NASCAR reviews in-race Twitter policy after 20-car crash

NASCAR officials today announced that they would review their social media policies after driver Robby Gordon caused a 20-car crash while posting a status update during this weekend’s Pep Boys 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.


“We’ve always been extremely fan friendly, and NASCAR always embraces ways to connect our fans with the drivers,” said NASCAR President Mike Helton. “However, maybe we need to scale that down a bit, at least during races.”

Gordon apparently took his eyes off the road during lap 72 of the race to attempt to update his Twitter page on the handling of his car. An in-car camera showed that while he was using his iPhone, he apparently did not see the pack of cars ahead of him slowing to go into the first turn, eventually causing a wreck that took out almost half the field.

“I don’t think we need to stop Twittering,” Gordon said. “I mean, it’s too bad that all those cars got wrecked, but the big issue is technology. I think if I can just weld the iPhone to my steering wheel, I won’t have to worry about fumbling for it.”

Posted by The Duke of Everything at 9:02 PM 1 comments  

Jeremy Mayfield blows up gas cans, is not a meth addict

I was thinking about the Jeremy Mayfield case earlier today after re-reading McLane's post from a few days ago. I was especially hung up on the fact that if he has been using meth for years as his stepmother claims, he's probably the best-looking long-term meth head I've ever seen (and keep in mind I'm from the Central Valley, so we're talking about roughly 30 percent of the population). No visibly missing teeth, no open sores and he's not constantly trying to shoo invisible spiders off his body during interviews.

So I decided to visit the Partnership for a Drug-Free America Web site to find out a bit more about the effects of crystal meth. Here are the first two sentences from the "Long Term Effects" section:

The drug’s effects are similar to those of cocaine but longer lasting. Crystal Meth can cause erratic, violent behavior among its users.

Now, please keep this in mind when watching the following video, taken from the TV show "NASCAR Drivers: 360" that aired in 2004:



Let's review again: did you see any "erratic, violent behavior" in that video? Something like an insatiable need to blow things up? Or how about any effects that would be "similar to those of cocaine," such as his wife noting his incredible amount of energy.

For his part, Jeremy Mayfield had better hope that NASCAR doesn't enter this as Exhibit A in any trial. I know it's circumstantial evidence, but it's going to be hard to argue that you aren't a meth addict after video of you blowing up watermelons and full gas cans with your children are shown to the jury.

Posted by The Duke of Everything at 7:19 PM 0 comments  

NASCAR is more screwed than the NBA

In case you missed it on Monday, there was a story that broke featuring allegations that, if true, could potentially be so damaging as to cripple an entire sport. No, I'm not talking about Tim Donaghy's attempt to go down in a Tony Montana-like hail of bullets by claiming that Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference finals was fixed. (The main problem the NBA has in that regard is the lack of shock that fans would have to that being true, even before Donaghy opened his maw. The fact that the latest Fox Sports poll shows that almost 80 percent of fans think that the fix was in on that game tells me that there was a fair amount of distrust of the NBA in general.)

No, I'm talking about NASCAR, and the $225 million discrimination lawsuit brought by a former tecnhnical inspector who is black and female. Obviously, it will be up to the courts to decide exactly what did or didn't happen, but Mauricia Grant's allegations make NASCAR seem like it's being run by some combination of Marge Schott, Isiah Thomas and this LSU baseball fan. Among some of the "highlights" of the allegations in her lawsuit:

• Co-workers gave her such heartfelt and personal nicknames as "Nappy Headed Mo'" and "Queen Sheba" and told her that she worked on "colored people time"
• Her supervisor, Nationwide Series director Joe Balash (you know, the person she should have turned to with complaints about discrimination) asked her "Does your workout include an urban obstacle course with a flat-screen TV on your back?"
• Grant was forced to work outside more often than the white male officials because her supervisors believed she couldn't sunburn because she was black - apparently NASCAR has hired Dusty Baker as their Special Sunburn Advisor
• When packing up a dark garage at Texas Motor Speedway an official told Grant: "Keep smiling and pop your eyes out 'cause we can't see you."

