TCGOB--"Welcome to Talladega, Mississippi" by Steve Wingate

The Car Guy of Benchfield

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Welcome to Talladega, Mississippi?

By Steve Wingate, TCGOB Publisher

Originally Published on Mike Calinoff's "Stock Car City"

The new press guides are here!!! The new press guides are here!!!

As you can tell, I love this time of year-- Daytona is just around the corner, Jayski's has all the new paint schemes up, and The Official NASCAR Preview and Press Guide has hit the newsstands.

This year's press guide delivers all the same stats and info you have come to expect from this fine publication. I'm also pleased to announce that the price still hasn't gone up (four easy installments of 29.95) and no one has skimped on the sheer size of this mega-magazine, as it still weighs just slightly less than a Chevrolet Suburban filled with pea gravel. No, seriously…. The press guide is still just 9.95, or 8.95 if you pick one up at Wal-Mart. The guide really does weigh two pounds, but that's mostly from the bulk of Budweiser and Pepsi ads.

Anyway, every year when the new press guide appears, I run out and grab one, then lock myself in my office and read it from cover to cover, often forgetting to carry out bodily functions such as eat, sleep or visit the loo. This year, my wife Jenn bought me a copy of the press guide for our anniversary, along with a pack of Depends, a box of No-Doze, and various IV fluids. (Is she indulgent of my fixations or what?)

Before taking my annual catatonic nose dive into NASCAR lala land, I noticed that the 2002 NASCAR Preview and Press Guide advertised a FREE NASCAR WINSTON CUP SERIES TRACKS POSTER on the front cover. I located the poster right away, planning to pin it up over my desk for quick access to race dates, locations, and TV/radio times, and began the arduous process of removing the poster from the book. After several hours of navigating my way down the microscopic perforations, I freed the poster from it's bonds and unfolded its hidden glory. There it was… a glossy poster featuring all the track logos with contact info around the edges, and a map of the US and a schedule in the center. Beautiful. Every state had its track represented by a tiny dot and the track logo hovering nearby.

Since I live in Alabama, I located my state first and found…..nothing. That's right. Nothing. There was no tiny black dot with the Talladega logo. Talladega had been left off the map. Is there something I should know? I was immediately relieved, yet quite perturbed when I found the tiny black dot pasted on Alabama's western neighbor, Mississippi. Best I can tell, the little black dot is hovering over a little town called Aberdeen, Mississippi… Either someone at the publisher flunked US geography, or NASCAR is planning on moving the track to Aberdeen. I guess I shouldn't complain. After all, Aberdeen is a fairly short drive from my home in Cordova, Alabama.

As an Alabamian, I find the misplacement of Talladega highly insulting. They got everything right except Alabama. They even got Dover, Delaware right and there was barely enough room to put a black dot there. (The black dot was actually larger than the state, and they had to hover the track logo out over the Atlantic.) Chances are, if there was a track in Rhode Island, a state small enough to be carpeted for under $500, they would have gotten that right, too. And why? Is it because all of us southern states look alike? Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, also known as "the Bubba Triplets?"

Anyway, I just want to clarify that Talladega Superspeedway is Talladega, Alabama, not Aberdeen, Mississippi. I'm sure all you race fans out there know that anyway, but I just can't seem to keep quiet when my sense of hometown pride gets wounded. Put yourself in our shoes… how would you like it if someone at a big publishing company put your home track of say… Lowe's Motor Speedway in Kentucky? Or how about Texas Motor Speedway in Oklahoma? Las Vegas in Montana? Homestead in Cuba? I could go on, but you get my point.

Even with this little blurb, I'm still very fond of my new press guide, and I forgive the publishers for their egregious error. Sort of. After they write "TALLADEGA IS IN ALABAMA, NOT ABERDEEN, MISSISSIPPI" several thousand times with a purple crayon on a bed sheet, I might be inclined to forgive them. I wanted to make them write it on a basketball with a quill pen, but Jenn said I was being too harsh.

Now if you'll excuse me, its time to immerse myself in NASCAR Nirvana. And if I were you, I wouldn't knock on my office door for a few days.

