Apparently Pepsi didn’t get the piss yellow memo, and here we have another example of why it’s a terrible color for a race car. It’s not just IndyCar, NASCAR and the NHRA also fell victim to the Pepsi Challenger design. Did Pepsi not realize that they have a great color scheme? Red, white, and blue is a color scheme that rarely misses, but for some unknown reason, Pepsi thought that piss yellow was the way to go…which it wasn’t. I’m giving this scheme an F.
Streaming sports on app seems like a great idea. The capacity to watch the game on a phone, tablet, or computer when you are not at home for whatever reason should be a great thing. Over the last few weeks, I watched a few events via streaming, and I discovered that Fox Sports found a great way to fuck this up.
Whoever is in charge of the app streaming division at Fox Sports should be fired. After streaming three different events, two races, and the Super Bowl, I’ve realized that whoever is in charge over at Fox Sports either doesn’t understand the basics of advertising revenue, or if they do, they don’t care.
The first race I watched was the Rolex 24. I watched all 24 hours. Fox Sports Go had a setup where if you had a streaming service with Fox Sports, you could watch the whole race. Now this seems like a good idea, but after midnight, the commercials shifted to something called “Fox Sports Racing” which is little more than a Velocity rip off. It’s a channel that has auto racing, and car customization shows. I’m not going to watch it, but there are plenty of car guy and gals who might like to watch it. Here’s the problem: IT’S NOT AVAILABLE IN THE UNITED STATES!
Could someone please explain to me why in the world I had to sit through commercials for a product I can’t buy? Again, it isn’t my thing, but I would bet that there are people who would. To have to watch 3 or 4 of these promos every commercial break was enraging. It’s one thing to show commercials for stuff I don’t want, but can buy, but to force me to watch commercials for something I can’t buy is insulting. The thing is, as bad as this was, this wasn’t the worst.
Next, I watched the Super Bowl in its entirety on the NFL Mobile app. Now I get that while there are plenty of national commercials, but if you are going to put something in place of them on an app, could you pick more than two TV show promos? Every commercial break there was one promo for Empire, or 24. Apparently Fox doesn’t have any other television shows that they felt should be promoted during the biggest television show of the year. Watching the same two promos was enraging. Rather than alternating the two, Fox would play the Empire one over, and over, occasionally replacing it with the 24 promo. This was actually not as bad as what happened next.
On the way home on Amtrak, I was attempting to watch the NHRA Winternationals, and I had to turn it off. The Fox Sports Go app should be an easy thing to do. Just show the national telecast, with local commercials. This generates ad revenue, and keeps sponsors happy. Leave it to Fox to mess this up in the most idiotic way possible. Instead of showing said commercials, for whatever reason, the app would replace them with local Fox promos.
Again, why would you screw over advertisers in order to promote local programming? This makes no sense, it screws over and enrages sponsors, and fans hate it. It’s so nonsensical, it’s mind boggling! Who at Fox thought this was a good idea? Why was this approved? If the plan was to destroy the Fox Sports Go app, then it’s going well. I’m NEVER watching any Fox Sports programming on the Fox Sports Go app again EVER! I hope that whoever is in charge over at Fox Sports gets fired.
Joey Logano #22 Pennzoil Ford Fusion–It’s the same basic scheme from last year, with some light changes in the white stripes. It still looks good, and I give it an A.
Cole Whitt #72 Florida Lottery Ford Fusion-The black doesn’t work at all with the orange and teal color scheme, and the scheme looks forced. The only thing I like about this scheme is the door numbers. I’ll give it a D-.
My annual Tucson trip is now just a memory. It was nice to get out of Chicago for a week, and be able to spend time in warm weather with my family. Every year I try to find some interesting things to do, and this year I had a few good ones, and a special project, but more on that later.
I have a hard core and deep seated fear of flying, so I take Amtrak from Chicago to Tucson and back. I take the Texas Eagle, which takes three days. Here is a video I made of the trip down there. You see a lot of the country over three days.
