Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Random Thoughts from the Desert!

Another Nascar weekend in the books. This was was long for me too, but not for duration! On Thursday, I was feeling a little under the weather and was sent home from the shop at about 11 AM. Well after a visit to the Dr. I was advised that I had a viral strep infection, that was also affecting my upper chest and ears. Needless to say, my fantasy and trifecta pics where not made, due to spending the whole of Friday, curled up in bed. You know us men, such big babies when we are sick.
Anyway, I am feeling much better now, and I did atleast get to watch the Cup race Sunday.

So now on to my Random Thoughts from the desert.

I heard some guy named Busch won the truck race! Wish I could have seen it. I was so out of it, I forgot to set the DVR. Duuhhhh! Whats the point in all this technology if my big dumb a$$ forgets to turn it on! LOL.

I also heard some guy named Busch won the NNS race! This one I actually DVR'd, I watched the first 50 or so laps late Sat. night. Caught the rest in the AM on Sun.
What a dominating performance by the 18. From the driver to the crew and everyone in between. In this day of back markers and wanna-be championship contenders sometimes staying out to lead a lap, either for points or TV time, to go wire to wire is a tremendous feat!
It looked to be close in the final laps. Carl gave a gallant and clean effort to catch and pass Kyle, but to no avail. Kudos to both!

Now, everyone who has ever read one of my blogs, knows I don't like the Hendricks guys! In fact, 2 of my favorite guys, are ex-HMS. That being said, my stance on Jeff Gordon has mellowed some. When he was battling Rusty Wallace, and winning all those titles, I really hated the guy. In the last couple of years I had given Jeff some slack. Having a daughter myself, and seeing him in pre-race with his kids. Plus, hearing some of his stories in interviews, really made him more of a likeable guy to me.
All that went out the window Sunday! :) As a 18 fan, I was really looking forward to the sweep. But to top it off, I had Kyle in the one fantasy league I am in that can win me actual cash. As the 4th place starter, a Busch win would have given me a 100 bucks. So now Gordon, is back on my S^%t list!
Is this the awakening of the Kyle Busch personality that will compete for a Championship! A new "kinder, gentler" KB that we haven't seen before? I thought for sure we would see some fireworks after the little bump and run move Jeff put on Kyle. Yet lo and behold in his post-race interview, he was the 3 C's of second place. Calm, Contrite and Congratulatory! No mention of the little bump,no problem from me either, but you know if was the other way around a huge deal would have been made of it. He simply said Jeff had a faster car at the end and that was it. Plus he really owned up and was apologetic to Carl for the early incident that ruined the 99's day. I think they will be ok, it really was a racing deal, and not something Kyle did on purpose to wreck Carl.
On the other hand, if I was the 17 I might be a little nervous around the 83 for a few races. It seemed to me that Matt ran Brian up the track, and then cut his left rear sending him around in front of the field. Not saying Matt did it on purpose, I just thought he could have left him a little room that early in the race. Look for payback for this one down the line.
All in all, it was a decent race. I am so glad the season is underway. One question though, you think Jr will be the Pizza Hut fan favorite for every race on FOX? We are going to Vegas, and odds are good on that one!

That's Just my opinion, I could be wrong. But probably not!

Monday, February 21, 2011

Random Thought's From Daytona!

WOW! What a great long weekend this turned out to be! I call it a long weekend, because for me the season started on Thursday with the Duels. These are just my random thoughts on the last four days of racing.

*The Duels- The first taste of real racing. No real surprises here. The two car tandems ruled, and with only 23-24 cars, I really didn't think this was a true barometer of how Sunday's race would be. Turns out I was wrong. For me it foreshadowed the actual outcome of the race. If a car like Brian Keselowski could finish it the top 5 of a Duel race, it meant that almost anyone could win the 500, with the right help at the right time.

