Did you email Rusty?

You need to listen to today's podcast (06-25).

I did, and he didn't have a clue what I was talking about.

• 2 Comments
• Rusty, rusty the engineer

My First Blocked User

Can you guess who it is? After reading several posts that appear to this seasoned political veteran to be nothing more than bait from nothing more than a troll. As others have stated - it appears he is attempting to incite someone to attack his character so he can start a personal crusade against them. I have zero respect for those types of people. Jazman, you are now on my blocklist!

• 5 Comments
• blocked user, jazman, inciting attacks, troll

NASCAR suspends 2 in discrimination probe

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - Two officials named in a $225 million racial discrimination and sexual harassment lawsuit against NASCAR have been placed on administrative leave for violating company policy, The Associated Press has learned.

The officials, who were not immediately identified, were sent home from Kentucky Speedway on Friday evening, a person familiar with the NASCAR investigation told the AP. The person requested anonymity because NASCAR's investigation is ongoing.

Mauricia Grant filed her suit Tuesday, alleging 23 specific incidents of sexual harassment and 34 specific incidents of racial and gender discrimination during her time as a technical inspector for NASCAR's second-tier Nationwide Series.

Grant, who is black, claims her October 2007 firing was retaliation for complaining about the way she was treated on the job from her January 2005 hiring.

NASCAR sent a team of investigators from its human resources and legal offices to Kentucky this weekend to interview those named in the suit. Of 27 interviews conducted away from the track Thursday and Friday, two officials were found to have engaged in behavior that violated NASCAR policy.

Their leave is indefinite, but paid.

"We take this issue very seriously, and we're going to always do everything we can to maintain a professional work place," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said.

NASCAR chairman Brian France has not addressed the validity of Grant's claims, but said the former official never made a formal complaint or followed NASCAR policy in reporting harassment.

Investigators have failed to uncover a single instance where Grant complained to her supervisors or other NASCAR employees about the way she was treated, and NASCAR plans to continue defending the organization against the lawsuit, the person familiar with the investigation told AP.

Grant has said she followed the chain of command all the way to Nationwide Series director Joe Balash, but stopped short of telling human resources because she was reprimanded by that department for a separate incident two weeks after lodging her complaint. She said she viewed the reprimand, which included a threat of termination, as retaliation for complaining to Balash.

Named in the suit are Balash, assistant series director Mike Dolan, two supervisors, NASCAR's senior manager for business relations, the human resources director and 17 officials who were Grant's co-workers.

The two employees placed on leave Friday were among those 17 officials. Balash, Dolan and the two supervisors remained on site in Kentucky for Saturday night's Nationwide Series race.

Grant's lawyer, Benedict P. Morelli of Morelli Ratner PC, called NASCAR's action "unbelievable and astonishing" but said it was too little too late for his client.

"It seems to me that maybe they should close the barn door before the horse runs out, instead of after the horse runs out," Morelli told AP. "This is what you do when you are in a defensive posture. They should have known this was going on."

In her suit, Grant claims she was referred to as "Nappy Headed Mo" and "Queen Sheba," by co-workers, was often told she worked on "colored people time," and was frightened by one official who routinely made references to the Ku Klux Klan.

In addition, Grant said she was subjected to sexual advances from male co-workers, two of whom allegedly exposed themselves to her, and graphic and lewd jokes. She says she has e-mails and text messages to support her claims.

One of the officials named in the suit told AP earlier this week that Grant never once complained about how she was treated in time the two spent together away from the track. Mike Wilford also said she was a willing participant in graphic and lewd jokes and has "twisted" events to benefit her suit.

Morelli said NASCAR's action Friday, coupled with Wilford's admission that questionable behavior existed, bolsters Grant's claims.

"All this does is prove that she was telling the truth," Morelli said. "It's proof positive that it was going on, and it's too little too late."

Wilford, who is Hispanic, is one of two officials named in the suit who no longer works for NASCAR. He said he left the company willingly to pursue another career in Arizona. Grant claims he was fired.

