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“Chasing” Sleep
Another late night blog post. I gotta figure out this sleep thing. I can’t seem to stay awake earlier in the evening, but I am wide awake when I should be sound asleep. Crazy.
Not as crazy as Jimmie Johnson out of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase after just three races. I doubt many brackets-except for those of Johnson haters-had that called correctly. Some thoughts on The Chase:
-Kevin Harvick showed that if you are going to have a bad race, make it the first race in a round. That way you have two chances to win and advance.
-Johnson showed that if you are going to have a bad race, it better not be the final race in a round. However, the 48 team has been a master of Chase events, and I can see them being very disruptive of the proceedings, winning a race or two. This week is Charlotte, and Johnson owns the place.
-The way I read NASCAR points, the best Johnson can finish in 2015 is 13th. So, is he racing for wins or testing for 2016 in the final races of the season? I say wins.
-Dale Earnhardt Jr. showed how important every point in every race is. His late lap pass of Jamie McMurray at Dover left the two tied for points, with Earnhardt having the tiebreaker and advancing to the second round of The Chase. Without the pass, Earnhardt would have finished one point behind McMurray and out of the championship hunt.
-Joe Gibbs racing has sizzled, but will they continue to bring home the bacon? I would love to see them fizzle, but don’t be surprised if all four Gibbs cars advance to the third round of The Chase. My bias is showing, but I would not mind seeing three of the drivers falter in the Contender Round.
-Of course I also would not mind seeing both Penske cars racing for nothing but pride after Talladega. OK, so I want Hamlin, Kenseth, Edwards, Logano, and Keselowski out. Add Kurt Busch to the list. Since at least two of the four will advance to the Eliminator Round, I think I will apply TROTD’s jinx to Hamlin, Edwards, Logano, and Keselowski.
-Do you think any of the other Chase drivers was pleased to see Harvick win at Dover and advance to round two of the championship? I think not. With the 12 drivers all at 3,000 points to begin this round, I think it is advantage Harvick. He obviously knows how to win the Sprint Cup crown, and week after week he has been the fastest car on the track.
-Despite pit crew-make that crew chief foibles-Jeff Gordon managed to advance to round two of The Chase. Matt says the 24 will win at Kansas and advance to round three, and then win at Martinsville to be a part of the final four. I hope Matt is right.
From Sprint Cup to sprint cars. I am sure my sprint car fan friends would love to be back home in Indiana this weekend. Lawrenceburg Speedway will host the WoO winged wonders tonight, and USAC 410’s tomorrow night. Actually that sounds like a fun weekend.
More and more, the idea of going to I-80 Speedway for the Cornhusker Classic is becoming less and less appealing. With 23 B-mods and 23 Sport Compacts already entered, I can see 8 heats, 4 B-features, and 2 A-features between the two divisions, and that is 14 races I can really do without. It is too many B-mods, too many Sport Compacts, too many divisions racing vs. A-mods, late models, and Mona Kosiski’s pork tenderloin sandwich. While I would like to see late models race one more time this season, the negatives of the event outweigh the positives. Plus I have to work late tonight and go in early tomorrow.
So, I will watch Speed Shift TV and RaceFeedx.com races from Kansas, Oklahoma, and California on my computer. There won’t be any pork tenderloin sandwich at the TROTD Speedway concession stand, and the popcorn isn’t quite as good as the I-80 Speedway popcorn, but I won’t need a blanket and when I am tired, my bed is close at hand.
And maybe I’ll get this sleep thing figured out. Thanks for stopping by.
NASCAR’s Food City ‘511’-The Real Story
Here is one I definitely did not see coming:
I wonder what kind of an effect this will have on his hall of fame dad remaining in the business. With the Lucas Oil series race rained out at his hometown Batesville Motor Speedway, the elder Moyer ventured into hard tire territory this weekend, racing with the CBC/MARS/ALMS at Davenport and Burlington, Iowa. Moyer finished 20th at Davenport and was nipped at the finish by Ryan Unzicker in Burlington. Billy, the elder, does not have any upcoming races listed on his schedule. That is not unusual, so it probably is not something to try to read anything into.
Moyer Jr’s decision to leave racing indefinitely once again brings into focus the commitment needed to race on dirt full-time. I don’t think money had anything to do with Billy Jr. walking away from the sport, rather it was the seven days a week commitment needed to contend with other top drivers in the sport.
