NASCAR 2016

I personally think they should adopt USAC sprint car format, plus the good old 6 lap trophy dash.

the 400 has been less exciting than paint drying for the past 10-15 years, yet IMS let the MotoGP go and added a "can't give tickets away" Air Race..........

 

In NASCAR Trucks, they're actually throwing cautions every 15 or 20 minutes (accident or no)
a rule which started this year.

This only means that NASCAR is trying out a trial balloon in one of their other series
(and one that hardly anyone watches) to see if they can work in commercial advertising
into a race broadcast as the networks are losing their collective shirts airing NASCAR.

Recalling when the "Brickyard" event first started, many claimed blasphemy that Indy
would host NASCAR at the shrine of all things Indy Car. Tony George's big idea to saddle up
to NASCAR certainly has backfired.

No argument that the current spec Indy Cars are ugly. But, they've also become really
fast.

2016 Indianapolis 500 Pole position:
James Hinchcliffe: 4 lap average 230.760MPH

2016 Brickyard 400 pole position:
Kyle Busch: 184.634MPH

NASCAR really hates (HATES) to see these numbers.

Back in the days of IMSA GTP/GTO/GTU, not only would GTP cars (have) similar type speed disparity,
the GTO cars would eclipse NASCAR lap times at tracks where they ran the same configurations
such as Watkins Glen and Sears Point.

Once these disparities became evident, NASCAR was humiliated as they like to set themselves
up as the be-all, end-all of all motorsport. Therefore, they split the two road race tracks into
different configurations, NASCAR runs the "Short Course" at Watkins Glen effectively eliminating
"The Boot" section and a similar type shorter circuit at Sears Point so they can point to the lap
times to the uninitiated media and say that NASCAR is faster.

They can't do that at Indy, too bad.

BHW

 

at least NASCAR still leads motorsports with pointlessly torn up race cars

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teNypnv9FS0[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=158boKN6oRw[/ame]

 

Wow, there must be at least $47.63 worth of damage done there.

Article from the Indianapolis Star News...

Gregg Doyel, [email protected] 7:50 a.m. EDT July 25, 2016

INDIANAPOLIS — The umbrella has my attention. It’s red and enormous, big enough to shade two people under it, and big enough to block the view of 10 or 15 fans behind it. But it’s not blocking anybody. Because there aren't any fans — not within 20 feet of the umbrella. None to the left, none to the right, none behind that big red thing.

The umbrella is in Indianapolis Motor Speedway's grandstands. The Brickyard 400 finish line is so close, I’m counting the individual bricks as I approach the umbrella. The seats here are great, is my point. But this section of IMS is mostly empty, which makes it better than other sections of IMS on Sunday.

Which were completely empty.

The Brickyard 400 was a race almost nobody saw. On the bright side? There wasn’t much to see. It’s a race nobody will remember, nobody but the Toyota team of Kyle Busch, who started from the pole and led 149 of 170 laps to win a race devoid of racing. There were just four lead changes, just one during green-flag conditions.

This race couldn’t end soon enough on a day where the Indianapolis area was under a heat advisory. It was 91 degrees and felt like 103 — at the end of the race, near 7 p.m. How hot was it when the race began in midafternoon? Molten lava hot. Fans were walking around the Speedway with wet towels on their heads.

The two people under that red umbrella are George Vaught and his daughter, Lindsey Kerr. George, a 59-year-old from Bloomington, Ill., has been to every Brickyard 400 since the first one in 1994 attracted a NASCAR-record crowd of 250,000. For Lindsey, 27, this is her 16th Brickyard 400. Every year she brings an umbrella for shade as she walks the grounds before the race.

This is the first time in 16 years she didn't have to put the umbrella away.

“I wasn’t blocking anybody,” Lindsey was telling me during one of eight overall cautions on Sunday, “so why not?”

