931guru

I have a $50 gps that gives me accurate speeds, no matter what my tire size is...

ltc

Clearly what NA$CAR needs is to have a police cruiser parked at the entrance to the pits...I am fairly certain that would keep pit road speeds under control...

Technology for the NA$CAR world...hmmn, NA$CAR and technology in the same sentence...sorry.

ew928

They could have electric bunnies run along the pit wall.
If your vehicle is faster than the running bunnies, then you're in trouble.


If greyhounds can do it, Nascar drivers can probably.

ajcjr

i think i heard him on the radio yesterday complaining that the porsches were to fast at the 24 hours of Daytona this year.

I am not a JJ fan but i thought it was funny that Montoya screwed up!!!!

race911

Know what though...........the first 35-40 years of the series had no pit speed limits and it all worked pretty well. But when it didn't, yeah, catastrophe.

VaSteve

Junior has had a ****ty season. I think he had one race with two pit road violations....outside the pit box and something else. The rules apply to everyone including the loved ones. I feel bad for JPM, but that was a BORING race until that happened. It got real exciting the last 30 laps.



Good luck. If you find it post it. I went looking for what it takes to get your team into the race...for an hour and I couldn't find it. I heard that the entry fee for the Nationwide races was only about $1000. I wanted to see what was required to build a car....can't get there from here. I was going to call HQ from work and ask for it, but I actually have a job to do and forgot...

race911

So Nemecheck qualified 30th and started the car only to get last place prize money. $142K "winnings". Not sure what it costs to enter/transport car/etc etc, but I'm guessing it's less than $142K.

Buckler/TRG has received $1.5M so far this season in prize money. Even without making the Daytona 500. And a whole lot of other last and near last place finishes. Has he spent $1.5M all total so far? Not to mention his few $1.99 sponsors here and there.

If someone well versed in the economics of straggling Sprint Cup teams is around here, I'd love to hear details.

TedA

Didn't most of the crew used to smoke while they were refueling??

loosecannon

why don't the teams have a pit button which limits rpm and keeps the cars at the speed limit? F1 has them and nobody ever gets penalized for speeding.

VaSteve

I have done a bit of reading on the "Start and Parks" in the Nationwide series. These are the teams that start the race, do a handful of laps and pull out behind the wall. They basically fill the field and quietly go away. I found that the ESPN broadcasters mention them, but some of the others don't. One of the announcers on the ESPN set owns a couple of the cars and he said that one subsidizes the other. One is there to race, so it's only incrementally more expensive to bring the other car. I think they collect something like $20K per race.

Some teams (Prism and MSRP) build their whole model around this concept. They still have to qualify, which would greatly suck if you dragged your equipment there and then didn't qualify. I think the economy is making it more important to have these guys there to fill the field. I have heard that the teams that just S&P can pull in about $200K. Seems like a lot of work for that $200K.

You don't see it in the Sprint cup since there's a lot of good teams/drivers. Plus, cup costs way more to run a team.

AlpharettaRK

Speed limters are not legal in a series that still uses carburetors. They like to rely on driver skill (flame suit on)
Say what you will about NASCAR and all the yellows, but they are in the entertainment business. And now that they own Grand-Am they are doing the same thing there. But as I watched the end of the Barber race with those ugly prototypes I had the thought that they were on to something. As a result of a full-course yellow, that could have been a local, they had the top 4 cars running nose-to-tail for the win. I almost hate to admit it, but if that's the result I'm all for it. I'm not sure it's pure racing but it is entertaining and puts the outcome of the race in the hands of the drivers. Impressive as it was, did you get much of a charge out of watching Audis win ALMS races by 2 laps?
Cheers
Randy

multi21

And that's why NA$$$$$CAR does it. It makes it better entertainment. Phantom yellow flags, competition flags, BS flags. This isn't really racing. The outcome is manufacturered.

Let's face it, NASCAR is WWF. Remember when WWF tried to say that it was a legit sport and not made up. They then found that their fan base didn't care if it was fake or not and made more money then they ever had. NASCAR should do the same thing and come clean.

France: "Look, we're not going to try and lie to you anymore. You're too dang smart for that! We're going to hold a poll and before the season, YOU the fans decide who will win the Cup. Just sit back and we'll handle the rest."

ltc

Sorry, I thought you were talking about Tony George and the IRL for a moment....like trying to fill the field for the 500 a few years back.

Mike Buck

Huh? It is happening now in all three series, trucks, nationwide and sprint. It is just really bad in nationwide and the trucks. 1/3 of the field doesn't run much past the first pit stop. There are a handful of teams doing this at the sprint level. The bottom three guys at Indy this past weekend were start and parks. I went to the spring Martinsville race and it was very obvious who was going to start and park, because they had no pit stuff or spare tires. Just a few guys on the pitwall. NASCAR just looks the other way. If it earns the money to keep their team going until they can secure a sponsor, that is what they have to do. It isn't free money. They still have to pay to enter the event and qualify. If they don't qualify (and a handful don't each week), the $ isn't refunded and they get nothing.

I can't believe folks think Montoya was slighted. He paid the price for getting too close to the speed limit. Nobody had a gun to his head making him speed. He just did it and got caught. Happens all the time, even to the best drivers.

I enjoy NASCAR and all other forms of racing. Is it my favorite, no? Do I wish I was racing in NASCAR, no? Do I respect it for what it is and have fun watching it, yes! Does it have its faults and crazy stuff, sure, but so does F1, Rolex, ALMS . . .

Flying Finn

+1

When has a NASCAR race been exiting before the last 10 laps? OK, maybe some Watkins Glenn but even those really are not that exiting until the last some laps, whoever is leading half way through the race doesn't matter at all, that's why it's only exiting in the end.

In other series (F1, sportscars etc.) every lap counts.