End Of A NASCAR Era

[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

[Ron61]

Well it is now official, Petty Enterprises no longer exists. Richard will still be around the track but more as a fan draw than having any say in anything.

http://www.nascar.com/2009/news/head...ger/index.html

Ron

[Silverback51]

The passing of another era.