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Monday, February 14, 2000
Happy Valntine's Day
I am sure I have previously mentioned my disdain for Delta Airlines in the past, but I
must re-emphasize my dislike for this air carrier. Maybe the reason that I dislike them so
much is their major hub in the south is Atlanta, which is now the world’s busiest
airport. I can not remember the last time I came through this airport that my flight
wasn’t cancelled or delayed or that we weren’t put into what seems like a never
ending holding pattern. I’ve had to spend the night in Atlanta in the past, sans
clean clothing or toothbrush because of this airline. And I didn’t mention that when
you finally head out to the runway, more than likely you’re going to be no. 20 or
better for takeoff. Arrrrghhhh.
And of top of the above, I just get the feeling of one step above riding the bus when I
am on Delta. I don’t get this same feeling on US Air or other carriers. I guess Delta
has so much business that customer service is now booked on a steerage ticket.
It’s for this reason that I try to plan the majority of my travel on US Air which
uses the Charlotte, NC airport as a hub. It’s very rarely that you experience the
same problems in the Charlotte.
Why am I venting? You guessed it. I had another miserable experience as I had to use
Delta to get to Daytona Beach. US Air used to have service here, but pulled out a few
years ago, claiming it wasn’t making enough money or something. I can’t
understand why. Every time I came to DAB on US Air the plane was full, and I am not just
talking about race time. Must have been some really slow periods that I didn’t see.
Anyway, I digress. On Friday I took Delta out of Nashville and headed for Daytona Beach
through Atlanta. I had about a three hour layover (that’s another subject entirely),
so I wasn’t worried about missing my flight because of a tight connection. The plane
loaded on time and there we sat, on the plane, at the gate for almost two hours waiting on
a flight crew. Supposedly the crew that was supposed to take the plane from Atlanta to
Daytona Beach was stuck at another airport because the plane they were flying had some
sort of mechanical problem. I was surprised they didn’t blame it on the FAA ordered
emergency inspectuons of the MD-80 planes. If they did, I must have been dozing off.
The airline called in a reserve crew and the first officer was in the cockpit about an
hour before the captain. The excuse was the captain had been called in as a reservce and
had to drive to the airport in heavey Friday afternoon traffic from the north side of
Atlanta and was therefore delayed.
I can not believe that Delta does not have reserve flight crews standing by at the
airport for situations such as this. They must have thousands and thousands of flights out
of Atlanta each day and certainlly run into this situation on a regular basis.
Yet another reason not to fly Delta through Atlanta.
I finally arrived in Daytona around 8:30 PM on Friday and haven’t had an
opportunity to update the site since that time. Don’t know how many updates I’ll
be able to squeeze in this week. Hang in there with me.
On the racing side of things, it looks like Dale Jarrett is the one to beat down
here this week. Mr. Jarrett was quite impressive in both his run for the pole on Saturday
and then again in both Bud Shootout races. Since Jarrett did not win a pole position in
1999 he had to race his way into the Bud Shootout by winning the 25-lap qualifying race.
His victory there put him the 15th starting position in the Shootout and he
easily picked his way through the crowd to win the "main event." His domiance so
far reminds me of some of the years Dale Earnhardt has enjoyed at SpeedWeeks in the past.
Earnhardt would win every race he entered in Daytona, but could never close the deal on
the big one. Jarrett already has two Daytona 500 victories on his resume, so he’s not
dealing with a Daytona jinx the way Earnhardt did. Earnhardt finally bagged a D-500
victory a couple years ago.
There is at least one person whose name is not Jarrett who is pulling for
Jarrett to win this year’s Daytona 500.
Melissa Brown, from Pittsburgh, is one of the five finalists in the Winston No Bull 5
promotion for the Daytona 500. After Saturday’s qualifying, Brown was paired with
Jarrett in their quest to win $1 Million. If Jarrett wins the Daytona 500 he will get $1
Million from Winston and Brown will also get $1 Million from Winston
Four other Winston Cup drivers and fans have a chance at the Winston No Bull 5 Million
as do the fans they are paired with. The drivers were seleced because of their top five
finish last fall in the Winston 500 at Talladega.
John Williams, from Las Vegas, might feel he has an equal chance with Brown. He is
paired with Ricky Rudd who will start frim the outside pole position alongside Jarrett.
Both Jarrett and Rudd are in cars prepared by Robert Yates’ teams. Yates’ cars
have historically been known for their strong engines.
