Basher51's Bluff and Bluster

Hey Mark!  Is an armored car going to deliver your check from Norman Chad?

See "The Couch Slouch" column in today's Journal Sentinel Sports Section.

Folks for over 100 years the Milwaukee Mile has held auto races.  No other auto racing facility IN THE WORLD has operated continuously as long as The Mile.  Yet, we are on the verge of seeing it closed forever within two years.

This track is legendary.  Greats of auto racing such as A.J. Foyt, Bobbie Allison, Alan Kulwicki, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Parnelli Jones, Johnny Rutherford, have all cut their teeth on that one mile flat oval.  For generations it has been where you'll see the stars of the Indy 500 race on the week following that Memorial Day classic.

Now, because the state and the investors who own the lease for The Mile cannot come to terms, it may be closed forever.  Big league auto racing will be gone over a legal squabble.  We will lose the distinction of being the oldest continually operating auto racing facility in the world.  Once that is gone it will never come back.  Once NASCAR and IndyCar are gone they will never return.  Demand for races greatly exceeds the available dates that those organizations have.  Oh, we might be able to attract a few very low-level races.  But once the big guys leave, they never return.  The big crowds go with them.

When the Brewers needed a new stadium the region rose up and demanded it.  The cry was that we needed big league baseball in order to be a "major league city", that big league baseball helps Milwaukee to get nationwide recognition.  Folks, the Mile attracts the corporate big from all over the world.  They come to Milwaukee for the races and the city makes an impression on them.  Walk through the parking lots on a race day and you will see license plates from all over the country.  The track has a huge financial footprint on this region.

What I note is that the story in the MJS didn't appear in the sports page, or even on the local news page.  It was buried on the back of the business page.  That doesn't bode well in my book. 

Folks, we need The Mile!  We need sports fans, and not just race fans, to rise up and demand that the State Fair Park board and Milwaukee Mile Holdings get their act together before we lose big league racing and all of its prestige forever.

Keep your eyes on Rebecca Kasten.  Friday, she was profiled in Dave Kallmann's column in the Journal Sentinel sports section.  She's taking the beginning steps to a career in NASCAR.  Becca is a regular in the limited late models at Slinger and races around the Midwest in other divisions as well. She's won features and been fast qualifier in just about every division that she's raced.  She's a freshman at Marquette University.

This gal is going places.  In a short period of time she has really made her mark as a driver to watch.  Yet, in the times that I've met her I have always been struck by how quiet and modest she is.  Very soft spoken, polite, and not at all like what you would think a racer to be.

So, she could be heading for fame and fortune.  Go for it, girl!

I was rooting through some boxes of old pictures and came across these pics that a friend of mine took back sometime in the 1968 to 1970 time frame.  They show some racing action at Slinger Speedway when it was still a 1/4 mile dirt oval where modifieds and sportsmen raced for glory.  The only car that I know for sure is the #32 sportsman.  It was a light purple car driven by Roger Plautz.  Called the "King of the Bonus Heats",  Roger was a good driver who had a terrible time qualifying but raced quite well.  So, he often ran in the bonus heats where he'd win. 

I read Nicole Koglin's blog about going to a Badgers game.  That led me to wonder, are you Fox 6 sports folks ever able to just watch a game, any sport, just for relaxation or the pure joy of athletic competition?  Or is it the curse of your occupation that you always see a game (or race) from the standpoint of a sportscaster, you're doing your job?

I guess you can frame my question this way:  If you had a son playing high school football, could you attend the game as a parent and not attend it from the standpoint of "covering the game"?

What the deuce does "stay within yourself" mean???  I've heard this phrase about 60 times in Olympic coverage and to me it simply makes no sense.  In both a physical and philosophical sense, even a metaphorical sense, it makes no sense.  If not himself, BLEEP the heck else would a guy stay within?  Even if I wanted to stay within myself, it can't be done even in a spiritual sense.  Add this to the fact that I've heard it said about entire teams  "THEY have to stay within themselves."  What? Is there a fear that a whole team is going to haul off and end up within an entirely different group of people?  Is the US soccer team going to suddenly end up within the Racine bus driver's union?

So, I'm left to assume that this phrase is something that not even the folks using it know the true meaning.  "It's something that I heard another sportsguy say, so I have to say it or I end up sounding like I'm less knowledgable than he is."  I just think that  it is an overused, trite cliche which, like all cliches is now devoid of any meaning other than being somethign that someone says when they don't know what else to say.  But still, overused trite cliches have at their root a nugget of meaning, however much it has been lost or bastardized over time.  So, what does "stay within yourself" mean or, more likely, try to mean?  And if someone doesn't "stay within themselves" what do they end up doing?  Who do they end up staying within?

