Bob Uecker would be proud

Bob Uecker's famous tag line of "must be in the front row!" certainly applies to Robert Yates Racing and his very proud Mars sponsored cars.

Some might think that RYR 'is back', but I will wait at least a a dozen or so races before passing that kind of judgment. After all, this very same race team held identical starting positions in the last CUP plate race at Talladega.

Maybe instead of claiming 'they are back', a better line might be 'same song, different singer'.

I will say this, both the 38 and 88 teams seems to have some chemistry going and even a sense of 'believability' in the comments and quotes that hasn't been seen at RYR in a couple of years. Its refreshing to say the least.

on the the 'Twins' where some heavy hitters need to race their way into the big show. (hopefully before Thursday, I'll have parts 2 and 3 of my worthless pre-season predictions finished)

Predictions (part 1)

Its that time of year to throw some darts towards the Nascar board and make a few predictions for the upcoming season. Probably best to break this up into a few parts, so here goes nothing.

The 'Could go either way' teams

These are teams that have the potential for various reasons to finish in the Chase or find themselves struggling to earn enough owner points to keep them in the top 35. (not in any particular order.

1) Mark Martin -- New team for Martin and a team that has showed spots of greatness, but not the consistency that Roush gave the new driver. (Good prediction) finishes 11th in points (bad prediction) finishes 25th

2) Denny Hamlin -- Super season last year but can he duplicate that effort? (good prediction) finishes in the top 5 (bad prediction) finishes 18th

3) Elliott Sadler -- Maybe the biggest question mark going into this upcoming season. Is the focus there? Will the equipment hold up? Will he get frustrated and give up when the going gets tough? (good prediction) finishes in the top 10 (bad prediction) finishes 24th

4) Jamie MacMurray -- The first half of the season will make or break his future at Roush Racing as Jack most likely will not allow a repeat of 2006. (good prediction) 13th (bad prediction) 30th

5) David Gilliland -- Has alot to learn still, be early reports show that he finally has a team-mate willing to help him. That fact maybe the most important factor for this race team. (good prediction) 15th (bad prediction) 30th

6)Juan Pablo Montoya -- Can he drive this style of racing? probably, but it will take some time for him to take advantage of his abilities in this adjustment period. (good prediction) 14th (bad prediction) 27th

7) Dale Jarrett -- Only Toyota driver on this list. (as the others will not be given much chance at all) Jarrett has been mailing it in for a couple of seasons, will he continue to do so? (good prediction) 16th (bad prediction) 38th

8) Ricky Rudd -- History has showed that if given the equipment, he can be a top 10 driver. The question is can RYR do that? (good prediction) 7th (bad prediction) 20th

Like I said, its throwing darts, but it can't be any worse than some of the guys on ESPN or Fox! Next up: "the Pretenders'

This JAYSKI thing isn't so hard

I have often complained to friends and others about how Jayski can 'get away' with posting his 'rumors' and such, then after a day or two the 'denied' stamp is ultimately given. My point of contention is that it is not a hard task to re-post a claim from another site, be it a creditable site or source, or not. So I thought I would pull a 'Jayski' and re-post some claims, speculations, and opinions from other unconfirmed sources concerning recent Nascar events from the satirical side. (well, some really are not directly related).

Robert Yates Racing behind the learning curve with the C.O.T.?

With both his Cup drivers leaving the racing team last season, and having to hire a rookie who still has his baby teeth and later having to pull some geriatric our of his retirement, RYR fell a little behind in the development of the C.O.T. Recent testing photos at an undisclosed location show just how far behind the race team truly is. But the owner is confident that his cars will be 'running like they were on rails'. I guess he didn't get the memo.
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Date line: January 2007

'Southern Gentleman' claims he is off the market and ready to settle down even though just two months before public claims of 'I can't see myself settling down anytime soon'. 'Mystery' girl has yet to be found or captured in public, but has been seen too many times on the same street just two houses down from the twenty-six and three houses from the Nine. Ready to 'settle down' after just a couple of months? Where is Miss Tennessee or TJ when you need her? If this mystery woman truly can settle him down, the lack of focus issue claims in past blogs have been validated.

