In a Blaise of Glory: 10 Years Later

Something came to mind for me this week. During the trip to the Williamsport meet, I saw ads for the Blaise Alexander dealerships along Interstate 180 in Pennsylvania. The minute I saw the billboards, my brain opened to memories of watching Alexander, a young rising star in the ARCA Racing Series heydey. He drove for underfunded teams, but raced well. Week in week out he was a threat just like Ty Dillon is today in the #41. By 2001, Blaise was trying for NASCAR Busch Grand National Series races, starting 6 races that year, with a best finish of 11th.

2001 for NASCAR did not start off on a great note. On February 18, 7-time Winston Cup champion and 76-time winner Dale Earnhardt Sr was killed in a Lap 199 crash at the Daytona 500. The previous year, up and coming drivers Kenny Irwin Jr. and Adam Petty, the 4th generation of the Petty family, were both killed in practice accidents at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. (This was so bad they ran restrictor plates at New Hampshire, which was a colossal failure.) A lot death in racing was evident clearly in those two years. On October 4, 2001, fate would take its last victim, and arguably the most forgotten.

Kerry Earnhardt is the forgotten Earnhardt driver for sure. The popularity of his brother and father far more than his. Kerry did most of his racing in ARCA or the Busch Series. He won a few races here and there but never got the stardom the rest of his family did. On February 18, it had been hard for the entire family with the death of Dale Sr. Racing unfortunately had to move on and they did. Kerry and Dale Jr. continued racing in their respective series. Kerry was good friends with Blaise, and the two raced hard against each other despite.

On October 4, 2001, NASCAR and ARCA were both present at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. The ARCA race would be the first at the track on Thursday night. The EasyCare 100, a 67-lap shootout for the series was held. Alexander and Earnhardt were clearly the class of the field and were duking it out until Lap 63. On Lap 63, Alexander and Earnhardt clipped coming out of Turn #4 and onto the frontstretch. Both made contact, with Blaise's car going head on straight into a then non-SAFER barrier wall, while Earnhardt's car caught air and flipped upside down. Kerry's car went flying down the track towards Turn 1 in flaming rage of sparks upside down. Alexander meanwhile was still in the tri-oval, his #75 a wreck. Kerry thought about Alexander and wanted to run to the car, but instead was hurried off to the infield care center. After he was checked out and released, Earnhardt tried to run to see Alexander again, but by that point, the ambulance had shut its doors and was on its way to the care center.

Kerry would never get the chance to talk to Alexander. After no response by the body in terms of breathing, they performed lots of CPR on Alexander. Other cardiac measures were handled. However, it was too late. At 10:20 PM on October 4, Blaise Alexander was pronounced dead at the age of 25. Instead of finishing Laps 64 - 67, the race was called, and Earnhardt declared the winner, since he led Lap 63. Blaise never wore the HANS device, but wore the required ARCA neck collar, which was intact upon further inspection. Kerry spent time afterwards in the infield with the family, but soon after, Alexander's family was rushed home to Montoursville, Pennsylvania to be with their mother. On October 10, after the racing weekend was over, Alexander was laid to rest in Montoursville, with a ceremony of 1,000 people near his home. People attending included Felix Sebates and ARCA president Ron Drager. Most importantly, this funeral was attended by Kerry Earnhardt.

On an NASCAR.com article later in the year, Earnhardt admitted it was a year to forget, losing his father and a dear friend in the sport of racing. Both died doing what they love. Kerry continued on driving, soon landing other rides. However, Alexander's memory was soon lost time to time. In a bad coincidence, a year later at Charlotte, driving Eric Martin, driving the same #2 that Kerry did a year prior was killed in a practice crash. His car wrecked and then stopped on the track. Deborah Renshaw who had no spotter in the grandstands, didn't see him and crashed head-on into Martin's car. This killed Martin instantly.

Honestly, I missed that Thursday night race at Charlotte. However, I was watching the TNT broadcast later that weekend. I remember watching the above telecast with Bill Weber explaining the death. I was heartbroken, even though I was only 10 at the time, I had memories of watching Alexander race at different tracks. It hurt watching the race because someone you loved so much is dead, and I was crying for a while. When I saw the Blaise Alexander car dealer signs on Interstate 180, all of those memories immediately came back. Tears welled up in my eyes in the car, and for a few moments, I felt lightheaded. Come this morning I realize its October 2, and realize that the 10th anniversary of Blaise's death nears. I don't remember October 4, 2001 for anything else, but the race.

