Gaynalysis: Martinsville 2012

Martinsville Gaynalysis by Adam Lovelace, April Fools Day Edition.

credit: Kevin R Tengesdal

Danica Patrick Wins in First Start at Martinsville!!

Yeah, April Fools, she wasn’t even there.

Martinsville, or Gordonsville as it should’ve been called today was actually won by Ryan Newman in the #39 Outback Steakhouse Chevrolet, but Jeff Gordon lead the most laps and dominated most of the event, but David Reutimann ruining the 200th win (in the Cup series, because that’s how most win totals are calculated. I’m talking to you Kyle Busch) for Hendrick Motorsports is the story everyone seems to be talking about. Confusing? I know, right?

Credit: Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images for NASCAR

Jeff Gordon, in the #24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, started from the 9th spot and took the lead for the first time on lap 22 and would go on to lead 328 of the 500 laps of the race while team mate Jimmie Johnson rebounded from a poor qualifying position and early pit road speeding penalty to lead 112 laps in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Kasey Kahne started from the pole and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the #88 Amp Energy Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet also ran up front all day and it looked like the 200th win for Hendrick Motorsports was inevitable at the half mile Martinsville Speedway. However, like clockwork this year, Kasey Kahne’s motor blew and he finished the race in 38th position continuing his miserable start to the 2012 season.

The real drama occurred late in the race when David Reutimann driving the #10 ~~Danica Patrick~~, err, Accell Construction Chevrolet brought out a controversial late-race caution with only 3 laps to go. Reutimann was riding around slow on the track, many laps down to the leaders, just trying to finish race when his motor blew and he came to a complete stop on the track setting up a green-white-checkered finish. When the caution flag flew Jeff Gordon had just taken the lead from Jimmie Johnson and the drivers behind the front two decided to pit for mostly fuel and two tires. The restart saw Gordon and Johnson 1st and 2nd with Clint Bowyer in 3rd and Ryan Newman in 4th. On the restart, Bowyer dove under Gordon to make it three wide into turn one sending Gordon and Johnson into each other and Johnson into the wall. After the smoke cleared, the race restarted with Ryan Newman leading and A.J. Allmendinger in 2nd. Allmendinger would not catch Newman in the final laps and Newman, who also came back from a pit road speeding penalty, scored his 16th career victory. Jeff Gordon finished in 14th, one lap down after running out of fuel in the extra laps. Jimmie Johnson finished in 12th after his damage.

2012 Martinsville March NASCAR Sprint Cup Race Victory Lane

Credit: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Ryan Newman gave Reutimann his grandfather clock trophy in victory lane while the other 41 drivers looked on in shock and Gordon and Johnson threw rotten Martinsville hot dogs at them both. Again, April fools. And yes, I must.

Other drivers who were expected to be a threat like Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch had their own problems as well. Harvick’s team, and all of the other Richard Childress Racing teams for that matter, couldn’t manage to race more than 40 laps without the handling going away. Harvick finished the race two laps down in 19th position. Kyle Busch wrecked early in the event and would finish 80 laps down to the leaders in 36th position.

Greg Biffle, who came into the weekend as the points leader was never a factor in the race and managed to salvage a 13th place finish. He hangs on to his point lead by only six points over Dale Earnhardt Jr, who continues his string of good runs to start the 2012 season.

David Reutimann was last seen being dragged from the track screaming something about jet dryers, Daytona, and Juan Pablo Montoya… not really.

Follow Adam on Twitter @aclovelace

“In the Red”, by Jade Gurss, A Must Read for any NASCAR Fan

Credit: octanepress.com/book/red

A book review by Adam Lovelace, stay tuned to Queers4Gears.com for an interview with Jade Gurss.

