So April racing is officially in the books… and breaking records in those books is one Mr. Jeff Gordon.  Comments on the idiot fans who 'can't seem to let go' below.  Most of the rest of the weekend was calm, cool, civil… yeah right!

Remember, your comments on this column/blog are always welcome:  CrashG@SpeedFreaks.TV
Link to the blog on MyRacer.com:  Crash Gladys' Freakin Fodder Blog
Link to the blog on MySpace.com:  Crash Gladys' MySpace Racing Blog

And for the MyRacer.com Freakin’ Pick of the Week, we’ve slotted the win to the Las Vegas Drifting Video posted by John.  Now I know the girls are hot, but boys, keep it in your pants… check it out here at MyRacer.com:  http://www.myracer.com/community/video/video.do?method=videoDetail&sort=13&page=&categoryId=&svideoId=E1OTQw
 
For the weekend news, let’s start East and move West…

 

Sports Cars
It was the Grand Am Sports Car Series who showed up for a bitchin’ time at VIRginia this weekend.  Not only did Max Angelelli and Jan Magnussen win the race, but they freakin’ took over the points lead as well.  And what a tight battle it has turned into, as well… Max “The Ax” and Jan lead the Prototypes, with Ganassi’s Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas in 2nd and “Mad” Max Papis and Colin Braun in a close 3rd.  Keep your eye on this battle throughout the year at http://www.grand-am.com/

In the GT Class, it was Bryce Miller and Dirk Werner taking home their first win for Porsche.

But perhaps the most talked about story in the paddock was the passing of Brumos Racing President/CEO Bob Snodgrass this week.  Bob is legend in not only motorsports circles, but with general automotive enthusiasts as well.  Perhaps, as a tribute to their leader, the Brumos Porsche driven by Darren Law and David Donohue, finished 3rd overall in Virginia, the team’s first podium result since the ’03 Season Finale.

Bob, you are most definitely missed.  Godspeed.

 

Drag Racing
NHRA raced in Atlanta, where once again, Mother Nature tried to have her way (this time with heat, that bitch).  BUT, she didn’t get too far and instead some damn good racing won overall.   
     • Top Fuel – Well, how good does it feel to get a win?  Pretty sweet!  How good does it feel to win the 600th ever Top Fuel race of the sport?  Not too shabby.  And how good does it feel to take over the points lead?  Absolutely wonderful.  BUT really, Brandon Bernstein, Atlanta Top Fuel winner, how good is it to win the 600th race, take over the points lead and be there on the top spot as you enter your sponsor’s hometown for the next race?  Budweiser’s St. Louis!  Seriously?  How’s that?  F’in incredible I bet!  Congrats!
     • Funny Car – So for yet another race, Robert Hight solidifies yet another win for John Force Racing.  Great guy, great story and just great camaraderie to overcome all you have had to endure this year, and still win as if it’s an easy task.
     • Pro Stock – Also winning for the 2nd time in a row was Greg Anderson.  But this wasn’t just any win.  He schooled his former boss, Warren “The Professor” Johnson (yes, the same Warren Johnson who still hasn’t talked to Greg or congratulated him on any of his 3 championships – bitterness ya think?).  Greg ran a nice 6.67 ET, then jumped out of the car at the Top End and asked, “Where’s Daddy?”  Nice touch, Greg!
     • Motorcycles – Again, this class has been blessed with estrogen power.  Karen Stoffer took home her 2nd Wally trophy of the year with this Hot-lanta victory.  And let me tally up the class wins for 2007… yep, 3 races… 3 female winners!  Hey ladies… !!!

Most definitely the biggest buzz in the pits, however, was that finally Baby Force was gonna square off with Daddy Force for the first time ever… set up for the first round.  The winner?  Chalk another one up for we chicas!  Ashley Force beat her dad, 14 time champion John Force in Round 1, then went on to the semi-finals for one of her best showings of the year.  We talked with her on our national radio show, SpeedFreaks, on Sunday night… check out the audio link for her take on the R1 duel:  /articles/742,1.html 

 

NASCAR
Neighbors to those folks in Atlanta, GA were hosting a race of their own liking… that of NASCAR.  Yep, even a movie was named after this famous tailgating place, Talladega!  Though the Cup and Busch series raced in bright sunlight, baby… no Talladega Nights there… it was Talladega Daze… and that’s D—A—Z—E  to you big wreckers on the weekend, Kyle Busch and Casey Mears.  Yowza!  Are you sure your bell ain’t still ringin’? 

