Daytona 500

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A duty and a pleasure

This years Daytona trophy?

No wait, the picture is different.

"If there's one thing that NASCAR drivers are famous for, it's turning left. Apparently it's the same for its fans.

Polling amongst NASCAR fans isn't looking good for Mitt Romney, who is behind Barack Obama by seven percentage points — 41% to 48%.

The poll, conducted by polling pollsters Zogby, showed that NASCAR's loyal fan base are actually in Barack Obama's corner, so to speak. The crosstabs show a small sampling, but those who identify as NASCAR fans prefer the president."

http://jalopnik.com/5945896/poll-shows-barack-obama-leads-mitt-romney-amongst-nascar-fans

from a human interest perspective, if not a socioeconomic one.

It has morphed, and quite by design, if I may say, from the classic caricature of the "Good Ol' Boy" to a series that does it's best to appeal to women (who they discovered years ago make most of the household purchases) as well as families completely.

NASCAR as a marketing entity has done the best they could with the tools they had to make the series into something watchable on TV as well as the track. Their biggest problem (it seems to me) continues to be ticket prices in a difficult economic environment for the majority of its fan base. Taking a family of four to the race will run well in excess of $400 for race day alone. If you don't live within driving distance, add in either hotels or RV costs and you are looking at the better part of a grand for a 3 to 4 hour event.

Add extra days and you get a break on the per-day rate, but still, it ain't cheap.

do watch, and safe for those on the track...

To all race fans...

watching cars go around and around and around. Oh well...

Faster! Faster!

n/t

Is also true!

That's one thing I loved about the Indy Car series back in the 90's.

1 Mile ovals, 1.5 mile ovals, 2 mile Super Speedways, 2.5 mile Super Speedways, street courses and 3 different natural terrain tracks.

Throw in the only race in the world where each seat has about the same view of the entire course(Burke Lakefront Airport, Cleveland) and you had a race series with the most diversification of track types in the world.

And sure, If I'm home, I'll probably watch the 500. It's only ~90 miles down the road, but I'll have a better view on the TV

I don't watch now because the cars are nothing at all like production vehicles. They now even run weird one off engines that don't exist in the production line up. IIRC only the GM engines actually exist in production.

You could buy one of fhese from a dealer.
They made it available to keep NASCAR from outlawing the 426 Hemi.

Before that there was the Charger 500. The back glass was flush like on the Daytona but otherwise it was a regular charger. I believe the standard engine was a 426 HEMI. I only saw the one but they did build 500.

Nobody could beat Petty driving the hemi, so Ford cried about it.

that the huge wing wasn't for downforce? It was the vertical sections that made the car stable at high speeds much in the same way a vertical stabilizer works on an airplane.

That is some gigantic wing!

NASCAR rules at the time required the trunk to open. The wing had to be that big to clear the trunk lid.

... too many commercials, sponsor-focused 'human interest' snippets, and moving to the cable networks (FS1 / NBCSports) for most of the season has removed it from 'the common fan' ... so I'll watch but not nearly with as much on-going interest as I have in the past.

Go back.

... I don't have cable so what I was able to see was few & far between ... I noticed watching DIS qualifying yesterday that there are quite a few new / unknown names in the pits ... and holy cow, Matt Kenseth has been in NASCAR for 20 years already?

Shit I'm old.

It seems like yesterday I was cheering Dale Earnhardt....

Spa-Francorchamps - Formula Race Noise

F3 Passby (my favorite)

But so is NASCAR now...

isn't a rich man's sport? Even the "supercars" I'd love to have the opportunity to at least drive once are only for the wealthy (or the presenters on shows like Top Gear.)

However, anyone can go and see any race. I just find formula and rally races far more exciting and interesting

One mans Pontiac Fierro is another mans Lambo!

local stock car racing
drag racing
gymkana
24 hours LeMons racing
Chump car
demo derbys

would be the all electric kind. I just don't go to races of any kind. I do like that stuff; just don't get out to them

And I'm happy Fox sports hired Jeff Gordon for race analyst. He has a vocabulary exceeding fifty words and can actually string words together into cohesive thoughts, and his native California dialect is easy on my ears.

Some have trouble deciphering Southern drawls!

and their hillbilly caterwauling I can't decipher. There are times when that idiot, Michael Waltrip makes G W Bush sound like a [strike]Rhodes Scholar[/strike] road scholar. (see what I did there? )

What you did there!

in Jeff Gordon's #24 in qualifying for the 500.

I'm really looking forward to a great race

Numbers game: Why Chase Elliott will keep the No. 24

By Tom Jensen Jan 29, 2016

It was no real surprise that Chase Elliott was announced Thursday as Jeff Gordon's replacement in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

What may have surprised some fans is that when Elliott takes over for Gordon in 2016, he will keep Gordon's No. 24.

