Racing Returning to Rockingham

Me and you haven't seen eye to eye on a lot of things over the years but give me a shout next time you're in the area and we'll get a bite to eat. Was the track open to spectators today or just press?

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Me and you haven't seen eye to eye on a lot of things over the years but give me a shout next time you're in the area and we'll get a bite to eat. Was the track open to spectators today or just press?

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
Thanks will keep that in mind.

Today was supposed to be a secret and they weren’t expecting any media to find out about it and show up. Until I found out about it and several media outlets showed up.
 
Rockingham throwback memory- The race was the 3rd race of the year but a week after the events of the 79 Daytona 500 were still making headlines over the fight between the Allisons and Yarborough. I was there, 16 years old and remember it like yesterday. It was freezing and we had to remove ice and snow from our seats when we got in to the stands before the race started. Tempers were still hot between Cale and The Allisons and lo and behold after qualifying - Bobby, Donnie and Cale would end up 1,2,3 and You could feel the excitement in the air! A few laps in to the race Cale and Donnie got in to and crashed again and Bobby went on to dominate the race. It was my second live Cup race, the first was the 75 Southern 500 which Bobby also won, so as a Bobby Allison fan I was 2 for 2 and quite happy. Loved that place but most of the time it was crappy weather. Winter, freezing or pouring down in the fall which is why we named it rainingham.
 
Tempers were still hot between Cale and The Allisons and lo and behold after qualifying - Bobby, Donnie and Cale would end up 1,2,3 and You could feel the excitement in the air!
Oh this is too good to pass up. You mean NASCAR was fixing qualifying way back then? :)
 
Thanks will keep that in mind.

Today was supposed to be a secret and they weren’t expecting any media to find out about it and show up. Until I found out about it and several media outlets showed up.
Andy thanks so much for posting that link and all those pics. WOW! Great the see the Rock looking that good!
 
Lol I did not realize that picture came from Andy
 
I heard one of the turns had some serious roughness to it but I thought it had a hump in it.
 
so is their Tire supplier (Hoosier is it) going to have make a different tire for The Rock race? And I just saw on Twitter the track is breaking apart in Turn 1 it looked to be. Uh Oh
 
The asphalt looks to be in horrible shape, which is to be expected. More cracked than my late cousin who smoked two packs a day while laying in the sun way too much. Racing surface reminds me of the roads in the St. Louis area side streets.
 
Ol Matt has been one of the biggest whiners about Nascar doing it...but hmm, he's got nothing for the little league.

You might want to check out his Twitter feed then. He's unhappy, as am I.

I don't know why they didn't bring multiple different tires, including an ARCA radial, or why Hoosier/General Tire pushed so hard for this decision instead of bringing back a better tire at a later date. And before anyone asks why I didn't ask, I got multiple no comments, except that's not how Hoosier said it to me.
 
so is their Tire supplier (Hoosier is it) going to have make a different tire for The Rock race? And I just saw on Twitter the track is breaking apart in Turn 1 it looked to be. Uh Oh

No, Hoosier/General Tire pushed hard for the restrictor plate alternative. That's what they decided on.
 
Yep it make you look pretty stupid. Try being more professional and quit biting the hand that feeds ya.

I was there all day and saw how this went down. If you go through my Twitter feed or read the story Matt is putting together, you’ll understand.

The drivers aren’t very happy about this. Nobody is.
 
Yeah it would have been nice to see a 125-150 lap race.

Give everyone 3 sets of tires for the weekend
 
Only running a car at a time and judging how tire wear is going to go without a rubbered in track by the whole field is jumping the shark.
 
Yeah it would have been nice to see a 125-150 lap race.

Give everyone 3 sets of tires for the weekend

They'd need four or five sets of tires just for the race to pull that off, and probably more for practice and qualifying. At least with the tire Hoosier is bringing.

The teams are already going to have to buy five or six sets of tires for the weekend, at a minimum.

There was a lot of discussion amongst the racers and teams about wanting to either postpone the race to a later date so Hoosier can build a better tire or go to a radial tire. Hoosier said the problem with going to a radial was that it would cost $550 per tire to go to the ARCA radial. Not sure what the short track radial costs and didn't get to have that conversation with Hoosier.

I had a lot of questions for Hoosier that I wanted to ask to get more understanding of this, but Freeman wasn't willing to talk, which is unfortunate because I think everyone deserves to understand the process for this and why, at least on Hoosier's end, restrictor plates are the only option. The tour has been great, and very transparent, and an unpopular decision has been made and I think Hoosier deserves to be heard and hopefully they reach out.

