ABC/TORC > NBC/LOORRS

Though it didn't take place till the second day of the new year, this weekends broadcast of the LOORRS non-points finale was truly the last event of the '09 short course season.

The broadcast on Saturday 1/2 generated a 0.4 rating, equating to approximately 460,000 households and using my conservative 1.1 viewers per household average—506,000 viewers.

We now can look back and compare the major network results of the two series.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about comparing the two series is that each generate identical ratings in their fall/winter broadcasts. TORC generated a 0.4 and 0.5 on 9/6 and 11/8 respectively and LOORRS generated a 0.5 and a 0.4 on 11/29 and 1/2 respectively.

The only significant difference between the two series and their network coverage was TORC's June event on ABC that garnered a 0.7 which was the only broadcast that came close to CORR's ratings in '08.

Other than that I don't really think there is anything significant about TORC's ratings going up 0.1 points and LOORRS' ratings goind down 0.1 between their fall/winter broadcasts as that change is far too small to be specifically attributed to something in particular.

Looking at '10 and whatever (if any) major network broadcasts there will be for either series, I think the only thing we really learned from '09 is that short-course racing benefits from the less crowded summer sports season that does not see competition from either college or pro football. Neither series landed a knockout punch on TV in '09 and both have lots of room for improvement. We can only hope they get the chance.

Brut Sun Bowl: Oklahoma-Stanford, 12/31, CBS, 2-6PM 3.6
Tournament of Roses Parade, 1/1, ABC, 11-1PM, 4.2
Capital One Bowl: Penn St.-LSU, 1/1, ABC, 1-4:30PM, 6.9
Rose Bowl: Ohio St.-Oregon, 1/1, ABC, 5-8:30PM, 13.8
Konica Minolta Gator Bowl: FSU-WVU, 1/1, CBS, 1-5PM, 4.3
Allstate Sugar Bowl: Florida-Cincinnati, 1/1, Fox, 8:45-12AM, 9.2
Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic: Flyers-Bruins, 1/1, NBC, 1-4PM, 2.6
Figure Skating: Brian Boitano Spectacular (taped), 1/1, NBC, 4-6PM, 1.3
NCAA Basketball: (regional), 1/2, CBS, 1-3PM, 1.1
NCAA Basketball: Louisville-Kentucky, 1/2, CBS, 3:30-6PM, 1.8
AT&T Cotton Bowl: Ole Miss-Oklahoma St., 1/2, Fox, 2-6PM, 4.7
Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing (taped), 1/2, NBC, 2:30-3:30PM, 0.4
Golf: "Ticket To The Tour" (taped), 1/2, NBC, 4:30-6PM, 0.5
"The NFL Today", 1/3. CBS, 12-1PM, 2.9
"NFL on CBS": Steelers-Dolphins (70%), 1/3, CBS, 1-4:15PM, 12.3
"NFL on CBS": (regional)*, 1/3, CBS, 4:15-7:30, 9.5
"Fox NFL Sunday", 1/3, Fox, 12-1PM, 4.1
"NFL on Fox": (regional), 1/3, Fox, 1-4:15PM, 11.7
"NFL on Fox": Eagles-Cowboys (79%), 1/3, Fox, 4:15-7:30, 16.3
"The OT", 1/3, Fox, 7:30-8PM, 8.2
Figure Skating: Smuckers Stars on Ice (taped), 1/3, NBC, 4-6PM, 1.3
"Football Night In America", 1/3, NBC, 7:30-8:15, 5.1
"Sunday Night Football": Bengals-Jets, 1/3, NBC, 8:30-11:45PM, 11.4

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: Book Review

I'm not sure if I've ever had such a change of heart about a book or author as I did with this one...

Best known as a writer for SPIN, ESPN and other frontline popular culture outlets, Klosterman is an encyclopedia for all sorts of famous and obscure people and events over the past twenty years or so. Much like Bill Simmons of ESPN (with whom Klosterman has a number of connections) he likes to weave disparate thoughts and events into a coherent thread to show the reader what is actually going on beneath the surface of modern culture.

This book is a collection of brief essays examining a number of issues, including the validity of Billy Joel's career, Pamela Anderson as the modern recreation of Marilyn Monroe, an analysis of Saved By the Bell, etc. Some of these are good and some are very, very poor...

Sometimes you feel like Klosterman is merely throwing every pop-culture touchstone up against a wall, Jackson Pollock style in an attempt to see what sticks. What sticks in my mind is a discussion of the 90's film Reality Bites in which he mentions Winona Ryder having "an amazing rack". This is just one example of many of instances where I was left asking myself "Does he actually ever READ what he has just typed?" as I'm sure this is the first and last time anyone ever described Ryder's "rack" or boyish lack-thereof as "amazing".

I was ready to toss this book in my Ebay "to sell" pile by the time I was 1/3 of the way into it but as a gift from my brother-in-law I felt obliged to read the entire work and give an honest assessment.

