NASCAR

The problem with the old points system, and the reason they went to the Chase format, was that the leaders were gaining such a big lead in the points that the last couple of races in the season were basically meaningless. There was no possible way for the points leader to lose the championship, even if he crashed in the first lap.
 
Carburetors soon to be extinct in NASCAR: http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/sto...s/rss/NASCAR+(FOXSports.com+News+for+NASCAR)/

NASCAR announced Friday that its Sprint Cup Series entries will shift to fuel injection and plans to have systems in place in time for the 2012 season-opening Daytona 500.

Britain's McLaren Electronic Systems will provide the controller through a partnership with Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. out of Austin, Texas. Testing and development of the components will continue throughout the year.

And they're finally getting one step closer to having the STOCK part of the name mean something again.
 
I don't think that fuel injection is 100% a good thing. For one thing, it's gonna seriously increase costs, and smaller, less well funded teams are going to have a harder time keeping up.

Also, it'll affect fuel economy, resulting in fewer pit-stops, or smaller fuel tanks.

edit: WOO! Jr.'s got the pole (for now at least)!
 
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I swear it's going to take half of the season just to figure out who drives what car. When I saw the highlights from the Bud Shootout I thought it was Harvick who had won (turns out it's Kurt Busch, driving a different Penske car with the Pennzoil sponsorship).

For the second year in a row it's a Hendrick front row with Junior and Gordon (with a new sponsor I'll have to get used to seeing). The Duels are on Thursday, and it's always interesting how they tend to focus on the guys trying to race their way in as opposed to the "usual suspects."

It sounds like DIS is asking for a moment of silence on lap three for Dale Earnhard Sr. I think that's a splendid idea.
 
Carburetors soon to be extinct in NASCAR:

It's about time that's coming to fruition. They've been talking about it for 10 years or more.

I don't think smaller teams costs will go up, most of them just buy cars and engines from other suppliers anyway. TRG gets their engines from Earnhardt-Childress, for example.
 
I'm still trying to figure out why Denny got DQ'd since he was a nose ahead of Newman before going below the yellow lines :?

only thing I can come up with is that NASCAR deemed the entire move as one, he didn't get along side then swerve below...it usually takes me a few races before I get confused about the rules in NASCAR so this is a record for me :lol:
 
just cant understand why nascar refuses to go back to real stock cars. why is fuel injection a big deal for them? ill tell you what WONT happen, they wont let the manufacturers bring in thier own systems. why would they ever let ford run a "ford" ect...

also, the corporate giant has way to much say in the qualifying of races.

just needed to get that out
 
There haven't been "real" stock cars on a Nascar track in more than 40 years. And engines have been custom-built for far longer.

I'd like to hear why you think qualifying is fixed, though.
 
There haven't been "real" stock cars on a Nascar track in more than 40 years. And engines have been custom-built for far longer.

I'd like to hear why you think qualifying is fixed, though.

didnt say it was fixed, im talking about the guaranteed starting spots. they were put there to make the sponcers happy. what happened to racing your way in? remember when Petty didnt qualify for a race years ago? that was front page news. Qualifying has become a bit of a joke. IMO
 
Top 35 rule is complete shit.
I'll second that motion. If your not quick enough, you should not be in the race. end of story.

about the cars not being stock, I can understand why they don't want to build the car on an actual production car platform. Having said that, I have no idea why they just can't take a page out of V8 Supercar's book. Their cars are, chassis wise, almost identical but with a very close replica of the production body put over the chassis. Why can't NASCAR do this? It baffles me why they don't. If they don't want to change the sprint cup, why not set up an actual stock series? It would be a hell of a lot better than the trucks.

About the engines, why don't they let each manufacturer make there own engine? I would love to see Ford have the new Boss 5.0 in their car, Dodge have the Hemi, etc. or maybe let Ford for example, make a race version of their EcoBoost twin turbo engine, let whatever manufacturer make any kind of engine that want, but make it so they all have to produce similar power figures to keep it fair. That would actually create quite a bit of comparison to the road going product that Ford, Chevy, Dodge, and Toyota make and revive the Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday saying.
 
