Category: my thoughts on

By David G. Firestone

So after over 15 hours and 1262 miles of auto racing, the Memorial Day Trifecta is complete. The Grand Prix of Monaco, The Indianapolis 500, and the Coca Cola 600 have passed us by. I watched all 3 events, and I noticed something that I’d been wondering about, and it really made me mad.

As I discussed on Friday, this is the 50^th anniversary of the implementation of Nomex as a material for driver suits. It’s one of the most important safety advancements in the history of auto racing. The 1964 Indianapolis 500 and the 1964 World 600 were the two races that helped bring the issue of fire protection to light. By 1967, three years later, Nomex would hit the racing scene, and has saved countess lives in racing accidents.

You would think that at least one of the telecasts would discuss this at least once…but no. None of the telecasts discussed it. The only time it was mentioned was on a special during the weather delay in the Coca Cola 600, and all that did was to mention the crash and fire, and didn’t even discuss that it led to Nomex.

Why is this being ignored? This is, again, one of the most important advancements in the history of auto racing, and this is the 50^th Anniversary of it’s introduction. I could understand some of the telecasts during other races not talking about it, but the Indy 500 and the Coca Cola 600 not talking about it makes no sense.

The HANS device, the SAFER Barrier, and the new designs of race cars are all important, but Nomex was the original driver safety advancement, and 50 years after being implemented, it is still the best material for driver suits. Sit back and think about that for a minute. In a world where technology is advancing to the point it’s impossible to keep up sometimes, Nomex has been the best material to make driver suits for 50 years. Granted, the newer Nomex is designed to be more comfortable, but nothing has surpassed it.

With all the talk about auto racing safety in recent weeks, I would love to see a piece during a pre-race show about what Nomex is, and why it’s so important. I think the issue needs to be discussed, and I can only hope it will be discussed.

By David G. Firestone

The big news in NASCAR is that Aric Almirola suffered a T5 Vertebra fracture in a crash on Saturday night. As of this writing, no announcement has been made on when he will return, or who will take over driving duties. We all wish him a speedy recovery.

This accident drives home something that a lot of people have said for many years. No safety system in sports is 100% perfect. Safety in sports is continuously changing. No piece of safety equipment is perfect. No race car is 100% safe. Something will always be missed, and someone will always be injured, hopefully not seriously.

What should happen here is that the accident and the car be thoroughly examined to figure out what went wrong, and changes made to prevent this from happening again. Obviously, this will take time, but racing safety is paramount, and drivers should be protected. It’s amazing to watch races from the late 1990’s, and see how primitive the cars, the uniforms, ad the track safety really was. Now, we take the safety culture for granted, with super safe cars and uniforms, and soft walls.

Racing safety will continue to evolve long after we are gone. No system is perfect, but all systems can get better. Aric Almirola’s accident is just another step in helping safety systems get better. But we have to accept that the danger can never be fully removed from auto racing, and the chance of death can never be removed. I hope the lessons learned can prevent future deaths in auto racing.

By David G. Firestone

Is a Pop-Tart a sandwich? It may seem like a dumb question, but there is some merit to this question. Recently, the discussion of whether or not a hot dog is a sandwich has been going on. Now while conventional wisdom says a hot dog is not a sandwich, it is traditionally made with a hot dog, inside a bun, with or without toppings. Under that set of parameters, a hot dog could be seen as a sandwich.

But then, I discovered a new aspect to the argument. I read Uni-Watch on a regular basis, and on Sunday, they had a link to this chart. The chart breaks down the kinds of bread and kinds of ingredients inside the bread into nine different styles. Structure refers to bread, ingredients are ingredients. Purist refers to traditional, neutral refers not traditional or outrageous, and rebel is outrageous. For example, ice cream inside waffles could be considered “structural purist, ingredient rebel” because of the fact that the waffles are square, but ice cream is not a savory food.

A chicken wrap would fall under a “structural rebel ingredient purist” since it has traditional sandwich ingredients, albeit in a wrap instead of bread. Wraps fall in an odd category, since I’ve yet to frequent a restaurant where the difference between sandwiches and wraps isn’t made clear. Burritos and tacos fall under structural rebel, ingredient neutral. Every place I’ve been to lists “sandwiches and wraps” not sandwiches, with wraps as a sub category. The Taco Bell Naked Chicken Chalupa would fall in the same category as a chicken wrap. Traditional chicken sandwich ingredients, but instead of bread, it is in a shell of fried chicken.

