Category: Videos

By David G. Firestone

I spent the last week dealing with my ankle injury, and following the Charlie Hebdo attacks. Obviously this is a tragedy. But what I don’t understand is the idea that terrorism such as this will accomplish anything. No religion advocates killing, but yet more people have died in the name of god than any other manner over the course of history.

I don’t judge people over what they believe, rather I judge them based on who they are. I work at a grocery store and I deal with all kinds of people. I deal on a daily basis with a broad range of religions, races, and ethnic backgrounds. The majority of people I deal with are nice and it makes the job easier. Some people get mad when they have too long, but then again, so do I. Some people are just jerks. They treat us like crap, and have no respect at all for anyone except themselves.

The idea that every member of a group follows the same ideals as the most radical members of that group is preposterous. ISIS, ISIL, Al-Qaeda and Boko Haram do not represent Islam as a whole. The Jewish Defense League does not represent Judaism as a whole. The KKK does not represent Christianity or Caucasians as a whole. The Nazi party did not represent Germany as a whole in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Stop branding a large group by the horrific actions of a small fraction of their members!

Stuff that is offensive will get published sometimes. That’s the way life works. But going into the publisher of said stuff and shooting people will not help that cause. Violence breeds violence. That’s all I’m going to say.

By David G. Firestone

So here is the situation. On Saturday, I had to go the emergency room, nothing too serious. I called a family friend and she drove me. As we are driving I am obviously nervous, but I notice something that we drive by. It was an advertisement for a farmer’s market that advertises “artisan foods.” I thought about that as we drove, but more on that later.

So we get to the emergency room, and the first person we see is a young nurse, maybe 5 or 6 years younger than me greets me with a cheery greeting and an overly positive attitude. She kept this attitude up as I described my ankle situation, and I was getting irritated with her. I understand that in an emergency room the need to be positive toward patients is a requirement of the job, but there gets to be a point when enthusiasm just gets to be obnoxious. No one wants to go to the ER. No one enjoys it. We don’t want to be there, and we would rather be anywhere else than the ER. Be positive, but don’t take it too far.

In certain situations, being too positive can turn people off. This happened to me at a DMV. I go there the week before my birthday to renew my state ID. In all honesty, I would rather be at the ER than the DMV, at least the ER has a water fountain. At that time, the DMV I went to had two women at a podium to sign you in, and give you a number. They were way too enthusiastic. One of them said to me “Well it seems you have a birthday coming up.” and being who I am I thought “and I have a 1000 other things I would rather be doing than waiting at the DMV for a state ID.” Be positive and polite, but don’t go to far.

While I was waiting for x-rays to come back, I thought of the farmers market sign advertising artisan foods. There are a number of words that have been overused to the point they are losing their meaning. Independent, ironic, literally, unique and awesome fall into this list, now I think we should add artisan to the list. If we were to take the literal definition of artisan in food, it means food that is made in a traditional or non-mechanized way using high-quality ingredients.

OK, that sounds good, but when I see stuff at the grocery store like Blue Diamond Artisan Nut Thins, where the product does not come close to the definition of artisan, it takes the whole idea and kills it. Blue Diamond calls itself “the world’s largest “tree nut processing and marketing company,” the crackers in question are sold nationwide, and yet I’m somehow supposed to believe that this is made in a non-mechanized way. Not buying it at all. The people who make bread from scratch and sell it at farmers markets sell artisan food. Blue Diamond sells food. It’s that simple. Artisan is being used as a buzz word to market products to “more discriminating customers” many of them are smarter than that.

So I’m now out of commission for a week due to my ankle injury, thankfully it was just a mild injury, not something much worse. So I’m gonna spend time at home, really bummed I can’t go into work this week.

By David G. Firestone

In 2014 we lost a lot of members of the motorsports community, so I felt that we should take the time to honor their passings.

Simon Andrews-English Motorcycle racer

Tommy Aquino-American motorcycle racer

Raymond Beadle-Former NHRA funny car champion and NASCAR team owner.

Gary Bettenhausen-Former IndyCar and NASCAR driver

Bill Bigley, Sr.-Former stock car driver

Ron Bishop-Former off-road motorcycle racer

Ben Blake-Racing journalist

Jack Brabham-3 time F1 World Champion

Alene Brownlee-Former NASCAR team member

Ralph Bryans-Northern Ireland motorcycle road racer

John Button-Former Rallycross driver and father of Jenson Button

Henry “Spook” Caspers-Long time NASCAR crew member

Bob Cronin-Longtime NASCAR engine designer

Tony Crook-British Formula 1 driver

Gary Cross-Long time NASCAR employee

Richard Cozze-Former stock car driver and owner.

