text:
Johnson's intermediate acumen will pay off in NASCAR's Chase

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With Michigan off bucket list, 48 team looks to Chicagoland, Homestead in Chase

Jimmie Johnson finally scored a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win at Michigan International Speedway. Can he parlay that into a record seventh Chase for the Cup championship?

It’s said that racetracks don’t owe anyone anything. Rarely, if ever, will you hear a driver, following a victory, proclaim that “this old place owed us one” after a string of disappointments finally results in paydirt.

In racing it’s taboo to suggest that the reason one loses is because of the track. Instead, a driver and team take the onus upon themselves; they should have prepared harder, executed better or employed a different strategy. Take credit when you win, take the blame when you lose. There are no excuses.

And surely no one is “owed” anything.

Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus know this all too well. The most successful and feared driver-crew chief duo in NASCAR have won nearly everything there is to win in the sport over a dominant 12-plus-year reign.

Six championships. Four wins each in the Brickyard 400 and the All-Star Race. Two apiece at fickle Darlington and treacherous Talladega. And, of course, a pair of Harley J. Earl trophies courtesy of Daytona 500 triumphs. If it’s prestigious and pays big money, their No. 48 team has conquered it.

That’s what made their unfortunate luck at Michigan International Speedway over the years so peculiar. On a number of occasions the team has seen defeat clutched from its seemingly victorious hands. Flat tires, blown engines, empty fuel cells — the one team that’s consistently made its own luck elsewhere has had it thrown back in their face in 24 previous visits to the Irish Hills.

As fate would have it, Johnson, Knaus and crew slayed their white whale on a day when they didn’t have the fastest car. For once, the hills smiled down on them. The Quicken Loans 400 is no “crown jewel” NASCAR event, but it is one of the last few new triumphs the group that has won most everything can enjoy.

“I heard 10 (laps) to go, and I’ve been there before with the lead,” Johnson said of his poor Michigan luck. “I heard 5 to go — I’ve been there before and didn’t win;  (I’ve) taken the white (flag) with the lead and didn’t make it back. So I wasn’t taking anything for granted on that final trip around, and about 200 yards before the finish line I knew if the car exploded I’d still slide across the finish line and it didn’t matter.

“That’s finally when I relaxed and let it go.”

Perhaps Johnson should “relax and let it go” at the four other tracks where he has yet to cash in. His record at Chicagoland Speedway, with seven top 5s in 12 starts, is impressive yet there are no W’s. Also, it’s now NASCAR’s first stop in the 10-race Chase for the Championship — and the 48 team’s ability to turn it on when it counts is legendary.

An absence of wins at Kentucky Speedway is excusable in that the sample size is a mere three events. Watkins Glen, the tricky-fast road course in upstate New York, has played host to a pair of Johnson pole wins, yet no Sunday victories.

And then there’s Homestead-Miami Speedway. His lack of a trophy here is explained away in the fact that Johnson has never had to win on the 1.5-mile track. In six of his 13 starts he’s simply had to finish seventh, ninth, 13th ... whatever ... to wrap up a title. There were bigger matters on the agenda.

Johnson’s 2010 season was a “bucket list” year of sorts. Nine years into his undeniable Hall of Fame career, Johnson tamed the bullring of Bristol and the Sonoma roadie (if there is one flaw in this driver’s arsenal, it’s his road course acumen) en route to a record-extending fifth consecutive title.

With three wins at aero-sensitive venues already in the bag this year, might the 48 team — a team suddenly hitting on all cylinders — score an additional win on a similar intermediate-size oval?

NASCAR’s new game show of a championship format is expected to reward winning (as opposed to consistency) above all else — at least that’s the narrative. A victory in the opening round at Chicagoland is an automatic transfer to the next round. And the ultimate triumph — in a winner-take-all showdown in Homestead, Fla. — would most likely deliver a record-tying seventh championship to the team.

Obtaining those bucket list wins would have meaning far beyond simply checking a heretofore accomplishment off the to-do list.

Follow Matt Taliaferro on Twitter: @MattTaliaferro

Photos by Action Sports, Inc.

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The Brian McCann Trickle Down Effect

Brian McCann - Atlanta Braves Catcher

Brian McCann

The Atlanta Braves have been a model organization since John Schuerholz joined the Braves in 1990 as the General Manager.  His promotion to Braves President in 2007 accentuated his influence on the organization.

Prior to the Schuerholz arrival, Atlanta Fulton County Stadium was known for bad baseball, a lousy playing field and bathrooms that smelled like barnyard.  Schuerholz brought hard work, professionalism, fairness and pride to the Braves organization.

Which brings me to thoughts on the big deals that the Braves have signed with some of their high-profile players…

The Braves opened the vault and signed Freddie Freeman, Craig Kimbrel and Julio Teheran to long-term, big money extensions.  All three are players that the Braves drafted and developed.  Rumors are that starter Mike Minor, shortstop Andrelton Simmons and perhaps other Braves players may also be rewarded with lucrative contracts before the 2014 season begins.

So why did the Braves sign players to these long-term extensions?  The reasons we all hear in the media is that the Braves did it to show commitment to their players and fans, the new stadium will generate more income streams that made these signings possible and the Braves want to build around this core of talented players who they drafted and have come up through their farm system.

There’s other reasons I believe that these signings took place.  Team chemistry and morale are very important in professional sports.  Without dancing around, I will get right to the point.   Prior to these lucrative deals being done with Freeman, Teheran and Kimbrel, the highest paid players on the Braves team were all from other organizations. (B.J. Upton, Dan Uggla and Justin Upton).  It was time to pay the players who have come up through the Braves organization and waited their turn.

