Out here in the San Francisco Bay Area, the past few days have seen the smoke from assorted local wildfires clinging to the lower atmosphere.  In the morning, this translates into it becoming one with the usual fog that rolls in off the sea, forming a grayish-brown flat clump turning the sun into a bright orange disc one can stare straight into without discomfort.  The same cannot be said for breathing this gaseous slimy soup.  Imagine trying to inhale while an invisible elephant wielding a jump rope is using your chest as a landing spot.  Great fun.

A reaction not altogether unlike the above is evoked by New Hampshire, where the Cupsters and claims jumpers will run this weekend while the truckers tackle Memphis.  New Hampshire is a miserable track; a place where despite progressive banking having been incorporated a few years back is at a shade over a mile too long to be a short track and too flat to be a fast track.  The place has always been a get out front-stay out front dump, and the thought of this being exacerbated by the new car's no passing woes that have plagued Sprint Cup all year is hardly one to stir anticipation for coming events.

This duly noted, far above the dreary action on the track as a detriment to New Hampshire stand the ghosts of this place, the wall where first Adam Petty and then Kenny Irwin Jr. lost their lives before being hidden behind a SAFER barrier and isolated by ignition kill switches from the stuck throttles that led to both Petty's and Irwin's fatal accidents sitting as a blank gravestone.  New Hampshire can never escape its unholy fog, for it will forever be a place known not for racing thrills but moments of loss.  It is where young men died; it is the track that stood silent the Sunday after September 11th.  Nothing in the impressive bag of tricks wielded by Bruton Smith, who now owns the place, can ever make the specters clinging to this place leave in peace.

Hopefully something magic will take place on the track this weekend, a moment of sporting competition at least temporarily lifting the gloom of New Hampshire's unholy fog as it thrills and reminds us why we love racing.  Hopefully.  If not, take a moment to remember.  Then celebrate life by enjoying the weekend, everyone.