Race Weekend Central

Happy Hour: Dale Earnhardt Jr. May Be Struggling With Motivation

It made me chuckle that Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s recent comments about the state of NASCAR came right around the time I said that the press isn’t responsible for the sport’s declining ratings. I’m sure he didn’t get the idea to be so honest after reading an article by little ol’ me, but I wondered if …

Read more

Happy Hour: Give Goodyear Credit for Turning It Around

As everyone remembers, last year’s Indianapolis race was such an unmitigated debacle that for once, NASCAR dropped their guard and apologized for the show. The Internet was afire with finger-pointing, some at NASCAR, some at Goodyear… but all of them were attached to fans furious at the low the sport had sunk to. It was …

Read more

Happy Hour: Jeremy Mayfield Drama Exposes NASCAR’s Credibility Problem

It has been interesting to read the articles and comments devoted to the Jeremy Mayfield mess. The surprise is the amount of fans in Mayfield’s corner. Some are lashing out at the institution of NASCAR as if it were a driver who had just wrecked their hero; others are presenting reasonable and thoughtful scenarios where …

Read more

Happy Hour: Another Speedway Race, Another Chink in NASCAR’s Armor

Never in my years of being a follower of the sport have I witnessed the state of near-panic that NASCAR is in right now. They’re changing rules that had been in place for half a century, opening the press doors to people they once considered irrelevant, installing suggestion boxes for drivers and practically begging fans …

Read more

Happy Hour: NASCAR Consistency Still Rules Over Wins, Especially in 2009

Despite that most general managers in the NFL know never to let the fans or media pick their quarterback (which can be a flawed tenet if the fans are smarter), NASCAR has responded in many ways to fans’ and media behest to place more emphasis on winning. It hasn’t been as pronounced of late as …

Read more

Happy Hour: Scott Wimmer Is Worthy of a Better Shot

While Dale Earnhardt Jr. was being interviewed on 60 Minutes, he said that there’s a Dale Earnhardt Jr. or a Jeff Gordon on short tracks around the country. In sports – in the entertainment industry in general – there are thousands of talented people who toil away for the best years of their lives and …

Read more

Happy Hour’s Best 5 Drivers in NASCAR

As is often said, there are lies, damned lies, and statistics. But in the past two weeks, I couldn’t rely simply on my own judgment in deciding who should be ranked as the 15th through 11th and then the 10th through sixth drivers in the sport. I had ideas that I thought were worthy for …

Read more

Happy Hour’s Best Drivers in NASCAR, Part 2: Drivers #10-#6

I unwittingly picked a bad time to discuss who the best drivers in the sport are today. Between Kyle Busch’s guitar smashing, double-file restarts and the Jeremy Mayfield situation, there is plenty to discuss in NASCAR these days that gets a writer’s columns clicked on by subject matter alone. Maybe this column could have been …

Read more

Happy Hour’s Best Drivers in NASCAR, Part 1: Drivers #15-11

Being the Official Columnist of NASCAR is not an easy job. It’s not a matter of simply handing over a few million to NASCAR, as with most “official” entities. It takes effort. Column topics must be selected with care as opposed to just hitting the escape key and writing something about Dale Earnhardt Jr. when …

Read more