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batter Hey batter, batter, batter, batter, swing, batter .

OK, so this isn't Formula 1, but I came across this video again yesterday and thought it was worth posting. As far as I can tell, this is an Australian V8 Supercar race from about ten years ago, and the car that loses its wheel is driven by current NASCAR #9 driver, Marcos Ambrose.

I'm afraid I only got to see the first third of the Coca-Cola 600 this week - Saturday night races are bad enough for my timezone, but Sunday nights are just too late! Maybe Garrett will weigh in with a better summary. Jimmie Johnson started on pole, and led most of the laps I watched. By the end he'd led 165 of the 400 laps, including the most important one - the final lap! That means that both of Garrett's drivers have qualified for The Chase in the last two points-scoring races. Kevin Harvick finished a strong second after leading 100 laps. Danica Patrick did a great job to qualify fourth, but after a brief spell in second place near the start of race, she slipped back through the field until her engine gave up on lap 286. Kurt Busch started from the back of the grid after flying in from the Indianapolis 500 and missing the driver's meeting, but he also suffered a blown engine, meaning he couldn't complete his 1,100 mile double. Jeff Gordon led eight laps and finally finished seventh - not bad considering he started 27th and missed the final practice due to a sore back. He still leads the points table, although that's not so important since his win two weeks ago. The top five are now Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Sadly, it wasn't a great race for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. He started 23rd and finished three laps down in 26th. One thing I haven't seen for a while was Kasey Kahne having to drive through the pit lane on lap 48 because entry to his pit box was blocked by Ryan Newman leaving his pit box. Luckily, he had enough Sunoco race fuel (I believe you have to name-check the supplier each time ) to make the extra lap. More info can be found here and here. The final result was: 1. Jimmie Johnson 2. Kevin Harvick 3. Matt Kenseth 4. Carl Edwards 5. Jamie McMurray 6. Brian Vickers 7. Jeff Gordon 8. Paul Menard 9. Kyle Busch 10. Brad Keselowski 11. Aric Almirola 12. Joey Logano 13. Tony Stewart 14. Kasey Kahne 15. Ryan Newman 16. Austin Dillon 17. Clint Bowyer 18. Kyle Larson 19. Dale Earnhardt Jr 20. Trevor Bayne 21. Greg Biffle 22. Denny Hamlin 23. AJ Allmendinger 24. Casey Mears 25. Martin Truex Jr 26. Ricky Stenhouse Jr 27. Cole Whitt 28. Michael Annett 29. Marcos Ambrose 30. Michael McDowell 31. David Ragan 32. Brian Scott 33. Alex Bowman 34. Joe Nemechek 35. Blake Koch 36. Landon Cassill 37. Justin Allgaier 38. Ryan Truex 39. Danica Patrick 40. Kurt Busch 41. Josh Wise 42. Reed Sorenson 43. David Gilliland Next Sunday the racing's back to a sensible time (for me) with the FedEx 400 from the Dover International Speedway.

I hope Kurt Busch makes it to the start of tonight's NASCAR race on time, because earlier today he came a very creditable sixth in his first Indianapolis 500. As soon as the race was over, he took a golf cart to a helicopter to a private plane to get him to Charlotte. On his way to the helipad, Kurt Busch commented "That's 500 down, 600 to go". Full story here.

I should've checked the schedules, because, just like the first two practice sessions for this week's Monaco Grand Prix, qualifying for the Coca-Cola 600 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway took place yesterday (and I missed it). It's a mixed result for Garrett - Jimmie Johnson took pole, but Jeff Gordon is back in 27th. Brad Keselowski's second place makes it seven out of 12 front row starts this year. It was also another good session for Danica Patrick, who starts fourth. Ricky Stenhouse Jr starts in an average place of 23rd, but he was fourth in practice 1, so I hope that's a better indicator of his real pace. For Lizzy, Kyle Busch is in seventh, and Austin Dillon is back in 32nd. The full lineup is: 1. Jimmie Johnson 2. Brad Keselowski 3. Kasey Kahne 4. Danica Patrick 5. Clint Bowyer 6. Denny Hamlin 7. Kyle Busch 8. Joey Logano 9. Marcos Ambrose 10. Dale Earnhardt Jr 11. Kevin Harvick 12. Matt Kenseth 13. Aric Almirola 14. Trevor Bayne 15. Martin Truex Jr 16. Brian Vickers 17. Justin Allgaier 18. Tony Stewart 19. Brian Scott 20. AJ Allmendinger 21. Paul Menard 22. Carl Edwards 23. Ricky Stenhouse Jr 24. Greg Biffle 25. Kyle Larson 26. Jamie McMurray 27. Jeff Gordon 28. Kurt Busch 29. Alex Bowman 30. Michael McDowell 31. Cole Whitt 32. Austin Dillon 33. David Gilliland 34. Casey Mears 35. David Ragan 36. Ryan Truex 37. Josh Wise 38. Joe Nemechek 39. Michael Annett 40. Landon Cassill 41. Reed Sorenson 42. Ryan Newman 43. Blake Koch This week it's a Sunday evening race, starting at 6:00 PM ET on Fox.

