First this week: A brief (and rare) personal note. Friday Nancy Buckwalter went home to the loving arms of her Savior. Nancy was the sister of my friend Creig Ballantine and mother of local 410 Sprint Car ace Timmy Buckwalter. She was the beloved Matriarch of the Buckwalter Racing team. I was privileged to have …
Discussion as to whether last week’s Vegas Cup race was a good one or a poor one did something that the race itself failed to do. It evoked passion. As we discussed last week the hype about the (one of the new) race packages might have had some of our (and I include myself in …
Some weeks a topic for my weekly column is self-evident and screams for attention. Some weeks (Hell, most weeks) I hear more of a whisper….or the sounds of silence. Thus this week I present some random notes based on topics I scribbled down in my notebook over the course of the weekend. In Summation: The …
Okay, perhaps that’s a bit bold. But starting to solve NASCAR’s problems could indeed be as simple as 1,2,3. Problem solving 101 teaches us the first step to solving a problem starts with admitting there is in fact a problem. While our dear buddy Brian France is well….um, away, dealing with his “problems” (congenital idiocy …
NASCAR is perhaps unique in mainstream sports in that they schedule their biggest event of the season as the first event on the calendar. As such the connection between success in the season-opening Daytona 500 and the rest of the nine month long grind that makes up the whole rest of the schedule is tenuous …
The Advance Auto Parts Clash has taken some criticism over how difficult it was for drivers to pull out of line and make a pass. How do you see this playing out over the remaining Speedweeks events? Isolated issue or recurring problem? Clayton Caldwell: It’s an issue we’ll see throughout Speedweeks. This package has been …
Many of us were caught off guard by the recent announcement of NASCAR’s tough new policy towards drivers and teams whose cars are found to be cheated up…or shall we be politically correct and say “legally challenged” after a race victory. For those of you haven’t been following the latest racing news (and admittedly with …
Since its inaugural running in 1959, the Daytona 500 has always been circled in red on the annual NASCAR schedule. (Though it’s now the season opener, the 500 didn’t become the first points-paying race of the season until 1982.) From the 1960s onward, the Daytona 500 (the highest-paying race of the season), the Southern 500 …
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. -William Shakespeare Secondary education in the United States certainly has changed since it was the bane of my existence back in the 1970s. While officially, English is still our most-spoken language outside of some 7-Elevens and Dunkin’ Donuts, I’m told that they aren’t making kids …
1. The Championship 4 is set, and it consists of arguably the four best cars over the course of the season. Who do you see claiming the title next week? Wesley Coburn: Kyle Busch wins because, even though Kevin Harvick has the best average finish of the four championship drivers at Homestead-Miami Speedway, either he …
I’ve seen so many things, I ain’t never seen before, Someone turn out the lights, I don’t want to see anymore. –Three Dog Night There are tons of colorful stories about the ultimate showman and circus owner P.T. Barnum, some of them apocryphal. One I’ve heard quite often involves a circus he ran out of …
After about 25 years of writing about NASCAR racing, I have my rituals for the night before an event down to a science. Print the starting lineup. Print the points standings. Dig out the sheet that shows what points the various positions pay. Make sure there are adequate cigarettes to get through the day and …
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