Submitted from Freshrubber.com

With all the talk about Dale Earnhardt Jr. leaving his No. 8 behind when he departs Dale Earnhardt Inc. for Hendrick Motorsports next year, some believe the drivers — not the teams — should have the option of keeping a number throughout their careers.

In the current system, NASCAR owns all the numbers and leases them to the teams.

Earnhardt and his representatives tried to make a deal with DEI to allow him to take his number to Hendrick. But the negotiations ended this week with no agreement, leaving Junior to ponder other numbers, perhaps in the 80s.

Earnhardt said Saturday he hadn’t held out much hope in the negotiations with stepmother Teresa Earnhardt, owner of the team founded by his late father.

“I knew that this was the way it was going to be,” he stated on the Web site of NASCAR Scene. “I just didn’t have the guts to tell my fans because they were holding out and hoping it would work out. I just didn’t have the guts to tell them that it was a waste of time hoping that it would happen. I had already been working in this other direction and got some pretty good ideas. We’re going to look at every one and see which one we like the best.”

Submitted from NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

Let me tell you Speed TV knows how to put on a show at the track. I was able to attend the Smash Mouth concert on Sat. night at MIS as well as NASCAR Raceday Built by The Home Depot and got to see first hand how the Network runs its shows.

Saturday evening was a blast with Smash Mouth. They aren’t too bad live. They kicked it off with 2 ripping Van Halen tunes, and then hit you with a bevy of their own hits. The crowd was pretty good, but as the evening turned into night there were more incidents of fighting. I know that it is impossible to control who does what and when, but everyone around us noted that it was amazing how fast the security guards came around when a girl decided to bear her breasts, but when a fight broke out they were no where to be seen. Things that make you go hmm.

Now don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a rowdy drunken, free for all, in fact it was pretty calm compared to some of the concerts I’ve been to - without alcohol even! I’ve got to give the fans at MIS credit for policing themselves during the concert, I think they did an awesome job looking out for each other in the rain and mud. Everyone went wanting a good time, and 95% of us did.

On Sunday we were fortunate enough to get some prime spots for the Trackside telecast. The powers that be did a good job in getting the cold wet fans worked up to a frenzy with all of the free swag they were giving out - they also did a good job in helping thefans forget they were cold and wet. I can’t believe the amount of stuff Speed threw out into the crowd. I’ve got to give them credit, that is the most swag I’ve seen anyone give out during an event like that.

Kenny Wallace is the best at getting the crowd worked up, and he is easily the crowd favourite. When not on camera he is following the script and prompting the crowd with his hands, trying to get them to vocalize their reactions even more - what a showman. Honestly, I can’t see a sponsor that wouldn’t want him as a pitchman - he could put Michael Waltrip to shame. Somebody please give him a solid ride. He is a good solid driver, and potential winner, that suffers from a lack of good equipment.

I hope that Speed remains part of the NASCAR community for a long time to come as they add so much more to the races, both on the air and at the track. They do such a good job at the track that it makes the fan experience much more enjoyable. Thank you Speed!

Speed Rocks!

Submitted from NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

This is me with a Dale Jr show car at the Sharpie display.

This one is for the Diecast Dude. I hear through the grapevine that Pamela is his favourite author, besides himself of course.

Mark Martin in the #01 car with the special ‘57 Chevy paint scheme. Jimmie Johnson’s car looked good too.

Kind of an ‘artsy’ shot. Turned out OK for the type of camera I was using.

Matt Kenseth coming in for adjustments during Happy Hour.

Submitted from NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

Rain is the 4 letter word for any NASCAR fan (and Boris Said). Considering I will not get any chance to actually be at the track to see this race, if it is run this week, I still had a pretty good time this weekend.

After the race was cancelled on Sunday we debated about staying or not for Monday. We went back to Ann Arbour to the hotel we checked out of that morning and consulted with the computer in the lobby. Instead of checking back into the hotel we decided to go back home as all the major weather sites/stations/networks, as well as local ones, were calling for a 100% chance of rain on Monday with a flood watch for the MIS area until midnight Monday so we figured that the race wouldn’t run on Monday anyway and we didn’t want to spend even more money on a hotel for a race that wasn’t going to happen for another 48hrs. And we were right, the race will be on Tues. with an estimated start time of 10:00 am.

As it turns out, the guy that went with me this weekend is able to go back Tuesday and took my ticket off my hands and is taking his niece to her first NASCAR race ever (she is a Jimmie Johnson fan). I’m so ‘ticked’ off that I can’t go, but previous obligations make it soooo impossible for me to attend. I even had to beg, and ‘take one for the team’ to get this moved from Monday to Tuesday just in case of rain on Sunday. So much for proper planning. Next time I’ll just have to put everything on hold for three days after the original date of a race, just to make darn sure that I see the race in person no matter what.

This is going to lead to a rant, but I’m going to put the rant on hold for a bit. To be continued …

Submitted from NASCAR Eclectic

I feel bad for the folks who travel long distances and plan to see a live NASCAR race months in advance only to have it washed out. The last two races I’ve been to have been rain delayed… one, at Talladega was run on Monday, but it cost us dearly in motel fees and air fare, plus missing more time off from work. Today doesn’t look much better. There is a heavy band of rain stretching from northern Wisconsin into northern Illinois that is moving east, but there may be an opportunity. If not… tomorrow!?

Back at the Cottage… It’s always nice to complete one of my projects. The guy on the steps is Bob, the home owner, and as you can see he is pleased. The before deck was a mere 6 feet wide by 16 feet long and slowly sinking into the ground because the person who built it did not use footers. I removed that and built the 12 foot by 20 foot one that you could park a truck on. The fellow in the background is my carpenter, Mike, and Bob gave Mike a $25 tip on top of the 5k plus he paid me. I thought that was very cool!!