CAN YOU BELIEVE IT???

Someone upset the Nascar guys this past Sunday!  Danica Patrick is the FIRST woman ever to take the pole for the Daytona 500! She will be starting FIRST in the Daytona 500 this coming Sunday.

I think it is AWESOME!  It's about time that a woman is first in the Daytona 500.  This race is the "Super Bowl" of racing.  It's a BIG DEAL!!

If you follow twitter, there are a lot of people out there that don't like Danica.  Why?  Who knows.  Probably because she gets mad when somebody hits her in a race, damages her car and sometimes puts her out of the race.  It happens to the guys and don't think they don't get mad!  We were at the Nascar Bristol race last August, and witnessed Tony Stewart throwing his helmet at Matt Kenseth as Matt came out of the pits. Tony was mad because he felt Matt wrecked him.  Tony's helmet hit Matt's car.  It bounced off Matt's car and Matt continued to race.  Guys get mad when they get hit, so why can't Danica get mad?  It is no different!

I have seen Danica have "attitude" at times.  But I have also seen many guys have "attitude".  The late Davey Allison and the late Dale Earnhardt, Sr. got mad and had attitude at times.  Tony Stewart was known for his temper for a long time.  But since he has become an owner/driver, he has calmed down a lot.  That incident of throwing his helmet at Matt was the first time I saw him that mad in a few years.  The "Bad Boy" this last year was Kurt Busch.  Hopefully this year Kurt has calmed down.

Every sport has their guys with attitude, tempers, etc.  I think a lot of people like that.  It makes the sport interesting!

What I love about Nascar is that the drivers are very accessible.  In my opinion, this sport is Number One when it comes to the drivers interacting with their fans. There are a lot of drivers who are on Twitter that  talk to you.  Brad Keslowski is number one in interacting with his fans on Twitter.  He is famous for talking on Twitter during the red flag stop of the Daytona 500 last year.

So back to Danica.  I am happy that she took the pole for Sunday's race.  I hope that Danica does well this year as she will be racing full time.  Her boss?  Why it is none other than Tony Stewart!  He sees something in her racing skills and he is a good judge.  I have to say that Tony is probably one of the best drivers in all kinds of racing.  He is always racing.  Whether it is Nascar racing, dirt track racing or Indy racing.

So Danica, I wish you nothing but the best.  Go out and WIN the Daytona 500 and shut those naysayers up!  Make us women PROUD!!!


As Always,
Marilyn

IT'S ALMOST TIME!

Can you hear them?  No?  Well, neither can I.......yet!  But 10 more days and the BOYS will be in town!!  Who are the boys you say?  Why the NASCAR boys!!  When they are in Daytona, you can hear them going around the track from our house and we are 8 miles away! 

As I have mentioned before, I was born and raised in Michigan.  Up there we never heard very much about the good old boys in the South that raced cars.  When I knew we were going to move to Florida, I decided to watch the Daytona 500 that year.  It was 1985 and Bill Elliott won the race.  I kind of liked watching the race, but I still didn't know a lot about racing.  Well, that was about to change for me.

We moved down here in August of 1985.  During December and January they had testing at the Daytona track and you could go sit in the stands for free and watch the drivers test their cars. Only a few cars went out on the track at a time. I fell in love with hearing the cars roar by. 

The following February, my friend took me to the local bowling alley to see the Nascar boys bowl in a charity event.  I saw and met a lot of drivers.  Richard Petty, Terry LaBonte, Alan Kulwicki, Tim Richmond, and Neil Bonnett just to name a few.  I got pictures and autographs.  I have to say that Neil Bonnett was the nicest and he became my favorite driver.  Unfortunately, he crashed here at Daytona testing a car for Dale Earnhardt Sr and he died as a result of that crash.

We went to see our first Daytona 500 in February 1986.  It was neat hearing a few cars go around the track. but someone told me to wait until I hear 43 cars start their engines.  They were right, it gave me goose bumps and it was LOUD!!  I was "hooked"!!

Since then my hubby and I have gone to several Nascar races.  We have been to Atlanta, Richmond, Darlington, Bristol, Indy, Charlotte, Las Vegas and Michigan to see them race.  My favorite track other than Daytona is Bristol.  Bristol at night in August is the BEST race in my opinion. 

We go up to North Carolina a lot every year and we love to visit all the race shops.  My favorite driver is Dale Jr.  We have been to his shop several times.  A couple years ago we met his dog, Killer, at Dale's shop. We walked into the lobby of JR Motorsports and there he was lying on the couch.  He let me have a picture taken with him.  So laid back!  Doesn't fit his name at all!

 

Here is a picture of me and Dale Jr!  The first time I saw him as I walked into his shop, I thought "Really, he is here?".  But as you get closer you can see he is not real.  But I think he looks pretty close to real!

 

 

So soon we will be heading to Daytona for the races.  The Dual Races on Thursday before the Daytona 500 are my favorite.  They race in the Duals to qualify to be in the Daytona 500.  I am "hooked" and  "hooked" good.  But I wouldn't have it any other way.................

 

 

As Always,

Marilyn