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Congrtat’s to Jimmie Johnson on his thre-peat.

Jimmie Johnson did enough during the Chase to end up on top. Carl Edwards ran out of events to win… leaving him in second place. The presumptive Chase winner, Kyle Busch, never did overcome his early Chase problems. Let me proclaim it here first, Jimmie Johnson will not win four straight Sprint Cup Championships. However, I do predict Read more

Rumor: Larry Dixon To Leave Snake Racing

The nitro fumes in Pomona have yet to dissipate and the NHRA rumor mill is already in full churn. Drag Racing Online is reporting that Top Fuel Champion Larry Dixon will be leaving Don Prudhomme’s Snake Racing and will drive the Al-Anabi Top Fueler next season. That car, as you know, will be tuned by Alan Johnson. DRO is also reporting that Spencer Massey, who is already under contract with Prudhomme, will be Dixon’s replacement in the U.S. Smokeless Tobacco dragster in 2009. Read more

Double Clutchin’-The Year In Silly Driver Awards

Well, Jimmie Johnson won his third-straight championship by doing what he had to do at Homestead: not crashing. Carl Edwards won another race by having just a touch more fuel than everyone else did and he did his part to at least made the first part of the race interesting. Now, with the final race of the season out of the way and the end of the NASCAR season upon us, it is now the time to give out the awards for this season. These were thought out over a great deal of time (about 30 seconds) and it is my sincere wish that all of the drivers honored will be deeply touched by these awards.

Plastic imaginary trophies can be found at finer K-Mart establishments nationwide:

The Cale Yarborough Award For Racing Excellence: Jimmie Johnson

The “Is This Guy A Racer Or A Pro Wrestler?” Award: Carl Edwards

The Bill Belichick Award For Coaching Ethics: Chad Knaus

The Michelle Wie “Not Ready For Prime Time” Award: Joey Logano

The Alex Rodriguez Award For Outstanding Playoff Performance: Kyle Busch

The Phil Hellmuth Biggest Brat Award: Kyle Busch

The Tampa Bay Rays Surprise Of The Season Award: Clint Bowyer

The Best Driver That No One Has Ever Heard Of Award: Greg Biff…What’s his name again? Biffle? Okay, yeah, Greg Biffle, that’s it.

The Phil Fulmer Award For Coaching Excellence: Tony Eury, Jr.

The “My God, If I Have To Watch Those One More Time, I’m Going To Stab Out My Retinas” Award: The Kasey Kahne All-State commercials

The “If My Wife Looked Like His, My Racing Would Fall Off As Well” Award: Jeff Gordon

The Hank Williams, Jr. “Pretty Good, Never Gonna Be His Dad, And That’s Okay” Award: Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

The “These Guys Caused More Crashes Than Michael Waltrip” Award: Goodyear Tires

The Jan Brady “I Hate My Sibling” Award: Kurt Busch

The “What Do You Mean I Didn’t Win” Award: Carl Edwards for winning two more races, having four more top fives, and five more top tens than Jimmie Johnson, but ending up in second place in the points.

The “I Thought That All I Needed Was A Hot Wife To Run NASCAR” Award: Dario Franchitti

The Willie Mays “Please Retire, Because I Can’t Stand To See You This Way” Award: Bill Elliott

and finally…

The Casey Mears Award For Being An Average Performer On A Great Team:

Goes to…Rocky Kitts and Double Clutchin’. Seriously, a big thank you to Josh and the team here at Fast Machines for giving me the license to blog a little NASCAR this season and to be as serious or as silly as I wanted to be. I know that my style isn’t entertaining to all, but hey, you can’t be all things to all people. I’ve had a great time here this season and hope that you readers have as well. There have been better NASCAR seasons, that’s for sure, but this season still gave us some great moments to remember and hopefully next season will once again find us all talking about the end of another tremendous NASCAR season.

Last person out out of the garage make sure that all the tools are turned off, unplugged, and placed in their proper spots.

Thank you and God Bless to all. Even you Kasey.

NASCAR - Who Would Have Won?

Lunch one Thursday in 2003 was interesting. We met, as usual almost every week, at the local Lions’ Club for their cheap hot dogs. This gathering has included at times, Chris Economaki, drivers, crew, retired drivers and owners, journalists, etc. The weather and home crises cut into attendance that week but it was still an interesting group. Read more

At least they’re making it interesting!

With Carl Edwards qualifying fourth and Jimmie Johnson starting 30th, there is a chance Jimmie could finish below 38th overall, with Edwards leading the most laps and winning the event to claim his first Sprint Cup National Title. But I really don’t see that happening. Johnsom isn’t going to be content running Read more

Double Clutchin’-The Good, The Bad, And ABC

First off, apologies to all for no posts in a while; the reasons for my absence are numerous and personal, but I’m happy to be back with you for the last bite of the NASCAR season.  I’m going to do this post in reverse today so let us get this party started:

The Ugly:

ABC.  Oh my God, are you kidding me?  With 39 laps to go in the race ABC decides to switch to ESPN2?  I know there are a few of you out there who wonder what the big deal is; I mean, every one has cable; right?

No, they don’t.  One of the things that I’ve liked about the last part of the season is the fact that the races are on ABC.  That means that I can go to visit my dad on Sundays and watch the races with him.  Cable isn’t offered in the boondocks where my folks live and a satellite really doesn’t fit into their budget, so the only races that he gets to watch are the ones on free tv.  So when the race was switched to cable, we (along with those who had tivoed it) were pretty much screwed.