Jade Gurss is the owner of fingerprint, inc, a sports publicity company. Jade provided publicity and media relations for Anheuser-Busch and their sponsorship of Dale Earnhardt Jr’s number 8 Budweiser NASCAR team from 1999 through the 2007 season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and is the author of “In the Red”. “In the Red” follows Dale Earnhardt Jr. throughout the 2001 Daytona 500, a race in which his father would lose his life on the last turn of the last lap of the race, and the rest of the 2001 season.

“In the Red” begins with Jade Gurss telling the reader about Dale Jr.’s appearance at the 2001 Winston Cup Preview (Winston being the title sponsor of the series at that time) in which Jr. tells of a dream he had about winning the Daytona 500. Dale Jr. is asked about where his father is in the dream and the answer gave me goosebumps then and gives me goosebumps to this day every time I hear the story.

Credit: www.fingerprintonline.com

The 2001 season saw Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. team up for the the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona just weeks before the Daytona 500. Father and son finished 2nd in their class and 4th overall. Jade takes us through the Rolex and gives the reader insight into the relationship between Earnhardt and Dale Jr. in a way that most fans never get to see from the usually private Earnhardt family. “In the Red” takes you behind the scenes of the Earnhardt family and the tragedy they went through in 2001.

From the 2001 preview, to the Rolex, to the Daytona 500, to the dark weeks that followed, “In the Red” will take you on a week to week, up and down, roller coaster ride of emotions through the entire 2001 season. Whether you are an Earnhardt fan or not, whether you are even a race fan or not, “In the Red” is a very compelling read and a must for any racing fan.

Jade Gurss is also author of “Driver #8” which chronicled Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s rookie season, as well as co-author of “DW: A Lifetime Going Around in Circles”

Follow Jade Gurss:
@JadeGurss, @InTheRed2001 on Twitter
“In the Red” on Facebook
fingerprint, inc

Follow Adam Lovelace:
@aclovelace on Twitter

48 Team Penalized for Infractions at Daytona

The 48 team of Jimmie Johnson heads to Phoenix for race number two of the season with a total of -23 points after NASCAR penalized the team by docking them 25 points. After starting the season with a 42nd place finish in Daytona and securing two whole points, that’s not a good start to championship number six.

Crew chief Chad Knaus and car chief Ron Malec have been suspended from the next six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races and placed on probation until May 9th. Knaus was also fined $100,000.

NASCAR says that the 48 car was found to be in violation of Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4J (any determination by NASCAR officials that race equipment used in the event does not conform to NASCAR rules detailed in Section 20 of the rule book or has not been approved by NASCAR prior to the event); and 20-2.1E (if in the judgment of NASCAR officials, any part or component of the car not previously approved by NASCAR that has been installed or modified to enhance aerodynamic performance will not be permitted – unapproved car body modifications).

Not That You Asked, Adam’s 2012 Wishes

Queers4Gears contributor Adam Lovelace lays out his best wishes for the 2012 racing season:

