Fatback McLosaw's Blog (42)

9.3 Miles to Indy

I know it has been a while, but I needed to take a deep breath after the Chicago weekend. Faithful followers of this column will know that Chicago of last year was my final as a race engineer for RGM. In honor of that anniversary I went and ran a different kind of race. And instead of it ending in tears or emm-effs like just about every race I did with the 7, this race ended at a brewery. Of course I am taking about the Boilermaker 15K road race in Utica New York. It is actually one of the… Read More

Added by Fatback McLosaw on July 26, 2009 at 12:40pm — No Comments

Pass Heard 'Round the World

This week, I laid a pass on Kyle Busch…and it wasn’t in NASCAR ’09. It was not in the Arby’s drive through near the Gibbs shop, and it was not in the aisles of Target either. Now that I think about it, I didn’t really lay a pass on him, so much as he wrecked, and I drove around the wreck. Then I wrecked and he drove back by me one corner later. Actually, it seems as though Kyle has caught the RC racing bug, and he was in my race at one of the local RC tracks in the Charlotte area. Even the 34th… Read More

Added by Fatback McLosaw on July 10, 2009 at 9:23pm — 2 Comments

Amonos

Last week I learned an important lesson about tires. I went to the Mini dealership for my regular service appointment. I expected to get my oil changed and a car wash and be out of there in an hour. However, it got ugly in a hurry. The service chick came over to me and said, "We got your oil changed and the rest of your car serviced, but you have a problem with your tires. There is a chunk of your right front tire wrapped around your axle, and it will be $800 to replace the front tires."… Read More

Added by Fatback McLosaw on June 17, 2009 at 12:37pm — 9 Comments

Hail Caesar

Before diving into the Cup talk this week I have to tell you about an excellent culinary adventure I had the other day. For the first time in my life, I made my own salad dressing and it came out awesome. I made a fresh Caesar dressing. MMM..mmmm.The fresh ground garlic just gave it a sublime quality that is unmatchable by the packaged stuff. It was so easy and I would recommend it to anyone. I'm not sure why I got motivated to do it, but it was a fantastic experiment.



I digress.… Read More

Added by Fatback McLosaw on June 5, 2009 at 4:37pm — 4 Comments

Bump and Run

What a superb race at the weekend. There was something to cheer about for everyone. Each manufacturer had a stint in the lead, rookies came to the front, plenty of wrecks, different pit strategies, and many different drivers had a dominant stint of the race. Can you believe that I fell asleep with 30 to go? What a great day for Hendrick too. Their engines and engineering support were behind each car in the top 5. They are the classiest operation in Cup racing and proved it in a big way at… Read More

Added by Fatback McLosaw on May 14, 2009 at 12:42pm — 7 Comments

Boyscout Cookies

This is tough to admit, but I was a boy scout when I was a kid. When I was in my second year of scouts I was really into it. I was dominating merit badges and earning ranks like it was going out of style. The ranks go First Class, Star, Heart, then Eagle scout. I was in my review for my Star rank, and my bitch female scout master failed me while the rest of my friends got their badge. She rejected me on the grounds that I made fun of a Cub scout's cookies at a previous scout meeting. The… Read More

Added by Fatback McLosaw on May 7, 2009 at 12:44pm — 2 Comments

Sing When Your Friends are Winning

So maybe I was wrong about Talladega being boring. Perhaps I just turned on the TV at the right time, but it was a fantastic result. There is no limit to the amount of times that I can watch Carl's wreck. On a personal note, the truck and nationwide races held more joy than the cup race, as two of my friends got their first wins. My friend Seth has been the race engineer on the #6 busch car for like 3 years, and finally got his first win at Talladega. Then, Mike Skinner closed the deal in… Read More

Added by Fatback McLosaw on April 30, 2009 at 1:07pm — 4 Comments

No Fun in Alabama

While the NASCAR circus was out at Phoenix last week, I took the opportunity to take in a late model race at Hickory. Hickory is about 90 minues north west of Charlotte, and is a short track that used to host Busch series races, and maybe even a couple of truck races. Now it is a place for late model races and is a stepping stone track for Drive for Diversity and other young drivers. It is a pretty cool track actually. They do not let you bring beer into the track, but luckily the lot of us had… Read More

Added by Fatback McLosaw on April 23, 2009 at 5:10pm — 2 Comments

The Queen of Beers

Normally I start with a little bit of food talk, but this week is all about beer. Charlotte (Queen City) born beer that is. In the past couple of days I was able to visit two of the local breweries, both of which I would recomend as a side trip for anyone coming in town for the May (or October races). The first one I went to was the Carolina brewery http://www.carolinabeer.com/. It is in Mooreville across the street from the Penske shop. Their flagship beer is Carolina Blonde, but they have a… Read More

Added by Fatback McLosaw on April 16, 2009 at 5:15pm — 3 Comments

I Need a V8

The first stop at the two short tracks is behind us, and true to form, it has stirred the blood and fueled rivalries again. You get the sense that Gibbs vs. Hendrick will be the NASCAR version of Ferrari v. McLaren. Kyle dominates Bristol and rips on Dale Jr., and a week later later the 48 gives the 11 the dirty slide job to win the race. I know the 17 won the first two races, but Gibbs and Hendrick are the two best teams, and it will be fun to see the battle throughout the season.



