Let's go bloggin', boys and girls!
Welcome to The Spotter, the latest News & Record blog and the only one devoted to racing. Or, as we say around these parts: racin'. Which most people around here, including me, take to mean NASCAR.
Many NASCAR drivers, it seems, have pretty much the same life story. They:
* Were born into racing family
* Learned how to drive a go-kart before they could ride a bike
* Tore up the small town, hometown dirt tracks before they were old enough to shave
* Graduated to stock cars before they had a high school degree
* Worked their way up to a Nextel Cup ride.
And then there's Boris Said, who spent his childhood and young adulthood ripping off grocery stores, working at a motorcycle shop and mouthing off to The Donald. He didn't get his first taste of racin' until he was a teenager. And when he got behind the wheel of something more powerful than the family car for the first time, he got told that he ought to think about doing something else. On Sunday, however, he'll start the Daytona 500 alongside some of the most famous names in racin'.
Said has a ton of guts, which is one reason I'm hoping he does well this weekend. His
story, as told by Dustin Long in today's News & Record, is another.
And, oh yeah: The hair. Gotta love the lid on this guy.
It's runner-up day in today's News & Record. If you missed Dustin Long's profile of Jimmie Johnson, who finished second in points in each of the past two season, it's here.
Dustin also had a short take on Kasey Kahne here. Kahne, as you might remember from last season, finished second in five races last season.
This season, expect some firsts from both drivers. Johnson seems to be everyone's pick (including Dustin's) to win the whole thing this year. And Kahne is too good a driver, and his equipment is too good, for him not to crack Victory Lane this season, probably sooner than later.
As an added bonus to this post, here are some of Dustin's notes from Daytona that we couldn't get into today's paper:
The good news: There's some racin' today, starting at 1 p.m.
The bad news: It's a freakin' Thursday, and most of us, including me, are working.
So, what to do?
Live radio, baby. WTQR (that's 104.1 on your FM dial) is carrying MRN's feed of the race. And since my car is in some remote parking lot, I'm listening to it on my PC. Registration takes, oh, about 10 seconds.
Over at NASCAR.com, TrackPass is free. There's also usually a lap-by-lap feature for those who'd rather read than listen to the race.
The green flag will fly at about 1:12 p.m., and there's a 30-minute break between races. No telling how long the red flag will be for Geoffrey Bodine's crash.
UPDATE: I got NASCAR.com's live leaderboard to work. That's something.
... because there are quite a few guys who all of a sudden don't have plans for Sunday afternoon.
Robby Gordon, Kerry Earnhardt, Hermie Sadler, Randy LaJoie, Geoffrey Bodine and Morgan Shepherd are a few of the 14 drivers who weren't fast enough in qualifying earlier this week or in today's Gatorade Duels. (The full list of guys who are working Sunday is here.)
They all might appreciate an invite to sit on the couch and watch the race with you.
As for The Big One in today's second race, I suspect Ed Hardin will have something to say about that one tomorrow. While you're waiting, use the comments below to start talking about the 500. Who do you think is going to win this thing? I'll be back tomorrow.
Hoo, boy.
We're still two days away from the Daytona 500, and there's already controversy. Which is not a bad thing, because it gives the racing writers something to write about and the rest of us something to discuss.
To recap: In the second Gatorade Duel yesterday, Kevin Harvick tapped the left rear of Jimmie Johnson's car. That sent both spinning and wrecked a bunch of other cars, including those of Mark Martin, Joe Nemechek, Rusty Wallace and Dave Blaney.
Everyone pointed fingers at Harvick -- Johnson accused him of detaching his head somewhere along the front stretch and Nemechek vowed payback. Frankly, Harvick's an easy target because he's tangled with just about everyone in the garage.
But there's one thing that baffles me about the whole incident:
A few writers mentioned previous run-ins between Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick. Lord knows, Harvick doesn't have many friends on the track. But I couldn't remember any earlier Johnson-Harvick incidents.
So when Ed Hardin checked in from Daytona a little bit ago, I asked him. Here's his take:
Here in Daytona, where Goodyear is actually giving away free tires to the media, what you see on the surface is sometimes not the real story. Sometimes, what you see on the surface isn't there at all.Take these free tires (I didn't). They're typical SUV tires on the outside, but inside there's something called armor plating or weapons-grade Kevlar or some nonsense that makes them the best tires in the world. So for the next few years, we should see members of the media (or their wives) driving around on free Goodyears with no worries of blowouts or no shame for accepting free gifts.
