I am a lapsed blogger

It’s hard to explain how you can write for a living yet find it so daunting to put down daily (or even semi-regular) thoughts on a blog. I envisioned writing brief musings from Daytona but got so swamped writing for the Post while trying to promote the book that I let the blog slide. Then I got frustrated that Random House wasn’t doing more to publicize the book (a common plaint among first-time authors, I’m told) and figured no one wanted to read rants about that. Finally, the gap in my blog posts became so huge it was paralyzing; I felt if I were to resume after a such a glaring hiatus, I either had to have something seismic to say or some spectacular excuse—like have gone temporarily blind or broken both arms. Neither was the case.

But if anyone questions my courage, my plans for tonight ought to put that to rest. I’m on a flight to Miami as I write, where I’ll be doing my second reading and signing for “One Helluva Ride” at Books & Books in Coral Gables. That alone takes pluck. But I’m following the fabulous humor columnist Dave Barry, who has agreed to introduce me.

The reading was arranged by my dear friend Michelle Kaufman, a terrific sportswriter at the Miami Herald, who also teaches journalism at the University of Miami, where her students still don’t quite believe she is married to Dave. Anyway, Dave knows a lot about NASCAR, believe it or not, having received a certificate of achievement from the Richard Petty Driving Experience in Februaray 2000. His account was side-splitting. Here’s a link to it on his blog, http://www.davebarry.com/misccol/NASCAR.htm

Anyway, Dave could recite the starting lineup for the Daytona 500 and drawl howls. He’s a peach to introduce me tonight. I just hope I’m not pelted with tomatoes when he sits down, and I rise to talk about NASCAR.

A few words about Las Vegas:

It was shocking to see great drivers like Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon slam into the wall so hard—Tony because of a blown right-front tire; Jeff, after his Chevy drifted ever so slightly up the track while battling side-by-side with Matt Kenseth. It could have been calamitous, with Gordon’s car spinning down onto the apron and smacking an opening in the inside wall that wasn’t protected by a SAFER barrier. I’m sure that will be addressed by the next time NASCAR races at Las Vegas, and I hope it prompts a review of all “un-cushioned” sections of retaining walls on every oval.

As for the tires, there have been so many right-fronts blows this season that I can’t help but wonder if the new car—or the way teams have to set up the car to handle properly—isn’t exacting an extraordinary toll on the right front. Goodyear has done such a great job for the sport for decades. I hope smart engineers are looking at ways to help the tires catch up to the pounding, or rein in the car so it’s not so abusive.

A short video about the book

What a terrific start to Speed Weeks! Loved Saturday night's race and can't wait for qualifying today. I know I promised to tone down the blather about the book and focus more on racing, but I wanted to post a link to a video that the Washington Post's website made to accompany a book except that ran in today's (Sunday Feb. 10) paper.

I'm not too swift with links, so I hope this works. I also have no idea how long this link will be active. But here it is: (A quick word about credits. The video was put together by Jess Atkinson, and all the photos, which also appear from the book, were taken by Mark Sluder, a dear friend and current photographer with NASCAR Scene.)


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2008/02/08/VI2008020803158.html

Hope you enjoy. The excerpt that ran in today's paper doesn't appear on the book's website. It was culled from Chapter 6, which focuses on the rivalry/relationship between Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt. We chose this part mainly for two reasons: In remembrance of Earnhardt's victory in the 1998 Daytona 500, and because it includes a scene that takes place in DC, so I thought the paper's readers might enjoy that.

As for the today's qualifying, I'm not much for predictions, but I think one is in order. I say a Toyota wins the pole and that Toyota is fielded by Joe Gibbs Racing.

Am leaving for Daytona first thing Tuesday morning and can't wait. All the best,
Liz

NASCAR's election year

I had the pleasure of talking to Doug Rice and Ricky Craven last night (Feb. 4) on the PRN program, “Fast Talk.” And we were kicking around ideas about where NASCAR is headed. The thought I blurted out, with dubious clarity, was that it’s a bit unclear, adding that I viewed 2008 as an election year, of sorts, for the sport.

So today, as millions of voters in key states go to the polls on what’s billed as Super Tuesday, I’ll try to flesh out that thought a little better.

What I was trying to suggest is that NASCAR goes before the voters this season in much the same way that John McCain, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have been for some time.

Voters have been poking, prodding, quizzing and analyzing their respective party’s potential nominees for the president for months, trying to figure out just what they stand for.

Republicans, in essence, are asking who is the more authentic conservative: McCain or Romney?

Democrats are largely grappling with who is the more authentic agent of change: Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama?

I’d argue that NASCAR Nation enters the 2008 season with a fundamental question of its own. In short: Is NASCAR still the sport I fell in love with years ago?

NASCAR fans will cast their vote in the coming months through their television sets and presence (or absence) in the grandstands. And the result will be tracked by the sport’s insiders with the same degree of scrutiny and instant analysis that pollsters bring to the political process, for better or worse.

Will ratings for the 2008 Daytona 500 be higher or lower than last year’s? What about TV ratings for the Fox broadcasts overall? Will ESPN do any better in the second half of the season? What about the Chase? And from track to track, are there more empty seats in grandstands or fewer?

