large
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