The Great American Race was yesterday. Huge crash with 10 laps to go took out about 20 cars. Did you see it ?
Nascar seems to have lost it's appeal. A few years ago, they had recognizable stars like Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt. Now, they seem like an after though. I know Jeff Gordon was the driver I followed. Once he retired, my interest in the sport went way down.
Did you watch any of the race ? Do you give a hoot about Nascar ?
No hoots given here. It is more entertaining to watch than in years past with all the in-car cameras and additional graphical info but, just not my bag man....
I could care less about Nascar, but I was flipping channels and stopped on it with about 25 laps to go.
I saw 3 big crashes and then sat down for dinner. There was still about 5 laps to go.
I think I saw the best part of the race.
@Daddillac: Were there any UGA grads racing?
What 25 said. Girls from all over eastern FL flock to Daytona for race week because those NASCAR fans pack the clubs and spend a lot of money. Same thing for the bikers during bike week (March 8-17 this year). The Daytona clubs are not really that big, but they are smart enough to accommodate as many hot ass girls as they can to keep the guys entertained with plenty of eye candy and female companionship. I don't even bother clubbing during these weeks as all the best talent is in Daytona and the customer to dancer ratios get bad in my local clubs.
"@Daddillac: Were there any UGA grads racing?"
Lol !
Warrior,
I used to be a big fan starting in '64 when some friends and I went to Daytona and watched The King win. I was on again and off again till '94 when I saw Gordon win his first Cup race in Charlotte. I was a regular (Homestead, BRISTOL, Daytona, Charlotte, Talladega) from then on till the debut of the CoT (Car of Tomorrow) at the Bristol spring race in '07. It was nuts! Bounce off the wall like nothing happened! I swore I'd not return to NASCAR again, but a friend talked me into returning next spring. Meanwhile Bristol reconfigured after the '07 fall race and completely ruined NASCAR'S best race. I've never returned but for one race in Homestead to hopefully see Jimmy Johnson win his 7th championship. He did. So that's my story of "The Great American Race" and NASCAR.
I used to like NASCAR back about 15 years ago. I would play in fantasy racing leagues and gamble with coworkers on the races. Too many rules and changes killed the sport for me. Nowadays, regulations are so strict that basically every car is the same except for different paint and company badge. The scoring/points system got way too confusing. The Chase/Playoff is stupid. It basically makes the last ten races meaningful for only a handful of teams. Whoever wins the most throughout the season should be Cup champion, not the guy who gets hot in the last ten races. There is also not enough variety in tracks. Most tracks are raced at twice every season. They should try to do races in 36 different markets, maybe even having a true dirt track or two to honor NASCAR's roots. Also, the personnel is much different than the old days. You used to have guys with big personalities that like to brawl on pit row and wreck each other on the track. That type of stuff brings heavy fines and suspensions nowadays. NASCAR was fun when it was redneck bootleggers racing around tracks in actual stock cars. Now it is sterile, corporate, and boring.
As much as people complain about traffic and drivinf these days, I can't understand why NASCAR would have any appeal.
I'm surprised AOC wasn't out there picketing the race because of the emissions (the fuel and the farting that beer causes)
i love NASCAR!!!! when she stick shifts me it is an awesome feeling!!!
I think most people just watch it hoping to see a spectacular crash.
I listened to it while doing stuff I had to do. I like nascar and formula 1. Listen to (mostly) or watch indy 500, le mans & Monaco every year. I seek out nascar races on the super speedways like Daytona, Talladega, Vegas, etc. My favorite f1 driver was Dan Wheldon. He was great. The crash in Vegas where he died a few years ago was gnarly as fuck. It's on youtube. RIP
The #18 car came in second. At least Jimmy Johnson didn't win.
Jimmy “double dick” Johnson will go down as the most successful NASCAR driver. #GOAT (not SJG)
Yeah probably most successful, arguably Jeff Gordon, however. Not best or GOAT, though. AJ Foyt, Richard Petty or Dale Sr. better drivers.
Meat, please don't use that farm animal term. flagooner will see it and start talking about Lebron James.
