Initial reports this morning state that the new race track in south Alabama will be in Mobile County. As previously posted, that’s about a mile from my house.
Mixed emotions…more on this later.
PS — Link to official announcement at AlabamaMotorsportsPark.com.
Okay, so yesterday’s post wasn’t the best start to the whole “40 days” thing. But I’ve got a good one tonight!
In September it was announced that a group of investors including Dale Earnhardt, Jr. wanted to build a racing complex in South Alabama. At first, I was excited. It sounded like NASCAR was going to be close enough that I could spend a weekend at the races and sleep in my own bed every night.
Then I heard that one of the proposed locations is in Pritchard/Saraland. Now I was a little concerned because Saraland is home. But, it’s still pretty cool.
Then I saw the map on their website: AlabamaMotorsportsPark.com.
FLASH: There is now only one site plan remaining on their web page…the one in Baldwin county is gone, and the Pritchard site stands alone. I only noticed that in the last few minutes…could the announcement be eminent?
I could tell they used Google maps (or at least the same satellite photos) to describe the site. I searched out my house, then compared the pictures. Want to see the map?
My house is a mere 6000 feet from the center of the track. Let’s get ready to rumble!
This is exciting news for our area, and I’m still excited about it. But what will it mean for my neighborhood? What will the noise be like? What will the traffic be like? Will this raise or lower my home’s value? Will I dread the roar of the engines over 100 nights a year (as is proposed)?
I feel bad for my dear Adult Bible Fellowship leaders (read Sunday School teachers) who literally live across the street from the facility. They sacrificed for years in a very small house, and then later built their custom dream home which they designed and built themselves. They sadly may be all but forced to move. I pray the best for them and others too close to it, as I wonder if maybe we’re too close to it too.
On top of that, our church is within thousands of feet of the proposed entrance to the complex.
So we sit and wait for the final results and construction to start. I didn’t know there was only one site left when I started this post. I’d expect the announcement is tomorrow.
BONUS: It’s been the buzz now for a few weeks around town, and last Sunday I heard a rumor that Dale Jr. is building a home somewhere out on Celeste Road (I-65 exit 15 and go west) to include helicopter pad. It’s just a rumor, but I haven’t seen anything else on the internet about it, so maybe this is a scoop for me.
[I guess all those years of journalism in high school and college don’t fade the desire to get the scoop! Still, it’s just a rumor and even if it’s true, I don’t exactly expect to be Junior’s new best friend.]
I was so caught up in Jimmie Johnson’s win in yesterday’s post that I totally ignored Tony Stewart. Maybe we should all ignore Tony for a while!
Stewart started Speedweeks by whining about bump drafting, then proceeded to threaten fellow drivers on the track multiple times (how many times did he steer toward another driver in the pack?) and totally took out Matt Kenseth (and later admitted it was retribution from an earlier incident…though that was probably magnified only in Tony’s mind). He also could have avoided the wall incident with Jeff Gordon, but he chose not to.
All that and he still finishes fifth. I admit the man can drive. He’s great. But he should have been parked. I guess being the reigning champion comes with a few free passes. Hopefully NASCAR tells him there are no more Get Out of Jail Free cards left.
As for Johnson and the penalties, I was pretty close in my prediction. Knaus is suspended for three more races, placed on probation for the rest of the year and fined $25,000. He got off pretty easy in my book. I would have at least doubled the fine and there would have been points taken away. Again, NASCAR wimped out when it could have sent a strong signal to the teams.
But there’s another take on the Knaus cheating story: Why did he do it when he did it? I mean, he cheated for Daytona qualifying. The team finished fifth last season and was guaranteed a starting position in the race. Winning the pole would be cool, but is it worth the risk? Pit selection and not having to race hard in the qualifying races aren’t good enough reasons either. He remains defiant and will surely continue to cross the line. This team needs some remedial training on risk management and risk acceptance. And NASCAR needs to sharpen it’s guillotine.
I guess it’s time to venture back into the world of NASCAR. I’ve been off the internet beat for a while, but I’m easing my way back. Maybe one day I can resurrect PerfectParanoia.com…
This year we had to endure NBC’s coverage of the race. We also got to celebrate the fact that it’s the last time NBC will broadcast the Great American Race! Too bad we still have them for the last half of the season. Sorry guys…nothing personal. It’s just that the NBC coverage hasn’t ever developed the right chemistry. Fox has it. ESPN had it back in the day.
