Beside the Rising Tide: 3rd-Rate Rendezvous
Well campers, what should we talk about this week? I mean there’s nothing going in our insular little racing world across these vast United States of …
By Matt McLaughlin
Beside the Rising Tide: If They Ain’t Cheering They Better Be Booing
Hey Boy Blue, can’t you hear all the noise? It’s for you, all the town’s waiting there. – Jeff Lynne It seems like ancient history now, but …
Beside the Rising Tide: Disqualified, The 6-Ton Elephant in the Room and Other Observations
Early in my career Ben Blake, one of the great all-time writers in NASCAR history, taught me that the only thing worse than rain at …
Beside the Rising Tide: Matt McLaughlin Thinks Out Loud After Darlington 2020, Round 1
In a Nutshell: For years I wrote on a Sunday night deadline (that sometimes stretched to the point my alarm clock was going off while …
Beside the Rising Tide: Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing, Baby
Back in the late 1960s Marvin Gaye, backed by Tammi Terrell, scored an AM radio hit with a song entitled, Ain’t Nothing Like the Real …
Beside the Rising Tide: Beware the Ides of March
It’s been an interesting week both inside and outside the insular little media niche focused on NASCAR racing. A tempest in a teapot unexpectedly broke …
Beside the Rising Tide: Fire on Gander Mountain
NASCAR’s third level touring division, a.k.a. the Truck Series, came into being in 1995. It was a kinder, gentler era for the sanctioning body, when …
Beside the Rising Tide: Counting on a Miracle
For a sport based on high speed and non-stop action, NASCAR racing can be incredibly frustrating sometimes. It is positively soul-sapping to watch two lines …
Beside The Rising Tide: 2020 NASCAR Changes in Latitude
For the last couple weeks, we’ve been discussing changes that lay ahead in NASCAR in this space. In most cases, those modifications won’t take place …
Beside the Rising Tide: Fixing a Hole in the Ocean
Quite a few fans seem to have been perplexed this weekend as their attention returned to NASCAR racing. They’d apparently heard that there were big …