Illegal RacinDeals

DA ROCK: Hmm, where to start. I thought the Rockingham race was a little better than
the Daytona race, but it could have been better. Drivers just seem to
be happy turning laps. For a while there, it looked like qualifying, only with
all the cars on the track at once.

At least the winning car this week actually got to the front by passing the
then-leader, unlike last week’s winner, who virtually had the win given to him
when the leader had to pit.

SEEING RED: Maybe Target should be the official symbol of NASCAR, since they
seem to have a moving target on when the red flag gets thrown in the last few
laps of the race.

They could eliminate all the controversy if they’d just extend the length of
the race and finish under green/white/checker. But that’s too simple I guess.

THOSE PESKY INSPECTIONS: Hmm, the winning car is too low, so what do we do?
Well, since being illegal is OK, we’ll (NASCAR, that is) will let the win stand,
but we’ll fine the crew chief a few grand.

Cheating doesn’t pay, does it? Or should that be cheating does pay, doesn’t it?

THE DOG ATE MY HOMEWORK: Matt Kenseth says that the reason the car was too
low was because of a dent at the place where they measure it. Hmm, I wonder if
he has any real estate for sale?

DAYS OF THUNDER: Speed Channel re-ran the 1990 Daytona 500 last Saturday night.
That’s the one where there were two movie cars in the race for "Days of
Thunder." During the broadcast, they said that the two cars were only going
to run 100 miles and would not be scored.

Now the question I have is, if the cars weren’t going to be scored, why were
they out on the track? Wasn’t that unfair to the other competitors?

ANTHEM RATING: Trace Adkins, a country singer, sung the National Anthem this
week. I’d give him about a 6 out of 10. He got all the words right and stayed on
the melody for the most part. But he did hit a few off notes that detracted from
the performance.

MORE GOLDEN OLDIES: ESPN Classic replayed the 1982 Richmond 400 and showed
why Dave Marcis always stayed out under yellow a lap longer than the other cars.
That’s how he won his last race by not pitting when the other lead lap cars did.
There were only 5 or so cars on the lead lap, and Marcis had just gotten lapped
by the leader, Joe Ruttman. But Ruttman wrecked, allowing Marcis to get his lap
back. Everyone pitted except Marcis, and then the rain came, shortening the 400
lap race to 250.

NASCAR FOR MORONS: Last year, NASCAR made a bunch of filler commercials for
their race broadcasts asking "How Bad Have You Got It?" Phase II of
that ad campaign continues this year with commercials that don’t exactly put
NASCAR fans in a good light (not that the ones last year did either). In one, we
see a guy who’s been pulled over for speeding, and tries to bribe the officer
into putting down that he was going 180 mph or so on the ticket. In the other,this
NASCAR "fan" is jogging when he suddenly darts out in front of a car,
causing the car to come to a screeching halt. After the driver rightfully calls
him a moron, the "fan" gets down on his hands and knees and sniffs the
pavement where the tires skidded.

This is supposed to be a NASCAR fan? Frankly, this latest batch of
commercials is insulting. I can only imagine some commercial writer somewhere
shaking his head in amazement thinking, "They actually bought this
campaign."

OBJECTIVE REPORTING: The newspaper in Orlando that thinks they’re the
watchdog for the public (who elected or appointed them, anyway?) has won some
kind of award for protecting the First Amendment. OK, I admit it: I went to
their site to see what they wrote about themselves getting the award.

Much to my amazement, they take credit directly for "NASCAR ordering its
drivers to wear head-and-neck restraints, installing crash data recorders on
cars and committing itself to research on other ways to protect drivers." I
guess I shouldn’t have been surprised; from February 2001 on, that paper’s only
purpose in it’s NASCAR coverage was to A) make NASCAR look bad (like NASCAR
needs any help), and B) sell more papers.

I wonder if the paper’s editors were wearing some type of safety device to
keep their arms from breaking due to all the pats on the back they were giving
themselves?

IN THE STARS: Other than the Orlando paper’s self-serving claims I
mentioned above, this
has got to be the stupidest thing I’ve seen passing as racing journalism in a
long time.