NASCAR OFF SEASON WITHDRAWAL THERAPY THREAD (post news updates here)

ME

[WestCoastGal]

Hoping to add news and DAILY rule changes by Nascar to this thread as they come along.

Awards banquet information and any other silly off season rumors etc.

[WestCoastGal]

Nothing better than Nascar gifts for Christmas!!

Sorry I missed the race tonight, I taped it.

Monday night same time, same station the race from 1996 Atlanta and then Tuesday night it's deja vu for #3 and Texas Terry in 1999 at Bristol.

[WestCoastGal]

Best and worst of NASCAR's award show

Ryan McGee / FOX Sports Net



Wow, what a week! The only thing more difficult than being Kurt Busch during NASCAR Champions Week in New York was being a member of the media horde desperately trying to keep up with him from stop to stop.


From the USS Intrepid to Regis & Kelly and from the NYSE to the FDNY, Busch's five-day calendar made The Chase for the Nextel Cup seem like a leisurely Sunday drive to the grocery store.

So now we head home. After 38 weekends of racing and one awards banquet that seemed at least that long. As I sit here in the US Airways terminal at LaGuardia waiting on my flight that was supposed to have taken off four hours ago, here's a quick list of the best and worst from the NASCAR week that was here in NYC.

Best promotional idea: The top 10 drivers doing a parade lap around midtown Manhattan on Thursday morning. It was cool enough to see all the NASCAR fans that started showing up outside the league's corporate headquarters a good two hours before the 10 a.m. event. But the best part was watching the faces of the sidewalk commuters when they fired up those 10 358-cubic inch V-8s and started rattling windows from one end of the island to the other. When those ignitions hit, I saw at least two people in black overcoats throw their Starbucks cups into the air.

Worst promotional idea: Making Kurt Busch run through the gauntlet of New York Fire Department probationary training. Swinging the sledgehammer and pulling the hose was one thing, but did you see the poor guy after they made him "rescue" the 175-pound dummy? I thought the dude was going to keel over right there in front of about a dozen TV cameras. That would have put a damper on Champions Week, huh?

Smoothest championship moment: Busch insisted that his schedule be altered to include a stop at the World Trade Center site. He then asked the massive press and PR entourage to leave him alone for a few minutes to take in the moment on his own.

Most awkward championship moment: Busch having his picture taken with Miss USA Shandi Finnessey during a visit to the Canadian International Bank of Commerce. He looked as nervous as the chess club president being approached by the homecoming queen.

Most awkward moment that had nothing to do with NASCAR: From my cab Thursday morning I actually saw the Naked Cowboy having a conversation with Joan Rivers in Times Square. Yikes.

Best Dale Earnhardt Junior moments: Both occurred during his speech on Friday night. 1. Reminding everyone that six wins "ain't crap, because Daddy won 11 one year." 2. Citing his responsibility for NBC implementing a five-second delay (after dropping an s-bomb at Talladega) as a major accomplishment. "Some people may think that's bad, but shoot, I think it's progress."

Worst Dale Junior moment: TNT's shot of him during the awards ceremony at around 12:10 a.m. He looked excruciatingly bored. Wanna know why? He was.

Best awards ceremony speech: Jeff Gordon. Despite being laid up in the hospital all week, Gordon trooped his way onto the stage and gave an eloquent, polished tribute to his team and fallen loved ones from Hendrick Motorsports ... all without glancing at the teleprompter even once.

Worst awards ceremony speech: Kasey Kahne. You got the feeling that if the prompter had broken down, the Rookie of the Year might have curled up in the fetal position behind the podium.

Runner-up: The corporate suit from Sharpie trying to get Busch to recreate Terrell Owens' TD celebration.

Best Jay Mohr line: (Concerning Busch's girlfriend, Eva Bryan) "Wow! What was your pick-up line? "Hi, my name is Peyton Manning?' "

Best sponsor plug: During his speech, Dale Junior rattled off 14 sponsor names in less than 12 seconds.

Worst sponsor plug: Jack Roush referred to Tony Stewart's Lowe's team ... then tripped all over himself to go back and say Home Depot.

Best seats in the house: The 97 crew. Yeah, they were way up in the balcony, but it sure looked like those guys up there were having a genuine party, as opposed to their bosses at the head table, who had to be on their best behavior.

Worst seats in the house: Car owner Robert Yates. Was it just me, or did it look like he and his wife were sitting in the kitchen?

That will do it from here in front of the Sbarro's at the LaGuardia food court. Only four weeks until we're testing at Daytona and 52 weeks before we're chasing the second Nextel Cup champ around the Big Apple.

I can't wait.

[WestCoastGal]

Don't miss the ESPN Classics with all the old Earnhardt races coming up again tomorrow night at 9pm ET and every night after that. See post #144 for times and races.

