April 2008-I've been lazy and not posting anything lately but I'm still posting on myspace. I'm still without a NASCAR driver but life stuff has made that not a priority. I'm still hoping Jacques Villeneuve will meander his way into NASCAR startiing in Montreal but why oh why can't someone sponsor him. He's hella cool! Life has a tendency to make it difficult to have spare time to do stuff like web pages and blogs. Hopefully this summer will bring light, cheery, fun-filled days of work and sleep and travel!
December 2006-- With less than 1/3 of the 2006 season to go, I realized none of the drivers remaining in the Elimidriver challege had that "it" quality for me. So, I have decided to end the challenge with the hope that in the coming months, someone will come along and I will get that feeling in my gut as I did when I knew Rusty Wallace was my driver. Hopefully the rumors will be true regarding Jacques Villeneuve coming to NASCAR this year. A former Indy-car and F1 driver from Canada, Villeneuve was my favorite driver back in my open wheel days, and I would more than happily cheer for him in NASCAR.
Until then, as always, I will continue to cheer for the funniest guy in the garage, Brendan Gaughan, and the shy one, Kenny Wallace. And if Brendan ever returns to Cup, he's my boy!!
April 2006--Having fully recovered from the long drive home from Bristol (I don't even remember going through Kentucky), I have to say it had to be one of my most favorite race weekends of all time. With temps in the 20's and blizzards on Saturday, being at Bristol was even crazier than it normally is. My sister Sandy and I took the 13 hour trek to our favorite track, stopped off at Wal-mart and our favorite Liquor Store to get the little bottles of fun (Chambourd, yummy!), managed to park next to Brenda and Elden (the same people we parked next to last time), set up our mini-camp site, drank some moonshine from Elden, and were ready for a great Bristol weekend. Then the rains came and qualifying was canceled so we headed to Food City for some good junk food. Thankfully, Sandy brought some DVD's and that got us through a very soggy Thursday and Friday evening. Saturday was the strangest race day I have ever seen. We bundled and walked around all the vendor stands IN THE SNOW! After a blizzard in the morning and a snow delay in the middle of the race, Kyle Busch went on to victory. I wasn't too thrilled about that, but it was still a fun race to watch. We spent Saturday evening with Brenda and Elden in their RV (another evening in the mini-winnebago was not in our best interest) and had some great chili and fun conversation. Sunday morning we woke up to more snow, but the weather cleared in time for the race. Kurt Busch won the race, did a snow angel (I liked it) and keeping with Rusty's tradition of naming the car one it has won a race, he named his car "Rusty."
June 2006-- With the announcement that Brian Vickers would be leaving the 25 car at the end of the season, it didn't take long for Casey Mears to announce that he would be driving in the 25 car beginning in 2007. Such driver changes have consequences in my Elimidriver competition. As I have issues with three of the four Hendrick drivers, I assumed that would be the case soon with Brian Vickers who I absolutely adore, so he was not allowed to compete. However, since he is no longer with Hendrick after this year, I am excited to announce he is now eligible to compete in Elimidriver, and I will begin scoring him during the next Pocono race in July. His points will then be multiplied by the number of races to that point, and he will be ranked accordingly. Since Casey Mears now falls under the Hendrick umbrella, he will no longer be eligible to compete for the Wild Card.
June 2006-- I can't believe I was right! Kasey Kahne won the Coca Cola 600. The Thom Noodles jinx is still in effect. WFO! That was the best part of the 600, a race filled with cautions and pit stops that again went past the allotted broadcast time.
Race Day started with me watching my first Indy 500 in over 8 years, and I was impressed. I forgot how much fun it can be and the split screen with the race and commercials was awesome. The last half of the race was very competitive and much more entertaining than the 600. Rusty seemed a bit uncomfortable during the broadcast. It seemed the other broadcasters had to ask him questions for him to comment. However, I think the excitement of the last half of the race helped him relax and he was more forthcoming with responses. I think he may have been a bit anxious about cursing on television and wanted to be his perfect, professional self. I am confident that by the start of the 2007 NASCAR season, he will be one of those 'broadcast professioinals.'
With a strong showing at Charlotte, Reed Sorenson is now tied for 7th in the Elimidriver challenge. Unfortunately, Casey Mears was one of the many drivers to lose control of their car and became the fifth driver eliminated.
May 2006--As the Coca Cola 600 approaches this Sunday, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on the current Elimidriver standings. There are three clear frontrunners, a few dark horses, and a few stragglers who won't be in the competition for long. It's becoming more clear to me that I want a driver that speaks his mind, races hard, and can also take responsibility if things are his fault. My three top contenders are Dale Earnhardt, Jr, Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick. Clint Bowyer, Carl Edwards and Robby Gordon are still in the hunt, each having a solid season, thriving on the track and being opinionated off the track. They just need to step up their performances a bit. Casey Mears, J. J. Yeley and Reed Sorenson are quickly falling behind, primarily because they do not have vibrant personalities.
Recently, I had the opportunity to call into XM when Jimmie Johnson did a call in show and got a chance to speak with him. I totally sucked up! Everyone who heard it could not believe the things I said. I told him about my dream and that since I didn't have a driver maybe he should be my new driver to which he replied, "Well, yeah, if you're dreaming about me." In my defense, I actually do like him a bit more since I started listening to his XM show because his fun-side is showing. He even mentioned in that call that he felt vulnerable doing the show because he's opening up more and not necessarily being the type of guy the sponsors always want him to be. That gives me hope for him, a little anyway. I had come to a point where I disliked him more than Jeff Gordon but after listening to his show, Jeff Gordon is back on top as my least favorite driver and Jimmie is now a distant second. The race this weekend is Jimmie's to lose and with Thom from XM's Wide Open (WFO!) now picking him as his favorite driver (continuing the Thom jinx), there's a good chance that will happen. If so, something tells me Kasey Kahne will continue his winning ways and take the checkered flag at the Coca Cola 600.
Sidenote, Jimmie's show was not that good at the beginning but they obviously got smart, listened to Dale, Jr's show which is awesome, and copied the format a bit to improve his show. Jimmie's show is good, but Dale, Jr's show is so much better. I'm still hoping they read my e-mail about the Pizza Pizzazz; I want to know how well it really works.