Livin' it up in St. Louis

I just got done watching the new Sammy Hagar DVD, Livin It Up in St. Louis. I had a blast. First of all, I missed the tour in 2006 for the first time since 1995. I always catch Sammy when he comes to Minnesota or Wisconsin. After watching this, I decided I will catch the winter tour this year. It was great to hear the new tunes off Livin' it Up as well as the old stand-by's.

And it was really great to hear The Other Half do some old 5150 tunes that I have never heard live. Good Enough and Summer Nights were great. Vic Johnson must have really practiced his EVH cloning, as he sounded GREAT.

Also, nice hearing Vic's guitar composition of Right Now. Great stuff dude.

All in all it was a great watch.

Blaney gets Toyota's First Nextel Cup Pole

Dave Blaney got Toyota's first pole in Nextel Cup history Friday and New Hampshire Speedway.

It was also Blaneys first pole in several years in the Cup Series.

Toyota entered the Nextel Cup series earlier this year and to date, had yet to score a pole.

EVH at Phoenix NASCAR race

Eddie Van Halen was on hand at the Phoenix NASCAR race. I was at the race, but never had a chance to see him.

Sammy Hagar

Video of Sammy Hagar singing I Can't Drive 55 before the NASCAR race at California Speedway.

The dynamic duo get penalized

The 24 and 48 teams were each penalized 100 driver and owner points, $100,000.00 ,and crew chiefs Steve Letarte and Chad Knause were each suspended for 6 races on Tuesday.

I was wondering if they would get the same treatment as Dale Jr. got earlier in this year and they did. I'm glad. I'm not a Jr. fan, or a Gordon/Johnson fan, but I was just cringing at what the Jr. nation would have to say if the penalties were not the same.

Money is not an issue for these teams, and the 100 points didn't really hurt either team. Gordan is still first in the standings and Johnson moved to 4th. They each have 4 wins so they each get more bonus points than the rest of the field when the chase starts. So really, where is the penalty. Johnson won twice last year when Knaus was suspended for 4 races. Gordan should be able to still do well.

I was watching NASCAR Now tonight and heard an interesting stat - Knause was suspended for 2 races in 2005, 4 in 2006 and now 6 and 2008. Maybe next year he will go for 8 in 08. Holla back.

Johnny Montoya gets his first Nextel Cup win

Juan Pablo Montoya got his first Nextel Cup win on Sunday at the Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA. It's just his first season in NASCAR and he has already scored one Busch and one Cup win. Both wins were at road courses, which is what he ran in F1 and CART, so it wasn't a surprise.

Will just have to wait and see now if he can get a win on an oval track. He has had some good runs at 1.5 mile speedways already, so it could be coming. It was good to see the Gannassi team back in victory lane after a long dry spell.

Overall the race was kind of stupid with too much emphasis being placed on fuel mileage. I just wish they could have gone out and raced like normal

Sir Charles puts his foot in his mouth

Charles Barkley made a similar comment to the one that got Don Imus fired earlier this year. During TNT's broadcast of an NBA game, they ran a commercial for NASCAR on TNT. The commercial showed a couple pretty girls among other things.

After the commercial, Barkley says that is false advertising because the women in the video had they own teeth, were clean and had nice hair. He then said they don't have those type of damn women in NASCAR. One of his co-horts then says, "hey Charles, Not Good."

Will Chuck get the same treatment as Don Imus? I think not, as it has already been a couple weeks since the comment was made.

Here is the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi-0arfUdYY

Aric Almirola gets first Busch win, while watching from the pits

No it wasn't an out of body experience, but I bet Aric Almirola thought he was having one at Saturday night's Busch Series race at the Milwaukee Mile. I try and explain the best I can:

Denny Hamilin (the 20 car's primary driver) and a few other's were doing double duty this weekend. This means you are racing in the Nextel Cup and Busch races in the same weekend. Most weekends, both races are at the same track, so it is no big deal. On a few weekends a season, the Busch series and Cup series are at different tracks. This weekend, the Busch series was in Milwuakee, WI and the Cup series was in Sonoma, CA.

So here is what happened. Most Busch teams will have a secondary driver on these weekends to practice and qualify the car. Then the primary driver flys in and races the car, but has to start at the back of the pack.

Denny Hamilin's Saturday started off bad. He had a snafu with time and missed part of the morning's Cup practice. He decided to stay late in Sonoma, but with enough time to make it to Milwaukee to hop in the car just before the race started. In the meantime, back in Milwaukee, Aric Almirola qualifies the car and puts it on the pole (for the second year in a row).

