Drink this...

Recklessly driving this...

Jeers to Ears

Dumbass of the day goes to reigning NASCAR Nextel Cup Champion Kurt Busch, who apparently never learned that driving under the influence erractically with alcohol on your breath is stupid, especially in Phoenix where they bust your ass for this....

According to Maricopa County Sheriff's Office spokesman Lt. Paul Chagolla, Busch was stopped at about 8:20p.m. local time Friday near Phoenix International Raceway for "erratic driving."

After the officer detected the smell of alcohol on his breath, Busch refused a field sobriety test and was taken into custody and transported to the sheriff's office's temporary facility at the raceway, the spokesman said.

At the facility, a blood-alcohol test was attempted on Busch but the machine "malfunctioned," the spokesman said. Busch was then released with the criminal citation for reckless driving.

When asked about the incident, NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said, "He got a traffic ticket." [...]

NASCAR This Morning is reporting that Kenny Wallace will be driving the #97 car today.

Way to go, Ears. Two races to go and ya lost your ride for the rest of the season.  Kudos to Roush Racing for not tolerating this behavior--just how bad was this altercation with the arresting officer? [Update: Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Supplemental Report]

"It's the last straw for Roush Racing," said president Geoff Smith. "We're officially retiring as Kurt Busch's apologists effective immediately." - NASCAR.com

I really wonder if they'd have dumped him if he hadn't already ditched ya for next year, but who cares!  Ha! Good luck with that one, Roger Penske. And you're in the hot seat with Dave Despain this evening?  What timing!

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From reckless to spectacularness:

Next year's Cup rookie Denny Hamlin scored his first Bud Pole Award in his sixth career start.  He's currently 5th in the Busch Series standings with one race to go.  Go, Denny!

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And speaking of next year, lots of changes ahead.

Iowa speeds up their tourism with this...

Rusty Wallace visited Iowa Speedway on Thursday to check up on the progress being made on the construction of the Speedway.

Rusty was very impressed with progress that has been made on the Speedway and seemed very excited for the 2006 Season. Rusty, along with his wife Patti and daughter Katie, were on their way to Phoenix for this weekend's Nextel Cup event and a stop off in Newton made logical sense.

Rusty had lunch with Speedway Officials then it was off to the track for an in depth tour of the impressive Iowa Speedway complex. Rusty drove the road course, which has recently been graded out and stopped off at the Infield Tunnel to meet some workers from McAninch Corporation to congratulate them on a job well done up until this point.

Iowa Speedway is the first ever driver designed racetrack and is being tagged as a Rusty Wallace Signature Series Track! Iowa Speedway is scheduled to open on Friday, September 15, 2006 with a 250 lap Hooters Pro Cup Series Event, followed up on Saturday Night with the USAC Silver Crown and Sprint Car Series. The ASA Late Models and ARCA REMAX  Series will visit the Newton Track on October 14th and 15th.

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Well, if they get a Cup race, my family can definitely count on seeing me at least once more each year.  In the meantime, lemme go 'head and check those ARCA and USAR schedules...

Halloween surprise courtesy of this...

Extremely driven to this...

Cable Gamer rightly points out that CNN's ratings are so dismal, they have been forced to do this...

...acknowledge the existence of the red states, and--even yuckier for the bluebloods who program that network, no doubt--actual red state cable news viewers. So how does CNN force itself to reach out to people who shop at Giant, not Dean & Deluca? By devoting an entire prime-time special to NASCAR this Sunday!

The tallglassofmilk would like to point out that all o' CNN's red-state, red-neck programmin' ain't gon' do shit for their ratings if they ain't even savvy 'nough to put their shit on on a Sunday when there's actually a NASCAR race and the fans are already chillin' in front of the TeeV.  This week's Cup race is Saturday night under the lights at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte...

Of course, the tallglassofmilk will be obliged to tune in to Driven to Extremes, if only to see if CNN can learn her anything she ain't already know.

CNN "If it's news, it's news to us."

And speaking of NASCAR on TV, who'll get this...?

NBC out; ABC/ESPN in?

The cost of flipping the bird to this...

My mom woke me from a mid-afternoon, post-cruise snooze on Friday so I could catch the replay of this...

Martin Truex Jr.'s car slides against the wall in turn three during the Emerson Radio 250 NASCAR Busch Series race at Richmond International Raceway in Richmond, Va., Friday, Sept. 9, 2005. Mike Wallace (38) and Reed Sorenson (41) drive under Truex. (AP Photo/Wayne Scarberry)

I'd probably violate a few rules in response to this, too. 

Mike Wallace: "I didn't know Martin was on the outside of me. It's my fault. I'll take the blame for it. If he's upset, I'm sorry for it. He had plenty of gestures for me."

How much did those gestures cost the NASCAR Busch Series points leader? $10,000 + 25 driver points + 25 of Teresa Earnhardt's owner points.  Oh, and probation 'til the end of they year.