The 2022 running NASCAR, IMSA & other racing things thread

[Sam Mills 51]

I blame global warming. Pepsi and Coke. Musco lighting. And Brian France. But not necessarily in that order.

So Brian France had too much Pepsi and Coke, then cleansed himself with lots of Musco lighting. Then experienced global warming before going on a bender and driving up and down International Speedway Boulevard under the influence? Or did he hit too many beachgoers driving up and down the beaches? Or did the global warming come after the bender? Or did he fall off the boat in the infield lake?

 

[playthrough]

I can't really believe I'm saying this, but NASCAR has too many road courses. Today's at Road America was a pretty good show (even if the sheer size of the facility sometimes makes things look a little janky), and even though the rumor is RA is going to lose that date to a Chicago street circuit (which will be a disaster), six seems like overkill. In particular, running the Indy road course is just plain stupid. I know the racing on the oval isn't great, but going to the trouble of going to Indy and running the road course is like having the Open at St. Andrew's and then playing the Himalayas putting course. I also think the Roval is dumb. I'd go back to running Charlotte's playoff race on the real track and if they really want to have a playoff race on a road course to kick Kansas or Texas out and replace it with Watkins Glen or COTA.

They'll never get Indy right. The date got yanked around a few times in an effort to avoid the worst of the Indiana summer heat, but now it's ... July 31. Have fun with that. The oval race was pretty much unwatchable, but the trophy meant something. Now that entire weekend is propped up by Indy cars on the road course, which is ironic considering back in the day Nascar first coming to IMS allowed Tony George to bankroll the IRL.

 

[wicked]

The IRL — an ovals-only series.

 

[Driftwood]

NASCAR jumped the shark when it started mentioning the Brickyard in the same breath as Daytona and Darlington before the first green flag even dropped.
I'm sorry, but you can't be a crown jewel before you happen.

 

[SixToe]

There's nobody under 25 who saw Ironhead race, let alone wreck Labonte, win any of his seven titles or make the Pass In The Grass. He'd be 71 if he had lived, just another old guy with sunglasses and a mustache, like that other seven-time champion.

But those Gargoyles wraparound sunglasses were pretty f'king cool and if they brought them back I'd buy some.


OH, MY! — Classic

 

[playthrough]

NASCAR jumped the shark when it started mentioning the Brickyard in the same breath as Daytona and Darlington before the first green flag even dropped.
I'm sorry, but you can't be a crown jewel before you happen.

I'm fascinated by the first Brickyard. They probably could have sold out the place twice over, and Donald Davidson told me stories about how after the race week they had literally bags and bags of cash in a back office at the IMS Museum (most of the place was cash-only then). So many drivers felt they were in truly foreign territory, and the fans were oddly quiet before the race, dumbfounded at what was about to unfold. The picture of the entire field at the yard of bricks with the Frances and Hulmans and Georges before the race is one of my favorites.

I can believe that those first 400s were very much crown jewels, but the last 10-15 years? Not so much. And Nascar and television's insistence on telling us it still matters is disingenuous when the crowds now are 1/10th of the early years.

 

[wicked]

The true NASCAR triple crown is the Daytona 500, Southern 500 and World 600. No other answers are acceptable. It says a lot about the Frances that they were stupid enough to mess around with one of those races for about 15 years. Take a date from Darlington, sure, but not the Southern 500. I'm still baffled by that.

 

[Typist Clerk]

I'm fascinated by the first Brickyard. They probably could have sold out the place twice over, and Donald Davidson told me stories about how after the race week they had literally bags and bags of cash in a back office at the IMS Museum (most of the place was cash-only then). So many drivers felt they were in truly foreign territory, and the fans were oddly quiet before the race, dumbfounded at what was about to unfold. The picture of the entire field at the yard of bricks with the Frances and Hulmans and Georges before the race is one of my favorites.

I can believe that those first 400s were very much crown jewels, but the last 10-15 years? Not so much. And Nascar and television's insistence on telling us it still matters is disingenuous when the crowds now are 1/10th of the early years.

There were orders for over a million tickets, as I recall, so that would have sold out the seats four times over (and there was no general admission for the Brickyard then). I remember picking up my credentials for the 1993 Indianapolis 500 in the old HQ building, and against the back wall of the credentials-ticket office were bins of Brickyard ticket orders stacked to the ceiling. That was before IMS took credit-card orders, so that meant some $25-$30 million in checks waiting to be cashed. Their office started to deal with those after the 500, doing it all my hand, with 500 ticket holders getting preferred status, 14 months ahead of the first 400.

The first Brickyard practice on the morning of the first qualifying day was surreal. Stock cars at Indianapolis!

