Happy29BudFan's Blog

What a weekend! It was a HOT and an enjoyable weekend. I do want to start out by apologizing to any Kyle Busch fans that might happen to read.

This weekend was a pretty special weekend as Kansas Speedway started their season with the Camping World Truck Series O’Reilly 250 Saturday afternoon. The race itself was fairly short with not to much excitement, UNTIL the last 10 laps. It was great to see someone like Joey Coulter drive the truck til they lose it! I will tell you I did nothing but cheer for Joey to pass Kyle Busch for 5th place. It was also great to see someone fight for what they deserved and did it cleanly and with grace. The only thing bad to come out of that situation was Kyle Busch either congratulated Joey on the 5th place, or was the usual Kyle Busch that was pissed off because someone took him out of the top 5. To Kyle Busch, please note my tweet over the weekend. Also note that I don’t honestly see how you have fans or can call your self a role model for kids of any age. Your actions and comments are that of a 5 year old with no competence what so ever. As far as what happened this weekend with the altercation between you and Richard Childress, it has been a long time coming. The only reason Richard did what he did was nobody else in the garage had the nerve to do it. I now realize why Rick Hendrick let you go, but I cannot for the life of me figure out why Joe Gibbs even tries to cope with you in his camp. This has to be the worst I have ever seen any driver act at any level. I truly do hope that one day in life you look back and realize how good you have it. You have a beautiful wife, which her attitude is as soily gracious as yours, a lifetime of achievements that will be hard to meet or beat, and a life that every other driver moving up in life dreams of.

Not to take anything away from Clint Bowyer and his spectacular, dominating win, which was needed for him!

That same night, the Nationwide Series STP 300 took place in Chicagoland Speedway. Who would have thought we would have two great races in one night!??? The race wasn’t to exciting until the last lap when Justin Allgaier coasted to another career win by edging out Carl Edwards by about 3 car lengths and Trevor Bayne by a second. Sadly, Brad Keselowski, the winner of the Kansas Speedway STP 400, blew an engine about half way through the STP 300.

The next day at Kansas Speedway, we had tickets to the infield, not quite pit passes, but passes that allow you to go back to an area where you have access to drivers, pre-race inspections, and autographs. Last year, I happen to fall upon a spot on the side where the Camping World Truck Series usually parks in the garages and got quite a few autographs from the Nationwide Series Drivers and Crews as well from this very same spot. Now mind you, we do have a media center, but if it gets to crowded with fans behind barricades, they will make the drivers actually go through the media center, out the back and to the garages where the Camping World Trucks would park. I stood in my very spot today, and seeing also kindly fist-bumping, Travis Kvapil, Paul Menard, and a few others. After the drivers meeting I was down more towards the garages and when everyone started dispersing, I saw Chad Knaus. I found a set of 2008 cards, one of them being Jimmie Johnson. I was hoping to get Chad to sign it, with Jimmie following, but to Chad’s demise, I asked him once, ran back to my other spot, actually faced him and asked him for the autograph, he looked me in the eyes and had the mouse balls to walk away. My reply to him was, Thank you very much sir! Sadly, I am sure I am not the first one to be shunned by him, as he joins my list of shunners: Michael Waltrip(2 years ago) and Ray Evernham(2004 Indy Brickyard). Thanks again Chad, another reason nobody likes you or Jimmie. Hell, you might as well jump in the shallow boat with Kyle and paddle down the river of sorrow. LOL! Anyway, I waited a while and happen to have Kevin Harvick and Gil sign my hat. So be sure come October, my spot will be one I might have to take a lease out on.

Congrats on a huge win to Brad Keselowski! He kept freaking me out everytime he would cime by with the engine cut off. Thank goodness he was able to get restarted each lap!

With this being my first hometown blog, I thought I would try to take some notes during the race for the blog, but as unexciting as these races were, there wasn’t really much to take down to put in here. I did happen to grab a few quotes from Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick during the race. After the start of the race, Kevin told Gil that the car was tight, tight, tight. Gil’s response to Kevin was “close your mouth”, Kevin said “my mouth is tight”? Around lap 138 when Tony was fighting Denny Hamlin for the lead, Denny had one case of blocking, which we know Tony does not approve of. Once Tony was able to get up to Denny, Tony told his spotter, Bob(@EyeInTheSky14 Twitter), “I am going to wreck the fucking idiot”. The next thing you hear is Bob telling Tony “not today”. The next lap, 141, Tony took the lead and led about 20 laps, but couldnt keep up with the leader as a late call to pit came at the end of the race.

With the update today from Nascar on the penalty regarding Richard Childress, do you think probation through December 31, 2011 and $150,000 is excessive? Although Richard Childress accepts responsibility, he had no remorse for his actions. My opinion sticks, and I am forever a fan of Richard Childress and Richard Childress Racing. Thank you Richard for all you have done for the sport.

Overall, this was a great start to the Kansas Speedway Nascar season! Thank you to Richard Petty and Kansas Speedway for allowing fans to enjoy this moment!!

As always, as this is my page, I am expressing my opinion and only my opinion. Please feel free to drop a comment or add me if you are on twitter, @29TC14. Everyone have a great week!

