David Poole - The Mourning Drive

David Poole was the ultimate NASCAR reporter. He passed on, yesterday afternoon, too soon for any who knew well of him, at the young age of 50. To those of us who were familiar with the man, he was known as a devoted husband/father/grandfather, a very respected and thorough reporter, and a man who was determined to tell the harsh truth as he saw it. He had been the lead NASCAR reporter for the Charlotte Observer, for nearly 13 years, and for four years, had been the co-host of Sirius Radio's "Morning Drive", along with Mike Bagley. Among countless numbers of other awards, David was a four-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association's Writer of the Year (2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008).

Since the news of his call to Heaven, endless numbers of friends and fans have blogged, called the Sirius radio shows, Facebooked, etc., to express their sympathy and to tell a personal aside relating to David (aka DPizzle or DP). The scale of the response seems equal to that when Dale Earnhardt, Sr. passed away.

I did get to speak with him, one day while on my way to work, and listening to the Morning Drive. Fortunately, DP and I agreed on my view that Kyle Busch has always been the type of driver and personality that he is, and that race fans need to just get over it and get used to it. Countless other callers weren't so lucky. If DPizzle disagreed, he bluntly told you that you were wrong, and then succinctly told you why you were wrong. Many callers hung up understanding that they had been corrected. Other callers hung up mad, insulted, or a combination of these feelings. Like him or not, I suspect that all of the rebuked callers recognized that they had been successfully debated by the top dog. Those same callers likely will now hold there personal experience with high regard ("Ya know, I talked to David Poole, once..."), and as a badge of honor.

I'll miss DP, and I am so deeply saddened by the hurt and loss felt by his wife Katy, sons Matthew and David, daughter Emily, and cherished grandson Eli. May God's comfort and blessings be with them in the sorrowful days ahead.

The family has requested, in place of flowers and gifts, that donations be made to the Pennies for Wessa fund (http://www.penniesforwessa.org/) and/or The Victory Junction Gang Camps (http://www.victoryjunction.org/).

Talladega Days - Draft Racing is Dangerous!!

Holy guacamole, Carl. I betcha Carl Edwards will, by now, hate restrictor plate racing... completely! Last year, at 'Dega, Carl bump-drafted up behind Greg Biffle (his teammate), in the turn, which spun Biffle. Biffle then swerved down track, came back up track and collected Matt Kenseth (another of Carl's teammates), and a dozen or so other cars, including Carl.

The recently completed spring race at Talladega looked to be redemption for "Cousin Carl", as he held the race lead, with a few hundred yards to go on the final lap.


With young, but tough-as-nails, Brad Keselowski making his move, Carl went up up the track to block Brad (which is exactly what Brad wanted him to do). Brad then dove down , and just b-a-r-e-l-y under Carl. Carl reacted by trying to block Brad, but was too late to shut the door, and began to slide across the front of Brad's nose.


Thus, began Carl's first ever flip, whilst still inside a race car. The car lifted, beagn flying nearly backwards, started to come back down, but bounced off the hood of Ryan Newman,


regained air and struck the safety fence. A number of spectators suffered minor (cuts) and serious (broken jaw) injuries, as pieces of the fence and car flew into the stands.


After the car landed, Carl ran the remaining distance to the finish line. Fortunately, no one was critically injured.


Kyle Busch was absolutely insane with blocking, at one point in yesterdays action. He eventually spun himself out, and very luckily only caused one other car to get caught up in it.

The call-in radio shows will be inundated with a weeks worth of opinions, complaints and versions of what happened. But my take is that this is what plate racing entails. Bumper-to-bumper drafting, blocking, desperation in gaining places when horsepower of one car alone will not prevail, will result in wrecks. Few will result in cars striking the safety fence. Until yesterday, no Sprint Cup car has hit the fence so violently, since Bobby Allisons frightening wreck in 1987, also at Talladega. But, these restrictor plate races will continue to have multiple "Big Ones", as long as they are run. Let us pray that blocking will be strictly regulated in plate racing, and that bump-drafting is effectively policed, as well. That stuff is dangerous!!