And it seems that he is not the only one catching some spring fever. Looks like one of Nascar's most 'popular' drivers has found himself a 'classy lady'. But you got to give her credit, she does understand the importance of endorsing the sponsor! Can't help to wonder just which hand rocks this cradle. The steering wheel hand, or the shifting hand?
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More personalities than SYBIL

Looks like 'Da Driver' of the Tartan Twenty Minus One is falling victim to multiple personalities based on her recent spin concerning her absence on SFC. Claims and justifications cover the whole spectrum as the Kool-aid flows. She is bouncing from side to side more than a PONG game with her recent digs pointed at the "Southern Gentleman/theSpotter/theGoatfish, one might think she has succumbed to the dark side of the force. There just has to be more to this story.
But maybe this newly re-released DVD might be more appropriate, for the now Modless world. The latest events rival the "Porn Queen" and the world she created/creates. The common theme for both is taking their toys and running off to a new land.

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Imitating the Cup Champion?

Seems Cup drivers all over Nascar are attempting to duplicate the magic seen last season by the reigning Cup Champion. While one might think that the golf cart etiquette seen recently by the Cup Champion would be a smart thing to emulate, it is a common theme among drivers who desperately are searching for some success.
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CHCHCHanges!

Yuku proves to be greater challenge for amateur webmaster. Paying customers refused access, while new customers and long time customers have no where to turn but to counterfeit message boards.

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How soon some forget

It was just a few short months ago that fans of a 'retired' driver were begging for him to take a ride, any ride. If that meant driving for some spare team 'part time' that was going to be fine with them. Now in just a few short months, these same driver's fans have gone from that, to now wanting to dictate the car's paint scheme, to asking that the number font be changed because it 'looked to much' like that old sponsor's and owner's font. The icing on the cake seems that the homophobic nature of these fans are upset and involved in a letter writing campaign to that very same sponsor that bailed this race team out because of a Super Bowl commercial! Taking things a little personal on the Ricky Rudd Fan Club Forum these days? Its just a commercial, have a little thicker skin. But I guess we should all get used to it, as we are just weeks away from the commencing of calls for FatBack to Crew the 88.

See, this Jayski thing isn't so hard! First Jayski, now Blogski!!!!!



The information gathered on this specific blog entry has been compiled from a variety of sources. The majority of sources used have given permission to post the information in whole or part. Unless requested otherwise. A 'story' without a source listed is usually a garage/inside/anonymous source. As stories progress or change, they are noted the change with an UPDATE to help the reader follow the history of the rumor/news. Any rebuttal of stories from this specific blog will be gladly and promptly posted if said rebuttal is submitted to the blogger's email address.

RUMOR:
unofficial report, gossip;
sync: chatter, fabrication, hearsay, news, scandal

So Its Super Bowl Week

Like it or not, it is that time of year again. Here are a few worthless Super Bowl thoughts and questions.

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Who says the NFL is an 'American Sport'?
In this day of age where many feel that the U.S. should be an 'English only' communication country, isn't it odd that the Super Bowl uses Roman Numerals to identify their games? Maybe the 'Super Bowl' of Nascar should take the NFL's lead, and change the name of their crown jewel race to the 'Daytona D'.
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Good ole days syndrome?
The other night I caught on the NFL Network a replay of the original broadcast of Super Bowl XIII (that's Super Bowl 13 for us 'Americans)and I couldn't believe some of the things I heard from the broadcast team. To this day, I still hear just 'how much better the old broadcasts were' (sound familiar?) and why the game was my 'pure' back then. Now Super Bowl 13 was in 1978 and broadcast by NBC with Curt Gowdy handling play-by-play and color commentators Merlin Olsen and John Brodie. Dick Enberg served as the host and also helping out for NBC's coverage were Bryant Gumbel and Mike Adamle.

