Monthly Miscellanea from the Marbles

Actions Have Consequences:

The internet has been rife with commentary about Tony Stewart and his various altercations with other drivers. So many times, we hear from Tony that 'it was someone else's fault', or that 'someone does not know how to give and take', or that 'it was not intentional.' One wonders how often he told his buddy Kevin Harvick that it was indeed intentional. Kevin is still not happy with Tony, and as of this writing, had not answered Tony's phone calls. One can only claim innocence for so long, before even the best of friends start questioning the motives.

In fact, this is the second 'friend' Tony has had an issue with. Denny Hamlin was not running to fall back into Tony's good graces, and indeed Coach Gibbs had to be called in to break up the battle.

Tony should understand that espousing the philosophy of 'give and take' requires some giving before the taking. When one is handing out the BS, one should expect that the people who know you the best to recognize the BS when it is directed at them.

Tony Stewart, the day after:

A few fan boards have reported that Tony Stewart, on the Monday after his Indy/Brickyard win, was trying to prepare for his Sirius show. There were some technical difficulties, and he and Matt Yokum supposedly were talking while assuming they were having a private conversation. The microphones were 'hot', and Tony was said to have commented on how 'effing' hungover he was, and that he was peeved he had to attend his fan picnic that day. Since I quit listening to him several weeks ago, I cannot verify this. I did try to tune in to the beginning of the replay on Tuesday, but they were replaying a "Best of..." show. That in itself is unusual, as I was told that "Best of..." Show was specifically for the off week. I will say, there was some hysterical stuff going on with a Carl Edwards interview and the happenings at a bowling alley in South Carolina! (THAT was Tony at his best!)

Merger Mania

The DEI/Ginn deal is still having far reaching repercussions. Marty Snider interviewed Dale Earnhardt JR, and replayed a portion of that interview on Sirius this week. Dale Jr commented that 300 employees in Mooresville would be out of jobs. Some boards are reporting that Claire B. Lang's XM show claims the layoffs have started. There are some serious issues reported about Ginn's level of debt. One hopes that DEI used Due Diligence to research the debt load.

Ironically, some of the 'net flak has been targeted at 'leader' of TEI as being the person who is the evil boss screwing the workers. And yet, if TEI...oops..DEI had not had the merger, there would be a whole race shop shut down. This way, some of the workers do get to keep their jobs.

Yates/Newman/and whoever else....
Newman! *sigh* Hey, has Robert Redford ever wanted to be a sponsor? I am heading to a race this fall just to hopefully stalk Paul Newman! Stalking Redford would make it a perfect day for me!

Other than a gorgeous Senior Citizen, what other benefit does the Y/H/N/L deal create? I can see that Yates can use the engineering. And now, they may need the sponsor support. But what does the N/H/L part of the deal get? One hears that a certain grandson of a certain 'first name of IRL' may be the biggest beneficiary!

Sponsor Merry-Go-Round!

M&M/Mars is receiving almost as much buzz as Budweiser. Ironically, both of these icons are swarming around Ray Evernham! Go figure! Evernham is having the crappiest of seasons, and yet the sponsors are knocking on his doors!

There are many, many Sadler fans that may have to eat their words, as well as some M&Ms. They were so quick to holler "I will never eat M&Ms again! " Wow, enjoy some Crow with those candy covered chocolates? Does Crow melt in the hand? Hmmmmm!

One has to wonder what in the world is going on with the Powers That Be at Mars. Their former driver has broken not one but two contracts. This same driver received many complaints in the last year as not being known to treat his fans especially well. (Expired Tylenol was the only noteworthy item in an expensive Fan Club Pack.) The other driver under consideration has been noticed by me in a previous blog, and now members of the media, as having little grace under pressure. His negative comments about other drivers have soured some of his fans, even if he can move his butt enticingly in commecials.

Other message boards wonder why a family owned company would even pursue a team whose owner 1) admitted to having a personal relationship with an employee and 2) verbally and publicly threw one of his employees under the bus for job performance. One wonders about potentially far-reaching splatter from impending lawsuits from the Wronged Girlfriend or the Jilted Engineer. It would not be the first law-suit experienced by Ray. Any publicity from such a lawsuit could splatter right back onto the sponsor.

There are many that would take great joy in seeing the current bearer of the M to end up ahead of the previous bearer. If Ray does not get his group of drivers together, it could happen. In the meantime, David Gilliland is slowly but surely building a fan base. He is also still in inferior equipment, and yet slowly but surely gaining on his scores. He is even being noticed by some 'Hot Sheet' and other gambling odds sites as a prospect!

