Rowdy People

Thoughts on Carl and New Rowdy

It looks like another typical Monday morning for an afternoons week for me....coffee and the paper read by 9....log onto the computer and check the weather and answer emails before I have to do my errands...better log onto Rowdy and see whats up there too.

What do I see?? Out of the smoke and twisted metal or Sundays race rises "THE NEW ROWDY PAGES!!"

I begin poking around and clicking here and there trying to figure things out and get the hang of it...maybe kinda feeling like Danica did behind the wheel of the stock car?? I realize that this could take awhile....not that it is extremely hard or confusing...but for myself change can be tough. This may take awhile but I like it! (Except maybe the lighter colour background..I prefer a darker one.)

Speaking of change..( now THAT, Buck, is a segue...a SMOOTH transition to another topic LOL) I am wondering if we are seeing the "true colours" of Cousin Carl, or is he donning the hat of the enforcer of respect that no one seems to want to wear since the passing of Dale Sr, for the "brash" young "me me me" drivers like Brad? ( I think Earnhardt Sr in the "3" would have had done the same if he were in the exact situation...albeit not so blatant)

Granted that the take-out was deliberate, even Carl indirectly said so, but I believe that the wing contributed greatly to the car getting air-born and will be glad to see it gone. In no way could Carl have forseen that.

Nascar needs to sit the 2 drivers and their owners down and tell them this is over NOW, and then give notice to the rest of them that THAT kind of aggressive driving will NOT be tolerated. They did say at the beginning of the year "have at it boys"...what did they expect? Dont kill the rivalry though...I think it would be good for attendance...remember #3 vs #2?

Should Carl have approached Brad in the garage after the race? Seems to me hes done that a couple years ago with another driver and got in trouble for that too. Should he have waited for Bristol for payback and probably taken out more cars, possibly even the leaders?

I am in NO WAY defending the actions Carl took on the track, but it seems to me he was damned if he did and damned if he didnt. Thank God no one was hurt on the track or in the stands. Kudos to Nascar for track and car safety devises. I DO believe Brad got the message though.

Just My Take

Sitting reading the paper this morning, sipping on my double-double from Tim Hortons, I reached for the sports section. I read about the upcoming curling Briar in Halifax, scanned down to the story on NFL free agency, checked the hockey standings for my beloved Habs and perused an item on the alleged sex assault case with Ben Rothlisberger.
I then noticed a small, and I do mean small, little "blip" of a story on Nascar not doing so well.
(I realize that this COULD be due to "our" sport not being as big north of the border as it is in the south, the size of the story I mean ...not the fact of Nascars troubles. But usually if a Nascar story makes it to my daily its a little bigger than this one was. )

The story is out of Hampton Ga and just states that even though the drivers keep saying how much the racing has improved in the last month that there are still MANY empty seats in the stands, as well as the declining television ratings. It also mentions that Jimmie is again continuing his winning ways and has the last 4 consecutive championships, and how his fast start has dampened enthusiasm for the sport that once was close to carving out its place with the NFL, NBA and MLB.
This story had a feeling of demise on it, like it should have been in the obituaries instead of the sport section.

It struck me as more than a little sad as I read this little blurb, not for the sole fact that Nascar is having "issues" , as troubling as that is, but the fact of how small a story it seems to be as to just warrant little more than a passing note on the subject.

How do we get ourselves back to the "glory days" of Nascar? Do we hope the new spoiler will make racing exciting again? Do we root for the sports most popular driver to contend for races and find the winners circle more than once a yr? Do we explore the avenue of franchising for teams? Or are the great days of Nascar long gone? I, for one, refuse to believe that as I am sure many of my Rowdy fans do as well.

We all go through ups and downs in life. Personally its been a rough road for me to travel these past 8 months with uncertainty in the car manufacturing business and the possibility of job loss, as well as the sudden severe illness of my wife ( who is now on the mend and doing much better thank the Lord!!)
As we live our lives and trudge through the bad times, heading for what we hope are sunnier days we just keep the mantra "Things can only get better"

As Nascar tries to find again the right recipe and mix to restore it to full seating in the stands and higher TV ratings, and to try and bring in the "casual" race fan, we just need to keep telling ourselves its gonna get better. After all...it IS the greatest sport there is....isnt it?

Whose Your Sponsor Baby???

Listening to the podcast last night, while I diligently worked online building yet ANOTHER 300+ vehicles for GM, I had to agree with Cutler ( at least I think it was Cutler that said it...apologies if it wasnt) about certain drivers not seeming to fit the image of their current sponsor, ie KK not looking like hes old enough to even walk in the doors of a beer store, let alone drink one.
Then there are the drivers that have switched teams, gone to new owners, or lost their sponsors for whatever reasons and sometimes its hard to get used to them with their "new" ride...this seems to be happening to me with the 17 this yr. Matt was "always" Dewalt and now hes Crown Royal which used to be Jamie Mac's deal, although that IS a cool looking paint scheme and easier to believe that Matt could have a drink if he so wanted compared to Kasey....I am getting used to the idea as well of Jr being the Amp dude, ( if he IS drinking it...shouldnt he maybe be a bit more high-strung during interviews than he seems?) but I think the Bud car was easier to spot on the track....Ok...I am getting off on a tangent here and beginning to ramble as I tend to do, so I'll try and get back to what I was going to say.

It would be interesting to know what driver you would pair up with what sponsor? It could be a current, past, or even a sponsor that you think should be in our sport.... or a "just-for-fun match-up.
Mark Martin was PERFECT with Viagra!! LOL :-D
Jimmies been with Lowes forever but what else on the car would match his personality?
Personally I think "Milk" would be good for Kasey's car and maybe "Hubba-Bubba Gum" for Joey's? Hehehehe

What say you Rowdy Nation?

Question to the Rowdy Nation

Thanks all for you comments on my previous blog...its very interesting reading others comments and hearing their responses and remarks to my thoughts...I now have a question for you all

I try to keep up to date with the podcasts but usually end up a day behind or more listening to them due to my work schedule and how fast the boys can get them posted...so forgive me if this has been covered
Yes...Jimmy Johnson has THE most luck that I have ever seen one person have....(maybe next to my sister but thats another blog)...I have long said to my JJ fan friends that he has more than his share of luck and now we hear Harvick saying that JJ has the "golden horeshoe" up his a** . I am not taking anything away from Jimmie because he is a great driver (albeit boring many times) with a great team and it helps to have the "evil genius" as his CC...BUT.....here is the question that I am interested in hearing the answers from, from different Rowdy Nation followers.

If you took the "luck factor" out of it, do you think that JJ would have had 4 in a row championships the last 4 yrs?

To pave or not to pave??

This is my first attempt at a blog so bear with me...Ive been a Rowdy member for about a year but want to try to be more active...so here I go...

Daytona International Speedway has begun installing reinforced concrete in Turn 2 of the racetrack where a pothole opened up during the 500...that much we all know. A combination of unusually cold and wet weather as well as cars bottoming out in that section of the track contributed to the breakdown of the pavement. Isnt it UNUSUALLY cold and wet in Florida recently?...so its an UNUSUAL pothole in Daytona....I believe the patching is the right thing to do at this time. ISC has scheduled a $20 million project to repave the entire track in 2012. We all remember what happens when tracks get repaved dont we? The racing goes to hell as well as the tires. If anything, lets just fix the area that needs fixing and leave well enough alone....at least for now. Maybe re-paving could be put off till AFTER 2012...after-all according to the Incas calendar, Dec 2012 is the end of EVERYTHING..that would save ISC and NASCAR $20 million and would let us have the awesome racing that Daytona gives us...to the end of time!! ;-)