NASCAR SPRINT Cup: SOUTHERN 500 at Darlington Raceway ~ Saturday 5/09/2009 7:00 pm/et ~ FOX

Jayski.com, various others ^ | May 6, 2009 | NYTexan

[WestCoastGal]

Thank you - someone made it for me. It has my screen name from another board.

I won’t say what I’m thinking about any chance of winning at Darlington. I am pretty much resigned to running like crap until Mr H does something about the car & set-up problems if you know what I mean!!

[WestCoastGal]

It’s just a terrible thing for his family - very sad.

[WestCoastGal]

I think to get that ride you have to be famous or win a contest. I’m still trying. :)

Although I’m still really trying to get that ride around from a certain driver which is probably 10 million to 1.

[happydogx2]

My bad. I thought you had said you rode around 10 laps pre-race last week.

Talk about age catching up with you...

Telling A Man’s Age by His Trips to Wal Mart

You are in the middle of some kind of project around the house mowing the lawn, putting a new fence in, painting the living room, or whatever. You are hot and sweaty, covered in dirt or paint. You have your old work clothes on. You know the outfit - shorts with the hole in crotch, old T-shirt with a stain from who knows what, and an old pair of tennis shoes.
Right in the middle of this great home improvement project you realize you need to run to Wal-Mart to get something to help complete the job.

Depending on your age you might do the following:

In your 20’s:
Stop what you are doing. Shave, take a shower, blow dry your hair, brush your teeth, floss, and put on clean clothes. Check yourself in the mirror and flex. Add a dab of your favorite cologne because you never know, you just might meet some hot chick while standing in the checkout lane. And you went to school with the pretty girl running the register.

In your 30’s:
Stop what you are doing, put on clean shorts and shirt. Change shoes. You married the hot chick so no need for much else. Wash your hands and comb your hair. Check yourself in the mirror. Still got it. Add a shot of your favorite cologne to cover the smell. The cute girl running the register is the kid sister to someone you went to school with.

In your 40’s:
Stop what you are doing. Put a sweatshirt that is long enough to cover the hole in the crotch of your shorts. Put on different shoes and a hat. Wash your hands. Your bottle of Brute Cologne is almost empty so you don’t want to waste any of it on a trip to WalMart. Check yourself in the mirror and do more sucking in than flexing. The spicy young thing running
the register is your daughter’s age and you feel weird thinking she is spicy.

In your 50’s:
Stop what you are doing. Put a hat on, wipe the dirt off your hands onto your shirt. Change shoes because you don’t want to get dirt in your new sports car. Check yourself in the mirror and you swear not to wear that shirt anymore because it makes you look fat. The cutie running the register smiles when she sees you coming and you think you still have it. Then you remember the hat you have on is from Buddy’s Bait & Beer Bar and it says, ‘I Got Worms .’

In your 60’s:
Stop what you are doing. No need for a hat anymore. Hose the dog crap off your shoes. The mirror was shattered when you were in your 50’s. You hope you have underwear on so nothing hangs out the hole in your pants. The girl running the register may be cute, but you don’t have your glasses on so you are not sure.
In your 70’s:
Stop what you are doing. Wait to go to Wal-Mart until they have your prescriptions ready, too. Don’t even notice the dog crap on your shoes. The young thing at the register smiles at you because you remind her of her grandfather.

In your 80’s:
Stop what you are doing. Start again. Then stop again. Now you remember you needed to go to Wal-Mart. Go to Wal-Mart and wander around trying to think what it is you are looking for. Fart out loud and you think someone called out your name. You went to school with the old lady who greeted you at the front door.

[WestCoastGal]

LOL that’s hysterical!!

Although I would never go out of the house without makeup no matter what age. That’s been a thing with me since 20’s.

A friend of mine runs around in her sweat pants and sloppy shirt, no make up and says “now that I’m retired I don’t have to worry about all that stuff” I just hold my opinion close to the vest there. :) Oddly enough she’s a real clothes horse and when she goes to her p/t job she’s all decked out.

[happydogx2]

We’ve gone full circle at our house.

My son now tells me “dad, your not gonna wear THAT downtown, are you?”

I haven’t forgotten my underwear yet, either, at least not that I can remember.

[WVKayaker]

I had not read that b4, but am on my way to WallyWorld in a little while.

WCG, great graphic. You have a real dedication to your guy. I have too many favorites. Kyle (of course, but I have shown my dream team earlier) has lots of competition. That is what keeps us watching, and griping. I'm skeered that Kyle may burn out like last year. The difference is JGR. He's definitely showing his oats right now.

Junior will get it together, or leave, and restart again. He is a tough competitor, but he also has "something to prove". I hope he gets better direction to his pit...

Good racing to all!

