Forum Activity for @johnny-mallonee

JEFF, THANKS FOR WORDS YOU JUST USED. WHEN I WROTE MY LETTER, I FELT AS IF I HAD JUST BROKEN UP WITH MY WIFE OF 40+ YEARS. I WAS REALLY BROKEN HEARTED AND WHAT I WROTE WAS FROM DEEP WITHIN. I REALIZE THE DRIVERS AND CARS OF OLD ARE NO LONGER AROUND, BUT TO SEE THE SPORT BECOME TOO PRETTY , AND TOO CONTROLLED HURTS... I WATCHED INDY GROW FROM THE ROADSTERS INTO THE REAR ENGINE CARS AND DIDN'T LIKE THE CHANGE, BUT IT WAS STILL INDY RACING WITH NEW CARS AND NEW DRIVERS........THEN I WATCHED INDY TURN TO MONEY AND CART TOOK CONTROL OF THE OLD INDY RACING I LOVED SO MUCH. WITH ALL THE MONEY, RULES AND CONTROL CART JUST ABOUT RAN INDY CAR RACING AWAY. INDY RACING TOOK IT ON THE CHIN, AND HAVE NEVER RECOVERED FULLY FROM THE CART DAYS, AND I WONDER IF THEY EVER WILL. WHAT TUGS ON MY HEART IS WATCHING THE SPORT I GREW UP WITH, AND LOVED AS MUCH AS A FAMILY MEMBER, (NASCAR) START TO FOLLOW THE WAYS OF CART. MONEY,TOO MANY RULES AND FORGETING THE LITTLE OLD MAN THAT SAVED HIS "DEBBIE CAKE" MONEY FOR MONTHS TO BE ABLE TO GO SEE THE NASCAR BOYS RUN............AND NOT GET TO SEE WHAT I SAW WHEN THE DRIVERS WERE POOR AND A GOOD MEAL AT A TRACK WAS A CAN OF PORK N BEANS AND A PACK OF CRACKERS AND A COKE. I JUST WANT MY GRANDSON TO BE ABLE TO SEE AND HAVE THE MEMORIES OF GOOD OLE RACING JUST LIKE THE CHANCE I HAD GROWING UP. I DIDN'T MEAN FOR IT TO SOUND LIKE A NASCAR HATE LETTER........IT'S NOT.......IT'S MORE LIKE A DUMPED BOY FRIEND WRITING A LETTER TO HIS OLD FLAME TRYING TO GET HER BACK BY LETTING HER KNOW WHY HE LEFT AND HOW HIS FEELING WERE...........I JUST WANT US TO NEVER FORGET THE ROOTS....I'M PART OF THE ROOTS.........AND IT'S HARD TO SAY GOOD-BYE TO SOMEONE YOU DEARLY LOVE.....RANDY

i'm tired of hearing people say they're gonna quit watching NASCAR because mr. vanilla won again. personally i wanna be watching when somebody does knock him off the throne. who do you think's gonna be part of racers reunion thirty years from now if we if we keep putting NASCAR down.

The best thing I saw this weekend was Joey Lagano trying to drink Coke with the cap on the bottle. I laughed for the rest of the weekend.

I'm pulling for Kevin to do it. No favortism here. He deserves it. I do not like the Chase, do not like it, never liked it, never will like it, strongly dislike it, and wish it would go away. Sunday will be a very interesting day on many fronts. Say one of the contenders speeds on pit road. Would NASCAR dare penalize him? What if one of the Hendrick cars happens to push the number 11 into the wall? Would Jap Zeros come blazing into Charlotte in the rising sun on December 7th? What if Jimmie wins number 5? Would the cries of NASCAR bias rock the racing world? Would Chad Knaus require body guards at the banquet in New York? What if the stands are as empty as they have been and the tv ratings suck? Would that prove to the NASCAR brass that fans are leaving my the droves to go hunt wild turkey for Thursday's dinner, or maybe, Wild Turkey to ease the pain of the continuous slow death of stock car racing under the banner of NASCAR. I will watch, with lemonade and popcorn, just to see the details of the events unfolding and preparing notes for the Legendtorial on Tuesday night.
Tim

Now that the ordeal has been in his rearview mirror for nearly a decade, Kevin Harvick acknowledges there was a time when he didn't want anything to do with Dale Earnhardt's legacy.

