Submitted by NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

Man, I get a lot of e-mail. Granted some days are busier than others but I still get a fair bit of e-mail. Some of your emails are good and some are … not so good, but I read each and every single one of them, my problem is I just don’t reply to them too well. I am a bit lazy sometimes, or busy, or both!

I just spent the last 30 min replying to and cleaning out over 300 e-mails and I’m still not done. It usually takes me about 2 weeks to reply to general inquiry e-mails, and about 2 business days for more ‘official’ e-mail. If there is something else going on at the time then it will take me longer to get back to you.

I get some strange e-mail too, right from the “Are you married?” to “You are a real (poo)-head!” I’ll never forget the 2000 word essay about how all the sinners live in California and how God is going to kill them all in an Earthquake that will sink the coast of California into the ocean. It went on and on and on … .

Anyway, the messege here is: “I do read your e-mail, it just rakes me a while to reply.”

Take Care.

Blogger won’t let me add a picture, sorry folks!

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Submitted by NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

1. Ford has guaranteed that all Ford teams will get to use the data acquired from Roush’s 7-post shaker. Marc at Full Throttle has the story covered.

2. My top 12 predictions will be up soon. To be honest with you I’m having a tough time narrowing the field down to 12.

3. I’ll probably precede my predictions the day before with a top 10 list of (?) - I’m not telling, you’ll have to tune in to find out.

4. I need to update you with a few changes to my site.

5. I feel great about today. Let me explain. As most of you I coach various sports and this past fall/early winter I had to coach both the girls and boys volleyball teams and I forgot to update you on their progress.

The Boys made it all the way to the City Finals, but unfortunately, couldn’t pull off the Championship - we had to settle for second. Not bad for a team that hadn’t even had their first practice until the day before their first regular season game. Heck, they didn’t even have a coach until then too - me. Their regular coach took ill and had to take a leave of absence so I stepped in. It was only supposed to be for a week or two at most, but I ended up coaching them for the whole season.

The girls team had much promise this year. I expected them to at least make the semi-finals but they folded in the 1/4 finals. Horribly I might add - they imploded and it wasn’t pretty - I couldn’t stop the bleeding. From a coaching perspective it was a real let down let me tell you.

So when the opportunity presented itself in late December for them to participate in a tournament for this month I took advantage of it, as we had some unfinished business as a team - I really didn’t want our season to end on such a horrible note and I thought this might be a more positive way to end the season.

I was again hopeful for them, but as the date drew near I was faced with more adversity than anticipated; 1) one of my players has developed a medical condition that does not allow them to play or practice right now for fear of major damage to her eye (ie. blindness), 2) another player is on holidays somewhere warmer than here, and yet 3) another player could not make the tournament due to family obligations today. All three were from my starting six.

So what could I do? Withdraw from the tournament? No. I instead took 2 girls from my Phys-Ed class and put them on the team in place of the two who were away and I kept my injured player on as a ‘manager’ so she could stay with the team. The new players had never played organized volleyball before outside of gym class and they had to learn more than just the basic skills offered in Phys-Ed as well as my system of play in only 2 weeks. My approach to this tournament with the team was “Hey, let’s go and have some fun and I really don’t care if we win or loose - let’s not even look at the scoreboard.” I only worked on 3 things in practice to make it easier on the new girls, serving, positioning, and passing - nothing else.

Well, we went to the tournament today and you know what? We finished with the silver! The Championship match was very tight too. We dropped the first game by 6 points, screamed back and took the second game by 10, and lost the third game in a nail-bitter in extra points by 2. What a way to end it! They finally played up to their potential, and they did it without 3 of their starters. Awesome!

6. Finally, my thoughts and prayers go out to drag racer Doug Herbert and his family right now. No parent should outlive their child. Go here for the full story as it really bothers me to write about it - it makes me think of my own kids and question my own mortality, which is something that I don’t like to do much.

I met Doug way back in the mid-90’s in Columbus Ohio, when he won his first NHRA Top Fuel event. What a nice guy, and I’m sorry he has to go through the loss of his two sons right now.

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Submitted by NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

Well, testing started in Vegas today and unfortunately I can’t talk about it because , “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!”

One more interesting development that happened just recently is that Jacques Villeneuve and his long-time business manager Craig Pollock have parted ways. The split between the two seems to be amicable siting that Pollock wants to spend more time with his family in Monaco and not in North America for 36 racing weekends. Go here for the entire article.

Finally, and more importantly for you Stewart fans, how do you like the new paint?

Photo Credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR

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Submitted by NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates Racing wins it’s third Rolex 24 Hour race at Daytona in a row. In a word, “Wow!”

