The Good, the Bad and the Intolerable
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I bid you welcome gentle readers, and of course a warm
and cordial Howdy to whomever is reading on behalf of NASCAR today. We’ll do
our best not to confuse or abuse you, but sometimes things just happen. I’m not
surprised by anything!
This scribe would be remiss by starting this week’s
column with anything but heartfelt congratulations to Ryan Blaney and the
entire Wood Brothers team. The young driver gave fans a textbook example of how
to win a race against the best on the track, and it was awesome to watch! I
don’t believe I’ve enjoyed a race that much since Dale won the Daytona 500 in
1998… and that, gentle readers, is some rare air to be in.
The icing on the cake had to be Brad Keselowski, donning
earphones and carrying a mic, coming to interview his “sorta,
kinda” teammate after his first win in the Cup
series. If that doesn’t make sense to you, then you weren’t watching the
Xfinity series race on the previous day. FOX kicked the regular crew to the
curb and turned the entire broadcast over to “All Drivers.” That meant that it
literally was all Cup drivers, in the booth and in the pits for the Xfinity
race. On Saturday, Ryan was the pit reporter that interviewed Brad after he
won. Come Sunday, Brad returned the favor and came to “interview” Ryan on his
first win. It was one of those moments that made one reminisce about pleasant
interactions between other drivers, such as Richard and David, or Dale and
Rusty. It was just a happy moment that put smiles on a lot of faces. Our sport
needs a good deal more of that and a whole lot less of mic tossing or cussing
out fans that ask for autographs… or RULES!
Last week, we discussed all the “interesting” things
that happened at Dover. Well, this week we were at Pocono, a 2.5-mile, platter
flat triangle situated in the middle of nowhere, near the thriving metropolis
of Long Pond, Pennsylvania. It’s also located in the middle of the beautiful
Pocono Mountains, a place that should be on everyone’s bucket list, whether
there is a race or not. At times, this old girl can cure your insomnia, but
then in the next moment, she’ll awaken you rudely with some of the nastiest
wrecks you can imagine. I’ll not regale you with videos today, as I want to
remain in the good mood I woke up with this morning, but this is the track that
ended Bobby Allison’s racing career in 1988 and almost took his son Davey’s
life in 1992. In 2002 Pocono gave us a heart-stopping moment when Steve Park
and Dale Earnhardt Jr., both then driving for D.E.I., crashed together into an
inside guard-rail situated behind a long expanse of grass. That wreck continued
to happen as both cars flipped, twisted and turned several times each, ending
with Earnhardt right-side up and Park upside down.
Sunday’s race was relatively quiet, but the old girl
sometimes can’t resist reminding us of what she is capable of doing to
racecars. At lap 95, Jimmie Johnson lost his [expletive deleted] brakes, went
to the grass, which sent him straight back up the track and hard into the
waiting SAFER barrier on the outside. As the cameras followed Johnson’s slide
for life, Jamie McMurray wasn’t having a great time behind him, as his car was
semi-demolished and on fire. Speculation has it that Jamie either ran over
debris from the #48 or possibly slid in brake fluid from that car. The day was
markedly over for both. Oh, and lest I forget, Dale Jr. was already waiting for
them in what the Lady in Black would call the “Lounge.” He’d been there since
lap 58, when he gave a reprise of the bad shift with which he killed his engine
in practice the day before. On Sunday, he got the same result.
On the entire day, there were only 4 caution flags
waved, and two of those were for the “Stage” endings. The 4th and
final one was for Kasey Kahne’s brake failure and
subsequent meeting with Mr. SAFER on lap 141. That one set up a restart with 13
laps to go, and I’d have paid twice to see that, as it made a fan forget the
rest of the day. We had Kyle Busch on the pole, with worn tires. The rest of the
field all had new ones. Due to a fortuitous pit stop just before the caution
waved, it was Brad Keselowski on the other side of the front row. When the
green waved, Kyle got away smartly but Brad slid back in the running order with
a poor start.
Then came a so-far unheard from Ryan Blaney, working his
way through traffic, past Keselowski and then fighting his way past a “Freaky
fast” Kevin Harvick and setting sail for the leader. Busch did everything one
would expect him to do… he blocked high, low and in the middle, even offering
to give Blaney a sample of agricultural racing through the Pocono grass, but
the young driver was not to be denied. He kept pushing and Busch kept working
those old tires, which at last gave up on him and Blaney took the lead. Behind
him, Kevin Harvick had been lurking, watching the two battle it out up front.
Now, he was closing the gap quickly. He caught Blaney with a couple laps
remaining, but couldn’t find his way around him. Ryan Blaney took the checkers
and the crowd went wild as the saying goes. Much celebration followed the
popular win as mentioned at the start of this article. Heck, they’re probably
still celebrating today, and it’s Wednesday as I type.
But wait just a cotton-picking minute here! Yes, the
race at the end was awesome, and the fact that no one wrecked during it attests
to the skills these racers possess… all of them. But then one looks at the
points awarded and they tell a different story. Call me old-fashioned, because
I proudly am, but to my way of reckoning, the guy that wins is called the
winner… but no more! Gimmicks, gamesmanship and stupidity have combined to make
a mockery of the word “winner.” Of the first NINE cars in the finishing order,
the “Winner” beat two of them by a single point. The other six all outscored or
tied the “Winner.”
1.
Ryan
Blaney 40 points
2. Kevin Harvick 51 points
3. Erik Jones 39 points
4. Kurt Busch 40 points
5. Brad Keselowski 44 points
6. Martin Truex 39 points
7. Kyle Larson 47 points
8. Chase Elliott 40 points
9. Kyle Busch 47 points
Well, isn’t that special? Gentle readers, that young man
raced his heart out, as Mark Martin used to say, and obviously he got no thanks
for it. I’m sorry, but I’m afraid NASCAR has lost this old fan. I still enjoy
watching the cars on the track, and though I’ve never been a fan of playing
games with the final 10 races on the schedule, whatever the name du jour might
be, I’ve stayed around, taking it just one race at a time. Now, they’ve even
killed my enthusiasm for that, because the winner is no longer the winner in
reality.
For many years, I acted in the capacity of a nationally
accredited referee in AAU/USS Swimming. Life was so simple then, and got even
more so with the advent of electronic timing. He or she that touched the wall
first was the winner. No games; no nonsense; no gimmicks… just a contest of
speed. That, Mr. France, is the quintessential definition of a race and is what
this fan wants to watch. It wounds my sensibilities to enjoy a race on Sunday
only to see the winner disrespected in such blatant fashion on Monday. That is
not racing Sir, and I feel I have the credentials to call that as I see it.
For years, I have stood tall in favor of your “Wave
around” rule, even though it’s constantly abused and often misused today,
simply because I believe that the “leader” should always be the leader. Words
do have meanings… even though you keep attempting to change the parlance of
racing on an annual basis or even more frequently if possible. Under your
“leadership”, we went from tweaking the rules to an entire shake-up of the last
10 races of the season… which to date I have simply discounted, whether you
choose to call it “Chase”, “Playoff” or “Tiddley-Winks.”
Now, you’ve gone and killed the pleasure of even the weekly race and you keep
right on grinning and assuring fans that everything is just great! Really Sir?
Really? Oh well, believe what you will. I’m not surprised by anything!
Time now for our Classic Country Closeout, and I do hope
you all are enjoying the series we’ve been following the past few weeks. Here
then is another installment of “Stars of the 1950s.”
Be well gentle readers, and remember to keep smiling.
It looks so good on you!
~PattyKay