Official 2011 Nascar thread

• ts1227

  

  Red Rum;655008 wrote:1. Pick a name for the championship trophy and stop selling it like a whore to the highest bidder. Leave that one thing stable and sacred. I understand the need for sponsorship dollars, the constant changing of race names, having an official victory lane sponsor and so forth. This well is just about dry and if NASCAR really understands branding...Brand the "whatever you name it cup" and leave it alone.

  
  There's only so much they can do there. They were lucky RJR stuck around as long as they did, allowing for the Winston name to be used for such a long time. Then, when they left they had to replace the money they were getting from RJR with someone else, in comes Nextel. Said company happened to be bought out by Sprint (not NASCAR's fault), so the name adjusted. They actually changed title sponsors once, when it was all said and done. No big deal.
  
  Same goes for the minor league series' too. Long time sponsor left, and they have all undergone a whopping 1 name change each.
  
  Race names are track by track, out of the control of NASCAR. If someone backs out, they have to replace the cash flow somehow.
  
  
  Rest of the points have merit.
• Speedofsand

  

  I told Joie Chitwood 'nice job on the weather today.' He laughed, replied ' I'll take credit because you know I'll get blamed when it rains.' haha
  I ended up with a sunburned face by the end of the day.
• Speedofsand

  

  
  I met Ray Mason pre-race. He drove great, but Pickle wrecked with only about 15 minutes to go in the 2 1/2 hour race. I didn't see what happened, but the right front was damaged, it came into the garage on a flatbed.
  
  edit: Ellis led fairly comfortably throughout his driving stint, but Baas clearly had his hands full throughout the closing minutes of the two-and-a-half hour race with an aggressive Adam Pecorari in the No. 24 Columbus Truck BMW 330i, with whom he swapped the lead a handful of times before Pecorari crashed while trying to take the lead once again.
• Speedofsand

  

  
  
  Shelby Blackstock #51 is teammate of Jack Roush Jr. #61. Shelbilly's mom is Reba McEntire
• Speedofsand

  

  Matt Plumb won, just like last year, but it was close.
  
• GoJPM!

  

  I love the Ganassi team but watch out for the Flying Lizards! Porsche power is great to have for a 24 hour race and they have great history at Daytona, as well as Le Mans, that other 24 hour endurance race.....lol Some really good driver lineups in this field.
• Speedofsand

  

  
  
  
  
• Speedofsand

  

  I like this driver
  
  
• GoJPM!

  

  Both Ganassi cars have hit trouble an hour in. The 01 with Pruett, at the wheel, just had the gear cluster in the transmission changed while the 02, with Dixon at the wheel, had the left rear tire blow on the banking. The beauty of a 24 hour race is that both cars have 23 hours to come back and try to win this thing! My two fav drivers are part of the Ganassi team this year, Rahal in the 01 and JPM in the 02.
  
  BTW, The Flying Lizard car is flying!
• Speedofsand

  

  Montoya drove up the ass of a GT then turned left in the horseshoe slamming the 10 car and sent the 10 to the garage for repairs. Montoya sucks. I just came home for a break, I will admit Pablo is not the only one driving like its a demo derby out there. I LOVE the view of the chicane from the party porch. Damn there goes another local car #90 spinning wrecked in the wall out of the chicane. I met Bob Bondurant at the beginning of the race. His wife is a knockout. Bob has driving schools around the country. Five of his past and current instructors are driving this weekend in the Rolex 24 at Daytona; Darren Law, Buddy Rice, Terry Borcheller, Johnny O'Connell and Michael McDowell. In addition to his instructors, graduates of the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving, competing this weekend include; Alex Gurney, Jimmie Johnson and Patrick Long.
• Speedofsand

  

  
  
  
  
• GoJPM!

  

  JPM leads in the 02 (JPM/Dixon/Franchitti/McMurray) with Ganassi's sister car, the 01 (Pruett/Rojas/Rahal/Hand) running in second!!!!!! Woot!
• GoJPM!

