Week 30 RacinDeals

AMERICA STRIKES BACK: I’m not sure
what to make of the fact that, at least in Nashville, CBS had not one word about
the attacks on Afghanistan, and continued to show the Titan$ football game,
while NBC basically moved the race to TBS. I don’t know if the decision to
continue broadcasting the football game was made by the local affiliate, since
the Nashville pro football team was playing, or of CBS couldn’t get Dan Rather
out of bed an in front of a microphone.

Regardless, NBC (and ABC and CNN and FOX)
all broadcast more stuff than they had news for. When NBC broke to Tom Brokaw,
his report should have been "US and British forces have begun attacks on
Afghanistan," and then they should have gone back to the race on NBC.

Our enemies don’t need to have
intelligence operations over here; our news media does a good enough job for
them. I daresay Bin Laden, like Saddam, has access to a satellite dish to watch
CNN to see what’s happening.

LOWE DOWN: I like this quote from
Humpy Wheeler: "The dispute over the name of the speedway is
childish." I couldn’t have said it better myself. But where Humpy is
referring to NBC/TNT, it more aptly refers to him. His actions with the tow
trucks are inexcusable. He has nothing to do with the TV contract, and if I were
NBC, I’d sue him for interfering with it.

But the "issue" was resolved
before the race, and NBC’s graphics and talent referred to the race track under
it’s bought-and-paid-for name. And then, the war hit. I wonder how Humpy felt
about his stupid dispute in light of that?

The fact is, nothing changed. The same
contract that was in place for Bristol in August was in place for Charlotte
Motor Speedway. Perhaps Wheeler could have gotten Bruton Smith to clue him in on
the details.

Now, NBC needs to follow this same
practice with their stick and ball sports coverage. 

CHARITY GIMMICKS II: Why did it
take from five months for Tony Stewart to deliver the quarter million dollars he
"raised" during his runs at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Indianapolis
Motor Speedway in May?

SAFETY: ARCA is not NASCAR. NASCAR
is not responsible for ARCA’s safety practices. I don’t know what’s so hard to
understand about that.

RESTRAINT NEEDED: Dale Jarrett
thinks NASCAR should mandate the use of a head restraint device. With all but
one Winston Cup driver currently wearing one, what that boils down to is that
Dale Jarrett wants to force Tony Stewart to do something that Tony apparently
doesn’t want to do.

What would Jarrett think if NASCAR made
him use something that made him uncomfortable? Or annoyed him while driving the
car? Can a driver really afford to be annoyed while driving at those speeds? Or
tugging at something to keep it from wearing into your shoulder?

NASCAR certainly has the ability to
mandate some sort of head restraint. But if they do it, then anyone who drives
with a NASCAR license, from the local street stock weekly racer to Winston Cup,
should be made to wear it. After all, the life of Dale Jarrett isn’t more
important than the off-duty cop who drives a race car on Saturday nights, is it?

VICTORY CELEBRATION: NASCAR is
taking a lot of heat for not letting Sterling Marlin take the U.S. flag around
the track for a victory lap. I think it’s undeserved heat.

NASCAR has a responsibility to make sure
that the cars that race are legal before and after the race. They do countless
inspections before the race, but after the race the top three or four and a
random car are inspected very thoroughly. Once Marlin stopped and was mobbed by
all the people, the situation was out of control. It would have been very easy
for someone to put something into the car to make it fail inspection.

If one of Marlin’s crew members had simply
handed him the flag and he then took off on his victory lap, I don’t think there
would have been a problem. NASCAR should be applauded for what it did, not
ripped.

MAYFIELD IN Y2K2: Hmm, should he go
to RCR and continue to be second banana like he was at Penske? Or should he take
over the #9 car when Elliott retires and become a top banana for an R&D
organization?

PROVISIONALLY SPEAKING: I remember
a few years ago, Darrell Waltrip was blasted by "fans" and media for
"taking" so many provisionals. NASCAR even modified the provisional
rules to prevent it from happening again.

So, where’s the same outrage for Elliott
Sadler? Sadler took his 13th provisional of the year for this weekend’s race at
Martinsville, but no one is complaining.