2002 Car Guy of Benchfield

Home + TCGOB NASCAR! + Photo Garage + Links + Mad Mad Automotive World + Driving Songs + Humor Pages + Reader's Rides+ All About TCGOB + Contact Us


	The Car Guy of Benchfield Home + TCGOB NASCAR! + Photo Garage + Links + Mad Mad Automotive World + Driving Songs + Humor Pages + Reader's Rides+ All About TCGOB + Contact Us Welcome to Talladega, Mississippi? By Steve Wingate, TCGOB Publisher Originally Published on Mike Calinoff's "Stock Car City" The new press guides are here!!! The new press guides are here!!! As you can tell, I love this time of year-- Daytona is just around the corner, Jayski's has all the new paint schemes up, and The Official NASCAR Preview and Press Guide has hit the newsstands. This year's press guide delivers all the same stats and info you have come to expect from this fine publication. I'm also pleased to announce that the price still hasn't gone up (four easy installments of 29.95) and no one has skimped on the sheer size of this mega-magazine, as it still weighs just slightly less than a Chevrolet Suburban filled with pea gravel. No, seriously…. The press guide is still just 9.95, or 8.95 if you pick one up at Wal-Mart. The guide really does weigh two pounds, but that's mostly from the bulk of Budweiser and Pepsi ads. Anyway, every year when the new press guide appears, I run out and grab one, then lock myself in my office and read it from cover to cover, often forgetting to carry out bodily functions such as eat, sleep or visit the loo. This year, my wife Jenn bought me a copy of the press guide for our anniversary, along with a pack of Depends, a box of No-Doze, and various IV fluids. (Is she indulgent of my fixations or what?) Before taking my annual catatonic nose dive into NASCAR lala land, I noticed that the 2002 NASCAR Preview and Press Guide advertised a FREE NASCAR WINSTON CUP SERIES TRACKS POSTER on the front cover. I located the poster right away, planning to pin it up over my desk for quick access to race dates, locations, and TV/radio times, and began the arduous process of removing the poster from the book. After several hours of navigating my way down the microscopic perforations, I freed the poster from it's bonds and unfolded its hidden glory. There it was… a glossy poster featuring all the track logos with contact info around the edges, and a map of the US and a schedule in the center. Beautiful. Every state had its track represented by a tiny dot and the track logo hovering nearby. Since I live in Alabama, I located my state first and found…..nothing. That's right. Nothing. There was no tiny black dot with the Talladega logo. Talladega had been left off the map. Is there something I should know? I was immediately relieved, yet quite perturbed when I found the tiny black dot pasted on Alabama's western neighbor, Mississippi. Best I can tell, the little black dot is hovering over a little town called Aberdeen, Mississippi… Either someone at the publisher flunked US geography, or NASCAR is planning on moving the track to Aberdeen. I guess I shouldn't complain. After all, Aberdeen is a fairly short drive from my home in Cordova, Alabama. As an Alabamian, I find the misplacement of Talladega highly insulting. They got everything right except Alabama. They even got Dover, Delaware right and there was barely enough room to put a black dot there. (The black dot was actually larger than the state, and they had to hover the track logo out over the Atlantic.) Chances are, if there was a track in Rhode Island, a state small enough to be carpeted for under $500, they would have gotten that right, too. And why? Is it because all of us southern states look alike? Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, also known as "the Bubba Triplets?" Anyway, I just want to clarify that Talladega Superspeedway is Talladega, Alabama, not Aberdeen, Mississippi. I'm sure all you race fans out there know that anyway, but I just can't seem to keep quiet when my sense of hometown pride gets wounded. Put yourself in our shoes… how would you like it if someone at a big publishing company put your home track of say… Lowe's Motor Speedway in Kentucky? Or how about Texas Motor Speedway in Oklahoma? Las Vegas in Montana? Homestead in Cuba? I could go on, but you get my point. Even with this little blurb, I'm still very fond of my new press guide, and I forgive the publishers for their egregious error. Sort of. After they write "TALLADEGA IS IN ALABAMA, NOT ABERDEEN, MISSISSIPPI" several thousand times with a purple crayon on a bed sheet, I might be inclined to forgive them. I wanted to make them write it on a basketball with a quill pen, but Jenn said I was being too harsh. Now if you'll excuse me, its time to immerse myself in NASCAR Nirvana. And if I were you, I wouldn't knock on my office door for a few days. 2002 Car Guy of Benchfield Home + TCGOB NASCAR! + Photo Garage + Links + Mad Mad Automotive World + Driving Songs + Humor Pages + Reader's Rides+ All About TCGOB + Contact Us