Tuesday, June 30, 2015
What's the Matter with Greece?
What's the Matter with Greece? It has done nothing but blow its money away since 1829 and is "a crony-capitalist emerging country." In short it is a waste of money.
The Supreme Court Punches EPA
The Supreme Court shot down proposed EPA meddling in the coal industry. The EPA's ineptitude was also shown in its campaign against mercury.
Israel's Former Ambassador Tells The Truth About Obama
A new memoir by Israel's former ambassador lays out the dirty details of the maliciousness and incompetence of the Obama regime and its support for enemy states.
Monday, June 29, 2015
Sunday, June 28, 2015
California Indy 500 - The Classic Nobody Saw Yet Nobody Can Forget
Indycar returned to California Speedway and the result was history for this form of racing. The most competitive race in Indycar history exploded, as the lead changed hands 80 times among 14 drivers, beating the previous record set in the California 500 in 2001 when there were 73 lead changes.
Yet the aftermath illustrated the stupidity that has reduced Indycar racing to irrelevance, as driver Will Power and Penske Racing honcho Tim Cindric griped about the enormity of passing and the frequent four-abreast battles by invoking the death of Dan Wheldon to argue against pack racing - and once again ignoring non-pack melees of greater violence such as what transpired at Toronto earlier this year in the Indy Lights race as well as Dario Franchitti's disaster on a street course that ended his career. Dan Wheldon's death had nothing to do with pack racing and Cindric and Will Power should know better. Running over 200 MPH instead of 190 is more relevant to safety than pack racing - and for whatever it is worth the cars seemed curiously slow in this race.
Racing is about lead changes, and nothing else - you go for the lead, you take the lead, and if you lose the lead you take it back. That's been the reality of racing forever. And 80 lead changes - only the fourth race in history after three Talladega thrillers in the 2010-11 to reach that number - is racing as it SHOULD be. So what the California Indy 500 showed is a racecar package that worked to perfection - a package Indycar needs to use for Pocono in late August; the stronger the draft, the better.
It also illustrated the need to incentivize going for the lead - most laps led should always pay more to the driver since that is a huge performance gauge.
If there is a safety concern here, it's in the abysmal state of the surface at Fontana. The cars clearly weren't as comfortable as they should have been the whole race and it appeared some of the crashes might have been prevented by a better surface. Fontana needs to be repaved even more now than before, and the "character" argument about racetracks doesn't mean anything.
The sad part is it was a classic race that no one actually saw - the crowd at Fontana was almost nonexistent, an interesting comment with the NFL trying to secure a temporary home for a team for 2016 on the myth that there are actual fans in the LA area. Indycar's decline in popularity has been long term and it needs racing this exciting to regain popularity.
Some other takes on this amazing 500 -
* It was a superb day for AJ Foyt's team as Takuma Sato led 31 laps and sliced into the fight for the win, rallying when he got squeezed to the apron and lost his momentum, before getting into the Lap 241 crash. Jack Hawksworth's tenth salvaged something that should have been more for Supertex.
* What does Ed Carpenter have to do to win? Once again Carpenter was in the thick of things and once again it led to nothing.
* Rahal Letterman's win broke the duopoly that's developed between Penske and Ganassi, a duopoly that appears to be leaving Michael Andretti's outfit behind. It was also the eighth different winner in Indycar this year.
* Eight cars got tires under yellow after the Power-Sato crash, but the way the draft was working it might not have mattered.
So ended the classic that nobody saw but nobody should forget.
Yet the aftermath illustrated the stupidity that has reduced Indycar racing to irrelevance, as driver Will Power and Penske Racing honcho Tim Cindric griped about the enormity of passing and the frequent four-abreast battles by invoking the death of Dan Wheldon to argue against pack racing - and once again ignoring non-pack melees of greater violence such as what transpired at Toronto earlier this year in the Indy Lights race as well as Dario Franchitti's disaster on a street course that ended his career. Dan Wheldon's death had nothing to do with pack racing and Cindric and Will Power should know better. Running over 200 MPH instead of 190 is more relevant to safety than pack racing - and for whatever it is worth the cars seemed curiously slow in this race.
