I AM A NASCAR FAN AND I CRY

Here's the thing. I didn't always watch NASCAR. 

 

What New York born and raised female did?

I'm trying to remember the exact chain of events, but suffice it to say it was a long convoluted windy road of people and events that finally forced me to watch my first race. And forced is the right word.  I went kicking and screaming. Racing? I don’t even like driving on the Long Island Expressway. Need for speed? My idea of bucking the system is driving 5 mph over the speed limit – unless it’s raining or there’s sun glare or it’s dusk or dawn or dark. I didn’t know a Dale Earnhardt from a Jimmie Johnson. Drafting? Three-wide? The car is loose? Boogity boogity boogity? And why didn’t they just say who was driving the #5, #20, #99?

It didn’t take long. By the final 20 laps I was mesmerized, cheering, hooked.

Now it’s a different story. Most women have February 14th marked on their wall calendar with a big red heart. My Valentine heart is smack over February 20^th. The Daytona 500. Heaven help my husband if he thinks I’m going out to a romantic dinner while the race is on.

The months between Homestead and Daytona are excruciatingly long. This year I got lucky. I got my hands on an advance copy of the new book “In the Blink of an Eye: Dale,  Daytona, and the Day that Changed Everything” by Michael Waltrip and Ellis Henican.

I wasn’t quite sure this was my kind of book. I’m not a Waltrip fanatic and I worried the story wouldn’t interest me. I was very wrong.

First of all, the book made me laugh. Alot. Then it made me cry. Alot.

In between the laughs and tears I read fabulously fun stories of growing up the kid brother of a real life race car driver (older sibling Darryl) and what it takes to get into the family business when the family is less than helpful. I felt like I was hearing the inside stories that no one is supposed to hear about other top drivers.

But, it was reading the story of  February 18, 2001 told  through the eyes of the man who won that Daytona 500 -- only to find out in Victory Lane about the death of his long time friend Dale Earnhardt just moments earlier-- that is heartbreaking, gut wrenching and makes this the most compelling story I’ve ever read of friendship, triumph and tragedy.

The crazy screenplay like circumstances of that day – a man who had lost 462 races in a row starts the season as the newest driver on his hero/good friend’s team.  The man calling the race for National TV is that driver's brother – his first time in the booth. The hero of this “movie” winds up in first place in a hard fought race being trailed by his boss and mentor, ‘The Intimidator’ himself. Rounding out the top three is Earnhardt’s son, Dale Jr. The accident on the last lap was both improbable and tragic. That our winner only learns of the accident while celebrating on Victory Lane - and then breaks down in tears - is truly the stuff of film…but this was real life.

I dare any NASCAR fan to read this book and not have the same visceral reaction that I did. I double dare any female NASCAR fan to read this without ruining her eye make-up and developing a crush on the man who drove the #15 at Daytona 2001 and will be behind the wheel of another #15 at the start to the 2011 season.

It’s been ten years since that awful day and there’s no better way to remember than by reading this book.

THE GROUP W BENCH

 

I didn't see news most of today, then took a peek...

"Records obtained from the Pima County, Ariz., criminal database show Justin Loughner was arrested in 2007 for possessing drug paraphernalia, a misdemeanor charge. The records suggest that Loughner paid a $20 fee and completed a court-ordered program for drug offenders. Three months later he was cited for running a stop sign."

OK...there's a lot of screaming and finger pointing going on right now. 

"How did he get a gun?"

"Who let him slip through the cracks?"

"He's absoluteley deranged."

But am I the only one that sees that as far as everyone knew  - this guy was no more dangerous than Arlo Guthrie in Alice's  Restaurant -- arrested for littering and causing a nuisance : "Kid, whad'ja get?"  I said, "I didn't get nothing, I had to pay $50 and pick up the garbage."

btw...Guthrie, like Loughner, wasn't accepted into the Army. As the Sgt said, "Kid, we don't like your kind, and we're gonna send you fingerprints off to Washington."

                

Crazy...Crazy for Talk Radio

"Research has found that a diagnosis of major mental illness alone is not a predictor of violence. The severity of a person’s illness, their past history of violence, substance abuse and criminality are the more important concerns, yet the crime is often linked to the diagnosis of mental illness itself. " *

OK...I'm right on board with saying that this Arizona shooter has to be "crazy"...

BUT now radio/tv talkers (is this an attempt by the radio hosts being accused of the violence inciting rhetoric to shift focus off of themselves?) are blaming the senseless massacre on "Us". 

Everyone. You, me, teachers, neighbors, strangers... We all should have seen the guy was crazy and...what?...made a citizen's commitment to a mental institution? 

Let's be real, if we start willy-nilly locking up every guy with extreme political leanings, uncommon reading habits (Mein Kampf, Communist Manifesto) or who's been described (as this killer was) as a “political radical” a “loner” and “obsessed with the 2012 prophecies"...well, we might as well start putting a trace on the radio phone lines and send out the Talk Radio Police to lock 'em all up. 

(...we obviously CAN NOT predict this behavior based on eccentric or bizarre behavior alone)

 A Media Guide for Reporting on Mental Illness

is available at http://www.mentalhealthreporting.org/

* http://www.dshs.wa.gov/pdf/dbhr/mh/MHMediaBriefinghandout08022010.pdf

CEASE FIRE!

On October 30^th, Jon Stewart led the Rally to Restore Sanity – poking fun at, and shining a spotlight on, the hyped up hysteria of the far right and far left media

On December 20^th, we had the launch of No Labels - asking our leaders to put political partisanship aside and do what is best for America.

On January 8, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik made a statement attributing the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and 19 others to heated political discourse.

It seems obvious that we have reached a time in this country where the pendulum is about to swing back from extreme and volatile partisan opinion to a time of more open discussion.

Don’t you think that it’s time to capitalize on the recent headlines trumpeting compromises in Washington?

I'm saying it is time for the media to get in line with what Americans want.  
A Cease-Fire.

Didn't I See This On TV?

 

For those folks who believe in 'Whoa man...they wrote that a long time ago TV WRITER CONSPIRACY theories' ... consider this....

 

In the last week 4 of the numbers to come up in the unbelievably huge 1/3rd of a billion dollar MEGA Lottery were the same lottery numbers played by the character Hurley on LOST. Those lottery numbers propelled several seasons of storyline and were, by the way, "cursed" and the "reason" for the plane crash, fires, deaths, business failures, etc

 

Also, in the last week, thousands of birds fell dead from the sky across at least three states. 

 

In last years ABC show Flashforward a very ominous event foretold more deadly disaster to come. 

 

This on line:  "Anyone watch the show Flash Forward last year?? For many of us who were fans of the ABC drama, these bird deaths are extra alarming as the energy manipulation that caused the Flash Forward to happen first struck birds in some of their practice runs. I'm just hoping the Govt didn't set up the show Flash Forward as a way to prepare us for some real life tests they are running that could endanger us all. 20 Million people died on the day the Flash Forward occurred in the show. Be careful out there everyone!!"

 

Conspiracy theory OR not? Hmmmm