After all, the Elliott family number is the No. 9: Chase's father, Bill, who will be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame Friday night, scored 38 of his 44 career Sprint Cup victories in the No. 9, and Chase won the NASCAR Xfinity Series title last year in a No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.

Currently, Richard Petty Motorsports uses the No. 9 in the Sprint Cup Series, but teams have been known to trade numbers, often in exchange for undisclosed sums of cash. An accommodation probably could have been reached.

But Chase Elliott said he was thrilled to be able to keep Gordon's number when he moves up.

"I think having the honor of driving the No. 24 is something that a racer can only dream of," Elliott said during Thursday's final stop on the Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour presented by Technocom. "Honestly, that is such an iconic number. It's a legendary number.

"And for Jeff to tell me that he wants me to drive the No. 24, that right there is plenty enough for me to be on board with it," said Elliott. "He asked me if I was OK with that, and if we were shaking hands, I'd have ripped his arm off. That's an opportunity that nobody would turn down."

For his part, Gordon is totally on board with it, although team owner Rick Hendrick tried to talk him into putting the No. 24 on sabbatical for 2016 only.

"Rick threw that option out to me," Gordon said of not running the No. 24. "He kind of wanted to retire it for maybe a year or something like that. ... For me, seeing it out there is important. I think the fans, while some of them might have a strong opinion thinking it should be retired, when they see how well he (Elliott) does in it, I think they're going to be really glad he's driving that 24 car."

Thanks for posting that!

You have to see it up close or race there in order to truly appreciate it. I used to roadrace motorcycles in the mid 80's late 90's and rode Daytona many times. 160+mph on a superbike on the banking is a eye opener the first time.

I'd be kissing the ground after getting off!

Seeing the track in person amazes the senses. The enormity. The steep banks.
I wasn't a 'rider' but a 'wrench' for a pro expert Triumph team and was there in '67 & '68 competing.
(500cc OHV vs 750cc flatheads era)
But, ya know what? As a feet-on-the-ground or a butt-on-the-slat spectator---it SUCKED!
Why? Limited view of the whole track.

Give me a view over Harvick's/Logano's/Danica's shoulder with a camera that tilts---TILTS-as the car rolls into the banking.
Or a looking back angle from under the car at the front air splitter of the car that's inches behind-- at 200mph.
Or the 'gopher cam' with the subwoofer cranked.....WEE CRANK IT UP! :0)
A view from inside the fender showing glowing red brake rotors.
Helmet cams on the tire changers.
This year we'll be given views of the new digital dashes.
I hope they utilize the drone cam again this year.

I salute the TV camera crew and the logistics of moving all that gear weekly.
thank you also to the safety committee people.

I don't follow all the stock car races, but I do try and catch the super speedways and especially the road courses. Next to stock car I like the Rolex-24 and the 12-hrs. of Sebring, glowing brake rotors there for sure. I've been at Daytona when the stock cars are doing practice by themselves and the sound of a small-block singing at high revs is music to my ears.

I find it fascinating that there is a different sound of each brand's V8s.
Another cool tune was the factory Harley's flathead's at full song.


Some good footage here of the type of racing I was involved in --> ya might wanna turn the volume down before you click play



Sideways at 100mph

the Springfield Mile in person do it. You will not regret it. Three wide sideways in the corners at 100mph, and 130 down the back straight.

I got a feel of what it is really like on my NASCAR Sim with a force feedback wheel. In realistic mode, it is difficult to do for 25 laps much less 200. The NASCAR Sim is so realistic that you have to make corrections on the wheel when someone pulls out behind you. It was always fun when friends wanted to give it a go. They usually couldn't make it more than a few labs.

On that rare occasion I watch cars go really fast it's more Formula One for me.

For different folks!

always have. Sad that Jeff Gordon won't be there anymore, but I'll find someone else to root for.

Will watch Daytona!

All European countrys field teams. Huge sport there.
500cc alchohol burners
Jump in to 6:00 for first heat race

Of the outlaw sprint cars!
Godd stuff!

And several drivers just endorsed Trump. Less than 5%, maybe as low as 2%, of any NASCAR crowd are Democrats.
But you will find plenty of Confederate flags and red "Great Again" baseball caps.

It's like horse racing, golf, baseball. It's what I call grandpa "sports".

Even growing up in a household full of NASCAR fans, I've never been even remotely interested in auto-sports. They'd watch the race and I'd root for the long red flag so I could get some peace and quiet to read.

Reading too!

But it will be on in the background. I used to look down on NASCAR but after watching for a few seasons I have learned that there are many nuances that make up a NASCAR race.

It is actually a very complicated series of events that go into driving around the track 200 times at speeds averaging close to 200 MPH.

Although strides have thankfully been made in safety, compared to F1 and Indy Series racing, the cars are nowhere nearly as safe furthering my appreciation for the courage of the drivers.