So my wife and I were watching the Brewers game last night, as we've become fairly avid Brewers fans.  Over the past few games I've noticed Craig Counsell has one of the most bizarre batting stances that I've ever seen. He looks like he's imitating a flamingo mating ritual.  Obviously there is a purpose to it or the batting coach would have worked him out of it.  So, what's going on there?  How does his batting stance work for him?  Does it cause him to delay his swing or does it shorten his swing?

Someone explain the mechanics.  It's one of them baseball mysteries.

Laying aside the Brett Favre hoopla--of which I have heard enough to make me sick of it---this Sunday Gilbert Brown is holding his Hall of Fame Race at Slinger Speedway.  It will be a match race against local TV and radio personalities. 

Any of the Fox6 folks brave enough to give it a try? How about you Brad "Adrenaline Junkie" Hicks?

From what I've heard Gilbert has been practicing at the track and turning in respectable lap times. 

A chance to see up close and person the hottest driver in NASCAR take on the premier Midwest bull-ring?  A chance to see the best that Wisconsin has sent up to NASCAR take on Kyle Busch on the Slinger high banks?  I ain't missin' it.

How about you?

Friday and Saturday my wife and I had the rare opportunity to spend the evening with full access pit passes at the Milwaukee Mile.  As an auto racing nut, this was a dream come true.  Motor Racing Outreach, the organization that provides chaplains to NASCAR and other motor sports operations (and also sanctions my chaplaincy at Slinger Speedway) invited us to spend the evening with Lonnie Clouse, the Nationwide Series chaplain.

Here are some observations:

• NASCAR is unbelievably media savvy and their events leading up to the race are timed to the second.  When qualifying went long that squeezed the chapel, held between the driver's meeting and driver intro, from 30 minutes to 15 minutes.
• The drivers go everywhere with a Sharpie in their hand.  They cannot get from point A to point B without a half-dozen or more stops to sign autographs.
• Drivers are incredibly mission-focused.  They seem to be a closed-mouth lot.  But with all the noise and distractions around them, I can understand the force of will that it takes to simply remainon task.
• Teams are a very caring group. I saw this Saturday when I got to the pits and the word was out that drag racer Scott Kalitta had been killed in a racing accident in New Jersey.  There was a pall over the crowd and Lonnie spent a lot of time talking with teams about it.
• Am I getting old or are most of those drivers just young kids?  Also, how is it that they are now about the size of your typical horse racing jockey?
• These drivers and crews are very family-centered.  The chapel service on Saturday proved that.  Joey Logano attended with his family and the entire Wimmer clan was there as well.  For the drivers at the event alone, the chapel time seemed to bring a sense of comfort to them, however brief it may have been.
• The drivers and teams are very generous.  I helped count the offering from the chapel service.  Let me just say again:  VERY generous.

Don't want to sound like a shill for Slinger Speedway.  But I am there a lot and I noticed that this coming Sunday they have a real special.  Bring a carload of 5 or more people and everyone in the car gets $4 off the price of admission.

That'll get them to the track!  With the new, earlier starting time (Time trials at 4:15 and racing at 6) I'm getting home and in bed by 9:30.  Of course, I'm so wound up that I can't sleep for a couple hours!

Anyone watch the Kentucky Derby?  Is Big Brown an awesome horse or what!  But just as wonderful as that race was, I am saddened by the fact that runner-up Eight Belles, a filly, was euthanized right after the race.  She put in an awesome run. But broke both front legs and was immediately euthanized after she collapsed. 

If you've ever seen a thoroughbred up close then you know how beautiful those animals are.  It is a great loss.  My heart goes out to the owners.  May God be with them.

All of this weekend's activities at Slinger Speedway have been rained out.  "But today was gorgeous"(if you like sunny, windy, and 45 degrees), some might say.  It certainly didn't rain today.  But the rain yesterday was enough to get into and under the pavement on the track.  That causes "weeping" (not just among race fans) on the track as the water seeps out onto the surface.  If we had had a reasonably warm day today, and with the sun, they might have been able to hold practice, and likely could have raced.  But with today's weeping likely not being cured and the weather tomorrow looking like it might rain, there is no way that they would be able to race.  The track would still be wet.

So, all of this weekend's fun and games will be moved to next week.  I'm going to be there for pre-season practice on Saturday and the opener on Sunday.  And remember to check the web site to see what time the races start.  For the first few weeks they will be racing in the afternoon.  I'll be there--hopefully I'll see you there, too.