Forum Activity for @andy-denardi

Racing History Minute -1972 Winston Western 500

Stock Car Racing History

I really like the Superbird, but this series of Roadrunner/Charger are probably my favorite stock car bodies ever. The street cars weren't bad looking either. I wasn't too upset when Petty went red/blue because I didn't have many years invested in the sport, and the paint scheme was fairly subdued at first. But the red became more and more prominent and I began to resent it. It would have been terrific if they'd agreed to paint Buddy's car red and just put the STP decal on the rear quarter of Richard's car.

I remember STP stickers all over everything in 1972-73 and most up North hadn't heard of Richard Petty. Whoever was in charge of promotions at STP did an outstanding job because there were a good fifteen years where you couldn't go a day without spotting an STP decal on something. My guess is that kids like to mess things up, like they do with graffiti today. You give them a handful of stickers and they'll do all of your advertising for free. I remember that there were various alternate phrases for what the letters stood for, and that made it more fun because it was a secret teenage language. They probably thought up all of those other slogans at the PR headquarters too.

I don't remember seeing STP pajamas on Maurice's crew but I definitely remember the Coke Machine crew.

ANYBODY GET THE NUMBER OFF THAT CAR THAT WAS FASTEST IN PRACTICE ON FRIDAY

Stock Car Racing History

I didn't notice anyone here saying that the #3 should be retired. We're all aware of it's history. NASCAR is strict on inspections, but they are the ones handing out the restrictor plates. It wouldn't be very hard to hand out the "right" one when you needed a little publicity. NASCAR can't control the race closely enough to guarantee a story that will get a lot of press, but they can easily influence who is on the pole.

RCR has started the 500 in the top five only three times since 2001, so we don't automatically assume they can put up a fast car. However,, they started 3rd last year. They've only finished in the top five four times since 2001, the last time was five years ago. We don't have enough information to compare Dillon to Harvick directly, but I would be surprised if he is better at this point in his career. Next year, yes he may be. I think Harvick got a little too comfortable and a little too old. But this is the Daytona 500, and it's a race where the unexpected happens.

People talking trash are not necessarily putting down Dillon, many of them, like myself, are suspicious of NASCAR and think they sometimes regulate the sport for good press instead of good racing.

ANYBODY GET THE NUMBER OFF THAT CAR THAT WAS FASTEST IN PRACTICE ON FRIDAY

Stock Car Racing History

I hope Austin doesn't ask Dale for any advice on how to win the race, he weren't much good at that. He could help with the 125 though.

I don't know but I'll still guarantee that the side vent is a decal. Leaving aside any aerodynamic or weight issues, a metal piece would be serious debris on the track if two cars rubbed together. They ran the same car all of last year and had no problems fitting the sponsor decals in that space. As you know, NASCAR dictates where each decal goes and how big it will be, so someone spent a lot of time to make sure it could be done.

Racing History Minute - 1971 Motor Trend 500 - Riverside Raceway

Stock Car Racing History

That's a poorly written press release, I hope they fired the author. It's written to imply that Elder won two Riverside Grand National races each in 1971 and 1972. It also seems to state that his father was also his brother.

I wish NASCAR would stop renaming their series each time a new sponsor comes along because I can't keep track of them accurately and make comparisons. Were Winston West cars identical to the Eastern Winston Cup cars or more similar to today's Nationwide cars? I thought they were equal, but Wikipedia says that the series was folded into Busch North, which were lesser cars to Winston Cup.

NASCAR doesn't do enough to promote their full organization during the sprint cup broadcasts. There's a long history of other regions and series that you just never hear about. I remember Ray Elder's name but had no idea that he was that good. Coming from the Northeast, I know that they don't mention the Northern or Southern Modifieds either. You would think that with Mike Joy's and Dick Berggren's involvement in Northern racing that they would have given mention once in a while. They keep talking about diversity, it would be in their favor if they mentioned they have an entire series in Mexico (and Canada and Europe). It might help dispel the general public's impression that this is a minor sport run by a bunch of rednecks down South if they mentioned the depth of racing being sanctioned. I know it's popular to pick on NASCAR but honestly, none of the guys who promote and market the sport the deserve to draw a salary. The web presence sucks, their TV and newspaper coverage is pitiful, and the owners can't see ahead or backward more than three weeks.

Racing History Minute - 1969 Motor Trend 500 - Riverside Raceway

Stock Car Racing History

They can come close by imagining Jeff Gordon in a Ford. Even though he was part of the Ford team before Hendrick stole him. Ford was understandably upset and history shows they had a right to be. He swears that he'll always drive Chevy, but things can change when times get desperate and better Ford than Toyota.

Jeff's quickly becoming irrelevant though, so let's pick Junior, another Hendrick driver. His daddy drove Fords and Dodges before Childress, but both of them are now firmly in the Chevy camp.