This had to be the best ever kick-off to an opening season at Kansas Speedway! With some help from a new-found friend, Summer(@SummerDreyer, Twitter), we were able to enjoy a wonderful 20-25 minutes with Brett Butler, Driver of the #47 Fuel Doctor in the Camping World Truck Series, and his Wife Rachel and her Mom and Sammy(@sammyandres w/Speed) during a Tweet-Up.

I truly admire and respect any driver in any series that takes time out of their schedule to spend time with fans. Sure after the races we werent sure where to go, who to look for or how long to stay to nix the idea, but we stayed the course and accomplished!

We have had season tickets for 6 years now, and after all these years going to the IZOD Indy race I have listened to Danica and her spotter. I was so confused at first of how they communicate about the cars in front and behind them. I have never heard, until Saturday, +1, +6, and was at one time thinking they have the wave-around set up. Well, I found out that +1 and +6 defines the car length between you and the car behind you, where in Nascar you hear 3 back. I also learned that there is no wave-around and when you look at the scoring pylon and compare that to the position on the track in Indy, I was confused(and no it doesn’t take much!). The Indy race went by pretty fast and was kind of boring this year. I think the rain delay made it worse for those that went out Friday for an Autograph Session that ended up getting canceled and did not know until they showed up.

Today, Sunday, had to be the great, good, and ugly of the day!

The great part was being able to go in the infield and get Jennifer Jo Cobb’s autograph and chat with her for a few. Due to a late qualifying wreck yesterday, Jen was delayed in making the tweet up. We came up with an idea to hopefully reschedule during the Fall weekend!

It’s really cool to sit and watch or follow a local Driver that deserves anything and everything that comes her way. Jen is very humble and takes nothing for granted in life. Jen is running for Rookie of the Year as her first full year in Camping World Truck Series. Jen did had a moment in the race that made you feel bad for what happened today by stating that “We can’t win this thing, but we can salvage some points.”

The good part about the CWTS race today was the rain. It made for some pretty good, close racing with a “Green” racetrack. Everyone was side by side and the racing was awesome.

Finally, the UGLY! I truly want to point out that NASCAR today stood for Not A Sport where Communication is A Responsibility. I say that due to the fact that a spotter, who’s name and team will remain nameless, either needs to be fired or better their communication skills to that driver. How do you NOT tell the Crew Chief that the Pace Car is coming around and will put you a lap down? Once that was done, their race was still in grasps, until some bad karma and bad driving skills of other drivers. I know there is a lot to pay attention to, but when you pit, communication is the key to staying on the lead lap!

Speaking of other drivers, I am going to call out Ron Hornaday Jr. I don’t know what his issue(s) is/are, but he needs to get his head out of his rear and turn around his season. Granted losing Rick Ren to Kyle Busch Motorsports was a loss on his and Kevin Harvick’s part, but there is NO need whatsoever to cuss at your team the way you did. How would you feel Ron if someone blasted the F-bomb in every response to your statements?

These drivers need to learn to control what they say when they have children listening to them. I know it’s hard to control the emotion, but come on boys!

For those that read this I would love to have all opinions thrown at me as this has been the first article I have written in months!

Thank you again to Summer, Brett, Rachel, and Sammy! You all have made a memory that will last a lifetime!

It was good to see 43 “Mad Men” and “crybabies” take to the track to pick up where they left off in Atlanta.

I am sure I am not the only one that was tired of hearing about Carl v. Brad, which we know was not Brad’s fault.

Anyway, I would like to personally congratulate Justin Allgaier on his first, and as he said “many more to come”, win. It was a pleasure to see someone in the Nascar Nationwide Series that is well deserving of that all elusive win, win.

I would also like to mention that I was proud of Brad Keselowski not pushing the envelope with Justin to get the win himself. That may have just earned both drivers a bit of respect.

I don’t think, however, that i have seen so many problems on tires and engines in one weekend on a short track. I think Goodyear should keep records, and an idea of what they assemble for tires each year and each track, which I am sure they do, but there is no excuse for this past weekend. There had to have been a dozen or more blown tires that caused accidents and broken parts, that gave contenders a chance to be non-contenders. For example, in the Sprint Cup, the right front became a issue for Kyle and Denny as they both blew a tire and hit the wall coming out of a turn. Kyle did not know or find out until after the race that they had a broken shock. Had the tires not been an issue, maybe it was the camber? If they were the only two teams that truly had tire issues, and the other teams did not, could Denny and Kyle have had to much camber in the right front to hinder tire performance?

Of course, no one on ESPN or in the booth mentioned it, but it might come up in Martinsville. The call at the end of the race could have been made either for two or four tires and anything could have gone wrong on that pit stop. I am honestly tired of seeing a driver, yesterday, Kurt Busch, be so dominate, and lose the race. It just doesn’t seem fair for someone like Jimmie Johnson to come out of no where and lead the last 6 laps and just sweep what Kurt Busch had done all day under the rug.

I hate to say it, but expect the same thing this Sunday in Martinsville. Look for Jeff Gordon or Jimmie Johnson to be the dominating duo. I am thinking we are going to see a better race this weekend, but the two tracks cannot be compared.

If Lance can keep Dale’s head on, Junior might just have another outstanding performance and move in to the top 5 in points, but will need to lead a good portion of the race to maintain the move up!