Lorraine Scheurle of Cliffside Park,N.J., is paired with with Ward Burton; Marcus
Pohlmann of West Jefferson, Ohio, is hooked up with Dale Earnhardt, and Betty Blackmon of
Dillon, S.C., is connected with Kenny Wallace.
Ricky Rudd’s wild ride on the final lap in Yesterday's Bud
Shootout was reminescent of a another prelimnary event at Daytona. A few years back Rudd
took a similar ride in a Bud Moore Ford in the Busch Clash, a predecessor to the Bud
Shootout. In that race his car stood on its end and did quite a dance at the end of pit
road. He emerged from that wreck with lots of bumps and bruises. Luckily, yesterday he
climed from the car to give a wave to a cheering crowd. In both cases, his race car
received the worst end of the deal. The car from Yesterday wreck may be salvagable, at
least for a show car, which is more than could be said for the car in his previous Daytona
turn four dance.
Sterling Marlin showed some real class after the Bud Shootout when he took blame for
the accident that put Rudd on his top. He said the accident was his fault…..his car
wouldn’t steer and he hit Bobby Labonte, who careened into Rudd, and the rest is
history.
Prior to the Bud Shootout and Daytona 500 qualifying, the Chevrolet car owners
had been whining that the Ford had a unfair advantage over the Chevrolets and were crying
out for one of those famous NASCAR rules changes. They may have had a compelling argument
before qualifying on Saturday, when Mike Skiiner raced amongst the Fords and grabbed the
fourth fastest time. And then Jeff Gordon didn’t help the Chevrolet camps’s case
with his strong showing in the Bud Shootout, where he was racing with Dale Jarrett for the
win. Gordon, of course, was in a Chevrolet, you know, one of those cars that’s
inadequate and can not race with the Fords. Opps.
Another one from the Chevrolet camp who has been complaining is independent Dave
Marcis. Marcis has strated 33 straright Daytona 500s and is tied with Richard Petty for
that honor. However, Dave feels that his car is inadequate this year and he might not make
it 34 straight.
Tired old Darlington Raceway is joining the cyberworld. TranSouth Financial has
been the sponsor of the spring Darlington race for just about as many years as I have been
involved in the sport. In fact, it’s the second oldest sponsorship in NASCAR, second
only to sereis sponsor, Winston.
The TranSouth name will be coming off the Darlington race and Mall.com 400 will be
Darlington’s new moniker.
The flap over NASCAR marketing rights is a story that doesn’t seem to want
to die, according
to this story that Mike Mulhern published in the Winston-Salem Journal. NASCAR is used
to stories like this one going away after a while, but this one seems to have a life of
its own. NASCAR may have just pegged the greed meter on this one.
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Tuesday, February 15, 2000
The Daytona 500 has the most unique qualifying system of
any race on the Winston Cup circuit. Every driver who wants to race in the 500 posts a
normal qualifying lap a week ahead of the big race, but only the two fastest cars are
guaranteed their starting position in the big race.
The remainder of the field must race for their starting position in Thursday’s
Twin 125 mile races, some of the most exciting races of the season. No wonder Gatorade is
happy to put their name on this pair of non-points races.
Following the Gatorade Twins, the field is set, but it’s not over yet. The first
30 positions come out of the Twin 125 miler. However, if the front row drivers have
problems in their race, remember their positions were guaranteed, so there is a chance
that only 14 could advance from the races. In our little discussion here we are going to
assume that both front row drivers finished in the top-15 in their race.
Positions 31-36 go to the fastest remaining drivers from the two rounds of qualifying.
In the past there used to be a total of four rounds of time trials. The remainder of the
field is saved for competitors who need to use a provisional starting position to get into
the race. The provisionsals as set by last year's car owner points, with the a spot
reserved for a Winston Cup Series champion, if needed.
Dale Earnhardt has won his Twin 125-mile race for 10 straight years. Thursday will be
put up or shut up time and we’ll see whether the Chevrolets have sandbagging or their
crying is legitimate. Dale is going to start ninth in the first race. That’s good.
The bad thing is he will have to race Dale Jarrett and we all saw what he can do in
Sunday’s Bud Shootout.
Here is the lineup for Thursday’s Gatorade Twin 125 mile races. The driver’s
car number is in parenthesis. That’s important, because many drivers have changed
rides for the new season. The qualifying speed is also listed.
