Monday, October 31, 2011
From Racedriven ? Win a $25 BP Gas card photography Contest.
I?m sure most of us have seen the every changing gas prices daily over the past several months including hitting $4 for a gallon for gasoline at one point this year, so thanks to M80 on behalf of BP, I am running an automotive photography contest with each winner receiving one $25 BP Gift Cards. [...]
The List Of My Favorites Automotive Resource
There was a time when one had to go through magazines, piles of brochures, newspapers, and other print media. Many people used to subscribe to two, four, or five or even more journals to get the latest updates on their favorite vehicles. Internet has made this work easy now. You just have to go on [...]
Fuel Strategy Leads to Seventh-Place Finish at NHMS
David and the UPS team earned a seventh-place finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway
This Week in the NASCAR Blogosphere
By the end of the race at Lowe’s Motorspeedway the Chase will be half over. When the heck did that happen? I don’t know. Last weekend’s race at Talladega provided Tony Stewart with his first win of the season, his first win there in a sprint cup car and ended his 43 race winless streak. [...]
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Dick Mack?s Satisfaction Chevelle versus Bob DuBrock?s Mustang
Dick Mack ran a full bodied Chevelle funny car with a shortened wheelbase approaching that of a fuel altered. The Satisfaction, running out of Ohio, garnered runner-up honors in the fuel category.
Ragan to run UPS My Choice Ford for remainder of season
David Ragan and the UPS team will sport a UPS My Choice car design for the final five races of the season
A First NASCAR Race, Through the Eyes of a 9-Year-Old
[Note from Larry Edsall: Usually my words would fill the space below, but my 9-year-old grandson, Nicholas Chester, went to his first NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Michigan International Speedway recently, and I asked him to share experiences. His report follows.)
By Nicholas Chester
The day I went to my first NASCAR race was Sunday, August 21, 2011.
Dad and I got up at 6:10 a.m. and ate breakfast. I guess we were pretty eager to get there.
When we got to the track it was so huge. We found a parking spot, and got on the truck and trailers we could ride from the parking lot to the track.
We got off and walked in through the gate. We looked at all the displays and the trailers where each of the teams was selling shirts and cars and other things. I bought a Dale Jr. T-shirt -- one for me and one for my sister.
Then we walked through a tunnel and went to the garage area and the pits, which was cool because we got to see the race cars and see the pit crews getting ready for the race.
There was still quite a while before the race so we went back to our truck, then went back to the track and found something to eat for lunch.
We went to our seats, which were in the first turn. We watched the big blowers clean the track and watched the drivers being driven around the track in convertibles.
Next, airplanes flew over. There were four old-time planes and then two jets flew over. We sang the National Anthem as the jets were flying over the track.
A few minutes later the pace car went around the track with all the race cars behind it. They weren?t going very fast.
But then the race started and it got really loud. REALLY LOUD!
At first the cars looked slow as they were coming toward us, but by the time they got into the turn they were going super-fast.
Being at the race was way better than watching on television like we usually do. When you?re there in person, you not only see the race but you can feel it when the cars go by. The wind rushes right by the side of your face.
It?s amazing how fast the cars really are.
The race was great, but the best part was getting to go to the pits and the garage before the race -- and getting my picture taken with two members of Dale Jr.?s pit crew.
Nicholas is not a professional writer yet, but his grandfather Larry Edsall is. You can read more of Larry at www.izoom.com.
By Nicholas Chester
The day I went to my first NASCAR race was Sunday, August 21, 2011.
Dad and I got up at 6:10 a.m. and ate breakfast. I guess we were pretty eager to get there.
When we got to the track it was so huge. We found a parking spot, and got on the truck and trailers we could ride from the parking lot to the track.
We got off and walked in through the gate. We looked at all the displays and the trailers where each of the teams was selling shirts and cars and other things. I bought a Dale Jr. T-shirt -- one for me and one for my sister.
Then we walked through a tunnel and went to the garage area and the pits, which was cool because we got to see the race cars and see the pit crews getting ready for the race.
There was still quite a while before the race so we went back to our truck, then went back to the track and found something to eat for lunch.
We went to our seats, which were in the first turn. We watched the big blowers clean the track and watched the drivers being driven around the track in convertibles.
Next, airplanes flew over. There were four old-time planes and then two jets flew over. We sang the National Anthem as the jets were flying over the track.
A few minutes later the pace car went around the track with all the race cars behind it. They weren?t going very fast.
But then the race started and it got really loud. REALLY LOUD!
At first the cars looked slow as they were coming toward us, but by the time they got into the turn they were going super-fast.
Being at the race was way better than watching on television like we usually do. When you?re there in person, you not only see the race but you can feel it when the cars go by. The wind rushes right by the side of your face.
It?s amazing how fast the cars really are.
The race was great, but the best part was getting to go to the pits and the garage before the race -- and getting my picture taken with two members of Dale Jr.?s pit crew.
Nicholas is not a professional writer yet, but his grandfather Larry Edsall is. You can read more of Larry at www.izoom.com.
David?s Blog: United Way Winner and Off to Chicago
David Ragan spent the day with United Way Auction winner, Katie, before getting back to the shop ahead of Chicago
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Did the Popularity of Street Courses Lead to the Demise of Road Racing?
By Larry Edsall
In my most recent post, I wrote about the heyday of professional road racing in the United States, back when the Can-Am and Trans-Am and even the F5000 series were as big a deal as NASCAR and even rivaled USAC-sanctioned Indy car races with the exception of the Indy 500, which at the time truly was the ?greatest spectacle in racing,? so important that almost nothing else happened during the entire month of May.
As I mentioned, the heyday-era road racing series -- Can-Am, Trans-Am and even Formula 5000 -- were such big deals that there actually were more people in the grandstands and on the hillsides than in the pits and paddock.
So what happened to cause the demise of road racing as a great American motorsport?
The most simple answer -- and albeit perhaps the most over-simplified answer -- can be given in, I suppose, in just two words: Chris Pook.
Born in Britain, Pook moved to the U.S. and in 1975 convinced the city of Long Beach, California, to allow him to stage an F5000 race on the city?s streets. A year later those cars were replaced by Formula One cars, yep, the real Grand Prix.
Nearly a decade later, when F1 sanctioning fees became even more outrageous, Pook offered his street circuit to Indy cars, specifically to the Championship Auto Racing Teams? branch of Indy car racing, which made its Long Beach debut in 1984.
Annually, a couple hundred thousand people showed up, some, no doubt, for the Indy car race, but perhaps just as many for a pro-celebrity race that put Hollywood types into race-prepped sedans. But perhaps even more were there for what was, basically, spring break for grown ups, or for as grown-up as people in Southern California might ever become. College kids went to Lake Havasu or Baja, post-college kids went to Long Beach.
Other cities saw the big crowd at Long Beach and wanted Indy car street races of their own.
Problem was, there are only a couple of weekends each year that work for adult spring break. Another problem was, racing between Jersey barriers on city streets isn?t really racing; it?s more of a fast parade interrupted too often to remove vehicles that collided with those barriers.
As I said, crediting Chris Pook for all of this is over-simplification. Maybe we should blame Indy?s Hulman family for allowing a situation in which the most prominent Indy car team owners revolted and broke away. Or maybe, as conspiracy theorists will tell you, it was actually the France family?s work to split the Speedway from its teams so NASCAR could race at the Brickyard and perhaps, someday, even buy the place for their International Speedway Corp.
Regardless of blame or credit, Indy cars racing on road and street circuits soon became the primary form of American road racing to the demise of the real road racers, the sports cars.
Contributing to the demise, though they would have argued just the opposite at the time, Just as there was a split within the Indy car community that led to the creation of CART, so, too, there was a split within sports car racing, with the new International Motor Sports Association challenging the old-guard SCCA -- and subsequently being challenged itself by the Daytona-backed Grand Am Road Racing.
Once again, Daytona and the France family enter the picture; maybe the conspiracy theorists are right after all?
Such splits never seem to improve the sport, they only open opportunities for some other form of racing to pull out into the passing lane and become more prominent. For example, instead of being the headliner at real road courses, what was left of the Trans-Am series became a support show for Indy car events on city streets.
And the split in sports car racing continues with Grand-Am and its support events on one side and the American Le Mans Series and its partners on the other. With the possible exception of the NFL-AFL split that led to the Super Bowl (and eventually to one united league), sports history clearly shows that unity wins, schism loses.
Sports car racing?s split helped open the way for Indy cars to move not only onto city streets but on traditional road courses as well; Indy car?s split opened the way for NASCAR to expand its schedule to paved oval tracks from coast to coast.
Oops, I need to put the gearbox into Reverse for just a second. Another thing that happened is that the original Can-Am series dissolved and eventually was resurrected as the new ?Can-Am,? actually sort of a merger of the Can-Am name with cars loosely based on those that had been running in F5000, though now with their wheels covered.
This new series did help accelerate the progress of several racing teams and drivers who were ripe to move up to Indy cars (think Carl Haas, Truesports, Bobby Rahal, Al Unser Jr., Danny Sullivan and others) as Indy car racing morphed from a series primarily on oval tracks to one more focused on road and street courses.
As it turned out, road racing wasn?t dead in the United States. But instead of real sports cars, it became dominated by Indy cars, which in turn became occupied not by young American drivers working their way up from dusty local ovals but by foreign-born drivers who grew up racing go-karts on paved courses.
And where did those young American racers go instead? Why, to Daytona and to stock car racing, of course.
So while many of those young American racers now are Chasing the Cup, Indy and sports car racers are left to chase their own tails.
Read more of Larry at www.izoom.com.
In my most recent post, I wrote about the heyday of professional road racing in the United States, back when the Can-Am and Trans-Am and even the F5000 series were as big a deal as NASCAR and even rivaled USAC-sanctioned Indy car races with the exception of the Indy 500, which at the time truly was the ?greatest spectacle in racing,? so important that almost nothing else happened during the entire month of May.
As I mentioned, the heyday-era road racing series -- Can-Am, Trans-Am and even Formula 5000 -- were such big deals that there actually were more people in the grandstands and on the hillsides than in the pits and paddock.
So what happened to cause the demise of road racing as a great American motorsport?
The most simple answer -- and albeit perhaps the most over-simplified answer -- can be given in, I suppose, in just two words: Chris Pook.
Born in Britain, Pook moved to the U.S. and in 1975 convinced the city of Long Beach, California, to allow him to stage an F5000 race on the city?s streets. A year later those cars were replaced by Formula One cars, yep, the real Grand Prix.
Nearly a decade later, when F1 sanctioning fees became even more outrageous, Pook offered his street circuit to Indy cars, specifically to the Championship Auto Racing Teams? branch of Indy car racing, which made its Long Beach debut in 1984.