A safe season for all racing series first and foremost!
Huge, major sponsors for Queers4gears.com so we can go to every single race!
I wish you all would listen every week to the Q4G Out of the Tunnel podcast. In fact, listen now right here: CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE SHOW
Dale Earnhardt Jr wins races and the championship even. Hey, I can wish big.
I hope Danica Patrick out performs and shuts up the haters. I hope she wins races.
I wish for less haters everywhere, not just racing.
I hope the Busch brothers get another big helping of humble. They need it. I’m not hating, just wishing.
I hope Queers4gears founder, Michael, starts being stalked by Kasey Kahne.
I wish Indycar would race on more ovals, or that the road courses were more competitive. Either one.
Every ARCA race televised! The ones they do televise are generally NOT the best ARCA races to watch. You are missing some good racing not seeing the short tracks. SPEED is a channel; they should show more racing of all types.
I want to listen to Sirius NASCAR online. It is 2012. I listen in the car for about 20 mins on the way to work and 20 mins on the way home. You know what lots of folks have access to during the day? Computers and mobile devices! I could listen all day. In fact, I pay extra to listen online, but one of the few channels I can’t get online? You guessed it.
Speaking of Sirius NASCAR, how about live qualifying and practice? Why not?
While I’m at it, how about some kind of app available to ALL smartphones? Again, it’s 2012. Keep up.
I wish the following would be banned from all tracks: the word boogity, all politicians of any persuasion, confederate flags (let’s move on), and Lee Greenwood songs.
I wish the Daytona 500 was still the day before a holiday. It was much better that way.
No rainouts, for any series.
More Friday/Saturday night races.
Autoclub Speedway should be reconfigured. While that’s being done Bruton Smith should remember what he did in Vegas and bring that to Kentucky Speedway. I think it greatly improved the racing.
I wish for all races to end two or three wide at the finish line.
I wish for all championships to be decided on the last lap of the last race of the season.
I wish for more first time winners. I love seeing drivers and teams get their first win.
I wish for more sell out races for all series.
I hope this two-car tandem racing in NASCAR is coming to an end. I’ll take the pack racing anyday.
Side by side commercials all the time. I love that feature and I see more commercials that way. Seems like wise marketing to me!
And, a shameless plug for myself, I wish someone from the racing world would call me. Offer me a job. I have many skills you need.
I hope you all have a wonderful new year and enjoy the 2012 racing season!!

Follow Adam on Twitter (@aclovelace )

Q4G Interview: Meet Luke Lucky Huff

Luke Huff

Luke Lucky Huff is a professional motorcycle racer from a small town in Ohio. He now resides in Los Angeles with his partner and is the owner of Lucky Management helping to promote careers in motorcycle racing. Luke plans to run a full season of AMA as well as the WERA Motorcycle Roadracing & Willow Springs Motorcycle Club. The racing season begins this coming weekend, Jan 7 & 8 at Autoclub Speedway in Fontana, CA. Queers4Gears’ Adam Lovelace sat down to ask Luke a few questions:

Q4G: Where are you from?

LH: I was raised in the small rural farming community of the Village of Berkey, Ohio. I attended school in the same building from preschool, kindergarten, and 1-8th grade. I went on to St. Francis de Sales High School in the city of Toldeo, Ohio (our neighboring metropolis). After graduating, I wanted to pursue my passion at the time, filming professional skateboarding (and skateboarding myself). My parents helped me find an apartment and a job in San Diego and I was on my own on the other side of the country at age 19. After less than a year I yearned for more action than the sleepy town of Ocean Beach had to offer, so I moved north to Hollywood in the year 2000. I stayed in Hollywood for about 6 years during which time I had asked my parents to help me find a used motorcycle (my parents had owned a used car dealership in Ohio since 1982). When I found the one that I felt suited me, they surprised me by paying for it as a combined x-mas/birthday present in 2004! From then on, I slowly leaned toward sport bikes and learning how to go faster and began to love sport bike racing. In 2009, I was hit on the freeway and it forced me to re-think what I was doing on a bike. I had been riding canyons aggressively and knew I should probably start going to the track where aggressive riding belongs. This was the wake up call that I needed.

Q4G: What series do you currently race in?
LH: I currently participate in the following race series: AMA Pro Racing, WERA West, Willow Springs Motorcycle Club (WSMC), American Federation of Motorcyclists (AFM), California State Championship (CSC).

Q4G: Did you really just start racing in 2010?
LH: I bought a used Yamaha R6 in the summer of 2010, about a year after my accident on the street. I did a handful of trackdays in Aug/Sept. of ’10 and then picked up my novice race license that September.

Q4G: Do you race full-time?
LH: I would say I do race full-time in that I compete in some of the above mentioned series for their full seasons. Next year, I plan to attend the complete seasons of AMA, WERA West, WSMC, and CSC barring any conflicting dates between series. That should keep me busy from January till October in 2012.

