Tony stewart wins at Indy

Look at all the new stuff ESPN had at the race today to broadcast the show with. A whole new shop to show parts of the car for viewers and to show what parts of teh car needs fixing or is broken. Also had a big screen in there with animated video display showing an engine breaking. Then they had the cartoonic looking graphic showing the air circulating around the cars.......is pretty cool for a bit but got kinda of old fast. Didn't another station try this stuff with the NHL? Remember the streak behind teh puck when it was shot over a certain mph?
Anyway all this stuff seems fine for TV viewers I guess but I am sort of a purist who like sthe old way of showing this stuff like when FOX does it from a cutaway car.
Anyway congrats to Tony Stewart for winning and not falling to the ground after he climbed the fence at the starting line. And bad luck to Dale Jr. as he broke his engine after leading for awhile.

DEI and GINN merger

I've always thought of Mark Martin as my favorite Ford driver and that he would fit into a Chevrolet product just fine. So when came back to race with Ginn racing this year in the US Army 01 Chevrolet I thought cool. Mark has seen the light!

So Then I always thought that if Mark MArtin could ever drive for Dale Earnhardt Inc. that would be awesome! I know Mark is semi retired and that idea would never come to light but the idea of Mark Martin driving on the same team as the late Dale Earnhardt would have been awesome before Dale's untimely passing. But now that GINN Racing and DEI have merged together Mark MArtin is now a teammate of Dale earnhardt Jr. COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is just too bad Dale Earnhardt Jr. is leaving DEI for the Hendrick's stable at the end of the year! Well thats too bad DEI could have had 2 marquee racers in their stable and Mark will definately help the younger DEI drivers as well as Dale Jr. Oh well I will savor what is left of the 2007 NASCAR season and relish in the fact that a legendary driver has teamed up with a legend's son and future legend in his own right Dale Jr and squirm at the fact that Jr. is going to be racing at Hendrick's in 2008...................ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

pic from nascar.com

From Powerful Cars to Powerful Music

Only been home for a week and already it was time to go to Sounds of the Underground last night. A music festival featuring various hard core death metal bands. The concert started at 1pm but we got there at just after 6pm. A few of the bands we wanted to see were playing near the end of the show but we missed the one I really wanted to see, Shadows Fall. But we did get to see Chimara and the feature band GWAR! If you have never been to a GWAR show, well you are missing a show in itself........shock rocking has never been like this, and these guys have been doing it for over 20 years. Alice Cooper is tame in comparison to these guys. Anyway you get pretty messy at a GWAR show and seasoned veterans show up with rain coats and ski goggles!





Gwar web page

Pics on FLICKR instead of geociites.

I have added a FLICK R link to my sidebar where I have added some pics from last weekends race. Some older pics are still on my geocities website as well.

Our TRip Home

Well on Monday we slept in a bit as the races are now over for another year. (Until Pomona right honey?) Anyway as we booked a late flight for Monday based on past experiences with rain delays in Seattle forcing the race to be run on Monday. And it was close to being run on Monday as well, boy was it close I still can't believe the weather cooperated enough o allow the race to be finished on Sunday even though it was still hampered by a misting rain which cause slight delays during the day. But hats off to the NHRA for getting it done and preparing the track for driver and fan safety.
So the wife and I go do a little shopping, apparently she wants to start running with her so bough me a pair of good running shoes, hi tech stuff this running shoe business. Then we went to Southcentre mall to kill a few more hours.
something to eat and wander around a bit.Well as the day is lagging on we decide to go drop off the rental car and head to the airport where we can get The concourse is pretty cool with a big glass wall that overlooks the airport and can watch all the planes come and go. So this was a good spot to get something to eat. Is awesome to watch all the planes fly in out they are just as powerful as some of the cars we were watching over the weekend and I am always amazed that these planes can ever get off the ground! Like this 747. After we eat we head down to our gate number. you need to take a subway to get out to the satellite terminal that is there but there is another good vantage point for some more pics.
Even The air force comes in here I guess to refuel or something but was still impressed whit this air force tanker as it taxied by us. There was all types of planes that came by us from British Airways to Japanese airplanes and various paint schemes, and we were close to Alaska Airline terminal so there was tons of those plane there to.

