One For The Money 11/14/2014 |
I bid you welcome
gentle readers, and a cordial welcome as well to our assigned NASCAR reader du
jour, thought to be comfortably ensconced in the beautiful Fan and Media
Espionage Center in Charlotte, North Carolina… or maybe not. The possibility
exists that you are a computer, not a person, and you are programmed to pick up
key words that may deem it necessary for human intervention to occur. This
scribe tries very hard to use all or most of them in the course of a document.
It’s a well-known game called, “Fun with computers.”
One for the money,
Two for the show,
Three to get ready, and
Four to go!
And then there were
four… and their names were Hamlin, Harvick, Logano and Newman. That sounds
rather like a law firm, doesn’t it? For anyone dwelling in a cave and not
familiar with what the heck she’s talking about, those are the only four
drivers still able to take a shot at what is being called a Championship in
NASCAR this 2014 season. Recall if you will, that in the beginning, we were
told (Read: sold a bill of goods) that all the emphasis would be on winning. It
would indeed, be “all about winning.” I didn’t buy it then, and drew up several
scenarios that could come from the new format, and by doggies, one of them has
come to pass, almost totally.
Yes, we have our “Final
Four”, just like the tall kids in college, but are they the right four? As we
left Richmond with the “Sweet Sixteen”, I announced that my fondest hope was
for the survivors at the end to be Almirola, Allmendinger, Hamlin and Newman.
Hey! 50% isn’t too bad when we’re talking about wishes coming true. Further, we
have now what Mama told you in the beginning could happen. Out of the infernal
“Chase” are 6-time Champion, Jimmie Johnson, with 4 wins on the season,
NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver umpteen times over, Dale Earnhardt Jr., also with
4 wins to his credit, 4-time Champion and actual points leader Jeff Gordon,
likewise with 4 season wins and 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion Brad
Keselowski, who led the season with 6 wins.
I’ll spare you the math
and tell you that between those four, they accounted for 18 wins… fully
one-half of the entire season, and quite honestly, probably more than half of
the entire fan base. Junior Nation alone comprises an awesome number of
dedicated and adoring fans, and the other three have pretty fair followings of
their own. Who thinks that all those fans are happy? You’re darned right they’re
not happy, and unhappy fans mean less fannies in the seats next year and fewer
TVs tuned to FOX and NBC on Race Day. If we keep it up at this pace, this
cannot possibly end well.
A Champion, by
definition, is the best at what he or she does. That’s the way it’s done in
every sport on Planet Earth. Well, every sport but NASCAR stock car racing.
Most sports conduct a Championship battle on an annual basis, and honor the
overall best at the end of each year. The methods of deciding who is the best
differ some from sport to sport, because each sport is different from the rest.
One gets 6 points for the team when he makes a touchdown. One scores but a
single point for crossing Home Plate after hitting a Home Run. I can’t even
tell you how Basketball or Hockey are scored, but each is different from the
others.
The point here is that
racing is completely and totally different from any stick and ball sport… more
different than they are from each other. How on earth could anyone think it
possible to copy one of them? Oh wait! He didn’t attempt to copy one of them;
he attempted to copy ALL of them! Earlier today I shared some conversation with
a friend, and tried to explain the impossibility of comparing racing to the
stick and ball games as being akin to comparing kangaroos and bubble gum. There
simply is no common ground.
And so it is that we
sit here, with one race left in the 2014 season, with no chance of crowning the
right Champion… the man that has earned it, just as Chase Elliott earned the
title in the Nationwide series. And… while we’re
talking about that, doesn’t it strike anyone else as odd that it’s only the Cup
series that’s been brought to its knees by this Chase debacle? NASCAR racing
tiers two and three still crown a Champion on achievement, not on some
convoluted elimination theory that’s now gone so horribly wrong. I know we’ve
been here before, but I’m going to keep on beating this drum until someone
dances to the beat. Take a look at the points as they stand, before Homestead. On
the left, Chase points. On the right, actual points as they would have been
calculated last year.
