NASCAR running thread

You are right. NASCAR is now reaping what it sowed over last 12-15 years. It forsake we great unwashed that grew up watching races at Wilkesboro and Rockingham; those of us that embrace the rivalry and can point out the differences between a Ford and a Chevy; we Saturday night sinners who liked to pull for bootleggers and lint heads and grease monkeys and went to church Sunday morning praying for our favorite to win that afternoon; those of us who believe the Southern 500 is supposed to be on Labor Day weekend at Darlington.

That's what NASCAR turned its back on and ran off in favor of the redneck-chic wannabes who jumped on the stock car bandwagon. Now they've gone off to whatever is new and the cool thing to do. NASCAR's core fans are alienated and no longer identify with the sport we helped create over five decades when the rest of the country turned its nose up.

The chickens are coming home to roost.

 

I can't disagree with you re: that ratio, but that's the result of the numerator rather than the denominator being out of whack. I was drawn to your writing that "based on skill alone, she wouldn't even be in Nationwide." I don't see that argument. Yes, she got run over at Darlington, but do you honestly think she was sitting in top-flight equipment? The hell if I'd send her out there on a training race in top-shelf stuff. She did exactly what she was asked to do, which was to log laps and stay the hell out of the way without getting black-flagged. Anybody thinking she was going to do anything beyond that clearly doesn't know much about how hard Darlington is relative to the other tracks.

I listened to her on my scanner throughout the Nationwide race at Talladega -- which she managed to navigate quite well, even leading a lap or two before getting shuffled back right before that big crash -- and I'll be damned if I heard anything other than a relatively inexperienced NASCAR driver who was taking (and using) instruction very well. She certainly wasn't coming across as a prima donna, which is way more than I can say about many of the more "obviously" talented/skilled drivers I've listened to out there.

 

As long as Morgan Shepherd, Blake Koch, Steve Arpin, Erik Darnell, Tim Andrews, Mike Harmon and Scott Riggs, among others, have rides, I feel pretty confident that based on talent alone, Danica would have a ride in that there Nationwide Series.

However, if she wasn't being a diva on the radio, you caught her at a good time.

 

When they red-flagged that race she was at the tail end of the lead lap and was talking with her crew about the engine overheating and how they'd handle it. Clearly there wasn't much going on because she and her spotter started getting heavily into the double entendre bit about sweating and stretching and bending over. It was obviously intended to fire up the listening audience ... I thought it was pretty funny, sort of a self-mocking admission that her appeal's not be entirely racing related.

 

That, the six-inch heels at press conferences, her whole presser a couple weeks ago, etc., about how she got her beads, the SI swimsuit edition, etc. I don't know why anyone would think she tries to parlay any of that into her marketing.

More on the beads: http://www.nascar.com/nationwide-series/news/120504/dpatrick-enjoying-talladega/index.html

Re: her blaming everyone else for her problems, don't forget she had NO IDEA she put Hornish in the wall. Despite him being right next to her then turning hard right.

 

I swear to god, this just happened.

Reporter: "Blah blah blah, from Skirts and Scuffs."
Danica: "What are scuffs?"
Reporter: "Skirts and Scuffs. It's a blog."
Danica: "But scuffs? What are those?"
Someone: "Tires."
Danica: "Oh, tires!"

*facepalm*

 

Who first reported Cotton Owens had died before, you know, checking to see if he was dead?
Gotta love the need to be first and worry about being right later.

 

We didn't!

 

Apparently Cotton himself was as shocked by the news as anyone.

 

Joe Paterno doesn't know what you're talking about.