American Racing Sucks!!!!!!!

[Deleted]

After watching the sham and abomination that was the Detroit Grand Prix.....I am almost done with any type of American Racing! NASCAR has become nothing more than a pathetic joke. Next, I expect Barney Oldfield dressed in all white and in his white, Chevy Lumina Untra-Brite Special number one and Leon Duray dressed all in black in his black, with his waxed mustache in his number thirteen Deathmoblie sponsored by Forrest Lawn to be out next week and if Oldfield is losing at the end of the race…NASCAR will stop the race and let him get a lap lead so he wins…..Talk about formula races!!!!! NASCAR is a total joke!!!

Last week, The IRL who I have defended over the past ten years…ask the leader of a race not to block the second place car and to let him pass. WHAT THE F***!!!!! Now, I make no secret that I have never been a fan of Roger Penske’s…but can you imagine what would have happened if they asked Foyt or Parnelli Jones to pull over and let the second place care through? After someone got their butt kicked….

Racing is racing…Let the drivers and teams duke it out!!!!!!!!!!!!! What they are trying to do is make it close and interesting. If they just let the driver’s race, that is interesting enough! We don’t need fixed races to get people to watch. Racing is good enough for me. Stop trying to make it an equal field and ruin it like they have the NFL, Major League Baseball and the NBA……

Best to you

Russ

[2lapsdown]

When racing became more of a business and less of sport it all went to hell.

[herk56]

I quit watching Cup races a few years ago, watched trucks and ARCA but as more of NA$CAR's stupid ideas were adopted by the other series (esp. that damn "Lucky Dog-crap" rule) I've pretty much given up on "stock car" racing. Last week's Indy race put the nail in the coffin for me there as well, no warning, just give him the spot! What a cruel parody of what racing used to be! Stepping down off my soapbox now!

Brian

[slidinsideways]

I agree Russ and Brian!!! Here is my rant:
TELEVISION was the worst thing to ever happen to real racing...The first few years of it were great, then the ad execs started ruining it for everybody. Now we have chicks, pretty boys and spaghetti eaters (Mario was bad enough but at least he was a true wheelman) everywhere...Factor in soft walls, big wings, restrictor plates, hans devices and anything else that keeps the pretty people from biting the big one and you have this watered down mess we are stuck with today. We used to say racing was a sport, but not a game. Not anymore...I don't belittle the fans of the new game, it's just that racing has become exactly that...A GAME...In the words of the late Dale Sr. "They need to tie kerosene rags aroung their ankles to keep the pi$$ ants from crawling up their legs and eating their candy a$$es"

P.S. Whatever happened to having to go back for more experience at Indy? When I was coming up you had always heard of everybody in the field. Now they make their Grand Entrance at the Speedway...Milka Duno anyone???

[drdave]

Well I'll add my bit. I watch very little anymore. The "spec" racing ruined it for me. Take Gibbs for instance. They squeeze more horses out of their engines than anyone else, so let's take it away from them so everybody else can be equal without R&D and working for it. Let's all run the same body and put different stickers on them so people will think it a Chevey, Dodge, or Ford. Let have two or three teams buy up all the good drivers, sponsors, etc. and everyone else is just out there for fun.
Now lets go to open wheel where everybody drives a Dallara and runs a Honda, and still have 3 or 4 teams own everything.
About the only thing racing wise I watch anymore is F1. Sure Ferrari and McLaren are dominate, but look how BMW-Sauber is developing, 2 years ago Renault was on top. Races are 2 hours max, they run in the rain, and only about twice a month, and a different track each time.

[Deleted]

And another thing......(lol)

Whatever happened to "build a better mousetrap..." It has become all monkey see, monkey do in all racing. If one guy does it and it works...we must do it as well. I HATE RESTRICTER PLATE RACING!!!!!!!!!!! So does most of the NASCAR Drivers. I sat in a lounge with Dale Sr. in Pheonix once and he did nothing but complain about "those lousy races", as he called them...He said a few other things as well.

The one thing I used to like about racing is, the fastest car/man combination usually won the race and championship. Now in NASCAR..it's the race to get to the finals......and The Irl has become a joke. I liked NASCAR when they were really stock cars!I'll break out my tapes and CD's of classic racing and build my models. Ever wonder why I like the old roadsters?

Best to all

Russ

[Deleted]

If Helio hadn't gone from one side of the track to the other to throw the block on Wilson, Wilson would have made the pass and won the race.
Bottom line on the IndyCar race: Wilson would have won either way.

I admit I am guilty of lamenting about the "good old days" (albeit they don't go back nearly as far as some of you guys), however I think most of it is the feeling we got when we were young and impressionable and the thrill we got from watching the cars and the personalities, not necessarily that the racing was actually any "better".
I don't mean to offend, just to stimulate some healthy discussion.

G

[Deleted]

Racing has no doubt changed, and dramatically. On the NASCAR side (since it has been mentioned), the manufacturers used to spend millions (when a million dollars was a LOT) to beat the other guy. In 1963, the President of FoMoCo said they spent enough money on NASCAR to give every man woman and child in America a new Falcon. All because of an engine Chevy made and Big Bill France allowed plus the domination of Pontiac in 1962. Anyone could build a race car and race back then. Look at Chebbie's Mystery Motor, Chrysler's Hemi, Ford's Cammer.......... the '63 1/2 Fastback (Sportsroof!) Galaxie. A car designed strictly for racing. Then there was the Torino/Cyclone, Talladega/Spoiler, Charger 500 and then the Wing Cars! All design efforts to build the fastest *body*.

Looking back at the history of Indy, there were so many radical designs developed almost every year to be the top kid on the block that it was hard to keep up! Some worked, some didn't! If they didn't, you went home and *waited 'til next year". Why did Smokey design the *side car*? What about the long running saga of the Novi? Front engine Blue Crown Specials, Millers and Offys, the list goes on and on.

Not enough room nor time to go over F-1 in the past...........

All of racing has changed, and not all of it for the better. Young, or new, fans like what they see today. Nothing is wrong with that, they have just missed the evolution of racing from a discipline where innovation was the norm to where everything is the same. Parity ruins any sport.

Mongo

[mrindy77]

It sure did not suck today....closest finish ever and that from a guy who had to start last.
Sure the sport has changed but it changed when it became a sponsorship show....I would have to say it started with GRANATELLI and his snake oil called STP but I also believe the fans have also made it what it is today. We demand close racing it's exciting and breathtaking and dangerous. It puts fans in the stands....some of the most boring racing in my opinion is the guy who wins by 2 laps.
Memories often fade with the passage of time.....remember the 1981 Indy 500...heck it took all summer for them to figure out who one that race.
Maybe things will change if different engines, competing tire brands and chassis are once again allowed.

[indy]

I was disappointed that it took so long to determine the winner. A quick review on the ol' TiVo made me look a lot smarter than the IRL officials with millions of dollars of equipment!

Also, the Texas crowd was so disappointed that a race could finish under caution.... I mean, how long did it take NASCAR fans to get spoiled by the show instead of understanding a fixed lap competition?

Jordan

[mrindy77]

I really respected and laughed at Helio's comments after he was 'robbed' of his victory.....'I have nothing smart to say right now...' That was fantastic....Marco should take a page out his ..how to conduct a post race interview when you have a misfortune.