ZuDfunck

Withdrawal Symptoms Setting In For This NASCAR Junkie

Starting to get a runny nose
Legs and arms starting to ache
Feels like the flu, but I know what it really is.

Withdrawal Symptoms
No, not for Dope, but for NASCAR!
Classic withdrawal symptoms realizing there will be no NASCAR worth watching.
Sure the Nationwide series goes to Mexico City Saturday, but road racing doesn't really count.

The only comfort I have is that when the Sprint Cup schedule does resume, we will be in Talladega and that being one of my favorites, I take great comfort, because 'The Big One' always looms. And that race, quite frankly, is about as good as NASCAR gets.

Not that I am a freak for crashes
But damn, thats what I call a wreck
The Big One
start drooling, just thinking 'bout Talladega.

But what do I do for this withdrawal pain? Here it is Wednesday and the next race isn't for 10 days. What will you folks do, fellow NASCAR Fans.
I am open to ideas. Any port in the storm.
Help me with my withdrawal.
I need a NASCAR fix fast!

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!

Random Thoughts on Bristol Race

Darrel Waltrip should of taken the day off, hard to listen to that voice when it got toward the end

Hard to balance the Men’s NCAA Basketball Tourney coverage, NBA on ABC and finally getting two DVD’s I had been hankering for:
No Country for Old Men & American Gangster

So we really didn’t see much of the Bristol Race
I did see Harvick take out Tony wish I had Sirius Radio so I could hear Kevin talk to Tony about it tonight.

We did however get some twelve new Followers to ZuD’s twitter account and although I know little or nothing about twitter I did find an iPhone application called PocketTweets that consolidates most transactions.

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!

Kobalt Tools 500 was Kobalt Tools 1000, The Reason, Tires

Not only did Toyota win their first race the race Sucked! To use a racing term.
The reason is simple read these quotes via USAToday:

Tony Stewart

"I'm going home and taking everything that has Goodyears off and put Firestones on and feel a lot safer," Stewart said. "It's a shame these teams that work so hard are being dictated by a company incapable of building tires fit for a street car."

"If they can't do any better than that, they ought to just pull out," he said. "I guarantee Hoosier or Firestone or somebody could do a lot better job."

Dale Earnhardt Jr

"I ain't going to put up with this," Earnhardt said. "I don't think any other drivers (are). ... We couldn't run side-by-side. We'd wreck. We had to let each other go by. Every time you got beside a guy, you were just like, 'Take it.' I couldn't go in the corner side by side. No one else out there really could, either."

Source: Nate Ryan USAToday

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?

Carl Edwards Gets His Car Number Plus 1 Deducted by NASCAR

John Cena, I mean Carl Edwards, get 100 points taken away dropping him to seventh going into Wrestlemania, I mean Atlanta's Kobalt Tools 500.

He does however get to keep the WWE championship belt, I mean the Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s title belt he won last Sunday.

Penalized for having a cover missing from the oil reservoir tank which NASCAR says provided him an advantage in winning the UAW-Dodge 400.

"I'm not going to let this affect me," Edwards told the Associated Press. "All I am going to say is, we're all going to keep doing what we can do, and go as fast as we can. And I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing."

Roush Fenway president Geoff Smith said the team had 10 days to decide if it will appeal.

"So, you get 100 points for putting rocket fuel in your car, and then you get 100 points for a bolt coming too loose?" Smith asked. "There seems to be a little inconsistency here, and we're being penalized for something we aren't even sure gave an added performance to the car."

SOURCE

US Armed Forces Using NASCAR to Solicit Young Men

According to this article in last months’ NASCAR.com it does. The demographics of NASCAR fans match up well with the recruitment target of the United States Armed Forces. So that’s why you see so many military branches of the government going after the top racing teams in NASCAR.

ZuD is a bit beyond that demographic group but I can tell ya there are racing days that I used to get an uncontrollable urge to buy Reese’s peanut butter cups cause Harvick was up in the top 10 most of the day. So why not attract the attention of kids leaving high school and seeing few options ahead for employment, do what dad or uncle Jed did and join the Army?

I think that’s what makes some of these fine, intricately decaled cars do to us subliminally, so amazing. Drawing us into all kinds of involuntary attractions for products and services we may or may not need. I just hope the end result is good for these young men and women and don’t get confused with corporate greed or military staffing levels that may not be the best for America’s young.

Dale Dodge Jr. Has a Name With a NASCAR Ring To It

This dudes name caught my attention as someone we may hear from down the road. He left a comment to an earlier post with a link to his site. Thought we would get his name out there and see what happens. So if your thinking of commenting here at ZuDfunck it can pay off. Give Dale Dodge Jr a ride.