Running out of gas

No, this post has nothing to do with the demise of William Clay Ford Sr. To say that he ran out of gas would be insensitive. Then again, while his funeral service will be private, his surviving kinfolk -- likely all billionaires themselves -- are willing to accept donations in his memory to institutions already owned by the family. Excuse me, but somehow that seems a wee bit tacky itself.

Dale Earnhart Jr. indeed ran out of gas on the last lap at a NASCAR race in Las Vegas. Or at least his car did, allowing Brad Keselowski to blow by him for the victory. Such a thing is odd when once thinks about it.

Along with Jimmy Johnson, Jeff Gordon, and geezer Mark Martin, Junior races for Hendricks Motorsports, arguably the most well-oiled corporate machine in all of auto racing. They have big bucks. They have the finest equipment. From crew chiefs, to pit crews, to engineers, to engine builders, right on down to the folks that spray paint the cars and stick on the decals before a race -- this is a first class operation. The best money can buy. No detail is overlooked. But Junior ran out of gas on the last lap. Seems weird.

Thing is, Junior has placed in the top two of the first 3 races, including winning the inaugural Daytona 500. Very impressive stuff. But with over 30 races to go in the "regular season", methinks he'll run out of gas in another way, particularly when it comes to the short tracks. Something about his teammate Jimmy Johnson overtaking him in the long haul. We'll see.

The corporate folks at GoDaddy no doubt breathe a sigh of relief when their driver Danica Patrick can finish a race, regardless of how many laps down she is. Yes, sponsors get to write off a lot of stuff on their taxes, but trashing a $400,000 race car every week has to get into their corporate wallets eventually.

And yes, of course (Al), I have to mention Tiger Woods when it comes to running out of gas. Last week on the PGA tour Tiger blistered the course for an eye-popping 65 on Saturday. Like George Jefferson, he was moving on up on the east side (Florida). On Sunday, money day, Woods regressed into Archie Bunker duffer mode, and eventually withdrew from the tournament, citing back spasms.

In the Doral tournament concluded just a couple days ago -- Tiger once again shot a very impressive 6 under par 66 on Saturday to get himself in contention just a few strokes back. Alas, on Sunday, he blew up into a 78 to fall all the way back to 25th. Of course, he grabbed his back again on the back nine, but by then he'd already pretty well butchered his round. Here's a clue. If a guy is capable of hitting 340 yard drives, but can't find the green in regulation, and continues to miss short putts -- I don't want to hear about a bad back being the problem.

It would appear either Woods is choking on Sundays these days, or he's only got enough gas for 3 rounds of play.

If the former, perhaps he can work his way out of it -- though he is hardly feared on Sundays by his competitors like he once was. They know they can stare him down in crunch time and beat him these days.

If the latter, then he needs to shut it down until he's physically capable of playing the entire four rounds of a tournament. Anything less is an insult to the game of golf and, nobody, including Eldrick, is bigger than the game itself. Much like other greats before him -- Tiger came and accomplished much, but he will also eventually go, as others take his place.

In the meantime, enough with his recent excuses for his poor performances on Sundays, be they genuine or convenient cop-outs.

If he can still play -- then play. If not -- get out of the way, like Junior did.

But it shouldn't be asking too much to have enough gas to make it to the finish line......