So please, spare me the complaints. No, the race isn't on Labor Day weekend, which the Southern 500 occupied from its founding in 1950 until California was handed that schedule slot prior to the 2004 season. It absolutely does not matter. The fact that so many people seem fixated on an arbitrary calendar spot, blind to the joy this revived race name provides to so many people, is beyond ridiculous. It's selfish. It's as if some NASCAR fans want everything their way, and if they can't have it, they dismiss it entirely out of hand. They forget that virtually all relationships -- husband to wife, president to prime minister, sports fan to sports league, owner to dog -- require some degree of compromise, and compromise means giving something up to get something else. In this case, that means giving up a certain weekend to get a revived Southern 500 at a revamped Darlington.

But that's not good enough, so they're going to sit in a corner and pout. Rather than complaining about the date, race fans might want to notice the millions of capital improvement dollars that parent company ISC has showered on Darlington, making an old, beloved race track viable again. They might want to see that Darlington is doing everything in its power to pay tribute to a past many think the sport has forgotten -- from bringing back the Southern 500 race name, to painting the track walls retro red and white again, to unveiling a Johnny Mantz trophy named after the first Southern 500 champion and featuring images of other past Darlington winners. They might want to realize that the renaissance of this once near-obsolete facility is one of the best things happening in NASCAR today.

No, instead they're going to pine for the days when the temperature was 100 degrees, and it rained every other year, and the grandstands were three-quarters full, and it was hard to determine which was worse -- the tropical storm warnings, the sunburn, or the gnats. They're going to get hung up on the one thing Darlington has lost rather than celebrate all it's gained.

"In a perfect world, we would be on Labor Day with the Southern 500. Heck, in a perfect world it never would have left. But it's not a perfect world," Browning said. The Labor Day experiment in California was a flop. Now, it's Atlanta's turn. Given that Darlington has defied so many grave expectations, it's not outside the realm of possibility that Labor Day might be one day be returned to its ancestral home, a place many people strongly believe it rightly belongs. -Inside Line by Dave Caraviello

[Captain Jack Aubrey]

There is now a post on the Times Dispatch website alleging that Grubb shot himself.

[azishot]

Just went to the site and read that. My God, his poor family. My condolences go out to them.

[WestCoastGal]

To say this year has been painful is an understatement!

Except for Talladega, and particularly last week, it’s been torture listening to the radio during the race.

Unfortunately, I guess I’m a glutton for punishment as I’m drawn to it every week hoping against hope the damn car will not cr@p out or even start out like cr@p. Jr Nation is literally divided over this.......some are infuriated with the CC and the other end of the spectrum has on their rose colored glasses refusing to believe anything is wrong. I’m somewhere in the middle, and now find myself posting on two boards and mostly on the CC sucks board. lol

The pitcrew was pitiful at Richmond. Makes me wonder if the changes [not sure if it was the new guys fault] they have made are just throwing whatever they can at this team in hopes of fixing it without thinking it through. If they don’t know the difference in a round in the trackbar or putting bite/wedge in the car then they need to work on that the 3 hours a day that the 48 crew does. I know the 24/48 have one pit coach and the 5/88 have another. Even the CC who is usually silent said they were acting like a bunch of morons. Jr said nothing!!

The ‘other’ shop has always had problems, Casey Mears and even Kyle didn’t run well there compared to his Gibbs results now. MM’s team somehow has figured something out so far.

Note: Mike if you’re reading this I’m sorry - but ya’ll need to fix it. PLEASE!!

[happydogx2]

Are you a Cubs fan too?

With my limited knowledge (this is only the fourth year I’ve followed the sport but I’m extremely intent on learning & haven’t missed a race in two years) I submit that Dale Jr. has the physical tools and w/Hendrick the resources. A change, ala Kyle Busch, can challenge you with positive results. Why hasn’t that happened w/Jr.?
What has changed and what has remained the same.....crew chief. IMHO.

This is from a Newbie, kinda.

[SouthTexas]

Sad, very sad.

[La Enchiladita]

Thanks for the ping, NYT!!:)

Great pic of Yarborough and Logano together, wow. I’ll bet Joey thinks Cale is REALLY OLD.....haha.

I have a problem being nice so won’t be on thread during race, heehee.

[Captain Jack Aubrey]

Its official, Grubb died from self-inflicted gunshot wound:

http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/sports/motor_sports/article/GRUB07_20090507-003204/266291/

[SouthTexas]

First call I got this morning was to inform me that an old friend had died from this crap, not guns, drugs.

There but for the Grace of God...

[WestCoastGal]

It’s pretty much boiled down to that person because it’s his responsibility to make the car run no matter what. But, as I stated in my other post we think there’s a problem in that other shop which has never been successful in which case as Mr H said at the first interview when Jr joined HMS it will be his fault [we will blame him]

Although the Jr haters are now Jr. Stating that he’s not a championship caliber driver. I wonder how he won the Busch championship along with a lot of wins, top 10’s, top 5’s at DEI when it was still running under his father’s influence?

There’s still no one better or more exciting to watch at the RP tracks.

[WestCoastGal]

I should add at least we have a great paint scheme this week, should look great under the lights.

[WestCoastGal]

Sprucing up the haulers for the parade tonight

The track is waiting

[WestCoastGal]

Thanks Max, haulers on parade. [must be a camera phone]

[WestCoastGal]

Brad running the 25 this week, but he has to qualify.