7-4-21
For Sunday, I woke up an hour late and found myself
hustling to get ready. There was an IRL race at Mid-Ohio that I got to watch the beginning of. It started off with a pair of crashes before
I switched over to watch The Jetsons. Oh, it was a classic episode where Jane
enters the Miss Solar System contest in disguise, while George is the judge in
disguise. Of course, he chooses her. It was great.
Ron and I had planned on going back over to his dad’s
house to watch today’s NASCAR Cup
race. Perhaps we should have cleared
that with his brother, Wendell, who lives there and was planning a lunch time
barbeque. We weren’t allowed to use the
house and weren’t invited to the barbeque either. So, I invited Ron over to my apartment. We watched Josef Newgarden get an unexpectedly close win before going out for
lunch.
I picked Arby’s. It was the closest fast food place with the
least greasy food. I was still not quite
over last night’s meal. We also got root
floats with them. I thought the ice
cream might also help with digestion. We
got back for the start of the Cup race at Road
America.
Once again, there was a lot of action. You couldn’t determine the finish from the
start. AJ Allmendinger started on the second row as one of the favorites. Two of the others, Kyle Busch and, my favorite, Chase
Elliot, were way in the back. They
managed to pass about half the field during Stage 1. William
Byron won the stage.
The commercials that were on infinite repeat yesterday
were still on today. Does Sonic really need six different
commercials? (Maybe they should spend
more money on the quality of their food than their marketing. Okay, their drinks and desserts are pretty
good. I give them that.) I started flipping over to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid on a
Western station during commercials. Ron
and I were both enjoying it and wanted to see the whole film sometime, but the
live event took precedence.
In Stage 2, a late caution shook things up and Kyle got up
front. However, Tyler Reddick won the stage.
During the Anthem (performed wonderfully by a little girl), NBC had
shown Bubba “Noose” Wallace. Dr.
Pepper was his sponsor which really irritated me, because I like Dr.
Pepper. (I’d
probably want a die cast of the car, except I saw it. It’s got his face on it. Forget it.) I’d assumed I was going to see
more of Noose all through the race, but never did. I don’t know what to make of this. What better time than the Fourth to call
Americans racists? Maybe Dr. Pepper
didn’t buy any ad time, so they weren’t going to show him.
Yesterday, a friend of Ron’s family came by and saw us
watching NASCAR. He said, him and his
friends used to be huge fans. Last year,
when Noose called for the Confederate flag ban and it happened, they all
quit. You never know what’s going to set
someone off when you make a snap politically motivated decision, especially
when you’re trying to please weirdoes on Twitter. Judging by the large crowds at Lake Elkhart, I’d say most fans were
just happy to be out at a race (or even just watching on TV). I wouldn’t take them or me for granted though
if I were NASCAR.
Kyle and Chase started up front for Stage 3. AJ had faded to the rear. Inside the top ten, Alex Bowman accidentally nearly took out his teammate, Kyle Larson. The damage from that contact caused a tire
rub that was threatening to cause a blowout and a caution. Alex’s other teammate, Chase, had gotten out
front and built up a six second lead.
The tire rub seemed to be okay after a lap, but Alex was told to come
in. A caution would have cost Chase his
lead. Dale Jr. on the commentary, didn’t agree with the call and didn’t
like what amounted to team orders. When
the tire was examined after the pit stop, the reporter said it probably
wouldn’t have lasted another four laps to finish the race. This was the closest thing to a controversy
today. Alex already has three wins this
season; he’s probably good.
Chase did win. He
blew past the assigned interview area and to go around the entire four-mile
circuit to salute the fans. He did a
burnout at the start/finish line before finally going to the interview. Chase was very gracious and grateful for the
fans. The crowd there started chanting
for another burnout. Chase obliged and
blew out both of his back tires and had to be pushed to Victory Lane. The People’s Champion, indeed. This is exactly what NASCAR needs to stay in
the fan’s good graces.
Ron had to leave in a rush. While today’s meal hadn’t caused any
bellyache, I went hard dairy for dinner: cereal, yogurt, and ice cream. The only sports left today was a Chihuahuas game from Albuquerque
against the Isotopes. I got the scoop on yesterday’s game. The pups won 16-0 in a five inning rainout.
What would the score have been if they’d gone nine?
The Thursday and Friday games there had had fairly low
attendance, but last night’s game unfortunately had a full house. The fans came back tonight for record
attendance, even though the ongoing weather reports during the game seemed
ominous. (13k was a record for Isotopes Park and for Minor League baseball this season.) The Chihuahuas led off with a
homer, but lost 12-7. It wouldn’t have been that close, but for a
late game comeback. Something else that
was announced earlier in the series, Chihuahuas big bat, Patrick Kievelhan, was selected for the US Olympic Baseball team.
Hate to lose him for an extended period, but what an honor.
Okay, I’m watching the Godzilla Kaiju Cookout Marathon on Comet for the rest of the evening.
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