LOUDON, N.H. – A little bit of this, a little bit of that. Who really knows what’s in here. It’s the Morning Musings In The Midday Maybe.
Remember the days when if you weren’t on site at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race day by 7 a.m. it meant you were going to be sitting in the traffic jam of all traffic jams?
Rolled the final 10 miles down Route 106 into New Hampshire Motor Speedway at about 7:45 a.m. this morning without ever needing the brakes.
Sure, weather might have been a factor, but man it’s an amazing difference here these days.
— And speaking of crowds at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, this just in from the Sirius Speedway’s “Just keep the NASCAR news positive whether or not it’s even factually correct” department.
The tweet below was posted on Friday afternoon.
New England race fans still the best! @NHMS now officially sold out for Sunday’s race.
— Dave Moody (@DGodfatherMoody) September 20, 2013
At 5:03 p.m. Saturday New Hampshire Motor Speedway officials put out a press release stating that walk up tickets were indeed still available for Sunday morning. And trust this, a track doesn’t put out a press release at 5 p.m. the night before a race stating tickets are still available unless plenty of tickets are still available.
As of Sunday morning the track was still releasing bulletins saying tickets were still available for today’s Sylvania 300. So no, we’re not sure what “officially sold out” actually means.
— If you weren’t entertained by the racing at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday there was no way you couldn’t have walked out of the track not entertained by the folly over the track’s public address system.
First, has the product on track fallen so far that the only way to get fans excited before a race is to have an individual screaming for an hour over a microphone over the PA about how great what is about it happen will be?
Some of what else was heard over the PA on Saturday:
“New Hampshire’s own Eddie “The Bandit” MacDonald.”
For the record, Eddie MacDonald is from Rowley, Massachusetts. We checked the map, just to make sure, and it turns out Rowley, Mass. is definitely not in New Hampshire.
“New Hampshire’s own Eddie “The Outlaw” MacDonald ….”
Wait, he was just the “The Bandit”, now he’s “The Outlaw”? This guy has more aliases than Jay Z.
“Well that got his dander up.”
Huh? Really? Because clichés from the 1920’s really don’t get enough play these days at racetracks. Am I watching Boardwalk Empire or an American Canadian Tour event?
“He’s not pussyfooting around out there …”
Ok, we’re not touching that one.
— Apparently if you don’t wear an Affliction or Ed Hardy shirt on the night of a UFC fight at Buffalo Wild Wings you stick out like Paula Deen at a Flavor Flav dinner party.
— It’s kind of funny to think that Cole Custer, winner of Saturday’s K&N Pro Series East North American Power 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, isn’t old enough to buy his own copy of Grand Theft Auto V.
— Don’t think we’re going out on a limb here in saying Nichole Morgillo, who made history Saturday night as the first female SK Modified division winner in the history of the Waterford Speedbowl, is no less talented than the female who will drive the Go Daddy Chevy in the Sylvania 300 today New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Congratulations go out to Morgillo who was celebrating engagement to fellow competitor Shawn Thibeault before her big victory Saturday. Check out the video below.
— And the Useless Fact Of The Day brought to you by Mylanta: New Hampshire Motor Speedway will release 5,013 balloons following the “Drivers, start your engines” command at today’s Sylvania 300. And for the record, they’re 100 percent biodegradable helium balloons.
— It’s the message that’s become the contagious virus taking over all divisions of NASCAR.
“Everybody knows that’s not the way I race against people, but today …”
Or
“I don’t wreck people to win races, but today …”
Or
“I would never move a guy out of the way, but today …”
Here’s the deal folks, if you did it today that means you do it, period. You can’t pull the, “That’s not the way I race” if that was the way you raced five minutes before you said it.
Imagine the guy walking down the street with a sack full of cash saying “Everybody knows that I don’t rob banks, but today …”
— You have to give a nod of the hat to driver Keith Rocco and Waterford Speedbowl Late Model team owner Scott Fearn. Before the season the pair said their goal this year was to win their first Late Model championship together at the Waterford Speedbowl.
