In fairness, I had already outlined this Legendtorial Monday afternoon so I could be ready to “flesh it out” after the Daytona 500 was run last night. This was before the article in the McClatchy Newpapers where their writer referred to the Daytona 500 as an episode of The Twilight Zone because of all the unusual things happened during the 54th Annual Great American Race. So, my Twilight Zone reference was an innocent remark to start this Legendtorial and the fact that Ron Green who writes for the Charlotte Observer choose to equate the running of the Daytona 500 as an event from “The Twilight Zone” is pure coincidence but serves to reinforce the fact that the 500 was one of the most bizarre events ever run in NASCAR. But, speaking of bizarre, let’s go back to Friday night’s Camping World Truck Race. I won’t review the Duels here tonight because other than all the publicity generated when Danica got wrecked causing old D.W. to go up about 4 octaves with that irritating voice of his, and Dave Blaney proving he can still get it done by racing his way in after Tommy Baldwin sold the points Dave had earned last year so Danica could be assured of a starting position, the Duels were nothing to write home about.
Friday night, an unknown from Kingsport, Tennessee, old stomping grounds of our own Jeff Gilder, won the race. Previously, John King had ONE feature victory on a dirt track, ONE feature win on an asphalt track and had actually run only SEVEN previous races in the trucks. Of course, the truck event was a wreck-fest of the first order and John was involved in the wreck that took out Johnny Sauter who was leading at the time. That was, in fact, the second wreck in which King had been involved in that event. Nevertheless, King won, which earned him a victory in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series AND his own page on Wickipedia. As good as all that is for King, the fact is very clear that NASCAR is able to stage races which almost put trucks in the stands and still come away with positive publicity.
Saturday’s Nationwide event saw journeyman competitor James Buesher win. Frank Craig and I were talking Monday morning about the replay of the last lap accident coming off turn four and the yellow flag display by NASCAR. By NASCAR rules, when the yellow is thrown, the field is frozen. IF that had actually happened Saturday, Brad Kesolowski was the winner, but, as Frank and I both agreed, a winner should be required to cross the finish line first and Buesher WAS the first one to do that. That is one time, I think, NASCAR used collective good reasoning to insure the winner was someone who actually crossed the line rather than having frozen the field at the exact moment the yellow was displayed when one driver was leading but having another driver cross the line ahead of that driver. That’s just the way it goes. Brad didn’t seem to have a problem with it. This was also another event in which poor Danica was deprived of an opportunity to shine because of the careless driving of another, this time one of her teammates. It was then than Danica unleashed a verbal tirade containing certain words which carried me back to my Navy days when foul language was so commonplace. All in all, with King winning Friday night and Buesher winning Saturday, I was thinking NASCAR is basking in some very positive publicity and that is a good thing.
The 54th Annual Daytona 500 took almost as much time to decide the winner as did the very first 500 in 1959 when Big Bill milked the Lee Petty-Johnny Beauchamp finish for three full days for publicity purposes. But this time, it was a combination of rain storms Sunday and most of the day Monday and then the unbelievable incident with Juan Pablo and the jet dryer. Everyone interviewed during the more than 2 hour delay while NASCAR worked on the track said they had never seen anything like it. I guess I have to agree because my memory certainly can’t come up with anything comparable. Joe Penland winning a race by sliding across the finish line on his roof back in the 60s is as close as I can come. The long red flag pushed the finish to just after 1:00 a.m Eastern time Tuesday. So what was supposed to have been decided Sunday was actually decided in the wee hours of a Tuesday morning when Matt Kennseth out dueled Dale, Jr. to win. Had Dale, Jr. won, NASCAR would have had to worry about replacing the catch fence on the front side, this time from fans going through it rather than trucks or cars coming through it. This was Matt’s second Daytona 500 win and he earned it.
Now, a few thoughts of the Daytona events from my perspective. Agree or not, that is your right and privilege and you can certainly call the show and express your viewpoint, which I will respect.
As to Danica Patrick: I have nothing personally against the young lady in spite of her efforts to turn NASCAR racing into a sexually oriented enterprise with her skimpy attire and those provocative Go Daddy Commercials. She obviously has the passion and the vocabulary to back it up. She is quick to learn, so says Tony Stewart, but she is much quicker to blame someone else, anyone else, when she has problems on the track. My real problem here is that we have Trevor Bayne without a full time ride when he obviously has the talent to drive a race car and is one of the finest young men, or women, to zip up a fire suit. It disturbs me that his talent is second rated to Danica simply because he is not an enigma. I know very well that life is sometimes not fair, but that seems to me to be a really raw deal from Trevor. He deserves a full time cup ride and as of now he doesn’t even have a full time Nationwide ride. He has not complained, used off-color remarks, or expressed anything other than a very positive outlook on his future. Trevor Bayne IS the marketing tool NASCAR really needs in the overall big picture.
I have to comment about the fans. Although the passion may be different in the stands now than it was 50 years ago when I first went to Daytona, there is obviously passion there. Those fans remained in the stands for all those hours during the race and the red flag and were cheering like mad on the last lap. Looked to me like the stands were almost full on a day AFTER the event was originally scheduled and on a day when most folks had to work since it was NOT a holiday. NASCAR has to be very pleased to see such a resurgence. Some will attribute that to Danica Patrick, others to the return of the pack racing, but whatever the reason, the fans are coming back. On that note, I think it is worth pointing out that Dale, Jr., Brad Kesolowski, and Landon Cassill never missed a chance to mention their appreciation of the fans, especially Brad. Seems those three drivers really believe it’s all about the fans which is the mantra NASCAR has been pushing throughout its existence but which seems to have been lost over the past 10 to 12 years from the Daytona Beach suits in control of the sport. Maybe it will take Brad and the others like him to remind NASCAR that it is truly about the fans. NASCAR has received much positive press about responding to the fans requests over the past year with rule changes to accommodate the fans dislike of the tandem racing. I’m sure no true race fan is happy with the wreck fests we witnessed over the weekend so maybe further changes will be made. We can only hope before someone, driver or fan, is seriously injured or worse.
One last accolade. To those track workers who repaired the track, give yourselves a standing ovation. Even though it seemed like it took forever to complete, you guys did a great job under most unusual circumstances. To the fire crew, what a magnificent job you guys did containing that fire. Sometimes the real heroes are not covered with confetti in Victory Lane. Thanks to each of you for what you did.
e-mail me at: legendtim83@yahoo.com. I personally answer every e-mail. You can follow me on twitter at legendtim83. Brad Kesolowski picked up over 150,000 followers last night on Twitter when he was tweeting under the red flag. So we know the prime time telecast was being watched. Twilight Zone was probably on some cable channel last night but I’m pleased I watched the 500 until it was over.
