Dallas was a pretty good time, it was hot and fun. I guess the highlight would be our hour long Last fan standing! Loyal and I had a blast with the crowd. It was girls Vs. Boys. Guess who won? the girls! We hit them with our best questions and still the whole time the girls held there own. I will say there was a whole new feel to Trackside. I hope every year we can have Halloween show. Everyone came dressed up and we played scary music it really set the mood. The show was wild! If I don’t get to be on the Speed team next year, I think I would have to come for Halloween, It was really cool. Raceday was a special edition show it lasted for over three hours, we have had so many shows at this point its hard to remember them all. We did get to enjoy 90 degrees everyday though, Texas is a strange place, People were very...Texas, I don’t know how else to describe it. This week it’s off to Arizona I am going to try and get Loyal to climb Camel back mountain, It takes about a hour and no matter how many times I’ve done it; it never gets any easier. The bad part is if the sun sets and your not all the way down!!. Only two more races to go. It’s actually really sad. I have had so many memories made, I will miss Speed quite a lot. That’s all I have to say about that.

Daryl

A weekend gone, but not forgotten. We filmed a t.v. commercial, gave away 60 tickets to fans, had a super star as a guest and even did a live action scene for the Trackside fans, All in all the perfect weekend. We are going to Texas and very quickly running out of races. I wanna thank Jim for hitting yet another race he is truly the Speed fan of the year. I also want to thank Loyal for my head pain. I still am seeing stars. My next match I’ll be ready buddy!! And before I forget, a big hello to Keith, he is my friend from the gym here in east TN, and he has been keeping up to date with the blogs so I promised to say HI. Other than that not much to report here, See you in Texas,

Daryl

The weekend came and went. I once use to build sidewalks. Sidewalks and parking lots. I lived in the mid-west in Milwaukee, WI. We would get to the job site at 6 am and leave at six or seven in the evening. Building curbs and driveways is no small feat. I’m sure some of you out there have spent time working with concrete so you know. It’s a lot of fun though, you get to be outside all day and basically get payed well and you get a great work out. The bad part comes in the late fall and winter....Yes winter! The last day I worked that job was years ago on Dec. 16. Dec 16 in Wisconsin is not easy to describe. It gets so cold your teeth hurt, your bones hurt and no amount of layers will help. I tell you that to tell you this, Friday in Martinsville was as cold as I’ve been in as long as I can remember!! It was raining frozen ice cold rain, and to top it off it was very very windy. The rain didn’t stop for 12 hours! I think after moving to TN four years ago, I have officially lost my northern blood. I think it was the worst day as far as weather. The only saving grace was Ryan Newman was on and Smoke and Denny, the show was fun and now looking back it wasn’t a half bad day after all. I just thought I would share my pain with you so you know the craziness that ensues on any given weekend. 12 hours standing in the ice cold rain has to be worth something right?? Anything for the fans!! I must say I am pretty excited for this weekend, it’s not only Atlanta but it’s also the world famous Ruttledge Wood Halloween party! I still don’t have a costume though, I need to hurry up! Three races to go!!

Daryl

Well what a exciting weekend! I always have been a fan of the Saturday night race’s I like the energy in the air and the lights and of course being off on Sunday! This weekend was my most stressful weekend in a while. I always try to do my best but any time we have the bosses around I try a little bit harder to put a little extra in. Such was the case this weekend. Every boss we have was there. So the pressure was on! Well about an hour before the first show of the weekend, my buddy Loyal falls out cold!!! Just drops over like a cut down tree! Everyone is suddenly frozen and the next ten min. felt like hours to me, we watched as he was tended to and was picked up, and taken to the in field care, and then on to the Hospital. Words for how scary it was don’t exist. He is doing fine now I’m happy to say! However it made for a crazy day. Part of this whole fun show is our team and the energy we bring, we play off each other and work best with everyone there. So hearing we had to take the stage, just moments after the paramedics took him!, Man I will speak for myself, I was a mess. I know I didn’t fake it very well. Our buddy was down and it showed. We waited all day for some good news. When they said he got to come home, I was still in shock. Still it was great news to hear after a scare like that. The next day, he seemed much better and was resting. We were able to deliver a home run for the Speed fans! Raceday was so much fun. We had a large crowd plenty of music and great Fanatics during our games. Loyal sat out and we missed him, but our buddy Mike filled in, so next week we will no doubt be making up for a shaky Friday. Loyal is ready to come back and lead us to the final five Pre-shows of the year!! What a crazy year it’s been! I wish Ryan Newman would of done better. It just seems like who ever wins the cup will be a driver we could of guessed from the first race. I wish it was more of a shock, I think Denny will win one more and the Biff will be runner up, to.....thats the question isn’t it!

