Nascar nowadays....

[suffrn6]

NASCAR died the day Earnhardt SR was killed in Daytona. And then dug their own grave when Toyota was allowed to compete. Whats next Nissan, Honda etc etc.

My opinion exactly! I slowly quit following it after Sr died but I tried to root for Jr. I still dont understand how Jr never finishes in the top 10 yet hes STILL the fan fave.

The only reason that Jr is the fan favorite is all because of his last name and who his daddy was. I have been an Earhardt fan since the mid eighty's. I even got to meet Sr at a local short track back in the late eighties, was the highlight of my life at the time. I would like to see Jr pull his head out of his *ss and start to drive like Sr used to. Lead, follow or get out of the way, and if you don't you are about to meet the wall. I would like to see Jr make a big comeback and start to win some championships. When and if that ever happens then I will watch more then one race a year. The only race I have watched in the last 5-6 years is the Daytona 500.

Chris

 

[Evan11]

NASCAR died the day Earnhardt SR was killed in Daytona. And then dug their own grave when Toyota was allowed to compete. Whats next Nissan, Honda etc etc.

I'm right there with ya.

 

[-83MONTESS-]

I would like to see Jr pull his head out of his *ss and start to drive like Sr used to. Lead, follow or get out of the way, and if you don't you are about to meet the wall. I would like to see Jr make a big comeback and start to win some championships.

Chris

This will never happen because its no longer about who is the best driver its about who has the most money and who can follow the rules. I root for Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick when I do watch because these guys dont take sh*t on the track and arent afraid to "persuade" people out of their way. I wish Kyle Busch wasnt such a tool because he is by far the most talented driver I have seen since Sr. If he could shut his mouth and take what he dishes out I think he could finally win a championship.

 

[suffrn6]

This will never happen because its no longer about who is the best driver its about who has the most money and who can follow the rules. I root for Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick when I do watch because these guys dont take sh*t on the track and arent afraid to "persuade" people out of their way.

I agree with you it is all about the amount of money being thrown at a driver and race team but when you have millions in R&D at your disposal and still can't win a race (Jr) theres something wrong. I think that there is to much pressure being put on Jr from the fans and the media. Yes his last name is Earnhardt but that don't make him a good driver. Look at Kyle Petty, everyone thought that he was going to dominate just like Richard did, and he didn't. Now Kyles son Adam he would have been a good racer but dumb luck in New Hampshire ended that.
I have been a fan of Harvick since the first time he drove the 29 car and won the race, Atlanta 2001 two races after the day Nascar died. I like Harvicks attitude, he just doesn't care about who he spins or pisses off.
Kyle Busch is a good driver and has a good team and cars behind him but he should be made to wear a muzzle, keep that boys mouth shut.
Nascar is all about the fans and what type of racing they think the fans want to see. With the amount of safety equipment that the cars and drivers are equipped with Nascar should do away with the restrictor plates and let the cars fly again like back in the eighties when Bill Elliot qualified in Talledaga at 212 mph. It would seperate the men from the boys for sure. Bring back the slingshot too, that makes for some exciting finishes.

 

[Randy_W]

What's gone is the excitement, why? Many reasons, but basically it's too polished nowadays. For you guys that say it died with Earnhardt, there are just as many that think it died when Richard Petty stopped being competitive, or when fwd car bodies were allowed, etc... It's not one thing or one driver, the whole sport has evolved into too much glamor, money and slick.
When you name drivers that were the best you start with the driver that even Dale said was the greatest in history, Richard Petty. Not only was he the best driver he also took the sport from 60 races a year, many on 1/4 mile dirt tracks, to the big time. Of course you could also argue that started the spiral that got us where we are today, but that would be way too simplistic.
Among the greats were Petty, Earnhardt, Waltrip, Tim Flock, Fireball Roberts, Junior Johnson, Ned Jarrett, Bobbie Allison, Cale Yarborough, David Pearson, Jeff Gordon, and I guess you have to include Jimmy Johnson at this point. I'm not implying they were the only ones, just some of the best with the two best being Petty and Earnhardt.
Talk about Kyle Bush having talent, anyone remember Tim Richmond? Probably the single most talented driver to ever sit in a race car. He didn't know a spark plug from a fire plug but he knew how to drive. Others not getting to their potential include Kulwicki, Davey Allison, Adam Petty, etc... Adam Petty showed the kind of skill I hadn't seen since Tim Richmond and sadly never got to develop it.

