Rembering Kenny Irwin Jr.

I saw RacerX's blog about Kenny Irwin, Jr. and it prompted me to dig out some photos I took of him at Bristol 10 years ago.

Enjoy

Rest In Peace Kenny.

PS. I could not figure out how to attach the photo to the blog so they are on my page.

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• Kenny Irwin. Jr.

News from the HK Hillbilly

Life has been busy, and I have not spent much time with the Rowdesians. I’ve been listening and lurking, but have not been taking time to blog.

In the past 6 weeks, I’ve moved to a new flat, had multiple visitors from the US and travel at work, and my kids visited from the US.

My wife managed most of the move, but I spent a lot of time getting ready for the new flat. We did not move very far, but getting all the sh*t we have accumulated over a 3 year period from one space to another can be daunting. Even though we moved a month ago, I’m still trying to get it all put back in the place where it belongs.

My kids were her 2 weeks ago. My son and daughter and her friend arrived here May 24. We traveled to Guangzhou and Macao with them. My daughter and her friend left on the 31st and my son stayed a week longer. Both he and my wife went back to Kentucky on June 6 so I am baching it again for a few weeks.

Last weekend was the Hong Kong Intl Dragon boat races. After a long day of racing, The Hasbro men’s team finished 3rd in second division. Not a great finish, but we took home some hardware.

Needless to say, I have not had much time to play close attention to the site. I jump on a few times a week to see what is going on, but have not taken time to write anything. I do listen to the podcast, but it is usually 3 or 4 days after the fact. I have not had time to watch any of the Busch races or listen to the Cup races in the last 5 or 6 weeks.

I’m getting ready to watch the race at my home track in Kentucky. I’m jealous of my brother and sister-in-law and our friends who are at the race. I sure wish I could be there.

Keep up the spirit Rowdy Nation. I’ll be lurking.

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News from the Chinese Hillbilly

While sittng in my hotel room here in Beijing scanning the news on the internet, this thing caught my eye and I had to comment.

From The TimesMarch 31, 2008

Max Mosley faces calls to quit as Formula One chief after ‘Nazi’ orgy

Max Mosley, one of the most powerful men in world sport, was under pressure to resign as boss of Formula One’s governing body last night after he was exposed enjoying a Nazi-style orgy with five prostitutes.

Jewish groups condemned the behaviour of Mosley, 67, whose father, Sir Oswald, was the leader of the British Union of Fascists and a friend of Adolf Hitler.

Mr Mosley was caught on video by the News of the World with five women in an underground “torture chamber� in Chelsea, where he spent several hours allegedly indulging in sado-masochistic sex.

The Oxford-educated former barrister, who is president of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), reenacted a concentration camp scene in which he played the role of both guard and inmate.

You know that this sort of thing would never happen with the good ole boys in NA$CAR. I mean, can you imagine Mike Helton or Lyin' Bryan in this situation?

BTW, you know the definition of a Redneck Pervert? Somebody who likes sex better than NA$CAR.

Just a random musing

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The Physics of NA$CAR

I found this interesting article in the NY Times this morning concerning The Physics of NASCAR for you engineering geeks (like me). The link can be found at :

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/12/science/12tier.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

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2007-11-17 Views from the Chinese Hillbilly

I have been derelict in my reporting duty to all my Rowdy friends. I’ve been listening to the Podcasts (usually 2 to 3 days behind), and I have been checking out Rowdy a couple times a week, but I have not had much time to interact. I have been so busy in the last 3 – 4 months with work that I spend my down time with my wife and other things that I need to do outside of work. Thanks for everyone who has dropped me notes, and I appoligize for not getting back to everyone on a regular basis.

Now some musings on the recent NA$CAR goings on.

I think it is cool that someone has a chance to win 5 races in a row, but I am un happy that it is the Terminator. I just cannot pull for him, even though it it is pretty much inevitable that he will be the repeat champion of the Nextel Sprint Champion. And even though I am still a diehard Dale Earnhardt fan, I will acknowledge that Gordon has won his 6th Winston Cup Championship. I know, everyone says we old timers need to get over the changes to the points program, but I think that Gordon makes a valid point that the changes to the points makes it difficult to compare the records between eras. Under the modern day points systems, Gordon has scored the most points using the Winston Cup Format and he should be recognized as the 6 time champion. Maybe we can find someone to do to the Terminator what Ernie Irvin did to Davy Allison 1n 1992 and take him out to cost him the title (maybe the weapon now that Jeff green has lost his ride). I was happy that Kulwicki won the 1992 Winston Cup, but it was sad that Davy was punted late in the race at Atlanta by Irvin and cost him the title. And less than a year later, both Kulwicki and Allison were taken away from the fans. I guess that the great spirit needed to fill out his race line-up in the great beyond!!

I heard on the Podcast Mr. Ashley Judd campaigning for more Cup races to be shown live in Europe. Hey, how about adding the Far East to that list so I can watch Cup races live!!

My parents visited us here in HK in October. My dad and I watched the Charlotte Busch Race on Sunday morning using the internet feed. It had been a while since I had the opportunity to watch a live race with anyone who actually cared what was going on (apologies to my wife who just does not understand my obsession with racing). My dad and I fought for years as oldest sons and fathers do, but it was great to share something that we both like to do and I also know, that do to his advance years and our distance in living areas, won’t be able to do many more times. It really brings home the need to enjoy things as they occur and take advantage to spend time with family when you can.

My wife heads back to the US on Monday, so I should have more free time to spend on the internet without finding time to share the computer. That is a small concession to living by myself again for a few months.