Yesterday, Formula 1 lost another of its legendary drivers, but unlike many of his contemporaries, Sir Jack Brabham made it to 88 years old. He raced before I was born, but the Brabham team name survived in Formula 1 until 1992. Sir Jack won the World Championship three times (1959, 1960 and 1966), with the last one remaining the only time that the winning car has been designed by its driver and raced under his name. I found the interview below on YouTube. There's no date given, but it must be from the last two or three years. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKmkwVG0GbQ If you have a little more time, there's a longer documentary about Sir Jack and the 1966 season based around the development of the engines. Roth, they show the Zandvoort race at about five minutes in . R.I.P. Sir John Arthur "Jack" Brabham, AO, OBE (2 April 1926 – 19 May 2014)

To honor the special award she received at tonight's BAFTA awards, and to help celebrate last year's half a century in show business, here's a little song by Bacharach and David. Although Dionne Warwick's version is better known in the US, this one spent three weeks at #1 in the UK charts in 1964. Anyone Who Had A Heart - Cilla Black

You take your line for a walk, and I'll take the dinosaur . Walk The Dinosaur - Was (Not Was)

Qualifying for the All Star race has just finished, and it was a little different to usual. Each driver had to do three laps including a four tire pit stop. There was no pit lane speed limit, and pit crew were not allowed over wall until their car had stopped in the correct box. Unlike previous years, the three transfer drivers also took part in qualifying rather than starting at the back. Kurt Busch and the transfer drivers didn't get a chance to practice the qualifying format. Tony Stewart had to reverse into his pit box and broke his transmission. Denny Hamlin had a slow stop. Ryan Newman slid through his pit and stalled his engine. David Ragan overshot his pit box by several places. Jamie McMurray missed a shift exiting the pits - the commentators wondered if this damaged his engine. Jimmie Johnson was only doing 103 MPH as he left pit road (the fastest was around 110), but he unofficially got the fastest ever lap on 1.5 mile track. Carl Edwards had the fastest combined pit lane time, and went on to take pole. Kurt Busch was found to have a loose lugnut and got a 5 second penalty. The Hendricks cars all start together (4th to 7th), with Jimmie Johnson just one hundredth of a second behind Jeff Gordon. The starting lineup is: 1. Carl Edwards 2. Kyle Busch 3. Kevin Harvick 4. Jeff Gordon 5. Jimmie Johnson 6. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 7. Kasey Kahne 8. Matt Kenseth 9. Joey Logano 10. Clint Bowyer 11. Jamie McMurray 12. Martin Truex Jr. 13. Brad Keselowski6 14. Greg Biffle 15. Tony Stewart 16. Brian Vickers 17. AJ Allmendinger 18. Kurt Busch 19. Josh Wise 20. David Ragan 21. Ryan Newman 22. Denny Hamlin

This week it's the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race from the Charlotte Motor Speedway, where the winner gets $1 million. I have to confess, this race doesn't really interest me, and that was before my driver failed to make the starting lineup. For anyone who's unfamiliar with the format, check out the explanation on NASCAR.com. That's where I found the graphic below which shows how the race works. The 19 drivers already in the race by various criteria are: Greg Biffle Kurt Busch Kyle Busch Dale Earnhardt Jr. Carl Edwards Jeff Gordon Denny Hamlin Kevin Harvick Jimmie Johnson Kasey Kahne Brad Keselowski Matt Kenseth Joey Logano Jamie McMurray Ryan Newman David Ragan Tony Stewart Martin Truex Jr. Brian Vickers They'll be joined by Clint Bowyer and A.J. Allmendinger who came first and second in Friday night's qualifying race, and the winner of this year's fan vote, Josh Wise. The starting lineup will be decided by a unique three-lap qualifying session two hours before the race. The race itself is tonight at 9:00 PM ET on Fox.

Cale Yarborough I thought about posting one of those drivers yesterday when I saw Roger's post, but decided that they may not be very well known here .

But that still makes him Bo and Daisy's cousin (and Jesse's nephew), so I'm happy with his inclusion in the list.

