After a brief hiatus, we now return you to the only place where rubber dust, carbon monoxide and Crisco combine to form a taste in one's mouth that only a true race fan can appreciate. I'm talking about the first five rows up against the catch fence, where earplugs are a necessity, but, still, no one wears them.Yes, we're talking about the Chicken Bone Section, a catchall for everything we love as gearheads, grease monkeys and decibel addicts. So, without further ado, let us proceed into the deliciousness that is the leftovers under the dinner table of motorsports.
Taking Infield
Last month we presented you with the most American bus that ever rolled off a Motor City assembly line, modified for racing, sleeping and honoring our founding fathers -- Washington, Franklin and Earnhardt. I spotted it in the Lowe's Motor Speedway infield, parked across the main infield thoroughfare from the media lot.I asked for your best photo captions and you delivered, the winner coming from Mike Davis, Dale Earnhardt Junior's PR rep: "THESE COLORS DON'T RUN. No really, they don't run. Clete, gimme a jump?"This week I give you a photo of the man who may very well have tricked-out said bus. I spotted this fine American while descending through the actual Chicken Bone Section at the Martinsville Speedway en route to the pits for the prerace ceremonies.Once again, I'd like you take your best crack at a caption for my new hero. You can email them to mcgeespn@yahoo.com or Tweet me at @RyanMcGeeESPN. We'll post the best ones next week as part of our post-Homestead, pre-Thanksgiving festivities.This Ain't Your Grandpappy's NASCAR
Been getting a lot of "ewwww" emails and Tweets about yesterday's Muscle Car Thong link in the Dr. Racy Ryan column. As Johnny used to say to Bob Barker ... "But wait! There're more!"Now for sale, just in time for the holidays, the pink "I love NASCAR" g-string thong. I'm not sure what's scarier, the fact that I found a men's version on eBay or that the ladies' version was listed on Google as available for $7.99, "used." For Your Viewing Pleasure
Rarely do I make a trip to the racetrack that someone doesn't bring up ESPN's uber-popular "Ride Along Program" ad campaign of the late 1990s. Well, thanks to the magic of YouTube, the RAP lives again, albeit grainier than you may have remembered.• Kyle and Richard Petty ("If you think you can do any better, get up here and drive.")• Dale Earnhardt ("He might want to get his head back in the window.")• Jeff Gordon ("Listen Chachi ...")• Ricky Craven and the Charlotte Hornets ("Well, we're kind of winning!")• Terry Labonte ("There's a weasel in my lap.")• Mark Martin and Keyshawn ("Oh sure, now they throw the flag!")• Rusty Wallace ("Oh ... you're right ...")Music City Farewell I
The Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, formerly the Nashville Speedway, was supposed to run its final race with last month's All-American 400. But an unfavorable weather forecast forced the 51-year-old track to postpone the American Speed Association event to this weekend.To Music City race fans, that meant a few more weeks to relive the memories before the half-mile, high-banked oval is padlocked for good. They've been racing at the fairgrounds since 1904 and NASCAR ran Cup races there as recently as 1984, and Nationwide and Trucks until the new suburban Nashville Superspeedway opened its doors in 2001. "I just can't imagine it not being there," says three-time Cup champ Darrell Waltrip, who came south from Kentucky to make his name in Nashville before moving to NASCAR. "You just assume it would always be there, you know?"The land, which includes the track, fairgrounds and exposition center, is city-owned and the municipal leaders have decided to redevelop the 100-plus acre area to try to boost a side of town that has been on a slow economic decline for the last couple of decades. The gates won't officially be locked until June, but track operators say running a half-schedule in 2010 would be a waste of time. More on this as the actual closure approaches, but in the meantime read this farewell from The Tennessean's Larry Woody, who covered more Nashville races than all other writers and reporters combined.Music City Farewell II
Two of the men who made their names at the fairgrounds were Coo Coo Marlin and his son Sterling. While Nashville says goodbye to the old track this weekend, Sterling will be saying goodbye to his Cup career down at Homestead-Miami. He's retiring after more than three decades on the job and, of course, back-to-back Daytona 500 wins in 1994-95.Next week I'll look back on some Sterling memories. Until then, send me some of your own, will you?In Case You Missed It
If you happened to hit the Hooters on Bruton Smith Boulevard in Concord, N.C. over the weekend (I'm not saying that I did, I'm just saying if I had), then you couldn't have swung an inappropriate T-shirt without hitting a half-dozen NASCAR champions.Stock car champs from all over the country -- track, state and national touring series -- spent an entire week racing from event to event as part of the first-ever NASCAR Champions Week. There were kart races, photo shoots, visits to race shops and, yes, I am told, some adult beverages were consumed after hours.The events culminated with the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series banquet on Friday night and the big show, the NASCAR Night of Champions Touring Series Awards Gala on Saturday. Among those honored were George Brunnhoelzl III (Whelen Southern Modified Tour), Donny Lia (Whelen Modified Tour), Philip Morris (Whelen All-American Series), Andrew Ranger (Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1) and Ryan Truex (Camping World Series East). In case you're wondering, Ryan Truex is Martin's little brother.The one champ missing from the big banquet was Camping World Series West title-winner Jason Bowles. Why? Because Bowles had to bail Thursday morning and head west to Phoenix to make his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut."Yeah, I kind of have mixed feelings about it," he told me while standing in the studios of NASCAR Now in South Charlotte last Wednesday. "I really wanted to be there to celebrate the amazing season we had. But when someone gives you a chance to move up the ladder, even for a race, you take it."Bowles, who won the CW West event at PIR earlier this year, finished 31st in Saturday's race.