And on and on. I know some of you are saying "This is a surprise?" And yeah, any sport that has hundreds of Rebel flags flying in the infield and stands during events has a bit of a problem with race. Which, of course, is why this is so bad. NASCAR is desperate to move past it's redneck past, but without alienating their "core" fans (i.e rednecks). In order to continue to grow (and stop their ratings flatlining), they need to reach new audiences. Advertisers need NASCAR to broaden their reach. That's why they've poured huge resources into their largely-unsuccessful Drive for Diversity campaign.

And then this happens. As you can expect, NASCAR has gone into full retreat mode, with NASCAR Chairman Brian France saying that he just wishes she would have gone to her supervisors with her complaints instead of filing a lawsuit. The same supervisors who were asking her if a little urban looting was part of her workout routine. Right.

All in all, I'm just stunned that NASCAR didn't settle this quietly and out of the public eye, whether the allegations were true or not. It's a huge, dark cloud hanging over the sport as it tries to maintain its position as a major sport and not drift back into "niche sport" status that is beloved by some in certain areas but not popular across the US.

Posted by The Duke of Everything at 9:17 AM 1 comments  

...and he walked away

In case you missed it on Friday, NASCAR Sprint Cup rookie Michael McDowell had a bad crash during qualifying at Texas Motor Speedway. A bad, bad crash...



The most amazing part is at the end, when McDowell walked out of the car without a scratch on him. Maybe he's the luckiest SOB who ever lived, or maybe the Car of Tomorrow really is safer than the old car. 10 years ago, and there's almost no way McDowell walks out of the car and waves to the crowd.

Posted by The Duke of Everything at 12:27 AM 2 comments  

Your Daytona 500 Recap

Did you enjoy your President's Day weekend vacation? I enjoyed me the hell out of mine. As fknmclane mentioned earlier, we got together with a group of our RBI Baseball friends in my hometown of Los Angeles this past weekend. It was, to put it mildly, a lot of fun. I really can't describe most of what was said or done for the sake of common decency, but I will say that if any friends or family members of deceased child star Jonathan Brandis were within earshot of Rusty's Surf Ranch in Santa Monica, I sincerely apologize.

This weekend was also great, because it was the Daytona 500. In terms of excitement, I'd give this year's race a solid B+ rating. Nobody finished the race upside down and on fire, but the final 40 laps or so had a lot of drama and tension. Now is probably a good time to look back at some of the key points from my pre-race primer to see where I was a genius and where I was a complete idiot.

The Car of Tomorrow/The New Car/That Thing They Drive In: Pre-race, there was a lot of concern about how the New Car (formerly The Car of Tomorrow, err, yesterday) would handle in a restrictor plate race. Would it discourage pack racing and bring back the Slingshot? Would it be woefully squirrelly in traffic and cause several huge accidents? Would it come with XM or Sirius?

In retrospect, the New Car worked at Daytona. If anything, the large rear spoiler helped several drivers (notably Kurt Busch early) save the car after getting loose, where with the old car, they probably would have triggered a multi-car accident. And the racing was consistently entertaining all race long (a race that was relatively quick, timewise, because of the lack of cautions), with 49 lead changes (compared to just 13 last year).

Should we expect this every week? Let's wait and see how it handles at a mid-size oval like California Speedway this week. As Winston Wolf might say, let's not go around sucking each others...umm...private areas...just yet.

The Rick Hendrick Experience: In short, it wasn't good. Of the four Hendrick Motorsports drivers, only Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished in the top 25. His other three teammates (Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Casey Mears) had various mechanical problems, pit problems and/or crashes that relegated to the bottom half of the final race standings.

Oh, What a Near-Miss Feeling...Toyota!: To say that this weekend was a bit bittersweet for Toyota is an understatement. Tony Stewart won the Nationwide race on Saturday driving a Toyota, with Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch finishing second. Then, in the big race on Sunday, Toyotas lead 138 of the 200 laps...but not the one that matters. Still, it's a long, long way from last season, when Toyota was struggling to get any of their drivers in the field, much less make them competitive.

