Just a reminder these are the designs to chose from:

Pace Car Design 1

Pace Car Design 2

Pace Car Design 3

Right now as of this posting PACE CAR DESIGN 3 is in the lead (that one just happens to be my favorite too)- so if you don’t like that design vote NOW!! As a matter of fact- if they had that wrap readily and commercially available for Chevy HHR’s? I would so wrap my car like that (well only if there wasn’t a Tony Stewart BPS Paint Scheme wrap available- I admit it).  VOTE NOW!

Also don’t forget to visit Walmart.Com/Nascar to pick up a Family Track pack of tickets for a race near you! $99 gets you four tickets, four coca-colas and four hot dogs- the family memories you will make will be priceless- so it’s a great return on investment!  There are still lots of tracks offering the Family Track pack special so get yours today!

Tony Stewart’s pit crew preforms their All-Star Race qualifying pitstop. Found on The Official Tony Stewart Facebook page- click to go to original)

Qualified: 13th

Finished: 14th

Race Winner: Jimmie Johnson

Points After All Star Race: Have not chanced since the All Star Race is a non-points big money race. Tony is still 21st, 170 points behind current series leader Jimmie Johnson. 62 points behind 10th in the standings – still outside of the top 20 and not eligible for a wild card birth.

My Mood After The All Star Race: Disappointed for Team 14/Bored by the race

There isn’t anything I can say about the race that hasn’t been said by others really about this stretch of not bad luck…but I guess we will just call it difficulty that Tony Stewart and Team 14 seems to be having.  Judging by this article the scanner transmissions show that everyone (driver and crew chief anyway) is just as frustrated as us fans. I noticed in the transcript from Team 14, Tony calls crew chief Addington by his first name Steve.  I have noticed that he really only does that when he is not pleased…otherwise he tends to just call him Bud.  Now I didn’t have access to scanner during the All Star Race for some reason (Damn you NASCAR MOBIL 2013 for not working)…so I am going on the article and previous listening experience completely and not Tony’s actual tone.   I really don’t have much more to write that I haven’t already written but if you are interested here is another article  about how the team does NOT have any plans to change crew chiefs because they are struggling.

All-Star Race winner was Jimmie Johnson.

There is something I just love about this picture.– Amy Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Bass Pro Shops/NWTF Chevrolet, drives through the garage area during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 17, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina.
(Photo Credit: Rainier Ehrhardt/Getty Images North America)

As I mentioned- I found the All-Star Race rather boring and I know I am not the only one who did. I honestly really didn’t even pay too much attention to the show down race- especially when it was clear that my show down driver was NOT going to make it into the show and I was pretty damn sure that even though I voted for him that he wouldn’t win the fan vote.  (BTW if you are interested that driver was Martin Truex Jr…he’s been hot this season and I figured he deserved a chance at the big money). I think it’s the format lately that just takes the gusto out of the race.  I have some ideas for things that could make the race better:

1. Don’t make being a driver in the race so damn complicated.  Make it simple: To qualify for entry into the All Star Race you must have won a race between the last All-Star Race and the current one- including the winner of the last All-Star Race. None of this racing your way into the All-Star Race, none of this fan vote stuff (don’t worry I have ideas for fan involvement- I will get to that later).
2. Bring back the Pit Crew Challenge- but make it part of qualifying for starting position in the race. Kind like they did this year with the full pit stop.  But none of this crazy stuff about no pit road speed limits business UNLESS you plan to remove pit road speed requirements for the race-which I don’t know that I agree with…my thought is to highlight the important piece of the puzzle that the crew members are- not make their jobs more dangerous than they already are. You could even have the pit crews do multiple pit stops in a bracket format like the Pit Crew Challenge that I miss so much.
3. Change venues and make it a short track race…(Bristol, Martinsville, maybe even Phoenix). Or better yet, make it a track they usually do NOT run cup cars on (Road America? Iowa? Rockingham? I even saw one of my FaceBook friends suggest Eldora- which I would be all for).
4. Reduce the number of segments to three and increase the laps in the first two segments (75, 50 and 15-20). Any more segments than that and people start to lose interest. “It’s yellow again? Why??? Oh another damn segment break.”
5. To add fan involvement have them pick the track (see 3). Have them vote on whether they think cars one or more laps down should be eliminated. Have them vote on a field inverse for the middle segment. See you can still include fan votes- just quit making it a popularity contest.
6. Leave the (newly changed) format alone for awhile. Fans get tired of trying to keep up with the new rules EVERY SINGLE SEASON.

