Forum Activity for @andy-denardi

Inquisitive Old Man Discusses Art, Auto Racing and Yelling at Kids

Stock Car Racing History

I'm in 100% agreement. I know that they can't go back to "stock" bodies for safety reasons; the actual cars are too small to build a cocoon around the driver. Plus there's the whole problem with the true cars being four doors with front wheel drive. You just can't package a race car in those dimensions.

NASCAR is aware that this is a problem; they're trying to get back to something closer to what we had in the Eighties. But in my mind they haven't succeeded yet. Until they go back to some kind of homologation that prevents FWD sedans from competition, I don't think they can succeed. I'm willing to have them run bigger Lincolns and Cadillacs. Before the Chevy V8, a Cadillac was considered a muscle car and many hot rods and home-built sports cars used engines from luxury cars. Cadillacs ran LeMans, Lincolns won the Pan-American road race, Chryslers cleaned up in NASCAR.

I also miss the simpler paint jobs and would enjoy the racing much more if they had simple graphics in no more than three colors and kept the same scheme for the entire season. I think all of us can describe several teams' paint jobs from fifty years ago in vivid detail but can't tell you what the #43 looked like five races ago. And it's not because we're old and feeble-minded.

Well, another confusing selection to NASCAR HOF

Current NASCAR

I disagree with Robbie. I think the majority of judges are qualified to make the decisions and are steeped in the history of the sport. However, I think the Nominating Committee is seriously flawed. I think that most agree the real problem is the limited number of people voted in each year. They have a lot of time to make up for and five is too few. At minimum it should have been ten inductees for the first ten years or possibly the 50 Greatest Drivers that were chosen during the 50th anniversary. The one thing that I think they are doing right is that they aren't restricting nominations to only Grand National and they are actually voting in people from lesser series.

I don't think I would have voted for Jarrett nor do I think I would have chosen Rusty Wallace. As I grew older, I held many less drivers in awe. The names that immediately stand out in my mind are Earnhardt, Elliott, Gordon and Johnson. Given fifteen minutes I could probably come up with four more but I think that HOF inductees should be truly exceptional. Mark Martin would make it because he's remained competitive for so long and since he never won a championship it's a sentimental vote too. Tony Stewart because of all he's accomplished in so many series even though his NASCAR record is hit-or-miss. Alan Kulwicki because of one season where he pulled off the impossible. Heck, I'd even vote in Kenny Schrader because he's involved the sport for more than just owning a multi-million dollar house on Lake Norman. All of these guys are true racers. Dale Jarrett would have been just as happy as a professional golfer.

Tiny Lund Won BOTH NASCAR Halves 42 Years Ago!

Stock Car Racing History

I ran Road Atlanta three times and can testify that it's very hard not to lift as you go under the bridge. Even if you've gone flat out through there fifty times, you still stop and think every time you come up to that corner. They've changed the downhill some and the lead-in to it has changed a lot. I imagine it's not as tough any more. I was not very successful there but it's still one of my top three favorites.

I remember Grand-Am very well and to this day I'm annoyed that the name was stolen for us in the inferior sportscar series. Dick Smothers competed in many series including the Indy 500. For a time he had a column in Car & Driver magazine, back when it still had chutzpah and integrity. As I recall, he wasn't really that good but like Marty Robbins he had a lot of fun just being there.

May 22 - Anniversary of two Petty Enterprises Wins

Stock Car Racing History

Ah hell, I remember solid blue Petty cars and I'm not an old goat. No, you're an old goat if you can remember Richard driving a car other than the #43. You're a really old goat if you attended (but not necessarily remember) a race where a Petty Engineering car had no "Petty Blue" on it.

1968 Daytona pre-race

Current NASCAR

No doubt many of you have seen this. I don't usually surf YouTube and it's new to me. It's claimed to be 1969 but I'm certain that it's 1968 Daytona 500 qualifying. What I find fascinating about it is the number of cars shown, easily thirty different ones. There are more older cars than I would expect for the 500 so they must be late models. The race footage at the end is close to worthless but about 2/3 of the video was shot in the garage area.

8:40 with a classic country soundtrack

1968 Daytona pre-race

Current NASCAR

updated by @andy-denardi: 12/05/16 04:04:08PM

Bruton Says 70% Sure He'll Move Fall Charlotte Race to Las Vegas

Current NASCAR

I've read that the France family is not happy with the response they got from state and local government in Florida regarding their big plans to remodel Daytona. ISC and SMI bought make millions a year. It's about time that money went back into the business instead of investor's pockets. These sports venues want you to pay through the nose for tickets and concessions then pay again when your tax bill comes.

Greed killed our manufacturing base, our political system, our health care and the housing market. The buck has to stop somewhere and this one stays in my pocket.

Bruton Says 70% Sure He'll Move Fall Charlotte Race to Las Vegas

Current NASCAR

I'm tired of corporations trying to strong-arm taxpayers, promising jobs in return for tax breaks. They get off the hook and you and I foot the bill. All to often, those companies end up moving or out-sourcing just as their benefits are scheduled to end, and they pull the same stunt in another town. There are thousands of small businesses that go bankrupt every year when one of these chains makes a deal with the devil.I don't care if the county broke their promise to Bruton Smith, that's a matter for lawyers to settle and I shouldn't be punished. He's hurting because Indycar won't go back there and he doesn't want the place to sit empty. But I don't believe that Las Vegas has the demand for auto racing that he claims. I think he'd do better running Saturday night races on a 1/2 mile track than trying to make that Las Vegas coliseum pay for itself two weeks out of the year.

Sink or swim.

Stock Car Racing History

I vote to cancel the race entirely. The all-stars race against each other every week, and without gimmicks and contrived fan votes. Give the teams a week off. There are too many races on the schedule anyway but that's a topic for another discussion.If you want to spice up the season, do a Winston Million type of promotion. Ideally this would involve an intermediate and short track with the final leg on a road course. But Bruton doesn't have a road course and ISC doesn't like to spend money.Of course the goal has always been to upstage the month of May in Indianapolis. I've tried to think of ways to spice up the World 600 but have failed. There have been various attempts to reward drivers for leading specific laps but that hasn't been successful in turning up the excitement level. You've really got to pay out for every lap to keep them dicing up front, so let's say $2500 per. The drivers make enough money and so do the crew chiefs, so let's make it payable to the rest of the crew. They'll work their hardest on setup and do their best on pit stops. And the driver will be obligated to race as hard as he can for every lap so as to not let down the guys he depends on for his success.

Hail to the Chief? Will Maurice's Name be Called on Wednesday?

Stock Car Racing History

If they get (Maurice) in, theyll get rid of all the Pettys, Richard said. They wont have to worry about putting us in that deal anymore.Hold on now. You got a son Richard. He wasn't no Dale Jarrett on the track but he won a few and he's a darn fine broadcaster. He might get in. I guess Richard figures that the media should be satisfied with the NMPA Hall of Fame. And I guess I agree with him.