While Brian McCann, a 7-time All-Star who is a hometown boy and spent his entire career in the Braves organization was denied his money due to lack of funds, a guy like B.J. Upton was signed from another organization for the same amount of years that Brian wanted and only a few million less per year.  I think that rankled a lot of people.

Brian may only have three more years left as a regular at the catcher position, but wouldn’t you take that over what you saw from B.J. last year?

In life the best indicator of the future is what has happened in the past.  If you are a Braves player who was drafted by the Braves, worked your way through the organization and been very productive at the major league level, wouldn’t you be concerned that what happened to McCann may happen to you?

Bottom line, it was time to reward the Braves players who have come up through the organization and been the driving force behind the Braves success the past few years.  What happened with Brian McCann, could not happen again.  The perception that the Braves would give big money to players from outside the organization, while denying highly productive players from within, was unacceptable.

The Braves, as usual, made the right and fair move.

I call the move, “The Brian McCann Trickle Down Effect.”

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  • NorthAlabamaGM

    I would have let McCann walk as well if indeed our very cheap catching prospects are what the front office thinks they are or will be. Hopefully the last two major FA signings will disappear never to be seen again and we will grow an pay our own in all the time.

    • Jim Hart

      Yeah, but who would you rather have? McCann or B.J.?

      • NorthAlabamaGM

        Oh, yes. I didn’t like the BJ overpay to begin with. For that matter didn’t “like” the JUp trade for losing Prado but the fact that Johnson was included, I couldn’t deny the BRaves took the D’backs to the cleaners on that one. My personal preference would have been to had Gattis, Bourn, Schafer, Heyward as the 4 outfielders and Prado at 3B (or 2B even!). but oh, well we have to live with the mistakes made and move on.
        I hope they see fit to extend Heyward again if he is willing.

        • Jim Hart

          Yeah, Johnson kinda came out of nowhere to help sweeten that trade. Prado is another guy who came up through the Braves system, was a real team player, yet in the end didn’t get paid by the Braves. No organization is anywhere close to perfect when it comes to player personnel decisions. The Braves do seem to come out on top in far more than they lose.

          • Don

            Braves came out like bandits on Prado trade. Nothing to regret there at all

          • Jim Hart

            So far, yes.

          • NorthAlabamaGM

            The Texiera trade is the only really painful one. The Wainwright trade has to be next. It filled a 1-year problem but left a “wish they had done it differently” feeling today:)

          • Jim Hart

            Wouldn’t Wainwright look good at the top of the rotation right now……

          • Anthony13

            I don’t think the Braves are weeping over their current rotation.

  • JR

    I may be wrong, but didn’t the Braves previously do the same thing with McCann in his last contract that they are doing now with their young, homegrown players, that is, buy out his remaining arb years and first few free agent years. I thought they tried to do the same with Francouer, but he rejected the deal. Whether they sign someone from outside the organization depends on a lot of factors, including other internal options and rising prospects. I would rather go with Gattis and then possibly Bethancourt in the future rather than sign McCann to a risky deal.

    • Jim Hart

      The Braves did do the same thing with McCann in his early years. Point being on the article that you have three players from outside the organization that are making all the money. Two of the three have been low production players. The young guys that came up through the organization and are doing the heavy lifting deserved to get paid.

  • Anthony13

    The Braves made a fair offer that included a lot of money, albeit for fewer years. Alas, McCann (who I value highly) chose the Yankees offer. No team was wrong or right. McCann had a choice, and he chose the Yankees.

  • Wayne Canon

    I was never in the “McCann is Nirvana” camp.

    He was a below average defensive catcher although seemed to be good at managing pitchers. He had a descent BA but not a high RBI average. He never hit more than 24 hr’s. Those just aren’t numbers that would justify the salary he was demanding, especially considering that we had qualified replacements for him both short and long term.

    Anthony13 is correct in that Mac went for the extra years in the Yankees contract. Catchers have a notoriously low shelf life, and I can’t see Mac being proficient at any other position than DH. He was a much better fit for the Yankees than the Braves and I wish him all the luck in the world….except if we face him in the World Series :)

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Thomas Friedman: Hooked on War
Thursday, 06 September 2007 12:17
by Norman Solomon

Reading his “Letter From Baghdad” column in the New York Times on Sept. 5, you’d never know that Thomas Friedman has a history of enthusiasm for war. Now he laments that Iraq is bad for the United States — “everyone loves seeing us tied down here” — stuck in the “madness that is Iraq.” And he concludes that the good Americans who have been sent to Iraq will not be deserved by Iraqis “if they continue to hate each other more than they love their own kids.”

The column, under a Baghdad dateline, is boilerplate Friedman: sprinkled with I-am-here anecdotes and breezy geopolitical nostrums. For years now, the man widely touted as America’s most influential journalist has indicated that his patience with the war in Iraq might soon run out. But, like the media establishment he embodies, Friedman can’t bring himself to renounce a war that he helped to launch and then blessed as the incarnation of virtue.

On the last day of November 2003 — eight months after the invasion — Friedman gushed that “this war is the most important liberal, revolutionary U.S. democracy-building project since the Marshall Plan.” He lauded the Iraq war as “one of the noblest things this country has ever attempted abroad.”

But the assumptions built into a Friedman column are murky outside the context of his worldview. “The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist,” Friedman wrote approvingly in one of his explaining-the-world bestsellers. “McDonald’s cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas, the designer of the U.S. Air Force F-15. And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valley’s technologies to flourish is called the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.”

