Saturday, January 14, 2012

Here Comes 2012!


Welcome to the new year everyone.  I don't know about everyone else, but I'm already getting set to see some racing.  I've had the chance to watch some of SPEED's online stream of Daytona Testing.  It's a nice feature that they offer and it is a delight not to have to put up with a handful of commercials every few minutes.  I believe I have reached my quota for the number of times I've heard the words Danica and Twitter already.  I might have to start extra early this year listening to the races on MRN so that I know what's actually happening on the track during a race.

Before I start going into some of my ambitious plans for 2012, I thought I would recap the last few weeks at the poker tables.  The last time I posted, I left off down some from the Biloxi trip after pretty much no luck at all.  Things turned for the better back home, as I five-way split a small grand-prize tournament and then went to Atlantic City and cashed in an invitational tournament.  I still ended up behind for the year, but the late 2011 winnings sure did make up for some disappointments earlier in the year.  January has started off alright as well winning a couple of nightly prizes already.  Things are looking up for the time being.

Now it's time to shift gears once again to the world of racing, starting with the annual PA Motorsports Show next weekend.  For the casual fan it might appear to be a little sparse when it comes to the driver appearances compared to other years, which may perhaps be in part due to the NASCAR Acceleration and Hall of Fame induction taking place the same weekend in Charlotte starting this year.  However, the show as always plans to offer several cars on display as well as the latest information available regarding area tracks, regional touring series, parts suppliers and much more.

A couple weeks after the show will be the annual Atlantic City Indoor Races.  Once again droves of competitors have signed up to compete across four different divisions, including defending Gambler's Classic race winner Ted Christopher and former NASCAR Busch Series and Truck Series champion Johnny Benson.  Benson is my pick to win this year, not because of his recognizable name but because of his recent open wheel experience and success in ISMA supermodifieds.  The TQ midgets are not the same, but I think his proven versatility and the fact that he will be driving for former winner Lou Cicconi will get him to the front.  I will be at the track both Friday and Saturday night this year, and will have videos and photos to share from both Atlantic City and the Motorsports Show.

While I continue to pass the time through the late winter and early spring, I will be continuing to make some plans for the remainder of the year.  I'm currently waiting patiently for the World Series of Poker schedule to be released in order to plan my first ever visit to Las Vegas this summer.  I'm hoping I can coordinate the schedule so I can ride out to California for a few days and maybe see an SRL Southwest Tour race.  Also, it was recently announced that the Pro All Star Series will be sanctioning the All American 400 at the historic Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway and the distance will return to its traditional 400 laps.  I most certainly will be planning some sort of trip around this race weekend in early October.  As usual some other somewhat local races will be peppered in throughout the summer and in between the major trips, but many exact dates remain to be seen until more official schedules for 2012 have been released.