POC-OH-NO!

THAT’S RACING: A few weeks ago, I
wrote a piece that criticized Tony Raines for being a "gentleman"
about not using the chrome horn to get his first win. I heard from a few people
who purported to be connected with his sponsor, who took me to task for it. How
dare I suggest that Tony wreck the guy in front of him just to win?

Nowhere did I say anything about wrecking
anyone. Jeremy Mayfield showed yesterday he had the fire I’m talking about. He
didn’t wreck Earnhardt, but certainly moved him up the groove and got by.

I’ve seen stories today that bascially
wonder why Mayfield hasn’t gotten the heat about "nudging" Earnhardt
out of the way like Earnhardt got at Bristol a few years ago after
"nudging" Terry Labonte out of the way for the win. It’s simple:
Earnhardt wrecked Labonte while Mayfield didn’t wreck Earnhardt.

Benny Parsons commented on RPM2nite that
the reason he quit racing was that he realized he wasn’t willing to do that to
anyone, and was afraid that someone would do that to him while leading. His
quitting under those circumstances pretty much proves my point. He didn’t have
the fire anymore, so he quit…rightfully so.

MY KENTUCKY KINGDOM FOR A PARKING PLACE:
Didn’t those folks at Kentucky learn anything from the Texas opening parking fiasco?
I guess not.

I wonder how many people who had tickets
who were turned away will bother to buy tickets for the next race?

Do you think NASCAR was paying attention
to that? Are they likely to get a Busch race if they can’t handle a Truck race
crowd?

WAKE ME WHEN IT’S OVER: The Winston
Cup invasion in the Busch Series this year has royally messed up the points
race. Jeff Green, by finishing ahead of the Winston Cup guys and the Busch guys,
is doing what he needs to do to win the championship.

But Green has an inflated points lead
because he’s usually the top Busch finisher, then a bunch of Winston Cup guys
are behind him, then the Busch guys bring up the rear. Winning the last two
races hasn’t hurt either.

ROUSH GETS 6TH TEAM: For all
practical purposes, the Wood Brothers no longer exist. They’re now getting all
of their cars from Roush. That’s engine, chassis, and body.

How long will it be before Roush has a say
in who drives it?

ROAD RASH: NASCAR has two weekends
in Winston Cup that, for my money, are a big waste of time. Of course, I’m
talking about the road course races at Watkins Glen and Sears Point.

Road racing just doesn’t lend itself to
close racing. How many times have we seen someone like Mark Martin get to the
front and just start running away with it? If I want to watch racing like that,
I’ll watch a Formula 1 race.

SHORT ATTENTION SPAN THEATRE:
Speaking of close racing, or the lack thereof, I’d consider the two Pocono race
weekends up for grabs if I were doing NASCAR’s Winston Cup schedules next year.
Or if the marketing types insisted that we had to be in that part of the
country, I’d tell the promoter that we’re only going to sanction 400 mile races.
Monday’s race took over 3.5 hours to run, which is just too long.

If I ruled NASCAR, I’d only have one or
two 500 mile races (plus the 600 mile race in Charlotte)….Obviously the
Daytona 500, one of the Talladega races, maybe one Michigan race. The goal
should be to run the races in 3 hours or less. That way if the race did need to
be shown in prime time, it could fit within the network constraints.