And oh yeah, Toyota also won the Craftsman Truck series race with Todd Bodine on Friday. Which basically is just an excuse for me to post this video of a bad, bad crash from the race. Everyone walked away unharmed:



Busch vs. Stewart, Round Whatever: In what had to be delicious ironing for Kurt Busch, he was able to act as a drafting partner to help Penske teammate Ryan Newman pass Tony Stewart on the final lap for the win, after Stewart chose to not block Newman by staying in the high line, instead ducking down to the low side in hopes that his teammate and Kurt's brother Kyle would help him out. But Kyle was too far back, and by the time he got to Stewart, the damage was done.

And give Kurt Busch some credit for not gloating about it after the race. It did show some class. Although the guy did have surgery one off-season to have his ridiculous jug ears pinned back, which is actually somehow a step below Charlie Weis' gastric bypass in my book.

Posted by The Duke of Everything at 10:29 AM 0 comments  

Your Daytona 500 Primer

Remember a few years ago, when the US was turning into NASCAR NATION(tm)? How the media convinced us that, within the next two to three years, NASCAR was going to be part of the average sports fans' lives just as much as the NFL, NBA or MLB? That NASCAR had crossed over from a highly successful niche sport to the "mainstream"?

Yeah, weird, right?

The simple fact is that, as we approach this Sunday's 50th running of the Daytona 500, NASCAR is still a niche sport appealing to a select subset of the population. Granted, it is more popular than it ever has been, and that "niche" is one that most other sports (say, the NHL) would slice their own carotid arteries for. (Editor's note: Too soon?) People like Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Stewart aren't just drivers - they are brands, packaged and sold to willing consumers. Even if you don't watch NASCAR, you know the drivers and their ready-made "personalities", and Madison Avenue thinks that this will lead to you buying products because of them.

The majority of the NASCAR story has less to do with racing and more to do with marketing, advertising, TV ratings...all of the "behind the scenes" stuff that writers like to write about, because it gives them a chance to show their "expertise" in their subject, and talk about "real world" stuff like "big business" so they can pretend that their beat is about something tangible and real and not writing about people going around in a circle really fast.

But what about the racing - you know, the thing that is supposed to be the big draw? For millions of fans, this weekend is their one time to experience NASCAR - they might watch this weekend because they know it's the "Super Bowl of stock car racing" and then not watch another race the rest of the season. If NASCAR is lucky, it's a great race with a dramatic crash, and maybe a spectacular crash that everyone walks away from. If NASCAR is incredibly lucky, that all happens at once, like last year:



So if this is the only NASCAR race you're planning on watching this year, allow me to give you a primer on a few pre-race storylines to keep your eye on (basically, the things that Fox will be drilling into your head all race long):

The Car of Tomorrow Never Knows: Last year, NASCAR began phasing in the Car of Tomorrow at select races in the second half of the season. This is the first time it will be used in the Daytona 500. What is the Car of Tomorrow? It's like an old NASCAR car, except boxier and slower. (Which is a weird way to think of "the Car of Tomorrow" I always pictured jet packs, and being able to take a nap in the back while the new "cruise control" steers you to your destination.) The idea of the COT (a lousy acronym for what you would probably want to portray as a sexy, sleek race car) was two-fold: reduce costs and increase safety.

In practical purposes, the COT reduced the impact of aerodynamics on the car (think about the difference between an airfoil going through a jetstream versus a brick). Which in theory is great, because that lessened the "all in a line" style of racing where no one dared jump out to pass for fear that they would lose the draft and shuffle back 30 spots. The reality is that a lot of drivers complained that the COT was "difficult to drive" or "sucked." The essential complaint was that the lack of aerodynamics made it tougher to drive side-by-side, since you could get a lot of "dirty air" and go all over the place.

