NASCAR 2013 Season

I actually agree with you but understand from NASCAR's viewpoint...

From a marketing viewpoint, these lower level races do not draw the crowds like the Sprint Cup does. To attract crowds to these races, NASCAR allows drivers from the top level series to race in hope......to draw a slightly larger crowd in the stands and to have more people at home watching these racers. It also helps out sponsors who cannot pay the large amounts of money for the Sprint Cup series drivers to get some TV time with the lower level drivers.

 

The problem with Nascar doing it this way is that the newer drivers, or those who have less sponsor money, don't have a chance in hell of beating the big teams with the $$$ behind them. I mean yeah, you get a few winners, but overall the "pro" drivers win, taking the money away from the lower guys. I mean yeah, from a marketing standpoint I see why, but I just totally disagree with it. It makes it harder for a new name to get his face out there unless some big time team picks him up. Back in the day when a driver got into the Winston cup series, they rarely drove Busch series. Now, as expected, it is more about marketing than enjoying the race. That is one of the reasons I like to actually GO to a race. You can take the time to just enjoy it in it's raw state, and somewhat ignore the commercialism. Of course you can never ignore it totally. I miss the old days of racing.

 

Thats what i like about the june race out here (Savemart 350) on the Saturday race theres no cup drivers it's all the Southwest tour drivers.

And one would think they would want to to get a little more road course practice in

 

I understand it from a marketing standpoint, but that doesn't mean I don't hate it. Notice all these teams, even if they're not a "top tier" team, aren't bringing in new drivers to drive their cars. They keep bringing back people like Bobby Labonte, Terry Labonte...I'm surprised Dick Trickle hasn't driven in the last few weeks. If you're gonna put the cup drivers with the Busch drivers, let the Busch drivers come up to nationwide and see if they can compete with some decent equpiment in the big boy's world.

x2. You'd see a "busch-whacker" every now and then, and people didn't cry and complain ALL the time like they do now. I wish they'd go back to real cars and letting the teams really build their own stuff. They went in the right direction with the new car since the front ends are actually shaped differently coming from the COT, but racing completely sucks now compared to 10-12 years ago.

How many lead changes are we expecting at Dega? I bet we don't get anywhere close to the record 88. More like 10-15.

 

With all of the changes for this year, it would be difficult to say. We have only had one superspeedway race this year, and to be honest, I don't recall how many lead changes, but there were a few. I do tend to agree with you that we will have less than the record, but I expect to see close to 18-20. I will be more excited because I will be there!

 

A very fun race to attend! We had a great time, though I was LIVID when Danica got hit from behind and spun out. I know it wasn't the other driver's fault, but she had been doing SO well overall. She would lose some and gain some. I truly think she was a top 5 competitor today, and had the potential to win if she could have gotten clean air.

Of course the excitement of the day was really big about 45 minutes before the rain delay. The newlywed couple beside me had been drinking (as usual for a race) but the wife went into a serious diabetic event. She got lethargic and passed out for a few seconds, and when he checked her sugar level, it was OVER 600, and that was when he found out her insulin pump was not working! Well of course he was drunk a good bit too, so I stepped in and helped literally carry the woman up the grand stands to the paramedics. After the initial checkout they felt she needed to go to the medical center a short bit away and they put her on one of the golf carts.

Well he took off with her of course, forgetting that all of their stuff was back at the bench we were just sitting on. So I grab their stuff and follow the golf cart, then help them carry her into the medical center. Well she is in and out a bit at this time, and he is of course upset and worried. So he is talking to her and she is talking to him, and she grabs my hand. I am figuring at first that she is thinking she has his hand, and she is holding on for dear life here! So the nurses come up and start asking ME questions and I was like "You need to ask him!" So they take him aside and she is panicking so I stand there and start talking to her and trying to calm her down by talking to her about my mom and what is going on with her. Eventually she calms down, but now by this time she has a death grip on my hand with both of hers.

