Las Vegas RacinDeals

VIVA WHAT?: If I hear another gambling reference or
joke about gambling, I"m gonna throw something through the TV. Guys, once
or twice it’s cute, but after about the 50th reference to Elvis, gambling, and
other Las Vegas attractions, it gets way past old.

JOURNALISTIC INTEGRITY: I don’t care what
the Orlando paper says, or how they try to justify their motives, they have no
business getting Dale Earnhardt’s autopsy photos. That information is simply
none of their business.  They’re not interested in finding out what killed
Earnhardt; their statement makes it clear that they’re looking to sell papers,
and there are enough idiots out there apparently buying their papers to make
them think there’s a market for it.

Now I see where a Miami paper, a Tampa
paper, and a Tampa TV station have joined in on the Orlando paper’s lawsuit.
They’ve received support from other "journalistic" organizations and
so-called First Amendment advocates.  I’m just sick and tired of all these
self-righteous "journalists" telling me how they’re protecting me and
that they’re somehow the guardians of all that’s good and right.

With all these other parties now involved,
if you still think those pictures won’t end up on the
internet once they’re released, I have a newspaper in Orlando I’d like to sell
you.

I will say one more thing though: Mrs.
Earnhardt’s plea for the fans to help her in this is a little misguided. She
should have been specific in her request that only fans who live in Florida
contact their elected officials about this.  I’m not sure how much weight
they’ll give to non-constituents, plus if they get overwhelmed with calls and
letters and email from people who don’t even live in Florida, it could sway them
the other way.

JOURNALISM?: You know, I could make
this site look a lot bigger if I posted all the press releases I get from teams
as "news."  Maybe spend a few minutes on each one and customize
it, and put my name at the top as having written it. I could, but I won’t. It’s
not right to take a PR piece from a team and post it as "news." Sure
there may be news in it, but that doesn’t make it right.

But unfortunately, that’s the way things
are done these days.  For example, yesterday, I got a press release from
Ken Schrader’s team, announcing that Newt Moore had been hired on as a crew
chief. Great for Newt; he’s from around these parts and I like to see local guys
do good. However, on some other "racing news" web sites, I’ve seen the
same piece, literally verbatim, coming off as original work. Sure, one or two
have embellished it or shortened it, but it’s basically the same thing.

One funny thing about this situation is
that every piece I’ve seen on Newt’s hiring has the same information: "Prior
to becoming a crew chief Moore was a two-time track champion at Nashville
Speedway." Wrong. Newt has a total of one win at Nashville Speedway, and I
suspect that past champions like Darrell Waltrip,  Jeff Green, Bobby
Hamilton, Sterling Marlin, and Chad Chaffin are cringing when they read that.

A SECOND TEXAS DATE: Bruton Smith wants a second
Winston Cup date for Texas. Here’s the way to get it: move the Las Vegas race. I
think if I were a stockholder in Speedway Motorsports, I’d insist that this be
done. Texas has more capacity than Las Vegas and if the second date sells out,
then you’re gonna make a whole lot more money for the stockholders than a race
would at Las Vegas.

Plus, the races at Las Vegas are just plain boring.

FOX’S LADY: I’ve given her three races, and I still
don’t like her. Now wait a minute. Before you start calling me a sexist pig,
read this: I like Amy East on ESPN’s truck broadcasts just fine.  I think
the difference is that East is a pit reporter who happens to be female. Fox’s
Jeanne Zalesko is a female who’s a pit reporter.  There’s just something
about her attitude that rubs me the wrong way.

GIVE ME A BREAK: Three races into the
season, and the Ford teams are already crying about how much of a disadvantage
they have. In Las Vegas, a Ford led most of the laps, and there were 4 Fords in
the top 10. In Rockingham, there were three Fords in the top 10, and at Daytona,
there were four Fords in the top 10. So of the 30 total top ten finishing spots,
Ford has 11, a whopping 36%! That’s a good percentage for a three-manufacturer
series. For a four-manufacturer series, they’re doing better than the other
three makes.

RULES ARE RULES: I can’t believe
how much I’m reading about how NASCAR should have allowed Dale Jr. to get away
with his rules infraction, where he left pit road with the catch can. "But
it came off before he got back out," they say. Or even worse, people think
NASCAR should have taken it easy on him because of his father’s death.

People amaze me sometimes.

BUZZ OFF: So, what happens when the
official sanctioning body’s website reports a rumor that’s not true? Looks like
it forces the team owner to take time out of his busy schedule to deal with
something he shouldn’t have to deal with. Can you imagine what Junie Donlavey
thought when he heard he was switching to Yates engines? The AOL-ization of
NASCAR.com (and of a lot of racing "fans") continues.