Those words appeared in Friedman’s book “The Lexus and the Olive Tree,” but the passage first surfaced (with a few tweaks of syntax) in the New York Times Magazine on March 28, 1999, near the end of a long piece adapted from the book. Filling almost the entire cover of the magazine was a red-white-and-blue fist, with the caption “What The World Needs Now” and a smaller-type explanation: “For globalism to work, America can’t be afraid to act like the almighty superpower that it is.”

The clenched graphic could be seen as the “hidden fist” that “the hidden hand of the market will never work without.” While the cover story’s patriotic fist was intended as a symbol of the globe’s need for multifaceted American power, the military facet had been unleashed just as the magazine went to press. By the time the star-spangled cover reached Sunday breakfast tables, NATO air attacks on Yugoslavia were underway; the U.S.-led bombing campaign would last for 78 straight days.

Writing columns and appearing on broadcast networks to assess the war, Tom Friedman was close to gleeful. (The man was widely viewed as a liberal, whatever that meant, and “the liberal media” provided Friedman with many platforms that often seemed to double as pedestals.) Interviewers at ABC, PBS and NPR ranged from deferential to fawning as they solicited his wisdom on the latest from Yugoslavia.

Even when he lamented the political constraints on the military options of the 19-member NATO alliance, Friedman was upbeat. “While there are many obvious downsides to war-from-15,000-feet,” he wrote after bombs had been falling for more than four weeks, “it does have one great strength — its sustainability. NATO can carry on this sort of air war for a long, long time. The Serbs need to remember that.”

So, Friedman explained, “if NATO’s only strength is that it can bomb forever, then it has to get every ounce out of that. Let’s at least have a real air war. The idea that people are still holding rock concerts in Belgrade, or going out for Sunday merry-go-round rides, while their fellow Serbs are ‘cleansing’ Kosovo, is outrageous. It should be lights out in Belgrade: every power grid, water pipe, bridge, road and war-related factory has to be targeted.”

He added: “Like it or not, we are at war with the Serbian nation (the Serbs certainly think so), and the stakes have to be very clear: Every week you ravage Kosovo is another decade we will set your country back by pulverizing you. You want 1950? We can do 1950. You want 1389? We can do 1389 too....”

The convenience marbled through such punditry is so routine that eyebrows rarely go up. The chirpy line “Let’s at least have a real air war,” for instance, addressed American readers for whom, with rare exceptions, the “real air war” would be no more real than a media spectacle, with all the consequences falling on others very far away. As for rock concerts and merry-go-rounds, we could recall — if memory were to venture into unauthorized zones — that any number of such amusements went full throttle in the United States during the Vietnam War, and also for that matter during all subsequent U.S. wars including the one that Friedman was currently engaged in cheering on.

If the idea of civilians trying to continue with normal daily life while their government committed lethal crimes was “outrageous” enough to justify inflicting “a merciless air war” — as Friedman urged later in the same column — would someone have been justified in bombing the United States during its slaughter of countless innocents in Southeast Asia? Or during its active support for dictators and death squads in Latin America? For that matter, Friedman could hardly be unaware that for several weeks already American firepower had been maiming and killing Serb civilians, children included, with weaponry including cluster bombs. Today, Iraqi civilians keep dying from the U.S. war effort and other violence catalyzed by the occupation; meanwhile, of course, not a single concert or merry-go-round has stopped in the USA.

When righteousness moved Friedman to call for “lights out in Belgrade,” he was urging a war crime. The urban power grids and water pipes he yearned to see destroyed were essential to infants, the elderly, the frail and infirm inside places like hospitals and nursing homes. Targeting such grids and pipes would seem like barbarism to Americans if the missiles were incoming. Any ambiguity of the matter would probably be dispelled by a vow to keep bombing the country until it was set back 50 years or, if necessary, six centuries. But Friedman’s enthusiasm was similar to that of many other prominent American commentators who also greeted the bombing of Yugoslavia with something close to exhilaration.

The final paragraph of Thomas Friedman’s column in the New York Times on April 23, 1999, began with a punchy sentence: “Give war a chance.” It was a witticism that seemed to delight Friedman. He repeated it, in print and on national television, as the bombing of Yugoslavia continued. A tone of sadism could be discerned.
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Comments (1)add comment

a guest said:

There is a reason!
Initial Iraq war standpoint have been based on three naive war outcome assumptions:

1) Provide cheap source of energy and establish long term control over it
2) Protect US dollar from euro
3) Provide long term security for Israel

Those assumptions have been valid only under certain conditions that US have not been able and will not be able to satisfy. I’ll not go in analysis of conditions but reality turned initial assumptions into disasters.

1) US will not be able to establish control over Iraq oil fields in long term.
2) US dollar and economic power will become weaker in coming years
3) Israel has more security problems than ever and future is not so bright.

1) Occupation of Iraq opened new front for Islam fundamentalism that US will not be able to control.
2) Iran, previously being suppressed by Sadam, is major power that will not able to be sustained by any US action.
3) Result of Iraq war is return of Russia as a major world pover (no need to be explained)
4) Israel now has to worry who is going to stop Iran. Iran will be centre of political gravity in Arab world.

US have to be very careful with politics around Kosovo too. It is on wrong side and it will come back in face with interest on the top.
There is way out but not with usage of current US political instruments.

