With the 25th running of the All-Star Race coming up Saturday night, I was supposed to write a column about memorable All-Star races… or something like that. You know, standard rundown of the big moments. But the problem with that reared its ugly head in oh, about 30 seconds. I don’t really remember any. Sure, …
Every once in a while, something happens that puts things in perspective. Something that reminds you why you’re here in the first place. It’s not necessarily a big event – it can be something as small as a child’s thank you or the smell of spring and fresh cut grass. But it’s a reminder of …
I think it’s one of Murphy’s Laws (Murphy, I never knew you, but you were one hell of a pessimist, huh?) that just when you think things couldn’t get any worse, someone surprises you. Of course, this is NASCAR we’re talking about, the sanctioning body that has come up with so ways to fix something …
You know you’re on a roll when, seven races into the season, you hold a points lead so large that you could finish dead last the next week and still leave town with it. That’s exactly where Jeff Gordon found himself last week, rolling into Phoenix with just such a lead. In the eight races …
I genuinely like Jamie McMurray. He’s a hard guy not to like. But, from a performance standpoint – well, the writing has been on the wall for a long time.
NASCAR recently announced that the sanctioning body would now conduct postrace engine teardowns at their Concord facility, the latest in a series of measures designed to cut costs. I’m not really sure how this one saves teams any money, unless NASCAR is planning on delivering the inspected engines to the teams they were taken from. …
The 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season rolls into April, and while nothing is carved in the sand, let alone stone, things are starting to become a little clearer for several teams. While some are living up to preseason expectations, others are struggling to live up to them. I’m going to take a closer look at …
At the top level of NASCAR, there are so many factors to consider every week. There are sponsors to please, fans to appease, and an owner to answer to. Your job is to try to win races and ultimately the championship. And that’s not just at the top. Don’t think for a second that that …
There’s procrastinating and then there’s procrastinating. Your average everyday procrastinating is generally no big deal. So you take out the trash tomorrow and wash the car next week (don’t do that if you run over a possum, by the way; it’s hard to get the blood off. Yes, I did learn that the hard way.). …
Racing, like other sports, is built on heroes. Most of NASCAR’s heroes are the men and women who, over the years, pulled on their colorful, if not dashing firesuits, climbed into a snarling beast of a machine, and drove straight into the sunset (and back out, as they came off the next turn). They court danger and flirt with mayhem, run with the stuff of dreams. Yes, racecar drivers are the stuff of legend. But not all heroes drive the cars. Some make the cars go fast instead.
It’s all about location, but not in the way the NASCAR higher-ups think. It’s not about location in the country, but the location that provides the best racing.
It wasn’t that long ago when every major sport could have taken a page from NASCAR’s book. This was a sport that was fan friendly. The drivers were accessible to the fans and happy to oblige. The sport was rich in tradition and the racing was good. Everyone wanted to win the Daytona 500 and …
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