Icewind's Ramblings

It’s Speed Week in Daytona Beach and there is a lot of racing going on with qualifying for the Daytona 500 on Sunday. Thursday had the two Gatorade twin qualifier duels each a 60 lap race to set the remaining field for Sunday’s race.   In the first race it went pretty smoothly with only one small crash on lap 9 and another mishap by Michael Waltrip as he exited pit row. On the last half of the lap Danica’s car was hit and then skidded across the apron and hit a safety barrier wall at almost 180 mph.   Fox did a great job having several camera angles for point of view shots from above, alongside, & inside the car and lastly one watching Danica drive the car. In real time it happens so fast that from being hit, skidding, and impacting the wall is just a couple of seconds.   What is amazing is watching the training and instinct kick in as Danica prepares for hitting the wall violently. In Indycar races she was taught to let go of the steering wheel just before i...

I woke up this morning and had coffee then prepared for the Daytona 500 which was being run in Florida today.   It is still dark here in Alaska and will be for several hours but in Daytona it is sunny and warm with fans ready for a great race. It is nice seeing the fans out in force without having heavy gear on as we do here in the far north.   The activities were completed and the race started with a clean run the first few laps.   On lap 3 the tribute to Dale Earnhardt with everyone silent and raised hands with three fingers held high was a testament to his contribution to the sport.   The broadcasters were silent as well and the impact of hearing the power of the cars and seeing the images of everyone during that lap was pretty special. Shortly the first wreck happened and during the race it was followed by many more making for a great day of racing.   I have watched the qualifying and some of the 150 races and kept seeing this young man named Trevor Bay...

When we were younger there used to be a distinction between the movies & television .  The movies at the theater were called the Big Screen while television seen at home was the Small Screen .  Today, it would be a misnomer to say that.  From the big screen analog to the flat screen High Definition TV’s of today, the television of today is also the Big Screen. I would probably like to say . . . my name is Icewind and I'm a TV addict.  I've only recently admitted this, and I probably would still be in denial except for the fact that we just brought into the house a fourth HDTV cable box (digital video recorders).  Mind you they are not all for my watching as I travel somewhat but when I am home like to see my favorite programs.  We've got the big (42”) flat screen TV in the living room, and there is an older television in the bedroom (20”) for my wife to get away from all of the chaos from the grandkids.  She will fall asleep with that one on...

I’m not into watching a lot of sports on television like some people I know, after all I grew up in Atlanta during the lean years when all of the major sports franchises to be brutally honest . . . sucked. I was in the stands almost alone during the Braves years before they developed their farm clubs to later become a powerhouse and I was there during those years . . . somewhat jaded but enjoying their success finally. The Flames were great for Atlanta during the 70’s but being a southern city it really did not know what to do with hockey. Ted Turner brought us the Hawks to go along with his Braves but they never amounted to much of anything and the Atlanta Falcons were laughable every Sunday they played always stating in the post game interviews that “they just couldn’t get their head into it” week after miserable week. The couple of bright spots were the majesty every spring of The Masters and the various auto sports races all over the south. One was just a couple ...