Shocked, is the only way I can describe my reaction when in the last 1/3 or so of essays contained in this book I came away impressed by Klosterman's candor and objectivity on numerous cultural fronts. Klosterman skewers the Oprahfication of America where no one is ever wrong and are merely "misunderstood", admits to having been (past tense) both anti-abortion and anti-death penalty—now being ambivalent toward each, and professing an admiration for born again Christians, all the while admitting to his own faults regarding women, drink, drugs and a host of modern "sins".

I think that's what impressed me the most about Klosterman—not his knowledge and analysis of pop-culture (which I often found wrong, overstated or just silly) but his ability to look objectively at his own faults, call them out, show examples of others who have NOT made the same choices as he and yet be perfectly comfortable (apparently) in his own skin. He knows he has treated women like crap in the past and that he COULD have been better, and maybe he will be better in the future but you know what? Maybe he won't, and he's OK with that. Klosterman is something the modern world needs more of, an honest voice in a completely dishonest world. And for that reason alone I am glad I read this book.

El Dakaro '10--Stage 1

Ahhhh...so now we're underway...

Clearly the most demanding and difficult of all motorsports events in the world, two weeks with only a single day off, almost 7000 miles, brutal terrain—The Dakar is here!!

Again held in South America and known affectionately as "El Dakaro" it got underway in earnest today. The first few Argentina stages are mostly tight gravel track similar to that of the WRC events that take place there. This terrain favors the 4WD vehicles and the WRC experienced drivers. My "hope" for the event is to see a single Nissan place in the top ten and three in the top 20. I think that is a realistic goal given they put two in the top five and three in the top 15 in '09.

Numerous items going against the Nissans are the reasons for my dialed back expectations, not the least of which is the lack of support from Nissan South Africa who dumped motorsports entirely in late '09.

Regardless, today was a decent day for the more favoured Nissans. Krysztof Holowczyc who finished fith overall in '09, returns in his SA built Navara and was ninth off the line and finished 7th on the day, 6:07 adrift of the leader Joan "Nani" Roma (a guy) in his factory BMW. Christian Lavielle and his Dessoude Navara finished 14th, right where he started the day, 10:05 behind. The other two strong Nissan efforts are driven by Alfie Cox, who is driving the same Navara that Ivar Tollefsen took to an amazing fourth place in the '09 Dakar. Alfie started 30th on the day and came in 17th which bodes REALLY well for this team and lastly there was the third Overdrive Racing entry (Holowczyc and Cox being the other two) of Alexander Mironenko who started 34th and finished 29th.

The race has a LOOOOOOOOONG way to go and for the Nissans to put in a good showing they will have to perservere as others fall out—as happened in '09, but if Lavielle can manage not to burn down his Navara for the second year in a row and the others can drive competitively but not beyond the edge, they could exceed my modest expectations once again...Fingers crossed...

The Hangover: Movie Review

As usual I am a bit behind the times when it comes to seeing the "it" movies of the moment.

For the past six months or so I have heard over and over again how funny a movie The Hangover is. Not only was it being called one of the funniest movies ever but raunchy and subversive and new. Supposedly a new comedic paradigm had been created.

I got around to watching it this past weekend and as usual, the media appears to have done its best to overhype what is only a a somewhat above average film.

Don't get me wrong. The Hangover is funny. There are a number of situations the characters get into (surrounding a bachelor party to Vegas) and events that happen to them that well done and perfectly staged and down right hilarious. Bradley Cooper is awesome, pulling off a delicate balance between lovable jerk and complete a-hole while Zack G. (I'm not spelling that last name again) is fantastic as well.

It's just that to call this the "funniest movie ever" or to tell people that they "have to see it" goes well into the realm of hyperbole. Raunchy? Not hardly...virtually no nudity, zero sex, little bathroom humor—not that this is a bad thing but there is nothing here that should make a grown American even squirm slightly. Subversive? Not even close...

As my film teacher in college taught, virtually all comedies (especially successful ones) are inherently conservative in nature. This is the case with The Hangover as well. A good marriage, loyalty to friends, the impact of drugs and drink, etc.—all are given a profoundly conservative spin when you look at them in the film and thus nothing truly "subversive" can come from such a traditionally structured comedy.

The only true gripe I have with the film is a scene early on wherein (for reasons I'll leave unexplained) Zach G's character is sitting with a baby boy and proceeds to make the baby appear to be masturbating. Yeah, when I say it bluntly like that it sounds pretty disgusting doesn't it? While intended to appear as the sophomoric humor of a borderline "special" character in the film this made me do a double take.

