Welcoming Hardee's Back to New Jersey

For those who might have not heard, the burger chain Hardee’s is returning to New Jersey in a multi-state expansion that could add up to at least 200 stores (with hopes for 1,000) throughout the Northeast. A big focus of this expansion will be in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts. The Hardee’s chain is known for being one of the many chains that left the state in the 19080s, along with Ponderosa Steakhouse (which continues to struggle, but still persists.)   

For those who remember a Hardee’s in the 1970s and early 1980s, when it had the logo of the capital letters stretched across, that logo is long gone from the ones you will see enter New Jersey. In 1996, the struggling chain was bought by CKE Restaurants, the company that owns the western burger joint Carl’s Jr.  In 1999, the chain retired the cool logo that Hardee’s had for the same one that Carl’s Jr. has, the name in mixed case with the star from Carl’s Jr. at the far left.  

I personally got to have my first Hardee’s on July 12, 2013 (remember, I am only 22, so naturally I wasn’t around when Hardee’s existed in New Jersey.) at the Gene Stratton Porter Service Area (Howe, IN) on the Indiana Toll Road (Interstates 80 and 90) about 60 miles east of South Bend. The burgers we got were downright excellent for a burger chain I’ve not had before. They have thick angus beef burgers for their meat and seeded buns instead of the cheap buns at other joints. The burgers I had in general had more pop than other fast food burgers I’ve had.  

This expansion of Hardee’s is just the latest in a massive expansion of chain stores through New Jersey, which used to be slender. I remember the times when Sonic would air advertisements on national televisions and there would be none around to go eat at. I had my first Sonic in October 2005 in Salt Lake City, Utah! Now, everywhere you look, NJ 72 in Manahawkin, US 46 at NJ 62 in Wayne, US 1 in Edison, you see a Sonic Drive-In because they expanded to the point where it has become a commonplace chain.  

Other chains have begun to appear in New Jersey, including the Midwest sub chain and NASCAR sponsor Jimmy John’s. Jimmy John’s is a sandwich chain, which opened its original New Jersey location on Easton Avenue (CR 527) in New Brunswick. JJ’s is excellent; they make subs by hand and are usually larger than anything Subway would ever produce and give you a full pickle. Another burger chain that has come out of nowhere in New Jersey is Jake’s Wayback Burgers. Jake’s is a small franchise-based chain that started in 1991, but is fast expanding in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.  They offer great burgers, which are wrapped in wrappers of various newspaper articles about Jake’s. They serve excellent onion rings rather than French fries, which are actually given to you in a soda cup.  

So, with Hardee’s, Jake’s and Jimmy John’s finally opening territory in New Jersey, what could be next? Well, Golden Corral, which also advertises nationally has 5 New Jersey locations, with a 6th opening in Freehold sometime in 2014. Right now the closest is in Bensalem, Pennsylvania on State Route 132 (also known as Street Road), not the ones in Jersey. Could we see in the future an expansion of the chain Waffle House, which has many stores around the country, and provides great breakfast food? I personally would not mind it, because it would make a great business. And why stop at just chain restaurants?  For people who know me, I am a big fan of the Altoona, Pennsylvania-based gas station/convenience store chain Sheetz. Sure we have Wawa and  Quick Chek here, but with Hess announcing that they are abandoned the gasoline retail business, this would be the time for Sheetz to come in and announce they would expand. 

A person can dream right? I once walked into Quick Chek, wearing a Wawa shirt and having MySheetzCard in my wallet. That tells you what kind of chain freak I am.  

Cannonsville Pizza: The Story of a War-Lost Love

This story is completely fictional, while real places are used, pardoning the pizzeria, nothing else stated is for real. 

Cannonsville Pizza: A Story of a War-Lost Love

By Adam Seth Moss

© 2012 – Route 189 Productions

Forty-seven years had passed since the last time he showed up. The town had evolved into a dying resort town overlooking the Cannonsville Reservoir. The last source of revenue had dried up years ago, and as a result, there was nothing in town but boarded up buildings, the local prison, and this pizzeria that didn’t want to leave. The pizzeria, all red and beautifully decked out with the Christmas lights above could not seem to stand out evermore than it did. The buildings next to it, long abandoned, windows falling out of their frames, looked like they had not seen TLC since the last war.