Denny Darnell-Sportswriter and track general manager.

Andrea de Cesaris-Former Italian F1 driver

Ernie Derr-Former IMCA champion

Ray DeWitt-Former NASCAR team owner

Carl Dickinson-Former NASCAR team member

Junie Donlavey-Former NASCAR owner

Richard ‘Dick’ Duff-Former racing scorer and NASCAR crew chief

Hoss Ellington-Former NASCAR driver and owner

Capt. Herb Emory-Former NASCAR journalist

Paul England-Australian Race car driver

Rod Eulenfeld-Former NASCAR driver and team owner.

Ray Fox-NASCAR owner, and engine builder.

Dan Ford-Former racing mechanic and crew chief.

William Clay Ford, Sr.-Former Ford CEO

Richmond Gage-Former motorsports educator

David Garvin-Founder of Camping World and NASCAR team owner

Gordon Gibbs-Former NASCAR team member

Sandy Grossman-Long time Fox sports member

Sharon Grubb-Mother of NASCAR driver Kevin Grubb

Philippe Gurdjian-French race car driver and promoter

Al Hammond-Former American stock car driver

Joyce Hutcherson-Wife of former NASCAR owner Ron Hutcherson

Karl Harris-British Supersport racer

Brian Hart-British racing driver and engineer

Ronald Johndrone-Longtime NASCAR crew member

Grzegorz Knapp-Polish Speedway rider

Norman Toshio Koshimizu-Long time NASCAR crew member

Paul Kuhl-Former track owner and promoter

Gary Lee-Long time motorsports broadcaster

Marty Little-Long time racing journalist, promoter, and track announcer

Gary Marshall-HScott Racing mechanic

Dr. John Melvin-NASCAR safety pioneer

Tom Mitchell-Former NASCAR team owner

Ed Negre-Former NASCAR driver

Gary Overmann-Longtime NASCAR mechanic

Eric Palante-Belgian motorcycle rally driver

Jim Parsley-Former NASCAR driver

Enzo Pastor-Filipino race car driver

Bruce Patrum-NASCAR souvenir pioneer

Al Pease-Former F1 driver

Lynda Petty-Wife of Richard Petty

Patricia Petty-Wife of long time NASCAR mechanic Maurice Petty

Wilbur Rakestraw-Former NASCAR driver

Earl Ross-Former Canadian race car driver

Wayne Rust-Former NASCAR and Sunoco employee

Feliciano “Chany” Sabates-Grandson of NASCAR owner Felix Sabates

Jim Sauter-Former NASCAR driver and father of Johnny, Jay and Tim Sauter

Bill Schmitt-Former NASCAR driver

Landy Scott-Former midget car driver

Malcolm Simmons-English Speedway rider

Ed Spencer-Former NASCAR driver and father of Jimmy Spencer

Billy Standridge-Former NASCAR driver and owner

Nigel Stepney-Former F1 Engineer

George Tet-First Japanese driver to race in the Sprint Cup

Don Tilley-Former NASCAR driver

Roy Trantham-Former NASCAR driver and engine developer

Reino Tulonen-Former American stock car racer

Layman Utsman-Former American racing driver

Björn Waldegård-Former Swedish rally driver

Bobby Waltrip-Brother of NASCAR drivers Darrell and Michael Waltrip

Kevin Ward Jr.-Sprint car driver

A. J. Watson-Former IndyCar Builder and chief mechanic

Ed Whitaker-Former NASCAR team owner.

Jonathan Williams-Former British race car driver

Bob Wright-Former racing pioneer

Shinichi Yamaji-Former Japanese race car driver

By David G. Firestone

Starting this week, and for the next four Fridays, we will rank the paint schemes of all 55 race teams in the NASCAR Sprint Cup. I will not grade any paint schemes until these rankings are done, but I will still update the Paint Scheme Tracker on Wednesday. The rankings were determined by the Paint Scheme Ranking Executive Committee, made up of myself, and Alejandro my black cat, though all he did was sleep through the proceedings. First up will be Chevy. I will also add the rank each scheme held last year. Teams that did not exist or run Chevy cars will be marked as NR for Not Ranked..

