Category: my thoughts on

The Driver Suit Blog-My Thoughts On Various Issues.

By David G. Firestone

Got a few things to discuss. First, due to a power outrage I wasn’t able to get to the paint scheme grades for this week, I’ll get them up next Saturday. I also just found out that The Chicago Sports Museum will be returning my David Stremme driver suit. They got a Brad Keselowski suit instead, so I’m interested to check it out. I’m a little bummed, but it was fun while it lasted.

A few weeks ago, I discussed pit road safety. NASCAR had stated that they would make changes to pit road safety, and I wondered if words would be followed by deed. Well I’m happy to say that they have. RCR last week, debuted full face helmets and Nomex socks for their pit crews. NASCAR at Talladega removed HScott motorsports crew member Mark O’Donnell from the race after he was discovered handling a fuel can without a head sock or helmet. I’m glad that the recent tragic incident is helping to focus NASCAR on pit road safety.

I’m not a Formula 1 fan per se, but I do watch the racing when I can. The Spanish Grand Prix was good, and I like the tire strategy. I’m wondering if something like that could come to NASCAR in the foreseeable future. I’d like to see primary and option tires on road courses. It will require some testing, but I hope it will.

My final item for this week is the fact that NASCAR will be holding a throwback race at Darlington this year. To commemorate the return of the Southern 500 to Labor Day weekend, Darlington will have throwback tickets, throwback tires, and fauxback paint schemes! I’d been hoping that something like this would happen, and I’m so excited! Sure, Labor Day is the end of summer, but between the Southern 500 and the US Nationals, it’s gonna be a fun one!

The Driver Suit Blog-My Thoughts on Writer’s Block

David G. Firestone
When you have to write for a blog, or working on a book, writer’s block sucks. You need to write, you want to write, but you can’t find a way to put words on paper, literally or metaphorically. On Monday, I did three things, get some lunch, wait for the FedEx guy, and try to come up with a My Thoughts on piece. Lunch was awesome, FedEx guy came and left, but I couldn’t come up with anything I really wanted to write about. Not even the wide world of the internet could give me inspiration. So this is all I’m gonna do for this week.

The Driver Suit Blog-My Thoughts on Why I HATE The Craft Beer Market.

By David G. Firestone

I’m going to say something that I guarantee will tick people off, but I don’t care. I’ve put up with this for quite some time, and I’m sick of it. I HATE the craft beer market. Yup, I said it, I hate the craft beer marker. “But Dave,” I can hear you saying, “You are a sports uniform blogger! You have to like it!” First off, no I don’t, second off, it has given birth to beer snobs. You know the kind of people I’m talking about. They only drink craft beer. They have their favorite beer, and if you don’t like that kind, you are an imbecile and a philistine.

That isn’t what beer is supposed to be! Beer is supposed to UNITE us, not divide us! The pilgrims got off the Mayflower to make a beer run! Many great leaders not only drank beer, but brewed beer. The neighborhood tavern was and is the place for people to get together after work, have a few beers, forget about the problems of life for a little while, and have a good time. The classic neighborhood get together, especially the ones in my neighborhood, always have to have beer, and there is always a lot of fun at them.

I hate the craft beer market because it took everything beer really is supposed to be, and ruined it. What I would like to say to the beer snobs is that nobody likes that attitude. I call it Lisa Simpson Syndrome. Lisa Simpson has a high IQ, is a talented musician, and is a vegetarian and as a result she thinks that it makes her better than most of the people. The problem is that this attitude makes her come across as snobby and stuck up, when she is a very likeable person. If you accept the fact that everyone has their favorite kind of beer, and they like theirs as much as you like yours, I would have no problem with the craft beer market. If there were no snobs, I would embrace the craft beer market, but due to the snobs, I can’t stand the craft beer market.

