(WOMR at the Talladega Superspeedway)
It is the day after Thanksgiving, the racing season is over, and it is time for WOMR to offer up a big serving of thanks!
First I would like to thank Jamie McMurray for putting on two really exciting races this season when he won the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400. For those who don’t remember, at the end of the 2009 season Jamie Mac was without a ride for the 2011 season when Roush-Fenway Racing released him for his contract. His old boss, Chip Gannasi, offered him a ride in the Earnhardt-Gannasi Racing Bass Pro Sports #1 Chevy, and as they say, the rest was history. Thank you, Jamie!
Next I would like to thank “Blazingly Bad” Brad Keselowski for putting on a great show throughout the Nationwide Series races this season. Keselowski was also noted for his slightly aggressive driving style that landed him upside down and into the Atlanta crash wall, and sitting in a crumpled pile so sheet metal at Gateway International Raceway earlier in the season. In addition to the exciting racing he exhibited, “Bad Brad” K. won the Nationwide Series championship for Penske Racing, its first NASCAR championship ever! Thank you Brad!
Another tip of the hat goes to NASCAR for giving those famous/infamous words out a press conference, “have at it boys”! Those four words have produced some of the most exciting racing for NASCAR in recent memory! Allowing the drivers to police themselves has allowed the racing to be “racier”, more exciting, allowing the drivers to exhibit more of their emotions, and consequently some of the closest finishes ever, witness both Talladega races, and the Daytona 500, just to mention a few. Thank you NASCAR!
When Boris Said, and the very underfunded RAB race team “put a whoopin” on the entire Nationwide Series race teams at Montreal, it was a huge breath of fresh air! Boris Said, over the years, has taken it upon himself to teach and help some of the biggest names of NASCAR become better road racers. Way to go Boris!
Who said? Boris Said!!
Some of the “young guns” have come of age this year. The 20 year old phenom, Joey Logano, got a few lessons bestowed on him over the past two seasons. However this season, after getting punted on more than one occasion by Kevin Harvick, and putting on one heck of a car control, smoking tires, sideways slide at Pocono, he finally showed some backbone and confronted Harvick after the race. I think the comment was something about his lack of control and that his wife wears the firesuit in the family!
Way to go “Sliced Bread”!
Another tip of the hat goes out to Todd Bodine and the whole Germain Racing organization. That race team competed in, and ultimately won the Camping World Truck Series championship with little to no corporate sponsorship. Thank you Germain Racing!
Lastly, and most importantly, I would like to thank my wife for kinda understanding and kinda allowing me to watch racing each and every weekend, as well as write about it. I would also like to thank her for excusing me from home for the sole purpose of working on my redneck at the Daytona 500, the Las Vegas and Phoenix races, as well as the fall trek to Talladega.
What are you thankful for this year?
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING IN MY REDNECK!
