More Kentucky Opinions

I asked fans what they thought of the race at Kentucky and here are their opinions:
　
Race Mama had this to say:
　
ok this is to you 2 from me a race fan....

I think what is funny is the horrible traffic issue seems to have made many (not all) forget about commenting on the absolute HORRIBLE excuse of a race....

that track SUCKS too flat for stock cars.....
I am glad Jimmy didn't talk me into going there.

Instead of a gazillion articles about traffic there should have been a gazillion about the lack of racing!

K just my .02 worth


Mary, Chip’s mom, wrote this:
　
It was another stinkeroo aero/clean-air race that was determined by set-ups. Most of the driving skill is taken out of this kind of race except for them trying to dodge each other during the restarts. The 1.5 mile tracks are good for one thing. You can get other stuff done around the house because if you walk away from the television you won't miss much.
　
　
Unkle Phil said:
　
I was glad to see Kyle win; there is no doubt that Kyle has it in his ass, or he can feel what the car needs, unlike Jr. Joey Logano was a snoozer.
　
Richard H. replied:
　
Actually it wasn't awful. The bumps made it impossible for the drivers to just cruise around. The usual drivers, Kyle, Jeff, Jimmy, Carl, went to the front. Good race by Root too.
　
This is from Pat G.:
　
A snoozer....really, I fell asleep with 30 to go.....I read who one the next day
　

