Category: my thoughts on

By David G. Firestone

This week’s column is going to focus on one of the most deadly terrorist attacks in American history, the Oklahoma City bombing. Two days from today is the anniversary of the bombing. I’m going to focus on an aspect that has gotten little, if any attention. It’s the part that the NHRA and their suppliers unwittingly played in helping the bomb get built. I’ve never seen or heard this discussed anywhere. I’ve seen more on the place that rented the Ryder truck than I have this aspect. Here we go.

We start with Timothy McVeigh, and Terry Nichols, the two human cancers behind the bombing. After trying, and failing to find other materials for the bomb, they settled on a new plan. They planned to “construct a bomb containing more than 5,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer mixed with about 1,200 pounds of liquid nitromethane and 350 pounds of Tovex.”

The easiest part of this plan was the 5,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate, which was sold as a fertilizer. He was also able to acquite the Tovex, a gel explosive, as well as other parts. The trouble came when they wanted to purchase the 1,200 pounds of liquid nitromethane. To get the nitromethane, McVeigh formulated a plan he thought would work. He would pose as a driver, go to an NHRA event in Topeka, and purchase three 55 gallon drums.

On October 1, 1994, McVeigh made his way to the 1994 Sears Craftsman Nationals, held at Heartland Motorsports Park. Here, he tried to implement his plan. It was here that his plan ran into two major roadblocks, World Wide Racing Fuels representative Steve Lesueur and Glynn Tipton, of VP Racing Fuels.

Tipton and Lesueur were suspicious of McVeigh from the outset. He didn’t seem like a driver, and the amount he wanted to purchase was also odd. Tipton would testify that when he first encountered McVeigh, he asked about anhydrous hydrazine, a prodcut that VP Fuels didn’t sell, and has no use in auto racing. Tipton then gave McVeigh his card and asked to call him on Monday. In the intervening time, Tipton informed Wade Gray of Texas Allied Chemical, a chemical agent for VP Racing Fuels, who informed Tipton of the explosiveness of a nitromethane and hydrazine mixture. As such Tipton refused any sale to McVeigh.

This could have been the end of the story, but a few weeks later, The NHRA was now at the Texas Motorplex, for the Chief Auto Parts Nationals. World Wide Racing Fuels representative Steve Lesueur again refused to sell anything to McVeigh. McVeigh would try VP Fuels again, and encountered Tim Chambers. Tim Chambers sold McVeigh three barrels.

Chambers’ actions are baffling in retrospect. McVeigh stood out like a redneck at a royal wedding. He seemingly had no knowledge or passion for auto racing, which confused Tipton. To quote Tipton’s testimony:

“Usually when you’re talking to somebody that’s involved in racing, they seem to be real interested in it. This, you know — or talking to them about racing fuel, they seem to be real interested in as application, how to use it for their application. This person did not seem to have any type of application, was just more concerned about the chemical.”

Another red flag was that McVeigh also had no competitor license. The lack of a competitor license isn’t a minor issue. Sanctioning bodies, fuel suppliers, drivers, crews, and teams are very well aware of how hazardous these substances can be. A competitor license is a way for someone to prove they know the dangers of racing fuel, and a lack thereof, is a red flag.

Also, McVeigh claimed he was racing a Top Fuel Harley, but the category wasn’t racing that weekend. It’s also important to note that this is all taking place just over a year after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. You would have thought that fuel companies across the US would realize that their proudcts could be used in such an attack, but no changes in vetting were made. As such, McVeigh was able to get his nitromethane.

It’s amazing that the world works the way it does. Two people almost prevented one of the worst terrorist attacks in American history, and didn’t even realize it, until several months later. I’m going to be honest, I didn’t know about this until I watched a documentary about the bombing, and looked it up, and found the connection. I also read Glynn Tipton’s testimony, which is linked below.

Before I finish up, I do want to point out something I noticed in Glynn Tipton’s testimony. It’s an exchange between Tipton and Special Attorneys to the U.S. Attorney General Scott Mendeloff: “What kinds of cars ran at the Sears Craftsman National in that first weekend in October?”

Tipton: “There would be top-fuel dragsters, top-fuel funny cars, pro stock, pro stock bike, federal mobile dragsters, federal mobile funny cars, comp, super comp, super street, super gas, super stock, and stock.”

I was a racing fan back then, and I didn’t know what “federal mobile dragsters” or, “federal mobile funny cars” were. After some looking up, I know why. “Federal mobile dragsters,” and “federal mobile funny cars” were actually called “Federal Mogul Dragsters” and “Federal Mogul Funny Cars,” better known as Top Alcohol Dragsters and Top Alcohol Funny Cars. Federal Mogul being the titular sponsor of the series. Just a little detail I found interesting.

