Ironic RacinDeals

TANKS FOR THE GAS: I guess I’ll join the bandwagon here and wonder out
loud why NASCAR thinks having a smaller gas tank will separate the cars at Talladega.
As has been said by others, they pit together anyway, so now they’ll have to pit
twice as often.

I still maintain that my solution to this "problem" is the best. To
wit: in qualifying, make all teams run the same size plate. Then before the
race, have each crew chief draw for his plate from a pool of three or four
different sized plates. If you’re lucky, you get the 1" plate. If not,
you’ll get the 3/4" plate.

That would certainly separate the cars.

IRONY: Wouldn’t it have been funny if all the press at Watkins Glen
had got up and walked out when Tony Stewart came into the room for his post-race
interviews?

RATINGS: With three broadcast networks airing races on Sunday at
almost the same times, the ratings proved to be interesting. Personally, I
watched about 90% of the IRL race, and only the first few laps of the Watkins
Glen race. I only discovered there was a CART race on CBS when there was about
10 laps to go in that race.

Both the IRL and CART races ended up with a .9 rating, which translates into around
900,000 households. The Winston Cup race had a final rating of 5.3. Hmm,
NASCAR’s Winston Cup is beating CART at its own road racing game.

THAT’S REALLY "BAD": NASCAR doesn’t need to make up stupid
scenerioes for their "How Bad Have You Got It" campaign. All they need
to do is have a film crew at Bristol in a couple of weeks to film the weddings
that are set to be held before the race.

AMAZEMENT: I still find it amazing at how many people are excusing (or
making excuses for) Tony Stewart’s behavior. If I were the photographer he
slugged (remember, he did physically assault the guy), I’d own Tony Stewart and
most of Joe Gibbs racing. If you’re a member of the media in an area where
you’re allowed to be, and a driver slugs you, there’s no excuse. I don’t care
how "passionate" he is about losing (and from what I hear, once he was
passed at Indy, he just slowed up instead of fighting for second or third). I
don’t care "how NASCAR needs drivers with emotions." There’s no excuse
for it, period. NASCAR should have suspended him at least one race. As far as
Home Depot’s "fine," as I said last week, that just added a couple of
days to the news cycle on the story, keeping them in the press.

A RUDDY COMPLEXION: For crying out loud. Ricky Rudd, do something.
You’re just making silly season sillier.

SPONSOR PLACEMENT: Pepsi sure got their money’s worth in the Busch
race at Michigan.

MOST DANGEROUS JOB IN RACING: Is it being on a pit crew? The driver?
Do officials have the most dangerous job in racing?

I submit none of the above.

The most dangerous job in racing is person stuck with the on-site anger
management counselor for Tony Stewart.

RUMORS R US: That web site that’s run by one of the manufacturers is
at it again. They need to keep their nose out of negotiations. I’m wondering if
they could be held liable for some of the stuff they write…?