NASCAR Ranting and Raving - For NASCAR Fans

The Roots of Racing; From Board Tracks to Bootleggers

by TheTrackGirl on Sep 2, 2010 1:33 AM EDT in NASCAR History Comment 2 comments

Hi folks!
These last two weeks have been a madhouse (sadly, not Bowman-Gray) for me. I got called to Portland, Oregon for a consulting gig last week and then while I was there I got a call from a lovely lady named Sheryl who is the founder of the Helle Nice Foundation. Helle Nice was a French female race car driver in the 1930's who came over and hit a circuit of race tracks. The Foundation found me and needed emergency research on the tracks that she had raced at during her stay in the good old United States. They were almost all fairground dirt tracks, with a board track thrown in there too.

My knowledge of the European traditions that inspired early American racing is more attuned to the beginnings of stock car traditions, but I do know my tracks and was able to help out. Before I write my little piece for tonight, I want to give you a few websites. Here is the Helle Nice Foundation; they are laying a memorial marker at Helle's unmarked grave this weekend in France. And boy, friends, do I wish I could go too!

Here are some of the folks that helped me out a whole bunch with last minute research. They have some great forums to dig through! Go say hi! 3WidePIctureVault and the folks over at LocalRaceChat Actually, I have loads of links to people if anyone is interested.

Let's talk a little bit about Georgia and a little bit of a different kind of heritage, shall we?

Continue reading this post »

2 comments |

The Teacher Becomes the Master: Said Wins In Montreal

by Troy J. on Aug 31, 2010 6:20 AM EDT in NASCAR Nationwide Series Comment 3 comments

MONTREAL QC - AUGUST 29: Boris Said driver of the #09 Zaxby's Fordcelebrates with team members after winning the NASCAR Nationwide Series Napa Auto Parts 200 on August 29 2010 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal Quebec Canada. (Photo by Jason Smith/Getty Images)

Jason Smith - Getty Images

3 days ago: MONTREAL QC - AUGUST 29: Boris Said driver of the #09 Zaxby's Fordcelebrates with team members after winning the NASCAR Nationwide Series Napa Auto Parts 200 on August 29 2010 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal Quebec Canada. (Photo by Jason Smith/Getty Images)

View full size photo »

Boris Said has been teaching short track kids how to turn right for over a decade.

Until Sunday, Boris had only one touring series win ever, the 1998 Craftsman Truck series race at Sonoma. That year was also the last time Boris Said was an actual full time driver in any NASCAR series.

Boris has 11 years of Cup Series expirence, but has never driven more than 9 races in a single year. But that doesn't mean that Boris is not a great driver. He's just better known as a Road Course ringer than a full time driver.

Hundreds have received lessons in road racing from Boris Said. It was time for the master to show them how it's done. After Marcos Ambrose yet again suffered heartbreak in Canada, this time thanks to an electrical problem, it seemed that this was going to come down to Carl Edwards and Robby Gordon.

Jacques Villeneuve and Max Papis looked to challenge the two Cup regulars, but both road ringers were having problems keeping up. Montreal would not allow Edwards to win back to back. A track bar broke on the no. 60 Ford. Once it broke, the rear tires began to shift violently in the rear of the car. Edwards went into the pits, lost a lap and when all was said and done, Edwards was 4 laps down.

He managed to finish the race, but his 20th place finish put his championship hopes further out of reach.

Then there was Robby Gordon. Gordon started alongside Max Papis with just 7 to go. As they hit the turn, Gordon ran Papis right into the grass. This is a move that Mr. Gordon has used to great avail many times in the past. But Papis didn't relent, he drove through the grass and right back into the path of Gordon. Due to the move, Jason Leffler was hit by teammate Jacques Villeneuve, and Colin Braun was collected.

Caution.

Gordon was now running low on gas, but felt he could make it. That was until Trevor Bayne got into J.R. Fitzpatrick and Jason Leffler blew up, causing a red flag. You could make the case that Gordon's move caused both accidents, since Leffler blew because of the damage he took in that wreck.

The incident would be Gordon's undoing. When the feild got back under way, Gordon ran out of gas. He would finish 14th, two laps down. Ambrose just may have smiled.

That set up a wild finish that saw Boris Said in the Zaxby's Ford battling with Max Papis in the Rheem Chevy, and Jacques Villeneuve in the Dollar General Toyota. Boris and Papis would battle side by side to the flag, where Boris would out run Papis by a fender.

Something the ESPN announce team failed to tell you was that not only was it Boris Said's first Nationwide victory, but it was also RAB Racing's first ever Nascar Victory. The 09 has never won in 53 starts.