First off Trackside in Dega was the best one I’ve ever been apart of so thank you to all the fans who cheered and dances and sang! We invented a new game called “how many bites does it take D to eat a PB&J” I don’t know if we will play it again, without milk it’s quite risky. We are very shortly going to be out of races and I have mixed feelings about it all. I love seeing the fans and making new friends and hanging with all the crew guys each weekend. The tough part is the travel, the time away from home and the competition. I’m a sore loser always have been, As you may have already heard it’s that time of year again where Speed looks for the next great Speed team! http://www.speedtv.com/feature/casting/..... They are currently looking for the best of the best. So that being said I may very well end up on that stage in Daytona next year, however I’m getting older and more clumsy. I got to visit the infield care center again this past weekend (that’s four times this year!). I am a accident waiting to happen! So in the event that I can’t keep up with the new youngsters and a better man or woman is found, I wanted to say this..... meeting the fans of Speed, is hands down best part of this job. Seeing races, meeting drivers, hanging with Rut, getting free food and candy and pizza every Friday, all that aside, the fans are still the best part and what makes it worthwhile in the end, so thank you all!! and I promise to never forget what it means to be a real NASCAR fan!!

DJ D in TN

Well things keep getting more exciting at Speed. Every week something new reminds me how very lucky I am to be here! Our fans are the best around, They came from near and far, The Dakotas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas City, and everywhere in between. I never put much though into Kansas having a second race. after this past week though I think they deserve it more then anyone. What a great showing of The Mid-West. I guess what made it so great was the weather, after being rained on so many times we were able to dry out and get some sun. This weekend I caught a movie with Loyal again and like a few of our other movie days we picked a random one, and this one was called “Girls rock”, It’s truly one you have to go see http://www.girlsrockmovie.com/ I really think it’s a important movie for all young girls. It’s a great story about growing up, making friends and going to rock camp! So anyhow watch the trailer see if it’s playing near you. It’s very entertaining and really has some good lessons for everyone. I would recommend you take your daughters, or even your wife. It was truly eye opening. I hope I have a son first though! I’ll name him Ryan Newman Motte. I also got to catch the end of the race which is hard some times. We go to 36 races but never catch the race it’s sad, I see most of them at the airport. So my question this week is… When did Jimmie start doing well and Carl for that matter? I don’t get it? Out of no where Carl starts running up front and Jimmie starts winning? and Kyle starts slipping? It is confusing, I’ll have to ask Hammond how that works. The timing is strange. This week I’m driving to Dega. I love going through the mountains in my truck it is one of the best parts of living in the south.

Daryl

Hey everyone, This weekend was our first weekend without a drop of rain. Our crowds were very very big. Trackside was so loud. I think everyone there was having a blast. I hope you come by the stage this weekend. It is time for the one Kansas race a year. And the BIFF! won again in DOVER!
Speed fans have been so great this year we have truly had a fun time. With the chase winding down its time for some serious racing and its anyones guess who will win. I love Kansas for the haunted houses. They have some of the best in the country. So come sign up to be a speed Fanatic and all your racing dreams could come true! We will be waiting for you Trackside!

