Mitch, while PEAK levels might be higher, sustained levels are most definitely the issue here. Remember that texas race from a few years ago that had to be canceld to due drivers blacking out under the sustained 4g+ lateral accelerations?
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when your excuse for never winning retieres, you try something else to hide your inferior taletn and make money.
plus the $ to be made drawing in the working class hispanic families that are already prevelant in NASACAR's sphere of influence is huge
http://www.speedtv.com/articles/nascar/nextel/33132/
Juan Pablo Montoya was fourth fastest in ARCA practice this Thursday, in preparation for tomorrow’s Food World 250 at Talladega Superspeedway.
The Colombian posted a best lap of 191.765 mph in the draft, trailing series regulars Mike Wallace (192.432 mph), Kelly Bires (192.177 mph) and Frank Kimmel (191.792 mph). Steve Wallace rounded out the top-five.
I'm certain everyone here will be rooting for:
3 46 Frank Kimmel/Clarksville IN Pork The Other White Meat Ford 49.929 191.79
This dude is an ARCA juggernaut (beeeeeeatch). He's something like 50, been racing ARCA for years and has won the series many times, but has no desire to go to Busch. He got the pole in the race I pit crewed at...
The Pork car is excellent. "Pork - The Official Meat of ARCA."
Pretty sure TGR needs an Official Meat. Spam perhaps?
Holy shit. That was a pretty great race to end a pretty great season.
Villneuve can fuck himself if he says all of Schumi's titles are flawed. I guess you're a little bit bitter when you're racing Nascar Trucks at this point.
This thread is depressing. It's depressing because it's gotten to the point when one could seriously debate a switch like this without gagging. My theory is that the powers that be in Nascar saw that Will Farrell movie and thought "What a great idea! Brilliant! We need new bad guys for the trash to root against. Gordon is too cute and American, so how about some fir - in - erz that anybody south and a whole bunch of people north of the Mason Dixon will immediatly hate hate hate. Like the tear - er - ists!"
I hope they're getting paid a lot to live in whatever shit town they have to.
good race for the finish. even better was the moet-chandon champagne we drank to commemorate the worst driver ever to win 8 titles. it'll be nice to not have to watch his face next year.
It's not about $$$$ for these guys, they all have more than they need. It's about feeding the ego. Feed the ego with exposure. NASCAR has multiple times the exposure of F1. NASCAR and their media team will pump this to no end.
The average NASCAR fan knows nothing about F1, except they have funny looking cars that go fast. There ain't no technology, just bigger motors, and they ain't even got a gear shift.
I live in Bristol, TN, and by reason of such, am qualified to espouse on this point.
BTW, top fuel dragsters and funny cars exert the most g-forces on a driver, both at accelleration and shut down.
Ken
Ego? well, you can't see it anymore because the wokings of F1 have become so "protected" from us rabble in the cheap seats, but 20 years ago I roamed the paddock at Watkins Glen, and, boy, that was a collection of hot women hangin' around. I mean, take your breath away hot. Like ignore the drivers and cars, just stare at them hot.
Now, I'm guessing the female scene around NASCAR is a tad skanky compared to that. Probably all mommies, too.
Off topic, but I'm currently reading V. Ol' Benny Profane is just starting to get to know Josephine. Hunting alligators is serious business. :)
Was in Brazil this summer. Agreed, most of the rest of the world has never heard of NASCAR.
Still think it is about ego and the fact that it is an opportunity to keep racing on someone else's nickle.
Ken
Not so sure.
Bourdais is 3 times ChampCar champion and nobody in France but motor racing nuts like me did notice. (I know, it's not the most chalenging american car racing series...). And In other european countries, nobody could care less of a frenchy racing in some obscure US championship.
I don't remember either the brits going into frenzy when Mansell won the CART championship.
Those series are just not taken really seriously, compared to F1.
The NBA is another thing. It's still, by far, the most challenging Basket league in the world. (Even if the quality of play is degrading, IMO).
If you're into basket ball, you must follow the NBA. If you're into motorsports, you have to follow F1, WRC and MotoGP. It doesn't mean NASCAR is not challenging, that NASCAR drivers are bad. But it's not world-class quality, sorry.
Tiger Woods named Schumacher the world's greatest athlete.
Forbes 2000:
Schumacher has reason to celebrate. Last year, he earned an estimated $49 million, more than Michael Jordan ($40 million), Tiger Woods ($47 million) and NASCAR racer Dale Earnhardt ($26.5 million). His $35 million annual salary is larger than any other athlete in the world. Advertisers want every piece of him: A German investment firm agreed to shell out $8 million over three years to have him wear a four-inch ad on the baseball cap he wears before and after races.
http://www.planet-f1.com/News/Story_...498508,00.html
Montoya didn't like the people, egos, and bull crap in F1 and wanted to have fun racing. Believe me F1 people suck I have been to 6 F1 races and everytime the people are annoying as fuck and the race is boring and i ended up leaving early, but i got in for free.
