Another Year Another Try

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Tomorrow marks the beginning of another NASCAR season so time to see how far I can take this blog into 2013! The Sprint Unlimited (formerly Bud Shootout) is tomorrow night on FOX. Tune in if you like wrecks – Daytona is famous for them.

This off season I haven’t been following NASCAR as much as normal; instead focusing on the IndyCar silly season. I’m crushed that the pole sitter for last years Indy 500 doesn’t have a ride. Ryan Briscoe is apparently looking into running some sports car races, but he’ll definitely be missed on the track.

As I’m writing this I stumbled across a report on first practice for the Unlimited. Apparently 5 car pile up a few laps into practice and this will send Kurt Busch, Edwards and Martin to back up cars. Kensenth and Montoya are repairing their rides. Who do I put my money on? Not sure – again, haven’t followed closely enough to make predictions. But I will throw my overall predictions into the ring for the next Sprint Cup Champion. We’ll revisit halfway through the season, but my top three are: Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards.

There’s a couple of new parents in the racing world! Over the break the following drivers welcomed new additions to their families: Denny Hamlin, Ed Carpenter, Ryan Hunter-Reay and most recently Jamie McMurray. Also in the drama department, Dario Franchitti and Ashley Judd announced they were divorcing, while Danica Patrick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. confirmed they were dating. As these two are competing against each other for Rookie of the Year honors can’t wait to see how this pans out!

If you haven’t already, sign up for the Super 7 Sweep fantasy racing from Speed and WindTunnel here. Join the league “As The Cars Turn” and compete against me and others.

It’s NASCAR weekend in Texas!

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I’m writing this right now watching the Nationwide race running at Texas Motor Speedway (where we’ll be in a couple of months for the IndyCar race!!!). It’s about halfway through, so I’ll update this post with the winner in a little bit. Actually, it’s probably almost over, but I had to take a break and give the kid a bubble bath…he said he was dirty, and he was right. He has this weird thing about sock fuzz stuck between his toes. Anyone else have a kid that this bothers? He has to pick it all out of his toes before he gets in the bath.

Anyway, last weekend was Easter, but that also meant off weekend for all racing that I follow. Sitting on my couch on Sunday, I didn’t know what to do with myself. We went out and did some yard work, but other than that it was a very open day. Felt very strange. So I’m extremely happy to be sitting here on my couch on a Friday night watching race, and anticipating watching IndyCar qualifying tomorrow afternoon, Spring Cup tomorrow night and trucks and IndyCar on Sunday.

The thing that prompted me to get out my laptop and start this tonight was early on in the race the announcers said “And there’s Sam Hornish.” Yay! I thought. But then it was followed by “and watch what happened to him half a lap ago.” Of course that’s always followed with Sam slipping and sliding and saving the car from wrecking. And then there’s the time when he doesn’t save it and scrapes the wall or spins in the infield. I’m really impressed with the coverage they give Sam during the races. Last year when Marty Reid was the play-by-play guy he mentioned him a lot, but I thought it was just because of his IndyCar background. But now Allen Bestwick is the lead guy (which I’m extremely happy with) and he still makes sure to include him, whether he’s doing well or not. It shows they know he’s competing full time for Nationwide points and is doing very well in the standings. Right now in this race he’s running fourth after having the very loose race car early on.

Did I mention I don’t appreciate the media coverage of Danica during races? For example, they moved from Sam to her. Why? Because someone on their team has a low battery on their radio. No, not a low battery in the car (as they had to point out) but one of the crew members has a low battery on their radios they use to communicate with each other. They played an audio clip with the low battery beeping and everything. Really? Really? This is what we have to watch? She’s been running in the 17th position every time they do their check in with her. EVERY TIME. So this is the only thing they can think of to bring her into their conversation. A low battery – not on the car. Jeez…

…And Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wins his second Nationwide race this season. Had some problems with the lights on the back stretch going out and then Kurt Busch’s car blew up so they had a 6 lap sprint to the checkered flag. And wouldn’t you know it, Danica ended up eighth, above both Hornish and Dale Jr. Good strategy call by her crew chief is all I have to say.

Better late than never!