Annually, a couple hundred thousand people showed up, some, no doubt, for the Indy car race, but perhaps just as many for a pro-celebrity race that put Hollywood types into race-prepped sedans. But perhaps even more were there for what was, basically, spring break for grown ups, or for as grown-up as people in Southern California might ever become. College kids went to Lake Havasu or Baja, post-college kids went to Long Beach.
Other cities saw the big crowd at Long Beach and wanted Indy car street races of their own.
Problem was, there are only a couple of weekends each year that work for adult spring break. Another problem was, racing between Jersey barriers on city streets isn?t really racing; it?s more of a fast parade interrupted too often to remove vehicles that collided with those barriers.
As I said, crediting Chris Pook for all of this is over-simplification. Maybe we should blame Indy?s Hulman family for allowing a situation in which the most prominent Indy car team owners revolted and broke away. Or maybe, as conspiracy theorists will tell you, it was actually the France family?s work to split the Speedway from its teams so NASCAR could race at the Brickyard and perhaps, someday, even buy the place for their International Speedway Corp.
Regardless of blame or credit, Indy cars racing on road and street circuits soon became the primary form of American road racing to the demise of the real road racers, the sports cars.
Contributing to the demise, though they would have argued just the opposite at the time, Just as there was a split within the Indy car community that led to the creation of CART, so, too, there was a split within sports car racing, with the new International Motor Sports Association challenging the old-guard SCCA -- and subsequently being challenged itself by the Daytona-backed Grand Am Road Racing.
Once again, Daytona and the France family enter the picture; maybe the conspiracy theorists are right after all?
Such splits never seem to improve the sport, they only open opportunities for some other form of racing to pull out into the passing lane and become more prominent. For example, instead of being the headliner at real road courses, what was left of the Trans-Am series became a support show for Indy car events on city streets.
And the split in sports car racing continues with Grand-Am and its support events on one side and the American Le Mans Series and its partners on the other. With the possible exception of the NFL-AFL split that led to the Super Bowl (and eventually to one united league), sports history clearly shows that unity wins, schism loses.
Sports car racing?s split helped open the way for Indy cars to move not only onto city streets but on traditional road courses as well; Indy car?s split opened the way for NASCAR to expand its schedule to paved oval tracks from coast to coast.
Oops, I need to put the gearbox into Reverse for just a second. Another thing that happened is that the original Can-Am series dissolved and eventually was resurrected as the new ?Can-Am,? actually sort of a merger of the Can-Am name with cars loosely based on those that had been running in F5000, though now with their wheels covered.
This new series did help accelerate the progress of several racing teams and drivers who were ripe to move up to Indy cars (think Carl Haas, Truesports, Bobby Rahal, Al Unser Jr., Danny Sullivan and others) as Indy car racing morphed from a series primarily on oval tracks to one more focused on road and street courses.
As it turned out, road racing wasn?t dead in the United States. But instead of real sports cars, it became dominated by Indy cars, which in turn became occupied not by young American drivers working their way up from dusty local ovals but by foreign-born drivers who grew up racing go-karts on paved courses.
And where did those young American racers go instead? Why, to Daytona and to stock car racing, of course.
So while many of those young American racers now are Chasing the Cup, Indy and sports car racers are left to chase their own tails.
Read more of Larry at www.izoom.com.
Busch can't do no wrong
Busch again was in the right place at the right time to claim victory in the pepsi 400
Friday, October 28, 2011
David?s Blog: Visit to Roush Museum Before MIS
David Ragan made a stop at the Roush Museum before heading over to Michigan International Speedway
From Racedriven ? Win a $25 BP Gas card photography Contest.
I?m sure most of us have seen the every changing gas prices daily over the past several months including hitting $4 for a gallon for gasoline at one point this year, so thanks to M80 on behalf of BP, I am running an automotive photography contest with each winner receiving one $25 BP Gift Cards. [...]
Patrick Goodin Getting ready for Formula D Irwindale!
Prepping for Formula D Round 7 Pro-am All Star Event.
Patrick Goodin, Florida Native, has been on a long road to get to this point in his driving career. After 3 years of going through the ranks of the pro-am circuit he finally managed to grab a license.
Competing in, and winning the Streetwise Drift Pro-am Championship
Patrick Goodin, Florida Native, has been on a long road to get to this point in his driving career. After 3 years of going through the ranks of the pro-am circuit he finally managed to grab a license.
Competing in, and winning the Streetwise Drift Pro-am Championship
Lingenfelter Purchases 1969 Firebird for Hot Rodders Children?s Charity
A 1969 Pontiac Firebird is the latest addition to The Lingenfelter Collection, a private collection of 200 muscle cars, significant race cars, Corvettes and exotics owned by Ken Lingenfelter. Lingenfelter, who is also CEO and owner of Lingenfelter Performance Engineering in Decatur, Ind., purchased the unique Firebird during the recent Mecum Auction in Dallas, Texas.� [...]
Thursday, October 27, 2011
My iPhone is smarter than your iPhone?
Or at least smarter than my right foot. For years I’ve lived and died by my Escort radar detectors and with the latest generation iQ I’ve been blessed to combine world class navigation AND radar/laser detection, but as�technology�pushes forward and my latest toy – the new iPhone 4S – is always at my side and [...]
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Ragan to run UPS My Choice Ford for remainder of season
David Ragan and the UPS team will sport a UPS My Choice car design for the final five races of the season
A Lot More Goes Into Goodyear NASCAR Tires Than You May Have Thought
By Larry Edsall
AKRON, Ohio -- What does it take to make a tire for a Sprint Cup race car?
Well there is natural and synthetic rubber, fillers such as carbon black, zinc oxide, reactive resins, oil, fatty acids, antioxidants, tack and traction resins, wax and accelerants.
In all, there are 49 chemical components as well as fabric and wire.
And a liner, toe guard, first and second plies, an apex, flipper and beads, first and second belts, overlay, sidewalls and, of course, the tread -- which is only one-tenth of an inch (2.5 millimeters for our Canadian friends) thick.
One-tenth of one inch. That?s not very thick. Maybe as thick as, say, 18 sheets of copy paper. Wow: My computer mouse rides on a thicker slab of rubber than a NASCAR race car.
I know these things because a week or so ago, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company introduced its new, second-generation Assurance TripleTred All-Season tire with ?evolving traction grooves? technology. Our day-long visit to Akron included time at the Goodyear test track at the wheel of vehicles equipped with the new tire, a ride in one of the Goodyear blimps, and a tour of the plant where Goodyear constructs its racing tires -- for NASCAR and short-track stock car racing, for drag racing, for World of Outlaws, for sports car racing and even street-legal tire primarily designed, however, for track-day exercises.
Goodyear is the exclusive tire supplier to NASCAR, which means that for each Sprint Cup event it has to produce between 1,200 and 1,400 tires, each tire optimally designed to wear through its tread while the car burns through a tank of fuel.
Teams are allowed to purchase five sets of tires for practice and qualifying, and may use nine to a dozen more during the race. And if you think replacing the tires on your minivan is expensive, consider that each Sprint Cup tire costs $459.
Hmm, I wonder if teams that do two-tire changes are more worried about gaining track position or saving nearly a thousand dollars.
Goodyear typically works six weeks ahead of the NASCAR schedule, and it doesn?t try to get a jump-start on next year because even a 1-degree change in the rules governing rear spoiler angle would necessitate engineering a completely new tire for each track.
Speaking of tracks, Goodyear is able to use the similarities between some tracks to divide them into seven categories. While each track gets a unique tire, there are similarities in the creation of the tires, say, used at Indianapolis, Pocono and -- believe it or not -- at Bristol.
As you might expect, Daytona and Talladega comprise a group, as do Charlotte, Chicago, Darlington, Homestead, Las Vegas and Texas.
Only one track is a group unto itself. Know which one? It?s Martinsville, that uniquely paperclip-shaped circuit.
But when Goodyear tire producers talk about ?calendar,? they?re not talking about the schedule, but about the creation of the rubber-coated fabric used in a tire. Nor is the ?windup? a baseball term to these folks; but has to with the humidity, temperature and testing that goes on in the lab before that fabric is used to create a tire.
NASCAR tires are built by hand, and the tire builder?s name goes into each tire.
After a tire is built, it goes into a mold where it is baked under high pressure (vulcanized). The mold also impressed words and codes into the tire?s sidewalls. After cooling, each tire is weighed, scanned, undergoes Xray and laser testing.
Speaking of codes, the sticker on a new tire includes an eight-digit barcode identifier, a spring rate number, tire diameter, tread width and beat diameter, a product code, tire classification, mold, construction and compound combination and a production sequence number.
Each tire also gets marked after inspection and two colored dots are positioned to indicate optimal mounting match position for the tire and its wheel.
By the way, the Goodyear racing tire facility is a zero-landfill factory. Any scrap is sold for use by other companies.
Read more from Larry at www.izoom.com
AttachmentSize
RaceVsStreetTireHi.jpg2.76 MB
AKRON, Ohio -- What does it take to make a tire for a Sprint Cup race car?
Well there is natural and synthetic rubber, fillers such as carbon black, zinc oxide, reactive resins, oil, fatty acids, antioxidants, tack and traction resins, wax and accelerants.
In all, there are 49 chemical components as well as fabric and wire.
And a liner, toe guard, first and second plies, an apex, flipper and beads, first and second belts, overlay, sidewalls and, of course, the tread -- which is only one-tenth of an inch (2.5 millimeters for our Canadian friends) thick.
One-tenth of one inch. That?s not very thick. Maybe as thick as, say, 18 sheets of copy paper. Wow: My computer mouse rides on a thicker slab of rubber than a NASCAR race car.
I know these things because a week or so ago, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company introduced its new, second-generation Assurance TripleTred All-Season tire with ?evolving traction grooves? technology. Our day-long visit to Akron included time at the Goodyear test track at the wheel of vehicles equipped with the new tire, a ride in one of the Goodyear blimps, and a tour of the plant where Goodyear constructs its racing tires -- for NASCAR and short-track stock car racing, for drag racing, for World of Outlaws, for sports car racing and even street-legal tire primarily designed, however, for track-day exercises.
Goodyear is the exclusive tire supplier to NASCAR, which means that for each Sprint Cup event it has to produce between 1,200 and 1,400 tires, each tire optimally designed to wear through its tread while the car burns through a tank of fuel.
Teams are allowed to purchase five sets of tires for practice and qualifying, and may use nine to a dozen more during the race. And if you think replacing the tires on your minivan is expensive, consider that each Sprint Cup tire costs $459.
Hmm, I wonder if teams that do two-tire changes are more worried about gaining track position or saving nearly a thousand dollars.
Goodyear typically works six weeks ahead of the NASCAR schedule, and it doesn?t try to get a jump-start on next year because even a 1-degree change in the rules governing rear spoiler angle would necessitate engineering a completely new tire for each track.
