He'll see your autograph - and raise you

THATSRACIN.COM OPINION

Wednesday, Mar. 04, 2009

Some observations on NASCAR, racing and more, along with a little spare change:

OBSERVATIONS

Color us shocked, completely

So when the police went to a shop building behind a go-kart track near North Wilkesboro Speedway the other day, they ran up on a 300-gallon still, 1,150 gallons of corn mash, 200 gallons of corn liquor and 3,000 pounds of sugar.

Dean Combs, a 57-year-old former NASCAR driver and crew chief, owned the property and was charged with making non-tax paid liquor and possessing ingredients and equipment to manufacture non-tax paid liquor. The still was so large that instead of removing it from the site, Division of Alcohol Law Enforcement agents called in the bomb squad to destroy it.

True traditions never die.

He'll see your autograph - and raise you

A couple of fans visited Las Vegas Motor Speedway last weekend hoping to get Robby Gordon to sign a poster so they could send it to a solider they know who's in Iraq.

Gordon not only signed it, he took the poster inside the track and had more than two dozen other drivers sign it and got it back to the fans so they could send it to the soldier.

MY TWO CENTS

Easy does it, just not every time

It always amazes me how NASCAR fans seem to make things a whole lot more complicated and confusing than there's really any need for them to be.

For example, the past two weeks when pole winners have had to go to the rear of the field for engine changes I've received more than a dozen calls or e-mails telling me how unfair it is that the third-place qualifier gets to start first ahead of the No. 2 qualifier.

It's not unfair. It just the process. When the guy in front of you has to go to back, you just pull up one row to start the race.

If the No. 2, 4, and 6 qualifiers all have to go to the back, the guy on the outside of Row 4 just pulls up to the front because that's how it's done. You might believe that's totally unfair to the guys who line up in the inside positions, but it's just the most expedient way to handle the situation and get the race started.

If only one car went to the back and everybody moved up based on qualifying position, every car in the field would have to change from the inside or the outside line. That's pointless. It's a 400- or 500-mile race. Just get the thing started and go racing.

The same thing holds true for how cars go to the back. You'd be amazed at how many people obsess on what happens if, let's say, five cars have to go to the back for one reason or another. How do they line up at the rear of the field?

My question to somebody who asks me that is how would you expect them to line up, just based on what you think would happen even if you don't have any idea what the rule is. Almost everyone guesses that the cars would start at the back in the order they would have started if they hadn't had to give up their positions.

That's exactly how it's done. If five cars go to the back and one of them is the pole winner, the pole-winning entry starts ahead of the other four. How else would you do it? First one to the back wins?

It's just not that complicated.

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