As the pre-race show was underway and driver introductions were done, ESPN shows a helicopter hovering in the air and says that Denny Hamlin is in the helicopter. Apparantly they can't land as people have parked cars on the tracks helicopter landing pad. The track will not allow the helicopter to land on the track itself. Denny then has to go back to the airport and get a police escort to the track. By this time, the pre-race ceremonies have ended and Joe Gibbs racing has decided to let Aric Almirola race the car he qualified on the pole.

Denny finally arrives at the track a few laps into the race. The finally get a camera and mic in his face and he is standing in Stephen Wallace's pit. He says that Wallace has the flu and they have asked him to stand by as a back up driver. Almirola was previously tagged for this job, but now was actually in the race. Denny says on camera that he does not think they should pull Almirola out of his car at this point and that it would be disrespectful to him.

Almirola goes on to lead a bunch of laps and appears he can win the race. Great. On lap 60, they come in for pit stops under caution and next thing you know they are pulling Almirola out of the car and putting Denny in. They go a lap down.

The play by play booth goes nuts and start to talk about the car's sponsor, Rockwell Automation, being based out of Milwaukee so they told the team they wan't Denny in the car. They pay to see Denny win and want him in the car when they race in thier own backyard.

Denny Hamlin ends up coming from a lap down and wins the race. This is the first time a releif driver has won a race in the Busch series. According to NASCAR rules, the driver that starts the race, gets credit for the win, so Almirola gets his first ever Busch win, without even being in the car when it crosses the finish line. Almirola was not in victory lane, Denny had a strange look on his face during his victory lane interview. Almirola has declined comment on the whole deal. What a crazy deal...

BUSTED!

On Friday the 24 and 48 cars of Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson failed inspection before qualifying practice. Apparantly they were working in the gray area on the front fenders and NASCAR said no way. Both cars were parked for the day and not allowed to practice or qualify. They were placed in the back of the field for thier starting postions.

NASCAR usually announces it's penalties on Tuesday or Wednesday the following week. It will be interesting to see what happens. Earlier this year, NASCAR set a precidence by penalizing the 8 team of Dale Earnhardt, Jr $100,000, 100 driver and owner points and suspending Dales crew cheif, Tony Eury Jr, for 6 races. We should expect nothing less than this as NASCAR has made it clear that you DO NOT mess with the Car of Tommorrow. We are talking about Hedrick Motorsports though, so don't be surprised if the penalty is lighter.

Gordon's crew cheif, Steve Letarte, is basically a first time offender, but Johnson's crew cheif, Chad Knause is on about his 3rd strike. I wouldn't be surprised if Knaus' penalties are worse.

Edwards wins at Michigan after 52 race dry spell

Carl Edwards finally made it back to victory lane on Sunday at Michigan International Speedway after 52 races with no Nextel Cup wins. He held off Martin Truex Jr. to take the checkered flag after dominating the later part of the race.

He celebrated with his signature back-flip on the start/finish line, then made his way to victory lane where he took a pair of scissers to team member Tom Giacchi's beard. Giacchi had vowed to not shave his beard until Edwards got another cup win. Over a year later, he finally gets to shave. They will do the complete shave on Speed Channel's Trackside next Friday night. I'm sure it will be some sort of Gilette Young Gun promotion.

Other noteable stories - Tony Stewart started 41st after a bad qualifying attempt and damaging the #20 Home Depot car in Saturday's practice. Stewart brought his car to a a 3rd place finish. Tony said that when the green flag dropped, he purposely fell back to 43rd so that he could say he came from dead last to whatever place he finished.

JJ Yelley sat on the pole, but was passed by 5-6 cars on the first lap and ended up finishing off the lead lap. I really thought this team had turned things around, but they obviously did not hit on the right set-up for this race.

Michael Waltrip not only qualified for the race, but finished in 10th place. That's pretty amazing after only qualifying for 3 races so far this year. Maybe they finally have things turned around. I doubt it.

Jimmie Johnson ran out of gas with 7 laps to go. His second bad finish in as many weeks.

