NASCAR

[Bootlegger]

   Well it didn't go the way I had hoped, I wanted Carl Edwards to get the Championship this time to be the '16 champion, but Jimmie Johnson is the third 7 time Champion..

  However Joe Gibbs did win the Xfinity championship, with Daniel Swarez...

[Air Ministry .]

Only Cause I wasnt driving .  . 

[Steve Helmick]

I'm happy with the way it worked out, including Daniel Suarez winning the Xfinity Championship. I can't defend "Cousin Carl" blocking Joey Logano the way he did, so I guess I'm happy he didn't win. I don't like to see a lot of crashes and yellow flags changing the outcome of any race.

We had a Spencer racing in NASCAR some years back...Jimmy. He did ok, but the best thing he did was apply his fist to Kurt Busch's nose. It was well deserved.  Steve

[Reptoid]

   Well it didn't go the way I had hoped, I wanted Carl Edwards to get the Championship this time to be the '16 champion, but Jimmie Johnson is the third 7 time Champion..

  However Joe Gibbs did win the Xfinity championship, with Daniel Swarez...

The win should have belonged to Carl. NASCAR threw another unnecessary yellow at the end for a car that had a flat on the apron and was still rolling to the pits. Last minute BS cautions and double row restarts have ruined real racing in NASCAR

[Clint Ormosen]

Couldn't resist. 

[Brett Buck]

I'm happy with the way it worked out, including Daniel Suarez winning the Xfinity Championship. I can't defend "Cousin Carl" blocking Joey Logano the way he did, so I guess I'm happy he didn't win.

   He was doing the only thing he could, if Joey got past he was sunk, and if he blocked that particular run, he still had a chance. Sr. did it a all the time, and sometimes (like 2001) it didn't work out for him, either.

    The only thing that looked wrong to me was the BS yellow flag, but I can almost guarantee there would have been another one before the end as someone got desperate. BS yellows are hardly news in NASCAR. That, and of course, all the "chase" finalists starting off even despite how they ran the rest of the year.

    Brett

[Perry Rose]

Old Chad deserves an asterisk after all 7 wins because of his ability to cheat. He got caught again before the race. Another Smokey Yunick trick. 

[Skip Chernoff]

I don't get this whole "Chase" thing. Why don't they just let them run all of the races and whoever has the most points wins the championship? I also don't get "restrictor" races. Just let them go as fast as they can....they're big boys.The only races that appeal to me are the road races where they have to make right hand turns!

[john e. holliday]

I've almost lost interest in NASCAR races with the way they control the races.   Needless cautions in which the out come was not what it should have been.  I mean a car leading by a 1/4 lap and pulling away only to lose it in the restart because some one put their brain some where and tried using too much foot and takes out the leader.   And the trucks with their required cautions is ridiculous to me.  I too would like to see the old way of winning a championship by finishing races and getting top spots.  Remember when a championship could be won and never win a race.  But, I will still run the recordings while working on planes.    Now I know why I like the local dirt track races here in my area of the country.

[Mark Scarborough]

well I am NOT a fan of Jimminy Johnson nor Chad , however, they are doing what racers do, exploiting the rule book to their advantage,, its RACING , thats what you do..

However, if the points chase was as it was, Jiminy cricket and his band of sanitized do gooders would not have 7 championships,, and Jeff Gordon would have 6 or more,,
alas, it is what it is and NASCAR believes they are doing what they need to promote the sport. I do find it very sad though to see all the empty seats.. and I dont mean a few, you look in the background at most of the races and you see areas of grandstands covered with big banners pretending to be advertising and what they are really doing is covering empty seats....

I hate to say but live attendance is dwindling,, well maybe dwindling is to strong a word, but its sure past its prime. Now that all the cars look the same, they have sanitized the drivers behavior to a point that no one is a bad boy anymore, hell they even got Kyle Busch to behave,, Smoke is retiring,, its all a bunch of pretty boys now and I miss the rough and tumble of what it used to be. The last cars I really liked were prior to the Lumina bodies coming in. But then what is NASCAR supposed to do , there are no cars that fit the rules anymore,,

I am glad they protect the drivers as well as they do,,, well mostly,, lol

[Russ Main]

Yeah come on DOC! I like it when you talk dirty!