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I’m finally getting around to writing this week. Cam’s off to Grandma’s for a few days so we can go downtown for our anniversary. We did this last year and had such a great time we’re going it again. Spending the night at the Mokara Hotel and getting a couples massage, followed by dinner at Boudro’s. Hopefully the next day we’ll get to try The Esquire Tavern. I’ve heard great things about it and it was nominated for a James Beard Award! So during my day alone today, I’m going to try my hand out at a paint-by-numbers kit I got. I’ve always wanted to paint, but kinda suck at it, so we’ll see if a little guidance helps. I’ve also gotten into genealogy lately. I did it mostly to trace Tim’s dad family, since he really doesn’t know much past two generations. I’ve run into a brick wall there, so I’ve been doing everyone else I can think of :)

It was the first of two off weeks for Nationwide, we’ll focus on the Sprint Cup series. The old Bristol is my favorite track, the one I say I will go to one day for a race, but Martinsville is a close second. Ryan Newman ended up winning the race on the second Green-White-Checkered finish. GWC is used when there’s a late race caution and when all the clean up and getting in position is completed there would be less than three laps to go. So when they restart they see the green flag. One time around and then they see the white flag. Another time around then the checkered flag. Now if on the first lap they see the caution flag before the white flag, another GWC attempt. They are allowed up to three attempts. If they see the white flag (second lap) the next flag will end the race, whether it’s the checkered flag or caution flag. I love GWC finishes, especially on short tracks. Makes it all come down to the last minute. For instance, on the first restart Newman was 5th and ends up winning the whole thing.

The incident that cause the GWC finish was when David Reutimann’s car stopped on the track. Apparently they had issues for the last several laps with something broken inside the car and Reutimann never came down pit road to either fix it or go to the garage. So his car just shuts off on the front stretch causing a late race caution. Reutimann drives the #10 car when Danica Patrick is not in the car. I’m not going to pretend I understand everything about that, but basically when Danica’s driving they get their engines from Hendrick Motorsports (because she’s racing for Stewart-Haas, even though her technical ownership is with Tommy Baldwin racing, because they traded or bought points so she was guaranteed in the top 35 points for her first race). When Reutimann drives the car they have a different engine supplier (I believe ECR) but the goal is to still stay in the top 35 in points so Danica doesn’t have to qualify on time when it’s her turn in the car. Reutimann said in the post race interview that he was told to stay out with the car as long as possible to keep their hopes of staying in the top 35 alive. Unfortunately, since he brought about the caution, the two Hendrick cars leading most of the race ultimately crashed out on the first GWC attempt, meaning Rick Hendrick is still chasing his elusive 200th Sprint Cup Series victory.

Finally on to Barber Motorsports Park and the IndyCar race! After being denied going to the Fast 6 in qualifying for not heeding a red flag, Will Power started from ninth and his teammate Helio Castroneves started from the pole. This race was like night and day from the race at St. Petersburg broadcast by ABC last week. I was trying to keep up with Twitter during most of the race, and I love reading the tweets from everyone with their different views and snarky comments. I can’t remember who said it, but the gist was – we saw more passing the first lap televised on NBCSN than the entire race on ABC. I’ll be honest, I’m not a big fan of road & street course, but that was a great race to watch. There was a lot of passing and even some bumping with the new cars. In the end, Will Power drove through the field and caught a bit of a break when there was a small issue with Scott  Dixon’s last pit stop and he came up to the lead and finished first. For the third year in a row a Penske car won and Scott Dixon finished second. “It’s not Barber if Scott doesn’t finish second” was another tweet I can remember. Hopefully all races on NBCSN are televised with this much energy and maybe ABC can learn something by paying attention to their competition.

 

Racing in SoCal & IndyCar – Finally!!!

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I’ll start with Nascar results from over the weekend. Nationwide race went off without a hitch on Satuday and Joey Logano picked up a victory. Same couldn’t be said for the Sprint Cup race held on Sunday. All week, the twitters were ablaze saying the race wouldn’t start, let alone get all the way through, without rain. But Sunday morning arrived and clear skies were shown on TV. That didn’t last long, and soon the track was completely under shadows and the rain drops started to fall. Tony Stewart was leading at that point. Then pit roads opened and what does he do? Fakes like he’s going in and stays out! I don’t have a degree in meteorology, but even I could tell that the rain wasn’t going away anytime soon. So once they went around the tracks a couple more times, the race was put under a red flag (meaning cars either stop on the track or are brought down to pit road and stopped, and no work can be done on the car). Tony Stewart was declared the race winner when it became obvious the rain was not letting up. I saw a lot of confused tweets asking why they didn’t wait longer to call the race concluded. But reporters that were still there hours later say it was raining just as hard and there was never a long enough window to dry the track (expected to take around two hours) and complete the race. So I believe the right call was made. Mostly uneventful racing, although Jimmy Johnson’s car started smoking under the rain caution. He was able to maintain pace car speed and picked up a top 10 finish. And third place went to Dale Jr!

