April 5, 2010
By Kim Roberson
Kim Roberson
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A month without Sunday races.
That is what this is turning out to be.
“You get that in December,” my mother commented when my sister suggested a topic to write about this week.
“OK, ‘During the race season’” my sister clarified.
We had a race free weekend three weeks ago. Last weekend, Mother Nature delayed the race until Monday. Today, it is Easter, and we are race free again. So, what is someone to do on a race free Sunday? Here is a top ten list:
10: Play with Peeps. Seriously. The Washington Post has an annual Peeps Diorama contest where you can create a piece of artwork made from the sugary, brightly colored marshmallow concoctions. We spend an entire Sunday building one to enter this year. It didn’t win. Ours was based on the TV show Jeopardy, but for the race fans out there, someone else did one based on the BBC TV Show “Top Gear”. Believe it or not, the Post has started a trend, and other papers like the York Daily Record and the Denver Post now host their own Peeps contests.
9: Let your child run your Twitter account for the day. An informative “tweet” from NASCAR driver Michael McDowell stated: Mc_Driver ]]]]]\]]];, tlki,m=[=+I9i8uypo0trf ]0m;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;ppppppppppppp\ppppoooooooooooooopoo\\\\\\\\\\\\\///////==\\\\\\\.
8: Check in on Denny Hamlin’s knee. Yup, surgery went well. It’s still attached.
7: Make sure Kyle Busch doesn’t do something he will later regret in Victory lane. Actually, it seems that Kyle now “gets it”, since he made the following offer in Nashville Friday night after winning the truck race: “I’m going to give this guitar to Sam Bass so he can use it to beat up on my truck if he wants after what I did to the guitar last year.”
6: Catch up on your NASCAR reading. Not those harlequin novels that have the NASCAR theme, but the good reading about the “Good old days”. Might I suggest the following: “Sunday Money”; “Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul”; “Pit Road Pets”.
5: Try and figure out why Dale Earnhardt Junior isn’t running like he should be. Oh wait, that goes on every day of the week.
4: Watch an old race or listen to it on the radio. If you have a favorite race on tape or DVD, pull it out and enjoy it. Better yet, if it is a really old race, watch it and think about whether it really WAS better back in that era of racing, or if you just thought it was better back then. (You might be surprised with what you find out.) For those who have Sirius Radio, Channel 128 often runs old races in place of new ones during an “off weekend”. You can listen to the calls of races won by Dale Earnhardt, Benny Parsons, Alan Kulwicki, and Cale Yarborough. Today’s replays include the 1975 Purolator 500 and the 1998 NAPA 500.
3: Play golf. It is a beautiful day this Easter morning. Golf is actually quite popular with many of the drivers. Sure, Jimmie Johnson tends to end up injured when playing, but other drivers seem to enjoy the game. Sort of: “AJDinger Time to go work on my crappy golf game.”
2: Come up with ways to end Jimmie Johnson’s reign at the top of the NASCAR points every November. (Here’s hoping a newborn baby will take care of that this year.)
1: Spend time with your family. Go play a round of Putt Putt. Dig out a board game. Visit someplace in your neck of the woods you have never been before. Just enjoy each other’s company. Life is too short to waste a good opportunity.
Happy Easter, Happy Passover, and just a generally happy week to all my NASCAR friends out there.
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