[john e. holliday]

Yeah, doing it on dirt is the way.  Each lapis different when you get to the 25, 35 and 40 lap features.   Some drivers like the dry dirt in which we eat dust all evening.  Then the wet track or sticky surface in which they may lots of grip or spin tires throwing the mud balls.   You learn through the season who is able to adapt quickly each night.  But rain does put a damper on things once in a while.   One of the best races I remember was when a rain shower came through and halted things for about 20 minutes.  Out came the push trucks alipping and sliding until the sprint cars, open wheel racers, hit the track.   About 30 cars on the 1/2 mile and the flagman throwed the green flag for hot laps.   Mud clods going every where.   About half dozen laps and those drivers are making it look easy.  Granted it was after midnight before the races were done, but what a show.  Just go to YouTube and look up sprint car races or even dirt modified races.  Remember the old Hudson telling the kid, "Turn right to go left".    Yes I have strayed from the topic, but NASCAR gets boting any more.

[Brett Buck]

Old Chad deserves an asterisk after all 7 wins because of his ability to cheat. He got caught again before the race. Another Smokey Yunick trick. 

   Given that three of the four contenders had the same issue, I am not sure why you single out Knaus. They are *all* pushing the things that matter to and beyond the limit because it's necessary to be competitive.

       Brett

[Fredvon4]

NASCAR lost me a while back.. I think I watched only one race last year at the VFW and zero this year

I was a big Dale Jarret and earlier Stock car fan

I Miss "run what ya brung" real racing and always thought the formula non brand cars would ruin it for me and that proved to be true

MY fantasy is twice a year NASCAR has an open unlimited race with whatever a guy or team wants to put on the track...I trust most entrants would see to their OWN safety

Is there even any true racing of STOCK cars you can buy on Monday anymore??

[Dan Berry]

I've almost lost interest in NASCAR races with the way they control the races.   Needless cautions in which the out come was not what it should have been.  I mean a car leading by a 1/4 lap and pulling away only to lose it in the restart because some one put their brain some where and tried using too much foot and takes out the leader.   And the trucks with their required cautions is ridiculous to me.  I too would like to see the old way of winning a championship by finishing races and getting top spots.  Remember when a championship could be won and never win a race.  But, I will still run the recordings while working on planes.    Now I know why I like the local dirt track races here in my area of the country.

I wish they would post a schedule for the good crashes.

[Scott B. Riese]

Mark Mark Mark....YOU'ER LOVE for Jeff is well known here at the left seat at my home. EVEN TUX agrees.  


I'm still a Chuck Yeager fan  

Scott (anyone but little bush) Riese

[Mike Keville]

NHRA did the same dumb thing with drag racing:  pile-up points all year long, then start over later with some goofy "chase" thing.  Ridiculous...and perhaps why THEIR spectator stands are largely open too.

[Mark Scarborough]

well the system of a play off was misgiuded in my opinion,,
some of the most intense points battles were before this,, they were season long battles and it nmoitivated you to watch every week to see where your guy made up or lost..
I remember disticntly the 92 season, going in to Atlanta it was between Davey Allison, Bill Elliot ( I think, to lazy to look it up) and Alan Kulwicki. THe championship changed hands several times throughout the race with Kulwicki eventually getting the championship due to staying out to lead one more lap before he pitted..
I think its crap that teams have one bad race in the playoff and they are out,, I just dont see it,, but its what NASCAR decided,, and I know Jimmy benefits for some reason, him and CHad have figured out the system,, oh well, my intrest is waining with Gordon gone,, ( I have followed him since he was a 14 year old kid racing 800 hp sprint cars on dirt,,,, ) the chase format,, the cookie cutter cars.... the over the top narrating during the races.. I enjoy the first half of the season with Darrell and crew,, but the second half,, yawn,,

[Dan McEntee]

