Who among us does not like Nascar?

How do you make an acronym lower-case?

Oh jesus, you must not read much from the BBC News site. They do that to EVERY acronym, and it makes my blood fucking boil.

Okay, not every single acronym, but the ones that have wordlike pronunciations. Unesco, but not CIA.

"There's this delightful American comedy show about the Korean War called 'Mash'."

"Rofl"

I love NASCAR. My first race was a couple of years ago at Fontana, the um...SONY HD 500? I had a blast. It was loud and smelly and exactly what I thought it would be...and I loved every minute of it! We even tailgated, and the folks were very friendly, and really not much different to tailgating at the football when you get down to it.

I find though, I actually don't enjoy watching the racing on tv as much as I did when I saw it for real. And being a rookie, I seem to mainly get interested once the Chase starts...but gimme time!

My favorite driver is Jimmie Johnson...because he was driving the Spongebob Squarepants car at the Fontana race. I wish I had a better reason than that...but I stand by it!

Today I downloaded Joe Satriani's soundtrack for the Xbox NASCAR game and checked out Mario Batali's NASCAR tailgate cookbook.

My friend Say got to like it because she always had races on when she did her housecleaning.

this was sort of it for me too - it was good background noise for doing work or cleaning. you don't really miss much by not actually watching most of the time.

Johnson will join the President in the Oval Office for a meeting and photo, a yearly tradition for whoever wins the NASCAR Sprint Cups Series championship.

"Can Carl Edwards do it again, or can David Reutimann close the huge margin that left him the runner-up last year in what is now the Nationwide Series?"

that's just wrong.

Nationwide-league, even

"Jack" Villeneuve, huh? Isn't that a basketball team or something?

maybe Tony's sister could get him to cut the hair?

hey what happened to Tony Raines? I liked that guy.

Alex in NYC (this is a guess. [this is only a guess.])

I can't remember if I ever responded here, but suffice to say -- this was very accurate guess. Nascar is for morons.

http://trackbunnyfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/078-723509.JPG

Vegemitegrrl, I love Chad Knaus, Jimmie Johnson's crew chief. Tyra had Jimmie Johnson on her show last fall (it's hilarious - search youtube).

If Hendrick Racing were an office, Jimmie Johnson would be that guy at work who somehow sucks up to the big boss (Jeff Gordon) at every possible chance but is so deadpan about it that you just have to tip your cap.

Abbott, I also have Mario's NASCookbook.

Ryan Newman "wrote" a cute book on the dogs of NASCAR. Proceeds go to animal recue.

I was bummed "Front Row" Joe Nemechek was bounced to third in qualifying and has to race on Thursday. He's a one man team with a one man dream.

They would, if Mr. Earnhardt could get to the final lap before hatching his engine.

That happened at Daytona in the early 90's right? I seem to remember that.. as well as another year @ Daytona where he fucked up his car hitting a seagull

So since there's no more NFL I should pick a driver to root for.. but I have no idea who most of these guys are..

See above re Junior and Newman. No special reasoning re the latter, who was a semi-random pick, but he's a younger guy who's not a star, but with his fair share of top tens, and might or might not make the Chase. He's also writing a 'column' for Y! Sports this season (not that there aren't others who 'blog'). Maybe Carl Edwards would be a more interesting choice? I don't know who would be closest to home - one of these guys is from OH near PA but don't remember who.

Were you previously someone else, brownie?

I used to play play ILX fantasy baseball (lawrence_kansas)

Hello LAWRENCE_KANSAS! I found you!

Hi!

when jim thome broke my heart I fled to the Browns

daria-g there are several drivers from Virginia ... most competitive one right now is #31 Jeff Burton

I like Burton, but he's from the Southside and not the youngest guy around. Maybe Hamlin is the one for daria? The guy I was thinking of earlier was Dave Blaney, who's more Western Reserve-ish and maybe a little too low profile.

ok this picture - http://www.newsweek.com/id/109579

holy shit Kasey Kahne's middle name is Kenneth, WTF

wait until you meet Kale and Kole

I wonder if they listen to KUBE

I was just hoping they never get anything monogrammed.