Speaking of tracks, Goodyear is able to use the similarities between some tracks to divide them into seven categories. While each track gets a unique tire, there are similarities in the creation of the tires, say, used at Indianapolis, Pocono and -- believe it or not -- at Bristol.
As you might expect, Daytona and Talladega comprise a group, as do Charlotte, Chicago, Darlington, Homestead, Las Vegas and Texas.
Only one track is a group unto itself. Know which one? It?s Martinsville, that uniquely paperclip-shaped circuit.
But when Goodyear tire producers talk about ?calendar,? they?re not talking about the schedule, but about the creation of the rubber-coated fabric used in a tire. Nor is the ?windup? a baseball term to these folks; but has to with the humidity, temperature and testing that goes on in the lab before that fabric is used to create a tire.
NASCAR tires are built by hand, and the tire builder?s name goes into each tire.
After a tire is built, it goes into a mold where it is baked under high pressure (vulcanized). The mold also impressed words and codes into the tire?s sidewalls. After cooling, each tire is weighed, scanned, undergoes Xray and laser testing.
Speaking of codes, the sticker on a new tire includes an eight-digit barcode identifier, a spring rate number, tire diameter, tread width and beat diameter, a product code, tire classification, mold, construction and compound combination and a production sequence number.
Each tire also gets marked after inspection and two colored dots are positioned to indicate optimal mounting match position for the tire and its wheel.
By the way, the Goodyear racing tire facility is a zero-landfill factory. Any scrap is sold for use by other companies.
Read more from Larry at www.izoom.com
AttachmentSize
RaceVsStreetTireHi.jpg2.76 MB
H2R Partners with Roger Beasley Mazda
Here’s great news for our friends at Harris Hill Road – H2R, now working in cooperation with Roger Beasley Mazda!� This mutually beneficial partnership is a great WIN-WIN! Here’s the text of this hot news: Harris Hill Road Announces Partnership with Roger Beasley Mazda It is with great excitement and pleasure that we can announce [...]
Hot Rod Challenges You To Join The Movember Movement
The Race Is On! In the month of November, grow a moustache and help change the face of men’s health. Movember is an annual charity event held during the month of November, where men grow a moustache to raise awareness and funds for men?s health – specifically cancers affecting men.� Funds raised in the US [...]
Miller to Unveil Revolutionary TIG Welder at 2008 SEMA Show
Get hands-on experience and expert demonstrations of MIG welding, TIG welding and plasma cutting. Test Miller TIG and MIG welders that make it easier to learn to weldperfect for enthusiast-level motorsports applications.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Seat Covers, Exhaust and More for the CRAFTSMAN Ultimate Truck Buildout
We?re alternating between coffee and Mountain Dew as we enter the home stretch to get these two Chevrolet Silverado trucks finished as part of the 2011 CRAFTSMAN Ultimate Truck Buildout for SEMA. The Hot Rod magazine truck was shuffled off to Graphik Concepts to tune up its exterior, but not before the team at Lingenfelter [...]
Ragan Wheels UPS Ford to Fourth Place Finish at RIR
David Ragan and the UPS team battled in the top 10 all night to finish fourth
Monday, October 24, 2011
Dollar General Move Both Positive And Negative
It was officially announced today at Charlotte Motor Speedway that Dollar General would move it’s sponsorship from Turner Motorsports and Sarah Fisher Racing (IndyCar team) to Joe Gibbs Racing for 2012. �The retailer is upping it’s NASCAR spending from just a single, full time Nationwide Series car, to 12 Cup races as a primary on [...]TheNASCARInsiders.com
Follow the Insiders on Twitter or be a fan on Facebook!
Follow the Insiders on Twitter or be a fan on Facebook!
Ragan Rallies for 21st in Dover
David Ragan and the UPS team started 19th and finished 21st at Dover International Speedway
David Ragan Earns Pole in Indy!
David Ragan and the UPS team claim the top spot for Sunday's race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Wheldon ?champion of our sport?
Of all the indelible moments from Dan Wheldon’s public memorial service, the heart-wrenching letter from his wife cut deepest. View full post on NBCSports.com: NASCAR / Motors addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nascarpitstopblog.com%2Fnascar-racing%2Fwheldon-champion-of-our-sport'; addthis_title = 'Wheldon+%26%238216%3Bchampion+of+our+sport%26%238217%3B'; addthis_pub = ''; Technorati Tags: Champion, sport, Wheldon
Ron Pellegrini?s Superbird Buick Funny Car
There were only a handful of Buick funny cars in the 1960s, and Ron Pellegrini raced two of them. The first was a fiberglass 1967 Gran Sport known as SuperBird.
The NASCAR Week That Was: Oct. 16-22
The death of IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon and questions about safety led the collective motorsports news this week. Wheldon was laid to rest Saturday in a private ceremony in St. Petersburg, Fla. NASCAR’s Jimmie Johnson drew ire this week after saying the IndyCar Series shouldn’t race on ovals. After criticism, Johnson clarified that he meant [...]TheNASCARInsiders.com
Follow the Insiders on Twitter or be a fan on Facebook!
Follow the Insiders on Twitter or be a fan on Facebook!
Saturday, October 22, 2011
NASCAR RACING 2003 SEASON: Race 9 of 10
Sorry guys HORRIBLE quality. I dunno what happened addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nascarpitstopblog.com%2Fnascar-racing%2Fnascar-racing-2003-season-race-9-of-10'; addthis_title = 'NASCAR+RACING+2003+SEASON%3A+Race+9+of+10'; addthis_pub = ''; Technorati Tags: 2003, nascar, race, racing, Season
Friday, October 21, 2011
Coker Group Purchases Wheel Vintiques
The Coker Group, parent company of Coker Tire, Phoenix Drag Tire, and Honest Charley Speed Shop, among others, has purchased Wheel Vintiques. Known for their extensive line of steel and wire wheels for hot rods and muscle cars, Wheel Vintiques products often wind up with one of Coker’s vintage tires mounted to them. Wheel Vintiques [...]
Engine Compression Check Made Easy
Keep tabs on your engine's compression ratio and performance with this cool new compression tester from Katech Performance...
COTA Highway FM812 Paving Expansion Progress
On my way back from the Six Lounge GP race viewing party, I stopped by the Circuit of The Americas (COTA).� It has been 1 week since they started the paving expansion of the shoulders.� So far, they’ve gotten most of the 3/10th of� a mile section directly in front of the main track entrance [...]
Knowing About Automotive Dealer Management Systems
The work of many UKs dealerships will never be appreciated unless they begin to utilize the tools they are provided with in a manner it should be utilized. Make dealerships are working to attain their potential but their obsolete DMS cannot even provide them with the tools required. Change in DMS solution is needed by [...]
Lingenfelter Purchases 1969 Firebird for Hot Rodders Children?s Charity
A 1969 Pontiac Firebird is the latest addition to The Lingenfelter Collection, a private collection of 200 muscle cars, significant race cars, Corvettes and exotics owned by Ken Lingenfelter. Lingenfelter, who is also CEO and owner of Lingenfelter Performance Engineering in Decatur, Ind., purchased the unique Firebird during the recent Mecum Auction in Dallas, Texas.� [...]
Thursday, October 20, 2011
The List Of My Favorites Automotive Resource
There was a time when one had to go through magazines, piles of brochures, newspapers, and other print media. Many people used to subscribe to two, four, or five or even more journals to get the latest updates on their favorite vehicles. Internet has made this work easy now. You just have to go on [...]
Ragan to run UPS My Choice Ford for remainder of season
David Ragan and the UPS team will sport a UPS My Choice car design for the final five races of the season
Ragan Finishes 14th in Loudon; Moves up to 13th in Points
David Ragan and the UPS team fought hard at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to finish 14th. This is David's best finish at the New England track and he moves up to 13th in points
Garage-Built Gasser
Ron Cambra has a cool garage. Well he actually has at least two cool garages, but the one we’re talking about is home to a Model A and a ’55 Chevy gasser that’s quickly taking shape thanks to help from David and Greg Engle. We visited the garage on a rainy Southern California day and [...]
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Create Fanpages in WordPress with a single click using this plugin
Great Customer Support = Refund rate of less than 1% Pages of testimonials boost Avg conversion to 3.4% for targeted WordPress users looking to market on Facebook. Be sure to sign up for chance for a free ipad2 http://www.fanpageconnect.com/affiliates Create Fanpages in WordPress with a single click using this plugin addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nascarpitstopblog.com%2Fnascar-fans%2Fcreate-fanpages-in-wordpress-with-a-single-click-using-this-plugin'; addthis_title = [...]
Larry Arnold and the Penetration Dodge Funny Car
Before Larry Arnold established himself as a top funny car driver, he chased the UDRA circuit with his radical Penetration Dodge Charger.
Drifting vs. Nascar: Take Two
Kasey Kahne started racing on dirt ovals and decided to put it together with some Nascar drivers. Kaila Yu speaks with some of the fastest on the road today: Kasey Kahne and Chris Cook. Watch as they take it to the road. addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nascarpitstopblog.com%2Fnascar-drivers%2Fdrifting-vs-nascar-take-two'; addthis_title = 'Drifting+vs.+Nascar%3A+Take+Two'; addthis_pub = ''; Technorati Tags: Drifting, nascar, [...]
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
DMCC Round 2 >>> Travis Clark
DMCC Round Two. Stratotech Raceway, Fort Sask, Alberta.
July 31st 2011 was our round two competition out at Stratotech Raceway, I have always loved driving at this track and when I found out near the end of 2010 that we would be coming back I was pretty excited! I woke up that day
July 31st 2011 was our round two competition out at Stratotech Raceway, I have always loved driving at this track and when I found out near the end of 2010 that we would be coming back I was pretty excited! I woke up that day
Rally of the Incas
30 years after their first attempt, Jorge Koechlin and English co-driver, Walter Ainsworth, returned to Peru to compete in the Rally Caminos Del Inca. This time, Ainsworth was again next to the driver, Jorge Koechlin, as he was in 1981, when they drove the Dawson Auto Developments prepared Datsun Violet. During this event, they were [...]
A First NASCAR Race, Through the Eyes of a 9-Year-Old
[Note from Larry Edsall: Usually my words would fill the space below, but my 9-year-old grandson, Nicholas Chester, went to his first NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Michigan International Speedway recently, and I asked him to share experiences. His report follows.)
By Nicholas Chester
The day I went to my first NASCAR race was Sunday, August 21, 2011.
Dad and I got up at 6:10 a.m. and ate breakfast. I guess we were pretty eager to get there.
When we got to the track it was so huge. We found a parking spot, and got on the truck and trailers we could ride from the parking lot to the track.
We got off and walked in through the gate. We looked at all the displays and the trailers where each of the teams was selling shirts and cars and other things. I bought a Dale Jr. T-shirt -- one for me and one for my sister.
