 Incomprehensible -
10-08-2003
, 05:10 PM
I have been accused once again by the off-topic queen of RASN as
posting stuff that apparently is cloaked in incomprehensibility
& so i thot i would take this opportunity to show her & her minions
why i chose to cut-n-paste Mikey's comments about the most recent
NA$CAR / TV Controversial topic of Fuel Mileage.
MTV Generation Marty Smiff (those of u who existed before MTV might
remember a newspaper cartoon strip called Snuffy Smiff who really
didn't know what was going on around him) interviewed Mikey for this
piece & as usual did a Larry King-like job of lofting softballs.
The *** indicates my personal preferences as to what are fairly
significant, possibly new information, exposed in the article.
(5 stars / asterisks indicated the REAR fuel cell comment.)
Just for the record, i would have asked Mikey what he meant by
his phrasing of 'the REAR fuel cell'. I also would have asked him
why there were a few in the garage area who questioned post-race
inspection after his Dega win.
While i am 'ranting' here, it seems every time i answer ScottB's
challenge of where's your proof, he always questions it even tho
it is a respected member of the NA$CAR media that i quote:
When some crewmen complained to NASCAR at Talladega about the
no-inspection of the Waltrip and Earnhardt cars, NASCAR officials
curtly told them to shut up and get their car out of the inspectionbay.
. Mike Mulhern can be reached at mmulhern (AT) wsjournal (DOT) com
But then all ScottB ever offers in RASN is a slam against Jeff Gordon
apparently always trying to lure JG fans into SB's boat.
It really does puzzle me why an Earnhardt fan never makes pro-Earnhardt
comments, only anti-JGordon comments.
Maybe y'all including the queen, will understand why i cut-n-paste
articles (which i also have been put down for, for some reason)
if & when u read Smiff's interview with Mikey.
&OBTW, I know each & every one of u read each & every article that
appears on Jayski, another charge that is unjustified.
Reading comprehension in RASN has really gone to pot in the last
few years.
I just wish I had a 'Posner Putdown' for u incomprehensibleful readers.
Cru sading for Reading Comprehension.
Conversation: Michael Waltrip
By Marty Smith, Turner Sports Interactive October 6, 2003
12:26 PM EDT (1626 GMT)
KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- For years, folks questioned whether
Michael Waltrip would ever win a points-paying NASCAR
Winston Cup Series race. He'd won The Winston, in 1996,
but had never closed the deal when it actually mattered.
He's done that now, four times over. Thing is, they've
all come on superspeedways, in restrictor-plate
competition, the latest coming two races ago at
Talladega Superspeedway. Now Waltrip faces criticism
that he's never won a non-plate event.
Call him Rodney Dangerfield in a fire suit, if you will.
He won't care. He's still one of NASCAR's more engaging
personalities. He's still one of just eight drivers to
win multiple Daytona 500s. And he's the only driver to
ever do a victory dance while hanging out the roof hatch.
Saturday at Kansas Speedway, Waltrip sat down with
NASCAR.com Senior Writer Marty Smith to discuss the roof
hatch hustle, his rebuttal to those that continue to
question his ability, and to offer Smith a bit of advice
about running his first marathon.
Q: Looks like the roof hatch works quite well.
Waltrip: Yeah, we totally premeditated that (laughing).
We were testing it in Daytona and they said that we were
going to take it to Talladega, and I said, 'Well, I just
hope I can win so that I can jump out the top and
celebrate.' And I'll be darned, it worked out. That was
pretty cool.
Q: That was pretty cool. Seriously, though, is that
something that adds a bit more comfort for a guy your
size, as far as its potential role in a fiery crash?
Waltrip: I think it adds comfort to anyone, not just my
size. You watch some of these little cats like Jeff
Gordon squeeze out his window, it's a job with all the
safety support we have with all those headrests and so
forth, it's hard to get in an out on a normal basis.
