The Motorsport Thread 2013

That is good news.


Daytona, and thus Talladega, are still dangerous places it seems.
What's crazy is that crash is just like the one in 1988, that caused NASCAR to put the restrictor plates on to slow the cars down...though it seems not have helped greatly and leads to those constantly on edge packs that cause 20 car pile ups. Can't go unrestricted though in tests they reached like 220+ mph

I heard years ago changing to fuel injection would end the need but I read now they've done already?
Maybe the only real solution, if fan safety is a primary concern, is something Dale Earnhardt said...level those banked turns. Cars have simply gotten too fast for these crazy banked turns on a big track...level the  turns to 12 degrees or something like that, it will force drivers to left off the gas and would break up packs.

Well, I can honestly say that that Daytona 500 was one of the worst 500's I've seen in years.  No challenge for the lead or anything.  All Johnson had to do was keep it in a straight line and it was his.  Greg Biffle did absolutely nothing while riding around in 2nd for the 2nd year in a row!  He did nothing!

MillsLayne wrote: Well, I can honestly say that that Daytona 500 was one of the worst 500's I've seen in years.  No challenge for the lead or anything.  All Johnson had to do was keep it in a straight line and it was his.  Greg Biffle did absolutely nothing while riding around in 2nd for the 2nd year in a row!  He did nothing!

Oh he did something alright...he fell back to 6th!

I assume the blame can be put on the new car? I haven't heard much about it (how its different/etc) but I assume it doesn't punch through the air like the old one. At least, I never recall Daytona being so much about track position in the 'recent' past.

I've heard it was a rather processional race, not something that normally gets said about NASCAR.

^ Well generally they get pack racing, which is anything but a follow the leader type situation. Not really the case on Sunday. The nationwide event (accident at the end notwithstanding) was much better with a lot of overtaking and plenty of action for the lead.

Yeah, I think it was more the no help case.
Last year was different, when Biffle literally made no attempt...with an actual chance to make something happen! When Dale Jr was willing to push and he just sat there like he was tethered to Kenseth's bumper. I recall him admitting to he felt bad for kinda jipping his teammate in an earlier race...awfully noble of him but it's the 500. Gotta go for it!



Edited by JJLehto - February 26 2013 at 16:54

I'm by no means as sure of either of those things. But whats done is done. Hopefully one year the Biff can break on through and actually win it.

^ Guess only time will tell. I'm sure they'll tinker with things too as time goes on as they always do...esp if they keep having races like that one at the plate tracks.

Didn't take long for my las tpost to become redundant. Turns out Luiz Razia's sponsors haven't been following through with the payments so he's already been dropped. Jules Bianchi seems set to take his seat with a bit of help from Ferrari.

^Or just get rid of the restrictor plate.  It's the great equalizer that creates those huge packs.  Without it, you won't have the big one and you'd have a bunch of smaller races going on all over the track.  Not just one huge pack with nowhere to go.