Then we walked through a tunnel and went to the garage area and the pits, which was cool because we got to see the race cars and see the pit crews getting ready for the race.
There was still quite a while before the race so we went back to our truck, then went back to the track and found something to eat for lunch.
We went to our seats, which were in the first turn. We watched the big blowers clean the track and watched the drivers being driven around the track in convertibles.
Next, airplanes flew over. There were four old-time planes and then two jets flew over. We sang the National Anthem as the jets were flying over the track.
A few minutes later the pace car went around the track with all the race cars behind it. They weren?t going very fast.
But then the race started and it got really loud. REALLY LOUD!
At first the cars looked slow as they were coming toward us, but by the time they got into the turn they were going super-fast.
Being at the race was way better than watching on television like we usually do. When you?re there in person, you not only see the race but you can feel it when the cars go by. The wind rushes right by the side of your face.
It?s amazing how fast the cars really are.
The race was great, but the best part was getting to go to the pits and the garage before the race -- and getting my picture taken with two members of Dale Jr.?s pit crew.
Nicholas is not a professional writer yet, but his grandfather Larry Edsall is. You can read more of Larry at www.izoom.com.
By Nicholas Chester
The day I went to my first NASCAR race was Sunday, August 21, 2011.
Dad and I got up at 6:10 a.m. and ate breakfast. I guess we were pretty eager to get there.
When we got to the track it was so huge. We found a parking spot, and got on the truck and trailers we could ride from the parking lot to the track.
We got off and walked in through the gate. We looked at all the displays and the trailers where each of the teams was selling shirts and cars and other things. I bought a Dale Jr. T-shirt -- one for me and one for my sister.
Then we walked through a tunnel and went to the garage area and the pits, which was cool because we got to see the race cars and see the pit crews getting ready for the race.
There was still quite a while before the race so we went back to our truck, then went back to the track and found something to eat for lunch.
We went to our seats, which were in the first turn. We watched the big blowers clean the track and watched the drivers being driven around the track in convertibles.
Next, airplanes flew over. There were four old-time planes and then two jets flew over. We sang the National Anthem as the jets were flying over the track.
A few minutes later the pace car went around the track with all the race cars behind it. They weren?t going very fast.
But then the race started and it got really loud. REALLY LOUD!
At first the cars looked slow as they were coming toward us, but by the time they got into the turn they were going super-fast.
Being at the race was way better than watching on television like we usually do. When you?re there in person, you not only see the race but you can feel it when the cars go by. The wind rushes right by the side of your face.
It?s amazing how fast the cars really are.
The race was great, but the best part was getting to go to the pits and the garage before the race -- and getting my picture taken with two members of Dale Jr.?s pit crew.
Nicholas is not a professional writer yet, but his grandfather Larry Edsall is. You can read more of Larry at www.izoom.com.
The List Of My Favorites Automotive Resource
There was a time when one had to go through magazines, piles of brochures, newspapers, and other print media. Many people used to subscribe to two, four, or five or even more journals to get the latest updates on their favorite vehicles. Internet has made this work easy now. You just have to go on [...]
The NASCAR Week That Was: Oct. 2-8
Clint Bowyer led the news this week with the announcement that he had signed with Michael Waltrip Racing for the 2012 season and beyond. The team will be sponsored by 5 Hour Energy for 24 races. No word on who the crew chief will be for the team. In other news, Turner Motorsports announced this [...]TheNASCARInsiders.com
Follow the Insiders on Twitter or be a fan on Facebook!
Follow the Insiders on Twitter or be a fan on Facebook!
Monday, October 17, 2011
David?s Blog: Visiting UPSers with Ned Jarrett
David Ragan and Ned Jarrett made a special stop at the 16th Street Hub in Indianapolis ahead of the weekend's events
Dick Mack?s Satisfaction Chevelle versus Bob DuBrock?s Mustang
Dick Mack ran a full bodied Chevelle funny car with a shortened wheelbase approaching that of a fuel altered. The Satisfaction, running out of Ohio, garnered runner-up honors in the fuel category.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Larry Arnold and the Penetration Dodge Funny Car
Before Larry Arnold established himself as a top funny car driver, he chased the UDRA circuit with his radical Penetration Dodge Charger.
Matusek Sets NMCA Drag Racing Record With A 6.070 Timeslip.
The Roush-Yates team was busy on the October 8th-9th weekend, “Steve Matusek broke the NMCA mph record by 16mph in Indianapolis, Indiana, this weekend by posting a 6.070 time, or 250 mph. This is the fastest Matusek has ever gone with his drag car and the fastest time Roush Yates Engines’ drag racing program has [...]
September Hot Rod/ Car Craft Cruise Night Gallery
Check out the gallery of images from Hot Rod and Car Craft’s September cruise night, complete with vintage nitro dragster cacklefest, muscle cars, and even an exotic thrown in for good measure. The next cruise is in three weeks and as always, will be held at the Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo.
Ragan and UPS Crew Finish 11th in Chicago
David Ragan and the UPS team started 15th and finished 11th at Chicagoland Speedway on Monday afternoon
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Limelight Dodge: the Jack-Knife Funny Car
The front clip tilted forward, gasser style. The rest of the Limelight's body however, was hinged at the rear and could be titlted up like a typical funny car.
Limelight Dodge: the Jack-Knife Funny Car
The front clip tilted forward, gasser style. The rest of the Limelight's body however, was hinged at the rear and could be titlted up like a typical funny car.
Will Johnson stay hot?
Rotoworld: Jimmie Johnson is coming off a win and has traditionally dominated at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. He’s finished in the top two in 11 of his last 21 races there, but will he be able to do it again at the Bank of America 500? View full post on NBCSports.com: NASCAR / Motors addthis_url [...]
Friday, October 14, 2011
STOBART ARMADA READY TO INVADE RALLY SPAIN
The M-Sport Stobart Ford World Rally Team will go on the attack on the final sealed surface round of the WRC season next week, RACC Rally de Espa�a, and has set its sights on claiming its best result of the season on asphalt. The Cumbria-based squad has successfully scored points in every rally since the [...]
Goings on at Amy?s Bad Groove
Here are a couple of excerpts from Amy’s Bad Groove this week: In I Have Stupid (NASCAR) Questions, I laments over the fact that she has questions about NASCAR she is afraid to ask…for fear of looking stupid: Anyway I have been a NASCAR fan for years (as in since childhood)?and I have a couple [...]
Enjuku Pro-AM driver finishes 3rd @ FD Palm Beach, 1st in points!
Our driver Pat Goodin finished 3rd place this past weekend at FD Palm Beach.
He is now 1st in points for the Street Wise Drift Series.
Ryan Kaufman took 2nd, and Doug Van Den Brink took 1st.
Our photographer Kayla Montgomery was there to catch all the action.
Congrats to all the pro-am drivers, and keep up the
He is now 1st in points for the Street Wise Drift Series.
Ryan Kaufman took 2nd, and Doug Van Den Brink took 1st.
Our photographer Kayla Montgomery was there to catch all the action.
Congrats to all the pro-am drivers, and keep up the
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Could Brad K. Really Win This Thing?
After Sunday’s dominant performance at Kansas, Jimmie Johnson is once again the talk of the Chase. �After a rough start to the playoffs, Johnson has rebounded to close within four points of the lead. �But right behind Johnson, who sits third in the standings, is Brad Keselowski. �Following a third place finish at Kansas, Keselowski [...]TheNASCARInsiders.com
Follow the Insiders on Twitter or be a fan on Facebook!
Follow the Insiders on Twitter or be a fan on Facebook!
OTC ? Automotive Scan Tools
Complications of modern automobiles have increased so much in last some years that now most professional auto shops and garages needs to choose automotive scan tools carefully in order to do routine automotive tasks efficiently, to highlight the issues in engine systems of cars, and to figure out what exactly can be done to get [...]
Pit Stop USA Announces New Retail Store and Catalog
Pit Stop USA, a leading online retailer to the circle market, will be opening a new retail showroom in March and also announced the release of their 2011 catalog.
Hennessey Performance Announces 20th Anniversary Camaro HPE650
To celebrate 20 years of tuning cars, Hennessey Performance will build 20 special black-on-black HPE650 Camaros. The addition of long-tube headers, cam, and Magnusson TVS2300 supercharger up the 6.2L V8′s output to 655hp and Hennessey says that’s good for 0-60 sprints of 3.7 seconds and quarter mile times of 11.7 seconds. The good news is [...]
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
How To Tell If Your Man Is A Cheating Liar
A one-of-a-kind book and audio program, from Coaches Susie & Otto Collins created specifically for women, that gives them everything they need to know to be able to tell whether a man is lying or cheating on them (in as little as 12 hours. How To Tell If Your Man Is A Cheating Liar addthis_url [...]
A Comment On Jimmie And NASCAR?s Points System
After a weekend like this one it’s not unusual for us to find interesting comments on very old posts. People are angry, curious or bored and find us on Google. Watching Jimmie Johnson walk away with the race, and put himself on course to win another championship on Sunday was apparently enough for at least [...]TheNASCARInsiders.com
Follow the Insiders on Twitter or be a fan on Facebook!
Follow the Insiders on Twitter or be a fan on Facebook!
Own Kyle Petty's '06 Victory Bike and Ride Across the US
A special online auction give you the chance to own Kyle Petty's 2006 Victory motorcycle and join Kyle on the 2009 Ride Across America. But hurry, the auction runs July 15-25, 2008. All proceeds benefit two extremely...
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Jack Thorton and the Southern Style Dodge Funny Car
Jack Thorton competed in both the UDRA and NASCAR circuits with Southern Style Dodge Funny Car during the 1967 season,
Enjuku Pro-AM driver finishes 3rd @ FD Palm Beach, 1st in points!
Our driver Pat Goodin finished 3rd place this past weekend at FD Palm Beach.
He is now 1st in points for the Street Wise Drift Series.
Ryan Kaufman took 2nd, and Doug Van Den Brink took 1st.
Our photographer Kayla Montgomery was there to catch all the action.
Congrats to all the pro-am drivers, and keep up the
He is now 1st in points for the Street Wise Drift Series.
Ryan Kaufman took 2nd, and Doug Van Den Brink took 1st.
Our photographer Kayla Montgomery was there to catch all the action.
Congrats to all the pro-am drivers, and keep up the
September Hot Rod/ Car Craft Cruise Night Gallery
Check out the gallery of images from Hot Rod and Car Craft’s September cruise night, complete with vintage nitro dragster cacklefest, muscle cars, and even an exotic thrown in for good measure. The next cruise is in three weeks and as always, will be held at the Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Ragan Rallies for 12th-place Finish in Michigan
David Ragan and the UPS team started seventh and finished 12th at Michigan International Speedway
PMI and Roush Yates Form Alliance
Performance Motorsports Incorporated (PMI) and Roush Yates announced today a newly formed technical alliance that will focus on product development in national and international markets. The announcement was made during...