My Thoughts On Pit Road Fires

By David G. Firestone
I try to keep things light and fun here on The Driver Suit Blog, but sometimes an on-track situation requires discussion. Last Friday, at Richmond, one of those situations occured. During the Toyotacare 250 at Richmond, there was a huge fire on pit road during a round of pit stops, where three crew members were injured. I will let the footage speak for itself.A total of three crew members were hurt, and NASCAR has stated that they will fully investigate what happened and will make sure this won’t happen again.
While the crew members were hurt, it could have been so much worse. If the rules about pit crew safety were as lax as they were in the 1990’s, this would not have a happy ending. Watching some of these older videos, and there are plenty of them on the internet, it’s amazing there aren’t more dead pit crew members. I’ve seen pit stops where the crew members were wearing little more than what I wear to my job.
The crew members in question were wearing two piece fire suits, triple layer, which took the brunt of the damage. The crew members did have to go to the infield car center and then the hospital, but they will live to tell their tale. These suits might not be the most comfortable things to wear, but they will save your life. Nomex was a Godsend to racing in 1967, and 38 years later it is still the go to material for driver and pit crew suits.
My thoughts and prayers are with the crew members. I had a post ready for Friday, but I’m gonna revisit a pit crew suit post I did last year because of the incident at Richmond.

The Driver Suit Blog-My Thoughts on Weather and Social Media

By David G. Firestone

Got a few things this week. The joke is that with April showers come May flowers, and the April rain delay tour showed up again, this week at Bristol. Unlike NOLA Motorsports Park, Bristol made damn sure that the track was clear and ready for racing, and delayed the restart of the race until it was. The race was a traditional Bristol short track race and though rain was an issue the race was good. Across the country, at Long Beach California, the Grand Prix of Long Beach and the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race was held. Unlike Bristol, the weather was great and the racing was even better.

When it comes to rain delays, they don’t bother me, because I care about the safety of the drivers. Last year’s Japanese Grand Prix shows why you shouldn’t force the race in bad weather. Jules Bianchi paid the price with his racing career and nearly his life when he lost control in the bad weather conditions, and slammed into a tractor. That was a wake up call that weather should be respected, and safety should be the top priority in racing. Between that, and the Kyle Busch wreck at Daytona, there is a new focused effort on safety, that I’m a fan of.

Next, I’d like to talk about social media, specifically Twitter. I have a Twitter account for myself and The Driver Suit Blog but I rarely tweet anything. When I tweet or post stuff on Facebook, I usually stick to just goofy and fun stuff. What I don’t understand though is when Twitter went from fun way to communicate to legitimate journalism. CNN, ESPN, Fox News, MSNBC, and all the major news groups use Twitter as a news site. I wish they wouldn’t. I like places on the internet where you can escape the problems of life for a while, and social media used to be like that…oh well.

The Driver Suit Blog-My Thoughts On The Grand Prix of Louisiana

By David G. Firestone

I’m going to start moving My Thoughts On to Tuesdays as it is much easier for me to write on a Monday after a race than Sunday Night. Now that the protocol change is out of the way, I’d like to discuss The Grand Prix of Louisiana at NOLA Motorsports Park.

I’m always interested in the first race at a new track. The track is at its peak, the surface is perfect, and nobody has a distinct advantage. The course had a lot of potential, but the race itself was a disaster. The rain that came in was unavoidable. Now in defense of NOLA, they brought in an Air Titan system to dry the track, but there was rain in the forecast, so they had a brief window to hold the race. They ran 44 of 75 laps, and I have to say, it was one of the worst races I have ever seen.

It’s almost as if the designers failed to realize that cars pass each other while racing, at least that is what I took away from it. It was a caution fest, and the rain didn’t help things at all. The really tight turns made for a series of spin outs and wrecks that slowed the pace to the point that it wasn’t fun to watch. After James Hinchcliffe won, I watched The Masters, and I had more fun watching that than I did watching the race.

What made the race even worse was NOLA Motorsports Park’s advertising. The whole “have your next team building exercise here” series of commercials reeked of desperation. The commercials were basically saying “we need your business to have meetings here to keep us in business.” It was just painful to watch. At one point, I went to lunch with my cousin and DVR’d the race because I couldn’t stand the commercials.

