Category: my thoughts on

By David G. Firestone

I’d like to discuss something that has been irritating me for a while. I ate at Shake Shack last week, since one opened up at Old Orchard Mall, which is near my house. The food was good, not great, I’ll give it a B. The reason I went was because people who I know were talking about it and raving about it, but one of them used a term that is being used a lot in this day in age. She said “Shake Shack is going to reinvent the fast food industry!”

Could we PLEASE stop using “X is going to reinvent X” as a statement? First off, whatever the new product is probably won’t, and second, it just sounds pretentious. I hate to break it to you, but Shake Shack is NOT going to reinvent fast food. The simple fact is that if you look at their menu, it’s hamburgers, hot dogs, frozen custard, milkshakes, and ice cream. I will give credit that the Portobello Mushroom burger is an original idea that does work well. Instead of beef, it’s a Portobello mushroom with lettuce, muenster cheese, and cheddar cheese. Other than that, there is nothing very revolutionary about their menu.

If you want two restaurants that legitimately reinvented the fast food industry, I would suggest Taco Bell and KFC. Both of them very legitimately changed because they carved out niche markets in the fast food industry that hadn’t existed prior to their arrival. Harland Sanders developed the now famous recipe, and cooking techniques for Kentucky Fried Chicken. He franchised the restaurant, was their mouthpiece and mascot, and introduced fast food fried chicken on a national scale. Prior to KFC, fast food was mainly burgers and fries.

Taco Bell was introduced by Glen Bell, who saw that Tex-Mex food was a big hit in California. He started with the Taco Bell concept, and it proved to be a great move. Tex-Mex food instantly became a hit, and it has since become a staple of fast food. Taco Bell, love it or hate it, created the Tex-Mex sector of the fast food market.

My point is that these two companies, Taco Bell, and KFC reinvented fast food. They each found a brand new niche in the fast food market. While Shake Shack does have decent food, only one of their concepts is a new concept, and the majority of their product line is tried and true fast food, but with better quality and different cooking standards. They aren’t reinventing anything, SO STOP SAYING THEY ARE!

Moving on from that, I want to discuss something else. So last week…I had to reinstall Windows on my laptop. Ugh! What an experience! The reinstall itself went quite well, but I had to reinstall ALL of my programs. I also was locked out of my WordPress account, so I couldn’t edit anything for two days. After that was done, I updated to Windows 10. I expected the upgrade to be a disaster, but it actually works well, and I have my laptop back now!

Not being able to edit or update for a few days turned out to be a great thing, as it gave me some time to decompress. I love doing The Driver Suit Blog, but there are some weeks where I have more work than hours available. So I’ve decided to make a few command decisions. I don’t like burning myself out every week.

The first decision is that, effective immediately, Throwback Thursday has been shelved. This is a slight time saver, but at this point, any little bit matters.

Second, I reserve the right to not do a My Thoughts On, or Paint Scheme Grades if time does not permit me to. This won’t happen to often, but there are times I have too much on my plate.

Third, I will always have a Friday Feature post, but I reserve the right to go off topic, meaning a non-auto racing post. This will happen in the event I’m not able to finish an auto racing-related post in time. I will have one or two things ready to go in any individual moment. They will be interesting, I promise!

I understand that this is an auto racing blog, but I want a healthy mix in life. I blog about this all the time, but I’m not solely focused on auto racing in my life. I have a healthy mix of things in life. Again, this won’t happen very often, but circumstances will dictate when it does.

By David G. Firestone

I hate sports talk radio! I will scream that from the mountain tops! I hate sports talk radio! I follow racing, I watch racing every chance I get, but I’m not as obsessed as these callers who listen to sports talk radio!

I live in the Chicago area, we have a number of different sports talk stations, and they all equally suck. The two big stories today were the Cubs playoffs, and the Tejada injury. That’s all anyone was talking about in Chicago! The Bears won their second game, The Bulls are playing, but that didn’t get the airtime that the Cubs and Tejada are getting!

I rarely listen to the radio, but I was working on scanning stuff on Monday, and decided to turn on the radio. I regretted my decision, because I had to choose between pop music, talk radio, or sports talk radio. I setted for what I thought was the least horrible option, but listening to that crap just wore me out!

I will never listen to sports talk again!

By David G. Firestone

I don’t normally watch the NFL, but I’ve been catching games when I can. I’ve been seeing commercials for Draft Kings and FanDeul. I don’t play fantasy sports at all, but apparently, Draft Kings has a deal with NASCAR for fantasy racing. Well, this deal might be for naught because there are members of Congress who are pushing for an investigation into the legalities of these fantasy sports sites.

Why can’t we just watch sports anymore? Why do we have to have fantasy sports? Why in the world do we have to have people who obsessively watch, following every single possible stat, hoping to beat a group of their friends and coworkers for no real reason at all? I watch racing, but I don’t follow starts. I visit Racing Reference for many articles, and I quote stats, but stats don’t interest me. If I were playing fantasy sports, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the race.

