OT: Racing 2011 (Spoiler Alert)

[fletcher21]

I am not a big Nascar fan, but there are a few races each year I make sure to catch:

Daytona
Indy
Pocono
Martinsville
Richmond
Bristol
Road Courses



This is an absolute mockery. During the duel it wasn't a big deal for the drivers to "swap" places in their 2 car packs. What happens in the race. I don't get why they restricted the air flow so much? These motors are obviously not built to handle the heat that is generated with the smaller air opening. Seems like Nascar is trying to just make s*** s*** up on the fly like F1 as of late. Pathetic. I wonder how much they paid DW to sing it's praises. I've watched Daytona since I was 7 or 8, and that duel was pretty sad. It's not good racing, at least not in my opinion. Seems like a gimmick. I wonder what the drivers are supposed to do. If they don't hook up onto someone's back bumper they are going to get passed with a quickness. But then after a short time they will overheat unless they break free of the car's rear bumper. Seems like the recipe for disaster. Maybe they're hoping to have another driver die on this 10 year anniversary of #3.

[GB_Simo]

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.

True enough, but the loud mouths you're referring to belong to drivers who might well offer the same kind of insight if they actually had it. Much of the time, even at the top level, drivers are either using all of their mental capacity to keep the car pointing the right way, not sharp enough to go looking for the kind of things Mears found or too egotistical to feel they're doing anything wrong. There's a skill in consistently making the most of a good car and even more skill in compensating for the occasional duffer (and Penske served up a couple here and there). Not every top driver has that in their locker and of those who have, few can effectively communicate it to an audience.

Some drivers can however go, "BOOGITY BOOGITY BOOGITY! LET'S GO RACIN', BOYS!" and that's always good fun, isn't it? I mean, right?

Was there an F1 world champion in Rick Mears before his Sanair crash, lads? I know he'd decided a schedule with no ovals wasn't sufficiently interesting, but he was on the pace when he tested for Brabham and the folk who worked with him on those tests spoke very, very highly of his performance.

[Dave]

Good question about Mears, I'm too young to remember his pre-Sanair roadcourse form. I'd like to believe he would have at least been on pace, not sure about future champion though.

Have to say that all of this Earnhardt stuff really has me feeling for Dale, Jr. Pretty striking difference between the kid that drove for DEI and the man he is today. Lot less energy there, understandably. I'm pulling for him on Sunday.

[pk500]

Was there an F1 world champion in Rick Mears before his Sanair crash, lads? I know he'd decided a schedule with no ovals wasn't sufficiently interesting, but he was on the pace when he tested for Brabham and the folk who worked with him on those tests spoke very, very highly of his performance.

I'm not sure. Rick was a very, very good road course driver. But his analytical, calm approach was best suited to ovals, where he continued to find different lines and tinker with the car's setup both in-car and at the stops to ensure everything was dialed in perfectly for the final fuel run.

Mears was not a "grab the car by the neck" kind of driver. His style was ideal for ovals. But his skill was so immense that I think he could have been a very good F1 driver. A champion? I'm not sure.

Psychologically, I also don't think his laid-back personality also was very well suited for the piranha club of F1. No driver spoke an ill word of Mears as a driver or a person during his career. No one does today, either. Can you think of many F1 World Champions for whom the same can be said? Clark, Stewart and Hakkinen come to the top of my head immediately. No others do.

[GB_Simo]

Mears was not a "grab the car by the neck" kind of driver. His style was ideal for ovals. But his skill was so immense that I think he could have been a very good F1 driver. A champion? I'm not sure.

Psychologically, I also don't think his laid-back personality also was very well suited for the piranha club of F1. No driver spoke an ill word of Mears as a driver or a person during his career. No one does today, either. Can you think of many F1 World Champions for whom the same can be said? Clark, Stewart and Hakkinen come to the top of my head immediately. No others do.

The three Hills, perhaps? Phil certainly, though Damon might require you to sidestep a well-known German racer and I'm probably on shakier ground with Graham. I'm glad you mentioned that, though, because the personality aspect is one of the things I was most curious about.

I don't think anyone would contradict me if I was to call Rick Mears a very nice man. In his tests with Brabham in 1980, he was within 0.5 seconds of their lead driver at Paul Ricard (in the days, before the emaciated High Tech Test Track, when the Mistral straight still required a rest break and a picnic) and some 3 seconds ahead at Riverside, with chicanes added for the purposes of a gearbox test.

Their lead driver was Nelson Piquet. Nelson Piquet was a highly-strung irritant, but he was bloody good at it and it served him well. From what I've read, I struggle to think of two more disparate characters, so one's success leads me to wonder how the other would have fared.