Q4G: How did you get started in racing?
LH: Before I had the accident on the street, a friend of mine who had brought me under his wing to show me the ropes on how to ride a sport bike well had begun his own sport bike racing career. Jeremy Simmons had previously raced dirt bikes in his younger years and decided “why not see how far I can go with road racing motorcycles”. Due in part to that ideology and my recent accident, I thought I should adapt that idea and see if I can answer it on my own.

Q4G: Do you follow any other racing series?
LH: Sometimes I think I follow too many race series! haha. I’m pretty much up-to-date on the goings on in MotoGP, Moto2, 125s (soon to be Moto3), WSBK, WSS, BSB, AMA, Australian SBK, South African SBK, TT racing, TTXGP, and then there’s the 4-wheeled racing… WRC, ALMS, F1, etc.

Luke Huff and Marco Simoncelli

Q4G: Your Facebook page has a photo of you with Marco Simoncelli who was killed in October, 2011 in the Malaysian MotoGP race. How has his death affected you and/or the sport of motorcycle racing?
LH: Many feel Marco’s death has put somewhat of a dark cloud on the risk involved. Just this past weekend, I had organized 2 screenings of the new MotoGP documentary, “FASTEST” with director, Mark Neale. In the documentary, Marco Simoncelli is interviewed and shown repeatedly because it was finished before his passing. Many said they find it more difficult to watch and it makes it somewhat sad to see. I find it the exact opposite. Marco clearly had a love of life and his life was centered around his love of racing. Many pictures, quotes, etc demonstrate his passion for racing and seeing him on the screen again, being shown more of his personality, and watching him race one more time just invigorates my soul and makes me want to live my life as much as he did. I had the chance to meet him very briefly when the photo was taken and he was more than happy to allow a whole crowd of fans take pictures and ask questions during an impromptu visit to his garage at Laguna Seca in 2010.

Q4G: Not only do you race, but you also own your own management company where you represent other riders? Tell us about that and how that is going?
LH: My entire life I’ve always held management positions in various lines of work. I always find myself somehow directed to management whether I do it consciously or not. When I had decided to go racing myself, I think I had 3 sponsors before I had my race license. My brain just can’t stop thinking like a business, so I address those issues before silly things like having a license. I had 13 sponsors on my list by the time I held a novice license for just 2 months. Many of my friends I raced against didn’t understand how I did it because most racers have the mind-set of “I go fast, then sponsors come to me”. Using this knowledge, I noticed many incredibly talented riders were struggling with obtaining sponsors and more importantly, funding. I thought to myself, I seem to have this innate ability to make the business side of anything work, so I took on one racer that was destined for greatness, Bryce Prince. As a purely voluntary effort, I wanted to help Bryce gain more sponsorship and help direct his career as he began his transition from winning multiple club racing championships to racing on the Pro level in AMA for 2012. As I started to explore what he would need and how to get him the proper funding, I realized there are a lot of people in the same situation, and none of them seem to understand the complexity of their situation. At that point, I decided to form Lucky Management where I could represent a variety of racers and hopefully enable them to go racing at the pro level. I just recently launched my new website: www.Lucky-Management.com which is a B2B website to help facilitate my goals of drawing out funding for my riders. The initial response has been wonderful and I’m in discussions with numerous companies to make this work for 2012. I’m taking a new approach to sponsorships where the companies are forming partnerships with the riders and their team managers to fulfill whatever needs the companies have specific to them. Gone are the days when a fast rider can slap a sticker on his bike and ask for a big chunk of money. Now we must be open-minded and get creative to bring those companies a better and more real return on their investment. The roles have changed and we are now given the responsibility of pleasing the needs of the partners (sponsors).

on track action......

