Chad on Sirius Speedway

Chad was just on Sirius XM Radio's program Sirius Speedway with Dave Moody. I apologize for not knowing about this ahead of time, but you can hear the replay at 12:00 am ET tonight on channel 128 (hey, what better way to start your new year, right?).

Definitely tune in if you can - it was funnier than heck! So much so that I put a few new quotes in the Quotes post, so go check out the bottom of the page (but above the Miscellaneous section) for those. Seriously, how can you not love the guy?

(Speaking of things I heard on the radio, I went ahead and deleted the post about Jimmie possibly becoming a father since I haven't heard anything else about it, and I don't want to seem to be starting rumors. I'll keep you posted if anything more comes of it, though.)

Blast from the Past: Dover Edition

Since I just started this blog in October, that means we only have Chad pics from Kansas through Homestead. And since the off-season is barely creeping along, I thought I'd liven up the place a little and post pictures from the rest of the 2009 season. Therefore, CKF proudly presents the "Blast from the Past" series! Today I'll be starting with Dover (one race before Kansas), and later on I'll be working backwards from there toward the beginning of the season. So, let's sally forth ever onward, shall we? (in other words, git-r-duuuuunn, lol)

AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway, 9/27/09

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have you ever noticed that they never get Chad in any of the pit road shots? Every once in a while I'll find one where it's like, "OMG, it's Chad leg!" and I'll get all excited, and then I realize, yeah, it's Chad's leg...and the rest is where? Tch, I swear, they should make me an official NASCAR photographer - I would focus on the important things! ;)

Speaking of photography, I finally bothered to upload the pics I took at the October Fontana race. I was sitting way up in the stands, but luckily I was down toward turn 1, so I could see the 48 lined up near the front before the race started. Hoping to get lucky, I got out my camera, stuck 'er on super-zoom, and just starting clicking away, trying to maybe catch Chad giving the car a last-minute look. And guess what? I DID!! Sure, he's only somewhat larger than an ant in the pictures, but hey, he's there (and I think JPM's randomly in one of them, too)! I'll have to post them just for grins one of these days... Maybe I can do like a "My NASCAR Year in Pictures" thing or something; I have pics from when I went to see the 48 show car in Irvine and Jimmie himself in Santee, too. I'll see if I can't cook something up like that...

HBO Special Preview: WITH CHAD!!

Well! Just when I think there's nothing new to write about, and I resort to complete BS-ing, something seriously cool pops up! This is a preview of HBO's 24/7: Jimmie Johnson Race to Daytona series, and this time, IT HAS CHAD!! In a big way! Thank you, HBO!

24/7 Jimmie Johnson Race To Daytona: In The Pit With Knaus & Crew

I have no idea what anybody in the video's saying yet because I left my headphones in the car once again, but doods, are there some seriously badass shots of Chad in there or what?! Hehe, in that one part (about 0:36) he looks like he's in a staring contest with Clint Eastwood and Dale Sr. - and holding his own, too! Gosh, they even got Ron Malec (whose name they totally misspelled) to talk! Oh, this is going to be good!

News Round-Up

The NASCAR.com staff named Jimmie Johnson their Driver of the Year today, and Cup Driver of the Year on Saturday. For the overall Driver of the Year award, 6 out of the 8 writers voted for Jimmie, and the other 2 voted for Kyle Busch (I agree he deserves at least a nod). Jimmie, Jimmie, Jimmie...I know, sorry, but Chad just ain't in the spotlight at the moment. Where are the Crew Chief of the Year Awards, dammit?! Maybe it's too obvious who would win...still, the gesture would be much appreciated!