Harvick abruptly took the wheel at Richard Childress Racing in 2001, just days after Earnhardt died in a crash at Daytona. With all those heavy hearts for Earnhardt came even heavier scrutiny for Harvick.

The cars he was driving had a No. 29 on the side, but everybody - including Earnhardt's soul-stricken legion of fans - knew they were really just Dale's No. 3s with a new paint job.

In hindsight, Harvick acknowledges that the pressure of replacing a racing legend under the most awkward of circumstances was too much to take at times. But now that he's racing for a NASCAR championship of his own, Harvick has grown to embrace the Earnhardt legacy.

"I embraced it zero in the beginning," Harvick said Thursday, as drivers prepared for Sunday's Sprint Cup season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. "I wanted to change the color of the car, I wanted new sponsors. If he wore a white suit, I wanted a black suit. I wanted zero to do with it."

Today, Harvick says he has a better perspective on the idea that he and Earnhardt will forever be tied together.

"You get a little bit older and you really start listening, and you really start understanding: People aren't trying to make you into him, it's just a part of our company that you have to be comfortable with," Harvick said. "And I've gotten comfortable with that."

Now Harvick is in position to deliver another championship to Earnhardt's former car owner and close friend, Richard Childress.

Harvick is third in the standings going into Sunday's race, 46 points behind leader Denny Hamlin and 31 points behind Jimmie Johnson. And after handling the pressure and scrutiny that came along with replacing Earnhardt, Harvick believes he is ready to run for a title.

"It all has worked backwards for me with coming in, with taking over Dale's car," Harvick said. "You started with the biggest press conference you'll ever be a part of in your whole life. You start with the weight of the world on your shoulders. As it's gone through the years, it's gotten easier. It's almost like you've gotten prepared for these situations before you even got started."

Harvick still vividly remembers the details of his first race as Earnhardt's replacement, from the bright lights of a news conference to a private conversation with Dale Earnhardt Jr. But Harvick remembers almost nothing about winning at Atlanta, because it all became a blur.

"I was 25 years old and having fun and racing Nationwide cars and just come out of Trucks and doing my own thing in late models, and the next thing you know, you're in the biggest thing that ever happened to the sport," Harvick said. "Well, I watched it. But until you're in the middle of it, you don't realize all the things that come at you."

Harvick quickly turned some fans and fellow competitors off with his brash style on and off the track, becoming known as "the instigator" - a derisive play on Earnhardt's famed nickname "the intimidator."

And while Harvick hasn't always seen eye-to-eye with Childress on the direction the team should take over the years, any past disagreements seem to have brought them closer.

"Richard and I have been through a lot together," Harvick said. "We've talked about what we have to do to get to this point. Whether we win or lose this year, we've taken a huge step towards achieving those goals and put ourselves as a company back in contention."

Toward that end, Harvick received a somewhat unexpected boost this week: a wave of messages from Earnhardt fans who want to see Harvick win it all.

"It's a little bit different week than I've ever had," Harvick said. "It's kind of brought it all full circle. And you realize that those people are still out there and still love the sport and still love everything that happens at RCR and have kind of found that hole, I guess, that's been missing, and that's been the competitive nature of what used to be the 3 car in the 29 car. And it's very rewarding to know that those people are still out there and now they are cheering the 29 on. Are you a 29 fan now or is it still under that new coat of paint. Harvick will never be the Intimidater but is he good enough to continue the Legacy of RCR??

Above information was taken in part from Race Win and written by Chris Jenkins of Thats Racin