Saturday, July 01, 2006

I hate restrictor plate racing...

6 laps to go in the Firecracker 400 at Daytona and of course, there's a huge wreck. Of course!

This is why I hate restrictor plate races. Yes, they are exciting, but come on. This happens every fucking time. Less than 10 to go and there's always, always a wreck. It's ridiculous.

Greg Biffle got loose and took out a bunch of cars, including Mark Martin (of course!), Bobby LaBonte, Jeff Gordon, I don't even know who else. What the fuck dude. What the fuck!

Tony Stewart wins the race. Better him than either one of the Bush brothers (=dickheads).

Bobby LaBonte was funny in the interview after he got wrecked. They were asking him how he felt about getting wrecked and then cut away to something else. When they came back to LaBonte, they asked him the exact same question. His reaction: Well I'm still just as disappointed as when you initially asked me that question.. just a few moments ago.

Bobby LaBonte is awesome.

Monday, May 01, 2006

Johnson wins at Talla-Dangerous

Mark Martin was out of the race only 10 laps in after getting got caught in the always inevitable 'big one' wreck, Dale Jr.'s motor blew up and Jimmy Johnson wound up winning the race at Talladega today.

I'm not a very big JJ fan, so my response to his victory is simply, 'blah'.

Friday, April 28, 2006

Men in Black...

The Nextel Cup series travels to Talla-dangerous this weekend and along with it will come The Intimidator's induction into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.

To honor the event, all of the DEI cars will feature a special paint scheme that replicates the late Big E's black #3 Chevy.


(daleearnhardtinc.com)

I have slightly mixed feelings about all of the cars bearing the same black paint scheme that Dale used to drive with. I certainly don't think it's a 'bad' thing in any way, and for the most part, I think it's a very cool way to remember Earnhardt, but there is a part of me that also thinks it's a little odd to have five cars all using the same paint scheme as the old #3.

I can definitely see doing it for Jr.'s car, that makes sense, but all 5 DEI cars? I don't know. There's a little part of me that finds that a little weird. I don't really know how to express this feeling properly in words. It strikes me as somewhat macabre.

Then again, it is Dale's company and all of the cars are 'his', so in that vein, it does make sense for all of his cars to bear his former paint scheme as a tribute to him.

I can imagine it will be very, very special to be driving one of those tribute cars this Sunday.

It also makes me laugh a little to think of five cars that all look like Dale's old car terrorizing the other drivers on the track. When Dale was alive, during most races, one black 'Intimidator' car was more than enough for the rest of the field to have to deal with.

When I imagine what's going to be going through the other competitor's heads, especially the older guys who raced with Dale for many years, when they see five black Chevys on the track, it puts a smile on my face. I can also imagine a few of them will be wondering if they are seeing a ghost when that familiar black car fills up their rear-view mirror once again.


(daleearnhardtinc.com)

I still remember well that race at Talladega when Earnhardt drove from 17th to 1st place in about 5 laps to win the race. Hopefully Little E can get that #8 car into Victory Lane this weekend. To me, that would be the best way to honor Dale Earnhardt's memory.

Monday, March 27, 2006

Hate binky wins Bristol...

When you follow NASCAR, it is a requirement that you always have at least one driver to root against. For me, that driver is Kurt Busch. So it was bad enough when he bumped Kenseth out of the way (legit move, even if it did piss me off) to take the lead and the victory at Bristol yesterday, but when he got out of his ride and started doing a Lonnie Paxton-esqe 'Snow-angel' display on the start / finish line, dude, that's just... lame.

tool
(AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

What a dick.

Despite Busch taking the win yesterday, I was still pretty pleased with the results at Bristol, where several of my favorite drivers got top 10 finishes, including Kenseth, Harvick, LaBonte, Martin and Newman. Little E finished just out of the top 10 in 11th place. That's not a bad day at the bumper-car / demolition derby known as Bristol Motor Speedway.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Made that a double...

2 straight wins for Mark Martin in the Craftsman Truck Series.


(John Cordes/Icon SMI)

Martin was unstoppable in the Busch Series and it's looking like it will be more of the same for the trucks.

Oh and did I mention that I love seeing him drive for Scotts?

It makes me want to go work on my lawn.

Sunday, February 19, 2006

So Much for That...

Well I did not get to see a single lap of the Daytona 500. Nor did I get half the work I wanted to complete finished in my basement.

Late this morning I got a call from work. They needed help in one of the labs so I had to go in. Not the way I like to spend a Sunday afternoon, that's for sure.