How about Ryan Newman?

http://www.adrants.com/2007/02/kasey-kahne-bends-over-for-allstate.php

Ryan Newman, Dave Matthews fan? - http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/5659466/NASCAR-on-FX-preview:-10-Laps-with-Ryan-Newman-

hey guys, is our boy marcos ambrose making any waves? is the team he's running with any good? it's hard to follow nascar here if you don't have pay TV. (or a job - they play the races on a monday morning here due to the time difference.)

we had nsacar for about 10 years down here after a well-known businessman and former racer built an oval at the road circuit he owned. all the cars were basically old ones imported from the US, so the local variant (auscar) got more popular. both forms have kinda died off now; it's a shame, they were good to watch. road racing is the dominant form over here though, always has been.

he's running in the 2nd-tier series that I pay no attention to, dunno

Hm Sam Hornish was born in the same city I'm currently living in so he'll get sympathy. He'll need it as his car was 3 or 4 mph slower than the pole sitter.

his transition hasn't been the smoothest

Who's Chasing for the Gabbneb Cup? Glad you asked! After Gordon:

Martin - test pilot enthusiasm (and haircut) with real graciousness; too old/part-time to focus on, but you can't not like the guy
Edwards - I like the I'm-just-here-to-race, man demeanor - seems like a pretty smart guy under the business plan; also, reminds me of a really good KS-MO dude I went to school with (not named eddie), at least when he isn't wrecking someone
Shrub - I guess I like the excitable younger guys? his gawkiness and frustration/resignation are kinda laughable/cute, and the kid's got talent
Stewart - hot-tempered heartland culture of complaint guy should be far from my type on paper - Gordon's much more my kinda poster boy - but he can be pretty charming and generous and seems so committed to racing without borders and is too good a driver not to like
Johnson/Knaus - the better half might be a robot, but as above, a sharp one, and i like the understated sense of humor and, well, manners, and anyway I'm too nu-Nascar not to go along here; Dave Matthews and Kenny Chesney?
Said - fuck the ovals; his time coming, any day, don't worry bout him, no
Montoya - fuck the haters; viva la open-wheel reconquista
Burton - more admiration than affection, but seems like such a good dude; my idea of a concession to the roots

on the bubble
Villeneuve - if he makes it this year, I gotta root for a guy named Jacques; could become a favorite
Truex - mid-Atlantic-ish guy can do exciting things under green, but kinda boring outside the car
Raines - if he can get a ride
Junior - a gimme
Sadler - reminds me of dudes I hung out with over summers in DC years ago - v different, but fun; more interesting off the track tho
Mears/Gustafson - too grayscale for his dayglo car, but the flipside of corporate is sharp, and (probably) talented
Reutimann - sunshine coast Jesus freak who I ignored last season turns out to be modestly articulate and could be of interest in the B---- Series this year?

Martin Truex Jr. is not boring. He's just chill.

Yes, Marcos Ambrose is on the radar. His Kingsford Charcoal fire car caught on fire in one of the Busch races last year -- I wish I could find tape but NASCAR Now went to town on it. Haitch, I think you can stream races online at NASCAR's web site.

Marcus Ambrose was also leading the Montreal road course race last year until . . .

[Interior, ESPN studio}

ESPN desk (referring to Robbie Gordon): Rusty, have you ever before seen a LAPPED car spin out the leader, drive past the BLACK FLAG, and then do a VICTORY BURNOUT next to the race winner?

[Cut to Rusty Wallace, trackside]

Rusty Wallace: . . . No.

It was punk rock. Zero respect. Suspended for the next race and fined about ten gazillion driver points.

We should talk about burnouts some time.

hahaha, that is hilarious.

I like those Wagnerian (ahem) burnouts against the wall under the lights.

burnouts are never, ever, not good.

Have you ever been to a race? What is it like?

I think this video of Fontana captures the flavor pretty well:

Hollywood Nights - NASCAR Style by Low Budget TV

The green flag start in this video is about as thrilling as a Duke-Carolina basketball game in overtime.

Does anybody here follow drift racing? All I know is that they get style points for the drifts and that they use stock Japanese subcompacts.

I saw The Fast and the Furious III: Tokyo Drift. Does that count?

Yes. Do you recommend?

That probably depends on your tolerance for the "American hick in v sophisticated foreign country" act. I liked it alright. Also this is prob cradle-robbing but the lead is pretty cuet.

Thanks, my tolerance for that kind of thing is sky high.

http://img2.timeinc.net/people/i/2007/news/070723/jeff_gordon320.jpg

haitch,

Throw another Tasmanian on the barbie, it's the Marcos Ambrose Kingsford Carbeque video.

Michael McDonald??? who plans this shit?

I like 1959 just fine, but that thing started not great and threatened to get worse before I turned it off.

I think I have to scratch the 5 car off my list; dude just doesn't give me the right feeling.

lolling hard at the carbeque!

so how about ryan newman then?? i was out and missed the 500 today but still. (I have relatives named Newman so I figured what the heck, if I have to pick a driver.) :)