Folks, I was so mad Sunday that I was throwing things.  I know that this wasn’t really NASCAR’s fault, but it really felt like it was another example of how far away from its core audience NASCAR has gotten.  Like I said, maybe that’s not fair of me, but I was more than a little irritated.  Plus, it was a definite sign that whether we want to admit it or not, NASCAR is still seen as a red-headed step-child in the sports industry.  If that had been an NFL game, there’s no way that it’s not allowed to play out.  This was the next to last race of the season, you’ve got the points leader in first and the number two guy (Carl) primed to make one last run at the lead and possibly the championship.  There was every indication that something good was about to happen, but God forbid that America’s Funniest Home Videos be knocked off the air.

I mean, who wouldn’t rather watch a guy get hit in the balls by his kid on video for the millionth time, than what could potentially be the deciding race of the season?

Bill France wasn’t happy about the decision, but he was diplomatic, saying:

“We didn’t like it, that was not what we had anticipated but we have talked to them repeatedly in the last couple days,” France said. “There were lots of circumstances that we have to consider. They have their own issues they had to manage around. Unfortunately we got the short end of that.”(Nascar.com)

No, Bill, it was a lot of your fans that got the short end of that.  Onto the bad.

The Bad:

This isn’t really bad, but I didn’t know where else to put it.  The wreck involving David Gilliland and Scott Speed was tremendous.  I can’t remember the last time that I saw a car actually stuck on top of another car.  Bad luck for both guys, but it was a great visual and luckily no one was injured.

And oh yeah, Scott Speed is as weird as he was advertised.  I’ve never seen a guy look that happy about being involved in a crash.  If this guy can learn to race the NASCAR circuit, he could really be good for the sport.  He’s got a lot of qualities that I think could make him very popular; and even more unpopular with NASCAR fans.

The Good:

Jimmie Johnson took this victory at Phoenix, and with that he has all but finished his quest for a third straight championship.  Sure, Haley’s Comet could change course, plummet to Earth and take out Johnson before the race, but it’s not bloody likely.

Carl Edwards.  Carl may not win the championship, but there’s no doubt that this season was his coming out party.  Carl will go into next season as one of the top candidates to dethrone Johnson as the champ, along with Kyle Busch and he’s become the new “it” guy of NASCAR.  Carl has brought a lot of energy to NASCAR this season and I expect him to be bringing that same kind of energy for years to come.

Great races by Jamie McMurray and J.P. Montoya (that makes it more NASCAR-ie, doesn’t it?) on Sunday.  Both of these guys have been impressive in the last few races (I guess racing for sponsorships can do that), and I wouldn’t be surprised to see either one of them be next season’s break-out driver.  Of course, in McMurray’s case, that’s been said before, but maybe this will be the time for J-Mac to fulfill his potential.

That’s it for this issue, folks.  One more race to go and we can tie a bow on the NASCAR season.  That can mean only one thing:

The first ever Double Clutchin’ Year in Review Driver Awards!  Coming soon to a blog near you.

Be afraid Michael.  Be very afraid.

Also, in case I forget to mention it later, thanks to all of you who have taken the time to read these posts and who have offered your own opinions and observations.

FastMachines.com Radio Episode #18

Sorry this is a week late…..

Chris and Josh are joined again by George Katinger to cover the end of the 2008 season. We’ll also talk a little NASCAR, mention WRC…and talk about how Josh rode in a rally car upside down in Rally New York. Show notes below the fold…

Let us know what you think by commenting on this posting, or shoot Chris and I an email by sending to radio@fastmachines.com.

Click below to listen to us right now in your browser…

Click here to download the MP3 of this week’s podcast and load it on your iPod or whatever you listen to your tunes on.

The FastMachines.com Radio Podcast is brought to you by:

Michelin - Race to Learn, Race to Win

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Get the trophy ready!

After the fall trip to the desert, the Chase is virtually over. With Jimmie Johnson leading Carl Edwards by 141 points I think it would be safe to drop the hardware off at jewelry store and have Jimmies name printed on the trophy for the third consecutive time. Only Cale Yarborough had earlier managed that feat. Cale was one heck of a great driver in his day. Read more

F1 World Championships: One Constructor, Two Drivers

Well if you haven’t seen or heard of the outcome of the Brazilian GP yesterday, you must have been in a coma. In a bid to win the driver’s championship Felipe Massa, in front of his countrymen, drove a brilliant weekend, from practice right through to his race win. And it wasn’t enough. Read more

Vegas clinches it for Schumacher, others still TBD

There is one more race to go in the season, and at least one champ has it in the bag and another is just about there.

At the eighth annual ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Tony Schumacher locked up his sixth Top Fuel championship simply by qualifying (and taking the pole while he was at it) and then going on to beat the defending event champ “Hot Rod” Fuller in a big ol’ tight drag race. Shoe had a 3.806 at 314.53 mph, and Fuller a 3.821 at 315.19 mph.

This is Schumacher’s 15th win in an amazing season when he never dropped out of first place; if he wins the last race at Pomona he’ll tie Greg Anderson’s record of 16 wins in one season.

“I knew A.J. [his crew chief Alan Johnson] was trying to run in the high-.70s in the final,” said Schumacher. “‘Hot Rod’ is running good, and I told myself before the final that I had to dig deep. Our cars were running so close that I was worried about getting beat on a holeshot.

“Every race we win gets harder and harder because the bar is set so high. Everybody I raced had good lights against me, because they’re all trying hard. I can’t let my guard down against any of them. This is just a great win. We’ve had an outstanding season, and it would have been devastating if we didn’t close the deal at the last couple races.”

Lined up behind Schumacher on the final Top Fuel leaderboard are Hillary Will, Antron Brown, Cory McClenathan and Larry Dixon to round out the top five.

Read more