Q4G: You are putting together a fund-raising charity race to benefit cancer research. How is that going? Do you have any details that can be released yet?
LH: I can tell you the fund-raiser is a motorcycle race event which will be held at Willow Springs International Raceway after the end of the 2012 AMA Pro Racing season has ended. The beneficiary is www.CancerResearch.org. The event is tentatively scheduled for September 30th, 2012 but the exact date has not been confirmed. The idea behind the event is to bring together motorcycle racers from across the country to raise donations for cancer research and do what we know (racing) to give back to the community. I’m expecting a lot of participation from racers of many different series including, AMA, WERA, WSMC, AFM, CSC, CVMA, etc. We may even have a guest or two from outside of the US. As soon as more details are established, a website and Facebook page will be set up and the word will go out in force.

Q4G: What are your future aspirations?
LH: My main focus is the management company. I view that as my long-term project that I will continue to fine-tune and operate for many many years to come. Over time, I would like to build the site much larger to include partnership opportunities with racers and teams around the world in various motorsports, not just motorcycle racing. For 2012, I’m planning to run my first season of AMA Pro Supersport to further push that idea of “how far can I go in road racing?”. I would like to win a couple club racing championships as well. I will always be working for the riders I represent, even when I’m at my own race weekend. IPhone in hand and laptop open constantly doing whatever I can to improve the business and help their careers. I also just had an article written about me in the December issue of RoadRacing World magazine on pages 76 & 77.

Q4G: Being openly gay in the series, have you had any negative reactions with competitors or the sanctioning body?
LH: Being openly gay in racing sounds like a difficult marriage of personalities, but it’s not really. One’s sexual preference rarely comes up at the race track other than an occasional cat call or comment about women in general. Since almost every race series also has women racers that regularly beat many of the guys out there, the comments are quickly dissipated when someone makes a remark about that same girl passing them and knowing how to race a bike better. The same can be said about negative comments about gay people in general. It’s very rare I’ve ever heard anyone act or speak with a homophobic tone at the track. Even then, the person who made the comment in poor taste would usually apologize later when word gets around to them that I or someone else in the paddock is in fact gay. I don’t feel that I have any larger hurdles to clear than any other racer in the paddock and the sheer fact that your performance on the track by you alone riding your motorcycle is one of the reasons I’m so drawn to this sport. No one can claim they are faster or better. They either beat you on the track or they didn’t. Lucky for me, not many have.

Q4G: I see that you are engaged. Does he race, or is he involved with racing?
LH: I put my status as “engaged” more as a joke because well, I can’t be engaged to another man in the State of California. I have been with my partner, Danny, for a few years now and he doesn’t have much interest in riding a motorcycle after dealing with my accident a couple years ago when our relationship was still new. Although it worries him to see me risk so much on the track, he knows it’s my passion and it’s not something that can be taken away. Danny is slowly accepting the idea that I’m going to be involved in racing more and more, so who knows; maybe we’ll get him on the track some day.

credit Luke Huff

Q4G: Will you come on the Queers4gears Radio show?

LH: Yeah, I’d be happy to come on the radio show!

For more info on Luke, please check out his website or links on Facebook.

http://www.Lucky-Management.com

http://www.facebook.com/LuckyManagement

http://www.facebook.com/LukeLuckyHuff

Interview by Adam Lovelace, follow Adam on Twitter (@aclovelace )

Too much, too soon

Credit: www.motogp.com

Marco Simoncelli, 24, died Sunday after crashing and being hit by two other riders at the Malaysian MotoGP motorcycle race, another racing death that occurred too soon after last weeks Indy Car race. The last couple of weeks in racing have brought back too many bad memories. The death of Dan Wheldon brought back me back to Dale Earnhardt’s death in 2001, which was the culmination of too many other deaths in a short period of time in the motor sports world. At the time, I was a crew member in the ARCA racing series and had just been through the deaths of Scott Baker, Blaise Alexander, and Chad Coleman in that series, as well as John Nemechek, Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin Jr., and Tony Roper (who’s father, Dean was also killed less than a year later) from the NASCAR ranks, and Greg Moore from CART. The death of Earnhardt was the breaking point for me at the time. It was too many, too quick, and I couldn’t stand the thought of even going to a race track. It took awhile, but I eventually went back to races, but it was five or six years before I made it back to another Cup race.

