Richmond 2008....

While most of the NASCAR loving world was watching the Richmond Race Saturday the 3rd I was sitting at the Orpheum Theater watching Rent thanks to Broadway Across America bringing a little class and culture to the otherwise exceptionally boring city of Omaha (Hey we're the jackasses that passed on the opportunity to have what would become Kansas Speedway and are now trying to keep the College World Series in town which thanks to the gazillion dollar new stadium that is going to go in downtown -where the track would have been...yeah sooo not bitter over that one am I) Anyhow I was enjoying watching Roger and Mark sing about the trials and tribulations of living the Bohemian lifestyle in New York in the early 90's the rest of the NASCAR world was watching a fairly non-typical Richmond race until the last 50 or so laps (as I was later told) Apparently Denny Hamilin had a tire going down and then proceeded to sit on the track until the caution came out (Uh-oh! Causing a caution on purpose YIKES! Not a good thing Denny! Ask Dale Jr -who I LOVE- about what happens when you cause a caution on purpose) Now conspiracy theorists are having a field day saying this was the perfect set up between two Joe Gibbs racers. Denny and Kyle Busch (who I sooo do not love and am having a hard time not wanting to jump the first plane to North Carolina and chat with him about his attitude, seriously he needs a GIANT attitude adjustment!) Any how the conspiracy theorists think that this was a great elaborate plan hatched by Denny to allow Kyle to catch up to Dale Jr (who for all intents and purposes took his job at HMS this season. And Dale Jr was leading the race at the time.) Now I have yet to see this as I was watching Mark, Roger, Maureen, Joanne, Mimi, Angel and Collins sing about there being 525,600 moments so dear so I can't really think or discuss my thoughts on this because really I have none (which is odd, I can usually come up with a thought or two) Later on (like I don't know half a Rent song later...or 1-2 minutes reality time) Kyle and Dale Jr were spatting. (Translation that punk kid spun out Jr) This I did see thanks to the miracles of the internet or nascar.com it's probably even on Youtube. Yup it's there on Youtube.com So I'm totally open to people making their own opinion on the race but from this person's computer chair it looks like it's on purpose. But even that I could probably forgive I mean a couple of years ago I was mad as hell at Brian Vickers for a good two days after the Talladega incident. But what I can't forgive and forget about is the complete lack of respect that Kyle Busch shows. He is a good driver stats don't lie. You put him in something with four wheels and an engine and he's gonna race it. But his attitude is horrible, he's brazen, cocky, arrogant, and he's either going to hurt himself or hurt someone out there. Now there are people who are comparing him to Dale Earnhardt Sr and saying Kyle is more like Dale Sr than Dale Jr is. To them I say slip into your PJ's you are soo dreaming. Yes driving wise they are somewhat similar. But that's it. Dale Sr would wreck you or try and rattle you but in the end he was still respected and gave respect. Respect is a two way street you have to give respect to earn it and that is something that young Kyle Busch just hasn't done yet. (Really the only driver I see that is similar to 'Big E' is Tony Stewart and that's just my opinion someone else might thing someone else is similar but I see a lot of Sr in Tony okay minus some of Tony's anger issues lol and lack of tact at times but driving wise they are similar) Oh and there are the well Kurt was the same way (Yeah and it took Jimmy Spencer laying the smack down on Kurt to make him start acting human that and going to Penske. I totally like Kurt now that he's not at Rousch-Fenway..Go Red Sox!) But with Kyle I'm not just talking about him wrecking Jr. Friday night in the Nationwide Race he tried to get into it with Steven Wallace, he (Kyle) then proceeded to stick his head into Steven's car to "chat" about Steven's mistake. Which Steven didn't take to kindly to. He decided to grab Kyle's helmet and push him out of his car. To which I say... WAY TO GO WALLACE!!!!!!!! YOU GO BOY!!! Someone needs to take Kyle out back and beat the ever loving sh*t out of him. Dale Jr said it best last night when he told Bob Dillner on Speed that if he wanted to talk to Kyle he was gonna have to get in line. I mean Kyle's former jackman. Pidge wanted to bust Kyle in the face. Sadly the NASCAR Officials and team members from both sides broke it up. COME ON NASCAR LET THE GUYS DUKE IT OUT like in the old days!!!!!! I mean seriously all you have to do is say...1979 Daytona 500. EVERYONE knows about the fight, I wasn't even alive to see the fight but I know about it! If we could go back to that time I think young Mr. Busch would learn some respect or else he'd be missing some teeth.
Obviously I have a very strong dislike towards Kyle and that's okay I know that there are people that like him and ya know what every driver needs fans to support them. But there also has to be people that don't like drivers. It's what makes this sport so wonderful It's like in baseball. Boston fans hate the Yankees. -how damn cool was it to see the Boston Jersey buried in the concrete of the new Yankee Stadium?!? It's okay because there are as man people that love the Yankees as there are that don't love them. It totally makes the sports world go round and round. Vive La Vie Boheme indeed!