Racing is about lead changes, and nothing else - you go for the lead, you take the lead, and if you lose the lead you take it back. That's been the reality of racing forever. And 80 lead changes - only the fourth race in history after three Talladega thrillers in the 2010-11 to reach that number - is racing as it SHOULD be. So what the California Indy 500 showed is a racecar package that worked to perfection - a package Indycar needs to use for Pocono in late August; the stronger the draft, the better.
It also illustrated the need to incentivize going for the lead - most laps led should always pay more to the driver since that is a huge performance gauge.
If there is a safety concern here, it's in the abysmal state of the surface at Fontana. The cars clearly weren't as comfortable as they should have been the whole race and it appeared some of the crashes might have been prevented by a better surface. Fontana needs to be repaved even more now than before, and the "character" argument about racetracks doesn't mean anything.
The sad part is it was a classic race that no one actually saw - the crowd at Fontana was almost nonexistent, an interesting comment with the NFL trying to secure a temporary home for a team for 2016 on the myth that there are actual fans in the LA area. Indycar's decline in popularity has been long term and it needs racing this exciting to regain popularity.
Some other takes on this amazing 500 -
* It was a superb day for AJ Foyt's team as Takuma Sato led 31 laps and sliced into the fight for the win, rallying when he got squeezed to the apron and lost his momentum, before getting into the Lap 241 crash. Jack Hawksworth's tenth salvaged something that should have been more for Supertex.
* What does Ed Carpenter have to do to win? Once again Carpenter was in the thick of things and once again it led to nothing.
* Rahal Letterman's win broke the duopoly that's developed between Penske and Ganassi, a duopoly that appears to be leaving Michael Andretti's outfit behind. It was also the eighth different winner in Indycar this year.
* Eight cars got tires under yellow after the Power-Sato crash, but the way the draft was working it might not have mattered.
So ended the classic that nobody saw but nobody should forget.
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Patriots Derangement Syndrome
NOTE: Originally published May 20, it has been updated on July 28:
The decision by Robert Kraft not to continue fighting against the NFL over huge draft and monetary penalties imposed after the Ted Wells report on allegation of tampering with footballs won't lay to rest the hatred that has long existed toward his football team. Kraft's reasoning not to continue fighting stems from fear of long-term damage to the game by pressing the issue, this even though objectively speaking Kraft is correct. It is disappointing that Kraft has done this but understandable.
That it won't win him any support anywhere merely reinforces the reality of another wave of derangement that exists in the world - Patriots Derangement Syndrome.
In the history of sports hated dynasties are fairly common, though in the NFL one struggles to recall national hatred of the Lombardi-era Packers or the Noll/Bradshaw-era Steelers or the Walsh/Siefert/Mariucci-era 49ers. While the Oakland Raiders and their three Superbowls in the 1976-83 period earned a share of hatred due to dirty play on the field and dirty dealings by Al Davis off it, the long-standing poor play of the Raiders made them a joke rather than someone to genuinely hate.
The only two clubs to earn national hatred have been the Patriots of the Belichick era and the Dallas Cowboys. Pronounced America's Team by NFL Films in their recap of Dallas' 1978 season, the Cowboys earned respect by twenty straight playoff seasons and the undisputed class of Roger Staubach and Tom Landry, but there was also a dislike of the team due to their national popularity. When the Cowboys faltered after 1985 the hatred melted away, but returned with the surge to Superbowl success of Jimmy Johnson and the flamboyance of new owner Jerry Jones and players such as Michael Irvin, Emmitt Smith, Nate Newton, and Charles Haley. The 1995 Superbowl season was especially contentious as drug addiction, sexual misconduct, and ever-escalating arrogance led to ever-escalating condemnation of the team - ironically illustrated when Deion Sanders called out the media over its criticism of Barry Switzer's 4th down attempt against the Eagles, a counterattack that rallied the team to its third Superbowl of the decade. When the 1996 Cowboys collapsed to the Carolina Panthers in the playoffs, the hostility showed when Nate Newton openly blamed the media for Dallas' loss, a reference to the accusation, soon proven false, of a gang rape by Irvin and several others.
