I think the cold weather down here in Texas must have me a little bit gripey. I’m starting to feel my own negative vibe coming from my past few posts. I’ve got to wonder about my mood when 6 of my last 7 posts are tagged in either the ‘Rants‘ or ‘NA$CAR‘ categories.

This actually is a good spin on my posts from 1 year ago, NASCAR.com is bloated and How Not To Build A NASCAR Website.

I’ve got to admit, even a year later, I click to nascar.com before any other NASCAR related website. I like ‘Track Smack’ and the daily news articles. I look at the picture galleries and even refer to their statistics from time to time. My NASCAR buddies and I have played the Ultimate Fantasy League game for 5 years now.

‘I like nascar[dot]com.’ There, I said it. I still hate that dang video that starts up on the home page.

So, it is with eager anticipation that I await the unveiling of the new nascar[dot]com website. According to the web shop over there it is due to be released on Thursday.”

I was just reading the latest on the quandary that Richard Childress Racing is in over the Cingular and AT&T merger. I think I may have the solution.

If this little sponsorship issue isn’t on your radar, here it is in a nutshell.

• Pre-season 2004, Nextel buys into a 10-year contract with NASCAR for $700 million to sponsor the NASCAR Cup series.
• Nextel wants to ban any cellular phone rivals from sponsoring NASCAR events or teams.
• Alltel & Cingular are ‘grandfathered’ and allowed to continue their exisiting sponsorship of the #12 & #31.
• Cingular and AT&T merge with the intention of phasing out the Cingular name in favor of AT&T

As pointed out in the AP article “Under normal circumstances, that wouldn’t be a problem. The team would just slap a few shiny new logos on the car and hit the track.”

Well, of course not so fast. Nextel ‘outlawed’ that.

The Solution

You know those little holographic cards you used to get in Cracker Jack? The ones which show the image in one position at one angle and a different position at another angle.

That’s how they ought to deck out Jeff Burton’s ride. Kind of be like a subliminal sponsorship.

Now it shows ‘Cingular’…woops…now it shows ‘AT&T’. Whoa. Now it’s ‘Cingular’ again.

I mean c’mon. What was the agreement made for anyways? Don’t like a little competition? What’s a matter Nextel? You Skeered?

It’s kind of ironic that Nextel and Sprint merged into Sprint-Nextel. Although, we truly don’t know what the future holds in their name and ultimately the NASCAR series, do we?”

“I’m not impressed with all the name dropping and star strutting that Mr. NASCAR continues with each and every week.

If you haven’t heard, the ‘big party’ in a couple of weeks will have none other than Nicolas Cage gracing us with his presence as the Grand Marshall of the Daytona 500.

Big whoop-dee-doo.

Excuse me if I don’t gawk in star struck wonder as the rich and famous are ‘plugging or being plugged’ at our little red-neck go-fast turn-left affairs.

Last week, I surprised my wife by being less than excited that local-girl, Kelly Clarkson, was signing on with NASCAR as their teeny-bopper-femme-diva for the 2007 race season. It’s all an attempt to generate more of the almighty dollar that drives NA$CAR to wine, dine and parade the rich and famous around the pits.

I’m not impressed.

Here’s a short list of last years big names at the track. I’ve not included any country music artists or groups. They seem more of a natural fit, even if they aren’t NASCAR fans. They’re proximity to the main NASCAR demographic buys them a free ticket from this rant.

I may have forgotten someone though (I hope they’re not offended). Clue me in and I’ll be sure and get their name in lights like they deserve. God knows we wouldn’t want to miss someone. NA$CAR wants to be sure and tie as many ethnicities and social classes to the sport as possible and I wouldn’t want to be responsible for endangering their plan.

Wow!

Just finished watching ESPN Classic’s re-broadcast of the August 29, 1992 Budweiser 500 from Bristol Motor Speedway. What a great race. If you’re not catching these classic NASCAR race broadcasts every Thursday, you’re missing out.

I didn’t know who was going to win the race, which made it as good as live. Even better though was watching NASCAR drivers like Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt, Davey Allison & Alan Kulwicki racing. Cool also was seeing the likes of Ken Schrader, Kyle Petty & Geoff Bodine running up front and competetive. Plus (yes there is more) the early days for Ricky Rudd, Mark Martin, Rusty Wallace & Dale Jarrett.

The race came down to the last 10 laps not knowing who could make it on fuel. Darrell Waltrip had 1/2 track advantage and was able to stay out to easily capture the victory. There were great battles for the top 5 spots between Waltrip, Rudd, Bodine, Earnhardt & Schrader.

It’s amazing that watching a 1992 NASCAR race seems like ancient history. So much has changed. Here’s some notes of the glaring differences.

