Vegas Busch Race - March '07

Leroy Mercer & "Friends" - I don't know how gooda friends you can be when you constantly punk the likes of Jack Rousch and Smoke on the telephone, but as Briscoe Darlin would say, "More power to 'im." He's a funny S.O.B. Check him out at leroymercer.com !! (photo by John Holtz)

"My spotter said 'spin in turn 4', so I did." - Ken Schrader.

Seems to be the catch phrase for the weekend at Viva Las Wreckfest.

THE INVOCATION: given by Kenny Farmer , Las Vegas Motor Speedway Chaplain, it was an appropriate racy invocation, kinda breezy and fun - he was cool.

THE NATIONAL ANTHEM: was performed by "903 Recording Artist", Darryl Worley, who I didn't think sucked all that bad, but Cecil sure didn't like him. I'll say one thing, he was a dirty mess. Nasty old black t-shirt, hadn't brushed his long, nappy hair or shaved, eyes at half-mast, looked like he'd been up all night gamblin' in Vegas or sumpin'.... Heh. Come to think of it, he reminded me a whole lot Cecil...

I thought ol' Darryl had a real nice, strong, country sounding voice with a range big enough to hit all the notes. Cecil pointed out that the notes he didn't hit where the ones he got mellifluous on - "bombs bursting in air" and "yet wave".... some of the extra notes were flat. Duly noted. Also noted by Cec was that he sang like he was awful tired and left off the "t" at the end of any word that had a "t" on the end, and that Worley gave him a "general bad vibe overall" -

TWO AND 1/2 STARS from Cecil.
THREE STARS from Dixie

THE FLYOVER: Fuckin' FINALLY!!! They got it right!!! Showed two F-15s or F-16s from Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, depending on whether or not you believed the audio or what was written on the t.v. screen, but goddamit, at least they were acknowledged for THE FIRST TIME IN ESPN HISTO .... ohhhh.... wait.... it was on ABC in conjunction with ESPN.... Well fuck all, at least we got to see the jets and they got the credit they were due. They usually drag out the Thunderbirds for the Vegas races, but hey! I won't gripe!

THE COMMAND: was given by Major General Billy Mc Coy and he sounded like a fuckin' man, goddamit! Not some Nancy Boy like they been havin'. Maj. Gen. McCoy coulda whooped every male command giver from the last year and a half with one hand behind his back while calling them all "Private Pyle". When he barked,

"GENTLEMEN! Start your engines!!"

He was NOT playin'. It kicked ass. Cecil & I were wishing he would have said, "LADIES! Start your engines!" , though. Or maybe, "Start your engines you fuckin' Nancy Boys!". But he didn't. We loved him.

FIVE FUCKIN' STARS and a salute from Willard's Garage.

++++++++++++++

Kudos to ABC for playing Gram Parsons and EmmyLou Harris's "Oooh Las Vegas" repeatedly as outro music to commercials. Too bad they only played the picking & the word "oooh" before they'd cut to the t.v. ads - unless you knew the song, you'd be wondering what it had to do with Vegas. That chicken pickin' intro does sound racy, though...

.....and I been meaning to comment on this: What THE FUCK do y'all think about Aerosmith having changed the words to "Back in the Saddle Again" to fit with a NASCAR theme and doing a live video for it? I don't know what to think. It's kinda creepy, but..... I dunno. It freaks me out. I think of myself driving around in my dad's Camaro, Aerosmith's "Rocks" blaring from the eight-track player - (yes, Aunt Dixie is really that old ) -- when I was about 17, and NEVER, NEVAH!! in a million years would I have believed that one day, close to 30 years later, they would be schilling for NASCAR & changing their totally rawkin' tunes... Freaky.

Other comments:

Big YIP! to Jeff Burton for whoopin' Kyle Busch's ass AND being such a cool dude & good sportsman for going to check on him after he wrecked on the final - and riveting! - last lap. Helluva race.

Congrats to our man Ward Burton, too, for :

Finishing 15th on the lead lap, and
for finishing at all in that wreck-o-rama, and
for doing so well in a car he had run nary a lap in before the race, since he had wrecked his primary car on the last lap of the final Busch practice. Ward is kicking some major ass so far while having been dealt a rather sketchy hand. Go Whoad!!!

The Big Race tomorrow should be damned interesting.