Chicagoland takes us back to cookie-cutter Fast Laps

by Charlie Turner

I'm Charlie Turner co-host of the syndicated, mostly NASCAR radio show On Pit Row. Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. Oh yeah, Steve is an idiot.

6 Responses to “Chicagoland takes us back to cookie-cutter Fast Laps”

1. Luke on July 9th, 2007 11:05 am

   Hang onto your hats for this 100. I’m throwing out the 100 word deal like Robby throws out roll bar padding…

   #1:

   Stewart. Plain and simple. He was pissed that Hamlin wasn’t letting him by to lead (it’s early on and Stewart thinks he’s owed the courtesy). Flip-Flop gets a run on Hamlin in the corner, and never lifts to prevent what he knew was coming. Stewart can blow it out his tailpipe. Granted, being a sailor, I’ve got some even more choice words for him. I’ll refrain though.

   Is it ever Flippy’s fault? For anything? So me a time where he’s said… “Shit, you know I don’t know what happened but the my car just broke loose all of a sudden and I hit [insert driver here] in the [insert quarter panel here].”

   Nope. Never happened. It’s never Flippy’s fault. Never. Ever.

   In his eyes, that is.

   If I was Hamlin, I’d tell him exactly where he can stick his smug attitude, and then ensure he was returned the same courtesy down the road.

   #2:

   No, it isn’t. And for the record, I hate it. I hate Sprint with a passion. When they announced they were buying out Nextel, I about threw up.

   Nextel (prior to the merger) would have made, and did make, for a supportive title sponsor. Sprint can’t even answer a call or total up a bill without f’ing it up. What makes anyone think they can sponsor the most popular racing series in the world without doing the same?

   This tells me that their intention is to kill off the Nextel name completely, which really sucks. Cingular isn’t much better in the way it treats is clients, Alltel doesn’t have the plans to compete for business accounts, and Verizon’s restritions are a joke.

   Unfortunately, Nextel had the best plans going and now those are set to be lost.

   I think I just might have to switch to US Cellular, as they are the only provider that can compete with the plan I had with Nextel.

   #3:

   Well, it would certainly make Saturday’s at Richmond more interesting before the show kicks off.

   To me, there is no magic answer. All teams should qualify at the same general time.

   The only thing that would fix this is moving to race-style qualifying sessions, based on points or something to determine the grid. Break it up into 3 or 4 groups, and fastest laps cut are the ones takes. We’re all familiar with the drill.

   Even that is no guarantee, thanks to rain. However, they “could” have postponed it to Saturday in the case in question.

   I think they should have a qualifying date, and a backup date just in case. If it finally rains out, and there is no choice, then line it up either by practice speeds from final practice, and if that was rained out then do it strictly by owners points.

   None of this won a race last year, and take into consideration the champions provisional and number of attempts. No charge for the champions provisional, as it stands now, as it isn’t their fault the rain came.

   #4 (finally):

   Um, yeah. Duh. He has been for quite a while. That’s just the nature of the game. He saw what happened with Vickers last season, so he should know what’s coming and what to expect.

   However, I don’t think that is what happened with the draft.

   Every driver knows who they work with well, and what cars they can push or be pushed by.

   Sometimes a Chevy might work better pushing/pulling a Ford, or whatever the case may be.

   If one of the other Hendrick cars had a choice, and worked well with either the 5 or say the 17, then it might come down to being the odd man out. Then again, who knows other than those in the seat. And you know they aren’t going to spill their guts.

   How about that race though? Can’t say I watched most of TNT’s coverage as I was buried in the hot pass channels. But, from what I saw it was a decent attempt at a different format.

   I can’t believe there are people out there, and they definitely are out there, that were bitching that they “had no audio” while some of the in screen promos were playing.

   You can’t have it both ways here, you know. They could have broke out into an extended “away” break, and left the viewers with nothing at all until they came back.

   Overall, I’d say it worked well. Not perfect, but nothing ever is. It was a start, for NASCAR anyway, and one I would hope they continue with.

   Hey, we could be watching a highlight reel instead.

2. Steve on July 12th, 2007 8:24 pm

   1– I have to go with my local police department on this one. The guy in the back that hit the guy in front is to blame. Tony can try and justify it any way he wants; but the truth is, he ran into Denny Hamlin. Unless Denny suddenly slammed that #11 FedEx Kinko’s ride into bassakward all of a sudden.