Driver Juan Montoya won his second ever class victory and second ever overall win in just two starts at this race, while teammate Scott Pruett won his eighth Rolex 24 class victory and his third overall win in this race. The other two drivers in this car were NASCAR rookie of the year candidate Dario Franchitti and Memo Rojas who is Scott’s regular teammate in this car for the Grand Am series. Franchitti is the only new member of this team from last year and he proved to be no slouch either.

One thing I noted, and thought was cheap, was that in the pre-race show on Fox they interviewed every driver of the car except Memo, they just walked past him to Montoya after they interviewed Pruett who was beside Memo, and then when they were done with Montoya they went back to Franchitti who was on the other side of Memo compared to Pruett. At least they said his name as they walked past him. Total BS as far as I’m concerned.

Anyway, this year’s edition of the Rolex 24 hour race did not disappoint. It did have some exciting moments, and the 01 car of Ganassi and Sabates was not as dominate as you might think. If it were not for a flat tire and broken suspension components on a competitor’s car they would have finished second. The car in question, driven at times by AJ Allmendinger, still finished the race in 14th.

Photo Credits:

1) “o1 car in action” by Christopher Sink - Cakewalk Photo for motorsport.com
2) “victory lane - from L to R: Montoya, Franchitti, Rojas, and Pruett” by Eric Gilbert for motorsports.com
3) “ladies of victory lane - from L to R: Judy Pruett, Connie Montoya and Ashley Judd” by Eric Gilbert for motorsports.com

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Rating 3.00 out of 5

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Submitted by NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

Jenna Fryer wrote an article yesterday about the media visit this week (Wednesday) to DEI and noticed that there is virtually no trace of the fact that Dale Earnhardt Jr was ever a driver there. No trace of his 17 victories or even his 2 Busch Grand National Championships.

What she reported was also echoed by other reporters who attended the 2 hour media event:

“But as reporters walked through the hallowed halls that the late Dale Earnhardt and widow Teresa built, there was virtually nothing that recalled the time Junior had spent there.
No photos, no banners and virtually nothing in the gift shop.

No indication of his two Busch Series championships, his 17 Cup wins or any other contribution he made to the organization.

It’s almost as if Junior never existed at DEI.” - By Jerry Bonkowski, Yahoo! Sports

My friend, Marc, over at Full Throttle left me a message asking me if I had read the article and what my two cents were regarding it. Yes I had read it, and I’m about to voice my two cents.

I don’t really get it. DEI should be proud of its accomplished past regardless of how it ended. Even Richard Childress has Mike Skinner artifacts on display at RCR, and that didn’t end too well. Heck, Richard even has a #3 car driven by Ricky Rudd on display even though Ricky only drove for RCR one season.

I could understand if they were in the midst of remodeling or something, but there was nothing mentioned in either of the articles to support that. To erase the history of the most successful moments in your company is a disgrace. Pure and simple.

There is an old saying, “Those who do not know history are destined to repeat it,” and if DEI does not celebrate it’s history and remembers where it came from, then how can they move on into the future? They will be destined to make the same mistakes again and never win a (name of current sponsor here) Cup. And you can forget the possibility of Dale Jr ever coming back to race for DEI again.

This is my second post within the last 4 hours, so don’t forget to go and read my previous post.

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Submitted by NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

O.K. I have to admit, I didn’t really find out about this on my own, I was contacted by a representative of the Crocs shoe company, and after looking at the info I thought, “Hey, that is cool. I wish I could do that”.

I got the following from the Daytona International Speedway Site:

“Race fans have the opportunity to leave their own mark on the historic track at the Daytona 5K and Crocs Walk on Saturday, Jan. 26 – the morning before the start of the Rolex 24, which formally kickstarts the 2008 racing season and DIRECTV Speedweeks leading up to the 50th Running of the DAYTONA 500.

The Daytona 5K and Crocs Walk will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to walk or run on the historic pavement of Daytona International Speedway. The Crocs Walk is one lap around the 2.5-mile tri-oval superspeedway and the 5K run is a single lap on the tri-oval and the non-banked infield section. New in 2008 is the Kids’ Run, a dash down Pit Road for children ages 12 and under.

Also new this year are the benefits of showing up on race day wearing Crocs™ shoes, the comfortable, spirited and stylish shoe gaining rapid popularity around the world. Anyone who shows up at the kick-off event wearing Crocs™ footwear will receive “pole position” for the walk, and a discount coupon towards the purchase of Crocs at Daytona International Speedway. Most importantly, Crocs invites all racing fans to bring an old pair of Crocs™ shoes to the Crocs Walk to be recycled. The company will be collecting Crocs at NASCAR events throughout the season, with this event serving as the inaugural opportunity.

