"Pottymouth" Earnhardt

[Dirk Pitt]

sort of off-topic but I go to a lot of the races in Indy, (races, carb day, qualifying, whatever) sometimes I pay for the ticket, sometimes they are given to me by vendors. I'm pretty sure it's up to the track to allow or restrict what you can and can't take into the track. Everytime I go I take whatever I want with the only stipulation that it can't be in glass bottles and your cooler can't be over a certain set of dimensions. hell, last time I went we took a digital camera and digital camcorder and they even checked our bags and coolers. It's fun to go in these circumstances because you don't have to pay $8 for a beer on top of the ticket. Instead you take a case of beer, sandwiches, snacks, whatever.

i like racing a lot (nascar the least), but I would not go to a race were I couldn't take a cooler.

 

[CW]

The only sport you could declare dead would be the NHL. :looser:

 

[Beezil]

He didn't use that word in that interview.

sounds like a shitty interview.

 

[Captain Ron]

sounds like a shitty interview.

Nah, it was actually pretty good with out the word. Interesting background. He doesn't seem to have time for women though...

--ron

 

[Osprey413]

Hockey's not dead, just dying. That and Rally Racing are two sports where the fans and players/drivers are clinically insane. And that's why I like it. The Dakar Rally was really cool too. I liked those Russian trucks they were racing through the deserts.

 

[Glenn B]

Hockey's not dead, just dying. That and Rally Racing are two sports where the fans and players/drivers are clinically insane. And that's why I like it. The Dakar Rally was really cool too. I liked those Russian trucks they were racing through the deserts.

So, you are a fan? Rally Racing is fun

 

[Osprey413]

Yes, I am a fan.... of both rally and hockey.

 

[Glenn B]

Yes, I am a fan.... of both rally and hockey.

OK, just wanted to be sure, as you stated those fans are "clinically insane". Now I know where you stand.

 

[woody]

I think anyone with an XJ or MJ fetish is clinically insane.

 

[Scott Mac]

Sanity is relative.

 

[Glenn B]

Sanity is relative.

...As long as it is not my relative.

 

[Eagle]

By the same token, I could proclaim Basketball, Football, and Baseball to be dead. I certainly do not enjoy it, and it is not as fun as it was when I was a kid. The sport must be dead. In fact, you will be hard pressed to see any of those sports on my TV ever. Yup, they are dead.

Maybe not dead, but I could resort to semantics and wonder if NASCAR racing, and pro basketball, have "evolved" or "devolved."

In the "good old days," when NASCAR drivers were "good ole boys," the cars really were based on vehicles you could buy in a showroom. Heavily modified, of course, but at least based on showroom models. Then they moved to putting stock sheetmetal on tube chassis, but it was still a Ford body or a Chevy body or a Plymouth body. Now they've basically got one chassis, one body, and they just paint a different name on it. In theory, the cars are about as equal as they can be, yet you see certain teams winning a lot more than others, and those who have been in racing for a long time all seem to know who's cheating and who isn't. Yes, fans come to see the show, but it's not the same racing it used to be and that's why us olde phartes won't pay money to go to the tracks any more.

Ditto pro basketball. Yeah, I'm an olde pharte. I'm old enough to remember watching Bob Cousy, just to put it in perspective. And old enough to remember when basketball was a non-contact sport, and when you weren't allowed to run three or four steps for every bounce of the ball, or palm the ball while dribbling, or any of a number of things that are still technically against the rules, but which the referees aren't allowed to call because "it slows the game down." In other words, you're not paying to see basketball, you're paying to see a show.

Which is why women's basketball is growing in popularity, and men's basketball is having problems.

 

[Gridikal]

Dale Jr. can kiss my a$$.
- Im just waitin for the Charger to be in it in 2005- if they make the deadline and nascar accepts it
-name anuther sport where you can fit 180k fans into the stadium- the energy level is intense- not to mention all the armchair fans that religiously watch every sunday- and that worldwide in the millions- dead no, good as it used to be NO- but thats what sponsors and technology do to a sport that basis itself on the constantly changing automotive world. Wonder what lance armstrongs time would have been if he had to ride a "stock" bike

 

[bchulett]

Dale Jr. can kiss my a$$.
- Im just waitin for the Charger to be in it in 2005- if they make the deadline and nascar accepts it
-name anuther sport where you can fit 180k fans into the stadium- the energy level is intense- not to mention all the armchair fans that religiously watch every sunday- and that worldwide in the millions- dead no, good as it used to be NO- but thats what sponsors and technology do to a sport that basis itself on the constantly changing automotive world. Wonder what lance armstrongs time would have been if he had to ride a "stock" bike

I don't want to disappoint you ... but a real Charger doesn't have four doors .. and if it does it doesn't belong on a race track.

If a real Hemi Dodge Daytona owner was willing to take the risk and turn the driving over to Richard... he'd be lapping at 210 and passing those NASCAR youngsters on the banks ... with one hand on the wheel.

