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 In a season oozing with breakout potential, NaLyssa Smith is finding her stride alongside her trio of co-stars. Though she found herself outside of the starting lineup early in the season, Smith’s return to the first five has helped her reach a new gear.

The No. 2 pick in the 2022 WNBA draft is a top-16 rebounder in the league, grabbing seven rebounds per game. That trails Indiana’s team-leader Aliyah Boston by less than one rebound per game.

“I want to keep rebounding hard,” Smith said. “I know I can be one of the best rebounders in this league.”

She sits among the top-14 in the WNBA in field goal percentage, too, sinking 50.3 percent of her shots. She is the Fever’s highest ranking player by this metric, and has recorded nine games with 50 percent or greater field goal percentage.

“We just really keep talking about paint touches,” coach Christie Sides said. “You’ve got to get paint touches…If you get a paint touch, it just collapses the defense. Especially with the way [Boston] and [Smith] are playing down there. You’ve got to play through your posts, and that’s not saying you just beat it in expecting them to get every shot. They just create wide open looks.”

Smith’s offense has been a major piece in Indiana’s successes this season – she’s scored in double figures in six of Indiana’s seven victories. Her synergy with rookie guard Caitlin Clark is boosting the efficiency of Indiana’s offense, as she thrives off of Clark’s ability to draw multiple defenders to the perimeter. As a result, Smith is the beneficiary of increased post touches, hitting 72 percent of her shots at the rim and 59 percent of her shots within 10 feet of the basket.

“It’s been a focus for us as a group,” Clark said. “We want to be able to play inside-out. We want to get our posts touches, and the more we can do that the better for [NaLyssa]…That’s the highest percentage shot in basketball. That’s the shot you want to get.”

Smith’s three double-doubles this season tie Clark for second-most by a Fever player, behind Boston’s five. She’s been an efficient weapon on the offensive side of the ball, but Smith pulls her weight on the defensive end as well.

“I’ve been challenged a lot this year defensively,” Smith said. “I took it as a challenge…I started taking defense a lot more seriously.”

She averages just over a block per contest – a mark that’s seen improvement following her first two years in the league. Smith’s block total for the entire 2023 season was just 10. She’s already doubled that mark with 21 blocks through just 19 games in the 2024 season. Smith has swatted 10 shots over the Fever’s last seven games – a stark contrast from her block totals just one season ago.

As she continues to ascend, Smith looks to play her way onto the court in Phoenix with the 2024 WNBA All-Stars. If she continues her efficient play, she has a case to be included in the All-Star frontcourt.

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 Dave Richards and the Versatran / BlueBird Funny Car team have been working around the clock to improve their on-track performance entering this weekend’s Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park.

Richards and his Versatran / BlueBird team have had a busy couple of weeks doing everything they can to get their hot rod to perform at its best. After front-halving their Funny Car ahead of the last weekend’s Virginia Nationals, Richards qualified the Versatran / Bluebird entry in the No. 16 spot before having a first-round exit to Bob Tasca III. The team then stayed Monday to test at Virginia Motorsports Park.

“Coming into Norwalk this weekend, we’re feeling pretty good. We front halved the car ahead of Richmond and we took some time to get a handle on it. Qualifying was a struggle, but we left competition on a good note. We lost first round, but we made a clean pass,” Richards said. “At testing on Monday, it went really well. We’re happy with the work we’ve done. It’s got us excited for this weekend. I’m glad it was a quick turnaround. I’m excited to get back in the car

Richards and the Versatran / BlueBird team want to continue to make a habit of qualifying for national events. Now at the halfway mark of the 2024 season, Richards has qualified for seven race days picking up his first-round win at the Charlotte Four-Wide event. The Versatran team will be looking to qualify for their eighth straight race day at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park. With their extra efforts, they’ll look to turn on a few win lights on race day as well.