“We’re proud to celebrate the Rolex 24, DIRECTV Speedweeks and the official start to the 2008 racing season through the Crocs Walk,” said Stephanie Koon, Crocs spokesperson. “We believe we are the shoe of choice for NASCAR fans everywhere, and if you’re going to walk 2.5 miles around this superspeedway, you might as well do it in style and comfort by wearing Crocs shoes!”

Since 2007, Crocs has partnered with a number of NASCAR drivers to create unique Crocs™ shoes – in race team colors featuring the drivers’ names, signatures, and numbers – that allow NASCAR fans to support their favorite drivers from head to toe. Available at select race venues and Crocs retail locations, NASCAR.com, Superstore, and Crocs.com for a suggested retail price of $30-$35, driver designs include:

· Dale Earnhardt, Sr.
· Jeff Gordon
· Kevin Harvick
· Jimmie Johnson
· Tony Stewart

Registration is now open for the Daytona 5K and Crocs Walk. Visit www.daytona5k.com to register online or to download an entry form. Online registration closes January 23, 2008 at 9:00 p.m. PT and mail-in entries must be postmarked by January 18. Crocs Walk fees are $20 if registering prior to January 26 and $25 on race day. 5K fees are $22 before December 31, $27 after December 31 and $35 on race day. There is no fee for the Kids’ Run. Each participant will receive an official T-shirt, free admission ticket to the Rolex 24 at Daytona, and admission to the Daytona 5K and Crocs Walk Post Race Party held in the Sprint FANZONE.

A portion of the registration fee proceeds benefit the United Way of Volusia-Flagler Counties. In addition Crocs is inviting all racing fans to bring an old pair of Crocs to the Crocs Walk to be recycled.

Race day Itinerary:5:30 a.m. Registration begins7:00 a.m. 5K Run7:05 a.m. Crocs Walk8:00 a.m. Kids’ Run8:10 a.m. Post Race Party/Awards Ceremony1:30 p.m. Rolex 24 At Daytona

About Crocs, Inc.

Crocs, Inc. is a rapidly growing designer, manufacturer and retailer of footwear for men, women and children under the Crocs™ brand.

All Crocs™ brand shoes feature Crocs’ proprietary closed-cell resin, Croslite™, which represents a substantial innovation in footwear. The Croslite™ material enables the production of soft, comfortable, lightweight, superior-gripping, non-marking and odor-resistant shoes. These unique elements make Crocs™ footwear ideal for casual wear, as well as for professional and recreational uses such as walking, boating, hiking, hospitality and gardening.

Crocs™ shoes are sold in more than 90 countries and come in a wide array of colors and styles. Please visit www.crocs.com for additional information.

About Daytona International Speedway

Daytona International Speedway is the home of “The Great American Race” - the DAYTONA 500. Though the season-opening NASCAR Sprint Cup event garners most of the attention - as well as the largest audience in motor sports - the enormous 480-acre motor sports complex boasts the most diverse schedule of racing on the globe, thus earning it the title of “The World Center of Racing.” In addition to nine major weekends of racing activity, featuring everything from NASCAR to the Rolex Sports Car Series to the American Motorcyclist Association and the World Karting Association, the Speedway is also booked for more than two solid months each year for testing and development of various race vehicles.”

If I were down in Daytona this weekend this is something that I would really want to do. I’d probably do the walk and not the run though because it is mostly right on the speedway and not on the infield track - I’m more NASCAR than anything else.

Since I was in contact with Crocs I decided to ask them what they were going to do with all of their Dale Jr #8 footwear, and they responded by saying that although they currently have not reduced their prices on the #8 shoe they are in negotiations with Hendrick Motorsports to market a new version of the Dale Jr shoe with his new number and colours. My prediction on this is that they will have a new Crocs #88 shoe very soon, especially since Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson already have Crocs contracts.

If you happen to be at Daytona this weekend think about participating in at least the walk, it would certainly be a very cool experience to be on that historic and storied track. Also, remember that a portion of the registration fee goes to local charities.

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Submitted by NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

So I left off saying that I don’t think Boris and Jr will be doing any promotions together and here’s why: “PepsiCo wants Mountain Dew Amp Energy to be the energy drink of the masses” - Kenneth Hein, and not SoBe No Fear.

