More on the race

I can't begin to tell you how fun it is to go to Darlington for a race. I wish you all would come next year. It would be fun. We'd camp out. Eat some food, drink some beers and then go so the race. Fun times. Scot Fowler in a recent Charlotte Observer column called Darlington the closest thing NASCAR has to a Wrigley Field or a Fenway Park. He's right, the place is just that cool. A big track in the middle of Nowhere, SC is where every Cup race should be held.

A few observations: I have a couple of pictures of that kid and his father that were next to us in my little photo essay. It really bugged me that they were there for almost the whole race and the child had no ear plugs in. That is so negligent on the father's part. It really distracted me for a while. Huffy did a cool thing. He let the kid where his radio headset for a while. He really appreciated it.

Unless you had a Nextel telephone, wireless phones were almost useless at the track. I understand that Nextel is the sponsor of the series but to shut out so many race fans that are trying to contact their friends is baloney. I can't get a signal and some guy using a Nextel phone walks by yakking into his phone is just a litte infuriating. Especially when you are trying to get together with a friend you don't see that often. Unbridled marketing turns NASCAR into a whore once again. The intentional denial of service to fans who pay eighty bucks to camp and eighty dollars for race tickets is a giant kick in the balls by those getting rich off your money.

Poor Jeff Gordon. He used to get so roundly booed during pre-race introductions. Now the bile directed toward him is nothing when compared to the hatred the fans turned on Kurt Busch on Saturday. Ever since Jimmy Spencer punched him in the face Kurt has been villain number one to the fans in the stands. Congratulations are in order. Like Gordon once said, "At least they are paying attention to you." The complete ambivalence shown a couple drivers was really funny. I think I would rather get booed than ignored.