I’ve been wondering if these sites are legal for a while. According to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA), fantasy sports are exempt from the internet gambling ban, provided that the number of participants doesn’t affect the prize. However, it would appear that some sites that work with “daily fantasy sports” are doing just that. I’m frankly sick of fantasy sports, these websites, and I hope they go away soon!

I bring this up because we are in a major election cycle. I loop election cycles into two groups, major and minor. A major election cycle will involve a Presidential election, and a minor cycle will not. So until November of next year, we will have to put up will election ads, debates, campaign signs, and all the other bullshit that comes with an election. Well you won’t have to put up with it here. I will not willingly run election ads or endorsements. WordPress might run ads, but those will be going away soon, I promise!

The Driver Suit Blog is not a place for politics, but a place for racing. No politics will happen here!

By David G. Firestone

Labor Day is a day to celebrate the worker. The workers love to celebrate by barbecuing. That’s how I spend my Labor Day, barbecue and the NHRA. Barbecuing and grilling brings us together, not just as a group of friends, or family, but as a culture. Everyone has their favorite kind of food to grill, burgers, steak, chicken, hot dogs, ribs, fish, veggies, and even pizza. Everyone has their favorite style of cooker, smoker, charcoal, wood-fired, or gas.

Along with grilled food, you need beer. Workers love beer. It doesn’t matter if you are into extra IPA, bock, Guinness, or macro beer, the one universal rule is that the beer has to be cold. The colder the better. The combo of cold beer, and hot, fire grilled meat can’t be beat on Labor Day! If you are into wine, or soda, same rule applies.

Do we do this ourselves? Absolutely not! We gather as a society, in back yards, and at parks. We gather at sporting events, or at the beach. We gather with friends, we gather with family, and we gather with co-workers! We put animosity aside for the day, and focus on enjoying the end of the summer. We play softball, and horseshoes.  We ride bikes, or hike.  We eat and play and enjoy the day.  We may have to go back to work tomorrow, but we enjoy the day today. However you spent your memorial day, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

By David G. Firestone

The tradition of hot dogs at sporting events is a long standing one in the United States. Spending a summer’s day at the ball park or race track, having a beer and a hot dog is real piece of Americana. The tradition is so ingrained in our culture that even high school sports, and even Little League will sell hot dogs at their events.

The hot dog itself really is perfect for the role as iconic stadium food. We all know about it. Each city adds their own signature style to it, they are easy to prepare, and easy to enjoy. Having grown up in Chicago, I am partial to Chicago-style hot dogs, though a New York style is really good too. For many, the classic mustard and relish combination is a tasty treat while sitting in the stands.

Why am I discussing this? Because I was talking with some friends this last week, and we were discussing the various food items for sale at baseball parks. As the conversation progressed, I began to wonder where this tradition began. Feeding people at sporting events dates back to the Roman empire, but how and why did the hot dog become the go-to stadium food? I did a little sleuthing, and here is what I found out.

In true classic form, there are two people credited with introducing the hot dog at sporting events, Harry M. Stevens, and Chris von der Ahe. Chris von der Ahe was the founder of the St. Louis Cardinals. He made the team into a popular attraction in St. Louis. He priced his tickets low so fans would spend money on beer. Supposedly, he introduced the hot dog to baseball in 1893. Harry M. Stevens was a British concessionaire who is supposedly the man who invented the hot dog. This claim states that at a New York Giants game in 1901, the weather was cold, and he couldn’t sell ice cream, so he ordered his staff to gather “dachshund sausages” stuffed them into rolls, and started shouting “Get your red hots!” A cartoonist present at the game was said to have written “hot dogs” because he couldn’t spell dachshund. However, since the term “hot dog” dates to at least 1892, no copy of the cartoon could ever be found, and the fact that Chris von der Ahe sold hot dogs at baseball games since 1893 debunks that story

Stevens might not have started the tradition of selling hot dogs at baseball games, but he perfected it. Stevens signed the first deal to become a Major League Baseball concessionaire, a role which he perfected. Stevens is also credited with inventing the scorecard, the template he designed is still in use today. Using these two tools, Stevens became the foremost concessionaire in the United States, and it’s easy to see why.

Two men over the course of a few years took the hot dog from street vendor fare to an iconic part of sports history in the United States. Their names aren’t known to many of the fans who consume the hot dogs they helped make iconic, which is sad. But to Harry M. Stevens and Chris von der Ahe, America thanks you!

By David G. Firestone

I didn’t mean to post the My Thoughts On article on Monday, but I’m glad I did. I need to address the Justin Wilson situation. Sadly, I’m having to do another article about a top level driver death this year. But I’m wondering if something will change for IndyCar design within the next few years.