*****
But national derangement against the Patriots has gone beyond Cowboys hatred, beginning with New England's 2001 Superbowl surge; even today condemnation proceeds about New England's playoff win over the Raiders despite the objective reality of the correctness of an incomplete "tuck" call. Complaints about the Patriots' physical play against the Rams began once Superbowl XXXVI was won, complaints that ignored that teams promptly used those same tactics to completely neutralize the Rams in 2002 to where Kurt Warner's career effectively ended by that October and the Rams deteriorated into irrelevance by the end of 2004.
The hatred continued with constant mocking of Tom Brady's game. "Dink and dunk" is the never-ending gripe; "he had to rely on his kicker" is also repeated against all evidence (and ignoring such instances as Joe Montana's first Superbowl win against the Bengals where the 49ers needed to kick four field goals). That Brady plays smart football - taking what the defense gives him and not trying to make something happen that cannot - wasn't "sexy" enough; that he played methodical football instead of trying to make it up as he goes - something other quarterbacks with more impressive volume stats tended to do - also aggravated a lot of fans.
The hatred extended to Bill Belichick, whose monotone press conferences have long grated reporters feeling themselves more important than they are and whose system has refused to rely on Name players or high draft picks but instead focuses on undrafted players, free agents, and depth, to where turnover of the roster is frequent and Brady has won Superbowls plus two additional AFC titles with what amounts to five different rosters. Criticism of trading Deion Branch in 2006 is curiously still prevalent in some fan and media circles despite the fact his immediate replacement, Reche Caldwell, was a better player, staying on the field where Branch frequently got knocked out and posting the same numbers (60 yards per game) in non-Superbowl playoff games as Branch; Branch's lack of production in Seattle illustrated his overrated quality.
A curious case of refusing to understand Belichick's approach to roster construction is the 2009 draft where the Patriots have been criticized for refusing to draft Clay Matthews, who went to the Packers, instead trading down and collecting several players; they flipped one pick to get Julian Edelman in the seventh round that year, and it's proven a better investment than the overrated Matthews.
The media and the league office's misconduct about sideline videotaping in 2007 transmuted Patriot Derangement Syndrome into a genuine syndrome; the media and new commissioner Roger Goodell misread the league rulebook, thinking sideline taping of opposing coaches is a violation of NFL rules even though it wasn't. It began a pattern of Goodell's tenure as commissioner of always being unprepared, acting as a bully (which helps explain why Kraft decided not to continue the fight, as Goodell's stubbornness and his own derangement (Matt Chatham has noted Goodell has constantly rewritten the rules to cover his own ass) makes him get his pound of flesh even when he loses; Goodell's passive-aggressive backstabbing of Kraft in his presser the day after Kraft's illustrated this also), and always being caught by surprise, and it also continued the Mainstream Sports Media's pattern of inaccurate or grossly incomplete coverage of such issues (notably Ray Rice, with seemingly no one outside of the AP noticing Rice had told the truth to everyone about the fight that initially got him a two-game suspension).
It accelerated with the tail-chasing embarrassment that has been the investigation in allegation of football tampering, an investigation that produced ZERO evidence that any tampering ever happened yet smeared Tom Brady (via Goodell's predetermined verdict) and two ball attendants based on treating irrelevant text messaging - and assuming the refusal to turn over his cellphone to an investigation that couldn't control itself constituted some kind of crime by Brady - as something other than heresay.
Suddenly attacking the Patriots had become a headline story on national news (though articles by notable writers such as Sally Jenkins, Dan le Betard, and Dan Wetzel suggest the Mainstream Sports Media is starting to get it about what really happened) and even in books such as the "untold" story of Spygate on the Amazon website, and countering with the facts has been drowned out by the rage for blood. That people are tired of the same team winning every year is a natural reaction; as a league fan I've wanted teams that have struggled of recent to become winners again (notably the Titans, one of a handful of worthy opponents the Patriots have faced in Superbowl runs, as well as Houston - yes i catch myself calling them the Oilers - the Vikings, the Panthers - the best team that didn't win the Superbowl - the Lions, etc.), and it is curious that overlooked in the interregnum between Patriots Superbowl titles, seven other teams (the Steelers and NY Giants twice, the Colts, the Saints, the Packers, the Ravens, and the Seahawks) won the Superbowl. That the condemnation maliciously ignores the facts is what is wrong.