And the moment our household has been waiting for since October – IndyCar!!! It was a beautiful Sunday in St. Petersburg. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see the prerace show because our local ABC station has a contract with a church on Sunday mornings from 11-noon and apparently NOTHING interrupts it (we know, we threw up a fuss last year when the same thing happened). At least we got to see the green flag and double-file restarts…if you can call them that. What I don’t understand is you say, ok now we’re going to have double file restarts, but only on road and street courses this year. But then you really don’t. Because if only the first three rows are double file does that really count? I don’t know whether to blame the drivers for hanging back and not getting double file, or the flag man who throws the flag when they’re obviously not in formation. NASCAR would, and has, called off the restart. But I suppose when you have cautions that last forever you need all the green flag laps you can muster.

Now, since IndyCar is my husband’s favorite sport, we had the TV on, were watching timing and scoring on the computer, and had my IndyCar Twitter up following reporters and race teams. Using all this technology I believe we had a good overall understanding of the race. However, if you were just watching on TV you probably saw a pretty parade of cars with the occasional mechanical malfunction. What you missed was hearing what happened to Sebastien Bourdais (we just happened to notice he went red on T&S) and apparently there were lots of passes being made in turn one, but only one was played on TV, and that was the pass for the eventual win. Helio Castroneves took the top spot on the podium, along with Scott Dixon and Ryan Hunter-Reay. As expected, several Lotus powered cars fell out of the race, and Chevy engines were victorious. ABC coverage left a lot to be desired, so hopefully NBC Sports Network will be better next weekend at Barber Motorsports Park.

I just got back from watching The Hunger Games! Short blurb to come about that later!

Sadler, Keselowski win @ Bristol

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If I could attend just one NASCAR race ever, it would at Bristol. “Thunder Valley”, half mile track in Tennessee. It’s the fourth-largest sporting venue in the United States and eighth in the world. And this past weekend I could have had my dream; there were a bunch of empty seats very visible on television. So of course as soon as the race is over the Twitters are aflutter about why this is. General thinking is that when the track was reconfigured a few years ago it changed the racing dramatically. Before it was all bumping and trading paint, and this year the wrecks were not as frequent as they used to be. So it basically depends on which type of racing you prefer: clean but hard, or a wreck fest. Me, I generally like the wrecking, but on Sunday the racing was good. Different leaders, different pit and tire strategies, and the big wreck in the beginning of the race that took a few different top-10 cars out of the running. Dale Jr. and Jeff Gordon did a little bumping, and just happened to do it in a way that immediately cut down Gordon’s left rear tire and made a third place car finish more than 100 laps down. Not good for teammates. Another big reason this year given for the attendance was the high cost of hotels in the area added to the price of gasoline. Finally the weather played a role; while it did not delay the race there was a rain shower early in the morning. That hurt walk-up ticket sales and perhaps caused 8,000 sold tickets to go unused.

I’m a little late this week posting results from the weekend because the final appeal hearing for the 48 team was to be decided today. Since I don’t completely understand the technical reason behind the initial problem I won’t go into it, just Google “Johnson C-post penalty” and you’ll have all the information. Basically, a part of the car did not pass inspection before the race at Daytona and the following penalties were placed: Johnson was docked 25 drivers points, crew chief and car chief were suspended for 6 races, and crew chief Chad Knaus was fined $100,000. Team owner Rick Hendrick immediately requested an appeal, which was held last Tuesday and all penalties were upheld. So Hendrick requested the highest appeal possible, which is just one person who happens to be a former GM executive (Hendrick cars are all Chevy). The final appeal was held today, and the original penalties were overturned, except for the $100,000 fine. So Johnson gets 25 points back, which puts him in eleventh place in the standings, and there will be no suspensions. While the appeals were happening at the NASCAR R&D center, there were several members of the media sitting outside waiting for the announcement. People started speculating which person would be the one to break the news. According to my feed it was Jenna Fryer. I’m working on my Twitter lists to make them more concise, but for right now feel free to subscribe to either my NASCAR or IndyCar lists. I’ll let you know when they get updated.

