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Do you know what cars they should stop producing? All the NASCAR models.

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LisaM Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-08 05:27 PM
Original message
Do you know what cars they should stop producing? All the NASCAR models.
Seriously. Stop producing the stock cars, dry up NASCAR, and see how quickly people in the Southern states will lean on their Senators to act.
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A HERETIC I AM Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-08 05:30 PM
Response to Original message
1. There is NOTHING "stock" about a Stock Car.
Edited on Fri Dec-12-08 05:31 PM by A HERETIC I AM
Nothing.

The car makers do not build the cars raced in the Sprint Cup series. The only thing they make is the engine blocks and heads.

The rest is hand built by either the teams themselves or a few specialty manufacturers that are in no way related to the car companies.
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FarCenter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-08 05:32 PM
Response to Reply #1
3. I though that the VIN plate also came from the factory?
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A HERETIC I AM Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-08 05:35 PM
Response to Reply #3
9. Nope.
The Vehicle Identification Number plate (if there even is one) would be made by and installed by the car builder, which in some cases is the race team itself.
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LisaM Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-08 05:38 PM
Response to Reply #1
10. Well you can't race without an engine block
My point remains the same. Cut off NASCAR.
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HooptieWagon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-08 05:50 PM
Response to Reply #10
14. The engine blocks aren't stock.
They are specialty race items, probably cast and machined by small shops not Detroit. No stock Detroit part will even bolt on to a NASCAR engine block.
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A HERETIC I AM Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-08 05:51 PM
Response to Reply #10
19. Actually, for the likes of Chevrolet, it is more of a brand recognition thing ...
than the actual supply of parts.

You could easily purchase essentially the same engine block and heads used in a "Chevrolet" NASCAR from GM Performance parts;

http://www.gmperformanceparts.com/home.jsp

The thing is, Chevrolet gets more out of "branding" and name recognition than they do out of anything else when it comes to NASCAR. Some might claim that they get wind tunnel data and while that is true, it is really insignificant and nearly useless to their production cars.

Name one carbureted, 700 Horsepower, rear wheel drive, 4-speed manual transmission sedan or coupe available on any GM lot.

The "S" in NASCAR should be changed to mean anything other than "Stock". The last true stock car raced in a NASCAR race 30 years ago.
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ipfilter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-08 05:31 PM
Response to Original message
2. You do realize the cars found on a NASCAR track only share
the name. They are not the same as a production car beyond the name.
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LisaM Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-08 05:32 PM
Response to Reply #2
4. Yes, I do realize that
but I assume that they are still produced in a factory somewhere.

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GrizzlyMan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-08 05:33 PM
Response to Reply #4
5. See the first reply to your post
There you will find the answer you are looking for.
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Lugnut Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-08 05:34 PM
Response to Reply #4
6. They aren't.
They are built by the individual teams from the ground up.
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HiFructosePronSyrup Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-08 05:34 PM
Response to Original message
7. My 1992 Chevy NASCAR is still pretty reliable, despite 150,000 miles on it.
It's kind of hard getting the baby seat in and out though.
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gizmo1979 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-08 05:35 PM
Response to Original message
8. This is actually a very good
point.Toyota also runs Nascar,but are hated by the fans.Even though the bodies are the only thing that resembles a stock car,the engines and parts are made by the manufacturer.It'll be interesting what nascar looks like next year.
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A HERETIC I AM Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-08 05:41 PM
Response to Reply #8
12. Thinner fields and lots more empty seats in the stands.
American Corporations look at motor racing sponsorships as part of their advertising budgets. When those budgets get cut, racing sponsorships are often the first to go.

A famous quote (in racing circles, anyway) was attributed to Roger Penske. A potential sponsor asked him how much it would cost to have his company name placed on one of Penske's race cars.

"How far away do you want people to be able to see it?" was Rogers response.
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HooptieWagon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-08 05:55 PM
Response to Reply #8
20. The bodies are identical with all the makes.
Chevy, Ford, Toyota, Dodge - all the bodies are built by the individual race teams to common templates. Not only are they the same, but they don't even resemble any model car made by any of the participating manufacturers. As stated upthread, the only thing "detroit" about the cars is the name decal on the hood.
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GrizzlyMan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-08 05:40 PM
Response to Original message
11. Might want to get your facts straight on NASCAR
Edited on Fri Dec-12-08 05:41 PM by GrizzlyMan
There are NASCAR events in Delaware, Michigan, New Hampshire, PA, Illinois, California and Nevada.