I thought this was a great quote from an article by Dorothy Nobis at the Farmington Daily Times, who was pondering what to get her favorite drivers for Christmas:

"So, Jimmie gets our best wishes for Christmas on accounta he has everything else. I was gonna give Chad Knaus my telephone number for Christmas, but I got this really nasty note from his attorney that told me to 'cease and desist' or he'd havta get yet another restraining order and my parole officer says if I get one more restraining order against me, they'll have enough to wallpaper the rotunda in the White House. Whatever." (Full article)

Gee, that's funny, I got one of those, too! Apparently sending multiple fruitcakes to "C. Knaus, c/o Hendrick Motorsports, Concord, NC" is frowned upon by the authorities. Bummer. But I'm just kidding, of course...I mean, nobody would send fruitcakes to somebody they like! Muahaha, and you thought I was going to say I was kidding about the restraining order(s)! *creepy stalker music plays, lightning flashes*

Moving on, Bleacher Report has some nice things to say about Chad (halfway down the page) in this article about the 48's success. Frankly, I just like the part where the author calls Kyle Busch "the Lady Gaga-like figure of the sport," lol (I like Kyle, but that's funny right there, I don't care who y'are). I could see Kyle wearing random pointy objects on his head pre-race, just to mess with everybody's minds...in fact, I'd thoroughly approve if he did, because I relish every opportunity the drivers get to mock the media (which is ironic because in a way, I kind of am part of the media now...a not-so-significant part, granted, but at least I don't ask drivers, "What happened?" when clearly the answer is that they crashed, you moron).

And for those of us going through Chad withdrawal, here's a couple of videos from Homestead to get your recommended daily intake in.

• Chad on NASCAR Now after the Homestead race (woohoo, I was so bummed because I missed this when it was on TV! I'm going to go watch it myself right now!)
• Post-Race Interview from the media center at Homestead
  

Speedweeks Schedule Out/Bud Shootout Rules Change/Merry Christmas!

Even though the Daytona 500 isn't until the middle of February, technically, it's only like a month (give or take a few days) until the 2010 season begins if you count Speedweeks!!

2010 Speedweeks Schedule (NASCAR.com)

I wasn't sure if I could make it until the 14th, but the 4th seems doable...just gotta get through January! You know, January just isn't a whole lot of fun, is it? It's still cold, but Christmas is over, so there's no eggnog or nice, bright green and red decorations to lift your spirits, and then when you add in the lack of NASCAR with no holidays to distract you, it probably qualifies for my least favorite month. Well, thankfully we've still got Christmas to go, so we're not quite to the depths of despair phase yet, but once we get there, just think: only one more month until our first Chad sighting of 2010!

Merry Christmas, everybody! I lied, I did have time to stick a couple of hats on Chad and Jimmie, so here's wishing you an awesome happy holidays from CKF!

Edit: Thought this would be a good place to add that the eligibility rules for the Budweiser Shootout have changed once again, but of course the 48 still qualifies (fun fact: Jimmie would make it in under any one of the new qualifications except for "Coke Zero 400 Winner"...there ya go, guys, something to work on next year, along with total world domination, of course!). (Full story at Jayski.com)

The Chad: Now in Sandwich Form

Now that I've got you all yelling, "I'll take one of those!!!" I have to disappoint you and tell you it's not exactly what you're imagining. Here's the story... I was having lunch at Brian's American Eatery in Hillcrest (God I hope this doesn't show up in the Google search for it) the other day and couldn't help but notice a certain item on the menu:

Yep, despite the fuzzy picture (I'd blame it on the camera phone, but it's totally just my lack of skills), you're seeing right - the fourth sandwich down is named not just any old Chad, but The Chad! I don't think anyone there is a NASCAR fan, but I couldn't help but smile when I saw the name. I thought about asking for a side of Jimmie, but I don't need any more awkward stares than I already get on a day-to-day basis. So anyway, there you go, Chad: if you and Jimmie ever get in a fight about who's cooler, you just ask Jimmie if he has a sandwich named after him.

Now, I have to admit, I'm kind of falling down on the job as a Chad fan because I have never tried The Chad (tee-hee...sorry, but there is a certain amount of wrongness in that statement that I just can't ignore). I love their tuna sandwich (listed as Jaws Jr., lol...at least they don't make you say stuff like "Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity" out loud) and their chicken and a waffle (yes, that's fried chicken...and a waffle...on the same plate) so much that every time I think, "Okay, THIS time I'm going to get The Chad," I cave in and get one of those (usually the tuna...gotta keep the fried stuff to a minimum) instead. I swear, next time I go there, I WILL try The Chad and report back on how it was.(*tries hard to suppress juvenile giggles, fails*...I am more and more relieved to hear he doesn't get on the Internet much.)