Family time! Camden’s allergies have been acting up the past few days. He’s got watery eyes, runny nose and a cough. He sounds so pathetic talking with his stuffed up nose. He didn’t really talk the last time he was sick, so this is new. He gets so mad when his nose is running – really, crying and throwing himself down. We’re working again on him blowing his nose, which he had down last time, but can’t seem to blow hard enough. When I told Tim about the result of the NASCAR hearing today, he said “Well I guess it’s NASCAR’s turn to have inconsistent officiating now.” Our house has started a countdown to the start of IndyCar season – 5 more days!!!

 

 

 

NASCAR @ Las Vegas!

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Wow, after losing the hour over the weekend to daylight savings time I’m kinda dragging today. Add to that my kid got mixed up and got up at 7:30AM (feels like 6:30) when he usually sleeps till 9 and I’m a bit tired. But I’ll try to make some sense for you.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the Nationwide race at Las Vegas on Saturday afternoon and Tony Stewart followed up with a win in the Sprint Cup race Sunday. I quickly got my hopes of a Dale Earnhardt Jr. victory squashed after the first round of pit stops and shifted my cheers to Jimmy Johnson. Unfortunately, no one had anything for Tony on restarts. Did you see the second to last restart? He shot from the 2nd row to way out in first in nothing flat. Very impressive car this weekend. Not someone I usually root for, but a good guy to finish first. Lots of different names in the top 10 – Ryan Newman (free Bloomin’ Onion at Outback today!), Jamie McMurray (who was diagnosed this morning with strep throat) and Trevor Bayne (first top 10 since his Daytona 500 win last year). Jr. ended up with a top 10 finish and is now fourth in the points standings.

Speaking of Jr., he and Mark Martin did some bumping late in the race. One was apparently unhappy with the other. Not that I thought it would come to a fist fight, but I was interested to see what would happen after the race and during interviews. Nothing much, it turns out. No drama there. Martin even asked his Twitter followers to lay off the Dale Jr. fans. No retaliation available for the next race since Martin’s sitting that out. Brian Vickers will be in the 55 car.

This was the first national racing series to return to Las Vegas Motor Speedway since the IndyCar finale there last October that claimed the life of Dan Wheldon in a 15 car pileup early in the race. Kyle Busch in his media availability interview said that didn’t even enter his mind until one of the reporters reminded him. Said it’s something you have to push out of your head so you can continue to race. A golden rose remains on the pole of the catch fence in turn 3 that was replaced after the crash. Sam Hornish Jr.’s helmet for the Nationwide race bore the name “Dan Wheldon” on his visor. The two Target Chip Ganassi teammates (McMurray and Montoya) both had decals of remembrance on their cars. #RIPDan77 was a hashtag used on Twitter for the 77th lap of both races. During the Sprint Cup race it trended nationwide and Lap 77 trended worldwide.

One last NASCAR note of drama. Kurt Busch wrecked his car late in the race on Sunday and had to be taken to the infield care center (mandatory when your car is not in a condition to drive back to the garage). Jim Utter, a reporter for the Charlotte Observer, tweeted right after the conclusion of the race there were “reports of a KuBu (Kurt Busch, as opposed to brother KyBu [Kyle Busch]) meltdown at the care center”. Apparently he threw a water bottle and directed some nasty comments to someone. A LOT of people, reports and Twitterers alike, jumped on him for this comment, saying that since he didn’t see it with his own eyes he must be lying or blowing it out of proportion. Kurt Busch’s girlfriend Patricia Driscoll responded on Twitter saying that Busch was quiet since they left the care center and there was no “meltdown”. Now, in my opinion, if all he was doing was cursing a little bit and threw a water bottle, this is in no way a meltdown for Busch. This seems to be his normal operating procedure after something doesn’t go his way. Now, if he was in someone’s face cursing and threw a full water bottle directly at them, that may be a different story. What surprised me most was how divided the media was on this. To my outside view they normally rally around each other, but this incident has caused a split. To my knowledge no video or audio has been made public, so we don’t have all the answers. Just have to see how this one plays out, if anything else even happens.

Now a Camden story. I knew this whole time change thing would mess with him since he’s so much a scheduled child. He went down for a nap at 5 because he wouldn’t stop laying on the floor whining. I had planned to keep his up until 8 and then put him to bed but he needed his nap. So he got up at 6:30, bath at 8:30 and in bed a little after 9 (which is his normal bedtime, but felt an hour earlier). He got out of bed a couple of times, which isn’t new for him, and we made him get back in bed and explained we were going to sleep. About 15 minutes after we laid down to bed, he came out of his room and stood there SCREAMING. I ran up the stairs and he held his right fist out to me, and kept mumbling something. I asked if it hurt (no), do I need to kiss it (no) is it dirty (no). I got him back in bed and he keeps mumbling this same thing over and over. Finally it dawned on me. “Do you want a fist bump?” “Yeah…”. My child wanted a fist bump…a fist bump…and then a high five before he finally laid down and slept.

