NASCAR Time....

For many years I used to be a moderate fan of NASCAR racing. Most Sundays (or the occasional prime-time Saturday night) I could be found camped out in front of the television watching cars go around in circles for hours.

Lavie sometimes would watch with me.

Generally I stuck with the Nextel (Winston) Cup races of the big boys. I didn't really follow the Busch series. And the Craftsman truck series comes on at some really weird times so I never followed that.

I even had a NASCAR sticker on my pick-em-up truck (when I owned one).

The year before last, my attention to NASCAR began to drop. I caught maybe a race a month.

Last year I didn't watch a single race. Although, I still tried to follow the points race and drives when they made the news.

So this year, the Daytona 500 begins again. Controversy swirls the air around the track better than the wind generated by the cars running at full-throttle. Michael Waltrip's team has been devastated by allegations of cheating and rule breaking. Even wonder-boy Jeff Gordon got caught up when his car was found to (accidentally as it stands now) have been using parts causing it to be lowered by 1-inch.

So why my attention again?

Well, for starters, Toyota is bringing a car to the table this year. For the first time in many years, we have a true underdog trying to eat at the food-bowl with the big dogs of Ford, Chevrolet, Dodge, and Pontiac. And a foreign one to boot!

Imagine that!

I wonder if Nissan or some of the German thoroughbreds will be looking to get in on the meal soon.

So I'll be watching the Toyota team performance with interest. They have a long uphill battle ahead and I don't have any high expectations, at least for the first part of the season.

Time will tell.

I like it when the pot gets stirred.

Besides, now that Lavie has her laptop, I can knock out my blogging needs during the race in front of our nice TV set....heck...my Sundays might get more productive now.

Now to get that laundry sorted and in the washing machines....is that jet-fuel I smell on somebody's jeans?

Go fast, turn left...indeed.

--Claus

Post Race Update: This year's race turned out to be quite fun. Long race stretches with a minimum of yellow flags. Some action in pits. The "Big Ones" in the end were quite spectacular--luckily, no-one got hurt very bad. Dale Jr. got his car creamed...too bad. The Toyotas finished in 22, 30, 34, and 40th place. Lavie didn't stick around during the race with me, but Alvis did (playing her GameBoy DS). Occasionally she would act the part of the interested daughter asking, "Where's Jeff (Gordon) at?"