     I've always had an interest in stock car racing, going back to when they raced real "stock" cars and before big time sponsors for the events, cars and the series. I wonder how many of today's golden boys would be able to handle the cars that Pearson and Petty handled in their prime?  No one will ever catch David Pearson for second in all time wins, much less Petty. But Pearson only ran hand picked events, never running a full schedule and still amassed over 100 wins.
     An event happened this past October that to me is bigger than Johnson winning his 7th championship. The US won the World Trophy and the individual overall at this years International Six Day Enduro (ISDE). The US has competed in this event since the 40's (when it was called the ISDT, International Six Day Trials) and have done well in the past but never the big prize. If you ever saw the movie "On Any Sunday"  one of it's features was the ISDT, and as a teenager the guys who earned the blue and white skunk helmets that denoted the US team have been some of my biggest heroes. In the Six Days, you have to be a great rider and great mechanic, as you are the only person allowed to touch your bike during the six days of competition. This year, in fact, the US dominated the whole event, taking several more top placing team and individual placings including the Junior team and Women's team. This year they instituted a vintage class and it was won by American Fred Hoess on a 1986 Husqvarna. Not truly vintage by some estimations, but I'm sure Fred hand built and restored the machine and that is quite an accomplishment. How many of the golden boys in NASCAR could actually work on their cars?
   Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[john e. holliday]

Well one of them is calling it quits this year.     

[Mark Scarborough]

well Tony Stewart and Greg Biffle might both be gone,,

I hate seeing Biffle leave ( if in fact he does) It is clear he is leaving Roush however.

When I raced in the Tri CIties, Biffle used to race there as well. We pitted next to him several times and it was obvious he was a class above the local teams...

It has been an honor to watch him race in the "big leagues" as well as Chad Little who I watched race as a teenager but his career did not last as long as the Biff,,

[Steve Helmick]

I don't get this whole "Chase" thing. Why don't they just let them run all of the races and whoever has the most points wins the championship? I also don't get "restrictor" races. Just let them go as fast as they can....they're big boys.The only races that appeal to me are the road races where they have to make right hand turns!

The reason they came up with "The Chase" was mostly because of Matt Kenseth's winning the Championship without winning a race. The simple fix would be to award more points for winning. I'd like to see that.

It might be interesting to see how fast they'd go at the super speedways without restrictor plates, but then again, I really don't like to watch drivers carried away from wrecks in body bags. Maybe they could just reduce the engine displacement allowed? Perhaps 5 liters or even less would do it. Even 4 liters, since the manufacturers are embracing the French system so thoroughly. The engines are already completely different for Super Speedways, so the extra cost wouldn't be anything new.   

Yes, to more road races! I worked corner crew at Pacific Raceway for a few years. It would be fun to see NASCAR running on tracks like that. I saw some epic races way back, with Phil Hill driving the first McClaren Can-Am car, Jim Hall and Hap Sharp driving the Chaparrals, Mark Donohue in his Penske-Lola, and the Revson brothers. In Trans-Am, Parnelli Jones, Dan Gurney, etc.   

I try to watch some F1 races. At least they're not using a "Chase" format, but they make up for that with some really stupid rules. Two compounds of rain tyres and 3 compounds of slicks, and then they mandate that two different ones be used. I think it's a way to cover for potential boondoggles like they had at Indy about 10 years ago, when the tires (note the different spelling!) were total crap and unsafe. Who was that tire maker? It's also a way to mandate a pit stop, without actually requiring a pit stop, and because refueling is not allowed during the race. I understand there's some sort of "hybrid" facet in F1, but I have no idea how it works. I also think the "DRS" thing is stupid. Not a fan of allowing any and all high-tech stuff in F1. It's expensive, and as you can see now, only a few teams have the funding, so they dominate. Not what brings in the fans. Having hot umbrella girls is a good idea, however.

One day I turned on the TV and there was a "Formula E" race on. OMG, what a bore. If anybody was going fast, they'd penalize them for using too much battery capacity. Then they had a yellow pit stop for changing batteries and tyres. I'm sure everybody got a "participation" award afterwards.  Steve   

[Bootlegger]

  I think that slowing them down would be good so that they don't have restrictor plates on the carb's, and my thoughts in this vein is go to a smaller carb, such as 500 C F M, and I know that in time they will be back to these speeds.
   I too don't want to see "body " bags at the track as we don't need that sort of thing to happen.

