Rolex is Worth The Watch

speedtv.com

Oh, enough. I see you... on the floor... in your little print dress... feet pattering and arms flailing. "I don't want to watch... you can't make me... I don't want tooooo [snot globule defiantly hits the floor]."

Here's the ultimate question: What else are you going to do? There are zero other racing events of any consequence, this weekend, and the "Super" Bowl isn't till next week.

I know they're not Indycars, and I know it's a ridiculously loooong "race," but here are just a few reasons why you should watch the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona (random order):

•  It's one of the top 5 greatest automobile races on the planet
• This year is the 50th anniversary
• There are 20-something current or former Indycar drivers participating (Dario, Montoya, Briscoe, Golden Graham, Pruett, RHR, Max, and many more!)
• It's the unofficial kick-off of the U.S. racing calendar
• The DP pigs have been beautifully redesigned
• It will definitely, maybe be sunny there

You don't have to watch it all, just pick a favorite IndyCar shoe, tune in every now and again to get up to speed, and put a little racing in your life when YOU HAVE NO OTHER ALTERNATIVE.

I'd overwhelm you with an impressive list of deets, here, but the crack staff over at SPEED, of course, is ON IT. Everything you'd ever want to know going into the Rolex is right here, but this will get the wheels turning: Broadcast of the 50th Rolex at Daytona begins Saturday at 2:30 p.m eastern on SPEED.

Promise. You'll get something out of it, or your money back!

—JM

"Taking Crazy Chances to Please a Lady"

The Mrs. adores old movies—speaking frankly, a crack addiction would likely occupy less of her psyche than a Fred Astaire film. But I digress...

So, recently, during one of her epic TCM sessions, she came across the 1950 flick, To Please a Lady, starring Clark Gable, Barbara Stanwyck, and [4-year-old-boy voice] WACE CARS!

The Mrs. is smart, beautiful and, without question, thoughtful, so she quickly snapped it to the DVR for me.

Simmer. This isn't going to be a long-winded cinematic critique. Just wanted to give my peeps a heads-up that there's a lot of awesome racing footage that lies within. In fact, the writer definitely had the dudes in mind, because it's equal parts dialogue and racing porn.

Some killer midget footage (which I had no idea was as big a phenomenon as it was back in the day), but the real star? The Indianapolis Motor Speedway. kaBOOOM. Awesome scenes in the latter half of all the sights and sounds of a 50's-era Brickyard spectacle—crowd shots and all kinds of rare delights.

Here's the point: Watch. It. Even you cynics who wouldn't normally have anything to do with a black and white film or a movie made before, say, Meatballs (highly, highly underrated for its cinematic importance, by the way).

Here's the official trailer, but WHOA UP, there, quick-draw. The trailer is short on the race scenes I speak so highly of, so don't turn your nose up until you've laid eyes on the full-length feature (it's a quick 90 minutes, or so).



Check your local listings on TCM, dial up Netflix, whatevs... just do it.

Two thumbs up!

—JM

52-card Pickup

On the morning of October 16th, in Las Vegas, Randy Bernard had IndyCar's deck stacked perfectly—nary a card or corner out of place.

That afternoon, fate took that carefully laid plan into its hands and fanned it callously into the air—in some respects, drawing the very existence of the sport into question.

Many urgent and highly consequential challenges are now being faced.    

Patience and understanding...

—JM

A Letter to Dan Wheldon

Hey, bud...

Wow, WTF, as they say?! You really caught us by surprise, dude. And, man, did you make me look foolish, Sunday. When the news came, "Fuck that!" leaped off my lips as fast as a blink. Then came the tears—and, oh, did they come. One after the next with gobs of sobs thrown in for good measure. Thanks, dude! :]

Kind of embarrassing, really. Of course, just my wife was there (she wasn't in any better shape), but I don't cry. Not out of some dumb responsibility to "be a man," it just doesn't come very easily to me, I guess. It's so rare, in fact, when the tears started flowing, I think I scared myself! LOL.

It's been a melancholy few days, and I haven't been on Twitter since Sunday. If you knew me, you'd know that's way out of character. Not sure why, really, I guess I just feel like I would be capitalizing on what happened, in some way, and it just hasn't felt right. I'll be back at it soon enough, I suppose.

I have to say, I'm kinda pissed, brother! We were supposed to meet, you know?! :) Despite my inclination not to meet my heroes, for fear of shattering my image of them, I guess I always felt like I'd bump into you at a kart track, or somewhere "comfortable"—you in your too-tight fire suit and me in my middle-age drag. I'd actually cast off my shyness, for a moment, and share a quick hello. Maybe you seemed more approachable than the others, I'm not really sure.

Guys like you aren't supposed to die, you know?! :) You had the kids...and Susie. Plus the comeback! We were SO looking forward to that. I just don't get it, man. It's senseless, really. Of course, you're not the first person with everything going for them to die young, but I really just don't understand it. Guess I should stop struggling and just accept it, huh?!

For now, I've been clinging to something Oriol said: "They always take the good ones. The rest, we still have a lot of growing to do." It's something, anyway. Smart man, is the Catalonian!

Hey, BTW, don't worry about Susie and the kids, we'll take good care of them—as if you had any doubts! IndyCar rawks! \m/

Well, I guess I've said all I need to say. Must be time to say goodbye.

Thanks, Dan, you brought a lot of joy to IndyCar fans and, apparently, you weren't a half-bad human being, either. :) Gotta say, I sure hope you found there is a heaven and you're circulating some kart track up there. After I've done sufficient growing up, I wanna bump into you, sometime.

Rest easy, man.

—JM

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