NHIS And The County Fair

09/17/02

It appears that the fall race at NHIS just might be "Snakebit". It seems we never have a normal weekend there in September. The latest version included a Sunday full of rain delays and a shortened Winston Cup race. Fortunately, the BNS race went off without any serious problems and despite, or possibly because of, a controversial finish, it was a great race. As the race will be hashed over and reported to death in other parts of the paper, I won’t go into detail but will pass along a few random observations instead.

When the pole interview was going on and I saw Kelly Moore and Andy Santerre with their great starting spots, I decided if I was ever going to field a BNS car I’d paint it blue and white and put my driver in a blue and white uniform. Then I watched Dennis Demers destroy a car during qualifying and another during the race. I looked at the blue and white of Dennis’ uniform and his car and decided I wouldn’t field a BNS car in any color combination, ever.

We camped at the track for the weekend with the Bellingham Sheetmetal guys. What a fun group of people! Add to it the fact that they were still celebrating their Beech Ridge win and that they had Eddie and his whole family and half his pit crew at the campsite helping them celebrate and it made for a wild weekend. This team will win some more, I think I’ll stick around and help them celebrate when they do.

During Andy Santerre’s qualifying interview he mentioned that the Cup guys get "Happy Hour" while the BNS drivers only get "Happy Half Hour". Andy, you’re heading for the wrong camper after practice, man. Follow me next time, I’ll show you "Happy Hour".

Even though the track had time to cure and was more driveable this time than it was in July, the fries haven’t improved a bit. They still taste as though they come in powdered form and you have to add water to them making them magically pop up into something that’s looks vaguely like a piece of potato but tastes more like a strip of cardboard. I hate to dwell on this or whine about it too much, partly because the food in the media center is very good and partly because I don’t want to be mistaken for a Winston Cup driver.

I was pretty impressed by the big Grizco/Burnham announcement but the big, big news of the weekend came from a friend living in the Portland area. I was told that Hooters Restaurant has purchased a piece of property in South Portland Maine. Hooters coming to Maine! My life will now be complete! I think I will lead the rally to petition NASCAR to have no less than six BNS events at Beech Ridge next season.

Do you think Tracy Gordon’s crew was excited after winning at Loudon? Do you think Tracy was excited? Did his victory speech appear to be one long word to anyone else or was that just me? What a "feel good" win for a driver and team that has been trying for a long time. Congratulations to Tracy and the whole Tic-Tac team.

After leaving the track during a rain delay and heading for home, we were in a pretty good line of traffic going south on route 106 when the camper in front of me barely missed a traffic cone. I wasn’t quick enough to dodge it (I might have been 20 years ago, but not last weekend) and managed to run over it. Do you have any idea what happens when you hit one of those things with the sewer valve on a motor home, going 60 miles per hour? My son and daughter, who happened to be in the car directly behind me, found out what happens. They narrowly missed the very large flying plastic valve and tee and, fortunately, were only hit by a small part of the contents of the blackwater tank which completely dumped itself in very short order. I bet the townsfolk will remember the Big Brown Truck next time they see it, if not for the looks of it, at least for the smell of it.

Because of an early deadline due to going to Dover this weekend I’m starting this column on a laptop while sitting in a lawn chair at the Franklin County Agricultural fair while watching, washing, and generally taking care of a few display cars for the local Chevy dealer. It’s actually kind of amazing how much a county fair and a racetrack have in common. The large amount of people, the heavy traffic, the bad french fries and the overpriced burgers. The sounds and smells are certainly different though. Take the word of someone who spent the week stationed between the ‘Olde Tyme Loggers Display’ and a long row of sheep barns. The sound of a 350 Chevy motor and the smell of burning gear oil will win out every time. Even the carnival rides can successfully be compared to some of the BNS rides. The ‘Bullet’ looks a lot like the Tic-Tac ride did at Loudon. The ‘Tilt-a-Whirl’ kind of reminded me of Dennis Demers for some reason. The tractor pulls reminded me a lot of the Modified race due to the absence of fenders, and the ‘Bumper Cars’ really make you think of…… Oh, well, nevermind….

As always, send Questions, Comments, Hate Mail, and Indecent Proposals to, Fish c/o Busch North Scene or e-mail them to fishy@cybertours.com