Post Cali thoughts...

[lawdog]

1. California is a WEAK replacement for the Rock on the schedule! Rockingham consistantly provided some of the year's better racing and I for one will sorely miss it. As a side note, Brian France is not one of my favorite people!!!!

2. Rousch Racing really is on a roll right now. Good thing for Ford too because the rest of the blue ovals look like junk!

3. DEI is in a tailspin. Mikey two blown motors. Jr. looked like Vegas last year all over again. They better get it together over there.

4. Jimmie Johnson is very impressive! That kid is some kind of good. Where'd he come from to finish second? Another lap or two and he wins that race... Hendrick gets this motor issue worked out and it will be a Rousch vs. Hendrick battle royal all year!

5. Hendrick Motors. Hope this isn't a hangover from the loss of Randy Dorton in the plane crash. Hopefully this lack of durability was a fluke and not a sign of things to come. Definitely a busy couple weeks in their engine shop!!

6. New tire/spoiler rule. Don't think its working like they hoped. There was still not that great of racing there. That's the kind of race that track leads to though. We'll see on the smaller ones I think. Was very surprised Biffle could win with those older tires though!

[Guest]

Lawdog==you are correct on about everything you stated. I like the DEI team,but I think they are going to have a very difficult year.Rousch drivers are really working as a team,and b-4 the year is over one cannot count the Hendrick team out,or i should say Gordon and Johnson.

[OUTDOORNUT]

(Quote)

2. Rousch Racing really is on a roll right now. Good thing for Ford too because the rest of the blue ovals look like junk!

Out of 9 Ford backed teams the standings are: 1,3,4,5,6,11, 33, 36 (Kenseth) wont stay here long, 38 (Rudd) will be a top 20 team with Fatback. So I guess having Jarrett in 11 means sucking, yeah they are sucking bad. Quality over Quanity!

(Quote)

3. DEI is in a tailspin. Mikey two blown motors. Jr. looked like Vegas last year all over again. They better get it together over there.

Pete has all of 4 races, if he doesn't produce....bye bye

Mikey has all of 15 races....(see above)

(Quote)

5. Hendrick Motors. Hope this isn't a hangover from the loss of Randy Dorton in the plane crash. Hopefully this lack of durability was a fluke and not a sign of things to come. Definitely a busy couple weeks in their engine shop!!

In all my years of following NASCAR, even to my displesure, Hendrick motors are solid. California was indeed a fluke.

[JohnMickish]

"New tire/spoiler rule. Don't think its working like they hoped. There was still not that great of racing there. That's the kind of race that track leads to though. We'll see on the smaller ones I think. Was very surprised Biffle could win with those older tires though!"

Look what Biffle used to race, NASCAR late models and modifieds. Hockey pucks for tires (no grip) and no downforce. What do we have this year, tires that wear out (no grip) and no downforce. Hmmm, think about that.

I think this year we will see who can drive. In the last 10 years it was who had the best engineers. I think we are going to see the same 10-12 people up front all year, the difference is it won't be the same people as last year.

What they have in common is not manufacturer or support staff, it's where they came from. Dirt and old crappy asphalt.

This is gonna be the best year in the last 10! Oh, and Brian France is still a moron for messing with to many things at once. I do like the new qualifying rules thou.

What I like about this package is you can get away from the crowd if you have the best car. The people in the back of the pack where complaining the package didn't work. I say look how the top ten where racing each other and I say it worked well. Oh well, not looking to start a fight, just some rambling thoughts.

[1lkstage]

With the new spoiler change, Goodyear doing new rubber to what THEY think is for the good, and Pit road computers penalizing everything that breathes. It's anybodys race. It maybe Rouch the last two weeks, maybe DEI the next two. Who Knows? IT's anybodys guess. It's NASCAR!!! Bring It On!! Why do you think Bliss, Lepage, Edwards, etc have been doing well, The field has leveled off. Thats what NASCAR is looking for. (P.S. it's only week two, and it IS too early for a week off.)What will the next 30+ races tell? Good Luck! I"ll be glued to the front of my tv when posible.

[Uncle Bill]

Last weeks race at Fontana was just plain boring.

[outdoor ran]

I thought it was boring also. The track is so wide and flat the cars arn't any where near each other. I watched the first 30 laps and the last 20 laps. Watching cars drive by the house would of been more exciting.

[Bill-E-Bazz]

Not as exciting as Daytona but was alright at best until some A-hole decided to clip my cable and steal my splitter with about 12 laps left when my boy Jeff was in the top 5. I come back in and find out he is going to the garage with 2 laps left. What a bummer. I Know it's early but Jimmie is going to have another great year.