Now some have gone as far as to say this is child abuse, I won't go quite that far, but if I was the husband of the mother of that child and was seeking a divorce, that scene would be Exhibit A in showing a judge why she is an unfit mother and not properly looking after her child. Double standards definitely come in here as well. There is NO WAY a director and actor would have gotten away with taking a baby GIRL and making her appear to be touching herself on film—but its JUST a baby boy and so that makes it OK. This wasn't abuse per se but this certainly was child exploitation in our modern society.

That being said, if you can handle that issue, I have no problem recommending the film as it WAS one of the funnier movies I have seen in a long time...it just wasn't quite as good as everyone around me (and I'm sure around you) are making it out to be.

Crowds Building for the Dakar...

Indications are that the '10 version of the Dakar will be even bigger than '09. Crowds (and paying crowds even!!) are running some 30% ahead of last year. This might give the FIA pause in moving the event back to Africa where there will be NO paying attendees...

Make sure to follow along here as I will once again be concentrating on info surrounding the Nissan entrants and cheering them on...

Appaloosa: Movie Review...

I'm a sucker for a good, modern Western. Unforgiven, The Wild Bunch, Open Range, etc.

Appaloosa falls right in with these. Taking a traditional Western story (two friends/compatriots are hired by a small town to protect it from a local criminal gang leader who has murdered the local sheriff and are impacted when one falls for the charms of a morally challenged woman) and films it beautifully, without feeling the need for over editing, constant running gunfights or an easy resolution.

Some have claimed that Appaloosa was slow. In comparison to another recent Western (3:10 to Yuma) this film flys by. Mortenesen of course puts in another solid effort here as the hired gun who doesn't fall for the woman, keeping his bedroom activities for the local whore...And this is where the film grabs most of its tension—not between the "bad guys" and the "good guys" but between whether or not Rene Zellweger's character is going to be able to ruin the friendship and working relationship between Mortensen and Ed Harris' characters.

I can't stand Zellweger and she does nothing here to redeem hereself—though I suppose the fact I am repulsed by her helped me hate her character here which is what the director and writer want, still...she is a waste compared to the other actors who surround her in this film: Mortensen, Harris, Jeremy Irons and Lance Henriksen.

Harris not only starred in this film but directed it as well and picked Mortensen for this role. Harris does a solid job of portraying a brave but ultimately weak man who cannot let go of his Zellweger's character no matter how many times she betrays him—showing that the man with the gun is not always the one ultimately in charge.

All in all it is well done and quite enjoyable. Nothing groundbreaking here but solid all around.

Xmas Came Early--Thanks Bully Dog!

Arriving in the mail today was Bully Dog's Triple Dog Gauge Tuner. Thanks to NismoStuff Racing's partnership with Bully Dog I will now get to try out just how well this device performs on both the 4 Cyl Frontier platform and my wife's 4 Cyl Altima platform. I am shocked initially at just how small and light the device is. I thought initially it was going to take up a lot of room on/near my dash and could be a nuisance. Not so. Hopefully I'll get a chance to go through it, install it and try out some of its features during the next week or so. Check back for an honest to goodness series of impressions and results! Thanks Mike and thanks Bully Dog!!

Excellent WSJ Op-Ed...

Ahhh...the Wall Street Journal...one of the last fine true journalistic entities in America. Perhaps their general business/free market orientation lends them have an easier time of looking at the world as it IS and not as some fanciful idea, theory or wish or socialist paradise where everyone is equal (of course some being more equal than others...)--but I digress.

Today there is an excellent op-ed piece by a Warren Kozak, who I have not delved into too deeply yet and only know that he is a new op-ed writer for the WSJ, this being only his send piece, the prior one on the connections between Iran and Venezuela.

This piece concerns the current arrest and trial of a number of Navy SEALs for having punched (oh no!!!) in the nose, the leader of the group of Islamic thugs who attacked, killed, shredded, stripped, burned, dragged and hung from a bridge a number of Blackwater Security guards in Iraq a few years ago.

The fact that most Blackwater Security guards had backgrounds in the Special Forces and may have had friends within the SEAL or greater Special Forces community is not mentioned in the article, nor elsewhere that I have seen but I thought it bears mentioning as it highlights the unbelievable restraint these SEAL had in doing nothing to this guy other than bopping him in the nose...

Kozak's article is a reminder that war is a dirty, ugly, horrid thing and that good guys do perform some "bad" actions. I use the word "bad" in quotations as I think it is extremely elitist of us, back here in our lounge chairs, drinking our cappuccinos in the warming glow of our electric vibrators to pass judgement on these men. As the article asks--Was it wrong for GIs in WWII to turn concentration camp guards back over to their former inmates to be literally torn apart by hand?? Maybe to you...but then again, you haven't been a concentration camp victim have you?

Fantastic Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal...

Baja 1000 NBC TV Ratings...

