A Voice for the Fans ~ And the Fans Need to Be Heard!
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I bid you welcome gentle readers, and the usual warm welcome
goes out as well to our assigned reader of all things NASCAR-related. Today’s
article serves a dual purpose. I almost scrapped this one after reading Steve
O’Donnell’s scripted response before the wave of rejection hit. Since then,
I’ve spent much of my day doing research, reading the thoughts of others and
listening to one of my favorite radio hosts, Patrick Reynolds, all of whom
shared my thoughts. Words have meanings, and when someone uses something as
strong as “100%”, that definitely has a meaning and one with which there can be
no arguments and no “buts.”
Everyone reading here knows the topic of today’s conversation…
the elephant in the living room after Talladega is that pesky little rule that
sprang from the last time a team tried to weight the scales in their favor… and
got caught. Don’t be fooled. The teams are all out there to win, but what’s a
win to one team might be different than what is a win to another.
Every comment I’ve read mentions Toyota in some context, and
none of them are complimentary. Who has all four teams still in the running for
most money at the banquet? Joe Gibbs Racing, which is of course, “THE” Toyota
team. That’s fact. Anything else is mere conjecture. This scribe has held fast
from the outset that this “Chase” thing is unnatural and contrived. It has no
place in racing, but it is here, and there is only one man to thank for that…
Brian Z. France.
The first point I’d like to make is that this is not a “Toyota
thing.” It’s merely a result of the Chase rules. “Win and you’re in” doesn’t go
a long way when we get near the end. Every third race, four cars are
“eliminated”, but don’t leave. All that elimination amounts to in today’s
NASCAR is monkeying with the points to make it impossible for those 4 cars to
catch the anointed 12, 8 or 4 that go on to race for… for what? You’ll never
hear it called a Championship here. That would be insulting to anyone that won
a full-season Championship before 2004. What they race for now is money; lots
and lots of money. For the most part, with a few possible exceptions, the “love
of racing” has been lost and has taken a seat far to the back of the bus, while
“love of money” rides up front, next to the driver.
It’s important to remember, gentle readers, another Toyota team
was the cause of the rule that fell into question before the Talladega race
even started. I watched 3 of the 4 JGR cars pull out of line before the green
flag waved, and I could have written this at that moment, without changing any
thoughts. I knew what was happening and why. Those three teams were “in”, not
with wins, as none of them had any, but with points. It’s never been necessary
to win to be in or even win all the money. For the first three segments, all
you have to be is 5th worst and you move on to the next round. Nice
try Brian, but that is fact, not something conjured up because someone thinks
it makes racing more exciting.
In that last segment, you don’t have to win either. All that is
required is to finish ahead of 3 cars out of the other 39 in the field. That
shouldn’t be too hard to do. Remember, everyone has teammates and some teams
know how to use them.
I’ve heard and read folks damning each of the three JGR drivers,
and I’d suggest that your anger and wrath is being wasted in the wrong
direction. Kyle Busch evidently had enough “hate mail” on Monday to prompt a
very simple tweet on Twitter. “Don’t hate the player… hate the game.” Still,
some are misinterpreting the meaning of seven clear words. What he’s telling
you is that the fault is not his… he is an employee, not a boss. I’ve explained
that sequence to you many times. Although he gets all the glory when the team
wins, the driver also catches all the flack whenever anything goes wrong. In
this instance, Kyle (and Matt and Carl as well) is the “player.” The game is
that accursed “Chase.” Does everyone understand those seven words now? Those
drivers did what they were told to do because none of the three would be
eliminated for riding and finishing in the back, but by doing so, they took
away 3 positions that teammate Denny Hamlin didn’t have to worry about in his
quest to be the 4th JGR car in the eight that would carry on at
Martinsville.
Now then, let’s get down to discussing that elephant… the one
sitting over there on the sofa. Shortly after the Richmond race in 2013, all
manner of stuff hit the NASCAR fan, as I’m sure you’ll recall. The press
conference pertinent to our discussion today was held on September 14, 2013…
one day after the press conference explaining in NASCAR speak why Jeff Gordon
would be the 13th Chaser in a field of what at that time was 12. I
guess the biggest thing to come from that presser was that now infamous quote,
“Because I can.”
The following is only a short excerpt from the second press
conference, and the speaker here is Mike Helton.
"NASCAR requires its competitors to race at
100 percent of their ability with the goal of achieving their best possible
finishing position in an event. Any competitor who takes action with the intent
to artificially alter the finishing positions of the event or encourages,
persuades or induces others to artificially alter the finishing position of the
event shall be subject to a penalty from NASCAR.”
"Artificially altered shall be defined as
actions by any competitor that show or suggest that the competitor did not race
at 100 percent of their ability for the purpose of changing finishing positions
in the event at NASCAR's sole discretion."
Gentle readers, that couldn’t be more clear if it were made of
Steuben Glass, except of course for the obligatory CYA of the final three
words, “NASCAR’s sole discretion.” That translates loosely to, “It’s our circus
and we get to pick the clowns.” Upon reading that for the first time, three
years ago, this scribe just laughed and laughed. Have you ever seen a bigger
loophole written into anything? If it were a sink-hole instead, it would easily
hold the contents of Lake Superior!
