Drivers, Please Start Your Engines
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I bid you welcome gentle readers, to a short dissertation on the
soon to be ended winter doldrums and the start of a new stock car racing
season. That statement right there should signal that there isn’t all that much
to talk about this week. My guess is, if you are one of my road-race loving
friends, you already know that Wayne Taylor Racing won the ROLEX 24 at Daytona,
with drivers Jordan and Ricky Taylor, Jeff Gordon – yes, that Jeff Gordon – and
Massimiliano “Max the Ax” Angelelli. The 50-year old Angelelli had announced that this 24-hour endurance race
would be his last effort in motor sports. Retirement seems to be in the air of
late, doesn’t it?
For this current week, auto racing takes a break as the NFL
rules the airways with that little game whose name we are not supposed to
mention. All well and good. It’s on Sunday; it’s on FOX. Game start is listed
as 6:30, but for most of the week you can find pre-game hype just about
everywhere you look. By the time the game gets here, most folks have eaten or
drunk or both, their way into a stupor and don’t much care who wins or loses…
but the party was fun.
For this scribe… I have a stake of sorts in the game this year.
(Does that make me a “stakeholder”?) The Atlanta Falcons have to be considered
my Home Team, since I moved from Northeast Georgia to Northwest Georgia and no
longer get to see the Carolina Panthers. No matter this year, as the Falcons
are in Sunday’s game and the Panthers fell on their kitty-prats this year.
The weekend following the whatever-we’re-supposed-to-call-it
game, February 10,11,12, the auto racing season is awakened once again by the
thunderous roar of NHRA Dragsters at Pomona, California, where their season
always starts. May the Force(s) be with you!
On the following weekend, the stock cars move into Daytona to do
business on the high-banked oval. First up as is usually the case will be the
newly named… again… Advance Auto Parts Clash, scheduled to run circa 8:00 PM on
February 18. Next day will be what they like to call “Qualifying” for the
Daytona 500, but it really only sets the front row. Don’t ask. I’ve explained
it a hundred times, but every time I do, they change the rules and it’s all out
the window again.
Then it’s practice for two or three days, which for some reason
is said to have been shortened by an hour per day… like no one needs practice
after sitting on their backsides in the sun somewhere for a couple of months.
Then come the Can-Am Duels (I hope I’ve got the right sponsor
there) that we knew for years as the Twin 125s and later the Twin 150s. They
used to run on Thursday afternoons, but have now been promoted to Prime Time
and start at 7:00 PM and 8:30 PM respectively. That used to set the rest of the
field, but with 36 cars now holding charters that guarantee them a spot in 36
races, the Duels have once again been rendered almost useless. Ah, but NASCAR
to the rescue! As they used to do back in the Stone Age, when I was young, they
now pay points for top finishing spots.
On Friday evening, the Camping World Trucks come out to play at
7:30, and on Saturday the Xfinity Series bows in at 3:30 for their
season-opener at the big track. And then… on Sunday, February 25 at 2:00 PM…
finally… those big 8-cylinder powerhouse engines roar to life and mean it in
the 59th (If I managed to count backwards correctly) running of the
Daytona 500, “The Great American Race!”
Let the good times roll and let the season begin! I’ve always
told you that January is three months long, and right about now, I’ll bet you
believe me.
Because I had some time on my hands recently, I’ve spent more
time than usual perusing the offerings on YouTube and I’ve brought back a
little treat for all the history buffs I know are out there. This is Volume 1
of a 3-part history of Stock Car Racing. Obviously, there is more to come in
later installments, but if you really like this presentation, feel free to jump
the gun and get ahead of me. Turtles and snails are ahead of me these days too.
This is “American Stock: The Golden Era of NASCAR Vol. 1.
I hope everyone enjoyed that wonderful trip down Memory Lane,
and that antique banjo signals it’s time for our Classic Country Closeout. This
one is an old TV show hosted by our own NASCAR
Balladeer, Marty Robbins with guest star The “Singing
Sheriff”, Faron Young. Check out the checkered piano!
Be well gentle readers, and remember to keep smiling.
It looks so good on you!
~PattyKay 
