All Purpose NASCAR Thread

Marty's a great guy, always been a big help to me when I've asked.

He has a very distinctive voice/accent.

 

He's always was interesting on Pit Bull.

I guess ESPN is looking for NASCAR's version of Tony Kornheiser.

 

The Tony Kornheiser thing might be right, but we don't even know if that format works yet.

I was just thinking in terms of broadcasting experience...is Marty Smith going to be ESPN's Larry Mac? If so, the FOX booth would have a big leg up on ESPN/ABC...Mike Joy (the best play by play guy), DW and Larry Mac vs. someone like Allen Bestwick, Marty Smith and Rusty Wallace????

Too much for me.

 

ESPN and quality aren't always in the same sentence.

 

As opposed to say, D.W and Larry Mac?

 

Allen Bestwick is going to ESPN?

At least he's better (no matter what anybody says) than Bill Weber.

 

Let's hear him say, "boogity-boogity-boogity."

 

No, I don't know if Bestwick is going to ESPN. I was just guessing someone like him. Or Weber. They're going to be out of a job soon.

 

Not necessarily, since TNT still is in the game.

 

I'm still a young guy, so I had never had a situation in my career where I had talked to someone and done more than one story on someone who eventually found success on a bigger level. I'm sure many people have done this at their local short tracks or with minor league baseball players on their beat, but I hadn't.

Then our local boy David Gilliland goes and wins the freakin' Busch race on Saturday, which was pretty unbelievable any way you look at it. This guy was a total unknown (as it should be -- his best career finish was 29th in six previous races), but he is one of those "good guys" and was always thankful for our paper running stories on him since his team needed sponsorship and exposure. He was giving his cell number out to local reporters so we could have direct access in case we needed to call him for a story.

Just amazing and mind-boggling to see someone like that on TV all of the sudden, winning a race. Wow. One of the coolest things I've seen in sports. You can't help but be happy for someone like that. Agree?

 

Helluva race, and helluva job his crew did.

It was unbelievable how fast of a lap he turned in qualifying, and it was impressive how he rose through the field at the end there.

 

If I had to pick one driver to break the Buschwhackers' hold on the AAA series ... no, actually, I wouldn't have picked Gilliland either.

Side note on other racers with fenders: Sunrise at Le Mans with about 9 hours to go in the 24 Heures du Mans. That diesel-powered prototype Audi's running this year is amazing --- 800 lb-ft of torque and the thing is dead silent as it flies by, except for the air rushing over the bodywork.