HAMM'S VIEW

February 24th 2002

How bad have you got it?

Now those commercials are something other than watching the race that I can relate to.

I guess we have to be aware that more and more new Nascar fans are joining current fans daily but I just don’t see the need to provide educational programming during the race each and every week with the same illustrations over and over again. 

Actual line vs. preferred line, this is loose, this is tight.  They are showing the car go up the track in both situations.  I know the difference and they don’t explain it very well with their fancy animated example.  Show an actual car sliding up the track from the in-car camera (you know, file footage) and listen to the driver back off the throttle while turning the wheel, and do it before the race starts, not during the action.  That will allow the viewers to possibly even hear the driver switch on the ole Hoover naugahyde vacuum on his butt when they see that wall coming up fast and nothing to do but wait to see if the driver has let up on the throttle soon enough.  Want to see loose?  Show someone coming off the corner so we can see the advertisement on the passenger side of the car.  That is a damn good illustration.  Spells it out just right to me.  We are creatures that learn visually and the more real, the better.

Aero-loose and cowl intake:

How many times have we seen the cotton balls either under the cartoon cars or going in the cartoon car’s cowl.  I still get Speed Racer if I want to see cartoon cars.  I do not want to watch it while there is a Winston Cup race going on.  Save all that stuff for shows like Nascar tech. and all the other fine shows that are designed for that sort of educational racing TV that I do enjoy watching, but when the green flag drops, show the race.

Keep the good ole boys helping out in the booth.  I prefer not to get an expert opinion from a Wally

Ran-in-back or a Derrick Can’t-Cope.  If these guys were so good, they would be sitting in a different seat with a steering wheel in front of it.  DW is the best and Benny Parson’s has what it takes.  If Benny Parsons is going to wear a bright red shirt though, don’t get mad when we yell, (I got this from Bubba Baker over on racing one.com) “Hey Kool-Aid”  Don’t they have people that tell them what they look like on TV?

How bad have you got it?  That is up to you, but I have it so bad that I will continue to watch even though they will drill it into my thick skull that I need to have this information while I am ATTEMPTING to watch the race.  Maybe that is exactly what they want.

Hamm

November 7th 2001

Football and Rodeo are the only other sports that I follow; but Nascar is number one with me.

Penalties in sports, or life, are supposed to discourage one from repeating the offence.

Rodeo rough stock events: You either do it clean or you get the big goose egg.

Rodeo timed events: You get it done right or have so much time added you cannot over come the deficit.

Baseball:  Allow a man to get on base intentionally?  Although I understand the strategy, that is not exciting to me.   Commies play the game. (Stock Car racing is America’s sport) Too slow anyway.

Basketball?  Foul on purpose?  Fouling is a good thing late in the game to allow the opposing team free throws?  What kind of get up is that?  I hate basketball.

The only problem I have with hockey is that an icing penalty should be more severe as to discourage the team from attempting to get an icing penalty enforced upon them.  Mostly, Hockey takes care of itself.  If you do something wrong; usually, the opposing team will let you know about it and enforce their own penalty.

Sure Nascar has penalties that are not day crushers such as restarting at the tail end of the longest line because you pitted too soon, but hardly ever an advantage by doing so.

If Nascar wants to make a point with a penalty for cheating, being a real A-hole etc., they need to lower the boom on these Stewart out bursts or Harvick’s tricks let alone tech inspection either before or after the race.  All the other cars settled after 500 miles and made it through inspection.  What’s the problem 8 team?  $25,000 penalty but keep your points, finishing position and the rest of your winnings?  Not prudent.  25K are the cost of tires for about a race and a half.  Big whoopty do!

Don’t fall to the level of the ball and stick sports Nascar.  If you are going to attempt to make a point and discourage something from happening, DO IT!

2/28/2000

Did anyone else hear what I heard Bobby Labonte say in his victory lane
interview?

Interviewer:  You beat some very fast cars out there such as the 22.
Bobby      :  Yeah, but those guys were on a different pit stop
sequence
than we were.

