Explanation of Nascar

[WLS ZMZM]

Okay guys so here it goes... this has spawned from the CC/IRL thread. My gf's dad loves Nascar.... and no matter what I try I just don't understand the excitement or the interest in it. I prefer Rally racing and f-1 Racing... WW has explained a little bit to me but I don't see the appeal of 4 left turns and 2 straightaways.... to her dad its like more important to church and sits in front of the tv as if he was praying to a g_d.

Will

[ptfire]

At least you can see 4 left turns I can only see 2 turns.

[MajesticBlueNTO]

interesting article on nascar (http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?series=2&page=nascar101/lawsofphysics)

[WLS ZMZM]

At least you can see 4 left turns I can only see 2 turns.

heheh well in technicality one to go into the turn and one to go into the straightaway and then again at the other side

[Caz]

I don't get it either, The Race is so long and boring, then it gets crazy near the end. If the whole race was as exciting as the last 4 laps it would be awesome. I would watch it, that said the Races at Bristol are fun to watch.

[Wild Weasel]

Ok, as I said in the other thread... start by thinking of auto racing combined with professional wrestling. The personalities play a big part in the racing and one of the first things you'll want to do when getting into NASCAR is to pick one or more favourite drivers that you'll be a fan of. When starting off, don't worry too much about who you pick. Just pick someone. You can always change later as you get to know the players.

If you don't care who wins, the race won't be interesting and the more you get interested, the more you'll get to know the players. Hell, these guys do their own tv commercials and all sorts of other silly things so you can really get to know the personalities.

Next, you have to realize that there's more to these races than just driving around in circles. To start with, there's a number of different types of tracks in the NASCAR circuit. The major players are the superspeedways, the intermediate tracks that make up the bulk of the season, some short tracks, and a couple of road courses, with right turns and everything.

Each of the different tracks then have their own personalities, but you'll get to know those in time.

Different tracks race differently. We'll get into those later but for now, you probably just want to know what makes this interesting.

Firstly, you have to realize that stock car racing isn't about the latest technology trying to produce a perfect car. The fact that these guys are piloting 3400 pound cars on relatively narrow tires powered by big old fashioned carbureted v8's means that they've got a challenge right from the get-go in trying to get them to go around these circles as fast as possible.

NASCAR has all sorts of rules about what they can and can't do with the cars, leaving a bunch of setup options up to the individual teams. There's no in-race telemetry telling the crews what's going on, so most of it comes down to what the driver can relay to them and then trying to decide what to change. Depending on how they set the car up, they might run better up high on the track, running faster for a longer distance, or they might run better down low, holding the corner better to run a shorter distance around the bottom of the track.

Think of "top and bottom" as outside and inside tracks. Since most of the tracks are banked, the "top" of the track is the outside and the bottom is the inside.

Now you can see how they don't just all run a "perfect line" around the track. Different drivers can run different lines, all trying to get around the circle as fast as they can.

So what happens when you're running a great inside line, but someone else is running a slightly better outside line? Well you can't just let them drive by you, right? So now you've got blocking making things interesting. That's when the racing gets exciting, since you know your driver isn't the fastest but he's trying to throw off others to keep position and what not. This is real racing... not just piloting the car looking for the perfect line.

Now consider that these big heavy cars are punching a rather big hole in the air so aerodynamics play a big role in how they get around the turns. If they lose downforce, they can lose grip and go sliding off into the walls. With that in mind, if you can pull up close to someone and disturb their airflow, you can take away their downforce and slow them down. This is another way to mess with the opponents to get around them.

So even though they're all driving in a circle, there's plenty of options for them to really race one another rather than just hoping the guy in front of you screws up so you can get around him. Hell, you can even give the other guy a little bump if you want.

Next, you've got cautions. One of the things that shocked me when I tried to get interested in F1 was when someone crashed, the race just sort of kept going around them. Sometimes they'd have a partial caution and sometimes none at all. Full-course cautions seemed rare. I was sorely dissappointed when the I saw my first F1 crash and nobody else was affected.

In NASCAR, when something happens and a caution comes out, everyone is involved. The pace car comes out and everyone gets back together. I guess the arguement in F1 is that the leaders shouldn't be punished if they don't have to be, but for the fans, this makes the racing better. Big leads are erased and everyone has to really race again. Hell, they've even got a special rule that lets the first lapped driver get one lap back.

