Epic Photo: NASCAR fan

Found this on Deadspin.com. I think this pretty much sums up racing fans...

Kasey Kahne store closing

For those of you who don't know, I follow NASCAR for the simple reason of one driver, Kasey Kahne.

Brandon also follows him, but for different reasons. (He thinks Kasey is dreamy)

I on the other hand follow him because he is a local guy. He's from Enumclaw, Washington. I grew up in the neighbor town of Buckley.

Therefore, you have to root for the local guy.

Well, I saw in the Enumclaw-Bonney Lake Courier Herald that the Kasey Kahne store in Enumclaw will be closing.

And Kahne will be there tomorrow to thank the fans for the years of support. Now he's not retiring or anything like that, instead I have a serious feeling he'll be parting ways with the number 9 next season.

From the article:

Due to transitions with the race team, the store is closing at its current location. Decisions about the future will not be made until the 2011 race season. The store will close at 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 27. The online store will remain in business.

Now I've thought this for a few seasons. All of the turmoil and changes on Kahne's team over the years with new owners and now switching from Dodge to Ford. Kahne's current contract runs out at the end of this season, and I personally see Stewart-Haas Racing adding a third car next season and inviting Kahne to be the driver.

I guess only time will tell where Kahne ends up.

Is Danica Patrick hot?

If you watched the Super Bowl (which you did) you saw roughly 2,345 GoDaddy.com commercials featuring Danica Patrick - the open wheel racer phenom turned NASCAR rookie - who probably is racing's most famous name.

She crashed during the Daytona 500, but that wasn't really an indictment on her skill. She's been a consistent top finisher in the IRL points standings - something that has more bearing than just winning a race or two. But do guys like her? Or are we going to get sick seeing her face on TV more often than Ronald McDonald.

Maybe. She's certainly attractive, nobody is arguing that but sometimes her demanding attitude can get real old quickly. I'll say that sometimes I don't like her comments to the media, the come across kind of spoiled/way too cocky and there's been much to do about her blows up sometimes in the pits. However, that could also be a sign of our society's sexism. A man is demanding and leaves his emotions on his sleeve and people praise him for his competitiveness, when a woman does it, it's apparently annoying? There's definitely a double standard.

NASCAR needs Patrick though. They've been hurting and been flat as a sport as of late. The economic crises hasn't helped things. A phenom like her could revitalize interest in NASCAR because frankly, a Daytona 500 stopped because of potholes isn't going to drive fans to the race tracks.

Question to NASCAR... what the hell?!?!

You may have heard about the pothole problem that NASCAR had this weekend, cause a huge delay during it's Super Bowl of races, the Daytona 500.

Question though... how the hell does a pothole of this size slide under the radar before the race starts. If that's on Division St. in Spokane, guaranteed the city is going to get 400 complaints from people (mostly elderly, with nothing to do but complain)... but somehow nobody notices this black hole on the Daytona Speedway.

Here is an idea... have an intern walk the track and check for potholes the week before. That way you don't have to patch these things up DURING the race. Just a small dose of common sense. Either way, NASCAR sure does look stupid.

Reasons why you're single... this is how you spend Valentines Day

Wait, you're telling me that the DAY-TAY-NONA 500 is going on during Valentines Day? Sorry honey, gotta go with the guys to see some razin!

Epic Photo: That's a lot of Chocolate!

Saw this on Huckleberries.

Food sculptor Jim Victor holds a die-cast metal model of a life-size chocolate stock car he is creating in a warehouse in Elgin, Ill. The chocolate creation is a replica of the No. 18 Toyota Camry “M&M” car driven by NASCAR driver Kyle Busch. The creation will be on display at this weekend’s NASCAR races at the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. Working on the car in the background Wednesday is his wife, Marie Pelton. (AP Photo/Daily Herald, John Starks)

Is anyone surprised Victor isn't like 350 pounds and has bad acme? Or looks like me? I'm just saying, that takes a lot of self-control to sculpt chocolate for a living and still look reasonable healthy.

The dog days of summer

I love baseball and good thing because that's going to be the only thing going on for the next couple of months unless you're a big follower of the PGA money standings and NASCAR.

With basketball over and football not starting up until August, we're in for the long haul. For some sports fans that might be too much. This could be where they finally turn and become WNBA fans.