All this leads to the question “is a Pop-Tart a sandwich?” The structure would be considered a rebel, since it is a baked pastry, and the filling would be considered a rebel, since it is not savory. However, that since jelly is one of the most traditional sandwich fillings, albeit a sweet one, I would argue that it could be in the same category as a chicken wrap. While the chart refers to a Pop-Tart as “radical sandwich anarchy,” I don’t think anyone would ever consider the Pop-Tart a sandwich.

I also think that the structural aspect of the chart is flawed because where do buns and bagels fit? Hamburger buns are one piece, sliced in to two halves. Hot dog buns are one piece of bread, sliced down the middle. If you buy a sandwich bun and cut it almost all the way though you have a structural neutral, but if you cut it all the way through, you have a structural purist. Bagels are even more complicated, since many people only have bagels with cream cheese open faced. But since bagels are used frequently in sandwiches and have been for many years, it could be considered a structural purist. The chart itself is too vague in this respect.

I know this seems like a dumb post, but I’ve done two My Thoughts On about serious topics, and I really wanted to lighten the mood. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I really need a sandwich.

By David G. Firestone

I like to make decisions based on facts and information rather than emotion. It’s why I won’t react to a story until many facts are in. In this instance, I’ve known about this for some time, but I wanted some more information. Well some information has come to light, and I now am going to discuss my feelings on this. It affects The Driver Suit Blog, and the racing memorabilia market.

Recently, Eli Manning has come under fire for fake game-used memorabilia. These items included items purchased through Steiner Sports. It seemed to me that something didn’t seem right. Brandon Steiner cares too much about his reputation to knowingly sell fake memorabilia. I also was wondering if the New York Giants would even consider selling fake game-used memorabilia, seeing as how collectors are as educated as ever, and love to research these items.

Then, emails between Eli and the Giants equipment manager Joe Skiba came to light. In this email, Eli asked Skiba for “2 helmets that can pass as game used. That is it. Eli.” Then 20 minutes later, Eli informs his marketing agent, Alan Zucker, “Should be able to get them for tomorrow.” What appears to have happened is that Skiba found two helmets, which were sold for over $4,000 each. These emails were discovered during a lawsuit against Manning, the New York Giants, Skiba, and Steiner Sports, among others.

It goes deeper than that. According to Kaja Whitehouse and Bruce Golding of The New York Post:

“On Thursday, plaintiffs’ lawyer Brian Brook said “it appears to be the case that someone at the Giants organization deleted” those emails, as well as another, previously disclosed 2008 exchange.

In that exchange, Skiba allegedly admitted to plaintiff Eric Inselberg that Manning had asked him to create “BS” versions of a game-used helmet and jersey because Manning “didn’t want to give up the real stuff.”

If this is true, that spells trouble not just for Eli, The Giants, and Steiner, but it could also spell trouble for a lot of the game-used memorabilia market. Supposedly, according to court papers, the Giants gave Michael Strahan a fake Super Bowl jersey. If I was a New York Giants game-used memorabilia collector, I would be very nervous right now.

I need to ask the obvious question: If the Giants are going to sell fake Eli Manning game used memorabilia, and give Michael Strahan a fake version of the jersey he wore in a Super Bowl, do you honestly think that they wouldn’t fake the less expensive game-used stuff? Again, collectors are smarter, and have better resources at their disposal than they ever have before. Lots of collectors rightfully do their own due diligence with items they buy. It’s getting harder and harder to sell fake game-used memorabilia in this day in age.

With the number of photos and videos of players on the Internet, it’s easier to look at a picture, compare it to the item in question, and match game wear. The NFL rules make it a little more difficult though. The NFL requires multiple uniforms and helmets ready for players per game, due to the very real possibility of them getting damaged during games. It makes sense that a player could wear multiple jerseys or helmets during a game. Emmitt Smith famously wore four different jerseys in four quarters when he beat Walter Payton’s rushing record. So players could wear multiple different items during a game, and all of those can be considered “game-worn.”