This should give you an idea of what's going on out there now so you can at least watch and enjoy a race.

[Xerox]

if you can pull up close to someone and disturb their airflow, you can take away their downforce and slow them down. This is another way to mess with the opponents to get around them.


Don't completely agree with that. Drafting benefits both the car in front and back (but more for the car in back). Both cars can go faster than a single car alone.



In NASCAR, when something happens and a caution comes out, everyone is involved. The pace car comes out and everyone gets back together. I guess the arguement in F1 is that the leaders shouldn't be punished if they don't have to be, but for the fans, this makes the racing better. Big leads are erased and everyone has to really race again. Hell, they've even got a special rule that lets the first lapped driver get one lap back.


But it sucks when a race finishes in yellow.

[Wild Weasel]

Next... different types of tracks.

There are 4 very different types of tracks. Superspeedways, Intermediate Tracks, Short Tracks, and Road Courses.

There's two superspeedways, with 2 races each in the season. These are Daytona and Talladega. What makes these tracks special is that they're huge and high banked, so the cars can pretty much go full throttle around the entire track. There's no braking for corners here. It's all-out. Over the years, as the cars just got too fast to be safe anymore on these, NASCAR had to slow them down and they did so with what's called a restrictor plate. It's a plate that closes the opening on the carburetor and essentially cuts the horsepower in half. Normally NASCAR cars have over 800 hp. On these tracks, they have around 400. What this does is make drafting critically important. You can't win on your own at one of these tracks. You need help. You can't drive away from the pack. One car simply can't go as fast as several cars grouped together. It makes for some very exciting racing and some huge crashes since the cars tend to drive at around 200 mph all grouped together. As they do more laps and the tires start to wear, the cars tend to move around more through the corners and things get a bit crazy. These are great fun to watch as you get teams working together to out-race other teams and when things get out of control, they do so in a big way.

Intermediate tracks make up the bulk of the season, and these are classic NASCAR races. To win you need a good driver, with the best possible car setup. If the car isn't set up right, they can make changes during the pit stops to try and make it better. It gets really exciting when your driver ends up behind but is charging forward. Lots of passing, lots of blocking, lots of excitement.

Short tracks are great fun in that everyone is always in traffic. These look like a race in a stadium. You can't really pull away from the pack, because then you run into lap traffic. You can even use them as a pick to try and get around someone.

Finally, there's 2 road courses in the season, just to shake things up. JP Montoya won one of them last year. They race at Sonoma and at Watkins Glen, for you Gran Turismo fans. I really look forward to these since there's only two of them, and they're so different from everything else. Maybe they do it just to prove that these guys really can turn right. For whatever reason, there's always some serious bumping and pushing going on and it's a lot of fun.

[ptfire]

heheh well in technicality one to go into the turn and one to go into the straightaway and then again at the other side

There are 3 parts to a turn, entry, apex and exit. All that together makes one turn.

[Wild Weasel]

But it sucks when a race finishes in yellow.

They introduced a new rule a few years back to try and reduce the number of races that finish under caution.

If a caution comes out in the last few laps that would normally have ended the race, they do what's called a "green, white, checker". Basically, when the mess is cleared up, they do one more green-flag lap followed by the white flag (indicating the final lap) and then the finish. If another caution comes out during that, though, then it will end under caution.

It's like overtime.

With that in mind though, it makes for some interesting scenarios when it comes to fuel management. If your team is just barely making it to the end of the race on fuel, you might find yourself running out when they add a few laps to the end. You'll hear them talking over the radio sometimes about having fuel for the finish, but not extra laps and then trying to decide whether to stop for some or not. It's another part of the race strategy.

I mentioned in my last post that JPM won one of the road races. He didn't even do this by being the best road course driver (which he likely is) but by better managing the fuel. If I recall correctly, he managed to complete the race on 2 stops when everyone else needed 3. Strategy can play a big role in these things.

[mEtH]

I thought this was gonna be funny... instead its educational :complain

[Wild Weasel]

There are 3 parts to a turn, entry, apex and exit. All that together makes one turn.