So the ratings are in for this event as well...and its the same story as short course...tape delayed, on NBC, early in the afternoon so the more appropriate Westcoast audience is barely out of bed and sipping their lattes, no advertising before hand, media buy on behalf of Jeep (who the hell came up with Jeep's current ad campaign anyway?? They're trying to appeal to young professional women with the current ads--not exactly your core Jeep audience, no wonder Fiat-Chrysler is in the dump....), blah, blah, blah...

The good news?? It wasn't the worst rated sports program on Network TV this weekend and it nearly drew the same amount of viewers as the UCLA-Notre Dame basketball game which was NOT a media buy and was broadcast at the same time...

The bad news?? A taped golf event of some namby-pamby Womens/Mens/Old guys combination outdrew the Baja 1000...now that's just sad...

As a reminder, each rating point equals 1% of the 114.9 TV owning households in the U.S., so the 0.7 for the B1K equates to roughly 804,000 households tuning in to the broadcast. Of that, you can conservatively say that each household averaged 1.1 viewers of the broadcast equating to a viewing audience of approximately 900,000. So say what you will about the ratings for offroad events (short course or SCORE) on network TV but its still a lot of people...

Golf: Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge: Front Nine (taped) 12/19 ABC4:00-6:00pm 1.0

NCAA Basketball: UCLA-Notre Dame 12/19 CBS 2:00-4:00pm 0.8

NCAA Basketball: Gonzaga-Duke 12/19 CBS 4:00-6:00pm 1.4

World of Adventure Sports (taped) 12/19 NBC 2:00-3:00pm 0.7

Winter Dew Tour: Totino's Open 12/19 NBC 3:00-4:30pm 0.8

Ironman World Championships (taped) 12/19 NBC 4:30-6:00pm 1.4

Golf: Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge: Back Nine (taped) 12/20 ABC 4:00-6:00pm 0.6

"The NFL Today" 12/20 CBS 12:00-1:00pm 2.9

"NFL on CBS": (single) 12/20 CBS 1:00-4:05pm 11.9

Deer Valley Celebrity Skifest (taped) 12/20 CBS 5:00-6:00pm 1.3

Winter Dew Tour: Totino's Open 12/20 NBC 4:00-6:00pm 0.6

"Football Night In America" 12/20 NBC 7:30-8:15pm 4.1

"Sunday Night Football": Vikings-Panthers 12/20 NBC 8:30-11:45pm 12.0

F Travis Pastrana...

OK...I don't really mean any disrespect to TP but come on...He's got this big Red Bull, New Years Eve jump scheduled for 250 feet...If last year's Red Bull broadcast is any indication, Cam Steele will be there ranting and raving about how this is the biggest, baddest event ever, blah, blah, blah...

So why didn't Red Bull put the number so far out there that no one would attempt to touch it before the event??

Well, the TP, 250 feet in a rally car jump is now just an afterthought. Johnny Greaves has jumped 301 feet in a short course truck. That's one foot more than a full football field in the air. An incredible feat to be sure and driven by his sponsor (Monster Energy) to strip away as much publicity as it can from its rival, Red Bull, before its televised event. I doubt the broadcast on New Year's eve will make any mention whatsoever of Greaves jump...but the rest of us know what the real deal is...

Johnny Greaves makes 301 ft. jump....

Sam Adams Irish Red: Beer Review...

So I guess I'm adding beer reviews to my ongoing series of reviews to go along with books and movies along side numerous other items. You all can blame Dave Bexfield out in New Mexico and Ryan Miller down in NJ for this as their comments posted here and emailed to me personally got me thinking about posting these opinions since I try seemingly at least one new beer a week...

This week? It's Sam Adams Irish Red. I have always enjoyed most Sam Adams beers. They're a safe bet in almost any situation and rarely let you down.

This beer is no exception. A substantial upgrade over the mass marketed Killian's Irish Red, the Sam Adams Irish Red is smooth and light enough to be drunk at a winter party but tasty enough (with a bit of a Guiness bite to it) to have with a nice steak or fireside after a day of skiing. I'm sure this beer won't be distinct enough for true beer aficianados (of which I am not) but for me, I'l gladly drink another...and another...

Love the Beast: On Speed Channel Tonight!!

I know its not much notice but there was little publicity that this movie would be on tonight. Released earlier this year in Australia and New Zealand and not out on DVD here in the U.S. I did not expect it to be broadcast on TV so soon. All the reviews of this film have been excellent and I am a big fan of Bana, Australia and rally racing...So what could be better?!?! It looks like it will be broadcast twice back to back. Once at 8 and again at 10 PM Eastern—and then again on 12/20 and 1/3. I hope it is as good as I think it is going to be and that it comes out on DVD here soon. Can't wait to see the old school Ford GT Falcon in action.

Speed Channel Schedule for Love the Beast

Frontier Makes 4Wheeler's Top Ten 4x4s of the '00s...

