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| Headin' South to Start it All Over Again | | Date Created: Feb 05, 2008, 11:49 AM |
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The time has come to again head south to the (occasionally) sunny climes of central Florida for the annual pilgrimage known as Speedweeks. Oh - sorry - I mean the DirecTV Speedweeks. It's two weeks of brief bursts of terror and excitement mixed with days of soul-crushing boredom.
The action begins this Thursday with NASCAR media day. Here, we see many of the same faces who only two weeks ago asked most of the same questions of the same drivers on the Lowe's Motor Speedway media tour in Charlotte. But, you never know when a driver might accidentally drop a bomb like Junior's utterance of "51%" before standing up and exiting the circus tent without uttering another word. Pure theater at its best.
How to describe the media day? The drivers are scheduled in advance with military precision to the minute - which gets thrown to the wind the moment they arrive as they go from draped cubicle to cubicle, answering the essential questions for all of the major TV and radio partners in one-on-one sessions, before being whisked away to another cubicle where the print media wait to swallow up the driver in a gauntlet of mics and recorders and more questions. A claustrophobe's worst nightmare.
Dressed in their newest and most crisp drivers uniform, the drivers pose for the photo equivalent of the video rounds: one stop after another - one cubicle for Sprint Cup hats ("does he need his helmet for this one?!" is heard being yelled from the next cubicle over...), another location inside the race track for Goodyear, and then a quick jaunt to the local airport where Fox Sports takes over a giant hangar to shoot a dizzying array of artsy shots for their telecasts. When you see the drivers looking tough leaning against a vintage racecar before each commercial during the race telecasts - that's all from the hangar.
Once that's complete, there might be a few stray photo shoots for a specific feature story or an interview with TNT, but once the adrenaline dies down, you realize (especially if you're not in the Budweiser Shootout), the on-track activities begin with two practice sessions Saturday afternoon and Sunday consists of only your two qualifying laps. Monday and Tuesday, the track itself is quiet and sees no action. So, bring several good books, your crossword puzzles or maybe your best beachwear. It's a long two weeks - and it feels like start of the Daytona 500 is still months away.
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Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon has left the building: If you're in sociological experiements, check out "If Osama's only six degrees away, why can't we find him?" The article mentions Stanley Milgram's very controversial and influential studies of obedience. If you're not familiar with Milgram or his studies, click here, here, and then here for a taste of intensely fascinating science. If you could care less about science, you can at least check out Peter Gabriel's Milgram-inspired song "We Do What We're Told."
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Pulp Fiction: Are you like me and hate walking out of your front door only to trip over stacks of crappy phonebooks you neither need nor requested? The waste of paper is stunning, and now you can start the process to begin reducing the waste by signing up here.
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Shear Spear's Sadness: The story of Britney Spears gets sadder every day. Now, her father has been put in charge of her finances, despite objections otherwise. As sick as I am of hearing every detail everywhere I turn, I guess I'll contribute to the trash and noise from my odd encounter with Papa Spears at Texas Motor Speedway a few years back while Brit was at the height of her popularity and riches.
A TMS employee approached me in the garage and said Spears' father needed to talk to me. Puzzled, I said "OK," and soon thereafter was approached by three ruffians straight off the film lot of "Deliverance." A man who turned out to be Pa Spears leaned in and said quietly, "I need to get a Dale Jr. leather jacket autographed."
"No problem," I replied. "Do you have it with you?"
"No," was his retort. "I don't have one. I wanted to see if you had a leather Bud jacket you could send me. Britney is sponsored by Pepsi, so I can't buy one."
After stammering incoherently for a few seconds, I managed to get ahold of someone at JR Motorsports who agreed to donate the jacket to someone who certainly could have afforded one many times over. A strange moment for me, but likely a very normal and unremarkable day for the family Spears. |
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