Pepsi is putting huge dollars into the marketing of Amp and Dale Jr. Amp’s sales doubled last year and Pepsi is certain that Amp will become the choice beverage of goal-oriented males 18-34. “Amp is about bringing your ‘A’ game whether it is going 200 miles per hour on the race track or going to your meeting,” said Maurice Herrera, Amp’s marketing director. “Energy drinks were about getting jacked up for the night. Now it’s about busy people who want a boost of energy.”

Pepsi has made Dale Jr the ‘face’ of Amp and has created two commercials featuring Dale Jr that will probably debut during the Super Bowl. One commercial apparently has Dale battling a gorilla and the other has him racing camels with tag lines such as, “Amp yourself” and “Fuel your passion” being used.

Not only that but Pepsi is introducing a Dale Jr 12oz collector can series in the late spring/early summer and apparently will sell them in Dale Jr packaging through WalMart in 8-packs at $11.88 each incorporating Dale’s car number (88) into the price. There will also be 88 Amp Dale Jr show cars touring around this summer too.

“Pepsi spent $10.2 million on media for Amp for the first 11 months of 2007 … (this) year, “we’re going to play big, Amp will get a tremendous amount of focus,” said Herrera” - Kenneth Hein.

With this being said, it is doubtful that SoBe No Fear will be getting any extra funds for promotion which means Boris Said will be limited in the number of races he runs this year again. And with Amp getting a ‘tremendous amount of focus’ and dollars don’t expect to see Dale and Boris working together in special Pepsi marketing promotions in the near future either.

For more info regarding Pepsi’s promotion of Amp please see Kenneth Hein’s entire article at technologymarketing.com, it goes into greater detail than I do here.

Photo Credits: Amp - coolchaser.com and SoBe No Fear - applesource.us

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Submitted by NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

Kenny Wallace will be attempting to qualify the Furniture Row car for the Daytona 500. So the Furniture Row team realizes it wasn’t the driver after all, or maybe not. Let me explain.

This is a one race deal, nothing more, and it might not even be that. If Kenny gets the car into the field for the 500 and his teammate Joe Nemechek does not then Kenny has to hand the keys for his car over to Joe and Kenny takes a walk.

As a racer I know why Kenny is doing this - he is a race car driver and he wants to be in the show, but as a fan I hate what the Furniture Row team is doing to Kenny.

You know, this kind of thing isn’t limited to Wallace either, BAM racing has brought back Kenny Schrader to attempt to get their #49 car into the 500 as well. This is simply a one race deal right now, but I honestly don’t see BAM signing Kenny on for the rest of the season.

BAM, like Furniture Row, are looking for the next “great thing” yet they need the experience these drivers have to offer to get their cars into the starting field because their cars are not good enough to get into the field with lesser experienced drivers. Besides, the “next great thing” isn’t looking at driving for a second tier team, they want to sign with a Hendrick, Gibbs, or Roush.

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Submitted by NASCAR Eclectic

Brian France wants to play fair. His rhetoric , for lack of a better word, in my opinion, comes a little late. But better late than.. well you know. His defense of the CoT, which I am now calling the Sprint Iroc, is all good, yet he tries to fill the public with rationalization of empty promises. No more changes… or as he put it, “Back to the basics”.

Who is he trying to kid? Change is inevitable. So what… teams, drivers and owners will now have to beg for his majesty’s blessings for change? I’m sure his intentions are … well at the very least his own. The spot light wavers, he makes waves, the public listens.

I hope things do level off for the sake of struggling owners and the average fan who needs a NASCAR book for Dummies. Nothing can compare to 2007… but then again they have yet to develop the flying car!

Pooling together the “Go or Go-Homer’s” for qualifying…. now there’s a brilliant idea… duh!

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Submitted by NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

Today Robin Pemberton, NASCAR’s Vice President of Competition, made an announcement about a change in the qualifying rules in their annual “State of NASCAR Address”.

No they haven’t eliminated the top 35 rule, but they have made the provision that all of the non-top 35ers will qualify together in one group at the end of qualifying.

At the end? Are you kidding me? They have to qualify after everyone else who is locked into the field already has qualified? Huh? That does not make sense.

Let’s take the Boris Said example from this past season. Boris peeled off a screamer of a lap at Daytona and was on the pole, with but a few people left to qualify - none of whom would have been able to knock him off the pole either - when the skies opened up and down came the rain. NASCAR cancelled the rest of qualifying and set the field on owner’s points thus knocking Boris, not only off the pole but out of the race entirely because he was one of the go-or-go-homers that are out of the top 35 in owner points.

Apply this situation to the new set of rules and nothing has changed, all of the “go-or-go-homers” would still have to go home because they are qualifying at the end of qualifying and that is when the rain started. NASCAR’s solution to fix the “Boris Said problem” still wouldn’t have fixed it, and he still would have been sent home after the new rules were in place.