Oh, and in case you can't read it (sorry), here's the description:

"Golden chicken tenders, thin sliced ham and Swiss cheese on grilled thick sourdough. Served with a side of honey mustard dressing."

Doesn't sound too bad, does it? As long as the ham's good...

Off-Topic: Danica

Everybody and their mother has an opinion about Danica, and even though I know what they say opinions are like, I still feel the need to get this off my chest.

First off, I'm not going to talk about her image. You either like her or you don't, and that's none of my concern. As for my personal bias, I like her all right...I'm not a superfan, but I'm definitely not an Official Danica Hater by any means. What I want to address, though, are the people that either A) expect her to hop in the race car and win races immediately, or B) think she'll do horribly just because she's only ever won 1 race in IndyCar.

So let's talk about A... On one hand, I guess if I were her I would consider it a compliment that people expect her to get top 10 finishes and win races right off the bat, but as much as I would like to see that, too, I think it's unrealistic. Montoya has said stock cars are the most challenging race cars he's ever driven, so I'm going to take his word for it and not expect miracles out of Danica. I totally don't have a problem with her taking a couple of years to adjust to it, as long as she eventually does adjust and doesn't keep hanging on just because she has the sponsorship to do it (:cough:Hornish:cough:).

What I'm worried about is the people who DO expect her to have a Tony Stewart-esque rookie year, and if she only has an okay year, they'll be haranguing her worse than any other rookie ever got harangued. If she has an awful year, well then, let's call a spade a spade, but at that point I'll still say she deserves a second chance in 2011.

Now on to B: I can't stand it when people let her IndyCar stats influence how they think she's going to do next year. I know she's only ever won one race, and I have to admit I've thought to myself, "What's up with that, Ms. Superstar?" on a few occasions. I know it's harder to pass in open wheel cars, though, and that a zillion other things are different about them, so I find it really hard to pass judgment on her either way because her performance in IndyCars just doesn't translate at all to NASCAR. Bottom line, we'll all just have to wait and see what happens because there's no way to make a prediction about how she'll do based on the past. Period.

Ah, I feel so much better! Now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

JJ is AP's Male Athlete of the Year

There hasn't been much Chad news lately, but Jimmie was recently chosen for two pretty awesome awards, so what the heck, close enough.

First, Jimmie was named Driver of the Year by a panel of broadcasters and journalists for the third time (he also won in 2006 and 2007...who the heck won last year? ...oh, maybe Kyle. Whatever.). This is pretty cool because the driver can be chosen from any of the racing series in the U.S. and not just NASCAR.

Today, Jimmie was named Male Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press (story at NASCAR.com). Yep, you heard right, a stock car driver was named Athlete of the Year. Ha, take that, jerks who say NASCAR is not a sport! Ahem, anyway, Roger Federer (tennis) and Usain Bolt (track and field) were the closest runners-up. Congrats, Jimmie!

And here's your gratuitous Chad pic for the day, just to spread a little Christmas cheer:

I'll take that and a little mulled wine, and that's all I need for Christmas!

HBO Special Airs 1/26/10

From Facebook (too lazy to re-word it):

The groundbreaking HBO Sports Emmy-winning reality series 24/7 returns with its first non-boxing edition - 24/7 Jimmie Johnson: Race to Daytona. The four-part reality series airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT starting Jan. 26. Go behind the scenes and in the pits as the No. 48 Lowe's team revs up for the 2010 Daytona 500.