September 06, 2007
Votes: +0

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NHTM 50th Celebration Spring Conference 4/5/13

  • 04/05/2013
  • 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
  • Radisson Hotel, Manchester, New Hampshire
2013 NHTM Annual Conference, which will honor NHTM’s 50th year of service to mathematics educators across New Hampshire and the New England region.  It will take place in Manchester, New Hampshire, at the Radisson Hotel on April 5, 2013.  A celebration dinner will be held during the evening on April 4, 2013, to honor NHTM’s 50th year as a leading mathematics professional organization in New Hampshire.

The theme for the conference is “50 Years of Achievement and Infinitely More to Come!”  NHTM is hoping for presentations that emphasize the future of mathematics education including such topics as mathematical process standards, Common Core State Standards, SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium, response to intervention, differentiated instruction, formative assessment strategies, as well as connections to habits of mind, quantitative literacy, and NCTM process standards.  There are two formats for presentations:  sessions (1 hour) and workshops (1.5 hours).

An exciting program is in the works and over 200 mathematics educators are expected to attend.

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Neutrino Soup Makes a Thin Gruel, Tech Theory

Why Look for the Higgs Boson?

One possible signature of a Higgs boson from a simulated proton-proton collision. It decays almost immediately into two jets of hadrons and two electrons, visible as lines. The proton beams would enter the picture from the east-southeast and west-northwest. Image from Wiki

Good morning everyone.

Particle physics is a rather complicated affair and uses […]


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The long-forgotten shape of the fastback coupe suddenly returned to prominence in the 1960s as a symbol of speed and style. Dodge jumped on the bandwagon to create the 1966-1967 Dodge Charger, a big fastback that could be as potent as it was pretty.

Classic Cars Image Gallery

1966 Dodge Charger fastback
Although it didn't arrive on the market until January
1966, the new Charger quickly gave Dodge
a strong presence in the fastback revival that
sprouted in the mid-1960s. See more classic car pictures.

Between 1962 and 1964, Chrysler Corporation stylists likely were the busiest in the industry, and for good reason -- they had the biggest job to do. The "Forward Look" fins of the 1950s were dead, and the new styling direction set by Virgil Exner -- first with the Valiant and then with the 1962 Plymouth and Dodge -- had failed in the marketplace, in part due to the disastrous downsizing of Exner's designs dictated by former Chrysler president William Newberg.

Chrysler's market share plummeted, and Exner was forced out. He was replaced in the fall of 1961 by Elwood Engel of Ford, who was supposedly responsible for the stunning 1961 Lincoln Continental, a car also drastically downsized, but with more fortunate results.

Engel had orders from Chrysler President Lynn Townsend to get the styling of the company's cars back into the mainstream, and designers and product planners worked overtime to accomplish the task as quickly as humanly possible. Once, during a tour of the studios, Townsend reportedly urged the stylists on with the words, "You guys are saving the corporation."

The last thing the harried staff needed was extra work. But Engel knew about the "pony" coming down the pike from Ford in Dearborn, Michigan, and pushed Chrysler execs to get moving even faster. Additionally, over at the General Motors Tech Center, designers and engineers were busy fashioning the upcoming Oldsmobile Toronado. Thus, despite their weighty workload, competitive pressures forced Chrysler's overburdened staff to create two new specialty vehicles.

The first of these was the 1964 Plymouth Barracuda. "The industry was rife with rumors of Ford's new Mustang," remembers Gene Weiss, retired Chrysler-Plymouth and Dodge product planning executive. "But the extent of how changed the Mustang was from the Falcon was not learned until it was too late, from a tooling standpoint, to do as much."

The Barracuda was a nice enough car, although, admittedly, an inadequate answer to the Ford Mustang. But as far as the Chrysler-Plymouth dealer body was concerned, at least it was something. The other specialty model was, of course, the Dodge Charger that followed the Barracuda to market 22 months later.

Although size-wise one was a compact and the other an intermediate, these two vehicles shared a common design signature -- both were fastbacks. Or as Weiss succinctly put it, "The Dodge Charger was the conceptual twin of the Plymouth Barracuda."

Consequently, both the Barracuda and the Charger were created from (and handicapped by) the same formula. Of necessity, both were "make-from" cars whose differences from their respective Valiant and Coronet siblings were essentially in the roof, backlight, and decklid.

What caused this sudden 1960s fascination with fastbacks? Learn more about the origins of the fastback body type on the next page.

For more information on cars, see:


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View Full Version : Hi, Guys Ready to paint, question about sealer

03-20-2006, 07:54 PM
My brothers and I are restoring dad's 65 Mustang coupe, the bodywork is finished,the car has been stripped to bare metal, primed with U-Tech epoxy,then primed with Dupont high build and block sanded,any sand throughs have been re-covered with epoxy, all fillers used were 2K, My question is, we have different levels of primer showing,some high build and some epoxy, where we covered sand throughs, would it be a good idea to use a sealer to cover everything, the data sheet with the epoxy says it can be used as a sealer,what's the general opinion of everyone? Thanks for the help.

03-20-2006, 10:45 PM
Different substrates have a tendency to absorb topcoats at a different rate. This different absorption can cause metallic colors to vary and different single stage colors to have different areas of gloss. I'd recommend sealer for this application.

Epoxy primer can be used as a sealer but it may not seal as well as a dedicated sealer however if you already have the epoxy I'd say it will probably work well enough to use.

03-21-2006, 07:34 PM
Thanks for the reply Len, I think thats what we'll do,were not taking any chances at this point.


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Petit Le Mans through the eyes of University of Georgia photojournalism students

October 20, 2012

There are many things you can learn at university by reading and discussing, but photojournalism is not one of them. It's both an intellectual and practical pursuit, one that requires an experiential learning plan, one that requires students to get out of their comfort zone.