To me, I heard him attempting to denounce the great run by Ward and Bill
Davis Racing in General, like it was a fluke and they were only running
fast because they were one of a few cars to take advantage of an early
caution flag.  Well, maybe ole snot nosed Bobby could take a look at the
22fastforward race summary and see that after HE pitted for the first time,
that all lead cars pitted; thus, placing EVERYONE on the SAME pit
sequence.  Sure after that, the 22 team short pitted a bit, but not WAY out
of sequence.

I am just really curious to know if there is any animosity between BDR and
the OTHER Pontiac teams since the announcement that the BDR shop was moving
to Dodge next year.

I have a great deal of respect for Bobby Labonte as a driver but I do think
he gets too hot at certain times.  I just had to do a whip on this matter
because it made my jaw tight when I suspected that he is trying to take a
good run away from the entire 22 camp when they flat out EARNED their
finishing position.  Even one of my not so favorite drivers that I still
have a lot of respect for and I absorb his opinion, Rusty Wallace said (
when refering to the 22 during the Rockingham race )  "Those guys were
flying.  Man, I had no idea that 18 lap fresher tires would do
that."  Showing respect for the call that Tommy made to put on 4 new ones.

Then again, maybe I am just hearing things but I certainly didn't like what
I THOUGHT I heard.

Hey Bobby, never skip a good chance to shut up!  Or, just get your facts
straight first and don't try to make yourself look good by trying to take
away from others.

12/28/1999

Intelligence, Ignorance or Accent?

This hits home just a bit with me. Being in CA I, like Ward, receive ribbing for talking with a lazy jaw. Does this mean I am ignorant? People who assume Ward is ignorant or uneducated because of his accent, should look up these words in the dictionary before they prove to me and everyone else who reads their words that they are the ones who are ignorant or uneducated. They all kill me that they will submit a post with misspelled words when posting about someone else’s intelligence. (Lord, don’t let me misspell anything in this whip PLEASE!)

If you ever listen to Ward’s choice of words or how he speaks, anyone can plainly hear that he is not ignorant or uneducated. No matter how much I may dislike other drivers, they are still the best in the business. I may not like them and I may whip on them but I still attempt to maintain some respect for their accomplishments.

The best way to handle these folk’s posts is to ignore their ignorance and they will soon be deleted.

I just wish they would be sure of THEIR choice of words. Accents just can’t be helped sometimes.

I would hate to be so ignorant that I couldn’t find my favorite driver’s number one fan page so I had to go to another drivers number one fan page and take cheap shots at his easiest attribute.

I really don’t have a problem laughing at Ward’s accent, as long as it is a joke. But put some thought into slamming someone you ignorant jerks! Make it new anyway. Maybe I can offer some advice for these folks," Never skip a good chance to Shut Up!"

Perhaps I can use some of my own good advice

11/20/99

I have had it with all the media hype about Ward being upset with finishing second to his brother. I don’t think Ward really cares whether it was his brother or the man in the moon. All he knows is that he has finished second three times! I was at Vegas and I watched Jeff slowly catch, race a few laps, pass, and pull away from Ward. That was disappointing but I could see that Ward did not have the car to win. I am with Bill Davis when he said something to the effect of," it’s one thing to not have the car to beat and run second but it is another to have a car capable of winning and not win it." I say we had THE winning car at Texas and lost that race and that was much more devastating than finishing second to Brother Jeff when Jeff had the car to beat. I am not talking about the most recent 2^nd place finish to Brother Jeff though. We were catching him but ran out of laps. That was disheartening but like I said, much worse for me to see Ward blow up at Pocono while giving the rest of the field a driving lesson or blow a tire while leading at Darlington or get caught with his pants down at Texas because he pitted as the leader to set the pit pace. Finishing three times to brother Jeff means nothing to me. As far as I am concerned, the other Burton doesn’t even fact into Ward’s disappointment for finishing second. Well, maybe Thanksgiving dinner may have a thing or two brought up about it. (Snicker, Snicker)

One quick note about Goofery’s brain: Can you believe out of 1,000,000 sperm, he was the fastest? I think that family’s gene pool could use a little chlorine.

