xlindax - 19 May 2008 03:20 PM

J. - 19 May 2008 11:59 AM

xlindax - 19 May 2008 08:42 AM

I certainly gained a lot of respect for the 77 car (Sam Hornish), and his ability to pass. He was marvelous in the "Showdown", and I thought he was done when he smacked the wall in the "All-Star". He had started at the rear of the field, wrecked, got 3 laps down, and, thanks to "Lucky Dogs", got back on the tail end of the lead lap and then passed his way up to sixth. At the end of the race, it was a treat to see him pass Tony Stewart and begin to pull away.

Glad you enjoyed watching one car able to pass. I'm sure this is exactly what NASCAR had in mind when they introduced the COT.

If one car, with a NASCAR rookie driver, can pass, then why can't experienced drivers pass? Actually, they can; many drivers, in addition to Kahn and Hornish, worked their way forward. Faulty strategy doomed many (especially Earnhardt). Others were merely experimenting with mechanicals and set-ups for the 600 next week (the Joe Gibbs teammates-Stewart had already had his engine failure before the race). Too bad that rocket engine the Gibbs cars were experimenting with had a 100% failure rate.

Tony didn't even make it through practice, and the other two didn't make 100 miles... Did they forget to dyno these things for crying out loud?! It sucks for Tony and Denny, but other than that it could bode well for the rest of the season...

RobsanX - 19 May 2008 10:15 PM

Tony didn't even make it through practice, and the other two didn't make 100 miles... Did they forget to dyno these things for crying out loud?! It sucks for Tony and Denny, but other than that it could bode well for the rest of the season...

Mistakes and failures are excellent learning opportunities. The information they gleaned from those experiments were infinitely more valuable than winning an exhibition race.

^^^ I might agree with you if they hadn't gone out so early...

RobsanX - 19 May 2008 10:25 PM

^^^ I might agree with you if they hadn't gone out so early...

I'm not sure what that matters. They were able to identify the parts that broke regardless of how many laps they ran. I'm sure they were somewhat disappointed at the time but they still learned the same amount as if they had broken on lap 99.

Things happen to engines you cannot really forsee. Here is a great example. After World War II, the engine builders for Indianapolis racing cars started to Magnaflux the parts of the engines. And, for the aluminum parts there was Zyglo. For some who don't know what those are, it is a means to test metal for possible failures. They find cracks or flaws within the metal, not on the surface. O.K., comes the Indianapolis 500. There was a rash of cars failing to make it to the end with the same problem. They failed to finish because their Vertex magneto failed during the race. The problem with the magneto never showed up before, because something else within the engine would fail before the magneto would fail.

J. - 19 May 2008 11:55 AM

AMP2003 - 19 May 2008 06:37 AM

Although, some people are talking about the 77 car and it's ability to pass on long runs.

If you have a significantly better car, and you have a longer run with people willing to get out of your way - yes, you can get through the field. As I said, Jimmie was able to pass some cars until he started running out of time in that segment and then people weren't willing to cut him any slack. If the guy in front of you doesn't want you to get around him (and there are no other cars to complicate the scenario), it's going to be much harder than it needs to be for the guy to accomplish the pass.

You and I don't agree much, but I respect your opinions and you generaly have a good arguement to debate. However, this just sounds ridiculous...

We know Jimmie has a good car. We know that earlier in races there is a lot more give and take. However, it sounds like you want guys to get out of the way late in the race cause here comes #48? It's harder than it needs to be??? What does that mean?

Kyle Busch came from the back to the front at Darlington? Hornish was passing at Charlotte?

Someone mentioned it's getting more like F1? Maybe the cars are so equal and consistent that, in most cases, with one fastest way around the track, you can't vary from that line to pass?

Someone else complained that they need to put it back in the hands of the drivers and the pit crews? I think that is what they are trying to accomplish. The cars today are more equal than they have ever been, they have closed the loopholes for the mechanics. If they open the rules back up, and vary the cars, some guys are going to have much better cars than other guys and they will drive away. If it's not your guy, you are going to be upset..right?

IMO..the racing that we all loved was because the drivers were all driving ill handling race cars that varied so much between stops and through the race that guys were moving back and forth trying to wrestle the car. Today the cars are so good and so consistent you either hit the set-up or you don't. In one way that takes the driver out of it, but in another way, perhaps it IS the superior drivers that can manage to make it to the front?

Sorry to be so long winded :(

RobsanX - 18 May 2008 12:19 PM

TeamRMP - 18 May 2008 11:54 AM

It was like when Tiger Woods isn't in contention in a tournament and everyone loses interest. When their boy Kyle went out the announcers were kind of lost. It looks like NASCAR will have to call a lot of debris cautions in the 600 to keep everyones interest because without having to stop for segments Kyle would have lapped the field.

Ummm, no... His engine still would have blown up...

Given that all the Gibbs cars blew up, have you considered that possibility that they were trying some over the edge stuff that they may not try in a points race?

I enjoyed it. If my drivers out there and they're racing I'm on it!

Never mind that the winner gets a million dollars. Never mind that this race had the opinion of "boring." I didn't watch this because I think this was overkill of marketing. Since I wasn't intrigued to watch the race, I had something more important to do the day of the All-Star Race- get my Associate's in the Arts degree. It was the highlight of my day and didn't care who won the race because it's meaningless. I don't care if the winner of the race gets $1,000,000 and a Bugatti Veyron (for those that hate foreign cars, it's a super-fast French car with incredible top speed), I still think Speed Channel has overkilled hyping up the race. And they probably could have put this on FOX or FX.

Anyone else think the All-Star Race is absolutely overhyped? Especially to those who think the race is so overhyped and didn't like this year's All-Star Race, this was especially overhyped. Then again, you don't need cautions and collisions and thugging to have a good race. Maybe they wanted to rest their energy for a more important race- the Coca-Cola/The World (anyone still call this race The World 600?) 600.

All I saw was highlights of an overhyped event. Congrats to Kasey Khane.

^ I was in the pits at Cottage Grove working on a 360 Sprint Car for a teenage rookie. He got his first Main Event win this week in his fourth start in a 360. Heard who won the All Star race via someone else's loud cell phone conversation at the Grove . Saw the race on tape Sunday during cautions in the Rolex and ALMS races. Very happy I didn't skip any of the other stuff for the All Star event, because everything else I saw and did this weekend was better.