Curmudgeon-in-Chief Bill sent this:
　
What race? I gave up on moto-wrasslin' when they began to manipulate the outcomes.
I suspect that a good close inspection of schrubs car by one of the other teams would reveal far more than any numbcar inspection ever will. Just my thoughts.
　
Tom B. replied:
　
You know to be honest, my interest has waned so much, never even thought of watching.
　
　
Bill the Mechanic wrote:
　
Another cookie cutter snoozer?
Truth is I didn't watch much of it. Saw a bit at lap 20, till the competition caution break, went to dinner, then watched some at the middle. Towards the end I kept going back & forth between the race and the drags. When it looked like Kryle was going to win I didn't go back.
One thing I did notice though. Finally, they weren't ashamed to show a wide shot of the (full) grandstands for the first time this year.
With all the reported traffic woes, I'll bet they don't get anywhere near a capacity crowd from now on.
Oh, and Bruton should be ashamed of himself, expecting the state to upgrade the roads for his benefit. He created the problem, let him pay to fix it!
Isn't Kentucky having money problems like most every other state?
　
　
Geoff has this to say:
　
Typical mile and a half snoozer, track position, clean air, two green flag pit stops, and the leader has a 7-9 second lead and the old debris caution, BIG SHOCKER.
Drivers take your wave around.
A couple laps of green, oops, a car wiggled in the corner, might be some oil, better check the track for "safety sake".
Drivers take your wave around.
Whoever invented that new clear and dustless oil dry, is a genius.
If you add 30-40 thousand extra seats to a place, you would think the State and Local Dept for building and zoning would verify that you have parking for the extra seats before they OK it.
Not adding volunteer people or staff to check coolers, is a cheap lame ass excuse. But they "LOVE" the fans.
I also think all the Official Statements left out a line at the end of them.
Ya'll come back now, Ya hear.
　
　
Richard, one of our Canadian race fans, sent this:
　
watched it on & off. If your man is leading, the race has to be good, so that would make me rather bias.
I loved the Fri race when Brad K 'toyed' with Harvick. Of course Brad won & Kevin was notably pissed.
Fast fwd to Sat. Brad led for a lot of laps but just couldn't get going during the restarts over the last few laps. Would have been real interesting if he could have been side by side with Kyle at the end. Interesting that they all complained about the rough track, but if one got in the lead, he was hard to catch. So, you had periods that one car was pulling away which some would conclude was not good racing. My view....overall, not a bad race.
Sounds like there was a real problem with traffic. Seems like 20,000 ticket holders never got to the track. Problem with roadways and a severe lack of parking space. Both the track & NA$CAR are all over the media apologizing and promising better for next year. They need to give all those who couldn't get to the track tix for the next cup race.
　
Glenn had this to say:
　
One thing I found interesting…..and Kyle Petty made mention of it.
When Kyle Busch would pit……..his crew chief would say go, go , go…….all the way to the 42.
It seemed that the Gibbs cars new exactly where the “speed traps” were on pit road.
I would think that would provide a heck of an advantage if “everyone” wasn’t privy to the same information…….wouldn’t you?
　
Jules the Engine Guy added this:
　
Obviously there were fans that cared and were treated very badly.
The track staff knowing full well that there were people either walking or waiting in the hot sun for several hours did the Humanitarian thing by tripling the cost of the already over priced bottle of water to $10.
I don't following horse racing or visit the dog track because I feel its cruel so why would continue to follow NASCAR?
　
　
Chris, a student at UNCC added this:
　
If Bruton and Marcus had taken a page from a successful track opening instead of their own history or that of the later owners of the previously successful tracks, they'd have put as much into KY Speedway as Curtis Turner put into Charlotte Motor Speedway or Roger Penske did into California Speedway. Instead of expecting taxpayers to pay in order to play; Roger negotiated to secure public transportation (light rail) to come to the track even before the first event. When one aspect of the first year event went wrong, Roger paid to fix the problem. Then again, the Captain actually was on site to supervise the event he put together. Is it any wonder Bruton and Marcus are making such unprofessional faux-pas when they don't follow common supervision practices? Is there a track left in the SMI portfolio that hasn't had some tainted action take place since Marcus became COO of SMI?
　
　
This is from a person I’ll call Anonymous to protect his identity:
　
Good article, Mikie! One thing, though… as one of those state employees, I can tell you that IMO (as well as many of my coworkers) those unpaid furloughs were the Governor’s retaliation for not getting his “expanded gambling” bill passed through the legislature. Funny how his ‘shortfalls’ turned into a big budget surplus, and that no additional furloughs are being called for this year (which just happens to be an election year).
　
　
Dave From Texas Had This to Say:
　
Wow!!
I read the articles in the Kentucky and Cincinnati newspapers - what a mess!!
If I am reading them correctly, no food, drinks or coolers allowed in the speedway? The gates didn't open until 2:00 pm? Water was $4.00 a bottle? That alone would make lots of people never show up again.
Lots of comments were posted to the effect of this is what happened when the Busch race sold out many years ago - big traffic mess. So they already knew what was going to happen. People were saying that no one bothered to scan at least half of the tickets - they just waved people in without checking *anything*!! So no wonder the GM says he doesn't know how many people didn't get in! He also said, in a round about way, that there will be no refunds. Since they have no way to prove if you went in (or what time) that's going to be a big mess to sort out too.
And virtually no porta-potties outside? And no trash cans? Guess they wanted to cut costs as much as they could - just like TMS is doing now.
Also, I wonder how they all got *out*? Must have been an even bigger mess!
Question for you: Any chance the reason they didn't scan most of the tickets is because the place was over sold? They sold more tickets than the place would hold so the stands would be full no matter what? Just a thought.
　

Robby's Texas Nightmare

What seemed to be just another race weekend at Texas Motor Speedway has turned into a nightmare for Robby Gordon. As usual Robby, as the owner of Speed Energy Drink, sent the check in to SMI to pay for the lot space for his souvenir hauler and as usual it cleared the bank. That is considered to be a binding contract in several states. No misrepresentation on Robby’s part since it was clearly from Speed Energy Drink. He didn’t have a problem at Las Vegas or Bristol, two other SMI tracks, and didn’t have a problem with the ISC tracks at Daytona, Fontana, Phoenix, or Martinsville. Once Robby’s Speed Energy Drink souvenir hauler and show car showed up, that’s when the nightmare ensued.
　
First, Texas Motor Speedway towed Robby’s Fast 5 show car away. The show car was there as a part of a Universal Pictures promotion for the upcoming Fast 5 movie. What’s odd is that there were other energy drink show cars parked in the same area that looked like they’d been parked there for several months and none of them were towed. And there were the souvenir haulers for the other energy drinks all along the row of souvenir haulers and nobody was bothering the Junior haulers (Amp Energy Drink splashed all over it), the Red Bull Haulers (Red Bull a competitor of Coca Cola’s Full Throttle), or Shrubbery’s souvenir trailer (with NOS in plain view on the trailer).

