Monday, June 23, 2008

Racing and fans are all family-RIp Scott Kalitta

All forms of auto racing is just one big family that travels from city to city to race and the participants are a tight knit community as well the fans are a big part of that family. That family value with the fans is probably stronger in the NHRA than any other forms of motorsports as the fans get to interact with the drivers and get to talk to them and know them.I to have felt this family value along with the racers myself as the wife and I met Darrel Russel in Seattle after he won the race in 2002. We had our pics taken with him in the winner's circle with the trophy. And then he died the following year in a racing accident. So everytime an NHRA driver passes on I feel a little bit sadder as I feel I have known some of these people a little better than others just from meeting with them from the many NHRA races we have attended.

So it is understandable that fans and the NHRA community have once again been saddened with the untimely death of Scott Kalitta in Englishtown N.J. Ironically the same place where he won his first NHRA race. Scott was Connie Kalitta's son.

1962-2008



Monday, June 16, 2008

Earnhardt wins!

Well what is going on? The first race dale Earnhardt wins in eons and the first since joining Hendrick motorsports and the race is not televised on our local stations here! Who's idea was that? Not to show it on tv. The network that took over for Fox obviously isn't playing this game very well not realizing there are folks who can't get ESPN or any of the American stations up here. Oh well just ranting, would be nice to see all the commotion over why Dale Jr.'s victory was a sore spot with some other competitors

Pics from Nascar.com

Father's Funny Car Classic Bust

Well being a fanatic of funny Cars of all genres and styles I though the Father's day Classic at our Local track would be more entertaining that it actually was. The fact that only 4 Nostalgia Funny cars showed up and about 4 T/A Funny Cars were on hand really makes for a dull day. But considering the city is losing the track and not spending any money on it to fix it up it is no wonder noone wants to come here to race. Then on top of that they only ran 1/8 mile because of water seeping through the track surface. Only in Calgary, the city built by a bunch of farmers that they do not understand the growing needs of the city, racers, and infrastructure to support a wide variety of entertainment and transportation needs of a city this size! When it comes to the track, no wonder they have water seepage, there is grass on either side of the race surface about a foot from the outside retainig walls. Hmmmmm grass on the inside of a racing surface? I wonder why the rain still seeps in after 2 weeks of rain? It should be paved all the way to the edge of the property by the fence and then you could put up a new grandstand on the south side of the track and put on a good show for everyone and maybe even get an IHRA or NHRA event here.
But anyway enough rambling about how farmers seem to run this place, I did manage to get some cool pics.


Bucky Austin and the Nitro Nolstalgia Funny Cars

Well for of those of you who, don't know Bucky Austin is a heavy hitter out of Washington State and ran T/A funny cars for many years on the NHRA circuit and won the NHRA Division 6 Championship many times. I have seen him in Seattle many times. Remember his nephew? Pat Austin, he used to run T/F funny cars and dragster in NHRA and the ran T/A funny cars before retiring.
Here are some pics of some of the other Nostalgia cars on hand. i had to feel sorry for them making the trip from Washington to Calgary to run 1/8 mile! No wonder some of the guys near the end of the day just went for it and blew right through the 1/8 lights and kept going 1/4 mile!















Jet Cars

Well they had some jet car action there as well which is always entertaining to watch even though they only go once down the track but fire and smoke makes for some exciting pics


















Anywya i hope that the powers to be can find a new place for thsi facility and turn it into somethign special that will attract NHRA/IHRA and even some NASCAR touring divisions. Remember what happened after NASCAR took over CASCAR? No CASCAR events here anymore due to poor track conditions. So let's get it sorted out, you are not racing tractors anymore on hay covered fields, the fans (and there is alot of NHRA/IHRA fans here in this city dying for a state of the art facility to bring back top notch racing to Calgary) wanna see 300mph Nitro Burning Funny cars and a full field (16 or more) of T/A Dragsters and Funny Cars, Pro Mods and anything else that will show up that will run an elimination type race and not this little show between two or four cars!


Sunday, June 8, 2008

IRON MAIDEN show

Well how my love of heavy metal just gets stronger everyday with bands like Devil Driver, ALmb of God and GWAR. But I still love the bands I grew up with from teh 80's and 90's as well. one of those bands is

Last tHursday we went down to see the ol boys from the UK and I tell you they delivered one powerful and asskicking show. Mind you aftrer 30 years and a whole lot of albums would you expect anything less! Anyway I had to tak ethe wife for a little culture shock/education on what real bands are supposed to be and sound like and she was impressed, or at least that what she told me!



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