In the end, the Busch winner was Bobby Labonte, in a thrilling draft pass off of Harvick teammate Tony Stewart.  And the Cup winner was, again, this time on Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s birthday… Jeff Gordon.  Jeff has now officially passed Dale Sr. on the overall win list with 77 (and counting).

But I digress… you freakin’ idiot fans (yes, that is what you are… those of you who behave badly) again endangered the lives of drivers and your fellow fans when your stupidity and pathetic jealousy for Jeff resulted in again you throwing beer cans at him on the track!  What is wrong with you people?  That’s two races in a row!  In Phoenix last week, the cans that were being launched from the upper rows were actually hitting fans in the lower rows… surely that happened again in Talladega?… but to make matters worse, your can throwing was so bad this week that you were hitting OTHER cars on the track during the cool down lap.  Does it matter to you that the crew guys work very hard on those cars, then miraculously they emerge from the race in one piece as they make it past “The Big One” at Dega and then suddenly there’s a massive dent on the hood thanks to you.  And oh yeah, what the hell are you teaching your kids about sportsmanship when you do such dumb things as that?   On our show Sunday night we had a caller from Canada who said his kids were asking him why people were throwing things at Jeff Gordon… kids ARE watching your jackyl behavior, believe it or not.

Jeff won the race.  He deserves nothing but respect for his race wins.  Your personal opinion of him can be what it is, good or bad, but after a race win, give him the respect he is due.  So he broke Dale Sr.’s record… on Dale’s birthday… at one of Dale’s best tracks.  GET OVER IT… history was meant to be rewritten.  Even Babe Ruth’s record is now gone.  These things happen and are a part of life.  Life… something you dumbasses need to get.

OK, I’ve vented enough… let’s head farther west…

So in Kansas, the NASCAR Trucks and the ARCA series raced in conjunction with the IndyCars.  Winner of the Truck race was Erik Darnell – his first in the series!  Wahoo!!  Not bad for a Cubs fan being employed by a Red Sox owned NASCAR team… and Erik finished second in Friday’s ARCA race, too.  Winning that Friday affair, was Scott Lagasse.  Story Here.  

For more on stock cars, hit www.nascar.com or www.jayski.com 

 

Open Wheel
Yes, the big daddy race in Kansas was the IndyCar Series on Sunday.  It looked like it might shape up to be a great race, with a battle for the lead between Tony Kanaan and Dan Wheldon (until Danica Patrick smashed into TK while exiting the pits… teammates?  Really?), then the Penske cars, then Scott Dixon… but overall it was another dominating performance by ’05 Champ Dan Wheldon for the win.  Here’s something interesting… did you know Dan Wheldon has led almost 500 of the total 700 laps this year in IndyCar?  Yeah, that’s a bit dominant, baby!  And what race is coming up?  The Indy 500 you say?  Hmmm… British born DW has some serious momentum leading to that Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

My favorite IndyCar link of the week, tho?  Check this out:  www.airtranraceway.com

 

Just a touch north, to Knoxville Raceway in Iowa, raced those World of Outlaw machines.  And with new paint scheme on board, Donny Schatz won himself another.  Story Here.  Nice scruff, too, Donny… it toughens you up! 