  But going back to the Chase format, I liked the points system for each race more than what they have now.
 My thinking is that they get close to the end and they get too aggressive and too many wrecks happen, I know that it is racing, and that wrecks happen, but too many times the wrecks are intentional...

  I still like NASCAR racing though...

[Mark Scarborough]

FYI they are all fuel injected now, so aside from hacking they could do the same thing by restricting the injection mapping, of course  some would figure out how to get around that,, so displacement is the surest way and it has been adjusted .

[wwwarbird]

 
 Shhh, is that a banjo I hear playing?

[Dan McEntee]

   I would like to see restrictor plates done away with also. It would be necessary to slow them down, but instead of smaller engines I would take away some of the tire width and have just enough of an aero package to make the cars dirty and stable at 200MPH straight-a-way speeds, and then with the skinnier tires, they would need to back off a bit for the corners to set the car up for the turns . In other words, they would have to drive the car in the corners! Not just put their foot to the floor, hold it there and hang on and let the chassis set up and tire stagger turn the car. With the better throttle response with no restrictor plate, they can breath the engines a bit in the corners and use the throttle  to drive the car in the turns. It would let the really good drivers shine and stand out and I think make for better and more entertaining racing. The cars might be overall faster, but would break up the big pack of cars that has everyone on the edge of their seats waiting for "The Big One."
   Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[Dwayne]

Old Chad deserves an asterisk after all 7 wins because of his ability to cheat. He got caught again before the race. Another Smokey Yunick trick.  

If ya aint cheatin ya aint racin.  

[Dwayne]

This is a tough one, on the one hand what JJ and Knaus have accomplished is amazing, but on the other if they were still running the old points system they'd only have 2 championships, so does JJ really belong in the same company as Petty and Earnhardt? I guess it depends on if you're a JJ fan or not.

[Brett Buck]

This is a tough one, on the one hand what JJ and Knaus have accomplished is amazing, but on the other if they were still running the old points system they'd only have 2 championships, so does JJ really belong in the same company as Petty and Earnhardt? I guess it depends on if you're a JJ fan or not.

   I am not really a Jimmy Johnson fan, but I think it's more impressive than Petty or Earnhardt (and Earnhardt more impressive than Petty). In Earnhardt's era, there were far fewer  really competitive teams and most of the field were "fillers". Even more so from Petty's era. And there was only one car per team, so you don't have 4 Hendrick (and 4-6 "associated" cars) and 4 JGR guys to go up against in every race.

     Johnson goes out there every week and there are maybe 7 other cars in virtually identical, state-of-the-art equipment. Gordon was in the same car, and he may be the best ever - and Jimmy won 6 championships when they were going head to head. He's probably going to beat Gordon in career wins - Petty's record is certainly untouchable, Pearson maybe but an outside chance with only 36 races a year (instead 50-60 per year when Petty was doing it).

     You can never come to an objective conclusion, any more than you could determine who is the best ever stunt flier. In stunt you can make a reasonable argument for maybe 5 different guys, and my 5 may not be anyone else's.

    Brett

[Dan McEntee]

  I am not really a Jimmy Johnson fan, but I think it's more impressive than Petty or Earnhardt (and Earnhardt more impressive than Petty). In Earnhardt's era, there were far fewer  really competitive teams and most of the field were "fillers". Even more so from Petty's era. And there was only one car per team, so you don't have 4 Hendrick (and 4-6 "associated" cars) and 4 JGR guys to go up against in every race.

     Johnson goes out there every week and there are maybe 7 other cars in virtually identical, state-of-the-art equipment. Gordon was in the same car, and he may be the best ever - and Jimmy won 6 championships when they were going head to head. He's probably going to beat Gordon in career wins - Petty's record is certainly untouchable, Pearson maybe but an outside chance with only 36 races a year (instead 50-60 per year when Petty was doing it).

     You can never come to an objective conclusion, any more than you could determine who is the best ever stunt flier. In stunt you can make a reasonable argument for maybe 5 different guys, and my 5 may not be anyone else's.