To you point though, JJ very well may turn out to be the most successful driver ever. If he keeps going, he almost surely will pass most drivers not named Richard Petty for most victories. But I think he also may be blamed for part of Nascar's demise also. Johnson dominated the sport for several years. And did it in the most boring way possible. Did he run anyone off the track, no. Did he ever get into fights, no. Was there ever any suspense in the years he won, no. Did he ever do anything embarrassing or insulting, no. Even if you are a fan of his, you have to admit that he is kind of dull. He just went out and won.
Nope, No Dawgs in the NASCAR, some things are even too redneck for us
^LOL
RE: Best All TIme
Very very doubtful anyone will ever match The Kings 200 wins. Kyle Busch the most winningest driver in recent time will likely pass 200 this year. I believe he is at 193, BUT most of them are in truck races and Xfinity or whatever they call it these days. 51 Cup wins I think it was last I remember. The drive (active) with the most is Jimmy Johnson and he's not even half way to Petty!
Jimmy John's is freaky fast.
I haven't followed racing too-much in the last few-years - I've lost interest in certain sports I used to follow like tennis and baseball - these days I'll usually just commit to watching NFL, NBA, and college football and basketball - and w.r.t. NBA and college-basketball, I usually pay attention in the post-season.
w.r.t. auto-racing, I used to follow-it the most in the 80s - a bit-less less in the 90s - and a bit less in the 2000s - and very-little in the 2010s - back in the day my fave auto-racing was Indy-racing and my fave driver growing up was Mario Andretti and then his son Michael Andretti - I lost interest in Indy-racing when they went all Ocacio-Cortez and started putting limitations to "make it more fair and give everyone a chance" and Indy-racing went from well-known strong-teams and drivers to a whole-bunch of nobodies - I hate when they "try to make things equal" - that's socialism/communism where nobody is allowed to be beyond mediocre and in the worst-case everyone is "equal" by being equally-fucked - whenever they've tried to put things in place to "make things equal/fare" in any sport (e.g. salary-caps, etc), IMO it's brought down the level of play where no team is great, just a whole-bunch of mediocre teams w/ the least mediocre winning - same-thing happened in Formula1 which I used to follow in the 90s and 2000s, at some point a few years ago they instituted some IMO crappy-rules I think in the "spirit" of making things more "equal" and IMO it brought down quality.
Back in the day my fave type of racing was Indy - I also enjoyed MotoCross (Ricky Johnson was my fave rider in the 80s) - I also enjoyed european Motorcycle road-racing (think it was called MotoGP) - was never really too into NASCAR too-much - followed Nascar the most in the 80s and Bill Elliot was kinda my fave driver - didn't really follow Nascar as much in the subsequent decades.
C'mon Papi, admit you're a soccer fan.
^ what a homo
LOL
The only time I followed soccer somewhat was in the 80s when Maradona was playing
Papi,
Some years ago I ran the Richard Petty Driving Experience at the Homestead track. Above you stated "my fave driver growing up was Mario Andretti and then his son Michael Andretti". At the Homestead track, my pace car driver was Mario's nephew/Michael's cousin, Adam Andretti. He is the son of John, Mario's brother.
^ yeah - the Andrettis have had many from their family drive professionally - I think there was also Jeff Andretti and some others
@clubber
There's been a lot of redevelopment of the Opa Locka airport grounds - bunch of new large warehouses including a new Amazon fulfillment center - across from Amazon they are building some kinda driver-experience track which I think is due for opening sometime in 2019 - there is a sign w/ a website but I don't recall the website name
I heard one time, a rather long ago, about a drag strip u-drive setup. Don't think they would have that there, but who knows when it comes to Opa Locka. That would interest me. Always been my #1 auto sport, Actually won a State Championship at Miami-Hollywood Speedway Park. I do believe that place bit the dust long ago.
Ricky Bobby beat out Jean Girard on foot for the victory at Daytona last week!
I thought he beat him at Talladega
I don’t really care for auto racing so I was unaware, but last evening I stopped at Cheetah WPB and one of the floor managers whom I chat with mentioned that the club had been slow all weekend saying that many of his regulars were in Daytona for the event.