You're right. On most ovals, there really are just 2 turns, but they number them 1, 2, 3, 4 to make it easier to talk about. I don't think any of the tracks really have any sort of straight-away between them.

But not all the tracks are ovals. Most of the ovals are what they call a tri-oval in that one of the two straightaways isn't really straight. It's more of a long, sweeping banked turn, and there's even a triangular track on the circuit with only 3 turns.

[FLIPDADY]

Just watch "Cars" and "Taladega Nights".:)

Anyone notice that a lot of the teams are switching over to Toyota?

[Wild Weasel]

I thought this was gonna be funny... instead its educational :complain

I thought that's what they wanted. :D Now that I'm typing all this, I'm actually considering putting up a webpage so I can just point people to it in the future.

Now... how 'bout a little background on how I became a fan.

I love cars. I have for years. With that in mind, it occurred to me that I should probably be a fan of some sort of racing series. I'd never been able to get interested in any of them since whenever I put on a race on TV, it just wasn't very interesting. I attribute this to my very first point here. If you don't care who wins, it's just not very interesting. I imagine this goes for any sport. Baseball is boring as hell if you've got no interest in who wins the game.

So I decided to make a real effort at being a racing fan, and centered on NASCAR for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I wanted to know what the big deal was. It's been getting more and more popular, so I figured there had to be more to it than just a bunch of rednecks going around in circles.

I then borrowed the NASCAR 2005 video game from a friend and started to play it. That teaches you a surprising amount about the racing, and starts to introduce you to all the players. NASCAR does have the best driver access of any series. These guys are real personalities and it's fun to get to know them. There seems to be good guys and bad guys and all sorts of drama. As mentioned earlier... think of pro wrestling. These characters are great fun.

I played that a lot through the off-season and then started getting excited about the Daytona 500.

That was the clincher. I think the 2007 500 might have been one of the most exciting races EVER. The finish came down to less than half a car-length, and someone even finished the race upside down, and on fire. It doesn't get much more exciting than that. :)

So then I was hooked and just kept watching. I'd picked my favourite driver based on the video game and the fact he'd be driving a Toyota in 2007. He seemed like a funny guy, and I'm a new fan so why not get behind the new car. He turned out to be a dud, but I'm still a fan and he's still great fun to watch.

Then, when the F1 season got started and I was talking to a friend about being a NASCAR fan, he kept telling me how F1 was the greatest racing in the world. So I watched the season opener and was, frankly, bored. They got started, drove in single file the entire race, and then finished in almost the same order they started in, in less than 2 hours.

So NASCAR it was then, and I haven't looked back.

[Wild Weasel]

Just watch "Cars" and "Taladega Nights".:)

Anyone notice that a lot of the teams are switching over to Toyota?

Not a bad suggestion, but I suggest skipping Cars and starting with Days of Thunder.

And Toyota has a great history in racing, so why shouldn't teams be switching? The core redneck fanbase aren't too thrilled... but more and more people including me are getting behind them.

And hell... of all the cars represented in NASCAR, I think the Camry might be the only one actually made in the USA. :chuckle

[WLS ZMZM]

I've watched both movies and own both .... "KA CHOW KA CHOW" :chuckle I just wanted a proper explanation to see why people like it so much... I was curious because Talladaega nights pokes so much fun at it.

[WLS ZMZM]

oh and thanks WW for the explanation... much appreciated... at least I can try and watch it being a little more educated about it

[Wild Weasel]

Pick a driver!!! That's the key. If you're paying attention to what someone is doing throughout the race, then you'll start picking up on what's going on over the course of the race. If you're just watching the cars go round and round... well... at any given time, any number of people could be doing something interesting but if they're all just random cars to you then you'll never know what's happening.

And watching Talladega nights again after having gotten into the sport a bit is even more fun since you can pick up on all the little cameo's in the movie. People like Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Darrel Waltrip making appearances is just plain funny. :)

[Caz]

Great write-ups!

[Garu]

I've watched days of thunder. There is a scene where he gets pulled over by 2 female policy officers turned out to be strippers.

[Wild Weasel]

It's funny to watch Days of Thunder now and see what the racing was like 20 years ago. The pit stops are especially funny, with people standing out in the road with the pit signs and all.