What did I think about the NASCAR Sprint Cup Food City 511 from Bristol? No typo, they “ran” 511 laps, not 500.
-I appreciated all of the support shown Fox announcer Steve Byrnes who is battling cancer. It was great seeing the tributes and all of the signs. Cancer has hit my family several times.
-I enjoyed Jeff Gordon’s children doing the “most famous words in motorsports” too. Too many “stars” of overhyped movies recite those words, badly, screaming like they actually know what they are talking of. Anyway, my daughter says the most famous words in motorsports should be “beer is on sale.”
-I probably got a little carried away with applause when Brad Keselowski managed to collect teammate Joey Logano in an early lap wreck. Both are in The Chase, so finishing many laps down at Bristol merely was a bad day for Penske racing. I couldn’t keep “are you expletive deleted kidding me?” from coming out of my mouth when Keselowski seemed to want to blame rain for his crash though.
-Jimmie Johnson was practicing for Talladega last night. It seemed like every hundred laps or so he was involved in-usually the cause of-an untrack incident. Just like at Talladega though, the six time champion seems to be able to drive away from those wrecks, unlike most of the cars he runs into. As crew chief Harry said to Cole Trickle in “Days of Thunder,”-“I want you to run into the pace car.” “What?” “Run into the pace car, you’ve hit every other damn car out there.”
-Super hyper Darrell Waltrip described yesterday’s 9 hour butt tiring event as “great racing, crazy accidents.” Usually you take what Waltrip says with a handful of salt-not a grain, but he was right. There were weird wrecks starting with Keselowski and Logano, and there was some very good racing-Kenseth ends a plus 50 winless streak; Johnson bounces his car around like a pinball and still finishes second; Gordon comes from two laps down to finish third; and Stenhouse gives Roush Fenway Racing their first top five finish of the year.
-I really do not like tracks where one lane has an incredible advantage over the other lane. Starting on the inside lane at Bristol means losing a position or more almost every restart. And Bristol isn’t the only NASCAR track with one lane having a huge advantage.
-Do you think Cale Yarborough would have sat out Sunday’s restart because of a sore neck? Denny Hamlin, you are no Cale Yarborough. Or Ricky Rudd-didn’t officials have to pull him out of his car with damn near heat stroke after winning a race at Martinsville? Or Davey Allison-drove with broken ribs. Or Richard Petty-drove with a broken neck. Or Terry Labonte-drove with a broken knee. Wow, now do you drive with a broken knee?
-Were all the empty seats at Bristol really the result of the weather?
-Did you feel bad when Austin Dillon had to come to the pits for fuel late in the race, costing him about six spots in the finishing order? Tell the truth. If he deserves to drive a Sprint Cup car numbered ‘3’ I deserve to be a humor writer for New Yorker magazine.
Sorry, Austin reminds me of Paris Hilton’s brother Conrad, the spoiled rich kid who just got to plead guilty to a misdemeanor assault against flight attendants charge, in order to have a felony charge dropped. I wonder if he would have got the same deal if his name was Ron Meyer. And I wonder if anyone other than his grandpa would allow Dillon to race a car with a number made famous by Dale Earnhardt.
-Jeb Burton. There is a punch line there somewhere. Like “assume you will be moved aside when you are laps down and try blocking a six time champion.”
-Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got a top five finish at Bristol for the second year in a row. And he did it hurt-outside of the car he is wearing a walking boot as a result of a “farm injury.” No telling what he stepped in. Unlike another Sprint Cup driver, Stenhouse plays hurt. Denny Hamlin, you are no Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
On to Richmond for a Saturday night race. Thanks for stopping by.