I loved this race, but ESPN let me down big. They talked to Papis, who was great as always, and Villeneuve, then gave a very weak interview with Boris Said before cutting to basketball. Not to mention the very weak qualifing coverage. There was no more then 6 cars on track at the same time during qualifing, yet ESPN failed to show every driver making a lap. When Papis and Ambrose were out there, we didn't even see Keselowski or Logano make a run. Of the 46 cars making a lap, we saw maybe 20 of them. It was incredibly biased and quite dissapointing. They failed to talk about the fact that some of these guys had to race in on time, and even failed to tell us who failed to qualify. I had to go online just to see that Stanton Barrett, Kevin O'Connell and Canada's own Pierre Bourque failed to make the race. What a joke. Bad broadcasting failed to take away from a one of a kind race though.

Results and more after the JUMP!

Continue reading this post »

3 comments | 1 recs |

Nationwide Heads North: The Napa Auto Parts 200 Preview

by Troy J. on Aug 27, 2010 3:36 AM EDT Comment 2 comments

This week the Nationwide Series heads North to Montreal. This is one of the dates that I have circled on my Nationwide Schedule. It does happen to be funny that the series that actually goes outside of the US is called Nationwide and the Sprint Cup drivers never go north or south of US borders. The Montreal race does offer Canadian Drivers a chance to be seen on the big screen in America. I'll get to our Canadian Brothers after the jump. This race, now in it's 4th year running, has only once been won by a Canadian driver. Ron Fellows took it in 2008. Carl Edwards is the defending champion of this race. It's road course racing at it's best.

Entry List and more after the JUMP!

Continue reading this post »

2 comments |

The House that Rowdy Built: The Food City 250 Review

by Troy J. on Aug 23, 2010 5:36 PM EDT Comment 3 comments

It took Kyle Busch 28 starts in 2008 to tie a single season record for wins in the Nationwide Series with 10. Sam Ard is the other driver to do that feat. In 2010 it only took 20 races for Kyle to tie his and Sam Ard's record. That leaves another 12 starts for Kyle to try and break the record.

Busch fought hard to secure his second win of the week at Bristol and ended up sweeping the weekend. There is no doubt that Busch is making a case for himself as best Short Track Racer alive today today. Love him or hate him, Busch commands respect. He may lack the stoic poise that we come to expect from a champion, but there is no doubt that he is one of the top 5 racers of this generation.

Kyle could very well be the first in a new line of NASCAR Champions. The type that ooze personality and refuse to fit into the cookie cutter mold of Champ. But lets not forget, Dale Earnhardt wasn't your average champ. Nor was Jeff Gordon or Darrell Waltrip. They were all outspoken and often disliked. That's not even mentioning their shared 'Move of get Moved' mentality of racing.

But this article isn't about what Kyle may be able to do. It's about what Kyle did on Friday at Bristol. It was a wild race, fitting of the Bristol name. Although it didn't always seem that way.

It appeared that everyone was going to behave up until lap 84. That's when Kasey Kahne, Justin Allgaier and Trevor Bayne decided to take it three-wide into turn three. Robert Richardson was slow in the high lane, when Allgaier checked up into the side of Kasey Kahne. Both hit the wall and Kahne rode the wall. Kasey's day was done, but Allgaier's was far from over. With 93 laps to go, Lap traffic almost ended Clint Bowyer's day as Sean Caisse and Joe Nemechek spun together.

I agree with everything ESPN had to say on Friday evening up until a certain point. They claim that Mike Wallace "Checked up" and clipped Bowyer's front end, sending Wallace into Caisse and Nemechek. I say that Clint checked and spun Wallace.

If Wallace checked, he would have bounced off the wall and Bowyer would have drove right by him. That didn't happen. What did happen was that Wallace was running his line and Bowyer tried to tuck under him and misjudged the amount of room. Bowyer turned Wallace, but not intentionally. It's possible that Wallace slowed and that's why Bowyer clipped him, but ESPN seemed to either miss this point or discarded it entirely.

With 60 laps to go Justin Allgaier got wide and T-Boned Josh Wise. Allgaier would eventually have to take his Verizon entry to the garage.

With 32 to go, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch were battling for the lead. Busch completed the pass low, then tried to cut in front of Keselowski. Kyle got wide and let out of the throttle. Brad never was able to 'whoa' the car down completely. Kesolowski could have let of the gas and they both could have continued.

But instead, Busch got hit and he brushed the outside wall. He came back down and spun Kesolowski to the inside. Now, Brad didn't deserve that for what he did to Kyle, but Kesolowski has made several enemies and made a lot of mental errors since beginning his NASCAR career. Perhaps this was mere karma.

With 25 to go, Joey Logano got a bad restart and the field gobbled him up. He almost took Dale Jr with him, but instead got turned by Jason Leffler. Not Jason's fault, since Logano was three-wide by himself. Joey spun and the field bunched up behind him. Reed Sorenson, Paul Menard, Steve Wallace, Michael Annett, Bowyer, and Keselowski were all tangled up. The latter had considerable damage to his rear but was able to finish the race in 14th.

With 15 to go, Brian Scott and Brendon Gaughan were victims of a bad check up from Reed Sorenson. This set up a great 10 lap shootout for the win, in which the damaged no. 18 Toyota was able to dominate

Race Results and more after the JUMP!

