Coca-Cola 600 Results

OK, Kahne took the win tonight. Busch didn't win, Hamlin got wrecked. It was a decent night.

Here is where we stand:

1. Scott - 0
2. Inskeep - 2
2. Shaw - 2
2. PT - 2
5. Curtis - 3
6. Joe - 7
6. Todd - 7
8. TBA - 9
9. Wayne - 15
9. Hau-Ling - 15
11. Carol - 39
11. Jon - 39
11. Ken - 39

Scott picked the winner for the zero point night. Dale Jr (whom no one picked) led the most laps, so no one got the -5 bonus. I am thinking of letting more people in if they get me picks for next week and take a 44 for the first race. I doubt too many more people will want in, but if you know of anyone...

Jon and Kenny texted their picks in way early (both with Jimmy Johnson), I simply forgot to enter their picks prior to the race. I guess I was too busy bitching about stuff.

Picks for the Coca-Cola 600

Here are the picks for the race this week:


Mike Inskeep - #16 - Biffle
Dave Shaw - #16 - Biffle
PT - #16 - Biffle
Curtis - #18 - Busch, Kyle
Wayne Smith - #8 - Martin
Carol - #48 - Johnson
Es Scott - #9 - Kahne
TBA - #99 - Edwards
Todd Mann - #17 - Kenseth
Joe Yu - #17 - Kenseth
Hau-Ling - #8 - Martin


I must say this before I forget. After last night's Nationwide race, Kyle Busch was surpassed as biggest douchebag in racing by Denny Hamlin.


Also, ABC's coverage of Indy is horrible. The personalities don't appear to know anything about the sport (Musburger needs to stick with the ball and stick sports), the camera views were crappy novelties that showed absolutely nothing, and if I see one more shot of Danica Patrick bitching about something I will puke. I admit they tried to get better non-stop coverage with "side-by-side" but they cluttered the screen with graphics and 2 tiny pictures that were tough to see even on my 50" plasma.

It doesn't help that IndyCar is less than exciting to start with. They can't pass, they can't run side-by-side, they can't withstand the slightest contact - so basically you have 33 cars running single file with 4 or 5 passes on the track over the whole race, positions changing mostly just on pit road, and when a hot dog wrapper winds up on the track and a car hits it you get a catastrophic car explosion. If not for the tradition at Indy, I would have watched Seinfeld repeats.


Finally, I saw him again! Does Ryan Newman have a "lucky charm" on his race team? I SAW THE MIDGET AGAIN IN THE #12 PIT! I know its just a legend. I swore I saw him after Newman won at Daytona, but I wrote it off as a hallucination, but today I saw him again! This time he wore a full leprechaun beard. Is there a pot 'o gold in Ryan's future? I should take Newman. Its like seeing a dog crap right before a race at the dog track - its a sign.

Session 2 Rules

Ok, Here is the skinny on how session 2 will work:

15 races starting with the Coca-Cola 600 on May 25th through the race in Richmond on September 6th. Its a long session, so make your pick carefully.

Just as in the last session, you must pick one driver each week prior to the drop of the green flag for that weeks race (be careful, some are on Saturdays). You can send me your pick in any way you see fit, as long as I get it. The more creative method, the better. For instance....

One of Scott's Picks From Session 1

You can email me at pethornton@hotmail.com, call or text me on my cell, call me at home, email me at work, UPS a cardboard cutout of your driver, send a message via carrier pigeon...... Whatever it takes. I will post them during the race (most races, anyway) and will post results after the end of the race (same day most of the time).

Anyway, you can only use a driver once during the session. This means you will select a total of 15 different drivers over the 15 race session. Make sense? Well, it gets more complicated. OK, not really. That's it. 1 driver a week for 15 weeks.

Scoring is based on finishing position. For example, if your pick finishes 15th, you will get 15 points. The only exception is that if you pick a winner, you will get zero (0) points (a 1 point advantage). If you do not report a pick, you will automatically receive 44 points. There are no default picks this time around. We will award a bonus for leading the most laps this session - -5 points for a pick that leads the most laps. This means the best you can score is -5 and the worst is 44. This is designed to allow more significant points swings throughout the session so no one can easily run away with it and everyone will still be in the running for the full 15 races. Trying to keep it interesting.

Low score wins the pot. $5 per entry - winner takes all.

Spread the word like country crock. The more the merrier.