Sometime ago, I paid a visit to this quiet pizzeria. While driving up County Route 67, I remember seeing that the last business for quite a while was back in Hancock, which looked itself like a ghost town, especially after Interstate 86 had collapsed and they chose to not repair it. Upon entering the small abandoned village to the north, I saw the collapsing towers of the old resort, which once served the residents for miles who wanted to get away from it all. The brown, dirt-soiled buildings had all been boarded up, Route 67 became poorly paved after years of pothole development, and the sense of loneliness spread throughout the area.

This pizzeria that I talk about stood on the nearby hill. Its red frame and beautiful Christmas lights lit up the snow around the building and could be seen as far as the reservoir nearby. I remembered my last trip there, the owner had been declared missing, and his family never seemed to be able to get over it. Somehow, they managed to move on and continue operating the family business through the dead economy. When I pulled up to the parking lot, I looked out towards the reservoir, which was black, but had this red glow due to the lights. Inside, the place looked like any normal pizzeria. The lights that hung over the booths for people to eat in, the lit menu, and even the smell of pepperoni which filled the room. A young woman, in her twenties looked up when she saw me at the door; she smiled and called back towards the kitchen.

“Mom! The man you talked about is here!” she shouted.

At that moment, this older woman, clearly in her late sixties, the pale skin and eyes, entered the room. I looked her up and down; she was the wife of the missing owner’s son. I hadn’t seen here since we were both teenagers back during the war. When I was drafted, I never saw her again, because when I came back, the family had moved to Deposit, which became inaccessible due to numerous landslides. I pictured this woman with the teenage love that I had been raised with. The differences after forty-seven years had been so drastic that she looked nothing like I knew.

“It’s been a long time Megan.” I started to break the silence.

“Oh Adam, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you. I haven’t seen you since the war.” She replied as she grabbed at my gray beard and scanned me over. As she looked, the young woman who called her over scurried off to the kitchen. Once she was done, I motioned her to a table nearby and sat down in the aging leather booth seats.

“Yes it has been a long time. I haven’t seen you since I was drafted, and when I came back, you were gone. Mom and Dad said you had moved to the nearby hills and lost contact.” I said, tears welling up my eyes.

“My parents wanted out of Hale Eddy. We had gotten sick of the neighborhood and the overrun it had dealt with. When my parents passed away, they donated my husband’s late father the money to open the pizzeria they wished to open. When he went missing, my husband promised to keep the business running; despite the effects of war melting down the economy near Cannonsville.” That’s all she could utter before the depressed woman finally collapsed into tears.

I cleared off my glasses of the tears I had, and grabbed a napkin for Megan, who had clearly lost it going down memory lane. Her husband had died in a car accident on Route 67, when he drove at night into a boulder that had fallen from the mountainside. It was unfortunate that I could not be invited, but his grave was right behind the pizzeria. Megan’s daughter walked up to her mother and tried to calm her down. She gave me a look for a second then brought her into the kitchen. When the daughter returned, she had this curious look on her face.

“What happened? Why is my mother so upset?” she asked me. The sound of displeasure in her voice was more than inviting a rude answer in return.

“She remembered everything in her life that’s happened. I think all the repressed memories that she has held these last forty-seven years has come out. The best thing to do would let her think these all back, eventually she’ll have calmed down.” I responded.

I told the daughter I would come back in the morning, but ordered a large pepperoni pizza to bring back to Hale Eddy with myself. When I got back to my apartment in Hale Eddy, I looked out my windows in the hills overlooking the Delaware River. I thought about how Megan had fallen apart into tears. Before I went to bed, I decided to dig around the boxes in my apartment, and when I opened this box in my closet that was marked “Adam’s Memories”, I saw this picture of a boy and a girl that had been dusted over. I had never been married in the times after I was drafted. Post-traumatic stress disorder ruined my social life. I dug out the ring my father gave me in case I ever did. It was dusty; the gold had begun to look worn. After I looked out over the riverside one more time, I dug up an old ring box in the apartment, and put the ring in it.

