NASCAR

[P. A. Schilke]

I’ve been to one race and it was a Saturday race at Talladega. Very exciting! And LOUD! Wasn’t expecting it to sound like jets racing around the track. Bought some earplugs. I could not, for the life of me, tell who was who as they sped by. But, I loved it and want to go back someday to the Sunday race. I loved watching the fighter jets fly over. Just loved the whole atmosphere. There is so much to see and do.

Hi Tracy,

Been in motorsports all my life... I was a team engineer for a Craftman Truck team... Bristol was absolutely the loudest track...I was also a spotter for our team...the Ortho Lawn and Garden truck. I was able to get the truck going pretty fast after the crew chief, the owner and I came to terms and they put my suspension setup on the truck and made the truck quite fast.... Probably this and being an Indy Car official contributed to my severe hearing damage...

Loved Bristol....

best,
Phil

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[Tracy Bowman]

Hi Tracy,

Been in motorsports all my life... I was a team engineer for a Craftman Truck team... Bristol was absolutely the loudest track...I was also a spotter for our team...the Ortho Lawn and Garden truck. I was able to get the truck going pretty fast after the crew chief, the owner and I came to terms and they put my suspension setup on the truck and made the truck quite fast.... Probably this and being an Indy Car official contributed to my severe hearing damage...

Loved Bristol....

best,
Phil

I think it would be exciting to go to a race at each track at least once. Not likely to happen though, husband doesn’t enjoy it quite so much. But, at least I can watch on TV and see who I’m rooting for.

 

[P. A. Schilke]

Terrible Daytona 500 for 2022....

They tore up so much good equipment, but the take away is the Gen 6 car need some serious rethink.... Having the single center lugnut attachment with BBS wheels that fractured...Suspension problems in the rear etc... Did not do their homework well enough... Especially Aero...

I do not watch TV, but watched enough to walk away from the tube....disgusting to see the driver have to take such risks with these underdeveloped cars on a super speedway....Glad no one was seriously hurt! Yeah...Ford won.... Cindric is a good driver....and very lucky... Back to the drawing board on some aspects of the car...never seen a tire without a wheel attached come off on the back stretch.... Just flat weird....JMO....

Best,
Phil

 

[KJRR]

Hi Tracy,

Been in motorsports all my life... I was a team engineer for a Craftman Truck team... Bristol was absolutely the loudest track...I was also a spotter for our team...the Ortho Lawn and Garden truck. I was able to get the truck going pretty fast after the crew chief, the owner and I came to terms and they put my suspension setup on the truck and made the truck quite fast.... Probably this and being an Indy Car official contributed to my severe hearing damage...

Loved Bristol....

best,
Phil

Thanks for jumping in Phil. I was reading some of your backstories today before starting the thread. Loved the Mark Martin, truck story.
I appreciate your backstories and always feel like I've gained something from them.
Thank you for sharing!

 

[KJRR]

Terrible Daytona 500 for 2022....

They tore up so much good equipment, but the take away is the Gen 6 car need some serious rethink.... Having the single center lugnut attachment with BBS wheels that fractured...Suspension problems in the rear etc... Did not do their homework well enough... Especially Aero...

I do not watch TV, but watched enough to walk away from the tube....disgusting to see the driver have to take such risks with these underdeveloped cars on a super speedway....Glad no one was seriously hurt! Yeah...Ford won.... Cindric is a good driver....and very lucky... Back to the drawing board on some aspects of the car...never seen a tire without a wheel attached come off on the back stretch.... Just flat weird....JMO....

Best,
Phil

I would agree it needs some work. There are always destroyed cars at Daytona so that isn't too surprising. The wheels definitely need work along with the rear ends. Seeing the cars crab-walking and not able to move off the track while not having major body damage was odd.
Hood flaps need some work too as there were at least 2 that came loose and were hanging from thier tethers while racing.
The other thing I noticed was the amount of parts flying off during a wreck. While there are usually debris on the ground, seeing windows and body parts flying in the air with the possibility of ending up in the stands is concerning. Not sure if that's related to composite bodies or not but there wasn't any cut tires that I recall.
Still have cars flipping and I'm sure they'll work on that but having the driver able to walk away is a good thing.
From a competition perspective, I think they are moving in the right direction.
Lots of changes besides just the cars too with new drivers and owners.
What would be a good Daytona 500 from your perspective?