When I came home, I went back into the basement and got some more sheet-rock up. I got one entire wall done and about half of a 2nd wall up. By the time I finished it was about 9:30 PM and I was exhausted. I was so tired I was starting to fuck things up, and I was cursing my head off over my mistakes. Plus I was doing things like putting my measuring tape and my knife down and then not remembering where I left them, which caused more swearing, etc, etc. Basically I was becoming non-functional, so it was time to quit for the day.

I was annoyed because I knew that if I had not had to go into work, I could have gotten the all of the outer walls up and I would have just had the closets left to sheet-rock. Oh well. Nothing can be done about it.

I checked the results of the 500 when I got home. I see Jimmy Johnson won the race. Eh. I am ambivalent about him. I was glad to see Ryan Newman in third and Jr. in 8th. Mark Martin actually had a good Daytona (for him,) finishing 12th. Seems like he usually wrecks in Daytona so I'm just happy to see him manage to cross the finish line.

When I came up from the basement, my wife was watching figure skating on the Olympics. I could not believe how many of the skaters fall during their competition. That has got to be hard. You spend all those hours practicing for a 2 min chance to win and then the whole thing goes down the drain. We watched a little of the Olympics till, for some unexplainable reason which is beyond me, NBC had a segment on Jerome Bettis. What does Jerome Bettis have to do with the Olympics? I quickly switched channels and was happy to see that NESN was showing Red Sox Now or Red Sox Today (or whatever the fuck it's called). Much better. The were doing a feature on Coco Crisp. So far I'd say it seems like he is going to fit in well here in RSN....

It's all happenin down in FLA

There's all kinds of action down in the Sunny Sunshine State this weekend. Pitchers and Catchers have been arriving down at the Fort, playing some long toss and showing off some goofy t-shirts. I was glad to see that the Red Sox were 'ok' with Shilling's choice of smart-ass t-shirts for long toss sessions. There was some cause for concern there, but thankfully it all worked out.


(boston.com photo)

(In case you're wondering, Curt's shirt reads: "I’m trying to see things from your point of view but I can’t stick my head that far up my ass.")

On a less sarcastic note, it's good to see the Sox getting back into action, even if it is only Spring Training. The temps may be somewhat frigid up here in New England right now (currently 11 degrees), but that warm weather is coming soon. Seeing baseball players take part in real live baseball type stuff helps to remind us that the end of winter is in sight.

Along with Spring Training, in case you have not heard, there's also a big race taking place down in sunny Florida today. I'm looking forward to hearing those magical words, 'Gentlemen, start your engines!'

Meanwhile, I'll be taking part in some scintillating activities myself this afternoon. I'll be down in my basement today putting up sheet-rock. Should be fun... WOOOOO!

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Let's go racin'...

The starting lineup is set. Let's go racin' people. I am ready.

Some Daytona odds and ends for ya.

- Anyone who calls racing boring should try actually going to a race and experiencing it live. In person, it is far from boring. Try standing on the white line, 10 feet back from the track as the cars go by you at 150 MPH and the force from the wind off the cars almost knocks you over. Boring? Hah!

- Earlier today I realized that I no longer hate Jeff Gordon. I was watching an interview with him on Speed Channel the other day and he was joking with the hosts and generally acting pretty cool. I thought to myself, you know what, Gordon's not that bad. Hatred over.

- I still think Kurt Busch is a dickhead.

- I love the mix of drivers in the starting 10. You've got old-school drivers like Mark Martin, established, former champions in Gordon, and LaBonte (who I love in the 43 car by the way) and young up and comers like Carl Edwards. Very cool.

- I hate all the hype that is getting kicked up around this year being 5 years since we lost Dale Earnhardt. Hate. It. Fucking. Hate. IT. The fact that someone dies is not something you use to hype up an event. Hey while you're at it, why don't you remind me about all the other dead friends I have. Thanks NASCAR. Fuck you. This storyline is all over the place. It's not just NASCAR, it's ESPN and pretty much every media outlet covering the event. It really bugs the shit out of me and I'm just a fan. I can imagine how it must bother Earnhardt's family... Not that the press gives a crap about respecting people's feelings...

[Okaaay. That was a nice little mini-rant there... Now where was I?]

- I'm so glad Mark Martin is no longer driving for Phizer. Even before that whole Kelo vs. New London thing happened, I have to say I never really liked rooting for the Viagra car. I have always said that I root for the driver, not the paint scheme on the car, but still. Rooting for the Viagra car did kinda suck. I like AAA as a sponsor a lot better.

I've been rooting for Mark to win that championship for so long now... He's been such an incredibly good driver for so long now and that championship has always eluded him. I really hope he can win it all this year.