BBFN

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Photos

BTW, I di get to repost some of the phots that were lost in the transition. I cannot find my race photos that I had posted and the files must be in the US so I'll have to re-post them at Christmas.

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2007-10-07 Views from the Chinese Hillbilly

I know I have been AWOL for a few months from the blog pages. It has been a busy world here in the toy business here in HK since I got back from vacation. And my wife came back to HK from the US about a month ago and, for some reason, she expects me to spend time with her instead of on the computer. I don’t understand why, but I’m not complaining. I’m glad my bachelor days are over (at least until Christmas time).

I have not got the hang of navigating the new Rowdy. I have not seen many complaints, but then maybe I don’t know where to go to see them. I have been trying to go on at least once a week to see what is going on with my friends, but the community seem fractured to me since the changeover. This old dog does not like to learn new tricks.

I have not been able to watch many races since Bristol. I do enjoy my sleep, so I do not get up in the middle of the night to watch the race. I did get to listen to the last 60 or so laps of the race from Kansas due to the rain delay. I guess I’m OK with the Biff winning, but I do not understand what Zippy was thinking with leaving Tony out there with the damage to the car. Since I could not see what was going on, I have to rely on the radio broadcast and it sounded they just gambled and lost. But they are still in just about 100 points back and that can be overcome with the races remaining.

I might get up a little early to catch the end of the ‘dega race. I’m not a big fan of the plates, but I do enjoy the drama and I’m interested to see how it shakes out.

Well it is time to go eat dinner.

Hope it is not too long between the next blogs.

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2007-07-02 Views From The Chinese Hillbilly

I'm so glad to back in the USA. Hey that would be a good line for a song.

I'm having problems with my sleep patterns. Hopefully I will adjust in the next day or so. I'm typically and early morning riser, but 4 am is too early to wake in any time zone.

Got back to KY Saturday night. My wife and son and his girlfriend took me to Skyline Chili on the way home from the airport. That should hold me for a day or so.

I missed the race yesterday. I spent the day at my parents house and my dad does not nave cable so I missed the race live. Dad is from the old school and operates under the theory that he is not going to pay to watch TV. I had set the VCR so I could watch last night, but when I got home, the tape I used was defective so it did not tape. So even when I'm in the same time zone, I still missed the race. I just watched the race highlights on NA$CAR.com, but it is not the same. I got home after the Busch Race was over, but I did get to watch the replay on ESPN yesterday morning when I woke up early. Enough bitchin', on to Daytona.

Looking forward to my 2 weeks off. My wife and I are going to see Lyle Lovett tonight, and I'm looking forward to the Independence Day festivities.

Reporting live from the Bluegrass.

HK Marty.

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2007-06-28 Views From The Other Side Of The World

It has been a busy week in the world of NA$CAR. I know I'm a little late on my comments, but I have been traveling and this is the first chance I have had to get to the site and post comments. Ward Pablo and Aric Almirola's first wins, Fendergate, and Kyle Petty and the bad language.

Ward Pablo, congrats on the win. Everyone suspected that it would come on one of the road courses. I did not get to see the race, but I listened to the last 25 or so laps from the office and I found it exciting just listening to the radio. Donnie Wingo played the strategy game to the max to pull out the victory and I always enjoy the strategy that teams use to win a race. That is why I always get tired of the diatribes that result from someone winning on fuel mileage. I would have been just as happy if McFrosty Tips had won using the same strategy. As I listened to the race, I thought the race was Smoke's when he pitted when he did and where he came out. But he got out-foxed by 5 other teams. That what makes it exciting.

Using another strategy, the 20 team won on Saturday "giving" Aric Almrola his first victory. The Hamirola team did things a little unorthodoxly (is that a word?) to pull off an exciting victory. I feel bad for Almirola, but it sounds like the sponsors got their way in the sponsor's home town. It is a shame, but welcome to big time racing

Since I did not listen to the race on Sunday, I did not get to hear Kyle use the bad language or Bill Weber's automatic groveling because someone may have heard a bad word. As the sage George Carlin once said, there are no bad words, just bad intentions. Things said in the heat of battle need to be taken in context. And if people are offended, then get over it. SH T Happens If you cannot explain to your kids that people sometimes say things in anger or surprise that they do not mean, then you have other issues with your kids.

Ah, Fendergate. What can you say, the boys got caught. The fines and the points won't hurt them. I can say that it couldn't have happened to a more appropriate bunch. There has been a lot of talk about the cheating. But NA$CAR has always been about exploiting the gray areas of the rulebook. I see this as just another case of optimizing the design to exploit the gray areas. That is what engineers to, push the envelope. In my opinion, NA$CAR has to say to the teams, that if they find something, make them fix it then change the rules to make the gray area black and white. These guys just need to accept their medicine and go on.

As promised, I've managed to upload a few pictures from the Dragon Boat races from last week.

I'm headed back to the US on Saturday for 2 weeks of RNR. Hopefully the family will allow me to fuel my addiction and I'll get to watch the races when I'm home.

Ta Ta for now.

Reporting live from China.

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2007-06-20 Views From The Other Side Of The World

Well, the results are in. After a long day in the 92 degree heat, the races are over. Our men's team finished 6th out of 40 teams in the Men's B Chinese division and our Women's team finished 3rd in the Plate Race in the women's division. I've posted a video I took off the DVR from the news last night. My first attempt of editing a file from the DVR. Our team gets about 3 seconds of air time about 1:30 into the video.

I'll get some photos posted this weekend when I get them to a manageable size.

Reporting live from China.

HK Marty

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