    Brett

    Another consideration is that in the early era, they ran on many different types of track, including dirt, and the original Daytona Beach course. Sometimes they ran a couple of nights a week on short dirt tracks. A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti were both successful in the few NASCAR races they entered and one could postulate how things would have shook out if they raced stock cars full time. Some of today's drivers are not fast if they are in a mediocre car and can't relate what they need to their crew chiefs.  I call it being "track wise." They can't read the track and tell the crew chief what adjustments to make, just that the car is tight or loose, if that much. Johnson is one that has that ability, and has shown it many times by taking a poor starting position and working his way through the field during the race by know what to do to adapt the car. The race Sunday was a good example. There probably hasn't been a driver and crew chief combination as good as Johnson and Knaus in a long, long time. Maybe not since Petty and  Inman. And that is a key part of what it takes to be consistent and that is what wins races and championships. And it's also what helps win stunt contests also!
     All in all, I have always been a big David Pearson fan, along with Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart. I would love to see Stewart and Gordon in a couple of midgets together at the Turkey night race!!

  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[Bootlegger]

 Dwayne, It  ain't cheatin until ya' get caught...

[TigreST]

  Question:  How do you successfully elude the cops when in NASCAR country?

Answer:  Turn right! 

[john e. holliday]

I remember when Lakeside Speedway of KCK first opened.  My son and I were there opening say Sunday afternoon paved track.  With my work schedule I didn't make too many races while it was paved.  Then the track after several years of low car count and fans went to dirt.  When I retired I started going to the races on Friday nights.   Three classes of cars, street stock, grand national(look like WOO Late Model) and super modified.   I got to talk to a couple of drivers  and know a few of them.  Almost every one of them said dirt was easier money wise.   One young said he liked both, but setting up cars, he said if you miss the set up on dirt you could make up a lot with driving.  On pavement the car had to be right if you want to win.  

As far as cheating I like what one of our guys on this forum says,  "Sure he wins all the time as he cheats more than I do".

[Dwayne]

Dwayne, It  ain't cheatin until ya' get caught...

I'll give Knaus this, he's always looking for ways to  interpret the rule book, a few years ago he massaged the C-pillers of the 48 making the car a bit more aero, at first the car passed inspection but then NASCAR thought no, not in the spirit of the rules and they had to rewrite the rule book. Haters screamed CHEATER! I say brilliant! 

[Mark Scarborough]

I'll give Knaus this, he's always looking for ways to  interpret the rule book, a few years ago he massaged the C-pillers of the 48 making the car a bit more aero, at first the car passed inspection but then NASCAR thought no, not in the spirit of the rules and they had to rewrite the rule book. Haters screamed CHEATER! I say brilliant! 

well from my short time racings stock cars, its not cheating unless the rules forbid it.
if the rules have a loophole, then you are not racing unless you explore it.
Coil over shocks were forbidin in our class, so when I built our car I did some research on geometry and with our car I was able to use a strut front end and coil over springs on the strut. ( all suspension components had to be OEM stock parts , but springs could be aftermarket. ) this let us use a much broader range of spring rates than an a arm front end. It was not cheating it was using the rules.....It also reduced the unspring weight by a bunch and since our cars were 2200 pounds with the driver, every bit you saved in unsprung weight was dramatic. Stock type pistons, stock heads ,any cam, stock intake ,  we used 22R toyota motors with an aluminum head ( lower center of gravity) one year the 22R came with domed pistons and that coupled with shaving the head gave us a pretty healthy compression ratio... The ford 2300 motors gave up some of this advantage not to mention the blocks were junk,,, anyway, the point is, racing is about finding advantages without cheating,, Knaus I dont consider cheating, but I still am not a fan of him or Jimmy,, so yeah, at the end of the day I support reading the rules, and abhor cheating,, lots of little things we did on our car were grey area, not prohibited, so not cheating,, and our car was fast,, so it works,, LOL

[Norm Faith Jr.]

