// MotorSportsNews.Net(work)

Whine: Our bud Gordo can’t seem to get the grip on life, and (ahem) on the track, and decided to open his yap about the Flipster’s offset rear end. Pardon me, but this is outright ridiculous. For some inexplicable reason, Lefarte can’t seem to tune the 24 car, so Gordo complains about some other car’s ingenious setup to try to get it outlawed. Remember a few years ago when the 24 T-Rex car was dominating, then got banned from further use? Did someone whine about that? Give me a break….

Day old pizza: One of the readers couldn’t reply to “ALL”, so he asked about last week’s race. “Food for thought! Was Hambone told to stay out, since he was not going to win, and draw the caution and give teammate Kid Kyle a chance to catch Junior?” Well, Mr.Traylor, as much as we’d like to think it is, this is not the Formula 1 or IRL where there really are “teams”, and who are dictated to do something for the good of the team. Compared to the Formula 1 drivers, our NA$CAR boys are a bunch of thugs that’d pinch money outta their own Mother’s pocketbook.

Turncoat: When Smoke couldn’t master the track, or his car’s setup, he complained about the Goodyear tires. Perhaps “complained” is too soft of a word. Now that he finally won a race (albeit in the Busch league), in a magnanimous gesture he praised Goodyear. This is the reverse the old ‘Attaboy’ ploy, where one ‘awe shoot’ (or something like that) would wipe out any number of ‘Attaboys’. The bottom line is that Smoke can praise Goodyear as many times as he wants, but he’s not gonna wipe out that one vociferous complaint.

So Cool: Jr. said he just ‘ain’t got time to be mad’ at KidKyle. What a great attitude, and it’s in keeping with his status as the most popular driver. However, as cool as Jr. is about this, I don’t think Junior Nation is about to let the self-named Rowdy off the hook. Expect the boos to be long and loud for most of the rest of the season.

Pre-race 1: Is it just me….am I going blind? During the pre-race show, there’s a red ‘ticker-tape’ above the Fox announcers. Can anyone read it, or is it just for show (to give the impression that late breaking news will be flashed before our eyes). If anyone can actually read it, PLEASE let me know. This has been bugging me ever since Fox opened the Hollywood Hotel, and I have a need to know.

Pre-race 2: During the intro’s we noticed that Smoke had his locks trimmed. This usually wouldn’t be a news item, but as big of a celebrity as he is, just not opening his mouth may seem interesting.

Da race: Before the race, the announcers hinted that the over-and-under for the number of cautions was gonna be large, perhaps in the 15 range. None woulda predicted a measly 8 yellows sprinkled with a couple of pit stops under green.

Kiss me: Most of the drivers kissed the wall. Putting it conversely, only a handful made it through the race WITHOUT playing demolition derby. Alas, many of the unfortunate drivers didn’t ‘kiss’ the wall……they literally played smash-mouth with it.

Stout: We had glimpses of it before, but now we know for sure. These COT’s are built like tanks, and can take a lot of abuse before they fall apart. And along with the durability comes a huge amount of security. When the drivers can walk away from the carnage, they should tilt their head toward the sky, and silently say ‘thank you’.

Numbers: During the race, I jotted down the car numbers of the notable ones that are out front for an appreciable amount of time. Like 16, 18, 88, 11, 24, and 18. This tells me something, but absolutely NOTHING about this race. The real story was the 18 car, no….the 18 driver. Here was a car stricken with any number of setbacks (multiple lug nut problems, kissing the wall on countless occasions, over-driving the car such that he used up his brakes, etc.), and a pass thru penalty for a missing lug nut. Nonetheless, he marched from about 23rd place back up to the front. As much as we dislike this jerk, we have to admit that he sure can drive a car. In the process, he makes his big bro (the one-time Champ) look like a distant cousin from Tibet.

Kudos: That this wasn’t a fuel race. To da Kid….nuff said. To da Flipster for quietly moving to the front. To Gordhead for eventually getting a Top 5 car. To Davie Ragan for a surprising 5th. To TravisK for a solid 8th.

Heaps of 3’s all over yer local theater showing the latest ‘Indiana Jones’ flick,
Racing Maniac #3, #88e