HEY, WILLIE!
Do you think Ben Kennedy will try to move the Clash to the bumper cars at the county fair next year?
WILFORD
HEY, WIL!
Nice shot, and you also gave me another idea for a potential race venue: The Cotton Bowl at the Texas State Fairgrounds. Hear me out.
Move the All Star Race there — it’s literally just across the way from Fort Worth to Dallas — and the Texas Speedway group (Speedway Motorsports) keeps custody of the event.
It’s not state-fair time, but go ahead and erect the Tilt-A-Whirl, open the beef-on-a-stick trailers and we have ourselves a show!
Mike Joy would have to wear a plaid coat in honor of Lindsey Nelson.
HEY, WILLIE!
Nice article Sunday. I used to live around San Juan Capistrano. Swallows return there, not swans.
JIM
HEY, JIM!
Gonna scratch licensed ornithologist off my LinkedIn profile.
You try to end a column with a reference that seems plausible, and as a bonus, a reference that might make you look worldly. Instead, this.
Funny, but I looked up the spelling of Capistrano, and there was a reference to the swallows and their annual arrival and departure — didn’t register with me, of course.
Meanwhile, swans also migrate, just not to the Mission San Juan Capistrano.
HEY, WILLIE!
The Churchill Downs idea for the Clash is brilliant. Can’t understand why I didn’t think of it.
But I think it will go as far as my idea about all three NASCAR divisions on the track at the same time for a race.
KEN B
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HEY, KEN!
Appreciate you seconding my nomination of Churchill Downs as a future Busch Clash venue. A one-mile dirt track would be amazing, especially if they open the betting windows.
But don’t appreciate you staking claim to MY idea — first broached last year, by the way — of running the Clash on the Daytona road course and including the previous year’s playoff teams from Cup, Xfinity and Trucks.
Since neither of us can claim a copyright, we’ll save money on legal fees when “our” brilliant idea is put into play.
HEY, WILLIE!
Regarding your ideas for future Busch Clash sites, did you know you included a northern Indiana location (South Bend), a Michigan location (Ann Arbor), a Canadian location (Montreal), and a Kentucky location (Louisville)?
All of which, in FEBRUARY, would be way too cold/snowy for a race?
JOHN S
HEY, JOHN!
Have you heard about the Swans of Capistrano?
HEY, WILLIE!
I think you did a great job of picking venues for future races but you left off the most obvious: The sand at Daytona Beach. That just seems like a no-brainer.
DAVID
HEY, DAVE!
It crossed my mind, and has crossed my mind before, but usually deep into Happy Hour.
Big Bill France needed to leave the beach because of increased population putting down roots along those dunes. And that was 64 years ago!
If the angry retirees and condo associations didn’t stop it in its tracks, the turtle people would.
HEY, WILLIE!
I guess some haven’t thought of the good to come from this recent Busch Clash. Like the people who saw their first NASCAR race, and the whole big-event feel, including the music offerings.
The racing truly reminded me of a Saturday night at almost any local track, with the heats and then the main. My only gripe would be, for such an original idea, they should have come up with an original name of the race.
That way, they could still run a Clash at the start of the Speedweek here, keeping that tradition alive. One more race? Why not?
MIKE IN ORMOND BEACH
HEY, MIKE!
A lot of wiring has to be connected to plug in a new race — network and title sponsor are No. 1 and No. 2 on the list, I’d think. Once they’re in agreement to shift locations, and that shift requires a lot of heavy lifting (as in this case), the last thing they want is another lift two weeks later.
However, since the networks always look to take one good thing and turn it into two good things, don’t be surprised if there’s lobbying to add another exhibition at a splashy venue later in a season.
The drivers and teams might not find it ideal, but their sponsors would. Guess who wins that tug-o-war.
HEY, WILLIE!
I don’t think the Rose Bowl would be available for a Sunday. Something in the city laws will block it.
HARRY
HEY, HARRY!
Boy oh boy, you got the Research Department fired up on this one. Turns out, it’s not a law, but a tradition dating back to the 1890s.
Pasadena’s annual Rose Parade began on New Year’s Day in 1890. When Jan. 1 fell on a Sunday, the parade was moved to Jan. 2, because city leaders feared the crowd and noise would spook all the horses tied to posts outside local churches.
To this day, the Rose Bowl football game isn’t played on Sundays.
And to this day, sources tell me, nary a horse has been spooked.
HEY, WILLIE!
Long-time NASCAR fan. Saw the 1967 Daytona race on a closed-circuit feed at Ritz Theater in Clarksburg, West Virginia. It was my first race. Maybe 10 people were there.
NASCAR isn’t what it used to be. I realize it’s all about TV money. I do not watch much any more.
ARTHUR
HEY, ART!
Yep, in the days before sports bars and pay-per-view, many folks had to gather in movie theaters or auditoriums to watch major sporting events. I recall watching a few championship fights at the Peabody, and watched Holmes beat Ali at the old Jai Alai fronton.
You got the big-event feel, but not the nearby taps and hot wings.
— Reach Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com
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