Sunday Thoughts--Honoring the Vets and Kyle Busch

First, and foremost, Happy Veteran's Day to all who have served their country, and in remembrance of those who have given the ultimate sacrifice, you are Honored.

Some day, Kyle Busch will be forgiven for being Kurt's brother. The man is one lean, mean, racing machine, who's accomplishments in his relatively short racing career have already been notable and numerous. Those who have listened to his Victory Lane interviews after the CTS and NBS races at Phoenix may have noticed that his enthusiasm and anticipation for his late model race in Las Vegas was as great, if not greater than, his emotions after winning two tough races. We at Rev'Jim's have been critical of his racing style in the past, but, now that he has learned and matured, we can see that he has put his talent to good use, and is among the most notable drivers of the Cup series.
No matter who the fan's favorite driver is, that fan knows that his or her favorite has a passion for helping those in need. I'm not talking about the publicized contributions to Victory Junction Gang Camp, relief to the victims of Katrina and the California wildfires, which are very worthy, but expected. I mean the behind-the-scenes encounters, such as the ones many of us Stewart fans find about our own favorite driver. Kyle Busch is no exception; here is a very heart warming and touching story about the Schrub and a behind-the-scenes personal encounter of his own. It is rather lengthy, but it is a good read.
Even though I'll be pulling for my favorite driver, it will be exciting to see if the Schrub can pull a triple sweep at Phoenix this weekend. If he does, we'll be seeing history in the making.
For those who are curious, Kyle Busch finished 18th in the Fall Classic at the Bullring at LVMS, retiring from the competition after a late-race accident involving himself and Shelby Thompson while battling for second. The full race results and coverage can be found here.
Another Kyle, Kyle Petty, described Petty Enterprises' move as being bittersweet. He knows that the move was necessary to try to improve the teams performance, but RPE at Level Cross is the only home he has known.
"I was leaving Dallas on a motorcycle, when (the announcement of the move)came out," Petty told John Roberts on Tradin' Paint, "So I didn't know about it until I got home.
"It's like the story of the kid who goes to school and comes home to find that his parents have moved."
The move is, indeed, big news, for Petty Enterprises has been at Level Cross, NC since 1949, and has always been a family and friends operation. The change, though necessary in the larger scheme of competition, is just another arrow in the heart of racing traditionalists.
Today's race should be a good one. I'm fired up. LET'S GO RACIN'

Phoenix was the first "real" test for the CoT

Photo Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE Copyright © 2007 Mark J. Rebilas


I call it the "retrocar," because the boxier shape reminds me of the cars NASCAR ran prior to the late nineties, and because it features the flying wing--dissimilar to the one's we saw on the Plymouth Superbird and Dodge Daytona in the late 1960's and early '70's, but a flying wing, nonetheless. Phoenix International Raceway proved to be the first real test of the CoT, as we got to see the new design raced for the first time in a venue where aerodynamics are important.
What we saw was consistent, for the most part, with what we expected. The drivers who can adapt quickly adapted. According to the drivers and commentators, the new design "takes finesse" to race successfully, therefore, the drivers who are known for car control--Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin, and (I hate to say it) Jimmie Johnson--performed well, while drivers who just floor it and hope they miss everything in their way, like Kyle Busch and Greg Biffle, did not perform so well.
Something else that we noticed about the retrocar is that the bump and run technique is not all that effective in the retrocar. When a car approaches the rear of another car, the rear end does not lift as easily as it does in the conventional cars. Depending on what kind of racing you like to see, this could be good or bad. It seems that "clean" racing is forced with the retrocar, but that doesn't seem to affect the performance of the top drivers. The bump and run has been a trademark of The (Jeff) Gordon, for instance, but not being able to use that technique did not keep him from winning.
I didn't want to see Scott Riggs' bad luck continue. He was taken out early in the race in an accident not of his own making. I have a lot of confidence in Riggs, who has yet to win a Cup level race, and he has shown it while on the track. But he has had some bad luck this season that rivals the well known bad luck of drivers such as Greg Biffle and even Jeff Gordon. Whoever has the Scott Riggs Voodoo Doll, please put it away. Riggs has done nothing to deserve it.
Photo Credit: Copyright © 2007 Gary A. Vasquez

I really didn't want to see The Gordon win, and, for a little while, Smoke was giving him a good run for the win. But, when it came down to it, it was a good race, Gordon had a great car, we got to see two of the greatest race each other, and we were all touched by Gordon's tribute to Dale Earnhardt.
For a while, when the CoT is raced, there will be only six or seven drivers who will be in contention for the win, which isn't all that different from what we have seen so far this season in all the races. The other drivers will eventually learn to finesse the car through the turns, and the field will gradually become more even. Unless I'm mistaken, which admittedly I often am, the next CoT race is at Richmond, but I'm looking forward to the road course race at Watkins Glenn. That should be the next real test of what the retrocar can, or cannot do.

Wow

I could write about the excellent racing in last night's NASCAR Busch Series Race--not only that of Matt Kenseth and Clint Bowyer at the finish, but also that of Denny Hamlin, Jeff Burton, and Carl Edwards for the top five places. It would be very appropriate to note the very touching and emotional display of rememberance for the victims of the Virginia Tech tragedy, not only by the drivers and crew members from Virginia, but by the entire organization and the ESPN broadcasting staff.
Dale Jarrett's excellent comments on Juan Pablo (Johnny Paul) Montoya's aggressive style of driving.
"In Formula One," Jarrett explained, "the race is won on the first lap, so he (Montoya) is used to going for all at the beginning of the race...Either the other drivers will learn to race his way or he will learn to race the way the drivers here do. I think he will learn to race the way the NASCAR drivers race." (That's not an exact quote, I can't remember what he said word-for-word, but that describes the point he was making.)
(AP Photo/Ken Sklute)

I would like to describe the flashback I had regarding Matt's chartruesse colored paint scheme. I thought it was 1999 at PPIR. Man, I hate that color, but I like the driver.
I would like to write about how the NBS race at Phoenix was the best we have seen in any series so far this season, but, really, one word suffices--
WOW!