Nascar

[Jus Cruisin]

Daytona speedweek is starting. Used to be weeks. Went to quite a few races at the Speedway. Always a good time.

Interested in the the new generation cars. Supposedly it's harder to drive which will help the better drivers.

Daytona not so much. That's just a crap shoot to see who avoids the Big One(s)... Practice on this afternoon and tonight.

 

[mrsrobinson]

I had to Google what Nascar means.... ;-)

I used to be a big fan, lost interest over the past 5+ years. They race in Richmond 2 times a year, 2 miles from my house. I don't go anymore.

 

[highslice]

I had to Google what Nascar means.... ;-)

I used to be a big fan, lost interest over the past 5+ years. They race in Richmond 2 times a year, 2 miles from my house. I don't go anymore.

Didn't realize you are in Richmond. Used to have a business partner there and B of A in Richmond held all of our debt. Loved visiting the city, beautiful area. Enjoyed some amazing dinners at the Tobacco Company. i always laughed at what the locals considered "rush hour"...literally a 5 car line at the toll booth.

 

[spikedaddy99]

I used to live in Mechanicsville. Went to races to party then go home and watch on TV. When I was in the USAF my wife got to drive at Talladega. 140mph around that track was pretty impressive for my (at the time) 25 year old girlfriend.

 

[Force Majeure]

Stuck at home last winter due to covid, I watched the Daytona 500. I’m not intending to criticize nascar fans, but I just don’t see what’s interesting about cars going around in a circle?

 

[mrsrobinson]

Yeah, it's a cool city, I like it here. The races do not attract as many fans as they used to in my opinion. Tobacco Company had a bad fire a couple of years ago, I think it's since reopened. And now it's 6-7 cars at the toll booth ;-) although EZ PASS has helped.

I am close to Mechanicsville, I live on the North side of Richmond.

I was a huge Allan Kulwicki fan, I actually met him at Tobacco Company downstairs (the dance/club area) a week before he died. He came in with a bunch of Hooter girls. Nobody knew him, which was nice as I walked right up to him and said hello.

 

[mrsrobinson]

Stuck at home last winter due to covid, I watched the Daytona 500. I’m not intending to criticize nascar fans, but I just don’t see what’s interesting about cars going around in a circle?

Well, I still get goose bumps when they "start your engines". Being at a race is amazing, exhilarating. I don't know, I think they've lost some of their fan base and need to figure out how to get them, and/or new fans, back.

 

[Blueone]

I was a big fan…. Been to most tracks except Daytona…. I did drive my suburban on the Daytona track when there wasn’t a race going on…. So that might count for something….. drove a motorcycle on both Indy and pocono.
But then the interest faded. I now record the race and FF thru them until the last 10 laps

 

[OllieC]

Interested in the the new generation cars. Supposedly it's harder to drive which will help the better drivers.

Daytona not so much. That's just a crap shoot to see who avoids the Big One(s)... Practice on this afternoon and tonight.

I’m curious as how they perform as well. I haven’t looked at the specs of the new cars but they visually seem shorter. I also want to see what the pit times are now with the single hub design vs. 5 lug nuts. The 5 lugs was kind of the charm of NASCAR, however a spun hub could knock a guy out of the race.

 

[spikedaddy99]

Yeah, it's a cool city, I like it here. The races do not attract as many fans as they used to in my opinion. Tobacco Company had a bad fire a couple of years ago, I think it's since reopened. And now it's 6-7 cars at the toll booth ;-) although EZ PASS has helped.

I am close to Mechanicsville, I live on the North side of Richmond.

I was a huge Allan Kulwicki fan, I actually met him at Tobacco Company downstairs (the dance/club area) a week before he died. He came in with a bunch of Hooter girls. Nobody knew him, which was nice as I walked right up to him and said hello.

