by richard teague tinynascars@yahoo.com
Finally! And it is about time to, cause I’ve been really fired up for some racing since Media Day, but I’ll get to that in a minute. First let me tell y’all about last Thursday outside of the front stretch of Daytona International Speedway in this gigantic tent. This was the second time for me and my ole friend, fellow NASCAR fan, and cameraman: John. We were able to talk with, take pictures of, and interview NASCAR’s top, middle, and low name drivers for over eight hours. By the way, there was plenty to eat also, what with a buffet pastry bar for breakfast and then a monster sandwich making bar with cookies and brownies for lunch. NASCAR knows what all these media guys and gals like to eat as far as I’m concerned.
This time was quite different from last year when the drivers came to the print section, the section for writers and photographers. Last year NASCAR brought drivers in by groups of 5 or 6 and let them stay for a while. That gave the press more accessibility to them. While they are herded up around one guy, another one wouldn’t be so ganged up on and you could talk to them. It seemed to work a lot better that way and I got to interview more drivers.
This year the drivers came in at a rate of 2 or 3 and with all the press there you couldn’t get close to the ones you wanted to interview, so we had to make do with listening to others ask questions. We did get some fairly good pictures, as you can see this week in the paper, but I didn’t get to ask many questions. Man, I was full of things I wanted to know and I did hear a few answers I needed. Like the part about Junior and majority ownership and how Juan Montoya felt about racing big cars. You know, I stood there listening to the speaker, cause I couldn’t get my recorder up close, and I could have sworn I heard him say, “Say hello to my little friend!” Now I might be wrong about that, but he sure does have an accent so all y’all better learn to “hablo español” if’n your going to have your scanner on his channel.
I asked Kenny Schrader a question and made a request. I asked him how he “truly” felt about the Car of Tomorrow and he told me, “Well, it’s bigger and got more room in it, and it’s wider and taller, and when you see 43 of them on the track you won’t be able to tell the difference.” Seems like that is the general consensus with a few drivers. I also made a request of him that he could he possibly start driving for Slim-Fast because I’m gaining weight eating all those Little Debbie’s. I told John about that and he said that Kenny looked like he’s been getting paid in the darn things (his driver’s suit looked a little tight). Remember, though, he’s a bear and has just come from a winter’s nap. All that will be gone soon.
I had made big plans with a friend of my wife’s to get all the autographs out front. WRONG! Unlike last year, when a bunch of fans stood outside the same monster tent and got tons of autographs as the guys went by, this year NASCAR put an end to it. Well, mostly. There where a few lucky fans that did get some, but very few. The reasons being NASCAR didn’t bring the drivers in the same way, and also they kept running the autograph seekers off. While I was outside taking a break I saw this sweet little old lady go up to Tony Stewart, while he was walking through, and ask him to sign a diecast car. He told her he just couldn’t because of some reason I didn’t quite hear. She then asked if she could rub his beard and he smiled and obliged her and I thought she was going to faint. She walked by me and said, “He’s so nice and it was so soft.”
So that part of the plan was a bust and that left “Plan B” and I knew if I failed at that I could never go to Australia and my mate over there would never talk to me again. Y’all all know Pete (Skippy) and Deb in Australia by now and how he’s the biggest Ward Burton fan in the world. I was going to try to get Ward on my cell phone and call Skippy. Well the plan was to snag him over in the electronic media area while he was hanging out in that section waiting for their turn behind the curtains, so I figured I could pull it off that way.
Alright, I’m hanging out where I’m not really supposed to be and, low and behold, there’s Ward just standing around talking to another driver. So I ask this man and lady, who seemed to look important, if I could go over and talk to Mr. Burton. The guy looks at my media pass and says, “Well, you’re media aren’t ya?” I headed straight for Ward and started my previously well-planned opening spiel.
“Mr. Burton, a couple of years ago I got you to autograph a diecast car at your Net Zero hauler here at the 500, and told you it was for your biggest fan in Australia and you thought was real neat, and now I’m here to ask you if I got that same fan on my cell phone would you say hello to him?”
Now you and I know that these guys are real busy with all the things they got to do, and we also know that some of them don’t want to be bothered with such stupid requests. Let me tell all of you right here and now that Ward Burton is not the too-busy or I’m-too-good-to-even-bother-answering-that-question type of guy. Ward looked at me and you know what he said? He said, “Go For It!” Bubbas & Bubba-ettes, I hit the ole speed-dial button and handed him the phone. When Pete answered it he said, “Hey Skippy, what’s going on, this is Ward Burton.”
I know that Pete will talk your ear off if he’s given a chance and that Ward is a busy driver but he talked to him for maybe ten minutes while he stood there signing helmets and stuff that were going to charity auctions. I slipped around the other side of him and took a picture of him with my cell phone to his ear and sent it off to Australia that very evening. Skippy has already got it blown up, laminated, framed and hanging on his wall with all of his Ward Burton paraphernalia and he still hasn’t come down from Cloud 9.
Now just when you think I’m done for this week, it’s get back to what I get paid for. That’s right, Paid with a capital P! Just so y’all don’t have to worry anymore, and so I can pay my bills and buy me more diecast cars, the contract with EU has been signed with my dear friend Will and the terms I regret I can’t disclose, but I will say, “It ain’t chicken feed!” Another part of the deal was that the first column of the new season was that I get a two page spread with articles and photos and that. I can write as much as I want about whatever I want. I guess you could say I have finally gotten that journalistic freedom I have been seeking, but it’s only for this one week and then it’s back to the smaller columns, so sit back and read the ride.