SPEED ENERGY
Check it out TMS has threatened to take all of our product and tow our merchandise hauler out of the racetrack! WTF　

Then they were wanting to haul away the Speed Energy Drink souvenir hauler and confiscate all of the Speed Energy product that there. When Robby made his initial enquiry as to what was going on, he was told by Texas Motor Speedway that the track was sponsored by Red Bull and it was out of respect to Red Bull that they were doing this. Gee, that sure is funny. All of the SMI tracks are sponsored by Coca Cola, who manufactures the Full Throttle energy drink and distributes Monster Energy Drink. So that would mean that SMI violated their contract with Coca Cola by taking on the Red Bull sponsorship at Texas Motor Speedway. But wait, it gets even better.
　
Robby’s then sent a Twitter message that he didn’t get permission from the sales department to hand out free samples of the Speed Energy Drink.
　
Texas Motor Speedway
Every brand who hands out samples needs authorization from our sales team. Every sports venue has these rules, and we're not against anyone.
　
Since when did a salesman get to override a written contract? The worst that Texas Motor Speedway should’ve been able to do is make them keep the free sample behind the counter. At Charlotte and Atlanta, I’ve had samples handed to me from companies who weren’t on track property. And Robby hasn’t had a problem with this at the other SMI tracks prior to Texas. But wait, it gets even better.
　
Robby then receives a letter from SMI which prohibits his Speed Energy Drink souvenir hauler from all SMI tracks. Gee, could that be because Robby’s Speed Energy Drink isn’t listed as one of SMI’s “valued partners” that the Speed Energy souvenir hauler is being banned from all the SMI tracks? Since when did tracks have the authority to prohibit sponsors from showing off their wares at the tracks? Didn’t NA$CAR approve Speed Energy as a sponsor? Does this also mean that the tracks can ban certain makes of vehicles from racing because they’re not the “official vehicle” of that particular track?

SPEED ENERGY
Just so you guys know, TMS sent the letter that they gave us to revoke our access to promote to ALL the SMI properties. Which means next SMI track you prob wont get any SPEED Energy. Really?　

And how about some of the ads Texas Motor Speedway has used with Dale Jr in his AMP uniform which clearly show the Amp logo and Mountain Dew logo and show the Amp or Mountain Dew car? Isn’t that a bit hypocritical of them as they’re supposed to be a Coca Cola track? Or a Red Bull track if you believe Texas Motor Speedway?
　
And since the Fast Five movie logos are on the car this weekend, Universal Pictures was expecting some reasonable appearance obligations that Texas Motor Speedway is now interfering with. Will SMI, Gossage, and Bruton stand together when they realize a fight with a major movie studio who has more lawyers than SMI does is the consequence, or will finger pointing ensue?
　
And how about the actual race coverage? When they showed the Dodge Chargers of the Race graphic, they showed the 2 & 22 cars from a blimp/helicopter shot but the 7 was nowhere to be seen. During the race, there’s usually an accidental shot of Robby’s car usually when he’s near one of the Chosen Ones, he’s in or near a wreck, or he’s being lapped. But no, not a single shot of his car the entire night unlike all the previous race of the season where we at least caught a small glimpse of at least a quarterpanel.

Anyone remember what happened at Las Vegas when Robby Gordon was qualifying? No? Let me refresh your memory with this video clip.
　
http://youtu.be/UotI8eQynv4 　
　
One thing Speed Energy did make clear in a Twitter is that THEY aren’t calling for fans to boycott Texas Motor Speedway
　
SPEED ENERGY
We would never tell any1 to boycott anything. just showing what is out there. TMS is a great facility & we all want what's best for the sport
　
So while Speed Energy Drink might not be calling for a boycott, I’m thinking fans might want to rethink their plans involving Texas Motor Speedway, any events they host, any events they sponsor, and also purchasing any goods from any of the track’s sponsors. like Coca Cola, UPS, Dickies, Brookshires, Samsung Mobile, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Chevy, Bank of America, WinStar World Casino, Firestone, and others. Fans might also want to go to the speedway’s web site under the “contacts” section and drop Eddie Gossage, the man who forget to put Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s driver’s uniform in a safe, secure area which resulted in it being stolen, a line and let him know your opinion on this whole deal and your future plans and those of your friends and family members regarding Texas Motor Speedway and the track’s sponsors.

