I've been on vacation; vacation from this blog, vacation from work, vacation from NASCAR. Wait a minute...vacation from NASCAR? Is that even possible? Not really.

Shortly after the 16 finalists were announced, my family and I hit the road. It was perfect timing also. All along I knew I wouldn't make the top 16 but it was fun and a lot of hard work. I wasn't sure if I was going to come back, but deep down I knew I would eventually. I do not write full time and the contest had turned into my life away from my life. Since the contest ended, I've returned to the lifestyle that I  once enjoyed. My daughter's t-ball season is underway, I started reading a book, I've gotten a manicure, a pedicure, and started up my tanning again, I have even got to play Bingo. But two significant things have happened that has prompted my return to the blogosphere, and I've realized that I will probably never be completely gone.

As I mentioned previously, my family and I went on vacation. Nothing big, just a few days away from home. We traveled to Oklahoma City, about a 4 hour drive, with our 5 year old daughter and 1 year old son. This would be our first family vacation with our son and really looked forward to it. We didn't do much, we went to the Zoo, ate at Spaghetti Warehouse, swam a lot in the pool and we visited Bass Pro Shops. I can say those three words and anybody that is a NASCAR fan instantly knows what I mean. Well, we were looking for Spaghetti Warehouse and happened to pull into Bass Pro Shops parking lot to figure out where we were on the map. My husband and I didn't even know they had a store there. Later that evening, my husband, who likes to fish occasionally, but is not a novice, turns to me and says: "I think I want to go into that store..." Without missing a beat, I chime in and say "...to see if they have NASCAR stuff." Enough said. We were on the same page and we didn't even have to convince the other one to go in. It really was a beautiful store with rows and rows of fishing rods that I know my Dad would have to spend all afternoon looking at. The fish tank in itself was a spectacle that any non sporting enthusiast would have enjoyed. And yes, a great selection of NASCAR items that ranged from die casts to t-shirts to scanners to ice chests. Shopping there was a bonus on top of a great family getaway. Even on vacation, out of my day to day routine, I was still able to squeeze NASCAR in.

The second thing that prompted my return and really just sums up how I feel about NASCAR and that was the premier of CARS. We took our son and our daughter to the drive in instead of the theater to watch the show. For one- my son has an early bed time and we were able to tire him out on the slide and swing set while we waited for it to get dark. He conked out in like the first 5 minutes of th show. There would be no way we could take him in the theater and have enjoyed this movie with our daughter. Not only was it an animation which she enjoyed but it was NASCAR based which we enjoyed. I liked the movie a lot, but for two special reasons. One, it's based on a town located on Route 66. I live on Route 66, but not in Radiator Springs, and the movie refers to a Cadillac Range, where a mountain range looks like the back end of Cadillacs sticking out of the ground. This is actually based on Cadillac Ranch, a short jaunt from where I live.

Cadillac Ranch is 10 Cadillacs halfway buried in the ground owned by a local entrepeneur named Stanley Marsh. Stanley is known in the area for doing crazy things and this is just one of them. But the second reason I liked this movie is because it truly emobodies that NASCAR is not just a sport - it really is a way of life. If we didn't have kids and didn't know anything about NASCAR we would have never watched this movie. AND for Disney to give the King a tribute that should have gone down in the real record books speaks for EVERY NASCAR FAN. That feeling alone is what ties us together. Fan to fan, husband to wife, girl-friend to girl-friend. And although fans of NASCAR get slammed all the time about it not being a sport - well, it's just so much more than that, and I just feel lucky enough to be a part of it.

Today is NASCAR Day - a day where proud fans can display their love for the sport and have a chance to help out a good cause. I never thought I would be a NASCAR fan. I especially never thought I would be bloggin about it. No other sport, for me, comes as close.

NFL. I'm a Dallas Cowboys fan and have been my entire life. But, if there was a race or a game - I would choose the race and rarely would flip the remote. Since I've become a NASCAR fan, it hurts me to even watch football. I can't watch a game without flinching during a tackle. I don't understand how one human being could want to be so physically destructive against another human being - so much so as to end their career. I have seen linebackers tackle their opponent and literally bend them backwards for the sole purpose of injury. They can't just hit to stop the play - they have to hit and then see what other damage they can do. That excessive abuse can ultimately end that person's career but they just don't seem to be bothered by it.