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One of the reasons they switched to the wider ones was because they could be welded to the chassis or frame rather than tacked onto the bumper. The narrow nudge bar was a stock item designed for pickup trucks. Here are another couple of bloopers from 'My Son, Bo Hogg'. Several of the outdoor scenes were filmed on a soundstage, but they make it very obvious when you can see the bare walls of the soundstage behind the Boar's Nest. They could've at least put up a backdrop like they do with the Duke Farm. When Boss gets Bo to drive his moonshine, the van is loaded nearly to the roof. It's the same with the close-ups of Bo, and at the end when they open the back doors. Yet all the long shots of Bo driving the van show a clear view through the rear windows, and no sign of 'shine.

solid I never got the hang of savory pancakes. To me, they should have a sweet filling/topping .

syrup The pancakes we traditionally have on Shrove Tuesday are more like crêpes, and therefore flatter as the proverb suggests. I knew the American style ones as Scotch pancakes or drop scones when I was younger, but you can now buy them ready-made in supermarkets simply labeled "Pancakes". There's no IHOP or similar chain here, and the only time I regularly see pancakes on a menu is the McDonald's breakfast menu (they're the American style with maple syrup and optional burger-like sausages).

I can't believe I've never spotted this one before. 'My Son, Bo Hogg' starts with a race between Luke in the General and Bo in a car they've borrowed from Cooter. Before the titles have finished, they both crash through some road barriers. Compare the screengrab above to the one below - the General's nudge bar has come off in the collision! In case it's hard to see in the pictures above, here's the nudge bar lying on the ground as Cletus sets off in pursuit. The narrow nudge bars were often only loosely welded to the bumper, and they can be seen flexing in several episodes. I'll have to keep an eye out for more of them falling off .

Congratulations Garrett, you finally got the result you wanted. I watched/listened to the whole race, and you didn't miss much at the start. At least two of the early cautions were for cars losing grip and spinning out on their own - I'm not sure why they need to throw a caution when there's no contact, no debris and the car that spun is safely out of the way on the apron. After last week, I was hoping for a better result from Ricky, but he stayed in the 20s for most of the race and just missed out on getting the lucky dog a couple of times. He did, however, do a great job avoiding the spinning AJ Allmendinger. When David Gilliland's car caught fire, one of the commentators said "And that is unbelievable ... crash". We all know that the phrase he was looking for was "What a horrendous crash!"

It's another Saturday night race this week with the 5-Hour Energy 400 from the Kansas Speedway. Just for a change, I watched most of the qualifying this week. Kevin Harvick took pole with Joey Logano just behind. Garrett, you can blame Danica Patrick for knocking Jeff Gordon out of the top 12 in the second session. His final attempt to beat her time just failed, and he starts in 13th with Jimmie Johnson just behind. Danica went on to claim ninth - her second top 10 start in a row. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was just too late with his last run in the second qualifying session and starts 20th (he managed 10th in practice 2, which is more hopeful). For Lizzy, Austin Dillon starts in front of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kyle Busch is a few places back in 24th. Here's the full lineup: 1 Kevin Harvick 2 Joey Logano 3 Brad Keselowski 4 Carl Edwards 5 Kyle Larson 6 Kurt Busch 7 Ryan Newman 8 Tony Stewart 9 Danica Patrick 10 Greg Biffle 11 Jamie McMurray 12 Aric Almirola 13 Jeff Gordon 14 Jimmie Johnson 15 Brian Vickers 16 Paul Menard 17 Kasey Kahne 18 Justin Allgaier 19 Austin Dillon 20 Ricky Stenhouse Jr 21 Ryan Blaney 22 Dale Earnhardt Jr 23 Clint Bowyer 24 Kyle Busch 25 Marcos Ambrose 26 Martin Truex Jr 27 Casey Mears 28 Matt Kenseth 29 AJ Allmendinger 30 Denny Hamlin 31 Ryan Truex 32 Josh Wise 33 Alex Bowman 34 Michael Annett 35 J.J. Yeley 36 Cole Whitt 37 Reed Sorenson 38 David Ragan 39 David Gilliland 40 Landon Cassill 41 Travis Kvapil 42 Timmy Hill 43 Joe Nemechek The race is tomorrow night (Saturday) at 7:30 PM ET on Fox.

