Atlanta Notes
On Sat. night/Sunday morning, I worked from 11:15pm to 5:15am and stayed awake enough to play piano Sunday morning. If you notice the time gaps in my notes, this is why, because I was so tired Sunday afternoon.
On with the race notes.
One of the few things that will wake me up from a sound sleep are the words, "Lunch is ready." So, when my wife said those magic words, I woke up to the funny American Idol parody. That was a great bit. I loved it. DW saying "Brother, where art thou?" was a hoot. More bits like that, please, Fox.
I've always like Jeff Burton, even when he drove for Jack Roush. After going through what he went through the last few years, it's great to see him have some success this year and last.
My wife laughed and laughed at Jeff Gordon and his obvious new hair plugs. She thinks he looks like a total dweeb anyway and now even more so. The kids at school are always saying, "Mrs. Robinson, you're so funny." And she is. If you knew us, you'd like her more than you would me.
The great thing about today and next week is that I can flip back and forth between basketball and racing during that stupid DLP commercial that I hate so much. I'm not sure what they were shooting for, but they hit pretentious right on the mark.
"Drive", a new series coming for a few weeks to Fox before they cancel it because it stinks. Ever hear of a Fox series called "Standoff"? Yeah, that's what I thought.
I've seen every race at Atlanta since they reconfigured the track and it always amazes me how fast they go. I wasn't in favor of the reconfiguration at the time, because it seemed like Bruton was fixing something that wasn't broken, but some of the best finishes we've ever seen have come at the quad-oval track.
BTW, my wife just said that she thinks Jeff Gordon is taking pre-natal vitamins, as his wife probably is, considering how much hair he has now.
While watching Virginia lose to Tennessee, I'm reminded of the incredible Ohio State-Xavier game yesterday. That 3 pointer with 2 seconds left is what March Madness is all about. Thus far, the OSU game is the game of the tournament.
Well, well, well, here's our first "debris" caution. I love how Fox didn't even bother to try and find it. During the caution, I flipped to Florida v. Purdue, and hear the great team of Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery. I didn't get to hear Raftery say, "They open up... inthemantaman!", but I did get to hear, "Send it in!" I've always loved Lundquist and Raftery. It's like the tournament doesn't begin until you hear those guys.
Michael Waltrip to Sammy Hagar: Do you think you could turn down the amp?
Sammy Hagar: Do you think you could drive faster?
Ha! :laugh:
With 265 to go, Stewart is threatening to run away and hide. I expect a number of "debris" cautions will take care of this.
I think I missed about 100 laps to a nap, and when I woke up, they were talking about Harry Gant. Gotta love Harry Gant. Harry has a couple claims to fame that I can think of right off the top of my head. These things happened in 1991 and 1992. Anybody care to guess?
They're not talking about Montoya, and I saw last week where he said that he was surprised to have been invited into the motor homes of several competitors, because that never happens in F1 racing. He also made a great point about the schedule. While they have half as many races in F1 as they do Nascar, the teams fill up their schedules with testing. AFAIK, the FIA has no limits on testing in F1.
Came back from watching Florida beating Purdue to see a glorious sight, Jeff Gordon being passed.
It's a good thing that Toyota got Dale Jarrett to drive for them so they can guarantee having at least one Toy in the field until DJ uses up his past champion provisionals.
The Richard Petty wreck that Mike Joy referred to when talking about the window nets was in 1970 at the spring Darlington race. You can find it
here. BTW, after playing that one, Youtube showed me another racing related clip, the famous "Pass in the Grass" during The Winston in 1987. This clip shows more than just the pass and was truly Earnhardt at his best. You can see it
here.
I didn't know that the F1 drivers don't even talk to their crew. It wasn't surprising to find out that the drivers don't help each other in any way in F1 racing.
If we haven't done it already, it's time to declare Kasey Kahne as the year's most disappointing driver. On a frustrating note, I'm in a fantasy racing league with some guys at work. 3 of the drivers I chose were involved in the wreck, and Kasey was one of them. :BangHead:
The vote for the best Atlanta finish will be Earnhardt/Labonte 2000 or Harvick/Gordon 2001. I think Earnhardt/Labonte will win, but my vote is Harvick/Gordon.
Why wouldn't Jeff Gordon think about speeding on pit road to beat the pace car out and not go a lap down? I do a lot of sim racing (at least one race a day) and there have been many races that I've sped down pit road just to beat the pace car. Better to start at the end of the longest line than to be a lap down. Does this make me smarter than Jeff Gordon? Why yes, I think it does. :laugh:
Speaking of Mike Joy's joke about GPS saying, "Turn left now", did anybody else catch Dale Jr's SportsCenter commercial where he gives one of the SportsCenter guys directions? Very funny. See it
here.
I just laughed at Montoya complaining that Jeff Gordon is making him loose. I get that he's complaining that Jeff is a lap down doing this, but, come on, cry me a river.
Oh, the Harvick/Gordon finish got the most votes, which I found surprising.
And what a surprise. Nascar found some debris and manufactured some drama. :tonofbricks:
Again, Fox didn't even bother trying to find it.
Great driving by Jimmie Johnson to win the race. You might say that he outdrove Tony Stewart.