Can he ever...?

Can Kyle Busch ever get through a race without controversy? He plays the "I am a bigger man and can apologize" card, and then he peeved Jeff Burton. The good thing is, Jeff is a behind-the-scenes type of guy, when it comes to driver relationships. Kyle's saving grace is that he can driver the wheels, and the decals, off of his cars.

NASCAR broadcasts:

TV: So far, after one Cup race, and a half season of Busch races, I am not impressed with ESPN. The 'draft track' was silly. Tim Brewer had some great tools at his disposal, but was thrown under the bus over the placement of Jimmie Johnson's fuel pump. There were a lot of commercials, but then, when the $$ are thrown out there, you have to expect that. I am not yet ready to go Pay Per View.

Trackpass gives me the 'fill-in coverage' I need. Radio scanners and Race view give me at least 85% of the picture, even when my driver is up front for a bit, and ESPN forgets to talk about him. Uh oh! I just realized, that I am paying, in essence, a pay-per-view to get the coverage I need!!!! Hmmm!

Best Broadcast Bang for the Buck: Sirius Radio channel 128

• The day starts off with the Misfits, aka The Morning Drive...Marty Snider and David Poole. Their discussions quite often jump into the argument stage, but always make you think!
  

• The Driver's Seat, with John Kernan as host, is fabulous! John is so knowledgeable and comforting to listen to, and has such good rapport with Buddy Baker (love love LOVE Buddy's stories!)and also Ricky Craven, John Andretti, and a cast of thousands!

• Sirius Speedway has the most longevity of the group, and has the most fun! Regular reports from Juan Pablo Montoya, Ray Evernham, and Brendan Gaughan give me targets of tuning. I will listen to each of them each week! Dave Moody and team have me giggling hysterically at least 5 times in each broadcast! This group has a knack of bringing out the real driver in their interviews!
  

Congrats to Brendan Gaughan, our Las VegasNCTS driver who is going to be walking down the aisle this month. It is a special woman who can tolerate his zaniness, but those of us that have met him know that he is a special person. Best wishes for a happy happy life, Brendan! And Mrs. Brendan!

Speaking of gambling....what is going on with the drivers enticing fans into gambling or poker sites? How long can the fans really expect the drivers to really show up! What kind of profit do the drivers receive? Hmmmmmm!

We will wait with anticipation to see what the next month brings! In the meantime....Happy Racing!

Tony Stewart and David Gilliland: Last Dance!

Fortunately, the pre-Infineon activities by two Hendrick Crew Chiefs have deflected the attention away from the Stewart and Gilliland incident. So, this blog will finish up some loose ends with the TS/DG issue, and I will then direct my attention to a whole bunch of small thoughts about other issues in other blogs.


David, on Wednesday, finally stepped up to the podium and answered some questions. His first response follows, and can be sourced on various sites:

David Gilliland appeared on the Wednesday, June 20th edition of Claire B. Lang's XM Satellite Radio Show, "Dialed In" (Channel 144/XM Sports Nation/4pm ET) regarding his perspective on last weekend's incidents during Nextel Cup Happy Hour at Michigan where the #38 of Gilliland and the #20 of Tony Stewart made contact and Stewart hit the wall and suffered some right side damage. All teams repaired the cars. Tony finished the race in 3rd, and David Gilliland wound up finishing 17th.

"You know, like I said I'm not a guy who is going to go out and say, 'believe me believe me' and try and be that guy. But, you know, my main concern was other drivers and when those kind of statements are made…I was/ I am concerned. So going into Sunday's race I was a little bit disappointed and kind of in question about how the other drivers felt. In driver's introductions it made me feel very, very good – at least ten drivers came up to me on their own and said, 'You're not worried about what Tony said are you?' and they said, 'Do not worry about it, he says something about everybody every week - its somebody else every week, it's never his fault for anything he does.' They all said that they have been through it - on that side of it. So that really put that whole situation to rest for myself."

"He's the guy at the racetrack that never gives anybody an inch. And anytime in practice obviously I mean he was, he misjudged it and ran into the back of me. And I just feel like, he's the guy I looked up to for so many years when I wasn't racing in the series and now, to have him say those kinds of things about you... it's not the best feeling. It's something that will go on and we will race as hard as we can each week and try to perform our best."

