Random Thoughts…
Written by Ray Champagne · May 18, 2008
Since the great All-Star race was such a snooze-fest, I had a few extra minutes to jot down some random thoughts as I fast-forwarded through the main feature to watch the commercials. Here they are, unfiltered, from my brain to your eyes:
- Why is SpeedTV not broadcast in my area in HD? I guess this is really a question for the people at Comcast, but when I called them tonight, they said that it was up to SpeedTV to answer. Strange that I have two channels for Speed, and one of them is supposed to be HD, but I digress…after watching races in HD on Fox, seeing the premier race in the regular format is very disappointing. Sparks, crashes, and special paint schemes look just awful in analog.
- Someone needs to give Johnny Sauter a decent ride in great equipment. I don’t know if anyone has been watching this guy over the past 5 years, but the man can drive a car to a decent finish, even when that car is a 30th place piece of junk. Yes, sometimes he overdrives the equipment and it ends in either a wreck or controversial outcome, but the man can wheel a racecar. Give him a machine of the caliber of one of the top 5 teams, and he’ll get the job done. Why he hasn’t been tabbed for a ride in a top-tier team is beyond me.
- Why do the windshield tear-offs always seem to muck up someone else’s day by getting stuck in a grille and overheating their car? It sounds cheesy, but in this day and age, why hasn’t someone found a technology that doesn’t allow the tear-offs to come off a car at high speeds? Seems like 3M has a product in the making here that is just begging to be invented.
- The yellow walls tonight proved that white is O-U-T. White walls are boring! I’d love to see tracks have their own “branded colors” like an NFL team does and have them paint their walls with that paint scheme.
- Sam Hornish Jr. put on a great show tonight in the qualifier race. I was (and still am) a doubter of the open-wheel guys being able to make it in NASCAR, but Hornish showed me tonight that an open-wheeler can get it done in the taxi-cab series. That boy was sideways more times than not, and proved he doesn’t have the ego to bring a car home on the wrecker when second place will do just fine.
- Speaking of the qualifier race, that was hands-down the best race of the night. It was really great to watch a few up-and-comers race their hearts out like it was the last lap of the Daytona 500. My hat is off to them. I was convinced that the Sprint Showdown was going to be either a giant wreck, or a boring follow-the-leader race. I was only 50% correct.
- I kinda teared-up a little bit when I saw those Dale Jarrett /UPS commercials tonight. Not that I am a big DJ fan, but seeing an icon of our sport like him leave and the support that he has from UPS saddens me a little.
- Irwindale Speedway proved that Saturday night NASCAR Sprint Cup racing doesn’t destroy the grass-roots, hometown track racing that everyone complains that it does. They put up a jumbotron with the All-Star race on it in the infield, then did their own thing after that was over. The result? Win-win for the fans. The fans got out to support their local boys, AND got to see the big-boys race - even if it was somewhat of a snooze-fest.
- Boogity needs to go! Seriously, could there be a more pander-to-the-chuckleheads start to a race? Darrell, if you HAVE to say this during the opening green flag, could you at least do it with the right inflection? The way you say it sounds even more ludicrous than the phrase itself. Emphasize the “RACIN!” part more than the BOYYYYS part. I know, it’s silly that I complain about this, and my niece loves it, but still…
- Mike Joy: “Big Orange” is NOT a good reference to the Home Depot/Tony Stewart team. That seriously offends those of us who watched probably the best driver on 4 wheels back in the day. That term is solely reserved for Richie Evans’ #61 modified team. BTW, if you are a true race fan and have not read Bones Bourcier’s book, Richie!, you are missing out. One of the greatest books I have ever read.
- Junior’s car had a bad-ass paint scheme tonight. Reminded me of the old man’s Goodwrench car so much, I almost thought he was there…
- Is anyone in disagreement that we need more Saturday night racing? The sheer excitement of watching the cars at night gets me so fired up. Sunday day racing is boring by comparison. I love the sparks, the tailpipe fire, and the glow of the night racing in general…
- Look, Kyle Busch was going to kick everyone’s butt. You know it, I know it, and Kyle knows it. The only good thing for the fans was that his blown engine saved us all from a huge snooze-fest. Had that “experimental” engine held up, he would have annihilated the field.
- I have a beef with Jimmy Spencer. First, he was a punk back in the day when I’d watch him at Thompson Speedway, Stafford Springs, Lee Speedway, etc. He’d crash his own momma out of the way to win a race. More often than not, he’d need security to lead him from the track after a win (or sometimes even if he didn’t). He never really “made it” in the higher series in NASCAR, and there is a reason why. He’s a boring, bumbling, inarticulate man - which makes me wonder how the hell he ever got a broadcasting job with Speed. The pre-race shows he helps host with Kenny Wallace and John Roberts is a study in how NOT to do a post OR pre race broadcast. Please, someone at Speed, recognize him for what he is - a hack at whatever he does, and just let his contract expire. Even his toupees are a joke.
- Lastly, a very astute fan pointed out on Dave Despain’s Wind Tunnel show that the fans should be allowed to “vote out” a driver from the All Star race. I think that this is a great idea. I’m pretty sure that I know who would have been voted out this year, and his last name rhymes with “shoosh”. It would get the fans involved more, which is what NASCAR is looking for, but probably would never work because of sponsorship commitments. How cool would that be though? (Look for a future post telling what I think would spice up the All-Star race a little more for more details).
[...] the main feature to watch the commercials. Here they are, unfiltered, from my brain to your eyes: Read more at fastmachines.com [...]
I find it interesting these days when I hear/read Nascar media discuss the newest round of “open-wheelers” and their transition to taxi-cabs being so surprising seem to have forgotten Tony Stewart went from IRL champ to Nascar Rookie of the Year to 2 time Nascar champ in very short time (not picking on this author - saw one discussion on ESPN going on, with a Home Depot #20 car sitting right behind them!!).
Same curiosity re: SPEED HD and my cable provider. Agree w/ you on 1) tear offs, Saturday night racing, and Jimmy Spencer. Enjoyed your comments.
[...] I had made involved Mike Joy (the play-by-play man on the Fox NASCAR broadcasts on Sundays) calling Tony Stewart’s Home Depot team “Big Orange”. I had made a comment that he should not have done that out of respect to the late, great Richie [...]
[...] I had made involved Mike Joy (the play-by-play man on the Fox NASCAR broadcasts on Sundays) calling Tony Stewart’s Home Depot team “Big Orange”. I had made a comment that he should not have done that out of respect to the late, great Richie [...]