Historical RacinDeals
GREENER GRASS: If I remember right, Jimmy Elledge left the #55 team at the
end of 2001 to become Dale Jarrett’s crew chief. On the surface, that appeared
to be a great opportunity. However, as of this week, he’s been relieved of those
duties.
Sometimes the reason the grass is greener on the other side is because of the
manure.
GREENER GRASS II: However, sometimes the grass really is greener. Look at the
#6 team, which is now the #97 team, except for the drivers. The crew of the #6
team begged Jack Roush to be moved away from Mark Martin, and that happened over
the break. Result? Busch improves, Martin, despite the fact he’s in the top ten
in points, still can’t find victory lane.
NEED TO KNOW: Jim Worsley over at Catchfence.com has a comment
about some things Michael Waltrip said in last Monday’s Inside NASCAR (or
Winston Cup or whatever they call it).
Specifically, he disagrees with Waltrip’s contention that that rule changes
should not be broadcast to the media. Waltrip says that the media latches on to
these things and beat them to death.
Worsley says that the fans need to know about these changes in order to enjoy
the race more. But I’m with Waltrip on this. Worsley compares racing to football
or baseball saying that a fan who knows the rules will have a better time. Unfortunately,
that comparison falls flat.
What Waltrip is talking about is not race rules, but equipment rules. If you
want to use the football comparison, do you really care of the quarterback has
to wear shoulder pads that are such and such thickness? Or that a linebacker’s
helmet has to have so many bars across it? Does that really help you enjoy the
game? Who cares if the Chevy’s get measured differently? Why do I as a fan need
to know anything about that? The fact is, I don’t. And Waltrip’s right; the
media beat these things to death (and some drivers do too).
SECOND RACES: ThatsRacin.com seems to be on the "give Texas another
race" bandwagon. Why else would they have such a dumb poll on their site in
which fans are asked how long it’ll be before Texas gets that second race?
But it looks like fans know what’s going on. Over half of the people who
responded (as of this writing) say Texas won’t ever get another race.
And that’s as it should be. While there are perfectly good tracks out there
who don’t have even one race, Texas and any other one-race track on the
circuit shouldn’t be awarded a second one.
MY SOON-TO-BE-FORMER WIFE: Looks like Brooke Gordon is in for a cool
$600 grand shortly. That’s half of the advance her soon-to-be-former husband
Jeff is getting.
That might pay for a year’s worth of makeup. (Ohh, was that bad of me or
what?)
SPONSOR "SUPPORT": AT&T seems to be doing their best to
lose me as a customer. With those stupid Carrot Head commercials that they’re
running, I’m glad I have a remote. And now, when you got to ThatsRacin.com, they
have a DHTML ad that pops that that SEVERELY interferes with your ability to get
to the information you want to see (not that there’s that much there, compared
to last year).
Note to sponsors: if you want to attract and keep customers, don’t annoy
them.
THE HEAD AND NECK RESTRAINT PANACEA: Given all the TV and radio time
the various head and neck restraints have been given over the last year (both in
reporting and advocating), you’d think that now that drivers are forced to wear
those things we could forget about head injuries.
Sadly, that’s not the case. A Grand Am driver who died in March was wearing
such a device. Unfortunately, when his car flipped, his roll-cage broke. As ThatsRacin.com
describes it, "his head was severed at the base of the skull."
I just hope that the drivers who are forced to wear them don’t end up with a
false sense of security. That could lead to even more deaths.
HISTORY: Two historical events happened at Fairgrounds Speedway at
Nashville Saturday night (April 6). Joe Buford passed Darrell Waltrip in all
time points race wins at the track. And Deborah Renshaw became the highest
finishing female driver ever in the premier division with her second place
finish.
Congratulations to both drivers.