Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 66,882
Likes: 1295
P
PitDAWG Offline OP
Legend
OP Offline
Legend
P
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 66,882
Likes: 1295
Yes, the big boys will be racing on the dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway this coming Sunday. NASCAR was once something I really loved and watched avidly. It helped fill the gap between football seasons for me. With all of the rule changes and drivers of my younger years retiring, it's not quite the same passion for me. But it still does help fill the void between football seasons for me.

So the Cup series hasn't ran on dirt since 1970. These drivers come from many different racing backgrounds. Many of them have never ran on dirt as a professional. So I expect the mayhem factor to be through the roof.

If you even have a casual interest in auto racing, I would suggest checking this out. It will be aired live on FOX Sunday at 3:30 EST.


Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.

#gmstrong
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,222
Likes: 14
T
Dawg Talker
Offline
Dawg Talker
T
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,222
Likes: 14
Totally excited about it. THey're also gonna do heats before the final race so it's totally gonna be mayhem.


ALSO there are a ton of guys who are hopping into the trucks to get practice before the Cup series. So the trucks should also be good fun as well.

Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,222
Likes: 14
T
Dawg Talker
Offline
Dawg Talker
T
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,222
Likes: 14
Looks like the event was a super success... despite some controversy.

SOunds like they're keeping the event for next year as well.

Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 66,882
Likes: 1295
P
PitDAWG Offline OP
Legend
OP Offline
Legend
P
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 66,882
Likes: 1295
I'm glad they are. What probably surprised me the most is that the drivers with the most dirt track racing experience didn't seem to have any advantage in the race. I really enjoyed that race. It added a whole new racing dimension to the cup series.


Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.

#gmstrong
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 38,470
Likes: 794
B
Legend
Offline
Legend
B
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 38,470
Likes: 794
I would say all of those drivers drove on dirt. That is pretty much where you learn at the lower levels.

I think it is much like riding a bike, once you know how, you never forget.

As was shown, having done it longer really doesn't give a driver much of an advantage. Slide through a couple of turns in practice runs and it all comes back.


If everybody had like minds, we would never learn.

GM Strong




[Linked Image]
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,222
Likes: 14
T
Dawg Talker
Offline
Dawg Talker
T
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,222
Likes: 14
I'm really enjoying that they're shaking up the schedule and attempting new things. First time they've had like 7 road courses on the schedule. Plus the Dirt event is making this season to be really intriguing IMO.

It seems that with the new car next year that's also the way the series is going. More variety. iRacing scanned out some streets in Chicago with the blessing of of the mayor even... so there is going to be a virtual NASCAR invitational later on this year...

... which leads into that it's almost been confirmed that they are looking into a street course in some city in the future.

Between the addition of more short tracks, a dirt track, road courses and a possible street course... this is a series that I can get behind? It'll also allow them to shed the "Only left turn" stigma that the sport has had for a long time. 1.5 ovals aren't nearly as popular as they used to be.

Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 66,882
Likes: 1295
P
PitDAWG Offline OP
Legend
OP Offline
Legend
P
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 66,882
Likes: 1295
Actually they discussed that very thing and some of them had never ran on dirt and some very limited. Experience and having a craft down is actually supposed to mean something. In this case it didn't.


Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.

#gmstrong
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 66,882
Likes: 1295
P
PitDAWG Offline OP
Legend
OP Offline
Legend
P
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 66,882
Likes: 1295
As someone whose dad was a Richard Petty fan, it's something I've watched for many years. At first I had a more traditionalist attitude about it. I wasn't happy about the changes. But as time has gone by and they're changing it up even more, seeing it in action is changing my tune.


Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.

#gmstrong
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 15,979
Likes: 83
T
Legend
Offline
Legend
T
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 15,979
Likes: 83
Originally Posted By: The Collector
Looks like the event was a super success... despite some controversy.


Exactly What Controversy?

Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,222
Likes: 14
T
Dawg Talker
Offline
Dawg Talker
T
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,222
Likes: 14
A lot of people like Bristol on Asphalt. Granted attendance has been falling. THere isn't too many short tracks on the schedule as it stands and they end up taking one away for an experiment.

Ultimately Tony Stewart owns Eldora which is a purpose built dirt track which they easily could have added to the schedule without adding dirt to bristol. Tony being Tony pulled eldora out of the Trucks Schedule as retaliation.

That and after their practice runs they found that the tire rules that they had set up weren't going to work for the track...The current gen car doesn't have a package that can run on dirt effectively.. the cars created potholes and divots in the track. Everyone was blowing tires.

They hope with the next-gen car... given it's versatility in design (It's more designed to drive road courses and other tracks more effectively than the current gen which is more streamlined to ovals [some teams actually carry several different cars, one for road courses, one for short tracks, one for speedways... etc... which is more expensive]) won't have much of the same problem next year.

Finally nothing anyone could have predicted is that they got rained out on Sunday. Which ultimately means that they weren't able to run heats like they wanted to. Which sort of irks some drivers because there wasn't any time to get practice on the surface.

DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum NASCAR Cup Series On the Dirt?

Link Copied to Clipboard
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5