2020 NASCAR Thread

LOL. Deleting a tweet is like re-burying a fossil, and has a longer half-life than enriched uranium.

 

As Raylan Givens said, if you run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole. If you run into assholes all day, you’re the asshole.

 

Yes. I actually bought NASCAR for dummies by Mark Martin.
My first and only race was Louden. I actually thought I was going to listen to Pedro pitch that day, on my walkman. haha Thrilling when they first started the cars. With todays televisions it really is beautiful to watch on the tube.
Also I was, earlier, prejudice against people like Petty. Only because of the general preconceived redneck image. I am sure there are some like that, but I was impressed by an interview with him done by Larry King. Really was an eye opening moment for me. (despite the interviewer)

 

Trump likes deities that don’t get crucified.

 

This is actually a very well-written summary of what's happening and what needs to happen next.

Trump wanted to 'Kaepernick' Bubba Wallace. Instead he made him too big to fail

 

I'm fascinated by the recent comments about your opinions of NASCAR and how they changed, because the sport itself plays off this combination of mythology and Southern passion play, when the reality is much more nuanced.

Some of smartest automotive engineers on the planet are working behind the scenes around Charlotte, Detroit and out in California at TRD. The cars may be variations on a theme, using a 1962 Ford Galaxie chassis template and V8 engines that haven't really changed in design since the 1930s, but there's amazing technology inside those taxi cabs. The amount of money spent on developing exotic metal alloys, shock and suspension upgrades, wind tunnel testing and maximizing the power band of those engines is in the tens of millions a year, all focused on trying to get a couple of hundredths of a second over the competition in the narrow box of NASCAR rules.

Chevy, Ford and Toyota may not sell cars like they used to, but the technology they're producing as a by-product of the sport is probably close to their return on investment now.

And the NASCAR/wrestling comparison basically goes all the way back to the early days of the sport. NASCAR has always been about the storyline, the white hat/black hat, face vs. heel. That's exactly what the Frances and Smiths have sold fans on. Southerners go to church on Sunday morning and the track on Sunday afternoon. The stories are presented in the same fashion. You choose to believe it's real, or at least pretend that the stories aren't already plotted out.

Bill France was never about creating a level playing field. He wanted heroes and villians, and he manipulated the sport as he saw fit, pulling strings and banning certain people and entities that didn't adhere to his vision. He hated it when a driver or manufacturer "f----ed up the show." Just look at how many times the sanctioning body has deemed certain designs and cars illegal because they were "too good." Because NASCAR first and foremost is a show. It's a circus with high-wire acts going 180 mph. Nobody upstages the ringmaster, not even the President of the United States.

 

C, F and T are barely even making cars anymore; do you think there might ever be a day where the manufacturers tell NASCAR they must rename the series NASTAR cause we're only interested in racing (and promoting) SUV-bodied vehicles?

 

Since its earliest days, NASCAR has been filled with some of the most brilliant/mechanical minds in the country. Smokey Yunick, Junior Johnson, Leonard Wood, Maurice Petty, Robert Yates, Waddell Wilson, Ernie Elliott ... they may not have all been formally educated, but what they could do to race cars is unreal.

If you want to think in that mindset, look at the NHRA. Two of the most brilliant people I have ever tried to talk to are Alan Johnson and Dick LaHaie. I told both of them "you're talking over my head."

 

I grew up with NASCAR all around, and I don't dispute the ingenuity and genius of the teams. I just get far more enjoyment from racing on tracks with both left and right turns, hills, dips and the like.