Track Trash – Pocinanose

Hey… when the heck are we gonna get some honest racing to the finish line?

If it ain’t fumes, it’s Mother Nature… two very sad ways to end a race.

In these cases, we oughta put asterisks after the winners’ names and only give ‘em half the points.

Almost slipped by: BDR unceremoniously canned Kevin Hamlin about a week ago, without any discussion of why. Now, this is the same Kevin Hamlin that guided The Old Man to one of his Championships, so something must have gone wrong….real wrong. You might think that Kevin just didn’t fit in with the Oyota racing team, but personally, I’d like to think that Kevin just couldn’t stomach being with a third tier team. Trust me, Kevin’s gonna end up much better off. By the way, is this the same Kevin Hamlin that placed 23rd in the Busch race at Nashville?? Think about it…….. First Kirk Shelmerdine, then Kevin Hamlin. Both were championship crew chiefs for The Old Man, and now they’re both wannabe drivers.

Da Biff: No longer in the horse race to sit in the 8 car next year?? Yes, he has a contract with Roush and Ford through 2008, so technically he shouldn’t be in the news these days. However, remember when BadBoyBusch and JamieMac were negotiated out of their old contracts and able to swap prior to their deadlines?? All it takes is a little bit of bad blood, and some cash, and things just happen…..

Out again: Mikey and DJ did another DNQ, so their troubles continue. The new motor package by Oyota hasn’t made the same impact on Mikey’s team that it has on the others. And there are rumors floating around that Mikey may need to merge with another team, so the financial aspect of not running with the dogs may be coming into play.

Mr. Pigtail: With the looong rain delay, we got a lot of Mr. Pigtail’s maiden voyage in the booth. Yes he’s articulate, yes he’s knowledgeable, but yes, he’s also a blabbermouth at times. He’s gonna get a few more of these under his belt, and perhaps he just may like it better than driving. Let’s hope so. He needs to pay more attention to running the organization and getting it more competitive. How much longer will Blobonte hang in there if he doesn’t see improvement??

Go to the video: It was amazing to see TNT hang in there with the long delay. Any other station woulda just gone to backup programming, but this was their time to shine, and they took every opportunity to do so. They put together a good crew, and will come out of this with high marks. Unfortunately, they aren’t a major network, and some of our fans don’t get TNT, so for them it’s either a blackout or listening to the race on the radio.

Da Race: The first action came when RoboGordo started spewing sparks with a blown RF tire. He wasn’t near pit road when it happened, so had to travel nearly the whole Roval before he made pit road, and did major damage to his suspension. The only wreck of the day came a few laps later, when da Biff went too low, lost it, then tagged DaveBlarney. Blarney made an accordion out of his rear deck, and dinged da Biff in the process, but no other car was involved.

Woes of Lowes: With nearly half the race completed, and another rain shower in the forecast, JJ suffered the same LF tire problem that Robo had, and with the same consequences. After spending 9 laps in the garage, he finally got back on the track, but only a few laps before the deluge hit Turn 1. With the track partially soaked once again, and nightfall approaching, it was clearly evident that the race would be called.

So the race was won by the team in flames, our bud Gordo. It‘s incredible how lucky they were to take the W, cuz it was all a matter of timing. FlyinRyan took a shot at him as the rain began, but decided not to run hard in the rain and chance wrecking his car. This just emphasizes the luck involved in winning some races. I’ve said it before that I dislike seeing races won on fumes, and I can add Mother Nature to this list. Sorry, Gordo fans, but this ain’t racing.

Kudos: To some brilliant weather forecaster on the 24 team. To FlyinRyan for a smart, solid race. To Trueaxle for another strong race. This guy could be the savior of DEI…. To CaseOfMears for a good finish (actually, he tagged along with Gordo as best he could).

Oh Noooo’s: The Oyotas came in 35th, 38th, 39th and 43rd. Million$Bill came in 37th, and looked pathetic all day. He was running so slow it’s a wonder he wasn’t black-flagged. This is not doing his legacy any good.

Heaps of 3’s all over your local chemical plant,
Racing Maniac #3, Little e