The spoken portion of the audio is unedited, so please forgive the occasional clunkers and microphone noise. I recorded it on my iPhone with earphones that have a mic attachment. Cut down on some noise, but picked up on others.

I’ll list the songs later this week.

You can listen to it here, or if you have iTunes subscribe to it here. The RSS feed is here. As always, please let me know what you think, and thanks.

You can listen to it here, or if you have iTunes subscribe to it here. The RSS feed is here. As always, please let me know what you think, and thanks.

P.S. I also did a podcast last week; direct link here.

You can listen to it here, or if you have iTunes subscribe to it here.  The RSS feed is here.

I haven’t finished the song graphics yet — I’ll update the post when they’re completed — but here’s the transcript for this edition.  As always, please let me know what you think, and thanks.

And welcome to the yearend edition of the Diecast Dude’s (Mostly) NASCAR Positively Persnickety Podcast.  It is Wednesday December the thirtieth-first, 2008, and in this episode I’ll be reviewing what’s transpired during the past twelve months in various areas.  First up, let’s take a look back at the year that was in NASCAR.

2008 was a troubled year in stock car land.  The new car was for the most part a miserable failure in terms of producing quality racing.  The Big Three among drivers, namely Dale Earnhardt Jr.  , Jeff Gordon, and Tony Stewart had two points race wins between them.  About the only truly memorable race moment was Carl Edwards’ kamikaze blast up the track at Kansas in a desperation move to try and snatch a win away from Jimmie Johnson.  It didn’t work, which pretty much sums up the entire year.

Certainly Johnson deserves far more acclaim than he has received for winning his third straight championship.  However, given that California calm excites very few people his accomplishment has barely raised an eyebrow.  Add to this how the present economic crisis has cast a deep shadow over the entire sport, and I’m wondering what is in store for NASCAR next year.

What I’m most hoping for from a personal standpoint is to enjoy the sport more.  This year it felt more like a burden than a blessing, trying to follow everything in minutia and either report or comment on same.  I’ve already discussed in depth the subject of why I left SportBlogs Network and went back to being independent, so there’s no need to go through it all again outside of offering a thumbnail sketch of how I felt it pressed on my heart that I needed to get back to the mix of ministry, musings and mirth that while usually about NASCAR didn’t always reside there.  That said, there was another consideration that went into my decision I haven’t mentioned.

Blogging is an occasionally odd exercise.  There’s a camaraderie among those of us who commit thoughts to digital paper, notes penned with magnetic ink to be neatly filed away on an otherwise anonymous server somewhere where they patiently lie in wait for others to ruffle through the pages, seeking whatever it may be they are in pursuit of.  Sometimes the camaraderie is flinty at best, competing ideals and competition for the most readers spilling over into enmity.  Or ennui.  Perhaps both.  However, even in such cases far more often than not there is a coming together when someone or something threatens one of us.  It’s how we do things in the blogosphere.

How much greater this is when there is genuine affection.  You often hear social pseudo-pundits sneer at the concept of what to them are words on the Internet bearing no genuine connection between author and reader somehow conveying any genuine heart and soul.  They don’t know what they’re talking about.  The medium isn’t always the message.  Blogging facilitates communication.  It doesn’t strain or strangle that which is authentic.

It can also be a reminder of cold reality.  There is no immunity in cyberspace.  People change.  They move away, not so much physically but emotionally, mentally, spiritually.  Relationships go sour.  Friendships end.

Sometimes people log off forever.

It took a lot of the wind out of my NASCAR blogging sails when Southern Cindi passed away.  It took even more when a friend, also one of my fellow Jeff Gordon fans, took ill earlier this year and then stopped communicating with me.  I don’t know if this was due to her being miffed at me for whatever reason or because she’s no longer able to write.  In either case, her absence along with Southern Cindi’s have drained a lot of the joy out of NASCAR blogging for me.

I hope I get it back in 2009.  Because I’ve come to realize how much I miss being Diecast Dude at least once a day.  Hopefully he’s waiting to be re-energized.  Hopefully.

Shifting gears — no pun intended — let’s take a look back at the year that was in IRL.

