8/21/06

Elvis was riding with the Big Guy today……….

Right now, I’m sitting in the terminal waiting area at Memphis Airport (while the cacophony of people yelling into their cell phones all around me is deafening. FOLKS! YOU DON’T HAVE TO YELL INTO YOUR CELL PHONE AND NOBODY IN THE WAITING AREA WANTS TO HEAR YOUR BROTHER-IN-LAW JUST HAD HIS PROSTATE EXAM!!!!!) about to board my flight back home. The race in Memphis will definitely be one of the more memorable national events of 2006 after all is said and done. In every professional class, there were dramatic turns of fortune that will surely have measurable impact on the ’06 championship chases.

I’ll get to how John’s weekend went in a moment, but in case you didn’t catch hold of all the really remarkable things which transpired in Memphis, I’ll briefly touch upon a few.

First, running eliminations on Monday, due to the rough weather on Sunday, hasn’t happened in a while, and unfortunately, with people having jobs to go to on Monday, it was far less than a full house at Memphis Motorsports Park to witness the conclusion of the race.  Of course, attendance across the entire weekend was held back by the excruciating heat and humidity that smothered western Tennessee, keeping people hunkered down somewhere with air conditioning.  But even with the crushing heat, the crowd that turned out on Sunday got to see a compelling opening round of eliminations that was exciting to experience.

In Top Fuel, Melanie Troxel’s first round loss may have sealed her fate in this year’s title picture. The fact that Doug Kalitta won the race, beat the recently-surging Tony Schumacher along the way, and opened up his lead over Tony to 136 points as we head for Indy now puts Doug squarely in the favorite’s role with only six events left to go this year.

Jason Line watched that tough guy Dave Connolly lose in Round 1 to Warren Johnson (on a holeshot!!!) and then advanced to the final round, ultimately losing to Kurt Johnson. The story here is that with each passing race in which Greg Anderson goes without a win (he’s only got a single victory this year), Line continues to go rounds, and Connolly blows hot and cold, the hopes for the championship are gradually becoming more favorable for Jason.

Pro Stock Motorcycle has been a free-for-all since the first race in Gainesville. It’s still a four-bike affair for the championship but the last two races have been disastrous for Angelle Sampey. She was disqualified in Brainerd after the first round for being too light, and then she was beaten in the first round in Memphis. She’s not out of the running mathematically, but psychologically, she has gone from nearly regaining the PSB points lead in Brainerd, to dropping into fourth place in the span of a week—and there are only four PSM national events to go. Meanwhile, with Antron Brown fouling out in the final against Andrew Hines (that’s the EIGHTH time Antron has suffered a final round red-light in his career!), he and Andrew are in a virtual dead heat for the points lead. It’s been quite a scuffle.

Now, the fact that John has finally taken over the points lead from Ron Capps adds a new wrinkle to the story which has been the central theme in Funny Car all season. Ron was a second round loser in Memphis, and it’s the fifth time in the last six races he has fallen early on Sunday. Despite those losses, it has been a frustrating struggle for John to capitalize on Capps’ recent slump and it was quite a relief for the team to see him pick up another win—his second this year and 121st in his career, plus move to the head of the class.

I spent some time with John on Sunday while he was chilling before the rain delay hit and we talked about the “Driving Force” show on A&E and how great it’s doing in the national television ratings. It’s also been very demanding for the family and there have been some sacrifices necessary for all the Forces to endure, but overall, everyone feels the effort has been worth it. Frankly, John looks a bit weary when he’s taking a few minutes to unwind and as a good friend of John and his family, I’m hoping the 2006 season comes to a successful conclusion at JFR and John can at least THINK about doing some real relaxing over the upcoming off-season.

It’s on to the Big Go in two weeks and it’s almost incomprehensible that the summer season is coming to a close. Indy is always a thrilling event and this year with the points races so tight, it will surely be even more so. But it’s also a race that reminds us that we’re in the home stretch of another racing season and another year, which is why the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals has become such a towering event for the sport.

After this year’s Labor Day classic, I’ll be back here with my next installment of “In the Groove”. Hope you’ll be watching ESPN2 in the meantime and catch up with my TV adventures on a bunch of racing and automotive programs. Plus, you can tap into a treasure trove of neat features, videos, and automotive entertainment of all kinds by going to www.wheelstv.net, a new website that recently went up that I’ve had the pleasure of helping create. There’s a ton of stuff on there I think you’ll enjoy—just plan on spending more than a few minutes taking a look at all it has to offer.

Drive safely over the holiday weekend!