Cream Rises To Top, Or Races To The Front, Or Johnson Is Bad Fast
Last night Matt and I went to the Midland University Event Center to watch the Class C-1 district basketball game between Wahoo Neumann and Columbus Scotus. No, we did not have a rooting interest, we just figured when the #1 and #2 teams in Class C play it will probably be fun to watch. About 1,600 other people thought the same thing as it was seriously SRO last night. Neumann is the Catholic High School for all of Saunders County. Most Catholics in Saunders County are of Czech heritage and I thought perhaps the school fight song would be a polka. It wasn’t but there were plenty of Czech names on the Neumann roster. Perhaps this isn’t the case with youngsters in pick-ups, but if you get behind an old-timer wearing a farm cap, driving a pick-up with 6 county plates, expect to add 10 minutes travel time no matter how short your journey. In case you are wondering what gives me permission to say something like that, well, on blogs you can pretty much say what you want. Anyway, I think the fight song for the Fremont High School boys basketball team ought to be Frank Sinatra’s “Something Stupid,” like “and then I go and spoil it all by doing something stupid like giving up 28 points to Westside in the 4th quarter.” Here I am thinking basketball, and Matt sends me the NU home baseball schedule to find out which baseball games I want to go to in March. With Atlanta track owner Bruton Smith’s wealth now only in the hundreds of millions instead of billions, apparently the track did not have enough money to put SAFER barriers around every inch of concrete wall-Jeff Gordon, in yet another wreck he did not cause, hit a concrete wall in almost the exact spot the SAFER barrier ended at Smith’s 1 ½ mile ultra-fast tri-oval. Gordon walked away from the incident, but his car was destroyed. Two weeks, two high speed crashes involving two NASCAR superstars at two different race tracks. Does it really take a rocket scientist to figure out this is not a good thing? And, two weeks of racing, two weeks of qualifying snafu’s-situation normal-afu, at Atlanta in pre-qualifying tech. Nothing like Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, and Tony Stewart not even being able to qualify because of tech issues. And, just how many NASCAR championships do those four have. Nothing like making the biggest names in the sport start near the rear of the field. Obviously the cream rose to the top though, with Johnson taking the checkered flags. While FOX Sports announcers were fretting over the cool temperatures, mist, and fog in Georgia, it all reminded me of a night I spent at I-80 Speedway. No, not the current I-80 Speedway, the old I-80 Speedway before it became Nebraska Raceway Park and then I-80 again. The track with the carnival rides that I can’t remember working. The track with pits outside the track, and cars entering the track in turn two and exiting in turn one. Anyway, this was back in the days of Matt being on Joe Kosiski’s pit crew. The race was a NASCAR Busch All-Star Tour event, and it was a chilly night, and it never stopped misting. I had a blanket and was wearing a hooded sweatshirt, was soaked early, and never could keep my glasses clean. And poor Matt was sitting in a nice warm hauler, keeping dry. I don’t remember who won the race that night. I want to say Steve Kosiski. I do remember that there were not many fans in the stands. The conditions were so miserable that it is one of two races of two races I use to determine fans who are not just hardcore fans, but are stupidly hardcore fans. The other was the opening Busch Tour Race at Denison where there were snow flurries just prior to time trials. Yeah, Matt was in Joe’s hauler then too. I did watch one of the USAC races on XSANTV last week. The Friday night feature. Good race, plenty of action, some moves worthy of B mods, but not bad at all. Thanks for stopping by.
Scary Bad, Lots Of Racing Opinions, And Then Relief
If you visited The Rest of the Dirt this morning because reading one of my blog posts seems like a great way to start your day, well, bless you. You are a member of a very exclusive club. Unfortunately there was no new post to greet you. I started today’s post last night and hoped to finish it before I went to work this morning, but was unable to do so.
Actually I spent about as much time at the doctor’s office this morning as I did at my own office. No, I wasn’t there to have my head examined, though I suppose some of my actions in recent days, weeks, and months suggest I ought to. I refuse to add years to that last sentence, though someone could probably make a strong argument it should be there as well. If how I feel doesn’t turn around in the next few days, apparently I will be having my head examined. And that is enough on my medical problems for now.
I watched part of XSANTV’s webstream of the Hawkeye Dirt Tour race from I-35 Speedway last night. Unlike some writers and too many promoters, I do not believe that XSANTV and others like it are keeping people from going to the track. I am 99% certain I will never visit I-35 Speedway in person, and I was certainly not going there last night, so I did not take any money out of the promoter’s pocket.
I knew a handful of the modified racers of the Hawkeye Dirt Tour-I did a Jesse Sobbing article for Dirt Modified magazine and have interviewed a few drivers for other articles. I have mentioned this before, but not having a rooting interest nor great expectations of a track other than hoping for some good racing makes for an enjoyable night of racing. Well, as enjoyable as can be when five classes are racing, including IMCA Sport Compacts and IMCA Northern Sport Mods aka B-Mods. The IMCA Hobby Stocks and IMCA Stock Cars are always fun to watch, and with five heats of HDT Modifieds, there was plenty of action in that division too.
