What a race and awesome warm-up to the 500! My guy Kyle ran in the top 3 almost the entire race and drove Tony Stewart's bumper right into the last turn. Somehow he thought he could do what he failed to do Friday night in the Truck Series: bump draft up to the line, pull out and around and swing across the finish line in first place.
Yeah. It didn't work Friday and it didn't work Saturday. The restrictor plates just don't give you enough to make it work. The result? Kyle swung out high and two other calls drove underneath him and left him in 4th place as he crossed the line! Eiyeeeee!
He ran such a great race! But Tony "Smoke" Stewart was just that much more. With about ten laps to go a caution came up and Tony took a pit stop. Only five other cars did the same. As Tony pulled into his pit, he could be heard to say 'sorry guys. I made a mistake. I'll get them back." When he left pit row he was in 22nd place!
With about ten laps to go he gained it back and won the race! All props to "Smoke" for a hard ran race! But now my guy, Kyle, is steamed and ready to race! Unfortunately, sometimes he races his emotions so I'm hoping he listens to his Crew Chief, thinks with his head, and races with his heart.
Rain is expected at race time (3:40pm) and through most of the race. They'll be racing on different tires under conditions they haven't practiced in. Of course, the track is so big (2.5 miles) that it could be raining on one side of the track and not the other!
2/15/2009
2/14/2009
What is it with NASCAR?
I don't think my racing infatuation began with NASCAR. It really began with guys like A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti and Formula 1 racing. I think when I was younger (junior high, high school) it was just the thought of going somewhere fast. And I really loved the sounds and the colors. Those were the days when Jackie Stewart called the races for ABC and his Scottish accent won me over as much as anything.
Then I started watching stock car racing: Dale Earnhart, Rusty Wallace, Richard Petty. I think I was transitioning my life from the midwest (IL, MN) to Dallas TX at the time. By the time I moved to New York City, I was watching races on TV pretty religiously. I was also starting to really get into the Pro Golf at the time, so sometimes Sunday meant some tough TV viewing choices!
By the late 90's I was watching more NASCAR than golf and then, around the year 2000, my brother Allen and I learned that we were both watching NASCAR...only we weren't talking about it! So we started sharing interest in the sport and in 2005, ventured off to our first official NASCAR race: Texas Motor Speedway!
The mother of tracks - over 200,000 fans! What an inauguration into the sport! In 2006 we ventured to Darlington and then in 2007 we headed to Talladega (yes, that is Alabama!). This year Daytona tickets landed in our laps, thanks to some season ticket holders who couldn't make it this year.
Allen and I will be heading off to the track in about ten minutes, sun screen smeared (our English skin needs help in the Florida sun!) and ready to tackle the parking, the midway, and a few hours on steel seats in the hot sun! YEEEE-HAW!
The man to cheer for is Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M car! He came in 2nd last night in the Truck Series (2nd year in a row!)
Today's race is a just 200 miles (the track is 2.5 miles around) and the average speed is about 189 mph.
We'll let you know tonight how it went!
Then I started watching stock car racing: Dale Earnhart, Rusty Wallace, Richard Petty. I think I was transitioning my life from the midwest (IL, MN) to Dallas TX at the time. By the time I moved to New York City, I was watching races on TV pretty religiously. I was also starting to really get into the Pro Golf at the time, so sometimes Sunday meant some tough TV viewing choices!
By the late 90's I was watching more NASCAR than golf and then, around the year 2000, my brother Allen and I learned that we were both watching NASCAR...only we weren't talking about it! So we started sharing interest in the sport and in 2005, ventured off to our first official NASCAR race: Texas Motor Speedway!
The mother of tracks - over 200,000 fans! What an inauguration into the sport! In 2006 we ventured to Darlington and then in 2007 we headed to Talladega (yes, that is Alabama!). This year Daytona tickets landed in our laps, thanks to some season ticket holders who couldn't make it this year.
Allen and I will be heading off to the track in about ten minutes, sun screen smeared (our English skin needs help in the Florida sun!) and ready to tackle the parking, the midway, and a few hours on steel seats in the hot sun! YEEEE-HAW!
The man to cheer for is Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M car! He came in 2nd last night in the Truck Series (2nd year in a row!)
Today's race is a just 200 miles (the track is 2.5 miles around) and the average speed is about 189 mph.
We'll let you know tonight how it went!
2/06/2009
When Your Hamster Dies
My nephew had a rough week this week. Little boys his age (six) feel things so intensely and passionately... and that includes death.
Real young children deal with death with all the purity and innocence of their youth. They accept it for what it is. They don't over think it or over feel it. That comes with age...and school...and life.
Last weekend, my niece's hamster died. Lucky for her (I guess), it was her birthday this week, so getting a replacement was an easy win for my brother and his wife. My nephew dealt with the loss very pragmatically: he worked on the problem of how you dispose of a hamster in February in Chicago when the ground is frozen. We won't digress and get into the details of his proposed burial solutions. I think they involved trap doors, hidden rooms and the Temple of Doom!
No, this tale focuses on the arrival of a new pet. A replacement rodent was purchased by my niece and lived nicely with the family for about a day. Then they thought the pet was ill, took it to the vet, learned that the pet was fine but - OMG! - it was a boy!
Now here's the tipping point for my nephew. They returned the boy pet and replaced it with a girl! AYE! Ever hear of castration anxiety? Well...it exists...and my poor nephew suffered it. A boy returned and exchanged for a girl! Bless his heart. A little boys worst fear realized!
Thank goodness he has such an awesome dad who makes him feel safe and loved. And to heck with all those girls!
Real young children deal with death with all the purity and innocence of their youth. They accept it for what it is. They don't over think it or over feel it. That comes with age...and school...and life.
Last weekend, my niece's hamster died. Lucky for her (I guess), it was her birthday this week, so getting a replacement was an easy win for my brother and his wife. My nephew dealt with the loss very pragmatically: he worked on the problem of how you dispose of a hamster in February in Chicago when the ground is frozen. We won't digress and get into the details of his proposed burial solutions. I think they involved trap doors, hidden rooms and the Temple of Doom!
No, this tale focuses on the arrival of a new pet. A replacement rodent was purchased by my niece and lived nicely with the family for about a day. Then they thought the pet was ill, took it to the vet, learned that the pet was fine but - OMG! - it was a boy!
Now here's the tipping point for my nephew. They returned the boy pet and replaced it with a girl! AYE! Ever hear of castration anxiety? Well...it exists...and my poor nephew suffered it. A boy returned and exchanged for a girl! Bless his heart. A little boys worst fear realized!
Thank goodness he has such an awesome dad who makes him feel safe and loved. And to heck with all those girls!
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