The Infield losing two longtime contributors to Turn 3 blog

By Bob Henry

Yeah, it's me. Long time no blog. But anyone who knows me well could have told you I was never completely content with having misspent my youth.

So I'm still having to squander large chunks of my adulthood to compensate.

It's all-star race week in Charlotte, there have been some major developments in the sport and so much else.

But the reason I'm writing is to ask you for money. Kidding, there's news to report.

The Infield blog is becoming what history will no doubt record as a poorer place as of this day. Longtime bloggers Keith Ott and Mark Young are packing up their gear and are heading for Turn 3, where they'll share blog space with Kentucky writer and educator David Green.

Let's not even get into the debate about infield vs. grandstands, OK?

Some people like the freedom of mobility afforded in the infield and others like to see the race.

And some infielders - also know as infield animals in some circles - will tell you that getting beer poured down your back happens a lot more frequently in the stands.

In the infield it is statistically just as easy to spill it on yourself.

But I suspect Mark and Keith will find the new vantage point to their liking. The view from Turn 3 is fairly unobstructed.

Dumb poll news

I'm quite often but not always the guy responsible for the Poll Position feature on ThatsRacin.com's home page. And I rely heavily on input from a few writers and a sports editor friend of mine.

Posters on the message boards on the site have never hesitated in letting me know what they think of these polls. (Generally speaking, they don't think very much. About the polls.)

But last week's effort, "Who is/was the best female racer?" really lit 'em up.

How could I have neglected to make Shirley Muldowney one of the choices? Same way Jackie Joyner-Kersee got left out: We weren't intending to cast too wide of a net.

But the critics were right. The wording could have been more specific, or I should have offered more choices. Still, the Danica-maniacs easily held sway and Patrick pretty much lapped everyone else but Janet Guthrie.

Muldowney likely would've stayed with her better, at least on the straights.

Ah, May in Charlotte

I've said it before and hope to keep saying it every year about this time: May's a real fine time to be in Charlotte, N.C., where the month kicks off with a PGA Tour event at Quail Hollow country club. It ends with a bang - hopefully, not from another Goodyear tire blowing - at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

This time around, new pavement, new fuel cells and "rubber restrictor plates" are part of the picture.

But before we get to the track, the pit crews will face off for bragging rights and some well-deserved recognition. And stuffed between the all-star race and the Coca-Cola 600 weekend, the Speed Street festival opens in the heart of the city, too.

The atmosphere is hard to beat anywhere and, if you can, you ought to come see us. You don't have to wait for NASCAR's Hall of Fame to open for it to feel a lot like home.