On Thu, 5 Jun 2008 07:38:19 -0700 (PDT), Nancy2
<nancy-dooley (AT) uiowa (DOT) edu> wrote:

They either "got" sponsors, or gave some of their "normal" sponsors
some air time. Kenseth was in Dewalt colors, Shrub in Interstate
Batteries, even Smoke's car looked cool in HD orange with BPS and
various other regular Cup sponsors on it. I think the announcers gave
great attention to this when they commented on how "cool" all the Cup
sponsors looked on the super late models....I have to admit, given all
the hype surrounding Shrub lately, that it was heart warming to see
him in a car that he absolutely couldn't handle - kudos to him though
for hanging around for the feature when everyone knew he was
attempting the big 3 state NASCAR triple duty gig this weekend. I
don't really care for the kid, but that was the stand-up thing to do.

Kudos also to Ryan Newman for personally digging into his car's
rear-end after he tank-slapped the wall and broke it. Got it fixed in
time for the feature. Any time you can move the rear body section 2-3
feet side-to-side without the tires moving like that, something is
definitely borked.

You could tell who the "dirt" drivers in the bunch were, Smoke, Bowyer
(who built JJ's car for him) Schrader, Blaney, even Herman
Wallace...and Bloomer (Scott Bloomquist) gave Robby Gordon a helluva a
car and kept walking out on the track during the (numerous) cautions
and saying (motioning) "Go high on this end, low on this end" and got
RG a solid finish out of the deal. Robby acquitted himself nicely in a
foreign-to-him racing series IMO - loved his post race comments on
RGM's future in dirt late model racing. When Kahne's car was working,
he was good too. Would've like to have seen a healthy 9 car all
night...I think Kasey might've been in the hunt with Gordon and
Stewart too had his car been right.

I think Ford is Gil Martin's son (Gil is or was, Clint Bowyer's Cup
CC). He (Ford) was the one that took the "ride-along" with DW in the
2-seater before the race started. And the 3 strike rule isn't just for
rookie races. You see it a lot at local tracks and for that matter, in
online racing leagues. Was good to see Farmer out there mixing it up
with the young guys still too. As I hear it on Sirius, he still races
quite a bit. Yee Ha for the Alabama Gang!

I think Robby's car was every bit as good as Tony's, given whose it
was, how it was setup and all, but RG just doesn't have the experience
there that Smoke has. Harvick looked strong there for a while too. Was
cool to see him and RCR teamie Bowyer dancing around each other near
the front for more than a few laps. I saw the "official" stats at
Jayskis saying that Smoke lead all 30 feature laps, but technically, I
think Harvick lead a lap early too.

JJ did hit a lot of stuff, cars and walls included...but he had a
great attitude about it. Jeff Gordon seemed to be having as much fun
as anyone and did his share of breaking parts in the heats too. Those
outer walls aren't friendly to RF tie rods.

Would have like to have seen Mark Martin get a shot at the
feature...but I think Yeley was the root to that heat race mess too. A
hearty shout out to DEI or whomever allowed there to be an 8A and 8B
so Martin and Almirola could both go race.

Ray Evernham racing against his old driver JG and one of his current
ones, Kahne, was neat too. He seems to genuinely appreciate the offer
to come and race in the Prelude and enjoyed himself despite his
performance.

Was also telling, IMO, to see Tony Stewart and his crew in great big
Bowtie uniforms. I have to say, I think Smoke is leaving JGR at least
in part due to his loyalty to the GM brand.

Indeed, a great cause. When they get that up and going, kids from the
West Coast can have better access to it - as it should be IMO.

I bet some of those fans down on Row 1 in T1 got to take some dirt
home in ziplocks due to Smoke riding the cushion there near the end. I
can hear it now "Smoke throwed this here dirt right into my lap!" lol

Great recap Nancy. Thankfully, my wife remembered it was airing and
PPV'd and DVR'd it for me...I dragged in dog tired from working on a
HFH house that night and it was a great relaxer for the whole evening.
I agree that everyone appeared to have a blast from the pits to the TV
booth. Only minor complaint from my standpoint was the (presumed) lack
of motorsports experience by the cameramen/women - or overall lack of
total camera count. We missed a few things due to this, but got to see
some of it in replay as best they could. MUCHO KUDOS to the production
folks for shooting and airing it in HD. The PPV was worth it IMO, even
without knowing that (some of?) the proceeds were going to VJGC.

Last year, their cars sported their regular sponsors' logos - this
year, the BBs said they "went out and got sponsors," meaning they
looked for non-Nascar sponsors for this dirt event - at least, that's
what it meant to me in JG's and JJ's cases. Maybe the big guys didn't
want to pay more for sponsoring the dirt cars, OR, maybe these two, at
least, wanted to sport different paint schemes. Whatever.