Incidentally... if anyone wants someone to watch in tomorrow's race, Kyle Busch has been on a tear lately, and is great fun to watch. It's kind of a whiney little bitch, but he's a phenomenal driver and there's a lot of attention on him these days so you'll always know what he's up to.

And if he beats Tony Stewart and neither crash out of the race, you'll know my wife's just collected $5 from me. :chuckle

[-RJ3-]

The reason why I like nascar, is to count how many sponsors you can find in a race LOL!!!

I like the mechanics, and how fast they can avoid a wreck at 200 plus miles an hour. The commentary is nice, because they talk about the facts and stories of the drivers. At first I didnt see the big deal about NASCAR, but after watching days of thunder, and watching a few races, you will eventually get sucked in not even knowing about it.

The pit stops are exciting too, especially if they are a lap down and a racer tries to trick the pack by pretending to hit the pits but cuts back to the track.

When a racer gets nudged, or spun off the track you should see their rage after getting out of their wrecked car... During a race one of the racers got out of the car after being wrecked and decided to get revenge. He simply waited for the guy who hit him and threw his helmet directly at his car!!! well... It went in the car instead HAAHAH

Bumping, Drafting, Loose, Thats NASCAR!

[SP33D 3]

i had no respect for the sport until i saw ricky bobby hahaha

but seriously watching the cars drive that close to eachother and the drafting/teamwork that's needed takes allotta skill

[-RJ3-]

heheh you mean reeeky booby heheh

[Wild Weasel]

When a racer gets nudged, or spun off the track you should see their rage after getting out of their wrecked car... During a race one of the racers got out of the car after being wrecked and decided to get revenge. He simply waited for the guy who hit him and threw his helmet directly at his car!!! well... It went in the car instead HAAHAH



It was funny seeing them interview Carl Edwards after today's Nationwide Series race (sort of like NASCAR minor leagues with a bunch of big names moonlighting in it) after being booted by Mark Martin.

Everyone likes Mark Martin. Everyone. So when he bumps you and sends you off into the wall... well... you just have to assume it was an accident and take your licks.

I don't like Carl Edwards. I wonder if Mark Martin likes Carl Edwards. Hmm... I wonder if it was really an accident? :chuckle

Felt bad for Reutimann getting taken out by Tony. That sucked for him, since I badly want him to beat Edwards this year.

I mentioned earlier that Kyle Busch was a blast to watch. He was great fun today until he blew a tire and went into the wall. He went from 43rd all the way up to 1st. Amazing. I'm sure he'll be just as fun tomorrow in the big race.

Today's Tony and Kyle show ended way too early. :(

[-RJ3-]

I couldn't say it better haha nice summary

[iconicrocket]

Love those quotes from Talledaga Nights.

"Let's shake and bake."

"Ricky Bobby"

"Please be 18"

[rktsci]

I think the biggest problem that I have with NASCAR is that it allows its top level drivers to simultaneously compete in its junior class. This doesn't happen in any other professional sport except when one is coming back from injury and working back up to the big league.

[Wild Weasel]

On the flip side though... who would watch the Nationwide series if they didn't allow that? I think the first few races this year have been greatly entertaining in large part due to Tony and Kyle battling them out. I know I wouldn't have watched the race on Saturday if not for the Sprint Cup drivers being involved. I really like David Reutimann and want him to win the championship there this year. If he wasn't in the Sprint cup though, then I probably wouldn't even know who he was.

[Cardinal Fang]

NASCAR is design to produce close finishes not necessarily obvious winners.

[-RJ3-]

DW (Darrel Waltrip) makes the races fun as well.. Great commentry and gets you into the race.

[Wild Weasel]

Yeah, one of the keys to NASCAR is that the races are lengthy and the track conditions change over the course of the race. It's not enough to have a good car to start the race. You need to keep your car good throughout the race and especially have it good at the end. You can't just build up a big lead and then coast.

I cringed when Gordon went into that wall at the end. :( It's too bad that he took out Kenseth instead of Edwards. At least taking out Edwards would have given some solace to his trashing of one of my fantasy pick teams. :chuckle

[Wild Weasel]

DW (Darrel Waltrip) makes the races fun as well.. Great commentry and gets you into the race.