When watching XSANTV or DOD or other webstreaming, I like to see how the track is set up. Usually, camera angles prevent getting a good look at the grandstands, but the track and pit areas are open to view in most cases. I-35 Speedway is like many other Iowa tracks, good black dirt. Even though it is a half-mile track, pits are outside the track, giving fans a good view of back stretch racing too. Something I found interesting is that part of the pit area is adjacent to turns three and four at the track and this extends to the front stretch grandstands.
This look provided the one question I had about last night’s races. There were people in the pits standing against the catch fence. This is a no-no in the grandstands, and I am not sure why it would be allowed in the pits, though at some tracks, crew and officials can be dangerously close to the track. After what happened in Des Moines last week I think all tracks need to take a close look at this particular safety issue.
My spam software turned away 27 comments today, though it still hasn’t caught any from Randy Palmer. Included among the spam were three comments wanting me to buy John Cena items. I suppose I would be more likely to buy Cena souvenirs than Carl Edwards/Greg Biffle/Ricky Stenhouse Jr. souvenirs, but still. I do love how my spell check always wants to substitute “baffle” for Biffle.
I was wrong when I stated that Matt Kenseth was now the only “big name” NASCAR driver without a win in 2014. Tony Stewart does not have a win either. I realized that when I read an article telling how Stewart had tested a sprint car on Sunday. Will the test lead Stewart back to dirt? It would not surprise me. I have always stated that sprint car racing was ‘Smoke’ and mirrors anyway. I hope for a Stewart NASCAR Sprint Cup win and his return to the dirt-both would be good for the sport.
Along with many others, I was wondering just when Jimmie Johnson was going to win a race this season. I felt it was inevitable, even with his “slow start.” With his win at Charlotte, Johnson snapped an 11 race winless streak. 11 races without a win. Wow. I wonder if Rick Hendrick wants to get rid of him. I am being facetious, ironic, and sarcastic here. With Johnson in the Chase, it looks like every other driver better step up their efforts.
Speaking of Hendrick Racing, three of the Hendrick drivers are in the top six in Sprint Cup point standings: Jeff Gordon is the leader, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is in fifth place, and Johnson is just six points behind Earnhardt in sixth. Much to the pleasure of a certain Auburn resident, Hendrick driver Kasey Kahne is still on the outside looking in when the Chase is being discussed.
Check out comments from TMC and Scott McBride on my previous Coca-Cola 600 post. Both talked about being spoiled by the racing in our area-in the numbers and quality of feature class racing. That doesn’t mean that promoters can’t do better, just that when promoters get things right, Midwest drivers can put on a great show. And hard core fans like this pair, like Matt and his dad, and like the Sunday Night Irregulars don’t seem to mind driving to Wheatland, Missouri or Knoxville, Iowa or New Richmond, Wisconsin or Spring Creek, Minnesota to watch good dirt track racing.
Oh, and thanks to my favorite daughter in-law, wonderful mother to the best grandson a grandpa could even think of having, my medical malaise has been discovered. It was unfortunate, but it will soon be over. Hopefully the past few days will scare some sense into me, though that remains to be seen. Thank you, thank you, thank you Steph.
And thank you for stopping by.
By The Time NASCAR Left Phoenix
The NASCAR Sprint Cup race in Phoenix seemed to be a series of flirtations. Twice, five-time champion Jimmie Johnson flirted with disaster and both times came away unscathed. Matt Kenseth’s team flirted with disaster, and left Phoenix stricken. I won’t say they choked on the hard to swallow pressure of running for a championship, but they definitely blinked.
Carl Edwards flirted with Lady Luck and rolled snake eyes, running out of gas a lap and a half from the race finish and exchanging a win for a 21st place finish. Lady Luck blessed Kevin Harvick-short of Edwards running out of gas Harvick was not going to win the race, but he ended up in Victory Lane.
The race was confusing to watch because of so many different pit strategies. Cars that were running outside of the top ten would be running up front as soon as a caution flag flew-and there were plenty of cautions, while someone else would lead at the next caution. One of my problems with the NASCAR of recent years is that too often wins are a result of pit strategy, not how good a car or driver is.
