Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Welcome

Now that you’ve found your way to Jonesin’ for Speed, let me tell you about myself and what I hope this blog will become. I am a newspaper reporter for the Observer-Reporter and cover municipal government in the northern part of Washington County, Pa. But my passion outside of work is motorsports.

I’ve followed racing since attending the Pepsi 400 at Daytona in 1993 and instantly became hooked. As NASCAR fans can attest, you never truly understand the sport until you go to a race.

At that year’s Firecracker 400, Ernie Irvan sat on the pole and Dale Earnhardt won the race, although sadly, neither is still racing. Irvan suffered major injuries Aug. 20, 1999, after a crash at Michigan – his second near-fatal accident at the track in five years. Earnhardt died Feb. 18, 2001, when he crashed in the final turn of the Daytona 500 (it’s hard to imagine he’s been gone for seven years).

NASCAR has changed drastically over the past decade and not always for the better. This blog will rant about those changes and what’s happening during the season. This blog also will cover the weekly events at the area’s short tracks. I encourage you to e-mail me your thoughts on the racing season, tips for stories at the local tracks or column ideas.

Thanks for visiting and enjoy.


6 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Amanda Gillooly said...

Mr. Jones,
Even though I hate NASCAR, I like reading your blog because it helps me get me "learn on," as they say. Maybe I'll be able to glean some knowledge about the sport that everyone seems to dig but me. I have a thick skull, so here's hoping, righ?

MJ said...

Here's hoping this blog attracts new people like you to the sport. Glad you didn't snore your way through my race recap.

Scott said...

Welcome to the blogosphere Mike. It's a great idea to bring NASCAR fans to our Web site.

Anonymous said...

I am so glad that someone is finally going to discuss my favorite sport. I agree that you have to go to a race to actually get the full experience of NASCAR. I was very disappointed on Friday that the only thing mentioned about the duals on Thursday was that Jarret made it in to the 500. I couldn't find out who won the second dual anywhere in the paper or online.

Anonymous said...

hey Mike..cool blog.
glad to see someone covering racing in Washington county.
need any help or any questions on local racing answered drop me a line.I'd be glad to help.
racer67x@zoominternet.net