Spring Fever
Yesterday was an interesting day at my house. This past Wednesday was my 39th birthday, and my wife decided to celebrate with a surprise party for me. She had broken into my email account and had stolen all of the names from my address book, then emailed just about every name she recognized. The result? A steady stream of people that I hadn’t seen in person for years. Of course, she whipped up a homemade Italian buffet, complete with her specialty – sausage & mushrooms. I was in culinary heaven, all with Bristol racing in the background.
I bring this up because of the wide variety of reactions from the folks who dropped in and out throughout the day. Some, those who know me best, were not surprised that racing was on and a few even spent a good long time talking about various NASCAR topics – the new car, Juniors new team, Toyota, and more. Others continued with the old stand by comments – drive fast and turn left.
What was most telling though was the difference between NASCAR fans and non-NASCAR fans. Here in New England, the first sign of spring is when the equipment truck packs up and leaves for Ft Myers. By mid March, Red Sox nation has come out of their hibernation and is practically in a wild frenzy. Of course, for myself and my NASCAR brothers and sisters living in New England, the first sign of spring is the start of speed weeks in Daytona, and yesterday Bristol put me into full blown spring fever. The snow, which is now nothing more than small chunks of black and brown ice, is still present as we enter mud season – the few weeks of warm days and major thawing. It’s been a long winter that saw my personal snow removal budget drained by early January. Now with Bristol done, I am in the final planning stages of our annual spring trip to Martinsville. After that, Talladega, Richmond and Darlington are only a few weeks away, and then Memorial Day Weekend and summer will have begun! I am secretly planning to grab one ticket to Dover and drive down for the cup race, and then a few weeks later, New Hampshire – less than 30 minutes from my home, if you know the shortcuts. My wife and I are discussing summer vacation this year, and we are planning August 3rd – 10th. I have been pushing for the Poconos or upstate New York; I’m sure any true fan can figure out why (shhhh… a 2 for 1 special!). Ahhhh, I cant wait…
Bristol is back!
Remember the night Bristol race last year, with all the whaling and gnashing of teeth after the Cup race? “They ruined Bristol!” screamed one. “I’m giving up my tickets” yelled another. They came to see a demolition derby and instead saw a pretty damn good stock car race. The new pave job seems to have done its job, and what I saw yesterday was a great multi-groove short track with plenty of tight passing which resulted in a damn good race. By the way, I never did get any Bristol tickets from those who swore they were giving them up.
Drano and the late, great Johnny Most
A few words on Fox. I’m not one to complain much about the coverage, as NASCAR is probably the most difficult sport to broadcast (and I will confess that on most days I just turn the TV down and put on MRN/PRN, but with all my fans dropping by yesterday, I just had the television on low), but I do have to wonder whose decision it was to keep DW in the booth all afternoon. Clearly, the man was sick as a dog, and each comment he made was grating on the ears… kind of reminded me of listening to the late Celtics broadcaster Johnny Most who used to joke that he gargled with Drano before each broadcast. Of course, Johnny’s voice was music to Celtics fans back when he was broadcasting high above courtside, as we all turned down the TV broadcast just to listen to ‘fiddling and diddling’. RIP Johnny!
Kill Digger!
Am I the only one who is sick of ‘Digger’, the FOX ‘in ground’ TV camera? When it first came out years ago, I thought it was kind of cool – giving you the perspective of what someone was seeing just prior to being run over and killed by a line of cars. But the novelty wore off after the first few shots and that was a few seasons ago. The shot adds nothing to the broadcast, and the more they push this non-existent character, the more it gives people reason to complain about the quality of the broadcast. And, no, I don’t want a Digger t-shirt.
Ouch!
One thing for sure is that I will be listening to Tony Stewart Live! tonight on Sirius. Tony is usually pretty entertaining, especially after wrecking the day before, but tonight should be extra fun. Seems he is getting his back hair waxed for charity by none other than… Kevin Harvick! By the way, am I the only one who thought I saw tears in Smokes eyes when he was being interviewed by Fox after the race yesterday? Maybe he was just practicing for tonight…
Thanks again Dale!
Yesterday was an interesting day at my house. This past Wednesday was my 39th birthday, and my wife decided to celebrate with a surprise party for me. She had broken into my email account and had stolen all of the names from my address book, then emailed just about every name she recognized. The result? A steady stream of people that I hadn’t seen in person for years. Of course, she whipped up a homemade Italian buffet, complete with her specialty – sausage & mushrooms. I was in culinary heaven, all with Bristol racing in the background.
I bring this up because of the wide variety of reactions from the folks who dropped in and out throughout the day. Some, those who know me best, were not surprised that racing was on and a few even spent a good long time talking about various NASCAR topics – the new car, Juniors new team, Toyota, and more. Others continued with the old stand by comments – drive fast and turn left.