If I heard one more person tell me they only liked racing for the wrecks, I thought I was going to vomit. Not only was it dangerous, it was also a lot of work for teams and crew members, most of which were volunteers in the ARCA racing series. I too am guilty of watching a race and in the heat of battle screaming at the TV for a driver to hit something, but I quickly change my mind and just wish for their engine to blow up. I do not, and have never watched a race for the crashes, at least not big crashes, some bumping and banging always makes for excitement, but when a bad crash occurs I immediately cringe and hope for the safety of all involved.

Racing is dangerous, no matter the series, no matter the type of vehicle. Drivers know this, and drivers know that the possibility exists of… well, they know. Drivers are not forced to do what they do; they do it because they love it. Other sports are dangerous as well, and bad things happen and will continue to happen. There is no reason to place blame on a series, a track, or a driver. Thankfully, a lot has been done to make drivers, crewmembers, and fans safer, and a lot will continue to be done to make them all safer. This is a constantly evolving sport, and the safety efforts made in the last 10 years have, undoubtedly saved numerous lives.

Next time someone tells you they love racing for the wrecks, speak up, let them know these are real people, real lives.

By Adam, follow me on Twitter (@aclovelace)

Confessions of a Jr. Fan

Dale Earnhardt Jr. - Credit: Adam Lovelace

Just when I’m close to giving up on my favorite driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and going all in on Kevin Harvick, Jr. always seems to find a way to suck me right back in. Not that I would ever really GIVE UP on him, but come on, I want to root for someone that is up front and has a chance of winning. I don’t want to root for someone running 15th-20th every week. The last few years have been rough. I’ve had to listen to all the negative Nelly’s say how bad he is (bad drivers don’t win 6 races in a season), how he is not his dad, he’s forgot how to drive, he doesn’t care, etc, etc… Drivers don’t FORGET how to drive. This is a driver with 18 wins, tied with drivers like Geoffrey Bodine, Neil Bonnett, Harry Gant, and some dude named Kevin Harvick. 18 wins in 12 years is not the record of a bad driver. Terry Labonte has 22 wins and has been running the series for 31 years, yet many people think of him as a great driver.

In 2008 I was excited about Jr. going to Hendrick Motorsports, dreaming that he’d be winning all sorts of races, until I realized that the 88 he was going to be driving was actually what used to be the 25 car in the Hendrick stable. The 25 used to be a good car, but after Hendrick started up the 24 team in 1992, the 25 car seemed to run horribly compared to the 5 and 24 teams. I do not know why, but regardless of who drove the 25, it seemed they frequently had bad handling cars and blown engines. And so the trend continued after Dale Jr. took over the car.

So he has had one win in the last five years, yes. I also realize that he has had a few crew chiefs that didn’t seem to mesh very well with him, the same thing happened to his dad with Larry McReynolds, but Richard Childress didn’t wait near as long as Hendrick did to make a change. And I admit, I think he had trouble adapting to the new cars that NASCAR implemented. But, I think the new cars combined with a mismatched crew chief attributed to Jr’s. biggest problems in a magnified way.

And so Monday at Chicagoland Jr. started the race in 19th position. He ran around that spot for the beginning to mid stages of the race and I fretted, as has been the case during many races the last few months. As he and crew chief Steve Letarte worked on the car, it seemed to get better and better and Jr. drove the car into the top 10. Fuel mileage issues plagued a few other drivers up ahead and Jr. came out of Chicago with a 3rd place finish moving him up to 5th in points after the first race of the Chase. Fifth in points! Horrible huh? I’m back in.

Adam (@aclovelace)

Racing 2011 style is days away

Q4G reader Adam Lovelace’s take on the upcoming season: It’s been since November! I know that’s not really very long, but for those of us who love it, it’s long enough. This coming weekend marks the beginning of Speedweeks at Daytona and I, for one, am thrilled and counting down the days (and kind of have been since November).