It's even better than that - in the official results they placed Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in 10th . Here's the full list: 1 Denny Hamlin 2 Greg Biffle 3 Clint Bowyer 4 Brian Vickers 5 AJ Allmendinger 6 Paul Menard 7 Kevin Harvick 8 Kasey Kahne 9 Kyle Larson 10 Ricky Stenhouse Jr 11 Landon Cassill 12 Kyle Busch 13 Aric Almirola 14 Casey Mears 15 Austin Dillon 16 Michael Annett 17 Martin Truex Jr 18 Ryan Newman 19 Marcos Ambrose 20 Josh Wise 21 Cole Whitt 22 Danica Patrick 23 Jimmie Johnson 24 Terry Labonte 25 Michael Waltrip 26 Dale Earnhardt Jr 27 Justin Allgaier 28 Alex Bowman 29 Jamie McMurray 30 Carl Edwards 31 Ryan Truex 32 Joey Logano 33 Kurt Busch 34 Reed Sorenson 35 David Ragan 36 Michael McDowell 37 Matt Kenseth 38 Brad Keselowski 39 Jeff Gordon 40 David Gilliland 41 Trevor Bayne 42 Brian Scott 43 Tony Stewart

I've already posted a couple of pictures in this thread from National Lampoon's 'Christmas Vacation' (see post #267), so I thought I'd include some from the original 'Vacation' movie. They made good use of the WB backlot in 1983. This first picture is when the Griswolds get lost and are looking for the freeway. It's supposed to be St. Louis, but it's actually Brownstone Street. I think the only time it appeared in Dukes was when the studio security guard chased Boss and Rosco in 'The Dukes in Hollywood' (see post #113). Just around the corner, the Griswolds first stop for directions in New York Street. They then stop for directions on Hennesy Street, which is where their hubcaps are stolen. A couple of minutes later the caption says "Dodge City, Kansas", but it's clearly Laramie Street. The buildings in the lower picture look almost identical to the way they appeared in 'The Dukes in Hollywood' (also in post #113).

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was running a solid 10th when Jimmie Johnson hit him. He came back out in about 20th, but was almost taken out by his team mate, Carl Edwards. He finished a provsional 12th, but I felt he should have finished higher after running as high as 2nd in the middle of the race - not bad considering he slipped back to last soon after the start. I liked the commentators' description near the end when they said that Jamie McMurray had received a whole litter of lucky dogs today .

'The Late J.D. Hogg' starts with the General towing a trailer using a substantial towbar. The Dukes don't seem that concerned when they lose their trailer (which hits Rosco's patrol car), but even the towbar is missing when they eventually reach the town. Cletus does do a vehicle inspection along the way, but I didn't see the towbar when they pulled up for that either.

This week we're back to Sunday daytime racing (which suits me better) with the Aaron's 499 from the Talladega Superspeedway. I didn't get to see the qualifying earlier, so I'm only going by what I've read. As Garrett said above, this was the first restrictor plate race to use the new qualifying format, and it turned up some unusual results. Brian Scott scored his first pole in his fifth Sprint Cup start. Rookie Austin Dillon starts in fifth (which should please Lizzy), and Danica Patrick is only two places back in seventh. Garrett, it looks like Jeff Gordon's 11th is the best for your drivers, with Jimmie Johnson down in 20th. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. seems to be making a habit of qualifying in the mid-20s - I hope he has a better race this week. Kasey Kahne and Martin Truex Jr failed post-qualifying technical inspections and will start at the back of the field. More info here. 1 Brian Scott 2 Paul Menard 3 AJ Allmendinger 4 Casey Mears 5 Austin Dillon 6 Ryan Newman 7 Danica Patrick 8 Kevin Harvick 9 Kurt Busch 10 Carl Edwards 11 Jeff Gordon 12 Tony Stewart 13 Brad Keselowski 14 Michael McDowell 15 Aric Almirola 16 Joey Logano 17 Michael Annett 18 Brian Vickers 19 Kyle Busch 20 Jimmie Johnson 21 Matt Kenseth 22 Reed Sorenson 23 Trevor Bayne 24 Ryan Truex 25 Ricky Stenhouse Jr 26 Marcos Ambrose 27 Clint Bowyer 28 Michael Waltrip 29 Kyle Larson 30 Dale Earnhardt Jr 31 Cole Whitt 32 Jamie McMurray 33 Alex Bowman 34 Denny Hamlin 35 Greg Biffle 36 Josh Wise 37 Terry Labonte 38 Justin Allgaier 39 David Ragan 40 David Gilliland 41 Landon Cassill 42 Kasey Kahne 43 Martin Truex Jr The race is this Sunday at 1:00 PM ET. It's live on Fox.

The video was the last five minutes of the Senna (2010) documentary movie if that helps you track down another copy online. In my original post I also meant to include a tribute to Roland Ratzenberger, another F1 driver who was killed the day before while qualifying for the same race. R.I.P.Roland Ratzenberger (4 July 1960 – 30 April 1994)