Yeah, both he and his brother are great when doing commentary. "Kyle Busch is the only driver who can go 3-wide all by himself." :chuckle

And they just about had to wrestle him off the flag stand at Daytona. That was funny!

[-RJ3-]

Just for giggles, someone photoshop a mazda3 as a nascar?

That would look cool to see!!!

[Cardinal Fang]

I would like to see NASCAR race in the rain. Seriously thought. It would be a great test of a drivers skill to manage a car through adverse conditions such as the weather.

[Wild Weasel]

Just for giggles, someone photoshop a mazda3 as a nascar?

That would look cool to see!!!

It would look exactly the same as all the other cars in NASCAR, with a slightly different front bumper on it. ;)


I would like to see NASCAR race in the rain. Seriously thought. It would be a great test of a drivers skill to manage a car through adverse conditions such as the weather.

That would be great fun, but would require a bunch of changes to make happen. I think NASCAR decided many moons ago that racing in adverse weather just didn't interest them and that was that.

If that were to change, they'd need to add lights and wipers and treaded tires, among other things, and really... for all the races that actually have rain delays over the course of a season, I'm not sure it's really worth it.

Also... ultimately, stock car racing is all about managing grip, so racing in the rain wouldn't really be more skillful. It would just be slower.

[-RJ3-]

Did you guys ever wonder why a nascar is still a stock car?

I mean back in the days, the nascar's where in fact "Stock cars" with lights being taped up and windows reinforced.

I guess it sounds weird if it was NASCAR "STOCK ENGINE CARS" HEHE

[Wild Weasel]

Stock car racing is still the same style of racing, even though the cars aren't stock anymore.

[WLS ZMZM]

okay.. so I watched my first race... so with the explanation the racing got more interesting as far as following a driver... that was a little difficult since it was only my first race... but I've narrowed it down to three
The M&M car of Kyle Busch, The Tony Tiger car of Casey Mears and The valvoline car of Patrick Carpentier... woot woot go Canada go... besides he was an IRL and a Champ Car driver.... plus the teams owned by george gillete jr... the owner of the habs... so works for me :D

[Wild Weasel]

It's as good a way to pick your drivers as any.

To give you a little background on your drivers...

Kyle Busch is young and hot headed. He can be a bit of a whiner, but he's a phenomenal driver which makes him a lot of fun to watch. It was too bad he crashed yesterday, but before that I had a good laugh when he basically said to his crew chief "The car's a bit loose... if you can fix it then good... but if not... whatever... I'll just drive it anyway". :chuckle

Casey Mears amuses me because he's the ignored Hendrick driver. Hendrick's is the best team in NASCAR right now. Last year, that team won half the races. This year, they're not off to a great start, but they'll get going. Of their 4 cars though, 3 of the drivers are superstars (Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr.)... and then there's Casey. I like to make fun of him and play "Hey... what's Casey up to?" during the races.

Last year, Kyle Busch was on that team but got the boot when they needed to make room for Dale Earnhardt Jr. Basically, he was seen as hard to work with, so he was let go. Really... they should have kept him and let Casey go. Kyle's a way better driver, but doesn't get along well with others. So Casey is still there... and always a bit of a curiosity.

Carpentier is just funny because in an interview at Daytona, when they were asking him what he liked to be called and working out how to say Patrick Carpentier properly (based on the French accent and all) he responded saying he was ok with pretty much anything... so long as you don't call him Carpet-Eater. Of course, having said that... well... you can just guess what's going to happen. Someone said it just yesterday, and I thought it was pretty funny. Don't expect him to do well though. He's still learning the car and I haven't seen anything terribly impressive out of him yet.

If you want to back an open-wheeler, then keep an eye on JPM. He's got a year of experience now and can be fun to watch as he often seems nearly out of control.

Finally... note that some cars have shared sponsorships so if you can't find Kyle in the M&M's car... look for him in the bright green Interstate Batteries car. The numbers stay the same. He'll be in the 18 either way, but knowing who his sponsors are can help find him in the crowd.

[Xerox]

Did you guys ever wonder why a nascar is still a stock car?

I mean back in the days, the nascar's where in fact "Stock cars" with lights being taped up and windows reinforced.