I’ve been following along with testing for the ARCA series, NASCAR, and the Rolex 24 for the last few weeks. I’ve been reading all I can about driver changes, car changes, crew changes, and new faces. I’ve been reading opinions about who is going to make the chase, who will win the championship, who will win Daytona, and changing how the points are handed out.

One thing I’ve read numerous times over the last few years is that NASCAR needs shorter races. Shorter races? What?! I know a lot of racing fans and have known a lot of racing fans, and I can say that “gee, I wish these races were shorter and there are too many of them” has never been uttered by any of them. Never. Not once. I don’t want them shorter. Leave them alone. If they want to do something to increase ratings or get more people to watch, make them all Friday or Saturday night races. Please don’t shorten races. Please don’t give us less races.

Points. NASCAR has changed the point system. Fine. If it makes it simpler to understand, then that is a good move even though it sounds like if it were used in the past, it really wouldn’t have changed the outcome that much. If it is simpler to understand, that is a good thing.

Championship rules. Not sure how I feel about this one. Drivers now have to declare what championship they want to accumulate points in. I can see the good and the bad. A Nationwide Series regular will win the championship; however, if a driver ran the whole series then he would be a series regular whether he’s running one series or both. It does seem a little unfair though that the Cup drivers can come in and run for the championship driving for much better funded Cup teams that are able to put a team together to run in the Nationwide series. So, on this issue, I am torn. It is good for ticket sales to have the Cup drivers in the Nationwide series, but a little boring to see the same Cup driver win all the Nationwide races.

Some predictions. Jimmie Johnson won’t win the championship. The law of averages has to catch up some time. Dale Earnhardt Jr. will win a race this year. He’s going to be in better equipment and I know the haters think it’s him, but he’s been basically driving what used to be the 25 car, which, since the 24 came into existence, has always been the crappy Hendrick car. The 29 will be the team to beat. They have Budweiser and Jimmy Johns and will be better this year than last. Joey Logano will be very good. Kyle Busch will be good, but will still get in too much trouble to have the consistency he needs. Sam Hornish will bring out cautions in the Nationwide Series. Steven Wallace will cause a caution at Daytona. Bobby Labonte will enjoy some success in the 47 car. Juan Pablo will win on an oval. AJ Allmendinger will get his first win. Danica will do better than last year. She had a couple of good runs at tracks she went to for a second time. Carl Edwards will piss somebody off. Brad Keselowski will piss somebody off. Actually, every driver will piss somebody off at some point throughout 2011.

Some of my wishes. Jimmie Johnson doesn’t win the championship. Dale Jr. wins multiple times. NASCAR on Sirius will air their shows online for those of us that pay to listen online, but can’t get every channel online even though we pay extra for it to listen online…bitter. DW doesn’t say “boogity, boogity, boogity” or “let’s go racin’ boys” or “back at the ranch” or “jukie”, or sings anything. No politicians or “my morals are better than your morals” people will show up at the races. No rainouts. Bristol in August will be 80 degrees and zero humidity, oh, and the race is more exciting. The last few Bristol races have kind of lost their excitement. Every race ends with a side by side last lap, photo finish. Digger goes away. Mark Martin wins again. Kenny Wallace wins again. A big name driver or several comes out of the closet. A female breaks through and wins a race in ARCA, or any of the big three NASCAR series. Bruton Smith will do to Kentucky Speedway what he did to Las Vegas. A Cup race at Kentucky will be good especially since it’s close to home, but I think revamping it like Vegas would make it much more exciting. Commericals, less commercials. And finally, my wish for all drivers, crewmembers, fans, and media folks in all racing series have a safe and fun season!

Bristol Gaynalysis

Photo by Adam Lovelace

The Gaynalysis is just one Gay NASCAR Fans’ take on the race weekend. You can read the “straight” recap of the Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol by clicking here.

