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This year has been odd... at least for me. Once Jr got injured, i stopped paying attention. Things always pick up for me by mid summer anyway and its harder for me to watch or attend races but I always made room for NASCAR, this year i did not.. blame Jr..
I did watch yesterdays race, great race.. and i intend on watching HOmestead.. i also have my Tix for Daytona.. i hope next is better for me and NASCAR but i echo the sentiments of someone above who said that once Jr is gone, Chase will take his spot at the top of the popularity ranks. I assume Chase will be my driver once Jr hangs 'em up..
The SAFER barrier was created by the IMS/IRL due to their cars breaking their driver's backs with regularity.
Quote:
Originally Posted by the searchers
I am probably saying something everybody knows, but the HANS was available for Senior to use. His death made the use of it mandatory.
SAFER.. Yes, designed.. What was it? University of Nebraska? And was made for IRL/Indy Car.. But it never got a second look in NASCAR until Earnhardt's death. And then it was basically mandated, but it took until 2003 until all tracks had it, due to the engineering requirements and it's still a work in progress to this day.. Jeff Gordon had a real bad habit of crashing in the one spot where there was no SAFER barrier. Think he did it 4 or 5 times. And I think it was Vegas where it was a really bad crash that he, thankfully, walked away from.
Kyle, of course, we know the story there about him finding the Daytona wall without it.. Would it have helped? Who knows, but it wouldn't have hurt.
The HANS device, I mentioned before, was really pushed after Earnhardt's death, but a few drivers.. Stewart being the most vocal, still didn't use it or the Hutchens device, which was an alternative.
It was after Blaise Alexander's death in ARCA at Charlotte (In an accident with Kerry Earnhardt, ironically) that a head-and-neck restraint was made mandatory. Drivers had the choice between the HANS or Hutchens device. Stewart and a handful of other drivers used the Hutchens, because they didn't like the restrictiveness and vision issues with the HANS. Hutchens device was de-certified by NASCAR around 2004/2005 or so and HANS has been the only option since.
I'd be curious to see what one of those 'first generation' NASCAR HANS devices looked like compared to what they look like now. My understanding is that they're a whole lot smaller.
I also understand that the roof hatch is mandatory on the super speedways next year. Probably won't forget Waltrip popping out of the hatch after winning at.. 'Dega? I also won't forget Denny Hamlin's hatch popping open on him and going laps down trying to fix it.. Again, I think that was at Talladega.
Another thing.. Used to be you saw guys 'paying their dues'.. Which made you respect them more. Now, you've got guys coming into top rides and winning off the bat.. I think that hurts the 'bond' that people develop with drivers. There's more movement as well.. You used to see the top guys stay mostly one place. Earnhardt, Martin, Wallace, etc.
It's differently the same.
This is the part that has changed for me and lowered my interest quite a bit. All the new drivers are 16 year old kids with wealthy parents and trust funds getting rides with top teams. NASCAR used to be a place where a talented driver could work their way up through the ranks, those days are gone forever.
This is the part that has changed for me and lowered my interest quite a bit. All the new drivers are 16 year old kids with wealthy parents and trust funds getting rides with top teams. NASCAR used to be a place where a talented driver could work their way up through the ranks, those days are gone forever.
It's still there, it's just shifted. It's the Truck Series now and has really shifted down to ARCA more as well.
There's good and bad from it.. You have far more teams and drivers capable of winning each week.. But, you lose much of the 'feeder' rides. Of course, you wind up with an entire feeder series.. And that's one of the reasons I like watching the truck races more now than the Cup races.
This is the part that has changed for me and lowered my interest quite a bit. All the new drivers are 16 year old kids with wealthy parents and trust funds getting rides with top teams. NASCAR used to be a place where a talented driver could work their way up through the ranks, those days are gone forever.
Yeah, back in the day drivers had one thing to do, get out on the track and win. Some did it with driving talent, some had better machinery, some did it with animal aggression. But most of them seemed to have a passion for racing and winning, some of the new younger drivers maybe not. I don't know what it costs to put a car on the track, but with crew, engineers, drivers, etc., it's got to be in the millions and their job is to produce money in sponsorships, advertising, endorsements, engagements. So the new drivers aren't just there to win on Sunday, that's just another work day for them. So, it doesn't matter as much about driving talent as it is the personality who can bring in revenue.
I'm 64 and to me NASCAR lost it around 1970 or so.I liked it when you could actually tell one make from another! What a concept!
Ever hear of a PLYMOUTH or Mercury? LOL
Article in today's Bloomberg about the decline of NASCAR. Sorry, but to me it's all just a big yawn as they go around and around.
Fifty years ago I'd go with my pals to see my local dirt track races (Dorsey Speedway in Dorsey, MD) but it's been gone for decades, the land was too valuable....they put...wait for it....a highway through the heart of the old track....MD-100.
I just can't watch the races on TV, it's too scientific now, too technical, too mind-numbing noisy, and far too commercial. Like today's thoroughbred racing horses, the vehicles are so fine tuned and finicky it's just nuts. I can't grasp it, can't follow it....a millimeter adjustment here, a sneeze in the air shocks there...so it goes....complexity theory....things get complicated to a point it all just stops...
It's not human-scale like the old dirt track days. I recall stealing gas tanks from junk yards so my pal could get his ancient Olds into the figure 8 races at Dorsey. Today, one needs millions in backing to be in NASCAR and the finest mechanics in the country.
I can't fathom the thin-skinned racing etiquette of rubbing and nudging and drafting and whatever else the drivers do to each other on the track that often ends up in fisticuffs. Spare us that girly nonsense.
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