It\u2019s the last day of the year and I for
\none am in a hurry for the New Year to commence. The reason being, of course, is
\nthat it brings us closer to the new season. Just a little over a month and we\u2019ll
\nbe on our way again\u2026can\u2019t wait!!<\/p>\n
What do you think of all these drivers
\nscheduled to run the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona; Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart,
\nKyle Petty, John Andretti, Robby Gordon. Do they not know that there are already
\ntoo many races on tap for the season, their personal appearance schedules are
\ntoo demanding \u2013 how they could possibly think of adding anything more? Why
\nthere\u2019s even a couple already set to run Indy, for another it\u2019s a
\npossibility. Oh\u2026..it could be that first and foremost, they are race car
\ndrivers, and they just can\u2019t seem to get enough. Well hooray for us fans!!<\/p>\n
This brings up the subject of Jeff Gordon
\nand his decision to decline the invitation to run the four IROC races. I have to
\ncome out on the side of those who feel that this was not the best choice on Jeff\u2019s
\npart. Some sort of real rationalization has not come to mind when looking at the
\nactual amount of time involved. For all appearances sake, it just seems that
\nGordon is merely dismissing this series as something not to be bothered with.
\nStating that race and personal appearance schedules were too demanding on him
\nalready, one can\u2019t help but think that the real reason behind his decision is
\nthat he never runs well and he just doesn\u2019t want to do it. Who knows, but just
\nwhen he starting winning back some fans, he just says I\u2019m not going do it, and
\nwe, somewhat pensive fans look around and say, huh? Why not?<\/p>\n
Some of the best racing during the
\nBrickyard 400 Weekend was Labonte and Stewart banging off one another during the
\nlast couple of laps of the IROC race. And then as a true diehard NASCAR fan, it\u2019s
\nalways fun to see the Cup guys, more often than not, beat other motorsports
\ndivisions\u2019 top dogs. I always got a kick out of these races, and it\u2019s a sad
\nstate when the reigning Champion chooses not to partake in these events.<\/p>\n
After posting my predictions for 2002,
\nsome interesting mail was received from readers. Most were in defense of Mark
\nMartin, admonishing the comment made that maybe he should think about retiring.
\nSo, for now, I\u2019ll concede this point. I do feel that Mark Martin is one of the
\nbetter drivers out there, and with the recent change in crew chief to Ben
\nLeslie, formerly with Kurt Bush, it may be just the incentive to bring back his
\nwinning ways and competitiveness. Only time will tell.<\/p>\n
Other notes came from individuals who
\nobviously do not like Tony Stewart, and those who feel that Bill Elliott is
\nactually the favorite driver on the circuit. All I can say, is everyone is
\nentitled to their opinion. Also, had comments about Dale Jr. and the fact that
\nthe media is making more out of Jr. than he really is. For the record, I did not
\nsay that Dale Jr. is every fan\u2019s favorite, what I said was that he is one of
\nthe favorites, and that can be proven by merely attending any race, anywhere,
\nand listening to the crowd roar as he goes by. And I still think that he will be
\nchamp within the next three years, and that a great deal of credit has to be
\ngiven to him for "surviving" all the turmoil surrounding 2001.<\/p>\n
On Mark Martin, I\u2019ll bend. But as far as
\nBill Elliott being a major contender next year, no; changing my mind about
\nJeremy Mayfield, no; Tony Stewart being the best bet for the 2002 Championship;
\nyup; unless Bobby gives him the run for his money that I am suddenly getting a
\nfeeling he might? The general consensus of "the family" is that they
\nare not in agreement with me. They feel that the 2002 Champion will be an
\n"older, more experienced driver like Dale Jarrett." I\u2019m going to
\ncontinue to be the rebel in the family, and will stick with Tony.<\/p>\n
The fun will be the "heated"
\ndiscussions that go on, about who did what to whom, that take place via email,
\ntelephone, whatever, following a race.<\/p>\n
Hats off to NASCAR for their recent rule
\nchange raising the age requirement to 18 for all drivers, crew members and other
\nparticipants competing in the Busch Series, Grand National Division, Craftsman
\nTruck Series and all NASCAR Touring Series. This matches the existing age
\nstandard for the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. It takes a great deal of time and
\npractice to be considered a "good" driver, and, in my opinion, no one
\nunder the age of 18 has developed their skills to the level necessary to compete
\nin these divisions.<\/p>\n
Well soon things will be gearing up with
\nthe first round of Winston Cup Series testing set to begin on January 7-9 in
\nDaytona; second round will be held January 14-16. And then along comes February\u2026back
\nto racing!!<\/p>\n
I\u2019d like to wish everyone a Happy and
\nProsperous New Year \u2013 be safe!!<\/p>\n
That\u2019s it for now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s the last day of the year and I for one am in a hurry for the New Year to commence. The reason being, of course, is that it brings us closer to the new season. Just a little over a month and we\u2019ll be on our way again\u2026can\u2019t wait!! What do you think of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-original-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}