RaceBud

There’s an air of excitement at RaceBud’s home track these days. We are busy taking inventory of race shirts to pack, crossing items off the shopping list, brewing a pot of racetrack stew and charging the scanners. And we’re keeping a watchful eye on the north Texas weather forecast, which is looking to be exceptional.

It’s time to load the pickup truck and head off to the fall races at the Texas Motor Speedway. The Turn 3 Race Team is about to meet at the track!

I spent a little time reflecting on what makes the races such an important thing to us. It proved to be so much more than fast cars making left turns. 

1. Spending time with old friends. Some of the folks we get to share track time with have been friends for some 40 years. Others for a much shorter time. But it’s good to see all of them, telling the stories and sharing meals. Continue Reading »

What is it that makes the Busch brothers, Kurt and Kyle, such controversial figures in the world of NASCAR? Are they really bad, or do we fans have a need for someone to boo and blame?

They have a lot of good things going for them. For instance:

• they are both with top-tier teams, Penske and Gibbs;
• they are both good drivers, with a strong showings in the Win column;
• both are in the Chase;
• other drivers, their competitors, claim to be their friends; and,
• each has a reputation for charitable giving.

NASCAR brothers generally have good reputations and, over time, have been popular with the fans. Yet, the Busch boys regularly piss off fans, fellow drivers, sponsors and team owners with their ongoing black-hat antics.

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When he started the September 16 race, Clint Bowyer was a very likable guy who had never won a Cup race. He had a good enough season to make the last place in the Chase, but was not considered a viable championship contender. Vegas odds-makers had him finishing the season in 12^th place, last among the Chase contenders. And his fan base was definitely outside the top 12.

But he won the Loudon race. And four races later he is one of only three drivers still in the running for the series championship.

To be truthful, I wasn’t wearing my Clint Bowyer t-shirt that day.

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You like to watch, don’t you?

NASCAR wrecks, that is. Come on admit it. Wrecks add spice to the race and pepper the continuous laps with a shot of adrenaline. Wrecks are as much a part of the sport as bump drafting. And often one leads to the other.

What is it about a NASCAR race that makes it so exciting – or boring? Challenges for position, lead changes and door-banging, side-by-side racing contribute to the excitement level of a race, but the real thing we all want to see is the wrecks.

Show me a race with three hours of side-by-side racing and not much else, and I’ll show you a dozen journalistic thumbs-down reviews based on boredom. That same race with a fiery multi-car crash becomes a lot more exciting. Throw in an end-over-end barrel roll through the front stretch and that same boring race gets reviews full of exclamation points.

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Until I became a NASCAR fan, I hadn’t really noticed just how much – pardon my bluntness – CRAP is out there bearing some sort of driver name, image, number, and/or team sponsor.Literally, if you can think of it, someone’s slapped a number on it and it’s on eBay. One quick computer search confirms my suspicions. Tens of thousands of NASCAR items – from fishing lures to toilet paper – are for sale.

It made me wonder … why? What’s the reason behind fans buying all this stuff?

Does buying more driver merchandise make you a bigger or better fan? I mean, are those people walking Fido on a Jimmy Johnson dog leash or sporting a Robby Gordon doo-rag more dedicated to their driver than those who aren’t?

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