This was Gowdy's seventh and final Super Bowl telecast and for good reason. Some of his comments about the game were so off the wall, it made Jimmy Spencer sound half way intelligent. But the kicker came from Merlin Olsen when midway in the first quarter Dallas intercepted a Pittsburgh pass deep in the Cowboys territory thwarting a Steeler touchdown. Olsen interjected with this gem. "Had the Steelers scored a TD that would have crushed the Cowboys, and put this game out of reach." 'Out of reach' is 14-0 in the first quarter? I guess it was back then!!!!
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May is well throw darts
Like the validity of pre-season testing speeds and how they don't seem to translate to success during the Nascar season. I don't think I saw anyone picking the Bears to make the Super Bowl. In fact, very few even felt that the Bears would make the play-offs.
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Yes, it is a circus
Yesterday was 'media day' at the Super bowl and the next time your hear someone complain about the 'circus' that is perceived to be a Nascar pre-race show, remind them of this. Two failed try-outs for the latest American Idol contest were present at media day with full press credentials. Yes, I am speaking of the pair the 'became Friends' in line, and that Simon basically called one of them a 'jungle monkey' and the other over weight kid who didn't seem to be the sharpest tool in the shed. Why they were there is beyond me, but the fact that they were tells all about the buildup of this game, and the sideshows that now go with it.

Dale, the Movie?

We have heard the reports and rumours that there would be an 'official' movie made about the life and death of Dale Earnhardt. This past weekend I stumbled across this website promoting this movie. A pretty generic site, but you can see the movie trailer there. My first knee jerk reaction after visiting the site and watching the trailer was, 'are Nascar fans really ready for another movie about the driver of the 3'? After the ESPN's attempt at the Television Movie, "3: The Dale Earnhardt Story" and the criticism from the Nascar purists that followed, sometimes the expectations can grow into something much bigger than the reality or entertainment value of the production.

I guess I was in the 'short line', when it came to the ESPN production and depiction of Dale Sr's life. First off, I realized that it was not a 'true to life' drama or was going to be a 100% truthful biography. Second, I also understood the difficulty for film makers to re-create racing scenes realistic enough to be believable. Third, after all, it is Hollywood. But there were many of the Nascar faithful that for some reason felt this made for TeVee movie was going to be different, and after seeing it, they voiced their displeasure.

Time and time again the flaws in this movie were brought to our attention in some attempt to downplay the entertainment value or story line of this film. What they failed to realize that if this same scrutiny was given to 99% of the 'based on a true story films, their result would be similar.

One very vocal critic that I remember correctly pointed out many inaccuracies ofthe film, however made the mistake of claiming that the film should have been made with the diligence that was achieved in the movie 'Patton'. Now that gave me a chuckle especially considering that 'Patton' was a full length feature film, and '3' was an ESPN made for TeVee movie. (and ESPN's 'docudramas' were not known for the historical accuracy) I always thought it would be interesting to compare some of the criticisms of '3' to similar problems with other 'based on a true story' films, so lets compare a few.

Factual errors in both films:

Time Continuity:
"3": There was a shot of the RV park during a race identified as 1990. There was an orange Tony Stewart flag in that shot. Tony Stewart didn't start driving the #20 Home Depot Car in Winston Cup until 1999.

"Patton": Germany is already divided to East and West Germany in the map of Europe seen in the U.S. headquarters, and all other national borders are post WWII.

"3": Sunoco Gasoline is shown on the fuel tankers in the movie, but Union 76 fuel was used in the era. (Sunoco did not sign with NASCAR until the start of the 2004 season.)

"Patton": Patton is shown having read a book, "The Tank in Battle", by his adversary, Erwin Rommel. Rommel never wrote any book dealing with tanks or armored warfare.

Glaring Factual Errors:
"3": The death of Dale's father Ralph Earnhardt happened in the kitchen and he was found by his wife. In the film he died in the garage and was found by Dale.

"Patton": Early in the movie (after the Battle for the Kasserine Pass), it is mentioned that U.S. tanks used gasoline, the Germans used diesel. In fact all of Germany's World War II tanks used gasoline (petrol) except for some prototypes.

"3": At the end of the movie, where Dale Earnheardt is shown at his last race at Daytona, Bobby Labonte is shown driving a Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Labonte was, in fact, driving a Pontiac Grand Prix in that race, and did not drive the Monte Carlo until after Earnheardt's death. also in Earnhardt's first Daytona 500 start, the movie shows him driving a Chevrolet Monte Carlo. However, he actually drove a Buick.

"Patton": The 1948 Packard car in front of U.S. headquarters, and the tanks used in the major battle scene in North Africa are post-war tanks. On the German side the M48 tank (1953) was used and on the American side the M47 (1952).