1-Hendrick Motorsports #48 Rank Last Year: 1^st of 19-Classic, smooth looks with no needless clutter. Jimmie always runs great schemes

2-Stewart Haas Racing #4 Rank Last Year: NR-With the exception of Hunt Brothers Pizza, which uses an awful shade of green, Kevin has consistently run a series of great schemes.

3-Stewart Haas Racing #41 Rank Last Year: NR-The Slate scheme does not work, but all the other schemes work very well.

4-Richard Childress Racing #31 Rank Last Year: 13^th of 19-A lot of great schemes this year, but Wix is overdone, and the Cat/Quicken Loans hybrid looks awful

5-Chip Ganassi Racing #1 Rank Last Year: 9^th of 19- A pink-washing scheme and a terrible shade of green on the WEMO scheme cost this team the 2^nd place spot,knocking them down to 5^th. They have run a lot of great schemes this season

6-Furniture Row Racing #78 Rank Last Year: 2^nd of 19-The World Vision scheme needs work, as the color does not support a fade, but the Furniture Row, and Colorado Freedom Memorial work very well.

7-Hendrick Motorsports #88 Rank Last Year: 8^th of 19-National Guard, Mountain Dew, Kickstart, and Superman look good, and work well with the new number design, but Michael Baker, Kelly Blue Book, and Nationwide don’t at all.

8-Chip Ganassi Racing #42 Rank Last Year: 4^th of 19-While Cottonelle, the Silver Scheme, and Energizer work very well, but the rest of their schemes are mediocre at best. The white on the back doesn’t work.

9-Beard Oil Racing #75 Rank Last Year: NR-If the sides had a sponsor, and the stripe at the bottom was eliminated, it would work a lot better.

10-JTG Daugherty Racing #47 Rank Last Year: NR-While Bush’s, Clorox, Scott’s, Sullivan/Palatek, Kingsford, and Bush’s Grilling Beans work well,Kroger/USO is overdone, Charter Communications uses a horrid shade of green, and Hungry Jack just looks terrible.

11-Hendrick Motorsports #24 Rank Last Year: 14^th of 19-Drive to end Hunger is too overdone, and the upside down D on the hood looks terrible. Their orange scheme is even worse. Panasonic is mediocre at best. Pepsi looks good, and all of the Axalta schemes are really good.

12-Hillman Racing #40 Rank Last Year: NR-When the car doesn’t have a scheme, it looks very good. When it has a sponsor it looks awful.

13-HScott Motorsports #52 Rank Last Year: NR-The black scheme is good, but the orange Florida Lottery scheme is a trainwreck. Less is more on a paint scheme.

14-HScott Motorsports #51 Rank Last Year: 5^th of 19-If the car is running a Brandt scheme it looks good, anything else looks terrible.

15-Richard Childress Racing #27 Rank Last Year: 6^th of 19-Neon yellow looks terrible, when they use the stripes on the sides it looks even worse. The Pittsburgh Paints scheme looks really good though.

16-CircleSport/Richard Childress Racing #33 Rank Last Year: 19^th of 19-

17-Tommy Baldwin Racing #37 Rank Last Year: NR-Accell Construction has a great color scheme, but the design scheme ruins it.

18-Tommy Baldwin Racing #36 Rank Last Year:10^th of 19-Another example of a team where when the car is unsponsored, it looks better.

19-Stewart Haas Racing #14 Rank Last Year: 7^th of 19-The over designing of the Bass Pro Shops schemes, as well as the use of orange and camo just look horrible. Mobil 1, Rush Truck Centers, and Code 3 look decent, but to some extent have issues. Mobil 1 is over designed, Rush uses too dark a yellow, Code 3 uses too bright a yellow.

20-Tommy Baldwin Racing #7 Rank Last Year:16^th of 19-Allstate Peterbuilt, and Pilot-St Jude Children’s Network work well, as both have good color schemes and design schemes. Anything else just looks awful.

21-Richard Childress Racing #3 Rank Last Year:NR-Cheerios is very good, and has a classic look. Dow schemes have a great color scheme, but have mediocre design. Anything else looks terrible on this car.

22-Germain Racing #13 Rank Last Year:NR-The blue is too bright, as is the yellow. The car is overdesigned, and the whole car looks like a mess. The camo scheme is much worse.

23-Hendrick Motorsports #5 Rank Last Year:17^th of 19-The only half decent scheme is Pepsi. Everything else is an over designed mess.

24-Stewart Haas Racing #10 Rank Last Year:14^th of 19-The only scheme that doesn’t make my eyes hurt here is Aspen Dental. Terrible shades of orange and green, with ugly design. The pink-washing scheme is terrible.

