NASCAR Offseason Withdrawal Therapy Thread 2005

Various News Sites ^ | 11-21-05 | Me & Jack

[WestCoastGal]

**Welcome**
Well here we are again, another year of racing, gone by in a flash! Is it Daytona yet? Are we there yet?

This forum is to help us get through the offseason by posting news, silly season rumors and anything else devoted to Nascar.

[umgud]

THX

I've saved this in my favorites.

BTW, I did hear a rumor that JJ is unhappy with himself.

[Wolfstar]

I hope Jeff does better next year. He looked good in the last few races which should carry over to next season.

And I hope Junior does better, too. This season was BORING to me, big time without those two spicing things up.

I'm so glad Jeff and Rick finally got rid of Loomis. He was the main problem with the 24 team, in my opinion.

Next year the Chevys have a new body style. Maybe it will help the Chevy teams. [crossing my fingers]

[don-o]

I am a casual fan. But, I have grown up in the heart of NASCAR. Don't know much, but I knoe folks who do. And the threads are always a respite when I can either participate or just read them.

The regulars (you know who you are) are my bestest FR buddies. Beyond the racin' I have found folks who help me with cooking - and who will pray with me.

Has there ever been a never ending off Season NASCAR thread? If not, I think we have one started

[SouthTexas]

Private residence, private party does not equate to responsible party. ;)

[SouthTexas]

The "therapy" thread ran last year until the season started at Daytona.

It can get bad at times, we were even discussing a lawnmower league at one time. :)

[tubebender]

Did you ever get a Smoker that fit your needs?

[Echo Talon]

To me Greg Biffle is the NASCAR Champion he has 6 wins and Stewart only has 5... Not his fault that NASCAR's points system is flawed. More points should be awarded to the WINNER of races than what they do... If you look at the points most of the time there is barely any difference between coming in 1st or 2nd. What is the point of trying to win the race when you can baby your car, come in second and virtually get the same points! Thought the new points system was supposed to make them competitive?

[andrew2527]

I'm already suffering from Rusty withdrawal. Badly.

[andrew2527]

If a driver comes in second, he's not "babying his car."

[GRRRRR]

Image #1

[Fierce Allegiance]

The official DAKAR rally website:

http://www.dakar.com/indexus.html

[don-o]

Did you ever get a Smoker that fit your needs?

No

[WestCoastGal]

Prayers for the family. He left behind a daughter.


Johnny Campiglia, a Pompano Beach helicopter pilot killed in a collision with another chopper hours after Sunday's stock car races in Homestead, was busy all weekend shuttling NASCAR executives, VIPs and star drivers, family members said Monday.

Campiglia, 24, a former barber whose hair trimming helped him pay his way through flight school, was killed when his seven-seat luxury helicopter slammed into a temporary RV park and burst into flames, officials said.

Before the crash, Campiglia, father of a 9-year-old girl, was finishing a weekend of ferrying NASCAR bigwigs, including star drivers Jeff Gordon and Kyle Petty, his family said. He planned to make one more trip before returning home, said his father, Francesco Campiglia.


Campiglia, originally from New Jersey, fulfilled his dream of becoming a pilot five years ago, his father said. His wife, Melissa, and daughter, Celena, were too distraught to comment, family members said.

According to Campiglia's family, he flew Gordon on Friday from Miami International Airport to the racetrack. He then flew Petty the same day from Fort Lauderdale to Homestead.

"Ever since he was a little kid he wanted to be a pilot, and he got to go all over the world," said his cousin, María González. "Every time he came back from a trip, no matter where it was, he felt like it was his first time flying."

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-dchopper22nov22,0,387864.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

---

Very sad story which could have been worse. The crash happened feet from a motorhome parking area, thankfully no one else was killed.

[B4Ranch]

If Jimmie Johnson hadn't crashed, Tony wouldn't have won.

[WestCoastGal]

Rusty had us all in tears during his interview. It has to be difficult going from such a hectic, adrenaline filled lifestyle to playing golf. LOL I know he loves golf and his family deserves more time with him as he said.

BBL

[angelwings49]

Thank you so much for that picture! Love it!!

[WestCoastGal]

Sometimes DW is not just a windbag....

snip~

NASCAR dropped some rule bombs in the latter part of the year with leasing tires, limiting the number of teams, the Car of Tomorrow, and a new testing policy. It just seems like they're always tinkering with the rules and looking for something to do. We don't really know if the new rules will be better, but they will be different. Sometimes I try to figure out what NASCAR is trying to accomplish.

Take the impound rule, which made no sense to me. Teams were at the track the same amount of time, but they were just sitting around. There were days when they only went to the track and ran two qualifying laps. They couldn't work on the cars. They had to get the car right to race and qualify, and it was almost impossible to do.
The only time an impound makes sense is at Daytona and Talladega. I'll bet it costs close to $1 million to prepare a cars to run eight laps in qualifying for those four races. That's ridiculous so impounding the cars there makes sense. It keeps you from using all of the trick pieces that teams have been known to use at Daytona and Talladega. But impounds don't make any sense anywhere else.

We've worked for 50 years to get to this point, and it's counterproductive to make rules that disrupt the consistent flow that we've had for those 50 years. The procedures we've always followed have proven to be successful over time. Teams practice, qualify, practice and get ready for the race. That's been the procedure, and it just makes no sense to me to start changing around things like that. We want to practice to get our cars ready to qualify, and then we want to practice again to be sure that we've got the right setup for the race. That's what we've always done, and that's what we need to do.

You need that practice time after you qualify to get your car setup right and put on a good show on Sunday. There are so many things that you don't know when you start off a weekend with just practice and qualifying. By the time the Busch race is over, you say, "Man, I wish I had a chance to run my Cup car. I found out things that I need to change." I just think it's counterproductive to the teams, the sport, the fans, the media and everybody else to make rules that affect things that we've always done

There's more here including the dawg rule

[WestCoastGal]

SMOKE ALERT...

Stewart on Letterman: 2005 Nextel Cup Champ, Tony Stewart is scheduled to appear on Late Night with David Letterman Friday night, November 25 at 11:30pm/et on CBS. No word on any other appearances yet or the New York City appearance schedule. Banquet info on my Awards page.(11-22-2005)

Parade for Stewart on Dec 17th: Tony Stewart's hometown will hold a parade next month to honor him for winning the NASCAR series championship. The parade is planned for Dec. 17, starting at 2:20pm from the Hamilton Center Ice Arena and ending at Columbus [IN] North High School. It would be the second parade in Columbus for Stewart in four months. On Aug. 15, he was recognized for his win in the Allstate 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Judy Jackson, the city's community development director, said Monday that Dec. 17 was the earliest date Stewart was available for the parade.(Fort Wayne Sentinel/AP)(11-22-2005)

Thanks Jayski

[Jackknife]

Thanks for the ping and the off season thread. I'll be checking in regularly. There will be plenty of off-season news to discuss. I, too, will miss Rusty and Ricky.

Great race and finish. I wish Mark could have passed for the win.

Here's a topic.....

....... IMO, NBC coverage stinks. I hope that the rumors that they will not be back after next year are true. Fox has nailed it, and so has set the bar high. I do, however, think that ABC could do it, with Rusty Wallace and Jerry Punch (and other announcer and racing vets), and using their picture-in-picture commercial coverage.

[steveegg]

Mike Mackler of The Outside Groove has a great tribute to Smoke.