The All-star, 1.5s and Other Stuff

By Keith Ott
 

The All-star

Who’d have thought that three Allstate girls could send in so many votes? All over Kahnedom, or Kaseyland, if you prefer, female NASCAR fans, and Kahne’s 10 male fans, are high fiving and strutting, while their masculine counterparts are left sputtering buts, wells,  and what ifs. I’m in the latter group, because, if…nevermind.

While the racing was nothing to write home about, overall the All-star event seemed to be well received and attendance was excellent. I like the event. The racing isn’t always top notch, but I like to see other aspects of the game, like the pit crew competition. That could be the enlisted man in me. Because, for every pimple faced fighter jock launched off the deck, there’s a huge pit crew, so to speak, making sure he’ll get to do it again tomorrow.   I even like the All-star format. It’s Saturday night, local track heat racing. What’s not to like?   

1.5’s

I’m almost dreading the arrival of another 1.5mi race, because, even though the All-star event had some good racing, it also had timely cautions. Without those “timely” cautions, and a few unforeseen mechanical miscues, I’m thinking we may have seen a snooze fest of epic proportions. What is the problem with the CON and racing on 1.5 mile tracks? The 1.5 is the bread and butter of NASCAR, and so far this year, it’s dropped butter side down to the pavement, too many times. The 600 brings the added dimension of engine wear/durability that has to be factored in, but, if we’re treated to 580 miles of boredom to get to 20 miles of racing, I’m going to need more pillows, and NASCAR should do some thinking. Let’s hope for the best. 

Other stuff:

I was hoping that NASCAR would correct the alignment on the rear wheels. It was getting just a tad ridiculous watching the cars crabwalk down the straights. I guess the NASCAR memo’s in the mail.

How many times can you say, “He’s in another zip code,” before it gets annoying? My guess would be about 7. They did, and it was.

Indy qualifying: How refreshing. Qualifying, where, the 33 fastest cars actually make the field. I know there are discrepancies in the comparison to NASCAR, but, as a purist, I’d like the fastest cars on qualifying day to make the field. I don’t care if you’re a “Super” team spending millions to race. You got those millions racing. Certainly you didn’t just plop down millions and assume you’re entitled to race, did you? No-one deserves to get a free pass on past achievements. Who can say today’s newcomer isn’t tomorrow’s big team? Well, okay, I guess NASCAR can, since they pretty much ensure the status quo, old boy network, will remain with the T35. How about NASCAR lets 42 (41 plus the bubble boy) in on times, the last spot is a champs provisional. So, it’s one qualifying run for everyone. Non-qualifiers get one more run at bubble boy. The original bubble boy (if bumped) gets the last run to get back in. If one of these T35 teams can’t beat bubble boy, then I guess they didn’t earn the right to race. So, that’s two shots to get in, for BB and the non-qualifiers, no one who qualified 1-41 can jump in to advance their position. Or maybe, like the All-star, they could have the Bubble Boy Challenge prior to the race, J/K.

Note 1: LOL, No, Mike Daly, starting all the cars is not an option in my scenario. 

Let’s hope for the best and see what the 600 brings us. If the Toyota's learned anything from their engine experiments, it could be a long day for the Big 3.

Who are you picking?