nascar or road racing

962porsche · Post by **962porsche** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 9:10 am

we need a new topic for this NO? my list post was for the petite lemans .not what form of racing is better or if old cars are harder to drive than new ones . i told the guys in the shop about this post and how there going at it . why do some nascar teams hire road racers to drive on road courses ?

breakaway500 · Post by **breakaway500** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:05 pm

"why do some nascar teams hire road racers to drive on road courses?"

Because the team owners realize that road racers are better prepared to win on a road course.

That was easy...gimme a hard one

Why don't Formula 1 teams hire NASCAR drivers when Formula 1 cars race on ovals?
hehehe!

jlwhorf · Post by **jlwhorf** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:31 pm

breakaway500 wrote:
Because the team owners realize that road racers are better prepared to win on a road course.

That was easy...gimme a hard one

Then why hasn't a "road course specialist" ever won a Winston/Nextel/Sprint cup race!!!

Remember Montoya was not a hire gun, he is a full timer.

Jonathan

breakaway500 · Post by **breakaway500** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 2:39 pm

I guess I should have answered;

"Because the team owners {think} that road racers are better prepared to win on a road course."

I have never bought into that strategy, though.

Each race series has it's own unique and specific skill requirements.

That's what makes them all so interesting in my eyes..

962porsche · Post by **962porsche** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 5:49 pm

i don't follow nascar but did ron fellows win a race at the glen ? was it this year or last ? he's a road racer no ? that was a nextel race at the glen right ??? what other road racers run in nascar . O - scott speed hes doing good in arca . i know its not nascar but the cars look the same ! as for montoya i never liked his personality as a person .but he did ok in f1 as a driver . i cant take that away from him . i dont know how hes doing in nascar . but i still don't under stand why nascar peaple follow the driver and not the mark (AKA car MFG. ) as a road racing fan i like to see the mark win .you know porsche , ferrari , audi , aston martin . now thats not to say if massa in f1 went from ferrari to honda .i would still like to see him win and do good . but most important to me is a good fight for the win . like 2 years ago at 12 hours of sebring with the porsce and ferrari . with nascar its draft and crash .that will bring out a yellow for 15 minutes then run for 20 laps and then it starts all over crash and clean up . to me nascar is draft and crash were is the racing ? why does that have such a fan base ?speed tv. should be nascar tv now ! in the old days the stock car looked like the road car it was based on . and now ? no more ! how do you improve the mark if you can't test things (R. an D. ) on the race cars . look were disk brakes , rear view mirrors and so on came from .what are we going to get from the cookie cutter cars of nextel cup now ?

breakaway500 · Post by **breakaway500** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 6:46 pm

Carburetors,pushrods,solid rear axles and 4 speed transmissions. Same as it has been for decades. About the only thing that has improved is crash safety. Hmmm...draft and crash. Well...it's all good! Someone always wins,although without a program,it's tough to tell what they're driving

The drivers are high spirited and passionate about their sport as well,which is very important for any race venue.
As long as the money is there,I'm sure it will continue.
Got to keep those carburetor companies in business,right?

962porsche · Post by **962porsche** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 7:58 pm

stand alone ? thats a nascar fan all by him self . right?

jlwhorf · Post by **jlwhorf** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 7:23 am

962porsche wrote:i don't follow nascar but did ron fellows win a race at the glen ? was it this year or last ? he's a road racer no ? that was a nextel race at the glen right ??? what other road racers run in nascar . O - scott speed hes doing good in arca

Hey, if you are going to bash NASCAR, get you facts right!! Ron Fellows won in the Nationwide/Busch series. Scott Speed has done well in the arca series, but this series either acts as a home for second tier drivers, or provides a training camp for new drivers.

If road course drivers are so much better driver, how the f@ck do you explain the slurry of failures of them in NASCAR the last couple of years. These guys were winners and champions in IRL and CART, but have consistently missed cup racers.

Explain that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jonathan

breakaway500 · Post by **breakaway500** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 7:48 am

They don't like getting rubbed and bumped.

962porsche · Post by **962porsche** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 7:55 am

i never said that road corse drivers are better !!!!! and the question was and still is . why do round de round teams pay road racers to drive for them ? and i was asking if that was a nextel cup race . thats what the question mark was for ????????????????????????????????????? i was asking !! and if a nascar fan likes to watch good drafting thats good ! im just trying to under stand why ? what is the appeal in that ?

jlwhorf · Post by **jlwhorf** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 8:13 am

962porsche wrote:i never said that road corse drivers are better !!!!! and the question was and still is . why do round de round teams pay road racers to drive for them ?

