Cleaning the 'in' box

Got a handful of emails flaming me on why I didn’t give kudos to the ‘top ten finish’ the 19 car had at ‘Dorothy land’ this past weekend. The answer is pretty simple. I didn’t catch the first 80% of the race on TeVee and was forced to listen to the ‘beating’ of MRN while driving back from another commitment.

I did get to watch the final segment and yes, the 19 car was fighting to maintain that top ten, and frankly it was fun to watch. Was it smoke and mirrors because much of the field was off pit sequence and stuck deep in the field? Maybe, but that is something that the ‘Southern Gentleman’ cannot control. What he could control (or seemed to) was a very hard challenge by the 8 car, and proceeded to dispose of the ‘lame duck’ driver. I am sure it was just as refreshing for the 19 team as it was for me to see the 19 car actually pass cars on the track and not in the pits by taking two tires. Maybe this finish is the spark to re-ignite this race team.


Speaking of MRN:
I read and hear all the time, Nascar fans complaining about TeVee race coverage and how ‘great’ MRN does with their radio broadcast. I guess these fans did not listen to the Kansas MRN broadcast. Missed restarts, yellows during commercial breaks and bias coverage to a handful of drivers were the theme of the day. But I guess it is only fair since I defend the TeVee broadcast much of the time, that MRN is simply doing the same thing and cannot ‘predict’ the future. TeVee has the ‘over talker’ with Rusty Wallace, and MRN has the grating voice of Steve Post. I’ll call it a draw.


Play-off baseball on TBS????
I have seen a few complaints that the race coverage after the 2nd red flag was not on Network TeVee because the race was going well over the allotted time. I understand that not everyone race fan has access to ESPN2 but what is ABC going to do? On the flip side, we see Major League Baseball have a ‘play-in’ play-off game and none of the play-off networks would pick up the game and people were forced to watch the game on TBS, and not even in HD.


Off to the Jungle:
Leaving this week for the annual trek to the fall Dega race. This is probably one of my favorite race/sporting weekends as there is nothing better than the Rving at Dega, deep in the heart of SEC country. Added bonuses this year is the debut of the C.O.T. at a plate track, and that the Red River Shootout will be broadcast on local TeVee so I should not miss a down as long as the batteries hold up on the hand held TeVee, while sitting in the Allison Grandstands on the backstretch. (Maybe the best value of a race ticket in Nascar) It is all well worth the 11 plus hour 'beating' of pulling the RV from Dallas to Dega, then back again.