A second official, David Duke, was fired roughly six weeks ago. Duke is listed numerous times in the suit, and allegedly sent Grant graphic text messages, but NASCAR said his termination was unrelated to Grant's claims.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/8242880/NASCAR-suspends-2-officials-in-lawsuit-investigation

• 3 Comments
• NASCAR, lawsuit, suspension, Kentucky, investigation

The Bif' – Buschwacker!

Stick to Cup Racing!

Well guys, as I have never been a fan of Greg Biffle I need to come out on the offensive against him. There is no doubt that he took out the 5 car with rookie aggression in lap 20 of 200 in the Busch (er Nationwide) race Saturday evening from Dover.

Biffle is one of the first drivers to complain about aggressive driving too early in a race from rookies, but he must think that it is not a two way street as he decided to be aggressive early against a rookie who was just minding his own business on the track.

This is another reason why Buschwacking Cup drivers should not be racing in the Nationwide series. Give the rookies and younger drivers a chance to develop their talent. They can’t do that very well when a Cup veteran put them into the wall in the first 10% of the race.

The term “Buschwacking� was developed in the mid 90’s by a group of regulars in the usenet group RASN and has been mentioned numerous times by Mike Joy, who was a member of that group, during Busch Series broadcasts prior to this season. It is a term that describes a regular Cup (Winston Cup, Nextel Cup, Sprint Cup) driver that frequently races in the Busch Series and takes points, winnings and experience away from the young up and coming talented drivers who are trying to develop their raw talent and transform it into actual stockcar racing skill.

As history has showed us, Roush Racing drivers have been the biggest culprits when it comes to Buschwacking.

• 3 Comments
• Greg Biffle, buschwacking, Roush Racing

Kentucky’s Dilemma

My predications on what will take place.

Over the last few weeks it has become more apparent to me why Kentucky Speedway did not receive a Cup date from Nascar. I can answer that in two words: Jerry Carroll.

After seeing and hearing him in the media during the past few weeks I realize he is a very annoying, aggressive, and slippery business man. The slipperiness can compared to a confidence man, or a used car salesman, or a vacuum cleaner salesman – someone that would appear to say whatever it took to get what he wanted.

There are some very savvy business people at Nascar and it would not have been very difficult for them to see him for what he was – someone they shouldn’t trust. So with this in mind I can see what Kentucky Speedway has never been granted a Cup date and I happen to agree with that decision. If Jerry Carroll had not have been involved in this I have no doubt that the Cup Series would already be racing at Kentucky.

The one thing that I don’t understand is why Bruton Smith kept him on after SMI purchased the track. But I do believe it was only a temporary measure put in place during the transition of ownership. I suspect there will be a new person in charge of Kentucky Speedway before the year is over. I also believe the lawsuit will be withdrawn shortly thereafter and a truce will soon follow between the Speedway and Nascar so a date from an existing track will be moved for Kentucky to host a Cup Race.

Now, the question that has been asked by everyone over the past couple of weeks – where will the date come from? Some expect it to come from New Hampshire and others say from Dover or Pocono, and others even hint at a track swap with ISC.

Firstly I don’t believe Bruton will afford to take a date from New Hampshire for several years – at least until he is paid back the purchase price he paid for it in revenue from the track, which will probably take at least 5 years.

Secondly I never thought Pocono would ever be sold, but it it was it would not be to SMI. The next question is Dover, and will SMI attempt to purchase a majority stake in Dover Motorsports, Inc., owners of Dover Downs, Memphis motorsports Park, Nashville Superspeedway, and Gateway International Raceway? I don’t see it being financial responsible to purchase four race tracks in order to get two cup dates.

Thirdly, I really can’t see Bruton Smith doing any type of track swapping in order to secure a Cup date. So the rumours of trading Sears Point away and probably ill founded.

So that brings me back to my first point regarding New Hampshire. It may not be a fiscally responsible decision to take one of Cup dates from NHIS in order for Kentucky to have a date, but it is probably the best choice that Bruton Smith has at this time to do so.

I also suspect Bruton will take the Cup date away from Sears Point and move it to Las Vegas for a second date. There is probably enough road racing and drag racing to support the facility and with rumours of the Grand-Am Series moving under the Nascar banner, it will help to increase the popularity of that brand of racing.