What does this mean for Sunday? Wait and see. We learned something from the exhibition Budweiser Shootout this past Saturday night: you can pull a "slingshot" and pass a group of drivers - essentially shooting out of the draft to gain momentum on a pack of cars long enough to pass and then get ahead and back in line. We'll know more after the qualifying Duels on Thursday about how the cars react in long stretches with 20 or more car fields. I'm cautiously optimistic that the racing will improve throughout the 200 laps, and break from the format that's plagued NASCAR in recent years: nothing for 125 laps, big crash, nothing for 50 laps, then racing starts with 25 laps to go.

The Rick Hendrick Experience: There is no doubt that Hendrick Motorsports is the dominant force in NASCAR today. With Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, his drivers have won two of the last three Daytona 500s (six overall for his team), and Johnson and Gordon finished 1-2 in drivers points last season. Add former Daytona 500 winner Dale Earnhardt Jr., and there is no question that this is the team to beat this year - especially since Hendrick Motorsports clearly had the best COT program last season. Have the other teams caught up?

Toyota in NASCAR: Turning Japanese? - Toyota's first season in the Sprint Cup last season was anything but smooth. Because their marquee team (Michael Waltrip Racing) was new, they weren't automatically in the field and had to race their way in (and frequently did not). And even when Toyotas did race, the results were spotty at best: two poles, one Top 5 and six Top 10 finishes all season. Not unexpected, but disappointing.

But the off-season brought a savior in the form of Joe Gibbs Racing. Sick of being the second or third team in the Chevy stable, JGR decided to defect and become the lead team for the Toyota brand, bringing two drivers who made the Chase last year - Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin. There was no question that this was a coup for Toyota - it meant instant credibility, and the other Toyota teams would benefit from the expertise, knowledge and resources that JGR could contribute to making the Toyotas more competitive. For JGR, it's definitely a gamble to go with a manufacturer that is unproven at NASCAR's highest level. But no one questions Toyota's commitment, and they've become dominant in the NASCAR truck series.

I find it interesting to re-read articles from several years ago about how NASCAR fans would never embrace Toyota "invading" their All-American racin'. Frankly, it was a lot of garbage by sportswriters who don't understand NASCAR fans, continually underestimate their intelligence, and who probably watched "Gung Ho" too many times in HBO in the 1980s (when it seemed to run on a 24-hr loop with "Rad" and
Romancing the Stone"). Just as many NASCAR fans drive Toyotas and Fords or Chevys (and if sales numbers are to be believed, probably more). Hell, more NASCAR fans probably work at a Toyota plant in the US than at a Ford or Chevy plant in the US. NASCAR fans are savvier than you think.

Stewart vs. Busch - I Couldn't Think of a Cute, Music-Related Title: When the two most hot-headed drivers in NASCAR keep wrecking each other, things are going to get ugly. Last year, they wrecked each other out of the 500 when they probably had the two best cars. Then later in the year in Dover, Busch decided to "buzz" Stewart's car after an on-track incident by rubbing into him in the pits, a stupid and dangerous move that could have caused an innocent crew member to get injured. NASCAR docked Busch $100,000 and 100 points for that.

So what happened in practice this week? Yup, Stewart and Busch wrecked in practice, with each side having a different story of what happened. Busch retaliated by again banging Stewart's car under caution (this time on the track), while Stewart blocked the entrance to pit lane to annoy Busch. This got them both hauled into the NASCAR hauler for a lecture by the brass, where things remained heated and Stewart may or may not have (depending on who you believe) socked Busch square in the nose.

The upshot? NASCAR, following an off-season edict to let drivers "show more emotion," responded with a slap on the wrist - six race probation for each driver. Needless to say, if they are battling for position on Sunday, it's going to be really interesting. After all, it was a fistfight that brought NASCAR truly out of the South and into the mainstream almost 30 years ago...

Posted by The Duke of Everything at 12:39 PM 3 comments  

Plans for All You Can Eat Section at NASCAR Track Frightening Waste Management Experts

DARLINGTON, SC - The nation's leading waste management experts were alternately "shocked," "frightened" and "appalled" by the announcement today that Darlington Motor Speedway would offer an All You Can Eat food option for fans attending the NASCAR race held at the track on May 10.

