Well hello again loyal readers and other folks. Welcome back to racin’ and oh my good and gracious LORD what a week or so it’s been! I apologize for missin’ the last 2 races last year but Duck and I had some weather related issues to our place we had to deal with. Unfortunately we had to gather up our critters and head to my baby sister Freezie Mae’s place for a short spell. I love that girl, I truly do but she is a bit too uppity for Duck and I but that’s neither here nor there. Duck and I worked darn near day and night to restore our place to it’s previous comfortable livability. Unfortunately we had to replace our divan and crates but a granny’s got to do what a granny’s got to do if ya know what I mean. Now, for the most part, all is repaired and we settled back in just before racin’ took up in Daytona.
We watched intently to the coverage attemptin’ to grasp every word of racin’ news we could find. Course everyday there was lots of jibber jabber, figurin’s and just about every kind of stuff the announcers could think of to talk about. It was so good to hear all about that stuff again. First off I want to say congratulations to Happy Man and that pretty little wife of his on the good news that they are expectin’ their first baby. Duck and I are thinkin’ they will be pretty good parents. Yessirree.
So here we go now. Let’s back up a bit to the end of last season when Big Brother Busch and Boss Man Penske agreed to part ways. Now look here, last season I was praisin’ that boy for finally growin’ up and actin’ as such, keepin’ his mouth in check and treatin’ his crew people with respect. Well goodness gracious did this granny call that one wrong! Oh my good and gracious LORD and here I was settin’ this boy up as an example to his little brother Rowdy Boy! Well let me tell ya this one somethin’ right now, you can kick that dirt off the porch and throw the rug away, to boot. No more, no how, no way. To this granny’s way of thinkin’ those boys are just brats, pure and simple. Course I know that’s just our thoughts and really neither here nor there and I swear those boys are as talented as they can be, but, brats just the same. Duck and I are just hopin’ Big Brother’s plight gives Rowdy Boy a chance to pick an apple from his brother’s basket and eat it accordin’ly, if ya know what I mean. Course time will tell but I’m just sayin’. Kurt says he’s doin’ better and knows he has to change his ways and here’s hopin’ he has finally figured out that ya get treated the way ya treat others. Tit for tat as they say. Anyway good luck to that boy. I really mean that and I’m sure we’ll all be watchin’ him.
And as for JR winnin’ as I predicted last year, well it didn’t happen as y’all know. So I’m not puttin’ pressure on him or myself this year. I’ll just say when it happens, and it will happen folks, I’ll be the happiest granny in this here whole world. Yessirree I will. He just about did it last night durin’ that crazy 500 but he’s got plenty of time so granny’s just a waitin’.
Now for some Daytona stuff…just too much to cover any lap by lap stuff here and now but I will hit the highlights as I see them. NASCAR was excited to announce that pack racin’ was back. No more of those dancin’ duets from the last few years they said. Duck and I were so glad to hear that but that’s not exactly the way it played out. There were packs alright…mostly made up of those same dancin’ duets. And bump draftin’ was and is a BIG no no now. They couldn’t do that in the turns and with the rear of the cars bein’ curved now, well that lead to wreck after wreck. Some really shockin’ wrecks, too, let me tell ya that one somethin’ right now. Excitin’ isn’t quite the only right word to describe this new type of pack racin’ either…add frightenin’, surprisin’ and nerve wrackin’ too then add now more than ever to the end of that. But the drivers seem to like it so whatever this granny says. I mean what more can I say about it? Know what I mean?
Anyhow, the first race that was run at Daytona this year was the ARCA race. 52 year old Bobby Gerhart grabbed to pole but then lost it durin’ inspection, started dead last but amazin’ly rallied his senior self back to win that race! Oh my good and gracious LORD what a story. Good for him I say and here’s hopin’ he and his team pay more attention to race specifications in the future. Behave yourselves boys and or any girls in that bunch. Know what I mean?
That same day the Bud Shootout was run. Boy howdy let me tell ya one somethin’ right now that was excitin’ and just a teeny weeny taste of what was to come. No big surprise who won that one and the money. Congratulations I say to an even richer than he used to be Rowdy Boy. I’m wishin’ he could buy some good behavior with that money. I know, I know but I’m just sayin’. Anyway great job there Rowdy Boy. Keep up the good (I’m stressin’ good here) work. Smoke finished 2nd. Good for him I say and those were the first 2 startin’ spots for the 500.