Cleared for Takeoff: Carl Edwards Re-ups With Roush Fenway and Gets Okay to Build His Own Airstrip
This has been a pretty good week for Carl Edwards. After months of speculation linking the No. 99 Roush Fenway superstar to a new, fourth Joe Gibbs Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup team it was announced that Edwards had signed a multi-year contract to remain with Jack Roush, Ford and the many solid, can?t afford to lose ?em sponsors that are so heavily engaged, invested and happy with the back flipping superstar. And this past Tuesday evening, the Boone County Commission gave its initial approval to Edward?s permit request to build and operate a private runway at his home just east of Columbia, Missouri. I?d say these are definitely good times for Carl.
His own airstrip. In the old days it was which driver or team owner had the better motor coach; until I read about Edward?s runway I thought NASCAR one-upsmanship had pretty much peaked at who?s got the better airplane or helicopter. I stand corrected. And it must?ve been one hell of a contract. My buddies and I regularly congregate at a local watering hole called the Darkhorse to watch, pontificate and pundit about racing and I was the only one with enough confidence to wager a cold beverage way back in June that Carl was sticking with the Cat in the Hat. I plan to collect this weekend when we gather to watch the Iowa and/or Pocono races. Because Carl Edwards and Jack Roush were meant for each other; their relationship is practical, semi-paternal, mutually beneficial, fulfilling and profitable. Carl Edwards in a Toyota? The skinny kid from America?s heartland who got his start with Michigander Roush in the truck series, won a Nationwide championship with him and now leads the 2011 Sprint Cup standings, racing for a Japanese manufacturer? Jack Roush is on lots of records regarding his feelings about Japanese manufacturers in NASCAR and buying American. One popular story tells of him paying one employee in yen after he saw said worker?s small Japanese pickup truck in the Roush Racing parking lot. I just can?t believe Edwards would do that to Roush, not after the chance Jack gave him and the history and success they?ve shared racing and winning with Fords. And they both love to fly. By now everyone knows about Jack Roush?s exploits and perilous adventures whist freed from these earthly bounds in various vintage and modern aircraft. He?s escaped death twice, the last incident costing him an eye and another of his nine lives. Carl Edwards has been flying since he was 17. Like many drivers with planes his business expense Piper Meridian is used to travel back and forth to races, the Roush Fenway complex in Charlotte, sponsor obligations and other personal appearances. He?s also into stunt flying. These guys are just too right for each other. And right now there is so much momentum on their side. After 12 years of trying Roush won five championships from 2000 through 2007; the first in trucks with Greg Biffle, the next in the Nationwide series from Biffle (2002) before two Sprint Cup titles from Matt Kenseth (2003) and Kurt Busch.(2004). Edwards? 2007 NNS championship was Roush Fenway?s last and from 2008 through last season there was nothing but dashed hopes, disappointment, disasters and too many DNFs. But this year the pendulum has finally swung back again. Edwards, Kenseth and David Ragan each have a win with Carl at the top of the Cup series leaderboard, Matt in fifth place and the No. 6 UPS driver in 16th with a decent-at-least chance to make the Chase thanks to his Daytona victory in July. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is leading the Nationwide standings and the factory Ford team from Concord seems to have the ?new? FR9 engine (introduced in 2009) and their Fusion and Mustang Cup and NNS cars finally figured out and fully developed. Confidence is high for Carl earning his first and certainly not last sterling silver NASCAR Sprint Cup trophy from Tiffany & Co. when the 2011 end with Ford Championship weekend at Homestead-Miami.
In fact the only thing that's cast any real doubt about Carl's chances to finally win it all has been the impending departure rumor mill.
So I ask you. Seriously. How on earth could Roush Fenway and Ford even think about letting their premier driver in America?s most popular racing series, a handsome, buff young stud who was on the cover of ESPN The Magazine with his shirt off, who is on the President?s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition, who presents himself as a humble, God-fearing family man that just wants to win races more than anything else, leave to sign with a Toyota team? That would be like the Boston Red Sox selling Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees. Whoops. Bad example. No, I knew deep down inside that Edwards was going to stick with Roush Fenway and unless the organization?s wheels totally fall off, or unless he finds himself driving a car sponsored by a male performance enhancing drug, I believe Carl will remain with RFR and Ford for a long, long time.
Heck, I'll bet a cold beverage on it.
Read More of Bill Tybur at his website: https://fmfl.net
His own airstrip. In the old days it was which driver or team owner had the better motor coach; until I read about Edward?s runway I thought NASCAR one-upsmanship had pretty much peaked at who?s got the better airplane or helicopter. I stand corrected. And it must?ve been one hell of a contract. My buddies and I regularly congregate at a local watering hole called the Darkhorse to watch, pontificate and pundit about racing and I was the only one with enough confidence to wager a cold beverage way back in June that Carl was sticking with the Cat in the Hat. I plan to collect this weekend when we gather to watch the Iowa and/or Pocono races. Because Carl Edwards and Jack Roush were meant for each other; their relationship is practical, semi-paternal, mutually beneficial, fulfilling and profitable. Carl Edwards in a Toyota? The skinny kid from America?s heartland who got his start with Michigander Roush in the truck series, won a Nationwide championship with him and now leads the 2011 Sprint Cup standings, racing for a Japanese manufacturer? Jack Roush is on lots of records regarding his feelings about Japanese manufacturers in NASCAR and buying American. One popular story tells of him paying one employee in yen after he saw said worker?s small Japanese pickup truck in the Roush Racing parking lot. I just can?t believe Edwards would do that to Roush, not after the chance Jack gave him and the history and success they?ve shared racing and winning with Fords. And they both love to fly. By now everyone knows about Jack Roush?s exploits and perilous adventures whist freed from these earthly bounds in various vintage and modern aircraft. He?s escaped death twice, the last incident costing him an eye and another of his nine lives. Carl Edwards has been flying since he was 17. Like many drivers with planes his business expense Piper Meridian is used to travel back and forth to races, the Roush Fenway complex in Charlotte, sponsor obligations and other personal appearances. He?s also into stunt flying. These guys are just too right for each other. And right now there is so much momentum on their side. After 12 years of trying Roush won five championships from 2000 through 2007; the first in trucks with Greg Biffle, the next in the Nationwide series from Biffle (2002) before two Sprint Cup titles from Matt Kenseth (2003) and Kurt Busch.(2004). Edwards? 2007 NNS championship was Roush Fenway?s last and from 2008 through last season there was nothing but dashed hopes, disappointment, disasters and too many DNFs. But this year the pendulum has finally swung back again. Edwards, Kenseth and David Ragan each have a win with Carl at the top of the Cup series leaderboard, Matt in fifth place and the No. 6 UPS driver in 16th with a decent-at-least chance to make the Chase thanks to his Daytona victory in July. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is leading the Nationwide standings and the factory Ford team from Concord seems to have the ?new? FR9 engine (introduced in 2009) and their Fusion and Mustang Cup and NNS cars finally figured out and fully developed. Confidence is high for Carl earning his first and certainly not last sterling silver NASCAR Sprint Cup trophy from Tiffany & Co. when the 2011 end with Ford Championship weekend at Homestead-Miami.
In fact the only thing that's cast any real doubt about Carl's chances to finally win it all has been the impending departure rumor mill.
So I ask you. Seriously. How on earth could Roush Fenway and Ford even think about letting their premier driver in America?s most popular racing series, a handsome, buff young stud who was on the cover of ESPN The Magazine with his shirt off, who is on the President?s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition, who presents himself as a humble, God-fearing family man that just wants to win races more than anything else, leave to sign with a Toyota team? That would be like the Boston Red Sox selling Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees. Whoops. Bad example. No, I knew deep down inside that Edwards was going to stick with Roush Fenway and unless the organization?s wheels totally fall off, or unless he finds himself driving a car sponsored by a male performance enhancing drug, I believe Carl will remain with RFR and Ford for a long, long time.
Heck, I'll bet a cold beverage on it.
Read More of Bill Tybur at his website: https://fmfl.net
Battle in Bristol; Ragan Finishes 20th
David Ragan and the UPS team battled in Bristol. They started 24th and finished 20th.
This Week in the NASCAR Blogosphere
By the end of the race at Lowe’s Motorspeedway the Chase will be half over. When the heck did that happen? I don’t know. Last weekend’s race at Talladega provided Tony Stewart with his first win of the season, his first win there in a sprint cup car and ended his 43 race winless streak. [...]
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Limelight Dodge: the Jack-Knife Funny Car
The front clip tilted forward, gasser style. The rest of the Limelight's body however, was hinged at the rear and could be titlted up like a typical funny car.
eBay Find: 1965 Chevrolet Impala Wagon
In my endless quest to fill my driveway with a cool Impala wagon I found this sweet little ’65�with a great set of factory options: 327 V8 w/4 barrel, automatic, A/C, power windows, power steering, power brakes, power seat, tilt steering, AM/FM radio, day/night mirror and just the right patina and look a classic Chevy [...]
The Final Hunnert Car Pile-Up
The Chrome Czars Motor Club is hosting the 10th and final running of the Hunnert Car Pile-Up in Decatur, Illinois, this weekend. The show will be at the 380+ acre Progress City facility in Decatur, Illinois on October 8th and will be bring over 15,000 spectators to check out more than a thousand vintage hot [...]
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Goings on at Amy?s Bad Groove
Here are a couple of excerpts from Amy’s Bad Groove this week: In I Have Stupid (NASCAR) Questions, I laments over the fact that she has questions about NASCAR she is afraid to ask…for fear of looking stupid: Anyway I have been a NASCAR fan for years (as in since childhood)?and I have a couple [...]
A Lot More Goes Into Goodyear NASCAR Tires Than You May Have Thought
By Larry Edsall
AKRON, Ohio -- What does it take to make a tire for a Sprint Cup race car?
Well there is natural and synthetic rubber, fillers such as carbon black, zinc oxide, reactive resins, oil, fatty acids, antioxidants, tack and traction resins, wax and accelerants.
In all, there are 49 chemical components as well as fabric and wire.
And a liner, toe guard, first and second plies, an apex, flipper and beads, first and second belts, overlay, sidewalls and, of course, the tread -- which is only one-tenth of an inch (2.5 millimeters for our Canadian friends) thick.
One-tenth of one inch. That?s not very thick. Maybe as thick as, say, 18 sheets of copy paper. Wow: My computer mouse rides on a thicker slab of rubber than a NASCAR race car.
I know these things because a week or so ago, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company introduced its new, second-generation Assurance TripleTred All-Season tire with ?evolving traction grooves? technology. Our day-long visit to Akron included time at the Goodyear test track at the wheel of vehicles equipped with the new tire, a ride in one of the Goodyear blimps, and a tour of the plant where Goodyear constructs its racing tires -- for NASCAR and short-track stock car racing, for drag racing, for World of Outlaws, for sports car racing and even street-legal tire primarily designed, however, for track-day exercises.