With one race left only Johnson, Kenseth, and Harvick have a mathematical chance of becoming the Sprint Cup champion. It is a stretch to see either Kenseth or Harvick leaving Homestead, Florida as champion though. Honestly, it would not surprise me to see Johnson lead the most laps and win the final race of the season, putting an exclamation point on his sixth championship.
Johnson is a nice enough fellow, and unlike some fans, I think it is not a bad thing when someone other than “good old boys” wins the NASCAR championship. Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus have The Chase figured out, and it this format, the times they don’t win will be much more of a shock than the times they do win a championship.
I am not suggesting another point change, but I am suggesting a shake-up in the ten tracks that host Chase events. Palm trees grow north of San Francisco, so there is no reason the road course at Sonoma couldn’t host an October event. Make the Southern 500 meaningful again by adding Darlington to the Chase schedule. Get rid of Dover. Get rid of Chicago. Make Las Vegas the final event of the season and make the week after the race “Championship Week.” Wow, Kansas, Texas, Phoenix, Sonoma, and Las Vegas in the Chase? Purists would scream about the West Coast bias.
I do realize that tracks view their dates as “traditional.” Sorry, but to me there are only a handful of races that qualify as traditional-the two Daytona races, the Bristol night race, the Charlotte 600 mile race, and Darlington ran on a reasonable date. I am not saying change Chase tracks every year, but do rotate them, maybe every 3-4 years. Otherwise look for Jimmie Johnson to become the first ten-time NASCAR champion.
Tomorrow-my thoughts on the Duel in the Desert and the World Finals. Thanks for stopping by.
P.S. Having said all of the above as a way to keep Jimmie Johnson from winning every championship, I am not sure if anything can keep the Johnson/Knaus/Hendrick combination from dominating.
I Guarantee This Has NEVER Been Seen Nor Heard Before
I guarantee you have never read what you are about to read-not in another blog, not in a magazine article, not in a book. You have never heard this on the radio, nor have you ever watched it on TV even though there are thousands and thousands of hours of NASCAR over the air coverage.
If you don’t already think I am crazy, you probably will after reading this. As happens so many times, I woke up in the middle of the night last night. And like other times, I woke up with an idea for a blog post. I started comparing NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers with Civil War generals.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. would be J.E.B. Stuart, the Confederate cavalry leaders. Stuart was known for exciting forays against Union troops, but at times-most memorably at Gettysburg-he was absent from the action. That certainly sounds like NASCAR’s most popular driver.
Tim Richmond could have been General George Amstrong Custer. Custer was a brevet general-meaning a war-time only promotion, and to call him flamboyant would be an understatement. Richmond was like nothing before him in NASCAR, and proved it ain’t bragging if you can do it. Both died controversial and tragic deaths. Richmond deserved better from NASCAR.
Clint Bowyer could be Rebel General James Longstreet. Longstreet was Lee’s right hand man after the death of Stonewall Jackson, but regrettably is best known for his actions at Gettysburg. Though Lee accepted the blame for the defeat on the fields near this Pennsylvania town, many in the south blamed Longstreet. Longstreet may have done a mediocre job of carrying out Lee’s instructions, but the plan came from Lee. We all know what Bowyer has been blamed for this season.
I suppose Brad Keselowski could be compared with the North’s William Tecumseh Sherman of Sherman’s March to the Sea fame. In my book though, Keselowski would be more like a soldier’s bayonet, or better (worse?) a Civil War cannon. Definitely a loose cannon.
I would compare Carl Edwards with the Union’s George McClellan. McClellan had everything he needed to win battles, to win the war, but always seemed to be out-generaled. That seems to be the case of Edwards during NASCAR’s Chase.
Current driver Jeff Gordon and seven time champion Richard Petty would be NASCAR’s version of Robert E. Lee. Though not totally correct, it has been said that Lee never lost a battle before Gettysburg and never won one after. Gordon and Petty won many races and championships but not so many in the twilight of Hall of Fame careers. I still don’t believe Gordon is through winning, though the best he can do in 2013 is 3rd in The Chase. Petty showed great dignity in winning and through adversity and Gordon is simply the best spokesman NASCAR has had in years, truly a class act.
