Greetings drivers. We're here, having just M/T'd out, at the Sapp Bros. off US77 in Fremont, NE. There are long wide angled lanes for parking and a back dirt lot for additional "late night" arrivals. Another facility FJ needs to model themselves after. We just competed a 1400 mile trip from just off the Canadian border in MT. We did stop in Gillette SD and I picked up a new package of underwear from Wal-Mart. At least I'll have my "you know what" covered until I get home, hopefully by the end of this week.I spent a lot of time this weekend listening to NASCAR on Sirius 128. Are you following this whole "deal" between NASCAR, Nextel and AT&T Cingular? I'll talk about that later. This week was the $1 million dollar (no points) "all star" race at Charlotte, NC. I found the whole "affair" boring and didn't even bother listening to the rest of the race after the "Latin stallion" Columbian Juan Carlos Montoya crashed right after the start of the race. Then there is the whole "deal" between Jr. and Teresa. If you don't follow NASCAR, you really should, because it is so much more than a bunch of "rednecks" going really fast "round and round" a oval paved track.
Another driver, when I was fueling somewhere off I90, came up to the truck - he noticed my load of Canadian lumber - said "isn't that great - your delivering Canadian lumber into the US and it's going to be assembled by Mexicans." I laughed. When I pulled into the receiver in Mead, NE, I shut the engine off, opened the door, and there was Latin music blasting in the truss assembly building. All the workers there were young Mexicans. All the forklift drivers are white. I guess I really don't care - everyone should have a decent job - I just wonder where all the white non-union factory workers have gone? I can't believe they've all moved on to better paying office jobs somewhere.
So, back to NASCAR. It is the feeling of the acourtesyflush staff that NASCAR is not stock car racing. NASCAR today is like the US Department of Agriculture "racing" its fleet cars. In its effort to "level the playing field" and sell exclusive rights to Nextel, Goodyear and Sunoco, NASCAR has injected one huge amount of Novocaine into the sport. There is only one car - only the decals are different. NASCAR threw Ford, Chevy, Dodge, and Toyota in a large barrel and out came a 3400 lbs. vehicle called the "Car of Tomorrow (COT)."Even the tires and fuel are all the same. This is NOT competition! What this is, is boring! That's why the Jr. - Teresa "deal" is more interesting than the races. That's why watching a 11.5 second pit stop is more interesting.
What we need is a good ole down 'n dirty General Lee - Boss Hog kinda race. No DOT type bureaucracy where the "leadership" is more interested in inversion, restrictor plates, pit stop speed violations and exclusivity agreements for everything from cell phones, ring tones, clothing to tires, fuel and telecommunications. NASCAR is so afraid of 225 mph, just like CA and Illinois are of trucks going faster than 55 mph. With all the NASCAR crap in the cars, how many crashes were there this weekend? No more or less than if the cars were moving at 200 or more mph. I've said it time and time again, accidents will happen no matter how many rules, laws and regulations you implement. NASCAR needs a fast car using Exxon fuel with Bridgestone tires in a Chevy truly designed and manufactured by Chevy!
NASCAR is choking on their own greed. Was this weekend's race on television so truckers (100,000 or more are NASCAR fans) could watch? NO, it was not broadcast on FOX, but on Speed. I don't even know what Speed is! I asked the wife and she said we get it on our cable service (for an extra fee) somewhere in the 200 channel area. Are they kidding? Apparently not. I could listen to it on Sirius, but despite the fact that I pay a monthly fee for the service, the NASCAR channels have tons of commercials!
Nextel has one of these exclusivity agreements and was pissed when AT&T wanted to put its logo on the #31 car. Nanny nanny boo boo - waaaaaa! Nextel said we're the official cell service of NASCAR - go screw AT&T. Sat. morning a judge said it was ok (at least until another court opens on Mon.) to put the AT&T decals (which owns Cingular) on the damn car. More distraction from the races. Do the fans really care about all this corporate sponsorship bullshit. I don't know. Jeff Gordon #24 is sponsored by Dupont - a Fortune 500 chemical company based in Delaware. I don't care one way or another unless they're doing something stupid like polluting the planet. I hate Home Depot so I won't support Tony Stewart. I like Lowe's, but I can't recall now who their driver is. I use both UPS and Fedex. How could you not "like" the Army so Mark Martin is ok.
Listen, I've just got another load and perhaps I've gone on too long. You get the point, without "real" competition, NASCAR is just not that interesting. It's funny that folks say truck drivers always want this and that - what they want is to be paid fairly for all that they do. I'm surprised NASCAR doesn't charge to flush using water provided by their corporate sponsor Propel. Many drivers can't even afford to go to these races. NASCAR needs to bring back real stock car racing! What they need is a real big courtesy flush!
(photo from http://worldofstock.com )
