The Spin Out Zone – Special Quick Bumps & The #5 Kelloggs’ Jim Long Gets Bumped

First, I must take a moment to congratulate the Detroit Red Wings on winning
the Stanley Cup. I was pleasantly surprised to see Carolina play the Wings as
well as they did and they deserve a ton of credit.

Now, hold on – here is the bump and the SPIN OUT!

QUICK BUMP ZONE!

Quick Bump 1 goes to – Road course experts: I’m a fan of the road courses.
Look at last year’s drama between Kevin Harvick and Robby Gordon, it was FUN to
watch! But, I must admit I’m strongly opposed to the use of these so-called Road
Course experts. Here is my gripe – I look at Winston Cup as a "series"
of the best drivers in stock car racing. The challenge is to be the best driver
consistently throughout the entire season. However, when you bring in a few
select guys twice a year, that are only good at one thing (road courses), it
hurts the entire process of collecting those ever-so important points. What
Winston Cup regular, whether it’s Jeff Gordon or the point leader Sterling
Marlin, wouldn’t have a COW if one of the experts caused them the race. For
example, Jeff Gordon is leading and gets bumped by a road course expect to take
the lead and Jeff goes back to 25th. Would it be one of those racing deals – I
don’t think so! This is why the regulars show no respect for these guys! I say,
BUMP THEM!

Quick Bump 2 goes to – FordRacing.com: I work in Detroit (don’t live there!)
and I drive a Ford. So, I guess I can BUMP Ford without feeling like I am
favoring one specific manufacturer. Did you catch the article written last week
by FordRacing.com about Richard Childress and Kevin Harvick? For the love of
Mike, where in the world did they pull that article from? Who cares if Mr.
Childress is saving a seat for Robby or not, but what got me was they accused
RCR of using "cheated-up" cars. Basically, they said people are
looking at this as the explanation to why Kevin was so successful last year.
HELLO FORD! Beep, beep back the Taurus up and look at what Kevin went through
last year. Two teams, thousands of miles in the air to get to each track and,
not to mention the pressure of stepping into Dale’s car and filling his shoes!
Give me a break! I’m a believer in competition, I love the trash talking and I
love seeing a driver express their displeasure when another driver has done them
wrong. But, for an official manufacturer web site to print this type of article
without any type of FACTS is down right irresponsible. The funny thing is if you
look at who wrote the article, it says BY TEAM FORD RACING CORRESPONDENT, what a
cop out! Get some guts, or don’t write!

The Spin Out!

Does the old saying "once a cheater, always a cheater" pertain to
only a cheater in marriage? My guess is that it doesn’t.

I’ve got to tell you, if I’m Terry Labonte and Rick Hendrick, Jim Long is not
at the top of my "winners" list. Jim Long, the crew chief of the #5 Kellogg’s
Monte Carlo was fined $20,000 and placed on probation for a rule violation. The
rule violation was because Jim and/or the team attempted to increase the
capacity of the fuel cell through pressure.

Well, we all know how fuel strategy plays out at a track like Michigan and
the #5 team played their cards and lost big time. I am extremely disappointed.
What does this do to a team that can’t buy a win and obviously does a horrible
job a cheating. Maybe the pressure of the #24 and #48 teams doing so well got
into the heads of the #5 team causing them, in an act of desperation to CHEAT!
Is Terry winning worth the criticism they would have received if he had won
under these circumstances?

I’m all for pushing the envelope, but adding pressure to a tank of gas
doesn’t sound like the smartest of ideas. To me, pressure means an explosion
could happen. Am I wrong? Aren’t the lives of drivers, crews and fans in
jeopardy? I thought NASCAR was going to take a stronger stance with rule
breakers! Fines mean nothing to teams, drivers and crew chiefs because they have
the money. Putting people on probation only means they can’t get caught
"cheating" for a specific period of time. NASCAR needs to take points
away from drivers and owners. BIG POINTS! Maybe once a driver or an owner feels
the pain, they’ll re-think their cheatin ways!

This weeks SPIN OUT goes to – The #5 Kelloggs’ Jim Long and Team! For adding
even more pressure to a losing situation!

Until next week, happy bumping!