by Norm Johnson Send Me E-mail

This is a weekend a lot of people look forward to, especially this writer. It's once again a NASCAR weekend at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Yep, the men of NASCAR's Craftsmen Truck Series, hit the speedway Saturday evening, for the Qwik Liner 350 race, and you know where I'll be, that's for sure!

According to Micah Roberts, Station Casinos' oddsmaker, Ron Hornaday, is a 5-to-2 favorite to end up with the checkered flag. Hornaday, who has had a big spotlight on his medical condition of late, won last week at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway and leads the series in points. Johnny Benson, listed at 3-to-1, is also looking for the winning points and very possibly a chance at the title.

It should be an interesting race to watch, especially when the trucks driven by David Starr (#11) and Todd Bodine (#30) take the green flag to start their journey towards the finish line. These two teams had a pit crew brawl following last week's race, which ended up with three teams (#9 driven by David Reutimann), being fined and placed on probation.

A very famous name has indicated he'll be at the speedway to qualify and compete in the race... John Andretti, a veteran NASCAR competitor. Most of the drivers competing this weekend have raced on the track, since it was converted a few years back to a high banked speedway. Unfortunately for Andretti, this will be his first trip on the new speedway surface. John will be driving the #15 Toyota. He has tested a Cup car on the speedway, and found it very challenging. Local favorite, Brendan Gaughan, is listed at 30-to-1 to win the race... I'm placing a $20 bill on him!

My good friends, The Las Vegas Tenors, have been asked to sing the National Anthem prior to the start of the race. Ceremonies start at 5:30 p.m. and can be seen on The Speed Channel (#329 on Cox, #150 on Dish and #607 on Direct TV). The actual race is set to start at 6:30 p.m.

At the invitation of Brandon Green, a drama student at Del Sol High School, I attended a dress rehearsal for a very unusual theater presentation... The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged) at the school. I also invited, Mike Merrick, a highly respected Broadway producer and a local resident, to accompany me and possibly give the three students in the play some guidance. The three actors (they played all the parts) were Mitchell Pridemore (who actually thought up the idea of presenting the London play), Cody Marsilli and Green.

Now, gang, let's be honest here. I know absolutely, practically, positively nothing about Mr. Shakespeare and his plays. I know he wrote Romeo & Juliet and that's about it. I later found out that he had written at least 34 famous plays. So, I depended a lot on my friend to keep me informed, which he did. The play is actually a comedy (a farce) of all the plays written by the great man. The three boys (according to the director of the play, Helen Sax) rehearsed all summer at one of the boys' home, without any assistance from her. When they presented the idea to Sax, she immediately asked to see what they could do. Satisfied that they had done their homework (literally) she applied for the rights to the play and gave them a date.

All three boys are to be commended for what they accomplished. As Merrick told me later, he was quite impressed with the presentation, and especially with the boy's ability to memorize all those lines. As for me, I wished them all good luck, and walked away scratching my head as to what I had just seen. It was funny and the acting by all three young men was outstanding!

This was my second trip to the Del Sol Theater to watch a high school play. The first time was to watch "Grease." I want to say right here, right now, that I hope you parents out there, who will have children going to high school soon, know just how lucky we (you and the rest of us) are to have great drama instructors, who actually care about your kids. People like Ms. Sax are a rarity these days. Let's pray the financial cuts do not reach into the drama classes!

I'm outa here!

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