I also listened to David on Sirius Radio's The Driver's Seat for a half hour long interview. I was VERY impressed with his answers! He was matter of fact, but yet you could hear his disappointment in someone he admired. He would not say anything derogatory about Tony, even when given an opportunity. Well done David, well done!

After the show, John Kernan and Ricky Craven mentioned they were both surprised to learn that the incident did not involve pitting, as discussed in the one-sided article by NASCAR.com's Joe Menzer. (It is amazing that mis-information by a journalist was believed by so many other journalists. If I could find the video of the incident on the 'net, why could the rest of them not? Or was it just easier to ignore David's side of the issue?)

At any rate, Ricky and John both expressed disappointment with Tony using a 2-hour long format to attack David, when David could not answer directly. They felt it would have been better for Tony to have David on the show to defend himself, or to settle it in the motorcoach. Ricky said it would have been much more befitting of a two time Champ to put his arm around the rookie and say "Let's talk!" I agree, Ricky!

Then, the fans called in. I was impressed that the fans were 100% behind David. And the number of calls beginning with "I am a fan of Tony Stewart, BUT...." followed by denouncing him, was even more impressive. Ricky also expressed sorrow that David's children had heard Tony's tirade on TV. Ricky has children and was very sensitive to what a child hears about his parentsAnd speaking of children, a fellow Blogspot Blogger contacted me! His blog, Black Flag, is very thought provoking. He directed me to his Father's Day article, How Jeff Burton and Tony Stewart Help Me Do My Job as a Dad

In this blog, CC, as a father, recognizes that all sports stars are role models, especially for children! His final statements say it all!

Life is about choices. When things aren't going his way, I'm not afraid to ask my son,"Are you going to do this like Tony Stewart or Jeff Burton."

It almost always makes him stop and think. He'll take a deep breath and say, "Mr. Burton"

Sirius Customer Service

Less than a year ago, I received my Sirius radio as a surprise. The surprise was more that I received it early in the year, as I was expecting it for a Christmas gift. You see, I knew my darling hubby would feed my NASCAR habit and get the radio in time for the NASCAR programming to start on Sirius in January of 2007. I just did not expect it in the spring!

By midsummer, I was addicted to Sirius Speedway. Even though Sirius has now expanded their programming, Speedway is still my favorite show. I had a radio, a car set-up, a boombox, and even had it transmitting to my clock radio so that I could wake up listening to NASCAR coverage. Hi! My name is SNAFAM, I am a SIRIUS addict. Step 1 of the 12 Step Program? Never be more than 12 Steps from my Sirius radio!

And THEN...the radio started showing symptoms of not wanting to be there for me. It started turning itself off and then on. I noticed it first in the car, as it would cycle off/on over each bump. As my route to work is under major construction, I was having difficulty following any conversations. I was pretty sure that it was the cigarette lighter plug. After testing with a replacement plug at my local Radio Shack, we discovered there was a problem with the radio itself. The radio became worse over the next few weeks, even having problems when in the boombox! It was dying!

My heart was racing from the impending panic attack. I HAVE to have my Sirius! I NEED my Sirius. I DEPEND on my pals Moody, Suzie, Crackerhead, Poole, Snider, Kernan, Craven, Baker and all of the rest. They are my friends and my support group! I WOULD MISS MY TUESDAYS WITH TONY STEWART!

I began a search on the internet, and read countless horror stories of Sirius customer service. I mentally prepared myself for a battle, much like the previous legendary jousting session with Sprint. (I won that one!)

I dialed the 800 number, taking deep breaths to prepare for the yelling! The Customer Service rep took down what little information I had and then referred me to the warranty department. The Warranty rep dutifully typed in the information about my radio, it's symptoms, and I started flexing my fingers for them to say anything I did not want to hear. What I did I hear? Your radio is still under warranty. We will replace your radio for you. You should receive it in 5-7 days! WOW!

I did not receive my radio in 5-7 days. I received it in THREE days! However, there was a problem. They sent me a newer, better radio! Why is this a bad thing? Because the boombox I owned would not match with the new radio! ARGGG!

Back to Customer Service to whine about how it was a better radio but now I had a worthless boombox. Before I could build up to a full-fledged rant, the CSR calmly said I would receive an upgraded Box at no extra cost, and I would receive it in 5-7 days. Once again, it arrived early!

I now have my radio. I can once again listen to my supportive pals on the radio. I can again hear voices in my head (phone), my car, my home, and my alarm clock. Life in normal again. Life is good. Life is wonderful. I am in my HAPPY Place!

GREAT SERVICE! SIRIUS-LY!