A Big Night For Bubba, And For Motorsports

I’ve long subscribed to the theory that when it comes to motorsports and the varied disciplines, a rising tide lifts all boats.

 In other words, NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula One, short track touring series both on dirt and asphalt, and Saturday night short tracks are all in the same boat, so to speak.

 They all depend on one another, so when one does well, they all benefit, and when one suffers, the rest are in jeopardy of doing the same.

 NASCAR seems to catch the most heat on social media, but the other circuits have their haters as well.

 With that said, last Saturday’s SRX race at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola turned out to be a big win for all of motorsports.

 With a live CBS network audience watching, Helio Castroneves, a Brazilian open-wheel racer who has won a record-tying four Indy 500s, took the win on a half-mile track in a full-bodied car.

 Bubba Pollard, a short track specialist with wins on asphalt and dirt, dominated much of the event and finished second despite having a flat tire and having to go to the rear during the main event.

 Joining Pollard and Castroneves on the podium was a NASCAR veteran, Ryan Newman, who waged a spirited battle with Pollard for the runner-up spot. (That was a bit awkward for me as I consider both of them to be my friends.)

 The track officials and fans at Five Flags did an excellent job of representing their side of the sport. The facility looked great on TV, and the fans packed in despite the miserable heat.

 The short-track audience even encouraged and cheered on Castroneves as he did his trademark fence climb following his victory.

 And Senoia Raceway and the Pollard family got some good PR from the CBS announcers.

 For those of us who attend the races at Senoia, it was rewarding to see Bubba handle himself so well in what undoubtedly was a high-pressure situation. (I felt a like parent watching their kids on stage in a school event - hoping they’d do well but mostly wanting them to get through it without embarrassing themselves.)

 Bubba appeared at ease with his fellow racers, and they looked comfortable around him as well.

 He did a great job with his interviews, coming across as confident in his abilities but also humbled to have been given the opportunity to compete against some of the greatest drivers ever to strap on a helmet.

  Bubba may or may not ever get another opportunity to compete at that level again, but he can forever look back and say that on one hot night in June, he put on a performance that impressed racers and race fans from across the country.

 The tide rose and boats were lifted.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Proud Daddy

Image
  In several conversations with Sonny Pollard since he and his family repurchased Senoia Raceway and began transforming it into one of dirt racing’s better facilities, he’s asked me: “Do you think my daddy would be proud?”  And my answer is always: “Yes.”  Hence Pollard died young and has been gone for years, but his influence on Georgia auto racing remains strong, and that’s a big reason he was recently elected as a member of the Class of 2023 of the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame. He joins long-time Atlanta Motor Speedway president Ed Clark, Hall of Fame founder Gordon Pirkle and short-track asphalt racers Bob Leach and Sandy Goss.  On a personal note, it was Hence who helped start my career as a motorsports journalist by giving me a season pass when I was just a teenager. I tried to repay him by sending in results from the track to the old Atlanta radio stations WBIE and WPLO and to the Atlanta newspapers, and that eventually led to a career as a full-time write...
Read more

Things That Make You Say "Wow"

Image
 As I sit here on a rainy night in Georgia, I’m thinking about some things I’ve seen lately that have me saying “Wow!” to myself.  On a personal note, I recently received my red, white and blue Medicare card in the mail. Since I lost my health insurance along with my job at the big newspaper we’ve paid some really hefty premiums for some not-so-great coverage.  We even had some agents look at our medical history and tell us our best hope is to hurry up and turn 65.  I’m here now, and it feels pretty darn good.  On the racing front, I, like a million or more others, am still marveling at the way Ross Chastain rode the wall on the last lap at Martinsville Speedway to pass five drivers for position and claim a playoff berth.  I’ve had several drivers, good ones, tell me they’ve often wondered if that would work. Of course none of them ever tried it, which makes what Ross did even more impressive.  Just today, I saw something else on the racing...
Read more

The Rest Of The Story

Image
    It makes me feel really old to be writing about something that happened 50 years ago, but here goes anyway.  Back in 1973, I went to many a race with a group of men from my hometown of Inman and thereabouts. Most of them are gone now. My distant cousins, Wesley, Weldon and Ronnie Stubbs were regulars in our group, as were Freeman Clemons and Pete Gay.  Cecil Dunn went occasionally, and it’s refreshing that his memory of the things we saw back then matches up with mine. Cecil and I were standing next to the backstretch fence in 1975 when Tiny Lund was killed in a crash just in front of us. We also watched as two Georgia men, watching from the infield across from us, scaled the fence and rescued Terry Link from his burning car, even as a track worker was using his caution flag as a weapon to try to keep the two heroes away from Link’s car, which had impacted Lund’s. (Years later, thanks to a savvy researcher at the newspaper, I was able to interview Richard Sim...
Read more