After the tragedy, there were massive changes. According to Wikipedia:

“The National Hot Rod Association has tightened its regulations for nitromethane. Section 21 of the current NHRA rule book states nitromethane is limited to 400 pounds (180 kg), or 42 US gallons (160 L) in a barrel, instead of the normal 55 US gallons (210 L). The NHRA requires competitors to submit a Top Screen Questionnaire to the Department of Homeland Security. In addition, competitors are not allowed to own nitromethane at official events. Instead, it must be stored at the series’ official fuel supplier, VP Racing Fuel (as of 2025). Each time a team purchases nitromethane, it is logged by the Series fuel supplier, which dispenses the correct amount of nitromethane ordered to the specific team.”

Ok, next week, back to traditional content.

Sources Cited:

Click to access 1997_05_01-McV_Trial_Transcript-2-afternoon.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrazine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitromethane

By David G. Firestone

A few years ago, I wrote a column discussing how the teams in the NASCAR Cup Series lean, and I’m going to revisit that. Number designs are an important detail in American auto racing, especially NASCAR, where the number is used on all of the merchandise sold to fans. The number is an identity for the driver and for the fans. While I was watching the Camping World RV Sales 301, for some reason, I noticed that the majority of the car number are slanted. As the race went on, I noticed that almost all of them were slanted towards the rear of the car on the driver side, as if being pushed back by the wind. Some were straight, and some were leaning towards the front.

I decided to look at all active Cup Series Teams that have raced, or tempted to race one race in 2026 season. All of these will be sorted by driver side door number. We start with the numbers leaning towards the rear:

TRACKHOUSE RACING #1

TEAM PENSKE #2

FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS #4

HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS #5

ROUSH-FENWAY RACING #6

SPIRE MOTORSPORTS #7

HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS #9

KAULIG RACING #10

JOE GIBBS RACING #11

TEAM PENSKE #12

KAULIG RACING #16

ROUSH-FENWAY RACING #17

JOE GIBBS RACING #19

JOE GIBBS RACING #20

TEAM PENSKE #22

23XI RACING #23

HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS #24

FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS #34

23XI RACING #35

FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS #36

FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS #38

HAAS FACTORY TEAM #41

LEGACY MOTOR CLUB #42

LEGACY MOTOR CLUB #43

23XI RACING #45

HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS #48

TEAM AMERIVET #50

RICK WARE RACING #51

JOE GIBBS RACING #54

ROUSH-FENWAY RACING #60

GARAGE 66 #66

23XI RACING #67

SPIRE MOTORSPORTS #71

SPIRE MOTORSPORTS #77

LIVE FAST MOTORSPORTS #78

LEGACY MOTOR CLUB #84

TRACKHOUSE RACING #88

TRACKHOUSE RACING #97

ROUSH-FENWAY RACING #99

Now we move on to teams that have perfectly straight numbers.:

WOOD BROTHERS RACING #21

NY RACING #44

Finally, we move to teas with numbers leaning towards the front:

RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING #3

RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING #8

RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING #33

JR MOTORSPORTS #40

HYAK MOTORSPORTS #47

BEARD MOTORSPORTS #62

Personally, I like the forward leaning numbers best, though straight numbers work well too, since they aren’t often used.

Now, this was a filler column, as I’m working on a project for next week that, while historical accurate, will also be a little controversial, See you then!

By David G. Firestone

So, two races in the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series are behind us. With this being the 75th Anniversary of the NHRA, the celebration will continue all year. With this anniversary comes the obligatory 75th Anniversary logo. It’s alright, not too over done.

Here’s the thing, I HATE anniversary logos in sports. This all started in late 1997, with the introduction of NASCAR’s 50th Anniversary logo:

The moment I saw this logo, I knew I hated it, and I was going to be so tired of it by the end of the 1998 season. Well, I was right. NASCAR put this logo on EVERYTHING in 1998. It was all over merchandise, it was prominent at every track and telecast, you couldn’t escape it. By the time 1998 ended, fans were done with the logo.

This, in turn, posed a massive problem for independent stores that sold NASCAR merch. By the end of 1998, they had so much overstock, that they lost money on it. It actually common to see entire sections of stores with 1998 50th Anniversary stuff on massive clearance.