While some 100,000 fans descended on Braselton, Ga., for the 15th running of the Petit Le Mans, a group of 14 students, seven professionals and one professor gathered hours before the race in an unused garage just outside of Road Atlanta's turn 12. That garage became a computer lab, the race track their classroom.

This was the seventh year students in the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication's Advanced Photojournalism have spent covering the Petit Le Mans, a workshop supported by both the American Le Mans Series and Road Atlanta. Credentialed as working photographers, blue vests and all, the students spread out across the massive facility to cover the event--not the race, the event. Cars at speed are a part of their assignment, but it's the people--from costumed drivers to rabid fans--that they seek to document, to tell the story of a premiere motorsports event.

“I can talk all semester long about telling visual stories, about connecting with people, about seeing light, but until these students bring a camera to their eye, it's all theory,” says senior photojournalism lecturer Mark E. Johnson. “In one 18-hour day, these students bear witness to a world-class event, hear critiques from top level professionals and feel the pressure of working in a fast-paced environment.

“As a bonus, they get to see an awesome race up close.”

Each student is given a “shoot sheet” before the event--specific drivers, areas and ideas they need to illustrate. With a mobile newsroom set up on site, students can shoot for an hour or two, then come in and sit with a professional for feedback on their work. With a 10-hour-long race, students can have multiple editing sessions and immediately apply what they've learned leading to a staggering growth curve.

Over the seven years the program has been running, thousands of images have been added to the archives of the track and the racing series. And more than 100 new racing fans have been minted, too.

Editors for the 2012 workshop included Mike Haskey, chief photographer at the Columbus (Ga.) Ledger-Inquirer, Woody Marshall, photo editor at the Macon (Ga.) Telegraph, Fred Metzler, Canon USA senior marketing representative, and freelance photo editors and photographers Barry Allen, Dave Tulis, Walt Stricklin and Billy Weeks.


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Found on Hemmings: 1971 Morgan Plus 8

July 7, 2013

Found on Hemmings: 1971 Morgan Plus 8

There are many cars you can buy for $45,000 or less, but none of them have that special Morgan character or that reliance on wood as a structural material. Photo by Hemmings

Morgan has had a somewhat on-and-off relationship with the United States market, largely because those giant buzzkills in the federal government keep imposing emissions and crash test regulations that the tiny artisanal automaker can't keep up with.

Fortunately, a fair number of Morgans have made it to our shores over the past century or so, and Morgan's tendency to not mess with a good thing/outright stubbornness means that it doesn't really matter what era Morgan you buy -- they all have the same old-world charm.

Take this 1971 Morgan Plus 8 for sale on Hemmings. It doesn't look all that different from a Plus 4 from the 1960s, and it's practically a dead ringer for the last Plus 8s to roll off the Morgan line (do they even have a line in the modern sense?) in 2004.

Plus, this particular Plus 8 has an even more British pedigree than the average Morgan, having been brought to the United States on the Queen Elizabeth II after being displayed at the 1971 Earls Court car show. Despite being driven “everywhere” by its current owner, it has only 42,000 miles on the clock -- and its Rover engine has been treated to a Holley four-barrel carburetor.

At $45,000 the Morgan isn't cheap, but it's a lot less pricey than a new AeroMax and it would look far more contemporary -- for a Morgan -- with fresh, non-two-tone paint job.

What do you think? Head to Hemmings for more details and photos.

Graham Kozak

Graham Kozak - Graham Kozak drove a 1951 Packard 200 sedan in high school because he wanted something that would be easy to find in a parking lot. He thinks all the things they're doing with fuel injection and seatbelts these days are pretty nifty too. See more by this author»


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Should F1 allow team orders? Debate is nothing new in wake of Red Bull, Vettel controversy

April 3, 2013

Should F1 allow team orders? Debate is nothing new in wake of Red Bull, Vettel controversy

The team orders debate is back in full swing with the recent actions of Sebastian Vettel. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Should team orders be allowed in Formula One? The argument has been around for decades, and was reignited two weeks ago in the Malaysian Grand Prix when Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel ignored his team’s command to remain in second place behind teammate Mark Webber. The sport has long seen examples of teams favoring a driver, especially when a championship is at stake.

Indeed the practice was far more extreme in the days when a team could call a driver into the pits to hand his car to a colleague whose own machine had already retired. See Peter Collins and Juan Manuel Fangio in the 1956 Italian Grand Prix if you think that this topic is anything new or specific to modern F1.

After a period when the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) banned team orders, everything is now legal. Radio messages are replayed on TV; if a driver is told to hold station, we usually know about it even before he makes sure the world knows in post-race interviews.

Of course, we would all like to see drivers racing wheel to wheel, and the first part of the Vettel/Webber battle in Malaysia—immediately after the Aussie’s final stop—was genuine thrilling racing. Understandably, it was also just a bit too exciting for the guys on the pit wall. But it proved that Red Bull allowed its drivers to race each other to an extent; a common policy in F1 today is to allow teammates to race hard up until the final stop, whereupon they are usually told to hold position the rest of the way to the flag.

As Red Bull team principal Christian Horner makes clear, the constructors’ championship has huge significance, not least because of the financial implications a good finish brings to a team. One-two finishes in Grands Prix are rare, and the 43 points they generate are hugely valuable.

In this case, there were only 12 laps to go, and the opposition was still close enough for there to be no margin for error. The order to hold station was to both avoid a silly crash—such as the costly Turkish GP collision between Vettel and Webber in 2010—and to reduce the chances of using up their tires to the extent that they lost performance, or even needed an extra stop.