That is some girl power!

This past weekend, Danica Patrick made history. She became the first woman to win an IRL race. And to that I say... WAY TO GO DANICA!!!!! I admit to being a fan of hers. I'm not really big into the IRL but I do tune into see how she's doing. I fully admit the reason I became a fan of hers was to see how good the chick driver did against the guys. She's more than just some chick driver. In my opinion she's got some of the biggest balls out there and goes out there every week and is able to hold her own (and beat!) some of Indy Racings best. She beat Heilo :) (I totally adore him I blame Dancing With the Stars for that one!) I can't wait for the day when there is a "Danica" in NASCAR.



From yahoosports
Danica is pictured with Helio and Scott Dixon.

Safety..

Well last year I remember being real crappy about the Car of Tomorrow (today) questioning things and wondering how it will race and things like that... while there are a few questions still with the car and will we get different tires to go with the new car? The safety aspect of the car was shown today. NASCAR did an outstanding job making the new car safe. It made it so that Michael McDowell who flipped his car several times during qualifying tonight at Texas Motorspeedway.
His car slammed hard into the wall, then flipped over several times then caught fire. He was able to walk away from the accident and talk to the press about the ordeal when it was done. I don't remember seeing a wreck that bad in several years. I honestly thought I once again watched a man die on the race track.



NASCAR is checking over what's left of McDowell's car. This picture came from yahoo.com and was taken from the AP.

The Pole sitter for Sunday's race.... Dale Jr!!! Through all the excitement of the crash and Kyle Busch showing how big of a jerk he can be. He said during an interview how he guesses he's not as important as Dale Jr since he didn't get his own camera man or something like that. He was just being a mouthy little jerk and in my opinion someone needs to bust him in the mouth... of course if he keeps wrecking with his brother Kurt, it might just be Kurt that busts him. :)

from yahoosports.com thanks to the AP
Dale Jr and Tony Jr :)

I think this weekend is going to be a very good weekend for the 88 crew :)

Well it's official...

I started this blog as a place to post my thoughts on sports specifically NASCAR since that and basketball are the two sports I know the most about. But it looks like I totally suck and will never have a career as a professional writer. It's been a very long time since I apparently had anything worthy to say :)



Well here we all are.. March 28, 2008 it's the start of a new NASCAR Season...
A brief recap along with the promise to make a bigger effort to at least post to this place once a week :)
So Let's start at the beginning.... *Because let's face it that's always the best place to start.*


Speedweeks....Two words.... DALE JR..... :)

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a Dale Jr fan. I'm now a Hendrick Motorsports fan because I'm a Jimmie fan and I'm also a Dale Jr Fan so NOW I'm a happy girl.. Junior got his first win of the year with HMS at The Bud Shoot Out. This proves that it wasn't the D.E.I. Cars at the restrictor plates... It was the man in the seat :) (I'm totally biased as a card carrying member of the Junior Nation) He then followed that win up with a win in his Dual at Daytona.
Not a bad way to kick off the start of the new season :)

The 500 was won by Ryan Newman and the Penske Team. It was a 1-2 Penske finish. Newman winning and the #2 Miller Lite Dodge driven by Kurt Busch taking the second place spot. In my opinion it wasn't the most exciting 500 but it wasn't a bad race either. On a non-racing note... Trisha Yearwood totally kicked ass singing the National Anthem. She was freaking AMAZING!!!!!

