The usual Talladega final lap!
 

I know there are a lot of NASCAR haters on here so you can save me from all of that BUT did you catch the last lap at Talladega? It’s an amazing testament to the safety of these cars.

Check out Edwards (after what he just went through) getting out of his car and running across the finish line - lol

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That's pretty funny (running to the finish line part). Yeah, the safety of most motorsports these days is pretty impressive. I bet that was quite a ride.

I LOVE Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby.

I bet he's HOT and wanting "a word" with the driver of the car that spun him. That other driver must have been a Cop in a previous life. That's a cops classic spin maneuver.

Yep, I caught it...later I hear 7 fans were injured?

Actually no - he said he didnt realize Brad was there and blamed it on Nascar with its yellow line rule.

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I watch NASCAR the day they drop restrictor plates.

Restrictor plates = about as real as pro wrestling.

Most racing uses some form of air inlet restrictor, especially road racing. ALMS, Grand Am, Speed Challenge, FIA.

Are the fences really that strong to prevent a car from penetrating it?

Front row seats at NASCAR races must be free.

Sherwood

I've been to tracks where spectator protection was less. A lot less.

I am always amazed at the Rally races where spectators are standing right on the shoulder of the track. Now thats close to the action. I watch Nascar and appreciate it as much as any other form of racing.

watching this race clip sums up a few things for me concerning NASCAR. To me, it shows what this organization and its races are all about: Show and Money. It's not about the cars, the techonology, or the skills of the drivers (I am not saying that they are not talented drivers, or I could do any better), etc...If one might not take first, then you should at least get your car's sponsor noticed by flipping into the air or smashing it into a wall. Give the average fan something to see and really appreciate.

In the clip, it was quite obvious to me that Edwards was steering his car into and out of the last corner by looking in his rear view mirror. Brad goes high, Edwards went for the block. Brad goes to the inside, Edwards tries to block again, but it's too late and the rest is history. It seems obvious that it was the only thing Edwards could do to take the win, Brad's car had the draft and did look like he was coming around, regardless. It was probably likely that Edwards would have finished second, taking points, and not destroying his car in that process. But then again, the fans are much more likely to remember Claritin having seen their car flying backwards, 10ft in the air, right in front of their faces.

Super Dave, I did catch how he said something like "NASCAR puts us in this box and we'll race like this until we kill someone, and then they'll change it" in reference to the yellow line. I could see Edwards being more upset about Brad diving into the yellow to avoid the collision (and winning the race), then with what did happen (Edwards totalling his car).

I did 5 hours of interstate driving yesterday. I can't help but notice that most of the cars plastered with NASCAR stickers have drivers that pay more attention to whats in their rear view mirrors (and just how long they can "hold'em off") than whats on the road infront of them.

There is a rule at Daytona and Talladega that states if a driver goes below the yellow line and advances his position the driver will be sent to the rear of the field.
Last October the same scenario happened at the finish. Regan Smith was attempting to pass Tony Stewart at the same spot where yesterday's crash was.
This time Stewart blocked Smith but instead of hitting Stewart, Smith went below the yellow line and crossed the finish line ahead of Stewart.
Regan smith was penalized to the last car on the lead lap and Tony Stewart was given the win.

Carl Edwards - Gotta hand it to him - class act.

But this is racing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxI2JlNPWJ0

That looked like follow the leader to me. Bader had a few chances to get around the guy in front by moving him out of the way, maybe spinning him into the wall, but pussed out. The only guy racing was the yellow Porsche, but he didn't even have much competition.

For the most part, yesterdays race wasn't the typical roll off several hundred miles, stay in line and wait to see who's there at the end. They were getting 3 and 4 wide, beating and banging doors, bump drafting, blocking high and low, and moving like a freight train through the middle at 200mph. That's racing. You knew it was on by the second lap.

It was by far the best race I'd seen in years.

Ya it was a good one and the "big one" happened so early on.

You may not realize how correct you are... I use to have some clients in GA & SC who were nascare race shop, they gave me lots of incite into the business, it isn't a sport, as many things are fixed ahead of time:mad:

I was driving back from Hershey yesterday and missed this race. Does anyone know where to I can watch a replay? Thanks.

That's pretty funny stuff right there.

That was one lap out of a 1000k race - did you notice all the cars off along the way ? Somebody must have been racing.
If you took one lap out of sundays race , other than the crashes it is pretty much a better description of FTL.
All the cars going more or less the same speed in a straight track - not to say those guys can't drive, but without the crashes or knowing because there are a bunch of cars in a small space going fast it is very likely there will be - it is dull as , well watching someone bump draft or block (or argue about the merits of different forms of racing perhaps)
The early crash did make it a better race , but still way too long.

And a 1000K race isn't long? I was feeling the need to doze off after 5 minutes of your clip. There's too much of who's on the pole is going to win in almost every series of car racing other than nascar. If there's not a pass now and then, it's boring. Take F1, there are maybe 3-4 passes in a race, and 3-4 passes for the lead in a whole season that happen on the track. I've tried to become interested in that type of racing, but the soft talk of the announcers at the PGA tournaments get my Sunday nap time vote.

Is there soft talk from the Speed announcers during F1 coverage?