I think 4 Wheeler did a solid job of looking at the best the '00s had to offer and cuting the list down to ten. Though I wish a Nissan could have taken the top spot, I can't argue with their choise of the Wrangler and in particular the Rubicon Wrangler as the best 4Wheeling vehicle of the last ten years. Who knows what the next ten years will bring but hopefully manufacturers still find a place for vehicles that can get you where you want to go—no matter where that may be...

4 Wheeler Magazine Lists Top 10 4x4s of the Decade...

Good Dakar Preview on Alfie Cox...

Just a brief article on Alfie Cox and his SA built Navara (Frontier) that will be racing in a few weeks in the Dakar. Just finishing outside the podium last year (4th and 5th), it will be tough
match that success. With an experienced driver at the helm, however, some solid, race experienced vehicles on hand and Glynn Hall overseeing the effort, putting two Nissans in the top ten is not unreasonable though the VWs, BMWs and Robby Gordon's Hummer remain the clear favorites.

One has to wonder just how much of an impact the penny pinching and final closure of the South African Nissan Motorsports group will have on these racers. Has the effort truly been there over the last six months? Is Glynn really on the ball or is his head over at Toyota all ready? We'll find out soon...

Alfie Cox Presser...

ESPN: Why I Keep Hanging On...

"I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child..." or so Corinthians 13:11 tells us--no, no, don't worry, no Bible talk here...I just like that saying and it applies to my view of ESPN.

As a young man and even into college, I LOVED ESPN. I love the quick edits, the highlights, the catchphrases, the advertisements--all of it. As I have grown older, more cynical and more aware that sports goes far beyond its shiny exterior I have grown to detest all the ESPN stands for, with its move to LA cementing the deal that ESPN is now just an outlet for portraying what the moneymakers WANT you to believe about sports...

Other than Outside the Lines (OTL) long form articles that is...

How the employees at ESPN in the OTL division keep their jobs and their sanity within ESPN I'll never know but they put out some of the best writing in sports today. While the TV version of OTL focuses (generally) on current issues (steroids, cheating, NCAA violations, etc.) the long form written OTL that appears perhaps once every other month on the front page of ESPN.com is usually a more personal piece by one of the OTL writers that has taken months if not years of research and one in which the writer is heavily invested in its quality--and it shows.

The OTL piece appearing today on ESPN.com's front page is another excellent piece, one in which the writer was recruited to try and track down the only one of fifty boxers to have faced Ali whose autograph could not be collected by a devoted Ali enthusiast. What was a seemingly straightforward task ends up as your typical "rabbit hole" for the writer, leading him down to Miami and a side of society we all like to forget. In its concluding paragraphs the writer goes into the horrific fates of a great number of Ali's opponents and it is truly eye opening though perhaps not surprising given the circumstances many boxers arise from and the daily violence that fills them...

Read the article now, before ESPN uses the server space for more Kobe dunking lowlights...

Shadow Boxing...

Nissan Patrol: Australian Review

So you want to know what you're missing, huh?

Well, take a gander at this Australian review of the current model of the Patrol. While many Nissan enthusiasts here Stateside hunger for these vehicles crying "Why oh, why won't you bring those turbo diesel, solid axle vehicles over here!!", perhaps they are not all they are cracked up to be.

For sure the Patrol is incredible off-road. The review makes no mistake about that but does take issue with its lack of fuel economy and poor engine performance in relation to other, similar offerings such as the LandCruiser, Land Rover and others. And that's where the issue lies given the high cost of the Patrol. You can get a vehicle with the same or more engine performance and reliability plus better mileage plus more fancy schmancy options for the same or less money.

Given how long it has been since the Patrol has been updated this is not surprising. Still, the idea of a solid axle throwback is a tempting one as the Patrol's drivetrains is one of the most enviable in the world of offroading--Nissan Motorsports of South Africa routinely took the axles and differentials out of Patrols and swapped them underneath their Navara (Frontier) race vehicles that they sold around the world for various Dakar and other offroad efforts.

If the Patrol were here in the U.S. it would need to be far less costly and far more "civilized" to be marketable, and thats just not going to happen. So my reccomendation? Save up some coin and buy yourself a mid 60's Patrol...or buy an Xterra and SAS it...either way, its a heck of a lot cheaper and you'll get more out of it...
Australian review of current Patrol...

Whipping Star by Frank Herbert: A Book Review...

Phew...OK now that's done. So I have completed going through the three Frank Herbert books given to my by my father three months ago. You can go back through my posts to find my reviews of both Under Pressure and Hellstrom's Hive and discover my dislike for each.

Not the case with this one.

Still suffering Herbert's penchant for leaving too much to the imagination and lack of explanation to numerous key plot devices and integral objects/theories, Whipping Star benefits from focusing on a central character (in this case Jorj McKie) and developing the reader's care and understanding of him. Herbert also doesn't spend much time "inside the head" of characters other than McKie, leaving one feeling connected to and actually being interested in, him—something sorely lacking from those two previous novels.

