The Crown Royal Presents the Jim Stewart 400 at Richmond has been red flagged due to rain. I highly doubt they’ll get the race underway, but ya never know. I really don’t mind because I loooove rain delays.
A rain delay means that the broadcast team must go around and interview all 43 drivers if necessary. There’s the usual lame attempts to be funny by Chris Meyers and Jeff Hammond, and the obligatory analysis of the weather radar by non-certified weathermen. I also enjoy hearing the pit reporters ask each driver the same question in a different way, “How do you feel about the weather?” “What do you think of the rain?” “Doesn’t rain suck?”
As I type this they’re officially postponing the race until tomorrow. Aw shucks! They didn’t even get a chance to interview Dale Jr.!
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I am invested in the success of Toyota’s NASCAR race teams.
Why you ask?
Well I own a Toyota (a cool and fun Toyota Matrix XR named “Trinity” my homage to the lead female character in “The Matrix” film franchise) and I like the company. So if Toyota isn’t a winner I’m not a winner! Well, sort-of. I don’t take it that seriously but you get my point.
My first car in high school was a 1970-something Toyota Corolla named Betsy (right) that every member of my family drove before it got handed down to me in the late 1990’s. I loved that car, it was old but it lasted for a long time. Toyota knows how to make great cars that last, that are reliable. But now they need to make some race cars that can win, heck, just qualifying would be nice.
While Dave Blaney is currently ranked 3rd (David Reutimann of Michael Waltrip Racing is in 4th) in the points standings for the Busch series — which is really awesome — his teammates at Bill Davis Racing and the other Toyota teams are seriously lagging.
As much as I was annoyed with Brian Vickers for stupidly spinning out Dale Earnhardt Jr. last year (I have a hard time letting things go, can’t ya tell?) at Talladega I’m starting to root for him again. Part of that is because I dig Red Bull (eventhough I’ve never drunk a Red Bull in my life, I appreciate great marketing) and of course Toyota in general.
I feel bad because AJ Allmendinger is completely new to this NASCAR thing and he’s not getting the opportunity to really prove himself, show us all what he can do. Jeremy Mayfield is back but you can hardly tell because he’s only been in 3 races so far this season. I’m looking forward to him racing — competitively — against his ex-Evernham teammates.
Then there’s Michael Waltrip. Only one race under his belt this year and the rest of his race teams are seriously struggling. Dale Jarrett is out of provisionals, so if he doesn’t qualify on time for Richmond he’s not going to be in a Nextel Cup race for the first time after 424 previous starts. Maybe there’s an early retirement ahead for Dale? He’s really good at analyzing the Busch races on ESPN.
In other news…
At least someone at Red Bull Racing is winning… Today they announced that 20-year-old mechanical engineering student Matthew Marchiando from the University of California-Davis won the first-ever Red Bull Velocity Lab internship. He’ll be spending his summer at the Red Bull Racing race shop in Mooresville, N.C. I post this because he’s local to me (Davis, Calif is an hour north of me in the San Francisco Bay Area). Marchiando’s internship application included a plan on how to perfect “how the front splitter limits front-end travel” on the Car of Tomorrow. Good luck Matthew!
I usually love the whole green, white, checkered, ending — now dubbed Overdrive — but this weekend it was pretty lame. It was very anti-climactic.
I’m not going to go into the whole Jeff Gordon-breaking-Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s-career-wins-record-fans-go-crazy debacle, except to say that I agree with tallglassofmilk in that if the Talladega fans can’t behave themselves ‘Dega should lose it’s second race. They should hand it over to Infineon, us Northern California NASCAR fans know not to throw things when we’re mad. We’d just make shirts that say things like “Anybody But Gordon” and call it day.
I’m still annoyed/upset about Casey Mears’ crash in the middle of the race. I thought he was going to make it this time and finally win one but alas it was not meant to be. He was so pissed when he jumped out of his car, seeing that emotion reminds you how much this means to these guys. It’s not just another day at the office. They go out there every race with the intention to win.
It was so very cool to see no-name drivers race upfront this weekend. Guys like Sterling Marlin, Kenny Wallace, David Ragan, Regan Smith, and David Stremme all led laps at Talladega. Congrats to them, I want to see more of that. Words cannot express how sick I am of seeing Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon winning these races.
The rest of my Sunday was filled with more racing coverage. After the NASCAR Nexel Cup race I caught the end of the IndyCar race in Kansas. Dan Wheldon was the winner and apparently there was some pit road debacle involving teammates Danica Patrick and Tony Kanaan. Tony took a page from the Tony Stewart PR handbook and left the race track without commenting on the events of pit road (Danica hit his car on her way out of the pits which ultimately caused Tony to fall 8 laps down, finishing 15th for the day).