The most amazing part is when Gabby Chaves spun, and a corner worker came out and pushed him back into the race, as shown here…

I first thought it was a fan, but it was a track worker. I’ve never seen a track worker do something like that, and I was shocked.

After that race, any respect that I had for NOLA Motorsports Park is now gone. Hopefully 2016 will be a better Grand Prix of Louisiana, but the 2015 race was something to forget.

The Driver Suit Blog-My Thoughts on the NCAA Tournament

By David G. Firestone

We are in the midst of March Madness, the NCAA Basketball tournament. The big story in sports is the tournament, and if Kentucky can go undefeated for the season. As of right now they are 35-0 and if they win, they will be 40-0. Can I ask a real question? Why do we still think college sports are anything except a cash grab for the schools and the NCAA.

It’s general knowledge by now that the NCAA is a cartel. They were formed to prevent injuries in football in 1905, but have since become the overseer of all of the top collegiate sports in the country. They regulate themselves and police themselves with little outside interference. Basically the foxes have been guarding the hen house since the beginning. They want the outside world to believe that they take the regulation seriously.

But this non-profit group cares a lot about profits. The NCAA takes in billions of dollars, pays no taxes, and has insane rules concerning how the players are treated. An athlete on scholarship may only be given, under NCAA rules, room and board, and tuition. The athletes are basically make the schools and NCAA money, but they get nothing. Their names and likenesses are used by the NCAA for profit, but the students get no compensation. They are trying to get to the professional leagues, but only 1% of them ever will. The schools can’t even give the athletes things they need. There was a case where an NCAA hockey player had his watch stolen out of his locker. The coach bought him a new one, and both were suspended for a rule violation.

I’ve already stated my opinions on their penalty enforcement, so I won’t repeat myself. I’m just sick of this hypocritical approach to finances in college sports. I don’t watch college sports, I never have and I never will, until the NCAA changes its rules.

The Driver Suit Blog-My Thoughts On Kurt Busch and Writing Season Previews

By David G. Firestone

Got a few things to cover this week, so strap in. First, in a move that shocked me, and a lot of fans, NASCAR reinstated Kurt Busch as a driver, and went so far to waive the requirement that a driver has to complete every race in the season to be eligible to race in the Chase. I’m just going to copy the report from Jayski, my go-to site:

“NASCAR announced that, effectively immediately, the indefinite suspension of Kurt Busch has been lifted. He is eligible to return to NASCAR racing under indefinite probation subject to additional mandatory requirements that include but are not limited to participation in a treatment program and full compliance with any judicial requirements placed upon him. On Feb. 20, Kurt Busch, driver of the #41 car, was found to be in violation of:
• Section 12.1.a: Actions detrimental to stock car racing
• Section 12.8: Behavioral Penalty
The decision to lift the suspension was made by NASCAR after Kurt Busch:
• Complied with all requirements in its reinstatement program;
• Completed the mandatory behavioral assessment sessions; and
• The behavioral health care expert who conducted the sessions recommended to NASCAR that Kurt Busch be allowed to return to competition.”

I’ve stated my stance on the subject many times, but I’ll say it again, domestic violence, in all forms is TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE! While Kurt isn’t going to be criminally charged for domestic abuse, it is clear that the incident did occur as accused. A Dover judge issued a no-contact order and stated that it does appear that a domestic assault did take place. NASCAR responded quickly by suspending Busch just before the Daytona 500. I gave them credit for that, but the fact that he was reinstated the second it was announced he wouldn’t be criminally charged makes it clear that NASCAR was, to some extent, caving in to fan pressure. There is no other logical reason why he was reinstated.

While NASCAR may have regulations they have to follow, neither I or The Driver Suit Blog are under those same restrictions. While Kurt might have gotten off somewhat easy from NASCAR, I will not be so compassionate. As such, this will be the last time I mention Kurt Busch by name on The Driver Suit Blog in any form in 2015. Above and beyond that, the #41 team’s paint scheme grades have all been retroactively changed to F-. Furthermore, I will no longer list the #41 in the tracker, nor will I grade anymore of the #41’s schemes. #41 will not be listed on The Paint Scheme Leaderboard, and will be ineligible for the Paint Schemies in 2015.