The primary reason is a struggling team will hire a road racer for the hope that they will get a good finish and boost the car owners point standing.

A big team may hire one to gather data, or simply for fun.

962porsche wrote: i was asking !! and if a nascar fan likes to watch good drafting thats good ! im just trying to under stand why ? what is the appeal in that ?

Drafting provides lots of passing.

Jonathan

Post by **chaos4NH** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 10:50 am

962porsche wrote:i never said that road corse drivers are better !!!!! and the question was and still is . why do round de round teams pay road racers to drive for them ? and i was asking if that was a nextel cup race . thats what the question mark was for ????????????????????????????????????? i was asking !! and if a nascar fan likes to watch good drafting thats good ! im just trying to under stand why ? what is the appeal in that ?

MONEY that's why - Sponsors reach out to the "other" venue, road racing fans, by using road racers at the road courses.
And good drafting is only a reality on 3 or 4 of the NASCAR tracks. The appeal? Inches apart at 200+mph, in a car that dances and dips and dives everytime it passes, or is passed by another car (you know how "exciting" it is when that semi blows by your 1/2 ton pickup hauling a 24' trailer loaded with 3500 lbs of stuff). Those guys have balls just like those nuts in F1 with a 2000 lb carbon fiber missile!
Funny, but I have a mechanic/friend who likes the road course NASCAR races, but, being a 250 mph+ drag racer, loves to watch the high speed dicing at 'dega too.
Frankly, as a true motor head, I'll watch any race that has a motorized conveyance - love the lawn mower races!
We have similar diversity right in our COM events: The 140hp Miatas driven at insane speeds through the corners, and the 400 hp Mustangs muscled through the curves, and as Dan D can attest - cording tires at a quick rate! Each driver is passionate about "his" type of racing.
I guess the only true all round racer has been Mario Andretti, having won in just about every type of racing there is, closely followed by AJ Foyt.
As for Scott Speed, you haven't followed the fact that he is also running well in the NASCAR trucks.
Hornish, Franchitti, Carpentier, etc haven't yet come to maturity in NASCAR, but Montoya is beginning to grasp the skills of bash and crash racing.
Hey, we started out saying all motor sports are great, don't lose that thought!

Post by **TroyV** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 11:41 am

Bravo Sam.....+1

Depending on where you're your from, it is easy to get sucked into loving/hating NASCAR for what it is. In all the "WWE like" theatrical/political BS, and fifteen names of sponsors placed before a noun in any spoken sentence, it is easy to overlook that it takes an enormous amount of skill to drive those cars at the speeds they are driving them.....on any track...including those with only left turns. I'm sure the drivers just want to drive, but they have to play that game to be successful and keep their respective jobs.

I suppose it could be all the same (racing is racing) to those guys making the switch from F1 or similar leagues to Sprint Cup...

It's just that in the green room after the event, the wine and cheese has been replaced by cheap beer and pizza.

breakaway500 · Post by **breakaway500** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 12:53 pm

I wonder why we don't see more ex-cup cars on track days? They seem very capable,durable and inexpensive to own and maintain. With Nascar changing the rules so often,there must be lots of obsolete cars sitting in garages. I wouldn't mind having an 80's T bird (...nice red Coors/Melling #9) to wrastle around the track in.

Wine and cheese? More like caviar and champagne

Guess I'll settle for two buck chuck,brauts and Triscuits

Dave_G · Post by **Dave_G** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 1:12 pm

chaos4NH wrote:I guess the only true all round racer has been Mario Andretti, having won in just about every type of racing there is, closely followed by AJ Foyt.

Don't forget Dan Gurney, Mark Donohue, and many others too. Actually, back in the 60's it was common for drivers to race in whatever series happened to be running on a given weekend. Remember when the Indy 500 was a points race in the F1 championship? Jim Clark and Graham Hill did pretty well going around in circles, and I don't think they looked down their noses at it either. Emmerson Fittipaldi was another guy who could drive the wheels off pretty much anything.

Racers race, and it's too bad that these days due to sponsorships and insurance the paths available to racers are narrower than they were decades ago.

COM Sports Car Club

nascar or road racing

nascar or road racing

Who is online