THIS WEEEK’S STORY LINES:
1. AIR FORCE LEAVES WOOD BROS. FOR GEM #10: (jayski.com)
2. DEI-GANASSI MERGE OPERATIONS:(espn.com) (gannassiracing)(AP)
3. BB&T SPONSOR #33 RCR CHEVY IN ’09: ( RCR pr)
4. RED BULL TEAMS SWAP DRIVERS FOR LAST RACE: (redbullracing pr)
5. BRIAN FRANCE’S TAKE ON SWITCH TO ESPN2 FOR FINAL MINS. OF PHX RACE: (jayski)
6. KESELOWSKI TO RACE @ HOMESTEAD
7. AAA SPONSORS HORNISH IN ’09: (penske racing pr)
8. FURNITURE ROW RACING RUNS A LIMITED SCHEDULE IN ’09:(furniturerowracing)
No I haven’t completely gone off the deep end! There really is a corelation between the NYC Naked Cowboy and NASCAR. How can that be, you say?? Well folks, take a closer look at that picture. He is standing all alone on the island in the middle of Times Square in New York City for everyone to see!! He is unique and has no peers! He is vunerable yet he journeys on with total disregard to personal security!!! That, my friends, is just exactly what the new NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion is!! He is unique, has no peers, extremely vunerable, yet he sojourns on with total disregard for his own personal safety! And in December, he will in fact be on a stage for all to see at the NASCAR Banquet at the Waldorf-Astoria!!!
It is very obvious that the last man standing for this year’s Chase will be Jimmie Johnson. He has but one race left before he marches into NASCAR history. All the #48 Lowes Chevy has to do is finish 35th or better and he has the 2008 Championship lock, stock, and barrell!! In the 60 years of NASCAR racing there has been only one individual to win three consecutive championships in a row, that being “the Timmonsville, S.C. Tornado”, William Caleb (Cale) Yarborough. That feat was accompolished in the period of 1976-1978 with the car owner and crew chief, Junior Johnson!
COMMENTARY
This reporter has been following many forms of racing, Indy Car, NHRA, local short tracks dirt and paved, as well as NASCAR for more than 45 years. What the entire #48 Lowes HMS Chevy team is about to accompolish is of historic proportions! It is a dynasty pure and simple, similar to the NY Yankees in baseball. You might remember those days with “the Mick” Mickey Mantle (my boyhood hero), Yogi Bera, Whitey Ford, Elston Howard,”Moose” Skowron, Roger Maris, and Bobby Richardson. The Boston Celtics with “Big” Bill Russell, Bob Cousey, K.C. Jones, and Sam Jones were equally a huge dynasty in the NBA. These two sports franchises stand head and shoulders above all the rest in “stick and ball” sports!! They are what legends are made from! So observe this weekends event, soak this up, because it may not come our way again for another 30 years!!!
The one thing that we, as fans, learned this season was a reinteration of the old story of “The Hare and The Tortise” Just because somebody starts off the season fast and dominates for 2/3’s of the season, doesn’t necessarily mean that they are going be there in the end!!! Ol Kyle Busch started off “smokin”hot”, but completely fell apart in the Chase! It was bound to happen, a team just absolutely cannot dominate all 36 races in the season, PERIOD!!! Somewhere, someplace, somehow, mistakes and bad luck will come to haunt you!! It happened just as the Chase started for the #18 M&M’s JGR Toyota this year. Will ol Kylie, aka TLVW, be a factor next season, you better bet on it! That team will be better next year than they were this year, if for no other reason than “SPERIENCE”(a DWism for experience)!!!
This off season will be a time of great turmoil and upheaval in the garage. It started this week with the announcement of the DEI-Ganassi “merger”. The sponsorhip dollars are tight and the teams are feeling the pinch. There are still rumblings in the garage of Petty and GEM looking to merge. There are even Penske merger rumors!!! The possibilites are truely endless!!!!
GOD SPEED, JIMMIE JOHNSON!
Stay tuned, ’cause God knows it is going to get interesting!!!!