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.

Listening to a scanner is the best way to watch a race. Not only do you get to hear your drivers talking strategy with their crew, but you can hear the commentary when the drivers hit full throttle on that green flag. I have yet to watch a race without one and my husband and I have talked about purchasing a set for us. It's become somewhat of a plan to travel to several different tracks and we might as well invest the money for our own set.

It's odd how my husband and I have become each other's track buddy. You talk to other fans and they talk about how the "big group of guys" went to Daytona or Bristol and I would just freak out if he left without me to go to a race. He actually tried once. He mentioned that he thought him and his brother could go to the Phoenix race in 2004. I looked at him crushed, "without me?" I just had our second baby and no doubt going through postpartum. He didn't pursue it any further. Phoenix of all places. It was my first - race that is. I love Phoenix. The drive out to the track with the Estrella Mountains in the background is beautiful. The anticipation building walking up the central walkway while viewing a 3 story picture of last year's driver. Even the way the merchandise trailers are laid out -so meticulously thought out for the fans to enjoy. Then, to have your driver win at your first race is like icing on the cake. It also happened to be the first for Junior to win at PIR (2003) - one for the record books - considering he was getting so much slack at the time for not being able to win at a track other than a superspeedway. Now, even when we see Phoenix from home, just seeing the trademark baby blue barrier walls - the memories start flooding back. It was truly a great race experience that will stay with me forever.

So, we start talking about what kind of headsets are out there and comparing prices and how user friendly they are. We had borrowed my brother's police scanner once for the Texas race - never again. That thing had like 10 channels with like 20 channels within one channel and when I hit scan - it scanned through all 200 channels. Thank goodness I had the instructions with me but they were so obscure it was just ticking me off more and more. Nevermind the fact that I was setting my channels during the pre-race activities and feeling the anxiety build up within me - it felt like any moment they were going to start the National Anthem and here I was still messing with this chunky scanner. Ugh - I finally just had to close all but one channel and enter the bare essential drivers and go on. It's funny how you quickly become the "go-to" person for those people around you that don't have scanners. They look at you when the hum of the engines quiet down and without hesitation you automatically answer back "Debris." I love the scanners and will never watch a race without one. Since we get two headsets, my husband lets me select whatever drivers I want to listen to - which usually end up being his drivers also. I input all the channels and then scan who to listen to when a caution comes out. All he does is sit back, drink his brew, and enjoy the race. Anytime we needed to talk we would have to lift up our headsets so we could hear what the other one was saying, so when he suggested that we get two way headsets so we could talk to each other during the race - I knew I had become his track buddy. He didn't even say the words - that was love.

I work at a small branch of a University and any student or co-worker that comes into my office can tell I'm a NASCAR fan. It's not overwhelming with NASCAR memorabilia or anything - I still have to present a professional atmosphere, but I do have two possessions that I cherish. One, is my 1950's black and white Daytona Beach framed poster. It is a symbol of what I love more than the sport itself and that is its history. I've actually counted the cars on that poster and look at it quite often for inspiration and pleasure. Next, is my growing collection of 1:64 die-cast cars. My husband is a collector of the 1:24 die-casts and as a loving gift to his wife, bought me my first to start my collection. It is always a wonderful surprise when he comes home with a new one to add to my collection. Sometimes, I am able to line them up one, two, and three according to how they finished in the race. All except for one and at this moment I am waiting to see if I do add him to my collection - Jimmy Johnson. He's a great driver, but in the past, I just felt he didn't owe up to a lot of mistakes he made, and I really didn't particularly like him knocking off the Powerade merchandise in Winner's circle.  History has shown that drivers don't always end up with the same sponsor they started with and I just felt he started burning bridges before he crossed them.  Now my drivers aren't angels either. Hey, but Junior completely admitted he caused his accident with Kyle Petty last week, and who doesn't like a little car bashing between Edwards and Junior, especially if they don't cause each other to spin out. And yes, Tony was a little hypocritical when he said that somebody is going to get killed trying to bump draft at Daytona. Then, he went out and got Matt Kenseth sideways (and into the wall, and into the grass) the next week. But I can admit that. (And if you're wondering how I became a Stewart fan - read my other blog on Zippy) I'm holding out for Jimmy Johnson just a little more, basically for the fact that he races for such a respectable organization and it seems like every time he wins - it's somebody's birthday or anniversary from the ill-fated Hendrick organization plane crash. I believe in signs and its a little eerie, thats why I'm waiting for him to show me something a little more than just winning races - I want to see character.

So when my co-worker announced to me from her office that Jimmy Johnson, whom she's a fan of, had won, all I could do was let out a sigh in disgust. I already had seen that Junior's engine had blown and Tony's been the bridesmaid too many times - maybe today was his day. Nope- bridesmaid again. She's a Jimmy Johnson fan, and I really don't enjoy slamming another person's driver. All I could say was "Oh great - I'm going to hear it now." I have two more students that will trot their way into my office sometime this week to boast on their guy - Jimmy Johnson. All I got to say is "Bring it on." I love talking NASCAR with all my NASCAR junkies - we joke, we kid, we laugh, and it's all out of pure fun. It gives us something to talk about week to week and it makes us feel better. It's no fun when you have someone that bashes your driver out of pure hate. That's just someone that takes it too seriously. I like to hear the reasons of why someone is "their driver." It brings insight from another's perspective of NASCAR and you can learn from it. Just remember this Jimmy Johnson fans - Junior's day is coming and HELL is coming with him!