*The Truck race- This was the closest to old fashion plate racing that we would see all weekend. Yet still, the two truck tandem even showed up a little here. In the few laps before the big wreck, Kyle Busch finally showed them that the outside line could compete with the low line. The trucks once again proved unstable 3 wide, and of course the big one followed. It did provide an interesting storyline though. With Mikey Waltrip telling the booth he was going to let the outside truck in front of him, then pass him out of turn 4. Good Ol' DW told him he didn't think it was a good idea. Turns out younger brother was right! Turning his prediction into a reality and putting himself in victory lane, for the weekend's sentimental win.

*NNS race- Did I ever mention my loathing for all things Bodine! Back in the day, when there were 3 racing Bodine's, it always seemed their name came up. Well this Speedweeks brought flashbacks for me. Especially the NNS, where Bodine looked out of his element, and caused at least 2 cautions. I felt bad for Elliot Sadler. He got caught up in the big melee. I looked for him to be a contender, but I still think he is the one to beat for the championship.
So Danica let a lap! Big freakin deal. She looked like she still needs some work. It was fine when she was being pushed, but she never looked like she could really push, or trail brake back to a pusher. My opinion for her is either go all in, or go home. This 12 races a year does a dis-service to her, her teams, and fans.
Great finish with Smoke coming from 9th after a flat. Loved his quote in Victory lane. He was asked how he knew he won, since the margin was like .007 seconds. He said " I have been doing this for 20 years, you just know" Never been a Smoke fan, but he can wheel a car!

Cup race- What can I say that has been said already. Not much. Congrats to Trevor and the Wood Bros.

Now on to the rest of the season. The hype is over, and the grind starts this weekend. Hopefully I have some better thought sooner next week. LOL

Thats just my opinion, I could be wrong, but probably not!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Random Thought's on the New Changes!

As we all know, last night Nascar announced a few new rule changes for the upcoming season. Will these changes play a major part in this years Champion? Only time will tell, but in my humble opinion they will play at least some role. I think it will make for an exciting year, and I can hardly wait for the wheel to roll in Daytona.

So, lets run down the new changes, and more importantly, How I feel they will effect the new season.

1. Pick-A-Series: This has no impact really on the Cup side. It could have definite impact on the NWS though. At most NW races without a companion Cup race, the big draw is the Cup stars who are running the race. I don't think this change poses a problem this year, Carl Edwards has said he is still planning on running all the races, Mark Martin has signed on to run 5-6 races. I am sure Kyle and Brad will still run quite a few, add in Danica and Travis Pastrana later and I think NW should be ok but only time will tell.

2. Qualifying: Let's be honest. Until they start awarding points for poles, does anyone really care about qualifying other than Daytona. I watch it, if I can, but only because I watch anything with 4 wheels if I have time. Since the advent of the Top 35, the only drama is for the Go or Go Home cars. Although it could make the beginning of some races more exciting, since faster cars go out later, they may be further back in the field.

3.Closed Fuel Delivery System: We will either start seeing 14 sec. stops, or alot of guys running out of fuel faster. Due to running the E-15, Nascar has gone to this closed loop fuel can. Otherwise the ethanol in the fuel, could evaporate, changing the mixture. The new can is heavier, fuels slower, and eliminates the need for a catch can man. Which sucks for me, that was about the only pit crew job I could have ever held. Really though, the catch can guy also made adjustments to the car, which now means that someone else will have to do it, adding to their jobs. Look for the pit stops to be a little erratic the first few races, then I am sure the Pros on pit road will be ok.

4. New nose for the cars: I will have to wait for Vegas and Cali. to see what this really means, Daytona and Phoenix aren't really aero dependent, so I will hold off on this one.

5. Chase Changes: I don't really mind these changes. I always though it was a farce to have a guy with 3 wins or more, not in the Chase. I realize that Nascar points are designed to reward consistency, but I want to see people racing for wins, not top 5's or top 10's.
I hate to agree with Bruton Smith, but I think the overall champion should be cash based. Instead of points, lets use prize money. Not the contingency stuff, just the straight dollars awarded to position. Make sure the winner gets alot more than second, and at the end of the year, see who has the most greenbacks. That would make for some exciting racing, just look and the Shoot-out and All-Star races.

