Monday, March 1, 2010

The Speeding Bullets: 2010 Shelby American



For the first time in who knows when the Fontana race was more exciting than the Vegas one. But that doesn't mean anything about The Speeding Bullets; hope you enjoy the read!

  • Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson on getting his second consecutive victory only three races into the season. It also makes him the all-time most winning driver on 1.5 mile tracks. As usual, Chad Knaus adjusted the car throughout the afternoon each time he got a status report from Jimmie. I could just tell the tandem was sizing up Jeff Gordon all race long until the moment came to make the race winning pass. All of Johnson's fellow racers are already struggling to keep up with this early, so there's no telling how big of a points lead he will have five or six months from now... 
  • Kevin Harvick impressed me more this week than he has in any of the other races so far. He still managed to gradually work his way to a second place finish even after starting a backup car in 34th position. A gas and go pit stop midway through the race was the call that really pushed him toward the front. Harvick looks like the man Johnson is going to have to beat for this year's championship, but I think it's only a matter of how long Happy can keep up...
  • A pothole one week, phantom rainfall another, and now the caution lights not working; what is up with all of this??? What happened this week at Vegas was probably the last thing anyone expected. Now that I think about it though, the track did have a power outage during qualifying, and that very well could have had something to do with it. Race fans, you'd better be on a tornado alert or maybe even a tsunami this weekend in Atlanta... lol.
  • A third place finish feels like failure for Jeff Gordon after setting a new Las Vegas record by leading 219 of 267 laps. Many people say his downfall was taking right sides only on the final pit stop, but Letarte's frame of mind was track position which would have been brilliant strategy if it hadn't been for all of the other guys deciding to take four tires. As a result, Johnson had the better car on the final restart, and Gordon wasn't able to hold him off. I was rooting for Jeff just as plenty of other fans were there at the end. It's a rare thing these days when we see him in victory lane..
  • Kim Kardashian standing next to Carroll Shelby as co-grand marshals was definitely the laugh of the day. The funniest part... Kim didn't even say "Gentlemen Start Your Engines" and afterward Carroll looked over at her like she was a total idiot. I know she is known more for her looks than her brains (if she has any at all), but she went as far there as taking the "common" out of "common sense"...

That's all from the Diamond in the Desert. Next week, NASCAR returns to the good ole' south and races at the fastest track on the circuit, Atlanta Motor Speedway. Gordon and Harvick are two drivers who came up short in Sin City but both have had noticeable success at AMS; look for them to be big factors on Sunday...

8 comments:

klvalus said...

That is what I just said on GUNNY's blog - who wouldda thunk I was at the best race so far? Wouldn't have bet that in Vegas.

Racing was boring this week mostly because there wasnt much racing out there - follow the leader again.

As much as it annoys to watch JJ/Chad win it is impressive how Chad can adjust that car - the only one who can do it consistently as far as I can tell.

Gene Haddock said...

Nice stuff, Gonger.

I think Daytona, even with the pothole, was a better race than Fontana.

Kim couldn't remember the four words she had to say, so they let Shelby do it. Just because she sponsors a car for ONE race, NASCAR go nuts over her. They will let anyone pimp them out.

socal24fan said...

Damn.. Gene you beat me to it. kim isn't known for her brains.

Good job Gonger. Believe me I was really pulling for JG. What a dominating race. But JJ was lurking close enough to make a run and sure enough he did. DAMN

jmayer1843 said...

Nice bullets. It was a good run by Harvick Sunday. He didn't show much in any of the practices after hitting the wall. Runs like those are typical of championship contenders, which he very well could be this year.

Brent said...

Kristen- It would be really interesting to see Chad one season leave Jimmie and go transform a mediocre team into a superstar one...

Gene- Thanks. FOX's ratings are falling so much that the executive producer thought he could magically use Kim to boost them back up... lol.

Brent said...

socal- Thanks. Jimmie's become NASCAR's official party spoiler after what he did this time...

Mayer- Thanks. Harvick shocked me with his performance. I had him as a fantasy starter to begin with but made the mistake of benching him after his qualifying run and practice speeds...

jon_464 said...

Gonger, good Speeding Bullets. The look Carroll Shelby gave KK was PRICELESS. He gave her a "what the hell are YOU doing here" look. Mr. Shelby is from an era when men were men, and were not apologetic for it. Sad to see NASCAR stooping so low to have her as a co-Grand Marshal with an automotive icon. As for Harvick's run, it shows that he's a bonafide championship contender. JJ's going to have to win pretty much everytime he's out on the track. It wouldn't surprise me to see JJ and Happy finish 1-2 in the ATL.

Brent said...

Jon- Thanks. I also think Matt Kenseth is going to be a big threat in the ATL. It's taken a whole year, but he finally is getting back in the groove he was in when he won the first two races of 2009...