Today's Controversial Moment

Kevin Harvick is well on his way to holding the highest points lead in the history of the NASCAR Busch Series. This may be upsetting to those who decry the presence of Cup regulars in that series, known as "Buschwhackers." They believe that the NASCAR Busch Series, or NBS, should remain a second-rate series for second-rate drivers, and feature second-rate racing.
Of course I disagree with the detractors. Any driver who is willing to race 72 races a year is, in my book, a true racing hero. It hearkens back to the days of Ned Jarrett, Lee Petty, and Ralph Earnhardt. Back then, the Busch series was known as the Sportsman Series, and the Cup was the Grand National Series. Neither series was considered the "Premier" series; they were merely two different divisions featuring different specs for the cars. Two, or sometimes three times a week, the drivers of those days would climb into a car and race. This often meant they would participate in over ninety races a season.
The presence of the "Buschwhackers" has increased the quality of racing in the NBS by all accounts. Drivers who may never get a chance to race full time in Cup--David Green, Stanton Barrett, and Stacey Compton, for instance, get a chance to hone their skills against the Cup drivers. Developmental drivers, the future stars of NASCAR, such as Paul Menard, Steven Leicht, David Gilliland, and Aric Almerido, get more experience in shorter races in competition with the likes of Harvick, Mark Martin, and Carl Edwards. As the level of competition increases, so does the quality of the learning experience of these drivers.
If the Cup drivers are "slumming" in the NBS, they are selling tickets. The Busch Series does well where there are stand alone races at venues where there are no Cup races, such as Milwaukee, Kentucky, Memphis, and Nashville. However,at places like Martinsville, which features an NBS race on the same weekend as the Pennsylvania 400, no Cup drivers means no tickets. These days, one could draw the conclusion that if there were no Buschwhackers, the NBS would be doomed.
I understand the argument put forth by some of the team owners in the Busch Series, that the presence of the full time Cup drivers takes away from points and prize money. I agree that the points system should be tweaked to favor the non-Cup full time Busch teams, and it could be. The prize money will grow with the exposure, for as exposure increases, so will the sponserships. Technology availability will also increase for the "poor" teams, as the Cup teams provide more equipment to and form more partnerships with these teams. The "Car of Tomorrow" Cup program will provide even more high quality equipment to the Busch teams as those in the Cup will phase out the cars they have now.
All in all, Harvick and the others can only benifit the NBS, which in turn will benifit the Elite and Grand National weekly series, for those two divisions will become more important as the "Farm" leagues of NASCAR. Those who lament the upgrading of the NBS can still see excellent racing at their local short and dirt tracks, for far less than the cost of travel time and tickets for the Busch Series races.
So, to Kevin Harvick, I say "Go for it!"

This is It!

This is it. Down to the wire. And, yes, I'm antsy, excited, and a little irritable, looking forward to Saturday night's Cup race at Richmond.
After the checkered flag waves at Richmond, the top ten drivers in championship points will be the ten drivers on the podium at the post season banquet in December. This is one of the misgivings I have about the Chase for the Championship points system. There are ten races left, and there are more than ten drivers who could finish in the top ten under the old points system. However, under the Chase rules, the top ten will already be chosen, and there are only eleven drivers who could possibly make the top ten. On the other hand, the Chase rules do make this race very important for those eleven drivers, and the excitement level is high. Richmond is a short track, which means there will be a lot of contact, and a little bit of bad luck could take one of those drivers out.
Matt Kenseth and Jimmy Johnson, currently first and second in points, respectively, are mathimatically locked in to the top ten, meaning they don't have to finish the race to still be in the chase. For all practical purposes, Kevin Harvick, currently in third, has a spot on the podium, if he finishes the race. The other seven, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Mark Martin, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, and Jeff Burton, are all in jeopardy.
That jeopardy comes in the form of Kasey Kahne, the heartthrob of many a teenage girl--and the three women in a very funny series of Allstate Insurance commercials. Kahne, undoubtly a very talented driver is only thirty five points out of tenth, and is the winner of last year's final race at Richmond. This doesn't bode well for one of those seven.
I want to see Kahne in the top ten, but who would I want to see out? They all deserve to be on the podium, in fact, they all deserve to be crowned Champion. My first thought would be Jeff Gordon, but upon further thought, I would rather see Gordon in than his over-exhuberant team-mate, Kyle Busch. Don't ask me why, for I highly respect both drivers for their talent, Jeff Gordon, as I have said before, is arguably one of the best drivers in the history of NASCAR. But I like my drivers to be racers, guys who would get in an car at any time just to participate in a race. Jeff Gordon doesn't do that--he is exclusively NASCAR Cup. He doesn't have time for extracurricular racing. While many of the other drivers will jump in a sprint car, or a late model dirt racer, often for charity events, Gordon would rather be on his yacht with his super-model fiance. So, maybe it is just his lifestyle that rubs me the wrong way. He is a NASCAR driver who would be a better fit socially with the likes of Formula One superstars Kimi Raikkonen or Michael Schumacher.To be fair, though he doesn't make himself as accessable to the fans as the other drivers do, he is not above signing autographs between the drivers' meeting and the garage.Like him or not, he truly deserves a spot on the podium with the season he has had.
The same could be said for Kyle "The Schrub" Busch. With an immense natural talent in driving, he has an immense ego to match. For some drivers, the ego is exactly what makes the driver a winner. No doubt, he is a champion in the making, and, as young as he is, Busch has a long and illustrious career ahead of him. He will have plenty of chances to compete in the top ten, and plenty of chances to be a champion. That is why I would pick Gordon to be in the top ten rather than Kyle this year.
I am nervous, but not too much, about Tony Stewart making the cut. If he doesn't, it would be the first time in his Cup career he wouldn't end the the season in the top ten. In fact, not counting his year in the Busch Series in 1998, he has never finished outside the top ten in any series he has ever raced in. That includes from go-carts to USAC sprints, midgets, and silver crown, to the Indy Cars, to NASCAR. Just a little nervous, knock on wood, because Stewart is smart, and though he doesn't like points racing, he will do the best he can to get the best finish without risking his position in the top ten. Like his idol and mentor, the late Dale Earnhardt, he has a knack for taking a twentieth place car to a top ten finish. Anything keeping him out of the top ten will not be by his own doing. He finished second in this race last year.
I want to see them all in the top ten. In fact, I would like to see twenty drivers in the Chase for the Championship. With any luck, there will be a tie for tenth place points, and we will see all eleven in the Chase. So, I wish the best of luck to all these drivers, and let's go racin'!

