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Heading for the (Irish) Hills

As Steve, Charlie and I prepare for our quest to MIS tommorrow and I was planning my picture taking agenda, I recalled some unforseeable events from last year that made the experience exceptional. My photo op with Richard Petty comes to mind (he wanted to be shot in profile), turning around to almost be run down by Mark Martin heading… somewhere…and who can forget Steve’s ‘Little Tiff’ with Jeff Gordon (I know he never will). Can’t wait to see what tommorrow will bring.

Photo: Beth Anne Heisler On Pit Row

Try our “Rattles from the Catch Can” Quiz and Win Stuff

Do you think you are up on the latest from the NASCAR internet?  Take a shot at our first ever quiz.  We’re calling it Rattles from the Catch Can.  The plan is to take the names of all those who get perfect scores - seven for seven - and that would be 7 correct answers for you contest lawyers out there, and we will pick a winner.  The big winner will get, let’s see…

• DVD “The Daytona 500 - 50 years of the Great American Race”
• ARCA RE/MAX Series official hat
• Crown Royal-Dan Lowry 400 # 26 Jamie McMurray hat
• Boris Said - No Fear Racing T-shirt - great shirt!
• 1 set of “ON PIT ROW”/ “INSIDE ARCA” Mardi Gras beads

All you have to do is play - and keep playing ’till you get it right! Make sure that you enter your email address at the end.  It’s how we validate your score.

If you want to feature this contest on your blog or site by all means be our guest.  And let us know what you think of our first “Rattles from the Catch Can”.

Talladega Sunrise Part 2

Race Day. Up at 5:00am. Shower. Breakfast. Coffee, eggs, grits, ham with red eye gravy. I arrive at the track at 7:00am. We meet in the Media center coffee, doughnuts and cookies are available for the drivers and friends and family who have come along for support.

Check-in includes showing the confirmation letter and signing a one page release form. I have no clue what I really signed, I could’ve been giving away all my worldly possessions to some freaky cult. Aside from the check-in tables, there were about 20 rows of chairs in the room facing an approximately 52” flat screen TV on which they were running a DVD overview/ad for the Dale Jarrett Racing Adventure.

At 7:30am they asked us to have a seat. The future drivers were easy to spot -they sort of had that deer-in-the-headlights stare. I was strangely calm. When they started the class, I listened intently to how to find my line, when to shift, how to pass (there would be five other drivers on the track) and most importantly how to avoid kissing the wall. Each driver also would have an in-car instructor. He would be there to give me hand signals on how to drive and maybe a nudge or two to keep me in line. I studied the chart that had the hand signals on it that I would be receiving while on the track. Thumb left; move down; Thumb right: move up; Thumb up: Speed up; Thumb down: Slow down; Fist: Brake; One finger: Shift into first; Two fingers: Shift into second; Three fingers: Shift into third etc. After the class, everyone headed to the pits and were given a ride in the dualies to get the feel for the track. When you are down on the apron, Talladega looks like a wall. My first thought while riding around the apron was ‘No way I’m gonna be driving up there!’ Next my instructor drove up on the 33deg bank and stopped the truck dead. He wanted to show that it would not fall off the steep bank. I, however, had to hang on to the hand strap to keep from ending up in the instructor’s lap. I attentively watched how he moved on the track and got the feel for how to follow the line.

Afterwards, I headed over to the pit area to be fitted for a fire suit and helmet. Then, I went to a table that asked the one and only question of the day : “How tall are you?” I am apparently the same height as Joe Nemecheck because I was assigned to his car. The day was overcast and drizzly and there was a wet spot on the track that needed to be dried so
we were delayed until it was cleaned up. In the meantime, the instructors took all the friends and family members for rides around the track in the dualies. Finally, the time had come. I donned my skull cap and helmet and climbed into Joe’s car and the instructor told me to push the clutch all the way to the floor to make sure I could reach. Then the pit crew
strapped me in (although the guy in charge of connecting the buckle across my crotch was hesitant to reach down and latch me in.) ‘Uh I gotta ….’ He said, and gestured towards my nether regions. I chuckled and replied ‘Strap ‘er in!’ He gave the device one last pull and reached over and turned the ignition on. The car rumbled to a start. The pit crew walked
around the car giving it a final once over then gave the ‘O.K’ to move out.

The next thing I saw, was my instructor’s index finger in my peripheral vision (The sign to shift into first) I was on my way. I drove around the apron gaining speed ; Thumb right; up I went. The Thumbs up: Oh man! Here I go! I pushed my foot down and felt the car speed up. 100mph. I watched the wall coming at me as I constantly guided the wheel left. 120mph.