Yes, Danica finally won a race.  Granted, it was on a fuel mileage gamble.  But she still won, much to Bob Margolis’ displeasure.  I hope during the 2009 season she wins at least one race outright if for no other reason than to watch Margolis either completely ignore it or write another sulking, pouting festival of frustration over being shown up for all the times he’s slagged on the driver of the #7 Motorola car.

Meanwhile, Scott Dixon with his combination of driving skill and a personality that makes oatmeal seem dynamic won the championship.  Still, it was good to see Indy cars back together with only one league.  Hopefully the IRL can build on this and start working on regaining the place of prominence it once knew in the American sports landscape.

And we move on.

I finally finished the writing portion of the new book this year, and am currently in the dreaded proofreading portion of the proceedings.  I wouldn’t say it’s editing as much as tidying, but as you can imagine with four hundred plus pages leaning heavily on lengthy quotes, there’s a lot of tidying.

My prayer is the book will help people rediscover their heart for God even as I did through becoming reacquainted with the music I once loved so much.  No one’s going to get rich off of this, but if I can help bring people back together with Jesus that will be a payment far bigger than even one of J.  K.  Rowling’s royalty checks.

Not that I’d mind getting one of those, of course!

Anyway, let’s see.  What else happened this year.  Oh yeah, there was that election thing.

My fervent, genuine prayer is that I’m completely wrong about Barack Obama.  I pray that he’s not an elitist empty suit who thinks he knows what’s best for everyone and everything but in reality offers nothing but the recycled leftist junk that simultaneously offers addle-pated blather about evening things out for the poor which led to the subprime mortgage mess that has brought our economy crashing down while also failing to confront the genuinely evil in this world with the only viable method for doing so, namely destruction, that led to Bin Laden and variations thereof being able to carry out September 11th and other terrorist attacks.  I pray he has the capability to genuinely lead.  I pray he will do so wisely.  Like I said, I pray that I’m wrong about him.  Completely wrong.  Because if I’m not, we’ve got problems.

I also pray that in some fashion Goldfish And Clowns serves as a conduit of the idea that none of us can afford the luxury of ideological differences being used as an instrument of hatred.  During the campaign, whenever I’d make a comment about Obama or Jeremiah Wright or whoever — and I could get quite testy about it, I admit, although hopefully I never made it a personal deal — inevitably I’d get numerous comments about how John McCain and/or Sarah Palin were utterly unqualified for the highest office in the land and Lucifer incarnate to boot.  And that was all I was hearing from the other side of the political fence.  So I said okay.  You’ve all gone to great lengths to tell me why McCain shouldn’t be President and Palin shouldn’t be Vice President.  So tell me why, based on experience, policy and demonstrated leadership capability Obama should be President.  And you know, I never got a single response laying out a case for Obama.  Against McCain and Palin, oh you betcha.  But actually for Obama?  Actually detailing why he was the one for the job?  Nothing.  Not a thing.  Not once.

It’s easy to tear down, to assault, to insult.  It’s not so easy to build a case for something or someone.  But it’s something we must do.  That, and making sure we do the right thing by reaching out across the aisle regardless of how it’s received.

I hope you’ll indulge me if I quote from one of my recent posts:

The ranting raving outraged histrionics act has long since worn out its welcome.  Instead of knee jerk reactions, we should be on our knees praying for wisdom with which to refute arguments against what and why we believe.  The calm measured response and the logically laid out proposal go much farther as far as persuading others to at least consider our words than all the vein-popping venom we can spit at the opposition.

It would also help tremendously if we were more open about our faith.  As mentioned above, we need to be articulating not only what we believe politically, but why.  The whole Gospel – the need for repentance, the availability of salvation, the joy of life in Christ, the call to serve – should be part of our daily vocabulary.  We also need to live out that about which we speak out.  The posing and preening “look at me – SQUEE!  ” attitude needs to be permanently dismissed pronto.  We must stop turning the blogosphere into an excuse for the latest chapter of the mutual admiration society.  What have we done that’s genuinely worth admiring?  Self-serving isn’t service.  We need to get over ourselves by abandoning class distinction and embracing each other regardless of social or site visit standing.

We need to adopt the four tenets of the blogging evangel:

* The ability to broadcast ones opinion neither elevates nor validates said opinion;

* Blog from and for the heart, not the bank account;

* Answer your e-mail every time all the time;

* Never become what you profess to oppose.