Goodyear is the exclusive tire supplier to NASCAR, which means that for each Sprint Cup event it has to produce between 1,200 and 1,400 tires, each tire optimally designed to wear through its tread while the car burns through a tank of fuel.
Teams are allowed to purchase five sets of tires for practice and qualifying, and may use nine to a dozen more during the race. And if you think replacing the tires on your minivan is expensive, consider that each Sprint Cup tire costs $459.
Hmm, I wonder if teams that do two-tire changes are more worried about gaining track position or saving nearly a thousand dollars.
Goodyear typically works six weeks ahead of the NASCAR schedule, and it doesn?t try to get a jump-start on next year because even a 1-degree change in the rules governing rear spoiler angle would necessitate engineering a completely new tire for each track.
Speaking of tracks, Goodyear is able to use the similarities between some tracks to divide them into seven categories. While each track gets a unique tire, there are similarities in the creation of the tires, say, used at Indianapolis, Pocono and -- believe it or not -- at Bristol.
As you might expect, Daytona and Talladega comprise a group, as do Charlotte, Chicago, Darlington, Homestead, Las Vegas and Texas.
Only one track is a group unto itself. Know which one? It?s Martinsville, that uniquely paperclip-shaped circuit.
But when Goodyear tire producers talk about ?calendar,? they?re not talking about the schedule, but about the creation of the rubber-coated fabric used in a tire. Nor is the ?windup? a baseball term to these folks; but has to with the humidity, temperature and testing that goes on in the lab before that fabric is used to create a tire.
NASCAR tires are built by hand, and the tire builder?s name goes into each tire.
After a tire is built, it goes into a mold where it is baked under high pressure (vulcanized). The mold also impressed words and codes into the tire?s sidewalls. After cooling, each tire is weighed, scanned, undergoes Xray and laser testing.
Speaking of codes, the sticker on a new tire includes an eight-digit barcode identifier, a spring rate number, tire diameter, tread width and beat diameter, a product code, tire classification, mold, construction and compound combination and a production sequence number.
Each tire also gets marked after inspection and two colored dots are positioned to indicate optimal mounting match position for the tire and its wheel.
By the way, the Goodyear racing tire facility is a zero-landfill factory. Any scrap is sold for use by other companies.
Read more from Larry at www.izoom.com
AttachmentSize
RaceVsStreetTireHi.jpg2.76 MB
AKRON, Ohio -- What does it take to make a tire for a Sprint Cup race car?
Well there is natural and synthetic rubber, fillers such as carbon black, zinc oxide, reactive resins, oil, fatty acids, antioxidants, tack and traction resins, wax and accelerants.
In all, there are 49 chemical components as well as fabric and wire.
And a liner, toe guard, first and second plies, an apex, flipper and beads, first and second belts, overlay, sidewalls and, of course, the tread -- which is only one-tenth of an inch (2.5 millimeters for our Canadian friends) thick.
One-tenth of one inch. That?s not very thick. Maybe as thick as, say, 18 sheets of copy paper. Wow: My computer mouse rides on a thicker slab of rubber than a NASCAR race car.
I know these things because a week or so ago, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company introduced its new, second-generation Assurance TripleTred All-Season tire with ?evolving traction grooves? technology. Our day-long visit to Akron included time at the Goodyear test track at the wheel of vehicles equipped with the new tire, a ride in one of the Goodyear blimps, and a tour of the plant where Goodyear constructs its racing tires -- for NASCAR and short-track stock car racing, for drag racing, for World of Outlaws, for sports car racing and even street-legal tire primarily designed, however, for track-day exercises.
Goodyear is the exclusive tire supplier to NASCAR, which means that for each Sprint Cup event it has to produce between 1,200 and 1,400 tires, each tire optimally designed to wear through its tread while the car burns through a tank of fuel.
Teams are allowed to purchase five sets of tires for practice and qualifying, and may use nine to a dozen more during the race. And if you think replacing the tires on your minivan is expensive, consider that each Sprint Cup tire costs $459.
Hmm, I wonder if teams that do two-tire changes are more worried about gaining track position or saving nearly a thousand dollars.
Goodyear typically works six weeks ahead of the NASCAR schedule, and it doesn?t try to get a jump-start on next year because even a 1-degree change in the rules governing rear spoiler angle would necessitate engineering a completely new tire for each track.
Speaking of tracks, Goodyear is able to use the similarities between some tracks to divide them into seven categories. While each track gets a unique tire, there are similarities in the creation of the tires, say, used at Indianapolis, Pocono and -- believe it or not -- at Bristol.
As you might expect, Daytona and Talladega comprise a group, as do Charlotte, Chicago, Darlington, Homestead, Las Vegas and Texas.
Only one track is a group unto itself. Know which one? It?s Martinsville, that uniquely paperclip-shaped circuit.
But when Goodyear tire producers talk about ?calendar,? they?re not talking about the schedule, but about the creation of the rubber-coated fabric used in a tire. Nor is the ?windup? a baseball term to these folks; but has to with the humidity, temperature and testing that goes on in the lab before that fabric is used to create a tire.
NASCAR tires are built by hand, and the tire builder?s name goes into each tire.
After a tire is built, it goes into a mold where it is baked under high pressure (vulcanized). The mold also impressed words and codes into the tire?s sidewalls. After cooling, each tire is weighed, scanned, undergoes Xray and laser testing.
Speaking of codes, the sticker on a new tire includes an eight-digit barcode identifier, a spring rate number, tire diameter, tread width and beat diameter, a product code, tire classification, mold, construction and compound combination and a production sequence number.
Each tire also gets marked after inspection and two colored dots are positioned to indicate optimal mounting match position for the tire and its wheel.
By the way, the Goodyear racing tire facility is a zero-landfill factory. Any scrap is sold for use by other companies.
Read more from Larry at www.izoom.com
AttachmentSize
RaceVsStreetTireHi.jpg2.76 MB
Nashville's Short Track: Does NASCAR Need More Short Tracks on its Schedule?
Nashville got its miracle, now it needs a hero. Nashville Superspeedway announced it would not host any NASCAR Nationwide or Camping World Truck Series races in 2012, signaling its inevitable demise and quite imminent property sell off to developers.
That one hurt. While only 10 years old the concrete 1 1/3 mile track in Lebanon, TN had some nice history and great traditions, including the Sam Bass Gibson guitar awarded to each race winner.
We won't mention what Kyle Busch did to his when he won the Nationwide Series race in 2009.
But the city and its NASCAR fan base also found reason to smile when Davidson County citizens voted by more than a three to one margin to amend the Metro Charter and keep the fairgrounds? existing uses: a state fair, expo center, flea market and auto racing.
Except for northern Alabama, middle Tennessee and southern Kentucky race fans, particularly the older ones, few realize the potential impact and miraculous result of this vote. In constant danger of being razed for the past few years, one of the oldest and most regionally storied tracks in America has a heartbeat again.
Originally opened in 1904 as a 1 1/8-mile dirt track the paved, beloved .596-mile bullring was built in 1958 and hosted NASCAR Cup -class races from then through 1984. From '95 through 2000 the track also ran Nationwide and later truck races.
Then NASCAR left completely for a variety of reasons; none of which had anything to do with the actual race track, fan base or community support. Local racing continued through 2008 but the track closed for good in 2009, when the buzzards started circling.
The cost-of-everything-value-of-nothing bureaucrats have been trying to develop, sell or build something else on the valuable mid town real estate ever since. But in the past year, thanks to the support of racers like Darrell Waltrip, Sterling Marlin and Bobby Hamilton Jr. plus Mike Curb and Scott Borchetta from the music industry and a real grass roots 'move to amend' effort, the tide has finally turned.
The fairgrounds track is now as politically protected from the greedy dismantle-and-destroy vultures as it will ever be.
Now it just needs a local leader or statesman or effective (and not crooked) wheeler dealer to bring the track back to full, thriving life again; e.g. an eventual return of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
(I know what you're thinking; but I swear I haven't been drinking any Tennessee sippin' whiskey or corn squeezin's, nor have I suffered some type of small aneurysm. Bear with me here.)
The bloom went off the cookie cutter mile-and-a-half tri-oval rose a long time ago and the most popular NASCAR races by far, among fans, teams, drivers and sponsors are the short track events; at Bristol and Martinsville, both half-miles, and at the three-quarter mile Richmond race track.
There will be no more short tracks built. There will certainly never been a new short track built in the middle of a major city -- especially one only only about four hours from the best NASCAR short track in the world.
But guess what. Waltrip, Marlin and many others always considered the Nashville track the best bullring in America. Better than Bristol. Hands down.
And NASCAR fans want more, not fewer short track races.
You want to talk history? Joe Weatherly won the first NASCAR race there, Richard Petty won nine times at the fairgrounds, Dale Earnhardt got a Cup win in a Ford (!) in Music City and Darrell Waltrip holds the all-time record for W's with 67 overall, including NASCAR and weekly modified or late model races.
After the recent vote that saved the fairgrounds from the bulldozers, some one or some Music City group has a chance to prove how great the racing this nearly 6/10th of a mile track provides.
I won't worry about the Sprint Cup date supply and demand conundrum yet or the relative ISC/SMI monopoly on events. If Nashville can't find a hero to champion this vision it's all moot anyway.
But if Music City CAN find a visionary who has the stick, connections and intestinal fortitude necessary to raise about $30 million for refurbishing, grandstand seating, garages, new lights, SAFER barriers, etc., -- about what former Tennesse Volunteer quarterback Peyton Manning makes every two years -- this dream could become a reality.
Far-fetched? Certainly. A snowball's chance in hell? Correct-a-mundo.
But as Robert Browning said, "A man's reach should exceed his grasp or what's a heaven for?"
Read More of Bill Tybur at his website: https://fmfl.net
That one hurt. While only 10 years old the concrete 1 1/3 mile track in Lebanon, TN had some nice history and great traditions, including the Sam Bass Gibson guitar awarded to each race winner.
We won't mention what Kyle Busch did to his when he won the Nationwide Series race in 2009.
But the city and its NASCAR fan base also found reason to smile when Davidson County citizens voted by more than a three to one margin to amend the Metro Charter and keep the fairgrounds? existing uses: a state fair, expo center, flea market and auto racing.
Except for northern Alabama, middle Tennessee and southern Kentucky race fans, particularly the older ones, few realize the potential impact and miraculous result of this vote. In constant danger of being razed for the past few years, one of the oldest and most regionally storied tracks in America has a heartbeat again.
Originally opened in 1904 as a 1 1/8-mile dirt track the paved, beloved .596-mile bullring was built in 1958 and hosted NASCAR Cup -class races from then through 1984. From '95 through 2000 the track also ran Nationwide and later truck races.
