the Monday after the Sunday

Freely admit I am not really a fan of football, yes when asked I will admit I like certain players and will cheer for teams in some cities but my favorite reason for the end of football season is it means that my favorite season is only days away from beginning....NASCAR!!!

Not as excited for the start of this season for many reasons but hoping my favorite "Team" does well despite the fact that their leader will be absent for much of the first half of the season; not to mention he will not race in the Cup series at all after this (although I'm hoping he does a Daytona 500 run in 2017)

I get that many of my friends and family do not understand my love of auto racing and that's ok with me, it's hard to explain how my heart beats faster as I near a track, how the smell of tires and fuel is one of the best scents in the world! The sound of a revving engine makes my heart sing! And please don't even as how the sight of a certain driver in a firesuit makes me feel!!

oops, yes I did it again

8:30 pm rolled around and my eyelids rolled shut! Here's what I would have written last night!

The news wasn't great but it was better than I think many thought it would be.

My favorite racecar driver of all time and guy with the biggest heart in racing is out of racing for a while. Now it's all healing time for Tony Stewart. He was out having fun and had a freak accident; no I don't need to elaborate, the news media will beat this like a dead horse and to me that is not appealing nor is it important. Healing time is important!

As in the past one thing is for sure, Smoke will Rise just like Fawkes, yes this is a Harry Potter reference and Fawkes is a Phoenix, it's early and I'm allowed to wax slightly poetically, I am a writer or at least trying to be!

Tony is strong willed and all evidence shows he does not give up, I have all the faith in the world he will be back to finish the 2016 NASCAR season when he has healed.

Keeping Tony and his team in my thoughts and prayers as always.

February Fools Day

Ok, I don't think I did too bad in January, I blogged 24 of 31 days!

Button made it through the first month of 2016.

Harry passed his 1 year check up with flying colors and he lost 2 pounds since we saw Dr. Bo in October!

The weather cooperated today and I was able to walk before work and at lunch.

It's 20 days until the Daytona 500. I'm excited, nervous and a bit sad. I'm sure I'll be blogging about NASCAR a few times this year, ha!! Me thinks that's a slight understatement for this year, now 2017 is a totally different story, not sure if my heart will be in it a year from now. Maybe other racing will occupy my time...

and yes, I am once again rambling...I had an idea earlier but once I lost it, I need to keep a pad near by so I can jot down my thoughts...

Football Sunday

Another Sunday is coming to a close and soon I will like Sundays again. Ok, maybe I should clarify for those who tend to forget I don't like football very much and I can't get enough NASCAR.

Yes, this time of year I don't have a choice, NASCAR is still 4 weeks away and Football is currently the sport of the hour. Playoffs today and soon enough it will be the Super Bowl and all those great commercials.

I will admit I'm happy that Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos will be playing in Super Bowl 50 and as I type it does appear they will be playing the Carolina Panthers who happen to reside in Charlotte, NC the home of NASCAR!

My only gripe for the day is it's cold! yes my heat is on but I'm COLD. My friends who live north of me definitely will laugh at me, they are really cold and I have no idea what real cold weather is like, yes I do but after all these years of living in Florida my blood has thinned (haha) and I feel the cold at the slightest temperature drop.

day 4 of January 2016

48 days until the Daytona 500...

Trying to eat better, a more balanced diet, drink more water, walk more, save more...

yes, I still make no resolutions!


Blogging everyday or at least trying too...baby steps here too, scattered thoughts until I decide if I have something important to say or rather write!

day 3 of the new year

Woke up to a winters day, overcast and colder than any day since winter official began!

Hate to think that the end of my New Years mini vacation is going to end with a dreary day and I have to work 5 whole days before my next day off...dang! (holiday definitely have me spoiled)

The best thing about today is it's only 7 Sunday's until the Daytona 500!!

and yes I do not make resolutions but I am all for making changes, so I hope to improve my eating habits, to walk more, read more, be better organized...but these are not resolutions!!


Best thing about today is that on this date last year I adopted the most adorable mouthy little tuxedo kitten, 3 months old and 3 pounds...at this moment he's maybe a tad over 13 pounds, curled up in his little tepee house taking a catnap! He's been a wonderful son and he came at the perfect time.

The drought is just about over

Yeah! Racing Season is about to begin! Next weekend I will be very very happy!

Beginning on Valentines Day SPEED TV will start broadcasting 11 days of NASCAR! Starting with  a special two-hour edition of NASCAR Race Hub from Media Day. 

Practice beings on Friday, Feb. 15th. The Sprint Unlimited will air Feb 16th- this is the Race formerly called the Bud Shoot Out, but Sprint took over sponsorship of this race and who knows what the actual format will be, we should hear about that on the 14th. Feb 17 is qualifying for the 500 which is February 24th.

I know many of my friends don't "get" NASCAR or my "obsession" with this sport, yes it is a sport; even Hemingway, yes that Hemingway, Ernest is quoted as having said,“There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.” There is so much more to NASCAR then just cars going around in a circle, don't get me started because there are no circular race tracks in the sport. It's a team effort, it's emotional, it's rivalries, it's history, it's a new car, it's old drivers in new places...