Tony Stewart and Steve Addington speak before the All-Star Race. Photo from The Official Tony Stewart Facebook Page- click photo to be taken to original.

Notes About The All Star Race:

1. Was I the only one who noticed that poor Tony was trying to hand off his Coke bottle to one of the fans lining the walk way from driver introductions only to have his effort thwarted at least twice by fans who didn’t seem to want it or didn’t understand what was happening?  I would have gratefully grabbed the bottle and said THANKS TONY! even if he wasn’t my favorite driver. But I am biased.
2. The Skirts and Scuffs Facebook page has some great pictures by their resident photographer Charlotte Bray from All-Star Weekend at Charlotte- be sure to check out the race album here and the Friday album here. I am especially fond of the Tony Stewart pit stop here and this picture of Tony from Friday. They have tons of pictures of ALL the drivers/cars- so check them out!
3. Happy Birthday to Tony Stewart!

Next race is the longest race on the NASCAR ticket: The Coca-Cola 600.

Gratuitous Tony Stewart Picture:

From the Stewart-Haas Instagram feed- love this picture:

Photo is from the SHR Instagram Feed on the Official Tony Stewart Facebook Page- click picture to be take to original).

Anyway- several weeks ago I saw an ad on his site for CelebCall- because he is now one of the listed celebrities.  CelebCall is a service where for a nominal fee you can fill out a MadLibs-esque script using pull down menus and have one of their celebrities call someone you know. It’s a recording and there are samples on the website of what it sounds like (but you do not get to hear your particular choices in the sample- for obvious reasons I suppose).  According to the website, the phone call looks like it is coming from your own phone number (the buyer’s phone number) – probably to increase the chances of a successful pick up should the recipient of the call be screening calls.  I admit I was intrigued.  But then I got the information I was looking for and promptly forgot about it.  Until last week when I was again checking Tony’s points in the standings (yeah I do that too much I agree but I can’t help myself- I have to know where my team stands- pun intended) when the CelebCall ad caught my eye again.

This time I decided that Misty could use a little interruption in her work day and since I was fairly certain that she would be able to recognize Tony’s voice I thought I would give it a whirl. I filled out my script- and while indeed Misty was in the list of names (it’s a hugely extensive list let me tell you) – I actually selected from the “If You Can’t Find Their Name” list because one of the greetings there was Hey Beautiful and what girl doesn’t like being called beautiful (and being called beautiful by Tony Stewart is a definite win). Anyway I pressed purchase and waited (you can have it call them on a specific date but I just had them do it now).

Well I don’t think it was ten minutes later and Misty was calling me. Her reaction was priceless and the desired effect was definitely had.  Per our phone conversation she told me she didn’t know what was happening. She said she was pretty sure that when she picked up her phone it said it was me calling but then there was this really familiar sounding guy who was obviously familiar with her because he was calling her beautiful (HA TOLD YOU THAT WOULD BE AWESOME) and then she realizes it’s Tony Stewart calling her.  She said it caught her completely off guard (hard for me to do with Misty because if I get her a surprise I usually end up telling her I got her a surprise so she never really gets the full SURPRISE factor and then I even usually tell her what the surprise is- I am so bad about that just ask her). She even said that at first it was hard for her to tell it was even a recording and she didn’t know WHAT the heck was going on and why Tony Stewart was calling her from my phone.  It was the perfect thing to create a little levity in the middle of a work day.

There are tons of other celebrities available for your call making pleasure including: Charlie Sheen (I know- TIGER BLOOD), Mike Tyson, Ice-T, James Stewart (the motocross star not the dead movie star), Tony Schumacher (NHRA Top Fuel drag racer), Pete Rose and there are even two other NASCAR drivers: Bill Elliott and Michael Waltrip.  You should check out the list for your self because I can’t list them all out here- I am sure you can find SOMEONE to call your friend, relative, whomever!

For “full disclosure” purposes that us bloggers are held to these days: I did not receive any compensation or reimbursement for this post, nor was I asked by a marketing firm to post this post and I paid for the call to Misty myself. It was the best $5.00 I spent all week.

Gratuitous Tony Stewart Picture because I haven’t been posting enough of them according to one of my readers and I do like to make my readers  happy…ENJOY:

Tony Stewart during the parade lap at Darlingon (picture for the Tony Stewart Official Store facebook page- click picture to be taken to the original).

Mobil 2 GM UAW Corvette from the American Le Mans Series race at Laguna Seca in 2012. (Photo Credit: Amy K. Marbach)

Plenty of us were racecar drivers. But a racer was something else, someone who loved driving and competing above all else and who’d drive anything anywhere anytime, just to be strapped into a five-point harness. – Dead Man’s Switch by Tammy Kaehler (page 116).