To Ulysses S. Grant, victory was everything and he was willing to pay whatever the price was to win on the battlefield. He did not care what any other general or any politician thought of him or his efforts. Obviously Dale Earnhardt Jr. would be NASCAR’s version of Grant. It seems almost impossible that Earnhardt has been gone for over a dozen years.
Of today’s drivers, Tony Stewart would best fit Grant. Certainly for the reasons listed above, but Grant was able to win battles in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Virginia. Stewart has won on asphalt and on dirt, in stock cars and Indy cars and sprint cars and late models.
I haven’t mentioned Jimmie Johnson. The five-time Sprint Cup champion is well on his way to a 6th championship. I couldn’t come up with a general to match with Johnson. Perhaps with his beard, the most famous of all Civil War personages would fit Johnson. Call him Abe Lincoln, the Commander in Chief.
Hopefully, for my sake and for yours, I will get a good night’s sleep tonight. Thanks for stopping by.
P.S. This really wasn’t that crazy.
Dr. Frankenstein
Rick Eckert took the checkered flags at the National 100 yesterday, the Pennsylvanian driver’s biggest win in seven years. Eckert has started this race five times and never finished worse than third in any of his starts at the east Alabama Speedway event. Tim McCreadie followed Eckert, and Scott Bloomquist came home third. 40 cars attempted to qualify this weekend, including 13 of the Top 25 in the www.DirtonDirt.com rankings.
Many of the same drivers who raced in Alabama this past weekend will head to Charlotte and the WoO finals. DOD will provide a PPV of the three day event which includes Late Models, Sprint Cars, and Big Block Modifieds. If you are more into IMCA style Modifieds like my friend Tony Anville, XSANTV is in Nevada to cover the Duel in the Desert from Las Vegas. Hundreds of the open wheeled stock cars will fill the dirt track pits at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Racing will start on Thursday, but the Wednesday night practice will also be shown on XSANTV-for free. XSAN will head up to Pahrump Speedway on Sunday for the Day after the Duel with Modifieds obviously the feature class in that event.
When the 24 car of Jeff Gordon blew a tire and hit a wall during the Texas 500 yesterday, NASCAR’s Chase became a two man, two race sprint-no pun intended-to the finish. Jimmie Johnson is 7 points ahead of Matt Kenseth and they will battle to the last lap of the last race of the season in Homestead, Florida. Third place Kevin Harvick is 40 points behind, or almost an entire race. Kyle Busch trails Johnson by 52 points, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. is 62 points back. Gordon’s 38th place finish yesterday dropped him to 6th in Chase standings, 69 points behind Johnson. Clint Bowyer also trails the leader by 69 points and Greg Biffle is 73 points out of the lead. Mathematically all still have a shot at the title, but realistically it comes down to Johnson or Kenseth and which driver makes the fewest mistakes.
I had a Dr. Frankenstein moment this weekend. No, I did not eat too much Halloween candy. I woke up on Saturday thinking how it would be to get blood samples from all of the NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers, mix them together in a pot-I love to stir the pot-let them incubate for however long necessary and create a whiny sports star worthy of other major league sports like MLB and NBA, a star who would not sign autographs except under extreme duress, and one constantly screaming over the radio during a race “I can’t drive this !@#$ car.”
Then, just for fun, make him climb into a car that ran in the original Daytona 500, no, better yet, a car with the same kind of tires like ran the original race at Talladega. That would be a horror story, wouldn’t it? Perhaps he would appreciate more how the sport has evolved.
Of course on the flip, take blood/DNA of NASCAR drivers from the early days and mix them up, incubate them, and create a tough talking, hard driving racer who would not begin to understand all the attention being given him, but would be absolutely thrilled to climb into one of the mechanical marvels that race around the track today.
My point-if I hear Harvick/Biffle/Kenseth etal whine one more time about being unable to drive a machine that dozens of the best crew members in motorsports spent thousands of man hours preparing, I am going to upchuck my lunch. Remember the SouthPark episode that saw an electric shocker implanted into Eric Cartman that buzzed him good every time he cussed? I think NASCAR drivers ought to have such an implant and whenever they whine, crew chiefs or car owners can press a button that eventually will shut up the whining.
Actually, I would say let fans have control of the “whine button,” but if some redneck could zap Jimmie Johnson whenever he felt like it, Johnson would never get a minute’s rest.