NASCAR was big enough to handle the low sales, but many of these store are mom and pop stores, and their bottom line to a major hit by selling this stuff on clearance. While it is still sold on places like eBay almost 30 years later, at the time, you really couldn’t give it away.

Now this is not a phenomenon confined to racing. In 1994, I was 12, and the World Cup was hosted in the US, and Chicago was one of the venues. World Cup merchandise was EVERYWHERE! But just like any other event, the World Cup comes to an end. After the World Cup ended, stores across the country were sitting on piles of unsold merch, which was sold at a loss. Many individual teams also have championship or anniversary logos, and the same thing happens.

I have no problem with a sports team or league celebrating a championship, or anniversary. I have a major problem with those who sell merchandise on a local level getting screwed by this merch. I think all sports leagues across the world need to understand that local stores are in precarious positions with these kinds of merchandise. I really hope that there are no permanent casualties because of this, there have been in the past.

With that said, I look forward to the 75th Anniversary of the NHRA, and I love the racing.

By David G. Firestone

So I was working on something this week, but I ran out of time. With that said, two separate social media incidents occured, that I want to talk about. First, we talk about NASCAR driver Daniel Dye. Daniel Dye is a name I’m vaugely familiar with, mainly from watching ARCA. He was a driver for Kauling Racing, but that’s come to a halt.

Danie Dye was suspended for mocking IndyCar driver David Malukas using what was term a “homophobic voice.” While as of the time of writing Malukas hasn’t responded, Dye has, in an apology that sounds like he had a professional write it for him.

“I want to first apologize to David Malukas. I recently went on a live stream with some friends and made some careless comments. I chose my words poorly, and I understand why it upset people. I’m sorry to anyone who was offended. That’s not how I want to represent myself.

I have some close friends in the LGBTQ+ community who I would never want to feel less of themselves because of what I said, and that’s exactly why I should hold myself to a higher standard. In talking with them, I realize that a true friend would know better than to act the way I did and for that I need to be a better friend. What I said doesn’t reflect how I feel about them or anyone else.

I didn’t think enough before I spoke, and I in no way meant any harm. I know that intention does not erase impact and I need to do better.

I’m taking this seriously and working on being more aware and respectful moving forward. I’m sorry to everyone I let down. I am committed to learning from this and better understanding that the impact that my decisions can have on others. That includes educating myself, listening to those affected, and taking meaningful steps to ensure my actions reflect respect and inclusivity going forward.

I know I’ve got a platform and a responsibility, and I need to use it better.

– Daniel Dye”

How this will affect Dye’s career going forward is uncertain. I will say that, in the year 2026, what you say and how you say it can and will come back to haunt you. Even if Dye thinks he was only doing a funny voice, it’s how others see you.

With that said, let’s talk about AEW star Ricochet. Ricochet is a wrestler who has wresteled all over the landscape, and currently wrestles in AEW. He has justifiably taken some serious flack for some postings on X. He’s always been kind of a douche, but this whole debacle has cemented it.

Ricochet can’t handle criticism on X, and he proved it. He targeted one specific account, which is run by a woman suffering with MS. In response to her criticisms, he posted “I’m glad you got MS.” The backlash was instant, and harsh. It seems like the whole wrestling community was against him. The heat got too hot and he issued an “apology” for his actions.

“I took out my hatred for the IWC on Sandi, and inadvertently others who are effected by MS. She didnt deserve it and for that, I sincerely apologize. Moving forward I’ll do better.”

Fans quickly and justifiably pointed out that he had been defending his actions hours before his apology, and that this was not the first time this happened.

Ricochet is one of the many wrestlers who need to learn how not to react on social media. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the spotlight. I don’t feel bad for him, he’s always been a dick on social media, but now he can’t hide behind anything anymore. I hope this will result in a suspensipn, but it might not.

Here’s the bottom line: What you post can come back to haunt you. Daniel Dye and Ricochet are the two latest examples, and tere will be more.

Sources Cited:

https://www.jayski.com/2026/03/17/daniel-dye-suspended-following-social-media-comments/

Ricochet issues apology following controversial social media post

By David G Firestone

Just a brief update this week. There wasn’t a column last Friday, and that was by design. I’m working on a couple of projects this month, one of which is a lot more time consuming than I previously thought. Once complete, this will free up some time.

With that said, last week was an over/under week. For the entire week, I was either over stressed, or under the weather. Sometimes, I just had to stretch out on the couch for a while to get back to where I needed to be. It was in these moments of weakness, that one of the greatest small pleasures in life occurred.

Let me introduce you to Zoe.

