by richard teague tinynascars@yahoo.com
Well I done it now. When I wrote about Dale Earnhardt Jr. and then about the Car of Tomorrow, caution laps, Brain France’s heritage and the end of the stock car, that didn’t upset people. Those were really nothing compared to my (let me see how it was put) “sentence structure and punctuation,” I believe it was. Among these comments, the question was raised about my intellect and my preference of races with and without crashes. There was also the hope (or wish perhaps) that since I do not like the COT at all next season, I won’t be interested in NA$CAR or doing a column for EU anymore. Come on guys, if I didn’t write this article, how would I put food on the table and a roof over our heads? How would I buy treats for our Pomeranian Coco? (She really likes those yogurt pudding drops and, bubba, they ain’t cheap.)
Even if I do not like the new car, I will be a fan of NA$CAR cause it’s like buying gasoline. Yeah, I hate paying $2.69 a gallon, but ya’ still got to drive. Some people really enjoy the COT and some don’t, but either way they are fans of racing. The drivers and pretty much everything else in the sport is still part of it. So you can’t tell what kind of car it is really quick, that’s why they got them big numbers on’ em. And you know who the guy in the car is, if he’s your driver, you also know his crew chief and the car owner’s name, along with a bunch of other stuff too. I say they look alike, but I’m told they are really totally different when compared by NA$CAR’s standards. I’ve never been there when they’re teaching those standards, but when I get a chance, I will go over one of those babies with my calibrator and learn for myself.
As for my smartness, you may have me there. I only finished high school and about 3 months of junior collage, so I’m caught. I’m not a Rhodes Scholar, just a street smart guy that knows how I feel and I try to express it the best I can. Sometimes I do make an error, but don’t we all? My sentence construction and punctuation was questioned too. Again, I plead guilty. I write the way I talk. Just ask Will, the Publisher and owner of EU, he’ll tell ya’ all about me. I read once that good grammar and spelling are “part and parcel of projecting professionalism,” which ain’t what I am, as you can tell. I also read that I shouldn’t “sacrifice personality, impact or effect for the sake of punctuation” I’m trying to interject my feelings or opinions to my readers so that I can hear back from them.
This ain’t supposed to be a one way deal here folks, tell me like it is, as these other good readers have this week. Most of my articles are MOO (“My Opinion Only” for you bubbas and bubba-ettes that ain’t got no ‘puters) and you should return yours to me. That’s why my email address is at the top and bottom of these columns. I’m not trying to make anyone mad ever, I just want to make you think about this stuff and then you can let me know about it when you do or don’t agree. We all got opinions, don’t we? Saying that opinions are like you-know-what (a friend said I swear a little too much in my writing, so it’s just “you-know-what” this time) is BS! Without different opinions and ideas, we would have never left the dark ages or developed a new car for the NA$CAR Nextel (soon to be Sprint) Cup Series, or a million other things in our lives would we?
Now for Dale Earnhardt Jr., as I replied to one reader, it was implied that I am like a dog with a bone. Maybe it seems that way, but that is not true at all. I do like Jr. and he is one of my favorite drivers (of which I have five). It’s just that sometimes his actions, out of either being influenced or being young, have gone down paths I don’t agree with. I thought it was the greatest thing in the world when he and Dale drove the Coke cars in Japan and I couldn’t wait until they raced together in Cup. I hoped that he would be Dale’s teammate. They should have been a real father and son dynamic duo winning races and championships. Junior had a pretty good start in Cup after back-to-back full Busch seasons, and I took him in as my third driver back then. I watched him start in Cup that first full season in 2000, then 2001 happened. It was slow for him that year and even more so the next two years, but 2004 was a powerful season.
These past three years (and if memory serves me right he renewed a contract with DEI about the start of this time) he hasn’t been the same. Was it that he didn’t get what he wanted that time and knew that in a few years he had go back and try again? This season, for some reason, I have not been his biggest fan. Why? I can’t say. Like I said early on, I wanted him to race with Dale, which would have meant at RCR, but he was needed at DEI, so then I wanted Dale to leave Richard, but that would have broken my heart too. So at least they did get to race together a short while. Seeing that black #3 car and the red #8 Bud running next to each other was probably the greatest race I have ever seen. Things sure can change, can’t they? And that’s what’s happened to me, but, by golly, next year with Hendrick Motorsports, I promise I’m a fan again.
Was there a Cup race today? Yes there was. Did Jeff Gordon win it? Well no actually, Jimmie Johnson did, and in doing so he closed that Chase gap a tad. Gordon looked good for the win and with the laps lead winner he couldn’t get the job done, so Jimmie kept his streak going at Martinsville. They say that “Virginia is for Lovers” and Johnson really does love it there. He matched the record Richard Petty set in 1972 by winning all four races the state has to offer this season. With him being 53 points behind teammate and car co-owner Gordon, can he make it a repeat of last year and win the championship? Four races to go and it looks like he might. Then there are three others that could be doing some real hard racing at Homestead in the season finale. Just as Brian France wanted, the deciding race; no more runaway champions.
Now I have been wondering how Tony Stewart felt about Joe Gibbs Racing switching to Toyotas, and I hear that he thought it to be OK, but the deal is that he’s not happy with the change, and it’s soon contract time for him. Tony supports Chevrolet wholeheartedly and it has been his only ride in Cup. Chevrolet feels and returns those thoughts as well. Here’s the deal, according to rumors. Stewart doesn’t want to talk about negotiations with Gibbs to the press. His reason is that he’s in the middle of the Chase and that is his only concern right now.
A few weeks back Richard Childress said he was going to start a new team for 2008 in Cup and would announce the driver shortly. WELL Dick, who’s it going to be? Let’s just say that on the inside, the talk is that Tony Stewart is the new driver. For 2008, since he can most probably end his contract with Joe Gibbs on a clause about major equipment change (if going from a Chevy to a Toyota ain’t major what the heck is?) I can’t bring myself to buy a Toyota diecast car.
Again I have shared my thoughts will y’all and I hope you want to share yours with me. Thanks to the readers that have and I hope you continue to do so. Reach me at tinynascars@yahoo.com and, you know the rest, if it ain’t NA$CAR, It ain’t s**t!!
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