Pothole-Gate

I've had to give myself a few days to allow the (asphalt) dust to settle from Sunday's epic Daytona 500. A race where I watched the first 15 laps, took my wife out for a Valentines Day meal, movie, a little shopping, wrote our memoirs, filed our taxes and came close to securing World Peace, ALL in enough time to catch the 25++ lap shootout to finish the race.

The Good: I don't mind the green-white-checkered multiple overtime conspira...uhhh...I mean finish. Especially on a restrictor-plate track, you have to allow for a race to the checkered flag. The competition put butts in the seat. Make the fans happy.

Now, on to the story that isn't the story. Four feet of dislodged asphalt has gotten covered up more than the Zapruder film, Area 51 and the S&M midget hiding in Tiger's closet combined. I kept waiting for the "Outside the Lines" episode on how a track could CEASE TO BE A TRACK in the middle of a race. Nothing. Instead of the lead story 'Jamie McMurray wins, but track fails,' we got 'Jamie McMurray wins (cricket, cricket).'

Look, I get it. The race finished, most drivers were spared and the fans in the stands were treated to an additional two hours of Budwesier, but where is the outcry?

In my lifetime, Sunday's pothole-gate ranks second in terms of track failure only to the Formula 1 tire debacle at Indy in 2005. That was inexcusable, and I still am waiting for a new set of Michelins to arrive. The pothole easily seems more egregious of an error than the 9-lap parade circuit NASCAR pulled at the 2008 Brickyard 400. And the cancellation of the 2001 CART Firehawk 600 at Texas Motor Speedway was nothing compared to this.

But, in all three of those other recent PR disasters, the end result was that: A Disaster. F1 hasn't been relevant in the US since then. CART circled the drain soon after. Granted, the vultures were already circling in these two particular instances, but how can the Super Bowl of stock car racing get a free pass? What would be similar on a comparison basis:

The 2010 Super Bowl is delayed 2 hours because Pete Townshend does so many windmills on his guitar at halftime that it blows down the goal posts, ripping a huge chunk of sod out of the back of the endzone. How do you cover that up? Just show the people two hours worth of commercials with half-naked men in them. Either that, or kick it down to Shannon Sharpe and have him read tongue-twisters while consuming an entire box of saltine crackers.

The World Series is delayed because of snow (oh wait)

The Masters gets a special visitor.

The NBA Finals endures a 30-minute delay because the officials and players have a high-stakes poker game taking place in the tunnel

Fantasy or not, it just boggles my mind that this seemingly innocent little pothole hasn't garnered the attention this week. It shouldn't take away from the results, because the finish was wonderful, complete with Dale (NASCAR is now desperate for me to win) Jr. finding 7th gear and a rocket engine on the last lap. Honestly, if you watched the race, you were wondering the same thing. Where was the nitrous canister hidden? Was David Hasslehoff driving KITT by that point?

Actually, think of how cool the conspiracy theories would have been if McMurray's car blew up like the red car. But seriously, Jr. had to finish 2nd, just so his car could conveniently avoid the post-race inspection.

Well, welcome to the world of winter, Daytona. put some thicker tires on and dodge like most of America.