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PAGE 2C PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. JULY 12. 2007
Racing Views
NASCAR, What Next?
By Jumper Cableman
Last week we talked about
chaos in NASCAR and this
week there is even more of the
same. When is it going to quit?
I would guess that as long as we
will buy the tickets (and
Daytona seemed to have full
grandstands) and turn on the tel
evisions, we will continue to get
more of what they consider
entertainment. You will notice
that I did not call it racing.
Even the sports writers seem
to be getting tired of the spins
NASCAR puts on every thing
that happens. The car of tomor
row (or today ) would be a good
example. The sports writers
have been trying to find out how
the cars of Jeff Gordon and
Jimmy Johnson were illegal.
There doesn't seem to be any
rule that was violated but they
have to make examples so they
fine the crew chiefs and then
suspend them and try to make
us think that these crew chiefs
are the bad guys. What they
don't tell you is that these crew
chiefs found a gap in the rules
and played it to their advantage.
And now the way a crew
chief is suspended has changed.
Up until now, when suspended a
crew chief could not go any
where his “hard card” (his iden
tification card) would take him
before his suspension. So, if he
didn't need a “hard card” to go
there, then it was okay for him
to be anywhere else on the race
track property. Again a crew
chief, Tony Eury, Jr., found an
opening in the rules and used it
to his advantage by directing the
actions of his driver, Dale
Earnhardt, Jr. during last week's
race from the top of a motor
home parked in the race track
turn.
Now there is a rule against
being on the property if you are
suspended. For fifty-seven
years there has not been a prob
lem with the crew chief being
on the grounds during a suspen
sion, just being in the garage or
pits. Now there is a rule against
it. How long will it take
NASCAR to say that the crew
chief cannot speak to the driver
during his suspension period?
Since NASCAR now sees the
crew chief as the root of all
problems, maybe we can expect
Brian France, president of
NASCAR, to ban them from the
team's shops until the end of the
suspension?
Does Mr. France think that
he can ban cell phones and
BlackBerrys so that these sus
pended crew chiefs cannot com
municate with the teams in any
way? How does he propose to
keep these banned crew chiefs
from watching television?
Here's another example of
the chaos happening in
NASCAR. NASCAR has sued
AT&T to keep them from
changing their name from
Cincular on the Jeff Burton car.
As I remember the amount was
$100,000,000. Then on
Saturday Brian France and the
folks from the series title spon
sor, NEXTEL, announced to the
world that they would be chang
ing their name to SPRINT.
Now you tell me, what is the
difference?!! Brian France tells
us that he is just trying to pro
tect the name of his title spon
sor. Isn't Richard Childress just
trying to protect the name of his
title sponsor, AT&T?
On top of all the other items
NASCAR is having problems
with Dover Downs Speedway's
board of directors are about to
sue NASCAR over the fact that
they cannot get dates for their
races and Brian France's speed
ways, What ever happened to
the days when they had 50 or 60
races a year and you could see a
NASCAR Cup race almost any
night of the week and Sunday
afternoon too? Those days
would have given Dover all the
days they could wish for to race.
My days of watching
NASCAR drivers climb into
stock appearing cars and go race
each other came to an end many
years ago. Standing in the
infield at Charlotte on the hill
off turn two to watch the World
600 is now a distant memory,
just like the days we spent dur
ing February 1958 in the infield
of the new Daytona Beach
International Speedway are
memories of days past. Its a
shame that these new race fans
will never see the great races
and the great racers we watched
in awe back then. Then again,
no one would ever believe the
fact that Brian France's grandfa
ther, Big Bill France, would
have to make a deal with Pepsi
to get the money to pay the
paving company for them to
complete their paving job on the
Daytona Speedway so that we
could watch that race.
It's no wonder that I like the
short tracks better than ever
since they have held true to their
past. I still have a soft spot in
my heart for those folks who
build their own cars and their
own engines. Give me the days
of the independent drivers and
car builders over these multi-car
mega-teams that we have today.
This Friday night will see a
full racing program at Sugar
Creek Raceway in Blue Ridge,
GA. Also on Friday night North
Georgia Speedway in
Chatsworth, GA will contest a
$5,000 to win Super Late Model
Southern All Stars race plus a
full racing program. Boyds
Speedway in Ringgold, GA will
also host a full racing program
on Friday night. On Saturday
night the action moves to Dixie
Speedway in Woodstock, GA
where the featured event will be
a Top Tracks Crate Late Model
race paying $2,000 to win plus a
full racing program along with
kids bike races. At Cleveland
Speedway in Cleveland, TN on
Saturday night they will race the
17th annual “Jean Johnson”
Memorial race where the
Southern All Stars Super Late
Models will race for $5,000 in a
50-lap event will a full racing
program. These same Southern
All Stars will move to Rome
Speedway in Rome, GA on
Sunday night to contest a
$5,000 to win event plus a full
racing program.
For your comments and
questions, our address is RO.
Box 1522, Woodstock, GA
30188-1522 or our e-mail
address is Jcableman@aol.com.
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Directions: 575/515N to right on Philadelphia Rd. At end, turn right on Old Hwy 5.
Immediate left on Lumber Company Rd. Arbor Hills will be on your right.
metrobrokers
Susan Adams
Realtor
GMAC
Real Estate
404-843-2500 Office
770-842-4768 Cell
Met rosusan@ be I lsouth.net
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All information contained within is deemed to be Accurate but not guaranteed.
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Realtor Realtor
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770-597-5865
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e-PRO
Cell:770-893-7145