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While most of the hoopla last week at
Bristol, Tennessee centered around Kyle
Busch and his amazing talent,...there was
another happening you might have missed.
At the beginning of the Nationwide race on
Saturday, driver Jennifer Jo Cobb and car
owner Rick Russell. The owner wanted
Jennifer Jo to run two laps of the race and
bring the car in so it would be ready for this
weekends race at Fontana, California. This
is the latest move by low-budget car owners.
They qualify for the race and then just run one
or two laps to preserve their cars. Even last place
money is attractive as the last place car at Bristol
took home almost one-hundred thousand dollars.
Jennifer Jo told Russell she was willing to park
after one lap if given the assurance she would be
the driver this week in Fontana. Russell could not
do that and with ten minutes to go before the
start of the race, Jennifer Jo got out of the car and
told him to find another driver. She has received a
lot of mail and phone calls this week, most of it on
the positive side. She already has a new ride this week
with Rick Ware Racing and other car owners have
talked with her about the rest of the season. She
has tentative agreements with three different groups
of owners, and Jennifer Jo, the eternal optimist, sees
the arrangement as a good thing. She now will have
three different cars and three crew chiefs to work with...and
she says 'it will be good experience.' Good job Jennifer
Jo,...Don't let them chase you out of racing. Danica might
get more publicity, but Jennifer Jo is more of a racer
among the good 'ol boys....
Monday was a good day for a short ride
through North Texas.....if you didn't mind a
little wind (gusting to 40mph). I rolled the
Harley out of the garage for the first time in
about a month and called my sidekick, Rick,
to put it in gear. He has an Ultra-Classic and
swung by my house to pick me up... Rick
brought his wife along, but mine didn't want
to fight the heavy breeze of the day.. We rode
out U.S. 69 to Lori's kitchen and immediately
had lunch (first things first), and then proceeded
out main street to the east of Denison. We rode to
Carpenter's Bluff and Rick had to examine the
old rickety bridge over the Red River. On the way
back we rode down F.M. 1764 and then back west
to Denison. I had to mail a book at the local Post
Office (see book ad to the left of this posting) and
then we rode over to Texoma Harley-Davidson. Rick
was going to have his state inspection updated, but
did not have a current proof of insurance and it will
have to be another day. Rick and his wife headed for
home and I made a stop at the service station (Chevron)
to top off the tank before heading for home. Don't
forget,....April 2nd we will have another big shindig at
Texoma Harley-Davidson to celebrate the dealership's
annual Birthday Bash.. See ya there !!
First off,..I am NOT a Texas Longhorn fan !
As previous postings will attest, I went to SMU
and nobody dislikes the Longhorns more than students
of the Dallas school.... Having said that,..the
Longhorns got cheated at the NCAA Basketball
Tournament Sunday night.. Texas had a two-point
lead with fourteen seconds to play, and possession
of the ball. When they tried to inbound the ball
under their own basket, the Arizona man to man
press had them covered and the inbound player
attempted to call a time-out. The official said they
had exceeded the five seconds allowed to inbound
the ball and gave the possession to Arizona. The
Wildcats immediately went to their All-American
under the boards and he got a shot and a foul
shot... Texas still had nine seconds and got a
drive on the goal but it did not go in and on the
rebound a foul was not called. Thus Arizona won the game 70-69 and advances to the Sweet Sixteen bracket at Anaheim, California. Next up for Arizona will be a game against Duke,...that sounds pretty tough until you realize
the next game for Texas is almost a year away....
This is the tank Germany over ran most of
Western Europe with in the second World War.
Most historians of this conflict will tell you the
King Tiger tank was the most feared. While true,
only about 500 of the Tiger tanks were manufactured,
and over 6,200 of the Panthers were delivered to
the German Army. First appearing on the battlefield
in 1943, the Panther was formidable with its 75mm
high velocity cannon and two MG34 machine guns.
The sloped armor on the sides provided much more
protection than the Tiger's armor. (A design copied
from the Russian T-34 tank) The Panther was powered by a 350 horsepower Mercedes-Benz V-12
engine. Weighing in at 35 tons (70,000 pounds) the
Panther could still travel up to 37 miles per hour.
The real photo of a Panther is from a display model
at the village of Bastogne, Belgium, and the rest are
of my latest model.
Unknown is the latest movie by Liam
Neeson...who had the super movie out two
years ago by the name of 'Taken.' This time
he is to give a speech at an educational function
in Berlin, but an accident in a taxi gives him a
head injury. When he comes to in the hospital
all he can remember is his name,...but when he
returns to the hotel hosting the function,..there
is already someone else with his name...and with his
wife. This movie is a lot more intriguing than
'Taken' but I am usually the last to figure out the
plot in these kinds of movies and I had this one
figured out pretty early. The movie is shot in
Germany and the acting cast around Neeson
are mostly Germans. It is a good movie and I
would probably view it a second time when it
comes to HBO, but I don't think I would buy it.
It won't officially be dedicated until Monday,
February 21st, but workers are busy putting the
finishing touches on the new statue of former
President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The statue is
located at exit 67 on U.S. Highway 75 in Denison. It is
eighteen feet tall and carved from pure white granite.
The 34th President of the United States was born
in Denison, Texas on October 14, 1890, becoming
the last President born in the 19th century. The
Eisenhower family moved from Denison to Kansas
when Ike was a small boy. He was also the Supreme
Commander of all Allied forces in Europe during
World War II and planned the Normandy invasion
of France on June 6, 1944. After the war he was named
President of Columbia University and became President
from 1953 to 1961. He followed Harry S. Truman into the
White House, and was succeeded by John F. Kennedy.
Ike died March 28th, 1969.
The 2011 edition of the Daytona 500 will
be Sunday, February 20th. It will mark ten
years since the sport of NASCAR lost it's
brightest star...and I remember it like it was
yesterday. Running in third place was the big
black #3 Monte Carlo of Earnhardt as the cars
entered the final lap of the race. Earnhardt
only had two cars in front of him,..and he owned
both of them. In first place was Michael Waltrip, a lifelong friend, and behind him was son Dale Earnhardt, Junior, pushing Waltrip to the front. Dale must have been filled with mixed emotions on that last lap. Frustrated that maybe a couple of seconds off one
of the pit stops might have put him up front, but
also proud of the fact his son was just ahead of
him heading into the final turn of the race. Earnhardt, who never asked for any quarter, nor gave any,
lost a little traction in that final turn and slide up toward Sterling Marlin's car. The two cars touched and
Marlin's car inadvertently turned Earnhardt ninety
degrees. The black Chevrolet hit the concrete
retaining wall at better than 190 miles per hour. Safety
personnel did their best, but Earnhardt suffered
massive head injuries and was proclaimed dead before
he got to the infield medical facilities. He would leave
a sport with seven Championship seasons behind him at the age of 49. NASCAR President Bill France, a man not known for superlatives, might have expressed it best that day, saying, 'NASCAR has lost it's best driver ever.' I have been a fan of Dale Earnhardt since 1980 and still get misty when I think about him. NASCAR has made a lot of changes since his death, and one of the best is the HANS (Head and Neck Support) device. Of course, Dale would never have used it! He was opposed to wearing seat belts, but NASCAR made it mandatory, as they have the HANS device since his death. The rules have been altered over the past ten years, and you can bet Dale would have been against any and all changes. He had one favorite quotation he used when arguing over who would be in the race each week, "Let the fastest 43 cars make the race regardless of previous champions, big names, or big sponsors." When NASCAR installed restrictor plates on the cars to slow them down, Earnhardt replied, "If they have lace on their panties, they are in the wrong sport." I still miss Dale Earnhardt.....