Time for Somebody to Lend a Helping Hand

There’s an old saying about charity beginning at home. And that’s what needs to be happening right now in NASCAR. We’ve got some racing greats who gave their all for the sport of stock car racing who are having some hard times getting medical care, paying the doctors’ bills, and meeting their everyday needs.
　
Recently, we found out that former racing great Fred Lorenzen was living in a nursing home as a result of his Alzheimer’s and that he was forgetting things, is beginning to forget names, was getting injured from falls at home, and that he pretty much wasn’t able to take care of himself. This is a far cry from the Golden Boy who wheeled his #28 Holman-Moody Ford around the track and winning. Fred gave his all for stock car racing and for the NASCAR under Bill France Sr. And how is Fred and his family being repaid by the France family for the sacrifices he made? They’re not. The Frances continue to hide behind the “independent contractor” clause. Despite the fact that NASCAR has a multi-million dollar charity which could easily assist Fred, it doesn’t. There are also a number of drivers who have charities who could step up and help Fred out. But they don’t.
　
Two time Busch Series champion Sam Ard was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson‘s Diseases several years ago. Sam and his wife Jo had to sell off Sam’s trophies, Martinsville clocks, championship rings, and other valuable memorabilia to try to keep up with the staggering medical bills of both Sam’s diseases and Jo’s blindness. The Old Timers Racing Club, through their Medical Hardship Fund, has been holding the Legends Helping Legends Fundraisers to assist drivers like Sam and other racing folks from the glory days of NASCAR. I attend them and was at the one they held for Sam. Racing greats like Rex White, Ned Jarrett, Bobby Allison, and others turned out to sign autographs for the fundraising event. All of those drivers, who like Sam, have no sort of medical help or pension fund to fall back on because of NASCAR’s continued hiding behind the “independent contractors” clause.
　
Both Mr. Happy and Dale Jr. stepped up and made donations to Sam’s care. Mr. Happy donated a van which was used in one of the Shell commercials he was in. The shocker was when Kyle Busch donated $100,000 to help with Sam’s care. Still, this is only 3 high profile drivers out of a how many? And where is NASCAR and the Frances in all of this? Neither the Frances, NASCAR, nor their “foundation” have donated a penny. There was a fundraiser at Richmond which raised $36,000 to help the Ard family out which had some fancy PR spin put on it to make it appear it was NASCAR making the donations but it wasn’t. For a supposed charity which pulls in untold millions and only donates $9 million to various charities, all of which benefit NASCAR and/or the France family either directly or indirectly, not to donate to former greats like Sam who helped put NASCAR on the map is almost criminal. All it takes is adding one sentence to the charter or rules to make it happen.
　
And what about all the high profile drivers who were shocked by Busch’s donation? What happened to the one-upmanship that drivers of old use to engage in? Drivers not wanting to be bested by their competitors? We didn’t see any of Busch’s vocal rivals step up and match his donation or try to beat it. Only Mr happy and Dale Jr. stepped up.
　
And what about Sam’s current condition? This is from a friend of the Ard family:
　
Sam is now a totally bed-ridden invalid. He is cared for at home by his wife 24/7. His request was and still is not to be placed in a nursing home.

It has been draining physically, emotionally, and financially. They are in desperate need of help at this time.
　
As you can see, Sam’s condition isn’t improving and the physical, mental, emotional, and financial drain on the family is still there. I know the toll it can take as I’m taking care of someone who was has been suffering with a seizure disorder for over 3 years.
　
Right now, Jo spends app. $300.00 a month for items which the VA does not provide. She struggles and juggles to make ends meet each month on his social security check. Any help would be appreciated, even gift cards to places like Walmart and grocery stores. There is a hole in her roof which she can't afford to have repaired. She is in need of a cooking stove, washer and dryer as theirs are about shot.　

If this isn’t the perfect opportunity for Lowe’s or Home Depot to step up and help them out, I don’t know what is.