Under the new plan - which is modeled on similar successful plans at baseball stadiums such as Dodger Stadium - for $60, adults can receive a ticket for a grandstand seat and unlimited hamburgers, hot dogs, snack items and soft drinks.

John Dickson, a consultant with over 30 years of waste management experience, shuddered at the concept.

"Even under normal circumstances, hundreds of thousands of NASCAR fans place an enormous strain on the infrastructure of not just a track, but an entire city," Dickson said. "Offering fans all the burgers and hot dogs they can eat is just asking for a sewage disaster of epic proportions."

Dickson outlined several catastrophic scenarios from these plans:

With a huge increase in fried, greasy food being consumed, the restrooms at the track could become so full that it is impossible to use them during the race. Dickson: "I would say this is pretty much the best case scenario."
The sheer volume of waste matter going through the toilets could be so massive that it could back up the entire sewage system for the entire Darlington area. Dickson: "Have you ever heard the phrase 'trying to put 10 pounds of crap into a 5 pound sack?' This is like trying to put millions of pounds of crap into that sack. You could have a complete breakdown in the sewage system in the area."
The high concentration of human waste could also create a methane cloud that could hover over the track and put the fans and drivers at risk of poisoning. Dickson: "If nothing else, the smell is going to be like a million hobos in a sauna - you'll pray for a cold so that you can't smell."

Dickson also warned that the high volume of food will also be exacerbated by the heavy amount of drinking that takes place at NASCAR races. He warns that this could make the sewage system problem just as bad the next morning, due to a phenomenon known in the waste management industry as "the beer shits."

In a related note, NASCAR announced that the May 10 race at Darlington would be renamed the Andy Gump Port-A-Potty 500.

Posted by The Duke of Everything at 1:19 PM 2 comments  

Proof of a Higher Power: Rusty Wallace Out, Dale Jarrett as Lead NASCAR Analyst on ESPN

NASCAR fans rarely agree on anything (Bud or Coors? Chevy or Ford? Skoal or Red Man?). But one thing that pretty much everyone agreed on last season was that ESPN's first year back covering NASCAR was kind of a mess. And a big problem was lead analyst Rusty Wallace, who seemed to mean well but also seemed to be hopelessly overmatched in the booth, which unfortunately lead to a reaction where he decided that if he talked all the time, non-stop, throughout the broadcast, you wouldn't notice that he actually wasn't saying much of anything. Volume over substance.

Well, ESPN finally pulled the plug on Rusty. Sort of. Dale Jarrett is going to be the lead NASCAR analyst next season, while Rusty moves over to become the lead analyst for ESPN studio programs. Dale is again following in his father Ned's footsteps, as the senior Jarrett was a longtime (although somewhat subdued) analyst for ESPN and CBS. And Dale was pretty good in his part-time role last season on Nationwide (Busch) Series races - certainly, he added when he could. and stayed out of the way when he didn't have anything to contribute.

Posted by The Duke of Everything at 2:25 PM 3 comments  

YOUR FACE IS A LIVE BLOG: Chili Bowl PPV Broadcast

Forget the Patriots/Jags game. That's amateur hour. The real excitement is starting in a few minutes, as the first-ever broadcast of the final night of the 22nd annual Chili Bowl, the world's largest midget car race. The top drivers in the open-wheel world are part of the 270+ car contingent. Some NASCAR drivers are there too. Guys you might have heard of like Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne (Stewart is in fact the defending champion).

I'll be here all night, drinking some MGDs and watching as we progress through the night from the "I" feature all the way through "A" main. Needless to say, we'll be here a while.

Do yourself a favor and don't have the NFL shoved down your throat! Order the Chili Bowl on your PPV (you have another half-hour before the broadcast proper starts) and come back here and comment as I blog.
Pre-race - And you're looking live at Tulsa, Oklahoma! Man, that's a lot of people on the telecast. Glad to see that they have actual open wheel guys doing the broadcast. The "Prelude to the Dream" was great, but having the usual Fox NASCAR guys doing the call was a mixed bag - yeah, fans know who they are, and they know the drivers. But they needed someone with short track experience.