It's not just a "southern" thing anymore. The scourge has spread everywhere.

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LisaM Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-08 05:48 PM
Response to Reply #11
13. I know that. I also STILL think that NASCAR fans could weigh in on this
and maybe asshats like Shelby would listen.

Frankly, I think the people of Michigan would give up NASCAR a lot quicker than people from Alabama.
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GrizzlyMan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-08 05:50 PM
Response to Reply #13
17. I don't know how you could possibly come to that conclusion
Races in all those states are sold out. A guy in my office is a transplant for New York City. Born and bred there. He loves the "sport" more than he loves the NY Yankees.

I hate NASCAR, but I realize that while its roots are in the south, the virus has spread. That needs to be understood.
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LisaM Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-08 06:00 PM
Response to Reply #17
22. I get it. But I still believe that a higher percentage of Southerners care
I'm from Michigan originally, go there frequently, and I don't even know where the NASCAR track is (I do know where Brooklyn International is; I'm not a heathen), and I also don't know a single person in my circles in Michigan who's ever been to a NASCAR race. I live in Washington now and efforts to build a NASCAR track have stalled (thankfully) to date.
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A HERETIC I AM Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-08 06:08 PM
Response to Reply #22
24. Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn is the ONLY track in MI which hosts a Sprint Cup race.
NASCAR Is merely a sanctioning body and they sanction several series, which race at tracks large and small all over the country. Their premier series however races only at MIS in Michigan.
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FarCenter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-08 05:50 PM
Response to Reply #11
15. It's a media, marketing, sponsorship, advertizing thing
which is probably past it peak in the hype cycle.
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GrizzlyMan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-08 05:51 PM
Response to Reply #15
18. Lets hope so.
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backwoodsbob Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-08 05:50 PM
Response to Original message
16. you do realize
modern Nascar has a template car right?

GM puts whatever nameplate they want to push on the car.Same for ford,chrysler,and toyota
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foxer Donating Member (255 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-08 05:58 PM
Response to Original message
21. Big Three pulled sponsership, Nascar is toast
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FarCenter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-08 06:01 PM
Response to Reply #21
23. Toyota wins again?
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BanTheGOP Donating Member (596 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-08 06:27 PM
Response to Original message
25. A 3-year old NASCAR rant...but still funny!
YEE-HAW, VOTE FOR BUSH BOYS!!

Copyright ®2005 Ban the GOP

Perhaps no activity represents the Republican ideology and constituency makeup than the national association of sports car racing. With its racially exclusive, corporate plasterizing presence wreaking environmental havoc on the planet, NASCAR projects its hillbilly lingo and moonshine running beginnings in front of thousands of screaming Republicans every Sunday. This obscene ritual goes completely against the grain of most normal people, ridiculing our stature in the global community amid a orgiastic ritual that celebrates environmental havoc over sanity.

Let's don't we start with the basic evil of NASCAR:
all participants, drivers, and owners, are 100 percent white male.

There are no African-Americans.

There are no Latinos.

There are no Asians.

There are, in fact, exactly zero—count them, zero—minorities involved in this multimillion dollar sport.

In addition, every race is a three-hour corporation glorifying orgy of mechanical monsters with billboards careening around a searing hot bowlful of dirty tarmac at 190 miles an hour. Corporations routinely take money from providing living wages and benefits for its workers and disburse it to greedy sports car owners who project Republicanized-corporate images on the hoods, fenders, bumpers, roofs, and every other nook and cranny of their cars. In addition, every square inch of their body suits, pit crews, infield grass, T-shirts, and infield outhouses have decals from half the known republican-sponsored companies, many of whom have moved their labor base overseas, putting millions of Americans out of work permanently.

Environmentally, NASCAR wreaks humongous damage into the atmosphere. From every car, an unmistakable, overbearing stench of nitro gasoline, oil, and hazardous chemicals seep ominously into the atmosphere. Oil spills are common, washed into the drains to permanently harm our rivers, oceans, and waterways. Global warming goes up a tenth of a percent per year on NASCAR racing alone.

One of the biggest lies routinely used by these Republican good old boys pertains to NASCAR's so-called contribution to the evolving safety measures for normal cars. This whopper can easily be refuted by comparing the automobile industry with other industries regarding safety testing and development.
For instance, how many jet races go three-ride around the aerial pylons, trading paint on their wings and fuselages? How many cities and islands are routinely destroyed by nuclear bombs in the development of nuclear energy? Responsible businesses don’t open up their testing environments for planetary destruction and driver safety. They test their products with no damage to the environment, ostensibly with workers chosen through democratically approved Affirmative Action policies. But logic and republicanism are not compatible.