And they made that happen and then some with Rocco clinching his first title in the division Saturday night with two events still left this season.
— Speaking of the Speedbowl, it will be interesting to see how many of the 2012 champions from the track will actually be competing in the 2013 Finale event.
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Sean: Over the years have enjoyed and somewhat agreed with most you have written, stated and blogged/tweeted here and in many publications. But…as you know the sport we all love and are apart of in many different ways is suffering….attendance being number one….why not keep it positive as one can? At any NASCAR race televised in the last few years the networks spends little to no time on sweeping the camera of the grandstands…anyone like yourself knows the reason why. There is no denying that attendance is down…How about doing your part a little wiser especially as a pretty well read and written editor/writer of a popular website.
Writing without criticism in the present dynamic surrounding racing is easy…and to be critical in your own backyard of what a announcer or promotors are trying to do at the race?…is like shooting yourself in both feet, arms, upper legs and of coarse your heart. As the old saying goes…much easier to be negative than positive…yeah I know writers should tell it like it is and should but…I’ve read some of your racing overage. I was at many of the same races you were writing of…..after reading some of your articles or statements….I kind of wondered if we attended the same event….all perception I guess. You have been given a gift being able to put pen to paper and at times spin and embellish your findings and observations….but from out my windshield…..you missed this time.
Maybe you were trying a funny approach I don’t know…but I do remember about a month ago at a drivers meeting at Thompson you were looking for a little financial support from drivers and teams through your website to keep Racedayct a float. Sirius Speedways blurb about keeping it positive should have been honored…I’m disappointed.
Hank,
Sure, I get that humor sometimes is taken different ways by different people and we all have different opinions on approaches to marketing and fan engagement.
But I do know this, I would never apologize for not going along with using factually incorrect information in an effort to sugar coat something. Publishing information that isn’t even close to being correct just to give the impression that all is well and good and healthy doesn’t help any situation, and that’s the point that’s trying to make. How does that help? If anything it hurts based on the fact that you have a nationally known personality in the sport telling people on Friday there’s no tickets available when in fact there are.
The column is a tongue in cheek look at the goings on, not be confused with straight news reporting, but again, I’m not going to apologize for pointing out that publishing lies probably isn’t good for anybody in the sport, despite some people’s feelings that keeping it all positive, even if it means forsaking honesty, is a good thing.
Sean:
So okay…..didn’t realize this was written “with tongue planted in cheek” and I kind of understand where you are at on this…wasn’t asking you to lie just spin it a little more positive….even a different approach….put please understand that I wasn’t looking for an apology of any kind or anything along that line….no need!…..but just…(remember tongue in cheek) maaaaaybe……. change the glass cleaner for the windows in your glass house…all of us live in one at one time or another including myself. Like I said you have a respected voice in the racing community, I just had a hard time with a few of your musings and the direction you chose to take.
Enjoy the race today. H.
The public address announcers at NHMS were annoying. Before the start of the Legends car race they played a song with a four letter word used over and over in the chorus, which I found very odd; I thought auto racing was supposed to be family-friendly. Is Nichole Morgillo as talented as Danica Patrick? Probably, but Danica has a very lucrative sponsorship deal with Go Daddy and Nichole does not.
Hi Shawn, keep up the good work. I found the modified race on FuelTV 317 on Charter if anyone is interested. That was a great race to watch. Nicole has turned into a very good SK driver and the win was long over due. She is one gutsy young lady. Gongrats on the win and on the marriage proposal. She is not quite as good at Stafford, but if she keeps trying, she will get there and the win will come. Just ask Dan Avery. Victoria Bergenty has also been doing well in her SK Lite. A well deserved win for her. I would like to see her race at Stafford more often.
Even though I had no idea what Squire was talking about most of the time, I did enjoy his commentary. Why wouldn’t the 2012 champions be racing the finale?