The start of the chase is filled with rain again!! It rained and rained and rained. Somehow they got the race in. The Biff comes away with the win which is cool. I really like him. My favorite show on SPEED is on Monday. This week in NASCAR is the name. I think it’s so fun. Tune in and check it out. I think I may have a cold now from the rain. My head is still ringing. As always the fans didn’t disappoint. They came out and got rained on with me. In our edition of last fan standing this week Loyal and I added a east coast twist, instead of the fans yelling good by, they yelled in east coast voice YA, Outaa here!! It was funny. I guess you had to be there. So anyway only 9 races to go. I have had so many great moments and made so many friends, It’s going to be sad to say goodbye. With each weekend that passes I remember all the great fans that make up the Speed family. I will truly miss ya. I think we should do a top ten list of best fan moments. Maybe Loyal and I will cook it up. Biggest Gordon fan every tops the list! His beard will never leave my mental photo album. I gotta go sleep off the weekend.

Daryl

Rain, Rain, Rain, and more Rain. We had a very long wet weekend. Thank goodness the storm was not as bad as they were calling for. Whenever the storms come out everything is crazy at the track. One thing that never changes though is the fans. They stood in the down pouring heavy rain for every min. of our shows. It was amazing. Now we have 10 races left. It is very strange to think the season flew by again. I was sad to have missed out on a true under the lights Richmond race. I promised some fans I’ll come back next year as a fan and really do Richmond right. Anyhow With all the rain storms it looks like next week will bring more weather on the coast and that is sad, being rained on all day sucks. You never really dry off. I plan on finding a true adventure next week. Loyal and I are due for some good danger. It’s been quiet recently and it’s time for a real close call. Wish us luck!!!!

Cali is, well, it’s a magic place existing 3 hours behind the rest of the country, the important part anyhow, (sorry Texas) but it is of no surprise that we have a new adventure every-time we go. This time the sun stayed on top of us for hours and hours and while the breeze did it’s best to help, we still cooked. I was sad to see that almost no one was at the track. And why I wonder? I blame the track itself. Look at some of the other NASCAR races. Everywhere you look they are sold out!! In Cali though, no such luck. The thing is fans are willing to travel. Over 15,000 UT fans were in Cali for the UCLA vs UT football game. So I guess it’s just that the track itself is not a big draw. They should of reached out to anyone with a Rose Bowl ticket and offered a half off NASCAR race ticket. Why not? They had room and if they want to keep the race in CALI they better find the fans. On to racing…
Kyle again shows why he is the best driver in the sport, 17 checkered flags thus far in NASCAR’s three national series combined. Man what a year so far. We showed some old clips at SPEED this weekend of Rusty and Dale wrecking people for wins and I must say those guys drove like jerks. Complete jerks time and time again. I just still can’t see the difference. Why does everyone hate KYLE? He never drives like those like those old clips. Those wins were flat out jerk moves on the track and they became adored for it. I think it’s fun for the sport to have a villain, but I wish people could pick a new guy to hate. I can think of a few.  O yeah Jimmy won, you know what’s interesting about him....nothing. Sure he is a nice guy and a class act, blah blah blah.... You want a real driver, read the Tony interview in Rolling Stone this month (it’s adult content, you have been warned) and you may remember how long it’s been since we really had a wild card driver. Tony is a mess no doubt but at least he is himself. NASCAR needs A true back woods drinking, cussing, fist throwing driver. I really think the sport needs it badly right now. Joey Logano is coming up and already it’s “Gosh, heck, geez!” What have we done with all the men? No one even has a beard anymore. It makes me sad. And so CALI came and went. The crowds were nothing to write home about and the people while nice were not given a true Racing weekend. I say to anyone from the WEST coast, put the kids in a van and head east to a track of your liking, you wont regret it! There is a better weekend out there I promise. VA is next come on!!.

Daryl

Thanks to everyone who hung in there at Bristol. Our screen was down on Sunday and I most say it really made things boring. Trackside was hot! We had animals everywhere! The crowds were not as loud as I remembered though. I think everyone may have been sleepy from all the camp ground fun. It was fun being home and sleeping in my own bed. I guess that sums it up. It was a two day weekend and plenty of racing. I really had fun watching Kyle and Carl fight like kids. It was pretty funny. I can’t wait till they have round two. A second highlight would be Rut throwing a entire cake into the crowd. Man that was a fun moment. Plus my friend Seth was in town again. He is the “Daryl” over at ARMY stop by and say hi to him tell him I sent ya! Anyway on we go to the West coast and thank goodness because I hear it’s almost 100 degrees. I’ll be melting with the best of em. Stop by the stage.

