Full Throttle

Stupidity:

It’s the start of “Fontana Week” as NASCAR Nation treks west to the Left Coast. As expected the media has awoken from it’s slumber and one of the first to note the mechanized circus coming to Fontana is the Island News.

It’s a very long article extolling the virtues of the speedway and a few of the less than desirable effects on the local scene. The overall gist is captured well in the headline: Speedway’s brought modest benefits to locals.

One passage attributed to local businessman Steve Davenport caught my eye and is the reason why this is listed under Monday’s Stupidity:

Arrowest Properties, for example, is urging people to boycott the speedway. Owner Steve Davenport is among a group of property and business owners protesting a plan to change the name of Cherry Avenue to Speedway Boulevard. No formal proposal for the change has yet been made to the county.

Davenport, whose office is on Cherry, said the speedway’s promised benefits haven’t materialized.

“A lot of people thought there would be a lot of business generated, but that hasn’t happened,” Davenport said.

(Boldface mine) Lets see if I have this straight, Davenport calls for a boycott over a street name change and because whatever benefits originally promised have happened.

The street name change is trival BS, there’s no kind way to put it. His other complaint raises this question: If he boycotts the speedway, and it’s even marginally successful (not that I think it will be), it would harm whatever financial benefits gained since Fontana opened.

Keep in mind what occupied the land under Fontana before the speedway was built. It was the site of the former Kaiser Steel Mill and the land sat unused for years. The place was so polluted it cost $70 million dollars just to rid the place of toxic waste before anything could be constructed.

Apparently that’s not good enough for Davenport. He wants to boycott. I say go ahead. Better yet Davenport, you live in one of the most litigious States in the most litigious countries in the world. File a lawsuit. It should fly about as far as lawsuits against Korean dry cleaners for $54 million bucks.

Twaddle:

I knew it was coming. After an exciting Busch event in Bristol Friday it was as sure a thing as it gets. As sure as 5-day rainy weekends at MIS. Almost.

Expectations were sky high. So when Saturday’s Cup event was flagged off with only a couple yellows in the first half, 300 plus laps of Kasey Kahne unchallenged, then Edwards unchallenged for the final 166 laps and the win everyone broke out their whine.

Forgotten was the universal praise by drivers and fans alike for the repaving job after Friday’s event.

A significant portion of “Fandom” blamed the very same repaving job for what they perceived as a boring “parade.”

The vast majority of the rest laid blame on the CORN that ran Saturday. What’s interesting to me, and what many have forgotten, is the same charges were laid after the spring Bristol event. “It was boring.” they said. (ignoring the tight Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton and Jeff Gordon finish.)

(WOW, look brilliant minds think alike! And facts don’t lie.)

So what’s changed? There was a slight tire change from the spring, the right sides were the same, the lefts this weekend were a bit harder. However there weren’t an overabundance of tire problems that would create a “boring race.” In fact if there had been there may have been more crashing and banging but that’s water under the bridge. (Or rubber on the road if you prefer.)

My take: Both Bristol events are 500 laps on the fastest half-mile in existence (opposed to half that on Friday night). Nearly every event there is a “parade” for the first half of the event. You have to finish to win remember.

Some drivers might be stupid, but they’re not dumb. 250-300 laps riding around is, and always has been the way to win at Bristol. Gas, tires and brakes are all saved for the last dash to the flag.

And then there’s The Chase Factor. For drivers in say 8th thru 13th in the point standings all of the above comes with the “premium” of a screw up and you’re Chase History. With only two events left to make up for whatever overaggressive behavior relegated a driver to 39th it tends to make everyone a bit more skiddish (No pun intended) than the spring event.

Sorry some felt Saturday was “boring,” but too bad… there’s valid reasons for it and it ain’t the track or the repaving job.

Call it the nature of the beast. And twaddle.