You may remember that last week I reviewed the novel Braking Points- the mystery novel that takes place in the ALMS (American Le Mans Series) racing series by Tammy Kaehler.  As I mentioned in my review Braking Points is actually the second book in the Kate Reilly (Kate Reilly is the main character and race car driver) Racing Series by Kaehler and since I liked Braking Points so much of course I had to pick up the first book in the series: Dead Man’s Switch.

I have to tell you that despite the fact that I ended up reading the two books in the wrong order- I thoroughly enjoyed Dead Man’s Switch just as much as Braking Points.  In Dead Man’s Switch, up and coming race car driver Kate Reilly shows up at Lime Rock speedway hoping someone will end up needing a driver.  Her hopes come true as she ends up the 2nd driver for a race team she had worked with before. For NASCAR fans not familiar with ALMS- the cars are fielded with teams of two or three drivers (usually dependent on the length of the race) and driver changes are required during the race.  I spent a good amount of time in the paddock area at the ALMS race at Laguna Seca last year and was absolutely fascinated while I watched the teams practice the careful but quick ballet of the driver change in their pit areas- it was so coordinated. But I digress.  Kate Reilly got the ride she was hoping for because the teams second driver was found dead in the paddock parking at Lime Rock- by Kate herself.

And so begins Kate’s race weekend. Rumors swirl around the young female driver- did she kill a driver to get a seat? Many people think so.  Of course Kate knows she didn’t do it and that the only way to clear the suspicion surrounding her is to find out who did.  Kate soon finds herself suspicious of nearly everyone she comes in contact with as it seems they had motive.  But that is as much as I will tell you because you will want to read the book yourself to find out who did it and why.

While this book is not set in NASCAR I still think that my NASCAR fans who like reading will still enjoy Dead Man’s Switch I know I sure did and I am greatly looking forward to the next book in the series!

You can even follow Kate Reilly Racing on twitter! And join Team Kate on the mailing list as well to be a part of TEAM KATE!

You can find out more about author Tammy Kaehler at her website. She also writes for the blog Two For The Road with author Simon wood.

For “Full Disclosure” while I was given a copy of Tammy’s book Braking Points to review for that review – what I wrote was honest and truly my thoughts on the book. I was given nothing nor was I asked to review this book- I did so because I liked the book.

Speaking of which- I occasionally will peruse my website stats and one of my favorite things to look at is how people end up on my page.  Someone recently did a Google search for “why is stewart haas racing racing doing so badly.” They ended up here at BadGroove as if I had the answer. If I had the answer I would tell the team straight away so we could END the bad part of the season.  Let’s just say the other day I came across my $2 bill and I remembered that eons ago I read that Tony said that he thought $2 bills were lucky.  Don’t make me send you mine Tony Stewart because I so will.

Anyway- the winner in the Mobile 1 Under The Hood with Tony Stewart was not me-but I didn’t think it would be.  Honestly I forgot to vote a couple days so I don’t think I got in enough votes. Anyway the lucky winner was Sandra Clark…here are some pictures from the event…looks darn fun to me:

Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet SS, performs a Mobil 1 oil change on his 1967 Pontiac GTO at his personal garage in Columbus, Ind. (Photo Credit: Duane Prokop/Getty Images North America)

Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet SS, shows off his 1979 Pontiac Trans Am to fan Sandra Clark at his personal garage in Columbus, Ind. Clark, from LaGrange, Ga., won the chance to meet Smoke and tour his personal classic car collection through the Under the Hood with Tony and Mobil 1 sweepstakes. (Photo Credit: Duane Prokop/Getty Images North America)

Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet SS, shows off his 1967 Pontiac GTO to fan Sandra Clark at his personal garage in Columbus, Ind. Clark, from LaGrange, Ga., won the chance to meet Smoke and tour his personal classic car collection through the Under the Hood with Tony and Mobil 1 sweepstakes. (Photo Credit: Duane Prokop/Getty Images North America)

And my personal favorite:

Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet SS, jokes with fan Sandra Clark at his personal garage in Columbus, Ind. Clark, from LaGrange, Ga., won the chance to meet Smoke and tour his personal classic car collection through the Under the Hood with Tony and Mobil 1 sweepstakes.
(Photo Credit: Duane Prokop/Getty Images North America)

After reading the list and more importantly the highly scientific method you used to come up with the cities that made the list I am flummoxed.  You see- I am a NASCAR fan and I have been since I was a child.  Yet I am none of those things. Neither are any of the NASCAR fans I know.  You see, that is the problem when you perpetuate stereotypes- you inevitably alienate people.  It would be like me stereotyping football fans as the inebriated, shirtless guy wearing a beer dispensing hard hat while his entire bare upper torso is painted in team colors while standing in 30 degree weather. Or like saying that all programmers are skinny, pale, bespectacled, dateless, socially awkward, caffeine addicted trolls who sit in darkened rooms playing WoW  between code writing marathons. Those sweeping generalizations are for the most part untrue as are yours when it comes to NASCAR fans.

