John Shiels

crashes with 12% more HP, bump drafting, and letting drivers hit each other more. Crowds have waned so bring back the crashes! Hope it don't back fire with injuries or worse.

Aardwolf

It has always amazed me that people would want to watch cars go in a circle for so many laps. I could understand it if it wasn't so long. The race at Road America sounds interesting to me but how many laps will there be? I really enjoyed watching the T1 race when that was linked here in fall. Wasn't that five laps or so?

Kubs

I like watching on TV but I think it would get a little boring if I had to sit and see it from one spot.

trumper Z06

Watching the race yesterday...

in traffic the cars were moving/jumping around without driver imput.

Going three wide thru the corners is a recipe for disaster.

A few years ago we ran at Atlanta Motor Speedway and
my C5 Z06 would jump both up and down the track by over
1 car width going thru the corners.

My video shows my hands were NOT moving the steering wheel.

Granted... the Vette's setup was neutral (road course)...
but the Vette was moving both up & down in the corners
@ ~ 165 mph.

Family France is looking at putting fannies in front of
the TV and in the stands. NA$CRAP is willing to risk driver injuries hoping
to see an increase in fan base.

cebars

At RA ALMS rent a golf cart which allows to to get around a huge site and then sit and watch any corner or straight for any period of time that you want or just hang around the garages (particularly on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday). Team members have lots of time to talk to you...at least they did for us. Saturday is too busy in the garages and pit area and stayed away from there. Sunday....many of the AMLS teams were gone or were packing up. However, WCS cars and Forumla Mazda was still running. Passed alot of haulers on I94 heading for Mosport.

FredSM

Lots of folks say the same thing about baseball. If all there was to it was going around in a circle, I'd agree. With restrictor plates these things are like driving momentum cars at 180MPH. You can't stay at the front AND make mistakes. Call me "bubba", but I actually enjoy watching it. Seeing these guys (and gals) sling these beasts around Infineon also reminds me many of them aren't strangers to road courses either. The road course ringers, though frequently not in the best equipment, don't always finish up front.

FM

John Shiels

I went once to Daytona for the Pepsi 400 my only NASCAR race ever in person. I did have fun and did get goose bumps when they came down the straight. It is so much better being there and hearing and feeling them come down the straight in a bunch. There were no accidents to speak of or bang ups and it was fairly boring after a while.

I hate cookie cutter cars and liked the old days of stock cars in the 60's 70's and early 80's

mgarfias

holy ****, those last (really) two laps were flat ****ing awesome. You do not see that kind of close racing in any sort of road racing venue.

Kanmer

Umm..have you watched any Grand Am races in the last 2 years?

Bob

mgarfias

been 3-4 since I last went to one. was a total snooze fest.

Bill Dearborn

The biggest problem with a number of the NASCAR tracks is you cannot see anything. I went to Pocono once and will never go back again and probably the same for Daytona. At Pocono all of the seats are on the front straight and they are set up without much rise between the seat rows. As the cars come across from the left you cannot see them whether or not you are sitting or standing. As they get in front of you all you can see through a gap in the heads is the car's roof but it goes by at about 180 mph so you can't even tell what color it was. Then as the cars move on to the right all of the heads completely block the view. The only real view you get is of the Tunnel Turn which is about a mile away and the cars look like dots. As one of the guys that went with me said, "I do not like paying $100 to sit all day and look at somebody's a$$ or the back of their head." The only way you can see is to sit on the ends of the rows (and then you can only see to the left or right depending on which end you sit). Daytona isn't much better. On the front stretch the seats do not have much rise and a fair number of them are behind the catch fence. If the heads don't block your view the fence will because it looks just like a wall when you try to look through it at an angle. I went to the 24 hour race and climbed all over the front grand stands looking for a good seat for the 500. The only ones I found were just under the suites. The rise between rows was excellent and you could see the whole track. They were even good for watching the road race as you could see everything except the area behind the buildings where the pit exit was located. When I tried to buy 500 tickets for those seats two years they were available for $450 each. I ended up sitting on the super stretch. Twenty two rows up and on the left aisle. There were 4 seats in each row that were to my left across the aisle and many hundreds to my right. I had a great view of the cars coming out of Turn 1 and coming through Turn 2 but as they went to my right there was nothing but heads to look at. I couldn't even see the video feed on the huge Jumbotron they had mounted back there. It was too far to the right to see. There was no view of Turn 3, a short glimpse of Turn 4 and no view of the front stretch due to the buildings they have behind the pit area. That was the year they red flagged the race and stopped the cars at the end of the superstretch and where Sterling Marlin got out of his car and tugged on the fender in violation of red flag rules. Ward Burton won the race but I didn't know what happened to put him in that position until the next day when I saw a newspaper at the airport. Those seats cost me $115 in 2002, plus the cost of travel. Not worth spending that much money and not being able to see anything. I like attending road courses where you don't get charged for seats and can wander around and get close to the cars as they are running. Even the NASCAR race at Watkins Glen with a lot of the rail area blocked by VIP tents is better than Daytona or Pocono.