After time in Florida we (and I mean that as a collective thing as 'we the fans' I personally sat at home ) headed west to catch the 24 Hours of Fontana.. I mean the race at Fontana. It rained and it rained and it rained. Dale Jr and Denny Hamilin got in a wreck early and were out. The race was red flagged several times then it was going to start late Sunday night then it was decided it was going to be ran on Monday. Carl Edwards was able to get his car dialed in correctly and won the Monday race.

After the 24 Hours of Fontana teams headed to Vegas.... Vegas baby! For such an exciting place it was a really boring race. Carl flipped his way to victory again. Making everyone go, whoa! Roush-Fenway did their homework in the off season!

From Vegas we hit Atlanta. The race at Atlanta wasn't very good at all until the last 30 laps. The last laps were some of the most amazing racing that had happed all day. Kyle Busch got Toyota their first win (really it was just a matter of time. Toyota was GENIUS going after Gibbs Racing! I'm not knocking Red Bull Racing or Micheal Waltrip Racing but the guys at Gibbs can drive anything and Toyota was smart in going for a big team that was established in the sport.)
Kyle Busch showed a lot of class (and again in my opinion this is my blog so I can totally put my opinion in wherever I want lol. I'm not a fan of Kyle Busch. I just don't like him there is something about him that rubs me the wrong way. Having said that I never thought that I'd be pulling for Kurt to beat his brother during the weekend either lol. But Kyle said something over the radio after the win at Atlanta that made me smile...."The 18 is back in Atlanta Boys!" Remember how awesome it was a couple of years ago to see Bobby Labonte in the 18 car battle with Jimmie Johnson for the win and Jimmie ended up barely winning? It was a 1-2 JGR finish in Atlanta with Tony trying his hardest to do better than his teammate. After that, Tony threw Goodyear under the bus leaving people to wonder... is Tony tired of not being the top dog? Or being out raced by a young brash kid (who reminds a lot of people of a younger Tony ) and Tony doesn't like that? Who knows.

Bristol Baby! I love Bristol it's one of my favorite tracks. And how cool was it to see Jeff Burton win? (Sure it would have been cooler to see Dale Jr win but Jeff Burton is very cool and it's cool to see just how excited his wife is for him.)

What have we learned from the first few races of the season? The car of today is still very much a work in progress. They changed the car, now they need to think about making the tire different. Also people are wondering what has happened to Hendrick Motorsports.... I can totally answer this question though.......Everyone else just came up to HMS level. They got tired of being out classed by HMS and they stepped up their game. Now HMS is going to up their game. They are going to a track this weekend that they have kicked some major butt at while going to Martinsville this weekend. Both Jeff and Jimmie have won there several times and Dale Jr has typically done well there too. Could this be the weekend that we see a Hendrick car in Victory Lane or will we see back flips? Anyway you slice it... It's Martinsville and it's going to be a good race!

It really makes me wonder....

In light of Carl's accident in Omaha... correction.. Greenwood :) (which btw-Carl's accident is big news in Omaha, it's crazy lol I'm just glad he's okay!)
It's made me wonder if owners are going to start saying okay you can't go race here or there. Last year Tony Stewart injured his shoulder in the Chili Bowl. Carl dislocated his thumb. Jimmie.. Okay Jimmie fell off the top of a golf cart so that's not the same but really it makes me wonder if owners are going to start not letting their drivers go off and do extra things.

I love Dirt racing!!