We’ve had Zoe since 2019, and while she is timid, she is very loving to those who have earned her trust. Her way of showing her humans that she loves them is to lie next to them on the couch or bed. Literally, as I was typing that last sentence, she jumped up next to me.

There is nothing better when you are down in the dumps than having a pet who loves you showing affection. That’s why we love our pets. I’m grateful for Zoe. I know I won’t get to spend the rest of my life with her, but I’m happy she will spend the rest of my life with us.

By David G. Firestone

So the 2026 Daytona 500 is behind us, and it was actually a good race. The Duels were good, and the race as a whole was good. I will say that, like a lot of fans, I’m over a few things. First, when it comes to FOX, I do NOT need to hear Larry McReynolds say “You can’t make mistakes on pit road” every telecast. We get it. Making a mistake at a critical point in the race is bad.

But the other thing I’m over is stage racing. Seriously, nobody wanted this to begin with, and most fans are done with it. Maybe the drivers like it, or maybe the teams, but as a long-time fan, I’m done. I don’t see how this is a net positive for anyone here. Let the drivers race.

But I’m posting this just after the 25th anniversary of the 2001 Daytona 500. Growing up, the first race I ever watched was the 1990 Daytona 500. I saw that black and silver #3 Chevy Lumina running at the front, and I was hooked! That love carried stayed until the 2001 Daytona 500. I’ve never been able to have a favorite driver since Earnhardt’s death. One of my all-time favorite photos of myself is me next to one of Dale’s Luminas, taken at the museum at Talladega in 1999.

Dale’s death hit me hard. I cried in my dorm room after my roommate went to work out. I had just lost my idol, and a huge piece of inspiration. 25 years later, I’m still not fully over it, and neither is NASCAR. Sure, new drivers have slowly replaced the old guard, but with Dale Earnhardt, he was so much more. He was a true legend in every sense of the word. But his legacy means so much more to auto racing.

Dale Earnhardt’s death was a moment that robbed us of one of the greatest drivers of the modern era, but also was a water shed moment for racing safety. Auto racing safety has always been written in blood. It’s also a constantly moving target. As the cars get faster and more technically complex, the safety standards have to change too. Sometimes these changes are made in good faith, other times, blood has to be spilt.

After the 2001 Daytona 500, there was a massive shift in the way racing viewed safety. Before, for a lot of racing, the approach was a matter of fixing problems after they happen. After Earnhardt’s death, that switched to trying to fix problems before they lead to serious injury or death. While there had been pushes for new safety standards, Earnhardt’s death kicked all of that into high gear.

While I was thinking about this column, I came to a realization. F1 had already started that approach after Ayrton Senna’s death in 1994, but somehow, no real changes outside of F1 took place between 1994 and 2001. A major driver was going to have to die before this approach was implemented. The question I began to think about was, who would that driver have been?

Thinking about this, it’s a pretty horrifying thought. Would it have been Jeff Gordon? Dale Jarrett? Mark Martin? Michael Andretti? John Force? That number was going to land on someone, and on February 18, 2001, that someone was Dale Earnhardt Sr.

Another thought that I had was, what if none of the major drivers died? Sure, there were plenty of other drivers who were killed in wrecks across the world, but nobody’s death was more critical to the overall safety culture of the sport than Dale Earnhardt Sr. So if this major death never happened, what would auto racing look in 2026?

First, I can promise that there would have been a lot more deaths in auto racing across the board. Second, a lot of safety features, many of which are taken for granted, wouldn’t be as uniformly implemented as they are now. Eventually that major death would have happened, but there would be a much bigger body count.

In the end, Dale Earnhardt’s death was tragic. While NASCAR hasn’t recovered from it, there are countless race car drivers who owe their lives to the safety culture his death helped create. I can say for sure, his death wasn’t in vain. Rest in peace Dale.

By David G. Firestone

So, I’ve been following the whole Prock Family moving to Tasca Racing saga. Like many others, I have questions about the Prock Family leaving John Force Racing. It’s always odd when a driver leaves a championship winning team. It’s even more pecular when said team was consistency the strongest team in their division. But that’s what happened with Austin and Jimmy Prock.

Well, on January 30th, Bob Tasca gave an interview with Competition Plus. During the interview, he gave some perspective on the move, and had some interesting things to say. Some of his quotes include

“When you have a common vision of what you want to do long term and you’re not making decisions based on maybe what’s the best tomorrow, it kind of all fell into place,” Tasca said. “The Prock family’s long-term vision of keeping their family together and our long-term vision of building a championship caliber platform—it was really a perfect scenario for both families.”