9/18/1999

Hamm

5/20/99

I guess it's normal when your team is running well to expect more from

them. At the beginning of the year I expected the 22 team to get a few

wins and finish in the top ten in points and I would be more than happy. I

still feel this way but I cannot help but want them to do more. We all

know that they are capable of having better finishes than the "bad luck"

finishes we have had. ie: Tally, Daytona, The Rock, Martinsville.

The 22 team has a 20.5 starting average and a 14.6 finishing average so

far. Not bad, considering that the points champion generally has an 11th

place finishing average. The points race from the 5th position to 13th is

very tight and so is the points race from, the 1st to the 4th position. A

definate differance between the top 4 and the next group. (5th-13th)

I would love to see the 22 team step it up another notch to run with the

top 5 week in and week out. A pole and a win would be nice too.

Alot more consistant this year. Not dominating at our strong tracks and

getting poles, yet not faultering at our weak tracks either. Of course I

want more from the boys, but consistency is where it's at when you are

talking points.

Lets all keep in mind this team is doing quite well considering: New crew

chief, single car operation etc. Although the new crew chief is the main

reason we are rippin' this year up!

If you don't win, it don't mean much. That's the Winston, and we didn't

win. From the overhead camera shot, I saw the 43 get into Ward and turn

him. This, I understand because it is hard to get everbody checked up at

the sametime but I continued to observe the 43 staying on the gas and

pushing Ward completely sideways into the middle of the mess. Maybe it is

pay back for Martinsville? I couldn't believe Mark Martin, first he

doesn't like restrictor plate racing and now he doesn't like double file

restarts? Hey Mark! Double file restarts are Winston Cup racing! They

are at the start of every race and when there is a restart with lapped

traffic they line up on the inside! Quit your whinning! Buddy Baker

informed us, during the open, that Mike Skinner was slow because he elected

not to pit when just a few laps prior we already heard that the 31 was

running on 7 cylinders. Duh! Does this guy have a mouth full of lug nuts

when he talks? I find him hard to understand at times. I'm with Uncle

Terry here, BP and Eli would do a great job together. Eli goes out on a

limb on occasion, but he is a pretty straight shooter. If the CAT team has

to have bad luck, let it be during a non-points race. I am sure we will be

hooked up for the 600. Go Ward!

5/21/1999

Tire management is part of racing. I hate to hear any team complain about

tire problems when they are running the tires too hard with too low of air

pressure to start with. My eyes saw some pretty radical camber settings on

some of the cars. I've seen right front tires get abused before, but the

ones they showed on TV seemed to be destroyed on the inside of the tire

which seemed very odd to me. How about the 60 car. Tried to block the 24

on the line-up for the restart. Good to see him reeking havoc where it

doesn't involve us. Tough luck for the 24 eh? Any takers? Ole 31, back

at it again. Thought he would keep it together and maybe pull off a win

until he self destructed! Too bad for the 31 that Tony Stewart wasn't

nearby to take the blame for the 31's screw-up! Ward was solid as a rock,

as noted in some of your posts. Charlotte is one of our tracks, along with

Pocono, for a strong run for a pole and a win! BTW I dropped from 3rd to

4th this week in my Fantasy Nascar League, even with the 24 having trouble.

( he is not on my team )

5/2/1999

Well, the 26 eliminated one problem for us in the first 4 laps. We just

flat, out ran the other dangerous teams of concern.

I am so excited to see us run where we should be running every week. For

awhile there, the past few  weeks, I was thinking that if the world had the

rythym of the CAT teams finishes, we wouldn't need birth control. Looks

like all is well with the CAT team now, and how better could you go into a

week off? A win of course but 6th is not bad.

The caution came when we needed it this time instead of like Texas. That

is just racin', to allow us to stay on the lead lap.

I see in NOL this morning, the 31 guy is still not accepting any

responsibility for his over aggressive driving "style" in regards to the

Tony Stewart issue in Tally. Hell, my grandma can run somebody off the

road and consider herself a good driver cause she has more years

experiance? That's not the way it works.

How about that Tony Stewart, I know that even a blind chicken gets a kernal

of corn once in awhile, but this guy is hot right now!

We have got to step it up to run with the top 5, week in and week out, and

plan on Beating, at least, the teams that are not yet proven to be worthy

of being in the top ten in points.