Bill

rfn026

The big problem with road racing is driving talent doesn't matter. ALMS and Grand AM are both basically a bunch of rich guys having fun. Then they charge me to watch them have fun. Right now NASCAR Sprint Cup is the only racing series in the United States where you can't write a check and get a spot on the grid.

Even the Nationwide series if full of checkbook drivers. The truck series is almost all checkbook drivers. On the other hand the Sprint series does have the Start and Park thing going on. There are even two car Start and Park teams this year. So even the top series has some issues.

Chevrolet never really got into checkbook racing. They prefer to just write one check to Gary Pratt. Porsche on the other hand makes racing a profit center. You can buy your Porsche directly from the factory and the factory will also supply you with all the necessary parts - for a price.

TRG is the prime example. If I write them a check I get to drive the Grand Am series. They usually show up at Daytona with a bunch of cars. Kevin makes a nice profit for the week. Money get you a very nice ride.

Remember - Porsche has always made a profit from racing. Chevrolet has always spent money on racing. Jim Campbell are you listening?

Richard Newton
Speed TV Blog

ssdeuce

Kyle Petty

argonaut

Regarding NASCAR races and not being able to see as mentioned by Bill - IMO it very much depends on the track you attend. I've been to events as Martinsville and Dover and doubt there is a bad seat in the house. Martinsville, being a shortrack and limited seating provides a great viewing venue. Easy to get closeup pictures, especially the pit area. Dover is a 1 mile track with very steep seating, allowing you to look down into the track and see all the action. I like racing in all forms but I particularly like to see good competition, lots of lead changes, not knowing who is going to win until the final laps and NASCAR certainly provides that. I also like ALMS, Grand AM, WC, etc. Watching the Daytona 24 and LeMans are awesome and I'd love to attend a F1 event some day. Race season has begun! Cheers.

BrianCunningham

new use for epoxy

too bad it took _forever_ to dry!

http://www.crash.net/nascar/news/156..._marathon.html

John Shiels

They have stuff they use on the bridges that dries in 30 minutes then huge truck run it over and it holds. The problem is the base material below the paving is not letting the water drain and hydrostatic pressure is pushing it apart at the weakest parts the seams. Longest 500 ever to no surprise. I thought there would be more wrecks. When i went I stood through the whole race nearly which sucked!

L98Terror

Great race, keep in mind these drivers choose to race nobody is forcing them, I for one would do it in a heart beat.

Very exciting side by side restarts, sucks for the drivers but great for the fans.

JDIllon

NASCAR=IROC= BORING they should forget about other 495 miles and just run green/white checkers until they are down to one car left! And he is the winner! JD

trumper Z06

vettehardt

There is also Michigan. I have heard there isn't a bad seat in the place. You can see the whole track. I want to make it to a race up there some time, but my own racing schedule usually conflicts with both races. I also want to go to Chicagoland. I havent' heard how the seating is there though.

I have gone to the Brickyard every year for the past 7 years. There isn't any seat in there where you can see all the way around. The key there is to get in a turn and up high where you can see the two turns where you are, then the straightaway. If you sit on the the straight, all you can see is right in front of you. My dad and I have gotten seats in the B penthouse. There are only a few rows up there, is very high and in turn 1. You can see Turn 4, front straight, turn 1, short shute, turn 2 and a peek of them on the back straight.