DURHAM, N.C. -- Random thoughts at midnight from my recliner/bed on the third floor of the Duke University Hospital, where my father is recovering from the first of several surgeries for kidney cancer:
• One of several ministers -- you have that when your father is a retired pastor -- visiting during this five-hour procedure began telling me about his grandson collecting book bags for needy children as part of a project to earn his Eagle Scout award. I suggested hooking him up with Tony Stewart, who has teamed with sponsor Office Depot to provide book bags for the needy around the country.
"Should I know that name?" the minister asked.
"He's a two-time Sprint Cup champion," I replied.
AP Photo/Dave Frechette
Tony Stewart is a two-time champion and a philanthropist, but that doesn't mean everybody knows his name.
"Never heard of him," the minister responded. "But if he's got book bags, I'm interested."
See, drivers aren't the only people who live in a vacuum.
• A sushi bar in the hospital diner? Seriously? Next thing you know, they'll be replacing Martinsville hot dogs for ones with real meat.
• Hospital visits often become like 500 miles at Pocono. Way too long.
• I officially have read everything on the Internet and have come to the conclusions that Lindsay Lohan did have plastic surgery and that NASCAR's Chase format doesn't need plastic surgery. Seriously, people. If we didn't have a Chase, Stewart would be 122 points ahead of Jimmie Johnson, and you'd be griping about that.
Sit back and enjoy watching Johnson's historic run at a fourth straight title. Don't wait 20 years to appreciate it. By then you won't recognize your own self in the mirror, much less Lohan.
• The nurse from Miami didn't seem to realize that the NASCAR season ends at Homestead-Miami Speedway. That's another argument for moving the finale to Las Vegas Motor Speedway and having the championship banquet the next day. Any momentum you've built is completely lost by waiting two weeks for the banquet.
• Getting around the halls of this place is about as difficult as double-file restarts at Martinsville will be. It could be the most dramatic, plot-thick race of the Chase. The half-mile, paper-clip-shaped track, in the humble opinion of this reporter, puts on the best show of any short track on the circuit.
• What do nurses have in common with debris cautions? They come around every hour or two to wake you up.
• Every time I look around this place and get the least bit depressed, I remember Richard Petty's response when asked whether he felt sorry for David Pearson after the Silver Fox drove 90 minutes in the rain not to be selected to NASCAR's inaugural Hall of Fame class.
"We went all the way to California last week and wrecked four cars," said The King, referring to a late-race incident at Auto Club Speedway that took out all four Richard Petty Motorsports cars at once. "How do you think that feels?"
Probably not too good, but it is kind of funny. And maybe a record, as a member of his organization suggested this past weekend.
• Now I know where I get my sense of humor. When the nurse asked my father whether he smoked, drank alcohol or took illegal drugs, the response was, "Now if you get into my sex life, [my son] has to leave."
• This recliner/bed is like these random thoughts are starting to become. Awkward.
David Newton