So here is a summary of my predictions:

1. Jerry Carroll let go from any responsibilities with Kentucky Speedway and SMI.
2. The Kentucky Speedway lawsuit against Nascar and ISC is withdrawn.
3. Nascar allows Burton Smith to move one Cup date from New Hampshire to Kentucky for the 2010 season.
4. Bruton Smith does not make a move to purchase Dover Motorsports Inc.
5. Nascar allows Bruton Smith to move the existing Cup date from Sears Point to Las Vegas for their second Cup date .
6. Nascar does not increase the Cup schedule whatsoever at least for the next five years.

• 1 Comment
• Kentucky, New Hampshire, Sears Point, Burton Smith, Jerry Carroll, NASCAR, ISC, SMI, Las Vegas, lawsuit

COULTHARD VISITS NASCAR

……but only for the day!

I just got this in my inbox this afternoon and I thought it may be of interest to some.

26 May 2008

Red Bull Racing’s David Coulthard will be heading out early to North America prior to the Canadian Grand Prix to pay a visit to Red Bull’s NASCAR team. The weekend before the F1 race in Montreal sees the NASCAR boys racing at Dover in Delaware, on a track known as the Monster Mile.

David will be a guest of the NASCAR Red Bull Racing Team, which is now in its second year of competition, racing Toyota Camrys, driven by Brian Vickers and AJ Allmendinger.

“I’m interested in all sorts of racing, but hardly ever get a chance to see anything other than Formula 1. So when Red Bull came up with the idea of shooting a promo film around their NASCAR operation on the week before the Canadian GP, it seemed like a great opportunity to go and see why this form of racing is so popular in the States.�

DC arrives in time for race day, Sunday 1st June, when he will get a chance to sit in the race car as well as sitting in on the team’s pre-race engineering briefing, before watching the “Best Buy 400� so called because it consists of 400, yes you read that right, 400 laps of the one mile track. We’re not sure if DC will stay to the very end! That’s over twice the distance of the following weekend’s Formula 1 Grand Prix.

NOTE TO RUMOUR WRITERS

Please note that David is visiting this event solely to shoot a film for Red Bull and we would appreciate it if you did not start a load of silly rumours about him switching from F1 to NASCAR in 2009. Yee Ha!

• 1 Comment

Sprint All-Star Race Summary

Play by play for the All-star race

I have to say the most ridiculous thing I seen during driver introduction was Kyle Busch wearing those welding goggle size sunglasses. Remember, the sun has been down for approximately an hour. He also choreographed his team to all take a bow together on the stage, which somewhat taunted the crowd that was booing him.

Segment 1

18 car takes the lead at the start with the first lap goes without incident. The 77 car got loose during lap 4 and rubbed the outside wall – no caution. Lap 8 the 31 car rubbed the outside wall. The 77 car had to pit on lap 9. The first segment ended without much excitement – the 18 lead the whole way with the 16 car in 2nd place by 2 seconds.

Segment 2

After a very uneventful first half of segment 2, the 18 car develops an engine problem and loses the lead to the 99 car. Segmented ended with 99 in 1st and 88 in 2nd. The 18 dropped back to 6th place. The vast majority of TV cameras and commentary alike were on the 18 car while it was falling back through the field. Unfortunately we were unable to see many other battles on the track or to see the leader running their fast laps.

Cars were allowed to make repairs during the intermission and they restart in the same positions in which they finished segment 2. During the intermission the 18 crew took off both valve covers in hopes of repairing the engine problem, but were unsuccessful. The loudest cheer of the night was went the 18 crew began pushing the car to the garage. Hopefully this will allow commentary and camera angles to focus on other cars.

Segment 3

The 88 car takes the lead at the end of lap 1, and the crowd goes crazy. 10 laps later the 17 catches the 88 and tries to overtake him for the top spot without success. The next few laps have the 88, 17, 16 all battling very closely with the 16 taking 2nd place. The next lap he takes the lead away from the 88. Segment ends with 16, 88, 17 in the top 3. During the mandatory pit stops several cars on did a stop and go with a few getting gas only. Many others only took two tires.