"3": The February 23, 1986 incident at Richmond International Raceway was inaccurately depicted, where Earnhardt spun out Darrell Waltrip with three laps to go. In the film, Earnhardt's now-famous line "I didn't mean to wreck him, I just wanted to rattle his cage a little." was part of the post-race interview. That line, however, was not said at that time. Instead it was said at Bristol on August 29, 1999 after Earnhardt spun out Terry Labonte on the final lap to win the race.

"Patton": The prayer for good weather was actually put on the back of a small Christmas card that was printed for the troops on December 11th, five days before the Battle of the Bulge began and not a direct order from the General to a Chaplin. Also the actual prayer contained the words "these immoderate rains" while the movie version said "this immoderate weather."

Both these films were very good from an entertainment standpoint, although it appears that neither were historically very accurate, and it best a 'loose adaptation' of real life events or people. We can see a plethora of other films that fall unto this genre as well. Films like 'Rudy, 'Hoosiers', 'Friday Night Lights', 'Remember are the Titans', and even 'Miracle' (the story of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team) all have many glaring historical inaccuracies, however the general public is led to believe that these films are 'true stories'.

From the trailer, this new film seems to be going in the direction of a 'docudrama', using contemporaneous audio and video accompanied by recent interviews and statements from others who had first person interaction with Dale Sr to tell it's story. Maybe a better name for the film might have been, 'Dale, the Docudrama'.

Its Okay to Change Your Mind

Reading the "Southern Gentleman's" quotes from the LMS media tour yesterday I could see that it was more of the same 'pre-season driver speak' as seen in the past 7 seasons. However, towards the end, there was a new twist offered, that we as fans have not seen before. A 'new domesticated Elliott'? Here read the quote for yourself.

"I'm pretty close to becoming domesticated. It's something that hits you like a ton of bricks and it's definitely hit me. I've definitely found someone I want to settle down with and raise a family. I think that has a lot to do with the attitude I have right now. She's shown me the brighter side of life and what life's all about. It's gonna happen pretty quick. I'm definitely off the market."

Now I know for a fact that the Southern Gentleman's support staff and posse read this blog on an almost daily basis, let alone many of his Plaid clad groupies and I have previously made the claim that these blogs actually do some good in terms of making one have a much needed reality check. So if the Southern Gentleman truly is honest (yes, we know that can be a stretch) with his fans about this new revelation, it falls right in line with many of my complaints about his off track life style I sited this past season. Him having a reality check like this can only be a good thing and I applaud him for admitting it.

But first there might be some house cleaning to do.

1) Since the Southern gentleman mentioned specifically about 'raising a family', it might be a good time to edit the Official My-Space site's quote listed under CHILDREN as, "I don't want kids" (after all, we have seen a few edits of this nature with the "don't drink" to an omission)

2) If such a personal comment is acceptable for the official fan club website front page, I am thinking that allowing such a quote on the official message board would not be expunged in less than a few minutes. (just who is driving that bus anyway?) Nice consistency there. But this is not the first time the Southern Gentleman has claimed to be 'off the market' and even announce an engagement, so I guess attempting to squelch any pod people talk of this is prudent until we actually see a see a prenuptial signed by both parties.

3) Clear those temporary Internet files before allowing the mystery woman access to your laptop, and while you are at it, get a new cell phone, and may as well get a new number in order to avoid those late night calls from the 'locals'.

So maybe this is a new chapter in the volatile and controversial career of the Southern Gentleman and his posse. If he truly does want to change many of the things he is claiming, then one can only support his efforts as it can only be a positive influence on the track. The distractions noted in this blog alone from the past could account for at least 5 or 6 positions in the drivers standings. But history has shown that this type of pre-season driver speak is common for the Southern Gentleman, and along with that history, a failure to follow through with much of that speak. This could simply be just another train wreck in the making. I hope history does not repeat itself in this case, as it seems that a 'happy' driver, translates to better performance on the track.

side bar:
I think from now on I'll add a satirical 'motivational' poster to end many blogs, depending on the topic for a giggle. So I present motivational poster #1.