Here's the trailer (no Chad, bummer):

New Year's "Suggestions"

 Well! It’s December again already (I swear, didn’t we just DO Christmas? Heck, I’m still jazzed about the #48 winning 3 in a row, and here we are on 4 already!), which means it's about time to start making New Year's resolutions. To be honest, I hate making resolutions (what do you mean I can’t resolve to lose weight and to eat more cookies at the same time?!), so instead I thought I’d come up with a few ideas for Chad, the #48 team and NASCAR in general. Here goes:

• Drive for Five, beeyotches!: I apologize to any Jeff Gordon fans here, but even though he's technically Chad's boss and I appreciate him giving Jimmie his start, I’m not the hugest fan, so I’d love to see the #48 get to 5 championships before the #24 does, and all right in a row, too, just to really rub it in. (*dodges flying tomatoes*)
• Moar Chad adz plz k thx: I loved the "What are you doing, Jimmie?" ads so very much – keep up the good work, Lowe's! I've been missing that dancing Kasey Kahne ad all year this year (although I'm sure he doesn't, muahaha); don't make me have to pine for the Chad commercials all through 2010. Heyyyy, speaking of the KK ad, that gives me an idea! Dancing Chad, anyone? He did say Dancing with the Stars looked fun, after all. Pick a better song than "Rock You like a Hurricane" this time, though. Hmm...is "I'm Too Sexy" too obvious? ...Nahhhh!
• Hour-long NASCAR Performance: Because you can never have too much Chad! What's that you say? He has more to do on race weekends than sit around and shoot the breeze with Larry Mac? But this is educational! Not that I hear a word any of them are saying while Chad's on-screen, but once I watch it the second time around and concentrate, it's such an enlightening show! And this country is founded on Enlightenment principles, so you see, it would be un-American not to add another half hour to the show! It would also be un-American not to add Alan Gustafson to the line-up... Yeah, I can't think of a good excuse for that one, but I'm positive it's a true statement. Ooh, and if they wanted to be really patriotic, they could have some Ron Malec guest appearances! God, I love this country.
• Pick a Pit Crew Name: Kenseth's got the Killer Bees (which will be going away next year, bummer...now they'll have to be the Flying Purple People Eaters or something) and Biffle's got the Pit Bulls... If anyone else needs a title, it's our 4-time champs, don't you think? I myself have absolutely no ideas, though...unfortunately, I think I peaked at Flying Purple People Eaters.
• More of this sort of thing:
  

'Nuff said.

• Bring Back the Crew Chief Race: This SO needs to be an annual event! If you haven't seen it, here are the YouTube videos of the heat race and the feature event, which took place during the spring race weekend at Charlotte in 2007. No dice in 2008 or '09, but we gotta get this going again in 2010! I love the Saturday Night Special they have at Bristol, but this was even better. I was whoopin' and hollerin' like crazy the first time I saw the heat race when Chad pulled an Earnhardt and tried to put Alan Gustafson (I think it was Alan, anyway) into the grass. We definitely need a rematch! (And no souped-up equipment for Petree this time!)
  
• Chad Meet & Greet @ LVMS in February: Why? Because I will be there, of course!
  

Fast & Fab: Chad @ Champ Week Report

Well, all's pretty quiet on the Chad front, but not so quiet around here, I'm afraid...sorry for the hold-up getting you the picture you wanted!!  Here you go, finally! And I agree: I hope we get to see some of the footage from that camera! The "Video" section of his official website could use a bit of an update, hint hint!

And now for something completely different... Valli Hilaire, author of the awesome blog The Fast and the Fabulous (and generally cool-sounding person), was lucky enough to attend the Champion's Week festivities in Las Vegas, and while she was there, she was also lucky enough to meet the star of our little show here, Chad Knaus! I've never met Chad myself, so for me it's fun to hear other people's stories about meeting him and do a little vicarious living, therefore I thought I'd post Ms. Hilaire's account of the night so we can all do a little daydreaming:

Champion's Week in Vegas: The One Where I Had Some Drinks
(sounds like fun already, am I right?)

I have to say, I'm kind of relieved to hear that Chad doesn't spend much time on the Internet...that means he'll never find my insane ramblings, whew! I'm surprised that he was kind of surprised that he has his own fans, though...trust me, Chad, there are plenty of people out there who recognize excellence when they see it!

