Bottom Feeders

I have stated plenty of times, that I'm not a driver, so any comments that I make should be taken with a grain of salt.  However, sometimes, I just can't help but continue to scratch my head--particularly when it comes to "Bottom Feeders."  

You know, drivers who, for whatever reason, fail to try the outside groove and instead will spend lap after lap--ramming another driver in the ass-end, trying to loosen them up to get under them.  Or they'll dive-bomb into a turn about a half-groove onto the apron, which totally messes up their exit out of the turn and they end up body-slamming the car they're trying to pass in the center.  Sometimes those are epic fails and both drivers end up getting wrecked.  

My point here is this: If everyone prefers that lower groove, wouldn't it stand to reason for a driver and team to set their car up for the outside groove?  Why not just roll around the outside of them and complete the pass coming off of the turns and shooting down the straightaways?  Maybe I'm over-simplifying things?

But at La Crosse Speedway, the first two cautions of a feature bring out the "laning cone," and if you have a rocket ship that can navigate the outside groove--I would think setting your car up for that outside groove would come in pretty dang handy?

Don't fear the outside groove.  It can make you look like a hero, instead of a zero who lacks the intestinal fortitude to do anything but whack a guy in the back end.  Or worse yet, be the guy who can't seem to stay on the racing surface and has his ass in the grass trying to pass on the bottom.

Common sense says to go where others are not.  Or was it Confucius who said that?

American Racing Legend

Impossible. There's no way that this could have happened. That is exactly what everyone was saying when the awful news spread like a heavy fog over a valley.  Not only was Dick Trickle no longer with us, but he had taken his own life.  

It's hard to wrap your mind around why a childhood hero would do that to himself.  But none of us really knew Dick now, did we? Sure, we all liked to hang around him, whenever he was in town.  We all enjoyed tipping a few "barley pops" with him, as he held court, telling tales of  his racing exploits.  Good times.  That's what Dick Trickle was all about.  He WAS the party.

Obviously though, on the morning of May 16th, something brought an overwhelming oppressive darkness onto Trickle.  It's hard to imagine just what could have had that kind of effect on a guy who was the MacGyver of racing.  Ask anyone, Dick was a handler.  Something's broken on the race car? He'd find a way to make it work with something else.  The set up is not perfect? He'd still drive the crap out of the car--AND save his tires.  But something seemed impossibly unsurmountable to him on this day. 

I have no idea what could have been so heavy in his heart that he would make the decision to end his own life.  My mind is tortured by the thoughts that this is how our hero left this world.  Although, in retrospect, I don't know exactly how I thought Trickle's life should have ended.  It's nothing that I ever considered.  I suppose in my mind, he was just going to live forever.  And thanks to all of the great memories he created for all of us, ultimately, he will do just that--live on forever.

There was and never will be another like him.    

Back from the Back Injury

Denny Hamlin has been cleared to race once again in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, after his horrific accident at the end of February, which left him with a lower back compression fracture.  I realize that when racing gets into a driver's blood, it's like an drug addict needing their fix.  They physically NEED to get back behind the wheel as soon as possible, but when it's a back injury, that changes the game--at least to me.

The spine is such a tricky thing.  Mere millimeters of something shifting can make the difference between paralysis and full functioning.  I'm not trying to be a negasaurus here, but if there is any question that he is not completely healed in his back, I think it's ridiculous to risk further damage.

He has a new baby girl--Taylor James Hamlin, with his girlfriend Jordan Fish.  By all accounts, his life is really starting to blossom.  I'd hate to think what his life could become if he is involved in another horrible crash so soon after this injury.

Perhaps I'd feel differently if the series wasn't racing at Talladega this weekend.  That track is notorious for big carnage-filled crashes.  Call me over-cautious, but I think Denny should've waited until next week.  Then again, race car drivers, by nature, are risk takers.  Hopefully the risk will be worth the reward for Denny this weekend.