Out of Town

Note to self (since I am the only one who reads this blog). I will be out of town this week. I am in hydrogeology training in Lexington KY. See ya next week.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year Points System

My previous blog post begs the question, how on earth does the RoTY points system work. While I was writing that last post, the whole time I'm thinking "What? How has Scott Speed hung so close in points? Or, how did Joey Logano hold a points lead after finishing behind Speed?" Well, if there is anyone reading this blog yet, here is the points system explained.

1) The highest-finishing rookie in each race earns 10 points, the second-highest, nine points, etc.

2) Only the top-17 race results, of the 36-race 2009 Sprint Cup schedule, for each RoTY candidate are counted in the RoTY race.

Rule 2 means that the third viable RoTY contender, Max Papis, does have a shot at the RoTY honors, because he is scheduled to run 18 races. All three RoTY drivers, Logano-Speed-Papis, can have any number of bad races, or even missed races, and still be in it to win it, if they qualify and finish well in at least 17 races.

3) In order to be eligible for the RoTY award, a driver must attempt to qualify in at least eight of the first 20 events.

Again, Mad Max Papis makes the cut. By the time race 20 (Allstate 400 at Indianapolis) has been run, Papis' schedule has him attempting to make 9 races.

4) Attempting to qualify for a race earns the rookies one bonus point, which is a bonus that is available for all 36 events.

Advantage of 18 points each to Logano and Speed, who should be attempting to qualify for each of the 36 events (Papis only attempting 18).

5) Bonus points are awarded for a top-10 finish. A rookie who wins a race is awarded 10 points, second place gets nine and so on down the line with a 10th-place effort earning one point.

There have been no collectors of the top-10 finish bonus points, yet.

6) "Segment Bonus Points." The season is divided into three segments, the first segment being the first ten races of the season, the second segment being the second ten races of the season, and the third segment being the final 16 races of the season. The candidate with the most championship points in each segment earns ten bonus RoTY points, the candidate with the second-most championship points earns nine, etc.

This is where Papis will lose most of his ground in the RoTY points chase. He will run only 3 of the first 10 races on the schedule; 6 of the second 10; and 9 of the final 16 races. Assuming that Logano and Speed attempt and make most of the 36 races, they should easily outscore Papis in Sprint Cup championship points, and gain 28-30 RoTY points on Papis.

7) Following the final race of the season, the highest-ranking rookie in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship points standings receives 10 bonus points. The second-highest rookie earns nine points, third receives eight, etc.

8) During the final weekend of the season, a Raybestos Rookie of the Year panel meets and rewards favorable conduct in the following categories: Conduct with NASCAR officials in the garage and pit areas; conduct and awareness on track; personal appearance and relationship with the media. The panel rates each driver, with scoring ranging from a maximum of 10 to a minimum of 1. Total points will be averaged from each panel member’s ballot. The points derived from the panel will be added to the entry, competition, and bonus points after the final race of the season to determine the overall Raybestos Rookie of the Year winner.

Mad Max could actually have an edge, here. He is a very competent racer, well presented and a well mannered individual. He has many years of experience dealing with on-track stress and off-track media relations. The media gets alot of energy and excitement out of a Papis interview!

The RoTY Season, To Date

After 7 races, Logano and Speed have attempted 7 races, and Papis has attempted 2 races. There has been only one race (Shelby 427, Las Vegas), where all three RoTY candidates made the race. In that race Logano finished 13th, Speed 21st, and Papis 35th. Logano has had the highest finish among RoTY drivers in 5 of the 7 races, and Speed was highest in 2 of the 7 races run. Here is the breakdown of RoTY points scored, as of the completion of the Samsung 500 (Texas, Race 7).

Joey Logano, 75 points
7 Qualifying Attempts (1 pt. each) = 7 points
5 Highest Finishes (10 pts. each) = 50 points
2 2nd Highest Finishes (9 pts. each) = 18

Scott Speed, 63 points
7 Qualifying Attempts (1 pt. each)= 7 points
2 Highest Fiinishes (10 pts. each)= 20 points
4 2nd Highest Finishes (9 pts. each) = 36

Max Papis, 19 points
2 Qualifying Attempts (1 pt. each) = 2 points
0 Highest Finishes = 0 points
1 2nd Highest Finish (9 pts. each) = 9 points
1 3rd Highest Finish (8 pts. each) = 8 points

So there you have it! It's not confusiong at all... I think.