We have a five hour layover in San Antonio, Texas, and I decided to kill some time and have dinner. I found a Whataburger, and tried it, and I thought it was really good.
I also tried a “Homestyle Quarter Pounder” whch is a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder which is, to my knowledge, exclusive to Texas. It’s a Quarter Pounder with, lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles “homestyle burger sauce.” It was also really good.
While I was on the final leg of the trip, I watched The Super Bowl on my phone, using the Verizon NFL app, and I’ll have more to say about that next Monday.
Once I got to my parent’s condo, I spent Monday puttering around. I needed to get my sleep patterns back to normal. I had a quiet day, aside from going to Brushfire for dinner. Tucson has some great barbecue, and Brushfire is my favorite place in Tucson for barbecue. Their fried pork bellies RULE!
Tuesday was spent checking out sports card stores in Tucson. I ended up buying a Lenny Moore signed jersey, and a Derrick Rose game used swatch card. I then went to Sentinel Peak Brewing Company, and tried some samples.
I then tried the “Overhaul Spicy Chili Beer” which is made with six chili peppers, roasted Jalapeno, Habanero, Serrano, Annaheim, Poblano, and Ghost Chilies. It was not great.
That night, we went back to El Corral, and, as always, the food was great.
Thursday was one of my two big things I had planned for the trip. My family and I went to the 63rd Annual Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, which is in the Tucson Convention Center. There was a lot of interesting stuff there.I’m not as interested in the gems themselves, but the mining aspect interests me. I wound up buying a check from the Bodie Bank, which was in the mining boom town of Bodie California. I also got some other stuff, including:a small vial of diamond cut quartz,some gold leaf in a container with water,a sample of the bluestone used to make Stonehenge,and a .07 gram gold nugget.That night, we went to Ha Long Bay, and I had Vietnamese food for the first time. If you haven’t had pho yet, I would suggest you get some, it’s really good.Friday was more or less spent getting ready for the train ride back home, and for dinner we went to Rigo’s Mexican Restaurant. The buffet is great there, and the prices are good too!
Then on Saturday, I got back on the Texas Eagle and headed home. I had fun, and I am looking forward to coming back next year. You may have noticed, I left Wednesday out. Well that was intentional, because on Wednesday, I worked on a project, which I will discuss next week.
It’s a great color scheme with a good color scheme except for the logo placement. Who in their right mind thought it would be a good idea to place a red STP logo on a red STP background? It makes no sense, and doesn’t look good. The logo does have a white oval around the red, but even in the closeup picture it’s hard to see. If the color scheme were flipped, I’d like it more. Still, it’s worth an B+
For the last week, I’ve been in Tucson, Arizona. I go down there for a week to visit my family. I enjoy the trip down there, but I don’t travel much aside from that. For me, traveling is fun once in a while, but on a regular basis, it’s not for me.
Anyone who knows me knows that I traveled a lot when I was younger. While I did enjoy it, I don’t like sleeping somewhere that I’m not used to. My parents have a nice condo in Tucson, and it has a really nice bed, but I’m so used to The Hauler back in Evanston, that it’s hard for me to sleep. I’m also not used to giving up my night owl tendencies, since my job usually has me clocking out at midnight. I love my shifts at work, so clocking out late doesn’t bother me.
I also detest flying. I HATE FLYING! Flying is my big fear in life, and since September 11, everything good about flying has gone away. That is why I prefer Amtrak for traveling. All the stuff that is awful about flying doesn’t exist on Amtrak. The seats are big, and they are roomy. There are no restrictions on when you can use electronics, or go to the bathroom. You can bring your own food, and they serve meals. But my favorite part is the fact that the trip is much more relaxed, and you get to see a lot of cool stuff on your trip.
