5 - Ford's problems stemmed from being a one-team pony-car (pun intended) effort - they backed Roush and no one else. Ford needs to get Petty-Gillett's cars - all of them - into victory lane to prove the program is serious about winning.
4 - McCain looks more right as time goes on. Obama's ill-fated nationalization of GM and Chrysler hasn't produced anything (what recovery has happened here is because of the market, not Obama) and the last time I checked the law of the market trumps the delusions of nationalization. And I'm not sure that AP naming Johnson Athlete of the Year - an award the mainstream sports media has mocked - can help here.
3 - Johnson's fourth straight title would have meant something in the days before the technology arms race spiraled out of control; today it means nothing because he never overcame anything as far as resources, technology, or politics - indeed his entire stock car career is a case study in benefitting from the above-mentioned, being Herb Fishel's protege and slotted into a stock car career at Fishel's behest in 1998 with the inevitable path to Fishel's designated championship team - Hendrick Motorsports.
2 - We learned several things from Talladgea -
2A - NASCAR has no business policing yellow lines or push-drafting.
2B - Mike Helton insulted racing by issuing a bluff at the drivers meeting that had zero chance of enforcement.
2C - 58 lead changes among 25 drivers is superior to anything any other track can offer.
2D - Ryan Newman was never in danger of flying into the infield.
2E - Carl Edwards was never going to land in the grandstands.
2F - Drivers are not qualified to offer solutions to non-existent problems because they refuse to accept responsibility - "We're forced to block, etc." - and they are so enamored of the points-racing mentality that they don't even know what racing is about anymore.
1 - Mark Martin was a decent story, but as with Johnson a lot of positive is lost because Martin did all this with the sport's monolith, Hendrick Motorsports. Had he succeeded with a smaller team then this story would be far more impressive.
Darn it - got cut off at
Darn it - got cut off at 10-6. Anyway -
5 - Ford's problems stemmed from being a one-team pony-car (pun intended) effort - they backed Roush and no one else. Ford needs to get Petty-Gillett's cars - all of them - into victory lane to prove the program is serious about winning.
4 - McCain looks more right as time goes on. Obama's ill-fated nationalization of GM and Chrysler hasn't produced anything (what recovery has happened here is because of the market, not Obama) and the last time I checked the law of the market trumps the delusions of nationalization. And I'm not sure that AP naming Johnson Athlete of the Year - an award the mainstream sports media has mocked - can help here.
3 - Johnson's fourth straight title would have meant something in the days before the technology arms race spiraled out of control; today it means nothing because he never overcame anything as far as resources, technology, or politics - indeed his entire stock car career is a case study in benefitting from the above-mentioned, being Herb Fishel's protege and slotted into a stock car career at Fishel's behest in 1998 with the inevitable path to Fishel's designated championship team - Hendrick Motorsports.
2 - We learned several things from Talladgea -
2A - NASCAR has no business policing yellow lines or push-drafting.
2B - Mike Helton insulted racing by issuing a bluff at the drivers meeting that had zero chance of enforcement.
2C - 58 lead changes among 25 drivers is superior to anything any other track can offer.
2D - Ryan Newman was never in danger of flying into the infield.
2E - Carl Edwards was never going to land in the grandstands.
2F - Drivers are not qualified to offer solutions to non-existent problems because they refuse to accept responsibility - "We're forced to block, etc." - and they are so enamored of the points-racing mentality that they don't even know what racing is about anymore.
1 - Mark Martin was a decent story, but as with Johnson a lot of positive is lost because Martin did all this with the sport's monolith, Hendrick Motorsports. Had he succeeded with a smaller team then this story would be far more impressive.