Tuesday, November 26, 2013

The Mystery Keeper First Years

Now that NASCAR's over, I'll focus on my life for a few posts, tell my full story. I was born on November 2, 1989 at 9:53 pm. My mom had contractions starting that evening and then had to have a C-section that night because I had fetal distress, which means my heartbeat was dropping. The umbilical chord was all tangled because I'd somersaulted over the amniocentesis needle.  I guess I didn't like it. I was 5 pounds, 15 ounces and was 18 1/2 inches long. I had trouble nursing and my weight went down to 5-4, maybe due to my near-term status, since I was born at 37 weeks. I was supposed to be a Thanksgiving baby, but came shortly before election day instead.  Many light skinned babies have blue eyes, but my mom says I always had brown eyes. I had dark brown baby hair and was dark looking, just olive.  I lightened up in a few weeks, though.  I also grew in this time, but I looked so little to my mom in my first six weeks of life. At that age (6 weeks), I was 10-8. I also got my first cold at that age. I learned to do things within normal age range as a baby, crawled at 6 months, sat at 7 months, talked at 10 months and walked at one year.

I was a hyperactive toddler, but my mom read to me, as that was a way to keep me still. I liked being read to and the rest of the time, I played and got into everything. I played with my toys, outside with my swing set and sandbox and went to playgrounds.  I had a lot of ear infections at 2. I also got banged up legs at times and bumped my head bad on my parents bedroom doorway when I ran into it. I burned my elbow once and my hand on the snow blower muffler at 3 as well I had cognitive abilities at this age. I could count to 10 at two and knew my colors, letters and shapes while still a toddler. I didn't know how to eat chips until I was 3, though, I think. I tried to eat them with a fork but my dad set me straight. I was potty trained at 3 years 5 months because I cried on the potty before that. That fall, at 3 almost 4 I started preschool and watching PBS. Next time, I'll tell of my time there and if I feel I need to for length, go into early elementary years.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Homestead weekend See you next year NASCAR

Hey everyone! The NASCAR season may be over but this blog will still go on. I have other facets to me and will use the next three months to show that. But for now, my take on the final race weekend's the thing.

Friday was the Truck race. Matt Crafton, by 40 points ahead of Ty Dillon clinched the Trucks championship, though he finished 21st. Kyle Busch was the winner with 62 laps led. Pole-sitter Ryan Blaney was second with 87 laps led, followed by Jeb Burton, Brendan Gaughn and Ron Hornady, Jr. Rounding out the top ten were John Wes Towley, German Qurioga, Ross Chastain with 2 laps led, Timothy Peters and Cale Gale.  The Rookie of the Year is Ryan Blaney. Ty Dillon is Most Popular Driver.

Saturday was the Nationwide race.  Brad Keselowski was the winner with 25 laps led.  Kyle Larson was second with 54 laps led. Kyle Busch was third with 29 laps led. Matt Kenseth was fourth with  nine laps led followed by Trevor Bayne. Rounding out the top ten were Joey Logano with 37 laps led, Parker Kligerman,  pole-sitter Sam Hornish, Jr. with 37 laps led, Cole Whitt and Nelson Piquet, Jr. The Rookie of the Year is Kyle Larson and Austin Dillon is champion. Regan Smith is Most Popular Driver.

Sunday was the Cup race.  Denny Hamlin was the winner with 72 laps led. Matt Kenseth, the pole-sitter was second with 144 laps led. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was third with  38 laps led, followed by Martin Truex, Jr. and Clint Bowyer. Rounding out the top-ten were Brad Keselowski with nine laps led, followed by Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick, who led eight laps. The Rookie of the Year is Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and Jimmie Johnson clinched his sixth championship. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is Most Popular Driver.

Many teams will see changes next year. Martin Truex, Jr. moves the Furniture Row Racing and Kurt Busch will join Stewart-Haas Racing along with Kevin Harvick. Ryan Newman moves to Richard Childress Racing. Austin Dillon moves up to the Cup with RCR. His younger brother, Ty replaces him in the Nationwide. A. J. Allmendinger will be full-time with JTG Daughtry Racing.  Jeff Burton will be part-time somewhere. Bobby Labonte's plans are unknown. Mark Martin and Ken Schrader will no longer NASCAR race, though Schrader will dirt-track race. Mike Kelley and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. will reunite as Kelley moves up to the Cup to be Stenhouse's crew chief. Trevor Bayne and his one-time crew chief Chad Norris will reunite as well. Scott Graves will be Chris Buescher's crew chief. All else you can look up if you want.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Phoenix weekend

Hey there folks! The Trucks, Nationwide and Cup just raced in Phoenix. Here's my take on what happened in the desert.

Friday was the Truck race. Erik Jones won it with 84 laps led and became the youngest Truck race winner. Ross Chastain the pole sitter finished second and led 63 laps. Brendan Gaughan was third with three laps led. Ty Dillon was fourth. Rounding out the top ten were Matt Crafton, Cale Gale, Ryan Blaney, Jonny Sauter, James Buescher and Chase Elliot. John Wes Townley, Ron Hornady, Jr, Miguel Padulo as well as J. J Yeley and D.J. Kennington were all in accidents that end their days.  Brian Silas had engine issues on lap ten, which ended his race.

