Brickyard Debacle

Sunday was a travesty to racing!! From my view this was Goodyear's fault but many are blaming the track, Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The track hasn't been changed since 2005 and they had drivers at the track earlier in the year to do tire tests and no problem showed up then. Last Saturday was an eye opener. Dale Jr. was the first to say anything. He went and got a news crew with camera and asked them to follow him. He had something to show them, that's how bad he felt like the situation was. After 7 laps around the track his tires were showing cords!

Even though NASCAR had flown in tires from Pocono overnight, most teams stayed with the Brickyard tires because the harder Pocono tire had the potential to cause other problems resulting in blown engines, So, NASCAR made the decision to throw a caution every 10-20 laps which took all pit strategy and racing out of the game.

I'm very thankful my trip to the Brickyard was last year. Would hate to spend that kind of time and money and not see a race. It was pitiful!! Even I quit watching!! Most drivers issued apologies last night and this morning to their fans for such a poor excuse of a race. Now how sad it that? Ok, I could go on and on once I'm on my Soap Box so I'll step down and move on...but grrrrr anyway :P

This Day in History:

July 28, 1929

Future first lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy is born

On this day in 1929, President John F. Kennedy’s beautiful and popular wife, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, is born into a prominent New York family.

Jacqueline, or “Jackie” as she was called, grew up an avid horsewoman and reader. In 1951, after graduating from George Washington University, Jackie toured Europe with her sister. That fall, she returned to the U.S. to begin her first job as the Washington Times-Herald’s "Inquiring Camera Girl.” Her assignment was to roam the streets of Washington, D.C. asking strangers “man on the street” questions and then snapping their picture for publication. Shortly after her return to the capital, at a dinner party in Georgetown, she met a young, handsome senator from Massachusetts named John F. Kennedy. They dated over the next two years, and in May 1953, Kennedy proposed. Jackie accepted and the couple married on September 12, 1953, at St. Mary’s Church in Newport, Rhode Island. The Kennedys then settled in Washington, D.C., where Kennedy embarked on a meteoric political career. He served as a senator from Massachusetts from 1953 until he was elected president of the United States in 1961. At the time, he and Jackie were the youngest couple ever to reside in the White House.

The couple presented a public facade of a happy marriage--the general public did not know of Kennedy’s affairs with other women—and Jackie was a dedicated wife and civic-minded first lady. She raised two children in the White House and restored the building to historic specifications. She was a popular celebrity and style icon for women around the world. On a trip to France in 1961, President Kennedy once quipped “I’m the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris.”

The most memorable and tragic images of Jackie Kennedy were captured on film on November 22, 1963, immediately after her husband was shot while the couple was riding in an open-car motorcade through the city of Dallas, Texas. A home-movie camera caught a frantic Jackie scrambling over the back seat of the car and onto the trunk, where it appeared that she tried to retrieve a portion of Kennedy’s brain. Later that day, the press photographers snapped Jackie as she stood--shocked, stoic and solemn in a blood-stained suit—next to Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson as he took the oath of office en route to Washington on Air Force One.

July 28, 1945

Plane crashes into Empire State Building

A United States military plane crashes into the Empire State Building on this day in 1945, killing 14 people. The freak accident was caused by heavy fog.

The B-25 Mitchell bomber, with two pilots and one passenger aboard, was flying from New Bedford, Massachusetts, to LaGuardia Airport in New York City. As it came into the metropolitan area on that Saturday morning, the fog was particularly thick. Air-traffic controllers instructed the plane to fly to Newark Airport instead.

This new flight plan took the plane over Manhattan; the crew was specifically warned that the Empire State Building, the tallest building in the city at the time, was not visible. The bomber was flying relatively slowly and quite low, seeking better visibility, when it came upon the Chrysler Building in midtown. It swerved to avoid the building but the move sent it straight into the north side of the Empire State Building, near the 79th floor.

July 28, 1973

Bonnie & Clyde's Ford V-8 sold at auction

Bonnie and Clyde's bullet-riddled 1934 Ford V-8 sedan was sold at auction for $175,000 to Peter Simon of Jean, Nevada. The Ford V-8 model succeeded the new Model A, and it was well received due to its speed and power--perhaps this is why it seemed most popular among the criminal element. Henry Ford first received a personal letter congratulating him on the car's performance from famed outlaw gunman John Dillinger. Dillinger wrote, "Hello Old Pal. You have a wonderful car. It's a treat to drive. Your slogan should be Drive a Ford and Watch The Other Cars Fall Behind You. I can make any other car eat a Ford's dust. Bye-bye." Later, Clyde Barrow wrote a similarly laudatory note to Henry Ford: "Dear Sir, While I still have breath in my lungs I will tell you what a dandy car you make. I have drove Fords exclusively when I could get away with one. For sustained speed and freedom from trouble the Ford has got every other car skinned and even if my business hasn't been strictly legal it don't hurt to tell you what a fine car you got in the V8." Almost enough to make you think Ford hired both high-profile criminals for an ad campaign, but alas, Ford made no use of either personal endorsement.

Until next post...