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?