Watched the Daytona 500 today.

For about five minutes. is up with NASCAR. Do they now chain the cars together so they can run in tandem? It just kills me when they refer to the cars as Chevys, Fords and Toyotas. When one of the expert commentators call them "stock" cars, I want to slap him up side his empty head.

NASTRAIN I was telling my son today that BMW should put together a team and run their 6 cylinder and clean all their clocks.

where have you been?

they ef'd with the aero again and now thats the fast way for the cars to run is "bump"drafting all the way around the track and wrecking each other every other lap because of it!

if they line up any more than 2 cars they slow down.... qualify speed were 185ish and earlier they were running 206mph in pairs, nascar then put another 1/64 more on the restrictor plate trying to slow them down.

it was a good race for the mess that it was.

they need to dirty the aero up beyond what drafting will cure and take the restrictors off!

and there is talk of going to a more stock profile for the cars. there goes the template that fits all

Why don't they just call it Formula Nascar?

Then there would be at least one "stock" car in the race.

It was so much better when they had to race what was in the showrooms, and had to have in the showrooms what they raced. The racing in European Touring Cars is so much better.

The COT ended forever the pretense that Sprint Cup is a "stock" car series when it's really a "spec" car series. That ain't a Toyota or a Chevy out there, folks... it's a spec chassis with a hand-built engine based on a Toyota or Chevy block in it.

I think they should require a "stock" body shell (with appropriate roll cage and other safety gear). Let them bolt on CF body panels or whatever, but the basic cage should be factory stock.

WHY TO GO ROOKIE

Used to be I'd be glued to the TV, now I have more time to do other things. Nascar is boring anymore. I did catch the ending tho", even if it did take two starts to get there. Guess it could have taken more. Another thing that irritates me. Funny rules, wonder what the rule makers are on?? I see more rule changes in the near future also.
What a memory for that rookie!!
I also am in favor of modifying a stock off the showroom floor car and then racing that. Nothing "stock" about these cars anymore!
Tom

Did you see the pics from what they called the "Heat Seeking Camera"? The company I work for (FLIR) provided them with the cameras and techs to do that. Way kool technology involved in the infrared cameras.

That doesn't make any sense to me...that is what they are doing now, they just take a very loose definition for "modifying". It's just like the construction business...if you keep one brick from the old building, its not a new building, its a remodel.

I would be interested in a 100%, no mods what-so-ever race. The drivers could pick any production car they want (one that could be bought by any Joe off the street) and they race that car. A lot of the cars these days go plenty fast for an entertaining race and then it would purely rely on the driver's skills and what the manufacturer builds directly off the line.

To me, the cars racing today have nothing to do with what a regular person can buy, it's simply shows what a manufacturer can do with an almost unlimited budget, and thats not how production cars are made.

I think I'm going to cry...

for 3 hrs speed channel went on and on about the new track redo this year. talked about expecting 3 and 4 cars next to each other... how different it was going to be.

it was weird seeing the "sets" in the corners doing 190 3 deep side by side. they have dedicated guys just watching and comunicating with other teams trying to stategically partner up to get that drafting advantage

not the 79' richard petty i remember

I did see that. That was cool.

Everyone wants to bash NASCAR for no longer being a stock car. They stopped being a "stock car" the moment they started racing them. Tell me another series that still uses a carb, doesn't use computer engine management, doesn't use traction control, doesn't use ABS, and still uses a distributor.

Those early days of NASCAR the engines the engines were modified past stock specs.

All the modifications have been for safety. The full tube chassis which was introduced for safety made it neccassary for the sheet metal bodies we know today.

What would F-1 or Le Mans be like w/o the computers on the cars.

That doesn't make any sense to me...that is what they are doing now, they just take a very loose definition for "modifying". It's just like the construction business...if you keep one brick from the old building, its not a new building, its a remodel.
biosurfer1,
Really? What part is stock? They have a tube frame, sheetmetal body to NASCAR specs, all modified brakes, wheels, engines, drive train. I am sorry, but I don't see anything stock about these cars. Many years ago, yes.
Tom

What would F-1 or Le Mans be like w/o the computers on the cars.
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FUN

agreed, but they could still hang some sheetmetal on the cars that "actually" look like a stock car. the nose and roof and deck lid should still be production based!
the car before the "cot" was actually like a 7/8ths scale of the the "cars" they where based on.

have you seen what the under body of a dtm car looks like?

far from stock! huge aero venturies creating big time down force!

I give NASCAR alot of credit for trying, though I didn't particulary care for the race, I'm sure NASCAR will make more changes to make for better racing. Dave Despain said that resurfacing the track played a big part in drafting the whole 2.5 miles, much smoother than it use to be. I don't think we will see the two car push/pulling outside of Daytona or Talladega.

I thought the race to watch was the Camping Truck Series.

My understanding is that the carbs are still going away, however it looks like it will be in 13 and Toyota said the Camary will be redesigned at that time too. The fronts were redesigned to look more like their manufactures cars that they sell, one concern was that Ford had an advantage for cooling with theirs.

The ending was great for the Woods brothers, first win since 2001, it was like hitting the lottery.

It used to be you had a template for each of the manufacturers, and I saw something that they may go back to that.

NASCAR trivia a team constructed a car and won the race with a car that could drive through the template at 50 mph and not touch. Naturally the win was taken away.

many of the teams could do that when they used shocks that would pack down and reduce the ride hieght with in one lap.