My office was by Va Center Commons. That far North, or still in the City? A friend of mine was the GM of The Tobacco Co for years. Any time anyone "famous" came to Richmond, that was the place to go. Scott would call me. I got to meet Wilson Phillips and drool over Chynna...among other celebrities. Heck, I remember when Legends Brewing Co was 3 bar stools and a plastic table. Is that place still open? The best brown ale ever. Sorry to hijack a NASCAR thread...

 

[boatman37]

One of the things I like about NASCAR (besides being a car guy) is there are more than 2 teams that can win. In other sports you have a 50/50 shot at picking the winner and often times you know who that will be long before it's over. In NASCAR there are realistically about 15 cars that could win any given week and usually you don't know who will win until the last 30 seconds or so.

And yes, I have met quite a few NASCAR and IndyCar drivers back when my son was racing karts. He actually raced against Austin Self, Jamie MacMurray, Matt Tifft and pitted with Erik Jones (the old one, not the current one) and raced with Sage Karam, Josef Newgarden, Santino Ferruchi and a few others. I have talked to Sage's dad several times (Jody Karam)

 

[copb8tx]

I only can watch Nascar when they're on road courses. I've been a life-long formula 1 fan and have seats at COTA. I'm actually going to be there to watch the Nascar race in March. I think it'll be an absolute blast seeing them come through turns 12 to 16.

I have zero idea who runs in that series and who I should hate and who I should cheer for.

 

[highslice]

A buddy of mine started on the wait list for Indy 500 tickets when we were 16 (1982). He finally got them in 1994. We took our wives, mine was 5 months pregnant with our first. I didn't really want to go, I couldn't think of anything less interesting than watching cars turn left. Our seats were in the infield between the exit from turn 4 and the pit entrance (they don't have stands there anymore). Turns out it was far from boring. We were only 15 feet from the fence and you could feel the power as the cars went past. it was amazing. And if I got bored with the race, there was plenty to see in the infield.

In 2007 my wife bought me the Richard Petty driving experience at Gateway Speedway across the river. That was a fantastic experience. It is a very tight track and very technical. It still amazes me how much lateral force those cars could take in the turns without breaking free. l Once I got the hang of that it was balls to the wall. They clocked me at 147 MPH down the back stretch and those cars are limited to 160 MPH top end. I asked the instructors what track is the most fun (thinking it would be Talladega or Daytona), They said Indy. The turns are technical and you can run flat out on the straight aways. Haven't done it yet, life kept getting in the way.

 

[copb8tx]

I went to Indy 7 years in a row with a small group of great guys. We primitive camped in the coca cola field several of those years and shortened our lives considerably. First one I went to it was rained out and I literally never saw an Indy car go by. The remaining 6 times I think I have at least the combined memory of one good race. Good times.

 

[Blueone]

A buddy of mine started on the wait list for Indy 500 tickets when we were 16 (1982). He finally got them in 1994. We took our wives, mine was 5 months pregnant with our first. I didn't really want to go, I couldn't think of anything less interesting than watching cars turn left. Our seats were in the infield between the exit from turn 4 and the pit entrance (they don't have stands there anymore). Turns out it was far from boring. We were only 15 feet from the fence and you could feel the power as the cars went past. it was amazing. And if I got bored with the race, there was plenty to see in the infield.

In 2007 my wife bought me the Richard Petty driving experience at Gateway Speedway across the river. That was a fantastic experience. It is a very tight track and very technical. It still amazes me how much lateral force those cars could take in the turns without breaking free. l Once I got the hang of that it was balls to the wall. They clocked me at 147 MPH down the back stretch and those cars are limited to 160 MPH top end. I asked the instructors what track is the most fun (thinking it would be Talladega or Daytona), They said Indy. The turns are technical and you can run flat out on the straight aways. Haven't done it yet, life kept getting in the way.