While many can think that this is only an issue with the Giants, I would say it might be a bit wider than that. Remember, NBC Sports discussed this issue last year. This is why the NFL should take a very close look at the MLB Hologram program. Major League Baseball figured out the solution in 2001. The program is designed strictly prevent fraudulent memorabilia, game used, autographed, stadium used, etc, from making it to the collector market. But the NFL has an advantage over MLB in this sense, in that they have a deal with PSA/DNA.

PSA/DNA is one of the most respected authentication services in the hobby. They authenticate everything from cards to autographs to game-used memorabilia. The NFL uses them for their auction items, but I’m wondering if they aren’t going to start using them for all game-used memorabilia. It would not only solve this problem, but it would give the added boost of making the the items more valuable, since their authenticity would never be in doubt.

The New York Giants and Eli Manning are demonstrating why the game-used memorabilia market is valuable, and at the same time unstable. The NFL now has to ask themselves some serious questions about the viability of one of their most lucrative markets. I can only hope the NFL makes the right decision and helps mitigate the damage.

I also am wondering if Brandon Steiner will cut ties with Eli Manning, and the New York Giants. It would be the right move seeing as how Eli and the Giants have damaged Steiner’s reputation. Based on the evidence, I don’t think Steiner was complicit in selling fake memorabilia. That said, he did sell fraudulent memorabilia, albeit unknowingly, and has his share of the responsibility.

This whole thing is a mess, but it does directly affect the racing memorabilia market because like the NFL, racing teams are the ones selling their racing memorabilia. Now while it is much harder to fake a race-worn driver suit, collectors should be much more careful. Researching is key to not getting ripped off. That’s why I do the work I do, in order to help the collector know what to look for. I’m disgusted that I have to discuss this, but I have no choice. I hope this situation gets resolved, and the right people make the right decisions.

By David G. Firestone

While I took some badly needed time off last week, there was an announcement concerning the All-Star Race. There were two things that were discussed, one of which confirms something I’ve been thinking might happen. The first part is that the All-Star Race format will be similar to the One Hot Night format in 1992. This was one of the most exciting races of all time, and I like that the 25^th Anniversary is being commemorated in that manner.

The other major news item is that for that race, option tires are coming to NASCAR. Option tires are softer, but aren’t as durable. The softer material has better grip. This has been a mainstay in Formula 1, and recently in IndyCar. I was wondering when these would come to NASCAR, but I didn’t think they would debut as a 1 set per team for the All-Star Race.

So far, option tires are primarily used during road courses. IndyCar uses them on road courses, but not on the oval tracks, especially high banked ovals. Racing option tires on high banked ovals is unheard of. Since teams are only issued one set, I will be interested to see how teams use the set. Who is going to be the first team to take the plunge and use these tires on track. Furthermore, if teams choose to use the tires during the final stint, they must start behind the teams with primary tires.

What I’m also wondering is that if Goodyear has developed option tires, could they be used for road courses? It makes logical sense, since option tires are used for road courses in other forms of racing. I don’t see them being used at plate tracks, and if things go well, could they be used at intermediate tracks and short tracks? I’m really wondering how these tires are going to work.

My one complaint is that the option tires are branded as a yellow-ish green, that looks too close to the yellow Goodyear currently uses. Can I ask a question? Why not blue? It’s distinctive enough from the yellow, and remains one of Goodyear’s colors. It would be easier, and would look good too. Even a darker green would work, since it can be easily distinguished from the yellow. It’s a minor complaint, but as has been shown the distinct colors make it easier for fans and announcers to tell what kinds of tires are being used. I will look forward to these tires used, and I am looking forward to the future for tires.

By David G. Firestone

Last night, I decided to cleanse my palette, and after the Denso Spark Plug Nationals, I decided to watch The Village. For those who don’t know, The Village was released in 2004, and was directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It stars Joaquin Phoenix, Adrien Brody, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sigourney Weaver, and William Hurt.

The premise of the movie is that a group of people live in a small village. A group of oil lanterns and guard towers keep watch for creatures. Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix) wants to visit other towns for medical supplies. Ivy Elizabeth Walker (Bryce Dallas Howard) the blind daughter of an elder, falls in love with Lucius, and they arrange to be married. After Lucius gets stabbed, Ivy braves the forest to get medicine. She then discovers that they live in modern times, the creatures are elders in costume, and she gets the medicine and returns. The village was created by Ivy’s father and the rest of the elders, all of whom have been the victims of horrible crimes, and they wanted to create the perfect society. The elders keep memories of the horrible things they went through in big black boxes in their home.

