TMC Racing Stories: Loudon 1

Schaefer co-founder Philly and I flew to Manchester, New Hampshire on a Friday morning in July 2005 for a great weekend culminating in the New England 300 Cup race at what was then Bob Bahre's New Hampshire International Speedway.

We dropped our bags and keys after a rental car's drive to our hotel on the outskirts of Boston. The hotel shuttle guy dropped us at a nearby T station, and off we headed to Fenway and uncertain destinations afterwards.

A co-worker and I did a similar trip two years earlier. In 2003, he and I got a pair of BoSox v. Toronto Blue Jays tickets at less than face from an angry young lady. She was livid because her boyfriend hadn't showed or called. She sold us the tickets for $25 each, we thanked her and bought her a drink, and grinned all the way to our seats.

Philly and I weren't quite as fortunate in 2005. One, the opponent was the New York Yankees. Two, we didn't cross paths with a scorned Bostonian female. Despite holding out until the bottom of the first, street prices didn't flex down much. We begrudgingly parted with a hundred bucks each ... and then some, but we were about to experience Red Sox vs. Yankees in Fenway.

I'm no baseball fan, but I truly dig a baseball park experience. The game itself was a blowout with the home team winning 17-1. But to be in the park and soak in all the animosity the Boston fans for their New York rival was surreal to say the least.

Leaving the park, we decided to clear our heads a bit by walking to Back Bay and beyond. We made our way to the obligatory tourist trap of the Cheers bar, formerly known as the Bull and Finch Pub.

Source: Wikipedia

With nowhere else to go until mid-morning Saturday, we asked the waitress to keep bringing 'em until it was near time for the final T run for the night.

A good time was had - and Philly was particularly generous. On a return trip from the john, he stopped by the bar and bought two nice, ornate steins for us. Philly's goal is to spend ZERO on race trips so this was an extremely kind and unexpected gesture on his part. (Plus he was already over budget with his Fenway spend.)

The waitress finally said "OK, you've got about 15 minutes to make the final T for the night." Somehow we paid her and got directions to the subway station.

After dropping our tokens and bumbling down the stairs, there sat the T with the doors open. We prided ourselves on a job-well-done. Maximum enjoyment time on a Friday night before race weekend. But the doors didn't close. With it being the last train of the night, we surmised the operator was holding it a bit longer for the extra stragglers.

Suddenly, standing wasn't good for Philly.

Philly: I gotta take a leak man.
TMC: No way. The subway is about to leave.
Philly: I'll never make it to our stop. I'll be right back.

And boom off he went. I knew our stop, but I wasn't sure if Phil remembered. He could hail a cab if necessary, but I'm not sure he could provide a cogent address. He fortunately made it back in time before the doors closed, and I immediately declined any intel as to where he watered the concrete flowers.

We made it to our stop, lumbered to the top of the stairs, plopped on the curb, called the hotel, and sighed as we waited for the hotel shuttle.

Then ever so calmly, Philly said simply "Well. Damn."

What??

"Remember when I went to take a leak? Well, I took the steins with me. And when I zipped and walked, I reckon I forgot to pick 'em back up."

- - - - - - - - - -

The recently retired Tony Stewart won the Cup race in dominating fashion. The race was the second and final time I saw Smoke take the checkers.

Credit: Motorsport.com

And though Philly may have lost his newly purchased steins, at least he didn't present the winner of a 300-mile race with a 400 flag.

Credit: Motorsport.com

TMC

2011 Speedweeks Concludes

Wow. Just now catching my breath. The web is full of articles, columns, commentaries, analysis, and blogs about Speedweeks. I'm not sure I'll be able to lend a whole lot more to what's already out there, but here goes:

• Having a son of the Volunteer State back in victory lane really feels good. Its been a long dry spell. Darrell Waltrip won his in 1989, and Sterling Marlin went back-to-back in 1994-95. WE Tennesseans had to then wait until 2011 for another one. Heck, its just great to have a southern boy win a Cup race, period!

• Bayne just seems to be an amazingly talented yet genuinely humble kid. For a kid who has focused on nothing but racing since he was in single digits, he seems to have a grasp of history. I heard him say more than once his first number was 24 because he was a Jeff Gordon fan. And he repeatedly gave props to the Wood Brothers, David Pearson, and the legacies of both. Having that kind of skill, humility, and an appreciation for NASCAR's history will build him a legion of fans quickly. Young drivers such as Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Kasey Kahne, and even Jeff Gordon seemed to enter the sport at a very young age with a ton of talent and hype but with no humility or appreciation for their ancestral teams or drivers.
  