World's Shortest Personality test

I wonder how many people get the same result I did? Probably most, but maybe I shouldn't judge.

Your Personality Profile

You are funky, outdoorsy, and down to earth. While you may not be a total hippie... You're definitely one of the most free spirited people around. You are very impulsive - every day is a new adventure. However, you do put some thought behind all your actions. Still, you do tend to shock and offend people from time to time!

The World's Shortest Personality Test

NASCAR Season Still Strong As It Nears End

My cats were afraid of me, because I was jumping around, yelling, whooping and exhibiting all sorts of strange behavior. They got over it, they always do. After all, all I was doing was watching the last few laps of the Sony HD 400 from California Sunday night. I was excited, because it looked as though Reed Sorenson might get his first win. Not that I am a great fan of the young driver, but it is exciting to see any NASCAR driver get his or her first win.
It is still hard for me to get used to not having the Southern 500 from Darlington to watch on Labor Day weekend. The anticipation I experienced toward the end of last week was a holdover from what was a holiday tradition. The races at Darlington are always exciting, for it is a very unique and very difficult track. Passing isn't that easy at Darlington, because the track is narrow and the surface is uneven, and traction is easily lost. It is these kinds of risks that make a race exciting.
But at some point, I suppose we have to let tradition go. NASCAR is, after all, a business, and if a business doesn't profit, then there is no point in running it. Darlington wasn't making the kind of money NASCAR wanted, so they moved the Labor Day venue to California.
Not to say that they can't have an exciting race at California--Sunday's race proved that they can. It is a different kind of racing from Darlington--wide open and plenty of room to pass. Normally, though, this would result in a long single file parade, because, in the past, the competition wasn't at the levels it has been this year. As much as I hated the idea of the Race for the Chase when it first came into play two years ago, it has noticeably raised the stakes for the last quarter of the season, which in turn raises the competition level, and the level of excitement. The drivers take more risks, and though the risk factor isn't as high at California as it was at Darlington, it still makes for better racing.
In the end, it became a fuel mileage race. Thouigh not always desireable, at certain tracks, such as California Speedway, the strategy in this type of racing can be captivating. It is gambling, and we all like to watch the big gamble, the taking of chances and the out-thinking that goes with it. It was a gamble that put Sorenson in front, and the gamble was lost, for Sorenson ran out of fuel with four laps to go. Kasey Kahne, the Cute Little Guy, and one heck of a racer, took the win, completing a Busch/Cup sweep of the weekend.
I felt happy after the race, because it once again affirmed that we are seeing some of the best racing this season in over ten years. Whether or not the drivers who are racing up front are among our favorites doesn't matter, for we love watching Earnhardt, Martin, Gordon, Kenseth and Kahne trying to out-maneuver each other at very high speeds. I like to believe that we all got what we wanted from Sunday's race, and that is what keeps us looking forward to the next race. The next race should be a "doozie." Next weekend's race at the short track in Richmond, VA is the last race before the cutoff for the championship series. Eleven drivers have a chance to make the top ten, and it all comes down to the finish line next Saturday. Though there will be forty-three drivers in the last ten races of the season, only the top ten after Richmond will be competing for the championship. Matt Kenseth holds the points lead, with Johnson right behind him. Kevin Harvick, in third, is pretty much locked in, but the fourth through tenth positions are up for grabs. Any mistake, no matter how small, will put one of these drivers out of the top ten for the rest of the season. Needless to say, as much as we disliked the idea when it was first enacted, we watch with great interest.
"NASCAR--how bad you got it?" I got it bad.