I agree with Valli on the Ron Malec issue... Yes, we think he's the hottest car chief in the business (not to mention the most talented one), but just as the writers at People don't ask Johnny Depp for a date when they come out with their 100 Sexiest Man Alive list every year, we too refrain from calling Hendrick Motorsports and asking to speak to a Mr. Ron Malec, please, about some very important business... Okay, so we can dream, right?!

New Article: What If

Writer David Dubczak talks about the X-Factor needed for a driver and crew chief to really get the chemistry flowing and make some on-track magic:

• Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus: Can They Win With Another Team? (Bleacher Report)

Cute quote:

"(And could you imagine being married to Chad Knaus? Re-grouting the tub every other week because it’s not smooth enough, constantly tearing apart the garage door opener to make the drivetrain more efficient, or running the family Impala out of gas one block from the driveway because he really thought they could make it? What about moving the baby seats around to redistribute the weight? Don’t even get me started on the lawnmower.)"

Well, I don't know, it doesn't sound so bad to me! ;)  Frankly, most garage doors could use a more efficient drivetrain, and I can tell you that Chad sure wouldn't be the first guy to overhaul his lawnmower - the difference is, Chad's would actually work (and work better) when he got done with it, instead of having a pile of "mystery parts" left over.

The running out of gas thing might be a problem, though... I'm a bit of a leadfoot myself (oops, almost typed "leadbutt"...that's not too far from the truth, either), so I wouldn't count on me to save any more fuel than Jimmie would (funny story about Michigan...Chad had a meeting with the chairman of Lowe's after the race, and after the meeting he gave Chad a little "gift": a big calculator with a miles per gallon chart on the back, hehe...no word of a lie).

Happy Holidays from The Chad

Chad Knaus wishes you (yes, you!) a very happy holiday season (Facebook video)

Aww, thanks, Chad! Happy Holidays/Merry Christmas/Happy New Year back to you, too! And for pete's sake, take a vacation, man! ...Psh, yeah right, he's probably been back at the shop already. Well, I can't blame him for doing what he loves.

I'd also like to take this moment to extend a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone who's been kind enough to read this blog. I really appreciate y'all putting up with my rambling and boosting my ego over the past three months, and all while getting to talk about something I love - Chad and NASCAR! Thanks, everybody!

------

And here's a bit of holiday cheer for you, while you're here... It's the end-of-year banquet set of LOLs from LOLdrivers:

TEH "JACKPOT! VIVA LA GIMMIE" BANQUET 09 (their title, not mine, lol)

Complete with two Chad jokes, hee hee. As someone pointed out in the comments, I think the Devil went down to Georgia a little too late...y'all stole Chad's soul years ago, remember? ;) And they totally missed the opportunity of a lifetime... They're always making fun of Francisco (aka Jimmie's beard), but they didn't say a darn thing about Chad's! Chad's beard wants a hot Latin nickname too, ya know! He has needs!

Video from the Stewies

Chad and Jimmie tell the "stair racing" story at the 2009 Stewie Awards. Is it just me, or is Chad really taking his time getting down those stairs? Tsk. ;) And, as always, he makes a thorough examination of the technical equipment before using it, hehe.

I'm not so sure about this slide show thing... I was using a much faster computer than usual when I made the first one, so now I find out it loads kinda slower than I wanted it to, plus it's a little more of a pain than I first thought, too. Maybe I'll just go back to having huge posts...I dunno.

2009 Banquet Photos

Well, I won't bore you with the details for once - I'll keep my speech short and would just like to thank Chad for another awesome year, and for NOT SHAVING!! at the ceremony, yessss! I wish they would have let him get up and say something, though...Rick Ren and Jason Ratcliff did!

I just learned how to make a slideshow! Whew, that'll save me a ton of time, and now my posts aren't ginormous (well, at least not due to jillions of pics...talking y'all to death is another story). I think you can still view/save the individual pics if you want; if you click on one, it takes you to the actual slide show site, and from there you can click on each pic, which puts it by itself, and then you can do the ol' right click to save thing.

Tell me what you think: better, worse, no difference? I can go back to the old way if this isn't working out for you guys.

Rackin' up awards already!