Not so Deep Thoughts

Is there another Speedway that has put more effort into improving their product over the years than the Texas Motor Speedway? Last fall there were a few backhanded comments from a couple of a drivers complaining of a 'dip' in turns 1 and 2 of the Speedway. Although surveys showed that the 'dip' was no more significant than that could be seen at other tracks, TMS this off season decided to go ahead and fix the area where the dirt underneath the asphalt had settled over the infield tunnel. It has been 6 years since the track was completely repaved and while that was considered, the Speedway didn't want to jeopardise the 2nd and 3rd grooves that have been seen the past couple of seasons. Another nice move by the Texas Motor Speedway.
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The 'big stage' moving to Las Vegas? For the fan, it really doesn't matter where the end of the season banquet is held, but maybe having it in 'Sin City' it might prompt a few drivers to exit the woods and attend this event to honor the top ten finishers. The added plus, might be the easy access to the strip clubs available in the area!
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Reading where the North Wilksboro Speedway is to finally be sold to a group of developers and put this track out of it's misery. Ultimately the blame will wrongfully be handed to Bruton Smith but one should look a bit deeper before such a reaction. First, Smith only owns 50% of the shares of the track (Bob Bahre owns the other 50% and also owns the New Hampshere Speedway). Smith did attempt to purchase 100% of the financially troubled track after the death of then owner Enoch Staley in 1995, However the other majority partners turned down Smith's offer. The Smith/Bahre equal split offer was agreed for a reported 14 million dollars, well over the value of the track, considering the renovations needed to make the track 'race day ready' for that time period. While 'racing' may have been great at North Wilks, without the proper financial backing for needed improvements, the track was doomed. But maybe more importantly it sent a wake up call to other 'old' tracks like Martinsville and even Darlington to upgrade their facilities or risk the same fate is North Wilks.
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What to do with North Wilks?
Maybe this should have been done a couple of years ago but I wonder what the reaction would be if Smith/Bahre would authorize ripping up the cracked, grass covered asphalt and replace it with dirt. Renovate the needed stands and plumbing and host an ARCA or maybe a CTS race 'on the dirt'. See if this would catch on then petition Nascar for other series race dates. I still think a CUP race on a 3/4 mile or mile mid banked dirt track might get top 5 to top 10 TeVee rating.

Chase Changes? You Betcha!

A couple of days ago Nascar announced that there will be some tweaks in the Chase for the Championship. I wanted to take a couple of days to really soak these changes in, and not knee-jerk with a reaction.

Over-all, I would grade these changes as an A-, as once again it appears that Nascar actually is listening to the 'complaints' about the format and at the very least, attempting to make the product better.

Qualifying for the Chase still has the underlying theme of rewarding consistency, but adding 5 extra points for a regular season win, then adding 'bonus points' for Chase qualifiers with previous season wins, can only benefit the drama we have come to know as 'the Chase'.

For the fans that want to see the 'old ways' return, I would say this. I don't ever want to see a final 1/3 of the season that we saw in the 2003 Cup or even this past 2006 Busch season. Talk about a couple of snoozer last dozen or so races!

The only issue that I might have was the elimination of the fail safe 400 point rule and the additional two teams. This exception, while improbable, was the safety valve just in case if a season was top heavy with 15 or so teams very close in the points and insuring that a deserving team would be left out. Going to 12 teams does dilute the Chase, but I guess it could be worse.

Tweaking the format can only be a good thing in the big picture perspective. If not for a bit of change from year to year, Nascar might still be racing on the Beach Course!

Its like Deja Vu all over again

Sometimes you read or hear quotes from drivers and you just have to laugh at what they are saying or attempting to say. It is probably a safe bet that most drivers are guilty of what I call 'generic cliche driver speak', where in two or three sentence quotes, there is mention of the 'hard working team, the sponsor, how great the car was', yada yada yada.

But it is becoming more and more clear that some drivers can get so caught up in their generic driver speak, that they can't keep their stories straight. A few months ago I pointed out the plethora of discrepancies in the "Southern Gentleman's" public quotes concerning him leaving RYR in favor of Evernham Motorsports.

Many of the Sadler apologist or defenders claimed that these discrepancies were needed in order to protect the 'plan' of action. Make all the excuses you like, but the bottom line is that the "Southern Gentleman" has so many different story lines in his driver's speak, that he sometimes confuses them from year to year.

The latest such faux pas came from his one of his Pre-season Thunder quotes from Daytona this past week.

"Sadler said he weighed 211 pounds in 1999 and had not been below that until now. Sadler weighs 210 pounds. He says he's lost 10 pounds since last year's season finale at Homestead and wants to lose another 10 pounds before this season begins."