Competition at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals begins with four rounds of qualifying Friday at 6:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. and Saturday at 2:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. Eliminations will be Sunday at 11 a.m. Television coverage of the event will begin on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) with a qualifying show Sunday at 2:00 p.m. ET followed by the first round of eliminations at 4:00 p.m. ET. The rest of eliminations will air on FOX Broadcasting Network (FOX) at 5:00 p.m. ET.

SOURCE 

 On June 27, 2024, the racing world lost one of its brightest stars, Lizzy Musi, after a year-long courageous battle with breast cancer. 

According to a statement made by her dad, renowned engine builder Pat Musi, Lizzy was surrounded by family in her own home when she passed.

Lizzy Musi was more than just a racer; she was a trailblazer and an inspiration. From a young age, she was drawn to drag racing, following in the footsteps of her legendary father. Lizzy carved out her own legacy in the racing world, becoming a fierce competitor and a beloved figure in the community.

Her accomplishments on the track were numerous and impressive. From her early days in the ADRL and to the PDRA, Lizzy most recently found success in the Discovery show Street Outlaws: No Prep Kings. She has also been featured numerous times in Drag Illustrated for her accomplishments and was the cover star of DI #84, the Hottest issue, in February 2014. But beyond the accolades, Lizzy was known for her unwavering determination, infectious enthusiasm, and genuine love for the sport and its people. 

Lizzy was also known for her incredible strength and courage off the track. In April 2023, she was diagnosed with triple-negative stage 4 breast cancer, which had spread to her lymph nodes and liver. 

Despite this challenging diagnosis, Lizzy remained open about her journey, sharing her story with honesty and bravery. She underwent various treatments in the United States and, most recently, announced that her final-round NPK appearance at Empire Dragway would be her last for at least the next few events as she traveled to Germany for a special cancer treatment.

Lizzy’s impact extended far beyond her racing achievements. Her kindness, humility, and generosity of spirit made her a cherished friend to many in the racing community and beyond.

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 I'm not a big fan of our current political landscape. Take what you will from that, but of the myriad of issues on the table, the one I can lend my voice to and, hopefully, shine a little light upon, is the issue of public lands. 

If you haven't guessed based on my previous coverage, I'm firmly pro public lands. I use them all the time to hike, fish, hunt, dirt bike, and ride both ATVs and UTVs. As do millions of Americans each year.

But lately, we've become out-gunned by developers, so-called conservation groups, and vulture mining and logging capitalists that don't give two shits about the world's natural beauty and why we should keep things pristine and accessible to the public. These groups would rather starve state and federal land agencies of resources and then sell those lands off to the highest bidder. 

And recently, the folks behind the 'Project 2025' Republican playbook stated that they truly, truly, truly hate the idea of public lands by proposing that both the federal and state governments around the country sell off all its public land to "solve the housing crisis." 

Now, that's wrapped in a pretty understandable and neat-sounding bow, right? Who doesn't want to solve an issue that's seen millions of Americans unable to find housing? And I'm not here aiming for the Republican jugular on this, as the Democrats have sold their fair share of land to conspicuous actors, too, and have contributed to said housing crisis. But there's just one problem with the Project 2025 conceit.

It wouldn't solve anything.

Do you know what it would do? Probably make it worse, all while lining the pockets of folks who already have more money than God. It's a scam, plain and simple. A fleecing of the American people and their accomplishment of preserving the world around us for future generations. 

The most recent statements were made by William Perry Pendley, who wrote the Department of the Interior section of the Project 2025 playbook, and was featured in The Washington Examiner detailing his thoughts on how to solve the housing crisis. 

The article, titled "Solve the housing crisis by selling government land," hopes to paint a picture where our public lands are just sitting there, being unused, and ready to wrap its arms around America's hopeful with new housing. "It surprises most people outside the American West to learn that fully one-third of the nation’s land mass is owned by the federal government," Pendley writes, adding, "we should change that ownership pattern."

Pendley then goes on to cite that much of the land the public owns—yes, the American taxpayers—could be sold to housing developers which then could get sold to you and me. He quotes former President Trump's call to release more public land to developers to expand the West and build new "Freedom Cities" within the confines of formerly held public lands. All of which is, again, wrapped in the language of how this would help the average American purchase a home. 