Just to recap, Justin Wilson was a former Formula 1 and IndyCar driver, who has 7 wins total in Champ Car and IndyCar. He finished 2^nd in 2006 and 2007, winning the Greg Moore Legacy Award in both years. He had 16 starts in Formula 1, but only scored on championship point, with no wins or podiums. He was signed to Andretti Autosport for the 2015 Indianapolis 500, and was brought on for the last 5 races of the year.

At the ABC Supply 500 at Pocono on lap 179, Sage Karem spun out, and hit the wall. The nose cone came off the car, and as Wilson drove through the scene, it hit Wilson in the head, and he crashed into the wall. As his car slowed to a stop, he was obviously unconscious, and had to be airlifted from the scene. He never regained consciousness, and died last night.

Obviously this is a tragedy, BUT there might be some good that comes of this. I’m really wondering if canopies will come to IndyCar. I discussed this after the 2014 Grand Prix of Indianapolis, where James Hinchcliffe was hit by a much smaller piece of debris and suffered a concussion. In that article, I discussed how I think IndyCar will get canopies at some point, similar to many NHRA dragsters. Tony Schumacher has stated that he started using a canopy on his dragster because he was scared that he would take a bird to the helmet, and the damage it would cause. Well, the piece that Wilson took was much larger than most birds than Schumacher would encounter.

Above and beyond that, the last two deaths in IndyCar, Dan Wheldon in 2011, and Wilson’s death could have been avoided if canopies had been added. I’m thinking that the canopies will be added starting within the next few years. The purists are going to scream when they are added, but I’d rather not see another driver die like that! This needs to happen soon!

No racing fan wants to see drivers die, that is a fact. But changes need to happen to prevent driver deaths, and this is the change that needs to happen. If the purists want to scream, let them, but I’m sick of seeing driver die! Remember that since 2011, in IndyCar and F1, there were 3 driver deaths that all could have easily been prevented with the addition of canopies, yet nobody wants to accept that they are needed.

I’m pleading with IndyCar, don’t listen to fans who are stuck in the past, do what’s right for your drivers!

By David G. Firestone

I’ve been avoiding this for as long as I can, but I have to address the Jules Bianchi situation. It’s sad that Bianchi died on track during the Japanese Grand Prix last year, but the circumstances surrounding how he died sends my blood to a boil. It also, sadly, confirmed something I knew about F1, but more on that in a bit

On the day of the Japanese Grand Prix, held at Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Japan, Typhoon Phanfone, a class 1 typhoon, made landfall in Japan. The conditions at the scheduled start time were horrific, yet the race was allowed to start. The weather was so bad, it marked the first time two red flags were shown in a Formula 1 race since the 1990 Belgian Grand Prix. The race was shortened to 44 laps, instead of the scheduled 53 laps. On lap 43, Bianchi lost control of his car, and slammed into a crane moving Adrian Sutil’s car off track. Bianchi was unconscious after the crash, was taken to hospital, and never woke up.

It was a sad situation, but what I, and a lot of other fans are wondering is…WHY WAS THE RACE ALLOWED TO START IN THE FIRST PLACE? Any fan with a functioning brain could see that conditions weren’t ideal for any kind of race, much less Formula 1. Yet, for reasons that have yet to be given a valid explanation, the race started on time. The weather was an obvious issue for the entire race, even red flagged on lap 2 and flat out being called on lap 44. To repeat, A TYPHOON WAS CAUSING SERIOUS WEATHER ISSUES AND THE RACE WAS ALLOWED TO START!

The reason given by the promoters is that they didn’t want to disappoint the fans who had attended the race. Basically, the promoters didn’t want to deal with the fallout from canceling the race at the last minute. Well in doing that, a driver died, and the fallout was much worse. It was clear from the start that money was the driving issue. Driver safety be dammed, there is money to make. I don’t give a shit if Emperor Akihito and Prime Minister Shinzō Abe are in the crowd, when it comes to racing driver safety should be top priority, but on that day, bad PR and lost money were the bigger concern, and again, I hope it was worth it.

The whole situation also confirms what I’ve known about Bernie Ecclestone for a long time, and that is, he is out of touch with reality, to the point he makes Roger Goodell and Gary Bettman look good. He comes across as a grumpy old man, who refuses to believe anything, except what he wants to, no matter what. He had the authority to cancel the race because of the weather, and the safety hazards it produced. It was obvious from the decisions made, he didn’t care about anything except the money lost, and PR issues from canceling the race. His complete lack of leadership in this situation makes it clear he should not be in charge of F1.

What makes this even more rage inducing is that not one of the individuals has admitted his responsibility for their decisions. Not one person has the guts to do so. If I were a member of the Bianchi family, I would be pulling my hair out and screaming in rage! I can only hope that drastic changes are made to the organizational structure of F1, and soon!