Where to begin...

4-16-07

Anyone connected in anyway with Virginia Tech will always have that date in their mind til the day they die. In our lexicon it's like 9/11 now.

If you have never been to Blacksburg, it is very small town America. Main St still looks like something from 20+ years ago. In the past 14 years they only had 5 murders. The students outnumber the town population. It was this small town appeal that drew me to Blacksburg in 1991. It reminded me so much of Chester, VA, my hometown.

With the news Monday of the shooting, and the loss of 32 students and faculty, I started to crave more information. Then it started to come out, 2 at West AJ, 30 in Norris on the 2nd floor. 2nd floor Norris. My mind started to wander, did I ever have a class there?

Then it hit me.

Summer 1993. I stayed in Blacksburg to attend summer classes because I was changing majors. I decided to take a Psychology class to fulfill a core cirriculum requirement. It was a class about the existence of God or something. I don't know I daydreamed through the class most days and still got an A. Anyways, that class was on the 2nd floor of Norris hall. It was at the front of the building, overlooking the Drillfield. There was about 12-15 of us in the class, I used to sit in the 3rd seat on the row that was against the wall as you came in the door. I could see it in my mind like I was just there yesterday. It was an 8 am class in July, and the hot summer sun would just be getting up to full peak, the humidity not yet kicking in totally for the day. If they had just cut the grass you could smell it through all of the open windows.

I tried to go to bed at midnight, but I wasn't tired. My mind was racing. I stared at the ceiling. 1 am. 2 am. All I could see was being in that room on the 2nd floor of Norris. These young kids and teachers, most of whom never had time to think about what to do.

This is the first part of a multi part blog I will be doing about the event on Monday. I hope you join me for this journey. I hope it is a cathartic one for me and others.

We are....Virginia Tech

More to come

Mikey Mikey Mikey

Well what's next Mikey Waltrip?

Let's see here. Made 1 race so far. Even though rain washed out qualifying for Texas, you were the slowest of 51 cars in the last practice so I'm going to go out on a limb and assume even if qualifying had been held, you would've gone home anyways.

NAPA really should yank the Sammy Hagar add where he asks if you can drive faster. Ouch. Talk about salt on a wound.

You know it's funny, Waltrip fans I know all said 2006 was a throw away year and they were stuck with crappy Bill Davis equipment that held the 55 team back all year. Last year you missed 3 races, you have already missed 6 this year. Everyone reading this blog has more points in the standings then you do, still at -27. And don't anyone spout on about the top 35 rule, he got in on time last year 33 times with this rule.

And then with NAPA already unhappy with you, you go and roll your personal vehicle at 2 am and walk home. Nice choice Mikey. Then you go to the media and talk about how responsible you are. I missed the interview did he mention NAPA and Aaron's in the interview? Mikey loves to thank his sponsors. He better cause right now that's all he's got.

Let's face facts. If Mikey's last name was Smith or Jones, he never would have gotten this far in Cup racing. He didn't get a win until his 15th full season in Cup. Over 400 starts without a win to start his career. Do you think any other driver without a family pedigree would continue to get Cup rides if they had 400+ starts with no wins? No!!!!!

And what ever happened to the investigation into how that illegal substance got into your car at Daytona? You promised to fire whoever was responsible, but you are having a real hard time finding the one that did it. Funny how that works huh? I guess you are working as hard on this as OJ is on finding the real killer.

I'm looking in the crystal ball, and right now the future of MWR is murky. The 55 can't make a race, DJ is only in this for another year and a half, and your 3rd driver is a 37 year old rookie. And he's the best of the bunch so far. You did a hell of a sales job on UPS, but I can almost guarantee UPS will walk somewhere else in 2009. They don't take kindly to having their heads handed to them on the track by their competitor, Fed Ex.