All Star Race Comments, IndyCar, Toys, & Memorial Day

I think the fan comments pretty much speak for themselves regarding what was supposed to be the All Star Race:
　
Dave from Texas wrote this:
　
Mike,
Two words:
Bore - Ring!!!!
What a snoozer!!
Edwards and Kyle run off and leave the rest. That's the best they could do? Recycle a Nationwide script?
And what was all the "Getting Even", "The Gloves Come Off" and "Payback Time" before the race? That was all they could blabber about? If this didn't look like the beginning of a wrestling match, then I don't know what would. Absolutely disgusting.
And what about the all the phony drama over, "Who Will The Fan Vote In Be"? Gosh, I don't know. *EVERYONE* knew it would be Jr as he had no other way to get in. How insulting is that? I can't believe how stoopid they think I am!!
And the Booth Bozos - it sounded like DW was drunk - but them screaming at me about how exciting it all was got really old, really fast. Especially when it *wasn't* exciting. Talk about much ado about nothing.
I wonder how many tickets they had to give away to get the grandstands as full as they could? Especially when, as the race went on, the crowd seemed to get smaller and smaller. DW saying, "They had great walk-up sales!" wasn't convincing to me. I wonder how many will show up next year? I'm sure you remember when it was *impossible* to get tickets to The Winston three months in advance, much less the night of the event.
　
The whole event was a waste of my time to watch. It was nothing but one long infomercial. (How did you like the driver introductions with the big TV set on the stage showing a Sprint cell phone ad every few seconds?)　

Mary, Chip’s mom, had this to say:
　
What a snoozer the "All Star" race was. I didn't even make it to the end.　
　
Submariner Bill said this:
　
I enjoyed the National Anthem, thought the Military Brass Band played
it with dignity and enthusiasm. They certainly confused the shit out of
everybody prior to the elimination race, though, by doing God Save
America instead of the anthem, leaving everyone with hand over heart
and a "wtf" look on face as they listened to the guy honking like a sick
goose.

I rather enjoyed "The Duck" boy tearing up his car in the infield before
doing the back flip, and his interview (having Scotts come plant some
grass) was kind of fun.

In between I was able to get in some nice naps. If any race ever
demonstrated the aerodynamic bull$hit that NA$CAR has become, that
would be it　

Wayne made this comment:
　
Yeah it was and had to listen to mounds of B/S from Waltrips and Speed. The NW Race was a lot better as home-town kid won it.　

Race Mama, who was at the track, said this:
　
It seemed more like a test session for the 600...I scanned around a lot and teams were trying all kinds of stuff　

Chris, who lives near the track wrote this:
　
I could have walked to the track (avoiding traffic) and gotten free tix--they were pushed for 3 weeks--but I'm still glad based on the Tweets I read that I didn't go.

The fireworks display, which I can see from my front door, wasn't even as good as UNCC displays when they host them--far below Humpy's standards.

I got groceries while everyone was off the roads then watched Indy quals.　
Interesting in that all the empty seats that could be seen and that was even after tickets were given away. And Charlotte’s busy giving away tickets for the 600 too so the track won’t appear as empty. That tells me that it’s not the economy that’s the problem. Not when free tickets are available.
　
Overall fan consensus? Two thumbs down.
　
It seems that since Humpy got dumped that the overall quality of events at CMS have gone downhill. Some fans feel that maybe it’s time for a change of location since some teams are using the All Star Race as nothing more than a testing session for the 600 the following week. Some fans think that the location of the All Star Race needs to be at a different location every year to keep things more interesting instead of the same old stale event year after year. All worthy ideas but we know Bruton the Bald would have a major hissy fit if they tried moving the All Star Race.
　
Danican’t & the 2012 Season
　
One of the interesting things about the Queen of Hype going full time next season in NA$CAR is that you can be assured there will be lots and lots of hype throughout the entire season. The question is, where would she go? It’s pretty obvious she’d stay at the Hendrick satellite team of JR Motorsports in the Busch Series. But who would field a car for her Cup attempts? It would come from yet another Hendrick satellite team, Stewart-Hass. And just who would put her in a car for her attempt for the 2012 Indy 500? Considering Stewart and Hendrick’s connections with Chevy, you can bet one of the Chevy powered teams would be putting her in a car and considering Tony’s relationship with AJ Foyt, it would probably be for AJ. Providing he can tolerate her temper tantrums and inability to set up a race car.
　
Now here’s where her once a year Indy 500 plans fall apart. 2012 is when IndyCar introduces their new bodies, aero packages, and power plants. The Queen of Hype has no experience with the turbo powered engines. She will also not have any experience with the new bodies and aero packages which puts her at an immediate disadvantage. Plus as she still doesn’t know how to set up her current car, based on comments in the IndyCar garage from engineers and former teammates, she’d be dependent on having somebody else set it up for her. This would probably mean both the primary and back-up cars being scrap metal. So how to get her in after that? A similar deal to what is happening this year. She buys a seat, just like the Motormouth Brothers have had to do for some Cup races and is being done this year with AJ Foyt’s team. And come 2013, she’ll have missed out on any changes IndyCar makes to the cars and power plants. The less she drives IndyCar, the more futile the attempts will be and maybe even to the point of embarrassing her, IndyCar, and her sponsors. NA$CAR will try to milk it for all it’s worth no matter how she does. Lots of hype, hoopla, and the sad delivery of not living up to it, just like the All Star Race not living up to its’ hype and hoopla.
　

Chevy Engine on Schedule for IndyCar

　
According to Auto News Log, the development of the engine that Chevy will be fielding for IndyCar is coming along nicely and will be ready in time for the 2012 season. How are they able to do this? By using key elements of their production model engines. Technology from both the Camaro and Cruze engines are being incorporated into the IndyCar engine which makes it relevant to what the fans have under their hood unlike NA$CAR which still insist on using obsolete technology under the hood and generic race vehicles.
　

It’s Just a Toy

That’s what Shrubbery said when he was pulled over for doing 128 mph in a 45 mph zone in a residential area. A lot of fans are outraged over the fact that he was speeding, that he wasn’t arrested for “carelessly and heedlessly in willful and wanton disregard of the rights of others”. Fans need to remember that this incident took place in the county where most of the race teams are based. They also need to look back at previous incidents involving NA$CAR drivers like Motormouth Mikey leaving the scene of an accident when he totaled his SUV and hid in his pool house to avoid being tested for DUI and his more recent incident where he ran into a motorcycle and blew a .06 which is just under the .08 legal limit of intoxication. Or Michael Annett and him rear ending a couple of cars while texting. NA$CAR is pretty much leaving it to the courts to handle it but then I think about some previous incidents involving drivers who were DUI, which also endangers the public, and the drivers being placed on probation such as The Dinger.
　

Memorial Day Weekend

　

Jeremy Mayfield with a race fan at a frontline FOB.

As it’s Memorial Day Weekend, I thought I’d post a picture of the only NA$CAR driver I know of who ever went to a combat zone to visit the troops and went out of his way to go to a forward operating base (FOB) to visit the race fans who help to ensure our freedom every day.