Denny Hamlin: He's not gonna take it!

First off, let me say, it feels great to write another piece again.  It has been a while.  School has been my priority as I finish up my pursuit of my Masters in Business Administration.  The plan is to start writing more in my free time again.  Anyways, on to the topic at hand.

For anyone who has followed NASCAR this season, the racing with the new car has been sub par AT BEST.  I know it is early with the new car, as does most everyone else.  Denny Hamlin was asked and gave an honest response about the car after the Phoenix Sprint Cup Series race last week, saying they were hard to pass in, and that there was a lot of work to get the cars to where they can pass.  He addressed tires, newness of the car, aero, and so on as the factors to it.  He wasn't snide or disrespectful, just honest and to the point with no sugar coating or political correctness. 

The Hamlin Interview

Denny was fined $25,000 for comments made in this interview by NASCAR for his comments which NASCAR found disparaging to the new, MUCH HYPED Gen 6 car.  The response by the fans was nearly unanimous.  #StandWithDenny trended on Twitter after the announcement, and MANY fans sent messages of encouragement to Denny on the social media site.  Media and fellow drivers were very mixed and not nearly as supportive.  Denny came out and said HE WOULDN'T TAKE IT and WILL NOT pay the fine.  He is in the process of appealing the fine as we speak.  For a series that wanted drivers to be honest and speak up and have personality, this is a total step in the wrong direction.  Some have pointed out other sports fine players/coaches/others for similar things.  My counter to them is simple.  Is it right JUST because others handle matters that way?  If there is something that NEEDS to be said, it SHOULD be said.  I'm not saying someone should just go out and openly bash a series.  State what an issue is, and be done with it.  That is exactly why I, and many others, are irritated with NASCAR.  I STAND WITH DENNY!!  HE'S NOT GONNA TAKE IT!!  Until next time friends, enjoy your racing on the dirt, pavement, road course, drag strip, short tracks and superspeedways.

Daytona Speedweeks...unlike any in years past

I think all of us as fans were expecting some changes in NASCAR.  We knew the EFI engines were coming.  In testing, NASCAR tweaked with the cars to try and bring back pack racing.  They ended up lowering the spoilers and giving the cars/trucks bigger plates.  This combination has been seen in Indy Car in the past to make the drivers have to finesse and drive the cars again.  Early on, the drivers kept trying to do the 2 car tandem draft.  It showed early that the cars weren't as stable, and there were a few wrecks.  I figured they would figure it out and not do it until the very end and on the straightaways only.  Boy was I wrong.  The Budweiser Shootout was a wreckfest, but it ended in exciting fashion, with Kyle Busch timing the pass on Tony Stewart just right to slingshot around for the win.  This finish gave me some hope for some great racing.  Sadly, this wouldn't be the case.  The Camping World Truck Series was an absolute wreckfest.  Eventual winner John King even got into then leader Johnny Sauter.  John is a rookie, so it wasn't a big surprise.  Even the veterans were struggling with drafting..  King went on to win after 3 green white checkered attempts all saw yellows for accidents.  The Nationwide race Saturday also turned into a rolling demo derby.  Lots of cars ended up scrapped in that one.  Winner James Buescher was 11th coming off of turn 4 when the leaders wrecked, and he passed all of the slow and wrecked machines to capture one of the most bizarre wins I have ever seen.  The Daytona 500 last night was a spectacle, and I don't mean that in the good way.  For a while, it seemed like it would be fairly tame.  A few wrecks, always happens.  Then towards the end, the drivers got nuts, and lots of cars ended up wrecked...again.  This doesn't include the most bizarre accident I have EVER seen in all of my years watching NASCAR.  Cale Yarbrough has hit a fire truck in the past, but what happened to Juan Pablo Montoya will be something we remember forever. Seeing his car break and hit a jet dryer that ends up exploding into flames and dumping 200 gallons of fuel onto the Daytona International Speedway pavement, it's just unbelievable.  Thankfully Juan and the driver of the vehicle were okay. It will be one of those incidents that is brought up in the future and no one believes you until you show them the footage.  Also, how about Brad Keselowski using Twitter to interact during the red flag?  I actually find this cool.  Kind of funny that he had the phone in the car with him.  Definitely a sign of the times.  As for the last 40 laps.  Did Tony Stewart have a patton tank?  He got into 2 incidents that would most times damage a car, yet he came out no worse for wear.  Incredible.  Lots of other torn up cars in that final 100 miles.  The finish was one that had a LOT of people talking.  Should Biffle have protected his teammate and let him win, or should he try and pull out with Junior.  Biffle said he couldn't get a good enough run.  I don't buy it.  I'd have at LEAST liked to have seen Biffle work with Junior and make that VERY LAST effort.  I don't think he didn't try to win.  I just don't think he tried his hardest.  In the end, Matt Kenseth won his 2nd Daytona 500.  It wasn't a fluke as he had a great car the entire time in Daytona.  We will be talking about this 500 for many years to come...that is for sure.  I look forward to seeing this new package go to the other tracks this year.  I really think it will work well.  Congratulations to Matt and team on the win.  Let's just say it's good to have racing (NHRA, NASCAR) back in action again.  This season should be fun in all forms or racing.  Until next time friends...enjoy the action on the track/strip!!