If we do these things, we’re doing the right things for the right reasons.

The world, although it would never admit as much, needs us.  Christ needs us to do His work and spread His word.  To sum it up, we need to git’r done.  So let’s do this thing.  Starting now.

Starting right now.

And right now is the conclusion of this podcast.  Take care, everyone, and we’ll get together again next time — next year!

You can listen to the podcast here. If you have iTunes, you can subscribe to the podcast here. As always, please let me know what you think, and thanks.

Here’s the transcript.

And welcome to this bi-annual edition of the Diecast Dude’s (Mostly) NASCAR Positively Persnickety Podcast. It is Tuesday December the ninth, 2008, and in this installment I’ll be catching up on everything that’s happened since the last podcast… which as I recall was sometime in August. Sorry about that. But first, a look back at the week that was in NASCAR.

Yes, NASCAR is on holiday until next February. And if the American auto manufacturers don’t get their act together, perhaps a while longer.

It’s difficult to say what will happen if, say, GM bites the dust. Certainly Tony Stewart must be muttering to himself right about now, “And I left a Toyota team for this?” Seriously, there is a tremendous air of uncertainty hanging over the sport. With manufacturer dollars quite possibly going away and sponsorship dollars becoming scarce in the extreme, we could well see some less than full fields next year in Sprint Cup. There’s even the possibility of what started out as stock car racing running as race cars in and of themselves without a manufacturer’s logo. This is definitely a ‘stay tuned’ kind of scenario.

Anyway, reflecting back on the now concluded season, isn’t it high time Jimmie Johnson got some love? The man has won the championship three years straight, the only driver besides Cale Yarborough to accomplish that feat. What will it take for him to receive due credit, anyway? Will four straight titles seal the deal? Assuming the bottom doesn’t fall out in 2009 — which is a rather large assumption, sad to say — Johnson has to be considered the favorite going into next year. Yes, Carl Edwards is the media darling; and yes, he has the skill. But when it comes crunch time, Johnson is by far the better of the two. I don’t see that changing, and that’s why I believe Johnson will become the first driver in NASCAR history to win four straight titles. It all starts next February at Daytona. Hopefully.

And we move on.

I mentioned a while ago in Goldfish And Clowns how I’ve given some thought to doing a second edition of God’s Not Dead (And Neither Are We) once the book is out. It’s not out; not yet anyway. But it has been completed. I’m currently proofreading it. It’s doubtful I’ll have it out by Christmas, but by the end of January 2009 it’ll be available.

I could undoubtedly go off on a lengthy introspective jag about the past twenty months since I first started working on the book, but I’d rather hold that in reserve until it’s actually in print. For now, all I want to say on the subject is that it’s really been a lot of work! But it’s work that I love, and it’s doing what I must do. It’ll be interesting to see how I react when I’m actually holding a printed copy of the book in my hands. I honestly don’t know. This I do know: I pray that reading it will bless and heal people as much as writing it has blessed and healed me. I talk about that in my author’s notes at the end of the book.

Some more words on present and future writing after this.

In March of 2007, a man left a comment on my NASCAR blog asking me to get in touch with him about joining a sports blog network. I had heard of the blog he wrote, namely Athletics Nation which I knew was quite the popular site about my beloved if oft bedraggled Oakland A’s. I had also heard about the network he was talking about. Something he and Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos fame had cooked up.

At the time Tyler Bleszinski first wrote me, I had carved a fairly hefty path as far as NASCAR bloggers go, having started The Diecast Dude’s (Mostly) NASCAR Blah Blah Blog in August of 2003 and within the odd little world I inhabited being something of a big deal. Big enough to have the heavy hitters in NASCAR online journalism take note one way or the other: interviewing Lee Spencer of at the time Sporting News and now FOX Sports along with David Poole of the Charlotte Observer and That’s Racin’ for the blog, getting some rather heated missives from Jenna Fryer of the AP over assorted comments I had made about her writing. Perhaps more than any other sport’s governing body NASCAR keeps close tabs on what people say about it, be they traditional or alternative media, and over the years multiple sources in different areas of traditional media informed me that not only were the powers that be in Daytona Beach and Charlotte daily readers of my daily musings, should I ever have anything less than kind to say about anyone in the media someone from NASCAR would speed faster than Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the straightaway at Talladega to whomsoever I had snarked against that day, printout of the offending post in hand. Weird, but that’s how it was.

