I enjoy all forms of motorsports.  Believe it or not, I am also a very big NASCAR CUP fan.  The close racing and colorful personalities is a big reason why I’ve been a NASCAR follower since my childhood.  Two years ago I was really excited when my favorite driver, Juan Pablo Montoya, decided to leave the high glamour world of Formula One to compete in Stock Car Racing.  Montoya’s fearless demeanour and high level of skill has garnered him a dedicated following around the world.  As a Monaco Grand Prix, Indy 500, CART & F1 winner, Montoya is regarded as one of the best all-around drivers ever. 

There are 36 races in a NASCAR CUP season.  After each race, points are rewarded based on the drivers’ finishing position, laps led, etc.  Montoya currently drives the #42 Target-Chevy for Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing; a well known operation with successful Indycar and Sports Car teams. 

The “Chase” is NASCAR’s playoff season, where the top 12 drivers compete for the championship.  To qualify for the Chase, a driver must occupy a top 12 position after the 26th race.  Even though a driver does not qualify for NASCAR’s playoff season, he can still compete in the 10 remaining races.  However, only the drivers who qualified for the Chase can accumulate points to win the championship.  Montoya was able to qualify for the Chase this year, a first time for a non-American driver.  The Chase for the Sprnt Cup will start this week!

I personally feel Montoya will perform well during the Chase.  However, my first choice to win the championship is Mark Martin, the oldest driver in NASCAR.  Like Montoya, I’ve been watching Martin compete for a very long time.  It amazes me that he can still drive at a very high level, plus fellow drivers have the utmost respect for him due to his likeable personality and mannerisms on & off the race track.  He’s one of the few gentleman drivers left in any racing series.  Martin has never won the championship so it would be great to seem him finally claim the cup.  He currently drives the #5 Kellogs-Car Quest-Chevrolet for Hendricks Motorsports; a highly vaunted super team in NASCAR.

Regardless of who wins the cup, the 2009 NASCAR CUP season has been pretty exciting so far.  There’s bound to be some big changes next year as driver and personnel changes will occur from team to team.  Despite all this movement, NASCAR will always provide a thrilling spectable for true motorsport fans and gearheads who love to hear the rumble of those menacing V8 engines.

With all these fancy ideas I’ve picked up here and there on how to lose weight, I seem to have forgotten that nothing really beats counting calories.

Gone are my low carb diets.  A time when I had to maintain a very strict diet to the point that I had to stay away from breads and, my favorite, doughnuts!

I think I got duped into the trendy way of thinking that cutting out carbs, going vegetarian or even taking diet supplements can give me the edge in losing weight.  In fact, I now believe that this actually might have contributed to my weight loss plateau.

I found out a year ago, I was still paying for an online calorie counter that I never got to use.  It’s about $8.00 every three months, so it flew under the radar on my credit card statements.

Since I was paid up until August, I decided to put it into good use.  After doing a little bit of research, I set my daily calorie intake based on my height and weight.

Here I thought that this will just be a piece of cake.  After all, I don’t eat carbs anymore and I’m practically off red meat.  I should be able to meet that target with no problem.

What was I thinking???

As soon as I started counting my daily calorie intake, I realized that my existing diet consisted of high calorie foods, topping at almost 3500+ calories a day.  It’s a perfect number if I was maintaining or trying to gain weight, but it will not do if I wanted to live a healthier lifestyle!

The calorie counter I use provides me a list of foods with their calorie content and I decided to go shopping to buy foods that I actually, like whole wheat bread, unsalted butter.  To my amazement, I lost four pounds the first week.  Then, I lost another five pounds for the second and third week combined.  After a year of living such an easy lifestyle, along with my daily exercise regimen, I noticed a big difference with my appearance and energy levels!

I am eating more healthy and balanced meals.  My new weight loss is quite noticeable that everyone started asking me about my secret to losing weight.

It’s funny, actually, because the first thing I hear is “did you drop carbs?”.

The “Pride of Wales” Joe Calzaghe has finally silenced his critics.  After a gut wrenching performance against the legendary Bernard Hopkins, Calzaghe proved to the world last Saturday why he’s the best light heavyweight boxer in the world.  Despite being knocked down 70 seconds into the first round, Calzaghe eventually fought his way back by earning a split decision over Hopkins.

Calzaghe simply outboxed Hopkins by swinging a lot more punches throughout the fight.  Hopkins was unable to land no more than one or two punches while fighting inside the clinch.  In the end, Calzaghe landed 33% of his shots, while Hopkins landed 27%.

What does the future hold for Calzaghe?  A fight with Roy Jones Jr. is rumored to happen later this year.  As previously posted, this would be a big mistake for Jones, since he’s way past his prime and Calzaghe is quickly gaining a reputation as a Legend Killer.  In the world of boxing money talks, unfortunately, for Roy Jones Jr., this may be his last big pay day for the foreseeable future.

He did it again.  Roy Jones Jr. can still dazzle the crowd with his in-ring antics and smooth moves.  For most knowledgeable boxing fans, it shouldn’t come to a surprise that Jones easily won his fight over Tito Trinidad last Saturday.  Unfortunately, he did it against a fighter who fought two weight classes above his normal weight classification and lacks any real power of a true light heavyweight, not to mention the fact that Trinidad is a shadow of his former self.

Ahh…Roy Jones Jr. in his Prime. Unstoppable!

Don’t take me wrong, Jones is arguably the best pound for pound fighter to enter a boxing ring.  But at 39 years of age, he’s well past his prime and hasn’t looked his best the past 8 years.  Like it or not, he’s no longer a light heavyweight contender.  As a long-time fan of Jones, it pains me to admit this reality.

A possible fight against Joe Calzaghe, the uber-bad ass of the middleweight division, will obviously mean a pretty hefty payout for both fighters.  But if this fight ever happens, Jones may be the one looking like a dancing fool in the end.  

For Roy’s sake, I hope this fight never happens.