This happened twice to Boris last year, and NASCAR’s solution to make the “go-or-go-homers” qualify at the end of the qualifying session and under the new rules he still would have missed those races.

NASCAR’s rules change is a step in the right direction but what they need to do is to let all of the “go-or-go-homers” qualify first, that way if the rain comes pouring down the top 35 are still in and positions 36-43 are already settled.

NASCAR is right in addressing the problem, but their solution is not right.

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Photo Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images

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Submitted by NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

They’re teammates! Yep, teammates - sort of.

Scratching your head now?

Boris drives a Ford, is aligned with Roush/Fenway and is the unofficial 6th car for them, while Dale drives a Chevy for his new owner Rick Hendrick.

So how are they teammates? Get to the point!

Boris’ sponsor, SoBe No Fear Energy Drink, and Dale’s sponsor, Amp Energy Drink, are both owned by Pepsi Corp.

Hmm … I wonder if they will do any promotions together?

Probably not.

I’ll tell you why tomorrow.

Photo Credits: Dale Jr - rfmsracing.com and Boris Said - speedtv.com

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Submitted by NASCAR Eclectic

Born and raised in the Motor Capital state of Michigan I was taught that these Japanese “Go-Carts” were garbage, along with any foreign auto. But my own father had an Opel Cadet shipped over from Holland… and as cute as that car was, it was pure junk. Go figure! For years we Americans have been closet foreign car lovers. Now some 40 plus years have gone by since the first Toyota laid rubber on American pavement and it has surpassed all domestic autos as the #1 seller in America.

I’m not much on crystal balls, but I do have the gift of clairvoyance. Although the clarity is often clouded, there is some small truth to this as it has proven true many times over the years to the astonishment of myself and those around me. I cannot predict the future by any means, but I have moments of clear vision through my mind of things that have not yet taken place. Hence… Toyota will dominate NASCAR. Okay…so I’m full of crap, but I got you to read this!!

Smoke at testing! Now there is a vision to behold! Apparently needing a haircut and a shave.

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Submitted by NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

Sprint/NEXTEL has just fired 4000 employees and is closing 125 stores. It’s stock has plummeted and it’s credit rating has also dropped.

Will they have to cut NASCAR to help stop the bleeding?

That exclusive sponsor clause isn’t looking too good now is it NASCAR?

Hey, and don’t forget to VOTE for this blog at the CBA’s!

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Submitted by NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

It is that time of year again where the Canadian Blog Awards are being determined. This little old blog is up for Best Sports Blog in Canada and as far as I know it is the only motorsport based blog nominated.

What I am asking you for is your vote. You need only to vote once per round, and your votes do count - I lost second place in the Best Post category last year by 3 votes and ended up finishing 3rd.

I also ask another favour of you, my faithful readers, (do I know how to suck up or what?), my other blog “The Works of Stephen King: A Fan’s Perspective” has also been nominated in “The Best New Blog” category, so could you vote for that one too? Thanks! Again you need only to vote once for each round.

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Submitted by NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

Testing News

1. Dale Jr is the fastest overall for both single car test sessions (185.820 mph in the 88B).

2. There are no Fords in the top 10 fastest cars.

3. The fastest Ford was Travis Kvapil who placed 12th on the speed charts in the 28B car at 184.143 mph - almost a full 2 mph behind Dale Jr.

4. The highest Dodge, in 8th, was Dario Franchitti in the #40 at 184.737 mph.

5. The next two highest Dodges were in 18th and 23rd.

6. Toyota had 11 cars in the top 20.

7. Positions 2-6 were all occupied by Toyotas.

8. Even though Chevy was in the top spot with Dale Jr there were only 3 other bowties in the top 20.

9. All 4 of the Chevies in the top 20 were Rick Hendrick cars.

10. Most surprising of all? RCR cars finished 42nd (Bowyer), 46th (Burton), 50th (Harvick), and 51st (Shelmerdine).

My predictions?

- Toyota will qualify well for the twin 125’s, but racing in a draft is different than going solo.

- Dodge is in trouble. Period. GEM needs to get its act together, and they need to do it fast.

- I think RCR might have went a little conservative with their engine packages for the test, and maybe pulled some wrong gears. I think they are more worried about racing as opposed to going fast by yourself on the track in qualifying trim. Or they could be in a whole mess of trouble for all I know.

- Rick Hendrick is smiling right now and will continue to smile all through Speed Weeks and well past the Daytona 500. Yep it is going to be a Hendrick car that wins the 500 this year, and you might be surprised by who it is too.

