Posted on 11/21/2005 4:45:03 PM PST by WestCoastGal
This forum is to help us get through the offseason by posting news, silly season rumors and anything else devoted to Nascar.
Thanks, I would have missed it.
I'm still watching the wristwatch race only because Casey Mears' team is in first place. Otherwise it's really boring and the Lowe's commercial in Spanish has me wondering what they're advertising. Are you getting that one up there or is it just the Texas audience they're aiming at?
I'm with you on that!! You're sounding more like the Jack Bauer type of 24 than this 24.
Stewart running 14th, but many laps down. I only hope he hasn't aggravated his rib injury considering there are only two weeks until Speedweek. WooHoo!!
The Ganassi team currently running with Dixon is called for a stop and go while they're leading the race because he bumped someone spinning them. Ok it's a drive through but they're still leading.
Antique racing on speed. Historic/hysterics, whatever. Pretty neat old cars.
I am at a loss, no other response seemed appropriate. ;)
Keep your eye open for it during this race. They keep running different classes. If they still race it, it may very well be here.
Candyman!!!!!!!!!!
NASCAR driver Elliott Sadler will fill the fourth seat on SPEED's popular Friday night show Trackside with Steve Byrnes, Darrell Waltrip, Jeff Hammond and Larry McReynolds. Waltrip will continue to handle the first-half duties, with Sadler taking over for DW on July 7 at Chicagoland Speedway.
"I've been a huge fan of Trackside over the years," Sadler said. "I'm honored they've asked me to be a host and hope to bring race fans a unique perspective. I'll be working with some great co-hosts and I know this is going to be a lot of fun."
From Fox Sports
Stealth bump
I was just bumping this up for my comments page so I could find it. Lots of stuff going on. Steve Park has a 10 race Busch ride in the 31. I wish it was a better ride, but it's a start.
Testing at Vegas going well for most.
Mikeys old ride. Speaking of Mikey, his practice times have been way off - looks like they have work to do.
It doesn't seem that long ago.
It still doesn't seem right.
"He was bigger than life,'' said a fan named Doug Micha on that morning after, parked outside Gate 8.
He was gazing at the wall of tribute that was already growing there. Fans had covered the fence with flowers and photos and messages.
I wrote then about one of the tributes. It was an American Kennel Club certificate, the registration of a dog named "Master Earnhardt of Daytona.''
The dog was a black Rottweiler.
"Oh, wow,'' Gordon responded. "There's nothing more fitting - as long as that Rottweiler had a soft side to him."
The day after Earnhardt was killed, many drivers issued statements. Kyle Petty called Dale "the last cowboy." Johnny Benson said, "Our sport will go on, but I don't think it will ever be the same."
As the 2006 Speed Weeks begin to unfold in Daytona, much will be said and written about how NASCAR still misses Earnhardt.
Think about how much Earnhardt has missed.
He missed seeing a car he owned, driven by his close friend Michael Waltrip, go on to win that 2001 Daytona 500 - by .124 of a second ahead of his son, Dale Junior.
Indeed, Michael Waltrip would win three more races in a DEI car and parlay those wins with his class-clown antics to become a fan favorite and now to become the lead driver for Toyota's entry into Nextel Cup next season.
Geez, Toyota in NASCAR. What would Dale think?
He has missed seeing his son become a success, on and off the track, assuming an iconic role that sometimes Little E wears uncomfortably.
Earnhardt has missed seeing Gordon assume the role as NASCAR's signature driver. As much grief as Earnhardt used to give Gordon, I'd like to think it was some "tough love" to prepare him for the position he's in.
And don't you know that Dale would love to get under the bumper of Kurt Busch and, as Earnhardt would put it, "rattle his cage.'' And how much we'd love to see that.
He missed being a part of NASCAR's Madison Avenue boom. Earnhardt was one of the first drivers to do commercials, and was a natural. But if you can't surf through channels and not see Greg Biffle selling sandwiches, imagine how much Earnhardt could do - and make - in endorsements.
He missed saying goodbye and farewell to friends and competitors, like Bill Elliott and Terry Labonte, and especially his close friend and rival, Rusty Wallace, headed now to the TV booth. In an interview, Wallace once told me, "I've never seen nothing in this sport like him and I were.''
We "never saw nothing" in this sport like Earnhardt, the last cowboy, nor will we again. Five years later, we're reminded that even in death, he's bigger than life
http://www.al.com/sports/huntsvilletimes/mmccarter.ssf?/base/sports/113887558580070.xml&coll=1&thispage=1
We "never saw nothing" in this sport like Earnhardt, the last cowboy, nor will we again. Five years later, we're reminded that even in death, he's bigger than life.