More congrats to Chad, who picked up the Championship Crew Chief Award at the NASCAR NMPA Myers Brothers Awards yesterday, and also won the Smokey Yunick Award for Best Engineering and Special Effects at the Stewie Awards last night.

I must say I'm a bit miffed that Chad didn't get the DirecTV Crew Chief of the Year Award at the Myers Brothers thing, but David Caraviello explained on NASCAR.com that "there were sponsor-driven awards that led to some rather curious winners" and named this award as one of them. To be fair, Darian Grubb, who did take the award, was one of the least curious winners on the curious winners list (Montoya, driver of the year? Jack Roush, problem solver of the year? Huh?), and he did do a pretty awesome job most of the year, so I'm only a little miffed.

Can't wait for the big banquet tonight! It starts at 9 pm ET (woo, that means 6 PT! Something finally worked out in my favor, ha!) and it's on SPEED. It looks like something NASCAR-related is on right before the big show, so set your DVR for that, too.

More pics! From the NMPA Myers Brothers Awards:

Stewie Awards:

Odds 'N' Ends

Chad Knaus was voted top crew chief by a panel of Cup drivers, crew chiefs, and owners in the magazine Sporting News (full story here). Congrats, dude! I totally would've taken their word for it without the big vote, but I appreciate the effort. Jimmie, of course, was voted driver of the year.

Here's some video from the JJ Roast yesterday...not really Chad-related, but really, who doesn't want to see it? This video probably has the cleanest jokes told all night, so it's totally work-safe. (Lol, the original title said Champ Week 2010...wow, cool, so this is from the future? Hey, that means Jimmie and Chad DO get 5 in a row, sweet!)

• NASCAR Champions Week 2009: Jimmie Johnson Roast (YouTube)

Sounds like Jimmie had a little extra excitement during the Victory Lap down the Las Vegas Strip today... In an interview on Sirius/XM, Jimmie said he's not quite sure what happened, but he thinks he got a little carried away with the burnouts and put a rod through the engine. Oopsie! He had to finish the ride in the pace car. The interviewer said he got his first DNF of the season, lol. Chad won't be too happy about that! I can just imagine the conversation, something about "not being able to tie your shoes without me," hehe.

And last but CERTAINLY not least, more stubble pics, woohoo! Praise the Lord and pass the biscuits, he didn't shave today!

Roast of the Champ

I guess things got a little interesting at the Roast of the Sprint Cup Champion today in Las Vegas! According to ESPN, it was a tad bit on the R-rated side...sounds like fun, right? Well, NASCAR being NASCAR, they're not going to put it on TV because it might warp impressionable kids' minds. Apparently they haven't heard of HBO or late-night TV, but I digress. Here are the two Chad-related jokes I could scavenge up from the entire hour-long event. The first one comes courtesy of Carl Edwards:

"Jimmie, I just have one question," Edwards said. "When you and Chad turn off the lights at night and hit the sack, who is the big spoon and who is the little spoon?"

LMAO! Oh, Carl, you would want to know all about that, wouldn't you? Even Jeff thinks you would, and Jeff knows about these things. :wink:wink: (Jeff's comment to Carl: "Hey, Carl, good job. I can tell you that marrying a pretty girl and having a baby is a great cover." ROFL. I now officially love Jeff Gordon.) Anyway, I think we all know the answer to the, er, "spoon" question, don't we? Chad doesn't get paid to call the shots for nothing, that's all I'm saying... ;)

And here's another from Kurt Busch:

"I figured out a new Chase format. Every Chase race, we pull out of a hat who gets to have Chad Knaus as their crew chief. Because it's certainly not your talent that wins you all these championships."

Major "ouch" for Jimmie! Not that I was expecting Kurt Busch to go easy on anybody. And therein lies the problem with Kurt's little experiment, because even though his car might run better with Chad, Kurt himself might not make it through the race if Chad jumps off the war wagon and throttles him after a couple of his famous outbursts. Ahem, I'm sorry, are my biases showing?

Read more quips and burns here:

• Johnson roast the best show in town (ESPN)
• Tidbits from 2Day's Roast of JJ (random website called Eons)
  

THERE IS A GOD!!!

