DUmpmonkeys get worked up over the NASCAR guys unable to attend the kings audience.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1870890Bvarnumbers, on the pole.
bvar22 (1000+ posts) Sat Sep-03-11 04:46 PM
Original message
In defense of the NASCAR drivers who declined the invitation.
Edited on Sat Sep-03-11 05:01 PM by bvar22
I'm willing to cut them some slack.
For some of them, the next 8 days are absolutely the WORST time for any distraction.
Especially Greg Biffle.
He is in a Must WIN situation for the next two races.
I've been fascinated by Stock Car Racing since the '50s,
when the only exposure was through Wide World of Sports.
I met my wife 10 years ago in Montana, and she in now a converted fan
who looks forward to the races every weekend.
At first, she couldn't understand WHAT could possibly be interesting about a bunch of guys driving
in a circle for 500 miles.
But after watching a few races, and having some of the complexities explained,
she very quickly caught on, and now enthusiastically enjoys watching the races.
She jumps up & down and shouts advice to the drivers.
Most of her "advice" is technically and strategically sound.
I'm very impressed.
She is also an excellent driver who prefers to Drive a Stick,
and can competently drift a turn on a dirt road.
"I learned THAT in Montana," she tells me as she smoothly downshifts, bumps the revs, and brakes going into the turn.
The next week is absolutely the WORST time for some of these drivers to be distracted.
NASCAR is 8 days away from their Superbowl eliminations.
Drivers MUST be seated in the top 12 to qualify, and some of the 42 drivers who declined the invitation
are On the Bubble for Elimination like Greg Biffle and Clint Bowyer, and Carl Edwards is backsliding badly.
At this level of competition, I can understand not being able to respond to ANY outside distraction for the next week.
1/100th of a second over 500 miles can Make or Break them.
24/7 OBSESSION is required for those on the bubble.
They OWE that to their teams.
For others like Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch, who are safely In the Chase,
or those who are already mathematically eliminated,
they can spare a day for a trip to Washington.
For the privilege of driving, these guys are OWNED by their Corporate Sponsors.
They can't just Not Show Up or tell their Corporate Bosses to Reschedule at the last minute
because they have something more important to do,
not if they want to stay in the driver's seat.
It is sad, and I don't believe that any of these Men or Women LIKE it this way,
but it is what it is, and I CAN understand making that choice for a seat in one of these race cars.
It wasn't always that way.
I preferred Stock car Racing in the Old Days,
before the BIG MONEY and Corporate Sponsorship,
when "Privateers" built their own cars and had a chance of winning,
but I still love it today. It is what it is.
The most beautiful Stock Car Ever Built.
Smokey Yunick's hybrid 66/67 Chevelle custom built for the 1968 Daytona 500,
but NOT allowed in the race.
The prevailing gossip was that Smokey had carefully scaled down every body piece to create a 15/16 scale "reproduction" that would have had an unfair aerodynamic advantage.
""For 1968 Smokey took all that he had learned from the ’67 Daytona car added even more. In the end, NASCAR didn’t agree with Smokey’s rule interpretations and never let the car run, not even in tire testing! He ended up selling the car to a racer in Georgia who tried to run it in a Sportsman race at Daytona in 1969 and NASCAR again refused to let it race. In 1988 Smokey realized he had never been paid for the car and tracked it down. He recovered it from a city dump where the car had been taken after the shop it was stored in had burned down. Once back in the “Best Damn Garage in Town†it was carefully restored back to the condition it was in when presented to tech inspection at Daytona in 1968."
Ah, Man.
Those were the days.
I realize this may not be a popular opinion here.
Take it or Leave it.
"and don't criticize what you can't understand."--- Bobby Dylan
Solidarity!
Quotes Bob Dylan, on a NASCAR thread?? Are you kidding me?
monmouth (1000+ posts) Sat Sep-03-11 04:52 PM
Response to Original message
3. They were invited to the White House by the President of the United States.
They declined the invitation as they had scheduling conflicts....sigh.
Nope, not kidding.
Dreamer Tatum (1000+ posts) Sat Sep-03-11 06:12 PM
Response to Reply #3
13. If someone rejected a Bush invitation, there'd have been high fives.
God I hate inconsistency
Seriously, think about what was just posted.
Rex (1000+ posts) Sat Sep-03-11 04:58 PM
Response to Original message
5. Meh...who gives a shit, it is just NASCAR after all.
Not like he invited 5 leaders of foreign nations or something to that effect. It was just some dumb jocks making a 'statement' that will come back to bite them in their capitalist asses imo.
Basketball, golf? What's your point, DUmbass.
Bluenorthwest (1000+ posts) Sat Sep-03-11 05:00 PM
Response to Original message
6. I can tell you this, the display put on by those who like other
sports (I don't like any of them) toward the entire racing world over the actions of a few people make me chuckle and them vomit just a bit. I kept thinking of the semi-weekly 'pro ball' player who spits 'faggot' at a fan or a fellow player, the ones who go down for all manner of crimes, the ones who kidnap neighbor's pets kill them and then are cheered and paid millions. Yeah, damn those racing fans, how could they endure watching something with a guy in it who'd not show up at the White House! So much worse than the slurs and puppy killing.
This one put it in the wall at turn
four one.
leveymg (1000+ posts) Sat Sep-03-11 05:13 PM
Response to Original message
8. Look, I'm enough of a fan to know that's Smokey's 7/8 scale cheater car. But, the drivers are jerks
unless they just come out and admit that they're: a) racist red necks who have never eaten with a Black man; b) GOP rednecks to the bone, who wouldn't shake the hand of Democrat unless he was George Wallace; or c) both of the above.
And, yes, that is one fine looking stock car.
Never been to a race, have you, DUmbass.
catabryna (1000+ posts) Sat Sep-03-11 05:13 PM
Response to Original message
9. As a woman who no longer owns a set of nice wheels...
I'm twitter-pated.
Twatter-pated.
Armstead (1000+ posts) Sat Sep-03-11 06:26 PM
Response to Original message
16. I usually agree with you on things. But in this case, stock car racing is just driving in a circle.
Edited on Sat Sep-03-11 06:26 PM by Armstead
But to each his own, I guess.
In some respects, why we enjoy watching you.
Hugabear (1000+ posts) Sat Sep-03-11 08:34 PM
Response to Original message
23. Isn't NASCAR predominantly a conservative bunch?
I bet if it had been Dubya inviting them, they'd have found some way to rearrange their schedules.
For your information, DUmbass.
We comprise a wide variety of folks.
Black, white, brown, red, yellow, whatever.
We're also Jewish, Christian, Buddist, Muslim, Taoist red-necks.
We are also..Conservative, Liberal, Socialist, Communist, Anarchist, whatever.
Please stuff your political BS, up where the moon don't shine.
Stupid, stupid DUmbass.
