The 2021 Running NASCAR/IMSA/other racing things thread

Yeah, they're basically prefabs with replacable nose and rear fender pieces, which should cut down on the amount of 200 mph tape as well. Just like ICS with the front wing switch, now you can slap a new nose piece on after the Big One and you're good to go for the GWC times infinity.

I have no idea what the market might be for unemployed experts with the English wheel. Some of the guys are absolute craftsmen with metalwork.

Then again, the carb guys figured out how to stay in business when fuel injection showed up.

 

As long as there are high end hot rod shops there will be a home for high end metalworkers.

 

Given the coming extinction of combustion engines and younger generations' noticeable lack of interest in all things cars, what we have here is a reverse chicken-and-egg scenario, right? Which came last, high end hot rod shops or NASCAR fabricators?

 

The shops, no doubt, and a lot of it is driven by Boomers. That said, kids still love hot cars. Maybe not as much as in the past, but there is a substantial crowd of tuners and motor heads among the young still. You can build an electric that goes like stink. Electric motors deliver a ton of torque.

I would contend that as long as there are rich guys and motorheads there will be hot cars and people employed to make and fix them.

 

Yeah, to be clear, I'm not suggesting they'll be going the way of buggy whip manufacturers and TV repairmen, but more likely hanging on as a very small, niche group like ham radio operators.

 

Yeah, but then the community of guys who are wizards with an English wheel is pretty small as well.

 

My best friend from college is a huge car guy. I think half the reason he votes Republican (although he sat out 2020 altogether) is because he has become frankly paranoid that environmentalists are going to outlaw combustion engines overnight and impose all kinds of draconian restrictions on when and where he can drive. He’s smart as a whip and still great company, but over time the longer he has imagined himself as the protagonist in Red Barchetta the more he has warmed up to all the other conspiracy nonsense about guns and abortions and whatnot.

 

I don't want to turn this into a political thread at all. But several states have already proposed or passed laws to ban the sale of ICE cars within the next 20 years. It's possible that the next new ICE car you buy in California or Washington could be the last.
Some cities (New York being the biggest) have also passed or floated "congestion pricing" laws that charge exorbitant fees for driving in certain places at certain times of day. Others have effectively limited where you can drive by removing car lanes and replacing them with bike lanes.
Most of these ideas are touted under the guise of environmentalism.
Your friend is not a conspiracy theorist when it cones to this stuff.

 

Now THIS is old school NASCAR.

 

Not gonna happen, but I like it.

 

First Marcus Smith goes on Junior’s podcast and drops the very minor NW tidbit.

Then apparently there was some discussion between him and the Camping World guy.

Now these stickers.

I’d say Marcus is pulling something straight out of Humpy Wheeler’s playbook. Darned if I know.