Crashing At Bristol

Video of Larry Pearson's real bad wreck at Bristol Saturday. The announcers clearly think he is probably dead- as do the track workers frantically jumping around.



Instead, Larry sports a broken ankle.

Here is Lee’s most famous crash at Talladega:

Goin' To Bristol

Folks, Frank Helps You Think It All Out is going on vacation for a bit. It is time for my annual trek to Bristol Motor Speedway for the Food City 500 and to see Miss Food City, Lindsey Blevins , in person.

Next week I’ll be back with the 2009 Tulane football preview- still the most accurate prediction service going!

On Vacation

Folks, Frank Helps You Think It All Out is going on vacation for a bit. It is time for my annual trek to Bristol Motor Speedway for the Food City 500 and to see Miss Food City, Jennifer Whittington, in person.

Next week I’ll be back with the 2008 Tulane football preview- still the most accurate prediction service going!

Hopefully, the Phillies can hang in there until I get back. I'm increasingly doubtful- as no one hits! Somehow we've managed to get back to where Myers is the most reliable starter.And frankly, Billy Wagner leaving their 'pen can only help the Mets.

Frank Kimmel Street Stock 150

As Philadelphia battens down for Game 3 tonight- where can we get a taste of the chaos and noise that awaits the Capitals in the City of Brotherly Love?

Why- Bristol Motor Speedway of course! As Miss Food City, Jennifer Whittington continues to have to be pleased by her reign.

Check out the start of the Frank Kimmel Street Stock 150 below. Way too many stock cars on way too small a track. They even manage to turn a few laps before the inevitable 15 car wreck. Watch the crash with the sound up!

Miss Food City

This blog is an unabashed supporter of the greatest venue in sports: Bristol Motor Speedway. And to that end, there is an obligation to report the elevation of this year’s Miss Food City- destined to reign over this year’s race activities and ride in the giant grocery cart. Miss Food City is:

When the moment arrived, it was Jennifer Whittington of Pounding Mill, VA who was crowned 2008 Miss Food City. Jennifer is a 23 year-old student at the Quillen College of Medicine in Johnson City, TN. “I was completely shocked when the announcer called my name, but it has been an incredible honor and a blessing to be crowned Miss Food City 500. I would like to personally congratulate all of the other contestants on a job well done and thank them for the friendship and memories that we have all made,” Whittington commented.

Jennifer will represent Food City during the Food City 500 and the Food City 250 NASCAR events at Bristol Motor Speedway during 2008. In addition to those responsibilities, Jennifer will represent Food City at various other company events.

Jennifer enjoys relaxing with family and friends, going to church, volunteering in her community, hiking, running, playing with her dog, and is a NASCAR enthusiast. She is looking forward to the opportunity to use her medical experience to care for her patients and at the same time make them feel valued and comfortable. She plans to graduate from medical school and complete a residency in General Surgery/Trauma Surgery.

Can't wait for August!

Driving in Circles

Obviously, the reconstruction of the Bristol Motorspeedway is a huge boon for the racing there. Even a cursory glance at the last thirty laps of the Busch race Friday night, where four racers swapped the top two positions again and again while racing three wide, would be proof that the “racing” is better. The picture represents how those three guys ran lap after lap after lap after lap. Everyone raved about the Busch and Truck race- and they were fantastic.

Conversely, I am not surprised that the Cup race has gotten a lot of thumbs down from fans. I think this guy and David Poole have a point killing the Cup race- similar to one I wrote about earlier this year.

Jim McLaurin wrote after the race: Bristol racing is not guys being able to pass each other, it’s two guys fighting over the same spot, usually to the detriment of one or the other. Like the plate races, Bristol was always more of a show- theater if you will. While NASCAR will always ultimately be about “racing”, the spectacle, the banging, shoving and temper tantrums- made Bristol a must see event, not the race itself. As this anonymous writer says (some of the comments are good too):

After all the hoopla, specially designed colored flash cards in the stands, testimonials of drivers all week...singing the praises of the most fantastic track surface in the universe and the promise that fans would witness one of the best races in history, the truth is things simply didn't pan out. The race was somewhat sedate and comprised mostly of green flag runs. The entire personality of the Bristol Experience was altered by the redesign and reconfiguration of the track surface and banking and the introduction of the vehicle that represents the future of NASCAR racing to it. Depending on the particular tastes of fans, those who desire aggressive, feisty, rowdy racing have seen the last of it. Tonight's race was anything but that, and was probably much enjoyed by the safety conscious and purists who love the sight of cars monotonously making left turns, especially side by side.

That theatrical scene is gone now in the showplace division. Right now, Bristol is not a rock’em, sock’em event at the Cup level.

The track is better (so far)- but unfortunately, winning at Bristol is no longer important to the Cup guys in the big scheme of things. It is no accident that the top guys in the Chase- Gordon, Johnson, Hamlin, Stewart, Harvick- spent the night content to merely make laps, stay out of trouble. Running twelfth, protecting their big advantages over the 13th place driver, crossing off another date until the Chase starts was a more-than-satisfactory day for those guys- particularly at a track that introduces so many chance variables.

It is not surprising that all the guys who ran well, or who were entertaining, were drivers either battling for the twelfth spot who needed to run aggressively with their competition to make up spots (Busch and Earnhardt) or guys so far back that only a win meant anything (Kahne, Yeley).

Frankly, there were just too many guys on the Speedway who were incentivized to run Top 15 and park it- then try to win. That is what the Chase regular season does- it distorts behavior in the guys who are comfortable in the Chase. Your best drivers and teams merely want to run eleventh and go home as quickly as possible- quite content to have knocked the schedule back another day.

The Trucks and Busch series will never have this problem- a top ten finish means you lose points to nine guys- the antithesis of securing your post-season run. Short of killing the Chase, NASCAR simply has to start really rewarding guys now more for winning, or finishing top five, in the first part of the season. The enticement problem fixes itself in the Chase- so I don’t care- as you got to chase the leader then. The old way rewarded consistency over the season and encouraged high car counts (important in the 1970-90s)- so a bonus was actually counter-productive. The current system clearly provides an incentive to happy with eleventh place- so you gotta do more to discourage that complacency.

Independence Day