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)
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Tony Stewart. Ugh. Just writing his name bugs me.
Here’s what I wish Tony would do. Stop apologizing! So he left right after the race on Saturday at Phoenix to avoid the media so that he wouldn’t say something stupid (Tony, say something stupid?? Never!). Then he gets on his radio show and says something stupid a few days later, for which he is now apologizing.
I say, don’t apologize! Just go with it! Saying stupid things is obviously Tony’s thing, so he should just revel in it. If those are his opinions and feelings he should say them and move on. Like anyone is really accepting the apology anyway. We expect that kind of stuff from him and when you keep saying you’re sorry all the time it starts to sound really hollow.
To say that I would love it if there was a full-blown feud between Juan Pablo Montoya and Tony Stewart would be a huge understatement.
When Montoya caused Stewart to spin out this weekend at Texas I was as giddy as a schoolgirl that just got asked to go to prom. The minute it happened I knew Stewart would be mad, pissy, and whiny and that Montoya’s days were numbered. Once you’re on the Stewart shit list you’re done.
It adds more excitement and anticipation to next weekend’s race at Phoenix. Of course I don’t want anyone to get hurt I do love it when people exact revenge on each other. While the incident at Texas doesn’t require serious revenge tactics, I think if Juan Pablo happens to come up behind Tony early in the race some unnecessary blocking would be in order.
On the other side of this debacle was the fact that Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s car was ruined after Kyle Busch ran into the back of him while trying to avoid Stewart’s spinout. This of course made me so incredibly mad (just ask my friend who was watching the race with me, “they can’t hear you Valli,” he said).
Anyway, after some work on his car Junior went out again but then was off again. Busch’s car was still sitting in the garage with his team trying to get it back out on the track. So Busch leaves the track altogether. His team was able to get the car going again but without their driver they turned to Junior who was happy to take it back out on the track again so that the #5 team could gain some points.
Let’s all take a moment to sigh and think about how sweet Junior is. 
Hehe, ok, ok, but the point is that that was a very nice thing of him to do and he didn’t have to do that, they’re not even teammates. You think little whiny baby Kyle would do that for Junior? I highly doubt it. Or at least I want to doubt it ’cause he’s just a big freak. Why leave?? You have nothing else planned for the rest of the day because you were supposed to be in the race, so why the big rush to go home?
Daytona is 30 days away and I’m getting more and more excited about it by the minute.
Teams continued to test at Daytona International Speedway this week, including Carl Edwards and his Office Depot crew. Turns out Cousin Carl is a bit of a music aficionado. He’s the co-owner of a new record label that he started with some friends. (photo credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)
Here’s more from a press release:
Playing a guitar is a bit of a project for NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series driver Carl Edwards (No. 99 Office Depot Ford), who reads chassis hiccups like sheet music and manhandles steering wheels.
But feeling his way through cords and riffs hasn’t stymied Edwards. As the creator — along with friends in his native Missouri — of new recording label Back 40 Records, Edwards hopes to provide a boost for unknown artists who need it.
“I like the people that write their own songs and are really singing about something that they care about,” Edwards said Monday prior to NASCAR Jackson Hewitt Preseason Thunder testing at Daytona International Speedway.
“I tell you somebody I met the other day who was really cool was Danielle Peck, the country music singer. She was really nice and it was really cool to hear her story and how hard she’d worked, and then to listen to her music.”
Edwards knows the power of a big break: He has advanced from obscurity to stardom in only three years with Roush Racing. And as this week’s second session of NASCAR NEXTEL Cup preseason testing begins at Daytona, he’s searching for a way back to the top of the series charts.
“There were times last year where I thought, ‘Man, what am I doing wrong here?’” said Edwards, who followed 2005’s third-place finish with last season’s frustrating 12th-place effort.
A crew-chief change from Bob Osborne to Wally Brown, then back to Osborne for 2007 seems to have settled things, allowing Edwards to pursue a comeback — plus his new role as music mogul.
“We’ve got our record label going so I’ve been listening to that stuff — all the Back 40 artists — everything, man,” Edwards said. “The last really neat CD that I got — and I got to meet the guys — was the Robert Randolph band. I thought that was a great CD, so that’s probably what I’ve listened to the most, lately.”
Edwards, who jammed onstage with the band in December’s NASCAR Busch Series Awards Banquet performance, grew up listening to his father and two uncles strum guitars at family reunions. His own tastes took a historical turn — borrowing heavily from his parents’.
“When I was about 14, I found a record player and some records that they’d stacked away in the basement,” Edwards said, “and it was like John Denver, and Simon and Garfunkel — stuff like that. So for a long time, I never listened to current music. I was probably 17 when I started driving my car and I’d listen to whatever was on the radio.”
I like Carl Edwards, as I’ve mentioned in a previous post, but I think I’m liking him more lately ever since Tony Stewart talked about how he thinks Carl is “Eddie Haskell”. I give Tony points for comparing Carl to Eddie, a name I’ve used for certain people in my personal life, but Tony kinda irks me so I still have to stick with Carl for the time being. Plus Carl is way cuter than Tony so there ya go.
