OT: Racing 2007 (Spoiler Alert)

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 5:10 pm

As I tried to do last year, I thought it would be a good idea to have a one stop 2007 racing season discussion thread. This way it doesn't annoy the non racing fans too much with multiple F1, Indycar, WRC, GrandAm, MotoGP, ALMS and Nascar threads. I added the "Spoiler Alert" tag as a precaution since there is always the chance that results could be revealed before someone has a chance to watch the DVR. Basically, it just means if you know of a race you have yet to watch that has already happened, enter this thread at your own risk.

I will try and do a better job this year in listing the DVR Alerts for the coming weekends.

Sadly, this one starts off with the death of former Nascar driver Bobby Hamilton Sr. who lost his battle with cancer yesterday. Bobby always seemed to be a throw-back in the midst of the young guns that started coming up through the ranks in the 90's. He won the Talladega 500 as recently as 2001 and was the Craftsman Truck champion in 2004. RIP Bobby...

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/nascar/nextel/34660/

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 5:23 pm

I liked Hamilton because he wasn't a cash-and-carry guy who took crap rides just to stay on the Cup gravy train. He was willing to go to Craftsman Trucks and compete for a title and victories after his run in a decent Cup ride ended.

Hamilton was a racer -- he cared more about winning than money.

RIP.

Changing gears, Versus is not showing the Dakar Rally like it did last year when the network was called OLN. Eurosport torrents are available on the Web and are sustaining my oldest son and I very nicely every night. PM me if interested.

Take care,
PK

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 12:33 pm

Former Winston Cup champion Benny Parsons died today of lung cancer at 65.

Hell of a race driver. Also an excellent analyst who through ESPN and NBC telecasts helped bring the complexity of the sport to light but distilled it into something the common man could understand.

RIP.

Take care,
PK

RandyM · Post by **RandyM** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 6:24 pm

I don't suppose we could have TWO threads.

1. NASCAR
2. Everything Else.

Thanks
Randy

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 7:01 pm

Sad day, I loved Benny. I did not realize he was so young. RIP..

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 7:14 pm

Very sad to hear about Parsons' death. His condition seemed to worsen in a hurry. Never saw him race but I'll echo PK's opinion on his broadcasting abilities.

Randy - once the season gets going, you'll quickly realize that NASCAR won't come close to dominating this thread unless Montoya mania overtakes guys like me.

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 10:58 pm

Benny seemed like a good egg, and was a terrific announcer for NASCAR. I've seen him race a few times as a kid at Dover, back in the day.

I'm looking forward to the 24 at Daytona. In addition to Oz and Mark in the 60 car, Sam Hornish and Helio will be sharing the driving duties. According to my friend who is heading down in a few days to work the crew, the current tests show that they are really quick. And PK's boy Paul Tracy will be back in the 6 car this year. I asked my friend to try to get a picture for me, so I can send it to PK!

He also said that there is a better than average chance that I will be able to work on the pitcrew for the 6 hour race at Watkins Glen. Needless to say I've got my fingers crossed! Racing was always my late brothers and my favorite sport, and to get to work on a pit crew, even in a "here hold my drink while I change a tire" capacity will be a pretty special thing for me. I just hope I'll be able to fit in the fire suit with the woody I'll have that whole weekend!

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 3:37 pm

Meant to post this earlier. Already in progress:

SpeedTV

Saturday Jan. 27 (Today)
-2:30 pm EDT Rolex Sports Car Series 24 Hours of Daytona - Part 1

-8:00 pm EDT Rolex Sports Car Series 24 Hours of Daytona - Part 2

Sunday Jan. 28
-6:00 am EDT Rolex Sports Car Series 24 Hours of Daytona - Part 3

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 4:00 pm

Lots of interesting teams in this Daytona 24 lineup, including an IRL team featuring the boss man himself, Tony George. Another interesting team includes Matt Varsha, son of Bob Varsha, and David Kaemmer. I believe this is the David Kaemmer of Papyrus fame, responsible for Grand Prix Legends, Nascar Racing 2003, Indycar II, etc.