Most in F1, and probably most fans, would agree that holding station, as opposed to swapping places, is the lesser of two evils: Where it really goes wrong is when a team orders a driver to surrender the lead well before the climax of a season, something Ferrari did so clumsily with Rubens Barrichello in Austria in May 2002 and again with Felipe Massa in Germany in July 2010.

In both cases, the title-chasing driver gained points but at a cost both in terms of the ensuing PR disasters and a loss of confidence suffered by the “victim.” Massa still has not won a race since he was infamously told that “Fernando is faster than you,” which was an obvious code for, “Get out of his way.”

What exasperated Red Bull management in Malaysia is, it tried to do the right thing. Well aware of the strong public perception that Vettel is its clear “No. 1” driver, Horner tried to settle the game in favor of the man who had led, fair and square, until 80 percent of the race had passed. Vettel then took matters into his own hands. The question now is, will the damage inflicted on his already shaky relationship with Webber ultimately impact his own title hopes?

Other Memorable Teammate Controversies

1982, Ferrari: Didier Pironi disobeys instructions in the San Marino Grand Prix and robs Gilles Villeneuve of victory, passing him even though the team ordered the men to stay in their one-two position. The drivers do not reconcile before Villeneuve’s death a fortnight later.

1989, McLaren: Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna’s relationship crumbles when Prost claims Senna violated an agreement between the two drivers—Senna started first, Prost second—not to race each other on the first lap. But following a restart, Senna overtakes Prost at the Tosa hairpin, angering the Frenchman.

1989, McLaren: The Prost/Senna rivalry comes to a head at Suzuka in Japan, where they collide when Prost closes the door as Senna divebombs him at the chicane. The Frenchman emerges with the championship after race-winner Senna is disqualified controversially.

2002, Ferrari: The team commands Rubens Barrichello to move over for Michael Schumacher in Austria, and Barrichello makes a point by waiting until the last corner to do so. Even devoted tifosi boo the outcome.

2010, Ferrari: In Germany, Felipe Massa is heading for his first win since a crash left him in a coma when the team tells him—though not blatantly—to let the faster Fernando Alonso through, even though team orders are banned. The FIA later changes the rule, realizing it can’t enforce it effectively.

By Adam Cooper


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BAE Systems is discovering life after production for its stalwart Bradley Fighting Vehicles.

As the contractor nears the end of the main production run for Bradleys — whose average per-vehicle age across the fleet is only six years — BAE has been hunting for sustainment deals that will keep the program alive until a next-generation replacement is needed.

BAE has found ample life-support with a recent contract to modernize 353 Bradleys for select National Guard units; the contractor also is working on a reset deal to refurbish vehicles used in recent military conflicts.

The company received a $306 million contract modification to upgrade the vehicles.

This production contract is in addition to $340 million in funding the company has received to purchase upgrade materials for the Bradley program, bringing the full contract total to $646 million.

BAE will upgrade Bradley Operation Desert Storm M2A2, M3A2 and M7 Bradley Fire Support Team vehicles to Operation Desert Storm Situational Awareness (ODS-SA) configurations, given them most of the same enhancements at the A-3 vehicles.

The Bradley ODS-SA upgrade integrates the latest digitized electronics providing soldiers with optimal situational awareness, network connectivity and enhanced communication hardware. The improvements are meant to reduce logistics headaches, while enhancing battlefield performance to meet a variety of mission requirements in close-combat, urban scenarios and open-combat situations.

“This puts a digital backbone into the vehicle,” Roy Perkins, business director of Army programs, tells the Aviation Week Intelligence Network.

Going from analog to digital, he says, will enable the upgraded Bradleys to support new features like a crew-compartment screen that provides the same situational awareness as vehicle commanders have, Perkins notes.

The digital improvements also will make it possible to better integrate networking systems.

Also included in the upgrade package are second-generation forward looking infrared sensors, better protection against improvised explosive devices and other improvements meant to bolster crew protection.

With this contract secured and a reset deal in its sights, BAE is looking at Bradley modernization opportunities, Perkins says.

The contractor is trying to identify vehicle upgrades, he says, and BAE also wants to “buy back” some of the protection enhancements made a decade ago, which made the vehicle slower and less efficient in delivering its own electrical power.

The Army, Perkins says, is eyeing changes as part of a research, development, testing and evaluation effort.

“Around 2020, we’ll start revamping Bradleys that are not going to be replaced by the GCVs [Ground Combat Vehicles],” he says.

Perkins also says the Bradley could be deployed as a multi-purpose vehicle, such as a motor carrier, ambulance or mobile surgical vehicle. The Army is expected to release a request for proposals for such an all-purpose vehicle this winter.


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Tag Archives: Nate Bubeck

Premier Storage facility sells for $6M in Deer Valley

22230 N. Black Canyon HwyA 120,000 SF portion of Premier Storage, a 218,748 SF self-storage condominium development located at 22230 N. Black Canyon Highway, has been sold for $6,000,000, or $50.00 per square foot. The 180 unit, value-add property was lender-owned.

Nate Bubeck and Jerry Marrell of Lee & Associates Arizona represented the buyer, Premier Storage Holdings, LLC. Paul Timm of Trust Realty Advisors represented the Seller, Premier Storage of North Phoenix Return, LLC.

“The property was 100% leased at the time of sale and was acquired through a 1031 exchange. Deferred maintenance and below market rental rates created an opportunity for the buyer to purchase a controlling interest of a value-add, self-storage facility,” said Bubeck.