• NASCAR waited until right before Speedweeks began to announce its new points system. Coupled with the restructuring of the points was the announcement that a driver had to declare for a single championship to pursue. No more double dipping between Cup and Nationwide for points. So what happens right out of the gate. ALL THREE WINNERS - Michael Waltrip in trucks, Tony Stewart in Nationwide, and Trevor Bayne in Cup tallied a collective ZERO championship points for their efforts. They each got a trophy, the record book, the moolah, a kiss on the cheek (or more), and TV coverage. I'm guessing they'll get over the points. But the eggheads in NASCAR's office probably started their 8AM meeting Monday morning with a cup of coffee and the words "um....uh...but we never...I mean how...ya know we..."
  

• I've read some commentaries today suggesting Bayne lucked into his win because of the 17 car pile-up around lap 30. Yeah right. The kid re-started a green-white-checkered finish with Tony Friggin' Stewart to his side. When the green unfurled, Bayne smoked him. And he executed a perfect block on Carl Edwards who had a huge head of steam as they headed for the checkers. I've seen superstars such as Earnhardt and Elliott win races following a multi-car wreck or weird pit sequencing and yellow-flag timing. If you win one of these things - especially at Daytona - you've earned 100% of it.
  

• Even though Stewart didn't win the 500, his .007 second win over Clint Bowyer in Saturday's Nationwide race was nothing short of phenomenal.

• Last fall, Richard Petty Motorsports was on life support. Probability of surviving until the end of 2010 much less 2011? Between slim and none, and slim was leaving town. Yet the King and his court did the unbelievable and brought back RPM. They finished the season, pared back to two teams, and hit the beach in 2011 with speed. It was a bit of an old school racing flashback with the 21 and 43 both running near the front most of the day.
  

• Question of the week: Will Darrell Waltrip devise a plan this week to glom onto Trevor Bayne? DW can seldeom ride ride Mikey's coattails anymore. Darrell milked the 10th Anniversary of Dale Sr's death. But I heard him say on TV that it was time for "healing to begin". To me it was a coded message for: I gotta look somewhere else to mooch because this 3 Tribute dog won't hunt anymore. Dale Jr. was unable to close the sale for another 500 win - though he had some help getting wrecked. But in my gut, I still don't think he would have won it had he not wrecked, and I believe DW knew it too. So with DW being from Franklin, TN and Bayne being from Knoxville TN, I could foresee DW claiming him as a quasi-grandson, great-nephew, etc. I bet Ol' Boogity Boogity will be positioning himself to be Bayne's mentor/pimp by the time they roll into Phoenix. He may even have his own nickname for him such as Tennessee Trevor or My Main Bayne.

• Did you realize only one other driver has done what Bayne did Sunday - win in his first Daytona 500? Lee Petty - in the inaugural 500 in 1959.
  

• Kevin Harvick's Budweiser car puked a motor early. His first time with new colors and mass, commercial beer equaled FAIL. Trevor Bayne's #21 car colors, however, were red, white & gold.

Hmm, I've seen those colors before. Oh yeah! Karma baby, karma.

• Where does Trevor Bayne go from here? Who knows. For now, he seems to be truly enjoying himself. And for once, I think fans of all drivers are universally happy for him and the Wood Brothers organization. Only time will tell though whether he'll be the next Bobby Allison...or the next Bobby Hillin, Jr.

TMC

NASCAR in Vegas - Saturday

After Friday's arrival, an afternoon at the track, a towed car, and an evening in Vegas, we started Saturday with two logical destinations: (1) Breakfast at IHOP and (2) a re-load of Schaefer at Lee's. Check that - we actually went to Lee's for beer first. Then we got a short stack of cakes, eggs fried over well, bacon extra crisp, and a pot of stout coffee.

After breakfast and the B-double E-double R-u-n, we had to make the obligatory stop for a photo-op at the most famous landmark in Vegas.

From there, it was back to Las Vegas Blvd. for the 10 mile haul out to the speedway for the Sam's Town 300 Nationwide race. Turns out, Sam's Town is some sort of off-strip hotel/casino and not that big ass club store where you can get a boat load of frozen steaks, a pallet of Cokes, and an upright popcorn machine. Who knew!

At first, the drive down the strip is pretty cool. Bellagio, the Eiffel Tower at Paris, the grandeur of Venetian, the swankiness of The Wynn, and even the novelty of the Stratosphere. But from there, Vegas gets...uh interesting...and then pretty skanky.

• Oh hello wedding chapels.
  
• Well that's cool, folks can get married with Elvis and Tim McGraw stand-ins.
• Tattoos while you wait - a novel concept. I'm sure that business model is going to slaughter the mail-order service.
  
• The world famous Palomino Club - hmm, I wondered where you were.
  
• Convenience stores selling 3 quart bottles of Icehouse beer for $4.99.
  
• Quite possibly the largest flea market I've ever seen - covered from one end to the other with local Hispanic residents.
• The Golden Nugget, the Silver Nugget, and even Jerry's Nugget!
  

