NASCAR Nextel Cup Thread 2006 [R]

Maybe when he was winning one of his 6 SCCA/IMSA touring championships?

Or one of the three times he won the 24 Hours of Daytona

Or the time he won the 12 hours of Sebring

Or the time he became the only American to ever win the 24 Hours of Nurburgring?

Better question - when don't you see Dale Jarrett spinning off the track?

 

This has always been the major problem with NASCAR on road courses - way too many full course cautions that take the race out of the drivers' hands.

However, its tricky business. Unlike F1, most stockcars can be repaired after roadcourse shunts. NASCAR also, STILL FOR SOME REASON, pays points all the way back to 43rd, so there is incentive to get the cars back into the race after wrecks.

The reason why F1 can have so many local yellows is that when a car wrecks, it pretty much wrecks. The local yellow is thrown to get the driver out, and the car sits against the siderail, or in the kitty litter, or gets towed/lifted off the racing area and plunked behind a wall. In NASCAR they are under pressure to get the car back on the track and into the race, which involves corner workers coming out and pushing, towtrucks, etc - all requiring fullcourse cautions.

But it still doesnt mean that they dont throw way too many fullcourse cautions. A driver spinning through the innerloop should be nothing more than a local yellow as long as the car is running, regardless of how many drivers are involved in a wreck. If there's a massive wreck that the drivers are able to limp away from, there should be no full course caution. Only when cars are stalled, the driver's health is in question, or when the track is completely blocked should a full course be thrown.

Even Jamie McMurray's (or was it Casey Mears) attempt to bring out a caution by limping his car at low speed after he spun in turn one yesterday could've been dealt with locally. Bring out a tow truck to give him a push under a local yellow.

I've been racing SCCA for like a decade now, and I swear, in hundreds of races, I've had maybe a couple dozen full course cautions. And these are events where, normally, a full 1/3 of the field goes out for some reason. They are always easily dealt with by full course cautions or, in dire circumstances, red flags.

But then again, we rarely pit and only pay points on the old FIA point system (up to P8) so there's really no incentive to fix your car if you break or wreck out.

 

Oh, you mean the jackass that pretty much destroyed my drivers' chance of making the championship chase?

 

Your driver didn't have much of a chance to begin with, did he? It's not like Petty ruined what had been a great run of a season, he merely finished it off.

 

At least he won a race, which is more than Petty's done since the world became technicolor

 

Personally, I think that the COT is going to be a mistake for NASCAR. If you are an auto manufacturer losing billions of dollars per year, why would you increase your short-term spending to justify a car that looks the same as your competitor's cars do?

 

that wing is downright ugly and un-car-like. As if it could get uglier, they put a horny cow on the side of it to make it look even worse.
the cars are already enough unlike their street versions that the sales have gone down, this will not help.

 

Counterpoint: Thank GOD NASCAR is finally getting proper racecars

 

except the SC stands for Stock Car, and they don't have wings - unless they are sponsored by Always

As a Junior fan, I don't need all the fancy accomplishments, it's enough that he's way cooler than almost every other driver I just wish he'd drive for Guinness instead of Bud - but you can't blame him for jumping on that giant cash cow Bud is.

 

My car has a rear spoiler, a roof strip, flaps, stickers for headlights and taillights, dual ignition boxes on the dashboard, a 22 gallon fuel bladder in the trunk with an overflow vent, convienient adjustment points for the rear trackbar and swaybar, a non-sync four speed jehrico transmission, an 850 horsepower V8... wait, what were we talking about?

 

Granted he is British but Eddie "the Eagle" and Anna Kournikova come to mind.

Again, Anna is not American (or at least was not when she almost could play tennis) and only won 2 tournaments her whole career. If it were not for America she would have never hit the popularity that she has even now after her tennis days are just about over. Her official web site has her listed as last playing in 2002.

Jr. has at least won the biggest event in NASCAR.

 

Have to disagree with you here. Fatbastard is correct. From NASCAR's inception until the early '70s, NASCAR race cars did not even have a rear spoiler and they looked exactly like the street car you drove. In the '70's NASCAR added a one inch spoiler to the rear of the car. Then came the '80's where auto makers started using plastic front ends to street cars. Of course this came into the stock cars. When NASCAR allowed the Monte Carlos to totally cover the headlights so there would be no drag compared to the already slick front end of the Thunderbird was the beginning of the end of the totally stock appearing NASCAR race car.

Now we are heading to a spec series. The only thing that will be from the manufacturer will be the engine. Decals will make it look like a Monte Carlo, Fusion, Charger (like that even looks anything like the street version anyway at the moment) and the Camry.

I would rather see them have the team run full sheet metal from the manufacturer. Hood, roof, decklid, doors, fenders and quarterpanels. That will slow the cars down. Slowing down the cars is something that NASCAR wants to do anyway.

There is nothing in the rule book that says "stock cars" should handle like a open wheel car. Take away the spoilers/wings. Remove the front valence from the cars. Lets see who can really drive and who depends on the "ground effects" that NASCAR has mistakenly allowed to enter the sport.

 

Isn't it just the block, the front valance, and rear decklid that are manufacturer specific now?

Its already a spec series, now lets make cars that race better.

 

Front valence it submitted by the manufacturer for NASCAR approval. It is not what is on a street car. I believe the decklid is no longer stock either. Last part that I had heard that was the same from street car to race car was the roof and that has even changed.

I would rather see the drivers "drive" the cars instead of just aiming them.

(I have been a racing fan all my life of all forms, I do know more goes into it than just aiming but compared to the cars from the '60's only a couple of the current crop of NASCAR stars would be able to hold their weight against the drivers of that era.)