 

[P. A. Schilke]

I would agree it needs some work. There are always destroyed cars at Daytona so that isn't too surprising. The wheels definitely need work along with the rear ends. Seeing the cars crab-walking and not able to move off the track while not having major body damage was odd.
Hood flaps need some work too as there were at least 2 that came loose and were hanging from thier tethers while racing.
The other thing I noticed was the amount of parts flying off during a wreck. While there are usually debris on the ground, seeing windows and body parts flying in the air with the possibility of ending up in the stands is concerning. Not sure if that's related to composite bodies or not but there wasn't any cut tires that I recall.
Still have cars flipping and I'm sure they'll work on that but having the driver able to walk away is a good thing.
From a competition perspective, I think they are moving in the right direction.
Lots of changes besides just the cars too with new drivers and owners.
What would be a good Daytona 500 from your perspective?

Hi KJ,

A good Daytona is one where there is good hard racing...a few isolated crashes, pit row mistakes etc but not the stuff of this year. Making the cars like Lagona said...a Marble pushing a Marble with the rounded front and back look to me like having the ability to hit the front car and put it into the fence... I think they are the WWE of motorsports, sadly. NASCAR will work this out over time...My time with the teams is over but I always recll...they made it clear...this is about the show... Drivers drive with their heart for the most part and accept the fact it is a show.

Okay...Back story

I was sitting at home on a Friday night of the Daytona 500 weekend. Phone rang and the lady on the phone asked me if I wanted to attend the race in the Ford Corporate suite... I said sure would and on Sunday morning I was on our corporate plane to Daytona, Shuttle to the track...escort to the suite...wine, beer and cheese... Wow! Then we heard that Danica Patrick had been given a larger restirctor plate for the race that any one else to make her run at the top end of the field , which she did until she crashed as usual. Was this true? She ran much more competitively and it was clear NASCAR was playing to the women in the stands/TV.

We flew home after the race and I drove to my summer home...so around the campfire...the folks were recapping the race. They asked me what I thought.. So I told them I was there watching from the Ford Suite....They did not believe me when I told them the Danica plate story.. Or that I was there in person....Oh well.

Best,
Phil

 

[9zero1790]

in the 1990s pepsi was doing richard petty bottles and lots of advertising for racing. i tried to get every bottle so hard!! i put them away years ago and now i dont know where i put them

 

[KJRR]

Hi KJ,

A good Daytona is one where there is good hard racing...a few isolated crashes, pit row mistakes etc but not the stuff of this year. Making the cars like Lagona said...a Marble pushing a Marble with the rounded front and back look to me like having the ability to hit the front car and put it into the fence... I think they are the WWE of motorsports, sadly. NASCAR will work this out over time...My time with the teams is over but I always recll...they made it clear...this is about the show... Drivers drive with their heart for the most part and accept the fact it is a show.

Okay...Back story

I was sitting at home on a Friday night of the Daytona 500 weekend. Phone rang and the lady on the phone asked me if I wanted to attend the race in the Ford Corporate suite... I said sure would and on Sunday morning I was on our corporate plane to Daytona, Shuttle to the track...escort to the suite...wine, beer and cheese... Wow! Then we heard that Danica Patrick had been given a larger restirctor plate for the race that any one else to make her run at the top end of the field , which she did until she crashed as usual. Was this true? She ran much more competitively and it was clear NASCAR was playing to the women in the stands/TV.

We flew home after the race and I drove to my summer home...so around the campfire...the folks were recapping the race. They asked me what I thought.. So I told them I was there watching from the Ford Suite....They did not believe me when I told them the Danica plate story.. Or that I was there in person....Oh well.

Best,
Phil

I would agree with isolated wrecks, just not sure that is possible with superspeedway pack racing. That's why some drivers drop to the back and wait it out and why there is stage racing. I think most if not all drivers would agree Daytona and Talledega are a crap shoot at best.
It is entertainment like all major sports and always trying to level the playing field and keep people interested. I wouldn't doubt the manipulation of races. Sometimes there are just too many coincidences. And that happens in most sports from my perspective. Even small local racing from what I've heard.
Interesting story on Danica and wouldn't surprise me. Maybe that is how she took a pole and led laps at Daytona? ?