Soon, we were back at the scene of the crime. Perhaps against better judgment - but relying on the assurances of parking volunteers - we parked in almost the identical spot as we had just 18 hours earlier.

Off we headed to get our scanners updated for the 2010 season, preview the crowd, check out the lines at the Danica trailer, and stop by the Speed stage. Good timing for us as Speed was taping NASCAR Smarts - perhaps the single worst piece of NASCAR programming ever to air... except of course when one is there and can yell out "whooooo!"

The Vegas episode pitted Kyle Petty and Rutledge Wood against Mike Wallace and...uh, yes that's him...Carrot Top.


Did I mention NASCAR Smarts may well be the worst piece of NASCAR programming ever to air? Well, perhaps aside from any TV interviews over the years with Ward Burton. Anyway...

We found our fantastic seats in the Richard Petty Terrace only to be greeted moments later by rain as driver introductions took place. Not surprisingly, the driver getting the greatest volume of cheers was to start way back in 30th-something place - Miss Prissy Britches herself.

Now, look closely at that expression if you can. Or maybe you saw her on TV. She easily had the longest souvenir trailer lines, easily got the loudest reaction of all the drivers, and got almost unanimous cheers vs. jeers. Yet, she smugly gave the flippant Queen of England wave and moved on. I haven't seen a face with less of an expression since my own when someone asked me "hey man, would you prefer a punch in the gut or a poke in the eye?"

Once it became apparent the race was going to be delayed because of the rain and track-drying efforts, we headed for what is arguably the coolest aspect of the Vegas track - the Neon Garage.

Once inside this controlled area, we were able to view all of the Cup garage bays, listen to bands covering classic rock hits, monitor the track drying progress on a million big screen displays, see the action around the team haulers, get all the concessions and souvenirs you could want, etc.

Perhaps coolest of all was recognizing we had the opportunity to be front and center near victory lane once the races ended. Here's the "before" shot:

One trend I'm really enjoying in this early part of the 2010 NASCAR season is the embracing of the past. Junior Johnson and Ned Jarrett were brought to Vegas for multiple autograph sessions. (Sadly, we missed them all.) And restored cars of Junior, Ned, David Pearson, and Fireball Roberts from the 1960s were on display.

The Volunteer state of Tennessee was well represented. I was there representing Middle Tennessee, and old school dealerships East Tennessee Motor Company and Chattanooga's Furlow Cate Ford were on David Pearson's 1969 Torino and Ned Jarrett's #11 from 1965, respectively.

With all the complaining today about the COT, aero push, cars not looking like recent race cars much less stock cars, etc., I thought these little details of Junior Johnson's 1963 Chevy were interesting:

Fuel filler on rear of car with conventional gas cap:

Factory window cranks:

Driver's side door mirror:

After digging the old school cars, we toured the garage area looking at the current cars. Here are a few examples of what we found.

• A.J. Allmendinger in the famed #43 running a Valvoline retro scheme reminiscent of Mark Martin's Valvoline days with Roush.

• Kasey Kahne's Bud Ford - amazing how much better he ran and finished after returning to the all red scheme vs the white Olympics theme.

• Tony Stewart - Until you've seen in person the Old Spice red metal flake color on Smoke's car, you haven't seen perhaps the sharpest color on a race car since the combination of Petty blue and STP's fluorescent competition red on the #43 of the 1970s. A photo can't do it justice.

The other car we wanted to check out was the entry fielded by Tommy Baldwin Racing and sponsored for the weekend by Kardashian Fragrance. One, my friend was once a neighbor of a guy who works for TBR so we wanted to keep an eye open for him. Two, the whole Kim Kardashian scene intrigued me.

I'll be the first to admit I really didn't have much of a a clue who she was, why she had a show, why she was famous, etc. Seriously! I don't know her. I don't know the TV show. I have no interest in it at all. Until I found this picture. OK, so she's now got my attention thank ya very much. Mercy.

After seeing her and the Chevy upon which her image was emblazoned, I quickly reached the conclusion Kim has some pretty awesome "front end geometry" and a pretty incredible wing out back.

Knowing the car was painted pink and pimped out a perfume, I guess its only appropriate it was driven by a driver named Bliss. Far better choice to represent Kardashian I suppose than someone named Curtis Dysfunctional III.

After seeing what we wanted, it was time to return to the grandstands and watch the Nationwide race once the track was ready. Plenty of seats were available so we decided we'd park in the seats near the start-finish line.

The race was a much better one than Sunday's Cup race. Part of the reason is the design of the cars. Another reason was the urgency of the drives to race to the half-way mark. More rain was in the area, and most thought the track would soon get drenched again.

Sure enough a caution flew after half-way, and tons of fair-weather fans thought that was the end of it. But we could see some clearing and held our seats. Plus, I've waited through more "weather windows" at tracks like Charlotte, Talladega, Bristol, and Darlington than I care to count. A bit of rain in the desert wasn't going to deter me from staying until they finished or called it.

