[NASCAR] Junior is no Lance Armstrong

I guess my disgust with Dale Earnhardt Junior has finally blossomed. I've long thought he was a spoiled brat who has gotten where he is because of his father, and not his talent.  Examples are finding himself in a top notch team with one of the best sponsors in the business. Granted Junior has talent, but he hasn’t had to drive junkers like say Johnny Benson or Ricky Craven. Without the awesome restrictor plate program at DEI, Junior would have only half of his wins (6 out of 12 wins were at Talladega or Daytona).  Even Michael Waltrip has 4 wins, all  at restrictor plate races, under the DEI Banner.

What further pisses me off about Dale Junior is his "loyal" fan base. It seems to me that he really hasn't proven himself yet as a champion. What I really think is that many Dale Sr. fans have converted to Junior fans just because of the last name. I question how much similarity there is between the two drivers. From my perspective, there is little similarity other than the general shape of their respective car numbers. However, at races, instead of seeing the old sea of black, it's now red.

But the final straw that peaked my dislike for Junior was his recent racing accident in California. This selfish trek has convinced me that he is NOT committed to winning a championship. This past week, Junior lost 60 additional points to Jimmie Johnson -- because Junior's relief driver, Martin Truex, put the 8 into the wall and was generally a back marker.  I have no beef with Truex, in fact, he seems like a pretty talented kid -- but perhaps a bit over his head. I now see that John Andretti will be anxiously awaiting the call-up as Junior's relief driver.  Andretti, even with the top notch equipment, is sure to lose additional points to the 48.

Under the new chase for championship system, Junior very well may win the Nextel Cup championship this year. However, I'd contrast Juniors "me-me" attitude with Lance Armstrong. If you follow the frog race of stinky cigarette smoking Euro-trash, you'd note that Armstrong utilized and elevated his team, who were completely committed to helping him winning the 6th consecutive Tour de France victory. Junior playing grab-ass in California, racing a Corvette, and getting hurt -- certainly is not demonstrating his commitment to DEI or the 8 team. Someday Junior may grow up and be a great champion, at this point he is nothing more than Tony Stewart without the temper and a big gaudy championship ring.

[PERSONAL] I EXIST MORER!

Special thanks go to another net-friend Rev. Mark Hasty who was nice enough to put a link to this site on his page. Mark has always been a good Hawkeye and Lutheran Pastor to boot! Go Hawkeyes! (or whatever you Big Ten guys says)

[NASCAR] Why Loudon?

Another race at Loudon has passed, and I am once again asking myself who the Bahre family holds incriminating photos of down in Daytona.

Maybe it was because I fell asleep several times during the race, but I didn't see a lot of passing. Should I have expected more? Maybe the cameras should have been more focused on the #8 car in the back of the field. That car got passed several times before it finally hit the wall. I guess the #8 car only makes for good TV when it is running for the lead.

Nevertheless, I see a lot of resources expended at that track and wonder if any of it helps. Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin lost their lives there primarily because the flat banking, tight turns, long straights, and poor sight lines are a bad mix with the heavy and powerful NASCAR Cup and Busch cars. The consequences of these two fatalities was a one-race use of restrictor plates. Jeff Burton won the race after leading every single lap. No one could pass him. Not long after that, NHIS got creative with a paint roller and moved the apron line in. All in all, the response was generally positive as this opened up a second groove lower in the turns and made racing resemble Martinsville. Unfortunately, no good deed goes unpunished around there. The Bahres repaved the track, and we're back to a single-groove, follow-the-leader race. I guess the only positive thing I can say about NHIS is that they finally installed SAFER barriers. Too bad Ricky Rudd, Ricky Craven, and Greg Biffle still tooks some hard licks yesterday.

And why does NASCAR continue to race there twice a year? Beats me. Texas Motor Speedway attracted 150,000+ fans each year, had their race broadcast on network TV, and only got one race until an anti-trust lawsuit resulted in a second TMS date. Loudon gets 90,000 fans for 2 races, and gets carried on TNT. NASCAR must want the chowderhead market really bad.

[PERSONAL] I EXIST!

Just want to give a word of recognition to my fellow Aggie and net-friend Jammer for noting me in his politcoblog. Kudos to him and a few others who have the disciplne to keep their political opines in a kewl place and not ruining a drool place.

I am not sure why I started this blog. I suppose it was because most of the newsgroups I was reading have become filled with shit *AHEM* . I could post about politics, but everyone does that. I didn't find too many pages about one of my passions, auto racing, so I decided to try it. Maybe someday Aggie football won't be a steaming pile of poopoo, and I'll jump back on the bandwagon and write about that too. Now that my name is out on someone elses page, maybe the webcrawler will find me and someone will read my tripe. As Jammer said, "God Help me!"