The Patriots revolutionized roster construction philosophy for the league and built a sustainable model for championship success; they've elevated the game to a level Lombardi, Bill Walsh, etc. could never reach. And it is curious that the Seahawks have lately become the butt of online belittlement over their popularity, critics mocking it as somehow phony despite all evidence to the contrary.
It may be the price of success. Derangement, though, goes beyond reason. The Patriots changed the game for the better; they defined it up - the critics need to stop defining it down.
POSTSCRIPT - the AEI's examination of Deflategate further shows Goodell to be a liar. And further implicating Goodell to be a liar is evidence further proving Sally Jenkins' point that Goodell was shopping for justification to punish success and promote parity - with an interesting take comparing it to the media smear campaign against Richard Nixon - while Jenkins laid out a realistic way out for Goodell. Goodell alas ignored the right thing to do and upheld his suspension based on Brady "destroying his cellphone," this even though the league had already obtained all the phone records and text messages it sought between Brady and John Jazstremski while there was no communication with ball attendant Jim McNally - the NFLPA also noted Goodell changing the rules to cover his own ass. So the league's position remains a crock and called out as such by the NFLPA.
The decision by Robert Kraft not to continue fighting against the NFL over huge draft and monetary penalties imposed after the Ted Wells report on allegation of tampering with footballs won't lay to rest the hatred that has long existed toward his football team. Kraft's reasoning not to continue fighting stems from fear of long-term damage to the game by pressing the issue, this even though objectively speaking Kraft is correct. It is disappointing that Kraft has done this but understandable.
That it won't win him any support anywhere merely reinforces the reality of another wave of derangement that exists in the world - Patriots Derangement Syndrome.
In the history of sports hated dynasties are fairly common, though in the NFL one struggles to recall national hatred of the Lombardi-era Packers or the Noll/Bradshaw-era Steelers or the Walsh/Siefert/Mariucci-era 49ers. While the Oakland Raiders and their three Superbowls in the 1976-83 period earned a share of hatred due to dirty play on the field and dirty dealings by Al Davis off it, the long-standing poor play of the Raiders made them a joke rather than someone to genuinely hate.
The only two clubs to earn national hatred have been the Patriots of the Belichick era and the Dallas Cowboys. Pronounced America's Team by NFL Films in their recap of Dallas' 1978 season, the Cowboys earned respect by twenty straight playoff seasons and the undisputed class of Roger Staubach and Tom Landry, but there was also a dislike of the team due to their national popularity. When the Cowboys faltered after 1985 the hatred melted away, but returned with the surge to Superbowl success of Jimmy Johnson and the flamboyance of new owner Jerry Jones and players such as Michael Irvin, Emmitt Smith, Nate Newton, and Charles Haley. The 1995 Superbowl season was especially contentious as drug addiction, sexual misconduct, and ever-escalating arrogance led to ever-escalating condemnation of the team - ironically illustrated when Deion Sanders called out the media over its criticism of Barry Switzer's 4th down attempt against the Eagles, a counterattack that rallied the team to its third Superbowl of the decade. When the 1996 Cowboys collapsed to the Carolina Panthers in the playoffs, the hostility showed when Nate Newton openly blamed the media for Dallas' loss, a reference to the accusation, soon proven false, of a gang rape by Irvin and several others.
*****
But national derangement against the Patriots has gone beyond Cowboys hatred, beginning with New England's 2001 Superbowl surge; even today condemnation proceeds about New England's playoff win over the Raiders despite the objective reality of the correctness of an incomplete "tuck" call. Complaints about the Patriots' physical play against the Rams began once Superbowl XXXVI was won, complaints that ignored that teams promptly used those same tactics to completely neutralize the Rams in 2002 to where Kurt Warner's career effectively ended by that October and the Rams deteriorated into irrelevance by the end of 2004.
