the nomination process came about and who actually selected the first 25 nominees. I know what the Propaganda Sheets say. The reason I say this has to do with some greats who weren’t on the list and some folks who actually were nominated. Smokey Yunick, one of the most colorful and innovative team owners was missing. And nothing against Richard Childress, but what makes him better than Smokey? What makes Rick Hendrick better than Smokey? I like the Wood Brothers and have nothing against them but Glen wouldn’t have gotten to where he was if it wasn’t for his brother Leonard. So where’s Leonard? Not on the list. Red Vogt, a master of the Ford flathead V-8 and chief mechanic for Raymond Parks and the man who actually came up with the name of NASCAR, was missing. You’d think that the man who came up with the name for the organization would make the list. Tim Flock was on there but where are his brothers? Not on the list. Ray Fox, who was a team owner and master mechanic in his own right, who fielded cars for the likes of Tim Flock, Fireball Roberts, Junior Johnson, Buck Baker, Fred Lorenzen, Marvin Panch, Cale Yarborough, and a host of other racing greats wasn‘t on the list. It’s great that they’ve finally got a Hall of Fame. It’s long overdue. And as much as Faux King Brian tries to force NA$CAR into the mold of the stick and ball sports, why didn’t all 25 nominees go into the HOF as the initial group like the stick and ball sports do then taper the induction groups down over the next few years? Of course, if you saw His Majesty on the nominee show, you probably got a queasy feeling in your stomach like I did. You know Bills Sr. and Jr. have got to be spinning about 15,000 rpm in their graves with what His Highness has done to what was once a great sport. His Royal Highness said that NA$CAR is about the fans. If it’s so about the fans, why has he done his best to drive the fans away? Why hasn’t he bothered to listen to them? Oh, I forgot. The Emperor of All Things NA$CAR knows what’s best for the sport. You pretty much have to figure that Big and Little Bill will be inducted, the Real King and his dad will be inducted, and Iron Head will be inducted this time around. Not to say they don’t deserve to be in there, but I get the uneasy feeling about this like I do about the selection for the All Star race and where the HOF is being built. It’s already been determined. They’re just going through the motions to make things seem legit. You all remember the gyrations and the “dog and pony show” NA$CAR went through for the Hall of Fame city selection just to put it where they had intended all along. The fix was in even before they went through the motions of having cities vie for the HOF.
Ray McNulty will be getting lots of hate mail after his recent article about Jr. being the most over-rated athlete in sports: \/www.tcpalm.com/news/ I was a Mets fan before they won the World Series back in the late ‘60‘s, so I know a little something about lovable losers.
And speaking of losers, $1,000 to change a head light? Yep, that’s what it cost to replace the optional headlights on a Prius, one of the wonderful “green machines” Uncle Barry and the Green Meanies want us to drive. Funny how they won’t publish the ecological impact numbers or toxic by-products of these “wonderful” little cars when it comes to manufacturing them. It’s bad enough paying almost $5 for a turn signal light bulb for my Ford 500. Despite my back and the angle I had to work at, I changed it out. I’d hate to think what a local dealership or mechanic would’ve charged me. I’m still paying the price for it pain-wise though. But I digress. What’s ironic is the manufacturer of the Prius is still keeping hush-hush about these headlights despite being taken to court over it. Still, if it’s going to cost $1,000 to change a light bulb on one of these green machines, what’s it going to cost to change batteries on the battery-powered electric cars when they hit the market? That’s when chasin’ racin’ becomes more of a “maybe” thing for race fans and keeping food on the table and a car for work rules the wallet. And they say the American brand cars have problems with their parts. After finding out about this, maybe American branded cars aren’t as bad as some people think. Thanks to Autoextremist for the numbers and court info.
The Emperor of All Things NA$CAR says NASCAR's drug-testing policy is a fair system that protects its competitors and fans from the dangers of an impaired driver on the race track.
Oh really? So, it’s going to keep you off the track after a night of spilling “sodas” at the Chart House and killing palm trees in the Palm Tree Assault Vehicle? Oh, that’s right. You don’t show up at any track unless there’s a photo op in it to make you look better. Sorry, my bad.
The NASCAR chairman says the drug policy is still the best in professional sports, despite a federal judge's decision to reinstate driver Jeremy Mayfield. France says in the interest of safety, NASCAR should be able to suspend a driver who has a positive drug test result.
If it’s the best in professional sports, why is it highly criticized by agencies and professionals who run drug testing programs for other sports? Oh, I forgot, those professionals run drug testing programs for professional sports, not sports entertainment, which is what you’ve turned NA$CAR into. Pure racer-tainment. If it was actually a sport, he’d have to suspend himself for being a dope. He obviously thinks we fans can’t see what’s going on. Obviously the AP must be getting desperate for print when they start covering His Royal Highness. Changes will be made to it Your Highness, especially since you got the Feds involved.
NASCAR Chairman Brian France praised the success of double-file restarts and reiterated his stance that the sport remains healthy despite the headaches of a sagging economy.