Anyway, the issue here this week hasn't been tires (that was the issue last week) but the incident Thursday in the Twin 150s.
Michael Waltrip just won his second race of the weekend!
But, John, it's only Friday. The 500 isn't until Sunday.
Yeah, yeah, I know. But today, a day after Waltrip won the first Gatorade Duel, he smoked Greg Biffle in the Full Throttle Armchair Challenge. (It wasn't on my schedule either. Who knew?)
The folks at Coke, who are promo-ing the company's new energy drink, somehow talked Waltrip and Biffle into racing motorized recliners that get up to about 40 m.p.h.
The things drivers do to make their sponsors happy.
Oh, there's photographic evidence (or blackmail pictures - take your pick) after the jump:
So who's going to win this thing Sunday?
We don't have a clue, either. You've got a better chance of retiring early by pouring your money into a Vegas slot machine than you do of picking a winner at any NASCAR race. But that's not going to stop us from guessing.
Dustin Long is already on record with his pick: Elliott Sadler. But Dustin told me yesterday that USA Today asked for his pick a week ago, but now he's not so sure. He notes that the DEI and Hendrick cars have looked the best at Speed Weeks. Tony Stewart is another one to watch, Dustin says, and so is Ryan Newman. When I pressed him for one driver, he sighed and said, probably Newman.
Ed Hardin says he's pulling for Jeff Gordon, who's chasing history. (Meaning Dale Earnhardt - Gordon, with 69 career wins, needs seven more to tie Senior on the all-time victories list.) But he thinks Greg Biffle will win Sunday. Why? Ed says the Fords have been "bad fast" this week. The problem: The Fords are fastest for 400 miles, and the race goes 500 miles. If the engine builders for Biffle and other Ford drivers can figure out how not to blow up in the late stages in the race, they'll be up front.
That's one way to look at Sunday's Daytona 500. I'm with Ed Hardin on this one -- it was a good race, but not a great race. The last 20 laps were outstanding, about as good as you'll see in a NASCAR race. But everything up to that? Kind of meh.
Besides, what happened Sunday probably doesn't have a lot of bearing on the rest of the season. In last year's 500, six of the top 10 finishers made the Chase at the end of the year. (That's Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, Elliott Sadler, Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth.) In 2003, only three of the top-10 finishers at Daytona -- Johnson, Stewart and Kevin Harvick -- ended the season in the top 10 in points.
If anyone should take any consolation from Sunday's results, it's Bobby Labonte, who blew an engine after just 14 laps. Last year's 43rd place finisher, Mark Martin, made it into the Chase. The year before, Ryan Newman's car disintegrated on the front stretch, and he wound up sixth for the season.
Everyone who follows NASCAR has a favorite driver (or two or three).
Mine is ... wait for it ... Dale Earnhardt Jr.
When I started paying more attention to NASCAR in the mid-'90s (I moved to N.C. in 1995 when I got hired on by the News & Record), I pulled for Dale Sr., When Dale Jr. started running the Busch series full-time in 1998, I started pulling for him on Saturdays. And after Dale Sr. passed on in 2001, I transferred allegiance to the son, just like a lot of other NASCAR fans have.
Why Dale Sr.? He was, and still is, The Man. He drove that cool black No. 3 car. He was unafraid to mix it up with anyone. And he was just ... Dale Earnhardt Sr.
Plus he wasn't Jeff Gordon. Yeah, yeah, I know: Because I pull for the Earnhardts, I'm supposed to come now with some Jeff Gordon smack. Can't do it in the interest of family harmony. See, my future brother-in-law is a Jeff Gordon fan. Such is my burden to bear.
Now for the disclaimer:
Back in the day, one of the stranger sites along pit road was the squeegee guy. Shortly after seven guys jumped over the wall to service the car, an eighth would extend a long-handled window washer toward the windshield. (You know, like the thing you use at the gas station -- just longer.) He'd scrub the window, lift the pole to let the over-the-wall crew work on the left side of the car, then lower the pole and wipe the glass clean.
But that method of keeping the windshield clean, like Ernie Irvan and Cup races at North Wilkesboro, is pretty much just a memory. (At least I can't think of anyone who uses the squeegie method any more.) These days, teams use tear-offs, or clear pieces of plastic stuck to the windshield. When a driver pulls in for a stop, someone on the pit crew yanks a little tab to expose a new layer of clear -- and clean -- plastic.