And how much did the Frances pay towards Bobby Allison's medical bills from his terrifying crash at Pocono that nearly took his life? Zip. It took Bobby over 20 years to pay those medical bills off. It would've taken the France family one check to pay off Bobby's medical bills. But no, they preferred to hide behind the "independent contractor" clause.

So, here’s what I’d like to see happen. I know the folks from NASCAR are reading this along with some team PR and marketing people. Get off your duffs. Set up a charity to help out drivers and other folks who were in the racing business who need medical assistance or help with their medical bills or their medical care. NASCAR, ISC, and SMI could have a “Sam Ard Day” at one of their tracks and take the ticket money and donate it to help Sam out. Or they could take 10% of their ticket sales for all NASCAR events and donate it to the Racing Legends Medical Hardship Fund since it already exists. You team PR and marketing people, hit your drivers, team owners, and sponsors up for donations and services that they can provide to help these ailing former greats. Home Depot and Lowe’s could donate materials and personnel to help make houses wheelchair accessible or makes repairs that are sorely needed or donate things like washers, dryers, stoves, ovens, or fridges. The Big 3 could donate vans that are configured to transport a wheelchair-bound person. UPS and FedEx could ship medical supplies and medications to these ailing folks for free. Drivers could donate 10% of their race earnings or souvenir sales for the year to help out. If a driver got the testicular fortitude, he could donate his entire race winnings to help out. Team owners could pass the hat in their shops for donations or make their own donations separate from that of the teams and drivers. The ones who own vehicle dealerships could even help out by doing what I suggested the Big 3 do. Or they could modify a vehicle to be donated.
　
And how about some of you TV network people? How about donating some airtime to promote fundraisers like the Legends Helping Legends Fundraiser events? Or even send a camera crew out there to cover them? Speed’s got the personnel to do it and it’s just up the road in Mooresville. Or blocking off a day and instead of showing those fluff and reality shows that few people watch, how about running a telethon to raise funds? This would be the perfect event to put the Motormouth Brothers to work. Have them shill for the fundraisers like they do for everyone else that owns or sponsors them. You could get some current drivers in there to help out or answer the phones and get some former greats like Buddy Baker, Rex White, Junior Johnson, and others to tell some stories about the good old days of racing and get their opinions on the current state of the sport. Get Wanda Lund on there to talk about some of her recipes and some of her stories about her husband Tiny and some of the other racing greats. It could be a fundraiser and a history lesson in one.
　
And why should the current day drivers and crewmembers get involved with something like this? Because if it wasn’t for the likes of Sam Ard, Suitcase Jake, Rex White, James Hylton, and others, there wouldn’t be a NASCAR or a job for them. These folks pioneered the way for them to be able to do what they do today. They kept NASCAR from going under when it looked like it was going to fold several times. Think about James Hylton. He got his start as a crewmember on Rex White’s team before he became a racer and was the 1966 ROY. Rex was a pioneer of using jackscrews and using camber to turn the cars. He wasn’t just a racer, he was also a mechanical genius. Rex got his start turning wrenches for Frankie Schneider. Suitcase Jake was probably one of the most famous names in the garage outside of the drivers because of his mechanical and crew chief abilities and for his moving from team to team.
　
Think about today’s drivers. How many of them have come up through the ranks of being a mechanic first? How many crew chiefs started out working for free on somebody’s car as part of a volunteer crew? Or how about some of the great practical jokes that were played like those done by Curtis Turner, Joe Weatherly, and Tiny Lund? These are the things which took a regional racing series and turned it into a national brand name. These are the people who worked 2-3 jobs and sacrificed so much to be able to have a racing career. If not for these folks, today’s drivers would still be running in some lower level racing series trying to scrape together a couple of bucks to buy tires, parts, or gasoline to run their next race. Just like these racing pioneers had to do. So maybe it’s time for these big buck, high profile racing folks to remember these former greats and help them out since the sanctioning body that they sacrificed everything for won’t. After all, these drivers, team owners, and crewmembers wouldn’t be where they are today if it wasn’t for the likes of Sam Ard, James Hylton, Rex White, Suitcase Jake, Junior Johnson, and others too numerous to name from the history of the sport.