Saturday, February 26, 2011

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Zizzo Racing Unveils New Kenny Youngblood Paint Scheme for ‘11

(Zizzo Racing unveiled their new Kenny Youngblood-designed paint scheme for their PEAK Motor Oil/Herculiner NHRA Full Throttle Series Top Fuel dragster. That's me, second from the left. I'm awesome. Zizzo Racing photo)

Kenny Youngblood has been in drag racing 45 years and is celebrating with a new paint scheme on the PEAK Motor Oil/Herculiner dragster of TJ Zizzo. Youngblood said the new paint job was good for an extra .01 seconds and he may have been right as Zizzo rocketed down the track at Pomona at 312 mph for an ET of 3.870. The time was good enough for seventh on the provisional charts. Given the weather forecast for the remainder of the weekend, Thursday may be the only qualifying session for the 51st Annual Winternationals.

For the full story on the unveiling, click HERE.

Friday, February 18, 2011

It's Justin Lofton's Birthday!

(The 2009 ARCA champ prepares for the CampingWorld.com 200, the final NCWTS race at the now-defunct Gateway International Raceway. Photo by Brandon W. Mudd)

What better present for a racer turning 25 on the same day as the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season opener at Daytona than a story written by me! Wanna read it? Hellz yeah you do! Go to the NCWTS Examiner and get yo read on!

Monday, February 14, 2011

2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Preview

(Can former Gateway International Raceway winner Todd Bodine become the first driver to win back-to-back NASCAR Camping World Truck Series titles? Photo by Rusty Jarrett, Getty Images.)

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is known for its mixture of veterans and young drivers and 2011 will be no different. As usual, there has been a lot of movement between teams and the addition of several rookies. For the full series preview, check out the NCWTS Examiner.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Dale Jr. Earns Daytona 500 Pole

(Former Gateway International Raceway winner and two-time NASCAR Nationwide Series champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. earned the pole position for next Sunday's Daytona 500. Photo by Brandon W. Mudd)

Dale Earnhardt Jr., the 2004 Daytona 500 winner, earned the pole position for next Sunday's Great American Race. It will be the tenth anniversary of the death of his father, Dale Earnhardt, in a last-lap crash during the 2001 race. This year's Daytona 500 will be Junior's 400th start in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. For the full story, visit the St. Louis Motorsports Examiner.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series coverage at Examiner.com

(Yeah, that's me talking to former NCWTS champ Johnny Benson when he won at Gateway a few years ago. I'm covering the Truck Series again. Dig me. Gateway International Raceway photo.)

In a continuing effort to kill the boredom that is unemployment and to be true to my attention-whoring self, I'm doing another project with Examiner.com, this time focusing on the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. I got my start in NASCAR in the series and still think it's the best series in NASCAR. It doesn't get near the attention it deserves and my goal is to help change that. At least a little.

So check it out, subscribe to it, follow it on Twitter and Facebook, etc. Thanks for your support and if you have any NCWTS story ideas, shoot me an e-mail.

Day 29: This may have been a bad idea...

(I may have a better chance of beating this young lady for an Olympic gold medal than I have of doing a half-marathon.)

OK. Serious doubt has started to creep in.

Part of it (a lot of it...hell, most of it) is my own fault. I fell seriously out of training last week and it's been brutal trying to play catch up. I ran once over the course of a week and it was only three miles using a 2-8 clock (two minutes running, eight minutes walking). I was doing well. Did five miles a few weeks ago, was working out with my Kinect before runs, and totally found my groove.

Now, not so much. Tried to do three miles on a 3-7 clock Sunday and had to go back to 2-8. Same thing today (of course, eating a buttload of Cajun rice sans meat could have been an issue. I'll get to that in a minute). My fallen arch in my left foot has begun bothering me to the point I had to walk the remainder of my three miles today. Only 46 days to go before the half-marathon and I may be in worse shape than I was when I started.

Alright, that's probably not possible, but I'm feeling kinda screwed at the moment. So, as I tend to do when I've fallen in a hole and need to catch up, I do something that will ostensibly put me on the right track. For example, before I even thought about researching what goes into training for a long distance run, I signed up for it and dropped the 50 bucks on the registration figuring that once I paid for it, my cheapness would top my laziness. Well, that kinda worked, so now I'm doing something else.

I have decided I'm going to use this run as a vehicle to raise money for a great cause. My dad, Ed Kerns, is a cancer survivor. Three years ago next week, he underwent surgery for throat cancer and now speaks with the aid of a mechanical larynx. My goal is to raise $1,000 by March 26, money that will be donated to the Cancer Support Community of Greater St. Louis. I spoke with them earlier today and am touring their facilities on Friday. What's great about this group is they provide free services to cancer patients and their families that not only help the physical aspects of the disease, but the mental and spiritual. I should have a site set up for donations in the next day or so. Obviously, during the run, I'm going to wear a shirt supporting the organization, but I'll sell other parts of my body for sponsorship. Make me an offer and I'll put your business, phone number, website, et. al., somewhere on my body. And will provide photos.

Now, about the no-meat thing. One hundred six hours ago, I became a vegan. Well, I started a vegan diet, anyway. I decided to do it for a week after watching Oprah with the wife. You can tell I really didn't think it through since I got to have a meatless Super Bowl, but I have to say, it's actually worked pretty well. I feel good, I've lost a couple pounds and I've discovered some foods that I wouldn't have eaten before. Nothing too wacky, just some soups and whatnot.

My little hippie ordeal ends Friday at Noon, but the wife and I have decided to eat vegan for Lent. She'll do it without bitching because a) she was a vegetarian for four-and-a-half years, and (b) she won't complain because it'll make my whining look that much more pathetic. But I figure, this can only be for the best. I obviously need the boost to my health and definitely need to lose some pounds.

Well anycrap, there's my blog. I'll be writing more as I go along. It's cathartic and the blogging ties in with the training. I find if I write about it, I'm more apt to go out and do it. I'll leave you with this parting epiphany that I recently received: I have re-discovered an important fact that I had forgotten when I ran cross country in high school. The idea of being a runner is far more glamorous than the reality of it.

Ta.