A Decade without Dale: Rembering the Intimidator

It was 10 years ago on this fateful day.  Sunday, February 18, 2001 was the date.  I was sitting in the living room of my grandparents house watching the broadcast with my Grandpa on the big screen TV. There was excitement abound for NASCAR fans.  It was time for NASCAR's Super Bowl, the 43rd Annual Daytona 500.  This was the first broadcast on FOX Sports.  Bill Elliott won the pole for this race driving for Ray Evernham.  The talk coming in was about Dale Earnhardt Incorporated, and most notably their new driver Michael Waltrip.  Michael had NEVER won a race to this point, 462 straight races without a win.  People were wondering why, of all the drivers to hire, why Dale hired Michael.  It was because Dale had faith in Michael.  The race started, and with the package, made for a lot of dicy racing.  This same package was in place when Dale went from 17th to win in 4 laps the previous fall at Talladega.  The race had the BIG ONE, piling up 20 cars, including Tony Stewart who flipped wildly in the air.  Passing by all the carnage was the black GM Goodwrench #3 of Earnhardt stealthily.  When the race resumed, he continued driving like I and no one else had seen him do.  He was driving extremely defensively, protecting the #15 NAPA Chevy of Waltrip and the #8 Budweiser Chevy of his son, Dale Jr.  He kept fending the pack off.  When the white flag waved, no one knew what was going to happen next.  The drama was building as the race was winding down was incredible.  It was literally shaping up to be a storybook ending.  Waltrip wins his first race, his teammate 2nd, and his teammate's father and car owner 3rd.  Going into turn 3 Waltrip and Dale Jr. had a small gap between themselves and Dale Sr.  Dale was battling for 3rd while holding the field back from his cars, like a parent protecting their children.  Dale dipped low to block Sterling Marlin, and the accident happened.  At the time, I didn't think it was THAT bad.  I mean, Dale had been in much worse looking accidents than that.  I realized the seriousness when one of my favorite drivers, Ken Schrader, went over to look into the car to check on Dale.  When he began frantically motioning for the emergency crews, I just got an empty feeling.  I was only 12 then, but realized that it was life-threatening.  Seeing Schrader tell Michael in victory lane was absolutely sad.  I, and I know everyone else, felt bad for him.  This was supposed to be his crowning achievement, and Dale was supposed to be there celebrating with him.  It was Dale who took the chance on Michael to begin with.  Schrader's interview pretty much drove it home to me.  Dale was dead.  I was just numb.  When they came on with the press conference, and Mike Helton uttered the words the NASCAR community dreaded to hear.  "After the accident in turn 4 at the end of the Daytona 500, we have lost Dale Earnhardt."  Those words still elicit a deep emotional response from me.  This is like saying that Superman has died.  It just wasn't supposed to happen.  Not like that.  As soon as those words were said, I broke down and cried.  I wasn't a huge Dale Earnhardt fan, but I had respect for the man, and knew what he meant for our sport.  Little did I know then just HOW MUCH he meant to the sport.  The next day, I can remember someone saying something to me that just angered and frustrated me.  "Why are you so upset?  It was just some race car driver who was killed in a wreck.  Get over it."  I just responded to that by saying something simple and to the point.  "You have no idea, so just shut up and leave me be."  Their ignorance was frustrating to me.  Now as I reflect, I have shed a few tears writing this looking back.  Many memories flash back, about the man known as the Intimidator, what he did in the car, and back to that Black Sunday in which NASCAR was altered forever, and how odd it was the rest of that season and into the next as to how odd it was not seeing the black GM Goodwrench #3 on the track, and how Kevin Harvick, a young and fairly unknown driver to most of us helped speed up the healing by helping Dale's team go back to where he would want them to be, victory lane.  He is gone, but never forgotten.  RIP Dale Earnhardt!!

An unusually busy Monday in Motorsports

Due to the rain across the country yesterday, 3 major events were put off until today. They are the IZOD IndyCar Series Streets of St. Petersburg in St. Petersburg, Florida, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Virginia, and the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Inaugural 4 Wide Nationals at zMax Dragway in Charlotte, North Carolina. The race in St. Pete for the IRL was a typical street race. Will Power won race number 2 in a row in convincing fashion. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Race from Martinsville just concluded minutes ago. Denny Hamlin won one of the more exciting races I have ever seen at Martinsville Speedway. Early on it looked like the typical train racing most fans know. As the track took rubber, there was 2 and 3 wide racing. The finish was spectacular, with Denny Hamlin capturing the checkers. The NHRA 4 Wide Nationals was phenomenal. Drag racing 4 wide, whether it be Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, or Pro Stock Bike, is absolutely bad-ass!! The winners, in order of class from Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Bike are Corey McClenathen, John Force, Mike Edwards, and Matt Smith. A lot of racing all on a Monday, and all around the same time television wise. It was a great day of racing for people like me who love to watch it, that's for sure!!