10. Football fans are forced to wait all season for the Super Bowl ... the NASCAR season starts with the Daytona 500.
9. Daytona 500 has never had a wardrobe malfunction.
8. Remember the big riot when Dale Earnhardt won the Daytona 500? Me neither.
7. Burnouts in the grass cooler than spiking football in the grass.
6. NASCAR: The ultimate "contact sport."
5. Pit stops more fun to watch than water breaks.
4. NASCAR's ever-changing rule book offers added layer of suspense to the race.
3. Taking the checkered flag a better ending than running out the clock.
2. No one watches the Daytona 500 "for the commercials."
1. There's no such thing as halftime in a NASCAR race.
You and Dale Jr. originally split up because there were some personality clashes. What are you doing now to make it better: Couples therapy? Trust falls?
No, we’re like two brothers. You don’t like it when your brother gets on you like, “Hey, let’s get to practice on time.” It turned into that. It was a bunch of child’s play. You know, I think I’m really good at what I do. He thinks he’s really good at what he does. Splitting up showed him what I was carrying for him and showed me what he was carrying for me. It was a wake-up call for both of us. Both of us are good at what we do, but we’re better together.
Can you give an example of how you worked through something recently that would have been a problem before?
[The last race of the year at] Homestead wasn’t a great weekend, but I don’t think there was one argument. We were just like, “All right, we know we don’t have a great car here.” Years before, we might have said a few words and gotten angry at each other. Instead, we just chilled out, made it through the weekend and came home. That was a big sign of everything getting better.
In 2007, NASCAR is talking about switching to a whole new car—and you have one of them here. What do you think of it?
None of us really like it. They’re trying to make it more like a truck. It’s four inches wider and they stood the windshield up a whole lot more. They want to lower the bumper so, in case a guy hits you, you’re hit more square instead of spinning out. The roll cage is wider and longer to give the driver more room, and they’re trying to keep the driver’s window as big as they can, so the bigger guys can get in and out.
How’s it run?
It runs all right. The guy who’s leading does fine; he’s got enough down force that he can run one certain speed. But it busts such a big hole in the air that the guy behind him has trouble. There’s no air. Think of driving down the road and traveling behind a tractor trailer—you feel the car wobble. That’s what the guy’s doing behind you. So he doesn’t have the down force or grip to make a move on you. You actually have to mess up. So it’s something they’re experimenting with.
What happens if NASCAR goes ahead and makes that the car for 2007?
You’re basically throwing away every car that you have in your complex and building 15 new cars. Their goal is for this to be one car that you run at every track from Daytona to Rockingham. They don’t want to see much difference in the cars. But there will always be a Daytona car because there will always be little stuff that you can do to a Daytona car.
What’s the driving force behind NASCAR and their rule changes—both with the new car and the current one?
NASCAR’s perfect world is to have 39 Matchbox cars lined up and each driver gets in one. They want you to have the same equipment as the guy in front of you, and the only thing that’s going to decide the race is your ability as a driver, how your crew set up your car and what happens on pit road.
How does your job as crew chief fit into that?
My job is to tweak and find as many gray areas as I can around NASCAR. Say I come up a spindle package or geometry setting that works really well—that’s not against the rules, but it’s an innovation and an advantage. If NASCAR thinks it’s too far over the line, they might make a rule against it, but most of the time they don’t. We all know where the rules are and if you break them, you’re going to pay the consequences. Sponsors don’t like that headache and publicity. They just want to win races. And it’s our job to do it within the rulebook and gray area.
When you find something new, how long before NASCAR takes the advantage away from you?
It depends. Sometimes you can do stuff for six months. But if a guy comes up with something pretty wild, it’ll be a rule the next week. Hendrick [Motor Sports] got away with some shocks at Dover and ran first and second. The next Monday morning we had a bulletin on our desks with a rule about it. But when they look back six years from now and say, “Jimmie Johnson won at Dover in 2005.” No one’s going to say, “Well, he had those shocks.” They’re just going to say he won.
What’s the craftiest way you’ve seen someone out and out cheat?
In 1995, Ricky Rudd had hydraulics that would change the height of the back of his car—because the lower you get the spoiler to the ground, the faster your car runs. He could hit a button on the clutch pedal and it would lower the car or release it. I actually have a book called Cheating on what some of the old-time guys used to do. It’s hilarious.
You’ve got high ceilings here in the shop. Ever take the cars out and set up some basketball hoops?
No, but a lot of times we’ll throw a football around. We usually quit when it bounces off a hood.
Are guys always bringing their kids’ pinewood derby cars to the shop to juice up?
Oh yeah, and we also work on our [remote control] cars in here. We’ll tear the motors apart to sand blast the cranks and the inside of the blocks. We’ll fab up a spoiler or come in and order some titanium bolts to put inside. Then we go run them all day at a track we built at Dale Jr’s house.
How does Junior do?
He’s got a lot of hand-eye coordination, so he does really good. He doesn’t like the little cars, though, because they run so fast. He’s like, “You can’t control them.” But we’ve also been playing around with a lot of quarter-scale cars because they run a lot slower and you can rub on each other and turn a guy sideways. You’ve got a lot more car control.
So who’s got the fastest RC car?
Oh, me. No doubt.
Days til Daytona!
Not to mention 17 days until #17 takes the checkered at Daytona.
Also from Jayski -
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