Daytona 500?

Anyone watch it? Anyone go? Anyone care?

The cars are still loud–we can hear them about seven miles away up here in Ormond–and, now that the race is over, I’ve noticed a bit more jet traffic than usual.

A friend pinged me Thursday.

“Are you going to the race?”

“Yeah,” said, “I’m autocrossing this weekend.”

He meant the 500. He wasn’t going, either, but got free tickets for the truck race so I was his date. We went early, ate the food, watched the people. 

I’ve been before and found it exciting, but not so this time. Between the mist and the wrecks and stage stage yellows and a red flag, we didn’t see much green flag racing. We left after the second stage. The mist/rain was getting heavier, and we both had to get up early.

Incredibly boring way to conclude an all-day event. 

As I mentioned in the minor rant thread, nascar seems to have gone away from racing and more focused on getting eyes on the teams and sponsors. Wreckidy wreck wreck wreck for the 500 with the winner decided by who was ahead at the caution by replay. The road courses are the most disappointing as whoever is in the lead is guaranteed to get wrecked on the last lap by a move that would get you banned in NASA.

I feel like I should go to the 500 at least once. Then there's this:

Some of you know that I work across the street from the Speedway.
 

After ten years working there, I'm used to having a variety of fans around as the Speedway and the Daytona Beach community cycle through events. 

I wasn't out of the parking lot Friday night before I had a drunk do a face plant in front of my car. 
 
Five minutes later, I had to swerve into the turn lane going through an intersection as the driver on my left unknowingly changed lanes going through an intersection.

Things like that aren't normal any other time. It doesn't make me want to hang around.

Normal superspeedway race.  Stupid, but fun.  My question is, how the hell did Ryan Blaney end up scored 8th?

If I watch this... do I really need to watch the whole thing?

I watched the last 15-20 laps; I was working on gettong the F500 finished.

Gotta say it reinforced why I don't like the restrictor plate races.

Just watch the last 50 or less laps of a plate race. Til then it's just a parade. Other 500 mile races they run don't have as many cars on the lead lap at the end. It's artificial racing.

I watched the whole thing on TV plus a nap. If I was in charge, I would do one of two things. Either figure out how many cubic inches of an unrestricted engine equaled whatever the restrictor engines produce or run the full sized unrestricted engine but make them run on the Daytona 24 hour course. 

In reply to VolvoHeretic :

I wish there was a balance of power deal. Say like you can make a bazillion hp unrestricted, but now you have to run it on a 30mm restrictor for xyz tracks.

Having a tough time finding info on Kyle Larson after his crash last night.  That was a hard hit into the wall.  I bet at the very least he's extremely sore this morning.

I didn't have the ability to watch the race, but I tried to follow it as much as possible throughout the day. I'm biased though. I went to school for motorsport business management in the Charlotte area and one of my good friends is the front tire changer for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. I know it wasn't everyone's favorite way to watch a race finish, but when I saw the results I was so hyped. It's so awesome to see someone you know celebrating on TV after winning the biggest event of the NASCAR calendar, and he's worked very hard to get there.

I totally forgot it was on (in my defense I hadn't seen any promotions for it either in the newspaper or on TV, which is unusual.)

VolvoHeretic said:

I watched the whole thing on TV plus a nap. If I was in charge, I would do one of two things. Either figure out how many cubic inches of an unrestricted engine equaled whatever the restrictor engines produce or run the full sized unrestricted engine but make them run on the Daytona 24 hour course. 

We went to NASCAR’s Daytona road course race a few years back. It was fun.

In reply to racerfink :

Treated and released from the infield care center.  No doubt he's sore though.

https://twitter.com/TeamHendrick/status/1627460564111826944?t=vx2OQrbm3Pn8TSiY2dkdFA&s=19

I understand it, but the last lap looked a lot like the first.  With no skin in the game it wasn't that exciting for me, but racing is racing.  I applaud the safeties in place today, but I miss the old stuff.

If I had TV I probably would have watched it, assuming I was home, although I still don't like the "stages" concept.  To me, it messes up the strategy of 500 mile races. 

Not a big Crashcar fan.  But yesterday I got to thinking, maybe that kind of racing does represent the U S of A.  To me it is very much like driving I-95 from Palm Beach into Miami, or driving 285 around Hotlanta.  

David S. Wallens said:

VolvoHeretic said:

I watched the whole thing on TV plus a nap. If I was in charge, I would do one of two things. Either figure out how many cubic inches of an unrestricted engine equaled whatever the restrictor engines produce or run the full sized unrestricted engine but make them run on the Daytona 24 hour course. 

We went to NASCAR’s Daytona road course race a few years back. It was fun.

I didn't know they did that. Do you know if it was a restrictor plate motor or not?

Edit: Never mind, I looked it up. They just replaced the restrictor plate with a restrictor spacer.

They need a 260 ci or 200 ci V8.

Second Edit:  NASCAR announces details for Daytona road course races “Due to the predicted high speeds and loads on the braking system, NASCAR will add a chicane off oval Turn 4 at Daytona and move to a high downforce 750 hp aero/engine package for the NASCAR Cup Series race on Aug. 16. We believe this will combine vehicle performance and safety to provide the best possible road course race for our fans.”

sergio said:

Just watch the last 50 or less laps of a plate race. Til then it's just a parade. Other 500 mile races they run don't have as many cars on the lead lap at the end. It's artificial racing.

Cars are different than they were. Almost every 500 mile race last year had more than 20 cars on the lead lap, the Coke 600 had 16 on the lead lap. Most races are far more competitive than they were, not just the plate races. 
 

I thought for the most part it was a pretty good race. Watching it was a. It rough as Fox's coverage continues to absolutely suck. First, I understand that ads have to be sold to pay for the programming but Christ, every single bit of action was missed because of commercials, and twice they barely got to replay what happened before they got cut off with another commercial break. Second, Mike Joy is currently about the best commentator for a car race, probably one of the top three of my lifetime. He could find an entertaining angle to paint drying. He should not be stuck working with 3-4-however many retired also rans are available in a given week. One driver for perspective is fine, but there are talented broadcasters out there that could go well with him and make a good show instead of Clint, MW and company. 

I thought Smoke's little comments were the real deal.

I mostly dislike restrictor plate races because I think they are going to seriously hurt someone.

Slowing down the cars is easy; multiple ways to get it done but NASCAR lacks the will. 

In reply to Purple Frog (Forum Supporter) :

He wasn't bad, but there's no need to have three more drivers that did little to nothing there to parrot him.  

I watched a bunch from the in car camera on YouTube. Between the droning sound of engines at wide open and the twitchiness of the cars it was almost meditative. Them cars move around A LOT in close quarters.

I generally LISTEN to the races on PRN or MRN, whichever is covering that week. This is also a feed thru the NASCAR app.

The radio guys can make a red flag sound interesting.

Also, it lets me get work done in the garage instead not taking a nap mid-race.