Auto Racing Biggest Weekend is here

It is Memorial Day Weekend and that means it is the biggest auto racing weekend of the year. At least it used to be.

This weekend is the Indianapolis 500, the Coca Cola 600, and F1 race at historic Monaco. All are a big deal in their local markets. The problem is I'm not sure how much of a big deal they are world wide anymore.

The Indianapolis 500 used to be the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. I grew up in Indy and went to the 500 every year. The sport was at its absolute peak with household name drivers like AJ Foyt, Johnny Rutherford, Mario Andretti and the Unser family. There was the era in more recent times where Danica Patrick brought more curious eyeballs to watch on TV, but sadly, I don't think I could name one driver in this weekend's race.

Nascar reached its heyday in the early 2000's. I went to several races from Daytona to Darlington. The sport's household names were Jimmy Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart. They have all retired since then. Now NASCAR is most known for last week's roundhouse punch thrown at Kyle Busch by Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

And while F1 popularity may have peaked in the days of 7 time champion Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton holds the sport's torch now and F1 seems to have an uptick in popularity in America with better TV coverage these days.

Maybe auto racing will return to its peak in popularity and maybe it won't. Either way it will always be a part of Memorial Weekend. All of us at Craig Shemon and Company from 2-6 every weekday afternoon on ESPN Southwest Florida wish you a wonderful weekend!

There's been some activity across the web about where you can get the best fast food chicken nuggets. The problem for those of us in Southwest Florida, is not all of those franchises are here. And the national lists don't include some that we do have. So we needed to create a chicken nuggets list that's specific to Fort Myers, Naples, Cape Coral, Lehigh Acres - really just all of Southwest Florida.

This list is just nuggets, not tenders. Or fingers. If we did tenders we'd have to include Zaxby's and even the ones at Racetrac, which are actually quite good. And then you get into the ones at Publix which isn't a fast food place. (Ya'll know my thoughts on the Chicken Tender Sub- love it). And then you have to allow Burger King's Chicken Fries, which are waaaaay better then their chicken nuggets. No, we have to stay focused. This is just a chicken nuggets list. Regular or spicy.

Let's face it, if you have to drive a long way to get your nuggets you may make another choice. or more importantly, if you're Door Dashing it, those nuggets won't be as good if they've made a long trip. Am I ranking Wendy's Spicy Nugs higher because the store is right in front of the Publix I shop at? Maybe. And maybe the reason I rarely go to Popeye's is because there's a Chick-Fil-A on the right side of the road on the way there. Do you drive past Chick-Fil-A to get to Popeye's? Sometimes the best fast food chicken nuggets are the ones that are closer.

One last thing before we get to the list. Why aren't fast food chicken nuggets available as dinosaurs? Honestly, Dino Chicken Nuggets really aren't that good, but I buy them anyway because they're fun. Give me Wendy's Dinosaur Spicy Nuggets and I'd make them number one on this list. Didn't Burger King once shape their nuggets as crowns?

We're putting Chick-Fil-A at number one. They are the perfect combination of taste, sauce, and proximity to the radio station. And service -  I'm also really liking the way the Estero store is handling the drive thru. As places like Wendy's are moving towards AI ordering boards, Chick-Fil-A has people standing outside with tablets taking your order. Chick-Fil-A nuggets are the best in Southwest Florida.

Wendy's nuggets come in second. More specifically, their Spicy Nugs. They are really everything you'd want in a chicken nugget. Maybe not quite as good as CFA, but solid. Another thing Wendy's is doing right are those fries. They've changed the fries to keep them crispy as they're being delivered. How often have you had a combo meal delivered from somewhere and the fries have turned to a soggy mess? Wendy's solved that, they stay crispy. Nice job. Front Office Rita has Wendy's at 1, but the rest of us say 2.

Usually at PDQ you think tenders, but their nuggets are really good, too. They're just smaller tenders. And they are fantastic. There are a ton of choices over by FGCU, but I'll pulling up PDQ every time. They make 'em spicy, too.

There's a lot of nostalgia in this choice, but you gotta place McDonald's McNuggets high on the list. Here's my problem, though. They come in 4 sizes - bell, bone, boot, and ball. Why aren't one of those dinosaurs? Seriously. Remember when Rick and Morty did that Szechuan dipping sauce episode? That stuff is fire. 

I know they have other options now, but this ranking is based on their regular nuggets. And those, are just kind of - blah. I do want to try their new Saucy Nuggets. I think they realized they needed to step up their nugget game. 

Let me start off by saying I'm a huge fan of the Popeye's Chicken Sandwich. I'd rank that as my favorite fast food chicken sandwich. But their nuggets. Their nuggets just don't hit. I want to like them. But I don't.

My big issue is that the Chicken Fries are really good. But the nuggets. Well, they aren't. Maybe the Fiery fries are better, I haven't tried those. This person on Twitter (X) seems to like them. Stay away from their regular nuggets, tho, unless you have lots of sauce. Drown those things in BBQ sauce and they'll work.

I can't rank them because I've never had them. And there's an Arby's on Corkscrew Road just down from my house. I guess I'll need to give Arby's a shot. Not the first place I think of when it comes to nuggets, but maybe I can get some Horsey Sauce and Arby's Sauce with that? Maybe?