Watch the video:

Final laps of the race and Carl doing his back-flip:

http://www.nascar.com/video/cup/2007/06/17/cup.mic.final.nascar/frameset.exclude.html?MostPopular

Carl taking the sheers to his motorcoach driver's beard:

http://www.nascar.com/video/cup/2007/06/17/cup.mic.winner.nascar/frameset.exclude.html?MostPopular

Leicht gets first Busch win at Kentucky

Steven Leicht got his first Busch win Saturday night at Kentucky Speedway. Kentucky is becoming know for first time winners after the unknown David Gilliland won last year. Some are calling the race the "Upportunity 300" given not many full time cup drivers are entering this race.

Leicht passed and held off his best freind Brad Coleman and veteran Scott Wimmer towards the end of the race.

The race wasn't without controversy. On a restart, Stephen Wallace took out leader Carl Edwards. Edwards had dominated the race up until that point, but apparantly Wallace did not like that. At least Carl bounced back into Wallace after hitting the wall, ending his night as well. I bet the old man (Rusty Wallace) sits the boy down and has a heart to heart with him.

Watch the video:

http://www.nascar.com/video/busch/2007/06/16/bg.ken.final.nascar/frameset.exclude.html?MostPopular

New Home Page

I have a new website. It is still under construction, but you can check it out at:

http:/www.freewebs.com/dahlyvh

Stewart Sounds off on Dale Jr. Moving to Hendrick

Tony Stewart gave his two cents on Dale Earnhardt Jr. making the move to Hedrick Motorsports on his weekly Sirius Satelite radio show on Tuesday Night:

http://www.nascar.com/video/audio/2007/06/14/sirius_stewart_junior_hendrick.PRN/frameset.exclude.html?NewReleases

JJ Yeley gets his first Nextel Cup Pole

Yey, Yey, JJ.... Today we finally see the Interstate Batteries #18 on the pole again at Michigan International Speedway. We havn't seen this since my boy Bobby Labonte was in the car. I've been a Yeley fan since he was in the Busch series and heard about the great he was in USAC. Tony Stewart talked him up and got him a job at Joe Gibbs Racing. When Bobby Labonte left the team, JJ moved up into my favorite car of all time.

JJ has been having a rough time at it, but this year there are signs of improvment. Today we put a period on that statement. A couple of weeks ago, he got a top five at the Coca Cola 600. I'm really pulling for this guy. He's got the stones, he's funny and just an all around good guy. Congratulations JJ on your first ever pole. Let's follow it up with a great finish at Michigan on Father's Day.

Watch the video:

http://www.nascar.com/video/cup/2007/06/15/cup.mic.pole.nascar/frameset.exclude.html?MostPopular

Concert List

The following is a list of concerts I have been to over the years (to the best of my recollection). I am a music freak and have been to a bunch. Someone asked me how many shows I have been too once, so I started compiling a list and have kept a running tally on my computer. I've also saved all my concert and sporting event tickets since the mid-90's. It's funny how my music tastes have changed over the years. Some of my tastes of not changed though. Anyway - here is the list:

Petra – Beat the System Tour – 1985, Met Stadium
U2 – Joshua TreeTour, 1987, St. Paul Civic Center
BoDeans – Opening act for U2 Joshua Tree Tour, 1987
Belinda Carlisle – 1988, MN State Fair
BoDeans – 1988 Riverfest, St. Paul, MN
The Jets – 1988, MN State Fai
INXS – Kick Tour – 1988, Met Stadium
Steel Pulse - Opened for INXS – 1988, Met Stadium
New Edition – 1988, Met Stadium
Bobby Brown – 1988, Met Staduim
Bobby Brown – 1989, Met Stadium
Levert, - 1989, Met Stadium, opened for Bobby Brown
Janet Jackson, Rythem Nation Tour 1989 – Met Stadium
De La Soul – UW- Stout Field house, 1990
Voivod – UW - Stout Great Hall, 1990
Soundgarden – UW – Stout Great Hall, 1990
Faith No More – UW - Stout Great Hall, 1990
Skid Row – Slave to the Grind Tour - Roy Wilkins Auditorium, 1991
Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger Tour – Roy Wilkins Auditorim, 1991 – Opened for Skid Row
U2 – Zoo TV Tour – 1993 – Camp Randall Stadium, Madison, WI
Kiss – Revenge Tour – St. Paul Civic Center, 1993
Great White – Opened for Kiss, 1993
Trixter – Opened for Kiss, 1993
Kansas – Summerfest, Milwaukee, WI
Soundgarden – Summerfest, Milwaukee, WI
Alabama – 1993, MN State Fair
Trisha Yearwood – 1993, MN State Fair – opened for Alabama
Van Halen – Balance Tour, 1995, Target Center
Lalapalooza – 1996, Des Moines, IA. Metallica, Soundgarden, Waylen Jennings, Ramones, Rancid, Ramones
Metallica – Load Tour - 1997, Ames IA
Sammy Hagar – – Marching to Mars Tour - 1997, Des Moines, IA , Civic Center
U2 – Pop-Mart tour – 1997, HHH Metrodome, Mpls, MN
Sammy Hagar – Marching to Mars tour - 1997, Fargo, ND
Garth Brooks – 1998, Target Center
Motley Crue – Greatest Hits Tour - 1998, Roy Wilkins Auditorium
Kiss -, Psycho Circus Tour - Target Center,
Sammy Hagar – Red Voodoo Tour , 1999, Aquatenial Block Party, Mpls, MN
Junior Brown – 1999, Bunkers, Mpls, MN
Jack Knife and the Sharps – 1999, Bunkers, Mpls, MN – opened for Junior Brown
Brooks and Dunn – 1999, MN State Fair
Jack Knife and the Sharps – 1999, MN State Fair Bandshell
Metallica – 2000, Target Center
Kid Rock - 2000, Target Center
Sevendust - 2000, Target Center
BoDeans – 2000, Basilica Block Party
Styx – 2000, MN State Fair
REO Speedwagon – 2000, MN State Fair
BoDeans – 2000, Orpheum Theatre
Petra – 2001, Nortwestern College
Joel Hansen – 2001, Northwestern College
U2 – Elevation Tour 2001, Target Center
PJ Harvey – 2001, Target Center – Opened for U2
David Lee Roth – 2001 – Hairball at the Rock, Maplewood, MN
Jackyl - 2001 – Hairball at the Rock, Maplewood, MN
Warrant - 2001 – Hairball at the Rock, Maplewood, MN
Blue Oyster Cult - 2001 – Hairball at the Rock, Maplewood, MN
Kentucky Headhunters – 2001, Brewbakers, N. St. Paul, MN
Jack Knife and the Sharps – 2001, Brewbakers, N. St. Paul, MN – opened for Kentucky Headhunters
Alabama – 2001, MN State Fair
Kansas – 2001 – Wango Tango, Canterbury Downs, Shakopee, MN
Styx - 2001 – Wango Tango, Canterbury Downs, Shakopee, MN
Eddie Money - 2001 – Wango Tango, Canterbury Downs, Shakopee, MN
Loverboy - 2001 – Wango Tango, Canterbury Downs, Shakopee, MN
BoDeans – 2001 – Concert in the Park, Canterbury Downs, Shakopee, MN
Soul Asylum - 2001 – Concert in the Park, Canterbury Downs, Shakopee, MN
Jayhawks - 2001 – Concert in the Park, Canterbury Downs, Shakopee, MN
Martin Zeller - 2001 – Concert in the Park, Canterbury Downs, Shakopee, MN
REO Speedwagon, 2001 – Free Show, Lumberjack Days, Stillwater, MN
Vince Neil – 2001 – The Rock, Maplewood, MN
The Reverand Hortan Heat – 2001, First Avenue, Mpls, MN
Sammy Hagar – 2002, Alpine Valley, WI – Sam and Dave tour
David Lee Roth – 2002, Alpine Valley, WI – Sam and Dave tour
Tim McGraw – 2003, Xcel Energy Center
Ret Hot Chili Peppers – 2003, Xcel Energy Center
Queens of the Stone Age – 2003, Xcel Energy Center
REO Speedwagon – 2003, Xcel Energy Center
Styx - 2003, Xcel Energy Center
Journey - 2003, Xcel Energy Center
Metallica – 2003, HHH Metrodome, Mpls, MN
Linkin Park - 2003, HHH Metrodome, Mpls, MN
Limp Bizkit - 2003, HHH Metrodome, Mpls, MN
Mudvayne - 2003, HHH Metrodome, Mpls, MN
Sammy Hagar – 2003, Mystic Lake Casino, Prior Lake, MN
Alabama – 2003, Xcel Energy Center – Farewell Tour
Jack Knife and the Sharps – 2004 – Bunkers, Mpls, MN
BoDeans – 2004, Downtown Mpls – Aquatenial Block Party
Van Halen – 2004 – Xcel Energy Center - Best of Both Worlds Tour
Shinedog - – 2004 – Xcel Energy Center - Best of Both Worlds Tour
Van Halen – 2004, Resch Center, Green Bay, WI - Best of Both Worlds Tour
Shinedog - – 2004, Resch Center, Green Bay, WI - Best of Both Worlds
Jack Knife and the Sharps – 2005 – Some Ballroom in White Bear Lake
Jack Knife and the Sharps – February, 2005 Bunkers, Mpls, MN
Boogie Wonderland – April 29, 2005 – Diamonds, Ramsey, MN
Sammy Hagar and the Waboritas – May 10, 2005 – Onieda Casino, Green Bay, WI
INXS – May 2006, Orpheum Theatre, Minneapolis, MN – Sean and Shawn Pade
BoDeans with Gear Daddies – Sept 2, 2006, MN State Fair
BoDeans – Spring, 2007, Mystic Lake Casino - Dawn

