NASCAR rant.

[clueless 2,987]

I haven't watched these super speedway races on TV in the last five years are so and stopped going to Daytona and Talladega some fifteen years ago I still stay up with them. While I agree with Dale, rubbings is racing, pushing and wrecking isn't. Yesterday: 17 out of 40 cars DNF! Just had to get that off my chest this morning.

[ri702bill 8,316]

And that is why I refuse to go to "Icebreaker" events here up north - way too many problems - new cars that are not setup properly, new drivers that moved up from lesser divisions, a "green" racing surface (no rubber on it). Makes for awful racing - there is more action with the rollback trucks than actual racing. I'll go in June or July....

 

Since the teams do not build theis own chassis, but buy them from one supplier - the cars are "equal" - gone are the days in the '60's where the leader outpaced the field and won by two laps...!!

[squonk 41,068]

5 hours ago, clueless said:

I haven't watched these super speedway races on TV in the last five years are so and stopped going to Daytona and Talladega some fifteen years ago I still stay up with them. While I agree with Dale, rubbings is racing, pushing and wrecking isn't. Yesterday: 17 out of 40 cars DNF! Just had to get that off my chest this morning.

Whilst I agree with you sentiment Chris, The good old days also had 17 or so DNF's. Blown engines, cracked heads, dropped valves, clutch and transmission failures and an a good old broken rear axle whilst leaving the pits. The cars don't break so there is more of them on the last lap to play bumper cars with.

[clueless 2,987]

1 hour ago, squonk said:

Whilst I agree with you sentiment Chris, The good old days also had 17 or so DNF's. Blown engines, cracked heads, dropped valves, clutch and transmission failures and an a good old broken rear axle whilst leaving the pits. The cars don't break so there is more of them on the last lap to play bumper cars with.

Yes I agree but those were and are mechanical failures, part of racing, but most of the cars that DNF weren't mechanical failures they were a product of this is what you have to do to win now.

[ri702bill 8,316]

In the words of "The King" Richard Petty - in order to finish first - first you have to finish.

 

I turned wrenches on a 1/4 mile short track car in my teenage years. Once a year in the late summer they ran a 100 lap feature race - the mechanical attrition was usually sad. Twenty four cars qualified our of a field of 32 or more. By the end of the race - MAYBE 10 remained running - some not running well at all.... Me thinks the grandstand was full of folks that felt they got hosed... Yup, there were a few spins and wrecks, mostly just mechanical issues...

Edited February 21, 2023 by ri702bill

[953 nut 55,189]

8 hours ago, clueless said:

Yesterday: 17 out of 40 cars DNF! 

That seems to be about average for a restrictor plate race. With all these equally prepared cars having a realistic opportunity to win it seems a last lap "Big One" is nearly inevitable. If the cars had less horse power and the tires were a harder compound to slow the cars down to about 135 MPH like the 1959 Daytona 500 there would be less wrecked cars in the garage area and less seats being filled in the grandstands. Excitement fuels the fans who drive the TV ratings that attract the sponsors that keep the sport alive.

Ned Jarrett won the 1965 Southern 500 by fourteen laps. Not exactly exciting but a very noteworthy accomplishment none the less.

Granted there are a couple of grandchildren of NASCAR team owners who win by wrecking other much more talented drivers. They will win a few races and perhaps become a season champion some day but they will never earn the respect a true champion has.    

[Pullstart 62,834]

3 hours ago, ri702bill said:

In the words of "The King" Richard Petty - in order to finish first - first you have to finish.

 

Copied from a 2021 excerpt from myself… “

I recall a time where we were racing in the enduro... which consisted of 125-200 cars on 3/8th mile oval, pretty high banks, 200 laps.  If enough cars die on the track during green flag, they’ll throw the red, all cars stop, drivers get out, green flag flies with dead vehicles left on the track.  I was flying around, turning left, jamming gears, burning off the right front and literally screaming with excitement and they threw the red.   Lose to 20 seconds later, a big “whack!” In my rear bumper.  I felt like someone hit me on the red, which is a big no-no.  Somehow, it was one of my rear tires that had broken the center out of the steel wheel and rolled back to me!  After the green flew, I kept running on three wheels for a couple laps until I could get through the traffic to the bottom and pit for a spare.

 

Good Times!”

 

Here’s my car at my work car show at the time.  See, I’m inside it as a coworker climbs on it with his crawler.