I guess it sounds weird if it was NASCAR "STOCK ENGINE CARS" HEHE

True. "There's nothing stock about a stock car" - Days of Thunder.
But the cars used must meet certain restrictions. Like the car has to be in production with certain number of units built (even though the specifications of the shape of the car differs from the production models – it still has to resemble it).

[Wild Weasel]

The only part of the car's shape that's customized for the manufacturer is the bumpers. Other than that, the new cars are identical in shape.

This resemblance is just for marketing purposes so they can put decals on it to somewhat mimic the production cars, though they'll also try to make the best aerodynamic shape that they can, while still being approved by NASCAR.

I don't even know if they still have rules about the production numbers and what not. That was important back in the day when something like the Plymouth Superbird could come along and dominate, but not anymore. Now it's just in the manufacturers best interest to market a car they want to sell.

[Xerox]

I don't even know if they still have rules about the production numbers and what not. That was important back in the day when something like the Plymouth Superbird could come along and dominate, but not anymore. Now it's just in the manufacturers best interest to market a car they want to sell.

You might very well be right. I'm not very familiar with the new rules. I kinda stopped following the sport after "The Intimidator" left.

[Wild Weasel]

Or... rather... was taken. :(

[rktsci]

I though the whole template thing went out the door with the CoT introduction??

I was under the impression that the only visible difference now between cars were the manufacturers stickers.

[WLS ZMZM]

It's as good a way to pick your drivers as any.

To give you a little background on your drivers...

Kyle Busch is young and hot headed. He can be a bit of a whiner, but he's a phenomenal driver which makes him a lot of fun to watch. It was too bad he crashed yesterday, but before that I had a good laugh when he basically said to his crew chief "The car's a bit loose... if you can fix it then good... but if not... whatever... I'll just drive it anyway". :chuckle

Casey Mears amuses me because he's the ignored Hendrick driver. Hendrick's is the best team in NASCAR right now. Last year, that team won half the races. This year, they're not off to a great start, but they'll get going. Of their 4 cars though, 3 of the drivers are superstars (Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr.)... and then there's Casey. I like to make fun of him and play "Hey... what's Casey up to?" during the races.

Last year, Kyle Busch was on that team but got the boot when they needed to make room for Dale Earnhardt Jr. Basically, he was seen as hard to work with, so he was let go. Really... they should have kept him and let Casey go. Kyle's a way better driver, but doesn't get along well with others. So Casey is still there... and always a bit of a curiosity.

Carpentier is just funny because in an interview at Daytona, when they were asking him what he liked to be called and working out how to say Patrick Carpentier properly (based on the French accent and all) he responded saying he was ok with pretty much anything... so long as you don't call him Carpet-Eater. Of course, having said that... well... you can just guess what's going to happen. Someone said it just yesterday, and I thought it was pretty funny. Don't expect him to do well though. He's still learning the car and I haven't seen anything terribly impressive out of him yet.

If you want to back an open-wheeler, then keep an eye on JPM. He's got a year of experience now and can be fun to watch as he often seems nearly out of control.

Finally... note that some cars have shared sponsorships so if you can't find Kyle in the M&M's car... look for him in the bright green Interstate Batteries car. The numbers stay the same. He'll be in the 18 either way, but knowing who his sponsors are can help find him in the crowd.


I was thinking about montoya... only went for carpet-eater cuz he was canadian.... for my first race it was pretty entertaining... actually looking forward to the next race....

[Wild Weasel]

I though the whole template thing went out the door with the CoT introduction??

I was under the impression that the only visible difference now between cars were the manufacturers stickers.

Not sure what you mean by "the whole template thing". I'm not sure about the rear bumpers, but the front bumpers are definitely manufacturer specific. During inspection, they use different nose templates for each of the 4 manufacturers.

The templates for the rest of the car are all the same, and far less forgiving than the old templates were. They don't use flat templates anymore. Now they bind a bunch of them together into a big claw-like template and lower the whole thing on the car at once. No more oddly misshapen cars. :)


I was thinking about montoya... only went for carpet-eater cuz he was canadian.... for my first race it was pretty entertaining... actually looking forward to the next race....