Whipping Star also creates a world (universe really) that is odd enough to really wow the reader with his obvious imaginative abilities and yet familiar enough that one doesn't feel he's being weird just for the sake of being weird. Herbert still doesn't spend enough time detailing the physical attributes and characteristics of the distinct species but there is enough that you don't feel like you are missing too much.

While the plot leaves holes in it large enough to drive a Death Star through (are all star's Calebans?? Are all Calebans stars?) it follows a fairly predictible crime solving path in which McKie has to figure out a way to solve a problem and in turn save every living being in the universe (!!) to a predictable finish.

Though there is nothing huge here to knock one's socks off, it is a respectable, interesting read from a supposed master of scifi...just wish I could say the same regarding the other two books of his I spent time on...

Incredible 370Z From Japan...

Now I'm not normally a fan of much of anything appearing in Super Street magazine (except perhaps the silicone enhanced eye candy appearing in most issues) but this build rises far above the usual giant wing, TapOut fan, Fast and Furious wannabe garbage that is usually seen.

In fact, the designer and builder of this vehicle can't stand drifting and other such circus-show motorsports. This build is all "go" and no "show" as it should be with form following function. With a target of outperforming a Porsche GT3, this Nissan is a beast...a shame we don't have more builders like this on our side of the Pacific...

Super Street article on Nissan 370z...

Four Wheeler Magazine: Headers on Project Mega Titan

In what has got to be one of the longest running, most successful and most in-depth Nissan builds ever taken on by a major publication, Project Mega Titan soldiers on. This time Four Wheeler magazine is adding some Stillen headers and more. Funny, but headers are some of the simplest mods ever done to this truck which features rear steer and a solid axle. Keep it up Four Wheeler!!

Project Mega Titan: Stillen Headers...

Fiberwerx New Frontier Bedsides and Titan Front Clip Conversion...

So Fiberwerx has come through like no one else for the Nissan community. Taking an idea and running with it despite the small market (in comparison to Fords, Toyotas and Chevys) that Nissan offers.

What you see above and below is the fiberglass rear bedsides offering a 6 inch bulge and also the front, 1-piece clip that is designed to convert the front of the Frontier to look like the Titan. In order to complete the look you will need to replace your stock Frontier headlights with Titan ones.

Never fear however, if you don't want to do the full conversion or want a less expensive option, Fiberwerx is releasing their fiberglass front fender replacements for the Frontier in the next month as well.

I already have the rear bedsides on order as of last Monday for my NismoStuff race vehicle and will have them painted white to match my Fronty. I cannot wait as I personally think it looks incredible. My decision now is whether to go with the front clip or just the front fenders.

Decisions, decisions...

The front clip is visible and available on the Fiberwerx site now with the front fenders coming soon...

Fiberwerx...

Off-Road.com: RIP...

And so it comes to pass...The end of an era.

Advanstar Communications has decided to pull the plug on Off-Road.com. It will cease operations at the end of December with all remaining employees to be released in early January. What was started over 15 years ago by Pattie Waters and her husband and perhaps possessing the single most valuable web address in the world of off-road media will come to an end.

Always an odd-duck within the Advanstar portfolio of companies (fashion, doctors, healthcare), the off-road market was something I don't think they ever got a handle on how to operate properly. Hell, as they tried reworking and reworking their strategy in regards to off-road.com at the emphasis went from "We have to have forums!!", to "We have to have video!!", to "We have to have girls in skimpy outfits!!" and as a last gasp this past fall—"We have to do social media!!"...I knew the end was near with this final attempt, I mean, what were they looking to do here?? Tweet about the latest trail? the latest off-road results? Even the biggest and best companies in the world have yet to figure out how to monetize social media in any sort of relevant way, so why did Advanstar think they could do it with off-road?

I think even the Advanstar management realized this in the last few weeks and finally just threw their hands up in the air and said "That's it...we quit..."

How smart does this development make Jim Ryan, Marty Fiolka and the rest of the crew over at Dirt Sports make? Less than a year ago they bought Dirt Sports out from under the Advanstar banner and set off on their own course. While still sharing some employees and some advertising, Dirt Sports is its own viable (I believe) entity, driven and purchased by a dedicated group of enthusiasts. They don't appear to be trying to grow themselves too big or too quickly—they know where their expertise lies, they focus on it, and they don't seem to care if others don't "get it". Well done to them.

Where this development leaves Advanstar's other Off-Road businesses (Off-Road Expo, Off-Road Impact) is up to debate, as is the remainder (2 Wheel Tuner, etc.) of Advanstar's other motorsports businesses. Also unknown is what is to happen to the over 15 years of data, reviews, articles, advice, results and more that is contained within the Off-Road.com archives. Does Advanstar just wipe the servers clean, seeing no use for the old data or do they sell it all off (along with the off-road.com URL) to an interested third party?