WOW! Is Robert Yates Racing Back Or What!! What can I say about an old driver and an old rookie that ain’t a rookie? He took that Carl Edwards route into Nextel Cup (formerly Winston Cup) racing. All those headlines a while back about Ricky Rudd coming out of retirement to drive for RCR, I’m sitting here thinking: “Did Rudd retire? Hmm, I thought he stepped back for a bit.” Nowhere did Ricky say he was quitting racing, he even made it clear he wasn’t like Martin or Elliott by saying “I retire” and then get back to racing again. He was just taking a break. Can you blame him for wanting to be with his family? After all, the “Iron Man” titles ain’t given out to part time drivers. Looks like the man has certainly got his stuff together, and so has RCR with the cars they have given Rudd and Gilliland.
And what is the deal with this David Gilliland almost running down Tony for a Shootout win but playing it smart and getting it done with second place? Now he and Rudd have qualified for the front row of the 2007 Daytona 500. Robert Yates has come back from the depth of the darkness that had fallen over him and his team last season. Losing drivers and sponsors and thinking that he was the problem with the teams, he said he felt he should leave racing, and he almost did. Now the words “the light” and “at the end” along with “the tunnel” are more than just words for this man and his powerful race team. It wouldn’t be fair to say that RCR has made a complete turnaround right now, and it can’t even be thought about for some time to come. At this point in the season, I think the best words to use are: “it’s a start” and “one race at a time.” But whatever they have done, don’t change a thing!
WOW again! Junior tells what he wants, and there are sure some mixed feelings in the ole www.com world, as you might have thought. Dale Earnhardt Jr. has finally expressed himself. He wants control of DEI. Jeff Gordon said that Junior could have his pick of teams, and Ms. T would be making a big one if she let him leave. How can she possibly give in to him after she has been the boss for so long? I have been saying all along that this was either a show or the real McCoy, and now it looks like it’s from the frying pan to the fire for Jr. and Teresa.
Talk about a guy with a lot on his mind while trying to win races this year; that’s Junior. And how about an owner that has to contend with the chance of having to give up the business to an employee? The rest of this year will have no bigger storyline than what is going on over at DEI and who is really going to give in first. With this all going on I wonder just what Dale Earnhardt wanted to do for his family? Wasn’t there some kind of document saying who got what or who does this? I can’t remember if I ever heard that there was a will, or something written down on paper, explaining what he wanted. There’s no way that Sr. didn’t have some kind of expectation of how things would be run in the event of his passing. The man was too smart for that.
One of the Diecast Warriors that I am a member of said, “Jerk Jr’s baby ass out of the 8 and put Kerry in,” among other things, saying that Jr. shouldn’t get what he wants. Heck, before she does that she should hire Kelly and put her in the #8. Mama E could do better than Kerry, I mean I’ve always thought she hired Kerry just to show she’s not the bad person here, and maybe she isn’t after all? Does Dale Jr. deserve what he’s asked for? Why does he feel the need to control DEI and drive the Budweiser car? There ain’t been a whole bunch of owner/drivers that have won championships. Nope, not very many at all, and if Jr. plans on winning one, he needs to concentrate on one thing: the racecar. Now I get emails when I make comments about popular drivers, but I don’t think that Dale Earnhardt Jr. has the talent to do both.
Well the Chevrolets did real good Saturday night and the Dodges didn’t do too bad either, but what was a Toyota doing in the top ten finishers for the Bud Shootout? Dale Jarrett got the luck of the draw and starting on the pole, only to fall to the end of the line. But he come back for an 18th spot finish. Is it possible that after driving Fords for so long Jarrett hasn’t got used to that Camry yet? And will he before the next race? I’ve been driving a pickup truck for so long that if you put me in a car to drive, I’m lost. So perhaps D.J.’s got a similar problem with a Toyota. Will he ever get up towards the front this season? I think he will, but not before he has more of the same type nights and a few days like Saturday. He better hurry up because he’s only got a two year deal with MWR & Toyota, but at least he will have plenty of chances to improve.
Now on Brian Vickers it’s a different story, since he’s never driven anything that long. In fact, you could say he’s still learning NASCAR, especially after wrecking Johnson & Junior last year. He probably slid right into that Toyota and said, “hmm kind of like my old Monte Carlo,” but we know different don’t we? He did finish in the top ten, so let’s see what he can do with a 43 car field and a poor starting position before we think that Toyota is going to make a mark on the Cup Series. I still think that he should have stayed with the #25, car because he had more potential with the equipment over there than he has in the #83. Just like with the other Toyota teams this year, we have to wait and see. Remember I said I didn’t pick a Toyota for my team in the NASCAR pool at work but I did pick Rudd & Gilliland? He he.
Man there’s just so much to write about right now with the start of the new season and the different things that are happening, like Mikey’s car being taken away from him. How about little Kasey and ole Matty getting on the bad side of NASCAR right at the start? And who knows what else other teams will try before this week is over? I’d have to be a brain surgeon or an IRS accountant to be able to keep up with all this stuff, but I’m trying, boss, I’m trying. You know that NASCAR has got their big eye on every crew chief, driver and lug nut that gets near a car, so these guys better mind their Ps & Qs. If not, they just may wind up like Chad Knaus did last year and watch the races on TV. Dang, with all this after such a fun time with my column over the past few months, it’s got like a job. But I do like it so.
That’s all from me this week and I sure hope one of my guys wins the 500 and if he don’t I hope that one of your guys does. I hope I haven’t written too much so that Will couldn’t put a few pictures in this week’s paper and if any of y’all that read this on the web and can’t see them perhaps if you sent him a self address good sized envelope he might send ya a copy. Don’t forget to put an Andy Jackson in it to cover the postage and help him out with paying my new salary. Hehe. Like usual, if you feel it, you can do it at tinynascars@yahoo.com and this week I’ll refrain from my usual ending and just say this: 3 4ever!!
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