The race did indeed go back green, and NASCAR was successful in running all the laps. Kevin Harvick had a beast of a car - especially as he sailed through turn 4. He overcame a bad pit stop earlier in the race, and his #33 Rheem Chevy took the checkers under the lights.

As soon as the checkers flew, we immediately headed for the Neon Garage to stake a viewing position. We were pretty fortunate to get in a good position for some victory lane photos.


After the victory lane celebrations ended, we crossed back to the grandstands and strolled to the parking lot through the now-empty Richard Petty Terrace. The speedway folks did a very cool thing by labeling all the pillars with images from the King's history.

From there, it was time to clean up and head back to the strip. Following a shower and change of clothes, we visited the Stratosphere and multiple establishments in Caesar's Palace before returning to Excalibur. Along the way, yada yada yada took place and we struggled to answer the bell for Sunday morning.

TMC

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

Smoke or Junebug- Where is Junior Nation going?

Remember what I said almost 2 weeks ago?

"Sproingggg - I'm pretty sure that's the sound we'll hear as former Dale Jr. 'fans' start bouncing off his bandwagon and onto the Smokestack."

This week Ed Hinton from ESPN. com had this to say about the surge in Smoke's popularity.

"There is muffled glee inside the Tony Stewart camp. It's about more than his being the first owner/driver to lead the points in 17 years and the first to win a race in 11...It's pride about a significant undercurrent in NASCAR: merchandising -- "souvenir sales," in NASCAR business-speak...In it, Stewart has pulled alongside and is challenging Dale Earnhardt Jr., who has dominated this race since his father died...By some measures, Stewart is actually ahead by a bumper."

Told ya so...

TMC

Random Race Thoughts for the Week

For a couple of boring races over the weekend, seems like an awful lot of chatter came out of them. Let's see...where do we start? How about...

Kyle Busch - Trashing the Nashville Gee-tahr

Nashville Superspeedway has struggled to get on the national radar for its Busch/Nationwide races since opening. Without a companion Cup race, its races are stand-alone events rarely creating much interest. But that all changed Saturday when Shrub sent 'em home a'talking and a'cussing over his latest attention-grabber.

I personally don't think it was a cool move - and it particularly looked weak when he couldn't even break the guitar. However, it seems to me more folks are pissed off at his immaturity, at his disrespect of the city/track/race/sponsor/artist/yada yada yada, at a Cup driver flying down to steal the Regulars' money, etc. than were interested in the race itself!

Inquiring minds ask: What if Dale Jr. had dropped in, schooled the field, done the same thing, and popped off "Finally! We done won somethin'. And this 'un goes out to my buds in 3 Doors Down." Would have folks reacted the same way?

Track promoter/general manager, Cliff Hawks, was on a Nashville sports talk show quasi-apologizing for Shrub's behavior and trying to explain it away by saying Kyle doesn't "get it" - whatever that means. But mark my word - wait until next spring when the series returns to town. See if ol' Cliffy doesn't incorporate video footage of Kyle into his ticket sales promotions.

Lost amidst the puny Pete Townsend effort was his phenomenal burnout. Burned 'em up until the the whole back end went ablaze. How cool was that?

Martin Truex's Future

Read on Jayski Monday that Martin Truex Jr. plans to have GE Reveal light bulbs as sponsor for two races.
Hey Martin, here's a bright idea - DON'T SIGN WITH MICHAEL WALTRIP RACING FOR 2010!


Double File Restarts

This change was the worst-kept secret coming out of the NASCAR 'town hall' meeting the day after the Coke 340.5. Bill Weber from TNT hyped it up a bit but fortunately not as bad as if the Three Stooges from FOX had been broadcasting another week. In the end, it made zero difference as friggin' fuel mileage ensured Smoke was able to roll to his first official Cup victory at about the same speed as an old lady riding to church on Sunday morning.

Pocono's Trophy

I really respect 84 year-old Dr. Joe Mattioli and his family for trying to keep it old school at Pocono. A determined, independent track owner, he has no plans to sell his track or dates to SMI or ISC, and he has stopped pimping his race names to corporate sponsors. But the Mattioli family really needs to take up a collection at the gate or something to upgrade their trophy. Look at this thing. It looks like they bought it at Hobby Lobby to give to the Wilkes-Barre 8 year old Little League champs.


With such great and prized trophies as the ones given to the winners at the Daytona 500, Brickyard, Bristol races, Texas, Nashville, etc., its time to re-think the prize - especially for a Cup race winner. But at least Tony didn't smash it.

* Sproingggg *

I'm pretty sure that's the sound we'll hear as former Dale Jr. 'fans' start bouncing off his bandwagon and onto the Smokestack.

TMC