Yeah, doing it on dirt is the way.  Each lapis different when you get to the 25, 35 and 40 lap features.   Some drivers like the dry dirt in which we eat dust all evening.  Then the wet track or sticky surface in which they may lots of grip or spin tires throwing the mud balls.   You learn through the season who is able to adapt quickly each night.  But rain does put a damper on things once in a while.   One of the best races I remember was when a rain shower came through and halted things for about 20 minutes.  Out came the push trucks alipping and sliding until the sprint cars, open wheel racers, hit the track.   About 30 cars on the 1/2 mile and the flagman throwed the green flag for hot laps.   Mud clods going every where.   About half dozen laps and those drivers are making it look easy.  Granted it was after midnight before the races were done, but what a show.  Just go to YouTube and look up sprint car races or even dirt modified races.  Remember the old Hudson telling the kid, "Turn right to go left".    Yes I have strayed from the topic, but NASCAR gets boting any more.

My ride 1994- 1999. 75 Nova 400HP Street Stock.

[TigreST]

 Shhh, is that a banjo I hear playing?

Paddle faster!

[TigreST]

[peabody]

I don't think that NASCAR quite sucks, but think that a LOT could be done to make it better.
I attended the 1969 Daytona 500 and have probably hit 50 or so races since....
I believe that too much "equality" has made the racing less interesting...
I also believe that Goodyear is on the way to completely ruining the sport.....the summer race at Martinsville, a 500 lapper on a half mile track, saw the teams allocated TWENTY sets of tires and concern that they might run out during the race! Do some math......and GOODYEAR is PROUD of their product!
Too much emphasis on pit crew performance leads to less on driver or car performance.....

Have fun!

[Randy Cuberly]

This probably won't be a popular statement here in this thread BUT...NASCAR has become a very boring and predictable form of Auto Racing.

Dirt Track Sprints is about the only type of racing that contains any real excitement anymore, and it can all be seen by the fans pretty close up!

Truly exciting racing.  The only thing better is Motorcycle Dirt Track racing (Flat Track).

NASCAR is HO HUM!  A two hour long parade where all the cars and drivers look the same!!!  I think the officials take advantage of things to sometimes deliberately close things up just to attempt to add a little excitement.

The days of Smokey Yannuck (SP) and the Big Dodges etc is long gone and best buried!

Randy Cuberly

[Reptoid]

NHRA did the same dumb thing with drag racing:  pile-up points all year long, then start over later with some goofy "chase" thing.  Ridiculous...and perhaps why THEIR spectator stands are largely open too.

Not a fan of either chase format but at least in NHRA all 10 are in to the end so one (or even 2) bad outing doesn't kill ya

[Dan Berry]

NASCAR lost any and all credibility with the race in Indianapolis when the tires wouldn't last and they ran 400 miles with a caution for new tires every ten laps.
Simply a joke that wasn't funny.

[Dwayne]

Not a fan of either chase format but at least in NHRA all 10 are in to the end so one (or even 2) bad outing doesn't kill ya

I lost interest in NHRA when they went to 1000 foot, now you have 10,000 hp cars going 1000 feet in 3 seconds, huh? Sorry that's not drag racing. I used to love the Pro-Mod class, big honking blowers sticking out of just about every conceivable type of body style you could think of, loved the 63 vette, now the turbo cars in slick aero bodies have taken over, yawn...boring!

[Fredvon4]

I totally enjoyed my time in at Fort Lewis WA drag racing at PIR and SIR and even hobby stock car racing at Tennino or Spanaway

Besides baseball and football, NHRA and NASCAR were serious passions... each time I came back from an overseas assignment, the rules and such had change until I was totally lost ----and each weekend watching became pointless and boring

Much of my (maybe misplaced) BRAND loyalty came from my participating and watching...

when all of it got homogenized--- the allure (for me) was lost

I went a few times in Germany to super races and was seriously disappointed with F1 as a spectator sport...not just the cost, but a set of indistinguishable cars zipping past a mach 5, in and gone in 2.2 seconds from our vantage point, was a grand waste of my weekend

Recently they bought land and brought F-1 to Austin Texas (now a yew years old)...I have not, nor ever will, attend the 61 mile away from me, once a year race

Similarly NFL and MLB lost me

I must me a true anachronism...because I surely do miss the 1960s and 70s for ALL sports and racing--- in person or on TV

Great fun seeing and hearing the leg break on Terry Bradshaw decades ago

I managed a few times to get to Darlington, Dover, Richmond, Bristol.... always wanted to do Daytona.. but as I aged the massive crowds made attending unpleasant.

