Bits and Bobs (12/13 Nov 2011)

RICK @ the RACES (12/13 Nov 2011)

After last weeks road trip to the DIRT TRACK World Finals in Charlotte NC, I was taking it easy this past weekend. There was one more ‘doable’ dirt race taking place in the North East at the Penn Can Speedway PA, but I chose not to go. The weather at this time of year is so unpredictable so I didn’t want to risk the four hour drive. (It did take place and was won by , Ontario’s Stewart Friesen)  Instead, I spent a typical winter weekend at home watching TV.

On this occasion there was plenty to interest me. My first piece of armchair viewing involved a late night/early morning. While I was at Charlotte , SPEED TV covered the event live, and this past Saturday morning, at around 1-00 am they were rerunning it . I don’t have a recording device for my TV, so had to sit up all night and watch it. It was about 4-00 am when I crawled in to bed.

When the racing season draws to a close, like most Canadian race fans that I know, I start focusing on hockey. ‘My Team’ is the Ottawa Senators and once again , I’ve been involved in a little wager.

www.rickattheraces.com web master Craig Revelle is a good friend of mine , but one of his big drawbacks, is his choice of hockey team !  He supports the Toronto Maple Leafs, who are one of Ottawa’s biggest rivals. Every time the two teams get together for a ‘Battle of Ontario’ we always engage in some friendly banter.

When the two teams met last December, Craig’s own web site www.finishlinewebdesign.ca and my www.rickattheraces.com had our own little challenge. If the Leafs won, I would have to put their logo on my site for one week, and if the ‘Sens’ won, Craig would have to do like wise on his . As I expected ! Ottawa were the winners, and true to his word , the ‘Sens’ logo appeared on his site.

This past weekend the two teams met again, so I gave my buddy a chance to get his revenge. We made the same deal, and on Saturday night, we were both glued to our TV sets. After a shaky start , where they gave away the opening goal, my team came back to win 5 – 2 . Once more the Ottawa Senators logo appears on www.finishlinewebdesign.ca !

WEBMASTER NOTE:  SENS GOT LUCKY AGAIN!!!

On Sunday I had two great races to watch, but unfortunately they were both being televised at the same time, on different channels . My ‘remote’ was in constant use as I switched between the live NASCAR Sprint Cup from Phoenix and the recorded F1 Grand Prix from Abu Dhabi.

I really like the look of that track at Abu Dhabi and would love to visit it some day. With my European roots, I still consider F1 Grand Prix racing to be the highest level of Auto Racing. NASCAR, may be the big thing in North America, but when you take racing to a world wide prospective, F1 is at the top. My ultimate racing goal, is to one day attend the historic Monaco Grand Prix.

It turned out to be a ‘sweet and sour’ day for Red Bull racing. In Abu Dhabi , Red Bulls , Sebastien Vettel, the worlds current number one driver went out with a flat tire on the opening lap, allowing England’s Lewis Hamilton to take the win.

Meanwhile in Phoenix it was Red Bulls Kasey Kahne who took the honors, and the attention away from the Cup Championship chase between Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart.

As we go into the final NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Homestead (Miami, Florida) this coming weekend, it’s still a ‘two horse race’ and either of the two drivers could take the Championship. No doubt, next Sunday I will back behind the TV set once again.

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