ZuDfunck

Comparing Retirements of NASCAR's Dale Jarrett with WWE's Ric Flair

WWE did it up right when Ric Flair retired
NASCAR came up short in comparison
Two legends at the top of their game leaving the sport they love

I missed the prerace ceremonies for Jarrett but it couldn't have matched what RAW did for Ric Monday Nite.
Nor do I think Dale cried like a baby when other drivers were hugging him like Ric was doing.
It was all quite touching. Maybe because Jarrett will continue calling races, his retirement was less of an event. But with Flairs' good bye you couldn't help but feel sad and realize you were witnessing history. Even if the WWE is an overblown soap opera on steroids, the characters and story lines do suck ya' in and when they hit the mark they are quite memorable.

There's A Rotten Egg In ZuD's Easter Basket

Lord only knows what will be on Fox this Sunday at mid afternoon.

It certainly won’t be cars zooming 'round an oval in all their splendor and majesty.

Maybe because they don’t want to be going against March Madness or they are all busy find Easter eggs but one things clear, NASCAR Sprint Cup will be silent!

And like the rotten eggs that no doubt will be prevalent on that day so will sad fans everywhere miss the best sport going these days.

Now some may say the Lords rising out of a cave trumps stock car racing but I am selfish and narrow focused on what I want when I want it.

So I would suggest Speed Channel unwrap one of their highlight packages or rerun some great race of recent time and give us NASCAR junkies something to watch besides the twenty seventh running of The Ten Commandments.

I suppose I could record the Nationwide race and not watch it until Sunday but no doubt I would learn the winner by Sunday AM and have that spoiled so I am opening this post up to you to see what you will be doing this Sunday to placate your addiction.

Send me an email or put it in a comment and we will at least have hope. In lieu of that Happy Spring and have a lovely first day of March Madness!

NASCAR Fans Get on Twitter

Lets meet on Twitter! The video below explains the concept and how easy it is to Join. Yeah it's free so what's stopping you from joining this year old phenomena. And if your on it already or soon to join add ol' ZuD to your follow list and I shall do the same.

I am trying to get fellow NASCAR fans on it cause right now there are mostly just Techies and Geeks.
Let's get the NASCAR nation Twittering!

What Do You Do During NASCAR Weather Delays?

Every weekend I spend some 20 hours viewing Qualifying, Practice and Racing. When weather interrupts that viewing and endless replays of “Back in the Day’ come on I typically go over to the news channels and get caught up on what the political news is. But what do you do fellow Zuddies? If your lucky enough to have a mate you might indulge in cuddling or do you leave the house and go shopping or does your mate force you into long ignored chores or errands?

For me It’s a tough choice because the networks love to keep you in suspense not specifically saying if the event will continue or if it will cancel it altogether. The most recent example of being held in suspense was California when we spent all of Sunday waiting and waiting to have the race rescheduled for the following day.

So do tell, either in the comments or in an email what do you do during weather delays?

ZuDfunck, Whats A Oil Reservoir Cap?

Glad you asked. I have images of what it looks like on an old car courtesy Stock Car Science but I think it is basically the same on the new as far as the advantage it creates her blog has this:

First, the location.  Unlike your car, the oil in a NASCAR car isn’t stored in the engine (which would be a wet sump system).  NASCAR uses a dry sump system, in which oil is stored in an oil tank reservoir. The oil tanktank. You can see a picture of the oil reservoir in the Stock Car Science Building A Car section. The sheet metal plays an important role in minimizing heat radiating into the car, traps fumes from the hot oil, and serves as an additional firewall. This function is so important that NASCAR doesn’t allow the top of the tank to be attached using quick connect fasteners. The teams usually duct tape the lid on. The picture below shows the location of the oil tank with respect to the chassis. It doesn’t show the cover, which would sit on top of the tank. (added) The oil reservior itself is closed and pressurized.

So if the oil tank cover plays such an important role, why would you leave it loose, much less leave it off? The answer is aerodynamics. The air exerts forces on the car in different directions. We give different names to those forces depending on the direction in which they act. Drag is the force air creates along the length of the car. Air creates drag when it hits the front of the car, but it also creates drag when it gets inside the car because there is no way for it to get out. Drag always acts opposite the direction the car is trying to move, so you want to eliminate as much drag as possible.