Denny Hamlins wins Sprint Cup @ Phoenix

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Sorry it’s taken until Tuesday to do a post about the race on Sunday. Sunday was the day I learned why it’s called the “terrible two’s.” Nothing we did pleased the child. He wouldn’t take his nap like he always does. Then, he starts crying because he can’t open his bedroom door. Why, you ask? Because the golden child smeared himself with Desitin. Himself, his blankets, his pillow, his doorknob…and you know what it’s used for? To keep your skin dry. Which means it doesn’t just wash off in a bath. However, with a mixture of white vinegar and Dawn, I got most of it out. Luckily baby wipes work well for the door and random other hard goodies he happened to touch. Lesson learned: if your 2 year old is quiet longer than 1 minute, check on them.

Onto the race. It was announced early on Sunday that any time a jet dryer was on track, it would be followed by a pace car to warn drivers about what was ahead. Officials said it was obvious Juan Pablo Montoya was traveling at a high rate of speed when he hit the jet dryer last week at Daytona. Yes, obviously he was. He was trying to catch up to the pack after making a pit stop. If the thing hadn’t broken on his car, this wouldn’t be an issue. Even if he had been going slower the same thing might have happened. I’m pretty sure he didn’t think, “Dum de dum, driving along trying to catch up to the other guys under caution. Hey, that looks like a jet dryer up there. I wonder if I can race him. I wonder what would happen if suddenly I lost control of the steering and the car just aimed right for the jet dryer.” Again, we wouldn’t be talking about this if the steering in his car had broken 100 yards earlier or later. Not saying this is a wrong decision; just wonder if there is going to be any real impact on safety.

What will have an impact on safety is the announcement that the drivers of the jet dryer will wear fire suits and helmets while they are on the track. It seems to me that’s a no brainer. Safety officials now wear fire suits and helmets. Anyone that’s on the track, or inside the track, that could potentially come in contact with a race car should wear all the protective gear possible.

Something I noticed that I don’t remember seeing before was the use of the camera at the start/finish line for during the race. I don’t have the greatest memory, so this could have been used before, but it was a neat camera angle to have to see the field go past. I also love the new camera out the side of the driver’s window that pans around. Interesting to see these new angles we haven’t been privileged to before. Great spot for the Digger cam this week too!

I’m going to switch from racing to soaps for a second. General Hospital is undergoing a change of leadership. The head writer is now the previous head writer from One Life to Live. There have been some other behind the scenes changes as well recently and the story lines are reflecting that. There’s an energy on the show that hasn’t been around in awhile. Unfortunately, one of the main stories now is Robin’s death. And that of course brings back a lot of the old players. The addition of Starr and soon to be John from One Life will be amazing I’m sure. (If you haven’t watched Kimberly McCullough’s YouTube videos you should. Find them here). The thing that’s bugging me is the SECOND the new writing begins, we get a multiple personality storyline. That was a staple on One Life, and now it’s being brought over to GH. As my husband put it “So they’re using a story line from the FAILED soap?” Not saying that’s why One Life isn’t on the air anymore, but does it have to be forced down our throats again?

Elliott Sadler wins Nationwide @ Phoenix

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We watched the Nationwide race live today (most times we watch them DVR’d, just as a heads up). So I was able to see Elliott Sadler win his first Nationwide race in many years. I was much happier seeing him win for RCR (Richard Childress Racing) than with KHI (Kevin Harvick Incorporated). Elliott ran full time in the Nationwide series last year for KHI and, although contending for the championship, never won a race.