This could have been so much better, but the story was thin, the writing was awful, and the acting was horrible! How could a movie with this much acting talent have some of the worst acting I have ever seen? I LOVE Bryce Dallas Howard as an actress, but her performance as Ivy was a role that she should have never agreed to. Her dialog was horrible as well. This is one of her lines while discussing her upcoming marriage, I swear I’m not making this us “When we are married, will you dance with me? I find dancing very agreeable.” What the hell? Agreeable? Nobody in recorded history has ever said “I find dancing very agreeable.” That was the worst line in the movie, but it had a lot of competition.

This is why people hate M. Night Shyamalan. First off, the twist wasn’t worth the wait. Second, the story itself was weak in respect to the twist. This could have been avoided with some better writing. Third, the elders keep black boxes in their house, IN PLAIN SIGHT, which have evidence of things the elders have gone through. Yet for some unknown reason, none of the children have gone through any of the boxes. Fourth, this group lives in modern times, and has enough money to pay to have a no-fly zone over their village. This is why there are no airplanes flying overhead. For all the reasons above, I thought that this wasn’t a serious movie…but it was. It was not a good movie.

Also, I’m making a change for next week. Since Monday is the first night of Passover, I will be attending a Seder. Since I do all my work for the week on Monday, I’ve made the executive decision that for next week, there will be no My Thoughts On, Paint Scheme Tracker, or Grades. I will resume normal programming a week from this Monday, and I will see you then.

By David G. Firestone

Just a couple things this week. So I was thinking this last weekend that I want to do another theme month. I had fun with Formula 1 month last year, and I wanted to do something similar this year in November. I had gone over a few possibilities, but nothing seemed to work. Finally, I decided to watch the Sebring 120, which I had on the DVR. About halfway through the race, it hit me, I should spend a month discussing the little guys, the weekend warriors, the guys who aren’t in the major leagues of racing. So for November, every Friday Feature will be about the little guys. I’m focusing on ARCA,IMSA, dirt track racing, and SCCA worn items.

That was the good, and now the bad. I don’t eat at KFC all that often. I’ve tried their Georgia Gold chicken tenders, they weren’t amazing, but they were decent. I’m seriously considering not eating at KFC because of how annoying their new commercials are. The gold Col. Sanders theme is putrid, and the commercials are annoying. What KFC is doing is taking Harland Sanders, a man who radically changed the fast food industry, and are basically making him into a comedy character.

By David G. Firestone

So far, the stage system in NASCAR hasn’t been as exciting as NASCAR would have hoped. I’m not against it, but I do have a few ideas for making it better:

1-The total number of laps should be cut into three and anything that happens between stages shouldn’t count. For example, the Phoenix race is 312 laps. Stage one should be 79 laps, stage two should be 104 laps, and the final stage should be 129 laps. The laps in between wouldn’t be scored.

2-Pit road should be closed 5 laps before the end of the stage.

3-Once the stage ends, the field is frozen for the duration of the in between section, pit stops included. This would ensure that everyone is on an equal plane when it comes to pit stops.

4-The free pass rule will still be in effect for the end of the stage.

The other problem is the new 5-minute rule for repairing damage. It’s main flaw is that it starts the second the driver hits pit road. Drivers are losing as much as one minute of that 5 minutes because of pit in. The rule should be the instant the driver hits their pit lane is when the clock begins. That would work out better, and be easily enforced. Darrell Waltrip said it first, and I tend to agree.

Moving on to the NHRA, last Friday, I discussed the Wally for best-looking car. I mentioned that many people find the best-looking car Wally to be irritating, and they feel it devalues the Wally as a whole. Well, this Wally has its own sponsor, and the winners are getting recognition on the television broadcasts now. The racing is great, and I’m not going to complain when the racing is great.

IndyCar is up next. Whoever came up with their schedule for 2017 needs to be slapped in the mouth. A couple weeks ago, they had the Grand Prix of St. Petersberg, and it was a great race. As of today, the next race won’t be for another 19 days. From the end of the race to the next race is 28 FREAKING DAYS! Between a gap like that, and the memorabilia issue that I discussed a few weeks ago, I really have to wonder where the heads of IndyCar are at. IndyCar has a lot going for it, but the higher ups won’t capitalize on momentum, or on public demand.