 

[bill]

Ive always been a race fan...round track, short, super speedway... but the tracks I love the most are road courses. Its always a better race IMO because theres more driving involved...more setups, more strategy, and more skill! True, you cant see the whole track at a road course, which turns a lot of people off. They like the bull rings and I cant fault them for that. But, at a road course, your park yourself at your favorite spot, and if you wish, you can move to another. Ideally, you can bring a small tv to the track to watch the action on the otherside without being there. I just prefer less wrecks and more driving, even if it is less dramatic.

 

[-83MONTESS-]

I think Randy is dead on. I slowly lost interest in it after Sr died because I was 10 and Earnhardt was my hero (if you look at my car you can tell). The silver and black got me interested in racing, racing got me interested in cars and now im restoring my own :lol: But I believe NASCAR along with the NFL (whole other story) is slowly killing itself with all these bullshit rule changes strictly to keep fans coming back.

 

[NY87SS]

Nascar lost its luster in the 70's for me.
Cheating became the way to win races and no was better for it at the time than someone known as the King called Petty.
Teams used every imaginable way to win.
Oversized fuel lines to carry a little more gas.
Compounds put on the tires during pitstops to add adhesion.
Waxes used in cylinders that burned off slowly as they drove.
Petty was chastised and stripped of wins for his cheating with tires and some other stuff, like running 392 cubes when 346 was ruled as the largest to be used.
And many more.
Then we go into the 80's where Dale Sr. brings it all together and becomes one of the winning-est cheaters out there.
A crew chief that innovated many ways to pick up power others could not by having porous made intake manifolds, drilling out the bolts to hold carbs down and more. So much to the fact he was elevated into the inspection side of Nascar officials. Then Dale's I have to win at all costs style of driving by using subtle nudges to spin people out and how he got the name "The Intimidator". He meets his end putting him in the exact position/alignment for the ultimate " Intimidator" nudge be another driver.

And now its a whole new game of gas mileage, tire changing schemes, aligning themselves with other teams etc and now is no longer the best driver and best car of the day, its the richest, luckiest etc person out there.

I liked it when the cars were not equal, the rubbed, no holds barred style, any given sized cube, car size etc could win and the driver was the main reason why.

Now its like putting a bow on a puppy's tail!!

 

[Randy_W]

Gazaway, said the engine in Petty’s winning car measured 381.983 cubic inches, well over the 358 c.i. maximum.

They were basically running a "stroker motor", that we all know about now. Maurice admitted to using it, in his words;..."evrybody and his brother is cheating on engine size and getting away with it, I figured we'd try it too. If we get caught then at least everybody will have to go back to legal engines."
As for Petty cheating, sure, so did everyone else and it didn't start in the seventies and he an Earnhardt were far from the leaders of the pack.

The 1976 Daytona 500 started out with NASCAR disallowing the speeds of the three fastest qualifiers for the Daytona 500, leaving unheralded Ramo Stott on the pole. A.J. Foyt, Darrell Waltrip, and Dave Marcis had to re-qualify for the race after NASCAR officials found evidence that Foyt and Waltrip used nitrous oxide (so-called laughing gas) to enhance the performance of the engines and add horsepower

Most of these were in the 60's.

Driving off in a vehicle without a gas tank, with extra fuel stashed inside the frame. Showing up with a racecar scaled down to a fraction of its normal size. Aluminum bumpers, nitrous oxide canisters and a spoiler coming off the roof. Filling the roll bar with sand to make inspection weight, and then letting it all run out. Placing a basketball in the fuel cell that could be inflated when capacity was checked, and deflated for the race.

They're all tactics attributed to the late, great Henry "Smokey" Yunick

Car owner Harold Miller and driver Keith Davis are suspended for 12 weeks when NASCAR officials discover an illegal bottle of nitrous oxide in the car in prerace inspections.

 

[NY87SS]

Oh I full well know since the advent of rules in NASCAR is when the cheating began thats why IMO opinion it sucks.
The 2 named I stated were the winningest drivers for their time in the sport and they cheated also and more often caught over the years than any other driver. How would they have fared if they never attempted to cheat.
At least during these early days of me watching and getting into it, driver skill took precedence in the sport, where now again IMO any monkey that can decently handle a car in that style of driving can do it.

The other thing that kills me is how many races they run, the rule changes from year to year , the childish acting of the drivers and then people complaining all winter long how they can't wait til summer then sit in the house and watch this sh*t all summer long and root for this crap! Its crap, loosely even a sport!!!