Topsy-Turvy Season

…accept for who’s leading the points. Baseball in March and March Madness in April. Qualifying preempted by an auto auction. (Isn’t it called SPEED TV and not sitting parked tv? It’ll probably only get worse when Fox takes over.) Pit Crew Competition cancelled due to lack of interest. Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart have appointed themselves the Nascar police. And that’s not all:

Let’s start with  race 1. Arguably the worst Daytona 500 ever. (Think F1 on a 2.5 mile oval.)  Might have been the least interesting race ever anywhere, but New Hampshire probably holds  that distinction.

Nascar v. Denny Hamlin: definition of “disparaging” equals anything Nascar doesn’t like at the time.

At Las Vegas: How curious the pace car for the Cup race was a Chrysler product.  I think I saw the record for the quickest throwing of the yellow when the 9 momentarily got sideways. In victory circle Matt Kenseth (or is it “Kenseths” – I’m so confused by some of the professional announcers) said he’d never raced on his birthday before. I guess he blocked out his 4th place finish at Atlanta on 3.10.02. The shills in the booth (on orders from Nascar?) did a  perfect job of ignoring the Hamlin/Nascar feud over the previously mentioned “disparaging” situation.

Bristol: Never seen anything like it. I’m not talking about the race – although it was fantastic.  I’m talking about the 11 trying to finish (without brakes?) by continually using the wall to turn the car. Amazing.

Fontana: How ironic the 14 is irate over someone blocking. This coming from one of the most notorious (and effective until recently) blockers of all time. It wasn’t very long ago he created havoc by trying to block 2 lanes at the same time on a restrictor plate track. So it’s got to be dollars versus odds when it comes to installing SAFER barriers. Mr. Hamlin is the latest casualty of that cost saving measure. I suspect he  and most every other driver believe all walls should be protected regardless of the unlikelihood of a car hitting a particular place. Maybe they should just all chip in and get it done themselves.

As convoluted as the Nascar rules and enforcement may seem, they got nothin’ on the neanderthals at Augusta National.

I had the privilege to attend the truck race at The Rock. It’s a pleasure to help support the wonderful Andy Hillenburg in his efforts. And you get to see great racing at one of the great tracks. It’s one of those few big tracks remaining where tires mean something. What a thrill to see someone charge through the field in the last 20 laps (well almost, he ran out of time and finished 2nd) as the only one with fresh tires.

Just to see if you’ve read this far: On 8.4.91 , Ken Schrader, Rick Hendrick, Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip competed in the ARCA race at Topeka. Does anyone know the backstory on that?

So Dish is talking of buying Sprint. Will we have the Dish Cup? No, more likely it will be a bowl.

Richmond: Brian Keselowski picked a good week to race. Only 43 entries. To his credit he finished ahead of 3 other drivers and only one of those was a start and parker. And as a throwback (ala the aforementioned Rock), tires made a difference. Refreshing.

Just so you don’t get the wrong impression, I believe overall the season has been tremendous, the new car is fast and furious, and Nascar always tries to do its best.

By Gary Erdakos

Ref: racing-reference.info

 

 

 

 

 

 

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