 

[playthrough]

There were orders for over a million tickets, as I recall, so that would have sold out the seats four times over (and there was no general admission for the Brickyard then). I remember picking up my credentials for the 1993 Indianapolis 500 in the old HQ building, and against the back wall of the credentials-ticket office were bins of Brickyard ticket orders stacked to the ceiling. That was before IMS took credit-card orders, so that meant some $25-$30 million in checks waiting to be cashed. Their office started to deal with those after the 500, doing it all my hand, with 500 ticket holders getting preferred status, 14 months ahead of the first 400.

The first Brickyard practice on the morning of the first qualifying day was surreal. Stock cars at Indianapolis!

I'm not sure the next 20 Brickyards combined would sell a million tickets.

 

[maumann]

There were orders for over a million tickets, as I recall, so that would have sold out the seats four times over (and there was no general admission for the Brickyard then). I remember picking up my credentials for the 1993 Indianapolis 500 in the old HQ building, and against the back wall of the credentials-ticket office were bins of Brickyard ticket orders stacked to the ceiling. That was before IMS took credit-card orders, so that meant some $25-$30 million in checks waiting to be cashed. Their office started to deal with those after the 500, doing it all my hand, with 500 ticket holders getting preferred status, 14 months ahead of the first 400.

The first Brickyard practice on the morning of the first qualifying day was surreal. Stock cars at Indianapolis!

Lee Montgomery and I drove 12 hours from Raleigh to meet my best friend Gary at the inaugural. Gary and I had great seats, right at the start-finish line. The excitement was amazing ... until the race started.

When you're used to seeing Indy cars flashing by at 225 mph, a string of stock cars barely breaking 180 mph gets really old really quickly. By the halfway point of that first race, we couldn't believe how BORING it was, even with Jeff Gordon winning. On our way back to the car, we agreed that the Brickyard 400 wasn't ever going to be a second 500. We decided not to renew our tickets and save our money.

Still, the 400 still had enough momentum to keep people coming until that awful Goodyear tire fiasco. That was finally the last straw for all but the most stubborn NASCAR fans.

In 2012, the last one I covered for NASCAR.com, I was not only able to get a relatively cheap Hilton property near the track, but had no traffic on the way to the media center on race morning. In fact, I doubt there were 10,000 people in the main frontstretch grandstand by the National Anthem. I loved being at the Speedway, but the race itself was rarely worth the effort. I actually went out and walked around Georgetown Road for about an hour that day, just to make sure I wasn't miscalculating the size of the crowd.

Amazing how something that anticipated can do from a million to barely nothing in 30 years.

 

[Typist Clerk]

Lee Montgomery and I drove 12 hours from Raleigh to meet my best friend Gary at the inaugural. Gary and I had great seats, right at the start-finish line. The excitement was amazing ... until the race started.

When you're used to seeing Indy cars flashing by at 225 mph, a string of stock cars barely breaking 180 mph gets really old really quickly. By the halfway point of that first race, we couldn't believe how BORING it was, even with Jeff Gordon winning. On our way back to the car, we agreed that the Brickyard 400 wasn't ever going to be a second 500. We decided not to renew our tickets and save our money.

Still, the 400 still had enough momentum to keep people coming until that awful Goodyear tire fiasco. That was finally the last straw for all but the most stubborn NASCAR fans.

In 2012, the last one I covered for NASCAR.com, I was not only able to get a relatively cheap Hilton property near the track, but had no traffic on the way to the media center on race morning. In fact, I doubt there were 10,000 people in the main frontstretch grandstand by the National Anthem. I loved being at the Speedway, but the race itself was rarely worth the effort. I actually went out and walked around Georgetown Road for about an hour that day, just to make sure I wasn't miscalculating the size of the crowd.

Amazing how something that anticipated can do from a million to barely nothing in 30 years.

Until Ernie Irvin's tire went down and Gordon made the pass in the short chute, the highlights of the race were seeing how far back deck Mast fell from the pole on the first lap and how well the narrow corners would handle a pass. Of course, with so little passing, that jury never came in.

The last few years, I shot photos of the front stretch grandstand during the pace lap and compared to the year before. Amazing how many people wore the same green shirt every year, more of them each time. Then I missed a Brickyard for a golf tournament and didn't feel like I missed much. The road course version last year was frankly more interesting.

 

[Driftwood]

The true NASCAR triple crown is the Daytona 500, Southern 500 and World 600. No other answers are acceptable. It says a lot about the Frances that they were stupid enough to mess around with one of those races for about 15 years. Take a date from Darlington, sure, but not the Southern 500. I'm still baffled by that.

The only other crown jewels are the night race at Bristol and Talladega.