- Speaking of trouble, I expect the big-wigs at Ford are chewing their nails right now and are scrambling to give RoushYates any help they can give in the engine department.

Now For The Favour

It is that time of year again where the Canadian Blog Awards are being determined. This little old blog is up for Best Sports Blog in Canada and as far as I know it is the only motorsport based blog nominated.

What I am asking you for is your vote. You need only to vote once per round, and your votes do count - I lost second place in the Best Post category last year by 3 votes and ended up finishing 3rd.

I also ask another favour of you, my faithful readers, (do I know how to suck up or what?). My other blog “The Works of Stephen King: A Fan’s Perspective” has also been nominated in “The Best New Blog” category, so could you vote for that one too? Thanks! Again you need only to vote once for each round.

Thanks and take care.

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Reinhold Matay

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Submitted by NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

O.K. time to state the obvious:

1. Dale Jr is fast - like we didn’t think he would be.

2. The Toyota’s are fast too - like we didn’t think they wouldn’t be.

3. Tony Stewart showed up for testing this year - like we didn’t think he would be anywhere else since he is driving a totally different kind of car with a new car company as well.

Alright, now the less obvious:

1. Tony Eury expects to win at least 4 races this year - a lot of people expect that of Dale Jr this year, I on the other hand think if he does win more than one race he certainly won’t eclipse 3 wins. This was going to be on my prediction list in a few weeks, but Eury called me out earlier.

Now for the even more less obvious: Pay attention now, this could get scary.

1. Kevin Hamlin signed on to be the crew chief for Brian Vickers in the Red Bull 83 car. The significance you ask? Let me show you in point form:

- Kevin Hamlin was Dale Earnhardt’s last crew chief

- Doug Richard was the first crew chief for the 83 car

- Doug Richard was also Dale Earnhardt’s second full-time crew chief and was Dale’s crew chief when he won his first ever Championship

- The Red Bull car has the same digits in it’s number (8 and 3) as the numbers that Dale drove throughout his NASCAR career (8 and 3) with the 3 being the most famous of course

- both Brian Vickers and Kevin Hamlin have gone through the trauma of loosing someone close to them from their racing organizations in accidents

Could we expect good things from the 83 car? Well, if indeed “Red Bull has wings” like the company claims, they just might be riding on Dale Earnhardt’s.

I’m sure there are more, but I’m too tired to think - I’ll add them tomorrow when I can - I must sleep soon.

BTW; do you enjoy the picture?

Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images for NASCAR

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Submitted by NASCAR Eclectic

I’ve been so out of touch with things that I had no idea old Darlington was getting a face lift. The new pavement and infield work was long overdue. I expect she’ll still hand out her legendary stripes.

We have full access to National Guard NASCAR stuff. The perk of having a son in the Guard. He came home and bragged that they got boxes of Dale Jr. stuff to hand out.

Testing…. the Toyota’s are doing well. Dale Jarrett??? And only to retire. I’ll miss him. But he’ll make his presence on the tele.

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Submitted by NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

“Dale: The Movie”, limited edition 6 disc collector’s tin set! Yeah!

Right now you might be saying, “What is the big deal”? Well I’ll tell you what the big deal is, you can’t get this bloody thing anywhere in Canada. You can’t even get the original movie disc here.

I thought I caught a break when I found out that this box set is offered exclusively at Wal-Mart, I mean there are Wal-Marts everywhere so how hard was it going to be? As it turns out, hard.

You see, this box set, and the single movie disc edition, are only available in the United States. But I caught another break, or so I thought. I found that you could order it on the Internet and they would ship it to the closest Wal-Mart to you for pick-up if that Wal-Mart didn’t carry it. But that was only in the U.S. as well.

I then thought, “O.K., I’ll just order it to the Wal-Mart in Niagara Falls N.Y. and pick it up when I visit my friends on the Canadian side of The Falls, or have them pick it up for me when they go to one of the Buffalo Sabres games that they have season tickets to. But, again, no deal. You see you need a U.S. address to confirm the pick-up, or to put it on a credit card, or anything else.

I was stuck. What to do, what to do? Call out for help from my fellow bloggers? Certainly one of them could come through for me. Wait! I decided before I did that I would do the only thing that someone in my shoes could do; shop on e-Bay!

I found it, and for $2.00 less than it was at Wal-Mart too. By the time I added the shipping and handling it was still cheaper than if I drove to Niagara Falls N.Y. because with the gas prices the way they are now it would have cost me about $30 - $40 in gas (we’re paying about $4.20 a gallon right now) and about $6.00 in tolls. Compare that to the $12.00 I paid in S & H to have it come from the mid-west and you’ll see that I came out ahead on the deal.