No, I do not know how my thoughts would translate into a physical being. Like I said, it was definitely a Dr. Frankenstein moment.
Thanks for stopping by.
Bull Ring, Bull Sh*t, Silver Dollar Nationals, Plus NASCAR
Because of budget cuts, military flyovers at sporting events will soon become a thing of the past. I am not sure how NASCAR Sprint Cup races can start without jets soaring over the track, but we’ll find out. Personally I would rather have “boogity, boogity, boogity” become a thing of the past.
NASCAR got hammered by social media sites for its handling of Saturday’s Nationwide Series last lap wreck-and rightfully so. I get lots of emails because of my blog, and here is a link to eM+C Daily that mentioned 3 Ways NASCAR Failed Social Media:
http://www.emarketingandcommerce.com/aggregatedcontent/3-ways-nascar-failed-social-media-crisis
Tyler County Speedway in West Virginia is going to host Bullring Bonanza II over Memorial Day weekend. The event includes two nights of WoO late model racing, a country music concert, food, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in prizes. A maximum of 10,000 tickets at $100 per ticket will be sold.
Obviously Bullring Bonanza I was a success or there would be no BBII. If a little track in West Virginia can sell $1,000,000 worth of tickets, could the Silver Dollar Nationals Fans Fund sell 200 tickets at $25 each?
It disappoints me, but I feel Nebraska fans are not going to come through in raising cash for the SDN Fans Fund like Wisconsin fans do for the USA Nationals at Cedar Lake. I don’t want to let down the track, so I asked a certain boy genius to come up with a fund-raising idea, and he came up with the raffle mentioned above.
I am not a sales person. I suppose that is because I am not a bull sh*tter. The tickets would have to sell themselves, meaning lots of prizes. With $2,700 going to the track to pay the winner’s share of the SDN non-qualifiers race, lots of prizes mean donated prizes.
With just a few minutes thought I came up with 5 cash prizes from $50-$1,000. Perhaps the track could use its NASCAR connection to come up with tickets to NASCAR sanctioned races in Iowa and Kansas. The track could donate tickets too, but I need suggestions for other prizes.
So, race fans I need your help. First, would you buy a raffle tickets? Second, what kind of donated prizes should we go after? I am pretty sure a new pick-up or car is out of the question, but other than that, fire away.
Thanks for stopping by.
Oh, my prediction for the Phoenix NASCAR Sprint Cup race? I predict Jimmie Johnson will back up his Daytona win and have all the NASCAR pundits handing him the Sprint Cup crown after just two races.
The race car wrap shown in the photo is that of young Wyoming driver Zach Hensley. You make have to enlarge the photo a little, but on the nose is “The Rest of the Dirt.” I am honored that Zach and his dad Will have allowed my logo on their car. Given where the logo is, I do hope Zach does not stick his nose where it doesn’t belong-like I don’t.
Congratulations to the Midland University Warriors men’s basketball team on qualifying for the NAIA Division II national tournament. The 25th ranked Warriors will take on 8th ranked Eastern Oregon on Wednesday at 10:15 a.m. at College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Missouri. You don’t need any faux Creighton fan drinking games to watch the Warriors, just purchase the PPV on the tournament website.
It appears there is plenty of room on the schedules of Midwest dirt tracks to host 360 sprints. The new series Nebraska 360 Sprints has 9 confirmed race dates, with two more being negotiated. Butler County Speedway will host the 360 sprint four times-4/27, 5/18, 6/22, and 7/20. Those dates are all Saturday nights. Interesting.
The series will make several appearances with the SLMR late models-first at Albion Speedway on Monday, July 8th, and later in the month at the Silver Dollar Nationals on Thursday July 18th. The series repeats at I-80 on Sunday, September 1st.
Nebraska sprints will visit Iowa on Wednesday July 24th, as the 360’s journey to Crawford County Speedway in Denison. A final confirmed date is Saturday, August 17th in an event co-sanctioned with the NCRA at Doniphan.
Nebraska 360 Sprints officials are negotiating with WoO promoters to have the 360 serve as support class for the Outlaw 410’s at I-80 Speedway on Sunday June 9th, and at Junction Motor Speedway on Tuesday August 13th.
The ASCS Midwest Series will run 13 dates this year, so 360 sprints have at least 22 possible dates to run. As I said, there seems to be plenty of room on the schedule of most Midwest tracks to host this division.