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One quick glance shows
that only one of the Final Four carries over from the actual points chart, that
being Joey Logano, who garnered 5 wins on the season and stands in second place
in real points going into Homestead. The other three “real” contenders are
locked out of even competing for the Championship and the best any of them can
finish is 5th. These are points figured on Brian’s own “Onesie”
method of scoring, not the Latford system that
confused no one but Brian. The truth of that is it made very little difference
in the long run. The Latford system was merely about
4 times the descending count by position. There was a minimum of placement
difference between them.
Right now, with
Homestead becoming larger and larger on the horizon, it amazes me the things
I’m hearing from so many fans. It seems important to a large number of you to
examine the difference between winning and points. Excuse me, but in reality,
there is no difference. He who wins gets the most points. Any wise racer will
tell you… and many have… that if he wins enough races, the points will take
care of themselves.
Still, with all the
talk of winning, points, right, wrong and cabbages and kings, one thing is
being totally overlooked, at least in polite conversation, and that gentle
readers, harkens back to the title of this missive… “One for the Money.” How
can that possibly not be seen as a huge part of the race, of the Chase, of the
season as a whole? Like anywhere and everywhere else, when it comes right down
to it, it is, as always, about the money. Have you seen the number of digits on
the check received by whomever is crowned Cup Champion? Have you compared the
#1 money with #2 and #3 money? Oh, and please keep in mind, the best any of
them can possibly finish is 5th. Johnson, Gordon and Keselowski may give lip
service to being “disappointed” at the way this season turned out… with most of
the best on the outside looking in… but they won’t tell you exactly how disappointed
they are… within earshot of a microphone.
Come Sunday, this
scribe will do her best to be happy for whomever beats the other three, but is
secretly hoping that they take each other out and finish 40, 41, 42 and 43. At
the very least, let it be someone other than one of the Final Four that wins
the Homestead race.
Of course, no attention
whatsoever will be paid to said “winner”, as all cameras and mics will be
occupied with the manufactured “winner” of the Cup. That’s not cruel, nor is it
an assumption. It has been ever thus. Consider last Saturday, when all the
confetti and sirens were for Chase Elliott. Brad Keselowski won that race, but
no one cared. Nationwide had a new Champion! Cast your mind back to the race to
end all races… that 1992 finale at Atlanta… with so very much going on. Jeff
Gordon’s first race, Richard Petty’s last race, which ended in a ball of fire.
Again as always happens, Bill Elliott won the race, but Alan Kulwicki got all
the press because we had a new Champion! Yes, come Sunday, one more name will
be added to the list of NASCAR Champions. How sad is it that this year, it will
be the wrong man?
If you can’t understand
why we need points rather than a farcical system that claims to be “all about
winning”, yet allows the very real possibility of a winless Champion on Sunday,
then consider the money. When it comes down to “One for the Money”, that one
should be Jeff Gordon… but it won’t be. Jeff, this lady was a Dale Earnhardt
fan all of his life, and that flame never burned out, but I have followed your
career, from USAC days to the #1 Baby Ruth car in the Busch series and through
all of your years at Hendrick Motorsports. You’re not perfect, but neither am I
or any of the rest of us. Those of us that can count know this would have and
should have been your 7th title, and we know what that means in the
history of NASCAR. We’re sorry that was taken from you, but want you to know
that the fans know who the real Champion is. Congratulations!
That’s enough for today
gentle readers; it’s time for our Classic Country Closeout. Today, I thought
we’d share some of the oldest type of “Hillbilly” music, that wonderful genre
known as Bluegrass. First up in any Bluegrass list has to be Bill Monroe and
his Bluegrass Boys, so here they are doing their smash hit from my childhood,
“Kentucky Waltz” This version has been enhanced for easy listening, so you’ll
find much of the tinny treble smoothed over with more mellow tones… or my new
Logitech speaker system is awesome!
Next up is one of my
old-time favorites, a bouncy little number called “I’m Goin’
Fishing” by Doc Watson.
Finally, we close out
with a song dear to many of my neighbors to the north, the State song of
Tennessee, “Rocky Top”, by the first group to record it… The Osborne Brothers.
Please enjoy…
Be well gentle readers,
and remember to keep smiling. It looks so good on you!
~
PattyKay