Now at a cheap enough price I could see Dirt Sports management buying it up and using it all as a platform off of which to run a Dirt Sports website—supposedly in development for nearly a year now but with little/nothing visible to show for it. Now, does the Jim Ryan Communications Group have ANY interest in running an online site or do they just want to stick with what they do best and make sure they run their magazine as best they can?

There is something to be said for being small, agile and focused. Off-Road.com perhaps failed to succeed in part because it tried to be everything to everybody. It tried to cover events, provide product reviews, give a forum to enthusiasts, support off-road conservation efforts, and ran articles about darn near EVERYTHING in the off-road world (snowmobiles, motorcycles, UTVs, rock crawlers, rally racing, desert racing, etc.)—it just spread itself too thin, never becoming the "go to" site for any one group.

Finally I'd like to thank the people at Off-Road.com, specifically Pattie Waters and Josh Burns for giving me my first step into the world of online off-road journalism/opinion and in part (ironically) resulting in this site and post today.

Harpoon Winter Warmer: Second Worst Beer Ever??

Holy cow...I am a fairly varied beer drinker rarely buying the same brand or style of beer twice so I have at least a decent range of experience to fall back on though certainly wouldn't call myself a "beer connoisseur" or anything. Still, this beer was bad enough for me to rank it behind only Sam Adams Scotch Ale in terms of complete undrinkability. I had picked up a sixer of this beer anticipating something similar to the Sam Adams winter ale—a heavier beer with a decent bite but still consumable.

Wow was I wrong. This beer is overpowered by the cinnamon and nutmeg used within it so that drinking it tastes like you have overturned your spice rack and began licking the mixed mess off the counter. Truly, little of a true "beer" flavor comes through—which was also the problem with the Scotch Ale. This is yet another beer where the attempt to create a "unique" beer has overridden any thoughts of the end user. Don't bother with this beer unless you need to remind your friends that not all results of the increase in craft brewing over the past two decades have been beneficial.

Bully Dog On Board as Third Partner!!

As of today 12/10, NismoStuff Racing is now partnered with Bully Dog!

A leader in electronic components and software to improve the performance of both gasoline and diesel engines, Bully Dog makes a range of products for Nissan vehicles including both the NismoStuff racing Frontier and my wife's Altima as they use the same engine just tuned slightly different.

Over the coming months I will be using the Bully Dog Triple Dog GT Gas Gauge Tuner with both the racing Frontier and the Altima and reporting back on its benefits and capabilities. Feel free to visit me at any race or at my home (I can give directions) if you wish to see the product in person or try it out for yourself!!

Thank you Bully Dog for the partnership!!

Bully Dog!

Bully Dog Triple Dog GT Gas Gauge Tuner!

Last of the Old School Pics...

Alfie Cox Ready to Take On El-Dakaro II

So there will be at least one South African built and prepped Navara at this year's Dakar. Alfie Cox, a South African better known for his Dakar efforts on a bike will be driving this Navara under the management of Glynn Hall despite his move to Toyota motorsports in '10. Given his experience and obvious drive to succeed he may be Nissan's best hope for a quality finish along with Team Overdrive's Krzysztof Holowczyk.
Alfie Cox Prepping for El-Dakaro II...

Chris Palermo Takes Group-2 at Seed 9 Rally...

Congrats to Chris Palermo and his co-dog Richie Burden for taking the Group-2 win at this past weekends Seed-9 Rally out in Jean, NV with his Sentra SE-R. With the win Chris also takes home the season championship in the California Rally Series having won 4 out of the six rounds of rally racing that he entered in '09. Well done Chris!!

California Rally Series...

Chris Palermo Rally Team...

New Long Travel Pathfinder/Hardbody Option...

Another update from my buddy Martin Islas down in Baja doing some great work. These are his new long travel control arms that he has fabbed up and is using on his Pathfinder and will be available for the Hardbody as well. The link below is to one of his posts regarding there development—though it will help if you use Google translate or the like if you don't speak Spanish. The second link is for his fab company Baja-Fab.com.

LT LCA development...

Baja-Fab

Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer: A Book Review...

Yup, its getting to be winter time and combine that with actual time available to me at lunch to sit down and read, well, I'm getting through a number of books lately.

This one I picked out of my own accord due to my enjoyment of Krakauer's previous works (Into Thin Air, Into the Wild, Eiger Dreams, and Under the Banner of Heaven). While Krakauer's most recent work to this (UTBOH) was the weakest of all his prior works (an encyclopedic history of the Morman religion but without a compelling storyline to tie the book together) I was sufficiently enthralled by his early works to eagerly anticipate this read.

Unfortunately, the farther Krakauer gets away from his true calling and expertise (climbing, outdoors, adventure) the worse his works get.