Scott McBride commented on yesterday’s blog:
“Maybe we can get Brutie to be the honorary starter at the Nebraska 360 sprint races this year.”
Well, I can’t say you’ll see that happen when Danica Patrick wins the pole position in a NASCAR Sprint Cup event.
I am tempted to ask how much is it worth readers to see me do that. Is it worth $2,800 donated to the Silver Dollar Nationals Fan Fund? I thought of bartering my dignity for that much in donations. The problem is my old body and arthritic left knee tell me “you ain’t climbing up no ladder to a flag stand.” If not for that, I would say raise the $2,800 for the SDN Fan Fund and I will drop the green flag for the sprint car feature at the SDN.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is at Phoenix International Raceway this weekend. Will Danica Patrick be able to race on a track that can be raced on? Will there be any racing or will it be another NAPCAR event? Will Toyota engines hold up this weekend? Will Jimmie Johnson make a statement that wrenching a 6th Sprint Cup championship from his hands won’t be an easy task? Will dump or dumb truck driver Clint Bowyer exact revenge on Jeff Gordon?
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Comments, Las Vegas, Plus A Real Road Race
Several comments from recent blogs deserve a further look. From Dan Shea:
“Ah, the writing about Sunset Speedway and the Busch All Star Tour brings back great memories. I would sit through an hour long “lights out” every week to have those two things back today.”
Dan-I miss Sunset Speedway as much as anyone. I hate not going to a weekly show as I did for more years than I can count, but there really is not a weekly track running that has a product I want to see week after week.
I miss the NASCAR Busch All-Star Tour too. I can remember a pit full of name regional drivers every time the tour visited Nebraska. I miss Jim Wilson’s WDRL too. For years, virtually every new track I visited was to a BAST or WDRL show-Park Jefferson, Albion, Kansas City, Topeka, Denison, Corning, Des Moines, Fort Dodge, Oskaloosa, and Fairmont were certainly worth the journey to see the best late models around.
I am sure this will irritate some, but to me the SLMR series does not hold a candle to how good the weekly show at Sunset was, and the MLRA can not compare with the Busch All-Star Tour or WDRL. Like Dan I would sit through lights out every week just to have the late 90’s racing again.
The other comment came from the inimitable Randy Palmer:
“Ivan, Bruton is actually a closet sprint car fan and says those bad things about us as a ruse to hide his infatuation with sprints. Nothing gets Bruton wound up tighter than Charlie Janssen on Cinco de Mayo than when he starts daydreaming about sprint cars.”
I am not sure if Randy mentioning State Senator Janssen in the same sentence as me is more irritating, or if his mentioning things that I told him in confidence were more irritating. It is true that I like sprint car racing as Randy said. He just did not add that I hate most of the drivers, most of the cars, and all of the sprint car promoters.
The Excalibur Casino in Las Vegas was evacuated last night because an overheated ventilation fan caused a strong smoky smell. It must have been bad because every casino has a strong smoky smell-at least of cigarettes. Things aren’t going real well for that hotel-a few months ago they had a murder/suicide at the concierge desk.
I’m not sure what morsel of undigested food triggered this thought, but I would like the take for one year on one quarter slot machine at one hotel. About five years a slot machine cost approximately $12,000 and it was paid for after 100 days use. That means the average slot machine made a profit of over $40,000 for the hotel. So how come the breakfast buffet at the Rio costs $20?
Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Michael Waltrip, and Aric Almirola are going to run a Half Marathon starting at 6:30 a.m. the day of Daytona 500 Pole Qualifying. The foot race starts and ends at Daytona International Speedway. Just the thought of running 13.1 miles makes my left knee ache. Will these drivers be able to put the pedal to the metal with tired and sore legs?
Here is a little known fact: my son Matt ran a half-marathon in Kansas City the summer before his junior year in high school. Yes, the Matt who usually sits by me at the races. Honestly he was a good runner. He had a scholarship to run for Midland University-then Midland College-torn his hamstring playing pick-up basketball in someone’s driveway (if he had been a horse we would have put him down), and didn’t run at all in cross country or track after that-that really is The Rest of the Dirt. He is a good son and great father to Mr. Henry Ross Meyer though.
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The Rest of the Dirt Weblog 
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