Unfortunately, the great possible career Blaise Alexander had, was cut short. Alexander had a best ARCA finish of seventh, but never won a race. He finished 11th best in the NASCAR Busch Grand National Series. However, the man who probably could've tacked on future wins and maybe become a star driver, never got to see that day. On this nearing 10th anniversary, I and I hope all NASCAR fans who remember that far take a moment of silence and remember the career that never happened for such a great driver.

1/3 Of The Season Done: The Top 15 in Nationwide Series Points: Surprises and No Shockers

As many NASCAR fans know, in 2011 NASCAR instituted a new rule that you must declare which championship title you must get points for. This as a result denied Brad Keselowski the right to defend his title as 2010 champion, unless he didn't want to run for the 2011 Cup Championship. With all the cup drivers winning (Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth, etc), there is still quite the fight for the championship in the Nationwide series. This one however, stands a chance to become interesting. Right now the Top 15 in points are separated by 178 points, which under the old system was about 1-2 races. The current points leader is former Cup driver Elliott Sadler in Kevin Harvick's #2, which a 1 point margin over Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

#15 - Mike Wallace
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Mike Wallace rounds out the Top 15, driving the #01 car for Davis Motorsports. Wallace has struggled the last few seasons, but yet is always ever present at the end of races, notching Top 15 finishes on a constant basis. At the race at Talladega, Mike Wallace, paired with Joe Nemechek were both fighting hard for the win in the race. It was very unfortunate that Mike on the last lap got spun out and ended up in a rather nasty wreck.

Based on his finishes, 15th is about a good estimate for where he should stand. However, all feel sorry for what happened at Talladega, where he was definitely a threat to win the race, not finish 15th.

#14 - Jeremy Clements
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I don't know how many realize it, but Jeremy Clements is a hell of a driver. He has some good finishes under his belt, including the 14th place finish at Iowa. At Iowa, he ended up making pit strategy work and after a late caution, he was 6th. Sure he finished 14th, but Clements, who drives the #51 for his own team, did a hell of a job. Clements has been over a number of rides through the years, including at the 2007 Sam's Town 300 (the infamous 25-caution spectacle), he was flying through the field until being wrecked late.

I think honestly, if you could get Jeremy Clements a good ride in the Nationwide Series, Clements would pass for a great driver, one who could fight for Top 10s, 5s and wins throughout the season. He is a charm that seems to be forgotten in the Nationwide Series.

#13 - Mike Bliss
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Those who remember NASCAR Busch Series racing know the name Mike Bliss. Bliss is a veteran who has unfortunately been unable to sustain certain rides. This year he is driving the #19 for TriStar Motorsports, paired with Eric McClure in the #14. Bliss's talent however, has not gone away. In the #19, mostly sponsorless car, Bliss has had very good Top 10 and Top 15 runs. He was on another Top 10 run at Dover when he got involved in the Bowyer/Logano wreck on the second-to-last lap of the race.

Bliss, is also a person with great talent, and honestly, deserves a good ride permanently to show off his talents for years to come. Maybe this season the #19 might go to victory lane. We'll see though.

#12 - "Front Row" Joe Nemechek
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Anyone who says the Nationwide Series is for the youngins better look again, Joe Nemechek, whose nickname is Front Row for great qualifying efforts in the early 2000s, has had an upswing in success this season. Now its been several years since the #87 has been to victory lane, and honestly, it will happen again. Like Mike Wallace, Nemechek was in great numbers to actually win the Talladega race, working very close with Wallace. However, while Wallace wrecked, Nemechek was near victory. But at the last second, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano passed him, relegating him to a 3rd place finish. Besides sitting out the race at Nashville, Nemechek has only had two finishes worse than 25th in this season, and many Top 15s and Top 20s of the season.

Hopefully we'll see Front Row Joe back in the front row. Let's hope that is 1st and in Victory Lane.

#11 - Michael Annett
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Michael Annett is trying very hard. Rusty Wallace Racing put him in the #62 to work hard, and unfortunately so far the results are mediocre. He's only had finishes worse than 20th three times, but at the same time, he has yet to get a top 10 finish at all. For someone in such a good ride, more work is needed on he and his teams part.

