NASCAR and neglect

The view from my back garden.


It's school holidays down here in my part of the world and that means the kids are home. I've gotten used to watching NASCAR on my own over the past few years, so having people in the house while I settle down for my weekly fix can be a bit disconcerting. The little ones are pretty good at entertaining themselves, but they can be as demanding as any others.

Texas is one of my favourite tracks and I've been looking forward to this, what with a two week break and all. I had planned to record it and watch the show Monday night, but an early morning visitor just before 6am Monday flogged that. I'd missed most of the pre-race (Dixie and Willard's Garage has full details), but what the hell. I had time to make Brad and the newly woken Sarah breakfast, myself a coffee and my lady could sleep in - she still has to go to work.Perfect timing saw me settle with a strong coffee and a cigarette just before the flag dropped.

NASCAR live is a strange beast down here in New Zealand. The Sunday afternoon (US time) races are broadcast here about 6-9am Monday morning depending on kick-off in the States. This can be a bit of a problem sometimes, but with a bit of dedication and an artist's lifestyle, anything is possible. The Saturday night races are live here about lunchtime Sunday - much more pleasant hours, but kiss goodbye to Sunday afternoon, because the other motorsport programmes are on afterwards here - including the V8 Supercars and I'm usually pretty munted by the end of NASCAR.

Yesterday's (yeah - slack as) race seems to have been pretty unmemorable as I can't really remember much of it apart from the fantastic end. I'm glad I recorded it, cos I'll need to sit down and watch it all again over the week. Jeff B working over Kenseth during the final laps was a joy to behold. You just knew he'd deal to the 17 car, it was only a matter of when. As usual Burton's timing was impeccable and Roush's car was toast. Great to see Mark Martin finish so well too, but was his post-race comment about being the happiest he's ever been in a car a swipe at Jack Roush or just an off-the-cuff statement? I've NEVER seen Mark Martin say an ungracious thing, so I would think the latter. I don't blame him if he was though. His form over past few years (apart from the last two) has been patchy and probably went a long way to making his decision to retire. He SEEMS happier and is fast as hell. What could have been?

Anyway, it's been good to have the kids home and watching at least part of the race with me. I'm not pushing it - NASCAR can be a pretty daunting prospect. The boy as I've said before is obsessed with cars, so that's just a matter of time. Sarah is a bit of a list and stats fiend so there's a place in here for her too. Oh good times to come! I don't think I neglected them too much during the race. They lived anyway.

POSTNOTE: My thoughts are with all those affected by the events at Virginia Tech. I cannot begin to imagine the pain you must be going through, but you heart is with you. Take care. Peace.