I taped the Bristol race last night and watched it today.

Withdrawal symptoms are at their worst on Sunday afternoon.

[SouthTexas]

Withdrawal symptoms are at their worst on Sunday afternoon.

I actually broke down and went shopping today and it's only the 5th.

[NormsRevenge]

Jack Daniel's to sponsor race car

http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news?slug=ap-jackdanielscar&prov=ap&type=lgns

By Associated Press
December 5, 2004

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The company that makes Jack Daniel's said the whiskey will be the primary sponsor of a car in the NASCAR Nextel Cup series beginning in 2005.

The Tennessee whiskey shares its Bourbon Belt past with stock-car racing, said Mike Keyes, global general manager for the brand. "Fifty-five percent of our volume is in markets where NASCAR races."

Louisville-based Brown-Forman Corp., which makes Jack Daniel's, said on Friday that racing team owner Richard Childress switched one of his cars from No. 30 to No. 07. The black Chevrolet Monte Carlo will carry the Jack Daniel's name and the Old No. 7 logo on the hood and the brand name on the rear quarter panels, deck and spoiler.

The growing popularity of NASCAR racing mirrors the growth of Jack Daniel's as a national brand, Keyes said. With NASCAR eyeing international expansion, Keyes said the brand's overseas popularity will be a good fit, too.

NASCAR lifted its ban on hard liquor sponsors last month.

[WestCoastGal]

Many have said Dale Earnhardt's victory in the 2000 Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway was the most incredible display of driving ever seen. He was 15th on the race's final restart on lap 174, slipped to 23rd and moved up only to 18th by lap 183 of the 188-lap race. He went from 16th to eighth on lap 185, then to fourth on lap 186 before taking the lead on the next-to-last lap with help from Kenny Wallace and Joe Nemechek. The victory, by a margin of 0.119 of a second, was Earnhardt's record 10th at Talladega Superspeedway and the 76th and final NASCAR Winston Cup victory of his career. It was also the only time that Earnhardt and the No. 3 GM Goodwrench team won a Winston No Bull 5 event.

I wonder why ESPN didn't include this race in their Earnhardt special going on this week? (unless they didn't cover it)

[WestCoastGal]

Mini ping for ESPN Earnhardt tribute Classic 1996 Purolator 500 starting now. Sr looking for his 8th victory!

[WestCoastGal]

My first screen capture!!!

[WestCoastGal]

Big E snookers them again by saying he was only taking two when in fact they took 4!!

[SouthTexas]

A good pair!!!

[WestCoastGal]

Yep they're running as follows:

Earnhardt
T. Labonte
Gordon
Ervin
Mayfield

[WestCoastGal]

And the winner is!!! Great pic of Sr and Taylor Nicole right after the race.

[ChefKeith]

It just really sunk in:

The reason that I see the kurt busch "championship" to be a fraud is because the whole last season of Cup Racing WAS a fraud from the very start with ne******l and nutscar turning what used to be the best sport in the world into a PC sham all in the name of themselves.

This goes to the "rule changes of the hour" and fines and point deductions that were not consistent with the past.

I hope they don't continue the same things in the upcoming season, but fear that they will. If the Dale Sr was still here with Us this would have never happened, He would have pulled helton and the n******l officials into the big trailer and SLAPPED them upside the head and asked them "WHAT THE HE!! ARE YOU IDIOTS DOING?!"

[WestCoastGal]

President Bush with the Marines today at Camp Pendleton.

Semper Fi.

Thanks for the new toy CK.

[NormsRevenge]

Thanks for the Camp Pendleton pics!

GB America :-)

[WestCoastGal]

I moved us over here.

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You said...

(1) The stands were about half empty. I didn't realize that the present growth spurt NASCAR is enjoying didn't start until only about six or seven years ago.

(2) That many names of regular cup drivers in 1996 are not around in 2004, just eight years later. There's been a heavy turnover in drivers, and a huge change in the sport, itself, in a relatively short period of time.

(3) What NASCAR should remember is that what went up fast can also come down fast. If they keep transitioning from a true sport to WWF on wheels, I don't know if they'll get what they covet -- loads of new fans in big media markets like NYC, Los Angeles, Philly, and other big metro areas. But they definitely risk losing the fans they have today.

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You're right I commented on the stands the other night myself. Plus the drivers are either gone, struggling or in other cars and sponsors. It's amazing, it's actually hard to know what's going on because the drivers are in different cars.

[WestCoastGal]

Looking back at Tony Stewart from Rusty's car.....

[WestCoastGal]

Where's Earnhardt, lol, he will be there at the end.

[tubebender]

DO YOU REMEMBER LARRY HICKS...