I'm glad you liked it. The more you learn and understand what's going on, the more you'll like watching it. From the sounds of it though, I think you might already be getting hooked. :chuckle

I love it when Montoya is around one of my wife's picks. You just never know when he's gonna take someone out... :bana

[rktsci]

^ That is what I meant about the templates. If I recall, they had templates that were almost like spot checks along certain areas of the car and that is why there was so much variation in the cars...especially when it came to certain types of tracks. As long as they conformed to the template at that specific location then all was good.

I was unaware that each manufacturer made the front bumpers...I was under the CoT was a complete spec car without any variation between the manufacturers.

[Wild Weasel]

There are still slight variations. It's pretty negligible though. Just for identification purposes, so the decals fit right. :)

The major difference between the manufacturers is under the hood.

[WLS ZMZM]

the only thing I'm not sure about... the newer cars.. is tacky ricer wing!! lmao its like woodbridge on an oval.

[Xerox]

the only thing I'm not sure about... the newer cars.. is tacky ricer wing!! lmao its like woodbridge on an oval.

You think that's rice? LOL

http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/1969-dodge-charger-500-and-daytona-3.jpg

Mind you these are fully functional. It's rice if it isn't

[WLS ZMZM]

but the old super bee and daytona wings were pimpin... back in the 70's they looked like they were part of the car same with the wedge front end.... the ones on the new stock cars look like the picnic bench ones.... :chuckle

[Wild Weasel]

Make no mistake though, the ones on the new stock cars are extremely functional!

Compared to last year, it's amazing how many drivers seem to be able to pull the back end back in line when getting really loose through a corner. You can see the difference the wing makes!

[-RJ3-]

yeah hehe... It's a NASCAR going into super pursuit mode!! LOL!

http://screenrant.com/images/new-kitt2.jpg


Right after reading this whole nascar thread, I watched CARS and Talladega nights again... LOL

[Wild Weasel]

Shake and Bake!!

[WLS ZMZM]

" i'm the magic man.... *makes hand motions* now you see me..... now you don't"

I'm not saying its not functional... just saying it looks a little tacky

[-RJ3-]

Thank you Sweet baby jesus, and christmas jesus.

[Wild Weasel]

If anyone's decided to be a new Kyle Busch fan, you'd have enjoyed this weekend.

Yesterday's race wasn't as exciting as Atlanta's been in the past, apparently due to tire issues, but it was still fun to watch.

Lucky me... all 4 of my fantasy picks ended up in the top 5! Woot!!

If any of you are with me in thinking Carl Edwards is a dick, I'm sure you were cheering alongside me when the smoke started pouring from his tranny. heh. It took away what would have likely been a more exciting finish, but was amusing none the less.

Having Tony and Jr. fly by Biffle at the end was funny too.

Now... for any of you new fans, next week's race is going to be something completely different. They call it "full contact stock car racing". It's time for the short track at Bristol!

[WLS ZMZM]

all I can say is what a race... I can't believe how not chaning the tires had such an effect on Gordon around lap 155.... he lost 2 spots for 7lap tire difference... but his pass on burton was phenomenal... when he came on the inside then went behind him and slingshot around him..... as for edwards... I was laughing.... when his car started to smoke.... and how about that guy that spun out twice.. hitting the wall the second time... and ending his day.... race was really good.... yesterday.. I have to say WW I'm starting to love Nascar... and the commercials are great especailly the fed ex ones hahahah the allstate ones are good with kasey Kahne too... hehehe

[Wild Weasel]

The commercials are a big part of the fun. Remember... a big part of NASCAR is the personalities. You have a lot more access to the drivers than in other series' and part of that is laughing at them when they have to do goofy things in commercials.

I love the new Home Depot one. "Bolder than eggplant???" :chuckle

Poor Labonte. When he bounced off the wall, all I could think was "Well... it's about time you just took yourself out of the race!" heh. I think while everyone else was white knuckled around every corner just hoping for dear life that the tires would stick, he finally said "F**K it!" and just gave 'er. :bana

[WLS ZMZM]

I really liked the UPS race truck... and I have to say.. the commercials really are fun.... and do add alot to the drivers to build up their characters....

[WLS ZMZM]

i think its going to take a few races to really get a feel for the driver I like... I was feeling Gordon after that pass... but I dunno tehre was some really impressive passing and drafting...