So if you had a fire and were up against the wall on the
left, options is what you want as a race car driver, you
know. If the left's closed off and it's hard to climb
through on the right, popping up through the top and
getting that fresh air right away through the top is
going to be a great option.
Q: Is there any concern, at all, about a wreck like
Elliott (Sadler)'s, that it might come open?
Waltrip: We put a window net in the top of it to keep my
arms in, so if does come open -- you know, there's an
open hole on the side of the car that we get in and out
of on the left. And we put a window net in it and nobody
ever worries about that. So we just put a window net
where the roof goes, and if it flies off my arms will be
kept inside the car by the net.
Q: How about the new rules regarding racing back to the
caution? How's that working out so far, the first couple weeks?
Waltrip: Perfect. It's just amazing the mentality
change, immediately, at Dover when the first caution
fell. Usually when the caution flies you look in your
mirror and you don't let off. You look in your mirror,
look out the front window and see what you've got to do,
make sure I get all I can get here.
That's what NASCAR Winston Cup racing's about. What all
can we get? We've got to get all we can get. We've got
to get more. Caution's out, we better get something.
And at Dover, you know, the first time the caution flew
my mentality had been in that gear for many years. And
the caution flew, and I thought, what can...oh wait, I
don't do anything. I just slow down. In doing so, it
allows the safety equipment to move much faster. It
allows people from swiping stuff on the track. That's cool.
Q: You guys were in the top-five all year long, but have
had a few down weeks and are battling your way back into
the top 10. A: Is that attainable for you guys and B:
What'll that mean to you to break into the top 10?
Waltrip: Well, we've had a good year and have just went
on a bad streak. Now we're on a good one, so I've
maintained from the beginning that it doesn't matter
where you're at in the points until November. You finish
where you finish after Homestead. You don't finish where
you were halfway through the year.
So if we can't maintain and stay in the top 10, then our
report card will be based off of what our final result
is, not how we were doing at one point. But I'm very
confident. The way the car ran through the five races
that went wrong for us, I walked out of each one of
those events saying, 'it's alright, we'll get 'em.
Because we were outrunning a lot of guys.' That's a good feeling.
Q: For a long time it was, 'Hey, is this guy ever going
to win?' Now, it's 'Is this guy ever going to win a
non-plate race?' Doesn't seem fair to me. What do you
have to do to get some respect for your overall talent, man?
Waltrip: Just don't pay attention to people that say
stuff like that. Winning at Daytona and Talladega is,
first of all, it's an honor to be able to win the
Daytona 500 and I wouldn't trade that for anything in
the world. Wouldn't trade Talladega for a win at Dover,
Loudon, Pocono. I mean, Talladega's cool. Speed's what
we're all about.
We had Loudon in our pocket and just had some problems
on pit road there at the end of the race. It's much
***easier to win an unrestricted race than it is a
restricted race. At Loudon, if you've got the best car,
you can just drive off and leave them. At Talladega
you're not going to drive off and leave them no matter
what. You're going to have to fight to the end and sit
on pins and needles the whole day.
***I just don't really care what people's opinions are
about that. Forever, I won The Winston, but when was I
going to win a race that was a points race. OK, got me
on that one. Well, I win Daytona. When you gonna win one
without a plate? I don't care. I think that winning at
Daytona and Talladega is cool.
***I've won 10 or 11 Busch races and never won at a plate
race. They've all come at tracks like Darlington and
Charlotte and Bristol and Dover, all the tough tracks.
So, shoot, I'm just happy to have the cars I have and
the opportunities to race on Saturday with my Aaron's
team and my NAPA team on Sunday.
Q: Who's funnier, you or Kenny Wallace?
Waltrip: Ohhh, I don't know. He makes me laugh. I like
Kenny a lot. That's the cool thing about our sport, you
spend any time with any of the drivers and even the
quiet ones are so funny.
