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WRESTLERS PINNED
In a large surprise in Funny Car, both Jerry Toliver in the XFL car
and nitro debutante Tony Bartone in the WWF "the Rock" Camaro got drilled
in round one. Both lost in close heats, especially Bartone who was edged
out by low e.t. guy Tommy Johnson Jr. on a 4.97 to 4.99 count. Not the
way the WWF wanted to start, but, to this pair of eyes, their effort
was one helluva lot better than the Vince McMahon-created XFL. Was that
dreadful. I'd have been better off watching operations on Animal Planet
than this non-event. I watched two quarters of the Las Vegas Outlaws/New
York-New Jersey Hitmen game, and couldn't make it to the finish. Why?
The teams can't play pro level football ... period. The teams played
about on par with maybe, and I stress 'maybe' .. Ivy League ball. There
was little of the much-ballyhooed pop in the interviews, (and what was
telecast was lame with a capital "L"), and the highly touted cheerleaders
didn't crease my slacks any more than say the Dallas Cowgirls. Now Chyna
or Trish Stratus. might be a different deal, but… what am I saying?
Ref, stop the fight. (CM)
INTERVIEWS
If nothing else, the new ESPN Speed World coverage of the races improved
in the announcer's deck. As stated in this month's Off the Track, their
factoids were informative and relevant to what was going on. Moreover,
the sense of timing in interviews was good. Interviewing Darrell Russell's
parents, sticking with Joe Amato during eliminations, interviewing Jim
Walsh after Russell won, knowing the fact that Amato won his first NHRA
title in his 13th race whereas Russell got his in his first ... the
boys did their homework. Marty Reid, the booth announcer, also got off
the best line I've heard in terms of describing a holeshot to the fans:
when Ron Capps pushed Don Prudhomme's Skoal car past John Lawson in
the Lucas Oil Funny Car in round one, 5.919 to 5.914, he said of Lawson,
"Now he knows how Al Gore felt." (CM)
WHO'S DARRELL RUSSELL?
"I feel like I've been in college football and now am the first-round
draft choice of the Dallas Cowboys." That's how Darrell Russell summed
up his feelings about being named to fill Joe Amato's seat in the Valvoline/Keystone
Automotive dragster. He proved he was up to the task with his first
national event win at Pomona. But, where did he come from?
The 32-year-old from Hockley, Texas moved up from sportsman competition
where he was a four-time Division 4 champion (1994, 1996, 1998, 1999)
and had 20 divisional event wins. He also had seven Federal-Mogul class
national victories, including the 1997 U.S. Nationals. He started racing
in Super Comp dragsters in 1988 and stepped up to Top Alcohol in 1991.
He was named Division Four Driver of the Year three times and was a
six-time F-M All-Star.
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