25-Xxxtreme Motorsports #44 Rank Last Year:NR-Every single one of their cars is an ugly, over-designed mess that doesn’t look good at all.

Next week, we move on to Ford…See you soon!

By David G. Firestone

Just a quick post this week, as I have to finish work on the Paint Schemies and the Paint Scheme Leaderboard. I’m gonna discuss replica helmets again, I promise it will be the last time for a while. But we have some ground to cover when it comes to the NHRA. John Force and his racing team use Simpson for their driver suits and helmets. As such, there are a number of replica helmets made by Simpson featuring John Force and his crew

This first helmet is a 1/4 scale John Force helmet from 1995-1996. It is very plain, with only Castrol GTX and Mac Tools logos on it. It also has John Force and No Fear logos as well.

Don ‘The Snake’ Prudhomme on the other hand, wore a much more brilliantly designed helmet for his time driving The Skoal Bandit. I love the vintage Skoal Bandit logo on the very front.

Pro Stock Motorcycle legend Dave Schultz is represented by this helmet, designed similar to an IndyCar helmet. Schultz was the first NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle champion in 1987, and went on to win 6 championships, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1993, 1994, and 1996.

Moving on to full-sized helmets, this example is a Robert Hight helmet from 2010, after he won the NHRA Full Throtle Drag Racing Series Championship, it is full-sized and is very nicely detailed. The design reminds me of something I would see on an F1 helmet. One thing I love is the championship ring on the back of the helmet.

This last helmet is a full-sized, incredibly detailed John Force helmet based on the design he wore in 2011. I’m just going to let the helmet speak for itself.

That’s it for this week, but next week, the Paint Schemies make their triumphant return for 2014!

By David G. Firestone

Ok, we have a lot of ground to cover this week, so let’s get started. We had races at Fort Worth, Circuit of the Americas, and The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and I have things to discuss about all of them, because things off track impact things on track.

The US Grand Prix took place at Circuit of the Americas in Fort Worth. For F1, it was a pretty unremarkable race, Nico Rosberg won the pole and Lewis Hamilton won the race. I did find it interesting that teams are only allowed five power units a year and as a result Sebastian Vettel had to start from pit road as a result. Also, with Caterham and Marussia unable to compete due to financial problems, there were only 18 cars in the field. IT was a decent race, but not exactly earth shattering/

I need to clarify a stance here, because this has been something that has been bothering me for a while. I enjoy F1 but I’m not a fan of it, and I don’t consider myself to be a fan of it. It’s like that old Kyle Busch quote “I’ve got no problem with [Dale Earnhardt] Junior, it’s his fans that are crazy.” Well that’s how I feel. I’ve got no problem with F1, it’s just their fans who are crazy. F1 is the biggest auto racing group in the world. Their broadcasts can attract up to 58 million people at a time. But this has gone to their fans heads, as they view NASCAR and IndyCar and other American racing groups as “beneath” F1. Well, here’s the thing, just because something is popular all over the world does not mean it has to be popular in America.

F1 has been on the bottom of the racing pecking order in America for decades. I’m amazed how much money was sunk into Circuit of the Americas considering that their major event is so irrelevant, no other track wants to host it. Sebring, The Street Circuit in Phoenix, Indianapolis, and Watkins Glen have all hosted the US Grand Prix, and while I don’t agree with how Indianapolis handled the event, , all involved don’t want the race back because they were losing money on it. F1 is as dead in America as anywhere. Now there is talk about moving a race to Las Vegas, and one to New York. I’ve got a better idea, move one to London, and one to Paris, where F1 has a fan base. Give the fans in countries where F1 is king more races, if you are going to expand the schedule.

Moving on to the NHRA, one of my favorite forms of racing. The Toyota Nationals at Las Vegas were last weekend, and they were GREAT! The racing was fun to watch, the points battle is really good this year, and with the championships in a couple of weeks at Ponoma, the end of the season is anyone’s guess. The finals are going to be legendary. John Force is battling Matt Hagan for the funny car championship, Tony Schumacher is leading the top fuel championship, Erica Enders-Stevens is leading the pro stock championship, and Andrew Hines is leading the pro stock motorcycle championship.