The hatred continued with constant mocking of Tom Brady's game. "Dink and dunk" is the never-ending gripe; "he had to rely on his kicker" is also repeated against all evidence (and ignoring such instances as Joe Montana's first Superbowl win against the Bengals where the 49ers needed to kick four field goals). That Brady plays smart football - taking what the defense gives him and not trying to make something happen that cannot - wasn't "sexy" enough; that he played methodical football instead of trying to make it up as he goes - something other quarterbacks with more impressive volume stats tended to do - also aggravated a lot of fans.
The hatred extended to Bill Belichick, whose monotone press conferences have long grated reporters feeling themselves more important than they are and whose system has refused to rely on Name players or high draft picks but instead focuses on undrafted players, free agents, and depth, to where turnover of the roster is frequent and Brady has won Superbowls plus two additional AFC titles with what amounts to five different rosters. Criticism of trading Deion Branch in 2006 is curiously still prevalent in some fan and media circles despite the fact his immediate replacement, Reche Caldwell, was a better player, staying on the field where Branch frequently got knocked out and posting the same numbers (60 yards per game) in non-Superbowl playoff games as Branch; Branch's lack of production in Seattle illustrated his overrated quality.
A curious case of refusing to understand Belichick's approach to roster construction is the 2009 draft where the Patriots have been criticized for refusing to draft Clay Matthews, who went to the Packers, instead trading down and collecting several players; they flipped one pick to get Julian Edelman in the seventh round that year, and it's proven a better investment than the overrated Matthews.
The media and the league office's misconduct about sideline videotaping in 2007 transmuted Patriot Derangement Syndrome into a genuine syndrome; the media and new commissioner Roger Goodell misread the league rulebook, thinking sideline taping of opposing coaches is a violation of NFL rules even though it wasn't. It began a pattern of Goodell's tenure as commissioner of always being unprepared, acting as a bully (which helps explain why Kraft decided not to continue the fight, as Goodell's stubbornness and his own derangement (Matt Chatham has noted Goodell has constantly rewritten the rules to cover his own ass) makes him get his pound of flesh even when he loses; Goodell's passive-aggressive backstabbing of Kraft in his presser the day after Kraft's illustrated this also), and always being caught by surprise, and it also continued the Mainstream Sports Media's pattern of inaccurate or grossly incomplete coverage of such issues (notably Ray Rice, with seemingly no one outside of the AP noticing Rice had told the truth to everyone about the fight that initially got him a two-game suspension).
It accelerated with the tail-chasing embarrassment that has been the investigation in allegation of football tampering, an investigation that produced ZERO evidence that any tampering ever happened yet smeared Tom Brady (via Goodell's predetermined verdict) and two ball attendants based on treating irrelevant text messaging - and assuming the refusal to turn over his cellphone to an investigation that couldn't control itself constituted some kind of crime by Brady - as something other than heresay.
Suddenly attacking the Patriots had become a headline story on national news (though articles by notable writers such as Sally Jenkins, Dan le Betard, and Dan Wetzel suggest the Mainstream Sports Media is starting to get it about what really happened) and even in books such as the "untold" story of Spygate on the Amazon website, and countering with the facts has been drowned out by the rage for blood. That people are tired of the same team winning every year is a natural reaction; as a league fan I've wanted teams that have struggled of recent to become winners again (notably the Titans, one of a handful of worthy opponents the Patriots have faced in Superbowl runs, as well as Houston - yes i catch myself calling them the Oilers - the Vikings, the Panthers - the best team that didn't win the Superbowl - the Lions, etc.), and it is curious that overlooked in the interregnum between Patriots Superbowl titles, seven other teams (the Steelers and NY Giants twice, the Colts, the Saints, the Packers, the Ravens, and the Seahawks) won the Superbowl. That the condemnation maliciously ignores the facts is what is wrong.