Lap2: The wall seemed to always be directly in front of me. Keep steering left. At that moment, I was totally convinced that I would hit the wall soon. I felt the icy coldness that turns into paralyzing fear. ‘OMG!’ I thought, ‘I can’t do this! Get me the Hell off this track before I kill myself!’ But then, I remembered that icy road in Kentucky and all the fear melted away. The instructor gave the wheel a little nudge and I focused on my line.

Lap 3: I settled in and started to get the hang of where to move the car. 150mph.

Lap 4: Thumb Left. My car is merrily moving up the track where it wants to be and now I have to move it down to pass someone. Slight nudge. ‘O.K! O.K! I’m moving! Whew! That’s over!’ I’m thinking, ‘I’m nervous out here with five other drivers, I can’t imagine what it would be like with 43 cars out here. Wow.’ I consider the fact that in most sports the participant is pretty confident that they will walk away after it’s over. A race car driver knows there is always a chance they won’t.

Lap 5: Thumb Up. I push down on the accelerator. At this point, the lines on the track appear like dots. Very focused. My instructor gives a nudge to the right on the wheel. I am suddenly right up against the wall. You know - where they said not to go. WTF? Then…

Lap 6: Thumb Up Going faster. Thinking about the speed. The car in it’s line. Checkered Flag. 163mph. Thumb Left. I veer down onto the apron. Thumb Down. I take my foot off the accelerator and feel the car coast.

Turning into the pits. Hard Fist: I put my foot on the brake and come to a stop just barely missing a flustered pit crew member. I’m laughing. My instructor is laughing. He says, “It’s not as easy as it looks!” I reply, “Oh Hell No!”

Photo credit: BethAnne Heisler - ON PIT ROW

Nationwide Series In Mexico Does Not Disappoint

Kyle Busch outlasted Marcos Ambrose and Scott Pruett to win NASCAR’s south of the border showdown.

Rowdy has made the 2008 NASCAR seasons; Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Craftsman Truck, look easy. As Charlie wrote earlier in “Is Kyle Busch the best driver in NASCAR..” The Shrub has been having an unbelievable season so far.

Ambrose and Boris Said had a run in early in the race on Sunday. Said was mad enough to let everyone know his displeasure with Ambrose:

“Just cheap-shotted me and took me out, He hooked my left rear in turn one. He had me sideways for a while and then just turned me around. … I’m not going to cry about it, but I’m going to go apologize to his crew chief because it’s going to cost him a car.”

This type of controversy has become standard when the Nationwide Series moves across the border, whether its north or south.

Rowdy’s win in Mexico City leads to this weeks BUZZ ON PIT ROW:

Kyle Busch leads the Nationwide and Truck Series and is second in Sprint Cup. Is he now the best driver in NASCAR?

photo credit: Icon Sports Media

Listen to the best of the NASCAR web today ON PIT ROW

Join Steve and me for the live steaming broadcast of ON PIT ROW today at 5:00 pm EDT and hear the voices of some of your favorite NASCAR bloggers live. We’re bringing together seven of the most influential, knowledgeable and opinionated writers from the NASCAR Internet community to kick around a few issues of importance to NASCAR Nation in early 2008.

Here’s the line up:

• Jay Adamski - better known as Jayski, the guy who kicked this NASCAR net thing off
• Luke Poland - webmaster of the Thunder Lounge - the best community in NASCAR
• Darren Fauth - of One Bad Wheel and developer of Champs, Chumps and Sleepers
• Tall Glass of Milk - Drink This, Answer This and the NASCAR Fanhouse at AOL
• Bob Ellis - NASCAR Ranting and Raving’s author and north of the border standout
• Marc Boland - The head of Full Throttle’s Half Vast staff calls from the Phillipines
• Bram Hume -Still the Scottish Racer and author of the great Backstretch Motorsports site

So if all connections go as planned, today will be our first “spanning the NASCAR net” special, brought to you by “Seven Post Magazine” and Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie. We hope you have as much fun with it as we will.

Racing music for Racing fans

If somehow you’ve never heard any of the music from the ON PIT ROW house band - The Backstretch Boys, tune in to today’s show and listen to the best racing music ever played. You know how it is - many have tried to do music specifically for you race fans, but few have pulled it off. I know because I’m constantly looking for really good, relevant music for our show and there just isn’t very much out there.

