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.

[WestCoastGal]

This is even worse.

BBL

[SouthTexas]

We got a little more rain after midnight, actually had a few puddles this morning.

At least you don't have to spend money to fix your well. Do you know if you can drop the pump any?

[tubebender]

The good news. The Weather Channel is forecasting rain for the next seven days...

The bad news. It's Eureka not Texas...

[SouthTexas]

ROFLMAO!!!

Thanks, I needed that!

[Jackknife]

I fixed my TV so it only receives Speed and the local weather...

I bet the wife loves that!

[tubebender]

You're right! She would be happy with just the weather channel.

Weather is a family sport here in the Great North West...

[Jackknife]

I looked around, and found this great bio of Morgan. What a story! Another of the unsung heroes of NASCAR. In this sport, you don't have to have wins to be respected.

[Jackknife]

Weather is a family sport here in the Great North West.

I know. I have an uncle that lives in Seattle. He has told me about it. I do not envy y'all.

[tubebender]

We have had 1.6" of rain in six hours. Enough already!!!!!!!!!

[WestCoastGal]

We may and I said may get a little sprinkle next Tuesday. LOL I'm not even looking for my umbrella.

At least that cloud I drove through the other day washed my car.

[tubebender]

I took my PU through the car wash Sunday to remove the algae...

[NormsRevenge]

Junior should improve in '06.
(AP)

2005 season statistics
Wins: One (Chicagoland)
Best Finish: First
Top-fives, top-10s, DNFs: 7, 13, 6

2005 Recap
Junior said it himself: "Even Elvis made bad movies." That just about sums up Junior's season. The much talked-about team swap with Michael Waltrip's squad prior to the start of the season was a disaster for both teams and eventually was reversed following the second Bristol race. Every great driver has a bad season, and 2005 was Junior's. When his team was good (Junior did score a win at Chicagoland), it was decent. But when it was bad, it was really bad. Chalk it up as Junior's "lost weekend."
2006 Outlook

What's next
Earnhardt Jr.'s cousin Tony Eury Jr. took the reins of the No.8 team toward the end of '05 and immediately made a difference. Junior can drive a bad race car – much like his dad did – but he's unstoppable when he's got a good car. A new attitude about his life along with several new team members will put Junior back in the Chase in '06.

Best case scenario: DEI has stepped up its engine program over the past year, and that will provide the kind of horsepower that could make the No. 8 car untouchable, especially on the restrictor plate tracks. Expect Junior to be back in the Chase and to be a serious contender for the championship. Likely scenario: With rookie teammate Martin Truex Jr. alongside, Earnhardt Jr. will find an even better match than he did in the "older brother" figure of former teammate Waltrip. Both Juniors will benefit from the relationship.

Beware: Late nights and a rekindling of his mainstream media celebrity status when he starts winning races again could knock this juggernaut of its tracks.

[WestCoastGal]

What's up with the beware blurb? These two don't stay out late partying. LOL

Jr + Jr = HOT

PS There's a pic of the Busch man that looks like he may have had his ears fixed. I will see if I can find it again.

[SouthTexas]

We had more dust/dirt on the vehicles from the wind than was washed off by the rain

[WestCoastGal]

Psyche Out, Sandbagging, Chicanery!!

---

Daytona: Is it Testing, Boring or a Joke?
An Opinion

If you don’t live in a cave and have watched racing for over a year, then you’ll be familiar with the term “sandbagging.” It’s an old card game term, meaning that someone holds a very good hand but plays as though he holds little, only to pounce at the end and take the pot. This term has become almost synonymous with Daytona testing over many years, and has actually become quite sophisticated. It almost never applies to a single car any more, but rather to an entire group of cars, usually designated by manufacturer.

If Ford (Or Dodge or Chevy) is looking for some sort of consideration or concession from NASCAR, then we will see all of the Fords (Or Dodges or Chevys) run times well below those of the competition. This enables the chief whiner for whichever manufacturer we’re speaking of, to go to NASCAR and plead his case on the basis of low testing times. It seldom works, but it never seems to stop.

Then of course, there is the other side of the coin, the psyche-out. If sandbagging comes from cards, this move probably comes from chess. The idea behind the psyche-out is to convince the competition, through chicanery of course, that they might as well give up because this car is unbeatable.

The most stellar example I can think of as to how this works comes from Richard Childress. This particular move didn’t come at Daytona, but at a testing session at Atlanta. That makes no difference; testing is testing, except that at other tracks, more than one car goes out at a time. The year was 1990 and the battle for points was extremely close between Dale Earnhardt and Mark Martin.

In this particular chess game, Roush brought as many cars to the track as he legally could and even enlisted the aid of fellow Ford owners, attempting to find the best possible car for Martin. Childress brought one car and Dale Earnhardt.

When testing began, the #3 Goodwrench car did not immediately take to the track. In fact, the car went out for its only run when the day was half over. Dale Earnhardt brought the #3 up to speed, ripped off a couple of unbelievably fast laps, knowing that every team there (Especially Roush) would have a stopwatch on him, and pulled back into the garage, all smiles. The Goodwrench team immediately loaded the #3 onto the hauler and went home.

What Childress had done was have the crew mount left-side tires on the right side of the car. Don’t ask me to explain that beyond telling you that the reason it’s not legal in a race is that a makes the car a whole lot faster. Folks are still talking about it as one of the best psyche jobs ever pulled in racing, and since it was only a test session, it was perfectly legal.

Perhaps because of that exhibition of speed, Roush opted to “borrow” a car usually driven by Davey Allison for Robert Yates, for Martin to drive in the final race of the season. Remember, there was a time when those two did NOT share that famous Yates horsepower…or even the same oxygen if they could help it, but on that occasion, it was all about Ford.

Despite experiencing a problem early in the race because Davey set something in his car differently than Mark was used to, Martin went on to finish sixth, but Earnhardt finished third, thereby clinching his fourth Winston Cup Championship. (Lord, I love saying that) Sure, he very well could have won it anyway, but without the psyche-out, Martin would have been in his own Roush car and wouldn’t have lost ground early on.

I know that little anecdote had little to do with Daytona, but it had everything to do with testing. Besides, I thought some of you younger fans might enjoy hearing it…or some of you old-timers might enjoy remembering it. Aw, come on, you knew I couldn’t resist telling you one little story about the days gone by.

http://insiderracingnews.com/PK/011806.html

[WestCoastGal]

"Back in the Day" - premieres Feb. 13, 9:30 p.m. on SPEED
From SPEED's archives and the Car and Track library comes Back in the Day, a journey through the history of NASCAR with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Through a combination of vintage racing footage and modern technology, the series reflects Dale Jr's own passion for the old school style that defined stock car racing in the 1970s

[Jackknife]

That's a great Earnhardt/Martin story! Also, thanks for the info about the new show on Speed.

[WestCoastGal]

All we have to do now is remember when Feb 13th comes that it's on. That's my problem. Hopefully someone here will remember! :)

[AGreatPer]

I am so confused (normal stuff) with Martin going to run again with the AAA car.

Rusty Wallace told me face to face at Hershey last summer that Martin could not do that because of his previous sponsors.

This is getting to be as bad as baseball when it comes to loyalty.

[Jackknife]

Don't worry....I'll remember.