In 1969-70, Dodge & Plymouth made the rules ... NASCAR pulled the plug ... then Chrysler pulled the plug. Nothing worse than going to race full of Ford's and Chevy's ... Mopar actually killed NASCAR.

The recent NASCAR resurrection is primarily due to marketing to those soccer moms ... they could draw the same crowd even if they spec'd and lapped with mini-vans.


You want exciting ?? ... go see a motorsport where the racer's don't have brakes...

Name three and you'll receive a free NASCAR pennant.

Good luck.

 

[Mike L]

The recent NASCAR resurrection is primarily due to marketing to those soccer moms ... they could draw the same crowd even if they spec'd and lapped with mini-vans.

This is all Nascar's way to get away from the image of "good 'ole boys sittin around drinking moonshine and then goin' racing." That image is where Nascar evolved from. I am not old enough to have seen the races first-hand way back when they were on the dirt track. Especially those of Earhardt Sr. and his father, but when I see some of the old races on tv it sure brings a smile to my face. atriot:

-Mike

 

[XJJPR]

Might not of been the right time, but hell he was excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh I cussed!!!!!

It wasn't good for the kiddies but then what the hell!!!!!!!!!!!!! Did it again

For real now:
If it was just at the track it would have been OK, I didn't like it on TV, but then i can't stand most of the crap being allowed on network TV now a days.

hinkley

BTW Points are the only way to get these guys to listen up, they have too much money and would care less if they were fined money instead of points.

 

[Grant]

If I recall correctly the last figures I saw were
Attendance - Nascar second after baseball
TV viewers - Second after the NFL.

So a marginal or dying sport in the US - hardly.

But in TV viewers NASCAR pales when compared to the worldwide viewership of a Formula 1 race. More viewers watch a single F1 race than the total viewership for the NASCAR season. And China is just getting interested.

I've been invovled in motorsports in the US since 94 and every conference or trade show refers to "the show". The target market for motorsports is no longer the grumpy old curmudgeon and his buddies (sorry Eagle, couldn't resist) the target spectator market is a family of four. More $$$$ in selling T-shirts, hats and collectibles to mom, dad and two kids than selling beer to single redneck men.

Without doubt NASCAR gives the "nod" to certain teams. But in it's most basic form
$$$ = RESULTS
more $$$ = better RESULTS

The teams with higher sponsorship budgets generally perform better than those on the lower end of the scale. The more the TV viewership goes up the more interest NASCAR generates from companies wishing to sell their product. It is pretty basic really.

To give some perspective though, Mclaren Mercedes a Formula one team employs over one thousand people and their budget (estimated at over $400 million) would almost pay for the entire NASCAR field for an entire season.

Also, don't you think some of this is in response to the FCC crackdown following the "wardrobe malfunction". Has the US really moved very far from it's puritan roots?

But that's another thread entirely.

World Rally and Rally Raid rules. Pikes Peak hillclimb is the last race for real men (and ladies) in the US.

 

[Gridikal]

I don't want to disappoint you ... but a real Charger doesn't have four doors .. and if it does it doesn't belong on a race track.

If a real Hemi Dodge Daytona owner was willing to take the risk and turn the driving over to Richard... he'd be lapping at 210 and passing those NASCAR youngsters on the banks ... with one hand on the wheel.

In 1969-70, Dodge & Plymouth made the rules ... NASCAR pulled the plug ... then Chrysler pulled the plug. Nothing worse than going to race full of Ford's and Chevy's ... Mopar actually killed NASCAR.

The recent NASCAR resurrection is primarily due to marketing to those soccer moms ... they could draw the same crowd even if they spec'd and lapped with mini-vans.


You want exciting ?? ... go see a motorsport where the racer's don't have brakes...

Name three and you'll receive a free NASCAR pennant.

Good luck.

- agree, old school nascar was the best- and my dads richard petty collection takes up 2 full rooms- so I guess im partial to him and chysler. Id rather have a "charger" in there than the intrepid wouldnt you? I know you know this but for others, the doors are simular to the rx-8's. cant tell they are there

 

[Gridikal]

Whats really funy is listening to the drivers on their radios during the race- it gets ugly sometimes- nascar was never ment to be politicaly correct- What makes it fun is the atmosphere of 150k southern- minded boys running around with a beer in one hand and a radio in the other. Not to mention nascar chicks. and confederate flags flyin along with the american flag and the flag of your favoirte driver. I think it's like if you took all the teams in football, stuckem on a big football field and told em to go at it.

 

[Grant]

Look for an article in Grassroots Motorsports comparing the Charger to a Honda minivan.

Obviously the Charger was quite the vehicle in it's day, but 30 years later a minivan has similar or better performance in every aspect except outright acceleration.

If I hadn't seen the test myself I would not have believed it.