I will say that I learned a SINGLE new item about Pat Tillman in this book. Tillman was killed by a fellow U.S. soldier and by a SAW (squad automatic weapon) that uses the same caliber rounds that a standard M16 or M4 does. If anything, I hope, that this book does SOMETHING to dispell any conspiracy theories about Tillman's death that remain out there.

Cause sure as hell, it doesn't enlighten much else...

It covers the boilerplate Tillman background—scrappy guy from middleclass family who succeeded as an underdog in a brutally competitive sport who gives up a wealthy and famous career to enlist in the Army shortly after 9/11. The book does go a bit more into Tillman's high school and college career but gives extremely short shrift to his time in Ranger school. Additionally, Krakauer spends scores of pages going over the Jessica Lynch incident and another friendly fire incident in which an A-10 fired on a number of soldiers during the Second Iraq War in order to show that the military is consistently responsible for covering up or intentially miss-reporting incidents in order to portray itself in a more favorable light.

Tell me something I don't know Jon...

To imply that the Bush administration is the only one to have perverted battlefield facts to serve its own end (which is what Krakauer does, regardless of whether he states it directly or not) is juvenile (Bay of Pigs Jon? or perhaps the targeting of a milk factory in Sudan and empty training camps in Afghanistan?—which he does mention but fails to mention the Clinton administration's false claims of a vital blow to Al Queda) and is one of numerous incidents throughout the book where Krakauer uses his pen to target Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney et al. for what appears to be some sort of personal vendetta.

Sorry Jon, but that ship has sailed. Bush and crew are now gone and have been attacked ad nauseum for some time. You are not bringing anything new to the table here and only rehashing the left's continued attacks (in some cases not unwarranted but hardly new and not worthy of $20+ of my money). What's more is that these personal attacks get in the way of any kind of information that Krakauer might have gleaned from his years and years (supposedly) of research into Tillman as a person.

Tillman is an incredibly varied and interesting person containing numerous contradictions and valued characteristics—not the least of which were his desires for truth, justice, honor and fidelity. He would turn in his grave to know that he was used by the Right as a propoganda piece for their agenda and would turn over again as he is now used by the Left as a propoganda tool for theirs.

He deserves better. Someday he might get it. Just not today.

Under Pressure (or Dragon in the Sea) by Frank Herbert: a Book Review...

Again, as a gift from my father a few months back, I felt compelled to give this novel a chance despite my dissapointment in Hellstrom's Hive also reviewed here some time ago. Like HH, Under Pressure was originally titled somethine else (The Dragon in the Sea) when it was printed bit by bit in a SciFi magazine over a period of time. The book combines all these seperate pieces into a single tome.

As with HH, I came away from UP thinking "This is one of the supposed masters of SciFi??"

First off, its not SciFi at all but speculative fiction in that it mearly takes place a few years in the future (from its publication date in 1956) where oil has become extremely hard to find and the United States is locked in a bitter war with the (ostensibly) Soviet Bloc for what little remains. In order to meet its demands the U.S. sends out nuclear powered subs to drain secret undersea wells that have been located in Soviet held waters. Not a bad premise for a decent story—again, not unlike HH.

Like HH however, Herbert goes nowhere with the story. Sure the nuclear sub travels across the Atlantic, gets its oil and returns, all while facing this or that enemy patrol, nuclear reactor that falls over (???), an unknown spy on board and an unstable captain at the helm...Whooopie...Of course this is Herbert so one can hardly tell that there is a story going on underneath all the mumbo-jumbo made up words, terms, phrases, etc. that he uses to "describe" the internal workings of the sub and its crew. Herbert fails to describe in ANY detail virtually ANYTHING. Using his made up words that SOUND like something descriptive but aren't to try and convey a sense of importance to the reader as in "Johnny moved the critical widgetizer to the left which kept the hot nanofargin from causing the reactor to melt down!!" Wow...color me unamused. Thank goodness I've only been reading Herberts shorter stories and not been weighed down by his epic (and assuredly empty) creation Dune. Skip the book and watch The Hunt for Red October again. You'll be much better off...

The First Real Mod to the Nismo Stuff Racer...

Yup...and couldn't be happier. It is clean looking, not over done, it stands out and conforms nicely to the original theme of the vehicle without being an exact copy. In the long run the blue will extend forward over the lower front fender and backward over the rear as well, just as it did on the mid 80's factory Nissans, there was just no point in doing so at this point as those fenders and rear panels are going to be replaced with fiberglass in the relatively near future. Let me know what you think—Good, bad or indifferent. Its got a LOOOONG way to go before it is the vehicle I want it to be and racing in the series I want it to, but this is at least some small (very small) start...Oh, and it is done on both sides, I just took pics of the passenger side as it was better lit in my garage...

Thanks for his excellent work MUST go out to Jeremy at Redline Rally who came over tonight after his day job to do this incredible work. Truly an artist with an exacto knife, a spray bottle and some vinyl. I can't thank him and Redline Rally enough!! Redline Rally!!