I took a pee beside grizzly Adams at the Indy 500…. Back then they had the troughs for the most part still do. I can remember all of a sudden it got dark I looked to my left at a chest…the guy was huge. We had a couple laughs. He was a really nice guy and funny

 

[Blueone]

I went to Indy 7 years in a row with a small group of great guys. We primitive camped in the coca cola field several of those years and shortened our lives considerably. First one I went to it was rained out and I literally never saw an Indy car go by. The remaining 6 times I think I have at least the combined memory of one good race. Good times.

We camped in the coke field….. oh shit that bringing back all kinds of stories

a couple coke field stories

first time I saw a guy in a porta Poti and his friends pushed it over and he crawled out covered in shit….. still shake thinking about that one

another time we are walking back to camp, Dave and I … Dave at the time was playing for the CFL huge guy. We walk by this motor home and this guy totally naked is humping this girl under the motor home …. In the grass. Dave and I stop and watch…. And this naked Phucker loses it. He jumps up totally naked and starts running after me about 30’ feet away…. Dave sticks his arm out and clothes lines the guy ….he goes down and Dave says now go put some clothes on I don’t fight naked guys…. He walked away

 

[Skybolt]

I love NASCAR and a big race fan in general. I haven't missed a televised event in many many years. My favorite thing is to BBQ and watch the race on the boat. I have always bee a Richard Petty fan when I was a kid, when he retired I switched over to Hendrick Motor Sports and Jeff Gordon, then on to Jimmie Johnson and now Kyle Larson. I follow Indy and F1 as well. Can't wait for things to get kicked off this week. Just finished watching the first practice for Daytona.

I am loving the carbon fiber design and all of the changes they have made.

 

[mrsrobinson]

My office was by Va Center Commons. That far North, or still in the City? A friend of mine was the GM of The Tobacco Co for years. Any time anyone "famous" came to Richmond, that was the place to go. Scott would call me. I got to meet Wilson Phillips and drool over Chynna...among other celebrities. Heck, I remember when Legends Brewing Co was 3 bar stools and a plastic table. Is that place still open? The best brown ale ever. Sorry to hijack a NASCAR thread...

I am very close to Virginia Commons, but still in the city. I remember Legends Brewery then as well and, yes it's still here. Ex-girlfriend was a bartender at tobacco company long before I met her, guessing you probably bumped into each other. She told me stories of celebrities coming there, especially big bands and musicians.

 

[boatman37]

So you IndyCar guys should know Mark Dismore? We used to pit with him, his son, and the old Erik Jones (NASCAR). Erik was the importer for the brand of karts we ran (Arrow Karts). Dismores own Comet Kart Shop in Indiana and they were dealers for Arrow karts. We got to know them pretty well. Very nice people. My son raced against Sr a few times. He raced asphalt road course.

 

[copb8tx]

We camped in the coke field….. oh shit that bringing back all kinds of stories

a couple coke field stories

first time I saw a guy in a porta Poti and his friends pushed it over and he crawled out covered in shit….. still shake thinking about that one

another time we are walking back to camp, Dave and I … Dave at the time was playing for the CFL huge guy. We walk by this motor home and this guy totally naked is humping this girl under the motor home …. In the grass. Dave and I stop and watch…. And this naked Phucker loses it. He jumps up totally naked and starts running after me about 30’ feet away…. Dave sticks his arm out and clothes lines the guy ….he goes down and Dave says now go put some clothes on I don’t fight naked guys…. He walked away

Similar but not.

My first night in the Coca Cola field ended up being 4 guys is a Jeep Cherokee sleeping in our seats. Poured with rain the entire time. Saturday we're huddled under the raised rear hatch, like cows under a shade tree, drinking beer. While we're standing there this very large bubba in coach shorts and nothing else starts 'submarining'. There were deep tire ruts from vehicles in the soft field filled with muddy water. He'd back up and run and then dive into them head first like a slip-n-slide, going completely submerged. The crowd roared. And then at one point after he comes up from a run someone runs up to him and points out the overturned porta-potty right next to the rut he just went through. That was the end of that!