Sometimes Bad Things Happen...........

I have not posted in sometime now and I want to explain why in hopes that someone else will take something good from my experience.

At the end of August 2010 my wife began complaining of very bad back and hip pain. It got progressively worse and after 3 trips to the E.R.with little insight into the root cause we finally got a shocking diagnosis. My wife of almost 30 years was diagnosed with stage 4 Lung and Abdominal Cancer, she was experiencing kidney shut down which was misdiagnosed even though I told the E.R. doctors on the first to E.R. visits I thought that was the problem.

She spent 2 weeks in the hospital, most of it in the Critical Care Unit and after just a couple days in a regular room she was sent home only to be rushed back to the hospital the next morning. She spent another week in CCU and then 2 weeks in a regular room. My wife came home the first full week of Oct. 2010. She was enrolled in Hospice Home Care and the Hospice folks did all they could to make her remaining days as comfortable as possible.

The week of Thanksgiving 2010 her condition started a quick decline, Thanksgiving Day was terrible. The night of Thanksgiving she started having trouble breathing, in the middle of the night I had to call the Hospice Nurse to come to the house to try and make my wife more comfortable. Friday morning the day after Thanks giving I was told it would be best for my wife and I if she was transferred to a Hospice Inpatient Care Facility in a Local Hospital. After a brief discussion it was agreed we would do this.

Saturday morning, November 27, 2010, 15 years to the day after a near fatal car wreck my wife passed away in my arms as she inhaled and exhaled for the last time. She was 55 years 10 months and 27 days old when she passed, we had been living together as a couple for almost 31 years and been married for almost 30 years. I miss her dearly and wished we had more time together both recently and through our years together. Her Oncologist told me if they had detected the cancer in it's first stage she might have lived another 10 or 20 years.

Early detection and treatment is truly the only answer, at this point in time, in the battle against most Cancer. Have a Cancer screening for yourself and your loved ones whether at risk or not regularly the life saved may mean everything in the world to you like my wife's did to me.


Not5For48

So NASCAR wants to change the chase, here is some real change...(Part 2)

In this installment I will talk about Past Champions and how they might be placed in the Chase if I were to make the changes. If a Past Champion that competed in the Full Season up to the start of the Chase Playoff and was not qualified through points position or race win but managed to maintain a Top 25 Points position then that Past Champion would be given a Chase Spot but seeded last no matter how the seeding was determined.

I think it is fair to say that a driver who managed at 1 time to win the Championship deserves to have the opportunity to at least have a shot at it again. Whether it be a Team change, Manufacturer change, a Large Number of DNF's, or what ever the case a recently crowned Champ deserves to have a shot. Let's face it if Jimmie Johnson had a very off year after winning 4 Straight Championships and did not qualify for the chase it would cause people to question the validity of the sport and the Chase format. This could probably tweaked slightly to be the most recent champ not already in like the race qualifying rule. Maybe it should also have a time limit like 5 or 10 years back so we don't have a driver champ from 16 or 22 years ago working the system for a Chase spot like they do now for a Race spot.

I want to add a Owners Points Champion should also have a chance at this if implemented. Again using the 48 car as an example if for some reason Jimmie Johnson was unable to compete after the car won 4 straight titles it is only fair that the car be given a chase spot whomever the current driver may be under my Chase format.

Next Part of this Series will cover my thoughts on the Points System once the Chase starts and maybe some hints on what tracks the Chase should be run at.

Comments Detrimental to Stock Car Racing, Really?

Comments Detrimental to Stock Car Racing!

Really?

or is it:

Comments Detrimental to NASCAR?

The people at NASCAR Corp. HQ should all by fined, suspended, or even banned from the sport for life with what they have said and/or done to it.

"Boys Have At It!" was supposed to be the theme of the new age of NASCAR this year. They sold it to Fans, Teams, and Drivers through broadcasts and the Media. They didn't bother to tell the fans however their favorite driver could wreck another guy at 180 mph but he could not tell us what we already know, "NASCAR manufacturers the race results similar to the WWE predetermining the outcome of it wrestling matches.".

Because NASCAR secretly fines drivers for saying things that the fans can see does not negate the facts.

Since Hamlin made the mystery caution comment G-W-C finishes at the end of race went from happening every week to once every few races.

This should give us fans something to think about.

Brian France creates chaos in the sport to distract everyone from his greed and lack of sense to run the sport.

I will expect to be notified I am being fined $50 K for telling the truth just like those 2 unnamed drivers, for "Comment Detrimental to NASCAR!".

