by richard teague tinynascars@yahoo.com
I sure wish Dale Jr. would have waited a couple more weeks before he told of his intentions of drive for Richard Hendrick. Now that he’s done it, it appears that there ain’t no big gossip or rumors to write about. Kyle Busch has also kind of slowed up. Just what else is there? Well there are a few things to mention, but nothing like all the speculation about “where’s Jr. going” and “who’s his sponsor going to be?” Wasn’t that so much fun for everybody? Now y’all know you miss that as much as I do. You miss going to your favorite racing site and looking to see if there was any new news about Junior. I’ll bet you don’t have to rush home from work and get on the web to look at the “Junior Watch Forum” anymore, now do ya?
You know, it sounds like we have returned to the boring life of being a NASCAR fan and, especially with last Sunday’s race being a road course, it’s a real boring life. Just in case you have forgotten, I don’t watch that kind of race at all. Why sit there and see a car with hundreds of horsepower slow down to 5 MPH to negotiate a sharp turn? When it was the big cars, it was really boring to see that. Now with the new cars, it may not be that bad, but I still can’t bring myself to watch. This year was just like the past few years with some writer saying “why not have a road race in the Chase” and they’ve done that each year since the Chase started. My answer to that one is simple: WHY? Do we need one?
Heck do we need the ones we got now? Yes, I know that NASCAR got started on the beach and it was kinda like a… well very much like a road course, but I didn’t watch it back then, and with the cars that race now, it is a waste of machinery. I try to be honest with all ya’ll, so I got to admit that I watched a few of the last laps in the replays, and them little new cars didn’t really do too bad keeping my attention, but that’s not enough to make me see a whole race. Now don’t get to thinking that I’ve switched to being a fan of the COT, because I ain’t and I won’t ever be, but to be a NASCAR fan and a Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson fan, I have to see them in those things or stop watching. I’m not quite ready for that yet, but someday it might happen.
You know another thing that I don’t like about a road race? It seems that so many teams try to bring in a “ringer” for just one or two races a season. Were there 6 or 7 driver changes for Sonoma? It seemed to help a couple of teams, and got a top ten or two, but is that fair to the guys that drive all season long? OK, so the new drivers are supposed to be good road racers, but putting them in with the regulars may make it a tad bit dangerous, if you ask me. What with them trying to prove how good they are and all. I wonder how the usual guys really feel about it. I also wonder how the replaced drivers feel, I bet they’re not real pleased.
Chip and Felix didn’t change nothing, and look at what they got. Their rookie, Juan Pablo Montoya, won his first NASCAR season, and just so happens that he’s a ringer that will drive all year long. It was real neat to see the Texaco Havoline car cross the finish line first and be in victory lane for the first time since 2002, with Rudd at the wheel on the same track, only with RYR. Like I said, I watched a few laps and those were the ones with Montoya driving a Cart or Formula driver, and he made it look easy with the COT. Again, don’t get your hopes up, Mr. France, I ain’t changing my mind about either any time soon. I’m just saying that it looked okay, not good. Now, when Brian reads this (as I know he will because he reads my column every week) he’ll think I’m slipping, but I’m not!
Y’all got to know that I won’t change my mind about the COT. Brian France keeps coming out and saying that the teams had better learn that NASCAR means business when it comes to policing the specs on their new babies, as we can see from the penalties that they have been imposing on teams, drivers and crew chiefs. This brings me to the latest batch handed out to Johnson and Gordon, and not just because they are my two main drivers. I thought NASCAR was tough on Junior and Junior a few weeks back, and now again with two of Hendrick’s teams. Looks like the 100, 100,000 and six will be the norm for this season. Gee whiz, I can’t even think about next year when the new car is full time. These guys better mind their Ps and Qs next year or they are likely to build up a nest egg of money and crew chiefs.
What’s this I hear about Richard wanting to buy the #8? He knows that NASCAR owns the car numbers and there isn’t any flea-marketing done between teams. No changes unless they do it. It gives ’em a feeling of power, like a bunch of other DA things they do. Like I said before, Teresa Earnhardt ain’t going to give that number up, and now NASCAR has stepped up and made it easier for her to “just say NO!” I’m lovin it. Jr., I want you in a #5 car and so does Kelloggs. At least I think they do. Can you just imagine a box of Corn Flakes with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the #5 car on the front sitting on your favorite grocer’s shelf? Man, those boxes would fly out of the store. Likewise, in a couple of years Joe Gibbs wouldn’t have a problem replacing Tony Stewart with Jr. and the Rooster.
You know, we ain’t even made it to the halfway mark this season, and silly is in the air. Sterling Marlin is rumored to be cutting back for 2008 and Kyle Petty is taking time away to be a broadcaster and all. Oh, by the way, Kyle, you might want to have a time delay with the in-car session the next time you have one (if ever). The F-word is not a good one for TNT to send out over the airwaves. Talks about drivers looking for other teams are already surfacing, and probably more of the old guys will make announcements as the season goes on, but who will they be? Will Ricky be back for another year? How ‘bout Front Row Joe, is it his time? A handful of other drivers are out there that need to do it. Can 2008 be the year that Mark Martin retires for the umpteenth time, or is it one more part-time year for the gipper?
My I guess is that there is a lot to write about after all, because I only touched the tip of the iceberg, but I guess there is always next week. Yes, there will always be new stuff to talk about, so let me get finished here, as I know some of y’all have been waiting for since I started. Now y’all know how to contact me if’n ya want, but in case you’ve forgotten, it’s at tinynascars@yahoo.com and also if you forgot, but I sure doubt you have, If it ain’t NASCAR, It ain’t s**t!
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