I’ll be giving those 6 DVD’s a good going over in the near future and I’ll let you know what I think.

Take Care.

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Submitted by NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

These rule changes were just announced on Wednesday:

1. “…Cars may not be pushed past the flag person at the end of the pit road. Unless otherwise authorized, once the race is underway, cars may be started by hand pushing in the pit area only, but under no circumstances is any car to be hand pushed more than three pit boxes away from their assigned pit box or into the acceleration zone or onto the race track from the pit area. Cars may not receive any assistance after the white flag has been displayed, except those cars making pit stops …”

What this means is that teams better get their cars started before they get to the end of the 3rd pit stall or they will be toast.

2. “A team member must be in contact with the outside tire(s) until the outside tire(s) reach the inside half of the pit box before the car leaves its assigned pit box. Any tires left in the outside half of the assigned pit box, or beyond, will result in a time or other penalty …”

What this means is that teams better get start thinking on how to do things differently during a pit stop. This is going to lead to a lot more pit practices over the next month for sure. I wonder if this is going to slow the pit stops down any? My first impression is that this is going to add 0.5 - 1.0 seconds to an average pit stop, but I don’t really know for sure - we’ll just have to wait and see.

Photo Credit: Air Force Link

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Submitted by NASCAR Eclectic

© All Rights Reserved

I won’t be posting many of my photos here any longer. I’ve built a new blog dedicated to my photography and imaging business. It’s “Chase Imaging” and you’ll find a link to your right on the sidebar. I had fun posting photos here during the off season but NASCAR is now revving up for this season so I’ll be concentrating on all the great things to come from the racing world for 2008 on this blog and Chase Imaging will be for the obvious. Please pay a visit and comments with feedback are encouraged.

The photo above is of the Hudson River located about 35 miles north of Albany, NY. This particular part of the river is part of the Champlain Canal system which connects to Lake Champlain, The inner-coastal and the Great Lakes and points south to the Erie Canal, NYC and the Atlantic Ocean. It is considered international. I live about 5 miles north of this shot and our town has a harbor for traveling vessels to moor for the night. I love to visit with the travelers and check out some of the most incredible yachts from all over the world that stay in our little town.

I am excited about the ‘08 NASCAR season. It should be very interesting.

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Submitted by NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

Well testing for the Cup guys is over for this week and what did I learn?

1. Jimmie Johnson is fast, no matter which car he drives and he should keep the “Herbie” look - with Disney’s permission of course.

2. Toyota isn’t going to be a push-over this year, and now that Joe Gibbs isn’t coaching the Redskins anymore they’ll be that much stronger - you watch.

3. Dale Jr is showing a slightly more elevated level of commitment by showing up for this round of tests even though he isn’t scheduled to test until next week.

4. Villeneuve and Bill Davis Racing might not be the best combination - a full racing season with Rookie of The Year hopes have now be replaced by a 5 race schedule … poor funding perhaps? Why is it that Bill offered Jacques a full season and had to let Jeremy Mayfield go due to lack of funds? Looks like the money Bill hoped would come with having a former F1 star in the car never came to be.

5. Kirk Shelmerdine is driving the 33 car of RCR and just might make the Daytona 500, and possibly other races spattered throughout the rest of the schedule.

6. Less adjustment capability on the CoT means more ingenious ways need to be found to make the car move through the air better. Some teams will find them too.

7. If Bob Dillner talks about the higher centre of gravity in the CoT (or the CG of the CoT as he puts it) again I’m going to put my foot through the TV. We know the car has a higher centre of gravity, we can see it. Also, the centre of gravity isn’t as high as it was in earlier versions of the Cot run last year as the race teams did some creative construction to these cars over the last few months to lower the CG. Give it a rest Bob and go find some laser cut rims will ya?

8. If you happen to be the last car in the draft chances are you are going to loose the draft as there seems to be more pull on the back-end that slows the car down enough to get out of the draft. Could we see drafting similar to that in cycling where the leader peels off and drops behind the last person in the draft every few minutes?

9. Jack Roush and Yates Racing seem to be working well together as evident by Carl Edwards running a few laps in the #28 car for comparison purposes. Question is, “will Jack be a good partner and get that 28 car a sponsorship deal too?”

10. Most importantly I learned that having those cars back on the track, even for test purposes, is better than any NASCAR hat, T-shirt, etc. that you could get for Christmas. Now if they could only capture the smell of high octane Sunoco and pump it out of the TV in HD too. Talk about front row seats.

Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images for NASCAR

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Submitted by NASCAR Eclectic

Anxiously waiting for Daytona week!!