A blog is a little bit like a tear-off. As my boss' boss reminded me the other day, one reason for all of these blogs is to give readers a glimpse into what goes on here at 200 E. Market St.
In this spirit of transparency, let me tell you a little bit about how things get done around here.
If you read the fine print of NASCAR's smack down this week of Ricky Rudd, Robby Gordon and a bunch of other drivers and crew chiefs, you'll notice this odd little notation throughout: "(fill in the blank) was in violation of Section 12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock car racing)."
That "actions detrimental" clause is pretty vague. So I figured I'll track down the NASCAR rulebook and see exactly what infamous Rule 12-4-A says.
Dustin made it to California. His report:
There's lots of mud on the infield. (Because it rained like heck there recently.)
There's terrible traffic getting to the track.
And the greater L.A. area seems distracted by Sunday night's Oscars and a giant rock hanging over the Pacific Coast Highway.
The good news: The forecast calls for partly cloudy skies, highs in the 60s and no chance of rain.
The schedule: There's a truck race tonight (9 p.m. on SPEED, and Mike Skinner has the pole), a Busch race tomorrow (5:30 p.m., FX) and the Cup race on Sunday (WGHP-Fox 8 starts at 2 p.m.; green flag is at 3:10 p.m.)
I'm too cheap to spring for the SPEED channel, so I missed last night's truck race. But I was overjoyed to pick up today's paper and see that Steve Park had won the American Racing Wheels 200 at the California Speedway
Park, as y'all might remember, was the victim of maybe the strangest thing I've ever seen at a race. (I was watching the race on TV.) It was Sept. 1, 2001, early in the Busch race at Darlington, and Park was rolling along just fine during a caution lap. The next thing you know Park's car veers left toward the wall. Then a lap-down Larry Foyt, who had sped up to take his spot at the front for the restart, T-boned Park right in the driver's side door.
It was a brutal crash, and for a few moments I thought Park was dead -- that was how hard the hit was. He survived, but this freak accident wrecked Park's health and his racing career.
It's a good night to be Jack Roush. Greg Biffle won today's race at California, and three other Roush drivers cracked the top five.
In Nextel Cup points, Roush drivers hold down four of the top spots. Atop the standings is last year's champ, Kurt Busch.
Which Roush driver is missing from the top of the points chart? If you guessed Carl Edwards, you'd be wrong. It's 2003 Cup champ Matt Kenseth, who's 36th after finishing 26th this week and next to last at Daytona. That's baffling, because Kenseth is -- and should -- be a lot better.
Here's your top 10 in points after two races (the Roush drivers are in bold):
1. Kurt Busch, 340 points; 2. Jimmie Johnson, -5; 3. Mark Martin, -39; 4. Carl Edwards, -53; 5. Greg Biffle, -67; 6. Elliott Sadler, -68; 7. Tony Stewart, -72; 8. Rusty Wallace, -72; 9. Sterling Marlin, -80; 10. Jeff Gordon, -82
Other notables: Kevin Harvick is 13th, 101 points back; Dale Earnhardt Jr. is 14th, 103 points back; and Michael Waltrip is 39th, 234 points back. He's got the fewest points among all drivers who have started both races. Not exactly the start he's looking for, considering he's driving for his job in '06.
Check out the unofficial results and standings, and make sure to look for Dustin Long's report in Monday's paper.
The new softer tires created a mess at California. There were little chunks of rubber everyone - on the car grills, on the windshields, even on the roofs.
But what was up with all of the trash on the track? I'm talking hot dog wrappers, paper and plastic bags and all of the other junk that came flying out of the stands (or the infield) and got lodged in the grills of the race cars. Sure, it was windy, which whips up a lot of garbage. But maybe California race fans are a lot messier than those of us back East?
We've got better manners than that, right? Right?
Speaking of trash, I'd love to know which Busch driver created his own caution during Saturday's race by tossing a water bottle onto the track. Any driver tempted to blame a fan had better think twice: There aren't any stands on the back stretch, so there weren't any fans to blame. Unless, of course, Barry Bonds was at the race and decided to test out his arm by seeing how far he could heave a plastic water bottle.
Nah.
Seriously: Would any driver be dumb enough to toss a water bottle out his window during a televised race? I wonder if that bottle had -- oh, I dunno -- his name, car number or sponsor's logo on it.