The CARS Tour deserves a lot of credit for coming back this week, knowing they need to get this right, instead of just showing up to the track with the tires from last week like a lot of other races and series would have done.

Back to the radial tire thing, the other thing I wanted Hoosier to address, some of the drivers and team members and engine builders were saying they'd rather have to buy the radial tires and spend that money because they're saying they're gonna have to spend that money now on engines and other R&D costs for the cars for this race.

There are so many dynamics at play for this race and so many people involved that coming to what the racers or Hoosier or the track or the tour think is the right decision is an Act of Congress.

Just my opinion, CARS Tour should consider going to the Goodyear radial UARA ran for this one-off race, but they probably risk pissing Hoosier off doing so.
 
I'm just glad CARS Tour and Hoosier went through this process instead of just getting there, unloading and having a complete cluster**** like they had at Orange County a few years ago or at Carteret a few months ago.
 
They'd need four or five sets of tires just for the race to pull that off, and probably more for practice and qualifying. At least with the tire Hoosier is bringing.

The teams are already going to have to buy five or six sets of tires for the weekend, at a minimum.

There was a lot of discussion amongst the racers and teams about wanting to either postpone the race to a later date so Hoosier can build a better tire or go to a radial tire. Hoosier said the problem with going to a radial was that it would cost $550 per tire to go to the ARCA radial. Not sure what the short track radial costs and didn't get to have that conversation with Hoosier.

I had a lot of questions for Hoosier that I wanted to ask to get more understanding of this, but Freeman wasn't willing to talk, which is unfortunate because I think everyone deserves to understand the process for this and why, at least on Hoosier's end, restrictor plates are the only option. The tour has been great, and very transparent, and an unpopular decision has been made and I think Hoosier deserves to be heard and hopefully they reach out.

The CARS Tour deserves a lot of credit for coming back this week, knowing they need to get this right, instead of just showing up to the track with the tires from last week like a lot of other races and series would have done.

Back to the radial tire thing, the other thing I wanted Hoosier to address, some of the drivers and team members and engine builders were saying they'd rather have to buy the radial tires and spend that money because they're saying they're gonna have to spend that money now on engines and other R&D costs for the cars for this race.

There are so many dynamics at play for this race and so many people involved that coming to what the racers or Hoosier or the track or the tour think is the right decision is an Act of Congress.

Just my opinion, CARS Tour should consider going to the Goodyear radial UARA ran for this one-off race, but they probably risk pissing Hoosier off doing so.
What did Hoosier bring Andy, the F-45?
 
What did Hoosier bring Andy, the F-45?

Honestly, I don't know exactly which tire, they were branded as General Tire. All CARS Tour knew was they were used in another series, CARS Tour said last week's tire was used at Rockingham for UARA several years ago. All he told me yesterday was that it was a 500. Beyond that, he wasn't willing to talk at all. I don't know if it was the F-50 or what, asked and couldn't get a straight answer.

Don't want to throw anyone under the bus, I'd just say, American Racer would be more communicative than this.
 
Honestly, I don't know exactly which tire, they were branded as General Tire. All CARS Tour knew was they were used in another series, CARS Tour said last week's tire was used at Rockingham for UARA several years ago. All he told me yesterday was that it was a 500. Beyond that, he wasn't willing to talk at all. I don't know if it was the F-50 or what, asked and couldn't get a straight answer.

Don't want to throw anyone under the bus, I'd just say, American Racer would be more communicative than this.
Yeah Hoosier is building the General Brand and I believe a 500 is equivalent to the 45. I'm betting they have a warehouse full of them which is why they dont want to go through the expense of a new tire.
 
Yeah Hoosier is building the General Brand and I believe a 500 is equivalent to the 45. I'm betting they have a warehouse full of them which is why they dont want to go through the expense of a new tire.
I was thinking it'd be the equivalent of the 50. If Hoosier brought the 45, stuck to their guns on that, and didn't even try the 50, I'd be floored.
 
I was thinking it'd be the equivalent of the 50. If Hoosier brought the 45, stuck to their guns on that, and didn't even try the 50, I'd be floored.
It might be, I havent looked at a chart in a few years and never a general chart
 
Looks like its a 45 if I read this right
 

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Honestly that seems like the best choice
 
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