Bad neighbors are a legend in suburban America. Entire movie plots have been written about awful neighbors, meant to generate laughs but also to connect with those who really do have bad neighbors. I mean, come on, does that guy have to mow his lawn right at dawn every Saturday morning?
Well leave it to a NASCAR fan to make a determined run at the title for Worst Neighbor in America. If you’re living under a rock, the “Cup” making the most news right now is not the Sprint Cup Series, but the FIFA World Cup. The FIFA World Cup, as in the international soccer competition that has taken over nearly every corner of the Internet and you can hardly turn on the television without hearing about it. I’m not hating on soccer. It’s just the nature of such a major event that only takes place once every four years. It’s no surprise, then, that some people might be a little over-enthusiastic about the event. You know, like some NASCAR fans are about their sport.
Well one NASCAR fan just couldn’t take it when his ethnically diverse neighbor was rather verbally expressing her support for Brazil, and she had the audacity to do it while he was watching his NASCAR race. She had been wearing the team’s jerseys all week too (gasp!), but this is America, dammit, and her kind is taking our jobs! Oh, yes, he went there too, to the point where the woman called the police for her own safety.
Sigh … something tells me this lovely individual is the same type of person who mutters under his breath about Obama and “kids these days” while he picks up the newspaper from his driveway every morning. But that’s the way it is I guess. Even NASCAR has bitter, crusty, nothing-is-ever-good-enough fans who like to make others miserable.
Gee … we wouldn’t happen to know anyone like that, would we? (Mumbles something incoherent about the comments section.)
Now onto the Mailbox:
“Hi,
Just wondered if NASCAR has released the 2015 schedule yet. We are trying to set up a vacation in February to go to Arizona, and need to know when the race is going to be run. My husband wants to go out there for Cubs Spring Practice. I would probably fly out later to see the race and then we would drive back home in his car.
Thanks.” Marilyn
No, NASCAR has not released the schedule for next season and there have been enough rumors circling through the grapevine for me to caution that changes are expected next year. An entire shakeup is unlikely—and I haven’t heard the Phoenix races mentioned by name—but it might be safest to wait until the schedule is officially announced before you plan that trip.
NASCAR generally releases next year’s schedule in the fall, so we’re still a little ways out from an official release. However, I’m sure it will come with enough time for you to schedule your trip well in advance. My guess is that the Phoenix race will still be the second race of the season, but, like I said, I’ve heard enough discussions regarding changes next season that I wouldn’t bet any money on that. Just keep reading the Frontstretch and we’ll let you know as soon as it’s out!
“I was listening to Kyle Busch’s radio channel in Sonoma, and he made a weird comment after the race ended. Something like “Did M&M’s sign the contract yet” or something to that effect. Did that have anything to do with Carl Edwards? I know he’s been in the rumor mill for JGR for a while now.” Hali
Busch asked “Is the M&M’s contract signed yet”, someone (we’re not sure who) said “No,” and then Dave Rogers went into this spiel about how hard the team fought, and how much work they have to do, and blah, blah, blah….
I would imagine that would have to do with Carl Edwards winning the race since there was already a report saying that M&M’s was leaving Busch’s No. 18 car to sponsor a fourth team for Edwards at JGR. However, it’s not clear whether Busch was making the comment sarcastically because of the rumors or if he was referencing a very real negotiation going on behind the scenes at the race team. However, J.D. Gibbs said recently that M&M’s is signed with Busch through 2015, so perhaps the former is more likely.
We might be finding out very soon, as Joe Gibbs Racing is hosting a press conference this weekend at Kentucky Speedway. While the details of the press conference have as of yet not been announced … I mean, come on. What other reason could a team possibly have for calling an otherwise random conference in the middle of the season?
What’s the latest on Jeff Gordon’s back? I hadn’t heard anything about it but I’ve had enough back issues in my life to know they don’t just go away. Jaleel
Gordon said last weekend in Sonoma that he’s had cortisone shots since Charlotte and is doing TENS—which stands for transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation. The device used for TENS looks like the kind of thing you would see in old horror movies set in mental hospitals, but apparently it’s a fairly common method used to stimulate nerve endings and relieve pain. He also says he is treating his back with ice and is still doing a normal workout routine, an activity I’m sure wouldn’t be possible if his back issues were getting worse.
I found it interesting that he also commented that the plane ride to the track was harder on him than actually being in the car. Maybe someone with back issues can explain that one to me, since both require sitting for hours on end and only one of those requires physical activity.