=============
00 DP Vision Racing
Ed Carpenter, Indianapolis, IN
Tomas Scheckter, Indianapolis, IN
Tony George, Indianapolis, IN
Anthony Foyt, Houston, TX
=============
42 GT Team Sahlen
Michael Auriemma, Munsey Park, NY
John Mayes, Dallas, TX
David Kaemmer,
Chris Wilcox,
Matt Varsha, Atlanta, GA
=============
01 DP TELMEX
Scott Pruett, Auburn, CA
Salvador Duran, Cuernavara, Mexico
Juan Pablo Montoya, Colombia Lexus
=============
02 DP Target
Scott Dixon, New Zealand
Dan Wheldon, England
Memo Rojas, Indianapolis, IN
=============
10 DP SunTrust Racing
Wayne Taylor, Altamonte Springs, FL
Max Angelelli, Monaco
Jeff Gordon, Vallejo, CA
Jan Magnussen, Denmark
=============
60 DP Michael Shank Racing
Mark Patterson, Bronxville, NY
Oswaldo Negri Jr, Aventura, FL
Helio Castroneves, Miami, FL
Sam Hornish Jr, Defiance, OH
=============

sfz_T-car · Post by **sfz_T-car** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 4:43 pm

The Rolex 24 also features the return of former F1 wanker Gaston "The Flying Mullet" Mazzacane.

Looking forward to safe and exciting season

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 6:45 pm

My two sons and I are enjoying the Rolex now. A very, very cool race even though I prefer pure prototypes instead of the pregnant Cup cars disguised as prototypes used in Grand Am.

But the Daytona Prototypes are racier and cheaper than ALMS prototypes. And as a lover of the Group C era of prototypes, there's just something wrong about an open-air prototype like the Audi R8 and R10. That's why I LOVED the Bentley Speed 8 that won Le Mans a few years ago. Now THAT was a proper prototype.

Still, I would love to see cars like the Miller High Life and Lowenbrau Porsche prototypes with Danny Sullivan and Al Holbert behind the wheel pounding around Daytona.

Take care,
PK

sfz_T-car · Post by **sfz_T-car** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 8:13 pm

Although they are a bit ungainly, the DPs provide the best current combination of competitive racing and full fields on the planet. I'll take it over the Audis running away and four GT1 cars battling it out for best in class.

After farting around with GPL, looking at the pics from the F1 launches and NASCAR Car of Tomorrow testing, and the occasional channel surf to the Barrett-Jackson auction, I've come to accept that we just don't live in an era of beautiful racing cars. None of the today's sports cars have the sex appeal of a 917, 250GTO, GT40 or Chaparral. The 2007 F1 cars are this years version of the triumph of function over form. I suppose the Renault and McLaren are by no means ugly, but the aero-bits scattered all around the body work can't compare to the clean line of the GPL Eagles, Lotus 49s and "Murasamas".

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 11:07 am

Holy sh*t -- only six seconds separate the top three cars after 20 1/2 hours. Z is right: These cars may be fugly, but they produce superb racing.

Ready for a bandstand finish!

Take care,
PK

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 3:43 pm

Just got back to my hotel room following the Rolex 24--hell of a fun experience, but I won't lie and say I stuck around the track during the rain! Damn infield filled up earlier than me and my old man expected, so the car was outside the track.

PK, my perception of the DPs changed dramatically over this weekend. Yeah, they are kind of ugly and have much less technology than most sports car fans would like, but they provide a very even playing ground that allows for much closer racing than usual in prototypes.

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 9:40 pm

Certainly an ugly weekend for my boys, but to come away with 9th after being about 40 laps down at midnight is not bad.

The worst part was Oz's crash during qualifying, which left them with no time. Their fastest practice time was still faster than the pole time!

I didn't like the DP cars at first either, but I've been sold on them for a while now. They do provide some great racing, and really let the talents of the drivers show.

Hopefully I can post some pics from my friend, his first e-mail to me bombed. All in all it was a great race, heck, I have it all recorded and was watching some of it again today while cleaning up around the house.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 9:53 am

I hope to have a Flickr (or some other site) gallery up in the next couple days with pictures from the Rolex 24. Due to a combination of cold, beer, and rain, I didn't take any pictures after the first few hours of the race so I didn't get any awesome night shots like I had hoped.

I'm amazed that I still feel a little sluggish today...

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 12:16 am

Here's the link to some of the pictures I took on Saturday:

http://www.flickr.com/gp/46467205@N00/1s43D5

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 12:22 am

Very nice shots, Dave. Really like the one with Pruett smiling, and the shots of the field diving into the infield are super.

