Breaking news from Daytona:
1. The trophy awarded the winner of the Daytona 500 is no longer the Harley J. Earl Trophy. It is now the Danica Patrick Award.
2. The Daytona 500 will be known in the future as "The Danica Patrick 500".
3. It has been determined that the Danica leading the 500 is NOT the first time a good looking woman was chased by 42 men.
Just wanted to point out the power of Ms. Patrick in the publicity machine known as NASCAR. Yesterday, during the Nationwide race, SPEED was in commercial that I just happened to notice because of the beautiful blue Mustang convertible. I was watching the Mustang when suddenly the camera view from inside Danica's car popped on the screen as she was rolling into the garage area with her mechanical woes. SPEED pre-empted the commercial because Danica was headed to the garage. After the appropriate time spent covering Danica's departure from the competition, SPEED returned to commercial break and this time the commercial played all the way through. As most of you know, I detest commercials, but the Mustang convertible caught my attention. I really want a convertible. In the money hungry world of NASCAR, Danica can interrupt a commercial just by having mechanical problems.
Oh,. and the commercial? About "low T". Sort of ironic, don't you think?
With the morning sun of this Sunday morning, it is time to start praying with THANK YOU on our lips that there was no one killed. We can continue to pray for the pain and suffering, but the bottom line is, at least at this writing, that no one was killed. I suspect this week's Legendtorial will address some of this issue.
The print media, for the most part, choose to overlook stock car racing for reasons only they know. Living where I do, I have been blessed to have had folks like Jim McLaurin, Jim Hunter, Joe Whitlock and others who truly loved the sport and covered it well. When print media began to suffer, the first sports reporters to be "let go" were the motorsports guys. As already stated, let something negative happen in the sport and the press is all over it. A couple of months ago our sports section reported a drug bust involving a "NASCAR driver". I don't recall the name now but even more important, I didn't recognize the name then. Took some research to find the guy had run less than one full season in the weekly short track NASCAR sanctioned events. I think the mentality of the sports media, generally, fits right in with the mentality of the stick and ball sports they cover. Just the way it goes and there is very little we fans can do about that. You can educate ignorance, but there is no cure for stupid!
I watched the Sprint Unlimited and thought, for the most part, there was so fair racing, but the format stunk. As for the Twins, Duels, whatever, I spent both races trying to figure out if they were racing or riding. I'm still not sure. I am still looking forward to the 500. Oh, and one thought for D.W.; When Danica loses the lead, PLEASE DO NOT TELL US HOW THAT IS WHAT OFTEN HAPPENS TO THE POLE SITTER AT DAYTONA. Damn, that just really sucked to hear his mouth making excuses yesterday.
Dave, you would not believe the hype and B.S. that went on in Columbia when the Panthers were getting started. I was working for the attorney involved in sports at the time. What a circus. I had tickets to all the games the first few years and NEVER went. I was so sick of NFL football it turned my stomach.
Almost EVERY football stadium, basketball arena, baseball field, and soccer complex in the country is financed by taxes of some sort. Right here in Columba we have more soccer fields than Jeff has goats. While I don't agree with tax payers fronts the money, looks like Daytona is only asking for a sales tax rebate. Not sure how Florida operates on such things, I'll leave it at that.
Those are the memories, Dave, that make all of us close here. Family, sort of. Just wonderful to be around you anytime.
Dave, I'm sorry for your loss and for the loss of the Lee family. Prayers are with you, my friend. God bless.
When I first saw all that debris flying in the air I thought it was duck feathers. Then I realized he is sponsored by "FastenALL". Perhaps they should change the name to "FastenNOTHING".