Formula 1 has their season opener on Sunday, and I’m looking forward to it. I’m not a big F1 fan, but the racing is usually good, and I can’t wait.

By David G. Firestone

I’m a graduate of DePaul University, and I’ve distanced myself from the University in recent years because they’ve made a number of decisions I disagree with. The coddling of students is something that needs to stop, because while they are coddled in college, real life isn’t as kind and sympathetic. Some recent firings have also been controversial as well.

But something that really confuses me is why DePaul needs the Wintrust Arena. DePaul for reasons that escape me decided that they need a basketball arena, and after a deal with the City of Chicago. Of the $179,000,000 that is being invested in this project, $103,000,000 of that comes from public funds. DePaul is on the hook for $70,000,000.

This is more proof that DePaul has its priorities all wrong. The City of Chicago is in financial trouble, as is the state of Illinois. Yet $103,000,000 of PUBLIC FUNDS are being used to build an arena for DePaul Basketball. Does anyone else besides me see something wrong with this? Furthermore, this deal was announced at around the same time the city decided to close 50 schools for budget reasons. So not only are you selfish, you clearly don’t care as much about education as you claim, because if you did, you would avoid an arena, and help the CPS out.

Another question that needs to be answered is “Do the basketball teams at DePaul need a new arena?” Based on my research, I would say no. The Men’s team since 1990 has made the NCAA Tournament a total of four times, only making as far as the second round in 2004, which was the last time they made the tournament. While they have had some success in the NIT, their season records aren’t that of a winning program.

The Women’s team has had much more success. Since 1990, they have made the tournament a total of 20 times in 26 seasons, with a number of high seeds, and making it as far as the Sweet Sixteen. They are a winning program. That being said, taking everything into account, I can’t say that DePaul basketball should spend $70,000,000 with another $103,000,000 from public funds that could be better used on a basketball arena.

The kicker is that while DePaul had no problem shelling out $70,000,000 for an arena they are going to use for 60 days a year, they had a real problem with being able to use the United Center RENT FREE FOR 10 YEARS! You read that correctly, DePaul had the option of using the United Center, which is closer than their current venue, The Alstate Arena, and The Wintrust Arena, RENT FREE FOR 10 YEARS, meaning they wouldn’t have to spend money on rent. For reasons that escape me, they turned it down, in favor of the current plan. This makes everyone involved look bad.

I’ve made it clear that I will NEVER donate anything to DePaul, I don’t go to alumni events, I don’t follow the sports teams, and this is why. The upper echelon of the University has their priorities wrong. $70,000,000 is a lot of money and could be better used for education, you know, WHY UNIVERSITIES EXIST IN THE FIRST PLACE! Make departments better, fix infrastructure, do more for the students, use the money better. If DePaul needs to spend $70,000,00 on a pointless arena…they are never getting one penny from me or my family. Don’t call me or email me…you are just wasting your time.

By David G. Firestone

Just a short one this week. A new development has me concerned. Last week, Jayski, which is my go-to site for paint schemes and NASCAR news became a part of the ESPN webpage. I’ve been going there every day, and they don’t seem to be updating their paint scheme link pages. I’m not that worried, I still have team sites, Facebook, NASCAR, and Twitter, so the tracker, and the grades will continue. I hope they start fixing the links soon.

I’ve also been working on a new website schedule. Basically everything is going to remain the same, but I’m going to compress my work setup, so I can get more done in less time. It’s been working well, I’m happy with it.

As I’m typing this, I’m watching Spring Training baseball. I’ve said before that I LOVE Spring Training baseball. It’s the MLB equivalent of getting a bunch of kids together and hitting the ball around in the street. It’s very laid back, and everyone is just there for fun. Stats and standings don’t matter. It’s simply fun baseball. I also love the road sign patches on the uniforms.

Lastly, for you energy drink drinkers out there, I have a new recommendation. Get some Kickstart Mango Lime. I didn’t expect much, but it won me over. It has a really good mango flavor, and the lime isn’t overpowering. It’s my new favorite energy drink.