Gig 'em

[NASCAR] I am sorry. I have a blister that prevents me from driving today. This note from my mom explains it all

Bigmouth Darrell Waltrip informs us that NASCAR is considering some sort of exception to granting points for substitutes driving in place of championship contenders. What a load of crap. According to Waltrip he has been in favor of this for a long time because an injured driver hurts the chances of the rest of the team. Well, no duh. It is just like any other team sport. The difference is that the driver gets his name put on the Nextel trophy at the end of the year. The NFL awards the Lombardi Trophy to the best team in the NFL, not Troy Aikman. While I'm not belittling what the crews do, the sport of auto racing is and, for the foreseeable future, will be more about the drivers and the cars than about the crew. The crews and the owners still collect owners points and monies for racing. Meanwhile, guys like Sterling Marlin and Terry Labonte have had to sit out races in the past few years due to medical injuries and taken their respective hits in the points.

[GENERAL] Is carbon fiber worth it?

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was involved in a crash this past weekend while practicing for the American LeMans Series (ALMS, I'll bet they hate that anacronym) race at Sears Point (I hate sponsors naming racetracks too.).

Thumbs up to Dale Jr for being a racer and racing in other series.

However, the crash brought to mind some question in my mind about the suitability of using carbon fiber in race cars. Sure, it's cool on the B-2 Spirit Bomber, but do we really need it in the sports and entertainment field otherwise known as racing?


[This photo was linked from an AP photo on yahoo.com. I hope they don't mind. If they do, email me, and I will take it off.]

On more than one occasion I have seen carbon fiber race cars go up in flames, BIG FLAMES. Granted, this car caught on fire because the fuel filler neck ruptured and sprayed fuel all over the car. If if happens once, it can happen again. The safety crew got there pretty quickly, but it still appears Jr was knocked unconcious and didn't exit the car as quickly as he would have liked. The results were moderate burns on some tender parts of his body, as if a burn doesn't hurt on a non-tender part of your body. I can't help but think Jr. would have been a litte safer in a car constructed largely of steel.

[NASCAR]Another 1/2-Season of Fluffy Fox Sports NASCAR coverage

Well, another 1/2-season of fluffy FOX Sports coverage of NASCAR has come to a close, and I, for one, could not be happier it is over. On one hand, Rupert Murdoch's drones have revealed sports for what it truly is, entertainment. It all started with the flashy blue/red hocey puck in the NHL and has filtered all the way into NASCAR with "Crank it UP!", crappy sound effects, and uninspring music videos. *BLECH*. On the other hand, I really miss the 1980's type of coverage ESPN and TNN gave us. It wasn't tecnically great, but it was always about the sport.

I saw that TV ratings were down this year compared to last year. http://jayski.thatsracin.com/pages/tvratings2004.htm and Winston-Salem Journal

Mike Mulhern says it is down 5.6%, and the reason isn't clear. I have my guesses. First, Brian France's "Chase for the Championship" has made racing in the early season less relevant. Second, Dale Earnhardt Jr isn't Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan. That is, Jr is hugely popular, but he still hasn't dominated the sport like an icon should. If the guy won a championship and a few races other than Talladega or Daytona, maybe it would help the ratings. Finally, make the coverage interesting or cook it down to something more manageable. By the time we watch the pre-race show, the race, and the post-race interviews, it can eat up 5 hours of my afternoon. This isn't the Super Bowl every Sunday, and I don't have that amount of time to commit to watching a race. TiVo has become the race fans best friend. I may have to get one.

My ratings of the coverage crew are as follows:

Mike Joy - Tremendous Job. Great as always.

Larry McReynolds - Also a great job. My only issue with Larry has to do with more with NASCAR. NASCAR has repeatedly made it clear they are trying to migrate their image to something more mainstream and less L.A. (Lower Alabama). Larry is a great commentator, but his delivery doesn't mesh with NASCAR's efforts. They should either get Larry some Dale Carnegie help in his speaking, or stop the double-talk about image.

Darrell Waltrip - Please shut up. He was an excellent driver in his time, but nowadays he apparently gratifies himself to the sounds of his own voice.

The pit coverage/infield (Chris Myers, Dick Bergeron, Matt, Jeff Hammond) - Solid once again. However, Jeff Hammond needs to stay away from the fake beach for a week.

[NASCAR] Will NASCAR ever get a clue about how to discipline drivers?

I see NASCAR punished Tony Stewart again this week for an altercation with Brian Vickers after the race at Sears Point. Stewart allegedly assaulted Vickers while he was still inside his car. Stewart got a $50,000 fine and was docked 25 points. Woo-friggin'-hoo.

I like Tony Stewart. He is a hell of a driver, and I think he is generally good for the sport of auto racing, showing dominance in the IRL and making a successful move to NASCAR. However, I think his behavior toward some of his fellow competitors and the press (as annoying as they may be) is bad.

NASCAR continues to show they have no clue as to how to discipline drivers. It is bad enough when guys drive rough and put other drivers at risk. This is still auto racing, and in spite of the hoopla about HANS devices and SAFER barriers, the risk of death is still very real. Hot heads and short tempers can get someone killed. This activity spilling over into the pits is a symptom of a bigger problem. NASCAR needs to take charge of the situation and enforce some penalties that make a difference. If a driver assaults someone in the pits, it ought to come with a 1-race suspension. If they do it with a car, it ought to be more serious. And if the guy is a repeat offender like Kevin Harvick, maybe NASCAR ought to consider a year-long suspension or perhaps even a ban.

Close competition and fender banging are what makes NASCAR great, but there is no need to leave the door open for sucker punches in the pits.