Dale Jr. Announces he has signed with Hendrick Motorsports

On Wednesday morning, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Rick Hendrick announced that Jr. will drive for Hendrick Mortorsports next year. The rumors have been flying for a while and pretty much solidified yesterday, but now it is official. No word yet on the car number or sponsor.

It will be weird to see Jr. Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson on the same team. One writer compared it to the last member of the Hatfields joining the McCoys.

Watch the video: http://www.nascar.com/video/cup/2007/06/13/junior.presser.open.nascar/frameset.exclude.html?MostPopular

Dale Jr. defects to Hendrick

Well, it looks like all the pieces are in place for the biggest move in modern day NASCAR history. Dale Jr. has scheduled a press conference later this morning. He is expected to announce that he will be moving to Hendrick Motorsports in 2008. It appears Kyle Busch will be the odd man out. You saw that coming with the way he has handled himself this season.

Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Dale Jr. all on the same team? The world as we know it is about to end. Cats and Dogs will start to get along. Monkeys will fly out of my butt.

The Jr. Nation is not going to know who to throw beer cans at anymore.

On top of all that, the rumor is that Kyle Busch will replace Jr. in the DEI number 8 car. Just think how many 8 Budweiser shirts will be thrown away if that happens.

Jeff Gordon wins rain shortened race at Pocano

Jeffy got another lucky win today at Pocono Speeway in Pennsylvania. After waiting out the rain most of the afternoon, the Nextel Cup boys finally took the track and ran for a couple of hours.

A NASCAR race is official once it reaches the halfway point. As it got close to halfway, pit stratagies started to play out and once again, we found Boy Wonder in the lead. As the rain started to fall, Ryan Newman dove low and almost passed Gordon just as the caution flag came out.

On top of all that, Jeff was having break problems and would not have won the race if it had gone the entire length.

Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin had the cars to beat all day. They still all ended up with top 10 finishes.

It just seems like Gordan has luck on his side again this year. Usually when things go this way for Jeffy, he ends up winning the championship. Hopefully things change once the Chase For the Championship starts at Richmond this fall.

Carl Edwards Wins Nashville Busch Race

Cousin Carl Continues to dominate the Busch series with another win on Saturday night at Nashville Speedway. He celebrated in victory lane with his third Gibson Les Paul trophy, but not before doing his signature back flip on the start/finish line.

The trophy at Nashville has got to me about the coolest trophy on the circuit. Carl showed what gentleman he was, when he gave the trophy to David Ragan's brother in victory lane.

Carl is a fan favorite and all around nice guy. He truly worked his way up from the short tracks of Missouri, passing out business cards that said "driver for hire" until he finally got noticed.

On the Nextel cup side, he has been winless for over a year and his motorcoach driver's beard shows just how long that has been. He said he would not shave again until Carl got another win, that was over a year ago. I'll try and find a photo of that to post sometime.

Here is the video of Carl's back flip:

http://www.nascar.com/video/busch/2007/06/09/bg.nas.final.nascar/frameset.exclude.html?MostPopular

Here is the victory lane celebration and interview:

http://www.nascar.com/video/busch/2007/06/09/bg.nas.winner.nascar/frameset.exclude.html?NewReleases

Kurt Busch loses 100 points and $100k

It was announced today that Kurt Busch got fined $100,000 and lost 100 driver and owner points for almost taking out one of Tony Stewarts crew members on Monday at Dover. Dude got of lightly if you ask me. NASCAR should have parked is Howdy Doody butt for a couple races.