Finally our plane lands.....Air Canada/Jazz....and we load up and go home. The flight was about an hour and we are home after another fun weekend in Seattle.

Finally We've come Back to Seattle day 3 (Race Day)

Well after an interesting night in the bar and even more interesting one in the hotel being well sick I guess you could call it I am really hungover this morning. And it is raining hard outside and the forecast looks grim and we are late getting out of bed. But we are die hard hard core race fans and part time "weather man" during race weekends and my expertise tells me the clouds are light and high in the sky and could clear and racing will resume..........hopefully. So off to the track and when we get there looks like alot of people decide to stay home as getting into the track was a breeze. whne we got to our seats we see that the track is almost dry as the Safety safari has been working all morning to clear the track. They also adjusted the schedule for pro teams with a 65 minute turn around time to get back to the staging lanes for the next round. And the sportsman categories keep getting pushed back. So a little delay before some the track is ready so we wander through the pits to watch the teams get ready and inhale some Nitro fumes. I am never really at home unless I'm at the track so this little haze in the picture of Nitro Methane fumes is a bit of heaven to me! Unless you've ever experienced it you never know what its really like. Nitro fumes will make the biggest and strongest men "cry like a baby!" (quote from Friday night's action in the bar). And plus the hair that stands up on your head when they "burp" the throttle during warmups. I tell you I love the Smell of Nitro in the morning!


11:45 am Race time!
We got wicked seats behind the starting line and awesome vantage point for taking some more pics. Check out Kenny Bernstein's new Monster Energy drink Funny Car ride.


















What a show the opening rounds were Tony Shumacher sets both ends of the track record and the Pro Stockers are flying at over 205 mph!












In round two of Funny car eliminations Kenny Bernstein is up against Ashley Force. The race is on until Ashley lost control of her car as it turned sideways and she pedaled it and it straight into the wall exploding in a fireball and turning her car out towards the center of the track again where it came to rest. her body was flung open but did not come off the chasis as the car spun around on it at the point where the body was still attached.
These pics are from the accident and the last one is from the Seattle Times front page of the sports.
















It was pretty scary to watch but she got out OK with just a sprained thumb. Her dad John had just run his race and came back up the track to his daughter's aid to see if she was OK.

The Funny Car final had John Force against Jack Eckman after rain delays and when it finally got under way John had his share of problems as well. John's car blew up near the end of the track and caught on fire in a losing effort to Eckman but he still made a big jump in the points.

The winners were after a long frustrating weekend of rain delays and a missed day of qaulifying ( which we get back next year) were:
Top Fuel Dragster----Tony Shumacher
Funny Car--------------Jack eckman
Pro Stock--------------Dave Connolly
We are planning a trip to Pomona maybe this fall to watch the last race of the Season and I can't wait. you Know it won't rain there hopefully. I feel sorry for the people in our hotel who didn't make it to Sunday's race cause they were afraid of the rain! Fans are like racers.never give up, plus I paid for Sunday's race so I was going.glad I did!
Here are some more pics:

Finally We've come Back to Seattle Day 2

After a fun interesting night in the bar last night (Meeker Street Bar and Grill) with some very addicted Nitro Methane maniacs (I thought I was the only one!) we are a little hungover but on our way to the track. One guy last night kept going on about how proud he was of Ashley Force, hell I thought he was her father at one point! Mind you everyone is proud of her if you follow NHRA on a regular basis and watch the program Driving Force. Oh well another round please waitress.They sure pour good rum and cokes in this part of the world , let me tell you!
Anyway after checking the NHRA.com website in out hotel lobby's free computer access we see that NHRA is running on two qualifying sessions today so we are excited to get there. And the weather looks good for racing. Cool and overcast, perfect race conditions for record setting runs! I think this guy breathed too many Nitro fumes in his day, or was he at the bar last night with us? Actually it was in Max Naylor's souvenir trailer. The first pro qualifying sessions went pretty well without a hitch and the day looked good for racing. Bob Panella's Pro Stocker was done in a Sox Martin Tribute them, pretty cool! I love the old paint schemes and nostalgia cars cause they are the founders and pioneers of the sport.
Anyway I took about a million pictures of the races which I will post some on my geocities website this week as I have finally figured out how my camera works! And I took some sweet photos. Like this one of Kurt Johnson doing a burnout.