Race No. 1
1. (88) Dale Jarrett, 191.091.
2. (94) Bill Elliott, 190.319.
3. (6) Mark Martin, 189.721.
4. (2) Rusty Wallace, 189.621.
5. (32) Scott Pruett, 189.470.
6. (36) Ken Schrader, 189.052.
7. (9) Stacey Compton, 188.945.
8. (20) Tony Stewart, 188.786.
9. (3) Dale Earnhardt, 188.588.
10. (10) Johnny Benson, 188.446.
11. (75) Wally Dallenbach, 188.296.
12. (24) Jeff Gordon, 188.166.
13. (14) Mike Bliss, 188.103.
14. (18) Bobby Labonte, 187.978.
15. (40) Sterling Marlin, 187.966.
16. (13) Robby Gordon, 187.907.
17. (12) Jeremy Mayfield, 187.746.
18. (66) Darrell Waltrip, 187.641.
19. (5) Terry Labonte, 187.477.
20. (60) Geoffrey Bodine, 187.219.
21. (55) Kenny Wallace, 187.001.
22. (27) Jeff Fuller, 186.714.
23. (97) Chad Little, 186.139.
24. (11) Brett Bodine, 185.544.
25. (89) Bobby Gerhart, 183.535.
26. (44) Kyle Petty, 187.852.
27. (85) Carl Long, 179.906.
28. (72) Jim Sauter |
Race No. 2
1. (28) Ricky Rudd, 190.384.
2. (31) Mike Skinner, 189.781.
3. (22) Ward Burton, 189.633.
4. (43) John Andretti, 189.605.
5. (93) Dave Blaney, 189.310.
6. (77) Robert Pressley, 189.008.
7. (99) Jeff Burton, 188.806.
8. (42) Kenny Irwin, 188.715.
9. (33) Joe Nemechek, 188.529.
10. (41) Rick Mast, 188.359.
11. (8) Dale Earnhardt Jr., 188.202.
12. (7) Michael Waltrip, 188.115.
13. (1) Steve Park, 187.997.
14. (17) Matt Kenseth, Ford. 187.978.
15. (26) Jimmy Spencer, 187.911.
16. (25) Jerry Nadeau, 187.821.
17. (4) Bobby Hamilton, 187.672.
18. (15) Derrike Cope, 187.625.
19. (90) Ed Berrier, 187.297.
20. (16) Kevin Lepage, 187.021.
21. (50) Ricky Craven, 186.842.
22. (71) Dave Marcis, 186.409.
23. (21) Elliott Sadler, 185.609.
24. (91) Andy Hillenburg, 185.468.
25. (96) Greg Sacks, 185.219.
26. (48) Stanton Barrett, 182.856.
27. (65) Dan Pardus, Chevrolet 181.675.
28. (84) Norm Benning |
The flap over NASCAR’s attempt to muscle in on the individual
marketing success enjoyed by some of the competitors, of course, continues down here this
week. Mike Mulhern, from the our local paper, the Winston-Salem Journal, added this report today
from the car owner’s perspective. This is an important story and will not soon go
away.
Most of today’s activities at the track will
be around continued paractice for the 500 and qualifying for Saturday’s Busch Grand
National race and Friday’s Craftsman Truck race. This is the first time the trucks
have run on the big banks of Daytona. I keep hearing this series is struggling. I guess
the demographics of the number of pickup truck owners is not carrying over to the farily
new NASCAR racing division
I received an email from Microsoft that I had been confirmed for a seat at the
Windows 2000 Launch party over in Orlando. However, it now looks like I have a conflict
and will not be able to attend. Of course, I will do the right thing and cancel my
reservation so someone who is on the waiting list will have a chanace to attend.
Novell is making a claim there is a security bug in the new Windows 2000 operating
system, which it claims will sharply cut into the sales of the main Novell product. Naturally,
Microsoft is denying such a flaw exists. However, experienced users of the Microsoft
operating systems will attest, Microsoft often puts a product out and then quickly follows
with service or maintenance releases that fix problems end users have identified.
Here’s a contest I should enter. You can win a thousand bucks by
submitting your story, outlining how the internet has become a way of life to you.
As I am preparing this report, the
television is on in the background and the much-awaited Academy Awards nominations are
being announced live from the left coast. It’s early out there. The nominations for
best picture included American Beauty, The Cider House, The Green Mile, The Insider and
The Sixth Sense, none of which I have seen.
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