#10 - Josh Wise
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Josh Wise is a good driver. He just doesn't get to drive the #7 all year like he deserves to. For 13 races, Danica Patrick drives that #7. However, every week Wise puts his heart into his driving and these finishes are paying off. He has two Top 10 finishes this season, and that would be likely why he is in 10th place, 136 points behind Elliott Sadler. I think however, in 2012, if Danica Patrick is not in the #7 next year that Josh Wise become the permanently driver of the car. There is potential in him, he just needs more time in better equipment to succeed with it.

#9 - Brian Scott
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I commend Joe Gibbs for the decision to put Brian Scott in the #11 for this season. Putting beside his run of bad luck at Daytona, Darlington & Dover, Scott has had a pretty good season, finishing Top 25 or better in almost all of the other races. There is definite potential for Brian Scott, but it may not come in 2011. I expect however, if Joe Gibbs keeps him in this ride, that he will be a threat for the 2012 points.

#8 - Steven Wallace
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This has been an uncharacteristically bad season for Steven Wallace so far, despite the 7th place at Charlotte and 5th at Darlington. Those are his only Top 10 finishes of the season. The son of the cup star Rusty, Steven is expected that at some point he will come out on top and be another Nationwide series driver to finally break the Cup dominance and end up in Victory Lane. However, this season shows lack of potential so far, and unless something happens now, don't expect Steven to get much further than 8th in the standings.

#7 - Kenny Wallace
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The third and final of the Wallaces, Mike & Rusty's brother (and Steven's uncle) Kenny Wallace is by far having the best season of the three. Kenny Wallace posed a major threat at Richmond, at one point being 2nd to Denny Hamlin. And honestly, he got trapped a lap down during a caution for pit stops and his 13th place doesn't do his hard work justice. At one point, he was beginning to track Hamlin down in the #09 car. Kenny has had a great season, besides a problematic Daytona, and several times has been a threat to win an event. Another veteran of the days long gone, Wallace is due for victory lane, just when will it be?

#6 - Jason Leffler
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Jason Leffler is a good driver, but I think he gets shafted out of his classic Black #38 too much, which is causing a bit of the shift in his results. He seems to perform much better in Turner's #38, but at the same time, he keeps getting put in the #30 when Kasey Kahne is slated to drive the #38. Finally at Charlotte, Steve Turner did what I felt was right and actually put Kahne in the 30 and let Leffler drive his #38. Leffler has been close so many times to Victory, and is still a threat this year to get a win. It just needs to happen eventually.

#5 - Aric Almirola
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Aric Almirola has a win the Nationwide Series, but he wasn't driving it to Victory Lane. Joe Gibbs asked him to get out of the #20 at a race a couple years back to put Denny Hamlin back in the car, who was late from another track. Hamlin won the race, but never got credit for the win, as since Almirola started the race, he got the win technically. However, most people know, especially Aric, that's not winning a race. This year, Almirola got permanently installed in JR Motorsports's #88, vacated by Brad Keselowski two years back. Almirola showed promise at the beginning half of this third of the season, but there seems to have been a drop all of a sudden in performance, pulling only 17th at Iowa, getting involved at the wreck in Dover. He has yet to get a Top 5 finish, best finish of the season 8th in the Aaron's 312 at Talladega.

Almirola needs to turn it around soon if he wants to compete for the Championship, as he is already 51 points behind Elliott Sadler.

#4 - Justin Allgaier
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Justin Allgaier is a good driver, driving the 3rd of 4 Tuner cars, he is the 2nd of them in points, currently 4th, 22 behind Sadler. He started the season with a damn good run for himself, including only two runs worse than 15th for him (Daytona and Dover). He was running fine at Dover until a tire blew and he went into the outside wall. Allgaier has one win and despite the 22 point deficit, still stands a hell of a chance to improve on that and is still in the hunt for this championship.

#3 - Reed Sorenson
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Reed Sorenson has had great runs all season, no doubt about that. Sorenson has been a threat to win several races this season, including Iowa, where he led the most laps (77), but a tire problem later on caused him to get relegated back to a respectable 4th place finish. Sorenson has been a threat for years and finally deserves to be back in Victory Lane. If you remember the 2nd to last race at Gateway last year, he was 3rd when the Keselowski-Edwards wrecked occurred. Had Edwards wrecked as well, in all likelihood, Sorenson would have won. He ended up finishing 2nd to Edwards at a track Sorenson does well at.

A former Cup driver, Reed is a very strong competitor each week in Turner's #32 Dollar General car. We just need to see that yellow paint scheme in a car not driven by a Cup driver.