If you are curious, here is the line-up for tonight's racing: twin C mains, a B main and then the final A main. Here is who is locked into the various races based on the results of the past week of racing.

I know he is only 16, but somebody needs to Cole Witt how to put some bend into the bill of his cap when he does an interview. When you look like Opie Cunningham to begin with, the dorky, straight bill isn't a big help.

And I doubt he "waved" at Tony Stewart when he passed him for the final transfer spot. Although Tony might have "waved" his middle finger at Cole.

If anyone is curious, Tony Stewart can take a provisional as the defending champion if he doesn't qualify through the preliminary races tonight.

The first C main (like every race from here on out) is stacked. I'm very happy to see Randy "The Hurricane" Hannigan starting fourth - he's a racer from Northern California that I've watched a good portion of my life going to races in the Central Valley. I think of him as more of a sprint car guy, so it's good to see him doing well here.

The driver of "local" interest to me in the other C is Stan Yockey. That actually shocks me a little bit - he's been getting better racing in California in sprint cars, but this is a huge step up in class, and even making it to the C-main is a big achievement.

In case you are curious, here's Yockey getting slammed into at a race in Central California by Ronnie Day at the end of last season, suffering wrist and arm injuries. These guys are tough.

It's now 40 minutes into the broadcast, and still no racing yet. I know there were a lot of highlights to get through, but this is getting ridiculous.

Finally, racing...

C-Main No. 1: First race, first corner...and first flip. Welcome the short track racing on dirt.

Way to miss the crash with two of the five guys in transfer spots, because you're interviewing Crusty French Grimes. Especially since they were the two guys you were spending all of the first part of the race highlighting AND that you had your two in-car cameras in. This does not bode well for the coverage.

Also: Crash Gladys looks about as hot as the Tulsa Hooters Girls - 6 out of 10.

UPDATE: So Kruseman jumped the start and got shuffled to the back? Nice that Shane Stewart had to tell us this instead of one of the 28 people on the coverage team...

C-Main No. 2: And the coverage madness continues. Here's a hint: Joey Saldana is in the yellow Kasey Kahne team car. How hard is this to figure out? My favorite moment: "It might be Ricky Stenhouse Jr. - we'll have to get a better shot to see." This is said as we have a close-up shot of the car from head-on, where you can see "Stenhouse Jr." on the top.

Why the hell was McCarl racing so hard for the lead when he and Jones both had a transfer? Odd.

On the the B-main. So pumped to see Ron Shuman racing again.

B-Main No. 1: Shoe! Shoe! Shoe! They need to be making more of this - Ron Shuman hasn't raced in 10 years, and he's in the A-main. And Buckwalter got totally plowed into - again, thanks to the coverage team for not picking that up until after the fact.

And having seen him at the Oval Nationals in December...Brady Bacon is going to be good...real good.

B-Main No. 2: Brad Sweet got screwed. Pure and simple. And how can they not know who transfered out of the first B-main still? Amateur hour...

Pre A-Main BS: I think heading to the hammered fans in the cheap seats wasn't the best idea. Although why am I not surprised that the fat chick is a big fan of Brady Bacon?

A-Main: Ugh. You hate to see a kid's first Chili Bowl end before it even starts. But like they said on the broadcast, that can happen to anyone. Hell, I saw it happen to Dave Darland at the Oval Nationals this year - except he snap-rolled about five or six times instead of just hitting the wall.

My pick to win? Brad Kunz.

...and that didn't last long. Stupid Terry McCarl...no wonder they all hate him in Knoxville.

I can't express how happy I was to see Damion Gardner win. Beyond the fact that he's a Southern California guy, he's one of the most exciting drivers I've seen in a long time. Which is precisely why I didn't think he would win. Usually, his "excitement" leads to one big screw-up, and with 50 laps and a lot of traffic, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop.