Okay, I am about to completely freak out here. Scratch that, I'm already freaking out!! Okay, Jess, calm down and tell the nice people what's going on. Right. Remember this post where I was drooling over a pic of Chad with stubble and wishing he would do that frequently and often? Well, guess what? I got my wish!!! And just in time for my birthday next week! Man, that is finer than a frog's hair split three ways and sanded!

Ladies (and gentlemen...once again, I don't discriminate), may I present to you Mr. 4-Time Champ and All-Time Stud, Chad Knaus, Now New and Improved with Stubble!

I am never going to change my desktop again after this. This is IT, you guys...we've reached a pinnacle of hotness, lol.

Banquet Preview/Review

Ok, I am so excited about the awards ceremony this Friday because VEGAS, BABY! And I can't wait to see Chad up there on the stage looking smug as hell about being at the champ's table for four years in a row, and rocking the sexy James Bond vibe in that suit and tie. In honor of that, I'd like to present a fashion rewind of Chad at the last three awards ceremonies and see how he's done.

2008 Awards Ceremony

Lookin' good! I like the shiny lapel (which you can't see very good in this picture, but in the other one I found, I think he's a little dazed by the camera flash and unintentionally looks depressed/bored as heck, so work with me here); it makes the suit look very sleek and appropriately dressy. Carl had a similar jacket, and it looked quite nice, too.

Now, is this supposed to be a black tie event? I was about to make fun of Kyle Busch's bow tie (I don't care how formal it is; he still looks like he should have a pocket protector with it), but if it is black tie, then technically, he was doing it right, and nobody should be wearing a regular tie at all. However, since everybody's breaking the rules, I prefer a slightly off-black (is that a word?) tie, like the very nice one Mr. Knaus is wearing here. Not too rebellious, but more than just plain ol' black. Jimmie and Tony both wore black ties last year, and it made them look like Agents Johnson and Stewart, F.B.I. Part of the problem is they were too wide (especially Jimmie's), but it's just kinda blah, ya know? Kudos to Chad for kicking it up a notch and looking great like a 3-time champ should.

2008 Champion's Celebration at Marquee

Not the actual banquet, but there's just so much to talk about here that I had to include it. First, I love the plum shirt - great color on him! It's always a "wow" moment when you seen him in something besides Lowe's blue, and this gets an extra "wow" out of me! Second - OMG, Converse!!! Some fashionistas would probably frown upon his choice of shoe, but I have been wearing Chuck Taylors since 5th grade, and I highly approve. This is how I know Chad is rad: he likes Pink Floyd, creamy peanut butter, and Converse shoes. Seriously, can you get any cooler than that?

Now, let's take a detour here and talk about that velvet jacket. I'm not sure I love the jacket in general, and paired with the purple shirt? Eh, I think I would have picked one or the other (preferably the shirt!). And frankly, if I'd heard that Chad was going somewhere in purple and velvet without having seen a picture first, my first thought as to where he was going would've totally been "NASCAR pimp and ho party."

Thankfully it's nowhere near that bad in reality, but let's not go putting that thought in anybody's head again, because you just KNOW if one of those jokers had that idea they'd want to go for it, and I do NOT want to see pictures of Scott Speed or Robby Gordon in huge purple hats and sporting canes, trying to look "fly." Oh, who am I kidding, Ron Hornaday has probably already hosted like a ton of those parties over the years...that'd actually be pretty tame for him, considering his little get-togethers usually include things like indoor garden hose fights.

2007 Awards Ceremony

Aha, I see what's going on here - the jacket was left over from the '07 banquet! I must say, this wasn't exactly the high point for The Chad, fashion-wise. Even without the purple shirt, I just can't really say I'm a fan of the velvet jacket. At least it's not double-breasted, though...that just never works out, unless you're like Prince Charles or something. The gray pants don't do anything for me, either, although they look a lot darker in this pic, for example. If they are actually darker, though, then it all just looks a little too plain with the black tie and the X-Files Agent problem rears its head. It seems he got the message, though, since he stepped it up for '08 and relegated the velvet jacket to the after party. Good job on that, Chad. (And WTF is he doing to Bruna? He's all like, "Hmm, interesting...is this feathers or fur?")