[Wild Weasel]

Gordon is one of the best and seems to generally be an all-around good guy. Can't go wrong picking him as your favourite, and you'd have had all sorts of excitement last week when he wrecked in spectacular fashion 4 laps from the end. :bana

Really... if you enjoyed yesterday's race, it's only going to keep getting better! So far as action goes, that one was a little dull, though still fun to watch the front.

For a little more vested interest, sign up for the Fantasy Racing league on NASCAR.com. I'm only playing in the easy game (Streak to the Finish), but it adds to the race when you're keeping track of drivers who aren't necessarily your favourites, but you really want to land in the top 10 so you can earn some points. :)

[WLS ZMZM]

I thought it was really good so I can just imagine how good one of the "good" races will be... I was finding the most enjoyment watching the pit strategies... and how important the race out of the pits was and how some of the drivers would pick up spots that way, over all Nascar is much more entertaining then I originally thought... I knid of like Danny Hamelin.... he's a pretty good driver

[Wild Weasel]

Yeah, Denny kinda got screwed yesterday having to make an unscheduled stop, but he was doing well up until then.

He's sort of the least controversial of the Gibbs cars, so I tend to like cheering for Tony and Kyle more than Denny, but he's definitely a contender.

[Wild Weasel]

As I was watching it last night, it occurred to me that you up and coming fans will probably get a real kick out of This Week in NASCAR, on Speed at 8:00 Mondays.

They'll talk about the weekends racing and it's generally both interesting, and pretty amusing. Yesterday had Michael Waltrip talking about the material they use inside the rear quarter panels and how good it holds up to wear. He mentioned it was made by Dupont before realizing his mistake... and then noting it's made by DOW... who are one of his sponsors.

Doesn't sound funny when typing it, but if you saw the look on his face, it was pretty funny.

They also brought up this week's poll, asking what the biggest story is in NASCAR right now. One of the options was "Jimmy Johnsons struggles". Of course, his crew chief Chad Knaus was on the show so they asked whether he'd be picking that one. :chuckle

Anyway... if you watch the race on the weekend, try to make a point of watching this show on Monday night. I'm sure you'll get a kick out of it. Michael Waltrip and Greg Biffle are regulars. Chad Knaus might be a regular too now. Not sure about that.

[WLS ZMZM]

oddly enough... I watched the show hehhe... I figured I could get a better understanding that way.. and it came on after tuner vision... which I was watching cuz it was on the NOPI drift circuit...so I watched it and was quite impressed with it. Good recap and discussion of the race

[WLS ZMZM]

I'm just upset cuz im at work this weekend.. and I think its "short track" if im not mistaken... so im going ot have ot change the channel on the tvs in the office just hafta find hte computer that controls them

[Wild Weasel]

Yep... short track racing this weekend. They repaved Bristol last year so it's not quite the smash-em-up it used to be, but it's still good fun with cars all over the track at any given time.

[Wild Weasel]

Racing in less than an hour now. Woot!

My fantasy picks for this week are Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, and Greg Biffle.

Something that occurred to me while watching the F1 race in the middle of last night... NASCAR people have way more fun! The commentators and everyone else just seem to be having a great time in NASCAR while F1 still has that elitist air to it. The race was much better than last year's Australian GP was though. I think the elimination of TC and launch control is going to be good for the sport.

[-RJ3-]

Racing in less than an hour now. Woot!

My fantasy picks for this week are Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, and Greg Biffle.

Something that occurred to me while watching the F1 race in the middle of last night... NASCAR people have way more fun! The commentators and everyone else just seem to be having a great time in NASCAR while F1 still has that elitist air to it. The race was much better than last year's Australian GP was though. I think the elimination of TC and launch control is going to be good for the sport.



Agree 1000 percent.... F1 commentary is like watching british football!!! just straight commenting no history of the driver or stories to them.

Go Gordon, Stewart and Busch!

[Wild Weasel]

Tony's kicking ass!! Might get $5 from my wife this week... :chuckle

[Wild Weasel]

Woot!! In order to get points in the Streak to the Finish fantasy game, you need your picks in the top 10.

3 of mine made the top 5 again this week! WOOT!! Too bad about Kyle though... :(