In other news…
– Ashley Force announced that she’ll be racing in Funny Car this year. This is great news! I can’t wait to see her competing against the men — and her father — at Infineon later this year. In an episode of Driving Force (on A&E) they show her qualifying to get her Funny Car license. It’s one of the sweetest episodes. John Force gets so emotional when she finally hits the mark that it got me all teary-eyed (which really isn’t that hard, but still). Anyway, Go Ashley!
Ashley Force, 24, stands with her father, 14-time NHRA Funny Car champion John Force, next to the funny car she will drive this coming season in the NHRA Poweraide Series Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 16, 2007 in Yorba Linda, Calif. (AP Photo/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Will Lester)
I’m not digging her shorter hair, she definitely looks better with it longer.
– He’s baaack. Jeremy Mayfield was back in the saddle testing his new Toyota ride at Daytona this week. *sigh* I can’t wait for this race season to begin. There are a million and one storylines to be watched. Hold on tight, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
Driver Jeremy Mayfield talks with crew members during NASCAR auto racing testing at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2007. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
The layout of California Speedway is simplistic in theory but not really when it comes to actual application. Walking from the media center in the infield around to the midway section behind the grandstands is a trek indeed. When you add in the heat you’ve got a serious cardiovascular workout. I swear I lost 5 pounds on Friday just walking from my car to the pits.
After the seating debacle on Friday I was hesitant to ask if there was space upstairs in the press box during the race. ‘Cause here’s the thing, I didn’t fly to La La Land and then drive an hour and a half to watch the race on TV. So I asked and of course there was already a seating chart in place, which is totally ok, I get it, but the thing I didn’t appreciate was being treated like the complete nobody that I know that I am. I will say this, certain staffers were very nice but others were not. The thing about it was that the attitude from certain people was so unnecessary, so I have to mention it.
Once the race started I couldn’t stand the thought of sitting in the room downstairs all night, so I went up to the press box to see if I could stand in the back. Turns out the whole back row was empty. I sat there for the entire race with a great view of the start/finish line.
The race wasn’t that exciting in terms of crashes & cautions, but it was extremely fun to see Dale Earnhardt Jr. continually move up through the field every lap. Usually the top three finishers are available after the race for a press conference. This was my best and LAST hope of seeing Junior in person this weekend. On Friday before and after qualifying he bypassed the fans assembled outside the garage during qualifying. He also managed the same feat on Sunday before driver introductions. I did a couple laps around the garage and couldn’t catch a glimpse. So all my hopes were pinned on him getting into the top 3 and being in the press box after the race.
My Hopes = Dashed
They held the press conference with Clint Bowyer, who came in third, and Junior in a room I had yet to find but knew that it was in somewhere in the garage. Unfortunately for me the garage area was hot at that time and I couldn’t get in because I only had a cold pass.
The only driver that I saw in plainclothes after the race was Tony Stewart. He’d just hoped on a golf cart and was being whisked away to a helicopter or plane somewhere. Was it too much to ask for that to have been Junior? C’mon!
One of the bright spots of my trip was getting to meet tallglassofmilk, the woman behind the website/blog Answer This. I’ve mentioned her site’s plentiful details on the love lives of NASCAR drivers before, and on Sunday we got to dish in person about the latest scandals.
Overall I had a great birthday weekend at the races. There were pluses and minuses but I still love NASCAR and what it’s about. I can say that this experience renewed my spirit to do more with my blog. Stay tuned.
Oh! This has nothing to do with the race at California specifically, it’s just good stuff. Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
A couple more things to talk about regarding the race weekend at Infineon. After the race was over I stuck around to watch Jeff Gordon receive his trophy and to see if I could catch another glimpse of Dale Jr.
I saw Jr. climb out of his car but I lost track of him after that. The garage area was insanely busy with teams packing up their haulers as fast as they could. You’d think that was a race too.
After the race I went to my car which happened to parked near the larger helipad area. A somewhat small group of fans were stationed there hoping to catch drivers before they jumped on a helicopter. When I arrived Boris Said, who finished 9th overall, was hanging around signing autographs and talking to fans. He was relaxed and in an obviously good mood.
A little girl with long blonde hair, who wore a red and white Dale Jr. outfit, and seemed to be about 11, wandered over to me. She was eyeing my credentials/garage pass. Since she was obviously a Jr. fan I asked her if she’d seen him, but she didn’t hear what I said, she told me that she and her mom had been at the helipad since there was about 25 laps left in the race. She was thrilled that she managed to get a ton of drivers to sign her visor, which she explained to me had been completely empty before now it was covered in black Sharpie signatures. I asked if Jr. had been by yet (I’ve got a one-track mind) but she said that she heard that he was driving out, not flying. Phooey! Foiled again! How’d she know that anyway?? At any rate, the little girl and her mom were going to wait for Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart to show up.
The prima donna arrived shortly thereafter and proceeded to ignore all of the fans that were calling out to him for autographs. Yes folks, I’m talking about Tony Stewart. Could there be a bigger tool?? It wasn’t like there were hundreds of fans out there wanting something from him. There were only a handful of kids really wanting to get his attention. But no, Tony ignored everyone except Boris Said.
I don’t dislike Tony. I’m indifferent I guess. I never really want him to win though. He seems a bit fake, or maybe just completely full of himself. Ya know I have yet to see a woman sitting on top of his pit box or standing next to him during the national anthem. Hmm. I wonder why that is.
