Double-X Speedway

Last Sunday we caught our first dirt track racing of the season. The destination was Double-X Speedway in California, Missouri. The speedway is a 1/4 mile clay track that features weekly racing on Sunday night in three classes, Winged Sprints, Street Stock, and Hobby Stock. The hobby stock class was essentially the 4 banger hornet class that most of the IMCA tracks in Iowa ran. Another difference I noticed was that most of the street stocks ran elaborate rear spoiler things. The night we attended there was also a 600cc Winged Micro Sprint special. Those cars were small and lightning quick. I was a little disappointed in the car count, as there were 40 cars entered between the four classes.  The racing was pretty good though. A couple of things that really rocked were the concession stand and the beer situation. The concessions were cheap and they sold chili dogs, a SportStew favorite. And it was BYOB, aka, you were allowed to bring in your own coolers of beer, just not in glass containers. You can check out Double-X Speedway's website at http://www.xxspeedway.com/.

GT Academy 2012

As I was playing GT5 last night I noticed that Nissan has brought back the GT Academy for 2012. Last year's contest was a huge success and the winner, Bryan Heitkotter from California, is currently wielding a Nissan in the top GS (Grand Sport) class of the Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series. How cool is that?

The GT Academy's "preliminary" rounds runs through June 24th with the finals taking place in July. You can download the demo from the Play Station Store for free. Visit the Nissan GT Academy web page for more information, an overview, and updated standings.  Good luck everyone!

So Real, It's Unreal

Love this commercial. Maybe someday it will really happen!

Hellickson Starts Strong

Former Des Moines Hoover star Jeremy Hellickson has continued the great start to his career. After going 4-0 during his late season call up in 2010, he capped  last season by being named the American League Rookie of the Year. The Tampa Bay Rays hurler finished his rookie campaign 13-10 with a 2.95 ERA. Hellickson has been on fire to start the 2012 season. He is 3-0 in his four starts with victories over the Yankees, Blue Jays, and Angeles. He's a fantasy baseball must start currently and his next two starts come against Seattle and Oakland with both teams struggling swinging the stick.

Is Bo Ryan a Douche?

That is a trick question, everyone already knows the answer. And actually, this isn't another piece blaming and bashing Ryan for the whole Jerrod Uthoff blocking transfer scandal. It's exciting to see the 2011 Iowa Mr. Basketball returning to his home state, or close to it most likely. We're not really sure why he chose to continue his career at Wisconsin anyway. Uthoff has stated that he prefers to play in an up tempo scheme and Wisconsin's philosophy is completely the opposite. While Uthoff would look good in a Hawkeye uniform and would contribute immediately, it isn't going to happen. Being a huge Valley follower, Creighton would be fine but I'm pulling for Uthoff to be putting on the Northern Iowa purple next season. The Panther's have a strong group of young talent in Cedar Falls and are adding Tennessee transfer Wes Washpun. Throw in a former Mr. Basketball and the Panthers could be reliving their success from a couple of years ago. Now that is exciting!