I take the Texas Eagle, which travels from Chicago to Los Angeles, and has a number of stops. You see a lot of rural areas, and a lot of stuff that you would never see flying. I made a video of part of my journey from Chi-Town to Tucson, and you can see it below.
Coming home from traveling is one of my favorite parts, because I can get back to my home, and see Alejandro, the official mascot and paint scheme consultant of The Driver Suit Blog. I’ll discuss my trip further over the next couple of weeks. The project that I was worried about actually happened, and I promise that racing fans will love it! Everything is back to normal, in terms of The Driver Suit Blog.
Before I get to today’s Friday Feature, I have something to discuss. As many of you read this, I’ll be on a train from Tuscon back home to Chicago. I’m doing this column in advance. I have two articles based on my trip. One of them may or may not happen. If I can make this happen, it will be fun. If it doesn’t, I have a backup plan ready. As of this writing, I’m not sure the project will happen. I will try, but I’ll have more on that later. Now, on to the article.
While he was a singer, a radio star, a television host, and a movie actor, the name Jimmy Dean will always be known for one thing…breakfast sausage. Jimmy and his brother Don founded the brand in 1969, with Jimmy Dean doing the commercials. The commercials did the trick, and the Jimmy Dean brand became a success. In 1984, the brand was sold to the Sara Lee company, and eventually found its way into NASCAR.
Hailing from Milwaukie, Oregon, birthplace of the bing cherry, Mike Bliss has had a long career. He won the USAC Silver Crown Series in 1993, joining Mario Andretti, AJ Foyt, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, and Ryan Newman. He would make his NASCAR National Series debut in 1995, driving a part time schedule in the Camping World Truck Series.
He would win the 1995 Lowe’s 150 at North Wilksboro, and along with 5 top 5’s, and 12 top 10’s would earn him an 8th place finish in the season. In 1996, he ran the full schedule, and with 2 wins at Milwaukee and Louisville, 9 top 5’s and 11 top 10’s. While he would go on to win the 2002 Camping World Truck Series Championship, his ventures into the other NASCAR National Series weren’t as successful.
Mike bliss would try a couple of races for Bahari Racing in the 1999 Winston Cup Series, racing in the 1999 NAPA AutoCare 500 at Martinsville, and the 1999 Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400 at Rockingham. Neither race was that good, with him starting 19th, and finishing 32 at Martinsville, and starting 43rd, running 2/3 of the race, and blowing his engine. For the race at Martinsville, he donned this Jimmy Dean Simpson driver suit.The suit doesn’t show much use, not shocking for a suit that was only used for two events at most.
The collar is a Velcro-shut design, with a Jimmy Dean boot logo on the front.The cowl has the standard Simpson warranty label sewn into it.The right chest features a NASCAR WINSTON CUP SERIES logo and a GOODYEAR logo, as well as a Simpson patch.The left chest features a BAHARI RACING logo and a PONTIAC logo.The front torso features a Jimmy Dean logo. The off-center yellow stripe is present here as well.MIKE BLISS is sewn in white lettering on the yellow background of the belt.The yellow legs have black and red stripes with JIMMY DEAN logos in television position.The shoulders have black epaulets with white JIMMY DEAN logos embroidered into them.The right sleeve features a STATE FAIR CORN DOGS logo on the upper black part. There are no logos in television position. There is a small Simpson logo at the end of the cuff.The left sleeve features a Simpson patch at the top, a BRYAN logo and a JIMMY DEAN logo embroidered into it. There are no logos in television position present.The back of the suit doesn’t show any wear to speak of.The back of the neck is unadorned.The back torso has a large Jimmy Dean logo embroidered into the list.I’m traveling by train home, and next week, things will be back to normal. See you then!
Another instance where I don’t like the shade of yellow being used, but since it isn’t the primary color of the car I can tolerate it. I like the vertical rainbow fade motif on the sides, as well as the lettering on the car numbers. All things considered, I’ll give it a B-
The Driver Suit Blog 