Then NASCAR left completely for a variety of reasons; none of which had anything to do with the actual race track, fan base or community support. Local racing continued through 2008 but the track closed for good in 2009, when the buzzards started circling.
The cost-of-everything-value-of-nothing bureaucrats have been trying to develop, sell or build something else on the valuable mid town real estate ever since. But in the past year, thanks to the support of racers like Darrell Waltrip, Sterling Marlin and Bobby Hamilton Jr. plus Mike Curb and Scott Borchetta from the music industry and a real grass roots 'move to amend' effort, the tide has finally turned.
The fairgrounds track is now as politically protected from the greedy dismantle-and-destroy vultures as it will ever be.
Now it just needs a local leader or statesman or effective (and not crooked) wheeler dealer to bring the track back to full, thriving life again; e.g. an eventual return of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
(I know what you're thinking; but I swear I haven't been drinking any Tennessee sippin' whiskey or corn squeezin's, nor have I suffered some type of small aneurysm. Bear with me here.)
The bloom went off the cookie cutter mile-and-a-half tri-oval rose a long time ago and the most popular NASCAR races by far, among fans, teams, drivers and sponsors are the short track events; at Bristol and Martinsville, both half-miles, and at the three-quarter mile Richmond race track.
There will be no more short tracks built. There will certainly never been a new short track built in the middle of a major city -- especially one only only about four hours from the best NASCAR short track in the world.
But guess what. Waltrip, Marlin and many others always considered the Nashville track the best bullring in America. Better than Bristol. Hands down.
And NASCAR fans want more, not fewer short track races.
You want to talk history? Joe Weatherly won the first NASCAR race there, Richard Petty won nine times at the fairgrounds, Dale Earnhardt got a Cup win in a Ford (!) in Music City and Darrell Waltrip holds the all-time record for W's with 67 overall, including NASCAR and weekly modified or late model races.
After the recent vote that saved the fairgrounds from the bulldozers, some one or some Music City group has a chance to prove how great the racing this nearly 6/10th of a mile track provides.
I won't worry about the Sprint Cup date supply and demand conundrum yet or the relative ISC/SMI monopoly on events. If Nashville can't find a hero to champion this vision it's all moot anyway.
But if Music City CAN find a visionary who has the stick, connections and intestinal fortitude necessary to raise about $30 million for refurbishing, grandstand seating, garages, new lights, SAFER barriers, etc., -- about what former Tennesse Volunteer quarterback Peyton Manning makes every two years -- this dream could become a reality.
Far-fetched? Certainly. A snowball's chance in hell? Correct-a-mundo.
But as Robert Browning said, "A man's reach should exceed his grasp or what's a heaven for?"
Read More of Bill Tybur at his website: https://fmfl.net
Nashville's Short Track: Does NASCAR Need More Short Tracks on its Schedule?
Nashville got its miracle, now it needs a hero. Nashville Superspeedway announced it would not host any NASCAR Nationwide or Camping World Truck Series races in 2012, signaling its inevitable demise and quite imminent property sell off to developers.
That one hurt. While only 10 years old the concrete 1 1/3 mile track in Lebanon, TN had some nice history and great traditions, including the Sam Bass Gibson guitar awarded to each race winner.
We won't mention what Kyle Busch did to his when he won the Nationwide Series race in 2009.
But the city and its NASCAR fan base also found reason to smile when Davidson County citizens voted by more than a three to one margin to amend the Metro Charter and keep the fairgrounds? existing uses: a state fair, expo center, flea market and auto racing.
Except for northern Alabama, middle Tennessee and southern Kentucky race fans, particularly the older ones, few realize the potential impact and miraculous result of this vote. In constant danger of being razed for the past few years, one of the oldest and most regionally storied tracks in America has a heartbeat again.
Originally opened in 1904 as a 1 1/8-mile dirt track the paved, beloved .596-mile bullring was built in 1958 and hosted NASCAR Cup -class races from then through 1984. From '95 through 2000 the track also ran Nationwide and later truck races.
Then NASCAR left completely for a variety of reasons; none of which had anything to do with the actual race track, fan base or community support. Local racing continued through 2008 but the track closed for good in 2009, when the buzzards started circling.
The cost-of-everything-value-of-nothing bureaucrats have been trying to develop, sell or build something else on the valuable mid town real estate ever since. But in the past year, thanks to the support of racers like Darrell Waltrip, Sterling Marlin and Bobby Hamilton Jr. plus Mike Curb and Scott Borchetta from the music industry and a real grass roots 'move to amend' effort, the tide has finally turned.
The fairgrounds track is now as politically protected from the greedy dismantle-and-destroy vultures as it will ever be.
Now it just needs a local leader or statesman or effective (and not crooked) wheeler dealer to bring the track back to full, thriving life again; e.g. an eventual return of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
(I know what you're thinking; but I swear I haven't been drinking any Tennessee sippin' whiskey or corn squeezin's, nor have I suffered some type of small aneurysm. Bear with me here.)
The bloom went off the cookie cutter mile-and-a-half tri-oval rose a long time ago and the most popular NASCAR races by far, among fans, teams, drivers and sponsors are the short track events; at Bristol and Martinsville, both half-miles, and at the three-quarter mile Richmond race track.
There will be no more short tracks built. There will certainly never been a new short track built in the middle of a major city -- especially one only only about four hours from the best NASCAR short track in the world.
But guess what. Waltrip, Marlin and many others always considered the Nashville track the best bullring in America. Better than Bristol. Hands down.
And NASCAR fans want more, not fewer short track races.
You want to talk history? Joe Weatherly won the first NASCAR race there, Richard Petty won nine times at the fairgrounds, Dale Earnhardt got a Cup win in a Ford (!) in Music City and Darrell Waltrip holds the all-time record for W's with 67 overall, including NASCAR and weekly modified or late model races.
After the recent vote that saved the fairgrounds from the bulldozers, some one or some Music City group has a chance to prove how great the racing this nearly 6/10th of a mile track provides.
I won't worry about the Sprint Cup date supply and demand conundrum yet or the relative ISC/SMI monopoly on events. If Nashville can't find a hero to champion this vision it's all moot anyway.
But if Music City CAN find a visionary who has the stick, connections and intestinal fortitude necessary to raise about $30 million for refurbishing, grandstand seating, garages, new lights, SAFER barriers, etc., -- about what former Tennesse Volunteer quarterback Peyton Manning makes every two years -- this dream could become a reality.
Far-fetched? Certainly. A snowball's chance in hell? Correct-a-mundo.
But as Robert Browning said, "A man's reach should exceed his grasp or what's a heaven for?"
Read More of Bill Tybur at his website: https://fmfl.net
That one hurt. While only 10 years old the concrete 1 1/3 mile track in Lebanon, TN had some nice history and great traditions, including the Sam Bass Gibson guitar awarded to each race winner.
We won't mention what Kyle Busch did to his when he won the Nationwide Series race in 2009.
But the city and its NASCAR fan base also found reason to smile when Davidson County citizens voted by more than a three to one margin to amend the Metro Charter and keep the fairgrounds? existing uses: a state fair, expo center, flea market and auto racing.
Except for northern Alabama, middle Tennessee and southern Kentucky race fans, particularly the older ones, few realize the potential impact and miraculous result of this vote. In constant danger of being razed for the past few years, one of the oldest and most regionally storied tracks in America has a heartbeat again.
Originally opened in 1904 as a 1 1/8-mile dirt track the paved, beloved .596-mile bullring was built in 1958 and hosted NASCAR Cup -class races from then through 1984. From '95 through 2000 the track also ran Nationwide and later truck races.
Then NASCAR left completely for a variety of reasons; none of which had anything to do with the actual race track, fan base or community support. Local racing continued through 2008 but the track closed for good in 2009, when the buzzards started circling.
The cost-of-everything-value-of-nothing bureaucrats have been trying to develop, sell or build something else on the valuable mid town real estate ever since. But in the past year, thanks to the support of racers like Darrell Waltrip, Sterling Marlin and Bobby Hamilton Jr. plus Mike Curb and Scott Borchetta from the music industry and a real grass roots 'move to amend' effort, the tide has finally turned.
The fairgrounds track is now as politically protected from the greedy dismantle-and-destroy vultures as it will ever be.
Now it just needs a local leader or statesman or effective (and not crooked) wheeler dealer to bring the track back to full, thriving life again; e.g. an eventual return of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
(I know what you're thinking; but I swear I haven't been drinking any Tennessee sippin' whiskey or corn squeezin's, nor have I suffered some type of small aneurysm. Bear with me here.)
The bloom went off the cookie cutter mile-and-a-half tri-oval rose a long time ago and the most popular NASCAR races by far, among fans, teams, drivers and sponsors are the short track events; at Bristol and Martinsville, both half-miles, and at the three-quarter mile Richmond race track.
There will be no more short tracks built. There will certainly never been a new short track built in the middle of a major city -- especially one only only about four hours from the best NASCAR short track in the world.
But guess what. Waltrip, Marlin and many others always considered the Nashville track the best bullring in America. Better than Bristol. Hands down.
And NASCAR fans want more, not fewer short track races.
You want to talk history? Joe Weatherly won the first NASCAR race there, Richard Petty won nine times at the fairgrounds, Dale Earnhardt got a Cup win in a Ford (!) in Music City and Darrell Waltrip holds the all-time record for W's with 67 overall, including NASCAR and weekly modified or late model races.
After the recent vote that saved the fairgrounds from the bulldozers, some one or some Music City group has a chance to prove how great the racing this nearly 6/10th of a mile track provides.
I won't worry about the Sprint Cup date supply and demand conundrum yet or the relative ISC/SMI monopoly on events. If Nashville can't find a hero to champion this vision it's all moot anyway.
But if Music City CAN find a visionary who has the stick, connections and intestinal fortitude necessary to raise about $30 million for refurbishing, grandstand seating, garages, new lights, SAFER barriers, etc., -- about what former Tennesse Volunteer quarterback Peyton Manning makes every two years -- this dream could become a reality.
Far-fetched? Certainly. A snowball's chance in hell? Correct-a-mundo.
But as Robert Browning said, "A man's reach should exceed his grasp or what's a heaven for?"
Read More of Bill Tybur at his website: https://fmfl.net
Friday, October 7, 2011
Beginners Computer Tutorial.
Everyone Wants To Learn To Build A Pc. Refer Them To This E-book And Make $$. Excellent Conversions & Ask About The Free Demo. Beginners Computer Tutorial. addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nascarpitstopblog.com%2Fpitstops-2%2Fbeginners-computer-tutorial'; addthis_title = 'Beginners+Computer+Tutorial.'; addthis_pub = ''; Technorati Tags: Beginners, Computer, Tutorial
A First NASCAR Race, Through the Eyes of a 9-Year-Old
[Note from Larry Edsall: Usually my words would fill the space below, but my 9-year-old grandson, Nicholas Chester, went to his first NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Michigan International Speedway recently, and I asked him to share experiences. His report follows.)