The Patriots revolutionized roster construction philosophy for the league and built a sustainable model for championship success; they've elevated the game to a level Lombardi, Bill Walsh, etc. could never reach. And it is curious that the Seahawks have lately become the butt of online belittlement over their popularity, critics mocking it as somehow phony despite all evidence to the contrary.
It may be the price of success. Derangement, though, goes beyond reason. The Patriots changed the game for the better; they defined it up - the critics need to stop defining it down.
POSTSCRIPT - the AEI's examination of Deflategate further shows Goodell to be a liar. And further implicating Goodell to be a liar is evidence further proving Sally Jenkins' point that Goodell was shopping for justification to punish success and promote parity - with an interesting take comparing it to the media smear campaign against Richard Nixon - while Jenkins laid out a realistic way out for Goodell. Goodell alas ignored the right thing to do and upheld his suspension based on Brady "destroying his cellphone," this even though the league had already obtained all the phone records and text messages it sought between Brady and John Jazstremski while there was no communication with ball attendant Jim McNally - the NFLPA also noted Goodell changing the rules to cover his own ass. So the league's position remains a crock and called out as such by the NFLPA.
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
War On The Non-Threat
The Confederate Flag is no threat to anyone, but liberals in their inhumanity don't like the truth.
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Monday, June 22, 2015
White Paper On Reforming Regulation
Presented is the link to a White Paper on reforming regulation and its necessity to bolster the economy.
Sunday, June 21, 2015
Government Again Fails At Technology
The government fails at information technology like it does almost everything else it meddles in.
California Tries To Kill Uber
Unable to leave success alone, California again succumbs to the sickness of regulation.
Saturday, June 20, 2015
Thursday, June 18, 2015
When Public Schools Become Oppressors
Public schools are seen as cohesion for larger society. The problem is objectively they aren't - they instead are bastions of repression, division, and/or foolishness.
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Monday, June 15, 2015
Sunday, June 14, 2015
Saturday, June 13, 2015
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Debunking Free Trade Myths
Nine Myths about the Pacific trade deal get debunked.
Worth looking at also is this look at why some conservatives oppose the Pacific trade deal.
Worth looking at also is this look at why some conservatives oppose the Pacific trade deal.
Right To Work Now Law in Wisconsin
Decades of union thuggery led to right to work, and Wisconsin shows it anew.
Tuesday, June 09, 2015
Obama Throws A Fit About King Vs Burwell
Barack Obama can't win on facts so he pounds the table to distract from the fact - shown by two previous court rulings - that Obama breaks the law with Obamacare.
Monday, June 08, 2015
What Does Love Have To Do With Gay Marriage?
The misuse of a Supreme Court precedent comes from the support of gay marriage.
The Obamacare Subsidies Myth And Reality
The King vs. Burwell case against Obamacare has gotten much coverage about how people ostensibly will lose subsidies; left ignored is that people are paying inflated prices and NOT getting subsidies.
Sunday, June 07, 2015
Pocono And The Seesaw Of Martin Truex Jr
He's not a first-time winner, but Martin Truex Jr's win at Pocono carries the flavor of being a debut win. A career that has been going for over ten years is an odd way to become something of an overnight sensation, but racing has a way of working out that way.
That NASCAR has finally seen a small team break through, and do so by leading the most laps for four straight races, is a head-shaking development that for now leaves one wondering if it becomes a trend the sport has not seen for over ten years. Certainly the reality of teams winning where their engines are controlled by another team instead of being built in-house was on display yet again, a striking change from years past when customer cars that won would see their engine supply cut or cut off by their supplier, as happened to Bob Whitcomb and Joe Gibbs when they ran Hendrick Motorsports engines in the 1990s and began outwinning Hendrick's own cars.
Where the New Jersey native first began establishing something was in the old Busch North tour, where he ran for three and change seasons, 2000-3. He won five races in his family-owned #56 Chevrolet and had some good dicing with Busch North ace Brad Leighton in a few races. After four seasons he moved south. He established a friendship with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and was signed to drive one of Junior's Busch Series cars, winning two titles and graduating to DEI's Winston Cup effort, where he won the Mason-Dixon 400 at Dover. Though he placed in the top ten with some frequency he wasn't following up the Dover win, and four seasons with Michael Waltrip's Toyota effort saw a surprising Sears Point win, but overall Truex was getting lost in the Winston Cup shuffle.