NASCAR fans at the 2012 Kobalt Tools 400 in Las Vegas NV (Photo Credit: Amy K. Marbach)

So let me get back on topic by telling you more about myself.  I am a college graduate with a B.A. in Diversified Liberal Studies (Culture, Language and Diversity Tract) with a concentration in literature. I live in California but no where near Sacramento which is on your redneck city list.  I do not smoke, I drink very rarely and don’t chew anything except the occasional stick of gum. I have never owned a pair of cowboy boots nor a gun (although I am not opposed to the latter- quite the opposite actually). I do not drive a riding lawn mower or a tractor (my current vehicle is a 2008 Chevy HHR) although I do live just a couple minutes from where most of the salad you ate for lunch was grown. I find taxidermy kind of creepy. I do, however, occasionally shop at Walmart and I do listen to country music- but not JUST country music- I listen to everything from Metallica to Nelly and in between- my music tastes are just as eclectic as I am.  I have worked in Information Technology for almost 15 years now. Personality wise I tend to be fairly shy unless I know you. I like to read and have a love of photography and writing.  I am a daughter, a sister, an aunt to three beloved nephews and a best friend.  I have also been described as a stalwart, tenacious Tony Stewart fan (he is a NASCAR driver).  What I am trying to say in a nut shell- is I do not fit into your version of what a NASCAR fan is.  Nor would any of the fans I know.

What can I tell you about NASCAR fans as a whole? It’s hard to put them into a single category. They are men and women who come from various walks and stations in life. They range in age from the very young to the very old.  What I can tell you that they have in common is fierce loyalty to their sport (and their specific drivers) and each other as fans. Which in itself is remarkable when you consider that each race (or game for you stick and ball people) there are 43 different drivers (teams) competing in that race instead of just two teams as in (most) traditional sports. If you are really interested in the wide variety and NASCAR fans and I seriously doubt that you are- you may want to start by picking up a copy of The Weekend Starts On Wednesday -a book that tells the stories of real NASCAR fans (you can also read my review of The Weekend Starts on Wednesday here). That might actually be researching your subject though instead of basing your article on farcical algorithms.

If you should ever want to really write about NASCAR and it’s fans in a true light might I also suggest that you research it by going to a race and talking to NASCAR fans in their element. Let them tell you about their driver and why they root for that driver (the reasons are as varied as the people themselves- you can read my version in this post: Musings On Being A Tony Stewart Fan:I Should Come With A Warning Label).  Talk to some of the crew member and let them show you what goes into the preparation of a car for the race. Observe what a weekend in the garage is like for them.  Let the drivers show you what their typical race weekend schedule is like and during what little downtime they have let them tell you about their foundations and causes that are close to their heart. Go for a ride along even and get the full exhilarating experience of a stock car at speed. You might even find yourself having a good time and learning something.

Sincerely, AMY

P.S. By the way, your very claim that you don’t use the term redneck negatively is laughable.  Your whole article reeks of the negative stereotypical drivel that NASCAR fans have dealt with for years. There is nothing “unique” or “fun” about (taken from your ABOUT US page) this “original” content. You may call it tongue-in-cheek, or having a sense of humor; I call it tired, unoriginal, inaccurate and offensive.

—

*I use the word Masterminds loosely as that is how they refer to themselves on the ABOUT US portion of their website.

(This is not the post I originally wrote to publish today- that one will instead run tomorrow. I read the article mentioned in the body of my letter and it just pushed all my buttons the wrong way and I HAD to respond- Amy)

Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Bass Pro Shops / Mobil 1 Chevrolet, drives during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington. (Photo Credit: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images North America)

Qualified:20th

Finished: 15th

Race Winner: Matt Kenseth

Points After Darlington: 21st, 170 points behind current series leader Jimmie Johnson. 62 points behind 10th in the standings – still outside of the top 20 and not eligible for a wild card birth.