Yes, I'll have more to say on throughout the season...

 

4 more Fridays...

that is until NASCAR! Being at work most of the day I missed the breaking news story that Danica and Ricky are an item, well, duh, who did hear about this last season? I think it's great, both Rookie of the Year candidates are dating, each other! Will it last? Don't have a crystal ball, not a fortune teller and to be honest it's not my concern but I hope they have a chance, why not, should make the racing interesting!

The rest of my Friday evening consists of a nice dinner with the parental units, reading, pistachio ice cream and Tampa Bay Lightning Hockey!

Football

Ok, playoff are underway and that means the season will come to and end on Sunday, February 3rd. I have to be honest I'm not much of a football fan, the main reason I like the start of football season is usually it means the start of the hockey season isn't far off, well, here it is January 13th and there is still no hockey season, oh yeah, it's suppose to start soon for a shorten season. I have watched football this weekend, the wild card games and playoffs, and all in all the games have been pretty good even if my favorite teams and favorite qb aren't advancing.

Of course the best part of this weekend was the fact that over in Daytona race cars were on the track, yes NASCAR is my sport of choice but if you know me you already know that!

first Friday, day 4 of 365

another uneventful yet frustating day at work, and yes, I smiled and kept my positive attitude, I was helpful and kind, I only vented in the safety of a supervisors office!

I saw my first Chevy SS up close, boy howdy do I like the look of that car!!! Can not wait to see it on the track at Daytona in 50 days!!!!

the Daytona 500 is

47 days, 17 hours, 11 minutes away....not that I'm counting!

the winning goes on and on!

First a 3rd Championship, the first with the new team, then a kart race win and this past weekend back to back wins in the Munchkin!

ok, I missed last week but

there's a great excuse!! Tony won the race and the championship!!!!!!!

May 15th

True Speed- True Speed, yeah, anyone who know me knows there had to be a book about Tony Stewart in this list somewhere!! His 40th birthday is this week so it seems quite appropriate that his autobiography on his early days in racing be this weeks’ book!


To be honest, he really doesn’t deserve a spot in my book list but what the hell…it's not a bad read

St. Dale by Sharyn McCrumb

I love this book for so many reasons. It is a story of stories about a journey of group of people, mainly NASCAR fans, they are taking a pilgrimage to honor the life of the biggest fallen hero of the sport. I've seen it likened to the Canterbury Tales and yes I get that. I love how each person in the story was affected by this larger than life racecar driver who to this day still influences the sport of NASCAR.

So, on the off Sunday for the Cup series, I highly recommend this wonderful tale.

5 Races down...

Wow, 5 races and 5 different winners and not one of them was named Johnson! And the new point system is so much fun, every week someone new is on the top of the standings! Love the fact that my boys are in the top 10 and getting close to getting a win...

"Car" Movies

I love NASCAR, yeah, nothing new and thank goodness the season is less then 3 weeks away! Even with that said, I still get this craving for fast cars! In an effort to amuse myself I went in search of all the “car” movies I could find, they range from comedies to suspense to cartoon to fact based movies. I also included some “truck” movies too! Oh, they are not in any order of like or dislike and I've only seen a few of these, my favorites are 31, 43, 40, 34, 19, 8, 5, 6, and 4!


1. “Driven” Sly Stallone takes on the auto racing genre with predictable results.

2. “Speed Racer” It’s auto racing eye-candy, pure and simple.

3. “Redline” Get ready for some serious car envy.

4. “Herbie Fully Loaded” Hooray for the little guy! The latest entry in the Love Bug film franchise.

5. Stroker Ace-Burt in a car sounds like a movie to me.

6. “Six Pack” a washed-up racer with a pit crew staffed by mechanically-minded orphaned kids.

7. “Days of Thunder” (1990) – Tom Cruise and NASCAR, more than enough said!

8. “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” (2006) – Will Farrell takes on NASCAR

9. “Greased Lightning” (1977) loosely based on the real-life exploits of Wendell Scott, a taxi driver and moonshine transporter who became a stock car champion in the 1960s.

10. “Grand Prix” (1966) – Four Formula One drivers are followed through the fictional 1966 season.

11. “Cannonball” (1976) – Covering an illegal cross-continent road race, the real-life material that inspired Cannonball would later be used in films like The Cannonball Run

12. “Heart Like a Wheel” (1983) – Shirley Muldowney was a real-life champion drag racer during the ‘70s and early-’80s. This is her story.

13. “Megalopolis Expressway Trial” (1988) –this influential Japanese street racing film was banned from theaters in its home country

14. “Two-Lane Blacktop” (1971)

15. “Le Mans” (1971) about the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans race.

