What lies ahead in 2010?

Holy cow, has it really been a year? The debut post for this blog was December 19, 2008. Its been real, its been fun, and yes its been real fun. As far as I'm concerned, we'll keep this thing a'going throughout 2010.

Banktruck and I would like to wish all who are reading this a Merry Christmas.

With Christmas just a week away, here's a bit of racing wish list I've got for 2010:

• I wish that tiresome Home Depot commercial with Joey Logano would go away.
• I wish the sport would have more teams with fewer cars per team. It bothers me Yates Racing is no more now that its merged with Richard Petty Motorsports. I didn't like it when teams of Junior Johnson, Bud Moore, and Harry Melling disappeared either.
  
• I wish Robby Gordon could get sponsorship to run all year.
  
• I wish the number of start and parkers would decline. Instead, it sounds like the number of S&P's may increase with the return of the #49 BAM Racing team.
• I wish more racing beat writers could be as honest, candid, and knowledgable as the late David Poole or the alive-and-kicking Monte Dutton.
  
• I wish talent and potential were still relevant in getting rides rather than who can bring a sponsor with them. It bothers me Danica is bringing GoDaddy to JR Motorsports at the expense of lesser known, more talented, longer term drivers. Same goes with John Wesley Townes taking daddy's chicken money to Richard Childress Racing and Paul Menard latching on with Richard Petty Motorsports.
• I wish I could go to about a half-dozen races in 2010; however, I'd probably be happy going to a couple of them.
  
• I wish Dodge had what it took to support more than one competitive team. But it doesn't, Ford gets the Petty cars, and Dodge is left with just Penske Racing.
  
• I wish Michael Waltrip's part-time #55 program included a few stints with Kyle Petty behind the wheel.
• I wish newer fans (and drivers) could develop an appreciation for the history of the sport. Rick Houston does a great job at Stock Car History Online making it easy for you.
  
• I wish Jack Daniels and Jim Beam could have stayed around. The schemes on those cars always looked classy and were certainly better than the neon green of GoDaddy.com.
• I wish Stewart-Haas Racing success in avoiding a sophomore slump with Smoke as the owner.
• I wish Digger and Jerry Punch would just go away. Hey...wait...I got an early Christmas present!
  
• I wish the NHL and its teams would sponsor a Cup team.
• I wish I could get use to seeing Matt Kenseth's #17 without DeWalt colors.
• I wish Schaefer beer wasn't so hard to find.
  
• I wish Jamie McMurray all the luck in trying to convince us he's a Bass Pro Shops outdoor guy.
• I wish someone would use a dipstick to whip the living snot out of Team Genius at Castrol who have subjected us to that nonsensical waste of commercial time.
• I wish more drivers and fans would join us at Twitter. The racing contingent already has a pretty good presence, and we have a lot of fun on race weekends using it. But there is always room for more!
  
• I wish I could be a fly on the wall at Hendrick Motorsports and NASCAR if Dale Jr. and the 88 team don't get things turned around by early in the season.

TMC