The average NASCAR fan is a beer guzzlin’, tobacco chewin’, bucktoothed redneck with missing teeth and a fat, ugly wife. They routinely live in white trash neighborhoods adorned with overgrown weeds, discarded bottles and pizza boxes, the obligatory rusting ’67 LTD sitting on blocks (originally used for moonshine runs of course), and breed sass-mouth kids running amuck chasing frogs and other critters. Of course, no NASCAR fan’s house is complete without the African-American loathing symbol of slavery and the KKK’s main symbol, the confederate flag. This obscene logo can be found in at least two windows on their usually dilapidated house, the car antenna of their only running vehicle (usually a 20-year old pickup), and plastered on the bumper of the vehicle, along with bumper stickers that say “US out of NATO” and “Reagan-Bush ‘84”.

The insidious spread of this racially exclusive, environmentally destructive “sport” has been conducted by our little Nazi media network, Fox. With cameras placed in virtually every nook and cranny on and around the racetrack, in every car (both front and back windows, steering wheel, and even “pedal cams”), Fox spews out every conceivable view of the race for its screaming minions, complete with corporate logos prominently displayed in the frame. Most commentators are fanatics of this renegade redneck brand of demolition derby style kiddy carts, combining quasi-hi-tech babble about differential cables, restrictor plates, and gasoline-oxygen mix ratios with barely discernable redneck-ese good ol’ boy accents, paint trading guffaws and overall moonshine madness.
“Boogity boogity boogity, let’s go RACING, boys!!” has evolved from its dirt-track origins to the Republican Party theme cry. Of course, one can’t help mentally transposing “RACING” with “VOTE FOR BUSH.”

The US Military has been prominently featured in all the races. No less than three cars are fully sponsored by the US Army, obviously supporting its many incursions and destruction of countries, most of which pose no threat to the rest of the planet. In addition, NASCAR is the only major “sport” that starts every race with a “JEE-zuz!” prayer, effectively barring the beliefs of atheists, Jews, Catholics, Muslims, Buddhists, and other religions. Finally, the overall false patriotic pride spewing from the participants, fanatics, and media conflicts with decent American and global values.

In other words, it's a complete, outright cesspool of obscene toxic worship.

The citizenry needs to call NASCAR on their blatantly Republicanist hypocrisy and show their vociferous dissent to an institution that prevents the progress of humanity in an inclusive, collective nature, not by this showcase of Republicanist bullshit.
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catnhatnh Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-08 08:48 PM
Response to Original message
26. WHAT A FUCKIN' SHOCK
to see nascar bashed on this board. Because you perceive it as "southern" and "wasteful of fossil fuel". And you are half right.

Because it started in the south in the 50's.And didn't show up nationally till the 60's. If you think it's a "southern thing" now you must admit you've ignored the Wide World of Sports since 1965 or Nascar tracks as far north as New Hampshire or the two westernmost in California.

Wasteful of fuel...well, Say a big race, some of the 43 cars drive 500 miles while getting 5 miles per gallon...So, somewhere under 4300 gallons...which of course is dwarfed by the 100K or more fans who drive in...yet I wonder if you compare the 32 NFL teams playing 16 or more games per week times 16 weeks a year plus playoffs....then add air flight costs to fly in for high rollers coast to coast...I guess you could argue which sport "wastes" more.

Of course Nascar has lead to many safety innovations in cars. And added fuel economy moves like air tunnel testing to the forefront.Football of course also endorsed the idea that helmets reduce the damage of multiple concussions so common there.

The last nasty Nascar scandal I recall was when Tim Richmond was smeared for having aids. I can't remember a betting, or firearms violation, or drug enhancement deal ever happening. Our last felon was Jimmy Johnson who did time for running white lightning in the 50's.

While you bash nascar, you should realize this...a large number of folks on this board LIKE CARS...we may have very divergent veiws of what is neccesary for personal transport in the future, but I think many of us recognize that a sport that uses familar technology and stuff available off the shelf that can field over 800 horsepower in a normally aspirated V-8 engines may have value even if only as a test bed.

In short...it AIN'T a southern thing...It's a car thing and unless you live your life without one your critisism is duplicious.
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Lugnut Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Dec-12-08 08:59 PM
Response to Reply #26
27. Bravo!
:toast:
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