GolfHos

Seamus will remember this fondly as well.

AibV8_0USBA

Maybe one of the best finishes all time, definitely top 5 for me.  [sm_thumbsup2]

History lesson started. By the Daytona 500 next season Ms. Eagle should be a bona fide card carrying NASCAR gear head.

Last race today, Johnson has to have some historical bad luck to lose this championship.

RoboDriver still has to finish in the top 20 today, and then there is the chance to win 5 in a row.

Sad to see Ricky Rudd go, who's so old he had the Wrangler sponsorship before Senior had it...

I still hope for a little drama/excitement rather than a Jimmie/Jeff cakewalk.

Go, Smoke. ;D

Disappointing year for Smoke all the way around, Cup chase up in smoke early, WoO team in disarray, a USAC team that underachieved and was racked with controversy. He'll be glad to take a few weeks off, and race a 30 year old midget indoors New Years eve.

Johnson goes a lap down early due to a completely bizarre incident at the pit road entrance between Kyle Busch and Jr....

The plot thickens.... ;D

That was certainly an unexpected ending! 8)

A car can be pushed across the finish line? :-\

Gas, gas, brake. Gas, honk, punch.

Something like that.

Kevie has given me remote control rights. :D

Finger, don't forget finger.

EAGLE, don't bother, I'm ready to give up on this one...

:o

Maybe I'll go wash some dishes for a time then...

Johnson's wrapped up now, if my math is any good, nobody running at the front is anybody I care about, unless Smoke pulls something out, and he's trying to lose with subpar pit work... ::)

Johnson still has to finish 14th or 18th, something like that.

If JJ gets knocked out Gordon still has a shot.

Time to wait for February. :sad3:

LOL, it was worth hanging around to:

1) See pics of the smokin' hawt Mrs. Johnson, and

2) Listen to Tony say 'Here, see if you can fix it now' after backing it into the wall... ;D

I was kinda wishing there was some pudding in the fridge, but I knew there wasn't.

I seemed to have missed the date for the vid clip, and some background to it would be nice. :)

Sorry, 1976 Daytona 500  and Pearson and Petty were the 2 greatest stars of the day, without question. They were the only ones running on the lead lap. Petty's family owned and operated team was the dominant force for 2 decades, while Pearson was the greatest pure driver of the era, driving for the Wood brothers and a few other teams.

Pearson won 3 championships in the 60's, a fact made more remarkable when one realizes that he didn't usually run a full schedule. He entered 18 races in 1973, and won 11 of them.

I can't tell where Pearson placed.  And did it actually count for Petty to be pushed across the finish line?

Why does this sound so dirty?

I don't know. :(  Had I thought that it could be taken so, I would have reworded it.

Last week, I was eating pudding as I watched the race.  I was thinking it would be nice to have some as I watched this week's race.  Alas, the pie I had for dessert had to suffice.

Along the lines of "sliding down the bat pole" or "getting out of the tub" dirty or are we talking worse.

on thread.

Richard "King" Petty career 200 wins
David "The Silver Fox" Pearson career 106 (I think) wins

I'm not sure if ANY of the modern drivers will come close to catching those numbers, comparing different era's and what not, but still you had to go out on the track and WIN.

Pearson won, even after the side trip off the wall and through the infield.

Somehow, he and Petty had lapped the field. Pearsons the only driver that completed all 200 laps that day.

No, it didn't count for Petty to be pushed across the line, and he was credited with second.

I'd say Gordon has a better than 50-50 shot to pass Pearson's 105 wins. That doesn't mean I like it...

Because they lapped the field. PS. That's something you don't see in the modern era, only 1 or 2 cars finishing on the lead lap.
I forgot Gordon has 81 wins, I've grown to like him over the last two years, he's mellowing with age and now a kid. I won't tip a beer if/when he passes Pearson though.

:o  You mean all those cars that looked to be passing them were a lap behind?

If it didn't count, how did he get credited with second?

When is the cut off for crossing the finish line?  Have to have started your last lap by the time the leaders cross? 

