Time to start talking NASCAR!

Yes, that's right. The Super Bowl may be this weekend, but the Pats aren't in it. So its time to start thinking about burning fossil fuels with reckless abandon. Yes, its NASCAR time. So let's deal with some of the biggest off-season highlights.

Toyota to go Cup Racing in 2007

That's right. The first foreign manufacturer since Jaguar to race in NASCAR's top division. Oh, the horror of it all! Personally, I don't care. In fact, if things keep going the way they're going for GM and Ford, we're going to need Toyota, Honda and Hyundai...because there won't be any American makes left. And besides, there's been a foreign manufacturer in Cup for the past few years and nobody's complained about it. I am of course speaking about Dodge...a division of Daimler Chrysler.

Unleaded Fuel in 2008

Well many of you may not even be aware of the fact that NASCAR still uses lead fuel. The big reason is that most formulas of unleaded just don't lubricate engines as well. But now that NASCAR is more mainstream, the powers that be decided they had to find a way to use unleaded. Don't want to piss off the Greens. And as usual, money talks and bull**** walks. Voila! They have developed an unleaded fuel that will perform almost as well as the leaded variety.

Its still the Nextel Cup

That's right. You won't see this headline anywhere because its a non-story story. Most people were certain it would be the Sprint Cup in 2006, but no such name change has taken place. Funny how it was the Winston Cup for more than 25 years, but it is already in danger of changing names again after only 2 years of the Nextel sponsorship. A sign of the times...kind of like how it was the Boston Garden forever...now its the Fleet center...err...TD Banknorth center...whatever!