NASCAR has gone through two years of declining TV ratings. The 2008 season is a referendum on whether Brian France can halt the erosion and, ideally, turn the troubling trend around.

If I were his campaign strategist, I’d advise him to spell out a clear platform and stick to it without flip-flopping. That platform would include a promise to:

1. Deliver close, side-by-side racing. And if the Car of Tomorrow fails to deliver it, tweak the design, without compromising the gains in driver safety, so that it does.

2. Celebrate drivers with authentic personalities. Joy, anger and frustration are part of racing. And NASCAR has been watering down its product by muzzling expressions of raw emotion to the point that it sucks life out of the sport.

3. Put the interest of fans above short-term profit margin, to the extent possible. There are numerous ways to honor fans and remind them that they count. For starters: Set consistent starting times for races and stick to them; let the outcome of races be decided on the track rather than through rule-making in the control tower; limiting commercial interruptions of the race broadcast. I know that money has to be made to keep the sport healthy. But without fans, there is no sport.

The fine line between initiative and extortion

It’s Super Bowl day! And while much of the nation is consumed by thoughts of Tom Brady and Eli Manning, I’ve still got Ed Swasher on my mind.

Who’s Ed Swasher?

We’ve never met. I’m not even sure I’m spelling his name correctly. All I know is that he lives in Canada, and about three weeks before I tried to buy the domain name for a website for the NASCAR book I’d written, “One Helluva Ride,” some guy named Ed Swasher bought it with the sole intention of selling it to me.

“Squatting,” I think it’s called.

Not being a skilled negotiator, I hired a “domain-name buying service” for $59 to handle the transaction.

First, the service produced as estimate of the value of the name, www.onehellluvaride.com (which I’m purposely misspelling out of spite). The estimate: $75-$250.

Next, the service asked me to make an opening bid. I did: $75.

A few days later, the service informed me of Mr. Swasher’s opening offer: $1,595.

I almost croaked.

My counter-offer: “Tell Mr. Swasher I hope he chokes on the name.”

There’s a fine line between initiative and extortion. I salute Mr. Swasher’s initiative for having the smarts to scoop up the book’s name before I had the sense to. (The title had been advertised on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com for months, and I foolishly left it “unprotected.”) Good for you, Ed!

But $1,595? For something that probably cost you $10?!

I tell this story for two reasons: To explain why the book’s website is the somewhat cumbersome www.onehelluvaridebook.com (it cost me $9.99, as opposed to $1,595); AND to warn everyone who plans to write a book or even thinks there’s the slightest chance to BUY your title’s domain name immediately before the Ed Swashers of the world do!

It’s easy. I got mine with a few keystrokes at GoDaddy.com. (The company apparently is an associate sponsor of Dale Earnhardt Jr. this season, but that’s not why I chose it. My brother recommended GoDaddy. And he was right: It’s awesome—especially with technical support!)

I promise the next blog post will be about NASCAR rather than my ongoing book angst. I just wanted to wag a cyber-finger at Ed Swasher and spare others my foolish mistakes. RESERVE your domain name NOW!

So, enjoy the Super Bowl. I plan to. And onto Speedweeks!

All the best,

Liz

Welcome!

For months, friends who have written books told me stories about how great it felt the day they finally saw a copy of their first published work. It was like the birth of a child, they said—payback for all the hard labor that preceded it.

They were right. I was thrilled to open the package from the publisher a few days ago. I’m crazy about the cover of “One Helluva Ride,” for one. And I can brag on it because I had nothing to do with the design. It’s a picture of stock cars hurtling toward the fourth turn at Martinsville Speedway, and implicit in that is a tribute to NASCAR’s past and the close-quarters racing that got the sport where it is today.

Even more, I love the silhouette of fans going wild in the foreground. We don’t see them exactly—just their backs—as we peer down at the track over their shoulders from the worst seats in the stands. Still, they’re having a great time, pumping their fists in the sky.

Finally, at the bottom it reads, “Foreward by seven-time NASCAR champion Richard Petty.” It was a huge honor that the King contributed to the book, and he writes about the sport in broad, welcoming strokes, inviting readers in.

But the excitement I felt over first seeing it was almost immediately followed by dread.

From the outset, I decided that if I was going to try to write a book about NASCAR, it should be a book that was told from the heart, through my eyes, and one that no one else could have written. I was going to paint this picture from an extremely personal point of view, unlike traditional newspaper writing (the only form of writing I’ve done). And if people didn’t like it, so be it.

But now that “One Helluva Ride” is in print, I’m in a bit of a panic, fearing I went too far.

“Exposed” is how a friend put it in an email after reading an advance copy. “You must have felt really, really exposed…”

Well, he’s right. And it’s a queasy feeling.

The book may resonant with some and strike others as inane.

I know it’s hard for anyone to find time to read these days, so I’ve posted lengthy excerpts on the book’s website (www.onehelluvaridebook.com) so you can decide if it’s worth buying. There’s also an email address there, so you can tell me what you think if you DO read it.

One thing I love about NASCAR fans is their bluntness. It’s usually easy to tell how they feel about something!

Hope you enjoy it,

Liz