End Of A NASCAR Era

[Ron61]

I hate to see this happen but it was inevitable after last seasons ending and Richard not being able to find a sponsor.

http://www.nascar.com/2008/news/head...ger/index.html

Ron

[Joe Wicked]

Pretty much saw it coming. It was just a matter of time. As an organization they were unable to put a consistent top finishing car on the track for years. After 10 seasons of 0 wins, with only a handful of top 10s, the writing was on the wall. The new generation of fans do not know and understand the legacy and what Petty Enterprises did for the sport, back when it really was Stock Car racing.

[Ron61]

Yea, it really tells my age when I miss the Pettys, Earnhearts, Pearson, Ned Jarrett, Buddy Baker and the rest that drove actual cars made by the car companies. I like the shows where they have a bunch of the old drivers sitting around talking about when they were driving.
One of my favorites is Ned Jarrett telling about buying a new 1957 Ford to race at Daytona, but he never had enough money to cover the check so he wrote it late Friday afternoon so they couldn't get it to the bank. Then he took the car to Daytona and he had to win both races to have the money to cover the check. One of his crew wrapped the steering wheel with friction tape and did it the wrong way. He won the first race but his hands were cut so bad they had to take him to a hospital and have them stitched up. He said he didn't know what to do as he couldn't drive, and I believe it was Buddy Baker that told him he would drive the car and he won the 2nd race, so Ned raced back home and was at the bank when it opened Monday morning to deposit the money to cover that check. And Dale Earnheart telling how he used to hide in the trunk of his race car so the people he owed money to couldn't find him.


Ron

[Fordzilla]

Originally Posted by Ron61

Yea, it really tells my age when I miss the Pettys, Earnhearts, Pearson, Ned Jarrett, Buddy Baker and the rest that drove actual cars made by the car companies.

Ron

Brings back fond memories: Cale Yarborough, AJ Foyt, Richard Petty, the names go on....... How about the travel team that did small town USA of Joey Chitwood?? Anyone remember watching the Chitwoods perform?? Those were the days!

[Ron61]

Originally Posted by Fordzilla

Brings back fond memories: Cale Yarborough, AJ Foyt, Richard Petty, the names go on....... How about the travel team that did small town USA of Joey Chitwood?? Anyone remember watching the Chitwoods perform?? Those were the days!

I remember them. Please don't ask my age as I can't recall that far back.

Ron

[Dan40]

The S in NASCAR used to stand for STOCK, didn't it? What does it stand for now that no parts of any of the cars comes from any "stock?"

Dan

[Bill Bess]

Great Crash!

Was fun to watch.... but old "stock" just wasn't gettin it done.
If the new type stock cars were not called stock cars..what would you call them?. Perhaps Modern Stock Race Cars, Stock Class race Cars, or just Bad to the Bone Big Old Hot Rods. I really don't giva a damm...NASCAR will always be cool no matter what they race. Maybe someday they will be racing "Smart Cars" with benefits.

Bill

[Ron61]

Bill,

Since the cars neither resemble any production car or the car companies have nothing at all to do with their construction, are wider and larger, and are hand built by the teams to NASCARs design, I would in no way relate them to stock. Maybe call them NASCAR Specialty Cars or something. I still like the short track racing but find the rest just a boring high speed parade and watch the LeMans series and other road races more when they are on. I also get tired of watching at least 1/3rd of every race under a caution flag so they can get in a bunch of extra commercials. I may watch the Daytona 500 but am not at all excited about it. I will watch what they show of the Sebring 24 hour race.

Ron

[Dan40]

Originally Posted by Ron61

Bill,

Since the cars neither resemble any production car or the car companies have nothing at all to do with their construction, are wider and larger, and are hand built by the teams to NASCARs design, I would in no way relate them to stock. Maybe call them NASCAR Specialty Cars or something. I still like the short track racing but find the rest just a boring high speed parade and watch the LeMans series and other road races more when they are on. I also get tired of watching at least 1/3rd of every race under a caution flag so they can get in a bunch of extra commercials. I may watch the Daytona 500 but am not at all excited about it. I will watch what they show of the Sebring 24 hour race.

Ron

Imma gonna catch hell for dis, fer sure, fer sure. TWELVE Hours at Sebring.
24 hours at Daytona and LeeManz.

Once was a SCCA corner worker. One year I think it poured rain for 16 of the 12 hours at Sebring. And turn 6 at Daytona, between 2AM and 5AM is the coldest place in the universe.

Dan

[Buzz]

Yes, there were some good ol' times during the scrappy, hard-fought stock car races of yesteryear. I'll never forget knowing for sure that if Cale Yarborough was on the lead lap anywhere within a few laps of the finish, that something was going to happen as he worked his way into his favorite spot - second place - drafting the lead car and ready for the slingshot. He, along with others like Petty, Baker, Foyt and the Allison boys epitomized an era in racing that we will never see again. Here's ol' Cale duking it out with one of the Allison boys in 1979:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXbHQtZH8dE

[VRM]

Originally Posted by Dan40

Imma gonna catch hell for dis, fer sure, fer sure. TWELVE Hours at Sebring.
24 hours at Daytona and LeeManz.

Dan

Yep - me too. I am such a sucker for those races, and I always watch the entire 24 hours of LeMans.
Though I have to admit that I really prefer the old videos of the races of the '50s and '60s, and Trans Am. Even though I know who wins I enjoy the 'run what ya brung' attitude.