I guess we just have a lot in common, so we say things
that make us laugh. You can relate to other guys. It's
cool to laugh. That's how I was raised, so I'm thankful
that I have somewhat of a sense of humor, but I wouldn't
go up against Kenny Wallace for that title.
Q: Who's the better analyst, you or DW?
Waltrip: Oh, I think I'm too busy to worry about it.
Darrell does a great job bringing the sport to the
masses. They love him on TV and I really enjoy watching
him, myself. I really think that he's as good as there
is at that. I do believe that I have enough knowledge of
the sport and can speak well enough and have insight
into every angle that one day I could do that job if
that's what I wind up doing.
But I wouldn't want to try to do it better than Darrell.
I've never raced a car wanting to be better than
Darrell. I've just always raced because that's what I've
wanted to do. If I ever did TV, it'd just be the next
step, next page.
Q: Who's the better plate racer, you or Junior?
Waltrip: Ummm. He might be as good as me, but I don't
think there's anybody any better -- ever. I really feel
like that, when I start those races, I know everything I
need to know in order to win. And Junior does, too, but
he doesn't know any more than I do.
Q: I'm running my first marathon in two weeks. Got any
advice for me?
Waltrip: I have this theory that if you run a marathon
in less than four hours it's an athletic accomplishment.
If it took you more than four hours, it was just an old
fat guy determined to get to the finish. My best time is
4:10, so far, but I've lost a lot of weight and I'm
really into trying to run one again one day.
The important thing is just to train a lot. If you train
enough, you can run it, you can do great. If you're not
as prepared as you need to, you'll struggle.
*****Q: Why are so many races being decided by fuel mileage?
Waltrip: It's more about tires than fuel mileage. Many a
time, since there's been a size on the rear fuel cell
that races have been decided by fuel mileage. If they
didn't have any size on the fuel cell then they wouldn't
be determined by fuel mileage.
What's happened, though, is people have been able to get
gas and stay out on their tires forever, stay out during
cautions with gas in order to get to the finish, to get
track position.
If you think more races are being decided by fuel
mileage, you're not looking at the whole picture. That's
just somebody that don't know much about racing. They
say, 'damn, that was another fuel mileage race, wasn't
it?' Well, Ryan Newman won Michigan in the fastest car,
and he took advantage of getting good mileage, but he
didn't win it because of fuel mileage. *****
What people need to look at is the whole picture. In my
opinion, on aero push, it's no worse today than it ever
was. There's just more people occupying the same space.
You know, the competition is what makes this deal so tough.
If I win at Talladega or I win at Charlotte, I beat the
same 42 guys -- the 42 best drivers in the whole world.
And the reason why races are getting decided differently
than in the past is because the competition is that
good, and the crew chiefs are that smart to think
outside the box and put themselves in a position to win
in ways that maybe you couldn't do in the past, because
the tires weren't good enough to run 100 miles as fast
as they are right now.
You had to come in and get tires or else you'd get
outrun. Now, you come in and don't need them anymore,
because you can stay out there and maintain the pace on
old tires. So it's more about tires than it is about gas.
Q: The 8 and the 15 are pretty much dialed in everywhere
we go, and get to the track without a ton of work to do.
What's up with the 1?
Waltrip: Don't have a whole lot of work to do? I don't
believe I understand that comment. We beat this thing to
death and we're constantly looking to figure out what we
have to do to be better than we were last week. The 1
car does the same thing.
There's just no continuity there right now. They haven't
gotten to a situation where a driver and a crew chief
have hit it off and have been able to talk.
I think people so much miss how important chemistry is,
and how much it means in order to be on the same page
with your crew as a driver, and they just haven't been
able to get there. They will, though. It's all the same
equipment we have. And when Steve Park got hurt in 2001,
that car was on top of their game.
They've gone through a lot of changes since then. But
they've got all the same equipment that the 15 and the 8
have, and they've got good people. They'll be back.
--
Crusader
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