Oh, California!

For once, I believe I can write a race preview that is short and sweet, because I can bypass the description of the California International Speedway, because it is so similar to Michigan, which I have gone into in depth twice in the past two months. Suffice it to say that I love the kind of racing that goes on at the 2 mile circuits as much as I do the demolition derbies at Bristol, though it is a completely different type of racing.
So, without repeating myself, I;m picking Greg Biffle to finally come through and win one. Though Matt Kenseth is on a roll, and can be considered the favorite, Biffle's luck has to change sometime, and this could be it. Don't bet on my pick, though, because it is gut feeling, not expertise that I base my pick on. However, if Goodyear is using a different tire compound than they did in Michigan--see, I even neglected to get the tire report--fuel mileage will come into play, and Da Biff's crew chief, Doug Richert, is very good at fuel mileage races. Bifle has nothing to lose except for the chance to show that he is still a winner of the championship class.
The stiff competition will come from Kenseth, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Jeff Burton, and Kyle Busch, the first five working to stay in the top ten, or, in Kenseth's case, to keep the best position possible going into the chase.
The only downer about this weekend is that I, being a traditionalist of sorts, still expect the laber day weekend race to be at Darlington, a very unique and interesting venue. But, those days are gone, and we have to accept change. Nothing wrong with reminiscing, though.
I enjoy the wide-open side by side racing that we get on these tracks, so once again I say it should be a good one.

Which Lunatic am I?

Which Historical Lunatic Are You?
From the fecund loins of Rum and Monkey.
It figures--I worked in the electronics trade for almost 18 years, including my time in the Air Force

In Other Racing News...

The Formula One Turkish Gran Prix was one of the real gems of the season, and it didn't even have to rain to make it good. Fernando Alonso, the reigning champion, and on his way to a third straight world championship, finished second to first time winner Filipe Massa. This is the second race in a row there was a first time Formula One winner--at the Hungarian Gran Prix three weeks ago, Jason Button got his first win.
Massa, the Brazilian driver for Team Ferrari, started from the pole, and managed to hold the lead for the entire 57 laps. There was, at the end of the race, some real racing going on behind him. Alonso, who was ten championship points ahead of Michael Schumacher going into the race, was running in second, while Schumacher was running in third. Kimi Reikkonen, who had won last year's Turkish Gran Prix, was out of the race, tire problems causing him to wreck. Schumacher had been running in second, when there was a foul-up in the Ferrari Pits, as the team had failed to communicate whether Massa or Schmacher was to pit first, and Schmumie had to pass through without pitting, losing over four seconds. He overcame the setback, and with three laps to go was on Alonso's tail. Schumie certainly had the faster car, but Alonso excels at protecting his position. Schumacher fell behind several times after having runs on Alonso which failed, as Alonso successfully blocked. The maneuvering the two cars were performing in the battle for second place was exciting to watch. Several times, through several turns, Schumacher persisted in trying different strategies through the corners, and Alonso persistantly held him off. At the end of the final lap, Schumie made his final charge, and was just passing Alonso at the finish line. Alonso beat him by just one-quarter of a car length.
Still the celeberation for Massa was genuine, and the second and third place finishers made sure to congratulate each other on a race well run. In a demonstration that crossed team boundaries, Alonso and Schumacher lifted the jubulant Massa high upon their shoulders.

Stateside, IRL rookie sensation and third generation driver Marco Andretti became the youngest Indycar driver ever to win an IRL race, as he led the field across the finish line at Sears Point (Sonoma, CA). Proving that the racing blood still runs strong in his famous family, he took the lead three-quarters through the race, and held it, winning on pit strategy and a fuel mileage gamble. I am happy that the IRL has included some road courses in its schedule, and it is certainly good racing.
A first time win in any series for any driver is a momentous time in any driver's life. Congratulations to both Filipe Massa, and Marco Andretti in their first victories in their respective classes.