What was most telling though was the difference between NASCAR fans and non-NASCAR fans. Here in New England, the first sign of spring is when the equipment truck packs up and leaves for Ft Myers. By mid March, Red Sox nation has come out of their hibernation and is practically in a wild frenzy. Of course, for myself and my NASCAR brothers and sisters living in New England, the first sign of spring is the start of speed weeks in Daytona, and yesterday Bristol put me into full blown spring fever. The snow, which is now nothing more than small chunks of black and brown ice, is still present as we enter mud season – the few weeks of warm days and major thawing. It’s been a long winter that saw my personal snow removal budget drained by early January. Now with Bristol done, I am in the final planning stages of our annual spring trip to Martinsville. After that, Talladega, Richmond and Darlington are only a few weeks away, and then Memorial Day Weekend and summer will have begun! I am secretly planning to grab one ticket to Dover and drive down for the cup race, and then a few weeks later, New Hampshire – less than 30 minutes from my home, if you know the shortcuts. My wife and I are discussing summer vacation this year, and we are planning August 3rd – 10th. I have been pushing for the Poconos or upstate New York; I’m sure any true fan can figure out why (shhhh… a 2 for 1 special!). Ahhhh, I cant wait…
Bristol is back!
Remember the night Bristol race last year, with all the whaling and gnashing of teeth after the Cup race? “They ruined Bristol!” screamed one. “I’m giving up my tickets” yelled another. They came to see a demolition derby and instead saw a pretty damn good stock car race. The new pave job seems to have done its job, and what I saw yesterday was a great multi-groove short track with plenty of tight passing which resulted in a damn good race. By the way, I never did get any Bristol tickets from those who swore they were giving them up.
Drano and the late, great Johnny Most
A few words on Fox. I’m not one to complain much about the coverage, as NASCAR is probably the most difficult sport to broadcast (and I will confess that on most days I just turn the TV down and put on MRN/PRN, but with all my fans dropping by yesterday, I just had the television on low), but I do have to wonder whose decision it was to keep DW in the booth all afternoon. Clearly, the man was sick as a dog, and each comment he made was grating on the ears… kind of reminded me of listening to the late Celtics broadcaster Johnny Most who used to joke that he gargled with Drano before each broadcast. Of course, Johnny’s voice was music to Celtics fans back when he was broadcasting high above courtside, as we all turned down the TV broadcast just to listen to ‘fiddling and diddling’. RIP Johnny!
Kill Digger!
Am I the only one who is sick of ‘Digger’, the FOX ‘in ground’ TV camera? When it first came out years ago, I thought it was kind of cool – giving you the perspective of what someone was seeing just prior to being run over and killed by a line of cars. But the novelty wore off after the first few shots and that was a few seasons ago. The shot adds nothing to the broadcast, and the more they push this non-existent character, the more it gives people reason to complain about the quality of the broadcast. And, no, I don’t want a Digger t-shirt.
Ouch!
One thing for sure is that I will be listening to Tony Stewart Live! tonight on Sirius. Tony is usually pretty entertaining, especially after wrecking the day before, but tonight should be extra fun. Seems he is getting his back hair waxed for charity by none other than… Kevin Harvick! By the way, am I the only one who thought I saw tears in Smokes eyes when he was being interviewed by Fox after the race yesterday? Maybe he was just practicing for tonight…
Thanks again Dale!
Yesterday was Dale Jarrett’s last ‘points’ race, and it was sad to see him finish 37th, 10 laps down. Of course, with him racing for a struggling Michael Waltrip Racing team and a rapidly fading from significance Yates Racing team, yesterdays finish was par for the course for him over the past few seasons. I have to wonder how well he would have done had he spent his last few years with HMS, JGR or RFR. Conversely, I wonder how well Jimmy Johnson would have done had he been racing in the same equipment as Jarrett recently. Regardless of where he finished, however, he went out a champion in the eyes of most.
Pressure…
Now that the first five races are done, it’s interesting to see who is outside the top 35. Most names aren’t too surprising, but there are a few that are feeling the heat, most notably Jamie McMurray, 4 points out of 35th and Dave Blaney, 18 out. Meanwhile, Casey Mears is barely hanging in at 33rd after a terrible start that has seen him swept up in several wrecks.
Kudos!
Finally, nice job by DEI driver Aric Almirola. Almirola took over the wheel of the US Army Chevrolet and managed to stay out of trouble yesterday, bringing the Chevrolet in to an 8th place finish. David Gilliland, driver of the Yates racing Free Credit Report Ford Fusion finished an impressive 9th as well. Richard Childress racing also deserves mention for their 1-2-3 finish yesterday – looks like Chevy isn’t dead yet!
Happy St Patrick’s Day everybody!
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