This week we have a guest contributor. Q4G reader Adam Lovelace was at the races all weekend. This is his take on the weekend:

Bristol. What can I say about Bristol? It is my favorite track on the NASCAR schedule. The night race at Bristol, the atmosphere, the people, the camping, the tailgating, the action on the track, usually, is the best of the year for me. This year did not disappoint, well… until Saturday night.

Wednesday’s truck race saw Kyle Busch race from the back of the field to the front for the win. Being a non-Busch fan, I’d have preferred another outcome, but the action was intense, so it was a great race, like him or not.

Thursday in Bristol there is no action on the track, but a hauler parade that begins in downtown Bristol and runs to the speedway is the highlight of the night. Everyone heads up to where the haulers enter the track, brings along a cooler and cheers and jeers their favorite haulers coming into the track.

Friday night saw Elliott Sadler on the pole in a Kevin Harvick, Inc. car. Elliott would run up front all night long eventually finishing 3^rd. It was good to see Elliott up front and running well. Dale Earnhardt Jr., making a fairly rare start in the Nationwide Series, started in the back of the field, shocking I know, but put on a great show coming through the field and running as high as 2^nd before finishing in 4^th place in his own car. Kasey Kahne got up on the wall half-way down the front stretch onto the driver’s side door and ran that way between turns one and two. It was a little scary looking, but he was ok and finished in 37th. Several drivers had great runs that were good to see. Jason Leffler finished 2^nd, Trevor Bayne ran well again finishing in 6^th place. Parker Kligerman, 9^th, and Willie Allen, 11^th, also had good runs. Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch raced each other hard, with Kyle eventually coming up the track into Brad and Brad taking the lead. Kyle retaliated, not once, not twice, but three times until he eventually spun Brad and wrecked him to take the lead back resulting in more than one person in the stands to raise a finger to Kyle. Brad was p-i-s-t- MAD and after the race said he was going to work on kicking Kyle’s ass. Oh boy!!! Saturday is going to be fun! The anticipation builds!!

Photo by Adam Lovelace

Saturday, the day we’ve all been waiting on. We all just know it’s going to be a night of hard racing, crashing, and rubbing. What will Kyle and Brad do?? Ok, first, the pre-race ceremonies were a little long and dull if you ask me, a premonition of what was to come perhaps? Now, I’m all for the National Anthem before the race, but I am not going to rise and remove my hat for a Lee Greenwood song that seems like it’s 15 minutes long. First of all, it’s boring and dull and makes me sleepy. So we had to hear Lee Greenwood, then say the pledge, then the National Anthem, and a lady that we couldn’t hear reading from a paper for what seemed like ten minutes. I’m sure there was a reason for it, but none of us could hear her, so it seemed to serve little purpose. For driver introductions each driver picked his own song and introduced himself. I can’t tell you how many of the drivers commented on all the excitement and action we were all getting ready to see. The anticipation kept building and Brad Keselowski’s intro was the best: “I’m Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch is an ass!” That got the entire crowd cheering and we were ready for 500 laps of some exciting action!

Photo by Adam Lovelace

Green flag, Jimmie Johnson leads, and leads, and leads for most of the first 200 laps. Ok, they are just waiting until the last couple hundred laps to really start racing each other hard. By lap 300 Jimmie has wrecked and Kyle Busch leads, and leads, and leads. David Reutimann ran well all night long and even Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran well most of the night as well. By lap 400 I’m thinking I need to cut my nails, and wondering which Droid I should get, the Droid X or The Incredible? I wonder if I can go the whole 500 lap race without having to pee once? Oh, Kyle is still leading and there are 10 laps to go. Second place is nowhere in sight. Kyle wins all three races. Kyle made history and I got to witness all three wins. How exciting. Congratulations Kyle. If only it could’ve happened to a driver that I enjoyed.

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