Saturday was the Nationwide race. Kyle Busch, the pole led 169 laps and won the race. Justin Allgaier was second with 17 laps led. The rest of the top ten were Austin Dillon, Regan Smith,  Sam Hornish, Jr. Matt Kenseth, Trevor Bayne, who led 6 laps, Elliot Sadler, Kevin Harvick and Ryan Blaney. Joe Nemechek had to go to the garage with engine issues on lap 171, which ended his day.  Kyle Larson and Kevin Swindell each had accidents that ended their race on lap 156 and 148 respectively.

Sunday was the Cup race. Kevin Harvick won the race with 70 laps led. Kasey Kahne was second with  41 laps led. Pole sitter Jimmie Johnson was third with 1 lap led. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was fourth with two laps led. Rounding out the top ten were Kurt Busch, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, who led 33 laps and Ryan Newman who led 31 laps. Brad Keselowski was eleventh with 27 laps led.  Greg Biffle finished 13 with one lap led. Jeff Gordon was 14th with 49 laps led. Eighteenth place finisher Jamie McMurray also led one lap. Carl Edwards was 21st with 36 laps led.  David Gilliland, the 24th place finisher led 2 laps.  Denny Hamlin was 28th after leading 18 laps.  Reed Sorenson and Joe Nemechek had blown engines on laps 266 and 193 respectively. David Reutimann and Cole Whitt had accidents on laps 187 and 142, respectively.  Travis Kvapil had a blown engine on lap 129.

 On a sad note, Trevor Bayne revealed he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis but will still race, which is less sad.  He takes no medication and has no symptoms right now with diet and exercise.  We can only hope and pray this lasts. The disease can be slow progress, which means he could have close to a full career. He's a devout Christian and shares his testimony, which may be why someone called him a motivational speaker.  He faces this new challenge with the optimism and strong will we've seen in him throughout the years. I've been a fan of his since Palm Sunday 2011, but watched him earlier that year. Kelly Sutton also raced with MS, including NASCAR Trucks 2003-2007.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Texas Weekend

Hey everyone! NASCAR just raced in Texas,  Camping World Truck Series, Nationwide and Sprint Cup all were racing this time. 

Friday was the Truck race. Ty Dillon was the winner and led 130 laps. Johnny Sauter was second, Ron Hornaday, Jr. was third, Brendan Gaughan was fourth and Justin Loftin was fifth with three laps led. James Buescher, who led two laps, Darrell Wallace, Jr., Miguel Paludo, John Wes Townley and Matt Crafton rounded out the top ten.  Pole sitter Jeb Burton was 26th after running out of fuel. Kyle Busch led 2 laps, but had a blown engine on lap 96, so his day was over then.

Saturday was the Nationwide race.  Brad Keselowski was the winner and led 106 laps. Denny Hamlin was second with 45 laps led, Sam Hornish, Jr. was third with two laps led, Matt Kenseth was fourth with 42 laps led and Austin Dillon was fifth with two laps led. Rounding out the top ten were  Regan Smith, Elliot Sadler, Brian Scott, Kyle Larson and Brad Sweet. Pole-sitter Alex Bowman was 18th after leading three laps.  Jeff Green, filling in for Eric McClure who sat out this race for a medical issue was 27th.

Sunday was the Cup race. Race winner Jimmie Johnson dominated with 255 laps led. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was second, Joey Logano was third with one lap led, Matt Kenseth was fourth with three laps led and Kasey Kahne was fifth.  Rounding out the top ten were Brad Keselowski in sixth after leading 30 laps, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman in ninth after two laps led and Clint Bowyer Pole-sitter Carl Edwards led 38 laps before a blown engine on lap 187 relegated him to 37th.

Monday, November 4, 2013

About me and why I made this blog

Introducing me! Also some of my thoughts on what this blog is about. I was diagnosed with Asperger's in 1994 and first watched a car race on TV no later than 1997. I turned 24 the Saturday before I wrote this.  Asperger's is a form of autism and people who are autistic can like to watch car races due a fascination with letters and numbers or it may be sensory. The sensory reasons could be the colors of the cars, since some of the autistic are drawn to bright objects or the sounds of a race on TV, since certain sounds can draw the autistic or repetitive movement, as the autistic can like to watch spinning objects.  I took a technical writing class in college and have written some NASCAR fan fiction. My mom, though not a big sports was curious about my stories and says I write like a reporter. She also said I could write a blog, at a different time. I read blogs by other females with Asperger's and Granny Grump's race blog on catchfence.com which is how I got inspired. Music, car races, mainly NASCAR and autism are my big interests now. I also like animals, my favorite being cats. Cat love is common amongst Aspies. I like to read and do crossword and Sudoku puzzles. Puzzle love's common amongst the autistic I've read. I'll blog at least once every week.
 The Aspie life label refers to posts about things in my life/non-NASCAR interests.