Final Results for Session 1 - kRo trips over his beard doing backflip

" I also have your mother's maiden name tatooed on my arm"

OK, I finally calculated the final standings. Thank you for your patience. I appreciate that you never compared my delay in posting results to Karl - at least not to my face.

I needed an abacus and my fingers and toes to figure out who had who and who needed the default, but I did it. This race resulted in exactly what I am trying to do with the next session - a no-pick = a bad pick. Biffle started on the pole and finished last. Most of the default picks were Biffle (which actually SHOULD have been a great sleeper for the last race.

Anyway, here is how everyone finished:

1. Kenny Ross (57)

2. Jon Lommerin (91)

3. Joe Yu (126)

4. Wingman (144)

5. Shaffer (158)

6. Dave Shaw (163)

7. Tony (172)

8. Inskeep (180)

9. Es Scott (186)

10. Wayne (192)

11. TBA (197)

12. PT (202)

13. Susie (224)

14. Shane (238)

15. Hau-Ling (293)

The next session starts this weekend with the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday. I need your picks by the drop of the green flag. If I don't get a pick from you, I won't consider you in the league. Please spread the word - since I have simplified the scoring, I can handle a lot more people. I will post the new rules following this post.

Good luck!

By the way.....

Kenny did win session 1. I haven't had time to update the scores yet because I spend all my time honing my Wii driving skills. I promise I will quit the procrastination and post the final results for session 1 after work today.

Don't forget - session 2 will start in 2 weeks at the Coco Cola 600. Picks by the drop of the green flag, still $5.

Rules changes this time will include zero points for a win, 44 points for not selecting a driver for the week. I will not go through the default deal this time - it is way too complicated when I am calculating scores each week (part of the reason I don't look forward to it at this point). Also - you will get a 5 point bonus if your driver leads the most laps (no bonus just for leading 1 lap). This means you could potentially score a negative 5 in a week, and the best possible 15 week score is therefore a -75. Good luck getting that. The worst possible is 659 (based on the fact that you will have to make a pick the first week to be included in the league).

Spread the word. Lets get some more entries this pass.

MarioKart Wii

So, I've been spending a lot of time in front of the Plasma for the last 2 weeks, glued to the Wii playing the new Mario Kart. Now, I've never been a great or dedicated video game player (with the exception of the NASCAR racing sims I've been toying with for the last couple years on my PC) but I'm here to tell you that this whole Wii sensation is real and amazing. I love this thing. I'm enjoying these extremely fun yet simplistic video games and I don't feel like I'm turning into Ben Stiller's character from Globogym at the end of Dodgeball. I'm up, moving, interacting, and sometimes sweating.

Here's Mario. I race using The King from the BK ads, giant head and all.

For those of you with Wii systems, and especially a copy of Mario Kart, join me for an online game anytime. At the time of this post, we have 6 or 7 people hooked up and ready to compete online some evenings with more on the way. There is nothing like blowing up Tershack's cart, or bumping Janet off a cliff and knowing they are at home cursing my name while I sit at home witha beer on the left and the dog asleep on the right (while sitting in the gaming chair Ken, TBA, Jon, and the guys got me for my birthday last year).

I even have Vicki playing some games. She doesn't care too much for the super active sports games, but she is all about SmartyPants (trivia) and the Wii Sports games like Boxing (I think she really wants to punch me in the mouth and doing it on the Wii is close enough to satisfy that urge). We ordered for her the Wii Fit package, which is an interactive game and balance board designed for working out and tracking fitness performance and progression. A genius marketing campaign to bring more women into the video game fold while losing a few folds, hopefully.

Oh yeah

Please note that I did NOT admit to the mistake of not realizing Richmond and Darlington were switched this year and I thought Saturday nights race was the last race. Even though I was wrong in a prior post, I am not admitting to it.

1 race to go, then 2 weeks off to spread the work and start a new session with more entries.

Richmond Results - 1 race to go

OK, let me just start by saying, I may very well have these standings way wrong. I received verbal picks from TBA, Ken, and Jon while boozing it up at Ken's brothers house. I am pretty sure TBA and Jon wanted the #11 and Kenny wanted the #20, but I could be wrong. If so, please let me know. I can adjust the standings accordingly.

The bottom line? Ken is 39 points ahead of Jon, and Joe is officially out of reach of a sole victory. Here are the scenarios (based of course on my beer memory being correct)

Ken needs just a 39th or better to seal the deal.