NBA. I have paid more attention to basketball these last few weeks than in the last few years. My husband has even asked me who's leading the series. But to me, it seems that basketball has evolved to where it comes down to who has the last shot in the last second of the game.

MLB. I was lucky enough to be on maternity leave when the Boston Red Sox were in the playoffs and won the Championship in 2004. That's one good thing about the playoffs - you get so much history and trivia prior to the games that you feel like you've been a fan forever. I always thought baseball was boring. It seemed to me, that the team that won the game was the team with the least amount of errors. And that is vey well true - it's just so heartbreaking for a team to lose due to one mistake and then have very little opportunity to make it up. I guess that's why I like the Red Sox. Decades of heartbreak all over that organization and for them to come back and win in the playoffs against the Yankees! That was awesome! I still don't watch baseball, but if I'm flipping through the channels and a game is on - I stay long enough to see if it is BOS.

NASCAR - not just two teams but 43 teams. A sport where there can be physical abuse done by fists, but then that just spices it up a little - and only a black eye as far as damage goes. NASCAR - sometimes it does come down to the last seconds of the race - but not every race and there's no overtime. NASCAR - a sport with a history of it's own and fans as loyal as the Boston Red Sox fans. It's NASCAR Day - take the day off.

Kyle Busch has just turned 21 - is he even done with puberty? I saw a recent interview with him and he still had pimples on his face. Has he even stopped growing? You hear about these boys that have late growth spurts at age 18 and end up being 7 feet tall. Is this an Andre the Giant in the making? Before you know it he won't even be able to fit in his own specialized seat...and about those specialized seat - how do they do that? I mean do they have them sit in the mold with their suit on or are they in their skivvies...and then there's MoJo, Tony Stewart's monkey. I think MoJo is about to rip someone's face off. He's all cute for a while but he's going to get tired of it and the claws are going to come out like an angry cat on an annoying kid. There's a reason why they are called wild animals - they're WILD. Haven't you seen Madagascar? Where Alex the lion is thrown in the wild and his mane starts to kink up because of the humidity and his nails spring out. That's MoJo. Tony, let him go... to the zoo! It's for your own safety! Don't get me wrong - I'm not a Peta activist - I love beef and pig and if you want to shoot Bambi's mama - well that's fine as long as you eat it. And another thing - Bambi - that's a boy name. Bambi is a boy in the movie.

It's one in the morning and I can't sleep. All of a sudden I've been hit with blogging topics but only little tidbits. I begin to jot them down and suddenly remember that Seinfeld episode where Jerry wakes up in the middle of the night laughing and writes his joke down, but then can't make any sense of it in the morning. This blogging thing has completely taken over my thoughts!

Everybody, no matter how much you love your job, sometimes feel you need a change. Something to spice things up - something to make you fall in love with your job all over again. You would never dream of doing anything else, but you just feel like you're just going around in circles. I think Dale Jarrett is in this exact spot and his move to Toyota will bring great things. He is a prime race car driver that has earned the name CHAMPION. His partnership with Toyota brings competition. Competition is good. Competition makes you strive to be even better.

A lot of controversy has surrounded this manufacturer entering the Nextel Cup and for several different reasons. All I can give you is my reason for supporting Toyota (and Dale) and that's because the American consumer is supporting Toyota. GMC, Chrysler-Daimler and Ford are slowly loosing their consumer - if they haven't lost it already. In an attempt to hold their consumer last summer - they all three offered employee discounts. GMC offered "Employee Discount for Everyone." Ford offered the "Ford Family Plan" and Chrysler presented "Employee Pricing Plus." The discount was significant but it wasn't enough to maintain their sales. Automotive News in August reported that GM posted the highest sales in June of any month in the 109 year history, but according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in August, the index for the new vehicles declined sharply for the second consecutive month (July and August). Although the Big Three increased their market share, sales still rose for Toyota. Automotive News in August reported that sales rose 12.1% in June from the year-ago month. The same magazine reported that Toyota's share topped 15% up from 12% in July. Toyota did not follow their competitor - they did not offer a discount and still maintained their sales. Even with a discount in front of them - a majority of Americans still chose Toyota over GMC, Chrysler and Ford. Unfortuantely for General Motors, it may have been a quick fix to an unstoppable crisis. GM is continually closing factories and soon they will lose their title as being the number one car manufacturer in the world. Datamonitor in September of 2005 reports that General Motors for the fiscal year 2003 achieved revenues totaling $185.5 billion. The same report states the Toyota Corporation achieved revenues that totaled $159.4 billion, an increase of 11.6% against the previous year's revenues. It is expected that Toyota will become the world's leading car manufacturer.