Never been to the Rolex 24. I'm a jealous mofo!

Take care,
PK

Gurantsu · Post by **Gurantsu** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 9:40 pm

Here's a few of the pics my friend sent me...

Out for the ill fated qualifying run...
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e92/G ... 5_0_BG.jpg

Hornish tries a new aero package.
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e92/G ... 5_0_BG.jpg

Driver change.
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e92/G ... 5_0_BG.jpg

Getting the 60 and 6 ready for qualifying.
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e92/G ... 5_0_BG.jpg

One for PK!
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e92/G ... 5_0_BG.jpg

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 9:38 am

PK,

I'd imagine you're hopeful this comes to fruition:

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a ... 004/SPORTS

It'd definitely be cool to see the MotoGP bikes in person.

Any predictions for Daytona? I'll take a longshot--Casey Mears in his first race for Hendrick.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 10:05 am

Dave wrote:PK,

I'd imagine you're hopeful this comes to fruition:

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a ... 004/SPORTS

Dave:

Personally? Hell, yes! Professionally? No comment for now.

Dave wrote:Any predictions for Daytona? I'll take a longshot--Casey Mears in his first race for Hendrick.

Jeff Burton. His car was a rocket in the first Twin 150 yesterday. Hard to overlook Smoke, either, but I'm just not sure if he can pull off the sweep.

Montoya looked great out front in the second Twin yesterday, but I think inexperience in the draft will end up biting him in the ass.

Take care,
PK

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 10:11 am

pk500 wrote:Montoya looked great out front in the second Twin yesterday, but I think inexperience in the draft will end up biting him in the ass.

I think that, along with some rookie hazing, will keep him from having a real chance at winning on Sunday. But how awesome would it be if he could pull off a victory? He's already won the Indy 500 and Rolex 24 in his first try.

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 2:06 pm

Interesting race. Poor Mark. Once again, Nascar is using some loose rules. But that was a situation of damned if you do, damned if you don't.

IMO, from a safety standpoint, the yellow should absolutely have been thrown before Martin and Harvick crossed the line. Based on current rules, then it would have been a 2002 Indy 500 situation where you would have to be looking at telemetry/GPS and video to determine who was actually in the lead when the yellow was thrown.

If Martin had been given the win, then you would have the crowd crying "fix", since Martin has never won Daytona and he is semi-retired.

I am sure it is no consolation to Martin, but I watched the video quite a bit and if Nascar had thrown the yellow when they should have (ie immediately), it actually looks like Harvick was ahead. Then a second later Mark is ahead, then Harvick pulls ahead for good. Either way it was going to end up controversial, so I guess Nascar opted for the easier way out and just not throw it until the winners crossed the finish line. Guess they were just lucky that no one was still barrelling full force under green towards the finish and came upon a stopped car in the middle of the track.

Smoke was the man by far. Bad luck for him once again at Daytona.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 3:00 pm

I think NASCAR made the right call, even if it was terribly inconsistent.

Two leaders racing for the flag were past the wreck, and everyone in the wreck was in the tri-oval approaching the finish line. There weren't any cars that were a half-straightaway behind that would have careened into the mess because all of the cars were still in a pack due to the green-white-checkered restart and finish.

The only thing that looked really bush-league was that NASCAR threw the caution AFTER the checkered. How the hell can you have a caution period in a race that is officially over?

I really thought McMurray and Jeff Burton might have had a chance at the end until Kenseth took out McMurray, his teammate, and Burton got loose and was forced out of line in the middle, losing the draft. Those two cars looked really strong with 15 to 20 laps to go and appeared to be positioning themselves to make a move for the win.

Wonder if it was any coincidence that Harvick used almost the same move to beat Martin that Jack Sprague used to win the Truck race -- an OUTSTANDING race -- on Friday night.

The Daytona 500 was a very interesting race from start to finish. I LOVE the finish under the lights. Brings a bit of the Saturday-night short-track feel to the biggest stock-car race in the world.

Take care,
PK

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 3:02 pm

pk500 wrote:The only thing that looked really bush-league was that NASCAR threw the caution AFTER the checkered. How the hell can you have a caution period in a race that is officially over?

It's only "officially" over for the guys who crossed the finish line to said checkered flag. The rest of the guys are still racing till they get to that point...so it's not over technically.