I keep meaning to look into the corner worker thing - but I never seem to have the time.

Steve

[Ron61]

Bill,

Imma gonna catch hell for dis, fer sure, fer sure. TWELVE Hours at Sebring.
24 hours at Daytona and LeeManz.

You aren't going to Catch hell for correcting anything that I have posted wrong. I don't know why I put 24 hours for Sebring, but appreciate you correcting it. I watch it and the 24 hours at Daytona and LeMans every year or as much of it as they show. Also try to watch some of the other road track races when they are on TV. Mid America, Watkins Glenn and a few others. I like to see the Corvettes and other cars that actually resemble factory cars and they get better on handling every year it seems, but even those circuits are having to cut back due to the economy. I believe the LeMans series announced they would not race in then American Series this year except at Daytona as they want a chance to try out their new cars to see how they stand up to the 24 hours of racing. They seem to all be really concentrating on the 24 hours of LeMans and just racing in Europe.
Best of luck in the coming season as I know it is going to be a very difficult and trying one. I feel if they would just do away with so many caution flags that would help some.

Ron

[Dan40]

Originally Posted by VRM

Yep - me too. I am such a sucker for those races, and I always watch the entire 24 hours of LeMans.
Though I have to admit that I really prefer the old videos of the races of the '50s and '60s, and Trans Am. Even though I know who wins I enjoy the 'run what ya brung' attitude.

I keep meaning to look into the corner worker thing - but I never seem to have the time.

Steve

The life of a corner worker. First off, in order to work the big Pro races, you have to get your training and experience at the 'club races.' No fans, no TV, just a bunch of sports car wackos like yourself spending a weekend at some track within a couple of hundred miles of home.
You get to get out on the corner around dawn and get off the corner long after suppertime. Corners have VERY fews trees [for obvious reasons] hence, not so much shade. Sebring in August is fairly TOASTY. Around noon there is a break and "they" give you a mystery meat sandwich or a 'devil dog.' But the pay is nothing to sneeze at, in fact, its nothing. But Sat. nite when the track is cold we do have a beer party and we get to bench race and swap lies with people we haven't seen since the last club race. [Or, at least, that's how it was more than a decade ago when we stopped going.] But it was fun. Driving thru the middle of the night to make the track on a Sat. morn, staying at flea bag hotels like the "KennelRation" in Sebring [Kenilworth]. No A/C, louvers in the bottom of the door for ventilation, in Fl. in the summertime!!! Coming off the corner at the end of a day'e racing looking like Raccoons in negative. Black faces covered with tire dust except the white 'mask' where your sunglasses kept the dust off. Everybody would hit the swimming pool at the motel. [and leave a ring!]

But it was also a ton of fun.

Dan

[Joe Wicked]

ol'Bill,
I have not given up on watching. I am still a fan and I will still try to get tickets to the races here at Texas. (I work for Samsung and it is still a struggle to get seats. The marketing department feels it is better to give tickets to the Texas race to our customers in Atlanta, Kansas City, and Seattle. Sponsor section of the track is always a bunch of empty seats. Sad really. The wife and I watch every week, and will continue to do so.

Just curious, are you at liberty to say who you work for? A major team in Mooresville does not really narrow it down much. If you can't or would rather not, I understand.

[Don]

Joe:

I have had tickets to New Hampshire Speedway since the first Cup race. There's 5 in the group and attending, tailgating, race/driver discussions, etc has been a pleasure, as a total event

What I have noticed over the years, there are more families and younger children attending now than in the past.

I believe the younger children associate more with the driver, not the make of car. Dale JR would probably be just as popular if he drove a Ford. Also, the younger generation did not know the era of " stock " cars and I would guess for them it is a non-issue when the cars look similar.

[joe g]

Road races for me to. Nascar getting boring
joeg

[Ron61]

I used to like to watch the Australian Races but they quit having them on here quite a while ago. I guess NASCAR couldn't stand the competition. One nice thing abut yesterdays Cup race, Kyle Bush never won. And I like Matt Kenseth, so that was nice that he won.

Ron

[Wayne Maybury]

They said that advance sales were poor but they had lots of race day sales. Even with lots of people coming in at the last minute, it appeared to me that there were many empty seats. I watched the first few laps then a few drops of rain fell and they brought out the yellow so I switched channels and never went back to see what was happening.

Wayne

[Ron61]

Wayne,

They finished the race and it was actually exciting the last 35 laps. Kenseth and Gordon ran away from the field.If Biffle hadn't messed up on his last pit stop, it would have been a 3 car run to the end as all 3 cars were the class of the field and pretty equal.
I also heard them talking on one of the many NASCAR shows that some of the track owners were trying to switch some dates and things around in order to get more people. Also they are lowering ticket prices and the cost of stuff at the concession stands. With the economy the way it is, people just can't afford to take their family to a race anymore.

Ron

[Joe Wicked]

All in all it was a good race. 5 caution flags but 4 of them were for rain showers. The one that did fly for a track incident was well warranted. Kevin Harvick grenaded an engine and must have slipped in his own oil as he went dead strait into the wall going into turn 1.

Good race to the end. Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon were going at it hard and pulling away from the rest of the field. Gordon just used up his tires in order to catch Matt, then couldn't pass him and eventually started falling off.