After spending a weekend pretty much flat on my back — from either food poisoning or a random virus — it’s nice to be back up and somewhat around, even if it’s a Monday.
More than anything else, though, I’m disappointed because I wanted to see the Formula Drift event at Evergreen Speedway this past weekend. Still that seems typical of how this racing season has gone (More on that below)
I did get a chance to watch all three “big” races on the tube, er, DVR. I’m not much of a road-course racing kind of fan, but I though the two NASCAR races at Watkins Glen were pretty good as those things go. For a guy who doesn’t want to upset the Cup regulars, Marcos Ambrose makes some pretty gutsy moves, doesn’t he?
That was a heckuva hit Sam Hornish took in the Cup race earlier Monday, and wouldn’t you know hard-luck Jeff Burton of badly stumbling Richard Childress Racing would be there to catch some of the rainfall.
Speaking of RCR, did you notice Kevin Harvick — after being caught up in an earlier wreck — was back on the track after telling those of us watching on TV that he didn’t want to? Points are points, afterall, but it reminded me a bit of Kurt Busch last year asking to park his car and being told — basically — to keep quiet and do his job.
The IndyCar snoozer at Mid-Ohio makes me wonder why that series has decided its future lies more with the road/street courses and less on ovals. Especially after the changes made for the Kentucky oval race — won by Ryan Briscoe in a drag race to the finish line — showed what could happen with the right rules package.
The non-passing, “who will be the first to make the last pit stop,” everyone-in-a-line action at Mid-Ohio on Saturday looked way too much like a bargain-basement Formula One race for my liking. Take note, IndyCar gurus: Formula One has yet to establish a firm fan base in America; maybe you’re not going the right direction.
As for NASCAR, although I’m so-so on the road course races, I’m not — like some people — in favor of replacing them on the schedule. I think they provide a change of pace that is worth keeping. There is some merit to shortening the NASCAR Cup season, but I wouldn’t do it by cutting either of the road courses — take off a couple races from the cookie-cutter 1.5-mile tracks or both at boring Auto Club Speedway instead.
I’m wondering what NASCAR’s thought process is on letting Robby Gordon continue to drive. It’s not like he hasn’t been overheard on the radio saying he’s going to wreck another driver, which is often backed up on TV replays that show him actually dumping another driver.
I suppose he’s that rarest of all species at the top levels of NASCAR — driver-owner of a one-car operation — and therefore he gets some leeway so that the big rainbow-sherbet organization doesn’t look like its picking on the little guy.
Wait a second, though.
Wasn’t Carl Long basically a one-car owner/driver, too? Seems like the big, bad NASCAR slammed him pretty hard — and over something that really didn’t hurt any other drivers or give Long a serious competitive advantage.
Doesn’t seem fair, does it?
If you kept watching after the checkered flag fell on Monday’s Cup race, you may have caught one of the subtlest put-downs I’ve ever heard.
Kyle Busch had just got done telling the pit reporter how tired and beat he was and how hard he’d had to work, fighting his car all day.
After Busch walked off, ESPN’s Dale Jarrett commented — and I’m paraphrasing here because I deleted the recording — that some days were like that, and drivers actually had to work to earn their huge salaries.
Keep your expectations low and you’ll never be disappointed.
I’m not exactly sure where I first heard that saying, but it certainly came from my Navy days. Unfortunately for me, heading into this year’s local racing season, I didn’t follow that advice, and now with the days winding down — and way too much time on the couch this past weekend — I’ve been thinking about it.
Having spent two years getting my feet wet, learning all the while, I had a few ideas of things I wanted to do and try this year with local racing and this Web page. I pretty much knew one way or the other it would likely be my last season — for both personal and professional reasons — so I wanted to be sure to get some things done.
I’ve done an okay job with my “Bucket List.” First and foremost I wanted to cover Dirt Cup at Skagit Speedway and I was able to accomplish that — and had a lot of fun in the process. I also wanted to learn more about drag racing and to cover the NHRA at Pacific Raceways. I was able to do both, including spending some time with some Car Club Challenge Association folks who really helped school me on drag racing.
I wanted to do something with drifting, and got that halfway done. Something I wanted to do but didn’t was writing a motocross story. Not for lack of effort, though, because Super Figure Eight driver Jerry Funden gave me a great lead on a moto rider who happened to be his relative. Unfortunately, when I passed that idea up to my editor, he told me a story on that rider had already been written by another sportswriter.
Another problem has been the strained relationship — I wouldn’t call it hot-and-cold, more like frigid-and-lukewarm — I’ve had with the folks running Evergreen Speedway. I can’t blame them, exactly: good luck finding anyone who likes having potentially embarrassing or negative things written about themselves.
But, being the speedway’s Public Relations coordinator isn’t part of my job description, and neither is following one of my Mom’s favorite sayings: If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. All I have to do is be honest and accurate in my reporting of local racing.
Still, I haven’t done nearly as much as I had hoped to do with Evergreen Speedway this year. Doubtful that will change much in the next … days, weeks, months? … whatever time we have left together.
I’ll try to write more often (it’ll have to be later in the day, though, as I’ve got a daytime commitment now). And I’ve got a couple things I’d still like to accomplish before losing this platform (Ed: and getting paid to ramble on and bore these people, right?).
Now if only I can get up off this couch.
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