2006 Awards Ceremony

Aww, Chad's vewwy first trophy! Hmm, okay, this is totally the same jacket he wore again in '08, isn't it? Sorry Chad, but we've got your number, now! I approve in this case, though...it's a nice jacket. And if it's a choice between the velvet one and this one - definitely this one. Dig the champagne-colored tie; very appropriate, considering the occasion! THAT is how you break the rules and look good doing it. Very nice first showing! This year, please consider a new suit, though, before someone besides me notices this isn't the first rodeo that jacket's been in.


And this next one I just wanted to throw in here because LEATHER JACKET ALERT!!!

I don't really need to explain, do I? All I'll add is that this needs to happen on a much more frequent basis.

One-on-One: Chad Knaus

David Caraviello from NASCAR.com interviews Mr. 4-Time Champ Crew Chief (video):

One-on-One: Chad Knaus

And I love this quote from the following article:

"They just had 'Dancing With the Stars' on," Knaus said jokingly as he glanced at a television set in the media center. "That looked kind of fun. I don't know, man. I don't know what I'm going to do when I grew up. I hope I never grow up. I love my job." ("Knaus: This Is My Time" - ESPN.com)

Oh, how I wish he'd lost all good sense and wasn't joking! Forget ABC; I'd watch that on Pay-Per-View! I think he'd be good at it, personally. I mean, it's a competition - he hates losing, so there's no way he could stand to let someone like Donny friggin' Osmond beat him at anything, right? Come on, Chad, get up there and show Donny how to shake it like an earthquake! Who needs dignity, anyway? I know I do just fine without mine! ;)

I SAW JJ TODAY!! (plus more Chad pics)

Yeah, I just wanted to brag that I saw Jimmie live and in person today, woohoo!!!  It was so rad - he was so nice, and he looked really happy to be there and appreciative of his fans, which I'm not sure I could do at 9 pm after a long day of other appearances and lots of driving (Crest to Camp Pendleton and then back over to Santee? I guess it's not a lot compared to the Daytona 500, but it's enough!). Thanks for being a genuinely nice guy, Jimmie. That's a rare thing in this day and age, and we fans really appreciate it!

His dad and a few of his friends were there, and they dished the dirt on Jimmie and told some good stories (apparently the people at Grossmont Hospital used to wave hi at Mr. Johnson whenever they came in because Jimmie broke so many bones riding motorcycles when he was a kid...yeesh!). I liked when somebody asked if Jimmie was the kind of guy you call to bail you out of jail, or if he's the guy who'd be sitting there beside you. The answer? Definitely the guy beside you, hehe. Oh, and then there was the girl who asked if Jimmie could hook her up with his brother, to which he replied, "Uhh, which one?" And that's when my favorite moment of the night happened, when the lady behind me said, "Now that's East County!" Because it so is, hehe. You'd be hard pressed to find a bigger collection of characters in So Cal.

Chandra was there and came out for a minute (sounds like she hates public speaking as much as I do!) - she seems really nice. The mayor gave her a bouquet of white roses for her dedication to service, and Jimmie was given a key to the city of Santee. Chad was not there, though. I had my fingers crossed, but no such luck. Oh well, seeing one 4-time champ in a night is pretty good! Thanks, Jimmie, for spending your rare time off with us! You rock! And thanks for trying to fix the stupid glare-y light for us, even if it didn't work out. I guess you need the Kobalt toolkit for that, lol. Oh, and it's good to know I'm not the only one who's thought about bump drafting down Interstate 8, muahaha.

I'll have pics and possibly video (if I can figure out how to upload it to YouTube or something) in about a week (the digital camera software is on a computer that is currently in another city...slight problem). For now, here are even more pics of Chad I found, since I've spent this whole post talking about Jimmie. If you go to Motorsport.com, there are more shots that show the whole team on the stage. I just left most of them out because everybody is so tiny in them.

Ok, new favorite pic, everybody:

Can I crash the party if I bring the Corona?