OT: Racing 2011 (Spoiler Alert)

[icvu42]

First let me state that I know next to nothing about racing......so can someone explain to me how if Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the pole position the other day, why does heknow have to start in the back because he crashed his car in practice?

Rick

[pk500]

First let me state that I know next to nothing about racing......so can someone explain to me how if Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the pole position the other day, why does heknow have to start in the back because he crashed his car in practice?

Rick

Rick:

A driver must start the race from the rear of the field if he's not in the car he qualified. The damage to Dale Jr.'s primary car in the crash yesterday was severe enough to force a move to a backup car. He did not qualify that specific car for the front row of the Daytona 500, so he must move to the rear of the field.

INDYCAR has the same rule.

There are two ideals behind this rule. One, the old short-track ethos of "run whatcha brung" -- race the car you qualified. Two, it controls expenses by deterring teams from building special cars for qualifying and then switching to another car better suited for the stresses of a long race.

Daytona is one race in which it's very possible to win from the back. Aerodynamic drafting can help a driver gain many spots in one lap. The biggest fear for Junior starting from the rear is the possibility of getting caught in a big, mid-pack wreck. Drivers who start from the front row usually have clean track ahead for quite awhile before they encounter lapped cars.

[Rodster]

This is why Bernie is worried.

Bahraini army tanks take position near Pearl Square in Manama - the crackdown on protests has led to the cancellation of this weekend's GP2 Asia race

[icvu42]

First let me state that I know next to nothing about racing......so can someone explain to me how if Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the pole position the other day, why does heknow have to start in the back because he crashed his car in practice?

Rick

Rick:

A driver must start the race from the rear of the field if he's not in the car he qualified. The damage to Dale Jr.'s primary car in the crash yesterday was severe enough to force a move to a backup car. He did not qualify that specific car for the front row of the Daytona 500, so he must move to the rear of the field.

INDYCAR has the same rule.

There are two ideals behind this rule. One, the old short-track ethos of "run whatcha brung" -- race the car you qualified. Two, it controls expenses by deterring teams from building special cars for qualifying and then switching to another car better suited for the stresses of a long race.

Daytona is one race in which it's very possible to win from the back. Aerodynamic drafting can help a driver gain many spots in one lap. The biggest fear for Junior starting from the rear is the possibility of getting caught in a big, mid-pack wreck. Drivers who start from the front row usually have clean track ahead for quite awhile before they encounter lapped cars.

Thanks for clearing that up...the two articles I read about it never mentioned why he had to go to the back.

Rick

[pk500]

Rick:

No problem, man!

Here's a very good breakdown of how Junior's wreck affects the qualifying races today at Daytona and the Daytona 500:

http://www.sbnation.com/nascar/2011/2/1 ... -pole-2011

[icvu42]

Rick:

No problem, man!

Here's a very good breakdown of how Junior's wreck affects the qualifying races today at Daytona and the Daytona 500:

http://www.sbnation.com/nascar/2011/2/1 ... -pole-2011

So when you have to go to your backup....how much does that hurt your chances of winning? or does it not matter?

Rick

[Rodster]

Rick:

No problem, man!

Here's a very good breakdown of how Junior's wreck affects the qualifying races today at Daytona and the Daytona 500:

http://www.sbnation.com/nascar/2011/2/1 ... -pole-2011

So when you have to go to your backup....how much does that hurt your chances of winning? or does it not matter?

Rick

The backup is usually not as good as the primary car and that applies to Indycars, F1 etc. Even though car chassis's are considered equal at mfg, any pro driver will tell you they behave and feel differently, like a pair of shoes.

A drivers primary car has the most tweaks to the drivers liking. Backup cars typically don't get the same results as the primary.

[toonarmy]

Looks like Bahrain is not messing around:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... 7723.story

"Angry mourners gather at a hospital and crowd anger grows in Manama after at least three people are killed and 230 are wounded in a government assault on sleeping protesters. The army warns it will take all steps necessary to maintain stability."

[toonarmy]

Rick:

No problem, man!

Here's a very good breakdown of how Junior's wreck affects the qualifying races today at Daytona and the Daytona 500:

http://www.sbnation.com/nascar/2011/2/1 ... -pole-2011

So when you have to go to your backup....how much does that hurt your chances of winning? or does it not matter?

Rick

The backup is usually not as good as the primary car and that applies to Indycars, F1 etc. Even though car chassis's are considered equal at mfg, any pro driver will tell you they behave and feel differently, like a pair of shoes.

A drivers primary car has the most tweaks to the drivers liking. Backup cars typically don't get the same results as the primary.

Also, backups, and then the backup to the backup sometimes are an older model. For example, I think that one of the backups for Jr. that will be at the race will be an older model Jeff Gordon car. They will have to do some modifications of course, but it will not have the testing on it that the primary car will have. I'm sure Jr.'s main backup is probably pretty similar to his primary car since this is Hendrick we are talking about that, however beyond that his other cars are likely not to be as competitive. And, as someone said earlier, he could still win even if he starts from the back. Daytona is a unique beast where starting position can mean very little by the end of the race due to a variety of factors (drafting, not getting caught up in the "big one," etc.).

[Dave]

This pairs dancing, mandated swap crap that passes as racing really sucks. It doesn't help to have the awful sounds of DW and Larry MACreynolds shilling as hard as possible for it.

[Rodster]

Decision on Bahrain GP next week - Ecclestone http://en.espnf1.com/bahrain/motorsport ... 41111.html

Less than 24 hours after appearing relaxed about the situation, Ecclestone was forced to admit that it "doesn't look good".