 

My in-laws had raced with the Petty family for quite some time.  My wife, before she met me, Adam Petty proposed to her but they agreed she was too young.  He passed away the same was Dale Earnhardt did.  That kind of ended their big partnership with The King Enterprise.  I’ve been told that phrase many times.  I never knew where it came from.  Thanks @ri702bill!  The way they told me, “To finish first, first you must finish.” Same difference 

 

 

[ri702bill 8,316]

6 hours ago, Pullstart said:

 I’ve been told that phrase many times.  I never knew where it came from.  Thanks @ri702bill!  The way they told me, “To finish first, first you must finish.” Same difference 

PoTAYto, PaTAHto - yup, it's all the same.  Good story there.

We did our share of 3 wheeled racing one season. The car was getting faster, the grip was improved and proved to be too much for the right rear axle studs several times.

Our new car the following year had the 8 lug Ford 3/4 ton floating axle upgrade - allowed us to go from a 6.17 gear to 6.67. The top 3 or 4 cars were running a 7.12 gear !! And they were turning over 8500 RPM in the backstretch....

Back to the original post - if I feel the need to view rolling insanity, I'll take the grandsons to the summer Thrill Show at the Speedway - Rollover Contest, Figure 8 racing, followed up with a 100 car Demolition Derby.

[ri702bill 8,316]

16 hours ago, squonk said:

and an a good old broken rear axle whilst leaving the pits. The cars don't break so there is more of them on the last lap to play bumper cars with.

Thanks for the reminder. Broken axles or pretzeled driveshafts were common in the 80's and 90's at the 2-1/2 mile superspeedways. They ran such a tall rear gear the driver HAD to spin the tires in order to not stall the motor. They actually dumped the clutch as the car was coming down off the jack...

[squonk 41,068]

I was at this race in dover in 81

 

In the early eighties, Dover International Speedway was still as treacherous as it is today, except for the fact that the track was asphalt instead of concrete and the race length was 500 miles instead of 400. While not as much of an issue these days with the longevity built into the engines of today, the 500 mile torture test at Dover played havoc with several drivers throughout the Mason-Dixon 500.

David Pearson scored the pole and led the first 41 laps, which included the only two cautions of the day (multi-car wrecks on lap 2 and lap 18). While Pearson looked strong in those early laps, his day would be done after that first stint out front due to his engine expiring.

With Pearson done for the day, Neil Bonnett took over the lead and looked to be the man to beat, leading 404 of the next 418 laps, while Cale Yarborough and Richard Petty led the other 14 laps. The absolute domination by Bonnett gave him a two lap lead on second place Yarborough, but with 41 laps left things started to go haywire. Bonnett’s engine blew sending him to the pits as his race win that was all but certain was taken away from him. Undoubtedly heartbroken over seeing the win slip from his grasp, Bonnett exited his car and put his head on the roof, knowing his race was over.

As Bonnett’s engine had ended his day, the lead transferred to second place Yarborough, who like Bonnett, had a two-lap lead on Jody Ridley, a Georgia short-track ace that was driving the legendary No. 90 for car owner Junie Donlavey, who moved to second place behind Yarborough.

The race looked to be Yarborough’s to lose and just like the two leaders before him that had suffered engine woes, the same gremlin struck Yarborough with 20 laps remaining to set Ridley and Donlavey up for their first and what would turn out to be their only win in the Cup Series. With only points leader Bobby Allison on the same lap as him, Ridley drove his heart out over the last 20 laps, beating Allison to the line by 22 seconds.

[Pullstart 62,834]

Hey guys!  I found something better to watch!

 

 

[953 nut 55,189]

    Narrow tires and wet pavement.      

[Rob J. 1,941]

I used to go to the Pepsi 400 in Brooklyn, MI 96-02 when it was still racing. Back when Sr was still racing. It was starting to get ruined in those days by the “yuppie” corporate big money fair weather fans rather than gear heads. Now it’s a push for equity over quality. Stage racing, free pass, ect, it’s garbage IMO anymore. 

[8ntruck 6,998]

I lost interest when Toyota got into the series. 

 

That was about the same time that the body profile templates converged to a single form and innovation was starting to be discouraged and tightly controlled.

 

Seems that the desired entertainment value was a driver soap opera.

 

Unfortunately, F1 seems to be headed in the same direction.

Edited March 4, 2023 by 8ntruck

[Handy Don 12,213]

18 hours ago, Pullstart said:

Hey guys!  I found something better to watch!

 

Here in the East, Limerock Raceway in northwestern CT holds several antique sports car races every year. Not flat out take-no-prisoners racing, since the machines are so valuable and virtually irreplaceable, but the owner/drivers take it quite seriously. Usually there is a “grand tour” before the event with a low speed limit where they permit passengers to ride along!