Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie

Jeff Gordon - just a bit inside.

Yesterday was a holiday.  I am a Detroit Tiger fan. Yesterday was the home opener, which I have been attending regularly since I was old enough to drive.   Before I get the bandwagon comments, anybody who knows me knows that I was dumb enough to admit my fandom during all the miserable years that preceded last year's miracle in Motown.

Baseball is a relaxation exercise for me - big-time stress reducer too.  The pace of the game is slow enough that you can leisurely explore other ideas, and even daydream a bit, without missing the action. NASCAR races are like that for me.  At home, I rarely sit down and watch a race from start to finish. The race broadcast itself is usually background noise, to some extent, for the other things that need to be addressed on a Sunday afternoon. Hell, most of the action takes place during the commercials anyway, right?  I hadn't realized this similarity, for me, until yesterday during one of my wandering mind periods, in about the fifth inning. 

Our friend Matt Crossman has a baseball related lean in his blog about Martinsville and the bumping that goes, and went, on....

Here's what I think: There's nothing wrong with the way Gordon nudged Johnson in an attempt to get him out of the way. It's no different than throwing a pitch inside to move a hitter off the plate. The fear of getting hit makes a batter back off; the fear of getting wrecked makes a slower driver get out of the way. If the batter won't move without some encouragement, a pitch inside is fine. Same goes for a driver who delivers a bump.

Obviously, intentionally hitting a guy in the face is wrong (though plunking him in the ribs in certain situations would be OK), as is intentionally wrecking a guy, and pitchers and drivers have to deal with what happens if they intend to intimidate and instead end up wrecking the other guy. more...

Matt is a pretty regular guest ON PIT ROW and he is also a Tiger fan. I don't know if he made the game yesterday, but if he did, he probably noticed this.  There were forty three thousand plus people at the game - and probably another twenty thousand or so who tailgated and skipped the game - and I didn't see one item of NASCAR clothing. Zero. Everyone, it seemed , had on Tiger stuff. Next time you go out, anywhere, see how long it takes to spot the NASCAR gear.

Opening day in Detroit is pretty special. I'll bet that in the years after the 100 loss seasons, there were more #3 Earnhart hats than there were #3 Trammel (or this year Sheffield) hats in attendance.

NASCARs CoW--I'm sold

After all the complaining, discussion and consternation about the Car of Whenever--I have to say I'm sold on it.  The racing this week at Martinsville saw some of the best action in quite some time.   Not only was the race action great, I actually think these cars are starting to grow on me.  Without all the skewed body work they actually look closer to a stock car than the aero-buggys of the recent past.

My hope that NASCAR would revert back to the days of having to use stock hoods, deck lids and roof lines was never going to happen.  So, for now, I'll take NASCAR's creation and live with it.  Are there some problems?  You bet ya.  Can they be adjusted and fixed?  Easily.  The idea of protective foam in the doors is a good one.  Lets just find a product that will work in the application.  Obviously the current product is flawed for this application.

Why would NASCAR think that the cars could get by with fewer openings in the front of the car for brake cooling?  Something has to be done so that the tire bead doesn't melt--causing numerous flat tires and trips into the safer barrier.

It's getting there.  Now lets make a determination to run it full time in 2008 so race teams can start focusing on the upgrades--now.

NASCAR going Canadien eh?

Stories are surfacing again this week of another Formula One World and Indianapolis 500 Champion joining the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series. Canadian super star Jacques Villeneuve, while promoting his newly released CD was quoted as saying he likely will run a combined ARCA, Busch and perhaps Craftsman Truck program in preparation for a full time NASCAR Cup effort in the future.  Villeneuve is currently preparing to compete in the 24 hours of Lemans, in June.  Roush -Fenway is the team most mentioned as Jacques' home.

This worries me.  It's not that I am afraid that fereners are taking over the home of the bootlegger or anything like that.  Hell, bring 'em on. I'm more concerned that this trickle of former pointy car lemmings will squeeze out other, truly deserving, potential Taxi of Tomorrow pilotes.

Johnny Brewer, for instance.

We haven't heard much of Brewer, since his name and legend first exploded on the NASCAR scene last fall.

It was strongly rumored at the time that the 7 time national snowmobiling champion and winner of 83 national races and nephew of the late, great former Detroit Red Wing , Carl Brewer, would bring sponsorship from Skidoo Snowmobiles, Canadian Tire and Moosehead Beer and race the number 83 Toyota for an, at the time, unnamed team. Since then, the 83 car has been given to A J Allmendinger, another  refugee of the fenderless leagues.  The last I heard about Brewer wasDownload brewer41.doc

As NASCAR goes boldly into the 21st century, it should encourage it's teams strive to find talent whenever and wherever it can, eh?