Will one-million-dollar purse lure B.W. back?

The 2007 Heritage Cup race, a stock-car racing event in which drivers represented their family names, was supposed to be Buddy Wayne Barefoot's farewell. And he won it in the most unforgettable style, flipping across the start/finish line and landing with the wheels pointed the right way. It was the most dramatic finish ever in racing.

Since then, I have vowed that my character would never again go racing.

But it seems that nothing is final in auto racing, or in the world of sports in general. The names of great athletes who have come back or extended their careers have been very famous - Michael Jordan, Brett Favre, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Michael Schumacher are just a few of them.

Now, Barefoot is faced with the temptation to return, in the form of the Legends Million, this coming July at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The purse, of course one million dollars, is the largest in the history of U.S. Legend Cars International, which has similar cars to what Barefoot drove that magical night.

The Legends Million is scheduled for July 14 through 17, and it was announced today that the final rounds will be televised live on Speed.

Will Buddy fill out the entrance form and thereby end a well-deserved retirement from the sport? Or will he stay in the garage area as up to 1,000 other drivers go for the top prize of $250,000? Stay tuned!

600 Racing changes its name

Speedway Motorsports, owners of 600 Racing, has changed the name of its Legends car unit to U.S. Legend Cars International. The change took place sometime late in 2009. Speed is now airing TV commercials with the U.S. Legend Cars name with 2009 Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year Joey Logano, as well as fellow Sprint Cup drivers Reed Sorenson and David Ragan.

Of course, Buddy Wayne Barefoot would be the most famous name of all from the Legends car program. He "raced" in similar cars overseas in the 1990s, and of course the big race at the end of The Buddy Wayne Chronicles was in an oversized version of the 600 Racing cars, scaled up to compete on a bigger, more banked racetrack.

For more information on U.S. Legend Cars International, visit http://www.uslegendcars.com.

Billy Bob and Krista go to Vegas

Billy Bob Bryant, originally from Glen Rose, Texas, is perhaps the toughest character I have created yet. A star in both pro football and the rodeo circuit, he is known for legendary feats in both. He is responsible for legendary feats that rival those attributed to Chuck Norris and Mr. T. No one can bring him down or intimidate him, no matter what.

But, as I wrote in Chapter 10, he also has a soft side. He saved the life of a teenage girl when he was not yet a man himself. The two would later marry and have a son.

Now, Billy Bob Bryant and Krista Bamburg are both headed for the National Finals Rodeo, next week in Las Vegas, Nevada. They will compete in, respectively, bull riding and barrel racing.

Bryant was at a disadvantage trying to qualify for the NFR because he had only a few months to score enough points in qualifying events during the football off-season. But somehow, he pulled it off. Even though the football season is winding down, and the Texas Defenders are headed back to the playoffs, Bryant still plans to leave the team to compete in the NFR.

According to Billy Bob, "Coach Bubba [McDaniel] has given me permission to go to Vegas for the event. The league final will take place on Dec. 19, and Billy Bob will be back for that if we make it that far. Until then, hopefully we'll win without them." Bryant will play in the opening round against the Bitterroot Banshees this weekend before leaving for Vegas.

While Billy Bob will make his NFR debut, Krista has been there before; in fact, she is the defending champion in barrel racing. The title is based on earnings over 10 rounds of competition, and last year she pocketed over $150,000 during the period.

"Last year was the greatest feeling I have had in my career, but this is even better," says Bamburg, originally from Coushatta, Louisiana. "My husband is with me this year for some support. This is a crucial year as I defend my title in barrel racing, and also for him as he is in the NFR for the first time. We definitely need to support each other."

Television coverage begins at 10 p.m. Eastern time on December 3 on ESPN Classic, with an overnight re-air on ESPN2.

The ideal NASCAR world

Now, as promised, Buddy Wayne gives his ideas to make NASCAR a better place.

NASCAR has been the love of my life. Ever since I watched my first race as a boy, before I could remember anything, it was a world I wanted so much to be a part of.

But now, something is different, something is missing. The races are boring, the drivers are bland, and no one is watching. And still, NASCAR insists that the one magic solution is just around the corner. Maybe it's the arrival of Danica Patrick, or a slick new marketing campaign. Or is it returning to its roots, as current leader Brian France has suggested.

Ah, I think that's it. Of course, we can't completely replicate the past, but we can take the best of it and make it the blueprint for the future.

Here's the plan that I have:

• Chase away the Chase for the Sprint Cup. This attempt at a playoff is the "cure worse than the disease." It has segregated the 43 drivers who start each race into haves and have-nots, thereby concentrating all media attention on the Chase qualifiers. Worse, the Chase has not resulted in increased attendance or television ratings. NASCAR ratings on television have gone down every year. As for the rest of the media, it is still far more likely to discuss pro and college football and baseball playoffs than racing.
  
• Make it 1996 all over again. In other words, reduce the schedule to 30 races, and try to duplicate it as much as possible. That year, there was a real balance of short tracks, longer tracks, and road courses. Although I understand that the track owners wanted to expand to more places to keep up with demand, the results were OK at best and dismal at worst. Only Las Vegas has continued to be a success over time, while Texas has been hurt by expansion, and Auto Club, Chicagoland, Homestead, and Kansas have added nothing to the mix. All these tracks are the same size and were also built for IndyCar races. Keep them open, but have them run open wheels only, except maybe for Vegas.
• "Run what you brung" should be back. Maybe the cars shouldn't look exactly like those on the road, but duplicate as many features as possible. That alone should save teams millions of dollars in expenses. Also, make the design flexible so that crew chiefs can innovate with the cars.
• Let the drivers be human. In other words, encourage drivers to be themselves, instead of sponsor-driven clones who are politically correct. Role models should include Tony Stewart, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Marcos Ambrose.
• Television coverage should change drastically. Reduce the length of pre-race shows and ensure at least a half-hour after the race for extensive coverage and interviews. Once the green flag drops, cover the race and not what you think will happen in a "script." Cut back on commercial breaks; those sponsor graphics should be enough.
  