16. “The Fast and the Furious” (2001)

17. “Bullitt” (1968) –the ultimate car chase movie

18. “Gone in 60 Seconds” (1974) – A group of car thieves only have a few days to steal 48 cars, with the final prize being a 1973 Ford Mustang Mach 1 nicknamed “Eleanor

19. “The Cannonball Run” (1981) - This madcap movie about an illegal road race across America

20. “Taxi” (1998) wanna-be racecar driver who takes a job as a taxi operator. Three sequels would follow, and it’s become one of the most successful French film franchises of all time.

21. “Vanishing Point” (1971) –former racecar driver and Vietnam vet with nothing to lose gets hired to get a 1970 Dodge Challenger from Denver to San Francisco.

22. “Christine” (1983) – a red possessed 1958 Plymouth Fury, ‘nuff said!

23. “The Transporter” (2002)

24. “Death Race 2000” (1975) – the annual running of the Transcontinental Road Race, an event where drivers can pick up extra points by running down pedestrians with their cars.

25. “Death Race” (2008) – a former racecar driver who’s framed for the murder of his wife. Sent to prison, he soon learns that the whole thing was a set-up in order to get him to compete in the “Death Race,” a brutal and often lethal competition.

26. “The Driver” (1978)-Some of the best pickup driving ever caught on film.

27. “Take This Job And Shove It” (1981)

28. “Hell Drivers” (1957)

29. “They Drive By Night” (1940)

30. “White Line Fever” (1975)

31. “Smokey and The Bandit” (1977) -The second biggest hit of 1977 behind "Star Wars." And "Star Wars" didn't feature a Kenworth.

32. “White Heat” (1949)-gang of crooks uses a tanker truck as a Trojan horse to take over a refinery.

33. “The Road Warrior” (1981) Still one of the greatest stunt fests in cinematic history, with the action centered around a few drops of gasoline aboard a right-hand-drive Mack.

34. "Convoy" (1978): based off the C.W. McCall country trucker anthem.

35. "Coast to Coast" (1980)

36. "Road Games" (1981)

37. "Joy Ride" (2001)

38. "Duel" (1971): the movie that put its director Steven Spielberg on the map.

39. "Breakdown" (1997): one of the top truck movies of all time.

40. "Big Trouble in Little China" (1986): How can you go wrong with Kurt Russell in another trucker film

41. "Sorcerer" (1977): highly intense remake of the classic "Wages of Fear."

42. "Wages of Fear" (1953): T

43. Cars-Pixar meets NASCAR

i love it!

I blogged in April 2010 about my point system for NASCAR and guess what was made official just a few minutes ago!! Oh yeah, NASCAR will now be simplier, 43 points for a win and 1 for coming in last!!!!! Ok, so NASCAR will still give points for a win, leading a lap and leading the most laps but the most points a driver can get in any single race is, sigh, 48.

not pushing panic button just yet

ok, I'll admit it, I know that it's 89 days until the running of the first cup race of the 2011 season, the Daytona 500 and yes, the 2010 season just ended 2 days ago in Homestead.

I'm fine, really, I'm not Jonesing for a race, I mean why would I? After all it's only Tuesday, the anticipation of race day doesn't start until Thursday night and I figure this week I'll be out like a light thanks to the tryptophan, you know the amino-acid found in turkey thats basically a natural sedative. Of course I'll wake up Friday wondering what time practice starts and worrying about qualifying, then pit selection...wait, that's when I'll be going through withdrawls, oh dear, what will I do???

It's not easy being green

I love Kermit and being green is the "IN" thing, green as in being responsible to Mother Earth and the environment, that is ok but some things green are not.

I woke up this morning curious if other “athletes” were as superstitious as some NASCAR drivers; ie-peanuts in the garage, no $50 bills and for certain drivers no green cars!

I don’t really care about other “athletes” or even other NASCAR drivers and their superstitions; to be honest I only care about one driver and his superstitions and how I tried to warn his “People” that the car that looked like it had a watermelon rind on its roof spilling on to the hood was a definite NO-NO. I mean seriously didn’t they remember what happened at the first race in Phoenix this year, the car was Green (although I do have another theory on that race and why he finished 23rd, which I might tell some friends if they ask!) and don’t they know his past history before his number changed to 14. There was one race that during practice he noticed the roof number was green and by race time that number was no longer green. Yes, I realize he won Talladega in a car with green on it, but the hideous predominate color was, she shuddered as she typed, Yellow. And while his driving was superior I had a hand in that win, yes, little me! The Thursday before the Talladega race I gave him my favorite Tigger pin for good luck; Tigger kept that bad luck green in its place. No such luck last night, I told friends it was the green car and don’t you know that his final words before his radio was shut off were, “It was the M#$@&* F@#$ing GREEN RACE CAR”. Lovely, just lovely for the deserting sponsor, not a chance in H E double toothpicks I’ll ever buy that product or subscribe to the cable network that adorned the offensive Green car. I’d have said it was all in his mind but he got hit from behind before lap 3! From there he battled with the car the rest of the night…

So, please dear sponsors, learn this lesson and learn it well…a certain pooh shaped NASCAR owner/driver does not like, hates, abhors, is no f-ing good driving a M#$@&* F@#$ing GREEN RACE CAR. Let me say this again…Green car is bad luck.