Jon needs a 1st place and Ken to score worse than 39th, or a 2nd/>40, 3rd/>41, 4th/>42, or finally 5th/43rd.

Joe needs a miracle just to tie. Joe needs a 43rd from Kenny, and a First place pick to tie and split the money.

Here are the standings with 1 race remaining:

1. Kenny - 47 total (used - 20,11,48,99,24,9,16,18,17,88) - 4 today
2. Jon - 86 total (used - 11,20,48,31,24,29,88,99,18,41) - 24 today
3. Joe - 89 Total (used - 8,11,31,99,20,19,88,18,9,55) - 3 today
4.Wingman - 101 total (used - 8,78,12,31,11,07,24,18,48,20) - 3 today
5. Shaffer - 115 total (used - 99,8,78,12,88,99,07,24,18,48,20) - 7 today
6. Shaw - 126 total (used - 24,20,29,2,17,11,9,48,88) - 12 today
7. Tony - 129 total (used - 8,78,12,17,20,99,24,18,48,88) - 3 today
8. TBA - 154 total (used - 11,7,12,99,41,29,17,18,24,88) - 24 today
9. PT - 163 total (used - 88,20,12,16,48,31,24,18,99,41) - 15 today
10. Inskeep - 159 total (used - 8,78,12,99,48,16,18,24,11,88) - 3 today
11. Susie - 181 total (used - 11,78,12,99,8,9,1,18,24,88) - 24 today
12. Scott - 165 total (used - 8,2,12,16,11,29,48,18,17,88) - 3 today
13. Wayne - 171 total (used - 1,31,12,99,11,18,24,48,5,88) - 5 today
14. Shane - 195 total (used - 1,78,12,99,8,48,24,18,11,88) - 5 today
15. Hau-Ling - 271 total (used - 8,20,17,88,7,5,11,2,24,6) - 3 today

As far as the race goes, I have just one comment. Yes, it's the subject everyone is talking about. Kyle Busch/Dale Jr. Here is my take: The spotters and commentators and everyone is saying the 18 car got underneath and got loose and its a racing thing.

Lets clarify. He and every driver on the track KNOWS IT. You can see it in every corner on every track. He is sideways more than he is straight (sort of like McMurrray or Waltrip, but in a non-super-gay way). Its at the point that I'd just give him room and let him go wreck himself, or be satisfied with 2nd place points if he doesn't just to stay in the points race. We need to see some tape to confirm, but I'd be willing to bet that he has either wrecked himself or someone else in 75% of the races this year while hanging it out beyond the edge. Bottom line: (Picture the voice of Ricky Bobby's little redhead girlfriend) "Kyle Busch does not get loose, Kyle Busch DRIVES loose"

What the hell is wrong with the people in sports

OK, I just noticed this on ESPN.com. 5 out or 10 headlines on their website involve the criminal activities or moral indiscretion of athletes. Isn't there anything GOOD to report on? It's like channel 19 all the time with sports these days. What our country needs right now is a steroid free home run race, or a Tiger Woods streak, or some other giant feel good story to snuff out all this bad news all the time.

Snapshot at 12:30 today

For those of you looking for NASCAR standings, I am a little behind. I was slightly hung over yesterday, and spent a good portion of the day looking for my car, so I didn't get a chance to update the scores. I will try to get to it tonight after volleyball, but first I have to get into some sort of legal or ethical dilemma in order to really feel like an amateur athlete.

Richmond Picks - last race of the session

Hello, I am not availble to accept your pics at the moment. I am either out of the office or on another call or at ShawnRoss' house drinking beer. Please leave your name and number, and the name an number of your selection at the tone. Thanks!

I won't be in a position to post pics pre-race today. Call me if you want to know who Jon and Kenny take and who wins outright.

I am going with Jr. personally, but it really doesn't matter a whole lot now does it.

Thursday's Weekend Warmup

Here is a great article about the creation of the toughest son-of-a-bitch in racing.

Picks need to be in early as we have a Satruday race this weekend in Richmond. This is the last race of this session and you can jockey for position behind Ken and Jon. Its an impound race, which is made even cooler now that the guys outside the top 35 have to race in on time. This means a lot of desperate qualifying setups that turn into crappy race setups. Guys will again be giong from the front to ht eback in a hurry come race time saturday, which will translate into bent sheet metal for everyone in between.