The next morning was a very putrid morning in terms of the weather. It had rained all day yesterday, and as a result the grounds through the area were wet and full of mud. Some portions in the mountains had even iced over due to the cold nights. I got into my ’10 Ford Focus and drove up the hills along State Route 97 and County Route 97 before driving up to the pizzeria. Noticeably obvious was that a Hearst and the car from the Delaware County Coroner’s Office had been parked at the front door. In the front of the building, a small man in officer uniform was comforting the daughter. I walked up to the police officer and asked what had happened.

“We got a report early this morning from this woman that a person had collapsed in this pizzeria. She was crying so hard she could barely speak, we rushed up from Hancock as fast as we could, but when we got there, it had been too late. She was gone. The Coroner’s Office just arrived with the medical examiner. Based on her looks, I’d say she was lost when something finally broke mentally. May I ask who you are by chance?” he responded.

“Adam Jackson, I am a long time friend of Megan’s, and at one time, her lover in high school. We got separated when I got drafted for war nearly a half a century ago. I came to visit the pizzeria last night after being told by a friend in Hale Eddy that they might have found her. Everything seemed normal last night, except that she broke in tears when she saw me and thought of all the memories of her husband, who is buried in the family grave out back.” I responded, trying to hold back tears. “I….I was supposed to propose to her today, despite my older age. I thought it was time with her husband gone. I….I…guess God said it not to happen.”

The officer gave me this look of depression when I told my tale, obviously feeling sorry for me after all I went to. He finally said “Well, unfortunately she’s gone. Could you do me a favor and bring the daughter down to Hale Eddy for the weekend? I think it would be in her best interest.” I nodded in agreement and motioned the daughter, who looked very distraught. I brought her down to the car, cleaned off my beard and repositioned my Yankees cap. Before starting the engine, I walked up to the officer once more.

“Would you mind if I took a look around?” I asked him.

He gave me permission. I walked into the pizzeria, which again had all the lights on, but noticeably different, a picture of me from before the war now hung in front of the menu. A non-educated guess would be that she put that picture up after she saw me. The picture of me was the one taken for me in High School dressed in the tuxedo my parents had rented. In the same picture, there was a teenage view of Megan, her long hair and white dress sticking out over the blue Delaware. I had never been given a copy of this photo, because Megan wanted it, and before leaving, I took down the photo from the menu and put it under my arm. I walked outside, walked over to the medical examiner, who was putting her body in the Hearst.

“What did she die from?” I asked.

He ignored me and continued on his work. Seeing that response (or lack of a response), I walked down to my car with the photo, which I put in my trunk. The daughter had calmed down enough to speak. Her cheeks were bright red, tear-filled and then some. It was gut-wrenching to watch her break down like this. It didn’t help things when I started the engine and Bobby Vee started playing over the radio. She started crying again as I drove down County Route 67 towards Hancock. After pulling into my apartment driveway in Hale Eddy, I brought her and the photo upstairs. After getting her stuff put together in the guest room, I took the photo of her mother and I and hung it up on my wall. Tears welled in my eyes when staring at the photo. Someday, I thought, we’ll be in heaven together. Her time had come before mine unfortunately.

The day of the funeral, I was in the best suit and tie I owned, with the red burgundy shirt that fit so well. At some point, I was asked to speak in honor of Megan and her daughter. I walked to the microphone and spoke about what an honorable woman she had been for so many years and how she had persevered through a lot of life’s hardships. I was still trying to hold back tears after I finished reading a prepared line from George Bernard Shaw, the writer. Before they buried the casket, I took the ring my father had given me and buried it in the dirt below. This was my way, I felt, of saying goodbye to the woman I thought would be my future wife. It was at that moment that I realized war stunk.

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