Forum Activity for @andy-denardi

The 2013 Chevy SS

Stock Car Racing History

Sure the Ford looks different from the front, but the greenhouse is identical to the other cars and the tail is very similar between the three. Pretty much the same as the COT but better. They're trying and that's good. The danger is that if they depend too much on the stock body then we'll go back to weekly protests and adjustments to various manufacturers. That was annoying. It was better when the cars restyled every year and manufacturers could run last year's car if this one was a dog. It's too bad that Dodge won't ever be back. Their 2013 racecar looked real sharp and the just introduced a Charger Daytona model.I don't see why we can't have chin spoilers. Raise the front and sides of the cars to six inches off the track so that the cars are less dependent on aero. I've read that nascar did a lot of work in the tunnel to make these cars drive better. I'll reserve final judgement until I've seen a few races. I definitely don't want to see any more trains like Daytona has had for the last ten years.

The 2013 Chevy SS

Stock Car Racing History

It looks better than what we had, but if you took off the Chevy badges you'd have have a hard time telling it from a Toyota or Ford (or Lexus or Hyundai). At least from the rear and sides. Street cars look similar these days and racecars even more. They keep talking about how the cars are too dependent on aero but they still build in non-stock front valances and long side-skirts.

It's a welcome change, and nascar has made several of those recently so I'll just say thank you.

It's Now Official - Trucks on Dirt, with a Road Course too!

Stock Car Racing History

I thought sure NASCAR was going to put off the dirt race for another year. I'm looking forward to watching, and I never watch trucks! I don't know how they'll make rides available for drivers outside the series with only thirty trucks. You just know that the spare rides are going to get picked up by Sprint Cup guys. They need to leave five or six entries open for WOO guys.

The road course news doesn't excite me at all. As I've said before, racing trucks makes no sense to me. Running a road race with them is even more ludicrous. The SCCA tried racing pickups in the Eighties. Those were road courses. They got laughed out of town.

Oh yeah, those were real trucks. Not the crap you got now. Look! That's an actual dashboard in there.

Look! That's an actual dashboard in there.

2013 NASCAR Paint Schemes

Stock Car Racing History

Yeah, even with four colors (plus chrome), I think Junie's car is easier on the eyes. Just a simple sponsor call-out on the quarter panel. I sure wish we could go back to that style. If you look at the black mock-ups that NASCAR provided , you'll see that they look a lot more like what we had in the Seventies than today's cars.

2013 NASCAR Paint Schemes

Stock Car Racing History

I thought they would eliminate the name over the side window when they put the banner on the windshield. So far, all of the cars I've seen have both. I have a sentimental attachment to the name above the door; I'm glad that some are keeping it for now. I don't like the banner, it reminds me of IROC. But with paint jobs changing almost daily, I can understand why it's needed.

2013 NASCAR Paint Schemes

Stock Car Racing History

I prefer the simple designs without the stripes and swoops and flames. So the #21, #22, #56 and #88.

They all look too cluttered though; too many sponsor decals. I detest hood decals the most. All of these designs would be improved without it. I notice that none of these have a roof sponsor, and that will shake things up more. I think that the new rule that allows the contingency sponsors to extend into the door is a bad one. It crowds the design even more.

Best of Buzzed Brad

Current NASCAR

That's a better Cup than the one he was racing for! Brian France looks like he's jealous in those pictures.

Brad Daugherty's Comment About Brad Kesolowski's Championship

Current NASCAR

...and FOX must get their on-air talent for free...

They're paying too much.

NASCAR Unveils New Look for 2013 Cup Cars at Homestead

Current NASCAR

* The driver's last name featured on the windshield

This doesn't solve the basic problem, having a different paint job every week. I'm not sure that I'll be able to read the windshield decal at speed. And we'll never see it on TV because they never zoom out beyond the sponsor logo on the fender.

* Sponsor decals will not be permitted on the headlights and taillights, two key distinguishing characteristics of the auto manufacturers' brand

I don't recall seeing decals there before.

* A single sponsor logo will be permitted on the roof under the number;

This can't be true. There's always a sponsor logo or two in front of the roof cam. That's why we seem that camera angle so often. Those decals would be to the side of the number, not below it.

* "Step and repeat" / background patterns will be permitted on the sides of the car;

I don't know what a step & repeat pattern is. It sounds like more of the ugly frippery that plagues the current designs - flames, slashes, stripes, etc. Can't we please go back to paint schemes with a maximum of two colors?

The move to stock-appearing bodies is a good one but we're still a long way away from cars looking as cool as a 1971 Roadrunner.

Do You Care? Miami Residents Don't

Current NASCAR

The one thing I noted about Homestead when I went there, it is in the middle of no where. There is nothing around it.

And they should be happy. In a few years, they'll start building houses nearby. The day after the first people move in they'll start a campaign to shut down the track because it's too noisy and there's too much traffic for one weekend a year. I've seen it over and over, even with people who buy a house next to the interstate. Something exists for decades before these people move in, and these folks pay a reduced price for their house because of it, and then they immediately try to get rid of it.