  

  Speedofsand;657785 wrote:Montoya drove up the ass of a GT then turned left in the horseshoe slamming the 10 car and sent the 10 to the garage for repairs. Montoya is the greatest. I just came home for a break, I will admit Pablo is driving like a World Champion. I LOVE the view of the chicane from the party porch. Damn there goes another local car #90 spinning wrecked in the wall out of the chicane. I met Bob Bondurant at the beginning of the race. His wife is a knockout. Bob has driving schools around the country. Five of his past and current instructors are driving this weekend in the Rolex 24 at Daytona; Darren Law, Buddy Rice, Terry Borcheller, Johnny O'Connell and Michael McDowell. In addition to his instructors, graduates of the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving, competing this weekend include; Alex Gurney, Jimmie Johnson and Patrick Long.

  Fixed it for ya!
• Speedofsand

  

  ha, even his own team has told him to 'tone it down' after he almost ran teammate Rojas off the track. 10, 88, 9 are all Montoya victims. A few years ago on the grid pre race, he refused to sign an autograph for a woman in a wheelchair that was a big fan of his. She was unable to get to the autograph session an hour earlier. The little prick wasn't even starting the race.
• Speedofsand

  

  Brendan Gaughan is part of the leading team in GT, #67
• GoJPM!

  

  JPM, I like him a lot, but he only does what he is contractually obligated to do. Once the autograph session is over that's it, for a lot of drivers, not just JPM.
• GoChiefs

  

  GoJPM!;657957 wrote:Once the autograph session is over that's it, for a lot of drivers, not just JPM.

  
  Eh, I'll have to disagree with that. I've seen many drivers outside of contractually obligated autograph sessions and I've been refused maybe 3 times. It's not something a lot of NASCAR drives do. Might be common in open wheel, but JPM needs to realize he's not in open wheel anymore.
• GoJPM!

  

  Unlike a lot of drivers, JPM doesn't need to promote his "brand." He had a lot of money in the bank from his days in F1. He has a very nice $6 million/year gig going at Ganassi and he does all the sponsor related stuff too.
• GoChiefs

  

  It's called 'being a dick'. Guys like him need to remember where he'd be without those fans that he treats like shit.
• Speedofsand

  

  There were plenty of guys who signed on the grid. From rookies to legends like Hurley Haywood. I heard the tv guys more than once on my scanner talking about his stupid driving in this race too. JPM is lucky to be in the best car. I saw Colin Braun in the 8 car make up a lap yesterday in a car he's never raced before, he has more talent than JPM.
• GoJPM!

  

  Ganassi 1-2!!!!!!! Really happy to see Graham Rahal get his first 24 hour win (in his first try) 30 years after his old man won there. I think the 02 team messed up, with their driver rotations, by not having JPM in the car for the final stint. He showed, despite some incidents, he was their fastest driver.
• GoJPM!

  

  Speedofsand;658225 wrote: JPM is lucky to be in the best car. I saw Colin Braun in the 8 car make up a lap yesterday in a car he's never raced before, he has more talent than JPM.

  LOL, smh.
  
  When young Colin Braun does something truely remarkable like, ummmmmmmm, winning the Indy 500 or Monaco Grand Prix, then get back with me. I think Chip's track record for finding and signing talent speaks for itself.
  
  BTW, Braun has raced that type of car before and he was certainly no stranger to the car he raced this weekend as he involved with an extensive pre-race test, at Daytona, with Starworks leading up to the 24. Unlike EJ Viso who was thrown into a sister Starworks car yesterday and only turned four laps in it, during the warm-up, prior to the race.
• Speedofsand

  

  This is not remarkable ?
  Colin won his Rolex 24 class when he was 16 years old. He was on the podium at the 24 Hours of LeMans in a Ferrari F430. He is the youngest winner ever of a major auto race in North America, when he won the July Grand Am Brumos Porsche 250 at Daytona. Put him in the best car on the best team with tons of money and he could win anything.
• GoChiefs

  

  GoJPM!;658268 wrote:When young Colin Braun does something truely remarkable like, ummmmmmmm, winning the Indy 500 or Monaco Grand Prix, then get back with me. I think Chip's track record for finding and signing talent speaks for itself.

  
  To that, I say, when JPM wins on anything but a road course in NASCAR, get back with me.
  
  I mean, he's had finishes of 17th, 8th, 25th, and 20th in the Chases. 145 races, 2 wins (on road courses), 5 poles, 18 top 5's, 41 top 10's, 22 DNF's, avg. finish of 22.6. Those aren't exactly stellar stats.
• Speedofsand