#2 - Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
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Anyone who counted Ricky Stenhouse out as a first time winner or a threat to the Championship after his performances in 2010 should be shaking their heads. At Iowa, Stenhouse finally had a car that was better at the end of the race than the beginning of the race. As a result, Stenhouse held off Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski, and finally got his first series win and the first non-weekly competitor at the Cup level to win since Boris Said at Montreal in 2010. Stenhouse had a displeasing 2010 until Iowa. At Charlotte, he was sat out a race to get racing back together. And since that sit out, Stenhouse has excelled, being a threat to end.

As of this posting, he is 1 point behind Elliott Sadler and who knows. By the time we come to Homestead, he could be holding the trophy.

#1 - Elliott Sadler
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Elliott Sadler has had a much better season. Dropping down to the Nationwide Series for 2011, Sadler had a rather bad season to start with. He for this season is driving Kevin and DeLana Harvick's #2 OneMain Financial car and has by far the best finishes average for the season far, with 7 Top 5s and no runs worse than 13th pardon for Daytona. Sadler is currently the points leader, and based on those finishes, is a major threat to win it. He has exceled in each race, continuously fighting for the win at races, just to come up a little short. Don't count him out though.

For final thoughts, I see this chase for the Nationwide Series title will probably be a big one all the way down to Homestead in November. Elliott Sadler, Reed Sorenson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr are by far the clear favorites to win it. However, the drivers 4th - 7th are not out of it in my opinion (Allgaier, Leffler, Almirola and K. Wallace) since they have good finishes to back up and if bad luck strikes the top 3, they are there to pounce.

This should be an interesting fight when we get to Homestead in the fall.

20 Ways To Shift 566 Municipalities: #20 - Cape May Point -> Lower Township

In New Jersey, we have 566 municipalities, some of which don't need to exist, and some of which should be made from large communities within the larger townships. A lot of the problems of why we have 566 is because of boroughitis. Yes that may be strange, but in 1905, the state went nuts having boroughs made left and right through Trenton. This as a result has caused quite the redundancies and we waste our tax money on towns that don't deserve it.

On the other hand, there are many booming communities within township governments that deserve to be promoted to full sized municipalities. The way I determined the twenty locations was by a number of things:

- 1: Population (as of the 2010 Census)
- 2: Location
- 3: Reason for forking in the first place
- 4: Diversity

And now we begin our hillarity.

#20 - Cape May Point
Cape May Point is a small borough of 291 people in Cape May County. This area represents the southernmost end of New Jersey on the tip of Cape May. The chartered municipality makes up for only 3/10 of a square mile of land, and unfortunately, only 201 of those are permanent residents. The other 90 are part-time residents. The only real notability to Cape May Point is that it has Cape May Lighthouse in its geographical area.

Now the question of why it was made. Cape May Point is actually on its second lease of life. It was actually started first as a borough in April 1878 via a referendum to fork from Lower Township. In August of 1891, the borough, then known as Seagrove, was reincorporated. Low and behold on April 8, 1896, nearly 18 years after the borough was started, it was merged back to Lower Township. On April 8, 1906, ten years after the merge, yet another referendum was held, and just 13 days later, the boroughship was reinstated. It has remained split from Lower Township ever since.

Here's the problem however. We pay our tax money to fund these municipalities, but when we do, you have to assume they should live in the town they get funding for! As I mentioned before, only 201 of the 291 are actual year-long residents of this small bayside community. The other 90 are vacationers who spend time there. Besides the fact that these 90 shouldn't even be counted in the Census, what does 201 people have that we need to fund them for? If its a commune that work together in helping their community, why not help contribute to Lower Township? We waste our money to fund a borough of 201 people who want to live by themselves and 90 more people who don't even stay part of the year? Lower Township can have it.

The Lake View Station on the former Erie Railroad Main Line

(Lake View Station in 1909)

In one of the runs with my camera to Paterson, I finally got to see the Lake View station site in Paterson, New Jersey on the old Main Line, closed April 2, 1963. I only had what I could work on via a photo from 1909 and some shots in Robert Yanosey's "Erie Railroad Facilities in Color: New Jersey" to figure it out. Finally, on the dark winter day of February 21, I got to see the station. I thought I'd express some of the interesting stuff with the station site.