I want to discuss something that happened recently in the NHRA that makes no sense to me at all. Jimmy Prock was a long time crew member for John Force Racing. He was John Force’s crew chief, but sometimes we all need a change, so he went and tended his resignation for the end of the year. John Force make the questionable decision to demand his immediate resignation. As such, with two races to go, and still a huge factor in the championship, John Force had to make changes to his routine. I don’t understand this at all. Why would John Force, who himself said that when you change your routine, it sets you up for loss, would change his routine at this point in the year, where is is now, makes no sense to me, nor does it seem to make sense to anyone else. Prock went to Don Schumacher Racing and was hired on the spot. So now the advantage goes to Don Schumacher Racing, because Prock not only understand the technical side of the sport but understand how John Force thinks and prepares. So I think that this will hurt Force’s chances at a 17^th championship this season. It was a bone headed move.

Now we move on to the AAA Texas 500 at Fort Worth. The racing was great, it was close, there were a lot of great moves, a lot of great battles, and Jimmie Johnson won, while honoring the Lowes employees with his “red vest” paint scheme. But everyone is talking about what happened with Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski, so let me break it down. During one of the green white checker finished, Keselowski and Gordon got together, and Keselowski accidentally cut down Gordon’s rear tire. Gordon spun out and after the race went to confront Keselowski. Harvick shoved Keselowski, Gordon grabs him, and a huge brawl breaks out. NASCAR has said that they will review what happened and I’m willing to bet penalties will be handed out.

Brad Keselowski is brash, and very abrasive at times, but given the footage, I can’t find blame in any move he made. The move that cut Gordon’s tire was just hard racing, and I don’t think there was anything intentionally done there. I also don’t blame Gordon for being upset at what happened. But I do blame him for going over and arguing with Keselowski. What Kevin Harvick did was unacceptable. He had no place going over and shoving Keselowski, which started the brawl, and I think that Gordon was wrong for grabbing Keselowski. Keselowski did not want to get into a discussion with Gordon, and was trying to back down because he saw how mad Gordon was. It was terrible decisions by Gordon and Harvick that started this whole thing, and I think they should be fined AND lose points.

Next weekend, we have the Brazilian Grand Prix, and the Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500, which will decide the four drivers racing for the championship at Homestead. So I look forward to those, and I look forward to my upcoming projects…stay tuned!

By David G. Firestone

Last week, we discussed Tony Stewart replica helmets, this week we will discuss some other replica helmets I have come across. Again these would be great for fans and collectors. I’m amazed that they aren’t available more. This week, we are going to focus on replica helmets of the Labonte brothers.

Let’s start with Bobby Labonte. Bobby Labonte has raced since 1981, he won the 1991 Nationwide Series Championship, beating Jeff Gordon, and Dale Jarrett among others. He started racing in the Sprint Cup that same year, but didn’t have any real success until he took over the #18 Interstate Batteries Pontiac Grand Prix for Joe Gibbs Racing in 1995. In 1997, he had a 7^th place finish, with a win in the final race of the season. This display helmet, probably made for a garage or mechanic desk was released.

It’s not as elaborately designed as the Simpson models, but it is a nice looking piece. The visor is locked in the down position, and doesn’t seem to be the same design as his race helmet. The inside is hollowed out, and the inside is plain plastic. An inexpensive helmet like this would be great to get signed. It would also be a great promotional tool, that’s what is was used for. Seriously, what fan wouldn’t like an autograph from their favorite driver on one of these?

Fast forward to 2011. Bobby is now driving for JTG Daugherty Racing, and he picks up a sponsorship from Lance Snacks. He has a replica helmet, based on his real helmet released by Simpson. This is a full-sized helmet, and it is very detailed. It’s a very attractive helmet, and I love the large cracker sandwich picture on the back. Again, it mystifies me as to why there aren’t many more of these designed just like their driver’s on-track counterparts.

There are also a number of 1/4 scale helmets available from the 1990’s, one example is below.

Moving on to older brother Terry, I finally found a helmet that was in a size I had been wanting. This is a Terry Labonte 1/3 scale helmet from 1997. To give you an idea the scale, let’s look at this chart…

Now that you have a good idea of its size, let’s look at the details. Obviously, it’s very detailed, though one thing that irks me about these 1990’s Simpson mini helmets is that they are solid inside, instead of having some interior details, but since they were sold for $14.99 each back in the day, there was no incentive to make it internally detailed.

There was also 1/4 scale helmets of Terry’s that have been made over the years, some examples of which are below, including the same design as the 1/3 helmet.

I’ve said this over and over, we need more of these! I like these, and I know fans like them too. I’m shocked that racing across the board doesn’t do more replica helmets for fans. I’ve got some more insight on these, but I think we’ll save that for next week.