Back to this race. I’m torn between saying I enjoyed the race and saying that I didn’t. The weather was horrible for TV. The camera’s couldn’t get the bright and sunny shots expected of Daytona, and the helicopter used to relay in-car camera’s was either too low or grounded for most of the race. So the entire telecast was grey, though you can’t blame NBC for that.
There were a record number of lead changes, which is good, but the racing was still largely single file up front. How is it the Busch cars can have a better aero package for the plate tracks?
In the end, Jimmie Johnson in the 48 won the race. Somehow, that shouldn’t be a surprise. By kicking his crew chief Chad Knaus out of Daytona for cheating (let’s not mince words, okay?), NASCAR simply motivated the team to want to win even more. It seems to me this has happened before. Ban, fine or punish a team and they somehow win the race anyway.
Now we wait for the additional penalties for the 48 team, to include suspension of the crew chief, monetary fines and points deductions. If NASCAR follows the well-worn patterns of the past, expect a four race suspension (to include Daytona) and probation for the rest of the year, $25-50K fine, and a mere 25 point deduction.
When was the last time the winner of the Daytona 500 didn’t go to the second race of the season without the point lead?
As a side note, whoever decided to double the amount of confetti fired in victory lane will make note to halve the order next year. Preventing a sponsor’s logo from being read is cardinal sin numero uno in NA$CAR!
TiVo Notes: I love watching the races and fast-forwarding through commercials. Just a few seconds and it’s back to racing, and I’ve saved about 20% of my time by watching on a slight delay. I can get home from church and just catch up on my own time. I bet NASCAR hates TiVo, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the teams on pit road use them to record and review the race as it’s happening.
Next week: California and real racing without restrictor plates!
I’m not really the hands-on type of guy. I can manage to change light bulbs and drive nail into a board when needed, but I’m better with software (undo is so handy…why isn’t there an undo button for real life?).
This weekend I installed stereo units in our cars. I’d never done it before, but figured I’m not dummy, so why not try. Both of our 1995 cars still had the factory units in them, and they weren’t fancy. No CD, and certainly no MP3!
I researched for about 6-8 months before deciding on a unit. I went with the Sony CDX-GT200
I’d had a $100 gift certificate with Amazon.com for months and decided to use it. Amazon sells the unit using Crutchfield.com. My father used to get Crutchfield catalogs and had used them before, so I figured it was a safe order. I peppered them with questions before ordering (just to make sure all the freebies would still come–they did).
I placed the order last Monday morning, had confirmation a few hours later, and that afternoon got an email saying I needed to contact them with my vehicle information. I called, they put the order in process, and it was shipped that night. The package included all of the installation gear, and arrived Wednesday afternoon (free shipping, too!).
I had three hours on Saturday available so I started the install. It wasn’t pretty at first. My brother-in-law Mike came over to help, and I had to call tech support once for help, but we managed to run all the wires (all the way to the back of the Explorer), splice the wires and get it working. It didn’t lock into place, but it worked.
Sunday I started on my wife’s Accord. Under the center console I found dove shaped confetti from our wedding (1996) and a receipt for gas from Ames, IA dated May 1997 (our trip to a wedding in Minnesota). Her install was much easier, though I did call to make sure I got the blue wire for the power antenna right. But again, her unit wasn’t locking in place.
One more call and I managed to figure out the locking problem. Simple and easy, if only the instructions had been a touch better (overall they were great, but included a lot of extra similar vehicles and speaker replacement instructions, too).
There was only one other problem. My wife said her CD player wasn’t working, so I had to troubleshoot it. It was making a very loud annoying noise. I had tested it with the radio, but didn’t have a CD before she needed the car. It turned out to be a speaker wire splice that didn’t stay in place, so I had to redo it. That was it!
All told, I spent about 4-5 hours installing two stereos in our cars this weekend, and taught two FPU course, spent time with my kids and wife, attended church and a Valentine’s Day dinner, but I missed the first NASCAR race of the year.
The TiVo was aimed for Saturday night, but rain delayed the race until Sunday afternoon. I was in a media blackout because I didn’t want to hear who won before I could watch it. I sure hope it’s sunny and bright for the Daytona 500 next week. The TiVo will be running again, and I’ll be on the couch between church and FPU to see what I can see, and finish it after class. So no, I can’t change that light bulb that’s out next Sunday. I’ll have to take care of it Saturday.
James