To go into detail, Lake View station was originally built in 1885 at the intersection of Crooks Avenue and Railway Avenue in Paterson, on the Clifton border. (Its a long misnomer that this is a Clifton Station, but it is in Paterson). The station was unaffected by the 1952 station rebuild that got the Clifton Station and Main Street-Passaic Station. When the Passaic Plan was put into effect April 2, 1963, Lake View was bypassed along with Clifton, Passaic Park, and Main Street-Passaic onto the old Boonton Branch of the DL&W. There are rumours (I can't say definite) that South Paterson on the new Main Line was built to replace Lake View. I've also heard rumors the old station stood after the main was cut through Clifton and Passaic. Those rumors included the old 1885 depot suffering the same fate as the 1902 station at Lackawaxen, demolition by runaway train cars in 1964.


Notice something unusual with the driveway to the nearby building and the car wash shared behind me? This is actually the Lake View inbound platform, which never got anything more than a shelter. It still serves purpose today as the driveway, but looks like the platform of the original station, painted and all.

There's not much of importance to the station in the shot, except the long driveway / parking lot and a shot of the outbound platform. The parking lot was technically "there" back during the Erie maintenance, not all that much to it though.


This is the important photo of the lot. This explains a lot of issues with the station location nowadays. The first thing, if you notice in the top left corner, what was once a great car siding is now the site of Roxxies, a Gentleman's Club. Like now really? Next, by my sense of direction, the snowed over woods bit are well placed, as that was the station depot site. (Not as easy with all the snow to determine everything unless you're a dedicated Erie researcher like I am.) I bet you if Lake View was still used that NJ Transit wouldn't particularly like having a Gentleman's Club right next to an active train station. Kind of bad taste if you ask me.


This is not on the station site, but may be there before the building was constructed. This lone set of signals for crossing trains remains on East Railway Avenue.


And to wrap up, this shot of the old Main going towards XW shows how this stretch from XW to the Clifton Station site has stood the test of time. Its hard to believe that 48 years ago, trains still stopped here every day picking up and dropping off Patersonites.

Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it.

Roadgeek Adam
Erie Railroad Historian

Broadcasting NASCAR in the 21st Century: The Reid Factor

Note to readers, this will likely be my last blog post of 2010. For anyone who's read this blog, Merry Christmas and enshrine 2011!

-Roadgeek Adam


(Dale Earnhardt Remembered: Part 1/5, ESPN 2001)

On November 20, 2000, Bob Jenkins, Benny Parsons (d. 2007) and Ned Jarrett co-hosted the NAPA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The race, won by Jerry Nadeau and the final of the season, was the last televised broadcast of the NASCAR Winston Cup Series on ESPN, after a 20 season run. At the end of the race, Benny and Ned both hugged Bob (you can hear it in the video), who had tears noticeably coming on his eyes as they said their goodbyes. Benny, who started working with Bob in 1988, said his wishes and left, along with Ned who said this would be his last Winston Cup broadcast. (This would not be a reality for him, as he has hosted races since. Benny worked for NASCAR on TNT from 2001 - 2006, and probably until his death on January 2007). Bob Jenkins then went on to say the final goodbye as the seniority of the crew. Bob had worked there since 1981, covering over 200 Sunday afternoons of racing with the two legends (and others) beside him. For many years throughout the 1980s and 1990s, during a regular cup season, you would hear half the season with the legendary Ken Squier, and the second half with Bob Jenkins, both NASCAR broadcasting pioneers. (Before I get creamed for this line, Chris Economaki is one the greatest out there).

This depressing moment in November 2000 enshrined a new era in NASCAR on television, as FOX got the Squier half of the season and TNT got the Jenkins half of the season. Twenty years of NASCAR coverage gone in the midst of Speedweeks for the 2001. Mike Joy (who worked for NASCAR on CBS with Squier) for many years took over Lap by Lap coverage for NASCAR on FOX along with veteran crew chief, Larry McReynolds and 84-time NASCAR winner, Darrell Waltrip. Of all NASCAR telecasts, this one has lasted 10 long years without a change of the 3-men booth. (TNT and the future ESPN both have changed within their years). Dick Berggren, a long time NASCAR journalist, was moved to pit road of FOX, but was and still is the lead reporter. Albeit the Daytona 500 in 2001, the first race, was marked with tragedy in the loss of Dale Earnhardt, it came at great spirits as Michael Waltrip, Darrell's younger brother won his first race in 463 attempts. When Waltrip comes across the finish line, Darrell is shown on camera with a great look on his face. This was similar to the 1993 Daytona 500, just eight years before when Dale Jarrett won the Great American race. Ned was in the booth with Buddy Baker and Ken Squier, and when Dale crossed the finish line, the camera shot over to Ned, who was cheering and calling out the win. Since then, this has never happened again, but it was a great tribute to the old coverage. That night, on ESPN's RPM2Night, Dr. Jerry Punch, one of the ESPN Speedworld pit reports, a good friend of the Earnhardt's, was on the entire half hour, saddened with the death of the legend. Two nights later, he joined the noticeably older Bob Jenkins in the ESPN studios for the honor of Earnhardt, and Bob himself put it as this:

When ESPN closed out our twenty-year ride with NASCAR, I thought I had done my final Winston Cup broadcast with Benny Parsons. Now with these most tragic of occurrences, its time for families to come back together.

- Bob Jenkins (2001)

At the 2001 Firecracker 400, after the conclusion of NASCAR on FOX, the second half of the television broadcasts began on TNT/NBC, with Allen Bestwick, a kind-of NASCAR broadcasting newbie, (he had some work with NASCAR on CBS), at the helm. NASCAR great Benny Parsons was alongside him and Wally Dallenbach Jr. both joined the telecast. This new crew, led by two with experience was the second half of the season. Bill Weber, who worked for a long time on NASCAR on ESPN with Jenkins, Parsons and Jarrett was on pit road as the pre-race show host and pit reporter. Both telecasts were very well done, and all three were great matches. However, in 2004, Bestwick was injured and couldn't call a few races. At that time, Weber was promoted to the booth with Benny and Wally. This is the first issue in many qualms with 21st Century NASCAR broadcasting. Even when Allen returned from his injury, he was permanently demoted to pit road and became the main pit reporter. Permanently it was Weber, Dallenbach and Parsons in the booth. However, Benny, who had been undergoing chemotherapy for lung cancer, hosted his last race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 19, 2006, 5 years and 364 days after the last ESPN broadcast. Benny Parsons died of the cancer on January 16, 2007. Due to this, he was replaced with Kyle Petty, son of the king of NASCAR himself, Richard Petty. Bestwick and co-reporter Dave Burns both left the station service and went to ESPN after the 2006 race. Also that year, TNT was reduced to six whole races as a new contract re-added ESPN to the service, which had 17 of the 36 races in each season, including the entire chase. It is at this point we begin the story of the new NASCAR on ESPN.

In 2007, following the end of the race of Chicagoland, TNT bowed out for the season. At this point, ESPN took over. The new staff for the season included NASCAR on ESPN pit reporter, Dr. Jerry Punch, who took over as lead play by play, NASCAR legend Rusty Wallace, who retired from racing in 2006 and veteran crew chief, the honored Andy Petree. Dave Burns was on pit road along with Mike Massaro, Vince Welch and Jamie Little (basically new names to ESPN). Allen Bestwick was in the infield studio with Rusty Wallace and Brad Daughtery, a former basketball player who co-owns the #47 team. This season began with qualms of problems with ESPN. The crew was a good match, but problems ensued on questionable bias for drivers, excessive abuse of commercials, people with no NASCAR backgrounds, and finally, sponsorship issues. The main problem during 2007-2009 that became very noticeable is that Jerry Punch was not a good lap-by-lap announcer and between 2009 and 2010, he was moved to pit road, and former IndyCar announcer (and still Indy 500 announcer) Marty Reid took over his spot. Marty Reid did 1 year of NASCAR work from 1999-2000 in the Truck events, and did some Busch series races that were at separate tracks. This change was due to continuous requests by upset fans, and blogs such as The Daly Planet, one I give great respect to for doing such a good job. During this ever important 2010 season, The Daly Planet followed the work of Marty Reid in the booth. However, now at the end of the season, and it seems very obvious that Reid is not faring much better in the booth from fans and blogs as Dr. Punch did.

Now after boring you with great details for probably 10-20 minutes, let's get to my opinion. For one, ESPN's broadcasts has a better veteran when it comes to lap by lap announcing, its Allen Bestwick. My main problems with Reid is his lack of NASCAR knowledge. When listening to Weber, Bestwick and Joy, all three were good with their NASCAR broadcasting and could flow with the others in the booth with them (McReynolds, Waltrip, Parsons, Petty and Dallenbach). Reid seems to rely way too much on Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree for details of situations and only seems interested in the play by play part. This to me is very unacceptable. If you're going to announce this stuff, you should consider having good experience in the sport and know the in and outs to do the job. I feel like NASCAR on ESPN should reverse the positions that Reid and Bestwick currently hold. Bestwick has the knowledge and 12 years experience behind him. Reid doesn't. Next, Vince Welch, Rusty Wallace and Ricky Craven, who commonly host Nationwide series races at tracks not of the Cup series should be promoted to permanent positions, as they are probably one of the best combinations in the series. Rusty and Vince can keep their positions in the Cup series, but I think this is a great benefit. Next, John Kernan should be rehired as part of the group. Kernan did a great job as pit reporter and deserves his job next to Dr. Punch.

