9.14.2007

It's an organized madness... if I can just find my notes here somewhere

During practice this morning, somewhere in the neighborhood of 9 a.m., I heard a racing newbie walking into the infield ask, "Are they qualifying?"

This gives you an idea of the madness we're dealing with down here. Seriously, folks.

*****

The NASCAR behemoth continues to cater to the 6 or 7 drivers that fit the mold while ignoring all others. For the 2nd time in as many trips to New Hampshire International Speedway this year, I saw Juan Pablo Montoya walk through a crowd of autograph seekers in the Nextel Cup garage without so much as a single person recognizing him.

Truly amazing. Though he can be brash and agressive, he still remains one of the world's best driving talents. Not the "nation's" but the "world's." And NASCAR fans still don't take notice.

*****

Speaking of drivers nobody recognizes.

Super Late Model racer Mike Rowe is the best racer at NHIS this weekend that no one here has ever heard of. Rowe has won more races than most of us can count, more than he can likely remember, and every Cup weekend I see him sauntering through the garage area on Friday to take it all in.

No one stops him. No one bothers him. No one does anything at all.

I'm guessing Rowe could drive the pants off of a Casey Mears or a Joe Nemecheck if he could ever get into a Cup car for a weekend. But he'll never get that chance -- further proof that the sport continues to become more and more separate from its roots.

*****

Speaking of Nemecheck, I almost got run over by his golf cart. Yeah, there's a lot of them here -- as has been posted elsewhere. But where's the cut-off? If Nemecheck can have a golf car, who's next? Tim Sauter? All the Busch East drivers? Me?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It's to mad Mike Rowe never got a break to go down south to race.He is by far and wide one of the best, if not the best around.