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



 







Memories!

I have been busy lately cleaning.  I do NOT love to clean, but it is a neccesity.  I don't want to live in clutter and dirt.

I decided the other day to tackle a closet in the spare bedroom which is no longer a bedroom, but my office.  I have to share it with my husband as he likes to get on his computer and look at things.  I used to call his computer the "Danger Zone" as every time he went to it he would get this urge to buy something.  I will admit that he has gotten a lot better the past couple of months.  He looks a whole lot more instead of buying something. 

Back to cleaning out the closet.  I had plastic bins in there with items I hadn't seen in a while.  So going through them, I found items that my mother had saved.  My mom saved everything!  I found these little pink baskets. 

Now I can remember these at one of my birthday parties when I was around 10 or so and they had little mint candies and peanuts in them.  Why I remember that, who knows.



I found these two old hand fans that my mother had.  As you can see, the one on the left is of the Mackinac Bridge that connects the Upper and Lower Peninsulas of Michigan.  The fan on the right shows the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.  If you ever get the chance you need to visit Mackinac Island.  You have to take a boat to get there (it is located between the Upper and Lower Peninsulas of Michigan) and there are no automobiles on the island.  You either walk, ride a bike or take a horse drawn carriage.  It is 8 miles around the island and a lovely bike ride.

I found this birth announcement.  Nothing was written in it, but wondering if my mom saved it and these were what she used to announce my birth XX years ago.  (Put those XX there on purpose!)

In this box I found a puzzle.  I looked on the back of the box and the date was 1918!  I told you my mother saved everything!  Kind of glad she saved this. 

I want to work more on our "Family Tree".  In Ancestry.com I have been going back on my side and my husband's side as far as I can.  On my dad's side, I got as far back as the 1500's.  On my mom's side I wasn't as lucky as my grandma was pregnant with my mom when she came to the United States from Poland.  I hit a dead end in Poland as the records were most likely destroyed in WWII.  Same on my husband's side, as the records were likely destroyed in WWII.  But my dad's heritage is Dutch, English, Scottish and Irish, so I lucked out on going so far back on his side. 

It is so fascinating to learn all this history.  A few years ago I found out that my great, great, great, great grandfather (may have missed one there, not sure) fought in the Revolutionary War.  He lived in Conneticut.  So I may have long lost relatives in the Northeast.  I was born and raised in Michigan.  Our whole family was and is from Michigan.  My husband, our four children and I moved to Florida in 1985.

My goal is to leave our children as much history of our family as I can.  It will take a while, but I enjoy doing these kinds of projects.  Just need to fit it in with everything else I am trying to do!  History is important!  So try to get your family history to pass down to your family.  They should appreciate your efforts.

Until next time.........................

As Always,

Marilyn