by richard teague tinynascars@yahoo.com
Yeah, this is going to be just that a little short one this week since I can hardly see to write and my fingers ache touching the keyboard. You see, at my day job one of the guys I work with started coming down with the BUG last Wednesday, and instead of taking time off to get well he comes to work Thursday and Friday. Well, for two days I had to sit there with his coughing and sneezing and spreading the germs, so I caught it along with my boss. This is the fourth day I have spent in bed feeling horrible with all of those things that the flu can give ya, but the doc gave me an Rx for some miracle drugs and maybe in a week or two I’ll be better. I know one thing: I am going to work tomorrow cause I’m the kind of guy that hates not being there and doing my part.
I did elevate myself long enough to watch the Auto Club 500 Sunday afternoon and I think the time would have better spent laying down. Perhaps I’m getting like so many NASCAR fans these days and think that the two mile tracks are just getting boring versus a mile or half mile race, which can be much more exciting. On the big track these guys just try to stay out of the way of the “Big One” or try and keep their car together so it can make 500 miles and be up front at the end. On the short tracks the drivers actually do battle all race long, just trying to move a notch up. Hopefully at the end they have come from 43rd to 20th or 25th to first. It just seems more of a contest.
I used not to feel this way, I was totally the opposite, but over these past few years I have been changing my thoughts. Why in fact, I used to derogatorily call them toilet bowls or bathtub tracks and spoke of the grandeur the “Super Speedway.” Nobody made me change my mind--it’s just that watching the past two races and thinking about how they seemed hold my interest only at times when short tracks keep it the whole race. I guess that could be one reason that NASCAR is debuting the Car of Tomorrow on a short track first and not a Super Spudway. It’s like Kenny Schrader told me, “When you got 43 of them on the track it will be hard to tell the difference.” So perhaps they want you to tell the difference. In a toilet bowl you dang sure will be able to.
Well it was the first week in Cup that the unleaded gas was used and since I don’t have a degree from MIT (or any place else for that matter) I can’t say if the number of engine failures were caused by the stuff or not. I do realize that the CTS and the Busch (soon to changed to God only knows what since NASCAR’s decision that the series is worth 30 million) have been using it already. The Cup cars turn more horse power for longer periods, so it maybe possible that the unleaded did contribute in some way to the failures. With two of the three DEI cars falling out Dale Earnhardt Junior said this, “This unleaded fuel has sprung a little bit of a surprise on us.” He does also say that he’s got faith that DEI will figure it out.
Gosh Junior, did NASCAR only let y’all know Friday, or was it Saturday, that unleaded gas was going to be used for Sunday’s race? Had they not been telling every team, owner and parking lot attendant the unleaded was on the way and here to stay since in 2008 you won’t be able to buy leaded any more? So you want to be a Rock n Roll star when ya grow Jr. or was it controller of DEI perhaps just drive the car will you? The new to Cup gas couldn’t have caught any team off guard or at least I would hope not and it may take some time to get some kind of additive to be approved by NASCAR so that no ill affects will come from it and maybe that was what MWR was trying with the “stuff” in Michael’s car at Daytona, ya think?
Why is it that NASCAR is picking Richard Childress Racing? I mean first there’s a chance that RCR could loose a sponsor in Cingular because AT&T bought the company and will no longer use the brand name. But Oh No, you can’t bring another wireless phone service to Cup racing because of the deal made with Nextel. And now that Shell / Pennzoil is on the #29 car, Sunoco is crying about the amount of space that the SHELL logo has on Kevin Harvick’s car and uniform. Why NASCAR has gone as far to TELL RCR to change the paint scheme and Kevin’s wardrobe so that the lubrication name Pennzoil is more prominent. I guess the next thing will UPS complaining about the FedEx car because aren’t they the “Official Carrier” of NASCAR?
What about Budweiser? Will they get in line and say the Coors and Miller Lite cars need to tone down their logos? I mean after all, isn’t Bud the official beer of all of NASCAR? Will it stop there? Surely there is an official everything of NASCAR like pizza, razor blades, shoes, sun glasses and who knows what else there is. It probably makes Brian France cringe when he hears that teams are out testing at tracks with Hoosier Tires. Now in a case like Sunoco, do they give the gas to the teams so they can have right to be the official fuel of NASCAR? Does Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company give tires away so they can have the same? You know, something inside tells me that ain’t the case, so just who is making the money---as if I had to ask.
More and more of this kind of crap going on in racing, and people, it’s just getting started when it comes to the big corporate sponsor’s dollars being infringed on. You may think I’m nuts but mark my words, it’s coming and sooner than we think cause when the governing body of a sport can be intimated by a single company, they in turn can dictate to a sponsor of a competitor in that sport and its team. Well look out RCR you may need a new sponsor any day! Well like I said at the start, I’m sick but I lasted longer that I thought I would and probably longer than y’all wanted me too but for all those get well cards and stuff, send’em to tinynascars@yahoo.com and just any other thoughts you might have. Remember, If it ain’t NASCAR, It ain’t s**t!
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