I’m going to guess from his comments and his access to what one has to assume are high quality and well-paid healthcare professionals that Gordon is going to be just fine. The people around him know what has to be done for him to continue racing and it’s not like the back issues have contributed to any kind of downfall for Gordon. In fact, he’s having a pretty fantastic year. I’m not going to speak for Gordon, but if he doesn’t sound worried, I see no reason for anyone else to worry.
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Nice little digs you got in at the beginning of the article Summer. Obama, Hispanics, Kyle…….check. Wouldn’t it be great if we could get rid of all conservative christian white men? What a utopia it would be! Regressive Liberal Power forever. Sigh……..
I would love to write some of the bios here. Here goes. Little Missy saw her first NASCAR race last year when Granpa took her as a reward for graduating near the top of her high school class. Since then she has learned all she can about racing like that oil is yucky and the cars are loud compared to her Prius. Although she still thinks a bias ply tire is the preferred rubber of all those old white racists from the south we love her here at Frontstretch. What do you think, close?
Hey Summer… if you don’t like the neighborhood, then move. Just don’t expect your new soccer fan neighbors to be any more well-behaved than the redneck Nascar fans you seem to despise. Just be careful when attending the matches… even though I’m one of those guys who complains about Obama, I’d hate to see you get hit by a toilet thrown from the grandstands by a rowdy soccer fan.
Yeah, it’s always a good idea to alienate your customers. Looks like she is angling for job with Brian in NASCAR’s top ranks.
As for Gordon’s back pain, a few thoughts. One, inflammation takes a while to set in. Second, is that the amount of pain in the lower back often depends on the body position. His race seat is custom fit and it’s possible that there’s less stress on certain parts of his body than in a one-size-fits-all airplane chair. And third, the adrenaline and need to focus on what is going on sometimes ‘lets’ a driver forget about how sore he is.
I thought I was going to read something interesting here. Guess not.
Having lived in Europe for over 15 years, I didn’t have much choice of what to watch on TV. F-1 & Soccer were about it. Soccer fans are as bad if not worse than the good old boys in the stands. I haven’t seen a badly behaved race fan beat anybody but I have seen soccer fans beat each other to a bloody pulp using whatever objects were at hand.So I’d say the race fans are one up on the soccer fans, Badly behaved or not.
If you sent the beginning of this article along with your resume to the New York Times, I bet they would hire you.
Please bring political bias into racing. We already don’t see enough of it everywhere we turn. It’s like some elements on this site are actively trying to drive all those dissenting, undesireable demographic-type people away. Won’t work, though. On some articles, I’m more interested to see what Bill B, Carl D, GinaV24, and their cohorts have to say than any wisdom the all-powerful scribe has to impart.
Tim, Tim, Tim, Hillary and Summer know what is best for you. If you cannot except that than you just hate woman. Stop this thinking for yourself thing.
If you read the article it sounds like Summer doesn’t even want a comments section. Kind of like how Nascar doesn’t to hear from the non Hendrick loving crowd.
Whoops, sorry John. Go Hendrick! Go Hillary! Pass the Kool Aid and turn up that MSNBC! Where’s my Lowe’s cap? Woo hoo!
With some of the more recent articles and attitude being communicated, it looks like Frontstretch has done more than redesigned the look of the website. They’ve also changed their approach to covering the sport to “better align with the goals of NASCAR and their vision for the future”. Not surprising. You can always make more money if you “play ball, fall in line and suck up to the hand that feeds”.
Where have you gone Matt McLaughlin, our nation turns it’s lonely eyes to you. What’s that you say Mrs Bedgood, jolting Matt has left and gone away.
AMEN to Bill B. Bring back Matt M at least biweekly to offset the crap about how great the racing, the chase and danica are doing in 2014.
I’m not sure what bothers me more; Summers condescending article or the fact that whoever wrote her bio stated that she is considered one of Frontstretch’s fast-rising young talents. If this is the future if racing journalism then I guess we can just close up shop now.
I can’t even say that it’s her opinions that bother me but more that Summer appears to lack the knowledge of the subject that she is writing about. It would seem to me that if one is passionate enough to pursue a writing career in a particular subject such as racing that she would actually immerse herself in the history of the subject so that she could write about it competently. In the absence of that knowledge the best that Summer can muster is to insult the people that visit this site.
In the past I’ve been trouble with Summer’s articles as she seems to be under the misguided impression that NASCAR first came about in 2009; back when the grass was greener and gas was a mere $2.90 a gallon. Please Summer, take a moment or two to learn about the history of NASCAR and please stop assuming that many of us are old, disgruntled fans. As you learn more you may actually find that we may actually be right on some things, (and if we are wrong you’ll actually have the knowledge to back it up).