Daryl

Michigan fans have set the bar for complete out of control-ness. The Trackside show on friday was the loudest one that I’ve have ever been a part of. Now on sunday I will say that the crowd was much larger, but it didn’t help because the friday night kids took the cake. We had start a to finish crazy time. There were Tippy cup games in the front row by the Wisconsinites, and Arm wrestling from the Canadians, Big Foot obsessed Speed boys, (Loyal and I man we we’re hooked) and a crazy tall stilt man. We had singing, dancing, chanting, drinking, cheering,crying and tons of “A"s from our dear northern friends. Together we became the new Dega. Sorry old Dega but the crown has been switched. You would of thought it was the very last Trackside ever by the way we all carried on. I’m glad to say I was there to see it all. Maybe Dega will take back the title, but we will have to see I myself am doubtful.

So on to some sad news… The No. 18 Toyota that was driven by Joey Logano, and the No. 20 Toyota that was driven by Tony Stewart were caught red handed! What does Papa Gibbs have to say..."It was a really, really poor decision by some of our key guys at JGR. I want to apologize to NASCAR, to our partners, to Toyota guys. A couple of guys chose to make a decision there that really impacts all of us,” Um...Ya think!!!
How about a apology to us? Cheating has no place in sports. I’ll say it again, Cheating has no place in sports. Not in baseball...Steroids, or Football...hidden cameras, or NASCAR....pick a time. I understand grey area. I get the whole thing, “Everybody does it” Well guess what like MOM would say, “that doesn’t make it OK!” And “Everyone doesn’t do it!” Thats just what people say when they get caught. We all know that the Toyota engines were recently changed by NASCAR to level the playing field by cutting 15 horse power. While I didn’t agree with that, I still don’t like the idea of cheating. My thought on it would be that maybe it didn’t really give you a edge and maybe it was all for pre race dyno numbers, but YOU STILL LIED. It was still dishonest. And just between me and you...I don’t believe Papa Joe. Mr. Jack Roush, co-owner of Roush-Fenway Racing, which fields Fords in the Nationwide Series, called the Gibbs team’s actions “extremely detrimental to stock car racing. Right on Jack, I couldn’t agree more. Mr. Pat Suhy, GM Racing group manager for NASCAR, said “It’s disappointing to hear that anybody, whether it’s a manufacturer or a team or an individual on a team would go to any length to do that,” Suhy added. “It’s bad for the entire garage, I think.”
Well of course it is. Now thanks to Gibbs sportsmanship every Toyota is in question. Kyle is having the year of his life. If his wins start to drop off what will everyone be thinking? This was a very bad thing. Gibbs of course was giving the shine in the interviews, We will find out who did this...blah blah this is so very disappointing...blah blah. At least it wasn’t an on track incident!… wait how did he say it? Gibbs said he was thankful that it was an off-track incident that did not involve racing. Well so Sorry to shock you Joey, but it couldn’t of had more to do with racing. What was it MOM always said...o yes I remember now she said “You can’t take back a lie, and sometimes sorry just isn’t good enough”

Daryl

We had a great time in NY this weekend. While our stage location was not the best we made the most of it. Our dear friends the Said Head’s were back. I love those guys, they bring a type of vibe to our stage. A vibe we have been missing dearly. They bring their wigs, and Said Head T-shirts. They cheer like crazy and always answer the call “who said?” Our stage show for Trackside included golf shots into the crowd and singing and dancing. We had a great crowd. On Raceday we had Li Li’s family and even got them to play our stage games. I was really happy to see such a great crowd turn out. Kyle did it again, and again really entertained the fans. His end of race antics were really fun. He has become a talent worth watching and makes the most out of every race. A weekend highlight would have to be seeing Rut recreate the fan jumping the fence to grab a autograph last year, shirtless and all. So with 14 to go we head to MI for yet another Mid-west bash. I can’t wait. I love the irish hills. I hope to see another great race with a wild ending.