What happened on Sunday was the continuation of a sad trend not just for the Brickyard 400, but for NASCAR. Attendance has plummeted across the board, though IMS has seen the biggest drop — from several years above 200,000 to last year’s estimated crowd of 75,000. And now this year, where the crowd might not have topped 50,000.

IMS is not alone. The iconic Daytona 500 is among the races cutting its capacity — and Daytona slashed it, from 159,000 to 101,000. Earlier this year in Bristol, which once sold out 55 consecutive races, the crowd was less than half its 160,000 capacity.

But then, that’s a guess. NASCAR stopped providing attendance after 2012 because it can’t handle the truth. But television ratings are prickly — NASCAR can’t stop us from knowing those numbers — and the 2015 season saw Fox receive its four lowest-rated races since it began broadcasting NASCAR in 2001.

At IMS, little can be done to help. Shrink the capacity to eliminate the optics of all those empty seats? No chance, not with IMS needing to sell as many Indianapolis 500 tickets as possible to survive. Night racing, to provide cooler temperatures, is another non-starter. IMS President Doug Boles has estimated it would cost $25 million to light the facility. Anyone willing to give IMS that kind of coin, given the direction of NASCAR’s attendance?

When it was over, runner-up Matt Kenseth and third-place finisher Jimmie Johnson shared the media podium while Busch celebrated on the track. They made opening statements. The media was invited to ask questions. Nobody had one.

The media room Sunday was as empty as the grandstands.

As Kenseth and Johnson were excused from the news conference, I blurted a question about racing in a facility that looks empty.

“That’s for you, Jimmie,” Kenseth said.

Said Johnson: “I don’t think my mic’s working.”

Nobody likes this topic. Can’t blame them. Better things were happening this weekend, what with one Indiana driver, Jeff Gordon, coming out of retirement to replace injured Dale Earnhardt Jr. — and another, Tony Stewart, making his last scheduled appearance at IMS.

And as for Busch, well, wow. He won his fourth race of the season and set a Brickyard record with 149 laps led.

The stories were plenty, but the place was barren. Greg Bowman had the best spot to hawk the official Brickyard 400 program, his blue kiosk in the shadow of the IMS pagoda — within sight of the pedestrian walkway — but when I found Bowman on Sunday he was all by himself. Well, except for a huge stack of unsold programs.

“This is the slowest I’ve ever seen it,” Bowman said, then gestured toward the track, where we could make out the half-empty grandstands overlooking the finish line. Bowman shook his head.

The infield was just as quiet. I did find four 30-somethings hanging out under a canopy during the race — Sam and Angie Lively of Greenwood; and Jerry and Amanda Smith of Terre Haute.

“We’re on the balloon crew,” Angie Lively said. “Free tickets and parking.”

Would you be here, I wanted to know, if it wasn’t free?

Silence. Then Sam Lively spoke up.

“Ummm,” he said. “Maybe?”

The price isn’t right, not for four hours in 100 degrees, and not to watch a race without much racing and with some of the worst sightlines in NASCAR. In addition to being unable to see most of the track, fans at IMS see very little passing thanks to some of the flattest turns in the sport. IMS turns are banked just 9 degrees, compared to 33 degrees at Talladega, 31 at Dayton and mid-20s at Bristol, Darlington and Texas.

Under that big red umbrella in the grandstand, I’m asking George Vaught what IMS can do to make the once magnificent Brickyard 400 feel relevant again.

“They need to drop the prices,” he says, emphasizing that final word with a punched fist and showing me his $95 ticket. “Fill this place up again.”

But that raises a question. This umbrella today has shaded you from the sun for hours. A bigger crowd means no umbrella. Would you take that trade?

“Oh, absolutely,” Lindsey said. “I want the Brickyard to be fun again.”

Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter:

 

It will take more than lowering the tickets prices to raise the attendance at the various race tracks! The fans know about the phantom debris yellows, don't like the "lucky dog" and won't stand for the orchestrated finishes so they vote with their wallet and don't elect to attend these Nascar races which have become more like WWF cage matches.