6. Point System: I am all for simpler. See the above for my new system. I will reserve judgement on this till I see how it plays out a little more.

I don't see anything to out of whack. I am still excited to get the racing underway. I wish I could fast forward. I am ready to get the cars out on the track today.

That's just my opinion. I could be wrong, but probably not.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Back Just in Time!

Hey Lugnutters!! After a hectic year and a half, that included 3 job changes, I think I am finally going to have time to return to the wonderful world of Nascar blogging. I have settled in at my new job as parts manager for a large collision center, so I now have atleast a couple of hours at day at work ;) to check out the blogs and write and comment.

I have been lurking a little and am glad that most of the bunch still remains. You guys will have to catch me up on the comings and goings.

It looks like the upcoming season might be a really good one. With the slight car change, and the possibility of rules and points changes, I am sure we will all have something to talk about.

I have really missed the blogging and all of you guys and gals. Looking forward to a great year of racing. Maybe I can win the lottery and even get to come to Sonoma this year. LOL!

Rob aka storkjrc

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Lack of recent Posts

To all my Nascar blogging friends. I have been able to post or comment lately. I am training a guy to replace me, and I start a new job Monday. Hopefully, I will have time to return to blogging soon. In the mean time I have still been reading, so you guys keep up the good work.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Random Thought from the Off Weekend!

The weekend off for Nascars major series turned the spotlight on the NNS cars this weekend, with a rain soaked qualiying and some rain tires runs during the race.

As many have noticed, much of the Nationwide boys have a hard time on road courses when its dry. Throwing rain at them is like throwing gas on a fire. Nothing but more trouble.

* Poor Steven Wallace, he got spun more than a dradle during Hannukah. To his defense out of his 8 (low estimate) incidents, I would give him fault in maybe 3 of them. The 86 seemed to have it out for the RWI cars. Hitting the 66 twice and the 62 once.

* I like Justin Allgier, I think he will become a fine Cup driver. Unfortunatly on Sunday, he got bit by the infamous rear wheel hop. Producing one of the more spectacular wrecks, and that was pre-rain. He locked them up coming into a hard right hander, tried to spin to avoid other cars and caught the grass, propelling him across the track, killing Ron Fellows #5 and damaging Busch rt qtr. He definetly manned up, taking full blame and apologizing to all drivers involved.

*Speaking of Allgier. Bucky Brad officially announced the move to Penske. It also includes running a full Nationwide schedule. I twittered Penske to see how this will affect Justin. News from another twitterer stated that Penske will run 2 full NNS teams next year. I am glad that Justin will continue to gain experience and look forward to him coming to Cup.

* I commented on another Blog, about Carl Edwards victory on Sunday. I think Carl should be careful next time he is around Kyle or Marcos on the next road course or short track. Carl's dive into turns 1 and 2 Sunday, were ill timed in my opinion. In trying to stay inside of the Canadien, Ranger in the 11, Carl started the last lap fracas that resulted in less than stellar results for some. Although he ran Marcos clean on the last lap, and lucked into a win. I saw some earlier attempts of his to pass Marcos that included using the front bumper. I am not saying he did anything wrong, just that some other drivers might not be to happy with him. We all know drivers have memories like elephants.

*Rain, Rain go away. Thats the usual mantra for us race fans. I think its high time that Nascars best and brightest (Cup)race in the rain on road courses. I understand that it not feasible on an oval. Despite what Helton said during Sundays broadcast, I believe that the Cup stars not only could, but should run rain tires. I think most would relish the challenge that it would be.