They built Texas Motor Speedway and I waited 4 years for an infield parking spot... finally got a 20X40 RV slot for only $1750 per year.....held it three years before letting go ...always Temp Duty Somewhere during the race so never got to attend... but my co workers had great fun---- on me

That was another great disappointment, BTW, because paying for an infield RV slot did NOT get you into the race...You still had to buy tickets and extra$$$ for pit area pass.. plus you must arrive to get to YOUR spot on Thursday and no reasonable way to leave until Monday....EVERYthing inside the infield was inflated...$---like $10 for a 20# bag of ice

My slot was true infield, not outside edge near the track.... I was offered, the second year, to trade for a turn 4 slot "on the track'...for the low low price of $7500 per year...I passed

[Andre Ming]

I had been a NASCAR fan since a youngster in the early 1960's, having watched the likes of Fireball Roberts, Fred Lorenzen, Richard Petty, et al, via the wonders of ABC's Wide World Of Sports, along with finding scant coverage in the automotive magazines at the time. It was really, really cool watching race-prepped factory automobiles racing as well as the drivers that drove them. Seeing vintage videos of those heavy tanks in the hands of the driving talent of that time doing four wheeled drifts around Riverside Raceway is still amazing to this day. No way the primadonna's of today's NASCAR have the skills nor the cajones to race like those drivers raced.

Since the death of Dale Earnhardt Sr., NASCAR has mismanaged the sport and taken it to the current low it's at now. The empty stands at all races attest to the fact that NASCAR has lost its luster with the faithful NASCAR fans and newer fans have not replaced them.

I think the "glory days" of NASCAR are long gone and it is no longer the cash cow it once was. I don't really think there is a way for NASCAR to regain anything near its former glory. Too much has changed within the sport and outside the sport.

IMHO, when Dale Jr. retires, that is going to be another blow to what remains of NASCAR.

It's been so long ago, that I can't recall the last time I sat and watched a NASCAR race.

[john e. holliday]

I remember when KCK got the bid for the NASCAR track back when I was thinking of retiring.  Really surprised me because of all the different racing tracks we had outside the city limits on the Kansas side.   Missouri is where I thought the track should have been built as there are many dirt short tracks over there within an hours drive.   Kansas City Kansas as they moved the city limits and enclosed the few tracks we had they would put them out of business.  The biggest fiasco was when they took the original Lakeside 1/2 mile dirt track to build a horse and dog track with enclosed spectator section.  It was a couple of years before the new Lakeside was built in what was Wolcott KS until the 93 flood.  No more Wolcott as the good boys in government said the town could not be replaced.  The flood was bad enough that all you could see was the press box.   But as you have stated sports are nothing like it was when we were younger.   Money talks and is the ruination of a lot of sports.  

By the way, have only been to two races at the speedway and the last time I was ready to deck the so called usher as after the race by the time I climbed up to the mezzanine where the exits were I had to stop and get my breath.  Was told I could not stand there where I was not blocking any body.  When I told him I had to catch my breath he said I had to keep moving.   I getting ready to take a swing when my daughter stepped in.    My neighbors who were the first to get season passes when the track opened sold theirs a few years ago because of the costs.  

Miss watching my granddaughter and her softball team play.

[Andre Ming]

Doc:

What a small world. My family used to go to the old Lakeside Speedway and watch super modifieds race. However we went to Riverside Raceway in the old Riverside area more often. Fun times!

[wwwarbird]

 Last night, in fact for the last few, I didn't watch a NASCAR race, or stay at a Holiday Inn Express, but I did spend some time in the shop working on a Control Line Model Airplane.  

[john e. holliday]

Doc:

What a small world. My family used to go to the old Lakeside Speedway and watch super modifieds race. However we went to Riverside Raceway in the old Riverside area more often. Fun times!

Seen a lot of races there.   Remember Olympic Stadium?   I was a corner man for the motorcycle races.   Usually turn one.

[Andre Ming]

Doc:

I sure remember the newspaper ads for the auto races at Olympic Stadium... but I was never attended there when I lived in the KC area. I have a lot of great memories from around KC: Control line, auto racing, railroading, slot car racing, and more. LOTS of great memories.