Fashionably Themed Affordable NASCAR Attire

Ace out the typical NASCAR vendors at the tracks and online with these unique offerings at a fraction of the cost. Be unique yet have money left over to buy other essentials. At your service night and day, ZuD's looking out for you:

SOURCE

Brett Favre to Join NFL Today on CBS or NASCAR?

As we speculate on Brett Favres' future I would like to see Brett get hired by CBS Sports to replace Shannon Sharpe, that marble mouthed dude has outlived his welcome and if that's not possible put Brett in the wings with the third segment and maybe supplant Boomer or Marino down the road.
That of course is ZuD's second choice, as we would love to see him go into NASCAR. Probably not as a driver as in college he had a near death experience driving. For all we know he doesn't even drive a car anymore after that. But as former NFL quarterbacks such as Aikman and Staubach have shown it is a fertile field for once great, washed up quarterbacks.

USA Today's Sports Media God has a take on all this.

Tuesday, networks wouldn't elaborate on plans to corral Favre. Which isn't surprising, given nobody likes to end up looking like an also-ran if they don't succeed. And networks figure there's no point in having their on-air types fret about being dumped for Favre — until, that is, that actually happens.

 

ZuD's View on HBO's The Wire, Salem Witch Trials and 2008 Presidential Primary

Forgive the off topic, some say inappropriate and in bad taste post:

When I look at what's happening on the Wire
And see what is about to happen
The ill begotten wire tap frees Marlo and his Crew
I think back to why we need these constitutional protections

It wasn't that long ago in this country
If a man suspected a woman of being a Witch
all he had to do was claim it
and BOOM! One less woman in town

Say today
If Obama was to loose his cool on some debate tactic gone wrong
He could yell to Brian Williams
WITCH!

Hillary would be off the stage
Up for Trial
And Bill Clinton would be partying the next day
at some local TGIF, picking up strays.

NASCAR Themed Wedding Captured in YouTube Video

Jay Busbee at Yahoo Sports Blog 'From the Marbles' posted this Video and captioned it with:

You've gotta love it when NASCAR mania bleeds into your brain, like it has with the happy couple below, who take their love of NASCAR to a ridiculously high level at their wedding.

There's so much to love about this video -- the NASCAR-style introduction of the wedding party, the ultradorky ushers sliding in, the choreographed entrances of the bridesmaids and groomsmen (leapfrog at a wedding: ALWAYS welcome), the Eddie Van Halen wannabe on the straight-outta-the-80s guitar, the bride and groom entering to "Kickstart My Heart," the vaguel holy-crap-what-did-I-get-myself-into look on the groom's face during that first dance ... folks, this wedding is some kind of awesome. I'd lay odds that the marriage will last at least two full Cup seasons.

Lets all wish these folks that the energy displayed at the wedding translates into a long and happy bond:

NASCAR Fantasy Racing Resource: RotoWorld.com

Now ZuD has played Fantasy Football for giggles maybe the last three years and regretted it by week 4 but with NASCAR Fantasy Racing if you were to be able to lock on to the Hendrick team for example, you could have a delightful run. Don't know if that is possible, to have all the drivers of a particular owner and what's involved in drafting drivers, but it could be a tortuous run if you had some so so snake bit driver.

Saw this site RotoWorld that is certainly a prime resource for football it might be of some guidance for NASCAR. If you've had experience in this, drop a comment.

Fantasy Cheat Sheet:

Top 5

No. 48 Jimmie Johnson:  Johnson has won the past three Las Vegas races…enough said.
No. 24 Jeff Gordon: Gordon has three consecutive top five finishes at Vegas.  He should be in the lead pack again this weekend.
No. 17 Matt Kenseth:  Kenseth has won two of the last five races at Vegas.  He is a great bet to crack the top five again this weekend.
No. 18 Kyle Busch:  Busch has three straight top 10 finishes at his hometown track.  He is a great pick this weekend.
No. 20 Tony Stewart: Stewart has been a top five finisher at Vegas four times. There is a great chance he could find his way to victory lane for the first time at the track this weekend.