• Neither Darrell Waltrip’s victory lane interview nor crew chief Jake Elder’s interview in the pits did either of them mention the sponsor. Not once! They thanked the team. It was all about the team.
• Bristol Motor Speedway was not enclosed with seating. Not even close. One section had a group of mini hot air balloons. Another section had fans sitting on a grassy hill.
• I was wowed with Davey Allison’s driving (up until he wrecked). But a shot from the stands showed a number of people cheering with arms raised in the air as he crashed hard into the inside wall.
• Sterling Marlin sucks on short tracks. Ok, so some things remain the same.
• Ernie Irvan, Mark Martin & Davey Allison all wrecked. They all took responsibility and said ‘they messed up.’
• Only 32 cars started the race. Only 4 cars were on the lead lap at the end.
• There were several spinouts that the driver gathered it back up and the race stayed green.
• Benny Parson’s was as personable and sounded just the same 15 years ago as he did last year.

This race was even better than 2 weeks ago 1992 Hooters 500. Hopefully next Thursday’s race, the 1990 Holly Farms 400 at North Wilkesboro, will air as scheduled. Set your DVR’s!”

Being a NASCAR fan entitles me to certain freedoms that aren’t afforded to those people and industries that are NASCAR.

I equate this aspect of being a NASCAR fan like going to a great party. One where you just show up and enjoy. No planning or preparation. No cooking, cleaning and arranging. No entertaining and having the duties of host or hostess. Not even sticking around afterwards and helping to clean up.

What I really mean is that the inner-workings of the NASCAR sport are not my concerns to worry about. I just want to show up and enjoy the party.

But, if you’re someone heavily vested in the NA$CAR franchise, like say Jack Roush, you get a little worked up and zealous about a new player moving into the area. This all just struck me this morning while reading about Jack Roush’s ‘declaration of war’ on the Toyota camp. Jack is clearly a Ford man.

I’ve never given much thought to why Toyota has entered the NASCAR Series. Oh sure, they want to represent. They want equal footing in America’s premier stock car racing association. Yes, it is about the almighty dollar.

But for me, the ‘Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday’ adage went out the window long ago when it got too hard to tell a Chevy from a Ford from a Buick. The on-track NASCAR cars all looked the same.

I guess you could saw I was passively raised a ‘Chevrolet Man’ simply because that’s what my folks always owned. My dad’s race cars were all Chevy’s. Likewise, most of my cars have been Chevrolet’s.

Odd thing is, it hasn’t stopped me from being a Dale Jarrett and Ricky Rudd fan. The blue oval or bowtie never influence me when it comes to my favorite driver. Likewise, my favorite driver doesn’t influence my choice of a make of car.

Maybe I’m not so into the manufacturers because I’m not a ‘mechanical man’. My mechanical repertoire includes: changing the oil, changing the brake pads and flushing the radiator.

More than likely though, it’s because the lines are too unclear between all makes of NASCAR cars to distinguish a difference. The teams have been allowed to morph the cars into an unrecognizable creation much akin to Michael Jackson.

So to me, I say bring it on Toyota. Let’s see you win some race with Dale Jarrett behind the wheel.

I wonder how many NASCAR fans agree…or disagree?

PS: Trucks are a whole ‘nother issue.”

“I’ve been lovin’ me up some SPEEDtv these past couple of weeks.

I attribute my prolific pre-season blogging to watching the various SPEEDtv broadcasts. I was too tightwad last year to increase my satellite package, thus relegated to only Sunday races. Now I’m in heaven.

One show that’s really interesting is 7 Days. Through the show I’ve come to admire several NASCAR personalities in a new way. I’m basically easy that way. Put a good spin on someone and I buy it. Makes life simpler and happier I reckon’. (YES, Shelly. I’m sure y’all will wear me down for your boy JJ.)

7 Days episodes I’ve enjoyed involved Marty Smith (nascar.com), JJ Yeley, Boris Said, the ‘Racing Authentics’ folks and even Ty Norris (former VP at DEI and now with Michael Waltrip Racing). Ty made an interesting comment on Dale Earnhardt enticing him to come work at DEI. Earnhardt referred to his merchandise marketing enterprise as a ‘Runaway train’. Implying the lucrative possibilities of it were tremendous. The Racing Authentics guy referred to Earnhardt as the catalyst for the NASCAR merchandising business. His t-shirt trailer selling so well. But as Jerry often says…I digress.

Tonight’s insightful snippet comes from a conversation between Humpy Wheeler (GM of Lowe’s Motor Speedway) and Brian Vickers during the Bank Of America 500 qualifying. If you’ll recall, this was the week following Brian Vickers third-to-first on the last lap (how’s that for spin? Literally) to win the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega.

Humpy: “Congratulations, now that was a great win, man, that was fantastic. Let me tell you something, if this had been 10 years ago, that’s the way you did things.”

Vickers: “Hey, hey, it’s an entertainment sport, right?”

Humpy: “It is, it is.”

Meanwhile, the NASCAR Nation was erupting with cheers and jeers. Fans, drivers (and ummm a crew chief…cough…Chad Knaus…cough) were all voicing stinging opinions about Vickers, his ability and his future.

My daughter really digs the drama of WWE Wrestling.
Me, I dig the drama of NASCAR.

Sometimes I wonder if the two are very far apart.

What do you think?”