And I almost got it, too. His bicycle on that one restart was about as close as you can get to flip a car without actually doing it. That was his race-ending mistake...but somehow, he saved the car and kept going. Then things broke his way: the track never slicked off, he got enough yellow flags to stay out of traffic (where bad things usually happen to overly aggressive drivers) and Dave Darland held up Shane Cottle (who I think would have caught Damion and made it very interesting if he could have passed Darland for second).

So, that's the end of the 2008 Chili Bowl. I hope that anyone who was watching it tonight enjoyed it. And if this was your first time watching a short-track, open wheel race, I hope you liked it enough to visit your local track once the season starts and check it out live - TV is great, but like hockey, it really is a different experience in person.

Posted by The Duke of Everything at 4:26 PM 2 comments  

Flying dirt, midgets and a big, hot steamy Chili Bowl

It might be hard to believe, but my beneath my suave, sophisticated exterior lurks a secret. Something so dark that only my closest friends know it, but because of the shame that it would cause me and the embarrassment it causes them, it's something that we never talk about. Since I've been doing this blog for several months now, though, this secret has been an anchor that is like an albatross on my neck, forcing me to mix metaphors just to explain it. But if you, dear reader, are going to be invested in this blog, I feel like the truth, however ugly or shocking, needs to come out.

Here it goes:

I am a redneck. I go to Dollywood for vacations. I get very excited about seeing The General Lee at Cooter's in the Smokies. And I love dirt track racing. I've been going since I was about four years old - it's one of the earliest memories I have, going to the local dirt track outside of Fresno with my dad and brother. And it's something that I've held onto ever since. Sprint car and midget car racing

Is part of it nostalgia? Perhaps, but the bottom line is that I also think it's the best form of racing that you can see as a spectator. Why?

The format: Do you try to watch NASCAR on occasion, but cannot sit through four hours of nothing much happening, just to get to the final 30 laps when all the interesting stuff is taking place? Imagine if the race itself was just those final 30 laps? That's pretty much what dirt track racing is. The typical format will have several short (usually 8 to 12 laps, depending on the size of the track) heats or qualifying races, and then a main event that is typically between 30 and 40 laps. So all the good stuff is compressed into compact, bite-sized packets of entertainment. Perfect for your short-attention span, YouTube-addicted, Internet-addled minds!
All action, all the time: The typical main event has up to 24 cars on a track that ranges in size from a quarter-mile to a half-mile long. So instead of lap after lap of cars strung out throughout the track, with no passing or excitement whatsoever, on a dirt track there is always action - with battles for position, leaders trying to get through lapped traffic, etc.
The atmosphere: Until you go to a race, it's hard to explain why it's so much fun. Consider it part sporting event, part county fair (which isn't surprising, since a lot of tracks are on county fairground sites). There's BBQ, popcorn and lots of cheap beer in the concession stands. The fans are very friendly, often with a mouthful of chaw or said beer. And the cars themselves: a sprint car can get well beyond 125 mph at a fast track, something that is always lost on TV. Add to that the smell of gasoline and burning rubber (and again, beer and chaw), and it's quite the sensory experience.
Big crashes: Anyone who says that they are fans of racing, but don't get excited for crashes is, quite frankly, delusional/a lair/Communist. Tell Boris to go back to the Mother Country, or to admit to himself that seeing a big crash is part of the thrill of going to a track. Obviously, part of the visceral thrill is the sigh of relief and the amazement when someone walks away from a seemingly vicious crash, and no one (except for some goons on YouTube, I'm sure), want to see people get hurt or killed. And there really isn't anything more spectacular than an open-wheel sprint car or midget car crash, as you can see for yourself. (Note: I have yet to see a crash video on YouTube not set to God Awful Nu Metal. If you have any taste in music, you'll want to turn down your speakers.)

Why do I bring this all up now? Because you might not know it, but this is one of the biggest weekends of the year for open wheel racing fans. It's the weekend of the 22nd Annual Chili Bowl, held in the former Convention Center in Tulsa, OK. This is the Super Bowl of midget car racing.