Segment 4

This segments started with 48 car in the lead. The 11 car quickly takes the lead. The early going of this segment is probably the most exciting racing we have seen in the All-star race. The 11 and 9 battle back and forth for the lead lap after lap. Then the 11 car blows up. The 3rd Gibbs car with engine problems this weekend. Kasey Kahne in the 9 car wins the race. 16 in 2nd, 17 3rd, 48 4th, 20 in 5th, 12 in 6th, 77 7th, 88 8th, 8 in 9th, and 99 in 10th place.

The final segment had some good racing but there was nowhere near the aggressive driving we are used to in the All-star race.

• 0 Comments
• Kasey Kahne, Sprint All-star race

Sprint Showdown Summary

This blog is directed to those who many not be able to see the event for one reason or another. Hope you find it useful.

Sprint Showdown Segment 1

Lots of loose race cars, many hitting the wall in one manner or the other. The 7 car running in 4th place got a clear plastic piece on his front grill and began overheating. The water was pouring out of the overflow over the final four laps of the first segment. There probably was not much water left in the engine block and thus causing a great deal of damage to that engine. It is very doubtful he will be able to complete segment 2.

Patrick Carpentier and Elliot Sadler both made contact with the outside wall in separate incidents. Carpentier lost control of the 10 car all by himself and Sadler’s 19 car had some help is losing control from A.J. Allmendinger in the 84 car. Brian Vickers and David Ragan finished the first segment in 1st and 2nd respectively.

Sprint Showdown Segment 2

After some of the cars pitted the second segment started off much cleaner than the first segment. A.J. Allmendinger and David Ragan began to pull away from the rest of the field. The first crash did not occur until the 8th lap of the segment when Johnny Saunter in the 70 car hit the outside wall. Afrter the restart the 77 car tried to overtke the 6 car for 2nd place but got loose. Then the 38 car put the 41 car into the outside wall, but did not cause a caution. A few laps later the 77 car finally passed the 6 car, after a great battle, for 2nd place, then set his sights for the 84 car.

The 77 car was clearly the class of the field in segment two and could have won it if in the initial restart at the beginning of the segment he had not spun his tires. It was a great battle over the last 2-3 laps of the segment between the top two cars.

Results that count – those who advanced to the All-star race.
1st place: A.J. Allmendinger Car 84
2nd place: Sam Hornish, Jr. Car 77
Voted In: TBA – see comments below when it is announced.

• 2 Comments
• Sprint, showdown

Schrader T-Shirt

Just a quick note to say that I thought I had better change my profile picture. Sop I dug out my old Ken Schrader Budweiser shirt. As I did it just for Rowdy you may be able to see the Rowdy webpage in the background. If not, I have added a higher resolution to my pictures.

I have big hopes for Schrader at Darlington this weekend!

• 3 Comments
• Schrader, Budweiser, t-shirt, profile, picture

Busch, Fox, NASCAR - Disrespectful Superiorism, or Elitism?

OK, I waited until after a good night sleep to write about my rantings on the Crown Royal 400 at Richmond.

First of I want to state that I feel extremely bad for Denny Hamlin and the 1 team. They dominated the race by leading all green flag laps of the first 382 laps of the 400 lap event. Denny owned the race and owned the track this weekend. But with such domination surprises such as this are almost expected.

Now, for the fireworks at the end of the race. I am not going to judge or show an opinion on what occurred – only to show my displeasure with Fox, either their commentators or production management.

After the incident it only took a few moments for Fox decided that Busch was not at fault. I don’t know if this was a mutual decision that the commentators decided or their own, or it was a decision that was made for them and transmitted to their ears before they spoke. If this was the case who made this decision, Fox Management, or NASCAR? If not, then the Fox crew has just lost a great deal of my respect.

There is no doubt that Kyle Busch turned right into the 88 car causing him to spin – this is fact and is proven by the replays that were shown. The question is – was malice present or not? This incident is very similar to one that occurred at this same track approximately 10 years ago between Rusty Wallace and Jeff Gordon. The ESPN crew at that time played many different angles and speeds of replays and even zoom in on one and centered in on the hands of Rusty Wallace on his steering wheel to see when and if the hands turned right which pretty much proved what Wallace’s intent was that day. Bob Jenkins, Benny Parsons, and Ned Jarrett discussed these replays and made unbiased judgments based on them and there were very few fans that disagreed with their assessment.