What happened on Sunday was also crystal clear. JGR has 4 cars
still chasing. Ho hum! Did anyone but me notice that 3 of the top 5 finishers
were FORDS? (First On Race Day) The dominant car in
the race, driven by Brad Keselowski, the guy that led by far the most laps…
blew a motor or it would likely have been 4 out of 5. In second place was
rookie Brian Scott, driving for the remnants of Petty Enterprises, RPM.
Stunning race young man. Congratulations! That’s one of those wins I mentioned
earlier. In many cases, one doesn’t have to finish first to win.
Congratulations also to another FORD driver, Ryan Reed, who made his Cup debut
on Sunday driving the #99 Roush-Fenway FORD. Before anyone asks, I drive a
Chevy Cobalt…
Anyone care to guess what one of the first headlines I saw this
morning might have been? “Ford hasn’t won at Martinsville since Kurt Busch won
driving for Roush-Fenway in 2002.” Keep spinning and maybe one day someone will
think to spin some new clothes for that naked little emperor… or not.
For those that have the stomach for such things, this link will
take you to the entire transcript from that press conference:
http://www.asapsports.com/show_conference.php?id=92602
Oh, and that’s not all. This scribe comes to a gunfight fully
loaded. This link will take you to a video of the same press conference, where
you can hear for yourself what all parties had to say on the subject of giving
100%. It’s always good to have the truth on one’s side. It makes the argument
so much shorter.
Finally, this link delivers the reader to the comments made by
NASCAR’s Steve O’Donnell on SiriusXM radio Monday morning.
“Ride a painted pony, let the
spinning wheel spin…”
And now, as I told you in the beginning, today’s article serves
a dual purpose. This final part pertains only to my followers on Twitter that
receive my weekly links. I’m sad to say that I cannot… or will not be sending
any more after this final one. The reason is that Twitter makes their rules to
suit some, but not others.
For months, I’ve thought that someone out there really had it in
for me. Why else would I be harassed by pictures of naked ladies? I’ve
complained over and over to Twitter. It seems that if these extremely explicit
suggestions are tweeted directly to me or if they follow me, then Twitter will
accept a “report.” However, if they merely “Like” one of my tweets, then
Twitter says they are within their rules and they can do nothing. It took me
some time to figure out why these “ladies of the evening” were singling me out,
but it finally dawned on me… I send tweets to multiple people at one time. Each
of my tweets goes to between 7-10 people, depending on the number of
characters.
What these little trollops… or their “handlers” are doing is
using me to advertise for them. Within each “like” one finds lewd pictures,
offers to do things I won’t mention here, but VERY explicit, and in a couple of
cases, actual videos of sexual behavior. That might be fine with Twitter, but
it’s not fine with me. I hope that each of you will take the time to bookmark
my website:
http://www.racefansforever.org/
Once there, please check out all that we offer on a weekly
basis. All the race information we can think to give you is there on the Home
Page. We have several great writers on site, not just boring old me. We have a
Forum for discussing anything about racing… or swapping recipes or planting
gardens… anything you’d like to talk about. No cussing please; that’s reserved
for me. ~LOL
I will of course post my articles in the good old-fashioned way,
giving title and link, but sent to no one in particular. Hopefully, that won’t
make me so attractive to whomever seeks to use me as an advertising vehicle.
The articles generally come out on Thursday, but occasionally, one will wait
until Friday. Just check my time-line. I’m not leaving; I’m just getting
smarter. For anyone that was annoyed, surprised or shocked to find any of that
garbage from someone claiming to “Like” my post, I apologize. It’s none of my
doing. I block each one I find, but that only makes it invisible to me. You,
the target audience, can still see them. Sometimes, I hate technology!
That cute little banjo means it’s time now for our Classic
Country Closeout, and no one is more classic to me than that Tennessee Plowboy,
Eddy Arnold. When that man sings “I’ll Hold You in My Heart” this
lady cries… every time. Here is a collection of someone’s idea of Eddy’s best.
It has a lot of them, but it’s not perfect.
Here’s one that never gets the credit it should. It’s from the
movie “The Kentuckian” and was the B-side of Eddy’s huge hit, “Cattle
Call.” This is “The Kentuckian Song.”
Finally, this is the song that won me a bet with Dr. Matthew
Gillian, 33-year evening D.J. on WSM Nashville, now retired. Matthew told me
this song was recorded by Tennessee Ernie Ford. After perusing all of my files,
I told him that I did indeed have one recording of the song purporting to be
Ernie, but it was from shared music and sometimes folks don’t get things quite
right. Upon playing it, it was the same recording I had a couple of times over
by the guy that made it a hit, Eddy Arnold. Neither of us ever found a
recording done by Ernie Ford, but here is Eddy doing another big hit that was
left off the “biggest hits” album, “Tennessee Stud.” The original hit
for this song was done by Doc Watson and is a bit different than Eddy’s smooth
voice and presentation. Me? I love them both.
Be well gentle readers,
and remember to keep smiling. It looks so good on you!
~PattyKay
