Sprint Cup, Track Trash

Track Trash – Homeville Florida

Monday, November 19, 2012 148 reads
Racing Maniac

Ponder this:   NA$CAR is having trouble putting enough fans in the seats.   Why not take a hint from the WWE (old WWF), and make a bad guy outta one of their creampuffs?    Close your eyes and ponder this:   Gordo comes out of the trailer in a ferocious mood, ready to attack anyone in his way.   He dumps one car after another on the track, gets wrecked, throws his helmet at the other guy, then gets into a fight with him.   This action is carried on well into next season………then he suddenly switches back to Mr. NiceGuy.    Several races later, SirMark becomes the villain, and it starts all over again.    By this time the stands are full, and NA$CAR has been revived.   Yeah, that sounds good to me…

It won’t work:   No, the above scenario won’t work cuz Gordo already apologized for losing his temper.   Geeze, just when we had a sure-fire way to fill the stands, he wimps out.   He’s now back to being Mr. Goody Two Shoes in his vanilla jump suit.

Homestead:   Looks like it’s one of the smallest set of stands of any track on the Cup circuit.  And the overhead shots didn’t allow us to see how full the stands were.   However, the parking lots were probably 2/3rds full.

Pre-race:   Bradski is quite eloquent for being the young whipper-snapper that he is.   In the last several years, he has matured and become a very talented driver, and spokesman.

Da Race:   With JJ starting out the race some 20 points behind, we thought that might be enough for most any driver to endure.   However, due to some fancy pit stop planning, the 48 car at one time was 3 points ahead of the Blue Deuce, and nails were beginning to become bitten.  Then at Lap 136 they were tied in Points.  So that phase of the race was the most nerve wracking, and added to the overall importance of the race for the trophy.

Ooops:   With 61 laps to go, Bradski almost ran out of gas.   He was /../ this close to getting stuck with the fork, but lucked out.   He had just enough gas to make it to the pits without killing the engine.  Shortly after that, JJ pitted for tires and gas, but the rear tire lug nut guy missed a lug nut….and they had to pit again and went one lap down.   This seemed like the end for JJ, but then it got worse.  Not long after that the 48 car slowed on the track, and JJ was headed for the pits with a cockpit full of smoke.   The bottom line:  he broke the rear end and they had to go to the garage to repair the damage.  And it got worse.   While JJ was in the garage, Bowyer was racing on the track and gained several much needed points…. and ended the race one measly point ahead of JJ in the final standings.   One measly point, which will equate to a pile of cash for the team.

Kyle:   Unless I’ve miscounted, this makes the 8^th time that Kyle has led the most laps, yet failed to win the race.   One of these years he’s gonna break that streak……

The end:   Who woulda thunk that Gordo would win this race, and have Bowyer tailing him (at a safe distance) to come in second?   And what woulda happened if Bowyer was close enough to nudge Gordo out of the way?   We woulda had a first class rivalry going on, and perhaps coulda invoked the “Ponder This” scenario.   But nooo, not quite yet.

Mucho Kudos:   To Bradski for his humble nature, and for delivering the trophy to Roger Penske.   That team flat out deserved the Championship, and has elevated that organization to a new level.   Mucho Kudos.

Heaps of 3’s (and a few 2’s) all over yer next Dupont gizmo (whatever it may be),

Racing Maniac  #3