More post-season "Awards"

H

HardScrabble

Guest
Not original, from the Kansas City Star:

• Surprise hiring: Jamie McMurray by Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. Great kid, good driver, local roots. Thing is; who is he?

• Surprise firing: Jerry Nadeau by Hendrick Motorsports. He was a bit of a disappointment in his 21/2 years at Hendrick. But he did get a victory, has the young look Hendrick seems to like and had more victories -- one -- than teammate Terry Labonte during the same time period.

• Warm-and-fuzzy story: Ward Burton offers to fix Missouri child's cleft palate after seeing him at an autograph-signing appearance. And the only thing Burton hated worse than seeing a young man with a severe disability was publicly taking credit for his offer.

• Tasteless T-shirt: "Hey Brooke, call me." This jab at Jeff Gordon's soon-to-be ex-wife was being sold along the road into Talladega.

• Hated to see: Kevin Harvick jumping over a car in an effort to grab Greg Biffle after a Busch Grand National race.

• Would love to see: Harvick try that with former Stanford starting linebacker and current NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Coy Gibbs.

• Most popular victory: Johnny Benson wins at Rockingham. One of racing's genuine nice guys finally gets what everybody wanted as much as he did. And does it with class.

• Walkin' the walk: John Darby, Winston Cup's cop on the beat. Penalties used to get more laughs than Jimmy Spencer one-liners. Gee, $5,000 fines for teams that had $20 million. But Darby started hitting offenders with point reductions. Nobody's laughing now.

• Stranger than fiction: Winston Cup team owner Jack Roush crashes an airplane upside down in a lake in rural Alabama. The one person in a 10-state area who can extricate Roush and save him is standing on the bank of the lake.

• Hottest driver in NASCAR: Scott Wimmer. Driving an unsponsored Busch car, he won four of the final eight races of the season, including three of the final five.

• In need of an accountant: It ain't Powerball but it ain't bad. Tony Stewart will receive $3.75 million for winning this year's Winston Cup championship.

• Good move: Moving the final race of the year out of Atlanta. Good racing there but lousy weather and worse atmosphere.

• Bad move: Moving the final race of the year to Homestead, Fla. Good weather, lots to do, lousy racing.

• The best: Tony Stewart is the best race-car driver in North America. He may be the best driver this country has ever produced. He is good for the sport and a deserving champion. Cut this guy a break.

• Crew chief of year: Ben Leslie. The native of Puroin, Mo., took Mark Martin to the brink of his first Winston Cup championship. The state of Missouri now has two of the best in the garages. The other is James Ince of Springfield.
 
Well I like Homestead. Your reference to lousy racing rather surprised me. Sure, it ain't the 200 laps of two and three wide that Irwindale Speedway is known to produce but the outside groove did work for those who chose to run it.

And while I've considered Mark Martin to be the Greatest Driver of the current age for a while now, I'ld say Tony is hot on his heels. As tough as I am on drivers, 2nd Best ain't bad.

Jamie Mac.....Yup, who is this kid? Got the look, got the girl, got a trophy. If he pans out Chip is going to make gazillions.

Jerry N.......In this high priced sport there is no waiting around anymore. Too many Jamie Macs waiting in the wings.

Ward......nascar's answer to Oprah?

Brooke.....while I wouldn't mind her calling me, I have a sneaky suspicion that the wife suffers from Lorena Bobbit Syndrome.

Harvick/Biffle.....ahh for the old days.

Johnny.....well shuckies dude, it's about dern time.

Points Hurt

Jack.....God works in mysterious ways. Jack still has work to do.

Scott W......Quite a run. Considering the number of Buschwhackers it is even more impressive

Tony.....that's 3.75 plus 4.7

Ben Leslie.....not sure but almost certain he chiefed the Marcis Car for a number of years. Good to see him get on and be successful with a big money team.

Would add mention of the Dynamic Duo but dern they get enuf discussion already.

Kurt's steadiness and late season charge was outragous. But for a few bad outings.......
 
Truth be told, Homestead could probably be as good as many as far as racing goes. And the race itself wasn't all that bad this year.

Maybe I have funny ideas sometimes. Given my druthers if there must be a point system, I would prefer to see a close battle end more like the 1992 season. Three drivers in the unt lst race of the season. Davey crashes ot early, tough break. Alan and Bill left standing. Those two are not just in the points hunt, in the hunt for the race as well. Bill wins the race, Alan wins the championship cause he leads more laps. Leads and wins, no mid pack running for this crown. Don't happen often, and it didn't happen this season either.

I am more than happy to discuss earning points and smart racing. Even play around a bit with other points systems and so forth. These things have been part of all maor racing series since I was old enough to know what a gas pedal and steering wheel were for. Not likely that will ever change.

Given my druthers, there would be no points system to fret over. For me, its all in the races. Run the season and in the end give the title to the fellers who won the most races. Give him a hundred grand and a big trophy. Throw a party in New York if ya want. Take the rest of the money that currently resides in the points race and spread it out among the races.

Pipe dreaming, and I don't expect to get my druthers. I enjoy the game with cards as they are dealt, and will continue to do so. Never have pretended otherwise.

But in the end, I hold the memories of the great races closer than the memories of the run for the points title.
 
It's been a couple days since the race, and I forget the exact wording but I remember Michael Waltrip saying racing at Homestead is an embarassment to NASCAR, or it was something along those lines.
 
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