   2– As I said on the show–lets save some time here–who gives a rats rear? Nobody!

   3– I don’t know that two qualifying sessions are necessary every week, but NASCAR HAS to change it top 35 rule and give the GoGH group a fighting chance to make the field. At the very least, let that group qualify first and together. Then if it rains you have your top X cars and the GoGH group thrashed it out for the remaining spots. King Brian–quit worrying about new tracks in places that don’t want them and fix the danged rule.

   4–Two issues here–first, in restrictor plate races, you can make all the deals you want and have all the teammates in the world, but when it comes time to crap or quit, you’re dancing with who’s around you, whether you brought ‘em to the dance or not. Secondly–of course he’s a walking dead man. He’s a lame duck. And it’s duck season–wabbit season–duck season–wabbit season–duck season–duck season—–blammmm!

3. Charlie on July 12th, 2007 10:31 pm

   Well, hello boys. Time to convene class and kick some…tail.

   1.This was just a “racin’ deal” until Tony tried coverin’ his …tail by throwin’ this all on Hamlin. This was, by the way, the same tact Smoke took at MIS practice with Gilligan. Give credit to BOTH young guys. They didn’t take Stewarts bait. David and Denny look the better for their reactions. It is hard to suddenly go backwards at 180 mph, I would think.

   Verdict. Racin’ deal with style points going to Hamlin.

   2. Let’s see. Steve wrote a question that he doesn’t feel like answering. That’s just lazy. Luke had to call Sprint customer service. That, I understand.

   Verdict. The change from long-time and bedrock series sponsor Winston to Nextel, was a much larger event in sport history than the change of names that we will see next year. No contest.

   3. Fix qualifying before the sport is permanently hurt. Their are smart people available to the Frances. Use them. The current set-up is bad. I am waiting for the next law suit. NAPA and MWR might have enough ammo right now.

   Verdict. it’S REDUNDENT. The top 35 no longer works.

   4. Answer. Yes. Unless Kyle the Younger makes the Chase and is the best Hendrick chance to win the championship with 5 races to go. Then, HMS will give him everything. Won’t happen.

   Verdict. Kyle got beat in a too close race. In poker, it was a “bad beat”. Whining just fed his critics. He should have played his own tapes from early Busch races. The class has, apparently, been dismissed.

   Luke, I liked what TNT started. There were good, new ideas there. I hope that someone at ABC takes them and runs with them. And the Daytona plate race was exciting, as they usually are. We used your comments on the Tuesday, ON PIT ROW show. They were welcome. Thank you.

4. Luke on July 12th, 2007 10:50 pm

   Well, it’s about time Thing-1 and Thing-2 showed up to the party.

   We’ll just kindly ignore I had a client bork their website just after midnight this morning, and it caused this particular server to lag further behind than Mikey and the Top 35.

   Kind of a dull news week, although the plane crash obviously is a sad loss for the community.

   What’s this crap from NASCAR Now about some kind of release tomorrow about Bud parting from their cash cow?

   No Bud, no “real” need for the 8, but you know what… I bet there’d be some happy fans with a #8 Code Red Mountain Dew Impala at Daytona. Well, those with an 8 tattoo anyway.

5. Charlie on July 13th, 2007 12:16 pm

   Plane crashes seem to happen all too often in NASCAR. Sadly tragic, and they make all other topics seem trivial.

   I, however, lead a trivial life. How are you going to feel buying your Bud Suds from Kasey Kahne?
   The official news is out regarding the Bud and Hendrick engagement being called off. I agree that the #8 means little to Earnhardt or Hendrick now. Maybe more to Budweiser.

   Luke, you could always add a 1 to the 8. You’re a Terrell Owens fan right?

6. Luke on July 13th, 2007 12:38 pm

   Well, first I can’t agree more. With all the teams flying all over the place as well as execs and officials and all that, it’s unfortunate that it happens. I guess we hear about it more simply from the number of planes going round the country.

   Since I don’t drink Budweiser, I could really care less. They’ve been on the hood of how many other drivers? No big deal. Unfortunately, my brew of choice isn’t reflected in a sponsorship at the moment, but maybe someday it will be. Roush would make a good fit for their primary product, considering their new business partner.

   So why are you bringing in TO to this? I’ll admit that I get about as excited over the NFL as you probably would over optimizing a code function and saving 30% of the needed lines by using an ingenious method.

   As for the tattoo? Nope, no 8’s been inked on me.

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