“The kids made the initial moves. My sons Austin and Cameron started talking to Thomas and Austin. That’s where the concept really started. The Procks want to keep their family together, and that’s the harsh reality. There were other opportunities, not just with us, but they chose this one.”

“Jimmy’s learned a lot from my setup. It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t consistent enough, but we ran as good as anybody against them for the last three years.”

Reading between the lines here leads me to beleive that there is some heat between John Force and Jimmy Prock. This would not be the first time. Long time NHRA fans will remember that, in 2014, Jimmy Prock was fired from John Force Racing after a falling out with John Force. He joined Don Schumacher Racing, and changing the angle of the exhaust pipes, helped Jack Beckman become the fastest man in Funny Car.

Even though Force and Prock eventually mended their relationsip, Force seems to be the source of strife. Why else would you leave a team where you were not only champion, but so consistent? Why else would you take chance on a team that isn’t on the level of John Force Racing?

I have a lot of respect for owner/drivers, but let’s be honest, who has the better engine program over the last several years? Bob Tasca is a great team owner, and driver, but you cannot argue that Force is the stronger team in NHRA Funny Car. It seems to me as if something happened behind the scenes, and the Procks felt the need to find greener pastures.

John Force is the greatest in his field, nobody is arguing that. But like a lot of those considered the best, he is a control freak. To outsiders, that might seem like a bad thing, but I would argue otherwise. James Cameron is one of the best directors in recent memory. He joins others like Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, and others who were control freaks, and made some of the greatest movies of all time. Would you rather work with easy-going director, and have an unremarkable career, or work for a control freak and work on an Oscar-winning movie?

There has to be, at least in my mind, more to this story than meets the eye, and I will be more than interested to see how this plays off, both on track, and behind the scenes.

Next week, my thoughts on the Daytona 500.

Sources cited:

https://competitionplus.com/tasca-breaks-silence-on-prock-family-move-championship-plan-and-his-own-future/

By David G. Firestone

So the 2026 NASCAR Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium is behind us. It was, well, a thing. It wasn’t overwhelming, but not underwhelming either. It was fine for what it was. Like I’ve said, I think the Clash and All-Star Race should be held in different classic stock car venues every year.

Obviously, the major issue here was the weather. The snow storm gripping the country forced multiple changes. First, all Saturday events were canceled outright. Then the Clash got moved from Sunday to Monday. Then the Clash got moved to Wednesday, and then it was held. I think we can all agree that weather delays suck.

Again, The Clash was alright for what it was. I know I complain about this every year, but the lack of pit stops really hindered the race, at least in my opinion. All of the racing I watched pretty much lived up to what I thought it was going to be.

I will say that moving the race to FS2 to air The Masked Singer was a slap in the face of fans. I get that weather was an issue, but come on! Have a little respect for the fans!

Congratulations to Ryan Preece for winning the Clash, and now we look on to Daytona.

By David G. Firestone

So I hope you all are safe after all the weather issues we’ve had here in the states. Last weekend was the perfect weather to stay indoors, order food, and watch auto racing, so that’s exactly what I did. I watched as much of the Rolex 24 as I could. I’m passed the age where I can watch all 24 hours.

This year’s Rolex 24 was fun to watch, except for the safety car period. After the sun had set, a torrential downpour hit the track, and the race was run under the safety car. This safety car period was six-hours and 33-minutes, and was over 250 laps in total. This is offically the world’s longest safety car period. In case you are wondering the record was previously held by the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans, which was four hours and 26 minutes in length.

Watching the event during this caution period, I could understand why it was needed. The visibility alone was awful. During the worst part, you could barely see pit road from the front of the track. When cars were on pit road, you could make the lights of the car, but not the full details. At points, you couldn’t see the backstretch from the front of the track.

My question was…why wasn’t the race red flagged. While I’ve complained about drivers wanting breaks during NASCAR races, there is a major difference between a 3 hour, 500 mile race, and a 24 hour race where the winners drove 1,762.5 miles. These type of races push everyone involved to the limit, and if a situation presents itself where everyone can rest and recharge, it should be taken.

Safety is a critical issue in auto racing, and it’s also a moving target. Decisions need to be made to protect all involve. Seriously, I don’t think anyone would have been upset for a two or three hour long red flag at 3AM. Again, letting teams and drivers get a chance to rest isn’t a bad thing.

Even with just over 25% of the race run under caution due to weather, it was still a fun event to watch. I’m not the biggest IMSA fan, but I do enjoy it. Now, we have the Cook Out Clash, starting tomorrow, and I’ll have more to say next week.