And don't forget, sometimes baseball will have off-days or slow days where only a couple games are being played. What does that mean? Lots and lots of Washington Nationals highlights.

You might be wondering what Casey and I will be doing to pass the time and worry not, we're both quite sane during this slow time in sports. We will fill our time watching Looney Tunes, stalking Rodney Stuckey, coming up with theories on how the Seattle Seahawks are going to win the Super Bowl and playing Wii Bowling.

With the slowdown in sports what will you be doing?

You know it's a bad economy when...

Since it's a wonderful, chilly morning in Spokane, I've decided you write up a cheery article about that little thing we like to call the "economy" which has apparently decided to go to Weight Watchers here recently.

You know it's a bad economy when...

1. The local newspaper publishes an article that talks about the good old times during "The Great Depression". What a wonderful pick-me-up!

2. Debbie Downer is a motivational speaker.

3. Wall Street brokers are now shopping at Walmart.

4. Auto Makers are now thinking that making gas-guzzling vehicles that nobody wants might be a bad idea. A clue, Sherlock!

5. Immigrants are saying "You know what? I think I'm actually good here."

6. David Letterman's Top Ten List has been trimmed down to eight because of budget concerns.

7. Monday Night Football is just Monday Night now. However, happy hour at bars still remain during the game.

8. CEO's have to cancel that space tourist trip they were planning.

9. Monster Trucks have been scaled down to "Pretty Big Trucks."

10. NASCAR is now racing with hybrids.

Any other suggestions?

Washington native sets new American Record in Pole Vault

It was quite a day for Washington natives in the professional sporting world today.

Today marked the Nike Prefontaine Classic, and 14,221 fans were in Eugene, Oregon to watch.

A number of meet records fell, but no one was more watched than Spokane native, Brad Walker.

Walker, a graduate of University high school in Spokane, and the University of Washington, cleared an American Record in the pole vault. He cleared 19 feet 9 3/4 inches.

After two attempts at the World Record of 20 feet 2 inches, he called it a day.

"I've never heard cheering like I heard at my second attempt at the WR. It startled me. It's overwhelming. But I'll take that any day of the week. It was great."

Walker will be back at Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus in a few weeks for the Olympic Trials. The 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials will be held June 27-July 6.

Another Northwest native, Tommy Skipper of Sandy, Ore. and University of Oregon graduate, finished 6th in the pole vault at 17 feet 8 3/4 inches.

And as for another Washington athlete, Kasey Kahne of Enumclaw won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Race today at Pocono. It was his third win in the past four races. But only two count toward point standings, as his win at the All-Star race isn't a point qualifying event.

With the win Kahne moves up to 9th in the overall NASCAR standings, 365 points behind the leader.

Not too bad of a day for professional athletes from the Pacific Northwest.

How to tell if you wasted your day

What did you accomplish today? Anything of importance? What if you can't tell? Well, here is the easy and useful guide to see if you got anything done today. If you answer yes to any of these, congratulations, you have wasted your day. But don't worry, we at Just South of North have the solution to your problem.

1. You spent the whole day waiting for the NASCAR race to begin: the race was rain delayed. Supposed to start at 2:30 CST. At 8:40 CST FOX gave up and just started playing The Simpsons. Solution: The Simpsons RULE!

2. You worked on homework all day: College seems to always have more homework to do. No matter how hard you work, you can never get it all done. Solution: Drop out and move to California to sell mangos on the beach.

3. You spent all day downloading music to your new Ipod from CDs and the Internet: yeah, that is a very time consuming event. Solution: Sell your Ipod and buy a Walkman. Remember Walkmans? Those were so amazing.

4. You spent all day cleaning house: first of all, who does that? Second of all, why do that? Solution: Shove the mess to the sides of the room so you have a path around the house.

5. You layed on the floor, avoiding the light: maybe you live in your parents basement, maybe you have a hangover, maybe you are a vampire. Either way, lame. Solution: Video games. They solve everything.

6. You wasted all day trying to come up with a blog idea, and this is all you have: yeah, maybe the next one will be better. Solution: Read Just South of North everyday.

Oh, and tomorrow is Monday. Sure to be worse than no matter what you did today.