When Waltrip in effect disbanded the #56, Truex was able to sign with the #78 Furniture Row team and bring his pit crew with him for 2014, a car that had been driven to competitive respect by Kurt Busch as he strove to reestablish a NASCAR career amid running off-track and on-track controversy. Mediocre results for the #78 under Truex seemed to confirm there was nothing he could offer competitively to the small outfit, but that has changed.
The rumor has a second team being established here, and suddenly it's not a reach to say this team is on to something.
Truex's Pocono win climaxed a curious weekend there as complaints about a serious issue of buckling asphalt in the Tunnel Turn opened the weekend, yet a plethora of late crashes all occurred in Turn One. Some of the restarts saw some three-abreast action, and it proved a curiously unfulfilling weekend for Hendrick Motorsports as well as Stewart-Haas Racing; Kevin Harvick was hyped as the overwhelming favorite going in, and never had anything for Truex once things got going.
The weekend was also a continuation of a curious meeting at Dover between Brian France and several drivers over numerous issues, which got addressed by Jimmie Johnson and also by France. So far nothing of substance has come out of such meetings, but it is certainly interesting to see such back-and-forth.
So it goes with the Michigan 400 coming up.
That NASCAR has finally seen a small team break through, and do so by leading the most laps for four straight races, is a head-shaking development that for now leaves one wondering if it becomes a trend the sport has not seen for over ten years. Certainly the reality of teams winning where their engines are controlled by another team instead of being built in-house was on display yet again, a striking change from years past when customer cars that won would see their engine supply cut or cut off by their supplier, as happened to Bob Whitcomb and Joe Gibbs when they ran Hendrick Motorsports engines in the 1990s and began outwinning Hendrick's own cars.
Where the New Jersey native first began establishing something was in the old Busch North tour, where he ran for three and change seasons, 2000-3. He won five races in his family-owned #56 Chevrolet and had some good dicing with Busch North ace Brad Leighton in a few races. After four seasons he moved south. He established a friendship with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and was signed to drive one of Junior's Busch Series cars, winning two titles and graduating to DEI's Winston Cup effort, where he won the Mason-Dixon 400 at Dover. Though he placed in the top ten with some frequency he wasn't following up the Dover win, and four seasons with Michael Waltrip's Toyota effort saw a surprising Sears Point win, but overall Truex was getting lost in the Winston Cup shuffle.
When Waltrip in effect disbanded the #56, Truex was able to sign with the #78 Furniture Row team and bring his pit crew with him for 2014, a car that had been driven to competitive respect by Kurt Busch as he strove to reestablish a NASCAR career amid running off-track and on-track controversy. Mediocre results for the #78 under Truex seemed to confirm there was nothing he could offer competitively to the small outfit, but that has changed.
The rumor has a second team being established here, and suddenly it's not a reach to say this team is on to something.
Truex's Pocono win climaxed a curious weekend there as complaints about a serious issue of buckling asphalt in the Tunnel Turn opened the weekend, yet a plethora of late crashes all occurred in Turn One. Some of the restarts saw some three-abreast action, and it proved a curiously unfulfilling weekend for Hendrick Motorsports as well as Stewart-Haas Racing; Kevin Harvick was hyped as the overwhelming favorite going in, and never had anything for Truex once things got going.
The weekend was also a continuation of a curious meeting at Dover between Brian France and several drivers over numerous issues, which got addressed by Jimmie Johnson and also by France. So far nothing of substance has come out of such meetings, but it is certainly interesting to see such back-and-forth.
So it goes with the Michigan 400 coming up.
Thursday, June 04, 2015
Dodd-Frank Failed
The Dodd-Frank law was supposed to be the solution to bank failures - and it's been exposed as a failure.
Tuesday, June 02, 2015
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