Race Weekend Central

Professor of Speed: In NASCAR We Trust

Call me naïve, but I have never really believed that NASCAR has forsaken good in exchange for evil. That’s not to say I’ve never publicly complained about the sanctioning body and its decision-making processes over the decades. Every organization is fully capable of making poor choices, but that’s also to be expected when said organization …

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Professor of Speed: NASCAR Turning a New Leaf in Virginia

Now that NASCAR’s foray to the frontier is finished, the racing community can set its sights on another exciting venture. It’s time for Brian France’s Traveling Circus to pitch its tent at Martinsville. The .526-mile paved paperclip just might be the tonic NASCAR Nation needs after three events west of the Mississippi. While Kevin Harvick …

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Hold my Beer…

2014 Loudon I Nns Race Fans Cia

(Credit: CIA Stock Photography. Copyright 2014)

Not signed up for our FREE Frontstretch Newsletter? You’re missing out on some extra features and content from some of your favorite Frontstretch staffers. Check out this preview of our Wednesday commentary writer, noted NASCAR author and Professor Mark Howell on the Richmond catchfence climber from Saturday night, a piece that appeared in today’s edition. …

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Professor of Speed: Where Have All the NASCAR Legends Gone?

So I’m in the checkout line at my local grocery store. It’s the day before a major national holiday and the place is teeming with rushed shoppers. I looked over the pile of goods on the conveyor belt and matched it against my list when I noticed a smiling Dale Earnhardt Jr. near the end …

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Professor of Speed: The Twists & Turns of Brain Trauma – Why NASCAR Should Pay Attention

Once again, the National Football League is taking competitor safety to a new level of national attention, and it seems like a suitable issue for NASCAR to consider, as well. Safety is a serious matter, and ignoring it possesses far greater – and more negative – connotations. The issue involves new research into more easily …

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Professor of Speed: An Executive Order on NASCAR Drivers

President Obama’s statement last week declaring Jimmie Johnson to be “the Michael Jordan of NASCAR” got me to wondering: are there no other stock car drivers who could be associated with professional athletes? Comparing the six-time Sprint Cup champion to perhaps the most accomplished and recognized personality in recent NBA history seems a tad presumptuous, …

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Professor Of Speed: Smitten With The Mitten

As a Michigander (albeit a 1995 transplant from Pennsylvania by way of Ohio), I watched with great pride as Brad Keselowski won the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup championship at Homestead. His success – the first Cup title for a Michigan native – saved what has been a lackluster year for professional sports in our state.

The Detroit Lions are having yet another sluggish season. It’s become a holiday tradition to watch our NFL franchise suffer Thanksgiving losses (my students on Monday swapped stories about how watching the Lions tended to ruin otherwise pleasant family gatherings). It’s difficult to celebrate our nation’s abundance when victories are in such short supply.

Professor Of Speed: When Art Imitates Life

Boy howdy! Last weekend at Phoenix International Raceway was one that fans won’t likely forget very soon. Both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races kicked it old school as the 2012 season wound down to its final events. Nothing like some blown tires and bent sheet metal to grab headlines. Fussing and fighting and whining and fining always put NASCAR squarely back on America’s sports pages.

That is, unless you’re the parent of a child in elementary school. If you’re dealing with backpacks and lunch sacks every weekday, your radar screen has likely been preoccupied with the motion picture Wreck-It Ralph, the latest release from Walt Disney Animation Studios.

Professor Of Speed: Too Little, Too Late

I’m not a very good friend. It’s too easy for me to get all wrapped up in the details of everyday life and work; my schedule usually sits front-and-center ahead of most else in my mind. That’s probably why I totally ignored the bulletins reporting the death of Wanda Lund-Early this past January. As I said previously, I’m not a very good friend.

If I was a better friend, I would have been all over the news that Wanda died on January 5th of this year. If I was a better friend, I would have been stunned by the tragic news. If I was a better friend, I would have been even more stunned by the idea that her death was self-inflicted. If I was a better friend, I would have known that she was hurting on the inside while trying to make things right on the outside.

Professor Of Speed: So Many Options, So Little to See

Say what you will about the wisdom of Brian France, but for all of his questionable decisions in the past (like moving the annual Sprint Cup awards banquet from New York City to Las Vegas, like hiring the over-the-top-eccentric comedian Carrot Top to help “roast” Jimmie Johnson before a live audience, like taking a pro-social media stance in an effort to attract more young fans, like striving to make stock car racing look more ecologically-friendly), his idea for The Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship is beginning to look like a good one. It’s taken several years, in my opinion, but recent (at least since 2011) results appear promising.

Once Upon A Time In NASCAR

Change is all around. Summer has given way to autumn, which will shortly give way to yet another winter. As November approaches, so, too, does a presidential election driven by the campaign rhetoric of change and better days ahead. Many of us embrace changes because they shake us out of the doldrums of what has become our everyday life. Others worry about the uncertainties that come with a change in routine, a change in the status quo.

NASCAR Nation is rolling through similar changes. Over recent weeks, we’ve been told about revisions to next year’s guidelines for testing and qualifying, and even more recently we were notified that the Top-35 rule had been dropped to make way for a new-and-improved approach to setting the starting grid. Other recent changes involved new rules for the Nationwide Series, as well, where only 40 cars will be allowed to compete in races, down from the current number of 43.