But there is the Backstretch Boys. Songs like “Talladega Shuffle”, “Daytona”, “Lady in Black” are great songs, not just great racing songs. “Rockin’ the Rock”, “Fields of Thunder” and “We Dig Dirt” are all on the band’s CD “Rookie Season”.

My favorite, though, is “Checkered Past (A Tribute to Dale)”. Our producer Tony has been playing that song during our pre-show time for a couple months now and I have a hard time getting it out of my head. I hope today’s ON PIT ROW guest, Robert Allred and the Boys don’t mind me calling them our house band because they’ve certainly been featured on bigger stages than ours.

The Backstretch Boys’ music has been featured on “NASCAR Raceday On Speed”, “Fox Sports” and NBC’s “Today Show”. Now we just have to figure a way to get them to do a live gig at the “Thunder Lounge” when that whole party fires up at Texas Motor Speedway, someday.

Check out the Backstretch Boys. Better yet, buy the CD. Buy a bunch of CD’s and spread the music around. This is real “Racing Music for Racing Fans”.

One Helluva Ride author Liz Clarke - live

One of the perks that come with being a part of ON PIT ROW is having the opportunity to talk live with some of the best journalists in sports.  One whom we have yet to talk to is Liz Clarke, writer for The Washington Post and author of the new book NASCAR book “One Helluva Ride.”

I haven’t read the book as yet  but Jerry has a fine review at Restrictorplatethis.com. 

Liz has a live chat in a few minutes, talking Daytona. You can join Liz here and participate live or catch the transcript later. 

We’d like to have her join us ON PIT ROW and give you another chance to talk live with Liz. I’ll keep you posted.

Fantasy NASCAR is alive at ON PIT ROW

Fantasy racing is huge and getting huger.  So are the sales of spell checkers and grammar lessons you say?  Well this is a racing site so let’s talk fantasy NASCAR, shall we?

ON PIT ROW - the fastest two hours on radio - sponsored a little NASCAR fantasy game in 2007 that we called the NASCAR Chain Game.  Not much of a name, I know, but a helluva fun game by all accounts.  With all of our changes to, and launch of, the new OnPitRow.com sites (thanks again Luke), we ran out of time to have a new version of that game ready for the start of 2008.

But OnPitRow.com will be very involved with a very cool  new NASCAR fantasy game called Champs Chumps and Sleepers.  This fantasy racing game was developed by Darren Fauth of One Bad Wheel -#3 on the Sports Media Challenge list of “Most influential NASCAR blogs”.  Here’s an explanation of the rules:

Each week you will pick a new team of 6 drivers.

Champs

Pick two Champs. These are two drivers that you think will do good in the race. But, it’s not a pick Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon every week thing. Your two Champ drivers will be outside of the top 12 in driver points.

Chumps

Pick two Chumps. These are two drivers that you think will not do good in the race. Once again, it’s not the two drivers that squeaked in the race with a good enough qualifying lap. Your two Chump drivers are all within the top 12 in driver points.

Sleepers

Pick two Sleepers. These are two driver that you think will do good in the race. Your two Sleeper drivers are outside the top 20 in driver points.

Definitely a unique concept and it ought to be a real challenge. Here’s an example of how the points will work:

Each week you will receive the same amount of points as your Champ & Sleeper driver’s. The points that your Chump driver’s receive will be deducted from your score.

Example (from the 2007 Daytona 500):

Let’s say you picked Tony Stewart & Dale Earnhardt Jr for your Champs. You picked Michael Waltrip & Juan Pablo Montoya for your Chumps. You picked David Ragan & David Gilliland for your Sleepers.

• CHAMP Drivers Scores: 106 points
  • Tony Stewart: 39
  • Dale Earnhardt Jr: 67
• CHUMP Drivers Scores: 179 points
  • Michael Waltrip: 73
  • Juan Pablo Montoya: 106
• SLEEPER Driver Scores: 302 points
  • David Ragan: 155
  • David Gilliland: 147

Your total score for the week: 106 - 179 + 302 = 229 points

To keep the scoring simpler, any penalty points against a driver do not affect your score. For the first race of 2008, drivers will be categorized by their 2007 NASCAR driver points standings.

ON PIT ROW and OnPitRow.com are sponsoring Champs, Chumps and Sleepers for the 2008 season.  There are some terrific prizes up for grabs and you can even set up your own leagues and play against a group of your own friends.

Sign up today and set up your team.  Steve and I will be playing, so you know you won’t finish last.

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