Now everyone’s attention will turn to the Indianapolis 500, the race is on May 27th but the media hype is already beginning. Oh yay, a whole month of talking about the same things over and over and over again.
In other news…
Ashley Force went up against John Force for the first time in her burgeoning Funny Car career. She beat her dad in the first round at Atlanta Dragway.
The marquee match of the day was in round one when Ashley Force beat her famous father, John, by a 4.779 to 5.783 margin in the first father-daughter Pro-level race in NHRA history.
“Today I’m a proud father,” John said. “I’ve dreamed of this day for a long time, and it makes me emotional to think it finally came true. She’s a great young driver and she’s probably gonna whip me a bunch, but I’m okay with it because she’s my baby.”
Ashley went on to win her second round match-up but lost in the semifinals to Mike Ashley. All in all still a great day for women in the NHRA, it won’t be long until she’s a Funny Car winner.
Jeff Gordon is saluted by Dale Earnhardt Jr. after winning the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. (Photo Credit: Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Fans throw beer cans onto the track as Jeff Gordon, driver of the #24 Dupont Chevrolet, takes the Sunoco checkered flag to win the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway on April 29, 2007 in Talladega, Alabama. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Jeff Gordon, driver of the #24 DuPont Chevrolet, poses for a photo with his wife, model Ingrid Vandebosch, in victory lane after after Gordon won the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway on April 29, 2007 in Talladega, Alabama. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR)
Thanks to my handy dandy Dale Earnhardt Jr. Desk Calendar I am proud to tell you that the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series has more female fans than any other sport!
Now I’m sure a bunch of close-minded, idiotic, jerky men will tell you that this is because we women just want to look at hot dudes. They couldn’t be more wrong; besides, the NFL, NHL and MLB all have gorgeous men on the payroll too. While I don’t know the exact reasons why women love NASCAR so much I have my suspicions.
For me it’s about the event, it’s about the competition, and it’s about the people. Obviously I like knowing who’s dating who and what so-and-so’s wife is really like, but what I really dig is that every race is like a mini Super Bowl. There are the flyovers, the increasingly large pool of celebrity honorary grand marshals, and of course the usual Nashville recording artist singing the national anthem.
NASCAR is very family friendly. You can bring the kids to the track and make a day, or even a three-day weekend, out of it. There aren’t many sports that give you the access to the teams the way that NASCAR does. You know that before every race your favorite driver will be out signing autographs at a certain time, and even if you don’t catch him there you could bump into him in the garage with your trusty garage pass.
It’s just so easy to be a fan of NASCAR. If you want to listen the in-car communications between the team and the driver you can. If you really wanted to every piece of furniture, clothing or accessories you own can have your favorite driver’s name, car number or face on it.
Bottom line — NASCAR makes it easy for you to feel like you’re apart of something.
NASCAR announced today that it will be honoring the victims of the Virginia Tech tragedy that took place on Monday. Stickers showing the Virgina Tech logo will be placed inside all of the race cars for the next three weeks.
NASCAR To Honor Victims Of Virginia Tech Tragedy
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (April 18, 2007) — The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) has received permission from Virginia Tech University to display the school’s logo on race cars for the next three weeks, in a tribute to the victims of this week’s shootings at the Blacksburg, Va. campus.
The logo will be displayed against a black background on the “B-post” — the area just to the right of the driver’s side window net — of cars competing in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series and NASCAR Busch Series events at Phoenix International Raceway (Friday and Saturday), Talladega Superspeedway (April 28-29) and Richmond International Raceway (May 4-5).
Additionally, trucks competing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event April 28 at Kansas Speedway also will display the logo.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims, their family members, their friends — and the entire Virginia Tech community,” said NASCAR Chairman Brian France. “We wanted to make a simple, but strong, gesture of remembrance. We are grateful the university gave us clearance to display their logo.”
Good news!
Liz Allison, widow of NASCAR driver Davey Allison, has a new book coming out in September of this year entitled “The Girl’s Guide to Winning a NASCAR Driver.” The book is a follow-up to her 2006 release “The Girl’s Guide to NASCAR.”
I immediately ran over to Amazon.com to see if I could pre-order this sucker but alas it’s not listed yet. I’m dying to know what advice Liz gives on how to lasso your own NASCAR hunk. If anything I’m sure it’ll be a fun read. Until the book comes out check out Liz’s new blog over at the Prilosec OTC Girl’s Guide to NASCAR site.