But it's all bullshit. 

The housing issue we currently face isn't for the lack of space for developers to build new homes. No, the driving force for lackluster home availability is due to a couple of big factors, including corporate buy-ups of single-family homes, inflation driven by corporate greed, and employers not improving wages to keep up with said inflation.

There are other factors, too, with personal, educational, and medical debt being chief among them. But the biggest drivers are the three above, which the sell-off of our public lands wouldn't solve. 

Investors have been on a tear in purchasing homes across the country and trying to flip them for staggering profits. About 26% of single-family homes were purchased by investors in 2023, a number that's stayed around that area each year since 2019 according to CoreLogic. During that period, the median home price increased by 54%. 

It's the same for renting, too, as it's seen massive increases. A 30.4% increase—to be specific—to pricing in that same period. And aside from the corporate buy-ups of rental buildings across the US, it's now coming to light that the feds are looking into whether or not landlords colluded in price-fixing schemes to raise those rents and line their pockets.  

All of these price increases on both homes and rental units have occurred as wages have stayed stagnant and haven't kept up with inflation. To that end, I forgot to mention how corporations raised the prices of everything, surpassing inflation, in order to just make out like bandits in terms of corporate profits. So not only are homes and rental units more expensive, but literally everything is more expensive and you aren't getting paid as much as you once were. 

Where does that leave Project 2025's conceit then? Well, even taking away the investors buying up homes to flip for a profit, as well as those landlords looking to bleed you dry, what all of this means is it's become harder and harder for the average American to even afford a house.

So you'd think more homes would be good, right? Wrong. 

As you dive further down the rabbit hole of actual reality, you find that a whopping 15.4 million homes remained unoccupied. That's right, there are 15 million homes that just don't have people living in them. Now, some are vacation homes and others probably need a good amount of work. But a lot of these homes are just being sat on because homeowners, investors, and flippers just want more cash and aren't willing to face reality. It's cheaper for them to have them sit than for them not to make as much on their investment as they'd like. 

So what do you think more unregulated housing projects would do? Do you think it'd make this problem just disappear? Or do you think that selling off our public lands to the same folks who have caused all these issues would make it worse? Would those same investors holding onto those 15 million homes just buy these new homes up and cause further inventory issues as they price these new homes out of people's budgets? Of course they will. 

And not only will the inventory still be owned by greedy investors holding onto it until they can bleed you dry, but we'd all lose our public lands. It'd be worse in every conceivable way.  

There are a few bills and proposals within the halls of Congress at present looking to address these vacant home issues and investor-led price-gouging, but if you've paid any attention to politics in the last two decades, you'll be as cynical as I am about those getting any sort of traction. Both parties doing something to actually help the American public? Yeah, right. 

And I'm not even getting into the environmental disaster that would be this sell-off, because this is from the same folks that wanted to strip mine a lot of Alaska's pristine wild areas. It's also worth noting that Pendley was forced out of the Department of the Interior under Trump because he held the job illegally and wasn't confirmed by the Senate.

As you'd expect from my prior columns, and this long opposition, I find Pendley's beliefs and argument utterly reprehensible. Not only does it do nothing to solve the housing crisis Pendley supposedly is in opposition to, but it would remove tarnish this nation's long-standing tradition of preserving our nation's wild places. 

Gone would be our access to rivers for fishing, woods for hunting, deserts for riding, and vast open landscapes for enjoying. Instead, we'd have more strip malls, more unoccupied single-family homes, more parking lots, and toxic mining operations. And the few that'd benefit from this plan would see maybe a few extra dollars in their already heavy pockets. 

I don't care what side of the aisle you're on, because at the end of the day, whether you're a Democrat or Republican, undecided or apathetic, they're coming after the places we all love to use.

It's on us to protect our wild places from vultures like Pendley. 

SOURCE