CHEERS to the annual Bo-Dyn Bobsled Challenge, but JEERS that they didn’t move it to Omaha this year. There are snow hills piled up at the corner of every intersection and they could have easily collected enough to make a bobsled mountain. Besides, it would give Boris a new challenge.

CHEERS to Jimmie and Chandra Johnson expecting their first child in July. Probably a woman thing to have counted the months, but Jimmie won September 27th, October 11th, and October 17th. I wonder if we’ll see a baby named after Dover, Fontana, or Charlotte.

CHEERS to Steve and Jessica Park, too, on the birth of Jaden Robert. I wonder if they’ll call him J.R. And while we’re at it, CHEERS to Shannon Spake (and Mr. Spake, Jerry McSorley) on the arrival of their twins Liam and Brady. Man, what is in that NASCAR water?

CHEERS to one more, the birth of Mikaella Castroneves, and the picture that Helio posted because even behind the mask, you can see the bursting proud smile of her dad.

CHEERS to the Garage Sale at NASCAR.com, but JEERS to the claim that everything is 20% off, when there's a bunch of new Danica stuff that is clearly not on sale. Don’t worry, it was just research. I wasn’t shopping.

CHEERS to the final tally of $1.8 million donated by the NASCAR Foundation. And CHEERS to all of the race fans that together contributed more than 10,000 hours of volunteer work. This should have been bigger news.

CHEERS to JJ, AJ, and JPM in the Rolex 24 at Daytona race along with Paul Menard, Jamie McMurray, and Bobby Labonte. CHEERS , also, to the first feeling that the off-season will be over before we know it. Thirty-three cars will be testing at “The Roar Before the Rolex 24.”

CHEERS to all of those drivers attending the Preseason Thunder Fan Fest for autographs and fan interaction, but JEERS that it’s not the event it used to be. I can’t yet decide if it’s a good or bad thing that reservations are required in advance for some of the driver’s autographs. I guess it’s a good thing so there won’t be sadness at that point of cut off, but whatever happened to the days of signing until the fans were gone? It’s not a race where there could be 100,000 people. The max anyone will sign is 250.

CHEERS to another sign that Daytona is just around the corner…The third week of January in Scottsdale, Arizona, baby, and it’s Barrett Jackson and the greatest collection of cars for sale that you’ll find anywhere. If you’ve never spent the weekend on the couch watching, do it this year. It’s free, it’s warm, and isn’t it better than shoveling snow?

CHEERS to celebrating the life of DJ Richardson, rear tire changer for the 29 team, at a memorial scheduled for this Saturday, Jan 9th. Members of the NASCAR community are asked to dress in their race-day crew shirts, and I can’t imagine how that will look, or the comfort it will be to his family to see how much he meant to the NASCAR world.

And finally,

CHEERS to the best news I read all week, that Red Farmer is getting better. I could tell you the details, but I can’t imagine anything is better than his wife’s own words: Joan told the media, “They’re pumping him full of antibiotics and he’s starting to get sassy again.” She went on to say that he’ll be out of the hospital after being treated for double pneumonia, soon. “The nurses are getting tired of listening to him complain about the food.”


On a personal note, thanks to everyone (via Facebook and Twitter) who offered kind words of support the past ten days as we thought we were looking at Sugar the cat's last days. We now speculate that she's had a (second) stroke, and that's likely what the problem was six months ago, too. But she is now mobile again, jumping up on the couch, napping on the DVR, drinking out of the toilet (yeah, we're blaming the dingo for teaching her that), and almost back to eating her regular diet.  -Carol

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