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"THIS IS BETTY JACK DEVINE, AND I APPROVED THIS MESSAGE:"

Welcome, gay NASCAR fans! Congratulations to the DeVine 91/2's Kurt Busch for his win this week at Loudon. What a week for our boys! We had the entire top eight in the race and continue to hold down eight of the top 10 points spots. The win kicked Kurt up from 9th spot to 6th. Jr., Jeff, Tony, Matt, Jamie, Kasey, Ryan and Mark successfully defended their positions; Kevin and Elliott lost one; Mikey picked up two. Go team!

Going into the weekend, the "Can Tony Be Controlled?" story fought with the "How Long Will Jr. Drive Hurt?" story for position. The "Jr." story won, of course. After getting his gameboy buddy Martin Truex Jr. to qualify the famous #8 car, Jr. valiantly did his own driving for 61 laps before handing over the wheel on Sunday. Outside the car, Jr. was creeping around like a 100-year-old soldier, and we all felt so sorry for him. He looked like he was really missing his morphine, which they had given him immediately upon examining his injuries from the fiery crash at Infinion. There has been a lot of talk about whether the Cup guys should be racing in other events. People want what they want, but look -- how would you feel if you owned a horse that had a shot at the Kentucky Derby, and you came home one day and your brother-in-law had it harnessed up trying to pull his rusty '68 Ford truck out of a swamp? If you think like Budweiser, you will understand.

As for Tony, he said in a pre-race interview that things were fine between him and Kasey (the guy he wrecked out of first place in Chicago), but the two of them had been playing phone tag and had not actually spoken yet. Really? Phone tag for two weeks? That seems like a bit much, even for busy, busy racecar drivers.

The Very Rev. Michael Cody, bishop of Norwich, offered the invocation. Denise Doucette sang the National Anthem, which was also signed, though the signing was not shown on TNT. The flyover, which was premature in terms of Denise's vocal stylings, featured two A-10s and a KC-135 Stratotanker, which had a long fuel tube hanging out of it.

OK, here's the deal with the race: Ryan was on the pole and led laps 1-170. Then Kurt led, Jimmy Spencer led, then Ryan, then Kurt. Checkered flag! Really, it took a lot longer, but that's what happened. Not the kind of race you would pick out to show a new fan, let's just put it like that! Still, a few things happened here and there... Poor Ricky Craven, who had just been fired by Tide for next year, brought out a caution early on when he hit the wall, then wrecked again later in the race. It was hateful of Tide to fire him during the season that way! Ricky's first wreck was the day's first caution, and all camera eyes were focused on Jr.'s trip to the pits for the complicated switch-out with Martin. Incredibly, this was accomplished in just 38.2 seconds, beating the pace car back around. Jr. was plain about the pain: "It's a pain that I hadn't really felt before," said the brave Jr. -- though, ever the gentleman, he acknowledged that many in the burn ward with him were much worse off.

Once Jr. was out of his car, whoever calls the shots at NBC/TNT seemed to decide on Sunday that nothing else was going to happen at Loudon. And in fact they were practically right, but how did they know? With the race so boring, we waited patiently for the restarts, of which there were 12. But do you think NBC/TNT would show them? No! They missed restart after restart! It was incredible. I don't think they were even showing the right commercials -- one time it looked like they put the same one twice about 30 seconds apart. It was stupid. Ricky Craven's second crash brought out the 10th caution; the 11th was for when Biffle hit the wall. In a late moment of drama, Jarrett wrecked Rusty Wallace.

Kurt Busch turns 26 this week -- we're glad to see him win and see him get a nice hand for it, too.

OH MIKEY TELL ME MORE!

Our racing buds Amy and Amanda Tivo'd the most incredible moment Friday at qualifying: Mikey was telling the announcer how he and someone else were talking to Jamie, critiquing his body. Then he felt the need to clarify: "Critiquing the body he has on his car. Not his tight young rear end." Looks like I'm not the only one with my eye on that #42!

LIZA WITH A ME!

Friends, as I write this I'm still struggling to get back my voice, which I lost screaming and crying Friday night when Atlanta's Chastain Park welcomed the legendary Liza Minelli! Y'all, this lady puts on a show like you would not believe -- I have loved her ever since the Singer Sewing Machine Co. presented "Liza with a Z," and she lived up to my wildest expectations! If you get the chance to see this mega-star this summer, take all your money and buy the very best tickets! This lady is a star like no other. For all you true fans, here's how the show went:

Liza took the stage at 9:12 pm, wearing black slacks and a white and silver top, and received a standing ovation.

--Here Liza, gasping in Atlanta's incredible heat and choking pollution, basically wiped off almost all her makeup, saying it was too much for MAC. "This is like breathing peanut butter!" she said.

--Barely able to croak out the last notes, Liza demanded that the last measures be played again, to the delight of the audience, and they were much better. Someone brought Liza a towel, mentioned it was their birthday, and got one phrase of "Light Up the Candles on Your Birthday Cake."

--Standing ovation--Liza announces program change, orders up "What Did I Have?" from "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever."

--Standing ovation -- Liza takes a break and Musical Director Billie Stritch entertains us with several songs, including "Liza." Introduced as Fraulein Sally Bowles, Liza returns for: Cabaret set: "Willkommen" "Money" "Maybe This Time" "Cabaret"

--Standing ovation--Liza thanks her band.

--"This is the greatest city in America!" Liza said. She then mentioned 9/11 and her city: "New York, New York"

--Standing ovation, and the encore: "I'll Be Seeing You" (a cappella)

Are you crying? I was -- crying tears of joy for life, and love, and music, and the amazing gifts of a brilliant, true star.

That's it for this week friends -- I have to close and watch the Democratic Convention! DEMOCRATS UNITED! STAY STRONG FOR VICTORY! GO KERRY/EDWARDS! Thanks to all of y'all who have been writing -- y'all are the best. See you at Pocono! Let's all meet up down at the Track Bar!