- I think it's great to see Dale Jr.'s enthusiasm for racing has returned. He had an off year last year but this season it seems like he is really embracing the challenge of winning a championship for DEI. I'd love to see him dominate this year.

- It's great to see Jeff Burton on the Pole for the 500. After racing at a championship contending level for many years, he's had kind of off years the past few seasons. He has always been a favorite driver of mine. I hope he'll be in victory lane a few times this year.

- I can't believe Bill Elliot is still racing. I thought he was going to retire like 3 years ago. I guess the track is just in his blood. Nothing wrong with that! Bill Elliot is old school. It's great to see him out there.

- I really did not follow NASCAR too closely last year but I'm really excited for the Daytona 500 this Sunday. My drivers have not changed much over the years: #1, Mark Martin, #1A Dale Jr., #2 Bobby LaBonte, #3 Kenseth, #4... Hmm. I guess I don't really have a #4. I pretty much like all the drivers. There are only a few that I adamantly, do not like (Kurt Busch, that's you).

- I used the phrase, 'it's great' an awful lot in this post.

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Poor finish for Martin but still in the top 10...

I have not been watching a lot of races since the Daytona 500 but I still keep up with the results of the races and the point standings.

Little E has not been having a good season so far and after 7 races, he's in 15th place.

Mark Martin on the other hand, has been solid. He did not do to well today, finishing 20th at Texas, but he's still in the Top 10 in the standings, sitting at 7th place. Texas has always been kind of a poor track. It really sucked when it first opened. The surface of the track was terrible and would just kill tires. I know they've done work to try and improve it over the years so maybe it's gotten better but I have to admit I'm not paying enough attention to NASCAR lately to know if the track at Texas is any better or not.

In any case, hopefully Mark will continue to be consistent over the first few months of the season. It's easy to jump up quick in the beginning of the season but as it get closer and closer to the end, it becomes very hard to make up lost ground. If he can stay in the top ten and hopefully hang around the top 5 in the standings, he'll be in position to make a serious run at that elusive Championship.

Sunday, February 20, 2005

Daytona...

Doin some shiet around the hoouuuuse and watchin The Daytona 500.

Right now there's about 80 laps to go. So far, the race has been fairly un-eventful. There has been a wreck but we have not had 'The Big One' (yet). Hopefully, we can go through this race without 'The Big One' happening.

[For you non-race fans who are still here, 'The Big One' refers to the huge crash that always seems to happen at Daytona and takes out half the field.]

It's cool be be back racin again. The race was scheduled to start @ 2:00 EST but of course did not start till after 2:30. Seems like NASCAR is really trying to make this more of an 'event' like the Superbowl or something. They've got singers, celebreties, bands, etc etc dragging things out. Just stard the damn race for cryin out loud.

It seems like 75% of the ads in NASCAR feature Dale Jr. Glad I'm a Jr. fan or I'd sure be sick of him. The NAPA ads with Jr. and Mikey Waltrip are very funny. My favorite ad so far has been the NAPA ad featuring Dale Jr. and Michael Waltrip in the "Home Shopping Network" spoof. I also liked Toyota ad with Darryl Waltrip, "What would you do if you were not a race car driver", with him driving taxis and busses sideways around corners and stuff. Pretty funny.

I have not really been paying a whole lot of attention to the race so far to be honest. I'm just kinda watching while doing other things... Most of my guys are still in it and contending, though Bobby Labonte and Kenseth went out early. When we get down to 50 laps to go, then it will really get interesting.

I'm rooting for my all time favorite, Mark Martin.

If Mark can't win it, I'm rooting for DEI. I'd like to see Dale Jr. get 2 in a row. If a DEI driver can't win it, anybody but Jeff Gordon or Kurt Busch would be ok with me. I'm not a big Rusty Wallace fan but I guess I could stand seeing him win his last Daytona. I did not realize this was his last one. Guess I'm not paying enough attention lately.

The new Dodge Challenger looks cool.

The broadcast has not been to "Foxed Up" yet, though we did miss a wreck because they were showing commercials. Personally I hate wrecks. I don't want to see anyone get hurt, cars torn up, and boring caution laps. That being said, when there is accident I do like to see what caused it, and who is affected. Par for the course with Fox. Jeanie Zalasko is as annoying in NASCAR as she is in Baseball. Other than her, I generally like the Fox announcers. Waltrip can be a little over the top sometimes, but I can put up with him. Larry is good for Crew Cheif insight. Seems like Fox has toned down the graphics and animation crap this year. That is good. Thank you FOX.

50 Laps left.

GO MARK MARTIN

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