I once treated a couple who wrecked their car on Interstate 275 in Tampa,
Florida. With doughnuts on the passenger side of their vehicle, it was only by
the skillful driving of the delivery truck which they hit that eased them off to
the right hand shoulder of the road. I couldn't figure out why it took this
extremely risky maneuver to stop the automobile. Why didn't someone in the car
respond? What were they trying to prove? It was then I was able to evaluate
the seen only to see both husband and wife, sound asleep, mom holding her
toddler who was crying hysterically. Falling asleep at the wheel,
unfortunately, isn't that uncommon, and I would have attributed this crash to
such an occasion with the exception that both parties were out of their car,
standing upright without assistance. You see, mom and dad were methadone
addicts and had been on their way home from a meth clinic which is used to wean
people off of this high addictive pain killer. Oh, did I mention mom had used
heroin? As any good paramedic would do, we gave each of them some narcan to
counter-act the narcotic effects of methadone, and proceeded to watch, helpless,
as I'm pretty sure they both chucked up the previous day's breakfast all over
the back of my rig.

Being a motorsports blogger, by now I'm sure some of you are either scratching
your heads, or have your noggins tilted to one side like a confused wiener dog.
(Mine's name is Johnson by the way, he just turned six in April) The point is
this: that particular run from nine years ago popped into my head while I was
watching the Brickyard today because it was a hell of a lot more exciting than
the race. Before, I had many send me hate mail calling me crazy for criticizing
the new car drivers are force fed in today's NASCAR for being big, cumbersome,
and totaly diminishing the exciting energy an event provides. The exchanges
started slowing when Fox Sports went on record as attributing the new car to the
drop-off in fan viewership at the beginning of this season. Then, just last
week, Rusty Wallace finally broke his silence (which normally, isn't difficult
for him) and said it's "not what NASCAR needs" right now. Citing many issues I,
and other more reputable journalists and racers have: No passing, and whoever
gets the clean air wins. Granted, it has always been extremely difficult to pass
at IMS, but today's event fell into the comedic stereotype of NASCAR watching 43
cars drive around in circles.

Honestly, if you can sit there and say that today's race measured up to Indy
events of the last 16 years, it makes me wonder who you're really trying to
convince? Lying to yourself is one issue, but to others? C'mon! Oh, as usualy,
the ESPN broadcast staff attempted in every way to make the race exciting, but
if Juan hadn't had the heavy foot leaving pit road, he would have run away with
the 400 barring any engine troubles. Really, even if it's your driver leading
the race, do you really want to seem him basically lead every lap? I know I
don't. It's not good for racing, and it's not good for the fans. By the way,
notice how many empty seats their were today? Amazing!

So, I leave you with these tormented thoughts from an aggravated fan who
desperately wants the return of grit and passion to a sport that deserves it.
I'm taking a much needed hiatus for a couple weeks, but in closing I'd like to
say this, we need more tracks added to the schedule like ORP!