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Posts Tagged ‘Danica Patrick’

OK…I admit..frankly I watched very little NASCAR this weekend.  Why, you ask?  Well I will tell you, there were three factors that kept me away:

1) With my lovely bride out of town, I was granted the gift of a no-holds-barred session with my lovely little girl.  Grace kept me plenty busy, and just a tad distracted.  Plus, with the delay in the Nationwide race, there were too many things working against me.

2) I had the pleasure of getting back to  basics with (semi-local) Dirt Track Racing.  This weekend brought the joy that is the Texas Motor Speedway World Dirt Track Championships.  In this case “world” meaning Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and maybe Mississippi, Arkansas, and Nebraska.  Nonetheless, what a great throwback to good ol’ fashion dirt track Saturday nights.  PGTerrill and I took our boys, and a few associated friends and family out to these great races.  Unless you have had the opportunity to enjoy a Saturday night of racing, y0u really can’t appreciate the fun that can bed had.  For a mere $15 (for adults) you can enjoy about 10-15 races in a single evening.  This is 15 different opportunities to share with my son and his friends the fun of picking a winner for this heat race.  How do you pick?  HELL, I don’t know..he looks fast, I like his number, I think his name is cool…OMG…Look..It’s freakin’ Batman out there (BTW..Batman was fast as HELL).  Regardless, I love this night…a great chance to give the next generation an opportunity to learn what real local racing is all about

3) USA vs Canada for the Gold Medal.  I won’t lie..I tried to watch both..and play sports trivia at one of our local haunts.  It worked..for about 2 periods..then it was all hands on deck for the remaining hockey game.  While the USA lost, I am so proud of our team.  Canada won, and God bless them for it, they deserved it.  Truly a great team, and for a country that so desperately wanted (needed) this victory, I do wish them well.  I think the USA Hockey future is bright.

Nonetheless, NASCAR was in Vegas this weekend, and SURPRISE, your reigning Sprint Cup Champion was victorious.  I am not sure what it is going to take to dethrone the mighty 48 team.  Jimmy Johnson and Chad Knaus are simply better than everyone else.  I think it is going to require them “losing” it rather than anyone else “winning” it.  BTW..this weekend brought the end to act 1 of the Danica experiment.  She wrecked in her final run through early season Nationwise.  I was amused that her crew chief actually used the word “babe” when talking to her on the radio.  Before you get all worked up about a redneck being…well…a redneck, you should know that he was trying to “talk her off a ledge” after her wreck.  Danica is extremely passionate, and perhaps a wee-bit hot headed whenever she is dis-serviced by a mistake from another driver.  She is definitely going to have to learn how to check that emotion…at least enough to get the proper experience in the big cars.  The fact is that in racing, accidents happen, people misjudge closing speed..and even the vaunted Danica will one day have to say..yeah I am sorry about that…just a racing deal.  Nonetheless, we will pick this discussion up in a couple months.

Next week is in Atlanta…so we’ll see what the next round of goin’ fast and turnin’ left brings.

~Cheers

PubGuys sponsoring a NASCAR entry…crazy you say?!  Well..maybe a little, but it could happen..in fact if the PubGuys wanted to…it may have been able to happen last weekend.  Believe or not, there are still “mom and pop” operations in NASCAR.  These are mostly in the lower level Nationwide Series.  Morgan Sheperd (who has been in NASCAR forever sponsors himself..or more precisely he is “Racing for Jesus”.  Last week, Kenny Wallace (who drives the #28 in the Nationwide series) was working all the social networking tools to try and find sponsorship.  According to Kenny, $7,200 will get your company as the primary sponsor for his car for 1 weekend.  What does $7,200 actually do for the team? It buys 4 sets of Goodyear Racing tires.  Without that sponsorship money, the team would be forced to scrounge for used tires.  Can you imagine the PubGuys logo racing down the track, and when the race is over, Kenny Wallace is your spokesperson for a day?  THAT WOULD BE AWESOME! If you have never had the chance to follow any NASCAR, I would encourage you to listen to Kenny for a while.  He has personality enough for 3 people, and just loves to race.

Speaking of this past weekend, the racing was at Auto Club Speedway in SoCal.  I am not sure whether it is an indicator of the economy or that fact that SoCal really isn’t a very good sports area..the stands were MAYBE half full.  I know many will say that NASCAR is just too redneck for SoCal and THAT is why nobody was there..but let’s face it, the NFL isn’t even in SoCal because they fail to support the teams that do come there well enough.  I chalk it up to having too many other options to occupy their time, and therefore, the pool of fans is depleted quickly.

Remember in last weeks blog, I said that you can’t really project the rest of the year based on Daytona..I have 3 examples of how that came true.  Jimmie Johnson went from finishing 35th to winning the race.  Dale Earhnardt Jr. went from a surprising 2nd place finish at Daytona to 32nd in Cali.  Maybe more telling was Danica Patrick.  While she performed very competitively in Daytona, she struggled hugely in Cali.  She was never really comfortable in the car, and looked like someone who just doesn’t quite understand how to drive that kind of car yet.  Not her fault at all…but it does show that Daytona is really all about the car.

Thats it for this week…they are in Las Vegas this week..should be a good show!

~Cheers

Does that title read a little weird??  Yeah…it does to me too.  BUT…with the start of the new NASCAR series (trucks and cars), bring us DANICA-MANIA.  It is funny…as I have been following the lead up to this weekend’s races at Daytona, it is obvious that most of the other drivers have already  become fed-up with the Danica circus.  I don’t think any of them hold it against her per se…but they are annoyed by the gawking masses and their un-ending curiosity in what Danica is doing…what is she wearing…does she look nervous…are the other drivers plotting against her??  WHATEVER!  I think she will ultimately do fine..probably not burn down the house for at least 3-4 years (see Juan Pablo Montoya’s path) but nonetheless, she can drive a race car, and that will eventually make her competitive.  As for her start to the new year…not bad.  She fared pretty well in the ARCA race (think NASCAR’s version of A-Ball), but wasn’t as luck in the Nationwide race (AAA-Ball equivalent) where she was caught up in the big wreck.  It wasn’t her fault…it was, as they say, just a racin’ deal.

I am definitely excited about the new season of NASCAR.  I am excited that the PubGuys will be hangin’ at Texas Motor Speedway for the April race (more details to come).  To prove that I am not just a Tony Stewart ‘homer’…my family and I are playing a little game this year..everyone is allowed to pick 2 drivers (consider primary and secondary) to root for.  Additional rules, you cannot pick 2 drivers from the same team, and no 2 people can pick the same driver. Well since my sister and I are both Stewart fans…we had to flip a coin and, well, I lost.  Not a big deal, contrary to what Terrill says…I do cheer for more than just Tony.  So…my drivers for this year are Kevin Harvick (#29) and Juan Pablo Montoya (#42).  So, while I will still cheer first and foremost for Tony, my glory (and bragging rights) revolve around how those two drivers do.

So, for those who (like me) love NASCAR…it’s about time for GREEN GREEN GREEN..for those who don’t like (or understand) NASCAR…I hope you will give it a chance..and try to understand that there actually is more to it than just “goin’ fast, and turnin’ left”.

Cheers!