I… Read More

Added by Fatback McLosaw on April 2, 2009 at 1:03pm — 7 Comments

Smell the Thunder

Another race and another week of pure domination by Kyle. Just brilliant don't you think. In the same way that Schumacher stunk up F1 in the early part of the decade, Kyle has taken the fight to the rest of the grid in a way that has not been seen in Cup in a very long time. Perhaps it ruins the show a bit, but you can't help but envy the talent.



I was fortunate to scrounge up some passes for the race, so I was able to be at Bristol live and in person. I had never seen a race there… Read More

Added by Fatback McLosaw on March 25, 2009 at 12:48pm — 6 Comments

Je No Se Corned Beef

Traditions have a way of bringing people together. Especially when there is good food involved. Tuesday was St. Patrick’s day, and I busted out the crock pots and cooked my 4th annual corned beef and cabbage dinner. Sprinkle in some good friends, a bit of Guiness, and the train wrecks on American Idol and good times were had by all. I accidentally had a 5 Guys bacon cheese burger for lunch, so I was meat and potatoed out by the end of the day, but it was a good hurt. The amout that I write… Read More

Added by Fatback McLosaw on March 18, 2009 at 11:31am — 5 Comments

Rock, Scissors, Paperclip

It's the off weekend for all three of the top NASCAR series, and we have a chance to take a deep breath before the tulips come up and the circuit starts making its spring stops. Atlanta turned out to be a bit of a bust after the 47 crew members goofed and put 3/4 of the field a lap down before the first 200 miles of the race was completed, so I think we are all ready for Bristol, which is never boring.



Obviously the off week is not really any break for the teams. They still have 32… Read More

Added by Fatback McLosaw on March 15, 2009 at 1:20pm — 4 Comments

Doing Donuts

I had a little bit of a battle with a bag of donuts this week. Yes, a bag of donuts. My partner's family was visiting my place over the weekend of the Daytona 500. Her dad was really excited about getting a Krispy Kreme donut, so he went out and bought a dozen of them. Well...He ate 2 of them, and for some reason he put the other 10 in my freezer. I didn't realize this until last Sunday when I saw a gallon bag of donuts while I was grabbing some girlscout cookie ice cream. Since the credit… Read More

Added by Fatback McLosaw on March 6, 2009 at 1:57pm — 6 Comments

Full of It

Vegas was always a cool place to go. It was one of 2 tracks on the circuit where the city seeminly could not care less that the cup race is in town. The other being Sonoma. It always felt like more of a vaction when you went to a place that did not live for the cup race like places like Talladega and Bristol. The one thing you have got to hate about the Vegas race is all the stupid gambling cliches that the idiot announcers are going to jam down your throat in about 4 hours.



The… Read More

Added by Fatback McLosaw on March 1, 2009 at 10:58am — 4 Comments

Don't Dissapoint Me, O.C.

If you flip a coin 4 times and you get heads each flip, it is just a matter of time before it comes up tails. Unfortunately, that seems to be the story of Robby's 2009 500. After putting up the best finishes at speedway races last year, a shock issue relegated him to also ran status. Getting hit in the Jr. fiasco probably did not help either. For sure a dissappointing way to start the year. It will



The 500 was a dissappointment from the 7 pit and it was a dissappointment from my… Read More

Added by Fatback McLosaw on February 18, 2009 at 12:38pm — 10 Comments

Just Shoot Me

The Shootout last night provided the baby steps of a very long season, like the first tulips that rise from the frozen earth in the spring. I know that I was saddled up to the TV last night with my other racing buddies and pounded some hotdogs and Ford Dave's famous macaroni and cheese. The season is truly upon us, and there is much to be excited about. Qualifying is on in the background as I write and Truex is still on the pole. You just get the sense that the DEI/Ganassi,… Read More

Added by Fatback McLosaw on February 8, 2009 at 3:16pm — 8 Comments

Robby Gordon is a Genious...For Real

After the Homestead race, Carl got out of his car and said he wished that Daytona started the next day. Well, Daytona is upon us my friends. Qualifying is on Sunday (boooooring), and the shootout (definitively not boring) is on Saturday. The trucks are leaving in the next couple of days and we will be off and running.



Speaking of the shootout, Robby Gordon might just be a genious. Unless you have totally tuned out to all of the comings and goings in the Cup world in the last bunch of… Read More

Added by Fatback McLosaw on February 2, 2009 at 10:10pm — 8 Comments

Winter Vibrations

Congrats to TOG for all of the great Dakar coverage this year. I know he works tirelessly to bring the story to the RG fans and it was very comprehensive. Welcome all of you who have signed up for the planet in droves in the last couple of months. Obviously the shout out from Jayski has brought a lot of you here, and I welcome you all to the discussion.



I just wanted to reintroduce myself for those who do not know who I am or why my blog is featured on the planet. I used to be an… Read More

Added by Fatback McLosaw on January 18, 2009 at 11:40am — 3 Comments

Testing is soooo 2008

I was having some dinner at Outback last night and I saw the first commercials of the year for the Daytona 500. I pointed them out to my friends and they laughed at me and told me that had been on for atleast a week. Even so, it is getting close enough that you can almost smell it, can't you. Apparently there is still going to be a Pre-Season thunder event at Daytona this year, but no fan that is interested in the racing more than the soap opera will go (I hope). With no testing going on, it… Read More

Added by Fatback McLosaw on January 11, 2009 at 2:18pm — 3 Comments

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