Sofa Sideline – Commentary from a Friend – Ten Top Things He’d Like to See at the Banquet

Here goes:

10. Recognition of 2001 first time race
winners – It is extremely tough to win a Cup race. First time
winners should be welcomed into the fraternity.

9. Genuine humility, humor, and spontaneity
from drivers making speeches vs a lot of uh’s, umm’s, heh-heh’s
and a litany of sponsor names.

8. An presentation by NASCAR of a large
check from them for the NY and WDC relief efforts. A million
bucks oughta do it.

7. A new design for Brett Bodine’s #11 so
that it looks like the WTC Twin Towers.

6. Fewer camera shots of Brooke Gordon each
time Jeff completes a sentence. Sure she’s pretty, but who won
the championship?

5. A "standing O" for Teresa
Earnhardt, Dale Jr, Michael Waltrip, Steve Park, Richard
Childress, and the rest of DEI. Don’t just single out Teresa.
While her loss was perhaps most tragic, Big E’s death affected a
ton of folks at DEI and RCR.

4. Presentation of checks by former drivers
and champions – not sponsor reps. Bring in King, Cale, Bobby,
Pearson, Lorenzen, etc. – Quit pretending history doesn’t exist
and keep these guys involved in some way w/the sport each year.
One caveat – Just keep Parsons and DW away. We see them every
week. Plus, they try to steal the spotlight any time they can.

3. Recognition of NASCAR drivers elected to
the 2001 class of the International Motorsports Hall of Fame –
including Tim Richmond.

2. A public announcement that ISC will
rescind its "no cooler" policy effective with the 2002
Daytona 500.

1. Dale Earnhardt. Nuff said.