Should Jack Roush Stop Flying His Own Plane and Other News Topics of the Day

Well Jack Roush crashed another one of his Aircraft. This time a small private jet owned by Roush-Fenway Racing. While I wish Jack and his passenger, a woman not his wife, I can't help asking some questions:

Should Jack have his pilots license reviewed or revoked?

Did Jack's wife know he was traveling with this women before the crash?

Was Brad Keselowski or 1 of his fans in the control tower or doing maintenance on the jet?

Where was Carl Edwards when the wreck happened?

Should Jack think about leaving the flying to corporate pilots?

It was announced that Jeff Gordon's #24 team acquired the services of Kyle Busch's former spotter effective immediately.

Will this help the #24 win races instead of finishing 2nd or 3rd so much?

Will there be a long adjustment period to this change?

Can a spotter change make a big difference in team performance?

Why didn't Jeff Dickerson, Kyle's former spotter and business manager, stay at HMS when Kyle left the Team?

It was announced that Bobby Labonte would drive the #47 car in 2011.


Will this improve Bobby's points position at the 2011 seasons end over the last few years?


Will this reduce the chances of the #47 winning a race?

Will the sponsors demand a driver change midway through the 2011 season because of performance issues?

Will Bobby retire after 2011 if his on track performance doesn't improve significantly or will he keep hanging on and shame himself like other former champions have in the past?

It was just announced that Gateway is off the Truck series and Nationwide Series schedules next year.


Did Dover Motorsports close the wrong track when they shut down Memphis?


Was it because of poor attendance?


Was it because of the track lighting problems?


Where will these races end up going on the schedule?


Was Brad Keselowski or Penske Racing behind this to payback Carl Edwards or his fans in St. Louis?



ESPN's NASCAR Now said IMS was reducing ticket prices for the 2011 Brickyard 400.


Is it because of poor attendance?

Is it because of track operator embarrassment over poor attendance?


Is it because of NASCAR embarrassment over poor attendance?

 Is it because the track operator lost money after paying out the race purse money?

Jon Wreck Townley is back in the #09 Nationwide car this weekend at Iowa.

How many cars will he wreck this weekend?

On what lap of the race will he wreck out of the race?

Will the Franchisees ever get tired of Tony Townley spending their advertising money on his kids racing career?

Is RAB really that desperate for sponsor money?


Does RAB have enough cars built to keep Townley on the track for the rest of the season?




Remember the NNS and Cup double duty drivers have to travel between Iowa and Pennsylvania this weekend so that should make for some interesting issues. The Truck Series has a Few Cup drivers entered and runs at Pocono with the Cup series.

Just a couple of random thoughts about todays news.......

Does Marcos Anbrose really expect us to believe he is leaving JTG without something else in the works or already set?

I think a Ford may be in his future.

Does NASCAR really think they gained anything by keep the fines of Top  Level Drivers for putting down NASCAR to be OK with the Media and fans?

I am not OK with it but NASCAR has done things behind closed doors forever. it is nothing new, but I believe it hurts the sport and the sanctioning bodies credibility especially with newer fans.

Where will Sadler, Hornish, and Speed end up next year?

Hard to say with Sadler, but there are some Nationwide and truck seats he may be able to fill, maybe a bottom tier Cup team or Start and Park team will scoop him up. He could end up in the 47 car with today's Ambrose announcement.

Hornish has no Cup sponsor for next year yet so lots of speculation there.

Speed looks like he may be staying with Red Bull.

Where are the Mobil1 and Bud sponsorships going next year?

It looks like Bud may be going to the #29 RCR car with Harvick and Mobil1 is rumored to be talking with Stewart-Haas as an alternating primary on both cars and secondary when not the primary on the other car.

I should be posting the second part of my "Chase  Changes I Would Like To See" series Thursday or Friday.

What is Hooking a Car and Why is it Bad?

What is Hooking a Car?

Hooking a car, simply put, is contact with the rear quarter panel of a car in front of your car and accelerating to deliberately spin the car out. It can be done to either side but doing on the left side normally results in more damage, due to contact with the outside track wall, then the car it is being done to. This is why hooking is most commonly referred to has contact by a cars right rear quarter panel by the car behind it and that car accelerating to spin or hook the front car into the outside wall nose first.

So now that we have established what hooking is, why is it bad?

Because Hooking is normally done coming off a turn on to the straight-aways or on the straight-aways themselves it is done at a tracks highest speeds. Making contact with the outside wall nose first at high speeds results in some pretty amazing energy dissipation to both car and driver. It has also resulted in the deaths of many drivers over time, including Dale Earnhardt Sr., and caused NASCAR to enhance safety features including the mandatory use of a Head and Neck restraint Systems or HANS device. This Hooking move is most dangerous when it is performed on the straight-aways which is where it can have the most devastating results including severe injury or death not only to drivers , but also to fans in the stands.

