Racing in New Hampshire

Welcome to the world where we pahk the cah (but never in Harvard Yard, no parking there, but you might find a spot in Harvard Square). As I drove home from work yesterday I saw the 88, the Motorsports Authentics and Nationwide haulers going in the opposite direction. You get this smile come across your face when you see those big bright haulers. Maybe in SC it's not such a big deal, but up here in the Northeast, we only get to see them twice a year. At least we hope we'll get to see them twice a year. With all this talk that a weekend could leave NH, NASCAR fans in N.E. are a little nervous. We sell out twice a year, every year, but we New Engladahs don't count.

Sure, we have the Pats, the Sox and the Celts and NASCAR doesn't get a lot of play in the news around here, but it is growing. With the Fenway Sports Group and Boston Ventures spending millions on racing, there is more of a connection to this area and racing.

So please NASCAR, let me watch the haulers go by twice a year.

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Rowdy Imitators

So I get finished listening to our favorite Nascar podcast - Rowdy! and I'm looking through my playlist on the iPod and decided to listen to the ESPN Nascar podcast, hosted by an old friend of Rowdy. Their was a lot of similarity, like talking to their fantasy expert, or the sounds of the air-wrench between driver segments during the news. ESPN has a bit more resources than Rowdy, but despite the bigger budget they can't hold a candle to the Rowdy podcast.

I have approx 50 podcasts on my iPod. They are all different genres, so I have something to listen to depending on my mood. There are sports shows, faith shows, fitness, comedy, and tech BUT there are only two shows I absolutely have to listen to each day. One is Buzz Out Loud, CNet's daily podcast on tech, and the other is Rowdy Racing News. Even with Sirius radio in my car tuned to the Nascar channel, I still have to get my Rowdy fix each day. The radio is fine, but the Rowdy bunch is like hanging with a group of friends talking about Nascar (that is if I actually had friends who liked to talk Nascar. I'm in MA where the Red Sox and Pats are a religion) .

Rowdy does something that "Old Media" would never do, have a conversation with the nation. Old media talks "at you", not "to you".

So keep it up guys, you're often imitated but never duplicated.

• 11 Comments
• podcasts, copycats, ESPN

Darn you Rowdy <shaking fist>

I knew I shouldn't have taken the bait, but like the dumb fish I am, CHOMP.
The Pocono Shuffle. Uggg. I'm sitting at work, trying to get something done, but have one browser open with the shuffle running. I've just past level 10 and I'm already hooked. I remember being addicted to Tetris, and seeing blocks falling in my sleep. Freecell and Spider Solitaire (two suits) were my next two big obsessions. Playing Metroid pinball on the DS or Guitar Hero 3 on the Wii only lasted a little while until my teenagers started killing me.

Enough blogging for now, time to go complete level 11. Darn you Rowdy.

• 3 Comments
• games shuffle

Too many sponsors?

Hi Nation! I hope you are having a merry holiday season. I'm listening to Rowdy on my new iPod (which I actually bought myself. If you want a good present you have to do it yourself.)

So did I hear Brian France correctly in his state of NASCAR, there are more sponsors than they need? Does he mean NASCAR has stolen more sponsors than they needed away from the teams? Didn't we see teams fold this year because they couldn't find a sponsor? Aren't drivers like Boris Said and Robby Gordon foaming at the mouth for a sponsor? Can someone explain to me what Brian meant? Or are you as confused as I am?

• 5 Comments
• Sponsors

Racing On Ice

Good morning Rowdy Nation.
This morning, as I was scraping off my windshield I was thinking about my first taste of racing. Cars on Ice. My uncle was part of an ice racing group where once the lake was frozen enough, the would plow off a track, and race. As kids, we'd be all dressed up in our snowmobile suits and boots, sitting on the hood of the hauler trucks and watch the races. He was pretty good at it too. He had a whole room full of trophies, many of them bigger than me (at the time).

So I'm curious, any Rowdy ice racers out there?

• 2 Comments

Bye Bye NHIS

Hello NHMS,
The New Hampshire International Speedway is no more, welcome New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Along with the name change, I suspect a lot more will change with NH. First speculation is that one of our race dates will make it's way to Los Vegas, even though NH has sold out every cup race ever driven there. People are also wondering if they'll change the configuration of the track. Word is that it's bedrock under turns 3 and 4 so changing it won't be as easy as you might think.

What I really wonder is what the Fenway Sports Group is going to say. They sunk all that money into Roush Racing, with one of their objectives was to build up NASCAR in the Northeast. Boston is one of the big dollar markets, and then to take a race away from the area will be a little blow to that effort.

I guess we'll just have to "settle" for Patriots games in the fall, or a Red Sox game or two.
-G

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ESPN, Please STOP IT.

Dear ESPN,
I'm not sure you realize, they only pay points at the end of the race. Rusty even comments "I need a calculator because these points keep changing". No, they don't Rusty. They've changed a lot of rules, but they still don't pay points on each lap. Kurt Bush didn't move into 11th place at lap 135. Dale Jr didn't pick up points at lap 250. Stop it.

PS. You really should show the start of the race. How do you go to commercial just before they start the race and miss the start? Did you not know it would only take a lap or two to get the stalled car off the track?
Sure hope you don't miss the kick off for your Sunday Night football games too.

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Rowdy 2 point OH!

What a shock to see the new website. It will take a while to get used to this. It's not keeping up with my typing, and I'm having a heck of a time finding things, but we'll figure it out.
It does look nice. Time to poke around to see what else is new.

• 2 Comments

Last week to nominate Rowdy for Podcast Awards

If you haven't done so yet, please go and nominate Rowdy Racing News for the Annual Podcast Awards in the sports category. You can only nominate once, so please join in and get the show recognized.

Vote at http://podcastawards.com/index.php?option=nominate

Category: Sports

Podcast : Rowdy Racing News

URL: http://www.rowdy.com/podcast.xml

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Let's Nominate Rowdy

Hey Gang,

The annual PodCast Awards nomination are now open. These are the "big" awards given at the media expo in CA each year.? Let's help our favorite Nascar podcast take home the trophy.

Head on over to the nomination page and nominate Rowdy Racing News in the sports category. Don't put it in multiple categories or your vote will be thrown out. But DO nominate them once a day from now until July 15.? I'm a day late and a dollar short, but everyone should be able to get in a nomination for Rowdy over the next 14 days. No cheating or you'll loose 100 points and $100,000.

Recap:

Vote at http://podcastawards.com/index.php?option=nominate

Category: Sports

Podcast : Rowdy Racing News

URL: http://www.rowdy.com/podcast.xml

once a day until July 15th. - Start your nominating.

-George?

• 0 Comments