[Rodster]

What I wouldn't really fancy is getting to and from the track after I'd finished work for the day, but they manage it among the crazy traffic in Shanghai and the armed robberies of Sao Paulo so I should imagine a violent, potentially bloody protest won't faze the assembled team personnel that much.

I believe Button was confronted by thugs last year while traveling to the Brazilian GP? The difference here Adam that I can see is crime vs chaos against the government and general rule of law. That's a little trickier to manage than a group or pack of street thugs.

Barcelona is mentioned as the replacement for Bahrain testing if they decide they need to make the switch.

Truthfully this worries me

[GB_Simo]

Button got away, yes. A host of mechanics each year aren't that fortunate, though. Either way, yup, totally different ball game now. When I first posted, it really was being painted over here as being of no greater concern than the Melbourne environmentalists I mentioned. It's now abundantly clear that we're looking at rather more than that.

Let's see what kind of order can be restored over the next few days and go from there. It certainly wouldn't be the first race lost to public safety concerns, though I don't recall there being one in the modern era - I've probably missed an obvious candidate but Argentina in 82 is the last one that comes to mind immediately.

[Rodster]

I know it's not F1 but wasn't the Dakar Rally cancelled due to threats of violence? I can't exactly remember what year or the exact cause for the cancellation of the entire event.

[pk500]

Sewing the seeds of democracy in an autocratic country is worth losing a GP for a year.

It's a sh*t track, anyways. Sadly, Barcelona is no better.

[pk500]

The brilliance of Rick Mears -- the greatest driver EVER at Indianapolis -- is encapsulated in this one quote from a feature story I'm editing today:

“It wasn’t so much what I picked up as it was looking for it,” Mears said. “It was in the latter part of my career that I started realizing other people weren’t doing the things that I was doing. A lot of guys just didn’t look for it that much … a shadow, a seam in the track. When you’re running, the object is to go faster. But that’s not what cars do. The way I would improve is lose LESS than they did as the car got worse.

“It might be changing line, or a different apex, and it doesn’t go off as fast if you’re doing it continuously. In every corner, you’re searching the way to do that corner better the next time you come around.

“At Pocono one year, I found a seam down by the grass in Turn 3 and when I found that crack, I could hook the left front tire on the ‘ledge’ and it helped turn the car. That continued down the straightaway and I was 5 miles an hour faster than everyone else. It amazed me how so many didn’t look for that kind of stuff.

“Now, you have engineers and computers, you practice, come in and say, ‘Fix it.’ But once the flag drops for the race, you become the engineer.”

Sheer genius from The Rocket.

[JRod]

The brilliance of Rick Mears -- the greatest driver EVER at Indianapolis -- is encapsulated in this one quote from a feature story I'm editing today:

“It wasn’t so much what I picked up as it was looking for it,” Mears said. “It was in the latter part of my career that I started realizing other people weren’t doing the things that I was doing. A lot of guys just didn’t look for it that much … a shadow, a seam in the track. When you’re running, the object is to go faster. But that’s not what cars do. The way I would improve is lose LESS than they did as the car got worse.

“It might be changing line, or a different apex, and it doesn’t go off as fast if you’re doing it continuously. In every corner, you’re searching the way to do that corner better the next time you come around.

“At Pocono one year, I found a seam down by the grass in Turn 3 and when I found that crack, I could hook the left front tire on the ‘ledge’ and it helped turn the car. That continued down the straightaway and I was 5 miles an hour faster than everyone else. It amazed me how so many didn’t look for that kind of stuff.

“Now, you have engineers and computers, you practice, come in and say, ‘Fix it.’ But once the flag drops for the race, you become the engineer.”

Sheer genius from The Rocket.

And something you never hear from the loud mouths TV guys. There always talking how it's the car and the car needs tweaks. Racing would be more entertaining if the drivers on the booth would actually talk like drivers and not mouth pieces for idiocy.

[pk500]

Mears is the complete antithesis of blowhard TV guys. He might be the most modest superstar in racing history, an absolute class act.

Take this anecdote from the same feature I edited today:

***

Through it all, Mears showed the class that the Penske team showed and expected of its people. A minor example: In 1980, Mears won the first race in Mexico City, and buses were arranged to take all competitors to a humongous victory party. As with most everything else, the buses were late. Mexican officials were pressing Mears to get on the next bus. Mears responded that he would take the last bus, that his friends in the Indy car community would go first.

[Dave]

Rick is my all-time favorite driver.

One of my early memories at IMS is that Mears would take the sloooooowest warm-up laps of anyone. I couldn't wait to see him on the track, he'd pass by at about 40mph...and it felt like 30 minutes passed before he came back around! Of course, once he dropped the hammer there was no one better.

[pk500]

Rick is my all-time favorite driver.

My three favorite drivers: Rick Mears, Jim Clark, Davey Allison.

No one else approaches that list.

[pk500]

Another tribute to Mears' humility:

He signs every autograph with his name and then the word "Thanks"

How many other athletes thank the fans as part of their autograph?

[Rodster]

Are drivers, athletes?

[Dave]

Another tribute to Mears' humility:

He signs every autograph with his name and then the word "Thanks"

How many other athletes thank the fans as part of their autograph?

Have you read the appropriately titled "Thanks: The Story of Rick Mears and the Mears Gang" by Kirby? I need to pick that up at some point.

My only moment of geeking out while working in racing was when Mears walked into Siebkens in Elkhart Lake. Had to get my picture taken with him.

[pk500]

Have not read GK's book, Dave. Need to get a copy.

[toonarmy]

Cool stuff about Mears. Man, that guy was an incredible driver. It sounds like he continues to be a very gracious person as well.

As for Bahrain -- lmao!