They used to say “politics makes strange bedfellows.” It’s still true today. I mean, think about it- Obama and Biden? NASCAR isn’t much different. Sometimes, to get what you want, you have to help someone else get what they want.
One that just flat amuses me is the technical alliance of Rusty Wallace Racing with Joe Gibbs Racing in the Nationwide Series. You’ve got one owner who likes to talk to God, the other seems to think God’s last name is “dammit.” One is calculating and calm, though he’s signed a few drivers who weren’t. The other owner? His whole organization is rough around the fenders.
Though it looks about as natural as Tony Stewart in a Toyota, there’s little doubt this will pay dividends for Rusty Wallace. It’s a funky alliance in terms of appearances (I never pictured an old schooler like Wallace in a Camry), but all Wallace really wants is quality support, and all Gibbs wants is a guy who’ll pay his bills on time. It could be a win- win.
Speaking of the name Gibbs, it makes me of the think of the name Busch, and that makes me think of another new pairing: Kurt Busch and Steve Addington. Are you crazy? While I think Pat Tryson was a perfectly good crew chief, and he said he wanted to be home more often, a big part of this move had “that dude is a piece of work” all over it. I’m thinking why would Addy want to take on this aggravation?
Well, from this observer’s point of view, Busch the Elder gets a doggone good new crew chief. You don’t pile up the wins like Kyle had if you had a crap crew chief, and I think Shrub would be first to say Addington was a big part of his success.
As for Addington, hey, it beats digging ditches for a living. There’s something to be said for being employed in this economy. At least with Kurt, at least he’s got seven years’ life experience that Kyle doesn’t have, and he’s tempered his act a bit. Now if he doesn’t chill, I’d pay money to watch Addington pop him in the snout. It’s just a guess, but I’ll bet Steve packs a meaner punch than Jimmy Spencer. All sarcasm aside, this looks like a good pairing, and Kurt probably isn’t half as bad as I’m making him out to be.
And then, as if you haven’t heard it a hundred times already, Tony Eury Jr. will be the pit boss for Danica Patrick in her limited 2010 Nationwide Series run. In one sense, it looks as odd as Felix and Oscar- a pretty, young, yet spunky driver with a burly, yet laid back crew chief. In another way, this looks like a cool combo, like Eury is that big, older brother who’ll look out for little sister- complete with a calming influence.
Eury has already dealt with monstrously high expectations, so handling Danica will be a snap by comparison. In terms of performance, no one is really expecting much, so this COULD be the story of the year if she goes out and wins a race. It’d have “I told you so” written all over it.
You know a lot of people think the idea of Patrick trying NASCAR is more about marketing and less about racing.. For Eury, a lot of people laid the blame for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s failures on his cousin. So it’s a quest for validation and for redemption.
History is full of strange, yet successful pairings. Dean Martin had Jerry Lewis, Paul Mc Cartney had John Lennon, Andy Taylor had Barney Fife, and Jimi Hendrix had all those white guys playing behind him.
Sometimes opposites attract. Whether or not its peaches and cream, or motor oil and frozen yogurt remains to be seen. One thing for sure, it will have us watching.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
You lost me on the McCartney / Lennon pairing being strange. How so?
They grew up in the same neighborhood, they were in the same age group, they had the same aspirations, and they were both great song writers.
“And the fireman rushes in from the pouring rain…. VERY STRANGE”
@Bill B. What you say is true. All of it. I just think of their personalities, especially as what they wrote songs about individually. If you think about it, the two were VERY different individuals, though those differences may have been subtle enough to cause this to not be the best analogy. But I maintain the personality differences were definitely there. Kid of like a good marriage.
I agree that there were personality and song writing differences. John wrote lyrics that had deeper meanings whereas Paul’s lyrics tended to be more (for lack of a better word) inane.
I guess all I was pointing out was that their differences weren’t great enough to outweigh their similarities.
Now let’s move on and debate that Hendrix analogy… LOL.
@Bill #3. Yeah, you’re probably right. Sounded like a good idea at the time. You hit right on what I thought, and hey, they teamed for some great music.
Speaking for myself (as a guitar player) George was my favorite.
It’s funny how perception becomes reality for so many people. Take time to actually look at the list of who wrote what for the Beatles, and you will see that the McCartney songs were no more inane than the Lennon songs. As a solo writer, Lennon was more melancholy and depressive than McCartney, but during the Beatle years they were very much on the same page.
Rachel,
I agree with you on their Beatles work. John always got praised as the serious “artist” while Paul’s artistic contributions got marginalized.
But post-Beatles is another story -
“Silly Love Songs” vs “Imagine”
“Band On The Run” vs “Whatever Gets You Through The Night”
“Jet” vs “Mother”
“Live and Let Die” vs “Mind Games”
“Wonderful Christmastime” vs “Happy Christmas (War is Over)”
In all fairness to Paul though, I have every solo album he has ever released whereas John’s solo albums I stick to “greatest hits” and “best of” albums. Part of that is due to Yoko’s “contributions” to the solo albums but IMO Paul generally wrote catchier more accessible songs. The filler songs on Paul albums were much better than the filler songs on John albums. (Once again just my opinion – I love them both… George and Ringo too).
Oops, sorry. I don’t mean to interrupt with a racing comment, but the only way Danica wins a race this year is if the rest of the field starts and parks. Someone needs to record the radio comm between her and Eury though. It’s bound to get a Grammy nod for best comedy.