Lost My Will To Live 500 features Musco Mutiny- Sept 1/08

By Lori Munro (LAM) and Dennis Michelsen (DMIC)
Back by popular demand the dynamic duo of Lori Munro and Dennis Michelsen will thrill and amaze you with their NASCAR wits and acumen every week! If you can't get enough of these nuts on the "Doin' Donuts" radio show every Monday night on RaceTalkRadio at 8pm ET, now you can check out "Doin' Donuts for the Hearing Impaired" every week in print too! Race fans can even join in the debate with our easy to use comments section. Strap in for a wild ride as LAM and DMIC crank it up every week! You might even hear your comments on the radio so join in the fun today!

Can California Get Anything Right?
DMIC says…Once again the Debacle 500 from California Speedway was a serious snoozer! The warm up act on Saturday night wasn't any better and the choices for pre-race entertainment was questionable at best. Drew Carey needs to be flogged and perhaps the pitiful performance of a has been comedian that never was funny will put an end to these pathetic inebriated losers giving the command to start engines! Not even the warning lights had the will to live through this five hundred mile study of boredom NASCAR-style. Maybe Gillian Zucker can try out for track employee of the year by getting Jack Kevorkian to sponsor the Lost My Will to Live 500! Great news race fans…this will be a Chase race in 2009! (Sarcasm oozing)

LAM says… To be honest with you, Drew Carey did one of the best calls to start engines of all the screamers we've had to live through of late. He appeared to do it in a cynical way to start with and after being coached by Wendy Venturini and Rutledge Wood, I think his attempt was damn near top shelf. I truly think that Zucker and friends have an outstanding way to bunch up the field on command when everyone gets strung out. There is indeed an "easy button" that is directly linked to the track lights and just when you reeeeeeally need one…. TA-DA……. Debris caution, thanks to the lighting with suicidal tendencies…. And a little California-style easy button!

Why Does Jimmie Johnson Not Inspire the Fans?
DMIC says…Usually a NASCAR champion gains fans left and right and is the guy everyone wants to hear from every week. Despite winning two straight championships the average fan seems to not care at all about Jimmie Johnson. Why does this guy not inspire the race fans more? Why aren't there more Johnson fans on the bandwagon every week? The sponsors love these cookie-cutter drivers that show very little emotion for some reason but the fans are too busy yawning to cheer! Thank goodness there aren't forty-three Jimmie Johnsons in the series or every post race would be as boring as this week's at California Speedway.

LAM says… Duh. Easy answer...He's married and not a bad boy. Just look at how the fans gravitate to the swingin-single drivers… the "bad boys"…. The ones you want to date or have a beer with depending on your gender. I'm serious. Add up all the married drivers in list format and you tell me if they're not boring:

Jeff Gordon
Jeff Burton
Jimmie Johnson
Kurt Busch
Mark Martin

..... Dare I continue? Having a voice that sounds like water evaporating doesn't help either.

Bud Shootout This
DMIC says…The new formula for the Budweiser Shootout is a joke! How many race fans cheer for the owners? The drivers are the stars that put fannies in the seats and get fans to click on their television sets every week! The All Star Event at Lowe's Motor Speedway understands this and makes sure all the big names are there for the race every year. If there was a formula that made sense I wouldn't have an issue if some of the big names didn't qualify. But to use owner's points for a race designed for the fans is a joke! The defending champion of the Daytona 500 Ryan Newman, two-time Cup champ Tony Stewart, and several poll winners from 2008 will miss the show. In their place we get to see rookie Joey Logano and David Stremme not to mention several drivers that won't make the top 30 in points this year! Maybe the fans will vote by not showing up and changes will be made for 2010!

LAM says… This is a hard one. While I agree that the drivers are what people tune in for and drive miles to watch, the manufacturers also are important to the equation. I think what we have to do is completely erase all memory of Busch Clash's of days-gone-by and look at this new format as more of a manufacturer's event. I mean, what other race is there during the season that focuses solely on the car-makers? What is indeed bad though is how this came to be. To just blindside everyone at this time of year by telling guys like Joe Nemecheck and Patrick Carpentier that they're 2008 poles are now meaningless, truly sucks. This new format should have been announced now, and implemented in 2010.

Red Bullish on Their Drivers
DMIC says…Last year was tough on Red Bull Racing. But this season they have shown an amazing improvement in performance and are on the verge of winning a race. Now they have a third driver Scott Speed that might be ready to move up to the Cup level. It has been a while since a new team has moved up to the top level of the series. Hopefully Red Bull Racing doesn't give up on AJ Allmendinger because he is showing he might be as good as Brian Vickers. Next season I would not be surprised to see two Red Bull cars in the Chase!

LAM says… Certainly the Cinderella story of the year is AJ Allmendinger and his Prince on a Red stallion, Mike Skinner. I don't think anyone would have thought that with the results we saw earlier this year with the Red Bull teams, that they would be running for wins as soon as they are now. There is no doubt in my mind that Allmendinger can get it done but the improvement in Vickers as well is wonderful to see. Seems it's a combination of more experience with the COT, better info sharing among teams… and some guy ready to leap into the deep end soon with the right name for auto racing. Mr. Scott Speed. If I knew he was next in line for my job here at Race Talk Radio, I'd be sure to act more professional, be better researched and always take my vitamins. But again, I could use the rest……

Buddy the Baker
DMIC says…Other than the King Richard Petty there might not be a better former driver as an ambassador for the sport than Buddy Baker. Listening to Buddy on Sirius Satellite Radio I realize just how much I miss his sense of humor and insight on the race broadcasts! When he was an announcer for TNN back in the day those broadcasts were never boring. However, I don't think even Buddy Baker and a bunch of funny stories would have livened up the race Sunday at California Speedway. Buddy is one of the great ambassadors of the sport and I bet some of his old stories are even true!

LAM says… Even he says some are true and the art of storytelling seems to be going by the wayside simple due to people not having any stories to tell. There is a common sense practicality in everything that Baker says that just cuts to the chase and puts down-home logic into play. Phrases like "sitting watching how hens eat corn off the ground" instead of "I had nothing better to do", paint a picture of simplicity mixed with a grin that this world needs more of.

Buddy Baker for President!

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