By Nicholas Chester
The day I went to my first NASCAR race was Sunday, August 21, 2011.
Dad and I got up at 6:10 a.m. and ate breakfast. I guess we were pretty eager to get there.
When we got to the track it was so huge. We found a parking spot, and got on the truck and trailers we could ride from the parking lot to the track.
We got off and walked in through the gate. We looked at all the displays and the trailers where each of the teams was selling shirts and cars and other things. I bought a Dale Jr. T-shirt -- one for me and one for my sister.
Then we walked through a tunnel and went to the garage area and the pits, which was cool because we got to see the race cars and see the pit crews getting ready for the race.
There was still quite a while before the race so we went back to our truck, then went back to the track and found something to eat for lunch.
We went to our seats, which were in the first turn. We watched the big blowers clean the track and watched the drivers being driven around the track in convertibles.
Next, airplanes flew over. There were four old-time planes and then two jets flew over. We sang the National Anthem as the jets were flying over the track.
A few minutes later the pace car went around the track with all the race cars behind it. They weren?t going very fast.
But then the race started and it got really loud. REALLY LOUD!
At first the cars looked slow as they were coming toward us, but by the time they got into the turn they were going super-fast.
Being at the race was way better than watching on television like we usually do. When you?re there in person, you not only see the race but you can feel it when the cars go by. The wind rushes right by the side of your face.
It?s amazing how fast the cars really are.
The race was great, but the best part was getting to go to the pits and the garage before the race -- and getting my picture taken with two members of Dale Jr.?s pit crew.
Nicholas is not a professional writer yet, but his grandfather Larry Edsall is. You can read more of Larry at www.izoom.com.
By Nicholas Chester
The day I went to my first NASCAR race was Sunday, August 21, 2011.
Dad and I got up at 6:10 a.m. and ate breakfast. I guess we were pretty eager to get there.
When we got to the track it was so huge. We found a parking spot, and got on the truck and trailers we could ride from the parking lot to the track.
We got off and walked in through the gate. We looked at all the displays and the trailers where each of the teams was selling shirts and cars and other things. I bought a Dale Jr. T-shirt -- one for me and one for my sister.
Then we walked through a tunnel and went to the garage area and the pits, which was cool because we got to see the race cars and see the pit crews getting ready for the race.
There was still quite a while before the race so we went back to our truck, then went back to the track and found something to eat for lunch.
We went to our seats, which were in the first turn. We watched the big blowers clean the track and watched the drivers being driven around the track in convertibles.
Next, airplanes flew over. There were four old-time planes and then two jets flew over. We sang the National Anthem as the jets were flying over the track.
A few minutes later the pace car went around the track with all the race cars behind it. They weren?t going very fast.
But then the race started and it got really loud. REALLY LOUD!
At first the cars looked slow as they were coming toward us, but by the time they got into the turn they were going super-fast.
Being at the race was way better than watching on television like we usually do. When you?re there in person, you not only see the race but you can feel it when the cars go by. The wind rushes right by the side of your face.
It?s amazing how fast the cars really are.
The race was great, but the best part was getting to go to the pits and the garage before the race -- and getting my picture taken with two members of Dale Jr.?s pit crew.
Nicholas is not a professional writer yet, but his grandfather Larry Edsall is. You can read more of Larry at www.izoom.com.
The List Of My Favorites Automotive Resource
There was a time when one had to go through magazines, piles of brochures, newspapers, and other print media. Many people used to subscribe to two, four, or five or even more journals to get the latest updates on their favorite vehicles. Internet has made this work easy now. You just have to go on [...]
David?s Blog: Visit to Roush Museum Before MIS
David Ragan made a stop at the Roush Museum before heading over to Michigan International Speedway
A First NASCAR Race, Through the Eyes of a 9-Year-Old
[Note from Larry Edsall: Usually my words would fill the space below, but my 9-year-old grandson, Nicholas Chester, went to his first NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Michigan International Speedway recently, and I asked him to share experiences. His report follows.)
By Nicholas Chester
The day I went to my first NASCAR race was Sunday, August 21, 2011.
Dad and I got up at 6:10 a.m. and ate breakfast. I guess we were pretty eager to get there.
When we got to the track it was so huge. We found a parking spot, and got on the truck and trailers we could ride from the parking lot to the track.
We got off and walked in through the gate. We looked at all the displays and the trailers where each of the teams was selling shirts and cars and other things. I bought a Dale Jr. T-shirt -- one for me and one for my sister.
Then we walked through a tunnel and went to the garage area and the pits, which was cool because we got to see the race cars and see the pit crews getting ready for the race.
There was still quite a while before the race so we went back to our truck, then went back to the track and found something to eat for lunch.
We went to our seats, which were in the first turn. We watched the big blowers clean the track and watched the drivers being driven around the track in convertibles.
Next, airplanes flew over. There were four old-time planes and then two jets flew over. We sang the National Anthem as the jets were flying over the track.
A few minutes later the pace car went around the track with all the race cars behind it. They weren?t going very fast.
But then the race started and it got really loud. REALLY LOUD!
At first the cars looked slow as they were coming toward us, but by the time they got into the turn they were going super-fast.
Being at the race was way better than watching on television like we usually do. When you?re there in person, you not only see the race but you can feel it when the cars go by. The wind rushes right by the side of your face.
It?s amazing how fast the cars really are.
The race was great, but the best part was getting to go to the pits and the garage before the race -- and getting my picture taken with two members of Dale Jr.?s pit crew.
Nicholas is not a professional writer yet, but his grandfather Larry Edsall is. You can read more of Larry at www.izoom.com.
By Nicholas Chester
The day I went to my first NASCAR race was Sunday, August 21, 2011.
Dad and I got up at 6:10 a.m. and ate breakfast. I guess we were pretty eager to get there.
When we got to the track it was so huge. We found a parking spot, and got on the truck and trailers we could ride from the parking lot to the track.
We got off and walked in through the gate. We looked at all the displays and the trailers where each of the teams was selling shirts and cars and other things. I bought a Dale Jr. T-shirt -- one for me and one for my sister.
Then we walked through a tunnel and went to the garage area and the pits, which was cool because we got to see the race cars and see the pit crews getting ready for the race.
There was still quite a while before the race so we went back to our truck, then went back to the track and found something to eat for lunch.
We went to our seats, which were in the first turn. We watched the big blowers clean the track and watched the drivers being driven around the track in convertibles.
Next, airplanes flew over. There were four old-time planes and then two jets flew over. We sang the National Anthem as the jets were flying over the track.
A few minutes later the pace car went around the track with all the race cars behind it. They weren?t going very fast.
But then the race started and it got really loud. REALLY LOUD!
At first the cars looked slow as they were coming toward us, but by the time they got into the turn they were going super-fast.
Being at the race was way better than watching on television like we usually do. When you?re there in person, you not only see the race but you can feel it when the cars go by. The wind rushes right by the side of your face.
It?s amazing how fast the cars really are.
The race was great, but the best part was getting to go to the pits and the garage before the race -- and getting my picture taken with two members of Dale Jr.?s pit crew.
Nicholas is not a professional writer yet, but his grandfather Larry Edsall is. You can read more of Larry at www.izoom.com.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
NASCAR completes 2-day Phoenix test
NASCAR Sprint Cup teams completed testing Wednesday at repaved and reconfigured Phoenix International Raceway. View full post on NBCSports.com: NASCAR / Motors addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nascarpitstopblog.com%2Fnascar-racing%2Fnascar-completes-2-day-phoenix-test'; addthis_title = 'NASCAR+completes+2-day+Phoenix+test'; addthis_pub = ''; Technorati Tags: 2day, completes, nascar, Phoenix, Test
Official USGP Race Date Confirmed & Recent COTA News
It’s now REALLY official!� The Austin Formula 1 USGP race will take place on November 18, 2012.� Here’s the official� FIA confirmation of the 2012 Formula One calendar showing the US F1 Grand Prix to take place in Austin on November 18th. 31 Aug 2011 FIA confirms 20-race calendar for 2012 The FIA has released [...]
Richard Petty's Driver Search is On
If you are an aspiring racer looking to develop your skills and advance your career, Richard Petty’s Driver Search is the program for you.
The San Antonio F1 Club ? C?mon SA Race Fans!
Formula 1 United States Grand Prix is coming to Texas, more specifically to Austin in November 2012!� There is major track construction activity at the Circuit of The Americas (COTA).� With all the Formula 1 activities starting up in the Austin area, the Austinite fans are really stepping it up… Well, I felt the need [...]
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
H2R Partners with Roger Beasley Mazda
Here’s great news for our friends at Harris Hill Road – H2R, now working in cooperation with Roger Beasley Mazda!� This mutually beneficial partnership is a great WIN-WIN! Here’s the text of this hot news: Harris Hill Road Announces Partnership with Roger Beasley Mazda It is with great excitement and pleasure that we can announce [...]
Ragan Wheels UPS Ford to Fourth Place Finish at RIR
David Ragan and the UPS team battled in the top 10 all night to finish fourth
Another Mustang Funny Car Mystery
Who built the notch-back Mustang funny car that appeared briefly at North Brother's Ford in 1967? What happened to it? Help solve a 44 year mystery.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Another Mustang Funny Car Mystery
Who built the notch-back Mustang funny car that appeared briefly at North Brother's Ford in 1967? What happened to it? Help solve a 44 year mystery.
Diamonds in the Rough
Our publisher came across Period Perfect Parts Group and their listing for cars for sale is pretty drool-inspiring. With everything from a ’34 Chevy truck to a ’59 Buick and a ’71 Capri, they’ve got all sorts of interesting possible projects. There’s just something about cars sitting in grass past their rockers that gets our [...]
COTA Highway FM812 Paving Expansion Progress
On my way back from the Six Lounge GP race viewing party, I stopped by the Circuit of The Americas (COTA).� It has been 1 week since they started the paving expansion of the shoulders.� So far, they’ve gotten most of the 3/10th of� a mile section directly in front of the main track entrance [...]
David?s Blog: United Way Winner and Off to Chicago
David Ragan spent the day with United Way Auction winner, Katie, before getting back to the shop ahead of Chicago
Kurt Busch wins at Dover
Kurt Busch has stormed into contention for a second Cup championship, holding off fellow Chase drivers Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards to win Sunday at Dover International Speedway. View full post on NBCSports.com: NASCAR / Motors addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nascarpitstopblog.com%2Fnascar-racing%2Fkurt-busch-wins-at-dover'; addthis_title = 'Kurt+Busch+wins+at+Dover'; addthis_pub = ''; Technorati Tags: busch, Dover, Kurt, wins
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)