If the sport is so healthy, why are the TV ratings so low? Why have the TV ratings been on the decline the last couple of years? The ratings started to sputter the second year after His Majesty as(s)cended the throne and have been dropping ever since. You might be able to blame the empty grandstands on the economy but TV ratings? How many “sodas” did you have before you made that statement to Scene Daily?
France, speaking to reporters Friday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway, said double-file restarts "clearly are putting a nice energy around the events," which are producing "fantastic" racing overall.
Hold your horses there Your Highness. If it’s putting such nice energy around the events (notice he didn’t say races), then why are the TV ratings off and why do the grandstands have so many empty seats? Like the entire backstretch at Daytona? As to the racing being fantastic, you better submit yourself to a drug test and a proctological exam to locate your head Your Infernal Rectaltude. The racing has been miserable since you dumped race dates from some decent tracks, closed some decent tracks, created or gave more race dates to cookie cutter tracks, and introduced the COW. The cookie cutter tracks were bad enough with the old template racer but with the COW, they’ve become not just a major snooze-a-thon, but a cure for even the worst insomniac.
He said NASCAR remains the No. 1 or No. 2 most-viewed and most popular sport on any given weekend, which means that despite the economic downturn, "lots of people would like to have our problems." France said the product on the track is the "most important thing," and to that end NASCAR continues to evaluate possible adjustments - which he termed as minor changes - to its new model car.
You obviously don’t read the blogs or posting boards Your Highness or you’d know more and more fans aren’t watching the races and maybe half of the ones who are watching the races are actually recording them to be watched later so they can fast forward through the commercials and boring parts of the racer-tainment you serve up as racing. Lots of people would like to have your problems? You mean fans leaving in droves, TV ratings dropping, empty grandstands, falling souvenir sales, falling concession stand sales, a boring “product“, and chasing the core fans away? I’m sure the NFL would love to have those problems. And if the “product” on the track is the most important thing, then why are the races so danged boring? Why do I get e-mails from so many other fans complaining about the races being boring? Why have I gotten so many e-mails since I started giving my two cents worth complaining about how you’ve managed to turn what was once an exciting sport into something nearly as exciting as watching paint dry? If the “product” on the track is the most important thing, then some major changes need to be made to get fans back in the grandstands and get the TV ratings up. Like your resignation for starters and replacing you with someone who actually knows something about racing and race fans. As to minor changes (Wow, he didn’t say tweaks), you need to make some changes to that model car you sell the teams. Like making them look like something the fans drive instead of some generic nightmare clone that resembles nothing coming off the production lines anywhere in the world. Even the piece of junk cars that came off the production lines in East Germany had identifiable body lines. That’s something that’s missing and has been missing since the advent of the template racer and it’s “used bar of soap” appearance. Make all the minor changes you want to the Car of Woe (COW), a turd is still a turd by any other name. My apologies to Shakespeare.
I don’t know how many folks saw the movie “Tiny Lund: Hard Charger” which was released back in 1969, but Turner Classic Movies is taking a vote on whether or not to release this movie on DVD. For the new fans who weren’t around when Tiny was racing, he was a gentle giant off the track and one heck of a competitor on the track. He was also one heck of a character, afraid of snakes, the brunt of some of Joe Weatherly’s jokes, but backed down from nobody in or outside the race car when he was at the track. I don’t need to tell the old fans about Tiny. If you want to see this movie released on DVD, go to:
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=576825&atid=18795&category=overview
and cast your vote. A lot of racing greats and tracks from the old days are in it and some names might be familiar to new fans: Curtis Turner, Darel Dieringer, Jim Hurtibuise, Dick Hutcherson, James Hylton, Bobby Isaac, Ned Jarrett, Junior Johnson, Sam McQuagg, Marvin Panch, David Pearson, Richard Petty, and Cale Yarborough. While I’m not a big Elvis movie fan, you can also see some of these same drivers in the Elvis movie “Speedway”, including Tiny, and a movie called “The Fifty” which is about the first 50 years of NASCAR.
Noticeably absent at the track this season is Mafia Mike, Faux King Brian’s chief henchman.
He seems to be taking a page from His Royal Highness’ playbook. About the only time he’s
seen any more is for a major press conference or photo op. Since he had his gastric bypass, there’s a lot less of Mafia Mike to see around the garage area and his not being seen around there by the owners and drivers makes one wonder just why
he’s being seen less and less. As the Chief
Defender of the Holy Rulebook and enforcer of all
written, unwritten, and implied doctrines and
policies, you’d think he’d be right there at the
track, giving today’s latest interpretation of the
Holy Rulebook. While his physical appearance
has been getting slimmer and slimmer, so has
his appearances in the garage area. Could he be
gearing up to ass-ume the Royal Mantel of
Leadership by only showing up for press
conferences and photo ops? Or could it be
Bruton the Beast has made him an offer he can‘t
refuse? I guess we’ll eventually find out in a
Propaganda Sheet release or a future press
conference.
Two thumbs up and a hand salute to country music singer Neal McCoy. Neal has taken time out of his performance schedule to go on 7 USO tours, entertaining the troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, and a number of other places. So Neal, thank you for keeping our troops entertained and bringing them a little bit of down home music.
Motherhood, Apple Pie, and John Wayne
Mad Mikie, Curmudgeon at Large
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