....I have to admit, given all
Newman worked on his own car last year, too - actually, I think I've
seen him working on his own car during this season's races, hammering
out fenders, etc.



Yes, the 29 led the first or second lap, I think, but apparently that
wasn't worth a mention ;-)

Apparently, he's an old "dirt racer." It was interesting that Erin
Crocker gave a thumbs-up to the camera, before disappearing in the
Evernham part of the pits. The camera rarely catches her at the
races.

AND, kids from the midwest, too - most of the kids at the original
camp come from the eastern third of the country, I think.

Thanks.

I forgot to mention Dick Berggren was a pit reporter, too.

I think all the PPV earnings (over expenses, that is) went to the
Camp.

N.

"SimRacer" <NOsimracer68 (AT) yahoo (DOT) comSPAM> wrote


<snip>

Robby gots lots a 'sperience on dirt...he just ain't usta seein' the same
corners over 'n over 'n over n' over!

Yeppers, Nancy, since I didn't do the pay dealie this year...and speakin' of
DVRs, the saga continues. I flat-out cancelled the order with the 'Elite
Retailer' known as DirectSat TV and shipped all the stuff back. I placed a
new order direct (ahem) to DirecTV.com who will dispatch a shiny van with
the blu'n white paint job, a real honest-to-Murgatroyd DirecTV tech *and*
all the eqpt needed loaded on the van!! Installation scheduled for Mondaay
8-12 and on standby for an earlier slot if one opens.

--
Tom in Bristol




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I'll be surprised if you regret the DTV choice - I love me my DTV.

N.

"SimRacer" <NOsimracer68 (AT) yahoo (DOT) comSPAM> wrote


<snip>
apostrophe goes?) descriptions, I felt like I did. I left this comment,
because one doesn't take the low seats at most dirt tracks, and especially
not Eldora.

Carey in Manvel

"Nancy2" <nancy-dooley (AT) uiowa (DOT) edu> wrote

<snip>

Ray was a modifed driver of some reknown in the northeast.

On Fri, 06 Jun 2008 19:58:48 GMT, "Carey Akin" <cmakin (AT) att (DOT) net> wrote:

Yeah, they watered down the track before they dropped the green on the
feature, and still there was the proverbial "blue groove" around some
of the corners and lots of loose stuff at the cushion by the time they
finished lap 30. Tony was using up all the track he could without
hitting the wall over the last few laps (Robby was not giving up and
wasn't too far behind him...).

I'm sure the re-air will be pretty cool, the original airing was
fairly long - lotsa interviews between Q, the heats, and all the
cautions in the main and such - so I can't see them showing all 4-5
hours of it on free TV. It would be entertaining if they did, but you
have to be hard core to sit through all of it. The "live and unedited"
aspect of it was appealing to me tho, it was sorta like being there.

"SimRacer" <NOsimracer68 (AT) yahoo (DOT) comSPAM> wrote

You may already know this, but for all the wheel time Tony has had at
Eldora, it is only in the last few years that he has raced in a late model.
While a race car is a race car, the cars drive quite a bit differently than
cup or open wheel cars. It says much for his ability.

I would imagine that most of it was interviews with drivers to get their
opinions of running on dirt (not interesting to me) and a primer for those
not familiar with Eldora or dirt track racing in general. I would be far
more interested in seeing The Dream than The Prelude. But that is just me.

Carey in Manvel

On Fri, 6 Jun 2008 08:51:57 -0700 (PDT), Nancy2
<nancy-dooley (AT) uiowa (DOT) edu> wrote:

Oh no, I was agreeing with you. They either "got" a special sponsor
for this race or put their normal Cup sponsors on the cars. Schrader's
car was sort of blank, and a few "different" sponsors (I think
sponsors of the car builders that weren't Cup racers) showed up here
and there.

Yup. I wasn't saying it was an anomaly, just noting that he doesn't
*just* do it on Cup cars or when racing for points.

She went to Baja last year too. I watched a Baja 1000 special on HDNet
a couple weeks back and she part-timed a Class 2 vehicle I think it
was. Ray was there supporting her in the deal. Her co-drivers were
complimentary of her effort - but their finish eludes me. They didn't
win, but I think they did finish.

True, but some of those ill kids from WAY out West have no chance to
go all the way to NC. One of the last times I was physically there at
the Camp, there were several kids from Missouri there, so at the very
least, some mid-west kids have been able to make the journey to
Randleman. Having one near KC will be awesome tho. I have friends that
live in KC (technically, in Liberty MO) who I am going to lean on to
donate to the cause.

I heard that all the proceeds (profit) was going to the Camp too, but
I only believe about ½ of what I hear about ½ the time.

On Fri, 6 Jun 2008 12:29:10 -0400, "Tom Duwe"
<tomd88SPAMLESS (AT) bvunet (DOT) net> wrote:

Good luck bud, you deserve a good install visit this time after that
last deal.