Continue reading this post »

3 comments |

Keselowski lying in the bed he made

by A_Rosser14 on Aug 22, 2010 4:00 PM EDT in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Comment 9 comments

"Busch took advantage of Brad being on probation and wrecked him. It isn't fair!"

That is how the pro-Brad Keselowski - or rather, the anti-Kyle Busch sect of NASCAR fans has expressed it's displeasure with the Joe Gibbs Racing driver's method of winning Friday night's Food City 250 at the Bristol Motor Speedway. In their view, Busch, knowing full and well that Keselowski would be unable to pay back Busch's "dump and run" without risking NASCAR sanction, exploited Keselowski's plight and sent the Penske Racing Dodge for a ride.

First of all, to think that - on a track where laps are turned at a 16-second clip, or faster - Busch had enough time to process that thought and act upon it as quickly as the entire situation on lap 219 played out is ludicrous.

Second of all, even if he had, it is a situation Keselowski created for himself.

Continue reading this post »

9 comments |

NASCAR Sprint Cup Bristol Night Race | Bristol Motor Speedway Open Race Thread

by MattHaggard on Aug 21, 2010 7:56 PM EDT in Race Day Open Threads Comment 90 comments

BRISTOL TN - AUGUST 20: Jimmie Johnson driver of the #48 Lowe's Chevrolet poses after qualifying for pole position in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series IRWIN Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 20 2010 in Bristol Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Smith/Getty Images)

Jason Smith - Getty Images

12 days ago: BRISTOL TN - AUGUST 20: Jimmie Johnson driver of the #48 Lowe's Chevrolet poses after qualifying for pole position in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series IRWIN Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 20 2010 in Bristol Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Smith/Getty Images)

View full size photo »

Thuder Valley.

The very name of Bristol Motor Speedway is reminiscent of danger, excitement and drama. The finishes are some of NASCAR's most used highlights and the winners go on to become the sport's most prominent champions.

Wallace, Earnhardt, Gordon and Busch have all tamed Bristol and followed it up with Cup Series Championships. Who joins them on the winner's list of NASCAR's hardest ticket?

Find out after the jump!

Continue reading this post »

90 comments |

The Birthplace of Feuds: The Food City 250 Bristol Nationwide Preview

by Troy J. on Aug 20, 2010 9:12 AM EDT in NASCAR Nationwide Series Comment 2 comments

That's right folks, it's time for the king of Short Tracks, the Birthplace of Feuds, the Crucible of motorsports: Bristol Motor Speedway. Bristol is by far my favorite short track. Every state has a short track like Bristol, but you never see anything near the quality of racing that you do at Bristol. If last night's Truck Race is any indication, we are in for a wild ride. Kyle Busch is looking to go 2 for 2 this weekend, and if he clears this one, he'll try to go 3 for 3 Saturday night. The other two guys who are triple duty this week didn't fare so well last night. Elliott Sadler wrecked twice, Brad Keselowski spun and had a hard fight back into the top 10. This is the last season that we will see the old Nationwide Cars, so let's give the last generation a wild sendoff.

Entry List and more after the JUMP!

Continue reading this post »

2 comments |

Another 1.5 miler? Let's Talk 1954 Instead.

by TheTrackGirl on Aug 18, 2010 11:58 PM EDT Comment 0 comments

With the addition of Kentucky Speedway to the 2011 NASCAR schedule, Kentucky is once has a presence in the NASCAR Cup Series. The last time that NASCAR held a Cup race in Kentucky, it was 1954.

I don't have much to say about another 1.5 D shaped track being added to NASCAR. The racing here seems like it will be lots of fun, but the track was built in 2000. So how about we take a peek at the last time NASCAR wandered through the Bluegrass State. 1954 had some interesting developments in NASCAR both on and off the track. The Pure Oil, Co. manufactured and sold a new tire specifically for stock car racing. Until then, drivers were using the same tires that were used on every day cars. Safety measures were being made, even in the earliest years of NASCAR.

1954 also saw the introduction of specialized helmets which were designed specifically to protect the drivers from concussive forces. Along with safety measures designed to protect drivers from impact injuries, a fire-proof overall was introduced and became a common feature in the garages. While the safety features of stock cars in the 1950s may seem laughable when compared to the high tech modern safety developments, the very fact that NASCAR, as a sport, was influencing safety design and innovation is extraordinarily impressive.

Even this early on in American popular culture, NASCAR had a television presence. In 1952, 1.4 Million Americans had a television set. (That information is sourced from Wikipedia. That number may or may not be correct, but it is probably close) Even in this early market, stock car racing had a foothold. Three television programs featured stock car racing. New York City broadcast a show called Wire Wheels, Desert Dirt featured racing news and aired out of Phoenix, Arizona, and Autorama broadcast out of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Perhaps these are not the television markets that one would expect to feature stock car racing news, but I think that it speaks to the nationwide interest and growing national presence of NASCAR.

Continue reading this post »

0 comments |