[Gurantsu]

My favorite drivers are Rick Mears, Buddy Baker, and Nikki Lauda. Rick seems to make it into most peoples lists.

I remember watching some program about Indianapolis where he described going around the track and what he was thinking about each turn, not just at the moment but laps ahead, and based on the other turns. It was interesting as hell, and something i could never do.

[miget33]

How about that kid Trevor Bayne.

[toonarmy]

The "new" Daytona produced a record number of lead changes and yellows, as well as the youngest-ever Daytona 500 winner. It was pretty obvious some of the drivers still had not mastered the whole pairing off thing as opposed to the pack racing, but overall it was an entertaining finish. Bayne drove an amazing race and held off some veterans on the last lap to be very deserving of the win. It was also neat to see the oldest active team in NASCAR, Wood Brothers Racing, get back to victory lane.

[toonarmy]

Wow, youngest-ever winner of the Daytona 500 and Fox does not even bother with an interview. We got to see the losing drivers interviewed and Bayne's mom interviewed, and even a music video package, but not even a word with Bayne. LOL, wtf is that all about?

[pk500]

Wow, youngest-ever winner of the Daytona 500 and Fox does not even bother with an interview. We got to see the losing drivers interviewed and Bayne's mom interviewed, and even a music video package, but not even a word with Bayne. LOL, wtf is that all about?

Bayne was interviewed in Victory Lane. First post-race interview by FOX.

Sadly, Krista Voda called him Travis!

[pk500]

VERY entertaining Daytona 500 today, from start to finish. I loved the tactics of the two-car dances, as you honestly had no clue who was going to win among the 12 cars contending with six laps to go.

It was much more exciting to see the pairs' dancing and insane closing speeds throughout the race instead of a huge pack of 30 cars simply cutting down laps, avoiding the Big One and going nuts, five-wide, at the finish.

Great to see the Wood Brothers back in Victory Lane in Daytona with a young star in a car that looked identical to that driven by the Silver Fox during the team's glory days.

Loved Daytona this year!

[toonarmy]

Wow, youngest-ever winner of the Daytona 500 and Fox does not even bother with an interview. We got to see the losing drivers interviewed and Bayne's mom interviewed, and even a music video package, but not even a word with Bayne. LOL, wtf is that all about?

Bayne was interviewed in Victory Lane. First post-race interview by FOX.

Sadly, Krista Voda called him Travis!

Ah ok, thanks, must have been taking a leak or something. I'll go back and watch it on the DVR.

[Dave]

Can't say I enjoyed the race as much as PK, but it made for a very interesting conclusion. Too many yellows caused by the inherent problems with tandems running bumper to bumper all the way around the track, turned the middle of the race into a big slog and it didn't prevent the big one.

But damn, the winning driver and team made it all worthwhile. Awesome to see a young talent like Bayne make the most of his opportunity, the fact that he had no full-time ride in either the Nationwide or Sprint series heading into the year was a shame. I read that one of the Wood Brothers said something along the lines of "we'll see you at Martinsville," which is the 6th race of the year--they had only planned to run the first five, so that's great to see.

Toon, the real shame was that FOX didn't bother to interview the Wood Brothers. Come on, this is a legendary team down on its luck that just won the Daytona 500!

[toonarmy]

Can't say I enjoyed the race as much as PK, but it made for a very interesting conclusion. Too many yellows caused by the inherent problems with tandems running bumper to bumper all the way around the track, turned the middle of the race into a big slog and it didn't prevent the big one.

But damn, the winning driver and team made it all worthwhile. Awesome to see a young talent like Bayne make the most of his opportunity, the fact that he had no full-time ride in either the Nationwide or Sprint series heading into the year was a shame. I read that one of the Wood Brothers said something along the lines of "we'll see you at Martinsville," which is the 6th race of the year--they had only planned to run the first five, so that's great to see.

Toon, the real shame was that FOX didn't bother to interview the Wood Brothers. Come on, this is a legendary team down on its luck that just won the Daytona 500!

Agree about the Wood Brothers. This was an incredible moment for them, and very much a great story aside from the driver. I agree about the style of racing. Overall the yellows detracted from the race. It's as if the cars are twice as long now because when one changes lanes the other one has to as well or he gets hung out to dry. No denying the end of the race was exciting, but other than that I was unimpressed. I'd rather see pack racing.

[Smurfy]

As with all these long races, I watched it in parts. I saw the last 50 laps in full.

I enjoyed watching the pairs dance. It must be frightening to have to be the front car of the pair when your car is loose?

What I don't like is that the driver doing the pushing can't really see what he's pushing the front car into. A number of guys got screwed that way today. Straight away I can think of how 78 and 7 got nailed by the guys behind them.