**** Wanted**** Racing Fans with a few billion dollars. Why, you ask?? I think we need to buy the Speed channel back from Fox, and show whats meant to be shown. RACING. Racing , and more Racing. I will also let Wind Tunnel and Passtime stay. Remove Pinks and replace it with weekly races from Dragstrips around the country. There are too many series that race fans don't get any coverage of. Things I am sure many of us would watch. Example, this weekend Travis Pastrana won his 4th US Rally title. Yet I have never seen any TV coverage of a US rally event. Would I watch? Hell yeah. Plus we could bring other forms back to TV. Remember Thursday Thunder on ESPN. With World of Outlaws, Sprint and Midget racing. I used to love that stuff. Now we barely get highlights. Plus there are great series in other countries. Like the British Touring car series, Formula 3000, and Tez's fav. the V8 Supercar series. If any channel saw fit to broadcast these, I would be burning my DVR up.

* Attention Richard Childress Racing. It will do more harm than good to force Harvick to stay if he wants to leave. In fact, it could delay any progress being made next year. If he wants to leave. Let HIM!! It will be best for all parties involved.

* Kyle Busch article of the week. Attention all fans who were upset when Kyle busted the guitar in Nashville. Please read this article. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090901/NEWS04/909010338/1009/NEWS02/Guitar%20smasher%20gives%20gift%20of%20music%20to%20schools

I know this will never make any Nascar shows, because we the fans should never see Kyle Busch as a human being, who gives freely to charities. No he is the Nascar devil and should be hated by all , for the sake of ratings.

I used to hate on KB, when he drove for HMS. If I can change you can too people. Everybody on the 18 bandwagon. Me and Gene will save you some room!



There I feel much better, now thats I got all that out. I like my new weekly brain cleansing rant.
Remember Race fans, this is only my opinion, I could be wrong. Probably NOT, but I could be.

See you in Atlanta. Not literally, you know what I mean.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Random Thoughts from Bristol!

I had planned on a Bristol incident report, to coincide with my Conspiracy blog. Well, as you fellow parents know, plans usually go right out the window when you have the kids around. I found it hard to take notes with the baby trying to crawl into the kitchen every 5 seconds.

Anyway, there wasn't much conspiring going on anyway. Except for some HMS lead swapping for points. The only real "incident" appeared to be "unHappy" Harvick getting into his teammate. I don't think that was anything more than a racing deal. Even unHappy wouldn't turn a teammate. Would he?

On with the ranting....

*Could we get any more Hypocrisy in the media. Kyle gets taken out by a rookie. Goes into the hauler, calms down and comes out sounding contrite and saying the rookie will learn, spotter this, etc. that. No venom, no name calling or anything. Yet noone mentioned anything about it other than the wreck during the Sat. broadcast. Had Kyle, cursed, called Austin stupid, or the spotter a jackass, the whole pre-race would have been filled with Kyle bashing. Yet when he does the right thing we don't hear about it till Mon. or Tues.

* Plus, how about some Bowyer bashing. He walked rather fast and angry by the media after crashing. Why is it that nobody is calling him a crybaby, whiner , spoiled brat?

* The same fans who are all barking that Mark Martin should have wrecked the 18, are the same fans that would have crucified the 18 had the the two been reversed and Kyle spun Mark.
Kyle has never had ontrack issues with Martin, and Mark is the Patron driver of the "Golden Rule"

^~~~~~ Michigan NNS flashback~~~~~
ATTN Brian Vickers- Did you noticed how Kyle ran his same line to hold off Martin, didn't crowd him down and let the 3rd place car win the race?? Thats what Kyle meant by racing stupid. Had he tried to take Mark's lane and drove defensivly (sp) He likely would have wrecked them both allowing the 3rd place car to advance. Sound Familiar??

*My prediction for the Chase- Busch and Vickers get in, Kenseth and Newman don't.

* I know I am on a Busch rant this week, but ... Whats up with all the people booing him, then grabbing for the Checkers as he tries to give the flag to the one girl in the whole place (fanwise) that was happy he won. They all hate him, but sure wanted the flag. I really hope that the little girl got the flag.

Thats all this week, hopefully the kids are calmer in two weeks for the Atlanta race.