I haven't talked too much about it, but NASCAR's Truck Series, hosted on SPEED Channel is run with Rick Allen, Phil Parsons and Michael Waltrip (the latter 2 former drivers). Parsons is the son of Benny Parsons and like Dale Jarrett, the second generation in driving and broadcasting. I never have any qualms with the SPEED Channel telecasts but I bring it up for a reason. I've felt for the Daytona 500 and Speedweeks broadcasts that Mike Joy, Ken Squier, Allen Bestwick, Dick Berggren, Bob Jenkins, Rick Allen, Phil Parsons, Darrell Waltrip, Jeff Hammond, Michael Waltrip, Dale Jarrett, Larry McReynolds, Dr. Jerry Punch and Ned Jarrett should have a televised roundtable get together to look at the upcoming season. This would be the ultimate combination of minds in the NASCAR world and I personally think it would be a hit. Next, NASCAR on TNT has had some major issues with keeping a good cast. I do think Bob Jenkins, who now works on Versus for the IndyCar series should be promoted to the TNT 6-weeks stretch. Finally, when the end of the big TV contract comes in 2014, the season should be divided up among the 36 races with 12 weeks for each service (FOX 1-12, TNT 13-25 and ESPN 26-36). Then with the ceremonies at the end of the season, have the same roundtable host it.

To me, this would be the perfect fixes to solve the qualm that is the dying viewer-ship of NASCAR on television. I'm open to what you think!

Have a Merry Christmas!

- Roadgeek Adam

The 10 Boneheaded Decisions by Highland Park Since 1980 - #10

Over the next few blog posts, I'd like to dig a bit deeper into the boneheaded decisions that the borough of Highland Park has gone through. I've ranked them from 10 - 1, and each time I will summarize the situation and leave my detailed opinion / solution to said problem. Highland Park hasn't seen a rational mayor since 1991, and I'm going to show what 19 years (now nearing 20) can cause. So on that note

The 10 Boneheaded Decisions by Highland Park Since 1980
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No. 10 - Highland Park School Dilemma
As many people know, we have 3-4 active public schools in Highland Park: Irving Primary School (Pre, Pre-K, Kindergarten and 1st grade), Bartle Elementary School (2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th grades), Highland Park Middle School (6th, 7th and 8th grade) and the Highland Park High School (9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grades). However, I don't think many of the residents of Highland Park realize we once had two more schools. (Remember, Bartle was built for the purpose of dealing with overcrowding among the three active schools at the time).


(Lafayette, 2010, photo by your author)

However, after the construction of Bartle, Hamilton School and Lafayette School began to lose usage. In 1980, we closed Hamilton and sold it to a private group to become a private school. If anyone doesn't know what I am referring to, its now the Center School on Madison and 3rd. Lafayette was kept for another 4 years, but was sold to Kaplan Industries, a DEVELOPER, in 1984. Kaplan turned the school into condominiums, which I think was the lamest decision we could've made. We lack school space as is in Highland Park. Although that was 26 years and no one could have predicted that we'd have a population of 14,332 people in Highland Park. However, we wasted money on an addition to the High School for 7th and 8th graders, and yet I don't think its helped us one bit. If we were that worried about school usage, we should have sold Lafayette to the private school and turned that into the Center School. Hamilton is more than large enough to handle the Middle School's purpose. Plus, it would've saved us money as we never would have needed to upgrade the 1925 building for the Middle School!

Not many people realize how old the original parts of Irving is. The 11th Avenue / Central Avenue wing was built in 1916, just a year after Hamilton was opened. Alexander Merchant designed both schools as Lafayette couldn't handle the growing population on its own. Currently the situation in Highland Park is depressing. The Middle and High School are loaded with drug busts and criminals. My sister who used to go there, thank god she got accepted into the Vo-Tech program in Piscataway, would tell me on days that the police would be there. I mean both places are in really bad shape. If you think High Schoolers are the worst, some of the worst students in Highland Park aren't even in 9th grade yet. Mr. Lassiter and Mr. Williams do a good job running the High School, but its just not enough.