5 days later came the Duels…the 2 races that would determine pert near the rest of the 500 field. Oh Duck and I were on the new divan with our snacks on the new crates. We were just filled with excitement, let me tell ya that one somethin’ right now. And we were not disappointed. Nossirree we weren’t. Smoke won the first one and Robo won the second. Good for them I say! Yep the field was set. All that was left then was the ever amazin’ 500 which turned out to be hard to get started and even harder to get finished. I’m tellin’ ya the truth here now!
As is always the natural way of NASCAR things the 500 was set to run on Sunday the 26th. Well the rains came, stopped, came again and so on so for the 1st time ever in NASCAR’s history they wisely decided to postpone the race to Monday mornin’. Then as they tracked the approachin’ storms they then decided to move the race to the 7 p.m. time slot. The Daytona 500 was set to run under the lights. WOOHOO! Duck and I were so ready to get it underway. I made a special race eatin’ treat for us. Yessirree we had some cabbage stew complete with sausage and veggies. Oh it was tasty for sure. Duck’s favorite driver if you don’t already know is Flippin’ Carl who started 11th, a right respectable startin’ spot to our way of thinkin’. So the race began pretty much on time and low and behold on the second lap 5 cars includin’ the Once Same Champ Jimmie, Ragan, That Girl Danica, Baby Face Bayne and Big Brother Busch all wrecked as a result of one of those close racin’ taps I told ya about earlier from cutie Curly Sadler. He didn’t mean to do it. You know he’s not that kind of a driver but it ended Once Same Champ’s day as well as Ragan’s. Very sad for both of them I say!. The other 3 eventually returned to racin’ and good for them I say! That incident just seemed to cinch the way this race was gonna go. Oh the race was spectacular. I said it and I meant it and you can bet the barn on that one! Duck and I paced, ate, yelled, and paced some more. Why we darn near wore a groove in the new floor carryin’ on so.
Course we all know to expect the unexpected at Daytona. With 42 laps to go I think it was, Juantoya started havin’ some vibratin’ issues they said in every gear. Every gear, imagine that! If that wasn’t plum weird enough the trucks with those jet dryer thingies on them were on the track too. Juantoya pitted and when he came back on the track his car just did a nasty turn right in to the jet dryer part of that truck spillin’ 200 gallons or so of jet fuel on to the track. Looked like the end of time had come there for a spell. Fire everywhere but amazin’ly Juantoya got out of his firey car and the driver of the jet dryin’ truck was helped to safety. Oh thank our good and gracious LORD those boys were ok. It was just the craziest happenin’ you could imagine. 200 gallons of jet fuel spilled onto the track and was burnin’. I’m tellin’ ya it was as scarey as it could possible be. NASCAR’s track workers jumped in to high gear and worked to get the fire out and get that track cleaned, sealed and ready to restart in around 2 hours or so. Now that is amazin’ and a big GOOD for all of them I say!
Well they got the field on the track and Duck and I were expectin’ some other major somethin’ or another to happen. I had to head outside for a potty break and somehow the door locked me in. Why I was a beatin’ and a bangin’ on that door and Duck finally heard me durin’ a commercial and came and let me out. Oh I was madder than a one armed paper hanger with an itch, let me tell ya that one somethin’ right now. I got back inside in time to see the end anyway. Robo won himself another Daytona 500. Well GOOD for him I say and JR made a right amazin’ last lap dash tryin’ to change the results but finished 2nd. GOOD for him too I say and for all of them who finished that race in basically one piece. I believe I’m still wore to a frazzle and I can only guess as to how those drivers feel today. Hope a good lot of ’em are still a sleepin’.
There’s other stuff I wanted to discuss but I need to feed the criters and it can keep for another day I guess. So there ya have it…Granny’s first 2012 report. I think I might be a little writin’ rusty but I’m pert near sure it’ll all come back to me sooner or later. Know what I mean? Anyway email, comment or don’t. Either way I don’t care cause y’all know I’m still a very busy woman.