Just for the record - I don't own a Toyota, but I am curious to see what results Toyota will produce. I think everyone can agree there is nothing stock about stock car racing but will they become a contender to be dealt with on the track just like they are on the city streets. Folks, these are the facts: Toyota is made in the United States and Americans are buying Toyotas.  I don't see Dale as a traitor, he's just an American. Americans are thinking about what is best for their families and figuring out how to make their dollar last as long as they can. Isn't that what America is: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

This is what I know about the NBA:

Larry Bird - that white boy could play some ball

Spud Webb could dunk

The Bulls kicked A in the '90's

Pacers/Pistons vs The Fans in 2004: I still don't know who won.

Dirk Nowitzki: Punk'd

Mark Cuban - Billionaire - not millionaire because that would mean an insult.

Mark Cuban is part of the very little information that I know about the NBA, but he's a big part of what every sport organization knows - Team Spirit. I honestly believe Team Spirit can make or break a team - and is it even called Team Spirit - anymore?

I went to a small private Catholic high school which in translation means poor and broke. I played basketball in uniforms that were at least 25 years old, and I'm talking polyester, the fiber that doesn't breathe. We didn't have a bus - we had Vans. The one time we did have a bus, my senior year, the heater didn't work. We didn't even have football. Our homecoming was during basketball season. You had to really love basketball to stick it out and I did.

Now my husband went to a small town public school. Football, Basketball, Track, Golf, Cross-Country, a lot more variety of sports. It sometimes shocked me to hear the things he said in dusgust  "Man, the football team got new uniforms.." (his were about 2 years old) "...but that's alright because we were the first team to get Air Jordans." And not just any air Jordans - the very first ones ever! They were like the envy of every high school in the district. So to hear him talk about how they got sick and tired of eating chicken fried steaks after games just made me hungry for a chicken fried steak. Here is a school with funds, but generally lacking in one area - team spirit. It seemed to me that the only time the football team received overwhelming support int he stands, was if they were in the playoffs. It wasn't like that at every game and unfortunately, they didn't make it to the playoffs often. And if they were suffering a losing season it was only  worse. It pained my husband to know that there wasn't more support for his hometown team no matter what the record was. They had a small amount of loyal fans but nothing like the Iraan Braves.

Iraan, Texas. My mother-in-law's hometown of about 1200 people, but team spirit the size of a 5A school. I have been in that town when the football team departs to go to a game. I think the entire town shuts down, not only to get ready to go to the game, but to line the road, all decked out in black and red for the buses of players, coaches, band members and cheerleaders to see. I am lucky enough to experience this level of team spirit during their football seasons and actually attended the State game against Groveton in 1996. I felt if I didn't scream at the top of my lungs (like everybody else) then they weren't going to win. The band would start playing this warchant and everybody would break out in Tomahawk hand gestures. You can't help but look at all the craziness in the crowd. You could just see it in their eyes, you could hear it in their screams, you could feel it in your chest. It was faith in their team. This is how it is at every game! And at every sport - even the band has gone to State! It was only natural that I broke out in tears when we won against Groveton (14-7). Undefeated - the perfect season. What every high school football player dreams of - any athlete for that matter. The Iraan Braves, a team and a town, taken serious every year.

Now, I'm not saying that faith alone or team spirit will get you to State or to the Playoffs, but it can turn around an organization and they begin to believe in themselves. I think that is what Mark Cuban is to the Mavericks. Mark Cuban is that crazy guy you see at high school or college games that paints his face or body and starts yelling "Defense (stomp, stomp) Defense!" No matter how ridiculous he looks, he slowly transforms the crowd into a madhouse that rocks the stadium. And even though a player can physically accomplish every task in front of him, sometimes you just need to look at the stands and feel the love and the faith the fans have in you to get the job done. The Dallas Mavericks are getting the job done.