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didnt say it was fixed, im talking about the guaranteed starting spots. they were put there to make the sponcers happy. what happened to racing your way in? remember when Petty didnt qualify for a race years ago? that was front page news. Qualifying has become a bit of a joke. IMO

The Petty Rule (officially called the Champions Provision) is a completely different thing. Under that, the driver has to be a former Sprint (Winston) Cup champion. The "Top 35 Lock-in" (which is bull, imo) is based on owner points

Xmurrx said:
their cars are, chassis wise, almost identical but with a very close replica of the production body put over the chassis. Why can't NASCAR do this? It baffles me why they don't.

Aerodynamics. However, the Nationwide series is doing something similar.

edit: This is the Nationwide Series Dodge challenger.

edit2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationwide_Series#Nationwide_.22Car_of_Tomorrow.22_.28CoT.29

edits all around!: Apparently, according to Wikipedia, they are planning on doing the same in the Sprint Cup as well. (last 2 paragraphs)
 
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Apparently, according to Wikipedia, they are planning on doing the same in the Sprint Cup as well. (last 2 paragraphs)

Yes and no. The portion of the car from the a-pillar to the c-pillar will be unchanged. What is changing, Nascar is giving manufacturers slightly more freedom designing the nose and rear of their respective cars. Can't find the source of that atm, but pretty sure I read it on Jayski's site.

Also, stumbled on this little gem.
 
I am aware of the new nationwide cars, and I do think that they are a step in the right direction. My only point is back in the day, they were the real bodies, from the real cars. So what if they had crap aero? Thats what made the racing so great. Guys trying to literary manhandle very very bad handling, over powered cars.

Things like this:

and this
 
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I don't think anyone needs reminding, but just in case.


10 years ago on this date, we lost arguably the biggest name in Nascar's history.



[video=youtube;wF-VhY6fitU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF-VhY6fitU[/video]

And probably the most famous highlight of them all:
 
I was at that Pocono race. Was about 12ish. Big Earnhardt fan. I was not in a good mood for quite a while after that. At least not on the trip back to WI. And sadly, the only time I got to see the him race.
 
I remember where I was on February 18, 2001. I had come home from work a little after 4PM (local time) and saw the note my mom left for me about the race. The first thing she wrote was that Michael Waltrip won and where a few other guys ended up (after the Big One where Stewart went airborne), and that Dale Earnhardt and Ken Schrader were involved in a last lap crash. She and my dad were at my sister's house or something like that, and once they returned Mom elaborated further saying Earnhardt was taken to the local hospital.

I then recall my dad watching CNN sometime after 5 and the anchor was reporting that the Intimidator was in serious condition. After awhile one of my uncles paid Mom a visit so she was outside talking and the rest of the family (Dad, younger brother and I) was watching TV. About a minute or so after 6, Dad switched to SportsCenter, and they had the RPM2Nite anchor along with Jerry Punch (the latter looking absolutely crestfallen) reporting that Dale Earnhardt had died from his injuries.

I think my reaction was one of shock and surprise. Once my uncle left and Mom came back in, I broke the news and her first three words (after her jaw dropped) were "OMG." She's a Gordon fan but she was quite sad at hearing the news (as was pretty much every other NASCAR fan no matter what driver).

I do remember taping the memorial service from the Thursday after the crash, and getting a phone call at work on Saturday from my mom saying all the drivers were wearing Earnhardt hats.



Interestingly enough, the winner of the Truck race from Daytona ten years after the crash, was Michael Waltrip.
 
I was never a fan of the driver Dale Earnhardt. I always thought he was too good of a driver to use a cheap tactic to win. Still cheered him on in '98 just like every one else, though.

Wish I'd been able to watch him live. Never been to a Cup race. Plenty of Busch/Nationwide and truck races, but Cup left Nashville before I got here.
 
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