Exactly: When the checkered waves, you complete whatever lap you are currently running.

 Since Petty had started but not completed the 200th lap, he was the first one to complete lap 199.

Alot of people misremember Petty as having won this race, FWIW...

Oh!  So even though he couldn't finish his 200th lap, he still took 2nd because there wasn't anyone else to finish the 200th lap either, and he was the first of the runner(s)-up to complete 199th, which also would have been before the spin-off, so that didn't really change anything other than that he wasn't able to complete his 200th lap and hold the lead he had just attempted to take.  Yes?

Exactly.

Once the checkered comes out, the race is over as soon as that lap is complete.

I have been at a couple of events where the checkered flag came out a lap early, as well  one where it came out 2 laps late (denied voiciferously by the promoter, but we checked the tape), which will lead to much teeth gnashing and clothes rending in the pits afterwards...

With the one where the checkered flag came out late, I suppose they went by who was ahead at what should have been the last lap?  But what did they do for the one that it came out a lap early, let the race stand?

All 3 races scored as completed. The checkered flag is the official end of the race. If it comes out early, so be it.  Same holds if it comes out late. The very first thing they teach you is to obey all official commands, and if the flagman says the race is/isn't over, it doesn't matter what anyone 'Thinks'.

There's no other way to do it, as it's a manifestly unfair situation. It actually happens quite a bit at local tracks.

It's actually fairly easy to lose count even in a 25 or 30 lap feature, believe it or not.

Oh!  That really makes a lot of sense. 

I believe it; I know I lose count at about 2. :D

Fine with me. 8)  But I'm gonna need more than one lesson for that to happen.  So when is the next class period?

After history, will we get into the mechanics or will that be interwoven?  And I don't want "The Female Guide to Motorsports" version, either. :nono:

When is the Daytona 500, anyway? :-[  I know races aren't on a set date (at least, I think that's right), so is it on a particular Sunday in a particular month?

Maybe a small lesson on the order in which the races are run would be a good idea sometime...

Dayton 500 is February 17th, and the race will be 50 years old this year.

Unfortunately, alot of the fun has gone out of the week, because it's now an 'exempt' event, meaning that the 35 top teams from last year are guaranteed spots in the field.

In the past, they would qualify, take the top 10 from qualifying and then run 2 125 lap qualifiers on Thursday, with the remaining teams coming out of those. Basically, an open event to anybody that had a car.

Shame, really.

So the Gatorade twin 125's are gone?

No, they're still running them, but it's run to seat the field and they take a whopping 2 cars that aren't already otherwise exempt.

The top 35 exempt rule deeply sucks, IMHO. If MFAWG was King Of NASCAR, it would be top 20 exempt, 3 exemptions (most recent past champion driver and owner, defending event champion) and the other 20 spots made strictly on qualifying time, or better make 'em run 20 or 30 lap qualifiers EVERY week.

Too much driving around in circles, not enough racing going on out there.

Of course, I'd also pretty much dismantle the points system, but that's a different post.

I'd personally like to see NASCAR get rid of the provisional system altogether and let the fastest 43 cars race on Sunday.  I know it would never work, but to me it would make things a little fairer, and it would add a little bit of strategy as far as how you go about setting up the car in practice...qualifying or race setup wise.  Of course impound races screw with this, and it would make for *feces*tier racing if all 43 cars were in qualifying trim during those races.

Fastest 43 in has a nice philosophical ring to it, but in practice car owners need to be able to protect their sponsors in the event of a poor qualifying effort or worse, (and it does happen) a qualifying accident. In general, we're not talking the week of qualifying that happens at Daytona and Charlotte, but essentially a 1 or 2 day event.

Racing in through actual (GASP) races would take care of the practice of 'Qualifying Trim' quite nicely without the need for the moronic impound rules as well.

Take the car off the hauler Saturday morning, practice for an hour, run a 2 hour support series event, qualify for 2 hours and go straight into 2 30 minute qualifying events.