It was hotter than h*ll yesterday but it could have been worst I guess LOL. There was a breeze. SO the gates opened at 4:00 and by 4:45 I had Carl and Kenny Edwards autograph. I've always had mixed feelings about Carl. Is he really that oh gosh golly gee person. He is. He's super nice and I was surprised he wasn't as tall in person as I thought he was going to be. I mean I'm 5'3" so everyone is way taller
than me but he just seems so tall on TV and maybe he was slouching a little bit but he just didn't seem as tall to me. He shook all the guys hands and thanked everyone for coming out to the track despite the heat. He totally signed my ESPN magazine! WHOOT! His little brother Kenny is hysterical they are so funny together. He said he had put a sign on the back of his car that read, "Carl who?!?!" I've seen Kenny race a couple times at I-80 Speedway and he's really becoming one of my favorite dirt racers! I asked Carl about his bike ride. He was going to ride his bike from Columbia to St. Louis, he said it was a nice ride, it took him two days.
So after I get both Kenny and Carl's signature I move off to the side so I can take some more pictures. I'm standing next to their mom and it doesn't really connect thats who she is until I walk back to my seat. My mom goes, "So does she look as pretty and nice as she does on the tv?" I laughed and said, "Uh no it's hotter than h*ll and her make up is running down her face just like everyone else's."
Carl and Kenny were supposed to participate in this race at the very end of the night that would pit them against their dad *who hadn't raced in like 8 years* and two sets of Brothers from the Omaha Metro who have raced. The Kosiski brothers (the Kosisiki family owns and operates I-80 Speedway) and another set of brothers, but that race got canceled because of storms moving into the area (and the races were running long because one of the main features ended up taking 45 minutes or better due to all the cautions. They'd go like a lap or two then wreck.) SO finally it was Carl and Kenny's feature. Things are going great, I mean super great, Carl started mid pack in a 25 lap shoot out and in three laps had moved up to 7th spot. Then there was a caution. No biggie a guy got into the wall. Green flag drops again, and we're off racing, then on the backstretch there was this big wreck, like 5 or 6 cars were involved it was big. Kenny ended up getting front end damage and had to go into the pits for repairs. Carl's night was done, (sad I wanted live pictures of him doing his back flip.) Well he got out of the car and he was upset. He could have won, he's a racer period and wanted to win (and I wanted to see the damn back flip lol!) He gets out waves to the crowd and walks down to the pits. Well then the EMS guys rush his brother's trailor. (Carl didn't have one he was running one of Ed Kosisiki's cars so he was just using Kenny and Ed's trailors as his base. One of the fun parts of the night was to guess where that Office Depot fire suit was gonna pop up next lol) So the EMS guys go check him out, My mom and I were like well it's because he's "NASCAR GUY" and if he weren't he'd probably be okay. Turns out Carl may have broken his thumb in the accident. As a precaution they sent him out to Lincoln (which is 20 miles from the track. Carl keeps saying that I-80 is in Omaha but it's really not it's in Greenwood which is a tiny town about 30-35 miles outside of Omaha and about 20 or so from Lincoln lol They wanted him to have his hand looked at. I never heard how it came about if it was broke or not, but I'll let you know if I find out anything.) My mom and I were talking about how the whole conversation went: "Carl-I'm fine, it's cool. Geepers mom I'm fine. Nancy-Carl get in the rescue squad so we can have your hand checked out. Carl-I'm fine gosh. How many times do I have to say that. Various track workers- Mr. Edwards please get into the rescue squad and go have your hand checked out. We don't want Jack Roush to come down on us like the Wrath of God for letting one of his drivers get hurt at our track. Please. Carl-No, I'm fine, I'll call Jack tomorrow and let him know things are good. Track Workers: Carl get in the squad now or we won't invite you back and you won't get to take any more fans around the track in that two seater late model." We obviously don't know if that's how it went but it was almost 11pm when that happened, my mom and I were hot and tired so that's how we thought the conversation went in our mind Plus if he did break his hand at least it was in a legit racing incident not like Jimmie Johnson who was golf cart surfing
I'm just glad I took today off!! LOL It was a fun night even if I didn't get to see the back flip



Carl signed my ESPN Magazine cover!! :)

One of the really cool points of the day was meeting my "Line buddies" They were HMS fans (Jimmie fans!) and we talked about how cool it was going to be to have Jimmie and Junior one the same team and how innovative The Chad is and he just needs to stop getting caught being innovative :)


Edit... Carl is okay his hand is okay his thumb is dislocated, he was treated and released from an Omaha hospital (that two of my uncles are doctors at just a little side note. One delivers babies the other is a peds. doctor. but I just thought it was kind of a cool little side note.)

Junior to make announcement tomorrow...

Well folks it looks like tomorrow is going to be the day we find out where Dale Jr is going to go. It sounds like Junior will be going to HMS next year. According to Claire B Lang (Dialed In XM Radio, and Jim Utter (The Charlotte Observer) they have said that in order for Dale Jr to be able to make his announcement to go to HMS that someone from HMS has to announce that Kyle (We can all assume it's going to be Kyle, he's been complaining about not being happy and all this other stuff.) is leaving HMS. This could be done tonight via press release, or it can be done by an HMS PR rep tomorrow before Junior makes his announcement. And for the record.....I look just as good in blue as I do in red :) I will follow him wherever.