Banquet Season 06

11/29/06

 

Congratulations to one of my favorite guys anywhere, Mike Olsen, on his second Busch East series championship. No one deserves this more than Mike and the whole Little Trees team. Also, congratulations to all of our “East” guys for their efforts at the Showdown and especially to Matt Kobyluck for bringing the trophy back home this year. Had it not been for a little bit of bad luck, the team trophy could have been ours again but, hey, that’s racin’. Speed Channel did an exceptional job again of bringing coverage to those of us who couldn’t make the trip out west. Not only do we get to see the race, we get live qualifying coverage too. With the addition of Tivo at my house this year, I was able to watch qualifying just before the race itself, making a much nicer and longer show and allowing me to get to bed at a reasonable hour on Friday night. The showdown is an excellent way to end the Grand National season and with the TV coverage is becoming the most looked-forward-to event of the season.

The showdown is over now and it is nearly time for the BES banquet. The banquet has always been the highlight of the season for me as well as many others. The drivers get to relax and spend some time with their families and friends and it is a great time for everyone involved in the sport to mingle, reminisce and just have fun. The banquet will be held again, this year, at the Mohegan Sun Hotel and Casino in Uncasville Connecticut. As wonderful a place as the Mohegan Sun is, I really miss the days when the banquet was in Maine or New Hampshire. As the series started to move more into Connecticut, New York and Pennsylvania, and out of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, it was only fitting that the banquet move along with it and stay somewhat central to the area that the series is in. Now that the 2007 Busch East Series schedule is out, it looks as though the banquet may have to make another move. I mapped out the tracks on the new schedule and computed the mileages, drew a line around the whole thing and came to the conclusion that the 2007 banquet, a year from now, should actually be held in Saginaw Michigan. That’s right, Michigan! Is there a casino in Saginaw Michigan? Do any of you know where Saginaw Michigan is? Does anyone want to carpool to Saginaw Michigan on December 14^th 2007? E-mail me if you are interested.

I’m really going to miss the Busch “North” Series. I understand where NASCAR is headed with the series and I agree with what they are doing and expect that the changes will benefit the series and NASCAR in general, but I still don’t like it and I’m going to miss the old series.

There are a lot of things in the past few years that I miss and, I guess it is going to get worse before it gets better. The Northeast Motorsports Expo Is coming up on the first weekend in January. The show has always been a kind of kickoff for the next racing season. Joey Logano is going to be there. DNK will showcase a couple real nice used cars. I really miss the days when Harry Gant, Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Benny Parsons showed up and signed autographs. Nothing against Joey Logano or DNK’s fine used cars, but it just isn’t the same.

I miss Ricky Craven in Nextel Cup racing. In fact, I miss the name “Winston Cup” I miss Brad Leighton and Andy Santerre battling for the Busch Grand National North title. I miss Billy Penfold, Dale Shaw and Carey Heath. Next year I’m going to miss Kip Stockwell and probably quite a few others too. I miss the old Nashville Network. HDNet is better than nothing, watching a month-old BES race on Speed Channel is not better than nothing, but it’s all we have.

I miss seeing the “Nascar Stars” at Oxford Plains, Beech Ridge and Thunder Road. I miss the tune-up and media day at Lee USA. I miss Tic-Tac and Land-O-Lakes and I really miss Co-ed Naked.

I guess I’ll adjust, we all will. Fortunately, we still have the annual ‘Busch East Scene Snowmobile Poker Run for Charity’ in Rangeley Maine on February 3rd (I miss it being the annual ‘Busch North Scene Snowmobile Poker Run for Charity’). This is always a great time for a great cause with lots of fun people. The ride itself is usually very nice around the Rangeley area on their well groomed trails with lots of great scenery and beautiful views, and the auction, comedians and other festivities are always good for a few laughs, and everything is for a good cause. I really wonder, though, if the “East” series continues to move west and south, how long it will be before we don’t have any drivers or crews left that can ride a snowmobile, or even know what one is. If we want to keep the Busch East Series drivers coming to the ride we may have to stage it in Saginaw Michigan and use Golf Carts to go around picking up cards.

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