My hat is off to the CAT team for a job well done this week! Shine on!

4/27/1999

Damn the bad luck! Well, we missed the big one on the track, but even I

forgot that we had to miss the big one in the pits. Since when do you have

to be careful in the pits? Since everyone started taking safe pit-stops

for granted, that's when. ABC, as you all saw, still sucks. Benny does a

terrific job if Bob J. will let him talk with the few minutes that are

available between the over head shots of Alabama and the past video shots

of crew chiefs in slow motion scratching their heads while we are all

waiting for the race to be shown as they come back from commercial, every

single time! Need I have to mention my favorite whipping post victims?

Goofery ( Sandi's name for him) Bodine, Mike Skinner, and the 28? I hope I

don't have to add the Cheerios-mobile to my list. He is a nice guy but is

not WC material. Restrictor plate racing? I'm with Mark Martin, thank

goodness there are only 4 a year. I say, take 3 inches off the spoilers

and let em' go!

4/23/99

That 22 car looked like a brick doing a wheelie! What was up with that! I

have always seen that but figured it was because it was my guy. If it

would have been a pole run, I would have told ya'll I knew it was special

all the time. LOL

Did you see Ward glow when they mentioned Tommy in the pre-qualifying

interview? They have a great rapport!

I'll take a 25th starting spot at Tally.

Keep an eye on those whacky racers: The 31 car is starting 12th, at least for a

short while he can't run us over. the 28  car is starting 22nd,  trading paint with

him for sure and the 60 will be starting behind us somewhere.

Most likely won't have to worry about him.

We will have to clear the 9 car, starting 20th, before he decides to bring out

the first caution also. We will be ahead of  him when that happens.

4/15/99

I don't even have to comment about ole Bob Jenkins. He beats himself up

enough and didn't disappoint me this week either. I was thinking that

maybe he and JEFF Bodine could get together and do a little demolition

derby show. That way, it would be justified for Bob to make mistakes, he

is not ready for national TV, and, JEFF could show us how a real pro beats

up on other cars for no apparent reason. Special guest on their show this

week would be Mike Skinner, true champion of over aggressive driving.

Hell, the only part reusable on the 31 car this week, is the brake pedal.

How about that 28 car. A couple of incidents and up on top of the wall he

goes. They should have left the car there for the remainder of the race.

He must be getting used to driving a, "post racin' deal" car. The 60 car

is nothing but an obsticle every week. At least Ward appologized to

Andretti right after spinning him. Got to take our lumps I guess. The

most exciting race this year, besides Vegas.

4/11/99

How dare I think that a top 15 or 20 would be good enough to keep

our heads up high. That is not thinking like a true Ward fan. I applogize

to all Ward fans for thinking short of what we are capable of. No room for

that kind of thinking in the whipping post. I am truly ashamed.

24 car: I can't beleive anybody can get so beat up and not have enough

damage to be hampered! It is only luck!

31 car: Introduces the 20 car to over aggressive WC racing, Mike Skinners

usual style. Good driver but if he's not in front, you had better have a

tank to pass him.

28 car: I will let Merse have him, all I can say is that he must be

driving a magnet. Every race? That is not normal to make as much contact

as he does. He hit everyone but the pace car.

My favorite target

Bob Jenkins: Informed us all that Michael Andretti, too, was in the lead

lap. Instead of John Andretti.

On Busch racing: I see that Jeff Green shares my thoughts of Geoffery

Bodine's place in racing.

4/9/99

We are competitive with the restrictor plates,  nobody questions that. We

now have a solid speedway program, thanks to Tommy B and the entire CAT-BDR

team. Road racing, if you call that racing, we run where we Qualify which

is usually between 10th and 15th. I can live with that. Bristol? That is

yet to be proven that the Ward Burton with CAT team has short tracking

figured out. I have great confidence but this is our weak point. We have

seen him come from the back this year already but short tracking is differant.

Bob Jenkins has got to go, although ESPN has the best coverage. Where did

this guy come from? He messes up all the time with names and who is on

what lap. He seems to me that he is too dumb to pour piss out of a boot if

the directions were written on the heel!

Time of the season to seperate the men from the boys!