NASCAR IS AWESOME THREAD

Spotter22 said:
Since the first time my Dad and Granddad took me to the race track in 1973 I've been hooked. I love NASCAR racing and that will never change. Its the best sport of all time and no matter what rule change, car change, TV change, Radio change, driver change, track change, fan change, viewing change, tire change, engine change, spindle change, rocker arm change, spare change......... it will remain the reason for some of the best times of my life.
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This....all damn day....I have been into NASCAR all of my life, but it got intense when MY Toyotas came to the party. Saw my first race in 2010 in Fontana, and I literally shed a tear when I heard a Toyota motor crank. The people at TRD, the spotters, the engineers, crew chiefs, and those who work on these things are my heroes. Drivers are just meh for me. I have met drivers, but the greatest moments of my fandom include getting the opportunity to tell Chris Lambert how much I enjoy his call on Sundays, and having a great chat with Adam Stevens who allowed me on top of HIS hauler to watch practice. I irritate people here...and maybe even anger some, but I couldn't give a ****. I love this great sport, and while others bitch, I prefer to soak in a hot tub of incredible memories, and anticipate more to come.
 
jaqua19 said:
Playoffs still need some major tweaking, and they're broken. But the idea is there, and combining today's system with the 10 race Chase would be better.

Here's what I propose to crown a more deserving playoff champion.

Shrink the playoff field down to 10. Eliminate win and your in. Run the first 26 races as is. 5 playoff points for a win, 1 playoff point for a stage win...

AND 1 PLAYOFF POINT FOR LEADING THE MOST LAPS, HELLO?

Regular season champ gets 30 bonus playoff points, 2nd gets 15, 3rd gets 10, 4th gets 5, 5th gets 4 etc.

Points reset, and the 10 driver field is seeded per usual.



Now we simply have a 10 race mini season. Except playoff points become "bonus" points. 5 bonus points for winning, 1 for a stage win, 1 for leading the most laps.


There's your champion.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
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Good thinking! I think you should work for NASCAR
 
28car said:
2003 for first race..........you're a young PUP!!

late 70's for first race on TV I watched...............I remember it being on ABC's Wide World of sports
1986 was first live race at Richmond............Smelled the fumes on first parade lap and was hooked............. been to over 60 in person


anyone else have earlier memories?
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When I was a kid in the 1960s I had a couple of neighbors who had local track cars. I thought they were really neat. Couldn't get Dad to take me to the track, though.

Then, to Dad's chagrin, I discovered NASCAR and USAC races on TV (mostly "Wide World of Sports"). I kept bugging him and he finally took me and my brother to a few local track races. I loved it... he tried to discourage it, which was odd because he had told me stories of him and his buddies being local pick-up race crew helpers during the 1950s, for guys like Dutch Hoag when they came to town. Something must have happened, and he wouldn't talk about it.

This spurred me into racing karts in the mid-1970s. Dad relented (although he didn't participate) - told Mom that there were worse things I could be doing.

During and after college I finally was able to become a regular at local tracks. I moved to the DC area and finally went to a Cup race in the mid-1980s (Richmond - the old configuration before they expanded the track). The bleachers where I sat were moved (that area is part of today's expanded track).

In the late 1980s I moved to central NC. Went to every track I could find, including all the Cup races within a do-able drive (Martinsville, Rockingham, North Wilkesboro, Charlotte). But then I started my own racing up again and only went to an occasional big league race (unless we were in one of the support races).

Old age has made me "retire" from racing again ("retire" in quotes because this is probably the fifth or sixth time). I've started going back to the local tracks, but a lot of them have shut down. I might go to some Cup races again, but their current product just hasn't enticed me for the cost involved. But knowing me, I will probably go to some Cup races anyway... if I don't get hooked into unretiring my own racing efforts again...

"Dutch Hoag" - now there's a name for you old-timers!
 
My first race was at a really small country dirt bull ring in Illinois in the middle of a corn field after a long drive over a pot hole filled dirt road. It had a rickety grandstand, restrooms that would gag a maggot and I fell in love with the place immediately. I was 11 or 12 and riding shotgun in my cool older cousins warmed over 55 chev with an olds tri power under the hood and a four speed hydro transmission. We were bad asses lol. I was in heaven. Never forget that night. 55,6 and 7 chevys and Fords raising hell, and a way too pretty black 64 Chevelle that won the A feature.

The same cousin took me to Indiana's U.S. 30 dragway. It was right in the heyday of drag racing. I got to see some of the first "funny" cars, which consisted of a stock looking body with the rear wheels shoved up under where the back seat was and a hood full of injector tubes sticking up thru it. All the big guns were there. The Ramchargers Mopar Dodge, Gas Rhonda's Ford, Mr. Norms.

