When Dale Earnhardt Jr. spun out at the end of the race last Sunday at Martinsville I was very disappointed. Worst of all, I had no one to blame except Junior himself. In a post-race interview he took responsibility for his mistake. Noble, but irritating. I don’t want to see him mess up; there is a Championship at stake after all. I’m just being honest, which isn’t to say that I don’t get that he’s a human being, he’s not Superman.
Anytime anything happens to Dale Jr., good or bad, the media always turn to his large fan base. They’ll usually say something along the lines of something like this from the NASCAR SceneDaily Blog:
Which bugs me too… Why? Because I’d much rather have a favorite driver that only 5 people liked instead of 5 million. Plus I like Junior because he seems like a good guy, someone you’d… uhm… I’m not going into this. Anytime anyone tries to explain why they like someone they’ve never met it starts to sound really … weird.
So, moving on… Going into the race at Atlanta this weekend, Junior has had one win and eight top ten finishes out of the last 14 races there, so he’s got a good chance of having an excellent finish.
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You may have heard of a lil’ reality show called Driving Force on A&E. I’ve got a season pass for it on my Tivo and I try to watch it whenever I can. It’s one of those shows I have to be in the right mood for because, well, I just do.
The father is John Force, a drag racing superstar. He is so funny, and loud and just completely honest. He’s the first to admit that maybe he’s made some mistakes in his life, in his marriage in particular, and he’s aware of them. He kind of just talks and talks and then deals with whatever damage his words have caused later.
Overall I think he’s a great guy. His heart really seems to be in the right place, especially when it comes to his daughters, Ashley, 23, Brittany, 19, and Courtney, 17. He’s interested in them, in their lives, and he’s proud of ‘em too — even if he’d kill to have a son.
It’s a very cool show that gives great insight into the day-to-day life of a family whose world centers around racing. Oh! And they also have the best TV theme song ever because they use the Wolfmother song “Woman.” I love that song right now. Check out a clip from Driving Force below.
This is the first in a series I’m calling Long Overdue Posts (LOP). There are a lot of things that I’ve thought to write about but for some reason I never get around to it.
So here’s the first:
At the NASCAR race at Infineon, back in June of this year, I met John Dugan, a sports writer for the Marin Independent Journal. We chatted in between the garages & haulers about different drivers and whatnot. Somehow we got on the subject of Clint Bowyer and how John seems to think that Bowyer resembles Ben Roethlisberger, quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
John says: “The biggest similarity between Bowyer and Roethlisberger is the protruding jaw and close-cropped hair. Unfortunately, since Big Ben’s little motorcycle faux pas, his face is all puffy and weird. But pre-accident, pre-beard, Big Ben had the same high cheekbones as Clint.”
Unfortunately I couldn’t find a photo of Roethlisberger without facial hair, so here’s the best I could do… What do you think? I see some of the similarities, but I wouldn’t call them the next DoubleMint Twins.
Thanks John!
Check out Jay-Z’s new video for “Show Me What You Got”, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Danica Patrick make cameos… The first minute is the best part.
Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calf. has announced its 2007 Big O Tires Racing Season.
The schedule is as follows…
2007 Big O Tires Racing Season Schedule
— Kawasaki AMA Superbike Showdown, presented by Supercuts — May 18-20
— Wine Country Classic vintage car races — June 2-3
— NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series — June 22-24
— Infineon Cougar Mountain Classic — July 5-8
— FRAM Autolite NHRA Nationals — July 27-29
— Cal-Steam/KOHLER Div. 7 NHRA drag races, presented by Korbel — August 3-5
— Grand Prix of Sonoma County (IndyCar) — August 24-26
In the past I’ve talked a lot about the guys in NASCAR that I don’t like. I would hate to be thought of as always being negative. So to counteract that, I’m listing the drivers that I dig.
1.) Dale Earnhardt Jr. — Duh. I don’t think I need to explain this one. Just read my old blog entries.
2.) Michael Waltrip – He’s gotta be the most hilarious driver in the NEXTEL Cup Series. He’s always got something to say and you can count on him for great quotes. Although, since he left DEI he hasn’t been running up front as much, well, at all. I hope his new team with Toyota next year can stand out and be competitive.
3.) Casey Mears – Casey Mears looks like a teddy bear (see photo). This isn’t really why I like him but it helps. I think I like him because I don’t know that much about him. He hasn’t won a race in the Cup series yet and I want to see him win.
4.) Carl Edwards – Ah, Cousin Carl. I dig him, even though he retaliated against Dale Jr. after a race earlier this year. I love his story of handing out business cards at the track trying to network his way into NASCAR. I’m a sucker for creativity. He’s also one of the best actors in NASCAR right now. Ya know that Gillette Young Guns commercial where Ryan Newman shaves his number 12 into everyone’s facial hair? Well I think Carl should get an award for his convincing delivery of the word “Newman!” Bravo!
Hmm… That’s all I can come up with for right now. I’m sure I’ll be adding more to the list as time goes on. And this doesn’t mean that I don’t dislike any of the drivers that I haven’t mentioned. I’ll write up a list of all the drivers that irk me at a later date. hehe.
