Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie

Tony Stewart as role model

Tony Stewart isn't mad anymore.  According to Scene Daily, Tony had this to say on his weekly Sat Radio show, soon to be re-titled Mea Culpa and Smoke.

"I love the kid like a little brother. There's not any animosity from that. It's just as tough as the competition is and the way that some of the things happen during the weekend and early in the race like that, I think there's ways that we can work as teammates better ... But we'll get all that stuff figured out. And that's just part of being young teammates. I mean, we've only worked with each other a year and a half."

It's a good thing that Stewart is taking a more benevolent role in his relationship with his young teammate, Denny Hamlin.  He may have another little bro - one with an attitude.

Rumor has it that Joe Gibbs Racing is about to sign young Warren (or is it Lauren,? I still don't know) Wallace to a development deal.

No way that the Wallace kid takes that kind of treatment from Tony or anyone else.

Stay tuned.

Pondering Darlington, diecasts and Warren Wallace

I had to follow the qualifying today for the Dodge Avenger 500, via NASCAR.com's Live Leaderboard feature.  It's really just a technologically updated wire service with some cool graphics, but for someone stuck at the day job and sans cable, it got the job done.  It didn't tell me about all the cars that apparently smacked the Lady's walls.  It did, however impart the looming sense of doom for Michael Waltrip and D J, as the math became clear that their decent qualifying efforts would again go down the NASCAR top 35 drain.  What a shame.

I need to ask my friend Jerry, The Diecast Dude, what will happen, or probably already has, to Dale Earnhardt Jr. collectibles with the number 8 all over them.  I am not a collector.  I have a few things that are valuable to me and no one else.  But I remember last year strolling the souvenir trailer park at the Brickyard 400, shortly after Jeremy Mayfield parted ways with Everinham and Brian Vickers left had Hendrick.  That stuff was CHEAP!  Somehow, I just don't see a fire sale for Junior swag.

That day, the longest lines for any of the merchandise trailers were for Ricky Bobby and the Wonderbread car.  Long lines of fans buying the stuff and plenty of folks wearing Talladega Nights gear.  That fad faded fast.

If I could have one trailer at any or all of the remaining Cup Series races, it would be the Warren Wallace concession.  I can see it now.  Retro driver's jackets.  Sunglasses and toothpicks.
And "Poor fella, never saw it coming" t-shirts.

Warren has a fan club. Check it out here.

Live Radio, Internet Radio and Lauren Wallace

Our radio show "ON PIT ROW" has a new home. The move has been planned for some time now but tonight was move-in night.  We now broadcast the show live from historic Toledo Speedway in Toledo, Ohio, USA.

Toledo Speedway opens the 2007 racing season this weekend with the ASA Late Model Series, very similar to  NASCAR Busch Series cars.  Weather permitting - and Steve has already promised no weather problems - Saturday will be filled with thunder of another origin.

Steve and I have been doing this ON PIT ROW shtick for about seven years now and the show is pretty comfortable for both of us. Today was different.  I know that I felt a pressure that I believe was brought on by the fact that we would now, be broadcasting our show from, what I would call, a shrine.

Toledo Speedway is a beautiful race track. It's a fast half mile high bank - just exactly what many of our callers and e mailers tell us NASCAR needs - and it has history. For 46 years some of the greatest drivers in motorsports have run here: Indy 500 winners Al Unser and Gordon Johncock and NASCAR stars Bobby Allison, Benny Parsons, Rusty Wallace, Ryan Newman, Mark Martin and more.

All I wanted to do tonight, was not sound stupid. You know, sort of to honor the place. Next week, we get back to normal. Well ....

I think the first hour and a half went OK. I felt like we had a good flow to the show. No major technical  problems surfaced, always an issue with live radio. We were cruisin' and our next guest was one of our favorites; Matt Crossman from The Sporting News.

Matt was terrific as always as we discussed several of the current topics affecting NASCAR and baseball - yeah baseball - then, since we had not had a response to our weekly trivia question - we challenged Matt to answer said question. 

And he did answer it. Correctly, too.

The problem was, I asked the wrong question. Matt and Steve IMMEDIATELY knew that the question was wrong - unfortunately, proving that I, in this instance, was the idiot. Ah, well, comic relief.

We all laughed. Hard. You just can't beat live radio sometimes, for laughs.

Starting this Thursday, lords of the Internet willing, you will be able to hear ON PIT ROW on the Internet on Thursday nights, at racetalkradio.com. We are excited about this and hope that you will find the time to check out the show and let Steve and I know what you think.

Finally, am I the only NASCAR fan that can't get enough of the Lauren Wallace commercials for Geico?  I wanna be like Lauren. Or is it Warren?

All Wallace all the time

I have a new hero.  I think his name is Warren Wallace. It could be Lauren Wallace.  Whatever his name, he is the greatest driver to ever sit behind a wheel. sic

I watched the whole Telcel 300 Busch Series ( NASCAR International Series brought to you by $30 million) race on Sunday.  Great race.  Very big production, as fitting the feature race of what we might call the Super Bowl of the Busch ( NASCAR International Series brought to you by $30 million) Series if that name hadn't already been taken by the Nextel Cup Series (not to mention the NFL).  Maybe we could call this race the World Cup Final of the ( NASCAR International Series brought to you by $30 million) Busch Series.  We'll see how the naming rights work out.

Back to my hero.  There is another Wallace boy on the media scene.  He is, if pedigree has play, probably on the racing horizon as well.  I watched many times during breaks in the race coverage,  the Geico Insurance commercial featuring young , and I apologize for not knowing, either Warren or Lauren Wallace along with his elders Rusty and Mike.  I love that commercial. I can't get enough of it.  It makes me smile.  The race was great,too.