Now that is out of the way, I have something else that I need to discuss. I got an email asking why I didn’t do a season preview for F1. The season started on Sunday, with the Australian Grand Prix. It was a good race, though there was a very high attrition rate of cars. I’ve stated before that I don’t like doing season previews, and it dawned on me, why should I waste time doing things on my own blog that I don’t like to do? So in that spirit, I won’t be doing any more season previews, or season reviews on The Driver Suit Blog. I will do something for Memorial Day, for obvious reasons, but other than that, no more stuff I don’t want to do.

I really hated that for a decent part of January that all my Friday Features, which from here on out I will call my memorabilia articles, were focusing on news, and previews. In addition to the Tracker and the Paint Scheme Grades, which aren’t that bad, but at that point in the year, it’s insanely time consuming. I’ve had enough, and I won’t do them anymore. Only fun stuff from here on out.

The Driver Suit Blog-My Thoughts On The Black Cloud Hanging Over Daytona This Week.

By David G. Firestone

The Daytona 500 is behind us, the NASCAR season is underway. The race was great, Joey Logano finally lived up to the lofty expectations set on him when he was a rookie. Jeff Gordon has raced in his last Daytona 500 in his regular career, though I won’t rule out that he might come back for the 500 at some point. All in all it should have been a great weekend for NASCAR, but while the sun shone over Daytona, there was a dark cloud hanging over NASCAR this weekend.

The dark cloud started in November, when allegations against Kurt Busch came to light. Patricia Driscol, Kurt’s ex girlfriend went to the police and alleged that Kurt had assaulted her, during the fall race at Dover in September. Between then and Thursday, a series of court hearing took place. On Monday, Busch was ordered to stay away from Driscoll, as the court had deemed that “an act of domestic abuse had taken place.” As a direct result of that ruling, on Friday, he was indefinitely suspended from NASCAR. Busch appealed TWICE on Saturday, and lost both appeals, and is now indefinitely suspended from NASCAR.

I stated when the story first broke in November, that I would wait until the facts are fully known before I would take a side. Now that those facts have come to light, I will state the following: Under NO circumstances is domestic abuse ever acceptable! Kurt’s actions are totally unacceptable, and he should be suspended for at least the 2015 season, minimum. I don’t feel bad at all for Kurt, he will lose a lot of money, his career is probably over, and he will face criminal charges, and he deserves it. Anyone who hits a spouse, or children does not deserve sympathy. I don’t feel bad for Busch, Ray Rice, or Chris Brown, because men should NEVER hit women!

NASCAR took some heat in waiting as long as they did, but they said that they would wait for the facts to come out before they made a decision. I think that it was a wise move. They did the same thing with Tony Stewart last year as well. People in this day in age want immediate reactions, immediate suspensions, and immediate discipline. I get that, but doing it fast should never take precedence over doing it right.

With this story in mind, I sat down to watch the Alert Today Florida 300 on Saturday. I was treated to a great race…until lap 113, when there was “The Big One” and Kyle Busch was sent into a concrete wall near turn 2, nearly head on at an estimated 90 MPH, and had to be helped from his car. He was taken to Halifax Medical Center, and was diagnosed with a severe compound fracture in his right leg, as well as a broken foot.

The wall he hit was a simple concrete wall, no tires, or SAFR barrier. How in the world can there be any track, much less Daytona International Speedway, that has concrete walls with no energy absorbing materials? I get the $500 a foot price tag is a bit hefty, but when something like this happens, drivers and fans demand answers, and action. As such, there will be improvements starting today at Daytona, but how many more times does this have to happen, seriously? How many top shelf drivers will be sidelined with injuries because of cost cutting? WHEN WILL THIS STOP? I hate having to call out racing sanctioning bodies for seemingly stupid safety issues, I really do, but why does this keep happening? I wanted to write a story about how great Daytona was, and how much fun I had, but I can’t! I’ll finish this article now, as I’m too angry to finish.