NASCAR, Johnny Football, Tipton and More.....

I cannot decide whether I am greatly disappointed in Clint Bowyer or if I feel sorry for him. I have been asked to do things by my employer for the “good of the company” that I was not thrilled with and I wasn’t on live television when I did it. I cringed when I watched his post-race interview and in the interviews that he has done after the penalties he still has not said that he spun out intentionally. But after “spinning” a story about a tire going down he will be admitting that he was a blatant liar then by now telling the truth now. MWR put Bowyer in a terrible position and I am betting that from the moment that Clint “itched his arm” he wished that he would not have done it. I still like the guy, but I am biased. After all, how cool would it be to have a former NKF Tour Modified Feature Winner become the NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion!?

Just how stupid are these guys though? Did they all forget that their radio communications are heard by many and are recorded by NASCAR? And now we also hear about Joey Logano getting a free extra point from David Gilliland for “future considerations”. NASCAR wanted more interest and publicity when they put together “the Chase” format, but I doubt that they ever thought it would be from these types of scenarios. This doesn’t change anything for me though. I will still DVR the Talladega weekend and watch it at my convenience. Then I will continue to scan through the results in the morning paper for the other chase races. (In other words, not much interest…..)

Just how warped is our society now when coverage of George Zimmerman’s divorce is a lead story on Good Morning America?

Last season I watched Texas A&M’s upset of Alabama with great interest and cheered on the Aggies and Johnny Manziel as they scored the win. Then, with a great deal of stoking from the media and the Heisman voters “Johnny Football” became his own biggest fan and after his disgusting on-field antics during the Rice game I am hoping that he is rolled under by the Crimson Tide on Saturday. It will be the only game this season that I will be pulling for Alabama unless of course they somehow end up playing Notre Dame again in a bowl game. I really hope that we don’t eventually end up with a matchup between Johnny Football and the Golden Domers as my head would then explode.

The “big game” in Iowa this weekend does not have the pzazz that it usually does after both teams stumbled out of the blocks. The Hawkeyes are favored by the oddsmakers for the thirteenth straight year in this matchup despite the fact that Kirk Ferentz has a six and eight record in his career against the Cyclones. It should be another close one that I think the Cyclones will prevail in although I am hoping that I will be at the Yankee Dirt Track Classic instead of watching the five o’clock kickoff.

The promotional group headed up by Ken Dobson that has operated the Jacksonville Speedway the past two years was announced this past Monday as the new promoters at the Quincy Raceway for 2014. I had a chance to talk with Dobson at length a couple of years ago as he was starting up the Midwest Open Wheel Association (MOWA) Sprint Car series and I was impressed with his enthusiasm and knowledge of the sport. I am looking forward to see what Dobson and his crew can do with Quincy as having the tie in with Jacksonville may produce an increase in car counts right away.

I’m not sure what to think about the situation at Tipton. I love the track as it often produces great racing, but with a solid Friday night program not far to the east and a Friday night track apparently on the upswing to the north, the road to success on that night is one that will be difficult to navigate. The track is too close to West Liberty and Maquoketa to run on Saturday night and, while Sunday night may be an option, it is doubtful that a new promoter would be able to secure an IMCA sanction given the proximity to both Vinton and East Moline. Could somebody swoop in there and try to make it the Island for Open Modifieds? I suppose, but that would then truly test the assertions that supporters of the class make in regard to the number of drivers and fans that would be committed to sticking with the division They may not like the results.

Perhaps Tipton could run a specials only slate in 2014 as those types of events seemed to draw very nicely the past two years. Or they might want to partner with another struggling fairgrounds track in the area to run aprogram like this.

With the blazing hot weather that we have had it is hard to believe that we are now firmly into the Fall Specials schedule, but it sounds like Friday night’s forecasted low temperatures will readjust our sense of the time of the year.

Leave it to Mike VanGenderen to blaze a new trail and this is one that no other promoter has probably had a chance to offer before. MVG will be promoting five straight weekends of special events at four different tracks starting the final weekend of September in Webster City and ending in Donnellson on October 26^th for Shiverfest. Any driver in any division that competes in all five specials will receive a $250 bonus with the schedule including the Musco Fall Challenge at Oskaloosa as well as two-day October extravaganzas at Donnellson and in Memphis, Missouri. It will be interesting to see just how many drivers will collect the bonus.

While my target is the Yankee this weekend, Barry plans to return to Harlan for the Tiny Lund Memorial. We are still looking for a blogger or two from the western part of the state who would want to join the PositivelyRacing family for 2014 so drop us an e-mail or track down Barry this weekend if you are interested.

The Open Wheel crowd has a great pair of events on tap for this weekend with the Herb Barlow Memorial at the Jacksonville Speedway on Friday night and the Tom Knowles Memorial at the Spoon River Speedway on Saturday night. Both events will feature the MOWA 410 Winged Sprints and the POWRi Midgets. If you are looking for a special event or two to attend yet as the 2013 racing season winds down make sure that you visit the Calendar page at Positively Racing and we hope to see you somewhere soon on the Back Stretch!