Bill Elliott was a big Ford man and upset a lot of people when he went to Dodge. I can't think of a solid Ford driver today. Used to be Mark Martin but he's driven Chevys and Toyotas lately. The Blue Oval hasn't had many championships lately and that makes it hard to have a front man. I don't think Keslowski and Edwards have the star power.

Only reason Petty won this race is because Ford had won every race up to this point and knew how to set up the cars. Gurney was on the Petty team in 1970 and he probably taught Richard a little more.

I never see race wins highlighted in magazines anymore. They used to be a big thing, especially in the weekly papers like Autoweek. Not just the car makers but also spark plugs and motor oil. You'd think they'd want to get some milegae out of ll that money they spend.

DID YA SEE WHO IS COMING BACK TO DRIVE AT DAYTONA

Current NASCAR

The standard engine in the Fusion and Camry are four cylinders. There's no reason that the legends need to have big horsepower. They should stay in big cars for the extra protection instead of running Legends or Bandoleros. Seems like guys are waiting so long to retire that they're too old to run a Legend series. The Labontes and Bill Elliott would have a definite advantage over Rusty. The King could still kick everybody's butt though.A lwegends series qwould be fun, but I'm still pulling for a real IROC series like they used to have. It devolved into Nationwide cars on NASCAR tracks and drivers from other series were at a disadvantage. Run it in December or January when everybody is off, and invite retired drivers too. Run four or five half hour races over a week. Get the European guys as well ass Indycar and Sportscars. Hold it in Australia where nobody knows the track

THEY TALKING ABOUT TWEAKING IT AGAIN

Current NASCAR

I didn't like it when they changed the point system last, but I was wrong. We've had some close races for the championship. The problem is that they just toss those points away and start over for the chase, but that's not going to change.The only thing wrong with the current system (except for the chase) is that race wins need more bonus points going into the chase. Doesn't have to be a lot, maybe two points more for each win. Point leaders who got there with consistent top five finishes but few wins take a hit.I still think they need to cut an hour off of every race too. Long races were exciting when we had mechanical attrition, but now we're just waiting for the mnext crash or pit stop to change the order. Maybe make 'em run really high numeric gears. Cuts the top speed and winds out the engine to the point where they go bad. Or go back to stock blocks and valvetrains.

Racing History Minute - 1968 Motor Trend 500 - Riverside Raceway

Stock Car Racing History

I didn't begin to pay attention to stock car racing until 1968. That, and the appearance of color photos, really draws me into this article.I wasn't aware that window nets were being used this early in 1968. My guess about them not being mandatory is that drivers were still afraid of fire and wanted to be able get out of the car quickly. Weatherly's accident was a fluke and I don't remember any similar incidents. I suppose there were, but to less well-known drivers. NASCAR's fear of losing their star driver overrode any one else's concern in 1970. And didn't John Nemechek's head hit the wall long after nets were mandatory?What was the deal with starting the season in November? Did manufacturers want to show off their new models? Seems sensible to extend the current season to the end of the year instead of starting a new one in the Fall.

Article About Dick Trickle

Stock Car Racing History

ESPN needs to turn this story into one of their hour long documentaries. It will serve as penance for all their snickering each time they mentioned his name.

Racing History Minute/1966 Motor Trend 500/Riverside Raceway

Stock Car Racing History

With all of Chevrolet's many NASCAR championships, it's easy to forget how they put America on the motorsports map. Beginning with all of those Model T speedsters and flathead modifieds.But it was the Sixties where they worked their magic. For many years, nearly every Formula 1 motor was a Ford-Cosworth. They pushed aside Offenhauser to dominate Indycar racing. Ferrari had won nine of eighteen LeMans 24Hours, including six in a row from 1960-1965. Ford crushed the competition in the next four races and and Ferrari has never won again.Dan Gurney's skill at Riverside demonstrates a large part of how they accomplished so much. It involved mixing technologies and series and applying the lessons learned in each. Gurney (and Foyt and Parnelli) drove for them in Indycar, Trans-Am, LeMans, NASCAR and Formula One. The Wood Brothers' pit crew helped Jim Clark win the Indy 500. Bud Moore won the Trans-Am championship. Ford used the same tricks to make their Cosworth dominant in F1 and Indycar for more than twenty years.If we include Chevrolet's domination of Can-Am racing, then for a while, America was the most powerful force in motorsports. And it was because of guys like Gurney running every kind of car they were offered. It sucks that Dan Gurney won five of the first six January Riverside races in a Ford. And that Parnelli won the only other one (in a Ford) leading up to 1969. But what they learned and taught was probably the reason that Richard Petty won there during his first Ford season. And what he learned there is probably why he was the one to break the eight race Ford streak that Ford had at the track.It's a shame that Ford seems to be in last place among NASCAR manufacturers these days, but what's worse is that we don't the intermingling of drivers and teams that we used to have. Americans care less and less about auto racing, and our biggest sports network doesn't want anything to do with it. In the meantime, auto racing is just behind soccer in every other part of the world. The Germans are on top now, with the Japanese coming up fast behind. America needs to start building things again instead of blowing things up.