I had to wonder why on earth Tyler wanted me to sign on with his network. Here I was, not only Mr. Conservative but also more than a little prone to go off on tangents having little if anything to do with NASCAR, instead being focused on Christ, soul, and rock’n'roll. And he wanted me? Had he ever actually read my blog? Shouldn’t he find someone a bit more, oh, normal?

However, I was more than a little intrigued by the offer. Some background: when I first started the blog, it was on AOL Journals. This was when AOL was still a mostly insular community, as such constantly looking to promote content from within. I was fortunate enough to catch the attention of assorted people there, as a result enjoying several in-house promotions. Eventually when Jamie Mottram and cohorts at AOL Sports started the Sports Bloggers Live podcast I made a few appearances. I was under the impression that over the months Mottram and I had established a good relationship, thus was puzzled by how there was ever-decreasing interest in having me appear on SBL. Gradually, I and other AOL sports bloggers noticed the show was becoming top-heavy with traditional media as guests, with bloggers eventually being shut out. Still, when Mottram started FanHouse on AOL I felt relatively certain even though he largely bypassed the AOL sports blogging community that at one time had formed the vast majority of what SBL and AOL Sports was about he would ask me to come on board when the NASCAR portion he said would be forthcoming started up. I wasn’t the only one surprised when the NASCAR area came into being and the featured blogger was the proprietress of a NASCAR drivers/wives/girlfriends gossip site. In addition to the surprise I was also more than a tad miffed. I had gone out of my way to publicly praise Mottram in my blog and had risen to his defense more than once when he and/or AOL’s sports blogging community had been attacked. And this was my thank you? Swell. I have no doubt his version of the above differs from mine; but. whatever. So yes, it felt good to be asked by someone to come on board.

Still, I had my doubts, which I expressed to Tyler. Are you sure you want me? Tangents and all? Yes, came the reply. You know I’ve had some rather harsh things to say about Kos in my personal blog, right? Yes, and we still want you.

Well okay then. Sign me up. And so Restrictor Plate This came to be.

During the past few months, I’ve felt an ever-increasing need to focus on the personal and spiritual elements of my writing, be it online or in the book. It’s not that I’ve lost any of my enthusiasm for NASCAR or sports blogging. However, mixing this with faith and life observations has been something to which I know I need to return, in addition to putting more energy and time into straightforward expressions of what’s on my heart and mind. It would have been inappropriate for me and disrespectful of Sports Blogs Network to use it as a venue for these things. Therefore, I decided in October to leave SBN, which I did near the end of November.

I can never fully describe the honor it was to be among the other bloggers at SBN and be considered a peer of the finest — the absolute finest — group of sports bloggers there is. I believe with all my heart SBN is going to become a major force in not only sports blogging, but sports journalism period. Individually and collectively, SBN set the standard by which all other sports blogs must be compared, and to which they pale in comparison. It has forever destroyed the myth of sports bloggers as beer-soaked bozos saying nothing as loud as possible. Whenever anyone wants both in-depth knowledge of a given sport, team or athlete combined with a genuine passion and love for what they’re writing about, SBN stands so far above everyone else there’s no need to look farther. It is what sports blogging ought to be.

The support and encouragement everyone at SBN gave me throughout my stay there never faltered. I will always be grateful for the opportunity it provided. Today, while the people at NASCAR still read everything I write they also have officially accepted me as legitimate media. Without SBN this never would have happened. I am forever in their debt.

While I know I did what I should, I left SBN with sadness. I’ll miss being part of that most excellent crew. Yet I also left with pride. Going forward, whenever I point to my time there it will be accompanied with justifiable boasting. I was part of the best there is. You can’t top that.

And now I’m home. Home with my friends, first met on the original blog and who stayed with me during my time on Restrictor Plate This. Home with my tangents; or at least I will be once the book is off to the printers and I can more fully focus on writing. And home with Gord the polar bear and his friend Cherie the thrasher, her watching the antics and listening to the stories told by the silly bear.

I’ve missed Gord. I’m glad he waited for me to return.

And that concludes this podcast. Take care, everyone, and we’ll get together again next time.