Race twelve brought the Cup guys back home again to
North Carolina. (Add Jim Nabors voice imitation for
full effect please) OK... so it doesn't have the same
ring as "Back Home Again in Indiana" but at least they
featured real racing in Charlotte. I had not watched
the Indy 500 for a few years and figured I would treat
myself to a racing double header. Lo and behold I
tuned in to see a race and a parade broke out! Granted
it was a fast parade but that was hardly the
"Greatest Spectacle in Auto Racing". What it turned
out to be was the "Greatest Snooze in Auto Racing"
while the NASCAR boys put on a memorable thrill a
minute show in the Coca-Cola 600.
I woke to a gloomy Sunday so I figured 1100 miles of
racing might be a great way to spend my day off. I
grew up watching the Indy guys but in recent years I
had stopped watching even the big events the open
wheel weenies have to offer. This sad excuse for
racing proved I had not been missing a thing. The
driver interviews during the rain delay and watching
the drying equipment jockey for position turned out to
be more thrilling than this "spectacle" passing itself
off as auto racing. Six lead changes by four drivers
over the course of 500 miles? To see that kind of
non-stop (*YAWWWWWN*) exciting action one usually has
to tune in Yacht racing! Perhaps the Northern Lights
Indy Racing League should add NO DOZE as a corporate
sponsor before next year's Indy 500. That poor excuse
of a race put me to sleep.
Meanwhile, the good old boys of NASCAR showed fans
what real racing is all about. Eleven different
drivers swapped the lead twenty five times with lots
of two and three wide racing throughout the field.
They also showed that there just might be a changing
of the guard taking place in our wonderful sport. A
second rookie visited victory lane which has not
happened since 1991. This also gives us an incredible
eleven different winners in the first twelve races
this season. And unlike the Indy 500 where Juan
Montoya dominated nearly from start to finish, there
were enough plot changes in the Coca-Cola 600 to keep
me on the edge of my seat most of the evening.
Dale the Younger continued his fabulous rookie run by
not only taking the pole for the race but doing it in
record setting time. Jerry Nadeu showed that his
Winston performance was no fluke as he grabbed the
outside pole for the event. These two drivers would
take turns leading over 285 of the 400 laps run. Nadeu
