Dale Jr., Hendrick done in by Evil Hat

Continuing a streak that has gone on since the finish of last season, the Evil 200th Win Hat has struck again, preventing Dale Earnhardt Jr. from winning at Richmond.

"Well, I thought I had a shot at Kyle (Busch), then I went to hit the brakes and the pedal went through the dang floor", a dejected Dale Jr. said after the race.  "I radioed in to Stevie (LeTarte, crew chief and motivational speaker) and he told me that the Hat had struck again."

Hendrick team officials explained again that they cannot simply get rid of the cursed hat, saying that they would have to burn all 500 hats in their traveling inventory to eliminate the demons.

"Its not ALL the hats, just one", said Hendrick PR director John Ringo.  "We've tried to figure out which one is the bad one, but they all look alike.  Besides, we don't believe in curses, only in evil spirits."

The Evil Hat also struck Hendrick-affiliated drivers, taking away a possible win for Tony Stewart with a late caution.

"I was running away with the win, but then a caution came out for a plastic bottle on the backstretch", Stewart said in between bites.  "I mean, the worst part was that the Hat gave us a leg-up early with that penalty on the 99, but I guess that was just to get our hopes up.  Oh well--the Hat giveth and the Hat taketh away."

Hendrick executives are considering bringing in a witch doctor to exercise the hats, after an attempt at sprinkling them with holy water after Bristol made no difference.

"We've just gotta do something here", said team owner Rick Hendrick.  "The Evil Hat even messed up my phone--I can't even call the manufacturer, KyBuschCo."

Richmond "News" and Notes

--You know, I REALLY wish that ESPN would do more to promote Travis Pastrana running in this race.

--The Cup race is the "Capital City 400".  Let me know if you chance to see Fourth Street and D (yeah!).

--Bristol's getting adjusted in time for the summer night race.  Well, I HOPE it gets done in time--it would be hard to race with a guy holding a "STOP/SLOW" sign in turn four.

--Speaking of re-paves, Pocono is expecting record-breaking lap times thanks to a resurfacing.  Throw in the new 400 mile race lengths and a Cup race at Pocono could be over in 15 minutes.

--Michael Waltrip Racing is finally living up to its potential.  Just goes to show that if you cheat your way in to the Daytona 500, charge fans to see your race shop, get involved in mysterious car accidents, and screw over David Reutimann, you can succeed.

The Mystery of Eddie Adams

So I was tooling around Wikipedia today looking for story ideas, when I stumbled upon THIS LISTING.

Why is it important?  Well, it isn't, but why is it interesting?  Well, again, it isn't, but why am I talking about it?  Well, I'm not, technically, but anyways, he's from my home town!  That's right, Rising Sun Maryland, a/k/a The Small Town Extraordinaire, a/k/a Klanland, has ourselves our very own Nascar driver.

Well, we did.

It looks like Eddie Adams raced a grand total of two Cup races, both at Langhorne Speedway in Pennsylvania (Fun Fact: One of the track's nicknames was "Puke Alley", a great nickname for my current living quarters as well).  A quick Google Search turned up not much else, other than a cursory mention about a Modified race in New Jersey.

So who is this man of unintentional mystery?  Has anybody else heard of him?  Anybody know what happened to him?  I assume that he's passed away, but if not, could he have been one of the old folks I made fun of as a small boy?

Shoot me a message on the Spade Racing Facebook Page (or an email) if you have any information.

Because if nobody knows ANYTHING about him, I'll just have to make it up.