Bullshit. I seriously doubt that most of the international F1 fans are going to give a rat's ass about what's happening in some boring, inferior American series that they've never heard of..
I wouldn't be so quick to bag on Scott Speed, he's not in the position he's in because he sucks. Give it some time, that guy can drive.Quote:
Funny thing is, nobody else does either. He's crap.
These guys are probably just tired of being mid-pack and know that it's never gonna get any better. I'm sure the constant travelling is tiresome and hey, a few million a year, an easy NASCAR ride and a fatty house in the states probably seems better than their current, worsening F1 situation..
"how many NASCAR passes is that worth?"
as the speedvision commentators put it last sunday, rhetorically.
well, you are NOT gonna belive this one.....
http://www.autoextremist.com/page3.shtml#fumes
looks like michael is heading there for a stint too. gotta remember that Tayoter is behind all this crap.
Sad....Quote:
The great German Champion suffered a punctured tire early on in Brazil but stormed back to finish fourth in his final Formula One race. Schumacher, 37, retires with 91 victories in 250 Grand Prix starts, an incredible seven World Championships - and 68 pole positions. Rumors that he has signed a $10 million deal to drive the two NASCAR road races at Sears Point (Infineon) and Watkins Glen in 2007 could not be substantiated at our launch time.
Even at the amateur level, I think I'd rather drag race than drive around in fucking circles..
These have been passed around for years so most have prolly seen them but they're still interesting:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Top Fuel facts
JBrian,
I was general counsel for the International Hot Rod Association for about 7 years, and around tons of drag racing.
Your stats are a little out of date on the fuelers. One of the crew on Alan Johnson's team told me that the average pass now cost about $20,000, or about $5k per second. If you do all 4 rounds of qualifying, then 4 rounds of elimination, that's $160,000 per weekend.
The cars now make about 8,000 horsepower, and consume about 14 gallons of fuel per run in 4.5 seconds. Each cylinder has 8 injectors. Think about how big the water hose would have to be to fill a 14 gallon bucket in 4.5 seconds, and how much pressure. Each cylinder is similar to standing in your shower on high pressure. The fuel line from the tank is now 1" in diameter, and uses two pumps off the engine to feed the beast.
Considering the engine only turns 6,000 rpm, in a 4.5 second run, the engine only has 450 revolutions to get the job done.
Teams are required to have a 75 minute turn around time, meaning disassemble the clutch, engine and supercharger and rebuild it for the next round.
Sixty feet off the starting line in under .9 seconds, and you are doing 100 mph.
The sanctioning bodies have now cut the strength of nitromethane to 85% in an effort to slow the cars, and mandated slower gear ratios. They still push 330 mph in the quarter.
A picture of Cory Mac's car breaking in half from the torque and downforce.
http://www.carrierboyzracing.com/dis...t=gallery&r=79
He's a billionaire.
Why would he risk devaluing his brand/reputation let alone his life.
There were no shortage of options for him if he still wanted to race and racing red neck taxis is not what he'd choose if the desire was still there.
Plus Ferrari still have him under contract as a brand ambassador for life so racing for Toyota or anyone else would not even be an option. My guess is the only way you'll see him race again is if he mises F1 after a season away or for a Ferrari/Maserati Le Mans attempt.
i'm with PNWbrit on this one, it just doesn't make much sense unless he races the other nascars in a ferrari :)
I don't doubt that; I originally read those maybe 3-4 years ago. Thanks for the updates..
I remember reading something similiar also a few years ago; amazing that so much energy expended and time and money is invested into a pass that turns less than 500 revolutions. Like Benny said, anyone that bags on Top Fuel doesn't have a clue. If it's boring to you to watch, then go watch it live, or turn on Oprah or MTV or something more interesting..Quote:
Considering the engine only turns 6,000 rpm, in a 4.5 second run, the engine only has 450 revolutions to get the job done.
I now return you to your original F1 (owns) vs Nastard (blows) programming..
So ESPN's Outside The Lines had a piece running yesterday about the new Toyota team in Nascar. Dear Lord, if this wasn't the perfect piece to expose how provincial (to put it politely) the average Nascar fan is. "whall, first, they take hour jhawbs, and now they are gonna roon Nascar. It just ain't rawght."
Krist. I can't believe that is even an issue, but then again, my sister never looked too sweet to me, and my house doesn't or never had wheels.
Well, not that the NASCARs are even close to production models, but the funniest part about the nationalist backlash against Toyota in Nextel Cup is that the Ford Fusion is based of an imported Ford global design and is made in Mexico, the Dodge Chargers are made in Canada, and the Toyota Camry is a model designed only for the US market and is made, I think, in Indiana.
If you look at parts content origin the lines become even more blurred.