Will NoDoz be a sponsor

[BobPalma]

...when this generic NASCAR race car hits the tracks?

Most of the posted comments reflect the general malaise expressed here whenever NASCAR topics are broached.

Yawn:

https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/articles/2020/01/17/nascar-confirms-2021-next-gen-car-with-sequential-gearbox?utm_source=SFMC&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20_January_21_Newsletter_NewDD

[SouthBendShaker]

NASCAR hasn't been worth watching for 30 years. I don't see it getting any better...

[wittsend]

As is NHRA Pro Stock for that matter. The inoperative word being "Stock."

[studegary]

They are moving closer to current cars by going to a more modern suspension and wheels bigger than 15 inch. On the other hand, they are moving further from stock with all of the bodies and chassis the same. It will be close to IROC racing.

[Colgate Studebaker]

Like so many others, I gave up on NASCAR years ago. Bill

[Bob Andrews]

I guess it’s the natural order of things.

it was 50 years ago last summer that I sat in my first dirt oval track car. The car belonged to a friend of my father. We went into the pits after the races to see him. He was like most racers of the day: Young but a real hard ball tough guy with dirty hands, who had real talent in the garage combined with real talent behind the wheel. As he and dad enjoyed a beer, I stood on my tiptoes to peek inside. He said, do you want to get in there? I said, sure, and he said go ahead! First thing I did was stepped on the hot header and melted my sneaker. Once I climbed through and dropped in the seat, I can still remember how it looked: no padding, sharp edges everywhere, transmission right between your knees, no floors. I can still see it in my mind this guy. That was the day an eight-year-old little fat kid fell in love with racing and dreamed of becoming a driver himself.

It’s totally different today. Today the racers are barely into their teens, kids from rich families who buy them $80,000 store built race cars. They sit in a chair in the enclosed trailer with their hat on backwards looking at their phones while a paid crew fixes and services the car. The cars are a marvel of modern technology; cars capable of breaking records while the driver sits in an unprecedented safety cocoon. They pull into the track in cup type enclosed stacker trailers. You don’t get to see any race cars until the trailers are opened. When I was a kid I would ride my bicycle to town mid day on Saturday if dad didn’t need me just so I could watch the trucks bringing race cars through town on open trailers. All that is over with now.

Time marches on, and things keep changing, that’s just the way life is. In cup racing it’s the same thing; kids were inspired by colorful, tough guy racers, and adults loved cars that were easily identifiable because they looked like the street versions. today it’s all rich kids who have bought their way into what they’re doing, driving cars that all look the same. Fine, but none of that is inspiring.

Let them go nuts with these changes. Nobody cares- most people still won’t give a damn, and the people that do follow it won’t be bothered at all by the changes.

[8E45E]

Today the racers are barely into their teens, kids from rich families who buy them $80,000 store built race cars.

At least they're flaunting it on their kids, and not on themselves!

Craig

[jclary]

As for NODoz...I took one of those back in 1965 when I drove my 1949 Plymouth from South Carolina to my Air Force base in Illinois. Back then, a marathon trip devoid of many of the interstate routes now available. Being late could get you charged as AWOL. All the NoDoz did was make me nauseated. Never again!

Ironic isn't it?... Our cars have progressed through the years to where we all, as Bob Andrews points out..." the driver sits in an unprecedented safety cocoon." If ever a case could be made for the return to "Stock Car Racing"...it is now! Think about all the advertisements. Safety claims, videos of crash dummies. It is time for the makers to step up and put their claims and "truth in advertising" to the test! If these cars are as safe as they claim while selling them to you and your families on weekdays...then they should be safe enough to race them on the tracks on weekends! If you think this is an absurd suggestion, give it a little thought! On a track, there's an immediate response in case of an accident! Everyone is going close to the same speed in the same direction! All the drivers are focused!

Unlike just about every interstate beltloop around any major metropolitan region in the country!!! Texting, doped up, unskilled, unfocused, confused, and weird collection of beings running different directions with a great disparity of agendas, and speeds! Where mayhem reigns supreme!

NASCAR...Put up or shut up! If these cars are so damned safe out of the dealership showroom...Race 'em and prove it! Immediate removal from the fray if an airbag deploys!
Get behind the safety improvements you claim to have influenced. Return to "stock" car racing and I might even pay to watch, patronize the sponsors, or even attend. Otherwise, I have better things to do with my time.

[BobPalma]

Wow, John; we're glad you're back...you've apparently been saving up!

(I like your theme, too.) BP

[acolds]

This thread reminded me of the first dirt track races my dad and uncle took my cousin and myself in early and middle 1950's The cars were Chevy sixes flathead ford maybe a few Olds V8. when they would use water truck to cut down on dust the seating was on crude wooden bleachers . The pits which we could get into were just a dirt clearing. The rest room area was a wooden glorified out house with strong odor . Also we would go to motor cycle hill climbs with similar setting except being western Pa they were in shade in the woods somewhere in the country. later when I got older went to drag
races which were much more high class with pavement and lights . I always preferred stock cars with guys who drove the cars to track and raced them . We had fun and still can remember looking forward to going to races with my dad and uncle

[lark55]

I was about 5 when my dad took us to the local dirt track. They were mostly racing the old flathead coupes with open wheels. I remember two cars touching wheels and one went straight up, high enough the guy behind him drove straight under him. I still remember seeing the flames from his exhaust before he came down on four wheels and continued to race. I was hooked from that point on and always looked forward to Friday night at the races.

[8E45E]

The driver sits in an unprecedented safety cocoon. If ever a case could be made for the return to "Stock Car Racing"...it is now!

And here I thought the 'safety cocoon' was for the on-board cameras as to have the most crystal clear, shake-free 'as seen by the drivers' view for the new generation of armchair video gamers.

Craig

[studegary]

When I worked on a friend's stock car (I guess now it would be a modified) in the 1950s, when a race engine was freshly rebuilt it would be installed in his personal pickup for break-in miles and debug before being installed in the race car. Even then, the race cars were taken to and from the track on open trailers behind pickups. There were many off the track races with these combinations.

[t walgamuth]

I haven't been able to watch any races since they did the playoff thing. If I cannot understand the rules that makes it pretty hard to watch.

As far as the cars? Let them go to the local dealer and pick up cars to run off the assemby line. Run them on Sunday return them on Monday and go to the next town and do it all again.

[bob40]

"when they would use water truck to cut down on dust the seating was on crude wooden bleachers ."
Still use the water truck for dust and I'll be sitting wooden bleachers when my local(38 miles away) track opens in May.

http://www.arlingtonraceway.com/