We lost the sports biggest Icon in the 2001 Daytona 500 by an incident of accidental hooking coming to the checkered flag at the exit of turn 4. It would be tragic and could greatly effect NASCAR racing and some drivers careers if we had another incident, deliberate or accidental, like that.

So why do I bring this up and write about it now?

Carl Edwards choice of payback at Gateway to Brad Keselowski is a clear demonstration of what hooking is. The possible result is why it was considered to be wrong, it has really become fairly obvious that many fans do not know or understand why. Hopefully this article will give a better understanding to all the fans of the seriousness of the Hooking move and why it is not well liked or received. The article should also explain the claim of attempted murder against Carl by many.

But wasn't this done throughout NASCAR and Auto racing history without any penalties?

I have heard many argue that Dale Earnhardt Sr did this type of move many times and it seemed OK then so why isn't it OK now. When it was done by Dale Sr. it was typically done at short tracks with lower speeds but it still was not OK even then. At that time NASCAR was still a budding sport on a national level and much of the internal operations including penalties were not discussed in the media or disclosed to the fans. This was common practice and very true until the Mid to Late 1990s when TV broadcasts and dedicated shows focusing on NASCAR news started. Even to this day we most commonly get the standard explanation by the sanctioning body of "Actions Detrimental to Stock Car Racing" then a extremely brief description of the actual infraction such as "Aggressive Driving" in the case of the Gateway race penalties.

NASCAR and the rest of world of auto racing have made a great deal of effort to make the sport safer then it ever had been before. This is partly because of safety innovations but also because of rules and the basic understanding of the dangers involved in certain actions. It could quickly become tragic when just one driver, either during a moment of rage or a lapse of reason, pays back another driver on track with such a move.

No one involved in the sport, be it a Driver, team, track operator, promoter, sanctioning organization, or fan, should ever have to worry about a deliberate act causing injury or death.

Brickyard 400 after thoughts.....

Just some random thoughts about the Brickyard 400 at IMS.

Was the track too green to start the race, did it cause the first lap wreck, and could the track operator and NASCAR have done more to prevent it?

I believe the answer to all 3 portions of the above question is Yes without hesitation.

If either NASCAR or the Track officials thought it was not too green there would not have been a planned competition caution or mentioned concerns over tire wear.

Some drivers felt that the green track caused the car setups they worked on for 2 days to be worthless. Kyle Busch said the adjustments made late Saturday just did not work on such a green track. That is all I needed to hear from a driver who usually drives a car so loose that he nearly wrecks on every lap but wins races with that same loose car.

Years ago before Jet Dryers a large bunch of tires were dragged around the tracks to put rubber down that was washed away by rain before a race. Track vehicles were also run around the track to dry them as well as running the cars themselves around the track but I guess NASCAR and the Track Operators are too high tech in what tries to be a low tech sport now.

Did the track crew do a good job cleaning up the track before and during the race?

Absolutely no! 

The grass in the corners either grew extremely fast over night from the rain or the grounds keeper should be fired. The TV commentators were quick to point out during the opening laps that way too much grass was on the track from drivers running at the edge of the track bottom and it caused many cars to have overheating issues.

Likewise with accident clean up, we saw many pieces of debris on the track during the broadcast. We witnessed cars coming in with damage from debris left on the track and all but 1 tire failure during the race was caused by cars driving over debris left on the track.

Were the stands noticeably and surprisingly empty? 

I think yes to a point that ESPN addressed it because it was impossible to show on track action without getting shots of amazingly empty stands. It seemed to embarrass Allen Bestwick when he mentioned it and I wonder if ESPN was pressured to limit shots of the stands by NASCAR and IMS.

Did a Indy Car Race being broadcast on another cable network effect activities at IMS?
 
Well many would say no but I believe the answer is yes, I will give my reasons and everyone can draw their own conclusions. 

The same people that own IMS also own the Indy Car series.

They run many races on tracks owned by International Speedway Corporation which is owned by the France family and they also own NASCAR.

While most Indy Car series races are broadcast on the Versus cable channel the biggest races including the Indy 500 are broadcast on ABC/ESPN.

Everyone involved seemed to be committed to getting the race started and finished in the scheduled times with little attention to track prep before the race or clean up after wrecks. The other thing noticeably absent was the end of the race Green-White-Checkered Finish that has become the normal end to most NASCAR races these days.

Those are just a few of the burning questions I have about the Cup race and it's broadcast this week.

Congrats to the #1 team of Jamie McMurray on his Brickyard 400 win.