And in the Twitter age, Elliott tweeted to his followers afterward to thank them for their support. After, of course, other drivers and celebrities tweeted him. Tony Kanaan and Blake Shelton, for example, sent their congratulations via the Twitters. In the 15 minutes after his win, Elliott was the #7 trending topic in the United States. Although Hocus Pocus must have been on TV somewhere, because it was the topic right above him. The point is, that right now Twitter is such a crucial place in gaining a fan base. Last night on Twitter there was a discussion (I believe mostly by @Just_AP) that if you go and watch a race at the track, you are REALLY missing a lot. I feel the same way when we go to the Indy race at Texas Motor Speedway. Sure, we’re sitting in the stands and have the energy of the crowd around us, and last year we were able to listen to the Versus TV broadcast, but there’s so much more that adds to the race. Sitting at home you have Instant Replay, Slow Mo, “Crank It Up”, and of course following Twitter from media writers, wives, and NASCAR personnel. I DVR the race and watch it when we get home to see what we’ve missed. All this could be taken into consideration for declining attendance at any races. Also, if I had a chance to see either a Nationwide race or a Sprint Cup race, which would I choose? Probably the Sprint Cup (although I do have a couple of favorite Nationwide drivers) just because it’s the more prestigious series.

And the perfect cap to the end of the race? Tweets started coming in saying “Danica Patrick will not give any post race interviews” after finishing 3 laps down. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t part of being a driver giving your sponsors all the exposure you can? Meaning, if you’re the person that’s talked about every two minutes in the prerace show, you give an interview after the race. Whether you finished first, 3 laps down or crashed out. You don’t do sulking to your bus because the day didn’t go your way. Just my thoughts.

A Little About Me

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Thought I would let you know a little more about me. I’ve recently turned (gulp) the big 3-0. I’m taking it a lot better than my hubby though. Our birthdays are only 8 days apart; 9 in leap years. Nothing much seems to have changed with this milestone. Days go on the same they did before. I stay at home with my son during the day. That’s such a blessing, but trying on my patience. Especially the days when the whining and crying and kicking and screaming don’t stop. Those are few and far between, but on those days…luckily I haven’t run out the door screaming down the street yet. My husband works from home, so we’re both home all day long. Together. Under the same roof. Again, a blessing, most of the time.

It does have advantages. We’re able to go the gym at 10 AM on weekdays. Cam gets to play in the daycare with other kids while we work out. Cam and I also go to a music class on Thursday afternoons, and get together with friends on the weekends so the kids can play together. I’ll probably put him in a mother’s day out program a couple of days a week starting next year. See, his birthday is September 10, and here in Texas kids have to be 5 on or before September 1 to go into kindergarten. So while his best friend’s birthday is August 13, she’ll get to go to school a whole year before Cam. Which also means paying for a whole extra year of daycare.

Yes, I do watch soap operas. I started when I was in junior high watching All My Children. That led to Loving, The City, Days of our Lives, Another World, One Life to Live, Sunset Beach and General Hospital. The only one I watch now is General Hospital, and mourned the end of One Life. I watch a lot of prime time tv, mostly comedies, but definitely Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice, which are pretty much weekly soaps. And while I have my favorite characters on my shows, I also have favorite drivers in each series. I don’t want this space to be about any select drivers butI do have my favorites and drivers I can’t stand. I’ll let you figure out on your own which is which :)

Welcome! So what’s this thing about anyway?

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Good question. As you can probably glean from the headline, it’s a take on “As the World Turns.” We were watching a NASCAR race with an old friend of ours and he commented (like most people that don’t watch racing) “How is this exciting? It’s just a bunch of cars going around in a circle.” My response went off on how it wasn’t just that; it was teams of cars, with different owners and alliances and rivalries. It was about what happened last race, and last year, and what’s happened off the track. It’s about following drivers, spotters, crew chiefs, officials and fans on Twitter and finding out about their lives and what makes them tick. My husband turned to me and basically said I enjoy watching racing because it’s like a soap opera. Sure enough, that’s exactly why I like watching racing…that and the crashes. But you have to really get into it enough to understand all the drama and interactions. You have to follow as many people as you can on Twitter; you have to read Facebook; you have to watch the cable shows about racing to have an idea about the drama. Sure, you can pick up some things watching the hour prerace show, but isn’t it better to know about it when it happens, and be able to form your own opinion after hearing different sides? Of course, racing’s also about how the cars handle and brake bias and cambor…but whatever :) I don’t really follow that too much.

So that’s what I hope this space will be about: my take on things that are happening in the racing world. I follow NASCAR and IndyCar primarily. Every so often we’ll watch a F1 race or ALMS. Also I’ll probably work in rants about my family to get it out of my system :) My husband’s name is Tim and we have a 2 1/2 year old son named Camden. He just started pointing out and saying “race cars!”. He was a little slow to talk, but he’s trying to catch up! He’s saying so many wonderful things now that I’m sure they’ll make there way here. Hopefully you like the things I’ll bring to light and you’ll share your thoughts and opinions with me.