From what I've noticed, there's an announcer that very well could be loaded up on the sauce in the booth. "Woooaaahhh, Kubitza (Kubica) gets nasty hard on the brakes pulling into the pits! He'll be lucky if he didn't bleeewww out a muffler bearing on that one." I like that guy, he makes it worth tuning in for awhile.

There is some truth to what Byron says. Or there was at one time and not that long ago. For instance, in Richard Petty's last year of driving, he "won" the pole at the Daytona 500. He was 10th by the 2nd lap and 30th before long. They let him have a bigger restrictor plate for qualifying. I guess that was kind of a way to honor a man like Petty who was not up to speed for a few years.

My B-I-law was in charge of the South Central Bell phones at the track for many years. They worked for 2 weeks out there before each race stringing wire, upgrading and repairing. There was always a 2 phone secure line from Bill France's suite to the stater stand. NO radios there. Draw you own conclusions.

FWIW, drivers that have a choice because they are driving part time like Bill Elliot and Mark Martin (last year) skip Talladega for good reason. The problem is NASCAR doesn't know what to do about the 2.5 mile tracks. Qualifying is faster at several tracks that don't use restrictor plates. W/o them, qualifying and race speeds would be beyond reasonable. Elliot ran 212 MPH in a Thunderbird 22 years ago the last time the race was run on the track w/o a plate.

In 2004, Rusty Wallace ran a test lap w/o a plate at an average of 221 MPH hitting well over 230 on the long back straight. That was as fast as Donohue drove the 917 Porsche in 1975.

I think Talladega would be well served by a change in the back straight that would provide a high speed chicane. Sorta like a mirror image of the dog leg front. And, that would differentiate Talladega from Daytona.

Look at JR after his dad was killed, one race he cut through the grass, no problem, the next week, someone else dropped 2 wheels over the line, but they had to drop to the back of the pack:confused: Then, look at what has happened to the Rolex 24 a few years back, when they were still building JR's star status, the ran most of the night under yellow, and it wasn't raining hard, not nearly as hard as other years, then they Red flagged it:mad: The Rolex is being run more like nascar every year. When I had clients in GA & SC in the 90 as a parts rep, I got to talking to some of those Good ol Boys about the movie (I had never been interested in short attenion span racing before meeting these guys) and one of the old timers explained what scenes in the movie were true and the real stries behind them. Other shops in other states had guys with the same stories, and they didn't varie. One thing they would say (some weeks you could tell they were not happy, other very happy) shops would get a call "Suggesting" they check the restricker plates, other times they were told to go for it.. All I know is guys who worked in the, and I use this term loosely, "Sport" tell me who to watch and who "may" be fast and 90% of the time, they were correct in what they told me, use to piss of an old girlfriend who was a major fan:p

Lore is a funny thing. It's gets told and retold and before you know it, none of it is true. I didn't spend a lot of time looking up and comparing stats, just this one page I referenced at the bottom. So if it's wrong, then my bad.

In July 1992 during his farewell tour, he did qual 2nd in the Pepsi 400 which is run at Daytona. He led 5 laps early, but retired from the race later due to fatigue. He was in his mid 50's by then and it was probably a hot-humid July day in Daytona.

His last pole was 1979.

http://www.racing-reference.info/driver?id=pettyri01

There's no doubt that 20+ years ago NASCAR was like a gunfight. You had to cheat to beat the other cheaters. That no longer exists to the degree it once did. Cheaters are now scorned, not only by the owners but by their sponsors. There is too much at stake on both ends to tolerate blatant cheating. The new rule books have been rewritten so many times, the infamous "gray areas" are all but removed. Ask Michael Waltrip about cheating... he almost lost his Toyota backed team before it began.

As for Dale Jr., yeah, I think there was a little favoritism. Ironically, no one was madder and more embarrased about it more than Dale himself. He is genuine and carries a tremendous load day in day out for his sport. He does not seek any special treatment.

Again, I think most of this and what you write about in the 90's is past-tense. There are just too many billions at stake to think NASCAR would endorse or tolerate cheating. Like any governing body, they won't please everyone all the time.

Okay, I'm done and I'm not going to defend or debate NASCAR ethics or whether it's a sport. If you can't appreciate the efforts of these drivers, then your head is in the sand and nothing anyone could say would make a difference anyway.

Well said, Terry!

Jimmy Johnson also said after he 'got crashed'... "I hate this place" on camera. I lost interest when the dailey rule changes started happening and it became spec racing. They should call the cars like any other form of racing @ Porsche/Riley, Lexus/Riley. Ford/Nascar, Chevy/Nascar, Toyota/Nascar, etc.

Sorry, I have to disagree with you, I was working a pit a few down from his during his 2nd 24HR race, he would climb out of the car whining about driving in the rain & at night, nothing but a pussy fro the display that I saw, at that time,m and when that race was run all night under caution after he spun in the infield a few time, no one else was, but since he couldn't drive, whined & cried, most of the track was misty, yet they ran a full course caution:confused: If you really think nascar fdoesn't hand on choose the tops in class, I have some swamp land to sell you. Now, I'm only saying what I have seen at the track, while crewing, and from those who biuld the cars, not TV or websites. And having been on teams racing in the Rolex, before & after the changes, I can tell you, that Rule Book does bend, sometimes a whole lot. Sponsors & popularity choose the winner more than the drivers & equal cars do... If I hadn't seen it myself, I wouldn't feel so strongly about it.