Long-Haired Weirdo Invades Victory Lane


A feel-good moment at Michigan International Speedway, the first-ever win in the Cup Series by Kyle Larson, was marred somewhat by the random appearance by a long-haired weirdo in victory lane.
The strange man was later seen giving
an impromptu concert to an empty room
“We don’t really understand what went wrong—we rolled the 42 car into victory lane, and all of a sudden some older gentleman with a ponytail runs over trying to get to the driver and the owners.”, an unidentified security guard said of the situation.  “He kept talking some nonsense about how he used to drive the car, and how ‘his grandpappy made the 42 famous’, we don’t know what got into him but I’m guessing its more than a few Coors Lights.”
Larson scored his first Cup Series win in convincing fashion over fellow “young gun” Chase Elliott.  He appeared to be both relieved and happy to finally win in the Cup Series, although he was immediately bewildered by the presence of the bespectacled hippie-like man in the suit and tie.
“Its…its really been a heck of the ride to get here to victory lane”, Larson said upon collecting himself, “but I really have no idea what’s going on here.  First, that guy who looks like an art teacher comes up talking about how ‘incredible’ this is, then I start getting all these phone calls in Spanish from Texas.  And my PR guy said there’s some guy trying to send me a telegram from something called NEMCO, whatever THAT is.”

The strange man in victory lane was gone almost as soon as he had arrived and was not available for comment, although he was overheard saying that, as far as his motive, there was “…nothing mello about it”. 

Michigan “News” and Notes


—Welcome to Michigan weekend!  Or, as most fans consider it now, “Darlington Throwback Weekend-Eve.”

—Remember that we have a busy day of racing on Saturday, with Trucks from Michigan, Xfinity from Road America, then IndyCar from Texas.  It goes to show you how the “racing gods” view the two major American racing series that Nascar can have one of the worst weather weekends in Bristol history and still get all 500 laps in, while IndyCar can have Texas get rained-out and wind up postponing it…due to drivers’ previous commitments to another race NOT in their own series.

—Aspen Dental is back on the 10 car again this weekend, which is kind of an odd relationship when you consider that Danica Patrick doesn’t usually have the “girl smiley” look, usually its more of a “simmering rage” appearance, similar to my own “powerlessly stressed” palor.

—In a rare positive sign for Nascar’s business-aspect OneMain Financial did a 180 and will return (albeit for less races) to JRM in 2017 with Elliott Sadler.  That means that JRM should be running THREE full-time drivers (Sadler, Justin Allgaier, William Byron) for the Xfinity championship, with a possible fourth car for Cup driver ego-boosting.


—Speaking of William Byron, anyone else surprised at what happened with him?  No, not that he’s going to Hendrick next year, but that Kyle Busch DIDN’T immediately fire him from his Truck Series ride?

My Trip to Bristol: Wet, Wild, Wet

^^^The start of the race (from my iPhone)^^^
A panorama of the track pre-pre-race
Pre-race, post-fireworks

Pre-pre-pre-race, the calm before the storm
The famous vertical Bristol neon sign, about the only shot I was able to get during the long, wet rain delay