 

you summed things up well...but you forgot to mention the new traction they think they will get with a danica engineered win. lol

 

I think NASCAR has given up on Danica, for whatever reason. maybe they don't like her dating another driver. but if we were going to see an engineered win for her, we would have seen it long ago.

 

She drove for "really good" teams but only won one race there. She's just not that good. I think next year will be her last.

 

They already have that - stop-and-go penalties?
After-race penalties of points and fines $$$$

Folks go to the Indy 500 because it is the Indy 500, just as they go to
the Daytona 500 because it is the Daytona 500.
I see lots of fans going to Imola every year, but Hungary - not so much.

Are you kidding? Why take a step backwards??

 

Keselowski had a big one at Watkins Glen today

Brad walked away, cleared and released, got in the backup car. for all the crap we give to NASCAR, they still mandate a ridiculously strong car.

Keselowski walks away from big testing shunt at Watkins Glen
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Just read that the car lost brakes and speared straight into the Safer Barriers.

Now, that being a 4,000lb NASCAR, the car still absorbed a lot of the impact which would
have been a hundred times worse if not for the Safer Barrier.

Where as (what we may call a) normal racing car carrying perhaps a third the weight
and massively more braking capabilities than a NASCAR would have glanced off the Safer
Barriers (or at the very least tire barriers) with hardly a fuss.

So, while NASCAR cars may be built as safely as possible with full driver protection, use
of HANS devise, etc. the weight of these cars makes them inherently unsafe. And, when
you see one in person up close, you have to wonder about the sanity of anyone who'd want
to strap themselves into one.

The story with on board video is on Racer...

NASCAR - NASCAR: Hard hit for Keselowski in Watkins Glen testing

BHW

 

I still don't know why when they went to the COT/6th gen car they didn't get 500 or so pounds of weight out of the car.

btw GTE and GT3 cars are 2600-2800 pounds, as a reference point. those are actual production-based cars. so no reason for a "stock" car that is purpose built to weigh 3500+.

 

Last I heard, they're 3,400 with driver. 'Could be wrong but don't think so.

'been the ballpark for many, many years. Mebbe that's where the "4" in 4,000 came from.

edit: My mistake. 3,400 NOT including driver. (Musta been thinking Indy and F1)

 

On another note, having driven formula cars, sportscars, and stock cars, for safeties sake, I'd choose a NASCAR tank any day of the week. Followed by sportscar then formula. Easily confirmed by the stats regarding deaths in same. All that weight we're griping about (myself included, as I am a road racing fan where weight is REALLY your enemy in regard to handling) protects, not hurts, you. I know, not so much the weight, but all that weight reflects all that cage that protects.

 

weight went down by less than 200 pounds and they put foam in the doors. ooooooh.

 

At 180mph I'd rather roll a NASCAR than any GT3 or GTE car.

 

totally agree.

 

the item you mention of the imsa gto cars running faster was a fun one as I remember. the gto cars were in the neighborhood of 6 -10 seconds a lap faster on the short glen course. in order to hide the speed humiliation nascar put the gto cars back running the boot. can't make this crap up...to funny.

 

now NASCAR owns IMSA.


who gets the last laugh?



(yes I realize Bill France was one of the original partners in IMSA, too)

 

'Just curious.

How old are you guys?

Have any of you been involved? Or are you just spectators?

Seriously, just curious. I'm gettin' old and tired and wonder at times why people speak without knowledge. No offense intended whatsoever.

 

38. been watching NASCAR since mid 80's (not a typo...I started young). not from a racing family, not active at any point in the sport, but over a quarter century of following the sport gives me some knowledge-more than a few people I know who *do* work in the sport.

so what's your background? I expect a detailed resume, our other resident malcontents (Barton and TurboPanzer) have provided theirs at various points as well.

 

"I expect a detailed resume,"

Good for you.

Karts, SCCA,, IMSA. Many years ago.

Am I supposed to bow now?

 

oh, I thought you meant you worked in/for NASCAR.