New pit road rule…”No more tire tossing!” Good move…I still have a vision of that one tire flying through the air and clocking a crew member. I thought it had killed him at first. Lucky is an understatement. It’s good to see NASCAR put some effort into safety.

Not much else to say…as you can see I am busy honing my photography skills. I’m not sure what I was thinking when I took this shot…but it turned out the way I expected by experimenting with the shutter speed. I’m going to try this at my next race….of fast cars…not my foot!

Two left feet
Originally uploaded by Racefan57

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Submitted by NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

Part 4: Media Coverage

Although recent events in the U.S. have drawn more awareness about this to most NASCAR fans living below the 49th Parallel, we fans in Canada have suffered from poor media coverage of NASAR on a daily basis for years.

I mentioned the other day about how good Canadian media coverage is when it comes to hockey. In fact, nobody can top Canadian media when it comes to hockey, but as good at covering hockey that it is, the Canadian media is equally as bad at covering NASCAR, and any other form of auto racing for that matter.

As I’ve said in the past, the nation’s self-proclaimed sports television network and U.S. based ESPN affiliate, TSN, is lacking in their coverage of NASCAR even though they are the ‘official’ broadcaster of NASCAR in Canada.

All TSN really does is pick up the live broadcasts coming in from the various U.S. based networks like FOX, ABC, TBS, ESPN, and the like, and uses Canadian commercials instead of U.S. ones during commercial breaks. As far as their ‘real’ coverage about NASCAR goes, we the sports fans, are lucky to see a 30 second clip of all of the weekend’s NASCAR racing, including the new Canadian Tire Series - although there are a few more seconds added if there is a spectacular crash.

Even when they are showing hi-lights during Sports Centre the sports anchors/analysts even get some of the driver’s names wrong, yet in contrast each and every broadcaster can say Datsyuk, Kovalchuk, Khabibulin, and Ponikarovsky (to name a few Russian hockey players) without so much as a stumble or slight mispronunciation. I mean how hard is it to say Juan Pablo Montoya or Bobby Labonte? Really.

The print media is no better. Did they have anyone at the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series Banquet in Toronto when it was held? Not to my knowledge - not even the Toronto print media was there, let alone TSN who’s studios are located in Toronto.

Another example is when Tony Stewart showed up for a personal appearance at a local Home Depot in Hamilton and the local newspaper didn’t even send a photographer to get a shot.

Or how about this; according to an employee I know at our local Lowes, Jimmie Johnson showed up in Hamilton the Monday after the Awards Banquet in New York to give a ‘pep-talk’ to the Lowes owners, managers, and selected employees just before their official opening of 4 stores in the Toronto-Hamilton area, and the Hamilton Spectator, whose office is a short 5 minute drive from the Hamilton Convention Centre, didn’t even get a photo op, or quick token interview with Jimmie on his way to, or from, the airport.

Now here is the big question; did the Spectator even know about these appearances? I don’t know. Could NASCAR been a little more proactive in getting more media coverage of these events? Certainly. I know, NASCAR isn’t in the business of keeping up with driver personal appearances, but they should have somebody in charge of promoting NASCAR and at least be aware of certain situations where a quick photo op/interview could be made, after all we just had two two-time Champions (and current Champ I might add) in our area within 3 months of each other and no one really was aware of it.

Anyway you slice it, the media coverage of NASCAR in Canada, or at least in Ontario, sucks and if NASCAR does not wake up and get proactive about it, they just might loose a pretty solid fan base in Canada.

Can anybody say, “Hello Speed Car Series“?

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Submitted by NASCAR Eclectic

Blowout
Originally uploaded by Racefan57

No..not a tire blowout!! That’s a photography term. Bright whiteout’s…but I did this on purpose. It was -10 f and that is steam coming off the river with the sun behind the tree. Made for an interesting shot.

Racing season is almost upon us. What…5 weeks or so.

My step-son is working the NASCAR Bobsled challenge this weekend. He’s a National Guardsman and our local boys are in Lake Placid to assist with the event. He called us today from his cell and Geoff and Todd Bodine were standing right next to him. Then he told Boris Said that I am a Said Head…. Boris apparently belly laughed. Oh and by the way..I like Boris but I can’t do the wig thing! Pattyjo did not believe Adam..so he got the Bodine’s to say “Yup..it’s us, father & son”. He got photos and autographs…I hope!! We could have attended but we have a house full of kids this weekend. At least one member of our family is part of it..but the one least interested in NASCAR. Go figure!!

It’s a cold winter up here. The gas bill is scary! I might have to frame and sell some of my photos!

Adios amigos.

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