My Two Cents Worth
http://www.laidbackracing.com/2013Articles/LBRpitcrew2.html
Mike Sanders: I sat down to watch a bunch of commercials and a stock car race broke out. Seriously, this is getting ridiculous. The frequency of the commercial breaks is getting to be too much to take. When you factor in the "on air personalities" we have to listen to its making races impossible to watch on TV. But it only gets worse in two years, when the contract extension FOX signed this year takes effect. Their rights fees are going up 36% over what they pay now. You know what that means: even MORE commercial breaks. And the "side-by-side" thing is worthless. The racing portion of it is about the size of a postage stamp. And btw, both Chris Myers and Mikey tried to out-stupid each other today. It was painful to listen to. Enough already...
Racemama: Well, like I said there was an improvement in the racing on the first 1.5 miler we raced on this year. BUT we will have to see where it goes from here. Did I sit spellbound to the TV? NO. I had to get up and do something because I started dozing in the first half the race. Things picked up in the last 100 laps. I really think we need to go to heat races. The drivers only want to get it on for 30 to 50 laps than let’s race 30 to 50 lap segments.
This week again it was all about who got out of the pits first and the fuel mileage talk. THAT IS NOT RACING! Make the tires wear out and fuel mileage won’t even be discussed because drivers will be screaming for tires at every opportunity.
On NASCAR and the Hamlin fiasco, NASCAR just can’t seem to help them selves from looking foolish. That being said I don’t see Hamlin winning his appeal. I also see many speeding penalties in his future.
Mad Mikie: The tone of the race was set during the pre-race segment. Cheerleading from the get-go for Hendrick & MWR. Johnson got 15 mentions versus the reigning MPD who only got one and the reigning Cup champ who got 2. The COT II got more mentions than both Bad Brad and Jr. combined with 5. Stewart came 2nd in 10 mentions and both the Queen of Hype and her boyfriend tied for 3rd with 7 mentions.
273 total gimmick shots were used during this race. With only 198 laps of both green and yellow flag racing being shown. That works out to 1.378 gimmick shots per lap. Of these, 43 involved the #48 car with 31 of them being the gyro cam.
There is a discernible pattern with the gyro cam shots if you haven’t figured it out by now. It’s the #48 and then particular race sponsors like Bud and 5 hour Energy. Next came Stewart and the reigning MPD. You’ll be extremely lucky to see a gyro cam shot from Trevor Bayne, Dave Blaney or Michael McDowell even if they were leading the last lap.
There is also another pattern developing. The closer the end of the race, the more myopic the coverage gets. From Lap 247 through the end, it was the 20 and 5 being covered with a couple of quick shots of the #2 and #18.
Excuse of the Race has to be Jabbers Jaws making excuses for the Queen of Hype. At Daytona, it was her talent that got her on the pole. Last week, it was a tire blowing out. No mention of her running into Yeley pushing in the right front fender cutting the tire. This week’s excuse was a bad car. Jabber Jaws rambled on how she was unable to set up her car because of the rain-out for qualifying. He sure seems to forget that in her IRL and IndyCar days she had to have her teammates set up her cars. And the excuse of being a rookie doesn’t hold water either. Her boyfriend is a rookie too and look where he finished. 15 spots ahead of her. And the excuse of only racing for 3 years doesn’t hold water either. She’s been racing at the professional level since 2005 and with NA$CAR since 2010 which makes this year her 4th year. Jabber Jaws needs to take his own advice regarding what he said about Hamlin. “Work with your hands and not your mouth”.
Dawg: Well, I thought we were going to get through this entire race week without an engine issue from the Toyota camp. But that thought went up in smoke on lap 217, along with Travis Kvapil's Toyota engine and trust me this wasn't any valve spring. Being as it was just Travis and the 93 Burger King/Dr. Pepper team, the producer chose to ignore them. The follow up was all about Danica being behind it. While I'm thinking about Toyota, we all know that Ole DW is a bought and paid for shill for the brand but give it a rest!
As for the race. Drivers talk about getting into a rhythm, well, we fans need to do that too. But it's really hard to do when the action keeps getting interrupted every 15 laps or so for commercials. I switched over to reruns of American Pickers and had a hard time switching back.
No secret that I admire Matt, so I was pleased with the outcome. I was very happy to see that the change of brands and crews didn't change things for him. Now he's really part of the new family.
Just one last thing to say........Damn you, Denny Hamlin............ If you'd just kept your mouth shut, we'd never have noticed. Now you've spoiled it for all of us. They didn't fine you enough!
