VOLuntarilyConservative

Sorry, folks, but I needed some time off for a few weeks to tend to several outstanding issues, including:

• widespread corruption and selling out of ideology within the Knox County Republican Party;
• Angela's parting of the ways with the Department of Children's Services, a State agency which proved to be severely anti-family and discriminatory when the chickens came home to roost;
• Angela's reintroduction to The Huddleston Law Firm;
• stomach flu that swept through the family and caused me to miss my first day from work for illness in nearly a year;
• a trip to Bristol Motor Speedway for the Food City 500;
• many, many wonderful moments with my son.

I've been busy, just not with blogging. Of course, I wondered if I even needed to come back after the unfortunate demise of Volunteer Voters. After BillHobbs.com underwent its facelift several years ago, VV at first filled a void, and then expanded as the functional clearinghouse of blogging information for Tennessee. It will be interesting to see if something else fills the void left by VV, or if we will have to work even harder as bloggers to remain connected as a statewide community.

Labels: Blogging, Firm Life, Knox County GOP, Leonidas, NASCAR

From a bumper sticker I saw in Sevier County yesterday as I drove to the courthouse:

Drive Fast: Attract Cops
Drive Faster : Attract Sponsors

Gotta love NASCAR fans...

Labels: NASCAR

I just finished watching Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s press conference, at which he announced that he would leaving Dale Earnhardt, Inc. at the end of the 2007 NASCAR season.

Dale didn't say where he would end up racing next year, and it's pretty obvious that he doesn't know right now. It won't be for Jack Roush, who is full on drivers. It could be Hendrick Racing, which will probably be looking to axe Casey Mears after his awful start to 2007. However, it's hard to see Junior meshing with Jeff Gordon, Jimmy Johnson, and Kyle Busch. It's just hard to picture the personalities meshing. (Since I am no Hendrick fan, I certainly hope that Junior doesn't end up there.)

There is one place that makes perfect sense - Richard Childress Racing. RCR has a spot open, and one could see Junior getting along with Jeff Burton, Kevin Harvick, and Clint Bowyer better than with the Hendrick guys. Racing for the team that his father raced for some of the best years of his career also has to be a selling point. Heck, Goodwrench might return as a Cup sponsor for RCR. It would be something to dig that black #3 Chevy out of the mothballs and see it racing around the track again...

If I had a bet, I would think that Junior drives for RCR next year. If not, then at Joe Gibbs Racing, where his friend Tony Stewart races. Those two have to be the frontrunners for the newest and most sought after free agent in NASCAR.

MORE: Dan Wetzel has an excellent analysis, including:

The Boston Red Sox once sold Babe Ruth so its owner could fund a play. The Portland Trail Blazers once passed on Michael Jordan. The Minnesota Vikings once traded five players and six draft picks for Herschel Walker. None of those moves were as disastrously bad as the one Teresa Earnhardt made when she thought she could call Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s bluff about leaving his late father's racing team.

And:

Junior had asked for a majority stake of DEI to stay. No one yet knows how negotiations between Junior and Teresa broke down – maybe Teresa really did all she could, but it doesn't seem like she was willing to give Junior the 51 percent control he wanted. Now she has 100 percent of a company in ruin.

The truth hurts.

Labels: NASCAR

Well, NASCAR season is back with two of my favorite races of the year - the Twin 125's that set the running order for the Daytona 500. For whatever reason, the shorter 125's are usually some of the best racing all year, probably because the middle 300 miles of most NASCAR races provides an excellent cure for insomnia as a result of the ridiculous rule changes that NASCAR has instituted over the years.

Here are some notes from Race 1:

- Congratulations to Michael Waltrip for making the race. Having to race his way in, Waltrip's crew chief decided to go Chad Knaus on his car, which got said crew chief suspended and seriously threw Waltrip's chances to make the field in doubt. Waltrip wrecked Dale Jr., tore up his car, and still made the field. Quite a week for the Owensboro, Kentucky native.

- Obviously, I am bummed about the results of who didn't get in. My favorite driver, Bill Elliott, was driving the Huddle House #37, but apparently his crew screwed up and put a go-cart engine in the Dodge. Bill won't be racing come Sunday. Neither will Ward Burton, friend of VOLuntarilyConservative and new driver for the Morgan McClure race team out of Abingdon, Virginia. I lobbied for someone to give Ward a chance last year, and it has come in the form of the #4 ride. However, Ward's Daytona dreams came to an end when, while in contention for the transfer spot, Mike Bliss spun Ward into the wall. With two of my three favorite drivers eliminated from the 500, I will have to hang my hat on Tennessee native Sterling Marlin, who competes in the 2nd Twin 125 in a few minutes.



UPDATE for Race 2 -

- Race 2 was not nearly as dicey as Race 1. That's pretty much as predicted, since the stronger racers were in Race 1.

- Tough break for Juan Pablo Montoya, the Formula 1 transplant that led most of the early laps before a bad wheel bearing prematurely ended his race. Montoya will race in the 500 on Sunday due to being locked into the field by owner's points. I will be interested to see how Montoya adapts to NASCAR from open-wheel Formula 1 cars. Most international racing enthusiasts believe Formula 1 racers to be the best in the world, and it may be up to Montoya to prove them correct.

- Sterling Marlin, who was locked into the field on his speed, showed that he has a pretty decent car for Sunday. He laid off the gas on the final lap so that his teammate, Joe Nemachek, and fellow Chevy driver Mike Wallace could get into the field and keep Jeremy Mayfield, a Toyota driver, out. The move cost Marlin tons of spots on the starting grid for Sunday, but it showed what a team player he is. Gotta love Sterling - Tennessee's own!

Labels: NASCAR

Labels: NASCAR