During the summer, my little town of Kankakee had unlimited Hydroplane racing on the river. They were running these huge Allison airplane engines, Miss Budwiser was there, Miss Crazy thing, I would get my dad to drop me off and spend the whole day there ogiling in the pits those killer fast boats and the racing.

The only Nascar when I was younger was in Hot Rod or Motor Trend magazine articles. I read all I could get my hands on. I knew all of the top names, faces and the cars they drove though and read the race results. Lund, Lorenzen, Jarrett, Petty etc. I don't know how many dirt races I had been to, a lot, before I saw my first Nascar race in person in 99 at Texas. I went to Texas a few times and Kansas a couple of times. Love the roar of the pack. I've been hooked on motorsports for life lol.
 
gone said:
When I was a kid in the 1960s I had a couple of neighbors who had local track cars. I thought they were really neat. Couldn't get Dad to take me to the track, though.

Then, to Dad's chagrin, I discovered NASCAR and USAC races on TV (mostly "Wide World of Sports"). I kept bugging him and he finally took me and my brother to a few local track races. I loved it... he tried to discourage it, which was odd because he had told me stories of him and his buddies being local pick-up race crew helpers during the 1950s, for guys like Dutch Hoag when they came to town. Something must have happened, and he wouldn't talk about it.

This spurred me into racing karts in the mid-1970s. Dad relented (although he didn't participate) - told Mom that there were worse things I could be doing.

During and after college I finally was able to become a regular at local tracks. I moved to the DC area and finally went to a Cup race in the mid-1980s (Richmond - the old configuration before they expanded the track). The bleachers where I sat were moved (that area is part of today's expanded track).

In the late 1980s I moved to central NC. Went to every track I could find, including all the Cup races within a do-able drive (Martinsville, Rockingham, North Wilkesboro, Charlotte). But then I started my own racing up again and only went to an occasional big league race (unless we were in one of the support races).

Old age has made me "retire" from racing again ("retire" in quotes because this is probably the fifth or sixth time). I've started going back to the local tracks, but a lot of them have shut down. I might go to some Cup races again, but their current product just hasn't enticed me for the cost involved. But knowing me, I will probably go to some Cup races anyway... if I don't get hooked into unretiring my own racing efforts again...

"Dutch Hoag" - now there's a name for you old-timers!
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What classes did you race your cars in over the years?
 
I got hooked on racing when I went to the Tampa Florida Fairgrounds in downtown Tampa Fla. with my Father to watch the sprint cars on the 1/2 mile dirt track, I was 9, 10 and 11years old at the time, late 50's, they ran Ford V-8's and Offies, I was amazed. If you have ever been to Tulare California Fair Grounds for a WOO race, that is what the grandstands were like. Back then there were no wings and you could see the drivers working the big ass steering wheel around the track and the sound under the cover grandstand was WOW!

My first asphalt race was at Desoto Speedway back in the 80's and watched my first SLM race, boy was I hooked. It is a 3/8 mile high ban paved oval. My first live Nascar Race was the 400 at Daytona and Dale Sr. won it, can not remember the year, it was in the late 80's. I went with a bunch of folks with Helena Chemical. We had a pot going at $5 apiece, my wife drew Dale Sr. name and won the pot. That was her and my first cup race and we have been hooked since.
 
I been watching racing as long as I can remember. Much like my love for wrestling, my love for racing came from watching with my dad. So I don’t remember not watching it. Just always been part of my life
 
Who is up for Denny Hamlin in a must situation heading to Martinsville? :waver: I love the Playoffs. He has done it before, and I think he does it again....
 
People going on and on about yesterday's race. Drivers getting evaluated and so much could be accomplished to help them in every facet of their lives if they get the privilege of the reading the wriiren wisdom. Fanbases getting told to chill by the unchilled, yada yada yada.

Being all worked up and in a sweat is good evidence of a lot of passion. Thats a good thing (I think)
 
sdj said:
I really like your enthusiasm for the Toyota teams and Drivers but, I hope Denny has the same result at Martinsville as he had at Homestead.
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Nah, I would rather Denny wreck himself out of the race with a boneheaded move rather than a mechanical failure!
 
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Hamlin hit the wall pretty hard earlier, the gerbs missed it but MRN didn't. The gerbs miss a lot with their carrying on instead of calling the race. Hamlin wounded the car before he finished it off and bit the wall the second time. He smacked Blaney pretty good when he used him up also.

I would like to see Elliott boot Hamlin hard into the wall at Martinsville and say his brakes went out lol. Have Elliott put on his best Hamlin's dumbest I don't know what happened face.
 
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