What I really enjoyed was watching the daggers come out at the end. Edwards did a fine job screwing Busch and Montoya's finish so he could get ahead

------------------

Regarding Mears and his ability to learn from a track and adapt, it reminds of a number of Schumacher's qualifying runs at Suzuka. He seemed to have discovered a secret to the esses that gave him 0.7 seconds over everyone else through just that section.

[pk500]

My only eye roll about this year's Daytona 500 comes when people say Bayne will help NASCAR reverse its slide. That's comical.

Bayne isn't running the full Cup schedule this year. He's also running a partial Cup schedule with the Wood Brothers, who sadly will revert to their sub-par form once the schedule returns to tracks where handling is at a premium.

Plus NASCAR is the ultimate cult of personality. It's star-driven, just like the NBA. If Javale McGee upset Blake Griffin in the final of the NBA Slam Dunk Contest Saturday night, would that have been good for the NBA? No.

You can say the same about Bayne. Very nice kid, and he may be a star with Roush starting in 2012. But he'll be fairly anonymous this year by mid-March. It's hard for a track to market him if he's not running their Cup show.

[Rodster]

Nascar sucks and they deserve the slide, lets hope Indycar can capitalize on that.

It's official Bahrain is OUT !

Bahrain withdraws opening race

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/89598

"No decision has been made on a new date for the rescheduling of the race, which was due to take place from March 11th to 13th."

[toonarmy]

Nascar sucks and they deserve the slide, lets hope Indycar can capitalize on that.

It's official Bahrain is OUT !

Bahrain withdraws opening race

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/89598

"No decision has been made on a new date for the rescheduling of the race, which was due to take place from March 11th to 13th."

Wow! Bahrain is a very small country so I thought surely the government could get things under control, but evidently not. This honestly serves Bernie right for putting the opening race in a country like Bahrain. I sure wish F1 would make the schedule more Eurocentric than it is currently.

[Smurfy]

Wow! Bahrain is a very small country so I thought surely the government could get things under control, but evidently not. This honestly serves Bernie right for putting the opening race in a country like Bahrain. I sure wish F1 would make the schedule more Eurocentric than it is currently.

I saw Eddie Jordan on BBC today. He thinks it was a good move to have gone to Bahrain and I think he sounded sensible. It's a World Championship and the Middle East is a significant player in the world. I do agree that two races may be one too many, but money talks.

My take is if China suddenly falls into political chaos will we be chiding Walmart (and every other big retailer) for depending so much on made-in-China goods? Canada is one of the biggest suppliers of oil to the United States and we have our own risk of Quebec separation. Mexico and Brazil have their risks too. Perhaps we should never try expanding any sports into Mexico or withdraw the Brazilian Grand Prix?

[toonarmy]

Wow! Bahrain is a very small country so I thought surely the government could get things under control, but evidently not. This honestly serves Bernie right for putting the opening race in a country like Bahrain. I sure wish F1 would make the schedule more Eurocentric than it is currently.

I saw Eddie Jordan on BBC today. He thinks it was a good move to have gone to Bahrain and I think he sounded sensible. It's a World Championship and the Middle East is a significant player in the world. I do agree that two races may be one too many, but money talks.

My take is if China suddenly falls into political chaos will we be chiding Walmart (and every other big retailer) for depending so much on made-in-China goods? Canada is one of the biggest suppliers of oil to the United States and we have our own risk of Quebec separation. Mexico and Brazil have their risks too. Perhaps we should never try expanding any sports into Mexico or withdraw the Brazilian Grand Prix?

None of those countries is a monarchy with a small population. China obviously makes sense because of its size. Bahrain's race exists because one very rich family brought it in. The sport is not going to see any significant growth in a country of a little over 1 million people. This venue is all about two things: Bernie and money, and a rich family and ego. I could care less about the politics of the situation in Bahrain. My main problem is with Bernie selling F1 races like it's a whore to any Tom, Dick, or Harry who can raise enough money, without regard to tradition.

[Dave]

I freaking love IndyCar's $5mil Vegas Challenge.

[Danimal]

Soory the thread jack.

PK you have a PM I need you to see please.

[toonarmy]

I freaking love IndyCar's $5mil Vegas Challenge.

Come on Juan Pablo, do it!

[pk500]

Soory the thread jack.

PK you have a PM I need you to see please.

Dan:

Got it. Responding now. Thanks.

[toonarmy]

BTW, following up on a post about the Kirby book on Mears, I highly recommend that book if you can find it -- total quality. I also recommend a couple books by Ralph Kramer. Both are very high-quality books. One is on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the other is a 100th anniversary book on the Indy 500. I guess I am a sucker for stuff like Autocourse, Motocourse, and other glossy style racing books with good photos and information.