How big is this race? They expect more than 25,000 people to watch the finals on Saturday night, including many people who won't actually be able to see the track but will pay just to have a view of the scoreboard. There were, at last count, 274 entries for the race, all looking to fill 24 spots in the main event. Pretty much, if you are an open wheel driver in the United States, you are here. It's a veritable who's who of drivers, including people that even casual fans know. Tony Stewart is the defending champion of the race. Other NASCAR drivers such as JJ Yeley and Kasey Kahne will be there, too.

The exciting news this year is the HBO is going to offer live, flag-to-flag coverage of the final night of racing on Saturday as a PPV event, and NASCAR.com is going to offer live, streaming coverage of tonight's preliminary races start at 8 p.m. Eastern. The success of HBO's PPV of the "Prelude to the Dream" at Eldora last season apparently has sparked interested in more open wheel coverage, which is obviously great news for the sport.

I can't urge you strongly enough to watch the racing from the Chili Bowl this weekend. Like it or not, I'll be giving updates through the week, and may possibly be doing the site's first LIVE BLOG OF AN EVENT on Saturday. To give you a taste, here are some highlights from last year's action (note: same disclaimer about crappy Nu Metal from the last video applies).

Posted by The Duke of Everything at 10:59 AM 1 comments  

YouTubeness: The Glory Days of NASCAR on ESPN (1981-1991)

I grew up loving NASCAR. I would watch every race I could as a kid, usually on ESPN. And this might surprise you if you've watched the current coverage of NASCAR on ESPN/ABC...but it was incredible coverage. You had Bob Jenkins with the play-by-play, and some combination of Benny Parsons, Ned Jarrett and Larry Nuber on color commentary.

What made it so special? The broadcast was actually about the racing, and not the 80,000 other things that make up a NASCAR telecast these days. I promise you that ESPN didn't miss a restart or the leader taking the checkered flag back in my time.

Plus, the racing was just better. The drivers weren't media polished and fresh-scrubbed: they were racers, and even the most gentile ones weren't afraid to drive someone off the road if they needed to. Earnhardt, Waltrip, Allison, Yarborough, Petty...you could smell the tobacco and gas fumes on these guys.

If you want to know what I'm talking about, and see what NASCAR really used to be about, join me on a YouTube trip down memory lane, as we watch a special that ESPN created for its 10th anniversary of covering NASCAR races back in 1991. It's in several pieces, so I've added the videos below.

(Note: Because Blogger is ridiculous and makes it impossible to make a jump/cut without screwing up your whole blog, I've just added the videos below rather than a nice, tidy jump cut like I would have wanted...)


Part 1 (Includes: Bobby Allison's Talladega crash in 1987 that lead to restrictor plates; Bill Elliot's Winston Million in 1985)



Part 2 (Includes first career wins of Dale Jarrett, Davey Allison, Rusty Wallace, Ernie Irvan, Mark Martin and Alan Kulwicki)




Part 3 (Includes: A look at Super Speedways, Short Tracks and Road Courses; Winston Cup clinching moments of Earnhardt, Elliot and Wallace; a boring interview with Brett Bodine)



Part 4 (Includes: a look at ESPN's technical innovations in covering NASCAR; the "stolen pace car" incident from the Talladega 500 in 1986; Rusty Wallace's practice crash at Bristol in 1988; Buffet Benny)



Part 5 (A look at big crashes, including: Michael Watrip (Bristol, 1990); Darrell Waltrip (Pepsi 400, 1991); 1990 Daytona 400 (1st lap melee); Mark Martin (Sears Point 1989 and Daytona 1989)



Part 6 (Fantastic Finishes including: Talladega 1986 (B. Allison/Earnhardt); North Wilkesboro 1989 (Rudd/Earnhardt/G. Bodine); Bristol 1990 (D. Allison/Martin) and Victory Lane interviews with Lake Speed and Darrell Waltrip)

Posted by The Duke of Everything at 11:46 AM 0 comments