Running 2023 Motorsports thread

I hope there's a soda fountain with nothing but Mountain Dew and gorgeous, red boxes of Winston heaters piled up all around the museum.

 

Another good one.

https://www.ourstate.com/moonshine-motorsports-history-in-the-fast-lane/

 

They are getting to preserve the Winston signage at North Wilkesboro, from what I read. I believe the master settlement means it can be kept as is, but it can’t be repainted.

I don’t know how good the all-star race is gonna be, but the scene surrounding it will be pure bedlam.

 

The last time I was by Wilkesboro, and I'm thinking about this time of year in 2021, I wouldn't have taken a $100 bet they could have made it race ready again.

 

One guy was a prominent advocate for its renewal: Dale Earnhardt Jr. It helps that Bruton Smith kicked the bucket and Junior has Marcus Smith's ear. If he wasn't in the NASCAR Hall (I don't think he should've been as a driver, fwiw), Junior should've been inducted on that alone.

 

You may be right, but I have to say it isn’t his fault. That car is trash.

George Russell, who was two pit crew fuckups away from winning his first race in the previous Benz, hasn’t sniffed a win in this incarnation either.

Lewis is right. The Zeropod concept was DOA, and Mercedes stuck with it this season out of arrogance. They should have scrapped it after like 8 races last year, and began copying Red Bull (or even Ferrari).

 

Ve are Mercedes-Benz! Ve do not follow such schvein!

 

Perfectly timed caution by rolling chicane Harrison Burton.

I love the old men so I was rooting for Harvick. William Byron appeals to me as much as a tall glass of coconut milk.

 

Works as either a Mercedes executive or Toto Wolff. Well done.

 

Yeah, this is where I am. Call Lewis Hamilton what you wish, but he's not wrong.

The only serious difference between Bahrain and last season is that at least this isn't killing the backs of Hamilton and Russell.

 

Big news from IMSA, where Honda Performance Development discovered that one of its GTP teams was manipulating the tire-pressure data during the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

And not the 10 team. It was race winner Meyers-Shank Racing, which is still listed as the official race winner (and still in possession of the Rolexes and trophies) but will arrive at Sebring next weekend sitting ninth in the points. Race engineer Ryan McCarthy saw his hard card revoked and he was fired by Mike Shank, who himself was placed on probation..

HPD’s report indicates that the MSR Acura ran with tires below minimum pressures, which are set by tire manufacturer Michelin for safety reasons.

Rolex 24 Winners Meyer Shank Racing Hit With 200-Point Penalty, Stiff Fine, Suspension

Let me quote the band Ace here: How long has this been going on? Should we look at Shank’s victory at Petit Le Mans? Should we look back further than that? If so, how much further back?

And a second question: Who else on the team knew? Obviously the tire guy did, but it seems likely that the drivers would know. Castroneves seemed to drive with a ridiculous amount of confidence during his race-closing shift — almost like he knew they’d found something the other teams didn’t have. I suspect that the info leak came from somebody at Wayne Taylor Racing, which is now the points leader, but I suspect it wasn’t any sort of intention to catch Mike Shank with his pants down. It just sort of … did.

 

Pretty amazing that just one race in and both drivers as well as the team principal are admitting they screwed up and have no chance to win barring a major redesign to the car.