Our first thoughts on Jimmy Johnson's victory in the NASCAR Nextel Cup 10-event Chase for the Championship and Lawnmower Repair (doo-dah, doo-dah) ... The series with a title almost as long as its season (and bless Dale Jr., for finally saying what all of us know: The season is too long and the races are too long. You saw Junior hit the wall out of sheer boredom at Homestead-Miami).
And did you all see the bitter, nasty Ryan Newman smack Juan Pablo 
Montoya into the wall in what wound up as a rare and frankly spectacular fuel cell explosion and a real-life test to see how fast a former F1 star and Indy 500 winner can get his on-fire ass out of a closed race car ... Montoya had no business being there in the first place, and while Jim Peltz, the LA TIMES' motorsports writer, told my radio audience the morning of the race that Montoya had said at a press conference the day before that "he hoped to stay out of everyone's way", I opined that I hoped those didn't become "famous last words".
Well, as usual, I was right and Montoya had to, at a minimum, eat his words. Or at least smell them as he inhaled all that smoke. And it ain't funny at all ... An idiot like Newman taking out a rookie at the end of a 180-mile an hour straight is, well, all we can say is: We'll just see what punishment NASCAR metes out to Newman and his team. He deserves to be suspended for at least the first ten events of 2007.
Just what is NASCAR doing allowing ANY rookie in the most important race of the year, the race where the national championship is going to be decided? And who punishes NASCAR? They're the ones who allowed "Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates" to pull this stunt for NASCAR's large and growing Spanish-speaking audience.
So, NASCAR has its first ‘corporate champion’: Jimmy Johnson, former motocrosser from El Cajon
Johnson said, after winning the title, that he had learned a lot this year from Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart … Too bad he didn’t pick up any spare personality from either of those guys.
And when it’s said that Jeff Gordon has more personality than anyone
else, that’s saying a lot … or a little.
Nameless, faceless, just the average guy with no apparent scandal … outside of a skuzzy crew chief whose cheating got Johnson his win in this year’s Daytona 500 and who-knows-how-many other races.
Johnson is the first empty driving suit to win the NASCAR Nextel Cup.
Put one of his sponsor’s “LOWE’S” sticker on his forehead and Johnson’d look like an extended part of an expensive NASCAR leather jacket.
He is … Almost … Perfect ... Corporate-wise. Can’t wait to see him on Letterman, REGIS AND KELLY, et al … saying … nothing.
Just like NASCAR wants him to!
And about Dale Jr. and all those nasty little truths he's spreading around publicly --- NASCAR's own version of dirty laundry --- We can only hope no one manages to quiet him down. I don't think anyone in NASCAR's upper echelons has the balls to do it. You go, Junior!
Junior's nasty little truths? What is he saying that is even remotely true? That the schedule is too long? Bull, it's four or five races too short. The races are too long? Bull - these 400-mile races need to be lengthened to 500 miles. The only ones who think they're too long are people with Attention Deficit Disorder.
Posted by: Mike Daly | November 20, 2006 at 02:57 PM