My Mood After Darlington: Cautiously optimist

I have to say that I went into Darlington kind of flummoxed. I ALWAYS want Tony and the 14 crew to have a great run. ALWAYS. But you have to admit- this season has been kind of sucktacular add that to the fact that Tony has never won in a cup car at Darlington and I didn’t know how to feel.  So I went in hoping for the best run and prepared for the worst.  I mean I think it was last race post where I said that we have to hit rock bottom pretty soon right- that soon the tides have to change and it be our turn to be back on the upswing.

I think that this was the first pre-race show I have watched in it’s entirety since before Auto Club.  I was surprised to here Chris Meyers hint at the possibility of a “shake up” at Stewart-Haas. He said it quickly in passing and then never went back to it. I guess we will find out if that is the case or not.

At least the team seemed to be able to keep Tony on the lead lap and help him work with his car this race.  The race at Darlington stayed green for a long time with pit stops happening under green. I don’t know if it was my imagination or not but he seemed to speed up towards the end of the fuel run when everyone else was slowing down. Or maybe he just wasn’t slowing down as much as everyone else.

Race Grand Marshall Stephanie Decker and her husband Joe speak with driver Tony Stewart during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. (Photo Credit: Jamey Price/NASCAR via Getty Images)

Needless to say – I was most excited when they were reading off the top 10 at one point during the race and they mentioned Tony Stewart! I was excited!  How could I not be- it hasn’t happened a lot this season. It was about damn time. I just wish he could have stayed there.  I would have loved a 7th, 8th, 10th place finish. Hell if he would have won- they would have heard it over at the barbecue at my brother’s house I would have cheered that loud…hell I would have cheered so loud they PROBABLY would have heard it in the infield at Darlington and I live on the Central Coast of California).  I would have said that finishing top ten was NEARLY (but not quite) as good as winning.  However- he pancaked the side of his car after one of the restarts (he said he was over driving trying to improve position) by hitting the wall and earning the famous Darlington Stripe.

After earning his strip the old 14 car just didn’t seem to have the hutzpah that it once had. Tony finished 15th.  BUT he was on the lead lap and he finished better than he qualified so I have to say that I am cautiously optimistic about the fact that they seem to have a tiny bit better handle on making adjustments on the car that make it drivable for Tony. Hopefully this means that the team is on the way to finding out what the hell they are missing on when it comes to the car and it’s handling for Tony’s driving style.

Race winner was Matt Kenseth again- for the third time this season.

Notes on Darlington:

1. Another reason to be cautiously optimistic about Tony Stewart’s run at Darlington? I heard hims say something that I don’t think I have heard him say all season long yet. While discussing possible changes to make on the next pit stop Tony came on the radio and said “I don’t know about changing much here- in clean air I’m pretty good.” YEY! Those words made me a happy Stewart fan!
2. During the pre-race show they were talking to Jeff Gordon and he was mentioning that he has had the chance to work with great crew chiefs throughout his career and then listed them all out- but left out Steve Letarte.  I don’t know if that was a mistake (I am hoping it was) or a slight…was I the only one who noticed that?
3. During the race they showed an in-car camera of Tony’s Stewart-Haas teammate Ryan Newman driving around Darlington. Wow he seemed all hunkered over and just UNCOMFORTABLE.  I hope the whole race wasn’t like that for him- I can’t imagine that would have been a fun race to run if he was like that the whole race- he looked nearly in pain.
4. During the first caution pit stop Tony must have had a HECK of a pit stop.  He gained 4 positions in the pits at that point and I heard Steve Addington say “Hell Yeah Boys.” The Spotter say: “Great Stop!” and Tony say: “That was STRONG guys….STRONG!” Of course Tony’s pit stop wasn’t shown I wish it had been. Sigh.  That is why they should totally have the pit crew challenge!  I will miss it this week. I always loved it!
5. Tony had some real gems on the radio scanner during Darlington but I think my favorite was when he could see Danica in front of him (but was laps down at the time) and didn’t like something she was doing on the track. He told his spotter to tell her to stop doing whatever it was she was doing or someone was going to dump her….and then he said he would dump her himself if she continued. I don’t know why but that cracked me the heck up.
6. Here is a great article from NASCAR.COM called For Tony Stewart, Things Can Only Get Better. Let’s hope that is true.
7. Only eight more days to enter the Smokin’ Birthday Charity Drive and Raffle…

Gratuitous Tony Picture:

Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Bass Pro Shops / Mobil 1 Chevrolet, smiles in the garage during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. (Photo Credit: Geoff Burke/Getty Images North America)