I'm sure there are more things I could come up with, but these are the most important things.

As my character would say, "That's my ideal world. What's yours?"

The All-Idealian football team

We're in the midst of football season, so why not go ahead and pick the All-Idealia football team? Selections are based on innovative use of talent, value of the player to his team, and sometimes just having a good name.

The talent level is surprisingly good. I see many of them playing at least on the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (I-AA) level, while some are good enough for Div. I Football Bowl Subdivision (I-A) and a couple of them even in the National Football League.

OFFENSE
Wide Receivers - LaDarryl Cabbagestalk (East Carolina Aviators), Littrell McBlackwell (Mississippi Mudcats)
Cabbagestalk runs as fast as Usain Bolt, catches the ball like Jerry Rice, and breaks every tackle he can. You can't beat that combination.
Tackles - Bloodworth Spikes, Jr. (Georgia BuzzHounds), Wilbert McWhite (Carolina Blue Wolves)
Guards - Dwayne Brickhouse (Aviators), Orlando "Biggie" Smalls (Appalachian Miners)
Both Brickhouse and Smalls are over 350 pounds, thereby living up to their name. Smalls is also a professional wrestler under the name "The Real Biggie Smalls."
Center - Travis Teafatiller (Texas Defenders)
His mom is Tammy Faye Teafatiller, a name I adore. She raised her right.
Tight End - Ryan Biffle (Oklahoma Outlaws)
The original Outlaws were part of the defunct United States Football League in 1984.
Quarterback - Rickey Ray Rockett (Louisiana Crawdads)
Combine the attitude of Brett Favre, the throwing arm of Jay Cutler, the last-minute poise of Tom Brady, and a superhero's name into one player and "Triple R" is the result.
Running Backs - LaBradford Bankhead (Mudcats), Lorenzo Leaks (East Texas Bonfire)
Bankhead is a cousin of singer Brightful Birdsong, mentioned in my second post.
DEFENSE
Ends - Middlebrooks Hooks (BuzzHounds), Bubba Sparks (Alabama Slammers)
I based the Sparks character on the rapper Bubba Sparxxx, who actually played high-school football before turning to rap music.
Tackles - Larry Joe Derryberry (Tennessee Tornado), Leamon McBattle (Florida Fury)
Linebackers - Billy Bob Bryant (Defenders), Cody Joe Brookshire (Miners), Bunkley McLumpkin (Slammers)
Bryant is perhaps the star player in the football league, as I have described earlier. McLumpkin is a half-brother to Bubba Ray Lumpkin. Brookshire is also a race-car driver.
Cornerbacks - Shermaine Blackshire (Bonfire), Brownzell Brokenborough (Mudcats)
Safeties - Beaulieu Barrilleaux (Crawdads), Boozer McSharper (Blue Wolves)
Barrilleaux is also captain of the Louisiana Pirates, a gang that claims to be the Merry Men of the Caribbean high seas.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Placekicker - Kyle Barefoot (Aviators)
You may remember Britt Barefoot, who was at Southern Mississippi from 2004 to 2008. He was also a kicker, so like Kyle he had the right name for the position. But he had one flaw: he had a shoe on his kicking foot. On the other hand, Tony Franklin and Rich Karlis went shoeless in earlier decades. Kyle Barefoot combines both concepts, and does it brilliantly. His career long is 62 yards, just one shy of what would be the NFL record.
Punter - Dylan MacKnight (Miners)
Kick Returner - Barron Hollingbird (Crawdads)
HEAD COACH
Bubba McDaniel (Defenders)

Boogers and spitballs

What are your memories of childhood? By far the favorite memory of so many is playtime. Maybe it was Little League baseball, or soccer tournaments, or school recess. Whatever it is, we associate fun with the innocence of the first years of our lives.

The reality is that kids' games are now run largely by and for adults. Whether it's the Little League World Series, the phenomenon of "soccer moms," the big money in action sports, or the pressure to become star athletes at ever-younger ages, youth sports and games aren't what they used to be.

But imagine for a moment if such innocence could come back, in a new game made by kids and for kids. And imagine if such innocent could last forever.

Imagine no more, as I have found such an activity in Buddy Wayne's ideal world.

It's called boogers and spitballs.


Who first thought of this game is unknown and immaterial, although the son of attorney Blackman Bibb (chapter 4) has been speculated as a possible source. What is known is that the children have taken over the game and have made sure that adults do not get involved in any way. However, I was nice enough to observe from a good distance and can report how it works.

The best way to describe it is a combination of marbles, dodgeball, and king of the hill. The object is to climb to the top of a high point, usually a low-lying rock or treetop, while avoiding hits from members of the opposing team. Usually, three to five players start a game, and of course players who are hit are eliminated. The last person standing and reaching the top wins for the team.

The name of the game comes from the two opposing sides: one team has small black balls called "boogers," and the other has small white balls called "spitballs." They got their name due to the resemblance of their physical descriptions.

Unlike the sports kids play in the real world, "boogers" is not highly organized, nor are the players divided by age, gender, or ability level. Anyone can play, and a game can break out at any time.

Boogers and spitballs. I would like to see kids in the real world try it sometime. And if they need more detailed rules, I'll help write them!


Pictured: Belinda Barefoot is one of those who regularly plays the game. She is the daughter of Bobby Ray Barefoot, Buddy Wayne's brother, and the former Amy Barbour.