 

Two Wheel
If you would then take the 10 freeway all the way west to California Speedway, you would see yourself some sweet ass Superbike races.  In the top class, Mat Mladin and Ben Spies split wins and 2nd’s (Ben won on Saturday and Mat on Sunday), which means, the points virtually stay the same as they were coming into the weekend… Spies still sits atop the point board.  But chalk another one up for Benny Spies as he also took the win in the Superstock class.  Then our boy Josh Hayes had himself another victory in the Formula Xtreme class, which enabled him to climb on top of that point standing.  Then how about Jamie Hacking taking his first Supersport win, too.  For ALL the stories, battles and more, check out www.amasuperbike.com

 

Up to the Pacific Northwest, it was Supercross in Seattle… Congratulations to James Bubba Stewart for not only winning his 12th race of the year, but for solidifying both the National and World AMA Supercross Titles this weekend as well.  Some say he didn’t really have any competition this year, others say he is just so damn good… whatever the reason, he’s the champ and you must salute him as such… that includes you, too, Lugg Nuttz.  Oh yeah, since you asked Stewart if he felt like Peyton Manning back at the Anaheim I Supercross press conference (when neither of them were champs yet and instead both quite the bridesmaids), I bet he doesn’t mind feeling like PM now.  Puff that chest out, James… you deserve it.

One thing that is pretty cool about Stewart is that even though his start in the top class of Supercross was a bit rough, he has since taken things in stride.  ESPECIALLY this year when he in a classy move paid tribute to Ricky Carmichael’s retirement and then he went on to win it all the old fashioned way… he earned it…  Not many falls, just clean hard racing.  The word clean used loosely here folks.  And there is one more race to the season, next weekend in Las Vegas, where JBS can shoot for win #13.  (Tidbit, if he were to win Vegas, he would still be one win shy of the 14 win seasons by legends Ricky Carmichael (2001) and Jeremy McGrath (1996).
     • In the Lites Class, Washington native Ryan Villipoto took the checkered flag first.

 

More
There was also some good racing overseas.  Britain hosted the final round of the A1GP series at Brands Hatch, and history was made there, too.  Great Britain dominated the race, took the win and lo and behold, this was the first time ever that a team won on their home soil!  I know the series is only 2 years old, but you would think this would have happened by now!  Anyway, congrats to the weekend winner, Great Britain’s Robbie Kerr.

 

More, etc.
Now, let’s get to the stunning stuff!

As if the Dale Earnhardt Jr. contract negotiations weren’t enough for NASCAR’s team DEI (Dale Earnhardt Incorporated), now another monkey Mac Tools wrench has been thrown in to the mix.  Hey Robert Yates Racing?  Would you mind if I bought you so we could merge our resources?… said the absentee team owner Teresa Earnhardt.  You want shocking?  How about if DEI would make the switch to Ford engines after the long legacy of the Earnhardt name with Chevy.  It could happen… click here for the full story. 

Now, it's no secret that Suzuki factory teammates Mat Mladin (6x Champ) and Ben Spies (last year's Champ) aren't really friends.  But how bold would it be if Ben switched teams, away from factory support, when his contract runs out??!  A bold move that would be… and he told us about it over the weekend.  Click here for his audio link:  /articles/744,1.html

And what's this we hear that Al Unser Jr. might be driving in the Indy 500 coming up?  Hasn't he been arrested TWICE for DUI and this past time for leaving the scene of an accident?  Couple that with AJ Foyt IV's drunk driving arrest in December and wow, I bet we IndyCar fans are proud of the Indy lineup.  Help please… Unser is said to be driving for AJ Foyt Sr. as a teammate to Darren Manning.  Oh boy.

Yeah, yeah… there is MUCH more to the call that Tony Stewart got from NASCAR when they made him come in for a 6 a.m. meeting Friday morning and held his team from entering the track until their discussions were complete.  It all had to do with his failure to show for the media interviews after his 2nd place finish in Phoenix AND his verbal barrage on the series officiating during his Sirius show last Tuesday.  According to our sources, even the oh so tough Tony was put in his place by the NASCAR hierarchy and he emerged from the trailer with his head hung low.  He truly knows now that he is on his last straw with the series.  But is that a bad thing?  Not necessarily if you are Tony George.  Say NASCAR does kick out Tony, his fans will be more than pissed, but will follow him wherever he decides to go… IndyCar again?  Just stay with his sprint car team?  In the end, whether NASCAR wants to admit it or not, losing Tony Stewart would be bad for the sport of NASCAR, but damn good for wherever else he decides to race.

I’m digging for more for ya, too… back in a few…