Daryl

Philly is a very busy place. We got in on thursday. Loyal and I headed right towards downtown, We had South st. on the rader. Once there we shopped around and found that Big Money is a must! Every shop had something worth grabbing, but T-shirts for $150 and jeans for $200? I was suprised. Even New York is easier on the wallet. In the end Loyal bought posters and I bought Subway. We headed to the movie theater. Every weekend we see a movie if not two. Most of the time the movies are obscure films. Independent movies or documentaires. I never know what I’m going to get into. This week was Encounters At the End of the World. I will tell you seeing a movie about Antarctica was not my choice. However Loyal, again, was dead on. The film was amazing and I was glad I saw it. We have seen some strange ones this year for sure. So if you ever need an idea of what to see next feel free to hit us up because between the two of us we’ve seen it, trust me. In fact we have a contest going right now for who can see the most movies this Year. While he’ll never admit it, I’m in the lead right now! Maybe by only one or two movies but a lead non the less.
Racing went as racing goes. Most of the weekend was rain. Sideways rain, upside down rain, big old fat rain and sometimes rain that seemed to fall up from the ground. We saw the darkest skies of the year so far. We even had some flooding. In the end Carl Edwards wins with a little luck and a lot of yelling.
This weekend will be cool because my friend Seth with be in town and yet another trip to the movies and if that was not enough there will be lots of racing and a visit with Salty Austin.

Daryl

The race will go down as the worst CUP show ever! Every 13 laps!! Really? Every 13 laps? If tickets were $15 dollars I could forgive this running. Even the cheap seats are $75 bucks a pop. There were reports of fans sending emails in during the race making sure someone knew they were not happy. So think back to a worse race? How bout the inaugural race at Talladega where all the big name drivers boycotted over tires and Big daddy Bill France replaced them with a bunch of no names. But that was in 1969. Tickets were like $5 dollars. Then there was the 2005 UAW-GM Quality 500 at Lowes Motor Speedway as many as 42 of the 43 cars had tire problems. I can’t even remember who there didn’t crash! The main difference that will show you just how much things have changed over the years is this, check out the press release from 1969…
Tom Higgins posted this about the 1969 Talladega race as it relates to yesterday’s non-race: “Big Bill France, an imaginative and ingenious promoter, fully realized that the estimated 62,000 attending at Talladega that steamy September sabbath 39 years ago hadn’t seen the spectacular show he’d been billing while the speedway was under construction.
He issued this statement:
“The ticket stubs for this Talladega 500 can be turned in for a free ticket to any future race at Daytona or Talladega,” declared France. Daytona International Speedway is Talladega’s sister track.
After Sunday’s debacle, NASCAR and Goodyear should pitch in, share the cost, and be equally as generous in regards to next year’s Brickyard 400.
Lord knows, they’ve got the money.”

He truly put the fans first. I know times have changed but it would be nice to see some old time spirt. Toyota makes a great engine up to speck and instead of being rewarded with wins and pride, NASCAR steps in a changes things for them. I’m sorry but that really rubs me the wrong way. You can’t ask people to work that hard and then because others can’t catch up, force them to dumb it down. It would be like adding a curve in med school because only only or two Med students were receiving A’s. As far as tires, Goodyear must feels secure in their business arrangement with NASCAR. Seeing how they were recently renewed a contract that runs through 2011. Where is their “ We are So Sorry” My absolute favorite article I pulled off the web says it all.

“I am neither a Mechanical nor Chemical Engineer, but allow me to posit a theory: IT’S A NEW FREAKING CAR! Is there really some great mystery here?” Goodyear held a test at the track back in April but opted not to bring the tire they tested. Evidently, that tire only lasted about 6 or 7 laps before giving out as well. Here’s what Dale Earnhardt, Jr. had to say about that test, in which he was a participant, “… when that’s happening at the test, you can’t say, ‘Well, it will get better.’ That can’t happen anytime. I don’t care if it’s one car on the racetrack testing, that can’t never happen. You can’t sit there and go, ‘Well, you get everybody here to do it, it will go away.’ That ain’t good enough. That’s still dangerous even if it’s one cat out here testing.”

Well with that being said… class dismissed.

Daryl