Translation: 210 pounds is the lightest Sadler has weighed since 1999 and at the end of last season he weighed around 220 pounds.

Now flashback just one year ago to quotes from Pre-season Thunder of 2006.

"My new crew chief made a deal with me that he wanted me at 200 pounds when I came here for the Daytona 500," he said, "and I was 212 pounds when I left Homestead -- and I've already lost 11 pounds."

Translation: at the beginning of the '06 season, Sadler weighed 201 pounds.

It is like Deja Vu all over again! Other than the obvious problem of recycled stories from year to year, some one needs to remind the "Southern Gentleman" of simple math or how to read a bathroom scale. Just how gullible and forgetful does he think Nascar fans are? Or has he fallen into the trap of 'just tell them what they want to hear', instead of the truth.

One can go back 10 to 20 years and see the driver's speak in full force, but I guess some are just better at keeping their stories straight than others.

Is it predicting if it has already happened?

Last weekend the 'Great Ice Storm' of 2007 was supposedly going to hit the DFW area and even though that never really developed, I did spend most of the weekend at home, 'waiting it out'.

Through the greatness of Tivo, I was able to re-watch a dozen or so 'key' episodes of LOST in search of any additional clues. While I didn't notice much new that I had not seen when I original saw any of these episodes it was a good way to refresh the brain and get it ready for the return of Season 3 LOST that is set for a couple of weeks.

I also hit a couple of selective LOST forums that will post some 'spoilers', but not ones that could give the future plot or story line away. From one such thread I read this:

"There will be a big reminder this season that on the island, it’s still November of 2004 and only three months have passed, which will help lead to “a major shakeup coming soon.”

We were reminded that the time period was indeed late 2004 when Desmond looked at the 'printouts' that Locke had found at the Pearl Station and brought back to the Swan Hatch. These printouts logged the pressing of the button in the Swan Hatch. In the Season 2 finale, Desmond saw the date of the 'system failure' on Sept 22nd, 2004 for not pressing the button causing Flight 815 to crash . We were reminded again, that it was still roughly that same time period when Ben speaks to Jack about various current events since the plane crash, such as the re-election of George W. Bush to the American presidency, the sudden death of Christopher Reeve and that the Boston Red Sox had won the 2004 World Series.

By the end of Season 3, episode 6 ('I Do') we know (for those who have been counting) that 73 days has passed since the plane crashed on Sept 22nd 2004, making the date and time at the end of episode 6 sometime in the afternoon on Nov 24th 2004. We also know that about 5 days before, the 'others' talk about something significant happening in 'two weeks' (roughly the first few days in Dec.). That event may or may not be related to the 'earth shaking' news though, but it does help us 'track time' on the show.

We know that at the end of Season one, 44 days had passed, at the end of season two 67 days and roughly 6 days have passed so far in Season 3. Who do not really know how many more days might be covered in the remaining episodes of Season 3, but lets just assume that each season will cover around 35 days on average and that Season 3 will end sometime around Jan 1st 2005.

Just what could be the 'real life' event that would remind us of the late 2004 time period?

My first 'knee-jerk' thought that came to mind was the well documented Tsunami that occurred on Dec 26th 2004. That would be most definitely be a 'major shake up'. But there is one huge flaw in that line of thinking. The Dec 26th Tsunami effect the Indian Ocean, not the Pacific Ocean where the survivors are located.

Here are a few other possibilities?

December 1st, 2004
An Indonesian MD-82 from the charter airline Lion Air crashes in Central Java, killing at least 31 people and injuring at least 62 people. (however, Central Java is not a location anywhere near we have been led to believe the plane crashed.)

December 15th, 2004
A US$85 million test of the U.S. National Missile Defense system by the Missile Defense Agency is aborted when an unknown anomaly is detected before the launch of an interceptor missile in the Marshall Islands, 16 minutes after the launch of the target from Kodiak Island, Alaska. It is the first test since a previous failed test in 2002. As in 2002, the Bush administration abandons plans to activate the system by the end of the year, and projects its activation in early 2005.

December 23th, 2004
An earthquake of moment magnitude 8.1 occurs at 14:59 UTC, 305 miles north of Macquarie Island.

I'm going with the 'aborted' missile theory. Wouldn't that be an interesting and unexpected twist?


Okay, enough of that distraction, racing is just a few weeks away!