He comes back and is talking to her again and she wants to leave (Remember they both had been drinking) and he wants to take her to their hospital which is over an hour drive. The Doc doesn't want her to go anywhere except the local hospital. Now the husband is getting upset, which is getting the wife upset, and finally the police actually step in and take him outside the medical center. Of course this leaves her watching her husband being escorted outside by the police, and I am the only person she knows (Yeah, like we have known each other for about an hour of watching a race!) and so she is begging ME to go with her to the hospital. (To be honest, I actually thought the police were going to arrest the guy since he was intoxicated and so upset, which I really don't blame him, because I mean come on, they were recently wed!)
Well of course I know I can't go with her, since I am not family or anything, but this doesn't stop her from dragging my arm into both of hers and next thing I know, my entire lower left arm is being bear hugged! I can't get my arm loose! When they transferred her to the ambulance stretcher I actually had to move with her because she refused to let my arm go, and started screaming at the paramedics. After they moved her it took 2 full minutes and both paramedics to literally pry her hands off my arm! I actually STILL have bruises from it! Once they got me loose I was able to stay out of her field of vision, and she calmed down a bit. I followed the stretcher out of the medical center doors where I was glad to see that her husband was standing there, much calmer, and the police were just standing there with him. They let him get into the ambulance with her, and I handed him their bags before they drove off and left them. After that the police and nurses and even the doctor were asking if I wanted to go to the hospital with my friends, as they would drive me! I told them I had literally just met the couple about 2 hours ago! Every one of them were saying that they couldn't believe a total stranger would have stayed with them and helped like that. I think it was thinking about my mom, who is on her last few days made me feel I should have helped them.

I certainly hope things went well for the two of them. I never did get his name, but her name was Beth, and they both are from Georgia. They were a lot of fun when we were all sitting together watching the race, and you could tell that he really loved her a LOT with the way he was responding to her being in distress. So I certainly hope they are doing well now.

 

Rumor



Childress is going to run Dodge motors in 2014

 

I doubt he will shift to Dodge. He has been with Chevy for the full run.

 

damn bill where were you sitting I was in tri-oval tower

 

We were sitting in Moss Thorton, 22nd row, right up the finish line. Will post pics later. Mom passed this morning and won't be downloading the pics until later. Had Pit Passes so got a few good shots.

 

Anyone going to the Charlotte All-Star Race this weekend??

 

Rest in peace Dick Trickle
http://youtu.be/_9fB1IcTD48

 

ya what a bummer

 

He was a great man, that is for sure.

I am having a lot of fun on youtube with a couple of clueless people. Of course the debate is over Danica, and her being a driver. The discussion stemmed from a video of the accident this weekend. The guy who posted it had it titled "Danica slams into back end of boyfriend" and people were all talking about how she doesn't deserve to be a driver and she has no skills, etc, etc, etc... I had to remind them that in that wreck this weekend it was STENHOUSE who hit Danica, forcing her into Keselowski. It wasn't her fault at all. Then the "well she shouldn't be going 3 wide then" to which I replied "check the whole race. How many OTHER drivers went 3 wide and were involved in an accident? Oh yeah, Jeff Gordon and a couple others. I gotta say I find it humorous how many sexist SOBs are out there. So totally clueless and jealous that a girl can actually drive better than they can, so they have to try and belittle her. She's pretty dang popular. Is it because she is a girl? I don't think it is BECAUSE she is a female driver, but I won't turn a blind eye and say that her popularity isn't enhanced by it. Sure it is.

Hell, Dale Jr is popular as hell, but how popular would he be if he wasn't who he was? (Dale Sr's son) Danica has some decent skill, and just like any other cup driver, she has to hone them. She will get there soon enough. She just is having the same thing that every driver gets: Bad luck.

As I recall, I do not remember a wreck this season that was actually directly attributed to being her fault. Hell she missed one HELL of a wreck at Talladega, and THAT was skill, not luck there! Every driver out there, even the BEST ones have had plenty of seasons get messed up because of a wreck that they got caught up in. It happens. I say give her some time. If she doesn't win one this year, I would be willing to bet she will next year.

 

blah blah yay Danica. I can't believe the whole cable thing at the race this weekend. That was insane and very dangerous

 

I mentioned the camera "what if" when it first came out. I told the guys at the shop it was stupid to hang wires over a race track. I'm sure they are going to look real hard at this. Hehehehehe. Yea just don't put it up again. Problem solved.

 

Don't be a hater.

Yeah, I was curious if it was going to be a problem. They have had those types of cameras in the NFL for a while now. I am surprised they didn't have things better prepared this weekend. Hell they have that camera at Daytona, and it is almost a mile long! I bet they will be looking very closely at it now.

 

Fox has already announced that they will not be using the camera again and that they are working with the manufacturer of it to find out the root cause of the failure