Located in the Deer Valley submarket with frontage along Black Canyon Highway, Premier Storage was constructed in 2008 and is situated on 11.73 acres. It features units of various sizes with 16’ clear height and 14’ doors.

Prologis Buys 106,000 SF Facility; Plans Additional 221,000 SF Spec Building

Prologis, one of the most prolific buyers of industrial properties in the Valley, purchased the former Plastican plastic injection molding facility for $6.2M.

The seller was Phoenix Plastican Properties, LLC of Leominster, Mass.

The 106,000 SF property is situated on 21.5 acres and is located at 4101 W. Buckeye Rd. Plans on the excess 15.9 acres call for the construction of 221,00 cross dock industrial building which will be located at the SWC of 43rd Ave. and Buckeye Rd. The speculative building will have 62 dock high doors, 32’ clear height and 82 trailer stalls.

Lee & Associates principals Matt Hobaica and Nate Bubeck represented both the buyer and seller in this transaction.

“This property offers Prologis an excellent opportunity to build a state-of- the-art building at a time when the Phoenix industrial market is showing strong momentum,”  Hobaica said.

The 106,000 SF manufacturing building was constructed in 1993 and is situated on 5 acres with a fenced yard. The building offers rail service, 12 dock high doors and 24’ clear height will be reconditioned and offered for sale or lease.

For more information on Prologis, visit their website at www.prologis.com.


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Monday, October 29, 2007

thanks for reading....

Hi everybody, for the time being I am discontinuing this blog. I am going to start a new blog on -hopefully that will feed to my websites and Yahoo 360. (I will keep jotting my thought s on my yahoo 360 blog as well) Sorry 4 inconvenience. Thanks for reading this blog and u never know when it will get going again- see ya in the blogosphere!

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Do u hve the answers???

Sometimes life is so unfair. Fuck - it is down right cruel. So I question, God, mankind, science, technology, lady luck, karma, the cards, genetics and my family tree. I also question, reality, philosiphy, my mental state and my spirital state of being. Hhhh, Questioning the senses, great works of literature, and the word on the street too. I QUESTION...

my buddy

MM has been away on biz. I am his tripping wife, but I could not go this time. I miss him so much. He is my last thought when I close my eyes and drift off into dreamland. He is always the 1st thing that pops into my mind when I wake. My days are consumed with him. Every passing second of every hour of every day is MM. He is my best friend and the only person I trust 100% besides my Mom. I am lost without him. This trip is weird cuz he is so far away and very busy. With all these high tech ways of communications - I have only heard the sound of his voice a few times I am starting to get sick. Its kinda like being homesick. I know I got it bad 4 him. The last few weeks I have gotten very close emotionally n now it's like he has died or something. I do feel like I lost my best friend. I am hanging on and he should return 2day. It scares me how attached I have become and this one could really fuck me up in my head and break my heart. God I hope things work out for us. Anyways I guess as Garth B says - sometimes you gotta feel a lil pain to enjoy the dance.

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Blast from the past

Wow- so much change in my life and all at once. I hate to sound cliche' but when it rains it pours.
Now I am sitting at this computer on a fine and glorious Saturday afternoon and my mind is one big cluster fuck of like 20 or so racing thoughts- so here is a Brittney's Blast from the past (that's an old blog entry yahoo deleted). So since I can't keep a fucking train of thought-

Entry for November 15, 2006

I love your hugs. I don't want to let go. The other nite you made me feel something inside that I forgot even existed. "That" feeling. You know the one. Warm and Tingly inside. Mouth watering, all the hairs on my head standing on end. Heart racing, (no - this is not an anxiety attack)! Better then ANY drug, (do u believe I am saying that)? But just like a drug - "that" feeling comes to an end. You have to leave and I pull away just wanting to scream! I can't look at you as it now is very painful inside. I turn as you pull my front door closed behind you. I can't help but notice you didn't look at me either. I just sit and finish cuming down from u. I think about how far you are on the freeway home and when will I get to feel your touch, smell you, hear your voice???

I dream about you and try not to call you. But I break down and dial the #. VM. I watch the time tick by slowly until its "our time" and then I start to feel "that" feeling again..............

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

hey schoolgirl!

Its not done yet-but take a sneak

Monday, October 15, 2007

pretty women?

MY depression is getting worse day by day. I have been waiting for Richard (not my Richard) 2 cum rescue me. He is here but I don't understand what is taking him so long. I know this is not like the movies but shit! What are u waiting for - take me away! I am not going to last too much longer. Something has gotta give. Please Baby, plz.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

I feel like I am regressing. I am supposed to be taking baby steps 4ward not leaps n bounds backwards. I am not too upset cuz I have learned to never have expectations. That way it's not as bad when shit turns to shit. I am becoming more depressed so sorry if this is on the negative side. Hey - at least I am back on my fav. computer. (Trying to be positive.)
Anyways - MM said to make this list,
Why I think I am regressing-
1.bad luck
2.people fucking me over
3.caught in a vicious cycle not pushing hard enough - letting others influence me
5.making bad moves with finances.
OK honey - here is your list. What do u think... (be nice)


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Proponents say successor to school voucher plan will withstand lawsuits (access required)

Teachers unions and advocacy groups that sunk Arizona’s private school voucher system two years ago haven’t made any moves to strike down its successor, even though they say it is blatantly unconstitutional.

But school choice advocates say they followed the instruction of an Arizona Supreme Court justice and the previous program’s critics in crafting the new system, which will allow it to withstand the inevitable lawsuit.

