Gibbs racing

[benny365]

I fully admit Nascar is popular, I also watch a few races each year. but I mostly like to watch for the technical side of it. I could care less about the drivers or sponsors. Nascar has changed in the past few years. That is for sure and there has been a plateau of popularity and possibly a decline. Either way Nascar is heading in a direction I'm not comfortable with, Nascar has no business guaranteeing anyone a spot in the race, especially to suit a SPONSOR.

On a side note, no sport is holyer than thou. look at the olympics. full of cheaters and the 600.00 swim suit. Mike phelps gets 1,000,000 from a sponsor to do his best for the country. Later

[c wagner]

Auto racing in general was one of the first sponsor driven sports around to the best of my knowledge. Now every sport is jumping on the sponsorship bandwagon and if the teams aren't their arenas are. Money makes the world go around, or so they say, maybe someday I'll have some worth talking about and I can find out for myself. Probably not but here's to dreaming!
I agree the fastest cars should race on any given day, I also agree that NASCAR has been changing over the last few years. We are seeing that the little guys and single car teams are either squeezed out or are forced to partner with one of the giants in order to keep up with the technology curve.

It does however make me appreciate my local short track that much more and even though I get sick of the usual track politics bs, all in all its a pretty level playing field and a whole lotta fun!!!

I also really enjoy watching the truck series and the occasional nationwide race as well. Nice to see some of the smaller teams break through for a good finish every now and again!

[trstek]

Good, Bad or otherwise racing is a show for a paying spectator.

The history of racing has been death defying , until today. Some of the racing is as safe or safer than driving on the interstate. I said some of the racing.

I don't have any problem with that. As long as the show is good.

Nascar is big business, and with that, all the big business stuff. Personaly I enjoyed it more when it was less mainstream.

But the topic at had points to something bigger. Toyota came in with a new engine design. Ford and Chevy have some history and inventory. There is always an advantage to the last entry of a design.

Honestly I don't follow it enough to know the ins and outs of the technology.

Was hoping a discussion would start on the technology side.

My problem with the tv coverage is I really dont have any interest in how the drivers feel. I'm more interested in what they do on the track. And how they push the technology envelope.

[c wagner]

Actually last season Chevy came out with a new block and I think heads. It was right before the Gibbs and Childress cars had problems with the new cable driven fuel pump.

I don't remember if Ford and Dodge had any new developments at that time, or since that. But I do know that the Toyota's have got their deal figured out. Is TRD still building all the motors or are Toyota teams building their own these days? I TRD is still the sole builder, I'd imagine that having that many different cars and combinations could play a part in the development and tuning aspect of things!

[bustednuklz]

I had an old racer tell me at a young age " Everything's legal until you get caught"
These teams build start building a car and drivetrain by reading the rule book.
The rules are there in black and white. If it's not in the rulebook it's a grey area. That's where you try to get a leg up on the other teams before you even unload at the track.
I think that Roush has cried enough about Toyota that Nascar has been watching a little closer....... and while they are watching Toyota closer, what are the other teams doing????
In the end there is no substitue for cubic Dollars.
Just my 2 cents
Steve

[c wagner]

In the end there is no substitue for cubic Dollars.
Steve

I couldn't agree more and all of the big teams are spending mega dollars these days.
NASCAR tried to cut down on testing to save the teams money, so what do the teams do? Buy/rent expensive machines to do simulation testing, rent more wind tunnel time, do more testing at non sanctioned tracks, etc....
Now they have the common template bodies and continue to close the "box". On the bright side the racing is pretty competitive.
Has anyone watched some of the older races? I can't see it being really exciting watching Petty (or any driver) win by 2 or 3 laps, but it used to happen.