The Alcohol cars got one qualifying session in as well but all the rest of the sportsman categories were out of luck as the weather started to rain again before round 2 of qualifying could get started. The day was rained out after that point and NHRA will run Sunday after one round of qualifying instead of four so we are off to more shopping and get some more pics. Like the ones with me and John Evanchuck's top alcohol funny car. He is from Edmonton and we have seen this car race in Calgary and at car shows on display but haven't seen him run in the big show yet. He is a heavy hitter in the class along with Roger Bateman pictured below in the Nobile smile.com car who hasn't retired yet. We also took time out to sign the memorial banner to Eric Medlen who passed away earlier this year in a testing accident. Oh well the day is done so we are on our way home and back to the bar for some more dinner, for some more of those 50/50 free pour drink systems they have here.
We met some more crazy Nitro Methane addicts in there and everyone is upset the weather isn't cooperating as well as could be, but oh well can't change the weather! On our way out of the bar we met a couple who were feeling no pain as was I and we proceeded to explain about the rock my wife has in her lanyard! HAHAA oh yes the infamous rock my wife cherishes so much and so do I actually, didn't tell her that I lost it 3 times on the weekend but found it every time by my feet.


The Infamous rock Story:
Well not much too tell other than we like to sit behind the starting line on Sunday's races and one year I think in 2000 or something my wife was hit by a flying rock from one of the car"s burnouts! we thought cool! A piece of the track just hit me I think I'll keep it so we did. A piece of history and fun plus the fact my wife's arms were covered in little pieces of rubber and teraction compound combined with being hit by a piece of the track makes for some interesting conversations at the track or the bar!

Finally We've Gone Back To Seattle!

After a long 5 year absence from the Seattle NHRA Northwest Nationals, now called the Schucks NHRA Nationals my wife and I finally returned to the spot where we got hitched! Right down on the starting line. See my personal geocities page for pics. You can imagine how excited I was too get back to the track and not just any track, a professionally run NHRA event track.

I couldn't wait to board the plane Fri morning from Calgary. The wait in the airport was agonizing as I knew we would be a little late for the start of the race as we wouldn't be arriving at the track til around noon after we got our rental car and checked into our hotel. Everything was going to plan until we landed at Seattle airport. It was raining and raining hard! Now I'm worried but know that the start of the race has likely been postponed for a few hours so maybe that bought us some time. After we get our car check into the hotel we are off to the track, finally!

When we got there no one was moving too fast as the track was super soaked and they had sucker trucks pumping water out of pit areas and souvenir trailer areas. Oh well time to do a little shopping for driver apparell and get my National Dragster membership renewed. Maybe get a few autographs and more pics.

Hey take a look at the new grandstand that was added a few years ago, a liitle wet to be seated though.


I'm feeling a little fat these days so we can get lots of exercise walking through Nitro Alley a million times.

The day is not looking too well for racing but being the hard core race fans that we are we are hoping for tech best! After all have been through this before and seen them run. Ok get the jet dryers out already! Finally late that day we talk to a member of the Budweiser racing team and tells us that the race has been called for the day. So now they are down to two qualifying sessions on Saturday for Sundays eliminations. Oh well back to the hotel for dinner at the new bar down the road and a hot tub later on.

But check out some more pics of some of the nostalga cars, one of which was the original Ed the Ace McCulloch's dragster from the early days of drag racing.

Hey check out who sponsors Clay Millican's New ride!