Read More »

Brewer weighing options on SB1070 appeal (access required)

Gov. Jan Brewer is still weighing her options for how to appeal Monday’s ruling on Senate Bill 1070, but she indicated that she wants the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to review the case again before she moves on to the U.S. Supreme Court.

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carville boy

First name origins & meanings:

  1. Old English: Wood carver
  2. French: Swampy dwelling

First name variations: Carvel, Carvil, Carvell

Last name origins & meanings:

  1. French: habitational name from places in Calvados and Seine-Maritime named Carville, from the Scandinavian personal name Kári + Old French ville ‘settlement’ (see Villa).
  2. English and Irish: variant of Carvell.
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Bug Off! 6 Tick- and Mosquito-Borne Diseases
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Season Preview 14/15: BURNLEY

by Adam Haworth

BurnleyBurnley surprised almost everyone in the Championship last term. The relentless approach instilled by Sean Dyche mean the team never stopped. It’s often the case that teams unexpectedly at the top of the table find themselves faltering and questioning themselves. Not under Sean Dyche. His ultra-logical approach led him to dismiss the idea of worrying about what had gone before. Burnley broke loads of club records, the most memorable of which is the win against bitter rivals Blackburn Rovers. He prevented his players from taking their eyes off the ball at any stage.

Dyche created a team who never looked like failing. Somehow, the whole club was taken on a journey that elevated it to a level where confidence, but not arrogance, reined supreme. Under Dyche, the Burnley team felt invincible. They weren’t, but they might as well have been.

The season ended with promotion to the Premier League, the best reward for their impressive consistency. Last time Burnley were in the Premier League, the lasting memory was Owen Coyle’s questionable mid-season move to Bolton. Burnley fans will be hoping to avoid those sorts of events and enjoy the top flight this time.

There’s a real underdog mentality in this Burnley side. Everyone involved with the club will be aiming to defy the odds this season – which are quite understandably stacked against them. Proving everyone wrong is unapologetically the goal.

Last season: 2nd (Championship)
Odds (relegation): 3/5
In: Michael Kightly (Stoke, undisclosed), Matt Gilks (Blackpool, free), Marvin Sordell (Bolton, free), Matt Taylor (West Ham, free), Lukas Jutkiewicz (Middlesbrough, £1.5m-£2.5m reported), Steven Reid (West Brom, free)
Out: Junior Stanislas (Bournemouth, free), Keith Treacy (released), David Edgar (Birmingham, free), Brian Stock (released), Nick Liversedge (released).

What’s new

The summer has seen six new arrivals for Burnley so far. While none of them have been particularly inspiring, all signings have bolstered a small squad. The first arrival of the summer was Michael Kightly, who spent last term at Burnley on loan from Stoke. Kightly showed some promising signs towards the end of last season and provided a few crucial goals at the end of the campaign.

Next in the door was out of contract Blackpool goalkeeper Matt Gilks. Gilks will provide cover for Tom Heaton, and it’ll be nice for Dyche to have some genuine competition for the goalkeeper spot. Marvin Sordell and Matt Taylor signed on the same day, with Sordell hoping to finally prove his potential and Taylor providing important Premier League experience.

Along the same lines, Steven Reid signed three days later, again bolstering the squad and providing experience. The latest player to sign has been perhaps the most controversial . The fee paid for Lukas Jutkiewicz (reported to be from around £1.5million to £2.5million) is a little on the expensive side for some fans. Despite this, Jutkiewicz has a lot to prove, and fans saw last season how that mentality can be useful in motivating a player.

Other than transfers, deep stadium infrastructure improvements have had to take place over the summer. The club have installed new press facilities, there are brand new seats in one stand and a new location for the players’ tunnel. A presumably expensive scanner entry system has replaced the old fashioned turnstiles. There’s been the construction of a new TV gantry for 3D broadcasts, and the installation of those fancy electronic advertising hoardings (finally). It’ll take a lot for Turf Moor to be considered a modern stadium, but Premier League regulations mean the Club are at least trying to update things while keeping much of the ground’s charm.

Key Player

Notable mentions should go to Danny Ings, Sam Vokes and Jason Shackell, but Kieran Trippier will perhaps be the team’s most important player. Last season, Trippier not only showed exceptional defensive ability (despite taking a few minutes to get settled into games) but also provided a genuine attacking threat on the right wing.

Trippier’s cross delivery was arguably the best in the league last season, and goals will be as important as anything for Burnley next season. Burnley are, however, a cohesive unit and a team, rather than a group of individuals. Each player will fight for every other teammate and that attribute is far more important than the effect any one player will have on the season.

One to Watch

Marvin Sordell will be an interesting one to watch. After impressing at Watford under Dyche’s leadership — in the youth system as well as the first team — Sordell has struggled to live up to his billing.

Sordell won’t be first on the team sheet by any stretch of the imagination, but how he fares once he does get on the pitch will probably decide the future of his career. Sordell must have potential — indeed he’s shown it a couple of times — but watching to see whether he can finally deliver consistently will be the real thing to watch out for.

Also watch out for Sean Dyche. There’s more to him than meets the eye, and that might just surprise a few people this season.

Season prediction

Burnley’s season will be decided by how they fare as a unit. The team spirit and togetherness was a significant reason behind their success last season and the character of the side will need to be even stronger this time around. While tactical awareness and individual moments of glory will play their part, how long Burnley are willing to fight for each other and the club will also be important. If those things happen, I’m confident Burnley can beat the odds. It’s a big if, but if there’s any man who can get those things out of a side, it’s Sean Dyche.

BPF Prediction: 20th

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