Go #24

Good Fishin'...

[NAPAFISH]

Good call outdoor ran. The most exciting was the last 30 laps. Other wise the nearest interstate highway would have had more action than this. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

[JohnMickish]

That's why I tape them and watch it in fast forward! I'd love to see them cut the distance in half. It's almost a crime to spend 4 hours on a Sunday afternoon sitting on your couch in the summer time.

[Sifty]

It sounds like I got lucky. I laid down with the three year old and woke up with five to go.

Sifty

[lawdog]

I think the distance of the races is important, it adds to the need to build good equipment, have a driver in top physical condition and numerous other factors. THE PROBLEM with NASCAR now though is these BORING VENUES. It is simply a crime to replace Rockingham which year in and year out provided some of the best racing with California which is like many said a big old snooze fest. We need to get away from these huge cookie cutter tracks and get back to more variety and more short tracks where the action is non-stop. I understand this track they are talking about in NY will be a 3/4 miler. That's more like it!! More, Richmond's and Bristols and less Los Vegas and Chicagoes!!!!!! Go back to the Rock and keep two races at Darlington.

If Brian France wasn't such a money grubbing jerk this would still be a better series!!!!

[OUTDOORNUT]

I think the France's got a little bit of a slap in the face last weekend. The second race of the year and there was a visible amount of open seats in the grandstands! With the sports popularity each and every venue should be a near sell-out. We have seen races at the Rock where the "fair weather" fans have skipped the race because it was (gasp) 40 degrees out in Feburary. 40 degrees, heck I would have been in a T-shirt and shorts. The E&J's hopefully keeping me warm! ha It was always funny seeing the pit reporters in 5 layer Gor-Tex coats, gloves, hats, and their plush cheeks talking about how cold it was out.

Anyone see Letterman about a month ago. The east coast was having some serious cold (5-15 degrees) ha ha Anyway Dave had his sidekick Biff had a plan. They had Biff outside with a bowl of water to see how fast it would freeze. With Biff darned in extreme artic gear from head to toe, he went on and on about skin freezing on contact. Well needless to say their water never froze, I can't believe it, it was a blistering 8 degrees! Are they really that soft on the East Coast? ha

[Cyberfish]

Yeah I will miss the Rock! remember that close race last year with Kenseth and Kahne! And whats going on with na$car takin away a race from Darlington even tho they just spent all that dough on lights!

[OUTDOORNUT]

Speaking of lighting. I would be in favor of running the Cup boys every Sat. night from June-Sept. I would rather devote a Sat. night to watching racing than having to tape the race every Sunday, because it is too darn nice out to be watching T.V. I know they have talked about more night races during the summer to cool off the drivers and crews.

If it rains on Sat., run them on Sunday. How many times did the race get postponed to a Monday and there wasn't 1/2 the people at the track. Well duh, Nascar is Blue Collar, those folks had to go back to work on Monday.

[LMITOUT]

Taking away races from the historic tracks of the southeast and replacing them with two races at California is just plain wrong. That is a boring track. I really hate the cookie-cutter flat tracks they have now like California, Vegas, and Chicago, and Michigan isn't really that great either. I know they want to branch out to other parts of the country, but build a decent track. What they did with Miami did wonders for the racing and competition.

[Cyberfish]

In my opinion they shoulda built tracks like darlington and richmond. Once the novelty wears out I bet people will start getting bored with those cookie tracks1

[lawdog]

OUTDOORNUT. I understand your personal wants, but its no good for racing to be running a lot of Friday night Busch Saturday night Cup weekends. Those of us who run the local dirt tracks need fans too!!! Besides the local tracks are the future of racing and NASCAR can't kill it off and we can't much compete with Cup shows!

[JohnMickish]

Lawdog, do you think a dirt track fan would skip the local race to watch a NASCAR race? I don't think so. I think the dirt fan will tape the TV race, and watch a real race in person.

I think the reason they built all those mile and a half cookie cutter tracks is because they can put almost 200,000 bandwagon fans in/around it. I truly believe that NASCAR will be a victom of it's own demise. They have forgotten about the real fan/tracks and reporters that got them to where they are now. When the wheel falls off the bandwagon they will be left holding alot of nothing. Look what happened to CART and F1 is going thru it now.

[lawdog]

Quote:

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Lawdog, do you think a dirt track fan would skip the local race to watch a NASCAR race? I don't think so. I think the dirt fan will tape the TV race, and watch a real race in person.

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Ask any local promoter that question and see what you get for an answer. You can see it in the stands pretty clearly on those nights...

[OUTDOORNUT]

Lights possible for 2005 finale at Homestead (as reported by NASCAR dot com)