Despite the growing taxes, people are still coming into Highland Park, and as a result, the amount of students are growing. Now that people are demanding a charter school similar to the one East Brunswick got, we need the room! One proposal would be to build on the old Meyer-Rice estate with Kaplan and move out the people in Lafayette or talk the Center School into moving out or subsidizing the school for public usage. Center School is run well from what I know, but we need the room! We screwed our public school system 30 years ago, and we have no room to build another school. We need Hamilton and Lafayette back. Under my proposal:

Highland Park School System:
================================
Irving School (Preschool - 1st grade)
Bartle School (2nd - 5th grade)
Hamilton School (6th - 8th grade, subsidized Center School)
Highland Park High School (9th - 12th Grades, taking over Middle School portion as well.)
In my opinion, this works. We don't need the new buildings. We need to keep the old.

Honoring the Great Salem Witch of Wikipedia

"I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no “brief candle” to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.”

- George Bernard Shaw (1907)

When someone thinks of Wikipedia, we think about the unreliability. However, I'd like to put this behind to honor the greatest editor to pass through these halls. I first met User:Durova back in 2007, over some featured picture related matters. I first talked to her on Google Mail, but then soon moved to Skype. Durova, a resident of Southern California, is a person who you like to get to know. She is probably someone who would make you more knowledgeable in knitting, learning how to restore pictures that have stood the test of time, and just her time learning German and being in the Navy.

Durova is known on Wikipedia for her great featured contributions, which he got over 400 of them. If we ever needed a Guinness Book of Wikipedia Records, Durova would be on a number of them, including one of the most popular editors and most featured contributions. Wikipedia has seen major improvement in the featured media processes due to her support and work as an editor like the rest of us. A lot of us Wikipedians do laugh at us considering ourselves nerds. However, I and others hold her to a higher level. Durova has spent over four decades on this earth making her statement. Her level of knowledge and honor goes beyond the normal human. We on Earth all stride to make our statement in the history books. Five years on Wikipedia, Durova definitely made hers.

I don't usually like comparing people to celebrities, but I know of one person, who reminds me of Durova. I admit this is kind of biased since Fleetwood Mac has been my favorite music group for many years, but Durova reminds me a lot of Stevie Nicks. We've got this compassionate woman who puts her heart out for people on Skype and on Wikipedia that she's never met. It takes a kind of woman, one of a few, who don't see the normal basis of life. Stevie Nicks believe that way, look at "Dreams", "Gold Dust Woman" or "Rhiannon", they had this dreamy yet mysterious quality to them. Durova, to me, despite being this outgoing, greatly humorous person, has that dreamy and mystic quality that Stevie Nicks displays in every song. She can make you think in a different way of this different world, and Durova has almost always done that with me.

I spent a-many Sunday afternoons with Durova on Skype, along with many other Wikipedians who have spent their time recording NotTheWikipediaWeekly episodes. We loved her as a host and I have every single episode on my iPod to listen to. She just comes out as this person everyone would like, yet she could come out as a Dalai Lama, a diplomatic queen. She always had a good opinion on a situation and could take each situation from a different angle. People had great respect for her. Friends with many of us on Skype, she could be the best topic creator and knew always a good reply to someone's comment.

I admit when other things came about, especially college, I started to lose track of time, coming back to the old stomping grounds of Skype and not finding her around. To me it felt like a loss, she suddenly vanished, and it broke my heart. You don't find people with the kind of knowledge she maintained and I strike a large heart and saying how much tears come to my eye writing this that I miss her dearly as a Wikipedian and as a friend. No one quite made me feel better than Durova when Wikipedia could be at worst. And in fact, my mother and my sister loved talking to Durova not on Wikipedia matters, but just as a friend. That's how she came to me, as a friend not just this person who liked working on the same website with the same mission that I did.

Many a-Sunday afternoons recording NTWW sessions with her, talking serious topics but having that humorous spin. Her classic rendition of "I'll get you my prettttty!" is something I always remember and in that honor, I bow my sword and armor in honor, as the Great Salem Witch of Wikipedia. In honor of Durova, I cry a tear, and I hope many a Wikipedians read this and feel the same way I do, she was just that kind of person.

Bowing my hat for the night,
Roadgeek Adam/Mitchazenia