 

[Joeiconic]

A good Daytona is one where there is good hard racing...a few isolated crashes, pit row mistakes etc but not the stuff of this year. Making the cars like Lagona said...a Marble pushing a Marble with the rounded front and back look to me like having the ability to hit the front car and put it into the fence... I think they are the WWE of motorsports, sadly. NASCAR will work this out over time...My time with the teams is over but I always recll...they made it clear...this is about the show... Drivers drive with their heart for the most part and accept the fact it is a show.

Agree with this entirely. Wrecks in NASCAR used to mainly involve two cars who were hard racing each other. Today its 15-20 at a time because they can’t separate from each other. It’s become too predictable that Daytona, and other super speedway races, will have a mass crash in the last 10 laps resulting in a red flag ending.

 

[TVRangerSTX]

Hi KJ,

A good Daytona is one where there is good hard racing...a few isolated crashes, pit row mistakes etc but not the stuff of this year. Making the cars like Lagona said...a Marble pushing a Marble with the rounded front and back look to me like having the ability to hit the front car and put it into the fence... I think they are the WWE of motorsports, sadly. NASCAR will work this out over time...My time with the teams is over but I always recll...they made it clear...this is about the show... Drivers drive with their heart for the most part and accept the fact it is a show.

Okay...Back story

I was sitting at home on a Friday night of the Daytona 500 weekend. Phone rang and the lady on the phone asked me if I wanted to attend the race in the Ford Corporate suite... I said sure would and on Sunday morning I was on our corporate plane to Daytona, Shuttle to the track...escort to the suite...wine, beer and cheese... Wow! Then we heard that Danica Patrick had been given a larger restirctor plate for the race that any one else to make her run at the top end of the field , which she did until she crashed as usual. Was this true? She ran much more competitively and it was clear NASCAR was playing to the women in the stands/TV.

We flew home after the race and I drove to my summer home...so around the campfire...the folks were recapping the race. They asked me what I thought.. So I told them I was there watching from the Ford Suite....They did not believe me when I told them the Danica plate story.. Or that I was there in person....Oh well.

Best,
Phil

Hi Phil, on another off topic, I saw this on the web best places to retire in each state today, and wondered if this was GV. If so, you Margie and Tito picked a good spot. Looks way out there next to the middle of nowhere..Cheers, Trevor

 

[P. A. Schilke]

Hi Phil, on another off topic, I saw this on the web best places to retire in each state today, and wondered if this was GV. If so, you Margie and Tito picked a good spot. Looks way out there next to the middle of nowhere..Cheers, Trevor

Hi Trevor,

Yep....that is our view of the Santa Rita Mountains... We see pretty much the same view as the picture from our patio... Here is Margie's painting that hangs of the back wall of the patio

Best,
Phil

 

[Dgc333]

Hi KJ,

A good Daytona is one where there is good hard racing...a few isolated crashes, pit row mistakes etc but not the stuff of this year. Making the cars like Lagona said...a Marble pushing a Marble with the rounded front and back look to me like having the ability to hit the front car and put it into the fence... I think they are the WWE of motorsports, sadly. NASCAR will work this out over time...My time with the teams is over but I always recll...they made it clear...this is about the show... Drivers drive with their heart for the most part and accept the fact it is a show.

FWIW, every sporting event that expects to generate revenue from spectators (whether butts in seats or on TV) is a show first and sporting event second. If they aren't evolving to keep it interesting people won't watch.

 

[Langwilliams]

I'm no where near the fan I was in the 80's an 90's when the T bird on the track at least looked like the one on the showroom floor. Seems the drivers had bigger than life personalities then too, not the smooth talking clean shaven corporate pitchmen they have now. I know the sponsor dollars drive the teams. I don't think drivers are smoking during the caution laps now like they did back in the day.

I was hoping the new car would cars to break the pack an not drop to the rear or have to rely on being pushed to victory. I was also hoping the larger brakes the 18" wheels allow would help with accident avoidance.

 

[Dgc333]

I am quite sure the move to 18" wheels and tires was motivated by Goodyear. A 15" tire is not relevant to the fans. F1 did the same thing a number of years ago.

 

[TVRangerSTX]

Not a rabid fan, but followed NASCAR since I was a kid. Gotta love the Mustangs, wish I kept my 2016 whenIgottheRanger, but only so muchgarage space.
Our secretary where I worked had a 90-ish red t-bird. She was a huge Elliott fan, bought it at Bill's dealership in GA, and he signed the trunk next to the dealer sticker.
Don't live far from Pocono, and only went once, maybe over 40 yrs ago. This might be the year, tho they cut back to once a year?‍?

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