Maybe he is talking about these cars. ;-)
Posted on 10/17/2005 5:40:57 AM PDT by Nasty McPhilthy
NASCAR had the opportunity to build on its fan base Saturday night when the UAW-GM 500 roared to life seconds after Southern California's 34-31, come-from-behind victory over Notre Dame.
NBC viewers who were curious about stock-car racing simply needed to stay put following college football's thriller in South Bend, Ind., where the Trojans charged past the Fighting Irish with three seconds remaining. But as the prime-time TV cameras cut to Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., NASCAR failed to seize the moment.
A rash of tire failures sent a succession of cars slamming into the track's concrete retaining wall and scared drivers so witless they barely raced at all. Instead of dicing for position as NASCAR's best do so expertly, racers kept safe distances between one another and didn't push their cars to their limit, many said afterward, for fear of blowing a tire. Despite the precautions, the 500-mile race was halted for a crash roughly every 20 laps. Nearly all of the crashes were caused by blown tires; not necessarily the fault of the tire supplier, Goodyear, most drivers argued, but the result of speeds generating more heat and abuse than the tires could withstand.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Oops! My bad.
Mark
They should look at reducing the weight of the vehicles from about 3,400 pounds to perhaps 3,200 pounds. That would remove some of the weight and they should also consider reducing the cubic inch displacement from about 358 cubic inches to perhaps 305 cubic inch displacement. And they ought to just shut down Daytona and Taladega and reconfigure them into a flat track, much the way that Pocono is which is just as long but much lower speeds. I can't recall that race ever being afflicted with blowouts. Restrictor plate racing should just go away.
I've been to Charlotte and don't recall anything at all like this. It was rough but not dangerous. Looks like it is much worse after whatever they did to the track.
If it weren't for the races being accessible on TV, I probably wouldn't be a Nascar fan. I live in North Dakota, a day's drive from any Cup track, and the track that I am closest to hosts only one Cup race a year (and it's one of those cookie-cutter 1.5 mi. ovals that I don't care much for anyway). Nascar could and did exist without TV, but TV's been pretty important to growing the fan base beyond the South.
The teams asked Goodyear for softer tires and they got 'em. Stoopid is as stoopid does!
Now that's a great evenings entertainment!!!
So, 'patrickschetter', has TV really made you a NASCAR fan, or just a happy viewer of a really fantastic sport?
But the doors don't open, ya can't see it. ;)
It wasn't Goodyear.
Well, sometimes they put it in the glovebox.
Ain't got one of those either, that's why they pile all the electronics on the dash. ;)
Some sneaky drivers turn on their high-beams when they are behind another car. They should put a stop to that.
I actually heard a NASCAR race on the radio last week.
It sounded like a fly was buzzing in circles around my head.
My ears are still ringing from the LOUD volume. Wasn't particularly a NASCAR fan at the time, but now I am.
For those who don't know, the headlights are only stickers, no glass allowed on the track.
Thanks, deport, I guess they didn't want to call it the NASCAR Zamboni instead of the Texas Tire Monster? Didn't know anything like that existed.
That's what I thought, though I still may be crazy :-).
I specifically remember at the beginning of the season when NASCAR was on FOX and 'DW' would ask rhetorically - "what's more important in this race, gas or tires".
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