Now for Fox. They were very quick to judge without the quality or quantity of the replays that ESPN carried a decade earlier. It is not the job of Fox to decide what is to be shown and what is not to be shown in order for fans to see unbiased replays and information. They did not provide any detail on the movement of Busch’s hands or the super slow motion replays that ESPN had done. They in their elitist and superiorism decided their opinion of the facts were right and that was that – the race fans do not deserve to see unbiased replays or observations.

Now Fox is supposedly the leader in NASCAR broadcasting. They have the pretty graphics and the cute nicknames for their camera angles and nick names for their favorite drivers (Wild Thing) comes to mind. Suggestion to Fox – go back of watch a few of the ESPN broadcasts from the 90’s and see why they are still the favorite broadcasters of Cup events for most long time NASCAR fans. Maybe you will learn something! You need to do a comparison of the replays of his crash compared to the Wallace/Gordon crash mentioned above and allow the fans to judge for themselves and not continue to decide for us. Preaching to them like they are children and telling them that what they seen is not really what happened is total crape and very poor professionalism. You are not the TV gods and are not there to force your opinions on the viewers, but you are there to show us all of the facts in a manner that is not biased towards your already highly unpopular opinion towards Kyle Busch.

You are intent on forcing race fans to compare the hard charging racing style of Kyle Busch to that of the late Dale Earnhardt. Firstly they are nothing alike. Earnhardt paid his dues early in his career and earned the respect of his fellow competitors with his on track and off track activities. And intimidation was not as prevalent in this as you may think. Kyle Busch has not paid any dues, but has disrespected his fellow competitors and team on and off the track.

There is absolutely no way Kyle Busch would ever have the talent, knowledge and experience on road courses that Scott Pruett has attained so far in his career. For Kyle Busch to disrespect a road course specialist of this magnitude stating “he was in over his head�, is totally ridiculous and should have been laughed at by all fans and members of the media alike. The comments just showed us another example of the immaturity and recklessness of Kyle Busch. Busch needs to be more self-conscious of his actions and comments instead of worrying what people think of the angle at which his ears used to sick out. Maybe he was afraid of earning the nickname of Dumbo!

Now my last rant to Fox is regarding Mike Joy’s comments regarding the Nationwide event the night before. Again Fox decided for the fans that their opinion was the correct opinion regarding the Steve Wallace / Kyle Busch incidents during the race on Friday night. Mike made an elitist statement stating Busch did nothing wrong on the track or on pit road afterwards and Steve Wallace was totally at fault. Mike, get off your high horse and STFU for a minute and look at the facts. They only place that Steve Wallace was out of line was when he went after Busch on the track after the incident. On pit road Kyle Busch had not call to charge Steve Wallace’s car and stick his head and mouth off at Wallace. Steve had every right to protect himself from this very aggressive behavior from Busch and grab his helmet and push him away. Mike Joy, there is absolutely no way that any so called unbiased media member can blame Steve Wallace for doing that. Your comments on this just throws more fuel on the fire of the fact that you and Fox are of the belief that you can decide or conclude anything and everything for the race fan. Shame on you for trying! Take some leasons from Jenkins, Parsons, and Jarrett – you may learn something.
To conclude, I challenge Fox to show a multitude of good quality slow motion and zoomed in replays form as many angles as possible in the same of similar method that ESPN did a decade earlier and do this as unbiased as you can be and allow the race fans to decide for themselves whether Kyle Busch actually took out Dale Earnhardt Jr. on purpose or not. You should not continue to decide the opinions of your viewers for them!

I am not a journalist, media member or elitist. I am an old school race fan that only demands unbiased and truthful media representation, especially from the Broadcast Networks!

• 6 Comments
• Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mike Joy, FOX, NASCAR, Richmond, Crown Royal 400, Elitism, Superiorism, Disrespect, Benny Parsons, Ned Jarrett, Bob Jenkins.